BOOM!!!!!!
Jiang Ran hit the water flat on his back. A huge wave surged up.
“Pah!”
Cheng ngxue wiped her face.
“If I was a bomb just now, you were straight-up atomic-bomb level. Do you even know how to dive?!”
“Does he look like he knows how?”
Qin Feng stood on the board.
“But I didn’t expect you’d actually dare to jump.”
Jiang Ran floated up, rubbing his back.
“Your turn!”
“I’m not jumping.”
?
“You’re backing out?” Jiang Ran flipped him off.
“Who told you to go first.”
Qin Feng laughed as he walked down from the platform.
…
Night fell.
The top-tier suite had a private viewing deck, and you could eat out there.
After the service staff brought their food, they left.
The three of them sat around a small round table, marveling at how well rich people knew how to enjoy life.
Where they were sitting now—when they looked up, there were brilliant stars without a single obstruction;
when they looked down, there was a crowd on the cruise ship deck dancing to the DJ’s music.
To the west was Donghai City, blazing with lights.
The coastline was a band of neon. The Oriental Pearl Tower stood out among the riot of colors like a beacon that would never fade.
To the east was the pitch-black sea.
A black darker than black—true nothingness, where you couldn’t see anything at all.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
In the clink of red wine glasses, all three of their phones chid with WeChat notifications at the sa ti.
It was their high school class group chat.
When they’d just started college, the group had been lively every day—everyone complaining about school, complaining about military training, complaining about dorm life.
But gradually, it had gone completely silent.
They opened their phones and saw the ssage was from [Wang Hao].
Wang Hao had been their high school class monitor, and everyone had been on good terms with him. Sure, it wasn’t the sa ironclad bond the three of them had, but it was more than just ordinary friendship.
The ssage was pretty long:
[Wang Hao: Classmates! It’s been almost two years since we graduated high school—we should get together!
Let’s do a class reunion this sumr. We’ll decide the exact date later. There are still a few months, but I wanted to give you a heads-up first.
If you have ti and can co then, make sure you co!]
…
“A class reunion…”
Jiang Ran put his phone down.
“Yeah, it’s been a long ti since I’ve seen them. We got along great back then, and everyone said even after going to college we’d keep in touch… and then we all scattered across the map, and little by little nobody said anything anymore.”
“As expected.”
Qin Feng set down his fork.
“Distance only produces beauty. Distance absolutely does not produce feelings.”
“Otherwise, why would I have applied to the sa university as you two? Recruiters from Tsinghua and Peking University practically moved into my house, but I still insisted on coming with you here—to Donghai University.”
“I trust our friendship. But that’s what distance is. One inch farther is one inch farther, and no matter what you do, it won’t get closer.”
“Honestly, there’s nothing in this world more important than true friends… especially friends from when you were young.”
Heh-heh.
Cheng ngxue scratched her head awkwardly.
“Sorry. We dragged you down. With our grades, Donghai University was the best option. And Xu Yan was here too, so we applied here.”
“Speaking of which… Wang Hao went to a junior college, right? Then doesn’t that an he’ll be going out to do an internship next sester?”
It seed like a heavy topic.
Junior colleges were three-year programs. Their old good brother Wang Hao really was about to go out into society and beco a workhorse.
“How can soone be so dumb they can’t even score 500?”
Qin Feng honestly couldn’t understand.
“You just need passing scores in each subject.”
“Shut up.” “Shut up.”
Jiang Ran and Cheng ngxue spoke in unison.
Especially Cheng ngxue—she’d failed two classes last sester.
“You don’t need to worry about Wang Hao.”
Jiang Ran peeled a lobster.
“That mouth of his is more lethal than the Positron Cannon. He won’t have trouble finding a job.”
“A lot of undergrads can’t find jobs right now anyway. Besides not being able to do grad school or certain civil-service exams, junior college doesn’t make that huge a difference in the real world. In the end it cos down to personal ability.”
“Wang Hao was class monitor in high school. Everyone saw what he could do. Who knows—maybe he steps into society a year early and ends up doing better than all of us.”
Qin Feng wiped his mouth.
“That’s possible. But… now it isn’t.”
He smiled faintly.
“Now we’ve mastered [ti-traveling text ssages]. We can change history at will. We can correct mistakes.”
“Unless we deliberately keep a low profile, it’ll be hard for anyone among our classmates to end up doing better than we do.”
“Ugh, you two are dragging off track too. What ‘doing better’—we’re all classmates, what’s with ranking people into tiers?”
“When we succeed later, when we have a certain social standing, we can absolutely give our classmates a hand.”
“But the secret of ti-traveling text ssages can only be known by the three of us.”
Jiang Ran emphasized it again.
He’d emphasized it so many tis he’d lost count.
“We might only want to use ti-traveling text ssages to make a little money, take a shortcut in life or sothing. But other people might not.”
“[If ti-traveling text ssages fall into the hands of bad people… revenge against society, hegemonic wars, even destroying the world could all happen.]”
“So we have to protect this secret. Protecting this secret is protecting the entire world.”
“Of course.” “We’re not idiots.”
Cheng ngxue held her fork between her lips, tilting her head.
“Since we’re talking about this… what are we actually going to use ti-traveling text ssages for in the future?”
“Or rather… what are we ultimately going to do with them? What’s the final purpose?”
“Make our dreams co true.”
Jiang Ran answered.
“Speaking of that—what are your dreams, anyway? What kind of life do you want later?”
“I want to be a Rhine Cat designer!”
Stars burst out in Cheng ngxue’s eyes.
“After I graduate, I’m definitely applying to Rhine Company. I want to design Rhine Cats I actually love so badly!”
Jiang Ran smiled.
“That’s a normal dream. Qin Feng, what about you?”
“I want to go… do research in the world’s top laboratory.”
Qin Feng was serious too.
“There are a lot of problems in this world that individual power can’t solve. I want to work with the smartest geniuses in the world to explore the deepest secrets of physics, the microscopic world, and even the universe.”
“Wow. That’s… great.”
Cheng ngxue sighed, then turned.
“Jiang Ran, what about you? What’s your dream?”
“…”
Jiang Ran rolled the napkin between his fingers. For a mont, he really couldn’t think of one.
“I might not have sothing as specific as you two. My thought is… if you only get one life, you should do sothing aningful, right?”
“On the small end, live your life well and protect the family and friends around you. On the big end, contribute sothing to society, the country, even humanity—make the world a little better.”
Oh~
Cheng ngxue thought about it.
“Then that’s… a savior?”
“That’s not that dramatic!”
“Then… a genius like Einstein who pushes science forward?”
“Do I look like it?”
“Then…”
Cheng ngxue smiled slightly. In her pupils, the shoreline neon reflected and linked into one continuous glow.
“[Then be like this—keep being a hero.]”
Bang bang bang bang!!
Fireworks ti.
A massive burst of fireworks rose from the cruise ship deck, exploding into brilliant, multicolored flas—like the universe opening countless eyes… silently watching the idle conversation at the highest point of the ship.
“…”
Jiang Ran slowly swirled his wineglass.
“Do you think… I count as a hero?”
“Of course. You saved Xu Yan, and you saved those two kids who fell into the water.”
“That was cheating.”
He looked at Cheng ngxue.
“I already knew the answer. I already knew the solution. If I didn’t have that buoyant life jacket, I wouldn’t have jumped.”
“You would’ve jumped.”
With the wine in her system, Cheng ngxue was bolder tonight.
“We grew up together. This isn’t the first ti I’ve seen you be that brave. Even without that life jacket, you would’ve jumped.”
Waves swayed. Wineglasses trembled.
The fireworks drifted downward, like the sky shedding tears.
“Besides… even if it was cheating, so what? No matter what the reason was, you still jumped in the end…”
Cheng ngxue’s cheeks were flushed. Her eyes were hazy, reflecting the last traces of light in the night sky.
“If cheating can make the world better… if it can make you a hero who saves lives…”
The world returned to darkness.
“[Then maybe… cheat for a lifeti.]”
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