Chapter 29: Chapter 29: Regulation Manual
The two of them returned from the rooftop to the club room.
Cheng Mengxue was still on the sofa embroidering, Qin Feng went back to tinkering with the Positron Cannon, and Jiang Ran stood before the small blackboard, deep in thought.
This scene...
It was as if the disagreements and arguments had never happened.
But.
Facts were facts, and history was history.
’How could they possibly not have happened?’
After that "I don’t blame you," Qin Feng seemed to have let it go.
But it was precisely this easy acceptance that made Jiang Ran feel even worse.
On his way down the stairs, he had been wracked with regret.
’Was I being too harsh?’
’Was I too selfish?’
’Was I holding a double standard?’
He had reminded himself countless times that this was his best friend in the world. But just as many times, he was assailed by the fear of a backlash, the whisper of an uncontrollable, decade-spanning Butterfly Effect.
Conflict.
Pain.
Helplessness.
At this moment, a whirlwind of emotions churned within Jiang Ran.
"I think we should establish some rules."
He turned around.
"I feel very guilty and sorry that we couldn’t fulfill Qin Feng’s wish this time."
"I know we all understand the reasoning, but I don’t want something like this to happen again."
"So, I think it’s imperative that before we continue sending Time SMS, we should clearly define a set of rules."
"Or rather... to clarify ’what kind of wishes can be granted’ and ’what kind of messages are allowed to be sent.’"
"I agree."
Cheng Mengxue raised her hand.
"If we have a concrete set of standards, it’ll be much easier to make decisions in the future."
"As long as a wish meets the standards, it can be granted. If it doesn’t, it gets vetoed. That would be the most efficient and fair way to handle things... We can’t just vote on it every single time."
Qin Feng looked up from the Positron Cannon.
He smiled faintly.
"I don’t have any objections either. But I have to say, you guys don’t need to feel so guilty, and you don’t need to think I’ve been terribly wronged in this matter."
"The wish to ’resurrect my father’ was always going to be high-risk. I wasn’t completely unprepared, so I can readily accept this outcome."
"We’ve been good friends for so many years. Please don’t let this create a rift between us. I’m not that petty or unreasonable."
...
The three of them brainstormed and finally settled on the "Time SMS Usage Regulations":
[Time SMS Usage Regulations]
1. Time SMS can only be sent to a maximum of [30 days] in the past to avoid uncontrollable Butterfly Effects.
2. The content of any Time SMS must be unanimously agreed upon by all three members.
3. All three members must be present when a Time SMS is sent. No exceptions.
4. All secrets, including the Time SMS and the Positron Cannon, must be strictly kept and not revealed to anyone.
Among these four rules, most were just restating the obvious.
The most important and only new addition was the strict "30-day limit" stipulated in the first rule.
This was the result of their deliberation.
Thirty days.
This was the limit they believed was acceptable for the Butterfly Effect.
Therefore, from now on, no matter what kind of Time SMS it was, it could only be sent a maximum of 30 days into the past. Anything further was forbidden.
Nothing can be accomplished without rules.
With these four regulations in place, they could indeed avoid many problems in the future.
Meanwhile.
Cheng Mengxue’s "Time SMS User Manual" had also been updated to version 4.0, with many new patches.
[Time SMS User Manual (Version 4.0)]
1. In theory, a Time SMS can be sent to any point in the past, but this is limited by the Positron Cannon’s maximum power output.
2. For safety, experiments should be conducted in the early morning hours when the power grid load is low.
3. After the Positron Cannon overloads, it must be powered down and left to rest for 20 hours before it can be used again.
4. The sending window for a Time SMS is only 0.7 seconds, and the message content is limited to a maximum of 70 Chinese characters.
5. A successful SMS transmission will trigger a temporal shift and a Worldline Jump. Only Jiang Ran can perceive these changes.
6. Only Jiang Ran can retain memories from the original worldline. This special constitution has been named "Full Space-Time Memory."
...
"Qin Feng."
Jiang Ran pointed to the writing on the blackboard.
"Your previous wish wasn’t granted, so we’re making it up to you now."
"Think about it. Are there any other wishes you want to fulfill, any regrets you want to remedy?"
"We won’t need a vote this time. As long as it complies with the ’Usage Regulations’ we just discussed, we’ll definitely make it happen for you."
Jiang Ran admitted it to himself.
He was indeed desperate to atone for his guilt, wishing he could grant Qin Feng a wish that very instant.
As long as it was something within the last 30 days.
He would agree to Qin Feng’s request without a moment’s hesitation and raise no objections.
’Even if it’s a little unreasonable...’
’Even if I have my own worries and concerns...’
’This time.’
’I have to agree to Qin Feng’s request unconditionally!’
However, despite Jiang Ran’s silent resolve, Qin Feng seemed disinterested and didn’t have much of a reaction.
"You don’t have to worry about me so much."
He loosened a screw on the Positron Cannon with a screwdriver.
"I’m pretty happy with my life right now, happy with everything around me. To be honest, I don’t really feel like I have any regrets that need fixing."
"My only wish has always been to save my father. Now that you’re suddenly asking me to pick a different one... I honestly can’t think of anything off the top of my head."
"Why don’t you just skip my turn? I don’t mind."
Cheng Mengxue, also feeling guilty, stood up.
"An-anything at all is fine!"
"We agreed to one wish each, so we can’t leave anyone out!"
"Come on, Qin Feng, think of something! It can be big or small. We can even just treat it as another test for the Time SMS... Just think of any wish!"
Jiang Ran nodded.
"That’s right, anything is fine. Worst case, we can just win the lottery a few more times."
"Seriously... if you just name a wish, any wish, the two of us would feel a little less guilty."
Qin Feng let out a long sigh through his nose.
He stopped what he was doing.
He thought for a moment.
"Alright, fine."
He understood that he had to come up with some kind of wish, or Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue would keep feeling guilty.
"Hmm..."
He looked left and right, his gaze finally settling on the casing of the Positron Cannon.
"Come to think of it, something did happen a few days ago that I thought was a real shame."
"What was it?" "Tell us!"
Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue immediately crowded around him.
"You guys remember this rotary knob LCD control panel, right?"
Qin Feng pointed to the circuit board hanging on the Positron Cannon’s casing.
It was something he had picked up at the used electronics market a few days ago. After being assembled with the Positron Cannon, it allowed for precise control over the Time SMS’s destination... accurate down to the year, month, day, and hour, making the whole operation foolproof.
"Of course, we remember."
Jiang Ran casually fiddled with a knob.
"What’s wrong with it? It seems to work just fine, doesn’t it?"
"There was actually a better one."
Qin Feng slapped away Jiang Ran’s meddling hand.
"When I bought this one, I was chatting with the owner of the used electronics shop. He told me there was an even cooler-looking old control panel, but it had just been bought by someone else a couple of days prior."
"You know me. When it comes to mechanical design, I’m a perfectionist. Don’t you guys think this external control panel is ugly?"
Jiang Ran and Cheng Mengxue nodded in unison.
It really was ugly.
It was like having a urine bag hanging off the side—completely unsightly.
"If I could have gotten my hands on that better-looking control panel before anyone else, I could have made the Positron Cannon look so much cooler."
Qin Feng continued.
"Let’s see... I went to the used electronics market six days ago. The control panel was bought two days before that. So to be safe, I would’ve needed to go three days earlier to intercept it."
"So, if you really have to pin me down on what I’d use the Time SMS for right now..."
"...it would be to send a message to myself nine days ago, telling myself to hurry to the used electronics market and buy that control panel before anyone else does."
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