novelraw Chapter 80 Old Photograph
Chapter 80 Old Photograph
Jiang Ran was genuinely surprised.
Had Chi Xiaoguo actually found a clue?
No wonder.
No wonder the moment he walked in this morning, he could clearly sense she was in a good mood.
After flipping through so many archives, it seemed she had indeed gained something.
“Let me see.”
He quickly took the album from her.
He had seen this album yesterday. It was a scanned-and-printed collection of award-winning photographs from Donghai University over the years. The book was old—the inner pages yellowed, the spine nearly falling apart.
Jiang Ran followed the direction of Chi Xiaoguo’s finger—
“Hm?”Only then did he realize she wasn’t pointing at one of the printed award photos.
It was an actual physical photograph pasted onto the page.
He reached out and touched it.
As he suspected—
It wasn’t printed on the page at all. It had been stuck there with double-sided tape.
“What’s going on here?” he asked.
“Uh…”
Chi Xiaoguo scratched her head.
“I thought it was strange too. So I secretly peeled up one corner and checked what was underneath.”
“It turns out, below it is a winning photograph from a 2005 photography competition. The award winner was from Donghai University’s Imaging Club—the digital camera and digital camcorder enthusiasts.”
“Oh—”
Jiang Ran let out a long sound of realization.
He roughly understood.
“So someone pasted their own photo over someone else’s winning work. In other words… they were salty?”
He couldn’t help but laugh.
“So this physical photograph was probably taken by someone from the Film Camera Club back then. Maybe they submitted it to the competition too.”
“But because they lost, they got angry and stuck their photo over the winning piece with double-sided tape. And not just anywhere—inside a commemorative album stored in the university library.”
“How do I put this… it feels kind of petty.”
Chi Xiaoguo laughed as well.
“Senior, great minds think alike. I guessed the same thing.”
“The photo pasted on top was clearly shot with a film camera. The printed winning work underneath must’ve been taken with a digital camera.”
“So maybe it was rivalry between the two clubs back then. One mountain can’t hold two tigers.”
“But honestly, if they submitted this photo, it makes sense it didn’t win. Look at it—massive overexposure. Half the image is just blinding white. Who would give an award to a failed shot like that?”
Jiang Ran lowered his head and examined the photograph closely.
She was right.
The shot was terrible.
Blurry, for one thing. And the center looked as if it had been scorched by a flash—washed out in white, nothing discernible.
He placed the album on the table and studied it carefully.
It was—
A three-person photo.
From the messy background, it appeared to have been taken inside a club activity room. In the corner, a clothesline with photos clipped to it could be seen. It was almost certain this was taken inside the Film Camera Club room.
Whether from severe overexposure or simply age-related fading, the photo was extremely hard on the eyes.
Jiang Ran squinted and inspected the details.
Judging from their clothing and build, the three leaning half-seated against a table were young university students.
Two wore ripped jeans.
One wore flared pants.
Back then, that must have been fashionable.
“Two guys and one girl. All very young. Probably Film Camera Club members at the time. Donghai University students,” he analyzed.
But their positioning was interesting.
Though the three looked close, it was obvious a couple was present.
On the left, the guy in flared pants leaned back with both hands braced on the table behind him.
In the center stood another guy in ripped jeans, linking his arm with the guy on the left.
On the right stood a slim girl, also in ripped jeans. She linked her arm with the guy in the center, resting her head on his shoulder, flashing a peace sign at the camera.
Jiang Ran’s gaze moved upward, trying to see their faces.
And then—
“Shit.”
He muttered something stronger than just “shit.”
Overexposed.
Whoever took this photo had no skill at all. Even he could have done better.
The upper half of the image was swallowed by harsh white light. It looked as though a sun were blazing behind them instead of a window in the club room.
In short—
The overexposed glow had erased their faces completely.
The only person whose outline could be partially seen was the girl on the right.
Because her head rested slightly lower on the center guy’s shoulder, the lower half of her face remained visible. A delicate jawline. A small, cute face.
But from the nose up—pure white.
One more detail.
The girl wore a simple ponytail.
The center guy’s hairstyle was impossible to make out.
As for the guy on the left—
“Long hair?”
Jiang Ran leaned closer.
Yes.
The guy in flared pants had shoulder-length hair.
Stylish.
Seriously stylish.
In 2005, Jiang Ran hadn’t even been born. But he suspected people’s tolerance for trends back then wasn’t that high.
A top Donghai University student daring to wear long hair like that—
That was bold.
Combined with the flared pants—
“Rock guy,” Jiang Ran concluded.
Compared to him, the couple in the middle and right looked much more ordinary. Just regular college students.
“This should be a group photo of Film Camera Club members from 2005.”
Jiang Ran smiled.
“Didn’t expect the club to be down to just three people even back then.”
“And thinking about it—if they were already like that in 2005, the fact that the club has limped along for twenty years is kind of impressive.”
“But why are you showing me this? The exposure’s so bad we can’t see their faces. And this was twenty years ago. No names. Hard to trace them.”
Chi Xiaoguo shook her head.
“Senior, senior, I’m not showing you their faces. Look here.”
She pointed to one corner of the photograph.
“On this shelf… the photo’s faded, so you have to look carefully. Right here. See it?”
Jiang Ran followed her finger.
In the corner of the old faded photo was a shelf cluttered with miscellaneous items.
And on the bottom level—
There was a square device.
With a protruding cylindrical barrel in front.
It looked like an oversized camera.
“[The Positron Cannon!]”
The words burst from him.
He hadn’t expected this.
Never imagined—
That in a faded photograph from 2005—
He would see the Positron Cannon.
He leaned closer.
No mistake.
It was exactly the same device now sitting quietly on their lab table.
“Right, right?”
Chi Xiaoguo beamed.
“I was shocked too! The Positron Cannon is right there!”
“We asked so many seniors before—none of them had even seen it. But in this 2005 photo, it’s sitting on the shelf. Which means these three definitely saw it!”
Jiang Ran nodded.
The logic was solid.
He just hadn’t expected—
The Positron Cannon’s history stretched back to 2005.
“That means…”
He glanced at the device resting silently on the experimental table.
“This thing is older than me.”
“Older than me too.”
Chi Xiaoguo laughed.
“But this whole room is full of old stuff. All those film cameras on the shelves—none of them are younger than we are. Hehe.”
She crossed her arms proudly.
“We’re definitely the youngest things in this room!”
By the window, beside the experimental table—
Jiang Ran carefully began peeling away the double-sided tape.
He had already checked: the commemorative photography album had been printed in November 2005. Only 2,000 copies. Likely given to faculty and students, with a few stored in the library.
The album itself meant nothing to them.
The photograph did.
With one final stretch of twenty-year-old adhesive strands—
He pulled.
The old photo came off cleanly.
“Perfect.”
He wiped the surface gently with a tissue.
Then pinned it to the small blackboard using magnets on all four corners.
“Let’s summarize.”
He clapped his hands lightly and pointed at the photo.
“Based on our reasoning, this was taken in 2005. Three Film Camera Club members—two men, one woman. Rock guy on the left. Couple on the right. Taken inside the club room.”
“They probably submitted this photo to a competition. Didn’t win. The digital camera club did.”
“So they were dissatisfied. Maybe jealous. They pasted this over the winning work in the commemorative album. A kind of self-deception. Psychological victory.”
“We don’t know the exact circumstances back then, and we won’t judge who was right or wrong.”
“The key point is this—”
“In 2005, inside the Film Camera Club activity room, the Positron Cannon was present.”
“It’s very possible the creator of the Positron Cannon was one of these three. Even if they didn’t build it, they must know something about who did.”
“In other words—”
Jiang Ran narrowed his eyes.
“As long as we find the 2005 Film Camera Club trio—”
“[We might finally be able to truly repair the Positron Cannon!]”