Genius Playground

"What guy hangs a Rhine Cat charm on his phone? I’d get laughed at."

"Then don’t give it to me!"

Wang Hao raised his hand.

"I’ll take it! Can’t turn down something free!"

"The hell you will!"

Xu Yan yanked Wang Hao aside, shooting him a look of pure exasperation.

"Just look at yourself. Does ’mafia godfather’ really suit your vibe?"

She then frantically signaled him with her eyes to shut up.

Xu Yan couldn’t help but sigh to herself...

’That Wang Hao... he’s completely blind. I guess it’s true that birds of a feather flock together. No wonder he hangs out with a blockhead like Jiang Ran.’

’Anyone with eyes could see that the Godfather Rhine Cat and the Wedding Dress Rhine Cat are a set! It’s obviously a matching pair for a couple!’

’Cheng Mengxue was being so obvious. She was willing to reluctantly part with her favorite Rhine Cat to give one to Jiang Ran... and it just so happens to be the Godfather Rhine Cat, the one that pairs with her Wedding Dress Rhine Cat. They’re clearly a set of couple’s charms!’

’And despite all that, that idiot Wang Hao shamelessly pipes up with "I’ll take it! I’ll take it!" He’s just so dense.’

"So, does this Wedding Dress Rhine Cat have some kind of special backstory?"

Xu Yan, ever the wingman, stepped in to help.

"Is the backstory a really sweet love story? Something like a mafia godfather and a noble Princess?"

However...

Cheng Mengxue shook her head.

"Actually, the Wedding Dress Rhine Cat’s backstory is very tragic. She was a poor girl from Brooklyn; the best days of her life were spent with the Godfather Rhine Cat."

"But their ending was full of regrets..."

"The ’Wedding Dress Girl’ ultimately died in the Godfather’s arms, dissipating into the wind, while the Godfather left that era to return to his own world."

Uh.

Huh?

Xu Yan’s jaw dropped. She felt like her attempt to be a wingman had just hit a brick wall.

’What kind of cheesy, melodramatic love story is this?’

’Dark and tragic stories aren’t in style anymore. Was it really necessary to write a love story that’s so gut-wrenching?’

"Ahem."

She cleared her throat and quickly tried to do some damage control.

"Well, regret... life is always full of it. But all those regrets just serve as a reminder for everyone... to cherish the present and the people right in front of you."

"So! Very few people get the chance to make up for their regrets. You have to seize that chance when you get it! Right, Jiang Ran?"

Uh.

Huh?

This time, it was Jiang Ran’s turn to be stunned.

’Was this some kind of secret code? He had no idea what Xu Yan was talking about. How did the backstory of a Rhine Cat suddenly get so profound?’

"Alright, I’m off!"

Her messenger bag slung over her shoulder, Cheng Mengxue walked into the security line and turned to wave.

"Jiang Ran! Wang Hao! Sis!"

"Next semester! See you in East Sea!"

With that, she turned and jogged away.

"Sigh..."

Xu Yan watched Cheng Mengxue’s skipping figure retreat into the distance and let out an inexplicable sigh.

’It’s going to be a long road.’

’Especially when you’ve fallen for such a blockhead.’

’Is there really some kind of curse on childhood friends?’

Xu Yan didn’t know.

But from what she’d observed, it seemed to be true. Childhood friends rarely ended up together. In fact... very few even managed to take that first step.

Take Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue, for example.

They had known each other for nearly twenty years. They grew up together and were practically inseparable.

A bond that close...

Honestly.

If they were ever going to get together, it would have happened long ago.

She really didn’t know what the problem was.

"Time to head back."

Xu Yan crossed her arms and walked away, the CLICK-CLACK of her heels echoing behind her.

...

「East Sea City. A luxurious conference room.」

Thick curtains were drawn and all the lights were off. The only illumination came from a projector screen, which was playing the micro-film *Genius Playground*.

In the dim and spacious conference room, only a middle-aged man sat upright in his chair, his eyes glued to the screen.

CREAK—

Without a knock, an expensive, exquisitely carved wooden door inlaid with gold thread was pushed open. An elderly man in a Tang suit walked straight in.

He seemed surprised that the lights were off.

He turned his head to look at the screen, then looked down and saw the middle-aged man sitting by the conference table.

"Why are you still watching this micro-film?"

The old man in the Tang suit asked quizzically, "I recall you’ve already watched it many times."

The middle-aged man smiled faintly.

"I’m always looking for new details, new clues."

"And what do you know? This time, I really did find something very *interesting*."

The old man in the Tang suit looked up, rolling a gold coin between his fingers.

"How are things progressing?"

"Very smoothly."

The middle-aged man’s reply was succinct.

"There’s nothing to worry about. At the end of the day, Jiang Ran is just a teenager. What could he possibly use to fight us? He isn’t even aware we exist."

"That said, we don’t need to focus too much on him for the time being. After all, our true target... is the person *behind* Jiang Ran, or perhaps someone *around* him. This boy is, in all likelihood, just bait."

Mm.

The old man in the Tang suit was very satisfied.

He was confident in the middle-aged man’s ability to get things done; this was his most capable subordinate.

"Our long preparations for this ’key’ were not in vain. I knew it would come in handy... I just didn’t expect the ’lock’ to appear so late."

"What’s the next step? In September, Jiang Ran is going to East Sea University for his graduate studies. Do you plan to send the ’key’ to the university as well?"

The middle-aged man nodded.

"That’s right. As you said, we need them to become the closest of friends. That’s the only way to gain his complete trust. Otherwise... it will be very difficult to get Jiang Ran to talk and learn the secrets he holds."

"It’s a gradual process, and it’s the only way we’ll achieve our objective. We absolutely must not be hasty. Something like friendship needs time to develop naturally."

"Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility that our ’key’ is clever enough to find the answers behind Jiang Ran on their own, just by being around him. To be honest, I have great confidence in the ’key’s’ abilities. They are a very intelligent and capable person."

Heh heh.

The old man let out a dry chuckle, rolling the ’King’ gold coin between his fingertips.

The obverse of the coin depicted a bearded King with a scepter and crown, under which was the word KING. The reverse was engraved with a line drawing of a Ferris wheel, bisected by a large, mysterious, and profound eye.

He said leisurely,

"No matter. We’ll play along with them. Take our time. We’ll find out who the true mastermind is eventually."

"Find out his identity, find out his motive... and then, that’s when we’ll spring our trap!"

"Heh heh, East Sea University, huh? That really is interesting. It’s like all the players gathering for a game of mahjong. Things at that school are about to get very lively..."

With that, he turned as if to leave.

But he suddenly thought of something and turned back.

"Oh, right."

He looked at the middle-aged man.

"You said just now that you found something interesting in the micro-film..."

"What was this interesting thing?"

The middle-aged man picked up the remote, rewound the film to a point near the beginning, and pressed play.

"Hurry, go!"

On the projector screen, the second male lead clutched at his bleeding chest, his teeth clenched.

"Just go back to the past... change all of this... and everything can start over... Now go!"

Then, the male lead picked up the diary and ran to the rooftop.

"Not this one... not this one... This is the one!"

He stared at an entry from 2009 and began to read it aloud—

BEEP.

The middle-aged man pressed the pause button, and the image froze at that moment.

"The vast majority of the events filmed for this micro-film are real. They’re accurate. That’s why we’re targeting the original creator, the scriptwriter... our little friend, Jiang Ran."

"But... is it really just the vast majority, and not all of it?"

After a pause, he continued.

"Could it be that the parts we dismissed as fiction were only ’unreal’ because of the limits of our own understanding?"

The middle-aged man smiled.

"This is what I was just talking about, the part I find interesting."

He leaned forward.

He rubbed the stubble on his chin with his right hand, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the open diary on the projector screen.

"Is it possible..."

"That our little friend, Jiang Ran, *truly possesses a diary that can travel through time?*"

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