Chapter 227 - 35: Chi Xiaoguo’s Secret

"It’s okay. You don’t have to explain anything."

Chi Xiaoguo, already lost in her own deductions, waved her hand magnanimously.

"I know it’s hard to talk about such a childish and impractical idea, but I really do understand."

"If anything, I’ve always admired your perseverance! You’ve been failing for so long without a single success, yet you remain steadfast, trying again and again without a single thought of giving up."

"That persistent spirit of yours is a huge inspiration to me. So I’m not discriminating against you or looking down on you at all."

"I believe every dream deserves to be supported, no matter how absurd or childish. A person has to have a dream! If you don’t have a dream, what’s the difference between you and a salted fish?"

...

...

Alright.

Jiang Ran stood up straight.

’So that’s how it is.’

A long-standing mystery was solved.

He’d always wondered how Chi Xiaoguo could accompany him to his experiments day after day, so diligently and silently, without ever asking a single question or showing any curiosity.

He had originally thought she was just respecting his privacy and forcing herself not to ask.

But now he saw the truth!

She wasn’t holding back at all! Not in the slightest!

Instead, she had completely misunderstood his actions. Her assumptions were poles apart from reality, utterly and completely wrong—

’In Chi Xiaoguo’s eyes, I’m a childish but endearing, impractical but persistent dreamer... Or to put it more bluntly, a crazy amateur scientist who’s gone completely off the deep end.’

So.

All this time, Chi Xiaoguo had been treating him with a kind of humanistic concern, like a kindergarten teacher coddling a child... carefully and patiently indulging his "childish fantasy" of building a Time Machine.

Heh.

He couldn’t really blame her for thinking that way, though.

Any sane person who saw someone experimenting with a time machine would instantly think things like, ’This guy is nuts,’ ’His brain is fried,’ ’He’s trying to build a perpetual motion machine,’ or ’He’s watched too many sci-fi movies.’

That was the normal reaction of a normal person.

If he hadn’t personally experienced Time Travel himself, he would have thought the same as Chi Xiaoguo—that anyone researching such an ethereal, fantastical device was sick in the head. In fact, on the pecking order of crackpots, they’d rank even lower than the amateur scientists who claim to have invented perpetual motion machines.

"Alright."

Jiang Ran silently accepted the misunderstanding.

’This is better, anyway. I’ll just let her keep misunderstanding me. It’ll save me the trouble of explaining everything.’

"You’re right, it’s a difficult thing to talk about. It’s actually a little embarrassing to say out loud."

Jiang Ran decided to play along with her assumptions.

"So please, help me keep this a secret."

"Hee hee~"

Suddenly, the corners of Chi Xiaoguo’s mouth curled up into a wicked, meaningful smile.

"Hee hee... You wouldn’t want anyone else to find out about the Positron Cannon, now would you, Jiang Ran?"

?

Jiang Ran couldn’t help but take a step back.

’This...’

’Is this the right vibe?’

’Why did the script suddenly flip to some dark, tropey opening Chapter?’

In his mind, the beginning of a novel instantly played out:

[Chi Xiaoguo’s high school grades weren’t the best, but she still managed to get into a prestigious C9 League university in East Sea City. While at school, in order to save the Film Club, she put herself in the service of Jiang Ran—a man who had lost two of his dearest friends and was trying to use a Time Machine to return to his original worldline.

"Heh heh heh... You wouldn’t want anyone to find out about the secret of the Positron Cannon, now would you, Jiang Ran?"

"Chi! Xiao! Guo! This is the last time!"]

...

"Hellooo? Hey!"

Suddenly, something appeared in front of his eyes, waving back and forth like a car’s windshield wiper.

Jiang Ran’s train of thought was broken. He looked down and saw Chi Xiaoguo, hopping up and down as she waved her hand in front of his face.

"Jiang Ran? Jiang Ran, why did you suddenly space out?"

"D-did I... Was what I said just now too harsh?"

"I-I-I was just joking! I’ve never looked down on your dream! Please don’t take it to heart!"

"Oh, uh..."

Jiang Ran quickly waved his hands.

"No, no, not at all. I’m truly grateful that you’re helping me keep this a secret and are willing to stay with me for the experiments at night."

"So, in return, if the Film Club needs any help, don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll do whatever I can."

Help, trust, friendship... these things were all mutual.

Having gone through so many trials and tribulations together, the bond of camaraderie between him and Chi Xiaoguo had indeed grown much stronger.

"Alright, let’s get to the experiment. Today is the last time we’ll be doing it in the morning."

"OK!"

With a practiced understanding, the two took their positions.

Chi Xiaoguo began calibrating the Positron Cannon’s trajectory while Jiang Ran vaulted over the windowsill.

He already had a strategy for today’s trip to the future.

His previous escape attempts had all failed, getting stuck at the stage with the guards and police dogs. He had no way to stop the automatic alarm.

So, Jiang Ran thought...

’Since there’s really no way to deal with the automatic alarm, is there a way to avoid it or bypass it?’

After much thought, he decided to attempt a "super speedrun"!

That’s right.

Like a high-stakes parkour run, a race against the clock. He decided to try a new approach today—

Waste no time, say no unnecessary words, just brute force it from the start and get to the execution ground as fast as humanly possible.

It was an unprecedented tactic.

Every previous time he’d entered the Future Prison, he’d always wasted a lot of time on various procedures...

...like the initial greetings and shooting the breeze;

...the pointless rummaging through the equipment room;

...and wasting time waiting in ambush in the corridor.

All these small details slowed the pace down way too much.

’If I go at triple speed right from the start, waste no time, and just go for a super speedrun... maybe I can avoid the guards and the dogs?’

Jiang Ran gripped his phone tightly, looking at the skyline drawn by the rising sun in the distance.

’Break the mold to build anew!’

’Today, I’ll show the Future World twenty years from now the true power of a speedrunner!’

At this moment, Chi Xiaoguo had already begun the countdown:

"5! 4! 3! 2! 1! 0!"

The Positron Cannon roared to life, glowing blue as an invisible beam bombarded the transformer’s distribution box.

Jiang Ran timed it perfectly. As the phone began to ring, he hit the answer key—

"Let’s go!"