novelraw Chapter 78 Upgrading to a Bachelor’s Degree
Chapter 78 Upgrading to a Bachelor’s Degree
When he heard those words.
The gray-haired Zhang Yang froze.
He slowly raised his head, narrowed his eyes, and stared blankly at Jiang Ran.
This young man…
He had no impression of him at all.
“Do you… know me?”
He spoke very slowly, asking while thinking.
Jiang Ran nodded.
“Professor Zhang, I know you. But for now, don’t ask me anything. Please take a good look at my face… can you still remember me?”
He was already taller than Zhang Yang to begin with, and now Zhang Yang was stooped with age. Jiang Ran half-squatted, bringing his gaze level with the elderly man’s so he could see more clearly.“Professor Zhang, please look carefully at my face. Does it ring any bells?”
Zhang Yang held his breath and examined him from side to side several times.
In the end.
He could only shake his head helplessly.
“I’m sorry, young man. I really can’t remember…”
“I’ve been stuck in this place for too many years. My memory often gets very poor, and I can’t recall many things from before.”
“But… I feel like you shouldn’t even be twenty yet. And I’ve already been locked up in this prison for ten years. Logically speaking, our lives shouldn’t have crossed paths.”
“So, I’m very sorry. I truly can’t remember where I’ve seen you. I have no impression at all.”
Jiang Ran pressed his lips together.
Was it because the impression hadn’t been deep enough?
That was possible.
After all, on Worldline No. 1, he had only met Zhang Yang once. Even if Professor Zhang had praised him and said he would give him a high score on the final exam—
Scenes like that, students like that, Zhang Yang must have encountered many times over more than a decade of teaching.
Now that Jiang Ran was a sophomore in college, thinking back to elementary school—which was only ten years ago—he had already forgotten the names and faces of many classmates.
And those elementary school classmates had spent six years together, day in and day out.
If even people you spent so much time with could be forgotten, then how could a single meeting from twenty years ago possibly remain clear?
“Do you remember how you got this injury on your hand?”
Jiang Ran still tried to press on.
“This means—look at this bluish dot. It should be a mark left by a pencil stabbing, right?”
“Think carefully. Can you remember when this injury happened, and how it happened?”
Zhang Yang raised his wrist and looked at his palm.
“Oh, this—this was definitely from a pencil. I’ve got one on my arm too. That was from my deskmate in elementary school. I still remember that.”
“As for the one on my hand… I vaguely remember that it happened when I was teaching at Donghai University. I was explaining some exercises to students, and one of them poked me with a pencil. I don’t really remember the details.”
That student was me!
The words almost burst out of Jiang Ran’s mouth.
But after a brief moment of thought, he held them back.
Unless he openly confessed that he was a time traveler who had crossed backward from 2025, there was no way to explain this clearly to Professor Zhang.
The age paradox alone was an insurmountable problem.
And digging into this with Professor Zhang right now was unnecessary anyway.
What he wanted to confirm—he had already gotten his answer.
Whether or not Professor Zhang remembered him, that bluish pencil mark was ironclad proof of the future’s authenticity.
“Donghai University?”
This time, Jiang Ran’s conversation with Bookworm Zhang Yang drew the Killer’s attention.
He walked over and looked at Zhang Yang.
“Bookworm, you used to be a teacher at Donghai University? How come I’ve never heard you mention it?”
Zhang Yang looked at the Killer and smiled helplessly.
“You never asked before. Why would I bring up my past for no reason? Talking about it just makes people feel miserable.”
This exchange had happened before.
The only difference was that last time, the cell doors hadn’t been opened, and everyone had spoken from behind bars. Naturally, Jiang Ran hadn’t been able to see the Killer’s expression.
But now, he observed closely.
From the moment the Killer learned that Zhang Yang had once been a teacher at Donghai University, his expression grew complicated. His gaze jumped back and forth between Jiang Ran and Zhang Yang, as if he wanted to speak but stopped himself.
“I know what you want to ask.”
Jiang Ran laid it bare.
“Killer, you want to ask about […] the spacetime shuttle, don’t you?”
The Killer looked at Jiang Ran without saying a word.
But his silence already said everything.
“Don’t hide it.”
Jiang Ran smiled.
“If you won’t ask, I’ll ask for you.”
As he spoke, he turned toward the elderly Zhang Yang.
“Professor Zhang, there’s been a rumor going around that someone at Donghai University invented a […] spacetime shuttle that can send people back to the past. Have you ever heard of such a thing?”
“Huh?”
Zhang Yang froze, clearly startled.
“T-that’s impossible.”
He laughed, half amused, half helpless.
“Although there have always been relevant theories in the scientific community, and I myself once researched them out of curiosity, if you’re saying someone actually succeeded in inventing such a thing… honestly, I don’t believe it.”
“I’m not a technological conservative. I believe that perhaps with continuous scientific progress, explosive growth in energy supply, and humanity gradually mastering the speed of light and black holes, it might be possible to develop a spacetime shuttle someday.”
“But… if you’re saying that in this era, right now, and even developed on the campus of Donghai University, I think that’s pure fantasy.”
Jiang Ran turned to look at the Killer and found him smirking as well.
Great. He’d made a fool of himself.
It seemed that the Killer’s meaningful silence earlier hadn’t been about understand the time machine at all. There had to be other […] secrets tied to him, and to the Donghai University he knew.
But the man truly lived up to his name—tight-lipped to the extreme. Trying to pry anything out of him was incredibly difficult.
Whenever questions touched on the core, he always threw out the same line:
“If we really manage to break out of prison, I’ll tell you.”
Last night, before going to sleep, Jiang Ran had finally figured it out.
This was the Killer’s trump card when dealing with him.
Since the Killer had already tacitly acknowledged that Jiang Ran was a time traveler, he naturally expected Jiang Ran to lead him in escaping prison—while at the same time guarding against Jiang Ran extracting intelligence from him.
So before their true objective was achieved—that is, a successful escape—he would never foolishly reveal the final answer.
This was the Killer’s leverage.
His bargaining chip.
However.
Professor Zhang’s denial didn’t prove anything.
It was merely the denial of a researcher exercising scientific rigor. It didn’t represent the truth.
And it was obvious that Professor Zhang had never even heard of rumors about a spacetime shuttle.
When it came to unconventional paths.
Compared to Bookworm Zhang Yang, Jiang Ran trusted the mysterious Killer far more.
The Killer was truly something else. Not only skilled and respected, but also able to identify Jiang Ran as a time traveler almost immediately. That alone meant he was anything but ordinary.
“Then let me put it another way.”
Jiang Ran adjusted his approach.
“Professor Zhang, at Donghai University, is there anyone universally acknowledged as a genius?”
“Someone who isn’t just highly intelligent, but whose thinking and abilities far surpass ordinary people—a true super genius?”
“So much so that… even if one day people found out he had secretly invented a spacetime shuttle, no one would find it strange. They would only think it was only natural?”
“There really is.”
Unexpectedly.
Faced with this question, Zhang Yang didn’t hesitate at all. He answered immediately.
“If you’re talking about a universally acknowledged super genius, then over all these years at Donghai University, there’s only been one person who truly deserves that title—more than deserves it, actually.”
“He’s very famous. You’ve definitely heard his name. Almost everyone in Dragon Country knows it. It’s just that many people don’t realize he was a student at Donghai University.”
“Who?” Jiang Ran urged.
As he spoke of this, a trace of pride surfaced on Zhang Yang’s aged, wrinkled face.
“I even taught him before. He once took my general-education course. He really was an exceptionally brilliant child. His name is—[…] Lu Yu.”
When the Killer heard the name, he remained calm, without the slightest reaction.
But Lai Hu and Fathead Qing looked as if realization had dawned on them.
“So it was him. Yeah, that really is a genius.”
Jiang Ran stared at the two burly men, who didn’t seem to have particularly large brain capacity.
Even Lai Hu had heard of Lu Yu?
Then this genius’s name really must have been thunderous.
“What did he do? What were his achievements?”
Jiang Ran pressed on.
“If he’s become a household name as a universally recognized genius, he must have done something extraordinary, right?”
“Of course.”
Zhang Yang smiled.
“Lu Yu is an undisputed super mathematical genius. The only reason he hasn’t stood shoulder to shoulder with Gauss is probably because he hasn’t died yet.”
“Of course, you might think I’m speaking with a teacher’s bias, but in my eyes, Lu Yu really is that outstanding.”
“What exactly did he do?” Jiang Ran was getting anxious.
Teachers always praised their own students like this.
“You don’t even know about Lu Yu? That’s truly unbelievable.”
Zhang Yang shook his head and said solemnly,
“Lu Yu, while still an undergraduate, plucked the most brilliant jewel from the crown of mathematics.”
Hearing this.
Jiang Ran froze and sucked in a sharp breath.
The most brilliant jewel on the crown of mathematics?
Something worthy of being elevated to that level seemed to be only one thing…
Zhang Yang snorted lightly and said decisively,
“Lu Yu, at the age of only twenty, solved a problem that had plagued the mathematical world for more than three centuries—”
“Goldbach’s Conjecture!”
Boom!
At the instant his guess was confirmed, thunder exploded in Jiang Ran’s mind, nearly blasting him straight back to 2025.
Goldbach’s Conjecture?
The ultimate problem that had trapped countless mathematical geniuses throughout history—solved by a twenty-year-old college student?
This kind of plot would be absurd even in a novel!
If Goldbach’s Conjecture were truly solved, then Zhang Yang’s claim that Lu Yu could rival the Prince of Mathematics, Gauss, wasn’t exaggerated at all.
After all, Gauss—the mountain and river of mathematics—had devoted his entire life and ultimately had to concede defeat before Goldbach’s Conjecture.
The same was true for Euler, Riemann, Dirichlet, and other renowned mathematicians. At best, they had only proven parts of the “weak conjecture,” never managing to shake Goldbach’s Conjecture itself.
“Ridiculous.”
Jiang Ran clicked his tongue.
To those who didn’t understand mathematics, solving Goldbach’s Conjecture might seem like answering a very difficult math problem, nothing particularly valuable. That was why so many so-called folk scientists chose it as their first target.
But anyone who had even slightly entered the world of mathematics, climbed beyond advanced mathematics into the mathematical sanctuary itself… would naturally understand just what kind of god-tier existence Goldbach’s Conjecture was.
Twenty years old. Lu Yu. Student at Donghai University. Solved Goldbach’s Conjecture.
Ridiculous.
Truly ridiculous.
And indeed, if one day news suddenly broke that Lu Yu had conquered the spacetime shuttle, Jiang Ran wouldn’t find it strange at all. He would instead think… only he could possibly be worthy of it.
But this was good news!
Although there was still no direct clue about the […] spacetime shuttle, the most likely candidate for its inventor had already surfaced.
Jiang Ran glanced at the Killer, trying to read something from his face.
To no avail.
The Killer’s expression remained calm as still water, without the slightest ripple. It was impossible to tell whether it was truly irrelevant, or simply carefully concealed.
“Professor Zhang.”
Jiang Ran took hold of Zhang Yang’s hands.
“Since Lu Yu was once your student, you must know him well. Do you remember which cohort he was in, or what major he studied?”
Zhang Yang closed his eyes and thought for a while.
“Hmm… 2026, or maybe 2027. He took my general-education course that year. He was either a sophomore or a junior—anyway, he was twenty that year.”
“Oh, right, right. I remember now. Lu Yu was already studying at Donghai University in 2026. He was from the School of Mathematical Sciences.”
Jiang Ran calculated mentally.
2026—Lu Yu was already studying at Donghai University.
That meant he was a freshman in 2025.
Because the 2025 freshman intake started in September.
September 2025—only three months away.
In other words…
At the very latest, once the summer vacation ended,
He would be able to meet this world-shaking genius, Lu Yu!
Could the secret of the spacetime shuttle be in his hands?
Could the inventor of the spacetime shuttle be him?
“Ahem!”
Suddenly, Lai Biao’s deliberate cough interrupted Jiang Ran’s thoughts.
“Well, uh, shouldn’t we maybe hurry up and handle the main business first? Huh? Brothers, this isn’t Mama Cauliflower’s little classroom. If you want to talk about math problems, can’t we wait until after we escape?”
Jiang Ran looked around and realized that everyone was indeed at their limit, all staring at him with anxious faces.
It was just that he had been too composed, so no one dared to voice their anger openly.
Understandable. Jiang Ran was here to verify facts and gather intelligence, but for the others, there was only one objective—
Escape from prison.
“All right.”
Jiang Ran also wanted to succeed in escaping, to see the outside world, to see the Magician over at the execution ground. So he stopped pulling Zhang Yang into further questions.
“Time waits for no one. Let’s move.”
It was the same route as before.
They arrived at the familiar fork in the path.
This time, amid the argument, Jiang Ran recommended the left side.
He reasoned it this way—
The fight on the right side against guards and police dogs sounded easy, but in practice it was extremely difficult.
The main issue was their team composition. It was basically the Killer, a king-tier player, carrying four bronze-tier scraps. They couldn’t execute any imagined coordination at all. Once the order was given and everyone rushed forward, it devolved into total chaos, and they were wiped out by guards and police dogs.
By comparison, the abandoned high-rise route on the left might still offer some way out.
“The building on the left—even if the snipers can see us, we don’t have to go to the rooftop, right?”
Jiang Ran suggested.
“We can climb to the second-to-last floor, then stop there. Find an escape route from the windows on that floor. Maybe that way we won’t be spotted by the snipers.”
Lai Biao nodded.
“Mm-hmm.”
He waved his hand.
“Move out!”
Bang.
A bloom of blood and brains exploded in midair.
“Bian Biao!”
Bang.
Another burst of brain matter.
“Hothead!”
Bang bang bang bang!!!
Hng!
Hng!
Hng!
After two seconds of the world spinning, Jiang Ran opened his eyes.
“Whew.”
He let out a breath.
So hard.
Sure enough, whether it was him or Bian Biao, they had both underestimated how difficult escaping prison really was.
This was, after all, an execution site for humanity’s most dangerous criminals. How could the security forces not be airtight? How could an escape possibly succeed?
“Forget it. I won’t worry about that for now.”
He hung up the phone and jogged all the way back to the Film Camera Club activity room.
Pushing open the door, he saw Chi Xiaoguo pulling several thick, old archives out of her backpack.
“What are those?” Jiang Ran asked.
“They’re old archives I found in the school library. Stuff about clubs, reports related to clubs, and also this…”
Chi Xiaoguo took out a hardcover book that looked very heavy.
“This is a collection of award-winning photography works from Donghai University.”
“Senior, haven’t you been trying to find clues related to the Positron Cannon? Since the school’s electronic system can’t find anything, and we couldn’t get answers from the previous presidents either, why don’t we start with these old paper archives?”
“Especially this photography awards collection. It should contain lots of works by previous Film Camera Club members. Maybe we can spot the Positron Cannon inside, or at least find the names of past presidents!”
Jiang Ran lowered his head, looking at Chi Xiaoguo’s small backpack, stuffed to the point of bursting. He felt a bit moved.
With her small frame, she must have exerted a lot of effort carrying all this over…
“Thank you.”
He said softly.
“Aren’t you going to class today?”
“Mm, I don’t have classes this morning. I’ll just stay here and go through these old archives.”
“Okay.”
After responding, Jiang Ran walked straight to the workbench.
He unplugged the Positron Cannon’s power, then stared at the small blackboard and began organizing his thoughts from today.
Without a doubt.
It could now be confirmed with 100% certainty that the trip to the future of 2045, and the intelligence obtained there, were basically all real.
Which meant—
[…In September 2025, when freshmen enroll, a super genius named Lu Yu will arrive at Donghai University.]
[…At some point afterward, someone at Donghai University successfully invents a spacetime shuttle capable of sending people back to the past.]
[…Later still, Professor Zhang Yang is imprisoned because of his research into quantum tunneling at Donghai University.]
[…And then there is the Killer. He was likely imprisoned for murder, but everything about his behavior suggests that Donghai University definitely holds other secrets.]
Donghai University…
Donghai University…
Donghai University…
Donghai University…
With his eyes closed, all the lines of reasoning tangled together, and one key node threaded all the clues into a single chain.
“Donghai University,” he murmured.
“Hm?”
Hearing the muttering, Chi Xiaoguo lifted her head.
“Senior, what did you say?”
Jiang Ran didn’t move.
His thoughts raced, weaving clues together at high speed.
It seemed—
Donghai University was the central key to everything.
This place held the Positron Cannon, a super genius, the spacetime shuttle, and countless secrets of history and the future.
Everything else, he could afford not to care about.
But if he wanted to revive Cheng Mengxue, he couldn’t avoid the Positron Cannon and the spacetime shuttle.
Once time dragged into the next semester,
With Chi Xiaoguo as president, the Film Camera Club would start holding club activities, and everything would become inconvenient.
Not to mention his own status as an outsider from a junior college. How was he supposed to carry out a plan on Donghai University’s campus? Even if he found the super genius Lu Yu, would the other party even pay attention to him?
No.
Proximity was everything.
No matter what, he had to move the main battlefield to Donghai University!
“Decision made.”
Jiang Ran opened his eyes and stood up.
“Eh?”
Chi Xiaoguo froze.
“S-Senior? What did you decide?”
Jiang Ran pulled open the curtain and looked out at the familiar campus, filled with memories.
“I’ve decided.”
Four words, firm and decisive.
He turned back to look at Chi Xiaoguo.
“I’m going to… study at Donghai University!”