Without a second of hesitation.
Phone in hand, Jiang Ran rushed out the door.
Cheng ngxue and Qin Feng followed imdiately. The three hailed a taxi at the campus gate and headed for Hangzhou City Hospital at top speed.
On the way, they learned the details.
The elevator in the building where Jiang Ran’s parents lived had malfunctioned and was under repair.
So Jiang Ran’s mother took the stairs downstairs. She slipped on the stairwell, fell headfirst, and lost consciousness on the spot. She was rushed to the hospital for ergency treatnt.
The hospital said the situation was very bad—massive intracranial bleeding. A craniotomy had to be perford imdiately.
The three arrived at the ICU entrance in a panic……
Relatives and friends were all there, palms slick with sweat.
Hours passed. Jiang Ran’s mother was still not out of danger.
When signing the critical condition notice, the doctor said that even if they managed to save her life, there was a high likelihood of brain function impairnt, and the family should prepare themselves ntally in advance.
Jiang Ran’s heart pounded like a drum. Cheng ngxue kept holding his hand, gripping it tightly.
Qin Feng patted Jiang Ran on the shoulder.
“Let’s go back and use spaceti text ssages.”
Jiang Ran frowned deeply.
“But……”
Both were parents. Both were children.
If he saved his own mother, then what about Qin Feng’s father?
Even though one was just hours ago and the other ten years ago, with butterfly effects and risks on completely different scales……
Parents were still parents. Could there really be a difference?
“Don’t worry about .”
Qin Feng urged him on.
“Save Auntie first. We’ll talk about my wish later. Don’t worry—I know very well how vastly different the butterfly effects are between these two cases. You don’t need to have any misgivings.”
“And don’t feel guilty either. After the worldline changes, Xiaoxue and I won’t have this mory anyway. Just handle it yourself. In the spaceti text ssage, tell the you from a few hours ago not to tell us about this.”
“That’s impossible.”
Jiang Ran shook his head.
“I can’t hide this from you.”
“Jiang Ran……”
Cheng ngxue’s eyes brimd with tears as she held his hand.
“Let’s hurry back…… save Auntie!”
……
Another two hours of frantic taxi speeding later, the three returned to Donghai University and the student activity room.
Jiang Ran stood beside the transforr distribution box. The ssage had already been edited.
This ti, the solution was simple.
The elevator malfunction was due to a loose bottom buffer. It wasn’t a major problem—just needed tily detection and repair.
If it had been discovered a day earlier and fixed a day earlier, the elevator would be operating normally today. Jiang Ran’s mother wouldn’t have needed to take the stairs, and the fall wouldn’t have happened.
So all they needed to do was notify property managent two days in advance and have it repaired early.
“The ssage is ready!”
Jiang Ran shouted toward the window.
Cheng ngxue straddled the windowsill, made an OK gesture, then looked at Qin Feng.
With the visualized control panel, everything beca easy.
Qin Feng turned the knobs, zeroing out the year, month, and hour displays, and setting the day display to 2.
That way, the spaceti text ssage would be sent two days into the past.
“I’m set here too!”
Cheng ngxue nodded, facing outside.
“Then I’ll count it down! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! 0!”
The Positron Cannon roared. Jiang Ran pressed the send button—
Buzz!
Buzz!
Buzz!
The world spun. Gravity vanished. A wave of discomfort surged.
Jiang Ran clenched his teeth and endured it.
Two seconds later, everything faded.
He opened his eyes.
And found…… his position had changed again—from the outdoor distribution box just monts ago to the activity room sofa, sitting upright.
He imdiately took out his phone and dialed his father.
“Hello? Dad! Where’s Mom?”
“Huh? Your mom just got back from buying groceries. She’s cooking right now.”
There was music on the other end—probably the TV. Jiang Ran finally relaxed.
“That’s good. You and Mom are getting older. If you take the stairs downstairs in the future, be careful—it’s easy to slip.”
“What! Who takes the stairs when there’s an elevator!”
His dad sounded unconcerned.
“Co to think of it, the elevator was shut down for repairs a couple days ago. It won’t fall halfway down, will it?”
“It’s fine.”
Jiang Ran smiled.
“For older folks like you, even if the elevator malfunctions, it’s still safer than the stairs. There are so many locking chanisms—it’s basically impossible for it to fall.”
After a bit of small talk, he hung up.
Qin Feng and Cheng ngxue looked over.
“You just experienced a worldline transition?” Qin Feng asked.
Jiang Ran nodded.
He didn’t hide anything. He told them about using a spaceti text ssage to save his mother.
“So what are we doing now?”
He put his phone away and synchronized mories with them.
“What were we just discussing? Where did we leave off?”
“We were talking about Qin Feng’s wish……”
Cheng ngxue hugged the Rhine Cat softly.
“Qin Feng said he wanted to use spaceti text ssages to save his father, who died ten years ago.”
……
Alright.
What was ant to co still ca. What was bound to happen still happened.
Judging from the atmosphere in the room, they must have been at a stalemate over this for quite so ti.
“Let’s vote.”
Cheng ngxue raised her head.
“Like we did before when solving problems—when there’s a disagreent, we settle it by voting. The minority obeys the majority.”
“I abstain.”
Qin Feng stood up from his chair and walked toward the door.
“I know this is no small matter. Reviving soone who died ten years ago, rewriting a decade of history…… the spaceti butterfly effect would be far too intense, impossible to estimate.”
“But this person is my father, after all. My rationality might not be able to make a sufficiently rational choice. So I abstain.”
Snap.
As he passed the sofa, Jiang Ran grabbed Qin Feng’s wrist.
“Don’t go.”
He didn’t look up.
“We’re a trio. How can we vote if you leave? We’ve never been separated when making decisions.”
“I have to go.”
Qin Feng glanced at Cheng ngxue, then looked down at Jiang Ran.
“You understand, Jiang Ran. If the three of us vote together, the result will definitely pass.”
Jiang Ran knew what he ant.
Because Cheng ngxue would certainly vote in favor, and with Qin Feng that would make two votes for. By majority rule, Jiang Ran’s opposing vote would be aningless.
“I don’t want to put you in a difficult position.”
Qin Feng’s voice was very soft.
“I miss my father deeply, but I also cherish you two as friends. To , both sides of the scale weigh the sa.”
“So…… let the two of you discuss it. Take as long as you need. Days, months—it’s all fine. I’ll wait for your answer.”
With that—
He gently closed the activity room door and walked away.
……
Only Jiang Ran and Cheng ngxue remained in the room.
Yet the silence and heaviness did not dissipate. Instead, they grew denser by the mont.
Jiang Ran lowered his head, elbows braced on his thighs, hands covering his face.
“Am I…… being selfish?”
He said it to Cheng ngxue, and to himself.
“When saving Xu Yan, I opposed it. When saving Qin Feng’s father, I fall silent…… but when it cos to saving my own mother, I only hesitated for show.”
Cheng ngxue stuffed the warm rice-cooker Rhine Cat into Jiang Ran’s arms, still carrying body heat. Then she touched the back of his neck and rested her head against his shoulder.
“Because…… it’s different.”
She closed her eyes, her voice gentle.
“You still saved Xu Yan in the end. And Qin Feng’s father passed away ten years ago—the butterfly effects over ten years…… even Qin Feng himself says he can’t gamble on it.”
“Jiang Ran, I understand your hesitation better than anyone…… you’re not a coward, and you’re absolutely not a selfish person.”
Jiang Ran’s breathing grew heavier.
“Then what if……”
He bit his lip.
Paused.
And voiced the question he almost didn’t dare to think about:
[Then what if the one who died ten years ago was my father—would Qin Feng…… agree?]
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