The air turned tense.
Hostile.
Cheng ngxue’s expression froze, her eyes clouded with confusion as she sat in her chair without moving.
Jiang Ran looked at her coldly.
This “impostor” had probably never imagined she would give herself away over sothing this trivial.
That was the power of details.
Perhaps with other matters—even without Cheng ngxue’s mories—a skilled psychologist could still infer most things from context. But sothing like cola? There was no way to infer that.
It was too small a detail.
If Wang Hao hadn’t casually ordered a bottle of cola just now, Jiang Ran himself would never have thought of sothing so insignificant.
But…
Just like what Chi Xiaoguo had said earlier when evaluating digital caras.
The real is real. The fake is fake.
Coke is Coke. Pepsi is Pepsi.
They are things that can never be confused with each other.
So.
There was no doubt.
The Cheng ngxue sitting across from him was fake.
Even as the conclusion sent chills down Jiang Ran’s spine, he couldn’t help admiring how formidable this impostor was. She was even more impressive than the agents, disguise masters, or shape-shifting witches in the movies.
She had truly done everything possible to play the role of “Cheng ngxue” perfectly—so convincingly that it was indistinguishable from the real thing. Even Jiang Ran had to admit that if he hadn’t maintained absolute ntal discipline, hamring a psychological iron seal into his own mind again and again, he might already have been fooled by her flawless performance.
However.
At this mont.
The truth had co out.
Jiang Ran looked at Cheng ngxue with interest, waiting to see how she would try to argue her way out of it.
“Pfft.”
Covering her mouth, Cheng ngxue suddenly burst into laughter.
“Hahahahahahahaha…”
She looked genuinely delighted, laughing so hard she clutched her stomach—just like in Worldline 0 when she had received the rice-cooker Rhine Cat.
“Oh my god, Jiang Ran! You’re killing !”
She let out a long breath and wiped the corner of her eyes.
“I thought you were about to do sothing serious. Are you cosplaying Detective Conan or sothing? What is this, trying to identify the murderer?”
“Let warn you—if you’re trying to weasel out of your debt, this isn’t the way! My allowance back then wasn’t much to begin with. Every ti I paid for drinks for you guys, it hurt my heart!”
“So how could I possibly forget what drinks you bought every ti? I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life! Every single ti you bought Pepsi!”
“Cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck!”
Wang Hao started cackling uncontrollably like a hen about to lay an egg. He simply couldn’t hold it in anymore.
Jiang Ran gave a cold laugh.
Indeed.
Wang Hao—it was your turn now.
Ti for you, the most valuable witness, to step forward. Ti to end Fake Cheng ngxue’s stubborn denial, tear away her forced smile, and strip off that false mask!
He raised his right hand high, thumb, index finger, and middle finger crossing as they gathered force—
Snap!
He snapped his fingers.
This was the signal he had agreed on with Wang Hao. It ant he could start speaking. It also represented the signing of a car purchase contract.
“Y-yes! Finally I can talk!” Wang Hao gasped, sucking in a huge breath of air.
“Wang Hao.”
Jiang Ran kept his gaze fixed on Cheng ngxue.
“Tell her what cola I bought every ti after high school P.E. class.”
“You always bought Pepsi!”
Wang Hao roared hoarsely, furious.
He had been making a thousand faces at Jiang Ran just now, trying to warn him: Brother, you got it wrong!
But Jiang Ran wouldn’t let him speak.
For the sake of his opening-day sales order as a future car salesman at a 4S dealership, Wang Hao had no choice but to keep his mouth shut and cluck like a chicken.
“Xiaoxue is absolutely right! Completely right!”
Wang Hao stood firmly on Cheng ngxue’s side.
“You bought Pepsi! Not once—not a single ti—did you ever buy Coca-Cola! I’ll testify for Xiaoxue!”
Jiang Ran stared at Wang Hao in shock.
He had never imagined that at such a critical mont, Wang Hao would betray him!
…
He liked cola. Didn’t he know his own tastes?
Of course he did.
Yes, this wasn’t Worldline 0 anymore—it was Worldline 1.
But could a person’s taste in food or drinks really change?
Even if he walked into a supermarket right now to buy cola, he would choose Coca-Cola without hesitation.
Sure, the temporal butterfly effect could change many things.
But changes required triggers—opportunities, key turning points. Not every single detail in a worldline would be overturned by the butterfly effect.
Especially sothing like taste.
If you don’t like it, you don’t like it.
He couldn’t imagine any situation where he would ignore the better-tasting Coca-Cola he preferred and deliberately choose Pepsi instead.
“I would never drink Pepsi,” Jiang Ran insisted.
“You could only drink Pepsi,” Wang Hao insisted back.
Jiang Ran laughed in disbelief.
“Why? What, did the school convenience store owner force to buy it?”
Wang Hao stared at him with utter disbelief.
“You… you really don’t rember?”
“You forgot? Song He’s dad is the director of the Food and Drug Supervision Bureau!”
“So what?”
Jiang Ran frowned.
“What does his dad being a director have to do with what cola I drink? Is there any connection at all?”
Song He.
On Worldline 1, he was the classmate who replaced Qin Feng in their class. His student number was 40.
Jiang Ran really wasn’t familiar with him. Since he had lost nearly ten years of mories from Worldline 1, it was natural that he didn’t rember what his high school life on this worldline had been like.
But that didn’t matter much.
High school was mainly about studying anyway. His experiences probably weren’t that different from Worldline 0’s version—at most the mbers of the “Iron Triangle” had changed, with Wang Hao replacing Qin Feng.
But!
Back to the point.
Whether Qin Feng ca to Hangzhou No.1 High School or not, whether Song He’s father really was the Food and Drug Supervision Bureau director—what did that have to do with Pepsi or Coca-Cola?
No one could control that, right? If he wanted cola, shouldn’t he be free to choose whichever brand he liked?
Wang Hao’s expression turned strange.
He reached out and placed his hand on Jiang Ran’s forehead, feeling it.
“You don’t have a fever… why are you acting like you’ve got amnesia?”
Jiang Ran brushed his hand away.
“If you’ve got sothing to say, hurry up. Why could I only drink Pepsi? Explain it clearly.”
Wang Hao sighed and began recounting an old story that every mber of the Iron Triangle should have known.
…
“Honestly, telling this story in front of you two feels pointless.”
“Did you forget? Our first P.E. class in high school. After class the three of us went to the school’s only convenience store to buy drinks.”
“Song He had been playing basketball with us that day too. That guy ran really fast. Because we were waiting for Xiaoxue, when we reached the store he had already bought his drink and was paying.”
“The drink Song He bought was Coca-Cola. And there was only one bottle left in the fridge.”
“In other words, the last bottle of cola was taken by Song He. Whether Pepsi or Coca-Cola, there wasn’t a single bottle left afterward.”
…
(Then ca the investigation by the school, the expired drinks incident, parents making a scene, the convenience store changing operators, and Coca-Cola being removed from the shelves.)
…
“So it wasn’t about what you liked to drink.”
“Song He throwing up and having diarrhea made the school convenience store so scared that they never dared sell Coca-Cola again.”
“You couldn’t drink it even if you wanted to!”
“You just said you bought Coca-Cola every ti after P.E.? Dream on! Our school store didn’t even sell Coca-Cola!”
“But you really liked cola and didn’t like other drinks. So every ti after P.E., you had no choice but to settle for Pepsi.”
Wang Hao laid it all out clearly.
And Jiang Ran finally understood.
It made sense.
And yet it didn’t.
This was probably…
another kind of closed loop created by the temporal butterfly effect.
…
Jiang Ran had nothing to say.
He was the clown here.
But it wasn’t really his fault.
After the Worldline Transition, he had no mories from Worldline 1, so naturally he had no idea sothing like that had happened during high school.
…
Wang Hao suddenly froze.
The hand holding the cola bottle stiffened in midair.
His pupils trembled slightly.
He looked at Jiang Ran beside him, who was chatting and laughing with Cheng ngxue…
Holy crap!
Wang Hao suddenly ca to a realization.
What the hell!
Good brother… after all this circling around…
could it be that you’re the fake one?!
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