Genius Playground

Chapter 13 World Line Jump

"Oh dear, the elevator's too busy. Here's the takeout!"

A cute figure jumped out of the ward door.

It's Cheng Mengxue.

She walked in wearing a light blue dress and carrying a takeout bag.

I saw someone I knew.

Jiang Ran felt somewhat safer:

"Why am I in the hospital?"

He asked hurriedly:
"Was the time-space text message successfully sent? Was Xu Yan saved?"

"what?"

Cheng Mengxue was stunned for a moment.

But then he chuckled:
"Just as we predicted, Jiang Ran, you've just experienced a spacetime shift, haven't you?"

"From your perspective...did you just send a text message in the club and then wake up in the hospital?"

Jiang Ran nodded.

Three days ago, they had already understood the principles of time-space text messaging, the laws governing time-space changes, and Jiang Ran's unique ability to retain original historical memories.

Not to mention, Jiang Ran's sudden overreaction and memory lapses have happened twice already.

Therefore, Cheng Mengxue immediately understood what had happened.

“我们收到短信是3月26日，所以那条短信肯定是3月29日发送的，那也就是意味着，你身上的时空变动肯定会在3月29日发生。”

"So, I've been staying by your side all day, just waiting for the moment when your memories start to go out of sync again, so I can explain it to you as soon as possible."

Cheng Mengxue placed the takeout on the table, her mind very clear.

"I see."

Since everything is within the rules, there's nothing to be nervous about.

"Was Xu Yan saved?" This was Jiang Ran's biggest concern.

"Of course!"

Cheng Mengxue gave a thumbs up:
"We're amazing! We saved a life! This feeling is incredible!"

call……

Jiang Ran breathed a sigh of relief, completely at ease.

"How about it?"

Cheng Mengxue looked at him:
"Is it the same as before, only having memories from before the [time travel], and not memories from the three days after the travel?"

Yes, it's still the same.

There was a pause.

Jiang Ran smiled:

"I need to correct a misconception for you. My situation is not called time travel."

"Traditional time travel is usually about traveling on a time scale, such as traveling from the present to the past or from the present to the future, which is what is often depicted in Hollywood movies."

Cheng Mengxue tilted her head:

"Is it different?"

"It's not the same."

Jiang Ran continued to explain:

“You see, in my case, there is no time travel. I haven’t gone back to the past, nor have I gone to the future; my time has always been continuous.”

“I sent the text message one second and appeared at the hospital the next. Although the spatial location changed, the time did not change. It was still March 29th. I didn’t go anywhere in time, I just moved in space.”

Cheng Mengxue understood:

"In your case, how should I address you?"

"Um……"

Jiang Ran pondered.

I recall Professor Zhang Yang's lecture on "Parallel Worlds and Worldline Theory" during a general education course I took previously.

At that time, a word that Teacher Zhang Yang proposed was quite interesting.

"【Worldline Jump】."

Jiang Ran said softly:

"My behavior of not changing the timeline but crossing world lines should be more accurately described as a 'world line jump'."

"Didn't you hear what Professor Zhang Yang mentioned when we took the general education course together?"

"No." He replied matter-of-factly. "...Okay."

Jiang Ran picked up the disposable chopsticks from the takeout bag, broke them apart, and arranged the two chopsticks one on top of the other:
"Let's assume that the chopstick above represents the [World Line A], which is the original history, that is, the world line where Xu Yan drowned, we had a dispute, and we voted on whether to save her."

"On March 29th in timeline A, we sent a time-space text message to the past March 26th, and history began to change from that moment."

"Therefore... a brand new historical trajectory was born, and a brand new world line was created."

He shook the chopstick below:
"This brand-new world line is called the [World Line B]. It represents the altered history, the world line where we learned the news in advance, prevented the tragedy from happening, saved Xu Yan, and I was lying in the hospital."

Oh ~
Cheng Mengxue is very clever:

"In other words, according to this theory, we are currently in World Line B."

"Yes."

Jiang Ran liked people who understood things immediately:
"After that time-space text message was sent, time-space changes occurred, the original historical trajectory changed, and World Line A no longer exists."

"Therefore, in reality, we all jumped from world line A to world line B, or to put it another way—"

"It's our spacetime that has jumped from world line A to world line B, including you, me, and everything in this world and the universe. We've all jumped over from a spacetime perspective."

Cheng Mengxue nodded:

"I understand now, because the course of history has changed, and the events that originally occurred on timeline A should no longer exist."

"But that still doesn't explain your problem—"

"Why are you the only one who retained memories of the original World Line A after the world line shifted?"

Jiang Ran shrugged:
"Who knows."

"Hey, let's not talk about that now. Tell me quickly what happened before, how we rescued Xu Yan, and how I ended up in the hospital?"

Cheng Mengxue told Jiang Ran to eat her takeout first, and then began her story...

Here's the thing:

Three days ago, on March 26, at 10 a.m., Cheng Mengxue received a text message on her phone informing her that Xu Yan would drown.

They immediately took action, borrowed a life jacket from the swimming club, and then rushed out of the school gate to hail a taxi to Qing'an Bridge.

The buoyancy life jacket is filled with air cushions and foam, so even people who can't swim at all can easily float on the surface of the water when they wear it.

There was some traffic on the road, and when the three of them arrived at Qing'an Bridge, they ran into Xu Yan.

Before we could exchange more than a few words, the cries of a child came from the turbulent river.

Two children were struggling in the water below the bridge. They had drowned upstream and were swept downstream; one was unconscious and motionless, while the other was struggling and calling out.

Without hesitation, Xu Yan was about to jump into the river to save the person.

Fortunately, Jiang Ran reacted quickly and grabbed her.

The current was fast, and seeing that the two children were about to be swept away, Jiang Ran gritted her teeth, snatched the life jacket from Cheng Mengxue's hand, and jumped over the bridge into the river.

He had learned to swim as a child and was a good swimmer. After jumping into the river, he immediately put on a life jacket and swam towards the child who had fallen into the water.

The rescue was not difficult, and the two children were quickly pushed ashore; the child who was not moving also vomited river water after chest compressions and woke up.

It can be said that this was a perfect rescue.

The only person who was injured... was Jiang Ran.

He didn't know what had cut him; he only discovered the wound on his right arm, which was bleeding, after he got ashore.

But it's not a big problem. I just went to the hospital to have the wound cleaned, stitched up, and bandaged it up.

That's how it happened.

Cheng Mengxue finished speaking.

Jiang Ran, however, raised a question:
"Am I really that fragile? Do I really need to stay in the hospital for three days for such a minor injury?"

"No la."

Cheng Mengxue waved her hand:

“We went back to school that day, and we came to the hospital today specifically to change your dressing. Your wound seems to be infected and inflamed, so the doctor has you lie here to receive an IV drip.”

"Ok."

At this point, the memory loop is complete, and the logic is sound.

wrong.

There is one more crucial thing!

"Short message."

Jiang Ran put down her chopsticks and looked at Cheng Mengxue:
"Xiaoxue, this time it's your phone..."

"How many text messages did I receive?"

(End of this chapter)