novelraw Chapter 25 Original Wish
Chapter 25 Original Wish
“I, I, I!”
Cheng Mengxue raised her hand impatiently.
Jiang Ran lifted a palm to signal her.
“What’s your dream?”
“Hehe…”
Cheng Mengxue scratched her head in embarrassment.
“Well, um, that thing—you know how I failed two courses last semester…”
“Didn’t you just take the makeup exams a week ago?” Qin Feng cut in.
“Hey! Even with makeup exams, I’m still not reassured!”
Cheng Mengxue looked aggrieved.“Advanced mathematics is just way too hard! I’m pretty confident about the other one, but for advanced math I really don’t feel secure. If only I could get one more big problem right!”
“Alright.”
Jiang Ran interlaced his fingers and rested them on his abdomen.
He already understood what Cheng Mengxue meant.
As long as they sent her, in advance, the answer to one decisive big question from the advanced mathematics makeup exam she took a week ago, passing would be guaranteed.
Cheng Mengxue wasn’t stupid either. Even just circling the key points for her—telling her to review example problems from a certain chapter in the textbook—would be enough to raise her score.
“When will the makeup exam results be released?”
“The day after tomorrow.”
Mm, that’s fine then.
Jiang Ran calculated inwardly.
Changing the outcome before the final scores were announced carried far less risk than trying to patch things up after the announcement.
“I don’t have any objections.”
He looked at Qin Feng.
“What about you?”
“I don’t have any objections either.”
Qin Feng spread his hands.
“There’s probably nothing smaller than this, right? Honestly, using spacetime communication for something like this… it really feels like killing a chicken with a butcher’s knife.”
“Still, the makeup exam was a week ago. What day exactly was the advanced math exam?”
Uh…
Cheng Mengxue took out her phone, checked the calendar, did a quick calculation, and shook her head.
“Nine days ago.”
Qin Feng looked at the Positron Cannon on the experimental bench, a little worried.
“Nine days ago, huh… that really is a challenge.”
Jiang Ran understood his concern.
So far, using the Positron Cannon and the transformer distribution box, the farthest they had ever sent a communication was three days into the past.
Sending one nine days back would mean operating the focusing unit and increasing the electron beam density.
Would that… cause problems?
“It would.”
Qin Feng saw Jiang Ran’s hesitation and nodded.
“Increasing the electron beam density means increasing power. Even if it’s not a geometric increase, it’s still at least higher than any power level we’ve tested before.”
“Then what do we do?” Cheng Mengxue grew anxious.
“We can run the experiment late at night, or early in the morning,” Qin Feng suggested.
“It’s hot these days, and the student activity building is running air conditioning everywhere. The circuit load is already high. Increasing the Positron Cannon’s power at a time like this could easily burn out the lines, or even the Positron Cannon itself.”
“We can wait until ten or eleven at night, or even after midnight. By then the building will be empty, the circuit load low. Even if we push the power a bit higher, it should be fine.”
……
They acted as soon as they decided.
That night, the three of them lay in wait in the activity room until after midnight, carrying out the experiment in the dead of night.
Jiang Ran stood by the window.
“5! 4! 3! 2! 1! 0—”
Buzz!
Buzz!
Buzz!
As Qin Feng activated the Positron Cannon, Cheng Mengxue stood in front of the distribution box and sent the communication. Jiang Ran once again felt dizzy, lost his balance, the world spinning violently.
Two seconds later, when he recovered, he realized his location had changed.
He was lying in his dorm bed.
Wearing pajamas, covered by a blanket.
Jiang Ran sat up and put on his slippers, just in time to see the person on the upper bunk pulling up their pants.
“What are you doing?”
“Going to pee!”
The upper bunk answered.
“You still not asleep?”
“Yeah, I’ll go to the bathroom too.”
……
Jiang Ran went to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror.
It was obvious.
A spacetime change had occurred. Established history had been altered. A worldline transition. This was a brand-new history, a brand-new worldline.
On this worldline’s version of tonight, the trio had not sent a spacetime communication. Naturally, at this point in time, they wouldn’t be in the student activity room, but asleep in the dorm.
“Better go back to sleep first.”
He yawned.
“We’ll sync memories tomorrow when we see Xiaoxue and Qin Feng.”
……
The next day, the three met in the cafeteria to exchange information.
From the moment Cheng Mengxue received the spacetime communication containing the advanced math answer until now, nine days had passed. The historical changes were minimal—one could even say almost nonexistent.
That was because, at the end of the message they edited for Cheng Mengxue, they had deliberately added a line telling her not to tell Jiang Ran and Qin Feng about the communication, to focus on studying, and only tell them about it nine days later.
As a result, the spacetime butterfly effect caused by this communication was extremely small. Aside from boosting Cheng Mengxue’s advanced math score by a dozen or so points, it had no impact on any other established history.
Another day passed.
The day the makeup exam results were released.
Cheng Mengxue was nervous and excited, refreshing the page on her phone again and again.
“Yes! I passed advanced math! Sixty-five!”
Jiang Ran and Qin Feng wiped their sweat.
That score was really cutting it close. If Cheng Mengxue hadn’t gotten the last big problem right, the makeup exam would have been a disaster.
After that.
The three gathered once more in the activity room.
“It’s a pity that this time, there was still only one spacetime communication received.”
Jiang Ran flipped through Cheng Mengxue’s phone.
“No idea when we’ll get the next mysterious communication. Without follow-up information, there’s just no way to interpret what this current ‘Don’t believe ha’ is pointing to.”
Qin Feng was modifying the Positron Cannon at the workbench.
“Take it slow. We’re making progress one step at a time.”
He stepped forward and beckoned the two of them over.
“Look. I went to the home appliance market a few days ago and found an LCD dial control board compatible with this old piece of equipment. I did a bit of modification.”
Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue walked over.
They saw an old LCD dial control board mounted on the Positron Cannon’s casing.
There were four knobs on the board, each corresponding to a red LCD screen capable of displaying numbers. Beside them were labels in order: year, month, day, hour.
Turning the corresponding knob would increase or decrease the number displayed on the screen.
The two of them suddenly understood.
This was a visualized operation panel!
It allowed simulated, precise control over the temporal node to which a spacetime communication was sent!
“Tony Stark!”
Jiang Ran exclaimed in admiration.
“You’re basically Iron Man, Qin Feng. With an interface this straightforward, even the two of us can operate the Positron Cannon now.”
“It’s alright.”
Qin Feng showed no pride at all.
“It could’ve been made nicer, but these are all parts from twenty years ago. Finding components was really difficult.”
“From now on, operating the Positron Cannon will be very simple. Just aim at the distribution box outside the window, then use the knobs to set the time node for the spacetime communication—nine days ago, one month ago, one year ago, and so on… then press the activation button. Very simple.”
“Very good.”
Jiang Ran leaned back on the sofa.
“According to our previous ‘Phase Two Plan for Spacetime Communication,’ all three of us can use spacetime communication to fulfill one wish, taking turns.”
“Now that Xiaoxue’s wish has been fulfilled, Qin Feng, the second one should be yours…”
“What wish do you want to use spacetime communication to fulfill? What regret do you want to make up for?”
……
A breeze lifted the curtains and swept through the room.
The entire activity room fell silent.
Cicadas chirped sharply in overlapping waves, tender willow shoots danced with the spring air, and the world outside the window brimmed with life.
“Qin Feng?”
Jiang Ran narrowed his eyes, looking at the silent Qin Feng by the window.
At last.
Amid the chorus of cicadas, Qin Feng turned around.
“[I want to save my dead father.]”
The cicadas stopped in an instant.
As if he had sensed it all along, Jiang Ran’s heart skipped violently, and no other sound reached his ears.
Only one person’s breathing—light yet heavy—intertwined and echoed, his heart pounding like a drum.
Jiang Ran swallowed and lowered his head.
“When did your father pass away?”
He asked, even though he already knew.
They were this close.
How could he not know?
How could he not have thought of it?
Cheng Mengxue hugged the Rhine Cat tightly to her chest, staring straight ahead, not meeting anyone’s eyes.
Sunlight pierced through the dark clouds, through the gauze window, through everything, pouring inside.
Hundreds of Rhine Cats—hundreds of pairs of eyes—reflected the sunlight, burning bright, staring at the two people who now stood so close, yet so far apart.
Qin Feng raised his head and looked at Jiang Ran.
“[Ten years ago.]”