novelraw Chapter 14 Hero
Chapter 14 Hero
“One.”
Cheng Mengxue blinked.
One?
“Only one?”
“Yep.”
She pulled out her phone and handed it to Jiang Ran.
“Look for yourself.”
He took it, opened the SMS interface.
On March 26, there really was only one time-traveling text message received… the exact sixty-five-character message Jiang Ran had written, not a single character off.
Before and after it, there was no second message.So how was he supposed to understand that?
Jiang Ran scratched his head.
That mysterious text and the string of numbers that had appeared out of nowhere last time had made him paranoid for ages. Even this plan to save Xu Yan—he’d opposed it, precisely because he was afraid some awful consequence would come out of it.
But looking at things now…
Was he really just being too sensitive?
He scrolled down a little more.
In the March 22 log, those two time-traveling texts were still sitting there side by side, quiet and blunt.
Could it be that that garbled message really was just garble—a glitch, a false alarm, a case of overthinking?
He handed the phone back.
The IV drip was finished, too. The nurse pulled out the needle and told him he could leave after resting a bit.
The nurse clearly knew about his rescue. Her attitude toward him was exceptionally warm—smiling as she asked him this and that, praising him for being amazing.
It made Jiang Ran feel a little out of place.
“Hehe, that’s nothing yet.”
Cheng Mengxue smiled mysteriously.
“When you get back to school, there’s another surprise waiting for you.”
“Surprise, or scare?”
“Surprise, obviously!”
“What’s the surprise?”
“A surprise is a surprise!”
“Stop with the memes. Hurry and translate for me—what exactly is the surprise?”
“The surprise is—”
“And that is?”
Swipe.
Cheng Mengxue opened a news page on her phone and shoved the screen in front of him.
“The surprise is! Jiang Ran! You’ve become a righteous, brave, heroic big shot!!”
…
When they got back to school, he finally understood what “surprise” meant.
So many students—some he knew, most he didn’t—crowded in to say hello.
“Not bad, Jiang Ran! Real man!”
“You’re insane, brother. Respect. I don’t respect anybody, but I respect you. Seriously.”
“You blew up on Douyin, you know that? Tons of videos—millions of likes.”
“Can I add you on WeChat, senior? I want to…”
Exaggerated.
There was no other word for it.
Jiang Ran had always been a nobody at Donghai University.
Anyone who got in here—who wasn’t a former top student?
This place was full of first-place kids. Even the people who failed classes here had been the “genius” in someone else’s high school story.
And Jiang Ran hadn’t joined any clubs, hadn’t won any awards, hadn’t done anything particularly standout.
But in the blink of an eye—
Over nothing more than the time it took to send a time-traveling text message…
He’d leapt straight into being the campus’s unanimously praised do-gooder hero.
Ding-ling-ling ding-ling-ling ding-ling-ling ding-ling-ling—his phone rang.
Caller ID: homeroom teacher.
Ridiculous. He’d been in college for two years;
he’d only ever dealt with his counselor. He hadn’t spoken a single sentence to his homeroom teacher.
“Hello?”
“Jiang Ran, you’re back from the hospital, right?”
On the other end, the homeroom teacher was practically vibrating with excitement.
“Get to my office right now—the TV station wants to interview you! The reporter’s been waiting forever!”
When he got there, the office was packed.
“That’s right—Jiang Ran has been outstanding since enrollment. Warmhearted, kind, always willing to help others. This is also the result of the guidance of our class spirit.”
The homeroom teacher sat bolt upright, already in the middle of an interview.
His comb-over “Mediterranean” hairline was slicked with gel. He’d never looked so glorious.
“I often teach them that studying is important, but being a person—character and a kind heart—matters even more.”
“That’s my educational philosophy. That Jiang Ran was able to take those words in and keep them firmly in mind—I feel extremely gratified.”
“Student education is a very complex matter. Different students require different guidance. I’ve always cared deeply about my students’ growth and—”
And on and on at the camera for half an hour.
“How was it?”
He wiped his sweat and looked at the cameraman.
“Can this air?”
“We’ll have to cut it down a bit,” the cameraman said.
“Haha, cutting a bit is fine!”
The homeroom teacher was magnanimous.
“As long as you preserve the overall integrity.”
“No, no, no…”
The cameraman corrected him.
“I mean cut it down to two lines. We can only keep two lines. Because the main interview is Jiang Ran.”
“…Huh?”
The Mediterranean cracked open.
…
After the interview, the counselor called again: tomorrow the school would hold a “Deeds Report Study Session and Commendation Ceremony for Righteous Bravery” for him in the main auditorium. He was told to prepare in advance.
“Do you have a suit?”
“No.”
“Go borrow one from the Student Union. They’ve got plenty.”
…
In two years of college, Jiang Ran had never been this busy. Now he finally understood what it meant to be dog-tired.
At the assembly the next day—
He sat to the left of the principal, read a deeds report Cheng Mengxue had written, and read a righteous-bravery speech written by deepseek.
Then came the certificate presentation, the honorary title, and the award money from the Donghai City Righteous Bravery Foundation.
The award money was no joke—fifty thousand yuan.
After the ceremony ended, the two rescued kids held flowers in their arms, escorted by their parents, and presented them to Jiang Ran.
“Thank you, big brother!” “Thank you for saving us!”
It was his first time in a scene like this, and Jiang Ran couldn’t help feeling stiff.
Come to think of it…
This was also the first time in his life he’d ever received flowers.
No one had ever given him flowers.
In that moment, he didn’t feel anything dramatic—just… warm.
[I really did do a good thing.]
Every boy, as a teenager, hopes to become a great hero who saves the world.
But as you get older, you realize the world is vast—and also small.
A family is a world. Two people in love are also a world. Sometimes, one person alone is still a world.
But no matter which world it is…
It’s worth protecting.
“Jiang Ran.”
He heard the voice and turned his head.
Xu Yan walked over with a bright smile and patted his shoulder.
“Not bad, Jiang Ran! I already thought you were pretty great before, but now I have to say it—my opinion of you is seriously upgraded!”
“When you yanked me back, I hadn’t even processed it yet, and you’d already jumped straight into the water. You scared me half to death.”
Jiang Ran looked at Xu Yan’s pale neck, her rosy cheeks, and his mind went a little blank.
He thought of the previous worldline—of the body pushed out of the operating room, of the white sheet covering the face.
That had been a dead person without the slightest trace of life.
And now—the sweet smile, the warmth transmitted through his shoulder—each and every thing was irrefutable proof…
This was a living person, young and bright.
[A person who was dead in the original history, in the original worldline, was brought back by them—continuing a new life in the new worldline.]
Even though…
She herself had no idea.
Only Jiang Ran remembered.
“You’re really brave!” Xu Yan kept praising him.
He lifted his head.
Looking into her smiling eyes, he said quietly,
“You’re brave too.”
His voice was very soft.
All these flowers and praise…
They should’ve been yours.
…
Half an hour later, back in the student activity building’s club room.
Jiang Ran set the flowers, the certificate, the banner, and the award box on the table. Then he took out the fifty thousand yuan award money and handed it to Cheng Mengxue.
“Use it as club activity funding.”
The two of them were stunned.
“You’re seriously that generous? That’s fifty thousand!”
“Don’t blow it on nonsense,” Jiang Ran warned.
Somehow… that fifty thousand felt heavy.
Over there, Qin Feng and Cheng Mengxue chattered excitedly, planning what they should buy with the money.
Jiang Ran sat on the sofa and looked at the small blackboard.
28926942649464223
That string of mysterious digits with no clear meaning was still written there.
He closed his eyes.
In his mind, the digits began to separate, twist, stretch, and merge again…
Merging into words that flickered past inside his head:
spacetime, mystery, patterns, laws
fear, unknown, danger, warning
confusion, exploration, death, change
history, crossing, river, memory
rescue, answer, passcode, rebirth
world, hero, responsibility, future
…
He opened his eyes slowly.
“I’ve changed my mind.”
Qin Feng and Cheng Mengxue heard him, stopped their discussion, and turned to look.
“Before, I really did hesitate. I was afraid. I was lost. But now… I understand.”
“If you want answers, you can’t get them by daydreaming. The risks that have to be taken must be taken. The detours that have to be walked… maybe we can’t afford to skip even a single meter.”
Jiang Ran stood up, his gaze steady as he looked at the two of them.
“So I’m taking back what I said before.”
“[Let’s keep going… with the time-traveling text message experiments.]”