"Lilith?"
The Assassin turned his head in confusion.
"What’s that?"
Such frank and clear confusion took Jiang Ran by surprise.
"In the Regrets Mutual Aid Association you joined, isn’t there an ’omnipotent’ being who ’can grant any wish’ named Lilith?"
"Heh, you’re trying to fish for information again."
The Assassin turned back around and continued walking.
"But there’s no harm in telling you this. In the Regrets Mutual Aid Association, there’s no such person as this Lilith you speak of."
"It’s just a mutual aid association for making up for life’s regrets. We only pray to the [Priest]... No one is named Lilith."
"Perhaps the Lilith you’re talking about is the one from the Bible’s Garden of Eden... Adam’s first wife? Is it some kind of symbol?"
Jiang Ran didn’t speak.
Because he himself didn’t know what Lilith actually was.
In the delusional Setting Collection he wrote in middle school, Lilith was just a placeholder name for a "god," a random foreign name he picked purely to sound cool and sophisticated.
Similarly, the "phone that could grant any wish" from the Setting Collection was, in essence, used to contact Lilith to fulfill the user’s various desires.
Of course, this was all just nonsense made up for the Setting Collection and held no real reference value.
The first time he heard the name Lilith in real life was at the class reunion, when Zhou Xiong shouted it at his phone.
Ever since learning the name [Regrets Mutual Aid Association] from Fang Ze yesterday, Jiang Ran had believed that Zhou Xiong might have also joined this organization, which was how he could grant his classmates’ wishes as if by magic.
His train of thought continued.
’If Zhou Xiong is connected to this organization, then Lilith is most likely connected to it as well. Perhaps she’s some kind of totem or spiritual leader within the group.’
But judging by the Assassin’s frank and nonchalant reaction...
’Could it be that Lilith really has nothing to do with the Regrets Mutual Aid Association?’
’Are they two completely unrelated threads?’
Besides that...
Jiang Ran narrowed his eyes.
[Priest].
He had caught another very important keyword.
It sounded like the [Priest] was the true boss of the Regrets Mutual Aid Association—the leader, the one with the highest status.
Both Jiang Ran and Fang Ze believed the Regrets Mutual Aid Association was a fraudulent organization, a cult.
Because their doctrine was simply too absurd—
"Make up for all of life’s regrets, fulfill any wish."
If it were really that easy, wouldn’t the whole world have fallen into chaos long ago?
Putting other things aside,
Even Jiang Ran and his group, who once wielded the Positron Cannon and Time SMS, couldn’t achieve that.
Because...
The Butterfly Effect of time is uncontrollable.
This law was the insurmountable mountain that crushed all such fantasies.
The pervasive Butterfly Effect would cause the development of all things to deviate from their intended course, riddling your expectations with holes and utterly destroying them.
The Time SMS Qin Feng sent to ten years in the past was intended to save his biological father.
In the end, not only did his father not survive, but their house also burned down, forcing mother and son to leave their hometown. It also unexpectedly led to Cheng Mengxue’s death in a car accident, and he himself suffered from depression for two years, his life completely upended.
It was hard to imagine.
How on earth did the Regrets Mutual Aid Association use such a crazed and unrealistic doctrine to ensnare someone as rational and intelligent as the Assassin?
"Can the Regrets Mutual Aid Association... really make up for all of life’s regrets?" Jiang Ran asked doubtfully.
"Heh, who knows?"
The Assassin clearly didn’t want to reveal anything more and just brushed it off.
...
Afterward, at a fork in the path, the group chose the right-hand passage and arrived at the familiar ambush point.
Once everything was arranged according to the optimal plan, Jiang Ran told the Assassin:
"That guard has an automatic alarm on his chest, connected to his heart rate monitor. If his heart stops, it will automatically trigger an alarm, so... we can’t kill him."
The Assassin frowned, thinking for a moment.
"Then, we can only knock him out?"
Jiang Ran nodded.
"It seems... that’s the only way. I’m counting on you."
The task was assigned perfectly.
But the result...
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
Wiped out.
WHIRRR!
WHIRRR!
WHIRRR!
The familiar dizziness, the world spinning around him.
Jiang Ran’s last moment of consciousness was of him twitching in a pool of blood, his vision gradually blurring and dimming... watching as the Assassin, also riddled with bullets, collapsed powerlessly.
This time, the problem was with the Assassin. He hadn’t managed to control the guard in time, which allowed the guard to pull out a backup pistol from behind him and gun them all down one by one.
But you couldn’t blame the Assassin for this.
Even if he was agile, he was ultimately just a man of flesh and blood, not some Terminator from the movies who could slay gods and buddhas alike.
Clad in a prison uniform and completely unarmed, he had to face a fully armed patrol guard wearing a bulletproof vest and a tactical helmet... The disparity in strength was absolutely immense.
But under such hellish difficulty, Jiang Ran had made it even harder by adding a restriction—
The guard could not be killed; they had to find a way to knock him out.
It was simply asking too much.
Even someone as agile as the Assassin couldn’t pull it off.
’Looks like I, the client, made an unreasonable demand.’
In the temporal vortex where he had lost all five senses, Jiang Ran realized his mistake.
’In that case...’
’Doesn’t that mean we’ve run into a checkmate, a stalemate?’
’Grabbing the gun and killing the guard will trigger the alarm.’
’If we don’t kill him, the guard will pull out his backup pistol and wipe us out.’
’The Assassin isn’t Spider-Man. He only has two hands. It’s impossible for him to grab the gun, choke the guard, stop him from drawing his other gun, and knock him out all at the same time... Sorry, even Spider-Man couldn’t do this job. You’d need Centipede-Man for that.’
It seemed he couldn’t have his cake and eat it too.
’I can only put the goal of escaping with the Assassin on the back burner for now. I need to focus on the execution ground and talking to Qin Feng.’
Two seconds later, all the discomfort vanished.
Jiang Ran returned to the year 2025.
Standing beside the transformer distribution box.
He opened his eyes.
...
Chi Xiaoguo had a class during the first period. After exchanging a few pleasantries with Jiang Ran, she headed out to the cafeteria to eat.
Jiang Ran’s class wasn’t until the second period, so he stayed in the Film Club room to organize his thoughts.
This trip to the future, you could say he had failed to achieve both of his goals.
He neither managed to speak with Qin Feng nor pried any key information from the Assassin.
"A total failure,"
Jiang Ran concluded.
However, it wasn’t entirely without reward.
He gathered the scattered keywords in his mind, slowly categorizing them, and pieced them together into two increasingly clear groups.
’From the Assassin’s reaction, it seems Lilith really has nothing to do with the Regrets Mutual Aid Association.’
’Because the Assassin is the type of person with only two modes: ’will talk’ and ’won’t talk.’ He almost never lies to me, and there’s no need to. After all, we’re in the same boat,’
Jiang Ran analyzed.
’The Assassin’s feelings for his brother, Fang Ze, are straightforward—genuinely sincere and honest. His only goal is to escape prison; he doesn’t care about anything else.’
’So, regarding Lilith, the Assassin probably wasn’t lying. Lilith really isn’t connected to the Regrets Mutual Aid Association.’
’In that case... it seems all the messy clues at hand can indeed be sorted into two different tracks.’
He stood up, walked over to the lab bench, and pulled over a small blackboard.
Then he picked up a piece of chalk.
On the top left of the board, he wrote the words [Genius Playground], and on the top right, he wrote [Regrets Mutual Aid Association].
Then, Jiang Ran began to organize the keywords in his head, listing them under their respective headings.
First, the [Genius Playground] track—
The Setting Collection written in middle school (stolen by Qin Feng),
The script written for Xu Yan (bought out by a film production company),
The award-winning short film (pulled from the film festival, shelved),
Zhou Xiong’s phone that could contact Lilith (snatched, whereabouts unknown),
Lilith (identity unknown, but unrelated to the Regrets Mutual Aid Association).
...
The above were the clues Jiang Ran had summarized so far related to the entry [Genius Playground].
Next, the [Regrets Mutual Aid Association] track—
A cult (Fang Ze’s verbal assessment),
Assassin (Mutual Aid Association member, does the dirty work),
Priest (Mutual Aid Association’s boss, leader),
Making up for all of life’s regrets (the Mutual Aid Association’s doctrine),
...
"That’s about it."
Jiang Ran put down the chalk.
Currently, he didn’t have much information, but categorizing it like this instantly cleared up his thoughts.
Comparing the left and right sides,
he discovered...
It seemed that both [Lilith] and [Priest] were symbolic "codenames."
Assassin wasn’t a codename; it was just Fang Yang’s nickname, used only within the Future Prison.
"Codenames."
Jiang Ran narrowed his eyes.
He suddenly thought of someone else who had a codename! And it was a codename known to the entire world!
"[Magician], Qin Feng."
With that, he picked up the chalk again and wrote the word [Magician] in the middle of the blackboard.
Then he took a step back to re-examine the blackboard, with the two factions pulling from either side.
On the left were the keywords related to Genius Playground; on the right were the keywords related to the Regrets Mutual Aid Association.
In the middle was Magician, Qin Feng.
’It’s obvious. Since Qin Feng has the codename Magician, he’s definitely not working alone. He absolutely must be connected to some organization.’
Jiang Ran’s thoughts grew increasingly clear.
His gaze darted back and forth, trying to connect Qin Feng to one of the categories.
’Genius Playground...’
’Regrets Mutual Aid Association...’
’Magician Qin Feng, which side... do you belong to?’
Having organized his thoughts, Jiang Ran erased the blackboard, tidied up the club room, and turned to leave.
"Hey! Xiaojiang!"
Suddenly, a shout came from outside the window.
Jiang Ran turned his head.
He saw it was the janitor from this morning, Old Tian, waving at him from a distance outside the window.
"Old Tian?"
Jiang Ran walked to the window.
"Old Tian, what are you doing back here?"
"Hehe, catch!"
Old Tian chuckled, tossing a drink over the flowerbed.
By the time Jiang Ran realized what was happening, the drink was already flying toward his face, and he quickly reached out and snatched it from the air, the bottle landing securely in his palm.
He looked down and saw it was a bottle of Master Kong Iced Tea.
"Haha, I know you young folks like to drink this!"
Jiang Ran was a bit confused and looked at Old Tian.
"What’s this for...?"
"Aiya, you help me clean up every day, I feel bad. My treat, Xiaojiang!"
Only then did Jiang Ran realize.
Old Tian had gone out of his way to buy this iced tea at the campus supermarket.
He must have finished taking out the trash, wanted to thank him, and then made a special trip to buy the drink and came all the way back here to see if he was still around.
"Old Tian, you shouldn’t have spent the money. You..."
Jiang Ran trailed off.
He had wanted to say that Old Tian’s salary wasn’t high to begin with, and he shouldn’t waste money buying him a drink.
But on second thought, that sounded a bit condescending, so he quickly shut his mouth.
Besides, this iced tea was a token of Old Tian’s kindness, after all. It was better not to refuse.
"Thank you, Old Tian."
Jiang Ran smiled.
"But please, don’t spend money on me in the future. I actually like exercising in the morning, and this area is right outside our club’s window anyway. Keeping it a little cleaner makes us feel better too."
Old Tian didn’t say much more.
He just waved to Jiang Ran and rode away on his tricycle.
’Sigh, he’s an honest man.’
Jiang Ran twisted open the iced tea and took a sip.
’Alright, I should head back to my dorm, get ready, and go to class.’
He closed the door to the Film Club room and walked toward the graduate student dormitory.
His next class was a graduate student group meeting arranged by Teacher Yan Chonghan, with just Jiang Ran, Fang Ze, and Cheng Mengxue.
The class would be held in Teacher Zhang Yang’s private lab.
Just thinking about that passive-aggressive Teacher Yan, who never looked pleased to see him, made Jiang Ran’s head begin to ache.
He always felt like the man had some kind of problem with him.
’Teacher Zhang Yang, please get well soon and come back...’
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