Seeing Through

In the activity room, no one made a sound.

The ticking of the clock's hands was crisp, like sweat droplets falling from an executioner's brow, splattering onto the execution platform.

Cheng Mengxue lowered her head.

She knew, of course, why the previously cheerful atmosphere had instantly turned this way.

Because...

That was [ten years ago].

All the spacetime messages they had sent recently were to change events that had occurred a few days ago, within the past few days.

Let alone ten years ago, they hadn't even dared to try sending messages a few months back.

The reason was simple.

[The spacetime butterfly effect is uncontrollable, and the longer the time span, the more uncontrollable the spacetime butterfly effect becomes.]

This was a fact that had been clear from the start.

Ten years ago.

From such a distant point in time, saving someone who had already died, how drastic a butterfly effect would it cause?

No one knew.

No one could predict.

And no one dared to imagine.

Many people's destinies would inevitably change because of it, many lives would go astray, and even worse, more unforeseen things might happen.

Of course, this might all be needless worry.

Perhaps Qin Feng's father coming back to life would have very little impact on the entire world.

But...

Who dared to gamble?

She secretly glanced at Jiang Ran out of the corner of her eye.

He was the same as her.

Head down, silent.

Jiang Ran closed his eyes, his mind in turmoil.

During this time.

Ever since he received that mysterious text message, that mysterious number.

Why had he been so anxious and uneasy?

Why had he been so indecisive?

Because.

He had already had this premonition, he had known for a long time that Qin Feng would bring this up.

Every time this thought surfaced, he would quickly push it away, refusing to dwell on it.

This was something he couldn't think about.

He knew, of course, that Qin Feng's father had passed away 10 years ago in an accidental death.

Qin Feng had told them this when they first met in high school.

Incidentally, he and Cheng Mengxue also knew that because of losing his father, Qin Feng's childhood had been very difficult.

Not only did his mother work multiple jobs to raise him, but at school, he was often bullied by bad kids because he didn't have a father.

From elementary school to middle school to high school, those bad kids always called him "a child without a dad." Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue had witnessed it firsthand.

After the three of them became good friends, Qin Feng was never bullied again. Because Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue were Qin Feng's strongest support, they wouldn't allow such things to happen.

But what about those earlier years?

To avoid causing trouble for his hardworking mother, Qin Feng gritted his teeth and swallowed his grievances, silently enduring the bullying.

And all of this.

Was because he had lost his father at a young age, lost the pillar of his family, lost his greatest support, lost the broadest shoulders, lost the strongest back.

So.

Returning to the wish itself.

Qin Feng was the best friend in his life, and his wish was to save his biological father...

Once Qin Feng voiced this wish, how could he refuse?

But all his instincts and reason warned Jiang Ran--

[No.]

"Absolutely not."

To change the life or death of an adult from 10 years ago, to rewrite the history of the past 10 years, he dared not take that risk.

Jiang Ran slowly raised his head.

He looked at the positron cannon that had just been refitted.

The instrument panel knobs could easily control the node for sending a spacetime message, year, month, day, hour... incredibly precise.

Year.

Normally, was there really a need to set such a long unit?

In an instant.

All sorts of fragmented doubts pieced together, and countless words Qin Feng had said and spoken of appeared in his mind--

"Since the positron cannon has been repaired, why not [conduct] another verification experiment to see if this mysterious text message was accidental or inevitable?"

.

"I don't [agree]. If it was a warning text message from our future selves, why be cryptic? Why not be clearer? Sending a string of numbers like this is making things difficult for us, isn't it?"

.

"I agree, let's use the time machine we built to send a text message to ourselves three days ago... [save] Xu Yan."

.

"I feel that spacetime messages will never be limited to only three days ago. There must be some variable that can control the 'depth' of the spacetime black hole to allow messages to be sent to [earlier] time points."

.

"That's why I've always said that mysterious text message might have simply been a [malfunction]. Gibberish numbers like this have no meaning. It's very likely that this malfunction is with the telecom operator and has nothing to do with us."

.

"Hey, hey. Aren't you scaring yourself a little? Caution is good, but excessive caution is unnecessary. If you hesitate after every step, nothing can [progress]."

.

"I think the last two pinyin letters are not [complete]. There must be other information after them."

.

"Increasing the electron beam density means [increasing power]. We can wait until ten or eleven at night, or after midnight. The club activity building will be empty then, and the circuit load will be small. Even if our power is a bit higher, it won't be a problem."

.

"Operating the positron cannon will be very [simple] in the future. You just need to aim at the external power distribution box, then use the knobs 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."

Jiang Ran braced himself with his knees and slowly stood up.

At this point.

The puzzle was complete.

Whenever he had concerns or worries, Qin Feng always pushed him to continue the spacetime message experiment;

Whenever he was afraid of that mysterious text message, Qin Feng always attributed the message to a malfunction or accident;

When he thought spacetime messages could only be sent back three days, Qin Feng had been striving to modify the positron cannon, aiming to send messages further into the past;

Especially when he and Cheng Mengxue argued about whether to save Xu Yan, the usually cautious and rational Qin Feng unexpectedly sided with Cheng Mengxue, agreeing to save Xu Yan.

So, he had a clear goal from the start.

So, he had been planning from the very beginning.

"Qin Feng."

Jiang Ran stood straight, facing Qin Feng, who was silhouetted against the window:

"Tell me the truth."

He narrowed his eyes, looking at his best friend:

"[Did you plan from the very beginning to use spacetime messages to save your father.]"

A silent tug-of-war.

Cheng Mengxue also stood up, holding the rice cooker Rhine Cat, looking at the two of them.

Tree branches swayed, and sunlight turned into dappled spots on the floor, creating a dazzling radiance that was impossible to look at directly.

"Heh heh."

Qin Feng lowered his head and chuckled dryly, shrugging helplessly:

"You saw through me after all."

He took a deep breath.

Lifted his head.

And met Jiang Ran's eyes directly:

"I admit, ever since we successfully verified the spacetime message, I've had this plan."

"But your constant worries and concerns prevented me from ever voicing it."

"I was indeed researching how to modify the positron cannon to send messages further back into the past... like you said, I wanted to save my father."

"But I never intended to hide it from you, Jiang Ran, or Xiao Xue."

His gaze was firm:

"[If either of you disagreed, I would have abandoned this idea.]"

Ring ring ring ring ring ring—

Jiang Ran's phone rang.

He picked it up and saw it was his father.

He pressed the answer button.

"Hello?"

"Hello! Son! Come back quickly!!"

His father shouted anxiously on the other end of the line:

"Your mom's in trouble! She needs brain surgery!!"