Celebration

The next day.

Jiang Ran arrived at the club activity room and pushed open the door.

Hundreds of eyes stared at him!

"Holy crap!"

Jiang Ran was shocked:

"The Rhine Cats have reproduced!"

Before, there were only a dozen or so Rhine Cat plushies in the activity room, all brought by Cheng Mengxue from the dorm.

But now...

The entire activity room was occupied by Rhine Cats!

Rhine Cat plushies, Rhine Cat cushions, Rhine Cat cups, Rhine Cat pen holders, Rhine Cat desk lamps, Rhine Cat trash cans, Rhine Cat sofa covers... and so on.

All sorts of Rhine Cat merchandise filled every corner, like an invasion by the Rhine Cat legion.

"What are you shouting about?"

Cheng Mengxue emerged from a pile of Rhine Cats:

"Rhine Cats are plushies, how could they reproduce?"

"How is it, how is it? Doesn't the activity room feel much cozier? Being surrounded by Rhine Cats naturally makes you feel better!"

"Not at all."

Jiang Ran only felt horrified:

"This must have cost a lot of money, right?"

"It wasn't much, they're basically normal ones that cost a few dozen yuan, only this one is a bit expensive..."

Cheng Mengxue walked to the sofa and picked up a round, yet square, Rhine Cat:

"Look, this is the rice cooker Rhine Cat I've always wanted!"

It was a Rhine Cat shaped like a rice cooker, or perhaps a rice cooker shaped like a Rhine Cat.

It was too abstract; Jiang Ran couldn't understand it at all:

"This thing really costs 3000 yuan?"

"It's 4000 now."

"That's ridiculous, who would be stupid enough to buy this?"

"What do you know? This is a super limited edition designed by the founder of Rhine Cat himself!"

Cheng Mengxue smiled mysteriously:

"And, hehe, do you know... why it's more expensive than other limited editions?"

"Because it can cook rice?"

"NONONO~"

Cheng Mengxue used her finger to pry open the forehead of the rice cooker Rhine Cat, and with a "pop!", she opened the top, taking out a glowing blue sphere from inside:

"Because--ta-da! Because there's a spacetime particle Rhine Cat hidden inside!"

"Hahaha, didn't see that coming! There's another one hidden inside! Buy one get one free, what a bargain!"

Jiang Ran was speechless and felt like laughing, like a popular internet meme.

Is this a design that a carbon-based life form could come up with?

He was very concerned about the mental state of the Rhine Cat founder.

"Isn't it a genius design?" Cheng Mengxue asked, full of enthusiasm.

"A design as shitty as crap!"

Jiang Ran couldn't understand it at all:

"What is all this mess? A rice cooker Rhine Cat... why isn't there a microwave Rhine Cat? And shouldn't there be a mini fridge Rhine Cat too?"

"There really is!!"

When it came to Rhine Cats, Cheng Mengxue's eyes were full of stars.

She quickly squeezed over and grabbed Jiang Ran's arm, shaking it vigorously:

"There really is, fellow villager! There really is a mini fridge Rhine Cat! That's a collaboration with JASK SPACE-T, it was to commemorate--"

"Alright, alright, let's stop there." Jiang Ran interrupted Cheng Mengxue's endless chatter.

Sigh.

It was bad enough that the Rhine Cat army was growing in reality; he really didn't want the Rhine Cat family tree in his mind to keep expanding.

"You two are such a pair, always bickering."

Qin Feng appeared at the activity room door.

"I could hear everything clearly from the stairwell."

"What were you doing this morning?"

Jiang Ran turned around.

"You were being so secretive, and you wouldn't tell me when I asked."

"Heh heh."

Qin Feng smiled faintly and revealed three boat tickets.

"Look what I bought! The most luxurious cruise ship in Donghai City, and it's the top-tier luxury suite, complete with a private pool and restaurant, with panoramic sea views."

"What are you buying this for?"

Jiang Ran briefly suspected that perhaps this timeline had secretly jumped without notifying him... why were all his friends acting so strangely?

"I've noticed that ever since you two got rich, you've both become incredibly extravagant."

"Is it so wrong to indulge occasionally?"

Qin Feng shrugged.

"Besides, since it's a celebration banquet, we naturally have to choose a good place."

A celebration banquet?

Jiang Ran questioned.

"Didn't you guys already have a celebration banquet many days ago?"

"Yeah, but you didn't have any memory of it."

Qin Feng walked forward and patted Jiang Ran's shoulder.

"You are the biggest contributor to us reaching this point. How could we have a celebration banquet without you?"

"Since you have no memory, Xiao Xue and I discussed it... we'll celebrate it again for you!"

Only then did Jiang Ran understand what Qin Feng had been doing that morning.

So, he wanted to make up for the lost celebration banquet memory.

It wasn't really necessary, though...

But.

This is what friends are like, right?

Always paying attention to the small, unintentional details, to things you don't even realize yourself.

"Speaking of which, I've never been on a cruise ship before," Jiang Ran said with a smile.

"Me neither," Cheng Mengxue chirped, standing up.

"I've definitely never been," Qin Feng spread his hands.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Jiang Ran looked at the bright sunshine outside the window.

"Let's go!"

Splash!

Water splashed from the swimming pool.

Cheng Mengxue leaped from the four-meter high platform, sending ripples of water that landed on Jiang Ran and Qin Feng's faces.

The two sat by the edge of the pool, wiping their faces.

"Was that a bomb?"

Qin Feng grumbled.

"Could the splash have been any bigger?"

"It's pretty impressive that you dared to jump."

Jiang Ran was protective.

"Would you dare to jump?"

"Would you dare?"

"If you dare, I dare."

"If you dare, I dare too."

Thirty seconds later.

The two stood, one after the other, on the four-meter diving platform.

It didn't look like much from below, but standing on it, they realized four meters was actually quite high.

They were in the suite's swimming pool at the highest point of the cruise ship, and the diving platform added another four meters... so, this was the highest point on the entire ship.

At the same time, it was also the highest point of this great sea.

Jiang Ran stood at the end of the diving board, gazing at the distant horizon where the sky met the sea, curving downwards with the Earth towards the end of the world.

Qin Feng stood behind him, looking up at the sky.

"Does this scene feel familiar?"

"What do you mean?"

Jiang Ran turned his head, only to be stopped by two fingers.

They were Qin Feng's fingers.

Qin Feng formed his right hand into the shape of a gun and pressed it against Jiang Ran's forehead.

"Lilith."

His expression darkened, and he spoke in a low voice.

"Make the sky go dark."

The next second, a miracle happened.

The surrounding sunlight rapidly dimmed until it vanished, and the entire world lost its light source!

Jiang Ran looked up.

He then realized that it was just a passing cloud that had conveniently blocked the sun.

"Heh heh!"

No wonder Qin Feng had looked up at the sky just now... He had noticed the clouds were about to cover the sun, which gave him the sudden impulse to put on a show.

"Lilith is omnipotent."

Qin Feng looked into Jiang Ran's eyes.

This was the script from the first day they were filming on the rooftop.

The script was written by Jiang Ran and produced by the Film Club. So... who would know the lines better than Jiang Ran?

"Omnipotent, but not a god."

Playing along with Qin Feng's performance, Jiang Ran continued the scene, slowly turning around.

"Only those who control history, who manipulate history, can be called gods."

At this moment, it was just like that moment back then.

Now that he had spacetime messages and could rewrite history at will, reciting this line again brought a completely different feeling to his heart.

Just like standing at the edge of the rooftop that day, Jiang Ran spread his arms, basking in the sea breeze of the diving platform.

"And we now possess this power, our lives have only just begun!"

He altered the lines, improvising.

Seagulls cried in the boundless blue sky as the sun emerged from behind the clouds, casting its full radiance down!

"The future is ours!"

He leaped, losing gravity between the sky and the sea.

"History is also ours."