Genius Playground

!

Jiang Ran was surprised.

’Could it be? Did Chi Xiaoguo actually find a clue?’

No wonder.

No wonder he could tell Chi Xiaoguo was in a good mood the moment she walked in today.

It seemed that sifting through so many old files had paid off after all.

"Let me see."

He quickly took the photo album from her.

He had seen this album yesterday. It contained scanned and printed copies of award-winning photography from East Sea University over the years.

The album was also very old; not only were the pages yellowed, but the spine was also nearly falling apart.

Jiang Ran followed Chi Xiaoguo’s finger...

"Huh?"

He then realized that what Chi Xiaoguo was showing him wasn’t an award-winning photo printed on the page, but a [physical photograph] pasted onto it!

He touched it with his hand.

Sure enough, he wasn’t mistaken.

This photo wasn’t printed on the paper but was stuck on with double-sided tape.

"What’s going on here?" he couldn’t help but ask.

"Um..."

Chi Xiaoguo scratched her head.

"I thought it was strange too, so I secretly peeled back a corner of the photo to see what was underneath."

"And I found that underneath was the winning entry from a 2005 photography competition. The winner was from the East Sea University Digital Imaging Society... you know, the club for digital camera and camcorder enthusiasts."

Ooooh.

Jiang Ran let out a long "oh."

He had a pretty good idea of what had happened.

"So, to put it bluntly, pasting your own photo over someone else’s winning work just means you weren’t happy about losing, right?"

Jiang Ran found it a little amusing.

"In other words, this physical photo was most likely taken by someone from the Film Club back then, and they probably entered it into the competition too."

"But, because their skills weren’t up to par, they didn’t win. So, out of frustration, they just taped their work over the winner’s photo with double-sided tape—and on an album kept in the school library, no less."

"It’s... how should I put it? Seems a bit petty and sore-loserish."

Chi Xiaoguo chuckled along.

"Great minds think alike, Jiang Ran. I was guessing the exact same thing."

"Because the photo taped on top was clearly taken with a film camera, while the winning photo printed underneath must have been taken with a digital camera."

"So, this was probably part of the rivalry between the two clubs back then. After all, one mountain can’t house two tigers."

"But to be fair, if the Film Club really entered this photo into the competition, it’s no surprise they didn’t win. Look... the photo is severely overexposed. Half of it is so bright white you can’t see anything. Who would give an award to a failed photo like this?"

Jiang Ran lowered his head.

His gaze fell upon the photo, scrutinizing it.

Indeed.

Just as Chi Xiaoguo said, the photo was terribly taken.

Not only was it blurry, but the center was completely whited out, as if someone had set off a flash right in front of the lens. You couldn’t see a thing.

He placed the album on the coffee table and examined the photo carefully.

It was a...

[A photo of three people].

Judging by the cluttered background, it must have been taken in the clubroom. You could even see a clothesline in the corner with photos clipped to it, which suggested this was indeed taken in the Film Club’s room.

Whether because of the overexposure or because the old photo had faded with time, it looked quite blurry and was hard on the eyes.

Jiang Ran squinted, observing the details closely.

Based on their clothes and figures, the three people half-sitting on a table in the photo were likely young university students. Two of them wore ripped jeans, and one wore wide bell-bottoms, which must have been quite trendy back then.

"Two guys, one girl. All very young. They must have been members of the Film Club at the time, students at East Sea University."

He continued his analysis.

However, the positioning of the three was very interesting.

Although the three of them seemed to be close friends, there was clearly a couple among them.

On the far left, the guy in bell-bottoms had his hands braced on the table behind him.

In the middle was another guy, wearing ripped jeans, with his arm around the neck of the guy on the left.

And on the far right was a slender girl, also in ripped jeans. She was holding the middle guy’s arm, her head resting on his shoulder, flashing a peace sign at the camera.

Jiang Ran’s gaze moved up, wanting to see their faces.

But he found...

"Shift."

Overexposed.

’Who on earth took this photo? Their skills are terrible, even worse than mine.’

The entire upper half of the old photograph was basically covered by an intense white light, as if there wasn’t a clubroom window behind the three of them, but the sun itself.

In short.

The overexposed white light had completely washed out their faces, making it impossible to see what they looked like.

The only one whose outline was somewhat visible was the girl on the far right.

Because she was holding the middle guy’s arm with her head on his shoulder, her face was a little lower. You could make out her clear, graceful jawline and her small, cute face... but from the nose up, it was completely lost in the overexposed white light.

Oh, and another detail.

You could see the hairstyle of the girl on the right—a simple ponytail. The middle guy’s hair was obscured, and you could only see a little of the left guy’s hairstyle:

"A guy with long hair?"

Jiang Ran leaned in closer.

He was right.

The guy on the left in bell-bottoms actually had shoulder-length hair.

Stylish.

So stylish.

Jiang Ran wasn’t even born in 2005, but he had a feeling that people’s tolerance for trends wasn’t that high back then.

For a top student at East Sea University to dare to have shoulder-length hair in that era was seriously cool.

’Combining that with the bell-bottoms...’

’This alum was probably into rock music, huh?’

Compared to him, the little couple in the middle and on the right looked much more normal, like typical university students.

"This must be a group photo of the Film Club members from 2005, right?"

Jiang Ran said with a smile:

"I can’t believe the Film Club was already down to just three members back in 2005."

"Thinking about it, they were in such a sorry state back then. It’s amazing they managed to hang on intermittently for another 20 years to this day."

"But, why did you want me to see this photo? The exposure is so bad you can’t see their faces at all. Plus, it’s a 20-year-old picture, and there are no names or records. It’ll probably be very difficult to find them."

Chi Xiaoguo shook her head.

"No, no, Jiang Ran, I wasn’t trying to show you their faces! You need to look here."

She pointed her finger to a corner of the photo.

"Look, on the shelf here... This photo is 20 years old and has faded quite a bit, so you have to look really closely. Right here, see it?"

Jiang Ran followed Chi Xiaoguo’s direction.

He looked at a corner of the faded old photo...

There was a shelf, cluttered with all sorts of miscellaneous items.

But right on the bottom shelf!

An object was sitting there—squarish, with a cylindrical protrusion in the front, like an oversized camera!

"[The Positron Cannon!]"

Jiang Ran shouted.

This was completely unexpected.

’Who would have thought!’

’To actually see the Positron Cannon in this faded old photo from 2005!’

That’s right.

He took another close look.

He definitely wasn’t mistaken. That was the real deal—the Positron Cannon, looking exactly like the one currently sitting on the lab bench!

"Right? Right?"

Chi Xiaoguo beamed with joy.

"I was so surprised too! To think we’d see the Positron Cannon in this photo!"

"We asked so many alums before, and none of them had ever seen the Positron Cannon. But look, in this old photo from 2005, the Positron Cannon is sitting right there on the shelf. That means these three seniors from back then must have seen it!"

Jiang Ran nodded.

’Her analysis was sound.’

He just never expected...

...that the Positron Cannon’s history went all the way back to 2005.

"In that case..."

Jiang Ran looked up at the Positron Cannon sitting quietly on the lab bench.

"This thing is older than I am."

"Older than me, too."

Chi Xiaoguo added:

"But this whole room is full of old stuff. Even those film cameras on the shelf—isn’t every single one of them older than us? Hehe."

She giggled, crossing her arms.

"We’re definitely the youngest things in this room!"

...

By the window, on the lab bench.

Jiang Ran carefully worked at the double-sided tape, wanting to peel the old photo off.

He had already checked. The album of award-winning photography, published by East Sea University in November 2005, had a print run of only 2,000. It was likely given to some teachers and students as a memento, with a few copies left for the library.

The album itself was meaningless to them; only the photo mattered.

With the last stringy bit of 20-year-old double-sided tape stretching... Jiang Ran gave one final tug and perfectly removed the old photo without any damage.

"Perfect."

He took a tissue, wiped the surface of the old photo, and used magnets on its four corners to stick it to a small blackboard.

"Let’s summarize."

Jiang Ran clapped his hands and pointed at the old photo.

"Based on our deductions, this photo was, without a doubt, taken in 2005. The people in it were members of the Film Club at the time: two guys and a girl. On the left is this rock-and-roll guy, and on the right is a young couple. The location was the Film Club room back then."

"Our guess is they probably entered this photo in some photography competition and obviously didn’t win. Instead, a student from the Digital Imaging Society won."

"So, they were a bit resentful or maybe jealous, and they pasted this photo over the winning entry in the album, covering up the photo from the Digital Imaging Society’s member. It’s a form of self-deception, a sort of mental victory, I guess."

"But we don’t know the exact circumstances, so we won’t get into the rights and wrongs of it. The key point is this: the Positron Cannon was indeed in the Film Club’s room in 2005."

"It’s highly likely that the people who made the Positron Cannon were this trio from the 2005 Film Club! And even if they didn’t make it, they at least know some clues about who did!"

"In other words..."

Jiang Ran’s eyes narrowed.

"If we can just find this trio from the 2005 Film Club, maybe..."

"[We can actually fix the Positron Cannon!]"