Wish

"Me, me, me!"

Cheng Mengxue eagerly raised her hand.

Jiang Ran held up his palm, signaling:

"What is your dream?"

"Hehe..."

Cheng Mengxue sheepishly scratched her head:

"Well, you know, I failed two subjects last semester..."

"Didn't you retake the exams a week ago?" Qin Feng interjected.

"Aiya! I'm still not confident about the retakes!"

Cheng Mengxue looked wronged:

"Calculus is just too difficult! I think I'll be fine for the other subject's retake, but I'm still unsure about Calculus. If only I could have gotten one more big question right!"

"Alright."

Jiang Ran clasped his hands together in front of his abdomen.

He already understood what Cheng Mengxue meant.

All he needed to do was send the answer to the final question of the Calculus retake exam, which she took a week ago, to ensure she passed.

Cheng Mengxue wasn't stupid either; highlighting a few key points and telling her to review specific examples in the textbook would also raise her score.

"When will the retake scores be announced?"

"The day after tomorrow."

Hmm, that's good.

Jiang Ran mused inwardly.

Changing the results before the final scores were published would be much less risky than trying to fix things after they were finalized.

"I have no objections."

He looked at Qin Feng:

"What about you?"

"I have no objections either."

Qin Feng shrugged:

"There's no smaller matter than this, is there? I even feel like using a spacetime message for this... is really overkill, like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut."

"It's just that the retake was a week ago. What day exactly was the Calculus exam?"

Uh...

Cheng Mengxue took out her phone, checked the calendar, and calculated before looking up:

"9 days ago."

Qin Feng looked at the positron cannon on the lab bench, a hint of worry in his voice:

"9 days ago... that's indeed a challenge."

Jiang Ran understood his concern.

Up to this point, they had only managed to send text messages up to 3 days in the past using the positron cannon and transformer distribution box.

Sending a text message 9 days back would mean operating the beam concentrator to increase the electron beam density.

Would this cause any problems?

"Yes."

Qin Feng, seeing Jiang Ran's apprehension, nodded:

"Increasing the electron beam density means increasing the power. While it's not a geometric increase, it's definitely more power than we've used in previous experiments."

"Then what should we do?" Cheng Mengxue asked anxiously.

"We can conduct the experiment in the early morning or late at night," Qin Feng suggested.

"It's getting hot now, and the air conditioning is running in the club building, putting a strain on the circuits. If we increase the power to the positron cannon now, it could easily burn out the wiring, or even the positron cannon itself."

"We can wait until ten or eleven at night, or even after midnight. By then, most people will be gone, and the circuit load will be smaller. Even if we increase the power a bit, it should be fine."

No sooner said than done.

That night, the three of them hid in the club room until the early hours of the morning, conducting their experiment under the cover of darkness.

Jiang Ran perched on the windowsill:

"5! 4! 3! 2! 1! 0--"

Hum!

Hum!

Hum!

As Qin Feng activated the positron cannon, Cheng Mengxue stood by the distribution box sending a text message. Jiang Ran felt dizzy and lost his balance again, the world spinning around him.

Two seconds later, when he recovered, he found his location had changed.

He was now lying in his dorm bed.

Wearing pajamas, covered by a blanket.

Jiang Ran sat up, put on his slippers, and happened to bump into the person on the bunk above who was pulling up his pants:

"What are you doing?"

"Going to pee!"

The person above replied:

"Not asleep yet?"

"Yeah, I'm going to the restroom too."

Jiang Ran went to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror.

It was obvious.

A spacetime fluctuation had occurred, the established history had changed, the worldline had jumped, and this was now a brand new history, a brand new worldline.

On this worldline tonight, the trio hadn't sent a spacetime message, so they naturally wouldn't be in the club room at this time, but would be sleeping in the dorm.

"I should go back to sleep for now."

He yawned:

"I'll sync our memories when I see Xue and Qin Feng tomorrow."

The next day, the three met in the cafeteria to exchange information.

From the time Cheng Mengxue received the calculus answers via spacetime message until now, nine days had passed, and the historical changes weren't significant; in fact, they could be said to be almost nonexistent.

This was because at the end of the text message they edited for Cheng Mengxue, they specifically added a note: she didn't need to tell Jiang Ran and Qin Feng about this message, just focus on her studies, and tell them about it after nine days.

Therefore, the spacetime butterfly effect caused by this spacetime message was minimal. Besides helping Cheng Mengxue score a little higher on her calculus exam, it had no impact on any other established history.

Another day passed, and the makeup exam results were announced.

Cheng Mengxue nervously and excitedly refreshed her phone screen:

"Yes!! I passed calculus! 65 points!"

Jiang Ran and Qin Feng wiped sweat from their brows.

That score was really close. If she hadn't gotten the last big question right, Cheng Mengxue would have failed the makeup exam too.

Afterward.

The three gathered in the club room again.

"Unfortunately, this time we only received one spacetime message."

Jiang Ran looked through Cheng Mengxue's phone:

"I really don't know when we'll receive the next mysterious text message. Without follow-up information, this current grammatically incorrect sentence 'don't believe it' is impossible to understand."

Qin Feng was modifying the positron cannon at the workbench:

"Let's take it slow. We're improving bit by bit each time."

He stepped aside and beckoned them over:

"Look, I went to the old appliance market a few days ago and found a compatible LCD knob control panel for this old equipment. I've modified it a bit."

Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue walked over.

They saw an old LCD knob control panel attached to the exterior of the positron cannon.

The control panel had four knobs, each corresponding to a red LCD screen that could display numbers. Next to them, the words Year, Month, Day, and Hour were sequentially labeled.

Turning the corresponding knob could increase or decrease the numbers on the LCD screen.

The two suddenly understood.

This was a visual operation panel!

It allowed for simple, precise control of the time node for spacetime message transmission!

"Tony Stark!"

Jiang Ran exclaimed:

"You're practically Iron Man, Qin Feng. With such a straightforward control panel, even we can operate the positron cannon."

"It's okay."

Qin Feng wasn't proud at all:

"I could have made it look a bit better, but these are old things from 20 years ago, and the parts are really hard to find."

"It will be very simple to operate the positron cannon in the future. You just need to aim at the power distribution box outside the window, then use the knob to set the node for sending the spacetime message, such as 9 days ago, 1 month ago, 1 year ago, etc... Finally, press the start button. It's very simple."

"Very good."

Jiang Ran sat on the sofa, leaning back:

"According to our previous Spacetime Message Phase Two Plan, the three of us can use the spacetime message to grant one wish each, taking turns."

"Now that Xiaoxue's wish has been granted, Qin Feng, the second one is up to you..."

"What wish do you want to grant with the spacetime message? What regret do you want to make up for?"

A gentle breeze lifted the curtains and swept through the room.

The entire activity room fell silent.

Melancholy cicada chirps rose and fell, tender willow buds danced with the spring, and the world outside the window was full of life.

"Qin Feng?"

Jiang Ran blinked, looking at Qin Feng, who stood silently by the window.

Finally.

Qin Feng turned around amidst the incessant cicada calls:

"[I want to save my deceased father.]"

The cicada chirps stopped instantly.

As if he had already foreseen it, Jiang Ran's heart sank, and he could no longer hear anything.

Only the slight yet heavy breaths of the two intertwined, a silent understanding passing between them.

Jiang Ran swallowed and lowered his head.

"When did your father pass away?"

He asked, though he already knew the answer.

Given their close relationship.

How could he not know?

How could he not have guessed?

Cheng Mengxue tightly hugged the Rhine Cat in her arms, staring straight ahead, not meeting anyone's gaze.

Sunlight pierced through the dark clouds, through the gauze curtains, through everything, and shone in.

Hundreds of Rhine Cats, with hundreds of pairs of eyes reflecting the sunlight, stared intently at the two, who were close yet distant at that moment.

Qin Feng raised his head and looked at Jiang Ran:

"[Ten years ago.]"