Genius Playground

The same answer flashed through everyone’s mind!

But no one dared to say it out loud!

A strange, creeping horror spread rapidly through the private room!

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

The knocking sounded again.

In the deathly silent room, the crisp sound of knuckles on wood seemed deafening. It felt like it was boring right through the door, piercing everyone’s heart.

Jiang Ran glanced at Zhou Xiong out of the corner of his eye.

He saw that Zhou Xiong’s face was also filled with terror and panic.

Jiang Ran’s heart began to race.

’No.’

’He absolutely refused to believe that Cheng Mengxue was standing outside that door.’

But his intuition couldn’t seem to avoid that one single possibility.

Beside him, Wang Hao was also staring straight at him, his mouth slightly agape and his lips pale.

At this moment, inside a room where a series of absurd events had already taken place, no one could feel completely certain of anything!

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

The knocking grew heavier, the sound both muffled and loud!

GULP.

Their homeroom teacher, Teacher Gao, swallowed hard. He put down his glass and looked at the door.

"P-Please... come in."

CREAK—

A slender, pale hand pushed the wooden door open.

The next thing to enter was a neat bob of short hair, swaying at the nape of a neck.

A woman with a fine figure, dressed in a black blazer, stepped inside.

It was...

A member of the restaurant staff.

"Fuck!" "Jesus." "You scared the shit out of me." "Oh my god." "I couldn’t breathe for a second." "Seriously!"

In an instant, the unified front in the private room crumbled, the group dissolving into a mess of frayed nerves.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. The heavy, dark cloud of dread that had been hanging over them vanished without a trace as the waitress walked in.

"I-I’m sorry."

The waitress, seeing that the atmosphere was clearly off, quickly apologized.

"Excuse me, I’m sorry to disturb you all."

"Ah,"

Teacher Gao sighed as well.

He used his free hand to rub his chest over his heart.

"It’s all right, it’s all right. What is it, miss?"

The waitress looked up.

"The Maybach sedan in the parking lot downstairs, it belongs to someone in this room, right? The owner... is needed over there."

Zhou Xiong, slumped in his chair, waved his hand impatiently.

"You need the car moved, right? Just go find my driver, he’s down there. Tell him to move it for you."

"No, no, it’s not about moving the car."

The waitress quickly waved her hands, a troubled expression on her face.

"It’s... someone scraped your car. Because your car is so expensive, the driver can’t make the call. We need you to come take a look in person."

Zhou Xiong pursed his lips.

"What a pain in the ass."

He grumbled to himself and stood up.

"Well, everyone, you guys carry on. Have another drink. I’m going to head down and see what’s going on."

With that, he left with the waitress.

THUMP.

The door to the private room closed, and whispers immediately broke out.

Talking about the terrifying moment just now, many of them were still shaken.

Although now that they were talking about it, their earlier thoughts and reactions seemed ridiculous.

But with so many surreal things happening tonight, the timing of the knock had been too perfect—it came right as Teacher Gao mentioned Cheng Mengxue’s name.

G-Given that, anyone would have jumped to that conclusion!

"Fuck,"

Wang Hao cursed under his breath and leaned in closer.

"That was fucking terrifying. Honestly... for a second there, I really thought the person knocking was Xiaoxue! Holy shit, the atmosphere and the timing were just too on point!"

Jiang Ran didn’t say anything.

’Hadn’t he just been thinking the exact same thing?’

’If anyone was to blame, it was Zhou Xiong for putting everyone through so much psychological stress tonight... Who knew if the final command he gave to Lilith had actually been carried out?’

Of course, Jiang Ran didn’t believe that a mere phone call could bring someone back from the dead.

But...

’Lilith.’

’A phone that can grant any wish.’

With these two realities laid out before him, he was starting to seriously doubt the authenticity of his world.

’It was too much of a coincidence.’

’So much of a coincidence that it couldn’t possibly be by chance.’

’No wonder that film company and the famous director were willing to pay any price to buy the full rights and silence everyone—’

’Because the seemingly absurd settings in those scripts... they never expected them to be real! They had accidentally hit the mark, and it actually existed in real life!’

This bizarre affair was something Jiang Ran couldn’t logically make sense of at all.

So similar, so exact down to the last detail.

’Then.’

’Did I write the Setting Collection first, causing Lilith and the special phone that can grant any wish to appear in the real world?’

’Or did Lilith and the special phone already exist in the real world, which then led me to write the Setting Collection?’

’A mess.’

’It was all a total mess.’

He was 100% certain that the Setting Collection was his original creation. At the very least, the name Lilith and the "god" concept were definitely his own original ideas.

If he looked at it from that angle, then this "coincidence," which was anything but, became even more incomprehensible.

Jiang Ran thought it over and over until his head throbbed.

’If he really wanted to get to the bottom of this...’

He narrowed his eyes, his gaze falling on Zhou Xiong’s empty seat.

’The phone.’

’Zhou Xiong’s phone was the key.’

Every time he contacted Lilith, he never dialed a number. He just picked up the phone and called directly.

’That meant the problem had to be with Zhou Xiong’s phone.’

’I have to take a good look at it.’

Jiang Ran had already made up his mind. After the class reunion was over, he would find Zhou Xiong for a private chat and see what was up with his phone.

While he was at it, he also needed to find clues from Zhou Xiong about Lilith and the short film, *Genius Playground*.

...

After Zhou Xiong left, the atmosphere in the private room quickly cooled down.

No one spoke.

They were probably all tired and worn out.

In terms of outcome, this class reunion had been terrifying. In terms of the process, it had been thrilling. All in all, there was now a strange sense of withdrawal.

"How about we wait for Zhou Xiong to get back, and then we’ll call it a night?" a male student suggested, pointing to his watch.

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