novelraw Chapter 59 Life Cannot Be Asked For
Chapter 59 Life Cannot Be Asked For
Leaving Old Qi Appliance Repair Shop,
Jiang Ran walked to the street corner, got into a taxi, and headed for Donghai University.
Finally.
Finally.
Things had finally reached the very last step.
He took out his phone and sent Chi Xiaoguo a WeChat message, explaining that he was going to the Film Camera Club to repair the Positron Cannon.
By coincidence, Chi Xiaoguo said she had no classes that afternoon and would go to the activity room ahead of time to wait.
Slap.
He closed his phone.
Jiang Ran leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes to rest.Chi Xiaoguo…
This girl from Guangxi, who loved film cameras and spoke in a soft, sweet voice, so cute and lively, would also go to the school she was meant to attend after the worldline changed.
Thinking about it that way, it was actually a bit of a pity.
But there was no helping it.
If Cheng Mengxue were alive, after the college entrance exam she would definitely apply to Donghai University.
The admissions quota for the School of Fine Arts’ Design major was fixed—one slot per person. If Cheng Mengxue came, then Chi Xiaoguo would inevitably fail to get in.
“Everyone has their own fate, I guess.”
He hoped that this girl who considered herself lucky would still be lucky enough on the new worldline.
……
One hour later.
“We’ve arrived at Donghai University.”
The driver pulled over to the side and handed over the payment code.
Jiang Ran scanned to pay, hugged the parts he had bought from Old Qi Appliance Repair Shop, entered the campus, and arrived at the Film Camera Club activity room.
“Wow!”
Chi Xiaoguo, with two little buns on top of her head, swayed left and right as she examined the completely renewed Positron Cannon.
“Senior, does this mean it’s fixed?”
At this moment, the Positron Cannon had already had its power modules replaced, and the focusing unit had also been connected to the LCD rotary knob control board.
This was the result of Jiang Ran’s sleepless studying over the past period of time.
Although it still hadn’t been experimentally verified, all the components matched those of Worldline 0;
so as long as there was nothing wrong with the Positron Cannon itself, there shouldn’t be any problem with running it.
“It should count as fixed.”
Jiang Ran touched the dent on the top of the Positron Cannon’s casing.
“As long as the core part of the CRT picture tube inside wasn’t smashed, I’m pretty confident.”
“When will we run the experiment?” Chi Xiaoguo was extremely curious.
“Mm…”
Jiang Ran thought for a moment.
“Do you have time tomorrow morning? The earlier the better.”
“Yes! I can be here at six!”
“Alright, then six in the morning. We’ll meet in the activity room.”
Based on previous experience, the best time to activate the Positron Cannon was in the early hours of the morning;
at that time, the entire student activity building would be empty, and the electrical load would be minimal.
But…
He couldn’t exactly ask Chi Xiaoguo to come here in the middle of the night and stay alone in a room with him, could he?
He and Chi Xiaoguo weren’t related in any way, and they were a man and a woman. He absolutely couldn’t make such an unreasonable request—that would be far too disrespectful.
Therefore, the activation time for the Positron Cannon could only be pushed back to the next best option: early morning.
Fortunately, Chi Xiaoguo was willing to cooperate and never asked questions, doing whatever she was told to do… Jiang Ran felt very at ease letting her operate the Positron Cannon.
There was no way around it.
Because of the special mechanism of the time-traveling text message, it was necessary to ensure that within the 0.7 seconds of activating the Positron Cannon, someone was standing near the transformer distribution box and pressing the send key.
With such a short time window and such strict positioning requirements, it was absolutely impossible for one person to complete it alone—he had to rely on Chi Xiaoguo.
“Okay, Senior.”
Chi Xiaoguo looked ready for action.
“See you tomorrow!”
……
The next day, early morning, a light drizzle fell over Donghai City.
Jiang Ran got out of the taxi, reached out to touch the raindrops, and felt that this kind of weather was really not a good omen.
“Hope everything goes smoothly.”
He closed the taxi door and walked into Donghai University.
“When activating the Positron Cannon, you need to have the barrel in front aimed at the distribution box outside.”
Inside the Film Camera Club, Jiang Ran taught Chi Xiaoguo hand in hand.
“Just keep it in this direction. Don’t move it around while it’s running.”
After that, he began adjusting the control board knobs.
He turned the knob controlling “years” to 1;
turned the knob controlling “months” to 11;
turned the knob controlling “days” to 8.
That way, once the Positron Cannon was activated, the time-traveling text message could be sent to 1 year, 11 months, and 8 days in the past.
Converted into a date, it was exactly—
June 6, 2023.
This was the day before the 2023 college entrance exam, and also two days before Cheng Mengxue’s accidental death.
Two days.
More than enough time for his past self to verify the authenticity of the time-traveling text message, believe its contents, make plans in advance, and save Cheng Mengxue.
“I’ve already set all the parameters for you. In a moment, you just need to press the start button.”
Jiang Ran instructed Chi Xiaoguo.
“When I tell you ‘ready’ from outside the window, you start counting down—5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0—loudly, so I can hear you outside too.”
“When the countdown reaches 0, immediately press the Positron Cannon’s activation button. You don’t need to worry about anything else. That’s your only task.”
“Mhm!”
Chi Xiaoguo nodded hard.
Although she didn’t know what Jiang Ran was going to do or what would happen in a moment… she just needed to follow what he said.
“Senior, will something really interesting happen in a bit?”
She smiled, showing her little tiger teeth, her eyes full of anticipation.
“It should.”
Jiang Ran smiled back.
Making someone disappear—was that interesting enough?
It was just that…
This scene was something Chi Xiaoguo wouldn’t get to see.
He could already foresee it.
The moment Chi Xiaoguo pressed the Positron Cannon’s activation key, and he pressed the text-message send key…
That would be his final farewell with Chi Xiaoguo.
A farewell lasting only 0.7 seconds, not even enough time to say goodbye.
“I want to ask you something.”
Jiang Ran turned around.
“Can you tell me… when you filled out your college preferences back then, where was your first choice?”
“Nankai!”
Chi Xiaoguo giggled.
“Although Donghai University is my favorite, my score would’ve been a bit tight. Nankai was much more promising, and they also accept transfers—either way, I could get in.”
“Nankai…”
Jiang Ran couldn’t help but gaze northward.
“That’s pretty far.”
“Yeah.”
Chi Xiaoguo agreed.
“It’s far from my hometown too… huh? Senior, why are you suddenly asking me this?”
“It’s nothing.”
Jiang Ran lowered his head.
“I was just thinking—if there really are parallel worlds in the universe, another worldline with a different set of possibilities… maybe right now you’re studying at Nankai University.”
“I wonder if Nankai University has a Film Camera Club. Maybe you could meet a group of like-minded classmates there.”
“How nice that would be. You wouldn’t have to stay like this, guarding a club on the verge of collapse, barely holding on, being a lone commander without finding any fellow enthusiasts.”
Hm…
Chi Xiaoguo propped her chin on her hand and thought.
“Maybe.”
She shook her head.
“But if I went to Nankai University, then I wouldn’t have met you, Senior.”
Looking straight at Jiang Ran, Chi Xiaoguo’s expression was earnest.
“Being able to meet like-minded friends is of course a good thing, but I think being able to meet you, Senior, and to go through all the bumps together with you to rebuild the Film Camera Club—that whole process is happier and more fulfilling.”
“There’s a teacher at our school called Zhang Yang. His general-education class is really interesting, so I chose his course.”
“Professor Zhang Yang said: don’t beautify the paths you didn’t choose, and don’t regret the lives you didn’t live.”
“He said that any life, any choice, will have regrets and mistakes. What truly matters is cherishing the life you have now, the people in front of you—”
“Everything you see is beautiful;
everything you encounter is what you seek. Life can’t make every choice correctly, but none of the options will ever be blank. There will always be some unexpected encounters waiting for you.”
Raindrops pattered against the glass, her voice as pleasant as wind chimes.
“So, if it were up to me to choose.”
“I’d still want to come to Donghai University and walk this path with you, Senior, following behind you…”
“And keep this Film Camera Club alive!”