Target

"Qin Feng, you really hid it well."

Once he broke through this blind spot, the logic of spacetime instantly became clear.

Qin Feng's goal was very clear—

[To bring his biological father back to life.]

Since Qin Feng's Spacetime Bulletin really had been sent ten years into the past,

then ten-year-old Qin Feng, having learned of his father's death in advance, would surely have done everything he could to change it and help his father avoid that accident and survive.

From that moment on...

The Worldline shifted, and the course of history changed.

Bringing an adult who had been dead for ten years back to life created a massive Spacetime Butterfly Effect, one that swept through the history of those ten years like a tornado.

Many things changed, and many people's fates changed along with them.

From Jiang Ran's perspective, the most direct changes were these three:

1. Qin Feng's life took a different path. He hadn't come to Hang City No. 1 High School, hadn't become Jiang Ran's good friend, and his current whereabouts were unknown.

2. Cheng Mengxue, who should have grown up healthy, died in a car accident on June 8, 2023. Her life was forever frozen at eighteen.

3. Jiang Ran's own life had also changed drastically. He didn't know the details yet, but the fact that he could date a girl like Nan Xiuxiu and run with this sort of crowd... He felt his life could only be described as turned upside down.

"Heh."

A laugh escaped him for no apparent reason.

He didn't know what he was laughing about.

"I miss my father so much, and I treasure all of you. To me, both sides of the scale are equally important."

Those were Qin Feng's words.

Jiang Ran didn't think he was lying.

If Qin Feng had really intended to betray them and send a Spacetime Bulletin to himself and Cheng Mengxue behind their backs, there would have been an easier way.

The Positron Cannon was sitting in the clubroom. He could have used it secretly at any time.

That was the part Jiang Ran couldn't understand most:

"If Qin Feng had so many chances to send the bulletin behind our backs, why did he have to put on this act in front of us?"

Qin Feng's final look at him came back to mind.

"Sorry, Jiang Ran."

It was a look of guilt, with a hint of hope hidden in it:

"Forgive me."

Could it be...

Qin Feng was still hoping that Jiang Ran, with his memories of the original Worldline, would find him again, forgive him, and let the three of them become friends once more?

Yeah.

That was very possible.

After all, when their first attempt to send the bulletin had been interrupted, Qin Feng had discussed this very thing with him.

At the time, Qin Feng had asked:

"If the Worldline changes and I get separated from you, becoming a stranger on the new Worldline... would you find me again?"

Jiang Ran hadn't given it much thought back then. He'd answered from the heart:

"I will. I promise."

"No matter how the Worldline changes, I won't abandon any of you."

"No matter what the Spacetime Butterfly Effect does to our relationship, I'll find you both again and make things right, just like they are now."

So.

Was that why Qin Feng had waited until the very end to carry out his plan?

He wanted a promise.

A promise that Jiang Ran would still find him again.

"You're too crafty."

Jiang Ran muttered to himself.

He understood Qin Feng's desire to save his father, but he didn't agree with what Qin Feng had done at all.

"Little Xue is dead..."

That was something Jiang Ran couldn't forgive, something he could never let go.

He wanted to find Qin Feng right away and settle things with him, fists and all.

But now...

With Cheng Mengxue's death staring him in the face, he had no time to weigh right and wrong.

He had to correct history,

he had to bring Cheng Mengxue back to life,

he had to turn the Worldline back,

Right now, there was only one thing on his mind—

[Find the Positron Cannon again, send a Spacetime Bulletin, and bring Cheng Mengxue back to life!]

That was why he'd immediately taken a taxi to Donghai University.

He had to confirm whether the Positron Cannon was still at Donghai University, still inside the Film Club.

As long as he found the Positron Cannon, he could bring Cheng Mengxue back to life.

It wouldn't be difficult.

He'd used a Spacetime Bulletin to save Xu Yan, and Qin Feng had used one to save his father... The Spacetime Bulletin could do anything. As long as he found the Positron Cannon again, he could make up for everything he'd lost!

Screech—

The taxi came to a stop.

The driver turned around.

"Kid, we're at the west gate of Donghai University."

Jiang Ran paid and got out.

The west gate was Donghai University's abandoned old entrance. It had long been closed and was never opened.

There was a reason he'd come here instead of going to the main entrance.

It was one in the morning, and the main entrance had been locked for hours. Even if he couldn't get in, he'd still have to endure questioning from the guard and then have his academic advisor notified... He might as well not go in.

The west gate, on the other hand, had been abandoned for ages. Part of the railing was rusted through, and "by coincidence," a hole had opened up that was just big enough for someone to squeeze through. That was how generations of heroic seniors had found their way in.

Of course, that "coincidence" had to be man-made. Heroes need no introduction; their deeds speak for themselves.

Jiang Ran had been at Donghai University for two years, so he knew the ropes. He easily found the gap in the railing and squeezed through.

The campus was utterly silent at midnight. As he hurried along the tree-lined path, all he could hear were frogs croaking by the lake and cicadas chirring softly.

It was his first time wandering around Donghai University in the middle of the night. Beyond the nervousness, all he felt was loneliness.

Thinking back over those two years...

When had he ever gone anywhere alone?

He'd always had either Qin Feng or Cheng Mengxue by his side. He'd never once felt lonely.

But now...

Especially when he thought about how, on this Worldline, Qin Feng had never become his friend, and Cheng Mengxue had died during the college entrance exams.

How had he spent those two years?

Had he gone to Donghai University alone, just like this? Gone alone from the cafeteria to class to the dorm and back? Watched the sun rise and set, and the seasons pass, all by himself?

For a moment, he felt as if he understood what Qin Feng had said:

"After the Worldline changes, we go from being so close to strangers in an instant. All our feelings and shared experiences disappear, and we each go on living our own lives... No one will remember our trio."

"Jiang Ran, don't you think that's cruel?"

Yeah.

Of course it was cruel.

So.

Jiang Ran clenched his fists.

He had to find the Positron Cannon and set everything right!

Soon, he slipped into the club activity building.

The Film Club's spare key was always kept under the flowerpot on the windowsill in the corridor. Jiang Ran picked up the pot and, sure enough, found a small silver key.

"Lucky."

It seemed the Film Club's tradition hadn't changed.

He took the key to the familiar wooden door, inserted it, and turned. The lock clicked, and the door eased open a crack.

For some reason, it felt as if the gears of fate were turning, linking the two spaces, the two times, inside and outside the room...

Time, history, cause and effect, past and future—all tangled together.

The distant streetlights shone through gaps in the leaves and fell on the door, flickering and swaying like hundreds of eyes blinking... watching the visitor who had crossed between Worldlines. Faint whispers seemed to say that every answer lay behind this door.

Jiang Ran took a deep breath.

Then he shoved the door open—