Erroneous Sentence

"Huh?" "Huh?" "Huh?"

The three of them let out a "huh?" simultaneously.

You look at me, I look at you.

Huh?

What are we even saying "huh?" about?

"Don't believe it, I understand the first four words."

Qin Feng frowned slightly:

"But this last one... 'ha'... what does it mean? It's a completely grammatically incorrect sentence, isn't it?"

Jiang Ran shook his head:

"Maybe there's another way to spell this sentence?"

But no matter how he rearranged them, the other combinations didn't form a sentence.

"Let's go back to the club room first."

He put away his phone:

"Regardless, coming to find Teacher Zhang Yang wasn't in vain. We've gained a lot!"

Film Club, activity room.

The small blackboard had been completely wiped clean, and five large characters were written on it again--

[Don', t, Be, lieve, Ha]

"What is 'ha'?"

Qin Feng asked for the Nth time.

"I don't know."

Jiang Ran, for the Nth time, didn't know. He looked up at Cheng Mengxue:

"This is a bit like Xiao Xue's catchphrase."

When Cheng Mengxue spoke, she often liked to end with "ha."

This "ha" often had no practical meaning; it was just a tonal particle, serving to remind, emphasize, confirm, or question.

For example, the most common ones:

"I'm going to eat now, ha!"

"I'm starting the countdown now, ha!"

"Don't forget to bring it, ha!"

"Then I'll buy it, ha?"

Huh?

Cheng Mengxue didn't notice at first.

But after trying it out in a self-mutter:

"It really is!"

She blinked:

"But this is nothing, right? Don't many people talk like this? Wait a minute..."

She suddenly realized:

"You don't mean to say... this text message was sent by me from some future day?"

Jiang Ran thought for a moment and shook his head:

"Probably not. The sender of this text message is my phone number. Although it's not impossible that you typed it, I don't think it's that simple."

"Moreover, setting aside who sent it, these five words are completely grammatically incorrect."

"'Don't believe ha'... It seems like it's trying to remind us not to believe something, but what specifically? Why did it just use 'ha' to replace it?"

Seeing Qin Feng deep in thought without speaking, Jiang Ran turned his head:

"Qin Feng, what do you think?"

Qin Feng didn't answer immediately.

He propped his chin on his hand and paced around the activity room.

Finally, he came to the small blackboard and added pinyin pronunciation to the five characters--

bu, yao, xiang, xin, ha

Then he pointed to the last "ha":

"[I think the last two pinyin letters aren't complete; there must be more information after them.]"

"For example, this 'ha' could actually be 'hai,' 'hang,' or 'han' ... or 'ga,' 'gan,' or 'gang' are also possibilities."

On the nine-key input, the number 4 key includes three English letters: GHI. Considering the pinyin logic, it could indeed be H or G.

Jiang Ran nodded; he had the same thought just now.

Could it be...

That this string of mysterious numbers is just the first part of the code, and there's a second part to follow?

If there were another string of mysterious numbers, they could continue pressing on the nine-key keyboard to get more Chinese characters, more information.

Just as Qin Feng said, that meaningless "ha" might itself be incomplete, with other pinyin letters following.

"Wow, Jiang Ran, you're amazing!"

Cheng Mengxue gave Jiang Ran a thumbs-up:

"When we first received this mysterious text message, you guessed it was a warning, and you were right."

"It's not exactly right, though."

Jiang Ran waved his hand:

"As it stands, even though we've deciphered that string of mysterious numbers into five Chinese characters, we still can't get any useful information. We can't be sure if it's a warning or not."

"It just reminds us not to believe something, but specifically... what does it want us not to believe?"

"Should we not believe in the positron cannon? Not believe in spacetime messages? Not believe in the Worldline Jump theory? Or perhaps..."

He looked around, his gaze landing on Cheng Mengxue and Qin Feng:

"[Or perhaps, it wants us not to trust each other, not to trust... someone in this activity room?]"

"Hey!"

The rice cooker Rhine Cat was hurled at him menacingly!

Jiang Ran quickly caught it, but the top of the rice cooker popped open with a thwack, and the spacetime particle Rhine Cat flew out, delivering an uppercut to Jiang Ran's jaw.

So strong! It even has a second attack!

"How could you say something like that!"

Seeing that she would even throw her most cherished rice cooker Rhine Cat as a weapon showed how angry Cheng Mengxue was.

She stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at Jiang Ran:

"How could you suspect your companions?"

"All along, regarding spacetime messages and such, the three of us have made decisions together, taken action together, and no one has hidden anything from anyone. How could you say such a thing!"

"I was just saying."

Jiang Ran grabbed the spacetime particle Rhine Cat and stuffed it back into the rice cooker Rhine Cat's head:

"I was just making a comprehensive hypothesis. How could I not trust you guys?"

"If you really want to put it that way, I was the one who made the final decisions for several spacetime message experiments. If anyone is the most untrustworthy, I'm the most suspicious."

Qin Feng stepped forward again, blocking between them and waving his hands:

"Stop, stop, stop... Let's discuss, don't get heated."

"We definitely won't start suspecting each other because of some inexplicable text message."

"This text message is clearly incomplete. If we can receive a second mysterious text message, a second string of mysterious numbers... then the truth will be revealed, won't it?"

"No matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like it's telling us to suspect each other... but rather reminding us to guard against something, or someone, together."

"The 'ha' at the end, that 'ha,' could very well be 'Han,' 'Hang,' 'Hang,' 'Han,' 'Hai,' and so on... It's too early to draw conclusions now."

Jiang Ran nudged the rice cooker Rhine Cat back into place:

"Qin Feng is right, we need more intelligence."

He walked to the small blackboard and wiped the writing clean:

"Teacher Zhang Yang's words, while not necessarily accurate, at least gave us some peace of mind."

"The most pressing matter right now is to quickly gather more information about the mysterious text message and quickly figure out what comes after 'do not believe.'"

He began to write on the blackboard with a scratchy sound.

Qin Feng glanced over:

"Are we going to send another spacetime message?"

"Yes."

Jiang Ran nodded as he wrote:

"No matter what that spacetime message was trying to warn us about, it at least didn't warn us about 'sending spacetime messages.'"

"In other words, sending spacetime messages itself is safe and reliable."

"Moreover, the first mysterious text message was received at the same time as the spacetime message; if we want to continue receiving mysterious text messages, we'll likely need to repeat this process."

Tap.

With the final stroke written, Jiang Ran had the two of them look at the small blackboard—

[Spacetime Message Experiment, Phase Two Goals]

1. While ensuring safety, continue sending spacetime messages to see if more mysterious messages and numbers can be received.

2. Find a way to decipher the true intention of the mysterious messages and understand their origin, context, and motives.

"The matter of my special physique can be put aside for a bit."

He clapped his hands and put down the chalk:

"We probably won't get an answer to this problem anytime soon. Let's focus our energy on the two issues above first."

Qin Feng and Cheng Mengxue sat down, both agreeing with Jiang Ran's plan.

"Then..."

Cheng Mengxue held the Rhine Cat:

"What kind of spacetime messages should we send next?"

She tilted her head:

"Since we've already conducted several experiments and earned a lot of money from the lottery."

"Can we now send spacetime messages that fulfill our wishes and correct past mistakes, as we please?"

Jiang Ran smiled slightly:

"The experimental phase has ended, and we've grasped how to use spacetime messages. The content of subsequent messages can indeed be freer."

"Of course, it's not that we can send just anything. We still need to judge and decide together."

He sat back in his chair, leaning against the backrest, looking at the two people in the room:

"I'm sure everyone has been thinking about what they want to do with spacetime messages during this time."

"So, let's each make one wish, and we'll take turns fulfilling them."

"Who wants to go first?"