“T-this is…”
Jiang Ran felt a chill spread through him.
What on earth was going on?
He had absolutely no impression of this string of numbers, nor did he understand what it meant. It was like garbled code.
This was definitely not a text message he had sent.
And yet, the sender really was his name, his phone number…
It was too terrifying.
Could there be two of him in this world?
But even if there were two of him, there couldn’t possibly be two identical phone numbers!
“I didn’t send this text.”
Jiang Ran’s brows were tightly furrowed as he looked at Qin Feng.
“I did send the first test message, that’s true. But the second one, the string of numbers like garbled code—I didn’t send it.”
Their eyes met.
Qin Feng understood Jiang Ran very well. The other party would not joke around at a time like this.
And so…
His expression gradually turned grave as well.
“You’re serious?”
“I remember it clearly.”
Jiang Ran was certain.
“I have no reason to mess with you in a situation like this. This is terrifying, okay? Besides, since it was a test message, one was enough. What need was there to send two?”
“The space-time black hole can only last 0.7 seconds, and the window for sending a space-time text message is only 0.7 seconds too. My hands aren’t fast enough to send two messages in such a short time!”
…
The three of them said nothing.
An eerie atmosphere gradually enveloped the room.
A text message of unknown origin,
numbers of unknown meaning,
and space-time changes that grew more horrifying the more one thought about them—
all of it made the joy that had just now been so fervent vanish in an instant, burying it beneath a thick layer of worry.
“What do we do?”
Qin Feng was the first to speak, looking at Jiang Ran.
“Could it be an error in the experiment, or a malfunction in the positron cannon I repaired?”
“I think… once I finish repairing the positron cannon, we can immediately run another experiment and see whether we receive two messages again.”
Jiang Ran shook his head.
“I don’t think it’s that simple.”
Unlike the other two, Jiang Ran was the only one who could personally experience changes in space-time.
It was precisely this uniqueness, this special position, that had left him with an indescribable unease all along.
“Let’s suspend the space-time text experiment for now.”
He lifted his head.
“To be safe, before we figure out why there was a second message, and what that mysterious string of numbers actually represents… we shouldn’t conduct any more space-time experiments.”
…
The next day.
Qin Feng had finally repaired the positron cannon, which now sat quietly off to one side.
Jiang Ran paced back and forth in the room, staring at the numbers on the blackboard as he thought.
289269426494642…
The numbers from that mysterious text message had now been written in chalk on the small blackboard. The three of them were trying to unravel the truth behind it.
By now, the generation of a space-time black hole and the principles behind space-time text messages had both been solved. The ability to send text messages into the past had also been completely mastered.
This series of breakthroughs should have been a broad, smooth road leading the trio toward a glorious life.
But now, this “uninvited” text message had become a roadblock, bringing their plan for a glorious future to a halt.
“It’s not English words.”
Cheng Mengxue put down her pen:
“If you translate it according to the order of the English alphabet, it doesn’t form any known words.”
Qin Feng shook his head.
“On the mathematical level, I can’t find any pattern either.”
“Do you think it’s possible that this string of numbers has no meaning in itself? That it’s simply a string of numbers, simply a password?”
A password.
Jiang Ran stopped walking.
The password to a bank vault?
The password to a safe?
The password to some website account?
It wasn’t impossible, but if they couldn’t find where the lock was, what use was a key by itself?
Actually,
if it really was some kind of password, Jiang Ran wouldn’t be so worried.
What he was very worried about…
was that this string of numbers was a kind of warning.
A warning regarding space-time travel, the laws of space-time, and the tampering of history.
“I think we should still conduct another experiment.”
Qin Feng proposed it again.
“Since the positron cannon has already been repaired, why not carry out one more verification experiment and see whether this mysterious text message was accidental or inevitable?”
“Since we want to understand the truth behind this string of numbers, we should make more attempts and accumulate more samples. Only then can we analyze it more comprehensively.”
“Maybe in the next experiment, we’ll receive some more clues. Then, based on those clues, we might be able to crack this code.”
…
Qin Feng’s thinking was very scientific.
However.
“What if it causes consequences that can’t be undone?” Jiang Ran looked at him.
“What consequences are you worried about?”
Qin Feng asked.
“An uncontrollable space-time butterfly effect?”
“No.”
Jiang Ran shook his head.
They had long known that the space-time butterfly effect was uncontrollable. Especially for him, as the most direct observer of space-time changes, he could better understand that terror of “missing memories,” “altered history,” and “opening a mystery box.”
But…
merely sending a text message to three days ago and changing the history within these three days—the butterfly effect at such a scale was not that terrifying. There wasn’t enough time for “the butterfly’s flapping wings” to ferment into a “tornado.”
Although this thought was somewhat arrogant and conceited,
judging from the effects caused by the two current space-time text messages, the butterfly effect produced had indeed been almost negligible.
“I’m worried that this string of numbers is a warning to us,” Jiang Ran said bluntly.
Cheng Mengxue did not understand.
“But who would warn us?”
She looked from one of them to the other.
“The secret of space-time text messages, including the positron cannon and the changes in world lines—only we know about these things in the entire world. This is the secret of the three of us. No one else could possibly know.”
“Yes, that’s exactly the problem.”
This was what Jiang Ran had been concerned about all along.
“Right now, we have just mastered the ability to send text messages into the past. We’re still unfamiliar with many mechanisms and many rules, so we can only send messages to the fixed point of three days ago.”
“But what if, in time, as Qin Feng continues researching and developing the positron cannon, we can break through the restriction of three days ago and expand the time node for sending messages… turning it into three weeks ago, three months ago, or even three years ago?”
Qin Feng froze, yet he still understood with just that one hint.
“You mean…”
“That’s right.”
Jiang Ran turned and looked at Cheng Mengxue.
“If this hypothesis holds, then right now, we are the party receiving the text message. And the person who sent us this mysterious message… is in an even more distant future.”
“That answers your question quite well. If only the three of us know the secret of the time machine, then who would issue us a warning?”
“The answer is self-evident. It would be us from three weeks later, three months later, even three years later—or thirty years later.”
He raised his head, looking at the full moon hanging high outside the window.
“It’s very possible that a warning was sent by us from an even further future.”
“A warning to the present us… not to conduct any more space-time experiments.”