Genius Playground

"Your only option is to gamble. You bet that if I take it apart, I can figure out the principles behind it and then find a way to make you a copy."

"Of course, I can’t guarantee anything, so the choice is yours. You have to decide."

Hearing Old Qi’s words, Jiang Ran hesitated.

Take it apart?

Or not?

If he dismantled the core components, the Positron Cannon would be as good as scrap. His only hope would be to bet on Old Qi understanding its principles and being able to replicate it.

If he didn’t take it apart, he could preserve the Positron Cannon’s integrity, but the Beam Converger was definitively broken. The machine had already lost its ability to send Time SMS to the past.

It was such a difficult decision.

If he had to put it in terms of probability, the odds of Old Qi successfully replicating it were minuscule. But the probability of saving Cheng Mengxue with the currently malfunctioning Positron Cannon was exactly zero.

The odds.

One was infinitely close to zero, and the other was exactly zero.

"Young man, this machine of yours... can it still be used at all?"

Seeing Jiang Ran’s hesitation, Old Qi asked again,

"Is it completely broken and unusable? Or... does it still work sometimes? Is it hit-or-miss?"

Jiang Ran scratched his head.

That was hard to say.

"I guess... it’s not completely broken."

He recalled May 15th, his birthday, when he and Chi Xiaoguo had used the Positron Cannon for the first time...

Interference from Nan Xiuxiu’s sudden phone call had sent him on a "time-travel" journey, the reality of which was still uncertain.

It was precisely because of that baffling "time-travel" experience that Jiang Ran believed the Positron Cannon wasn’t a total loss and could still be salvaged.

"It can still be activated sometimes, but the effects are a bit off," Jiang Ran answered honestly.

"Oh."

Old Qi threw up his hands.

"Well, in that case, if it still sort of works, I’d say just make do with it for now. There’s no need to perform a destructive disassembly just yet."

"If it comes to that, just wait until it’s completely dead. You can bring it back then, and there’ll be no psychological burden to taking it apart... since it’ll be broken anyway."

Jiang Ran nodded.

He was thinking the same thing.

The Positron Cannon could probably still be saved, but because of the secret of the Time SMS, he couldn’t lay all his cards on the table with Old Qi.

Besides...

’This Positron Cannon is inextricably linked to Cheng Mengxue’s life. I can’t afford to gamble.’

He wouldn’t resort to a destructive disassembly of the Positron Cannon unless it was the absolute last, irreversible resort.

"Alright."

Jiang Ran gestured to the parts spread across the table.

"In that case, could you please help me put it back together? I’ll take it home and keep trying."

Old Qi’s hands were nimble and his memory sharp. He put every part and screw back in its place perfectly without a moment’s hesitation.

Finally, he pointed to the knob control board he had sold him.

"No point in putting this thing back on, right?"

"It’s ugly just hanging off the side, looks like a urine bag. And since the Beam Converger inside the picture tube is broken, this control board for adjusting its intensity is just for show. It can’t perform any adjustme—"

He abruptly cut himself off, his expression tense.

’Loose lips sink ships!’

He cleared his throat twice and looked at Jiang Ran cautiously.

"But, uh, having said that, young man, everything I sell here is final sale. No returns."

"So... even if you can’t use this knob control board anymore, I’m not giving you a refund for it!"

"It’s fine."

Jiang Ran waved his hand.

"I wasn’t planning on returning it anyway. I’ll just hold onto it."

To save Cheng Mengxue, he had to send a Time SMS precisely to two years in the past. Therefore, even if this knob control board was useless now, it was bound to come in handy sooner or later. It was best to just keep it.

"Whew..."

Hearing that Jiang Ran wasn’t returning the part, Old Qi let out a sigh of relief, his tense posture relaxing.

"Heh, well, I’ll be honest with you. The main reason is that this thing is just too hard to sell."

He chuckled and pointed at the knob circuit board.

"After you left the other day, I remembered that I actually had two of these. The other circuit board was a bit more stylish, better-looking than this one."

"I’d long forgotten what old piece of junk I stripped these two knob circuit boards from. They’ve been sitting in my shop for at least a decade... Now that I’ve finally managed to sell one, of course I don’t want you returning it."

?

Jiang Ran looked up, having caught something he’d missed.

"Two?"

He frowned.

"Didn’t you say you only had one before?"

Just a few days ago, right here in this shop, Old Qi had said he only had one knob circuit board and that once it was sold, it was gone. Jiang Ran hadn’t suspected a thing.

On World Line 0, Qin Feng had said Old Qi had a more stylish knob circuit board, but that someone had bought it before he could.

But Jiang Ran had just assumed that was an excuse Qin Feng made up to send a Time SMS. He figured that the supposedly more stylish circuit board didn’t actually exist.

But now...

From the way Old Qi was talking...

Could it be that the circuit board really existed?

"Where is that circuit board? The one you said was more stylish," Jiang Ran pressed.

"Sold it!"

Old Qi exhaled a puff of smoke.

"That’s why I said I only had one left. It’s a coincidence, now that I think about it. I remember the person who bought that circuit board was also a young man, about your age."

"Wait a minute!"

Jiang Ran shot to his feet.

"What did the guy look like?"

"Definitely don’t remember."

Old Qi shook his head.

"He wasn’t a regular or anything. Just came in that one time, bought the knob circuit board, and never came back. How could I possibly remember what he looked like?"

"The only reason I remember it at all is because he was so young. Nowadays, you don’t get many young people interested in repairing old appliances, so I tend to remember them when they come into the shop. Just like you."

"When did he buy it?" Jiang Ran’s heart began to race.

"Umm... about two years ago, I’d say."

Old Qi held his cigarette between his lips, thinking hard.

"It must have been shortly after the college entrance exams. My youngest daughter had just finished her exams and was helping out in the shop. She was the one who rummaged through the warehouse to find that circuit board for him."

In an instant.

A ringing filled his ears. The world seemed to detach, everything fading into the distance.

Jiang Ran held his breath.

He felt as if, in the unseen fabric of fate, a piece of the puzzle had just clicked into place.

Two years ago. The college entrance exams. A knob circuit board. A young man.

All the clues...

seemed to point to that old friend.

He couldn’t think of anyone else in the world who would buy such an old, obsolete circuit board.

He himself was one.

The random person on World Line 0 who bought it before Qin Feng was another.

The only answer left... seemed to be the only possibility.

Besides.

Two years ago. After the college entrance exams.

Wasn’t that the exact time of Cheng Mengxue’s fatal car accident?

"Hey? Hey!!"

Old Qi’s shout shattered Jiang Ran’s train of thought.

"What’s wrong, young man? What are you staring into space for?"

Jiang Ran snapped out of it and looked at Old Qi.

"The person who bought that stylish circuit board two years ago... I think I might know him."

"Huh?"

Old Qi was taken aback.

"You know each other? Is he a friend of yours?"

Jiang Ran said nothing, his expression noncommittal.

’Yes.’

’Of course he’s my friend.’

’And not just any friend.’

Someone who would show up at Old Qi’s appliance repair shop right after Cheng Mengxue’s fatal accident and buy a knob control board...

Who else could it be?

And what else could he have been trying to do?

At that moment, Jiang Ran couldn’t fathom his purpose.

But he had no doubt about his identity.

"It could only be him," Jiang Ran said softly.

His best friend from World Line 0, the stranger who had vanished without a trace on World Line 1—

"Qin Feng..."

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PS:

The next Chapter is a "Monthly Ticket Extra Chapter." Remember! You have to vote with a monthly ticket on the extra Chapter’s page itself to unlock it!

The author got completely flamed last year because of this weird design. After a year, everyone should be familiar with how to unlock these extra Chapters now, so please be careful!