Genius Playground

Zhang Yang!

It really was Teacher Zhang Yang!

When he had been observing him closely under the light just now, Jiang Ran had vaguely sensed a familiarity in his features, like that of an old acquaintance.

But if Teacher Zhang Yang hadn’t admitted it himself, Jiang Ran never would have dared to believe it.

Because...

’He’s just too old.’

So old that it was impossible to believe this was the once-young, promising, and handsome Teacher Zhang Yang.

Twenty years ago, in 2025, Teacher Zhang Yang had already been teaching at East Sea University for many years and was quite famous.

Nearly every student at East Sea University knew of this prodigy with a prestigious academic lineage—

Zhang Yang had also done his undergraduate studies at East Sea University, then went on to the Longke Institute for his master’s and doctorate degrees after graduating.

Although there were many such brilliant students in all of Dragon Country, Zhang Yang’s mentor was no ordinary person... It was the dean of the Longke Institute, Academician Gao Yan!

At the same time, Teacher Zhang Yang was also Dean Gao Yan’s youngest and last disciple, a position of incredible prestige.

After completing his Ph.D., Teacher Zhang returned to his alma mater, East Sea University, to teach courses at the School of Physics.

If Jiang Ran remembered correctly.

In 2025, Teacher Zhang Yang shouldn’t even be 40 years old yet.

For a teacher not yet 40 to have such an academic background, he could definitely be considered young and accomplished.

But now, this stooped, white-haired old man...

Jiang Ran truly found it hard to believe that this was Teacher Zhang Yang 20 years later.

He was just too old...

Twenty years later, Teacher Zhang Yang should be 60 at most, not even retirement age. Yet the old man before him had aged so much that he looked like he was well into his seventies.

’Teacher Zhang Yang must have suffered terribly during his years in prison.’

Jiang Ran gripped the man’s dry, wrinkled hands, his heart aching for him.

To be honest, he felt no sympathy for the other people he had met here, nor did they feel real to him.

He didn’t know them at all, and it seemed only natural that criminals would end up in prison.

But Teacher Zhang Yang...

This was a teacher he had actually known back at East Sea University.

On World Line 0, Qin Feng had really enjoyed Zhang Yang’s general education course, so he had dragged Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue along to enroll with him.

Although Jiang Ran hadn’t paid much attention in the class, just coasting for the credits, a teacher was still a teacher. The people of Dragon Country have an innate respect and reverence for their teachers.

Later, after discovering the Positron Cannon and the Time SMS, the three of them had specifically sought out Zhang Yang to ask him about Worldline Theory.

Teacher Zhang had answered all their questions and had taken a particular liking to Jiang Ran, even asking for his school and name, saying he would give him a high score on the final exam.

Such a kind, knowledgeable teacher, without a single malicious bone in his body...

How could he have fallen to such a state?

"Teacher Zhang..."

Holding the hand of Zhang Yang—this old man they called Bookworm—Jiang Ran felt for the first time the immense, sea-changing power of time’s passage. A complex mix of emotions churned within him.

"Teacher Zhang, how did you... end up here?"

Zhang Yang blinked.

He looked at Jiang Ran with confusion.

"You... Young man, do you know me?"

Jiang Ran nodded.

"Teacher Zhang, I took your general education course, the one on Worldline Theory."

Though that was already a faded memory from the long-gone World Line 0.

But Teacher Zhang had taught so many students over the years; how could he possibly remember every single one?

"Hm?"

Zhang Yang frowned, looking the eighteen or nineteen-year-old young man before him up and down.

"No, that’s impossible, isn’t it?"

He had been thrown in prison ten years ago. Back then, this young man would have been eight or nine at most. How could he have possibly attended his lecture?

But then another thought occurred to him.

’What if he watched a video lecture?’

It was true he was in prison, but there were still video recordings of his lectures available within East Sea University and online. Perhaps that was how this young man knew him.

Thinking of his past days teaching at East Sea University, Zhang Yang couldn’t help but sigh.

"Sigh... As I was saying, I was more or less sent to prison for getting too deep into my research on Quantum Tunneling."

"It’s the theory I was just telling you about, the one for the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics. The macroscopization of quantum properties. It could overturn many developments in physics."

"Although the direct cause wasn’t the research itself, I know the truth. As a teacher of the people, I have my own principles and bottom line. How could I possibly do something that breaks the law?"

...

Jiang Ran listened in silence.

He found Teacher Zhang Yang’s words very convincing.

A man like him, who didn’t seek fame or fortune and was willing to return to his alma mater to dedicate himself to teaching despite being the last disciple of the Longke Institute’s dean... His moral character was truly on a higher level. He would never commit a crime so easily.

Quantum Tunneling.

’Just what kind of magical power does this theory hold?’

Jiang Ran planned to study it carefully when he got back. He could even... go to the university and ask Teacher Zhang Yang in person.

Huh?

He couldn’t help but hold his breath.

That’s it!

’He could use Teacher Zhang Yang to confirm the reality of this 2045 and whether they were on the same worldline!’

The process would be incredibly simple!

He had originally thought he would have to wait until the Nobel Prize announcement in October 2025 to confirm the reality of this "time travel" to 2045.

But now, with Zhang Yang as a "temporal anchor," he could achieve his goal much sooner!

All he had to do was interact with Teacher Zhang Yang in 2025 and make sure he left an impression;

Then, travel to the prison in 2045 using the Positron Cannon and meet Teacher Zhang Yang again to see if he recognized him;

By doing this, he could easily determine the reality of the current world.

He had to admit...