The familiar procedure—everything went smoothly.
Relying on that mysterious, authoritative, overbearing aura, Jiang Ran gained the zombie’s trust and directed him to open all the cell doors.
He rushed straight into Cell No. 4.
“Lu Yu!”
The mont he saw the familiar figure crouched on the bed, drooling, Jiang Ran actually let out a breath of relief.
Haa…
Thank god.
From the looks of it, the future prison of 2045 had not been altered by the temporal butterfly effect. It was exactly the sa as the last ti he ca here. That ant that everything he had done recently hadn’t interfered with the predetermined course of the future… or at least, whatever butterfly effect he had caused hadn’t reached this prison.
“Lu Yu, Lu Yu, can you hear ?”
Jiang Ran crouched down, wiped the drool from Lu Yu’s mouth—his body emaciated, his skin covered in scars—and tried to communicate.
He patted his cheeks. Patted his arms.
No response.
This boy once called the “Little Prodigy,” now ntally broken, still stared blankly at the air in front of him. Drool slowly seeped from his mouth again, stretching into sticky strands that dripped onto the bedsheet.
“That’s useless.”
The zombie walked in and raised his hand, about to slap Lu Yu!
“This kid was tortured half to death before he was brought in. His brain’s fried. You can beat him however you want—he won’t react.”
Smack!
Jiang Ran didn’t even turn his head. He raised his hand precisely and caught the zombie’s strike, forcing him back.
“Let try.”
The zombie’s eyes went wide in shock at Jiang Ran’s skill:
“You’ve got eyes on the back of your head?!”
He saw it clearly—this guy nad Jiang Ran hadn’t turned his head at all, hadn’t even glanced back.
And yet!
He had perfectly blocked the slap!
A master!
A real master!
The zombie was instantly filled with awe.
No wonder.
No wonder he had been so calm and composed while orchestrating the prison break earlier—so he was a hidden expert all along!
We’re good.
The zombie’s confidence surged.
Today’s escape—
We’re definitely making it!
Jiang Ran, anwhile, stared intently into Lu Yu’s eyes, trying to catch even the faintest signal within that lifeless blankness.
But unfortunately…
Nothing.
The current Lu Yu was like a dead fish—mouth open, eyes wide, incapable of giving even the slightest response.
“Give up.”
The Killer walked in from outside.
“The Little Prodigy has been like this ever since the day he was brought in. We and the guards have tried all kinds of thods—none of them worked.”
“He’s already… completely unable to speak. He can’t even feel pain anymore. He’s finished. Like a vegetable.” Jiang Ran gritted his teeth.
A surge of hatred and anger rose within him.
He didn’t know what had turned Lu Yu into this.
But…
This was soone who had once helped him. A junior he had never even t. With both layers of emotion pressing down on him, Jiang Ran felt terrible.
Right. A junior.
Now he had to confirm whether this part of history had changed.
“Killer.”
He stood up and looked at the man who always stood on his side, who supported him unconditionally.
“Do you rember which university Lu Yu… this widely known Little Prodigy… graduated from?”
“Of course I rember.”
The Killer replied casually:
“The Little Prodigy graduated from Donghai University. After that, he continued doing research there. That’s common knowledge. ‘Donghai University was already famous, but his appearance made it shine even brighter. For a ti, its reputation even rivaled Qingbei… that’s the level of influence his Nobel Prize brought.’”
Jiang Ran listened silently, frowning.
The established history hadn’t changed.
Lu Yu was still a student of Donghai University.
But…
This year, Lu Yu hadn’t enrolled.
Could Professor Zhang Yang’s information have been wrong? Or was it true that Lu Yu only enrolled in September 2026?
“Killer, do you know what year Lu Yu entered university?”
“There’s no way I’d rember that.”
The Killer shook his head with a smile.
“Honestly, the only reason I even rember his connection to Donghai University is because I personally pay close attention to that place. I’ve got so ties to it.”
“Otherwise, after all these years, I’d have forgotten the Little Prodigy’s resu completely. There’s no way I’d rember which school he went to.”
Jiang Ran narrowed his eyes.
Sure enough.
Everything circled back to Donghai University.
The secrets surrounding the Killer—the truth he kept carefully hidden—were definitely connected to Donghai University as well.
But his mouth was tight. He refused to say anything.
Might as well try again.
“What ties do you have to Donghai University?” Jiang Ran asked.
“Heh.”
The Killer smiled as always.
“If we really succeed in breaking out this ti—if we actually escape—I’ll tell you.”
The only lesson humans learn from history is that humans never learn from history.
The expectation Jiang Ran had just held—it was a complete waste of breath.
“Big brother!!”
The zombie couldn’t hold it in anymore. He leaned in close, urging him:
“Can we stop chatting and focus on escaping first?!”
Over there, the Hothead’s face was flushed red as he scratched furiously at the wall.
The Killer was the sa. Though his expression remained calm, it wasn’t hard to tell… he had bet his life and future on this escape, burning all his bridges.
Helpless.
Jiang Ran could only step onto this road of no return once again.
Co to think of it, the last ti—the final escape attempt before sumr break—had failed completely.
Everyone had perford steadily.
The Hothead hadn’t jumped the gun.
The zombie hadn’t dropped to the ground howling like a dog.
The Killer and Jiang Ran had both been in excellent condition.
And yet… the final result had been worlds apart.
Total annihilation.
Strange.
Where had it gone wrong?
Jiang Ran rested his chin on his hand, thinking.
It seed… the only ti they had successfully escaped was when the Hothead jumped the gun and the zombie howled, drawing the guards’ attention. That gave the Killer the opportunity to ambush. Without that early jump and the howling, when the guards saw four people rushing out at once, they would imdiately retreat, open distance, then turn back and fire.
Maybe the problem was right there!
[The early jump and the howling are essential!]
Then, thinking deeper—
Why had two escape attempts with the sa setup, the sa tasks, the sa plan… produced different results? One had the early jump and the howling, the other didn’t.
“No.”
Jiang Ran suddenly understood.
The configurations of the two escapes weren’t identical!
Details determined success or failure!
The difference lay in a single detail—
[The existence of the fifth person!]
Thinking back to that successful escape: Professor Zhang Yang hadn’t been assigned any task due to his poor mobility and slow movents. He simply followed behind the Hothead the entire ti, only coming out at the very end.
But in the failed escape, Professor Zhang Yang was gone. Cell No. 4 had been replaced by Lu Yu. The zombie, disgusted by this drooling fool dragging them down, had left him behind in the cell.
And there, a detail appeared—
[There was no one behind the Hothead.]
The Hothead was a hyperactive, overstimulated man, his body constantly in a state of twitching excitent. If soone was behind him, he would inevitably beco even more agitated—and that would trigger the early jump.
But if no one was behind him, his mood would be calr, less tense, and the early jump wouldn’t occur.
“The butterfly effect… it really seeps into everything. The tiniest change can alter the entire outco.”
“Huh?”
The zombie turned around, looking at Jiang Ran muttering to himself:
“What are you babbling about?”
“Nothing.”
Jiang Ran shook his head and hoisted the drooling Lu Yu onto his back.
“We have to take Lu Yu with us.”
“Are you insane?!”
The zombie finally exploded:
“It’s already a miracle if a bunch of normal people like us can escape! And you want to drag a cripple along?! Are you out of your mind?!”
“No. We have to bring him.”
Jiang Ran stood up with Lu Yu on his back, his gaze unwavering:
“If we want to escape successfully, then do exactly as I say. Lu Yu is the key to making this escape succeed. Without him… we won’t even pass the first stage.”
The zombie didn’t understand at all.
But with no choice, he could only follow Jiang Ran’s lead.
After that, following the established procedure, they went to the equipnt room to look for weapons.
This step was also necessary.
They needed three electric batons to deal with the three police dogs.
Here, Jiang Ran pretended to casually ask the zombie:
“Zombie, what did you do to end up in prison?”
“Fuck! I’ve been frad!”
The zombie shouted indignantly:
“I just took money to do a job—transported a batch of goods. I’d already quit that life a long ti ago. I was doing legitimate business!”
“I even lifted the tarp and checked—it was just so machine. I couldn’t understand what it was, but I drove it over anyway.”
“And guess what?! The mont I got there, they detained ! Said I was transporting contraband!”
“I’m innocent—who am I supposed to argue with?! Those bastards didn’t even bother explaining, just threw in here!”
Jiang Ran caught the key words.
Machine… didn’t understand… contraband.
Almost instantly, a na surfaced in his mind—
[Spaceti Shuttle.]
Was it possible that this was what the zombie had transported?
Then why had the Hothead been imprisoned?
Jiang Ran turned to him and quickly asked.
“I committed burglary.”
The Hothead said indifferently:
“I’ve stolen so many things, robbed so many houses—I don’t even know which one got arrested.”
“Alright.”
This Hothead was practically a walking criminal law textbook.
Based on Jiang Ran’s guess…
He had likely stolen sothing he shouldn’t have, and that was why he had been locked in this special prison.
And without question, what he had stolen was most likely also related to ti travel.
At this point—
The puzzle was complete.
Perhaps, just as he had previously suspected—
[Everyone in this special prison—including the Magician—was imprisoned because of sothing related to ti travel.]
“It has to be deliberate.”
Jiang Ran murmured:
“There has to be so kind of purpose.”
From the execution ground ca an explosive wave of cheers, rhythmic chanting echoing without end.
Jiang Ran glanced at the electronic clock. It read 11:00 a.m.
Thirty minutes until the Magician would be brought out with a burlap hood.
One hour until the execution.
This ti…
Could he see the Magician’s face before the blade fell?
He recalled Qin Feng turning back beside the transforr distribution box…
He recalled the executioner’s blade falling, the head rolling to the ground…
He recalled that instant of buzzing, dizziness, disorientation…
“Who… is the Magician?”
Jiang Ran frowned deeply.
“As everyone says—is it Qin Feng?”
“Or…”
“…is it , twenty years from now?”
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