Genius Playground

"It’s getting late, and we’ve had about enough to drink."

Everyone began to agree.

Even Teacher Gao, looking completely spent, declared that the party should indeed be over.

BOOM!!!!!!!!!!

A massive noise erupted from outside the window!

It was the sound of a heavy object crashing violently.

A girl sitting by the window froze, then quickly stood up, pushed open the screen, and looked outside...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

She suddenly let out a piercing scream.

"What’s wrong?"

Jiang Ran and Wang Hao shot to their feet.

"You guys, come look! Ahhhhh!"

The girl’s face was pale with fright.

"Zhou Xiong... Zhou Xiong’s car has been crushed!!!"

"What!?"

Teacher Gao and the students swarmed to the window.

At the other end of the parking lot, the once six-meter-long Maybach had been compressed to less than two meters!

In front of the Maybach’s wreckage was a heavy-duty truck, its front end also smashed to pieces.

It wasn’t hard to deduce that the culprit responsible for ramming the Maybach into the wall and flattening it was that very truck.

At that moment, the heavy truck was reversing. Its ruined front end pulled away from the Maybach’s rear. It looked like it was trying to flee!

"Let’s go!"

At Jiang Ran’s command, the boys sobered up instantly and bolted from the private room.

But it was already too late.

By the time they reached the scene, the truck that caused the crash had already smashed its way out and disappeared.

"Call the police! Call 120!" Teacher Gao shouted.

One by one, the girls from the class, and then everyone from the room, ran over.

They stared at Zhou Xiong, who was plastered to the rear of the Maybach, mangled beyond recognition—a fused mass of flesh and twisted metal... Many couldn’t help but retch.

There was no hope.

Jiang Ran knew that with injuries like these, even a medical examiner would have to "scrape" Zhou Xiong out of the wreckage piece by piece. There was absolutely no chance of survival.

From this distance, Jiang Ran couldn’t even see where Zhou Xiong’s head was.

’Right!’

’The phone!’

’Zhou Xiong’s phone!’

’I have to get that crucial item!’

Forcing himself to ignore the overwhelming stench of blood and the visual horror of dripping bits of flesh, he rushed forward and began feeling through Zhou Xiong’s pockets.

"What are you doing?!"

Wang Hao was terrified. He hurried over and grabbed Jiang Ran’s arm.

"You have to preserve the scene!"

"Keep your voice down."

Jiang Ran gritted his teeth, searching frantically.

"There’s definitely something wrong with Zhou Xiong’s phone! His death is absolutely related to it! Help me look for it, quickly!"

Wang Hao looked at the pulpy, unrecognizable corpse, clenched his jaw, and began searching as well.

But it was no use.

They checked every pocket and even searched the area around the Maybach’s wreckage, but they couldn’t find the phone.

Logically, a personal item like a phone shouldn’t be impossible to find—unless someone had already picked it up.

"The driver."

Jiang Ran frowned.

"Zhou Xiong’s driver is gone too."

It was too suspicious.

’Thinking back, this whole incident has been suspicious, starting from when the waiter came to the room to call Zhou Xiong to the parking lot.’

’The burly driver—no sign of him, dead or alive—was most likely one of the conspirators in Zhou Xiong’s murder!’

"This was... a planned murder," Jiang Ran muttered to himself.

’So, what was the target?’

’Zhou Xiong’s phone?’

’It’s highly likely.’

’After all, Zhou Xiong was incredibly high-profile. Spending money like that, it would be hard not to attract the wrong kind of attention.’

’It’s very possible that the Maybach’s driver and the truck driver worked together to kill Zhou Xiong and take his phone.’

’But...’

’Are those two killers really the masterminds?’

’Is there someone else hiding in the shadows, pulling the strings?’

’I’m afraid we’ll have to wait for the police investigation.’

"Jiang... Jiang Ran, you’re so calm."

Behind him, a girl pinching her nose walked over cautiously and handed Jiang Ran a pack of wet wipes.

"You... you actually dared to get that close to the body, and you even... you even touched him. Your hands are covered in... flesh! Ugh..."

The girl couldn’t take it anymore and quickly ran away.

Only then did it dawn on Jiang Ran what he had just done.

He looked back.

He saw that his classmates were all standing far away. Even Wang Hao couldn’t stand the smell of blood and had retreated long ago.

"..."

To be honest, Jiang Ran was also repulsed and frightened by corpses.

He also found it bloody and disgusting.

But it was true that he wasn’t as repelled as the others.

’I guess this is the result of seeing too many bloody scenes in the Future Prison of 2045.’

’During that half-month, he had to watch Sang Biao get his head blown off, get mauled by dogs, get riddled with bullets until his head exploded like a watermelon, every single day.’

’It was the same for the other inmates. Every failed escape attempt meant experiencing a bloody group annihilation.’

’Even he himself had, on multiple occasions, witnessed his own brains splattering and skull cracking in the final moments.’

For so long...

He had, without realizing it, grown accustomed to it.

The sudden realization of his own transformation left Jiang Ran somewhat stunned.

’Will I gradually become accustomed to killing in the future?’

He didn’t want to become that kind of person.

But perhaps...

’From the day I decided to ambush the prison guards with Sang Biao and the others...’

’I had already set foot on a path of no return.’

...

「A few minutes later, police cars arrived; ten minutes later, the ambulance arrived.」

A doctor pronounced the death on the spot. The police began to set up a perimeter and collect evidence, telling Jiang Ran and the others to leave quickly.

But...

A classmate who had been full of life just moments ago was gone in the blink of an eye, not even leaving a whole body behind.

The immense psychological shock left everyone rooted to the spot in front of the hotel, staring at the flashing red and blue lights of the police line, unwilling to leave for a long, long time.

students and 1 teacher stood there quietly, watching the police cars and ambulance from a distance. No one spoke.

Finally.

Teacher Gao closed his eyes, sighed, and waved his hand.

"Let’s go. Everyone, go home—"

TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP.

A series of quick, light footsteps approached.

"Sorry! I’m late!"

Instantly!

It was as if a jolt of electricity shot through Jiang Ran’s brain, making it boil, and he snapped bolt upright!

That was...

A voice he missed dearly,

A voice that was impossibly familiar,

The voice that used to chirp and chatter every day in the Film Club!

It was the voice that had echoed in his ears his entire life!

The 41 students and teachers turned around at the same time, staring in shock at the girl standing behind them—

Her chin-length hair swayed in the night breeze, and her aqua-blue dress outlined her youthful figure. In her left hand, she held a phone with a Rhine Cat case and a Rhine Cat Pendant!

The girl brushed her bangs aside with her right hand, revealing a delicate, pale forehead.

She blinked her large, bright eyes.

Tilting her head, she looked at the stunned and rigid crowd.

"Excuse me..."

"Is the class reunion... already over?"

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Volume 1: "Friends," to be continued.

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