Jiang Ran

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Jiang Ran (江然)
Species/Race	Human
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Donghai University Film Club; later collaborates with its revived Film Club while attending Donghai Vocational College of Foreign Economy and Trade 6 42 49
Occupation/Role	Student; screenwriter; investigator and operator of spacetime-message experiments 6 45 50
Status	Alive; working to repair the positron cannon and return to “Line 0” 50
First Appearance	Chapter 2: “Opening” 2

Background / History

As a child, Jiang Ran was inseparable from Cheng Mengxue. When they were five or six, he tried to save her from drowning and nearly died himself; after his heart stopped, a falling pencil pierced the back of his neck, triggering a reaction that revived him. The incident left a small bruise on his neck and deeply affected Cheng Mengxue, who later trained seriously in swimming. 20

In high school, Jiang Ran defended Qin Feng from a former bully, beginning the friendship that formed the trio of Jiang Ran, Qin Feng, and Cheng Mengxue. Qin Feng later described Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue as the only people who had protected his dignity during years of bullying. 3 31

Jiang Ran entered Donghai University’s Computer Science department and joined the Film Club’s circle with Qin Feng and Cheng Mengxue. He adapted fragments of his middle-school setting book, Genius Playground, into a Film Club script. 3 6 45

Personality

Jiang Ran is imaginative, analytical, and unusually cautious. He is often the first to question the risks of spacetime manipulation, especially because every worldline jump leaves him alone with memories that no longer match reality. His caution can become suspicion—most notably toward Qin Feng—but it stems from fear of losing his friends to an irreversible butterfly effect. 12 21 28 34

He has a strong sense of responsibility toward the people around him. Jiang Ran initially hesitates to interfere with fate, yet repeatedly acts when lives are at stake: rescuing drowning children, saving Xu Yan through a spacetime message, and preventing his mother’s fatal fall. 13 14 27

Though he downplays himself, Jiang Ran wants to live meaningfully, protect his family and friends, and make the world better. Cheng Mengxue therefore encourages him to continue being a hero. 18

Abilities & Skills

Original-Worldline Memory Retention

Jiang Ran retains memories from prior worldlines after spacetime fluctuations, an outcome considered impossible under conventional worldline-jump theory. 14 23

• Remembers events erased from the current historical trajectory, including relationships and deaths. 14 36 37
• Experiences severe dizziness, disorientation, and abrupt changes of location during a worldline jump. 3 13 27
• Cannot access the historical memories of the new worldline, leaving gaps in his knowledge of his altered life. 46
• Requires others to explain the changed timeline after jumps; Cheng Mengxue often helped synchronize his understanding. 14 16

Spacetime-Message Investigation

Jiang Ran identifies patterns behind the spacetime-message phenomenon and develops practical theories with Qin Feng and Cheng Mengxue.

• Connected the first successful message to Yan Rui’s positron cannon and the transformer distribution box outside the Film Club. 5 6
• Proposed that the message’s radio signal traveled to the past before being forwarded by the signal tower of that earlier date. 6
• Recognized that the mysterious numerical message could be deciphered through the nine-key input method. 23
• Understands that altering the past causes a whole-universe worldline jump rather than conventional personal time travel. 14

Spacetime-Message Operation

Using the positron cannon alongside his companions, Jiang Ran can send text messages into the past and cause historical changes.

• Sent a warning that prevented Xu Yan’s drowning, though the resulting timeline placed him in hospital after he saved two other children. 13 14
• Used future lottery results to create a more prosperous worldline for the trio. 16
• Sent a message two days into the past to prevent his mother’s fall and critical injury. 27
• Treats the ability as dangerous rather than a tool for unrestricted wish fulfillment, due to unpredictable butterfly effects. 10 28
• Depends on the damaged positron cannon; as of Chapter 50, he is studying CRT components and attempting repairs. 49 50

Swimming and Rescue

Jiang Ran is a skilled swimmer, having trained since childhood and won a city-level medal in junior high. 19

• Rescued Cheng Mengxue from drowning as a child, nearly dying in the process. 20
• Jumped from Qing’an Bridge wearing a life jacket and rescued two drowning children; he suffered a wound to his right arm. 14
• Is capable of advanced diving, including a backflip dive. 19

Screenwriting

Jiang Ran has a talent for writing scripts, particularly science-fiction concepts drawn from Genius Playground. 3 45

• Wrote a Film Club script that impressed its members and was selected for the University Film Festival. 45
• Previously co-wrote a Film Club work with Qin Feng and acted in its filmed scene. 2 17
• Uses writing to help Xu Yan and to preserve the Film Club in the altered worldline. 44 45

Equipment / Items

• Positron cannon — A modified CRT-monitor device whose activation can enable spacetime messages when aimed at the transformer distribution box. Jiang Ran retrieves its damaged remains and begins repairing it. 6 49 50
• Mobile phone — Used to compose and send spacetime messages; also receives the unexplained numerical warning. 3 10 13
• Genius Playground script and setting material — Jiang Ran’s middle-school fictional setting, later adapted into Film Club screenplays. 3 32 45

Relationships

• Qin Feng — Best friend since high school and fellow member of the original “Iron Triangle” with Cheng Mengxue. Jiang Ran defended him from bullying, but later becomes suspicious of him; Qin Feng secretly sends a message ten years into the past, radically altering their lives. 3 31 34 36
• Cheng Mengxue — Childhood sweetheart and closest friend. Jiang Ran nearly died saving her as a child, and she views him as a hero. In the altered worldline, she died in a car accident two years earlier; Jiang Ran’s primary goal becomes saving her. 3 19 20 37 50
• Xu Yan — Cheng Mengxue’s cousin and Jiang Ran’s childhood playmate. She assists him with the Film Club, trusts him without demanding explanations, and helps him uncover the mystery surrounding Cheng Mengxue’s death. 7 44 46
• Wang Hao — Longtime friend from junior high and, in the altered worldline, Jiang Ran’s vocational-college classmate. He supports Jiang Ran, covers for him with Nan Xiuxiu, and provides information about Cheng Mengxue’s death. 30 36 42 50
• Nan Xiuxiu — Jiang Ran’s girlfriend in the altered worldline. She supported the version of Jiang Ran traumatized by Cheng Mengxue’s death, but the memory-retaining Jiang Ran does not share his altered self’s feelings for her. 41 42 50
• Yan Rui — Film Club senior whose positron cannon inadvertently enabled the original spacetime-message event. He later helps Jiang Ran preserve the Film Club and reclaim the device. 6 43 47 48
• Chi Xiaoguo — The revived Film Club’s new president. She helps Jiang Ran retrieve the positron cannon and allows him to use the club room for repairs, unaware of its real purpose. 47 49
• Jiang Ran’s parents — His mother’s near-fatal stairwell accident prompts Jiang Ran to use a spacetime message for a personal wish. 27

Story Role / Major Arcs

Discovery of Spacetime Messages

Jiang Ran’s attempt to help Cheng Mengxue find her lost phone produces a text message that reaches three days into the past. After reality changes and Cheng Mengxue vanishes from his immediate surroundings, he begins investigating why he alone remembers the erased timeline. 3 5

With Qin Feng and Cheng Mengxue, he traces the phenomenon to Yan Rui’s positron cannon, a positron beam, and the Film Club’s transformer distribution box. 5 6

Saving Xu Yan

After Xu Yan drowns rescuing children, Jiang Ran wrestles with whether the trio should alter history. He ultimately sends a detailed warning to the past, successfully preventing her death. 11 12 13

The resulting change confirms his theory of “Worldline Jump”: the universe shifts to a new historical trajectory while Jiang Ran retains memories of the original one. In the new timeline, he himself rescues the children and is hospitalized with an arm injury. 14

Responsibility, Wishes, and Distrust

Jiang Ran uses a message to help the trio win the lottery, but remains concerned about treating spacetime manipulation as a source of personal gain. 16 18

When his mother is critically injured, he sends a message to prevent the accident. The decision intensifies his guilt over refusing Qin Feng’s request to resurrect his father, who died ten years earlier. 27 28

A cryptic numerical warning leads Jiang Ran to suspect Qin Feng. Although Qin Feng appears to accept a harmless plan to obtain a circuit board, Jiang Ran eventually realizes too late that Qin Feng had concealed a second phone and sent his own message. 28 34 36

The Altered Worldline and “Line 0”

After Qin Feng’s secret message, Jiang Ran awakens in a drastically altered worldline where Qin Feng has seemingly never existed and Cheng Mengxue died in a car accident two years earlier. 36 37 38

He learns that the altered version of himself missed the college entrance examination after Cheng Mengxue’s death, attended a vocational college, and began dating Nan Xiuxiu. Jiang Ran rejects this life as not truly his own and resolves to restore what was lost. 42

To regain access to the positron cannon, Jiang Ran helps save Donghai University’s Film Club from dissolution, writes a festival script for Xu Yan, secures the device from storage, and begins repairing it in secret. His stated objective is to save Cheng Mengxue, find Qin Feng, and return to the original worldline, “Line 0.” 43 45 47 49 50

Notable Quotes

“No matter how the worldline changes, I will not abandon any of you.” 35

“I will get back everything that was lost.” 50

Trivia

• Jiang Ran scored 680 on the college entrance examination in the original worldline. 12 42
• He has no interest in Rhine Cats and is frequently bewildered by Cheng Mengxue’s collection obsession. 4 17
• The small bruise on the back of his neck is the lasting mark of the pencil incident that revived him as a child. 20
• His middle-school setting book, Genius Playground, became the basis for multiple Film Club scripts. 3 45