Palm and Back of Hand

There was no delay.

Jiang Ran rushed out the door with his phone.

Cheng Mengxue and Qin Feng immediately followed. The three of them hailed a taxi at the school gate and headed to Hangshi Hospital at top speed.

On the way, they already understood the whole story.

The elevator in the apartment building where Jiang Ran's parents lived had malfunctioned and was undergoing repairs.

So Jiang Ran's mother took the stairs to go down, but she accidentally fell down the stairs, hitting her head, and was in critical condition at the hospital.

The hospital said the situation was very bad, with a large amount of blood clots in her brain, requiring immediate craniotomy surgery.

The three of them rushed to the ICU waiting area outside the hospital in a panic...

Relatives and friends were all there, wringing their hands anxiously.

Several hours passed, and Jiang Ran's mother still had not escaped the danger to her life.

When signing the critical illness notice, the doctor said that even if they saved her life, her brain function would likely be impaired, and the family should be mentally prepared in advance.

Jiang Ran's heart pounded like a drum, and Cheng Mengxue kept holding his hand, gripping it tightly.

Qin Feng patted Jiang Ran on the shoulder:

"Let's go back and use the spacetime message."

Jiang Ran frowned:

"But..."

They were both parents, both children. If he saved his mother, should he also save Qin Feng's father?

Although one was a few hours ago and the other was ten years ago, the butterfly effect and risks involved were not on the same scale...

But parents were all the same, could there be a difference?

"Don't worry about my situation."

Qin Feng urged, "Save Auntie first. My wish can wait. Don't worry, I know the huge difference in butterfly effect between these two events, so you don't need to hesitate."

"And don't feel guilty. After the worldline change, Xiao Xue and I won't have this memory. You just need to handle it yourself. Tell your past self from a few hours ago in the spacetime message not to tell us about this."

"That's impossible."

Jiang Ran shook his head, "I can't possibly hide it from you."

"Jiang Ran..."

Cheng Mengxue's eyes welled up with tears, and she squeezed Jiang Ran's palm, "Let's go back quickly... Save Auntie!"

Another two hours of the taxi speeding wildly, the three of them returned to the Donghai University club activity room.

Jiang Ran stood by the transformer distribution box, the text message already edited.

The solution this time was simple.

The elevator malfunction was caused by a loose buffer at the bottom. This was not a major problem; it just needed to be discovered and repaired in time.

As long as it was discovered and repaired one day earlier, the elevator would function normally today, and Jiang Ran's mother would not need to take the stairs, thus she would not have fallen.

Therefore, all they needed to do was notify the property management two days in advance to arrange for repairs.

"The text message is ready!"

Jiang Ran shouted towards the window.

Cheng Mengxue straddled the windowsill, made an OK gesture, and then looked at Qin Feng.

With the positron cannon having a visual operating console, everything became simple.

Qin Feng turned the knobs, setting the numbers for year, month, and hour to zero, and turned the number for the day to 2.

This way, they could send the spacetime message to two days ago.

"I've set mine too!"

Cheng Mengxue nodded, facing the window, "Then I'll count down! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! 0!"

The positron cannon roared, and Jiang Ran pressed the send button for the text message--

Buzz!

Buzz!

Buzz!

The world spun and tilted, gravity vanished, and a wave of nausea washed over him.

Jiang Ran gritted his teeth and held on.

Two seconds later, it all disappeared.

He opened his eyes.

He found... his location had changed again; from the outdoor electrical box he was just at, he had moved to the sofa in the activity room, sitting upright.

He quickly took out his phone and called his father:

"Hello? Dad! Where's Mom?"

"Ah? Your mom just got back from grocery shopping, she's cooking right now."

Music could be heard from the other end of the line; he was probably watching TV. Jiang Ran breathed a sigh of relief:

"That's good. You and Mom are getting old, be careful if you have to take the stairs downstairs from now on, it's easy to slip."

"Pfft! Who takes the stairs when there's an elevator!"

His dad scoffed:

"Speaking of which, this elevator was under maintenance the other day, it wouldn't have fallen halfway down, would it?"

"It's fine."

Jiang Ran smiled:

"For you elderly people, even if the elevator malfunctions, it's much safer than the stairs. With so many locking mechanisms, it's basically impossible for it to fall."

After a few pleasantries, he hung up.

Qin Feng and Cheng Mengxue looked over:

"Did you just experience a Worldline Jump?"

Jiang Ran nodded.

He had nothing to hide and told them about using a spacetime message to save his mother.

"What are we doing now?"

He put away his phone and synced their memories:

"What were we just discussing? Where did we leave off?"

"We were talking about Qin Feng's wish..."

Cheng Mengxue hugged the Rhine Cat and said softly:

"Qin Feng said he wants to use a spacetime message to bring his father, who died ten years ago, back to life."

Alright.

What must come will come, what must happen will happen.

Judging by the atmosphere in the room, they had likely been at an impasse over this for a long time.

"Let's vote."

Cheng Mengxue looked up:

"Just like how we've resolved issues before, when we encounter disagreements, we vote to resolve them, the minority obeys the majority."

"I abstain."

Qin Feng stood up from his chair and walked towards the door:

"I know this matter is of grave importance, bringing a dead person back to life from ten years ago and rewriting ten years of history... the spacetime butterfly effect is too strong and immeasurable."

"But he is my father, after all. My rationality might not be able to make a sufficiently rational choice, so I abstain."

Snap.

Passing by the sofa, Jiang Ran grabbed Qin Feng's wrist:

"Don't go."

He didn't look up:

"We're a trio, how can we vote if you leave? We've never separated when making decisions."

"I have to go."

Qin Feng glanced at Cheng Mengxue, then looked down at Jiang Ran:

"You understand, Jiang Ran. If all three of us vote, the result will definitely pass."

Jiang Ran knew what he meant.

Because Cheng Mengxue would definitely vote yes, along with Qin Feng, that would be two votes in favor. The minority obeys the majority, so Jiang Ran's dissenting vote would be useless.

"I don't want to make things difficult for you."

Qin Feng's voice was very soft.

"I miss my father very much, but I cherish you two friends just as much. To me, both sides of the scale are equal."

"So... this matter, you two can discuss it. It doesn't matter how long it takes, a few days or a few months, I'll wait for your answer."

With that said.

He gently closed the door to the activity room, his footsteps receding.

In the room, only Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue remained.

But the silence and heaviness did not dissipate; instead, they grew stronger.

Jiang Ran lowered his head, elbows propped on his thighs, palms covering his face.

"Am I... very selfish?"

He said it to Cheng Mengxue, and to himself:

"I opposed saving Xu Yan, and I remained silent when saving Qin Feng's father... but when it came to saving my own mother, I only hesitated hypocritically for a moment."

Cheng Mengxue tucked the warm rice cooker Rhine Cat she was holding into Jiang Ran's arms, its residual warmth still present; then she stroked Jiang Ran's neck, resting her head on his shoulder:

"Because it's different."

She closed her eyes, her voice soft:

"You ended up saving Older Sister Xu Yan in the end, and Qin Feng's father passed away ten years ago. The butterfly effect over ten years... even Qin Feng himself said he couldn't afford to gamble."

"Jiang Ran, I understand your courage better than anyone... You are not a timid person, and you are definitely not a selfish person."

Jiang Ran's breathing deepened:

"Then what if..."

He bit his lip.

He paused.

And then voiced the question he had been afraid to contemplate several times:

"[What if my father had died ten years ago? Would Qin Feng... agree?]"