novelraw Chapter 72 Hope
Chapter 72 Hope
“Wei Xing!”
Jiang Ran blurted it out.
That was unmistakably Sang Biao’s voice!
“Who the hell’s there?”
The adjacent Cell No. 1 was startled into motion. The iron bars rattled loudly as a bulky head strained to peer over:
“What’s going on? Since when did Cell No. 3 get someone new? Kid, what’s your name?”
Jiang Ran remembered this setting.
Earlier, the inmate in Cell No. 3 had been an honest man nicknamed “Shorty.”
Later, because he heard something he shouldn’t have and saw something he shouldn’t have, the guards silenced him.
After that, Cell No. 3 stayed empty—until Jiang Ran moved in.But as for when he moved in, what crime he committed, and how long his sentence was—no one knew. Including himself.
“Hey! I’m asking you something! Don’t just shut the hell up!”
Jiang Ran felt a quiet shock inside.
He never expected that this “time travel,” despite introducing so many different variables, would still land him in the exact same place, at the exact same time.
Before running this experiment, he had deliberately checked the time.
There had been no extra delays, and Chi Xiaoguo had arrived early as well, so they ran the experiment just after six in the morning—about an hour earlier than usual.
And yet.
This “time travel” still dropped him two seconds before Qi Biao spoke, not a second off.
“My name is Jiang Ran,” he replied.
Over there, Qi Biao was banging the bars so hard they were about to come loose. Jiang Ran stopped thinking for the moment and spoke to him instead:
“What date is it today? Is it still 2045?”
“What?”
Sang Biao sounded incredulous.
“Did you get your head smashed in or something? If this ain’t 2045, could it be 2085?!”
“What day?”
Jiang Ran pressed.
“What’s today’s date?”
“The hell kind of question is that!”
Sang Biao started spewing filth.
“I’m f***ing organizing a prison break here! Stop yapping nonsense!”
At that moment—
From Cell No. 5 on the right came a steady, clear voice:
“September 17th.”
It was the Killer’s voice. Jiang Ran remembered it clearly.
In the previous “time travel,” the Killer had inexplicably taken care of him—helping him again and again, and even at the end, when they were being chased by police dogs, shielding him and letting him go first.
So Jiang Ran’s impression of him had been quite good.
“September 17th, 2045. Morning. About ten o’clock.”
The Killer repeated it precisely.
“Thanks,” Jiang Ran said through the bars.
“Thanks my ass!”
Qi Biao kept cursing.
“I’m telling you to break out, and every one of you’s a damn coward! You—#%Y&…#&Y%—”
Qi Biao launched into a full-on roll call, tearing into Hothead, Bookworm, and the Killer one by one.
Jiang Ran retreated back into his cell and sat down on the narrow bed.
He needed to organize his thoughts.
So far, this prison was exactly the same as in the last “time travel,” down to the smallest detail.
The layout went like this:
[1] [2]
[3] [4]
[5] [6]
Cells 1, 3, and 5 on the left; 2, 4, and 6 on the right; a corridor in the middle.
Cell No. 1 held Qi Biao.
Cell No. 2 held Hothead.
Cell No. 3 was him.
Cell No. 4 was Bookworm.
Cell No. 5 was the Killer.
Cell No. 6 was empty.
The time was still September 17, 2045—exactly matching the date he’d seen on the electronic clock during the last “time travel.”
Though it wasn’t enough to draw a strict conclusion yet.
[When the Positron Cannon is activated while a call is connected, it sends you to a prison at around 10 a.m. on September 17, 2045.]
What was intriguing was…
Everything these people were saying—and everything that was about to happen—he had already experienced once.
Watching Qi Biao and the others now felt like watching a movie replay.
The dialogue was identical.
Jiang Ran heard the Magician’s name again.
The Magician—Qin Feng—was the world’s number-one criminal, humanity’s public enemy, scheduled to be publicly beheaded at noon.
In 2045, Qin Feng should have been around forty years old.
Jiang Ran desperately wanted to see the execution grounds—to see what had happened to Qin Feng, what he’d gone through, and why he’d fallen to such an end.
But—
If all of this was a [fixed loop],
Then that meant that on the way to the execution site, there would be a patrolling guard and several police dogs.
Charging over recklessly would still lead to the same total wipeout as last time.
He rubbed his chin.
Remembering the scene where half his face had been blown off, Jiang Ran still felt lingering fear.
Tsk.
Just like before.
After finishing his rant, Qi Biao pried open his cell door and stepped out, wire clutched in his hand.
“I’ll ask you one last time…”
His voice carried a hint of pleading as he looked from Cell No. 2 to Cell No. 5.
“Are you willing to break out with me?”
After a long silence, Jiang Ran stepped forward, reached through the bars, and patted Qi Biao on the shoulder.
“I’ll go with you.”
Qi Biao’s eyes bulged.
“For real, brother?!”
He never expected that this newly arrived kid—the skinniest, weakest-looking one—would be the one backing him!
He sized Jiang Ran up and down, question marks popping up over his head.
“Wait, no—what’s with your clothes? Why aren’t you wearing a prison uniform? And that haircut—”
“That’s not important.”
Jiang Ran cut him off, rattling the bars.
“Hurry up and open the door.”
Qi Biao moved fast, opening the door and ushering Jiang Ran out with both hands.
What followed unfolded exactly as Jiang Ran expected.
The Killer was the first to respond, saying that Jiang Ran was his so-called [luck], and that since Jiang Ran was escaping, he’d follow.
Hothead and Bookworm, as always, respected the Killer deeply and quickly joined as well.
In short—
With Jiang Ran pushing things along, this prison-break team formed with unprecedented efficiency, assembling a five-man squad in no time.
“Actually, this could’ve been even more efficient,” Jiang Ran muttered, rubbing his chin.
“If we’d skipped the pointless talk and formed up right away, we might’ve avoided the patrol guards and police dogs…”
“Huh?”
Qi Biao turned around, staring at Jiang Ran.
“What the hell are you mumbling about?”
“Nothing.”
Jiang Ran waved him off.
“Let’s move.”
Facing a plot he’d already lived through once, Jiang Ran honestly felt no sense of reality at all. Everything felt like a game, so he wasn’t nervous in the slightest—calm and composed throughout.
At this point, he still couldn’t tell whether this bizarre “time travel” was real or fake, a dream or a delusion.
Either way, breaking out first seemed like the right move.
He was genuinely curious what the world outside this prison looked like.
Maybe once he saw it, many of the questions in his heart would answer themselves.
Just like last time.
Hothead tossed over two stun batons, then went inside with Qi Biao to auto-loot.
Jiang Ran caught one and handed the other to the Killer.
“Can you tell me why you trust me so much? Why you’d even bet your life on me?”
This was something that had bothered Jiang Ran during the last “time travel.” Back then, the Killer had brushed it off, and Jiang Ran hadn’t pressed the issue. But thinking about it now, it was full of problems.
“Because you’re [luck].”
The Killer smiled gently.
“I already said that.”
“Can you stop talking in riddles?”
Jiang Ran looked at him.
“We’re partners in life and death now—tied to the same rope. At this point, you might as well speak plainly… Do you know me?”
“I don’t,” the Killer shook his head.
“Have you seen me before? Do you know anything about me?”
“Nothing at all.”
“Then why?”
Jiang Ran frowned.
“You don’t know me, you’ve never seen me, yet you dare to stake your life on me? That makes no sense.”
The Killer didn’t answer. He just smiled faintly.
“When we really manage to break out and escape, I’ll tell you.”
Jiang Ran was speechless.
He’d once thought this handsome, CEO-like middle-aged man looked completely out of place as a killer.
But now, seeing how tight-lipped he was, Jiang Ran had to admit—he was perfectly suited for the job.
Ignoring him, Jiang Ran went into the inner room to search.
Fortunately, there was a mirror hanging on the wall.
He hurried over to check his reflection.
The image in the mirror came into view from left to right—
A young face.
A familiar face.
His own face.
It was unmistakably him at nineteen, and his appearance matched exactly what he’d seen in the mirror that morning.
But this was 2045…
He should have been thirty-nine.
Why did he still look nineteen?
This violation of common sense once again made Jiang Ran doubt the reality of this world.
On the table sat a black electronic clock, displaying—
September 17, 2045, 10:27 AM
He picked it up to keep track of time.
Then—
The five-man team, armed with scavenged equipment, continued forward and reached another fork.
Qi Biao pointed left.
“Left—”
“Go left.”
Jiang Ran cut in, nearly choking Qi Biao mid-sentence.
“You—”
Qi Biao stared blankly at Jiang Ran, finding the kid increasingly pleasing to the eye.
“The right side won’t work,” Jiang Ran explained.
“There are patrol guards and police dogs down that corridor. Going there is a guaranteed wipe.”
“How do you know that so clearly?”
Bookworm looked at Jiang Ran.
“From the start… you’ve felt strangely familiar.”
“Let’s just break out first,” Jiang Ran said lazily.
He was desperate to see the outside world.
Facts proved Qi Biao’s instincts right.
The left corridor led to an abandoned building. The path was clear, without a single obstacle.
Their target was the rooftop.
Many staircases had collapsed, forcing them to form human ladders multiple times.
Luckily, everyone was on the same page, working together tightly. After about twenty minutes, they finally broke through and reached the roof.
Huff…
A fresh autumn breeze swept over them. Jiang Ran finally smelled the outside world.
Pushing open the stairwell door, they stepped onto the rooftop. Qi Biao burst out laughing.
“Hahahaha! Finally! I f***ing pulled off a prison break! Split up and check around—see if there’re any pipes or cables we can climb down!”
The others scattered.
Jiang Ran had already heard waves of cheering from the west and headed that way.
Sure enough—
Just as he expected.
The moment he reached the edge, he saw a massive crowd hundreds of meters away.
This place was remote, with no major buildings around—practically wilderness.
Yet that stretch of yellow earth was packed with tens of thousands of people.
They were cheering, shouting, jumping—
Like a frenzied concert.
But Jiang Ran knew—
This wasn’t a concert.
It was an execution ground.
The execution ground reserved solely for the Magician, Qin Feng.
Soon, before tens of thousands of spectators—and a global broadcast—Qin Feng would be beheaded, his head rolling to the ground.
Beep.
The electronic clock in his hand chimed softly.
Jiang Ran checked it—
September 17, 2045, 11:00 AM
“One more hour, and the Magician will be beheaded,” he said.
The Killer stood behind him, squinting at the clock, then gazing toward the distant execution ground.
“The world’s number-one criminal. Humanity’s public enemy. Today, he faces mankind’s judgment.”
Jiang Ran turned his head.
“Do you hate him that much?”
The Killer pursed his lips and shook his head.
“I don’t really feel anything. I don’t even know what he did.”
“I was locked up over a decade ago. Back then, there was no Magician—or at least, he hadn’t been caught yet.”
“At the time, I was serving my sentence in another prison. This place was later remodeled specifically to hold the Magician, and I was transferred here.”
“As you can see, we’re cut off from the world. The only information we get is hearsay.”
“So over these ten-plus years, I have no idea what’s happened outside. Naturally, I don’t have any particular hatred for the Magician.”
Jiang Ran listened silently, gazing into the distance.
Because his view was blocked, he couldn’t see the execution platform—only a dense, frenzied sea of people.
He couldn’t imagine what kind of crimes someone had to commit to be hated by the entire world like this.
The scene reminded him of the opening of One Piece, when the Navy executed the Pirate King, Roger.
Back then, Roger’s words—“Want my treasure? Then go find it on the Grand Line!”—had sparked the Great Age of Pirates.
But the Magician, Qin Feng, standing on the brink of beheading now, clearly wouldn’t have such power.
Still…
[If Qin Feng, guilty beyond measure, were given a chance to speak before death… what would he say?]
Jiang Ran was curious.
And also… saddened.
No matter how bizarre and unreal all this was, the fact remained: a friend of many years was about to die. His heart couldn’t help but feel heavy.
Qin Feng had indeed deceived him, done things that wronged him.
Thinking of Cheng Mengxue’s tragedy on Worldline 1, thinking of the irreparably broken Positron Cannon, Jiang Ran felt anger.
But… did he deserve death?
Jiang Ran would rather Qin Feng find his way back—and work with him to fix the Positron Cannon and save Cheng Mengxue.
“Hey! Over here!”
Qi Biao shouted, waving them over.
“There’s a pipe here—we can climb—”
Bang!
A crisp gunshot rang out.
Qi Biao’s head exploded like a watermelon, blood spraying through the air.
“Qi Biao!!”
Hothead sucked in a sharp breath.
“Get down!”
Bang!
Too late.
Hothead’s head became the second watermelon, brain matter and blood splattering across the ground.
“There’s a sniper!”
The Killer reacted instantly, slamming Jiang Ran down.
Bang! Bang!
He was still a split second too slow.
As Bookworm’s head burst apart, a flower of blood also bloomed on the Killer’s arm.
Jiang Ran felt his face splattered with blood.
He wiped his eyes and saw the Killer’s right arm nearly torn off, only a few strips of flesh still dangling from his shoulder!
The ruptured artery gushed like a faucet. The Killer’s face went deathly pale.
“Killer!”
Jiang Ran couldn’t help shouting.
The second time—
This was the second time the Killer had been injured protecting him.
Jiang Ran truly couldn’t understand it.
Why was this man protecting him so fiercely?!
Buzz…
Buzz…
Buzz…
The sound of a drone approaching came from afar. They’d been exposed after all. The snipers must have had them in their sights long ago, just waiting for the right moment.
“Get… get inside.”
The Killer gritted his teeth, using his remaining strength to push Jiang Ran back.
“Drones can’t get in… hurry… go inside…”
Jiang Ran clenched his teeth.
Adrenaline surged. He scooped the Killer up with all his strength and sprinted toward the stairwell door!
Wham—wham—wham!
Bullets struck the ground. Jiang Ran didn’t even know if he’d been hit. Hugging the Killer, he charged into the stairwell and slammed the door shut, locking it. Then, drawing on what he’d learned in college, he applied direct pressure to the Killer’s upper arm artery to slow the bleeding.
“It’s useless…”
The Killer endured the pain.
“Just go…”
“Go where?!”
Jiang Ran pressed down with all his strength.
“There’s nowhere to run! The drones can’t get in, but the guards will climb up sooner or later—we’re dead either way!”
Panting, he stared into the Killer’s dimming eyes in the darkness.
“Now, will you tell me?”
“What…”
“Why did you call me [luck]? Why do you trust me so much?”
Jiang Ran focused all his strength into his thumb, locking eyes with him.
“You’re not planning to take the answer to your grave, are you? We’re going to die anyway—just say it!”
The Killer slowly lifted his head.
Meeting Jiang Ran’s gaze, breathing heavily, he finally let out a breath.
“[You’re… a time traveler, aren’t you?]”
!
Jiang Ran’s thumb slipped instantly. Blood sprayed out again.
“You—”
He hurriedly pressed down again.
But his eyes were filled with shock.
“I…”
He didn’t know how to explain.
That single sentence hit like a key in a lock, leaving him speechless.
He truly didn’t know what to say.
“But…”
The Killer coughed up blood, forcing a knowing smile.
“Looks like that rumor was true after all… [The time-travel machine]… really exists…”
“What are you talking about?!”
Jiang Ran was completely stunned.
“No wonder… I was locked up here…”
The Killer’s pain perception was already fading. He smiled easily, calmly.
“Hey!”
Jiang Ran shouted.
“What the hell are you talking about?! What is this [time-travel machine]?!”
“[The time-travel machine]… is a device that lets people… travel through time… back to the past…”
The Killer’s pupils lost focus, dilating. Massive blood loss—there was no saving him now.
Using his last strength, he propped his head up, staring hazily at Jiang Ran.
“[Can you… go back one more time…?]”
“I don’t know!”
Jiang Ran couldn’t follow his train of thought at all.
“A time-travel machine? Where is it?!”
“I don’t know…”
The Killer’s voice grew weaker.
“There’s just always been a rumor…”
Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang bang!!
Countless gunshots hammered the iron door. The thick metal instantly turned into a honeycomb.
The drones had opened fire.
Invisible bullets sparked as they ricocheted wildly through the stairwell.
Jiang Ran jumped up and shielded the Killer with his body, pressing his ear to the Killer’s mouth.
He had to know this information.
If a [time-travel machine] really existed—if it could truly send someone back to the past—then it could perfectly replace the Positron Cannon. There would be another way to save Cheng Mengxue!
“What is the rumor?!”
Jiang Ran gritted his teeth. He could already feel bullets tearing through his body, blood pouring out.
“They say… the person who invented the time-travel machine… is…”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A shot to the head. His vision flooded red. Jiang Ran’s body jerked straight.
Clinging to consciousness, he pressed his ear to the Killer’s lips.
“Is…”
With his last breath, four final words:
“At Donghai University…”