The night wind rose, willow branches swaying.
In the dead of night, when no one was around, outside the Film Cara Club’s window, the tension was razor-sharp.
Jiang Ran held his palm suspended in midair, his eyes locked on Qin Feng’s phone.
Qin Feng gripped the phone in his right hand, staring at Jiang Ran with disbelief in his pupils.
“You don’t trust ?” Qin Feng’s voice was very soft.
Jiang Ran neither confird nor denied it.
He didn’t move at all.
“Can you let see the phone?”
He knew his expression must look awful right now—must be hurting Qin Feng badly.
But…
He couldn’t set his mind at ease.
That unprecedented, horrifying hallucination just monts ago had driven his fear to its peak.
Qin Feng took a deep breath and handed the phone over.
“Here.”
Jiang Ran took it and looked at the screen.
It was the text-ssage sending page. The recipient was indeed Qin Feng’s own number. The ssage itself wasn’t long—just four short lines:
[This is a ti-traveling text ssage from ten days in the future. Please go to Old Liu’s Appliance Repair Shop on Old Electronics Street as soon as possible. There’s a rotary control board there that’s very suitable for the old electronic cannon.]
That was all.
Jiang Ran read it twice.
There was no hidden information, front or back.
And he knew that shop that sold circuit boards was really called Old Liu’s Appliance Repair Shop.
This ssage… had no problems at all.
The one who was being overly suspicious and anxious was himself.
Qin Feng smiled as he looked at Jiang Ran.
“You think I’d pull so kind of trick, try to find a way to bring my father back to life?”
As always.
He still saw straight through Jiang Ran—just as Jiang Ran always saw straight through him.
Years of tacit understanding ant there were no secrets between them. Everything was transparent.
“I’m sorry.”
Jiang Ran said it quietly.
A thousand words collapsed into a single sentence.
This kind of behavior—doubting a friend—he didn’t know how to explain it, and he didn’t know how to defend himself.
“It’s fine.”
Qin Feng was as generous as ever.
“It’s normal for you to have concerns like this. And you being overly suspicious isn’t sothing that started yesterday—I got used to it a long ti ago.”
With that, he held out his hand.
“You’ve confird the ssage. So how about giving the phone back, and we restart the countdown to activate the old electronic cannon?”
Unexpectedly.
Jiang Ran didn’t move.
After a few seconds of thought, he set the phone down and looked at Qin Feng.
“Can I be the one to send this ssage?”
?
“Jiang Ran, you—”
Cheng ngxue, who had been leaning at the window, had heard the entire exchange.
To be honest.
With things at this point, even she felt Jiang Ran was going too far.
If he really didn’t trust Qin Feng, then they shouldn’t send the ti-traveling text at all this ti.
Yet after refusing Qin Feng once, then agreeing to make it up to him, he was still doubting his friend like this…
How could he do that?
“It’s okay.”
Qin Feng shrugged, took a few steps back, and leaned against the transforr distribution box.
“Then you send it.”
Cheng ngxue’s mouth fell slightly open as she looked at the two of them.
In the end—
She bit her lower lip hard and stepped back inside.
“Fine. Do whatever you want.”
She pushed the window all the way open.
“It’s late and quiet now. There shouldn’t be much interference. I can handle the countdown from inside.”
“The rhythm stays the sa. When the countdown hits zero, I’ll activate the old electronic cannon, and then Jiang Ran sends the ssage.”
“Qin Feng… then you stand outside.”
Shaking her head, Cheng ngxue walked back to the workbench.
…
Leaves rustled softly. The chirping of cicadas rose and fell in fragnts.
Jiang Ran stared at the already edited ssage on the phone, his thumb hovering in midair.
It was awkward.
He had no face to talk to Qin Feng, and he didn’t dare look at him either.
“Jiang Ran.”
Of course. Afraid of what would happen, and it happened anyway—Qin Feng called his na.
Jiang Ran lifted his gaze from the phone screen and looked toward Qin Feng by the distribution box.
“Back when I first suggested using a ti-traveling text to save my father, I hesitated too—just like you.”
Qin Feng spoke softly.
“Do you know what I was hesitating about?”
Jiang Ran paused for two seconds.
“You were worried about being separated from us, right?”
The temporal butterfly effect was uncontrollable. No one could predict how history would shift after a change.
Qin Feng eting Jiang Ran and Cheng ngxue, the three of them becoming an inseparable trio—it all happened because Qin Feng ca to attend Hang City No.1 High School, and then, after his father’s death, was bullied by others. That was what forged their friendship.
Look at it from another angle.
If Qin Feng’s father hadn’t died ten years ago…
Would Qin Feng still have co to Hang City No.1 High School?
Maybe yes. Maybe no.
Both probabilities existed.
If his father had moved for work or so other reason, then Qin Feng wouldn’t have co to Hang City No.1 High School at all. Naturally, he wouldn’t have t Jiang Ran and Cheng ngxue, and this friendship would never have existed.
Take another step back.
Even if Qin Feng still ca to Hang City No.1 High School, if his father hadn’t died, those bad kids wouldn’t have bullied him. That, too, would have erased the opportunity for him to et Jiang Ran and Cheng ngxue.
There’s an old saying: on the road of life, one wrong step leads to wrong steps all the way.
Isn’t a worldline shift the sa?
Each person’s life looks accidental on the surface, but in truth it’s an inevitability driven forward by countless accidents…
Miss by a hair, and you’re a thousand miles off.
“Heh.”
Qin Feng laughed, exactly as Jiang Ran expected.
“You always see right through . You can guess everything I’m thinking.”
“That’s right. What I was most hesitant to give up back then was the two of you.”
He lifted his head, looking up at the moonlit, star-filled sky.
“I’m not like you. I don’t have that kind of special constitution. I won’t retain mories from before a worldline change.”
“So once I send a ti-traveling text to myself ten years ago and save my father, the entire trajectory of the past ten years will change. Without even realizing it, I’ll walk into a completely different life.”
“It’s very possible that I won’t go to Hang City No.1 High School. I won’t attend Donghai University with you. We might not even beco friends at all…”
“After the worldline changes, on a brand-new worldline, we’ll be complete strangers.”
He paused.
Then he continued.
“I’ve said this before. I really want to save my father, but I’m also unwilling to lose you. To , the two sides of the scale weigh exactly the sa.”
“So when Xiaoxue suggested voting back then, I chose to abstain. I just didn’t want to face that kind of ending.”
“Jiang Ran, don’t you think that feeling is cruel?”
Turning back, their eyes t. Qin Feng’s voice was clear.
“After the worldline changes, the three of us—so close right now—beco strangers in an instant.”
“All emotions and experiences vanish without a trace. Each of us lives our own life… no one will rember the iron triangle we are right now.”
“I will rember.”
Jiang Ran reminded him.
“I have All-Spaceti mory, this special constitution. So no matter how the worldline changes, I’ll rember everything we went through. I’ll rember how close we were. I’ll rember that we’re the best friends in the world.”
Qin Feng smiled faintly.
“Yes, you’ll rember. But only you will rember.”
“And emotions and friendship are two-way things… if only one person rembers, it doesn’t an anything.”
“The feelings in a person’s heart co from a series of shared experiences. Without those experiences, all those words are empty.”
“You and Xiaoxue are childhood friends. No matter how the worldline changes, it won’t affect your relationship.”
“But I t you in high school. The slightest temporal butterfly effect could push out of your lives.”
“So there’s a question, Jiang Ran. I’ve always wanted to ask you.”
He let the smile fade, his voice growing heavy.
“If a worldline change makes drift away from you, turning into a stranger on the new worldline… what would you do?”
The night wind turned cool. Qin Feng looked straight into Jiang Ran’s eyes.
“On the new worldline, would you co find again?”
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