At that mont, the logic suddenly beca clear.
Taking multiple factors into account, the only person who could have precisely known the ti and location, and co to the basent during Jiang Ran’s first year of high school to steal his middle school draft notebook, could only have been Qin Feng.
At that ti, the script for Prodigy’s Playground hadn’t even been written yet. The micro-film hadn’t been shot either. Even Xu Yan—the future director—hadn’t entered university yet.
At that mont in ti, the only person who could have known the original Setting Collection manuscript was stored in Jiang Ran’s basent…
…was Qin Feng.
“Qin Feng again!”
Jiang Ran clenched his teeth.
On Worldline 1, this guy had been appearing and disappearing like a ghost.
He seed to have vanished from society, gone far away from ho with no trace…
Yet sohow, he had been circling around Jiang Ran the entire ti.
So.
There was no doubt.
Just as Jiang Ran had suspected before—
[The ti-traveling text ssage Qin Feng sent ten years into the past must have ntioned Jiang Ran, the Positron Cannon, the Setting Collection, and many other things.]
With Qin Feng’s genius brain compressing information into 70 characters, it wouldn’t have been difficult to include all those elents.
“Qin Feng… has definitely been operating in secret.”
Jiang Ran gripped the ballpoint pen in his hand tightly.
“And… he’s been staying close to the entire ti. Watching from the shadows.”
Previously, Jiang Ran hadn’t thought so.
But if Qin Feng had even managed to steal the Setting Collection from the basent, then it was obvious—
Qin Feng must have secretly co to Hangzhou.
Perhaps even secretly visited Hangzhou No.1 High School.
Standing outside the school wall, or on the roadside…
Watching Jiang Ran from a distance.
The thought alone made chills run down Jiang Ran’s spine.
Based on the information currently available, another trace of Qin Feng’s movents had now been added.
Arranged in chronological order:
2015 — Qin Feng’s father dies; their family ho is seized; Qin Feng and his mother leave their hotown.
2021 — Jiang Ran enters Hangzhou No.1 High School. His middle school textbooks and notebooks are stored in the basent. Qin Feng takes the opportunity to break in and steal the Setting Collection.
2023 — Cheng ngxue dies in a car accident. Qin Feng appears at the Donghai appliance street, purchasing the more aesthetically designed knob control board from Old Qi’s repair shop.
And these were only the traces Jiang Ran had discovered.
In places Jiang Ran didn’t know about, Qin Feng must have appeared near him many more tis, unnoticed.
“Qin Feng… what exactly are you doing?”
Jiang Ran felt cold all over.
He stood up from the wooden crate and looked around.
Suddenly, a strange illusion returned.
Eyes.
Eyes.
Eyes everywhere.
It felt as if eyes were watching him from every direction.
But the mont he turned his head, they all closed.
Then, when his back was turned, they opened again silently.
For so reason, Jiang Ran thought of the Ferris wheel emblem carved into the wall of Qin Feng’s family ho.
Eight cabins rotated around the Ferris wheel.
At the center was a massive eye with a dark, abyss-like pupil, gazing out over the world.
Now it seed—
Was that eye truly observing the world?
Or had it been observing him all along?
Jiang Ran couldn’t make sense of it anymore.
The Setting Collection script that now seed embarrassingly crude…
The film company wanted it.
The famous director wanted it.
Qin Feng wanted it.
What kind of enormous secret could possibly be hidden inside it?
How ridiculous.
Those ideas had originally co from his own imagination.
Yet now he was the only one left in the dark.
“These things… are absolutely not that simple.”
Jiang Ran said firmly.
“Xiaoxue’s situation… Qin Feng’s actions… the script… the film company… Zhou Xiong… Lilith…”
“All of these events must be connected!”
“They might even be the sa thing.”
“The sa conspiracy!”
But…
What should he do now?
The Positron Cannon was broken, aning he could no longer change the past.
Zhou Xiong’s phone had disappeared, cutting off the only lead that might reveal what Lilith actually was.
The original Setting Collection had been stolen by Qin Feng, leaving him unable to see the full picture.
As for the real or fake Cheng ngxue—he had only just begun to uncover clues, yet her true intentions remained unknown.
Every path led nowhere.
There was no direction.
“No…”
Suddenly, Jiang Ran’s eyes widened.
“There is a lead.”
“As long as I find Qin Feng, everything will start to make sense!”
“He’s hiding many secrets—but they’re the key secrets.”
Finding Qin Feng in the present world would be extrely difficult.
Especially since Qin Feng clearly had no intention of eting him—perhaps even deliberately avoiding him.
But…
Jiang Ran narrowed his eyes.
“My perspective isn’t limited to the present.”
“It extends twenty years into the future.”
In 2025, he couldn’t find Qin Feng.
But in 2045, the situation was completely different.
Qin Feng, known as The Magician, the world’s number one criminal and humanity’s public enemy, would soon be publicly executed.
And Jiang Ran…
…could repeatedly loop inside the prison beside the execution ground.
“If I can’t find you now…”
“…then I’ll find you in the future.”
At that mont, Jiang Ran had already ford a plan for the upcoming sester.
First, continue searching for materials to repair the Positron Cannon, and locate the contact information of the 2005 Film Club Senior Group Three.
Second, welco the arrival of the super genius Lu Yu, recruit him, and prepare an alternative plan—building a ti-travel machine.
Third, use the damaged Positron Cannon 2.0 to return to the 2045 future prison, break through all obstacles, and find Qin Feng the Magician, forcing him to reveal everything.
The third step was crucial.
The first two were long-term plans.
But the third could allow Jiang Ran to quickly understand the current situation, the dangers, and the mysteries surrounding him.
If soone really had their eyes on him…
If he was already in danger…
Then he needed to protect himself before being dragged deeper into a darker whirlpool.
“School can’t start soon enough.”
He muttered to himself.
“For so reason… Donghai University feels much safer than outside.”
He tore the page containing his reasoning from the notebook, lit it with a lighter, and tossed it into the hallway to burn.
Since he had already begun to suspect he was in danger, it was better to remain cautious.
Afterward, he switched off the basent lights, closed the door, and returned upstairs.
Wang Hao had just co out of the bathroom.
“Not searching anymore?”
“No.”
Jiang Ran shook his head.
“Let’s get so sleep. Tomorrow we still need to take Cheng ngxue to Qiandao Lake. You can sleep in the study—the foldable bed is there.”
“OK.”
Wang Hao yawned loudly, waved goodnight, wandered into the study, unfolded the bed, turned off the light—
—and started snoring almost imdiately.
The next morning, Jiang Ran woke up very early.
There were too many things weighing on his mind, and he hadn’t slept well.
From the next room, Wang Hao’s thunderous snoring pierced straight through the walls.
Since there was no chance of falling back asleep, Jiang Ran got dressed and went downstairs, heading to a nearby park.
Many elderly people were exercising there.
Breakfast stalls lined the path, filling the air with the sll of everyday life.
But Jiang Ran wasn’t there to eat.
He took out his phone and dialed Xu Yan, planning to warn her in advance about Cheng ngxue.
To his surprise, Xu Yan accepted the situation extrely quickly.
After a mont of shock, she imdiately beca excited.
“That’s wonderful! I never imagined that! So Xiaoxue’s family actually went through sothing like that!”
“But as long as everything worked out in the end, that’s what matters. I’ve been worried about Uncle and Auntie in the United States all this ti. For two years I couldn’t contact them, and I kept imagining the worst.”
“Now I finally understand—so they had their reasons! As long as the family is safe, that’s the most important thing. Co early tomorrow! I’ll have Auntie cook dinner and wait for you!”
Seeing that Xu Yan, like Wang Hao, had accepted Cheng ngxue’s “resurrection” so easily, Jiang Ran felt a little surprised.
“You… accepted it really quickly.”
He sat down on a park bench.
“I thought you’d have trouble believing it.”
“What’s there not to accept?”
Xu Yan laughed on the phone.
“The story is complicated, sure—but once the explanation is clear, what’s the problem? If anything, everyone would be thrilled to hear such good news.”
“You’re not suspicious at all? You don’t think this Xiaoxue might be fake?”
“Hahaha, what are you talking about!”
Xu Yan laughed even harder.
“Xiaoxue is a living person! How could she be fake? I’m practically her sister! How could I not recognize her? What you’re saying is ridiculous.”
“Besides, if Xiaoxue were fake, would she dare co see ?”
Xu Yan’s laughter sounded completely natural—almost as if Jiang Ran’s suspicions were absurd.
And she was right.
No normal person would think the way Jiang Ran did.
It sounded too ridiculous.
“Oh, right—there’s sothing else I need to ask you.”
Jiang Ran switched the phone to his other hand.
“Do you rember the two glass bottles I showed you before?”
“I rember.”
Xu Yan nodded.
“The ti capsules Xiaoxue and I buried when we were kids—the letters we wrote for our future selves twenty years later. What about them?”
Jiang Ran inhaled slowly.
“I hope… you won’t tell Xiaoxue about that.”
“I an the fact that I dug up the rusty box. Just pretend it never happened.”
“If you really want to talk about it, you can tell her what your own letter said.”
“But Xiaoxue’s letter…”
“I want you to keep the contents secret.”
“Don’t tell her what she wrote.”
“Oh.”
Xu Yan imdiately understood.
“So that’s what you ant.”
“Don’t worry—even if you hadn’t asked, I wouldn’t tell Xiaoxue what was written in her letter.”
“Why?”
Jiang Ran was puzzled.
He had never expected that.
Xu Yan and Cheng ngxue were like sisters. They had always shared everything.
Why would Xu Yan suddenly be so secretive about that letter?
“You’re seriously asking why?”
Xu Yan sighed.
“Jiang Ran… are you serious? Honestly… you’re such a blockhead.”
“I was even thinking of asking Wang Hao whether you’d gotten a girlfriend at your vocational college—maybe that’s why you changed so quickly.”
“But now I see that’s unnecessary.”
“Why?” Jiang Ran asked again.
“Because you’re so dense! Like a piece of wood! What girl would like you like that?!”
Xu Yan practically shouted through the phone.
“Don’t you understand at all? That letter Xiaoxue wrote to her future self twenty years later—it’s basically a confession letter to you!”
“That letter practically says, ‘I like Jiang Ran. When you grow up you must marry him!’”
Xu Yan’s roar was so loud the phone speaker crackled.
“Back then we were only seven or eight years old, so it didn’t feel like anything. Kids say silly things. Writing sothing embarrassing like that didn’t seem strange.”
“We even exchanged letters and read each other’s back then.”
“But honestly, I had completely forgotten about it until you ca to see .”
She sighed again.
“Think about it. We’re twenty years old now. If we look at those childhood letters again—calling you ‘big dummy’ and ‘big hero’ and all that—it would be incredibly embarrassing!”
“Even if I told Xiaoxue about the contents now, she’d probably blush and deny it completely.”
“Unless you brought those glass bottles directly to her and forced her to admit it.”
“But don’t do that. Girls care a lot about their pride. Forcing soone to admit sothing like that would be really awful.”
“I definitely wouldn’t do that!” Jiang Ran said quickly.
“Well… probably.”
“Probably?” Xu Yan raised an eyebrow.
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“…Probably.”
“Honestly, Jiang Ran, you should learn a little about won’s feelings. Even if Xiaoxue is your childhood friend, you can’t keep treating her like one of the guys.”
She sounded worried.
“Anyway, I’ll rember what you asked. Stop talking on the phone and hurry up to pick Xiaoxue up. Co to Qiandao Lake early so I can see her sooner.”
“Alright.”
After hanging up, Jiang Ran bought two breakfasts and brought them ho.
He opened the door.
Walked into the study.
—and discovered that Wang Hao was already awake.
Wang Hao was sitting at the computer desk, staring at the monitor, chin resting on his hand as he studied a webpage.
“What are you looking at?” Jiang Ran asked curiously.
“Jiang Ran.”
Wang Hao spun around in the computer chair.
“I’ve thought of a piece of irrefutable evidence that can completely eliminate your doubts and prove Cheng ngxue is really Cheng ngxue.”
“What is it?”
“D! N! F!”
Wang Hao declared each letter dramatically.
“…Sorry, habit. Let start over.”
He rubbed his head and spoke seriously.
“Jiang Ran, I’ve thought of sothing.”
“You’re always worried that maybe so spy is impersonating Xiaoxue. Or that soone had plastic surgery to look like her.”
“So let’s just do a DNA test!”
“Appearance can lie. Words can lie. Personality and behavior can all be faked with acting.”
“But DNA can’t lie!”
“It’s just like a paternity test. DNA proves everything!”
“So we find Xiaoxue’s old DNA sample, then pull out a hair from the current Xiaoxue and send both to the hospital for DNA testing.”
Wang Hao said firmly:
“As long as the DNA matches perfectly…”
“Then Xiaoxue is Xiaoxue. The real Xiaoxue.”
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