novelraw Chapter 61 Departure
Chapter 61 Departure
“Alright!”
Chi Xiaoguo raised her right fist high, brimming with fighting spirit.
Even though she didn’t actually know what Senior Jiang Ran was about to do, deep down she hoped with all her heart that this experiment would succeed.
Senior Jiang was her benefactor. His extraordinary ability to act decisively made her both envious and full of admiration.
But…
At the same time, she couldn’t help thinking—
If Senior Jiang’s experiment succeeded, wouldn’t that mean… he wouldn’t come to this activity room anymore?
For a moment, she felt unexpectedly lonely.
After all, the fact that the Film Camera Club had been preserved at all was no small miracle—and 99% of the credit belonged to Senior Jiang.
Even though he wasn’t a student of Donghai University, she had long since grown used to seeing him in the club activity room.Ugh! Seriously! What am I even thinking!
Chi Xiaoguo hurriedly shook her head, throwing those stray thoughts away.
It had to succeed!
It absolutely had to succeed!
This book was first released on the original platform—super easy to use, waiting for you to read, providing a flawless, non-disordered chapter reading experience.
Senior Jiang had paid so much for this Positron Cannon. He had worked so hard. Today’s experiment had to succeed on the first try!
After offering a devout prayer in her heart, Chi Xiaoguo opened her eyes and looked toward the Positron Cannon’s control console.
It was an external circuit board with four knobs and four small LCD screens. Labels were stuck beside them respectively: year, month, day, hour.
And now, aside from the small screen next to “hour,” which displayed “0,” all the other screens had already been set to specific numbers.
“This… kind of looks like a [time machine],” she said softly.
Jiang Ran smiled without replying.
“Is it really that obvious?”
“Hahaha, of course not~ Senior, you’re not Doraemon.”
Chi Xiaoguo then patted her waist and said:
“But don’t worry, Senior, I’m really tight-lipped! Even if this really were a time machine, I’d definitely keep it secret. I wouldn’t say a word even if you beat me to death!”
“I’m really looking forward to seeing what kind of magical thing is about to happen. Let me confirm one more time—after the countdown ends, I just press this red button, right?”
“Mm.”
Jiang Ran nodded.
“Then you just stay here on standby. Don’t touch any of the other knobs, and don’t adjust the direction the Positron Cannon is pointed. Once I’m ready, you start the countdown, then press the activation button.”
“Roger!”
After arranging things with Chi Xiaoguo, Jiang Ran walked out of the activity room, out of the student activity building, and stopped beside the transformer distribution box.
He opened his phone. Inside was a text message he had edited in advance.
The recipient was the phone number he himself had used two years ago.
The content was exactly 70 characters long:
[Past me, I now know two future facts:
1. Tomorrow’s college entrance exam Chinese essay topic is “The Power of Stories”;
2. The morning after tomorrow, Cheng Mengxue will die in a traffic accident;
You must make sure Xiaoxue goes to the exam by the original route—do not detour!]
These two pieces of information—
The first was for his self from two years ago to verify the authenticity of the time-traveling text message.
The second was to inform him of Cheng Mengxue’s fatal car accident, so that his past self could prevent the tragedy.
This was the most reliable approach.
If he only warned that something would happen to Cheng Mengxue, there was a high chance it would be dismissed as a prank message or a scam text.
That was why verification information—something like [the Chinese exam essay topic]—was absolutely necessary.
If everything went smoothly,
This text message would be sent to June 6, 2023, to the phone of eighteen-year-old Jiang Ran.
At first, he would probably be doubtful.
But the next day, June 7, after the Chinese exam ended, he would definitely believe the authenticity of the message.
Naturally, he would also believe the prediction that Cheng Mengxue would die on June 8.
Once trust was established, the rest would be easy. His past self would certainly listen, avoid detours, and obediently lead Cheng Mengxue to the exam site.
Alright.
All preparations complete.
All that remained was to press the send key within the 0.7-second window when the Positron Cannon activated.
A temporal shift would occur.
The worldline would change.
Cheng Mengxue… would return to this world once again, replacing Chi Xiaoguo, sitting on the activity-room sofa, knitting a sweater for her beloved Rhine Cat plush.
“I’m ready!”
He shouted toward the Film Camera Club window.
“Received!”
Chi Xiaoguo stood on tiptoe in front of the experimental console.
“Then, Senior, I’ll start the countdown—”
“Five!”
A clear voice. A different girl’s voice. The same words.
At last.
It was time to say goodbye to this unfamiliar worldline.
“Four!”
Jiang Ran stared at his phone screen, his thumb hovering above the send button.
Thinking about it carefully—
The people he had met on this worldline were actually all pretty decent.
Wang Hao—still loyal and dependable.
Nan Xiuxiu—although he didn’t like her, at least the girl was honest and kind, not a bad person.
Chi Xiaoguo—a cute little ray of sunshine, a small club president with huge responsibilities.
Xu Yan and Yan Rui—both had helped him in their own ways.
“Three!”
But all of that was already in the past.
Once the countdown ended, everything that had happened here would turn into dust in the history books.
On the new worldline, everyone would have new histories, new lives.
“Two!”
If he had to say it—
This worldline still had its regrets.
Especially when it came to Qin Feng. So many mysteries remained unsolved.
Why hadn’t Qin Feng’s father been saved?
Who burned down the building, and where had the mother and son disappeared to?
Where exactly had he seen that Ferris wheel pattern before?
After the worldline changed…
Would there still be a chance to find answers to these questions?
“One!”
Almost there.
Just the final second left.
Jiang Ran’s thumb was coiled, ready to strike.
After saving Cheng Mengxue through the time-traveling text, it would be time for the next step—finding Qin Feng.
No matter how many secrets Qin Feng carried, no matter how many things he had done to wrong him, in the end—
He had promised to find them both, without leaving a single one behind.
And a promise made had to be kept.
Earlier, at Malan Middle School, he had already memorized the phone numbers of Qin Feng’s parents from ten years ago.
So in theory, as long as he sent a time-traveling text message to them ten years in the past, finding Qin Feng wouldn’t be difficult.
Everything was going smoothly. Everything was looking up.
Come on!
Our worldline!
“Zero!”
Ding-ling-ling ding-ling-ling ding-ling—
An accident happened!
At the exact moment Chi Xiaoguo counted down to zero, the phone suddenly rang. The caller ID read [Nan Xiuxiu].
At this moment, the Positron Cannon was already roaring to life!
And Jiang Ran’s thumb reflexively slammed downward!
Everything happened too fast. The position of the text message send button was overwritten by the call-answer button, and the pad of his thumb pressed it directly!
“Hm?”
The last trace of auditory hallucination came from Nan Xiuxiu’s voice after the call connected.
Buzz!
Buzz!
Buzz!
The familiar dizziness struck again—loss of gravity, the world spinning.
What was going on?
Jiang Ran was confused amid the vertigo.
He clearly hadn’t pressed the text message send button. The time-traveling text clearly hadn’t been sent successfully—
Then why?!
Why did the temporal shift still occur?!
Could it be that…
[It’s not only text messages that can cross time—an answered phone call can also trigger a chain reaction with the Positron Cannon?!]
What kind of principle was this?
How would the worldline change?
The world plunged into darkness. His five senses vanished.
Like a leaf falling into water, Jiang Ran drifted with the current, tumbling toward unknown time and space… and fell in!
Two seconds later.
All discomfort disappeared.
He felt the solid ground beneath his feet, the clarity of his senses returning.
“Hoo…”
He let out a long breath.
Jiang Ran opened his eyes—