Usage Guidelines

The two returned from the rooftop to the clubroom.

Cheng Mengxue was still sitting on the sofa, embroidering clothes. Qin Feng continued tinkering with the Positron Cannon, while Jiang Ran stood in front of the small blackboard, deep in thought.

This scene...

made it seem as if the disagreement and argument between them had never happened.

But.

Facts were facts, and history was history.

How could it not have happened?

After saying, "I don't blame you," Qin Feng seemed to have let go of it, too.

But it was precisely how easily he had let go that made Jiang Ran feel even worse.

As he walked down the stairs, he'd regretted it several times.

Had he gone too far?

Had he been too selfish?

Had he been a hypocrite?

He reminded himself countless times that Qin Feng was his best friend in this life. And countless times, fear clawed its way back, whispering that this was an uncontrollable Butterfly Effect spanning ten years.

Torn.

In pain.

Helpless.

Jiang Ran's heart was a tangle of emotions.

"I think we should set some rules."

He turned around.

"I feel guilty and truly sorry that we couldn't grant Qin Feng's wish this time."

"Even though we all understand the reasoning, I still don't want something like this to happen again."

"So, I think the most urgent thing is to establish a series of rules before we send any more Spacetime Bulletins."

"Or, to put it another way... we need to clarify 'what kinds of wishes can be granted' and 'what kinds of messages are allowed to be sent.'"

"I agree."

Cheng Mengxue raised her hand.

"If we have specific criteria, it'll be much easier to judge in the future."

"If a wish meets those criteria, then we can grant it. If it doesn't, we reject it. That's the most efficient and fairest way to handle things... We can't vote on every single one."

Qin Feng looked up from the Positron Cannon.

He smiled faintly.

"I don't have any objections either. But I should say, you don't need to feel so guilty or think I've suffered some huge injustice here."

"Wishing to 'bring my father back to life' was always a risky proposition. I was prepared for that, so I'm perfectly willing to accept this outcome."

"We've been friends for so many years. Please don't let this come between us. I'm not so petty or unreasonable."

After pooling their ideas, the three of them finally settled on the Spacetime Message Usage Guidelines:

[Spacetime Message Usage Guidelines]

1. Spacetime Bulletins may only be sent as far back as [30 days ago], to avoid an uncontrollable Butterfly Effect.

2. The content of a Spacetime Bulletin must be unanimously approved by all three of them.

3. All three of them must be present when a Spacetime Bulletin is sent. No exceptions.

4. They must keep the Positron Cannon, Spacetime Bulletins, and all related secrets strictly confidential and never reveal them to anyone.

Most of these four rules were old news.

The most important—and only new—addition was the strict "30-day limit" in the first rule.

They had arrived at it after weighing their options.

Thirty days.

That was the limit of the Spacetime Butterfly Effect they were willing to accept.

Therefore, from then on, no matter what the message was, they would only send it as far back as thirty days. Anything further into the past was off-limits.

Rules kept things in order.

With these four guidelines in place, they really could avoid a lot of problems in the future.

At the same time.

Cheng Mengxue had updated the Spacetime Message User Manual to version 4.0, adding a lot of patches.

[Spacetime Message User Manual (Version 4.0)]

1. In theory, Spacetime Bulletins can be sent to any point in the past, but the Positron Cannon's power output is limited.

2. For safety, experiments should be conducted around midnight, when the electrical load is low.

3. After the Positron Cannon overloads, it must be disconnected from the power supply and left idle for 20 hours before it can be used again.

4. The sending window for a Spacetime Bulletin is only 0.7 seconds, and the message may contain no more than 70 Chinese characters.

5. Successfully sending a message will cause a Spacetime Shift and a Worldline Jump. Only Jiang Ran can perceive this change.

6. Only Jiang Ran can retain the memories of the original Worldline. This special constitution is called "Omni-Spacetime Memory."

"Qin Feng."

Jiang Ran pointed to the writing on the blackboard.

"We didn't grant your wish last time, so let's make it up to you now."

"Think about it. Is there anything else you wish for, or any regret you'd like to make up for?"

"We don't need to vote this time. As long as it follows the Usage Guidelines we just discussed, we'll grant it."

Jiang Ran admitted it.

He really was desperate to make up for his guilt. He wanted to grant Qin Feng another wish right away.

As long as it involved something within the past thirty days,

he'd agree to it without hesitation and raise no objections.

Even if it was a little unreasonable...

Even if he still had some worries...

This time,

he had to agree to Qin Feng's wish unconditionally!

However,

Qin Feng didn't seem enthusiastic about Jiang Ran's silent resolve. He didn't react much.

"Honestly, you don't need to worry so much about me."

He unscrewed a screw on the Positron Cannon with a screwdriver.

"I'm pretty happy with my life as it is. I'm satisfied with everything around me, and to be honest, I don't feel like I have any regrets that need making up for."

"My only wish has always been to save my father. Now that you're suddenly asking me to come up with a different wish... I can't think of one off the top of my head."

"Why don't you just skip me? I don't mind."

Cheng Mengxue stood up, feeling guilty, too.

"J-just pick anything!"

"We agreed that each of us gets one wish, so we can't leave anyone out!"

"Come on, think of something, Qin Feng! It can be big or small. We could even just use it as another test of the Spacetime Bulletin... Just think of any wish!"

Jiang Ran nodded.

"Exactly. It can be anything. Worst case, you win the lottery a few more times."

"Seriously... just name some kind of wish. It'd make us feel a little less guilty."

Qin Feng let out a long breath through his nose.

He stopped what he was doing.

After thinking it over, he said,

"Fine."

He understood that he had to come up with some kind of wish. Otherwise, Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue would keep feeling guilty.

"Hmm..."

He looked around. In the end, his gaze lowered and settled on the Positron Cannon's casing.

"Come to think of it, there was something a few days ago that I found pretty disappointing."

"What was it?" "Tell us!"

Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue immediately gathered around him.

"You remember this knob LCD control panel, right?"

Qin Feng pointed to the circuit board attached to the Positron Cannon's casing.

He'd picked it up at a used appliance market a few days earlier. After he installed it on the Positron Cannon, it let them precisely control when a Spacetime Bulletin would be sent, down to the year, month, day, and hour, making the whole process foolproof.

"Of course."

Jiang Ran casually fiddled with the knob.

"What about it? Doesn't it work great?"

"There's actually a better one."

Qin Feng knocked Jiang Ran's wandering hand away.

"When I bought this one, I chatted with the owner of the used-appliance shop. He said there was an old control panel with a much nicer design, but someone else had bought it just two days earlier."

"You know me. I've always been a perfectionist about mechanical design. Don't you think this external control panel looks ugly?"

Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue nodded in unison.

It really was ugly.

It looked like someone had hung a urine bag on it. Not exactly attractive.

"If I could get that better-looking control panel before anyone else, I could make the Positron Cannon look a lot nicer."

Qin Feng continued.

"Let me think. I went to the used-appliance market six days ago, and the control panel was bought two days after that. To be safe, I should go three days earlier to beat the buyer to it."

"So, if I had to say what I want to use a Spacetime Bulletin for..."

"I'd send a message to myself nine days ago, telling myself to hurry to the used-appliance market and buy that control panel before anyone else."