Prodigy’s Playground

Chapter 155 The Terrifying Reply

“If only I could learn a few more identity titles.”

Jiang Ran let out a long breath through his nose.

Everything just now—the round table, the identities, the coins—had all been his own speculation.

At present, there were only four identities whose existence was truly confirmed: King, Princess, Magician, and Priest.

“The reason Qin Feng stole that cringey concept notebook of mine… could it also be because—there really does exist a Prodigy’s Playground in reality, a game highly similar to what was described in that notebook?”

At this point, Jiang Ran could no longer easily dismiss this somewhat absurd hypothesis.

Because Lilith, and the phone capable of granting any wish, had both undeniably appeared in the real world.

If that was the case—

who could guarantee that the other plotlines from that wildly made-up concept notebook would not also manifest in reality?

“A Book of Prophecy.”Jiang Ran suddenly thought of that common fatalistic setting often seen in anime and films.

He couldn’t understand why a notebook filled with random middle-school fantasies would become reality.

But if this guess were true—

then that Concept Notebook really could be treated as a Book of Prophecy.

The settings written inside could all be assumed true.

The events written inside would all eventually happen.

And the ending written inside—

would naturally be the ending of this game as well.

At that thought, Jiang Ran fell silent.

Because the more he thought about it, the more outrageous it became.

Yet against the backdrop of the increasingly outrageous things he had already experienced in reality, it somehow felt more and more real.

At present, there were only two ways to verify whether his guess was correct:

Find that old Concept Notebook.

Find Qin Feng.

“I have to start moving.”

Jiang Ran had already formed a plan.

Once the matters in Donghai were settled—

he intended to make a trip to the capital and ask Academician Gao Yan for help.

If you wanted to find someone in a sea of people, state-level resources were still the most efficient and reliable.

The next day, Jiang Ran arranged to meet Chi Xiaoguo.

He deliberately did not choose the Film Camera Club activity room as the location.

Because Jiang Ran kept having the feeling that the place had already become unsafe, as though the walls themselves had ears.

“For the time being, we won’t conduct any Positron Cannon experiments.”

Jiang Ran looked at Chi Xiaoguo. “Club activities should continue as normal, but the Positron Cannon gets put away for now. Let’s also avoid discussing it for the moment, and suspend the nighttime experiments too.”

“After all… how should I put it, I just have this feeling Xiaoxue has already become suspicious of the Positron Cannon. I still don’t want this secret exposed.”

Chi Xiaoguo nodded. “Don’t worry, Senior! You saw it yesterday—my improvisation skills are rock solid!”

—

Today’s Chi Xiaoguo was still as energetic as ever.

It seemed

she had completely recovered from yesterday’s awkwardness, leaving that terrible incident and all its embarrassing memories in yesterday, tossing them behind her.

Jiang Ran truly admired and envied that kind of mentality.

Able to pick things up, able to let them go, never wasting energy on things in the past that could no longer be changed.

A personality like Chi Xiaoguo’s was clearly the type to live happier than most people.

By contrast—

Jiang Ran sighed helplessly and scratched his hair.

This morning while washing it, he had discovered several strands falling out.

Good grief, was he overusing his brain so much he was going bald?

There was nothing he could do about that.

Completely different from Chi Xiaoguo’s top-tier mindset of let bygones be bygones, whatever,

Jiang Ran was the kind of person who always kept a pile of unresolved matters in his head, worrying and overthinking until every last thing was clarified, with caution pushed to the extreme.

Exhausting.

Brain-consuming.

Terrible for hair.

But he truly couldn’t be as carefree as Chi Xiaoguo—

especially now, when everything around him seemed to be going wrong and danger lurked everywhere.

“Ah, right.”

Jiang Ran suddenly remembered something. “Xiaoguo, you don’t have anything going on next Wednesday night, right? I hope you can keep that evening free.”

“What is it?” Chi Xiaoguo tilted her head.

“That day is Xiaoxue’s birthday.”

Jiang Ran said it directly. “That night she wants to invite all of you out for dinner. Even though she might be planning to suddenly spring it on you as a surprise—I think it’s better to tell you in advance, so the surprise doesn’t turn into another scare.”

“Yay! A big feast!”

Chi Xiaoguo’s eyes lit up instantly, full of excitement. “I’m going, I’m going! I love going to other people’s birthdays the most! There’s definitely going to be birthday cake and lots of delicious food!”

Uh—

Jiang Ran was a little surprised.

A big feast?

It had been a very, very long time since he had heard someone describe it like that.

Maybe it was because he had grown up in Jiangsu-Zhejiang, where the economy was relatively developed and living conditions were good.

Since childhood, he had never really had a concept of what counted as a “big feast.”

What was a big feast?

To him, ordinary daily meals already counted.

And if a restaurant banquet counted as a feast, then he had been eating those since childhood—to the point of being sick of them every New Year.

But—

thinking back on Chi Xiaoguo’s earlier offhand remarks,

she had said her home was in a rather remote rural part of Guangxi, and during summer vacation she had helped her family with farm work until her skin got darker.

He also remembered that many of her friends worked part-time jobs and relied on financial aid.

If the people in her circle were like that, it meant her family conditions were likely fairly average as well.

Following that line of thought, Jiang Ran suddenly noticed many details.

The food Chi Xiaoguo ate in the cafeteria was always on the cheaper side.

Originally, Jiang Ran had thought she was dieting.

But now that he thought about it—with such a tiny and underdeveloped frame, what dieting was even necessary? Any more and there’d be nothing left!

Ah—

Jiang Ran felt a little regretful.

He suddenly realized he had been slow to notice all these obvious signs about Chi Xiaoguo.

No wonder she had shouted “sponsor daddy” when he said he wanted to fund the Film Camera Club.

No wonder she had looked so heartbroken over the unsent club souvenir gifts.

And no wonder she had directly said birthdays were her favorite because she got to eat a big feast.

“Then… alright.”

At a loss for words, Jiang Ran changed the subject. “By the way, what date is your birthday?”

“Mine’s next year. It’s in April—April 11th.”

“Oh, okay.”

Jiang Ran silently memorized the date. “Then next year, let’s celebrate your birthday properly too. I’ll give you a really nice present!”

He had never had a good opportunity to repay Chi Xiaoguo for all her help, so he took the chance to make this promise.

Next year, he would definitely throw her a grand birthday party.

“Haha, okay, okay! I’m really looking forward to it!”

Chi Xiaoguo didn’t refuse and didn’t bother with any false politeness. She happily accepted the promise.

Ding-dong.

Ding-dong.

At that moment, Jiang Ran’s phone chimed with a WeChat notification.

Opening it, he saw a message from Xu Yan:

“Jiang Ran, are you free this afternoon?”

“I need to talk to you about something!”

Jiang Ran narrowed his eyes—

Xu Yan.

Obviously, whatever she wanted to tell him had to be related to the investigation into Cheng Mengxue.

He had been waiting for this reply for many days.

He had already been growing impatient.

So he quickly replied that he was free.

The two of them set the time and place—the same off-campus milk tea shop where they had secretly met last time.

After that,

Jiang Ran put away his phone and said goodbye to Chi Xiaoguo.

“Then just like we discussed, focus on your studies and club activities for now.”

“As for the Positron Cannon—we’ll wait until things are safe and the timing is right. I’ll contact you then.”

“Everything stays the same in daily life. But the Positron Cannon must remain secret from everyone. If Cheng Mengxue asks, just say it’s a prop prepared for the welcome ceremony.”

“In short, just bluff your way through it for now. We haven’t even finalized the ceremony date anyway. We’ll figure something out later.”

After parting ways with Chi Xiaoguo, Jiang Ran returned to the dorm, tidied up briefly, then headed straight out through Donghai University’s gates toward the agreed-upon—

milk tea shop.

From Xu Yan’s urgency, it sounded as though she had already finished investigating everything.

The house where Xiaoxue’s family supposedly lived in the U.S.—

was it really overgrown with weeds?

Her experience at the University of Pennsylvania—

was it real or fake?

Everything—

was finally about to be revealed.

When he arrived at the milk tea shop, he went straight to the second floor and sat at the same corner table as last time.

After waiting more than ten minutes, Xu Yan’s small heels clicked rapidly into view at the turn of the stairs.

Her pace was fast.

Her footsteps were loud.

Clearly, she too had arrived here in great haste.

Clack—

Without wasting a single word, Xu Yan pulled out a chair and sat down across from Jiang Ran, her brows tightly knit, her face full of worry.

Thump.

Jiang Ran’s heartbeat sped up, and he quickly straightened in his seat.

He felt as though he had already guessed the answer.

And it had to be—

a terrible answer.

“Jiang Ran, the thing you asked me to investigate—my boyfriend had someone in the U.S. finish looking into it.”

Xu Yan’s voice trembled slightly, her face clouded with concern. “I… I haven’t told anyone else about this, not even my parents. The moment I got the results, I contacted you immediately.”

As she spoke, she took several photos out of her handbag and spread them across the table.

“You were right.”

Her delicate brows remained furrowed as she lowered her voice and said:

[The house where Xiaoxue lived in the U.S.—329 Arch Street, Philadelphia—is indeed overgrown with weeds. No one is living there at all!]

Even though there wasn’t a single milk tea on the table,

Jiang Ran could clearly feel the room temperature plummet in that instant, cold spreading through his entire body.

But the cold didn’t come from the air conditioning.

It came from within, born straight from the heart.

He leaned forward and looked at the photographs laid out on the table.

These were newly taken.

The date watermark in the lower-right corner showed the day before yesterday.

The house had been photographed from multiple angles, near and far, and there were even interior shots taken after someone climbed into the yard.

Without question—

there was no possible way anyone was living in this house.

The large yard was full of weeds and dead branches, clearly untended for a very long time.

Scattered across the ground were fallen tools, metal racks, and chairs—

probably the result of strong winds at some point, leaving the yard in total disarray.

There were no flowers.

No vine trellis.

No ripe grapes.

And certainly no Cheng Mengxue’s parents.

“Fake.”

Jiang Ran said softly, “So the video calls Cheng Mengxue had with her parents… all of them were fake.”

This much, he had already expected.

He had even consulted Professor Yan Chonghan about the technical side of it before, and the other man had bluntly stated there was no technical difficulty whatsoever.

It was very easy to fabricate such a disguise.

Jiang Ran picked up the other photographs and examined them carefully.

They showed the interior from different angles.

Several panes of glass were shattered.

The furniture inside was buried under a thick layer of dust, clearly indicating the place had been unoccupied for at least a year or two.

A house like this—

how could it possibly be the place where Xiaoxue had supposedly lived for the past two years, even up until recently?

Sure enough, it was exactly as he had predicted.

Qin Feng had not lied to him.

Not only had the photographs Qin Feng previously provided been real, but more importantly—

his warning had not been baseless.

He had been deliberately and clearly warning Jiang Ran:

[There is definitely something wrong with the Cheng Mengxue in front of you.]

“What about the University of Pennsylvania?”

Jiang Ran raised his head. “Were they able to verify all of Xiaoxue’s enrollment records, procedures, exams, and everything else?”

“They can.”

Xu Yan answered, “But—the strange part is exactly here.”

She pulled out another bound packet of materials from her bag, filled with English documents and transcripts.

“You can read these later. I’ll just explain it directly.”

“Whether it’s Xiaoxue’s enrollment information, class schedule, or transcripts, all of it can be found in the University of Pennsylvania’s academic system. Even the recommendation letter sent to Donghai University is real. Every single one of those records is genuine.”

“But the horrifying part is this—despite all the records being real, despite everything proving that Xiaoxue truly is a University of Pennsylvania student…”

“When we asked people to investigate and contact the classmates listed on her course schedule—you know, both the classmates in her classes and the roommates listed in her housing records—do you know what every single one of them said?”

Xu Yan pressed her lips together, her gaze trembling, and spoke the chilling words:

“Without exception, every single one of them asked the same question: Who is Mengxue Cheng?”

“And after being shown her photo and student records, every single one of them looked completely blank and shook their heads—”

[[They had never, not once, seen this girl anywhere on campus!]]