Genius Playground

Lu!

Lu Yu!?

Hearing that incredibly familiar name, Jiang Ran immediately turned and helped the drooling, dazed man up from the side of the bed.

Lu Yu.

He never expected it would be him.

The freshman who would enroll at East Sea University in two months, the super genius who would solve Goldbach’s Conjecture in two years, the person most likely to invent the Time Travel Machine in the future...

He had too many halos and honors to his name.

Even Jiang Ran’s own success in getting into the graduate program was all thanks to riding Lu Yu’s coattails. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call him his benefactor, his true master.

But how could such a world-renowned super genius with incredible achievements end up in prison?

And as Jiang Ran’s hand brushed against Lu Yu’s arm, he felt a dense collection of needle marks and a network of deep, ugly scars.

He couldn’t help but frown.

Clearly, these shocking marks were all from merciless, cruel abuse... As for the needle marks, there was no telling what had been injected, but the level of pain they represented had to be even greater than that of the scars.

It was hard to imagine.

Why would these people torture Lu Yu like this?

Were they trying to extract some intelligence, some information from him?

"Sigh..."

Jiang Ran sighed, his heart aching for him.

He looked up again, cupping Lu Yu’s face, which was so thin his cheeks were sunken, and stared into his dark, vacant eyes that couldn’t hold a focus:

"Lu Yu? Lu Yu! Can you hear me? Lu Yu?"

Jiang Ran kept calling his name.

But no matter what, there was no reaction.

Instead, enough drool had pooled in his half-open mouth to trickle down from the corner like a viscous thread, sticking to Jiang Ran’s arm.

Jiang Ran didn’t find it disgusting.

He only felt a pang in his heart.

Based on his age, Lu Yu should be around 37 or 38 years old in 2045.

That age was approaching middle age, but he looked so small and frail that Jiang Ran had misjudged his age at first glance.

What on earth had happened?

Right now, Jiang Ran’s mind was a chaotic mess.

Teacher Zhang Yang, who was supposed to be in cell #4, was gone.

In his place was the heavily tortured and mentally broken Lu Yu.

’Is all of this because I copied the proof for Goldbach’s Conjecture from the future, got into grad school, and became Teacher Zhang Yang’s student?’

Jiang Ran sorted through his thoughts.

’It must be.’

After all, the original future trajectory wasn’t like this.

According to the original World Line 1, Lu Yu was supposed to prove Goldbach’s Conjecture, and Zhang Yang would delve into researching Quantum Tunneling. The end result was Lu Yu becoming famous and successful, while Zhang Yang was thrown in jail.

But now, because of his meddling, he had interfered with the original world line’s course. Looking back from 2045, the established history had changed—

Goldbach’s Conjecture was published by the Dragon Country Academy of Sciences, so Lu Yu must have shifted his focus to research other subjects;

Teacher Zhang Yang and he had become master and apprentice, and under the guidance of Dean Gao Yan, they had begun comprehensive research on Quantum Tunneling and the Time Travel Machine;

So...

This was the tornado created by the Butterfly Effect of time, throwing the future world line into complete disarray.

There was one thing Jiang Ran couldn’t figure out.

’Why is there always someone from East Sea University locked up in cell #4?’

Whether it was Zhang Yang or Lu Yu, their common trait was that they both conducted research at East Sea University.

East Sea University wasn’t a political science and law university.

It didn’t have a culture where underclassmen arrested upperclassmen, or where half the alumni arrested the other half.

Logically, the incarceration rate shouldn’t be that high.

So, what was the truth?

What secret did East Sea University hold that required someone to be imprisoned here?

"Lu Yu? Lu Yu! Wake up!"

Jiang Ran wiped the drool from Lu Yu’s face and patted his cheeks, trying to wake him up.

Guessing blindly on his own was useless. It would be better to get Lu Yu to regain his senses and obtain information from him.

"It’s no use. He can’t talk at all."

Sang Biao picked his nose and walked over, about to hit Lu Yu again.

"If you want to hear him grunt a couple of times, that’s easy. Watch me!"

SMACK!

Quick as a flash, Jiang Ran blocked Sang Biao’s fist and shoved him away.

"Don’t you touch him."

Before, when he didn’t know this dazed, drooling man was Lu Yu, he could let Sang Biao’s roughhousing slide. He could let bygones be bygones.

But now...

Lu Yu was his future junior, the benefactor who helped him get into grad school, and quite possibly the key figure who would develop the Time Travel Machine.

With such a close connection, how could he just stand by and watch Sang Biao bully him?

Jiang Ran would absolutely not allow it.

"He’s been tortured to the point of insanity. His brain is damaged. We’ve never heard him speak a word."

The Assassin walked in and came up behind Jiang Ran.

"Looking at the marks on his body, it’s not hard to guess he must have suffered a great deal of torture before being sent here."

"Not just physical whippings, burns, and bruises. The chemical agents injected through those needle holes were either hallucinogens for hypnosis or neurotoxins that cause excruciating pain."

"In short, when ’Little Genius’ was sent here, his condition was even worse than it is now. He was basically half-dead."

"How long has he been here?" Jiang Ran asked.

The Assassin thought for a moment.

"Not too long. Three or four years, I think. We don’t know where he was locked up, or rather, where he was being tortured before this."

"Because he’s completely lost the ability to communicate, and even the ability to think. He’s like someone in a vegetative state now."

"The only sign that he’s still alive is probably that he can barely take care of his basic needs. Other than that, he’s no different from a dead man."

"You really don’t need to try waking him. Over the years, we and the prison guards have all tried countless times with zero effect. He’s completely mute now, and he probably can’t even hear our voices... It must be the effects of those injected drugs."

...

Just like before, the Assassin still answered all of his questions.

This meant the Assassin’s personal history hadn’t changed. He had still heard the rumors about East Sea University’s Time Travel Machine,

still believed Jiang Ran was a Time Traveler,

and still thought he was a lackey of the Magician, here to stage a prison break.

Therefore, he was still supporting Jiang Ran unconditionally, just as before.

Right!

The Time Travel Machine!

Could it be that this time, Lu Yu was imprisoned for developing the Time Travel Machine?

Jiang Ran stood up and faced the Assassin.

"You call him ’Little Genius’ and said he used to be famous, that his deeds and photos were everywhere."

"So what exactly did he do to become so famous? For the country to promote him so heavily, he must have made some incredibly great scientific achievement, right?"

The Assassin nodded.

"He won the Nobel Prize in Physics. I vaguely recall it was for some kind of quantum research."

Jiang Ran frowned.

"Was it for ’Quantum Tunneling’?"

"That, I don’t know."

The Assassin gave a helpless smile.

"My academic level isn’t that high. I couldn’t understand those reports or his research. I just remember the Nobel Prize in Physics."

Fair enough.

He couldn’t blame the Assassin for that.

Forget him, even Jiang Ran couldn’t understand those professional academic papers.

He had searched online for explanations of Quantum Tunneling before and could only grasp the surface phenomena; the deeper levels were completely beyond him.

In simple terms,

Quantum Tunneling is the quantum behavior where microscopic particles like electrons can penetrate or pass through a potential barrier, even if the barrier’s height is greater than the particle’s total energy.

In classical mechanics, this is impossible, but it can be reasonably explained using quantum mechanical theory.

To put it simply, the movement of quanta is unpredictable, and they can even achieve "wall-penetrating."

The "Wall-Penetrating Skill" isn’t novel in the microscopic realm, but if it could be achieved in our macroscopic, real world, that would be something magical.

But the universe is just that terrifying.

In 1985, a team of scientists from the United States led by Clark first observed macroscopic Quantum Tunneling in a superconducting circuit...

Just like a magician performing a trick, the Wall-Penetrating Skill actually existed in the real world.

According to what Teacher Zhang Yang from 2045 had said previously, the Quantum Tunneling effect would win the Nobel Prize in Physics in October 2025.

It was only July now, so it would be another three months before that could be verified.

However, since the theory of Quantum Tunneling won the Nobel Prize in 2025, for Lu Yu to later win a prize for the same thing, it could only mean he conducted further, deeper research, or... he developed a practical model for the Quantum Tunneling effect!

"So..."

Jiang Ran turned back to look at Lu Yu, who was sitting on the bed, craning his neck and drooling.

"So, he was arrested precisely because he researched Quantum Tunneling too deeply."

"That, I don’t know."

The Assassin shrugged.

"No one knows why he was imprisoned. He can’t speak for himself, and no one will tell us."

Jiang Ran said no more.

The Assassin didn’t know, but Jiang Ran was about ninety percent sure.

Before, the elderly Teacher Zhang Yang had been imprisoned for researching Quantum Tunneling.

Now, the tortured and broken Lu Yu had also won a Nobel Prize for researching the same thing, which meant his research must have been even deeper than Zhang Yang’s.

Jiang Ran clicked his tongue.

This whole Quantum Tunneling business was truly untouchable... Whoever touched it was doomed!

But on the other hand...

’Who is the mastermind behind all of this?’

Why does researching Quantum Tunneling lead to imprisonment? Is conducting scientific research a crime?

For a moment, he really couldn’t figure it out.

"HEY!!!"

Sang Biao, his face red with impatience, leaped to his feet.

"Is this the fucking time for idle chitchat! What the hell are you doing! Let’s get on with the prison break!"

The stupid young man was also extremely anxious, his body twitching rapidly.

Jiang Ran was helpless.

It seemed he was about to trigger the same plotline again.

Whenever Sang Biao was involved, he had to go through with a prison break. There was no getting out of it.

Because even the Assassin, who supported him unconditionally, had the ultimate goal of breaking out, of escaping.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so secretive about the most critical questions, feeding him empty promises about telling him everything after they escaped.

Now, everyone’s eyes were fixed on him.

This prison break was unavoidable.

He looked at the drooling Lu Yu.

At first, he thought he had to take him along, even if it meant carrying him on his back. He couldn’t just leave him here alone.

But after some thought...

It seemed that leaving him here was the best way to protect him.

The path would be filled with prison guards and police dogs, drones and snipers. Even though his best attempt had gotten him as far as the execution ground, in the end, it was futile; he couldn’t escape.

So...

"You should stay here for a while."

Jiang Ran knelt down, took Lu Yu’s hand, and said softly,

"Don’t worry, I will definitely come back."

"And I will definitely... save you."

...

...

"YAAAAAAHHHHH!" "Die, you big mutt!"

This time, the ambush on the prison guard and his police dog was an unprecedented success. The stupid young man didn’t jump the gun, and Sang Biao didn’t trip.

But...

The ending was extremely tragic.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Faced with everyone lunging at him at once, the prison guard didn’t hesitate to turn and run. Once he had some distance, he unleashed a spray of bullets behind him.

Jiang Ran’s last moment of consciousness was of the police dog sinking its teeth into his carotid artery. Blood sprayed everywhere, and his mind went blank...

BZZZT!

BZZZT!

BZZZT!

Dizziness, vertigo. The world spun around him.

Two seconds later, all discomfort vanished, and Jiang Ran opened his eyes.

"Something’s wrong."

Looking at the 2025 scenery before him, the empty and desolate campus, the time period he had returned to...

Jiang Ran instantly realized that something was very wrong with that prison in 2045!

He had just been trying to compare the commonalities between Lu Yu and Teacher Zhang Yang.

If he expanded the scope...

...and included himself, and the Assassin...

...he would discover a scalp-numbing fact—

"Every single criminal imprisoned in that jail... seems to be connected to Time Travel and the Time Travel Machine!"