Ch 6: Text Messages Across Time

In the eyes of teachers, Qin Weidong was a disobedient troublemaker. Among his peers, he was a rich school bully. To younger students, he was a respected senior. But if he were to evaluate himself, he would say he was a positive, optimistic, upright, and well-rounded young man.

So after concluding that the other party was suspected of arson and then losing contact again, he decisively called the police.

Ten minutes later, officers from the local police station arrived. The Central Hospital and Xingchen Internet Café were in the same district, so most of the officers already knew about the fire from the previous night. After entering, the lead officer first surveyed the room, then bit off the cap of his pen and asked, “You’re the one who reported this?”

“Yes!” Qin Weidong immediately sat up.

“You believe the fire yesterday was intentional arson?”

“At 10:12 last night, I was trying to book a computer from the network admin and sent a message to the wrong number…” Qin Weidong recounted the entire sequence of events, then added his analysis: “I think he was in the café the whole time. Maybe he had scouted it beforehand and deliberately set the fire.”

“You’re certain you don’t know this person?” The officers exchanged looks, their expressions turning serious.

“Certain! All the message records are right here.” Qin Weidong opened the message screen.

The fire had broken out at 23:25. The other party had sent a warning at 22:25. From a timing perspective, it made no sense.

“Can we make a record of this?” the lead officer asked after reviewing the messages.

“Of course!” Qin Weidong cooperated fully.

A younger officer carefully copied the message contents into a notebook. Meanwhile, the lead officer and the others tried calling the number. It was not in service, and messages could not be sent.

“Doesn’t this person seem quite suspicious of arson?” Qin Weidong asked, clearly hoping for confirmation.

“Based on your analysis, there are indeed some suspicions, but we’ll need further investigation and evidence.”

“Can you find out who it is?”

“We’ll need to contact the telecom operator and see if the number was registered. Phone number regulation isn’t strict right now. You can buy an unregistered SIM card for ten yuan. Cases like this are difficult to trace.”

“Oh…” Qin Weidong felt restless, like ants crawling under his skin. He was too curious.

Seeing his concern, the lead officer spoke kindly, “We heard from the café staff that you even helped rescue someone while escaping? Very good. Strong sense of responsibility and awareness!” He had heard earlier that a high school student had helped during the fire, and now he was meeting that very person.

“It was nothing…” Qin Weidong felt a little embarrassed by the praise. Then he thought of the last message and asked, “What about those two car accident predictions? Are they a problem?”

He was referring to the request to find someone. He hadn’t hidden it when reporting, and the police had already read the full conversation.

The lead officer considered it. “The other party only said accidents would happen, without threats or intimidation. That alone cannot be treated as evidence of a crime.”

There were still two months before the predicted accidents. They couldn’t arrest anyone based on that. Translated on Hololo novels. It was like someone making harsh remarks during an argument, at most warranting a warning, assuming no actual crime had been committed.

Three minutes later, the police finished recording everything.

“We’ll head out for now. You should get some rest,” the officers said, checking the time.

“Alright…” Qin Weidong hesitated.

“We’ll investigate thoroughly. If there’s any progress, we’ll contact you immediately,” they added with a smile, sensing his thoughts.

“Thank you!” Qin Weidong finally felt relieved.

The next morning, Hu Wei arrived at the hospital carrying fried dough sticks and spicy soup. There was still no update from the police, and Qin Weidong hadn’t told him about the messages to avoid unnecessary worry.

They chatted for a while about school when Hu Wei suddenly clutched his stomach. “Is the bathroom fixed yet?”

He had drunk a bowl of cold soy milk that morning and upset his stomach.

“Not yet. Go check outside,” Qin Weidong said. He was in a private room with its own bathroom, but the pipes had broken the previous afternoon, and repairs were still pending.

“Alright!” Hu Wei grabbed some tissues from the bedside and rushed out.

Qin Weidong paid no attention and continued eating, his mind still occupied with the fire. He wondered how efficient the police investigation would be…

Just as he was thinking about it, the phone by his pillow rang. It was a local landline number. He picked up casually.

“Student Qin?” A serious voice came through. It was the lead officer from the previous day.

“Yes, sir!” Qin Weidong quickly set down his chopsticks.

Gone was the friendly tone from before. The officer’s voice was now stern. “Are you certain those messages were sent before the fire?”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve checked the number. It is an unassigned number, not a ringtone spoof.”

Three minutes later, Qin Weidong learned two things.

First, after leaving the hospital the previous night, the police had immediately contacted the telecom operator. The number was completely inactive, not even registered, let alone capable of making calls or sending and receiving messages.

Second, they had reviewed the café’s surveillance footage. It clearly showed that between 10 p.m. on September 5 and the outbreak of the fire, only the network admin entered and exited the staff room. There was no third person involved in deliberate arson.

They had questioned the admin. He said the water dispenser upstairs had run out, so he used a portable heater to boil water, which accidentally caused the fire. The whole incident was highly coincidental, triggered by random actions.

“No third person?” Qin Weidong felt his entire line of reasoning collapse.

“We consulted with our technical department. There are methods that can alter displayed numbers or message timestamps. We don’t know how you did this or why, but you need to understand something clearly: wasting police resources is illegal. Please respect basic social order,” the officer said. His tone had shifted from stern to outright severe.

“I didn’t…” Qin Weidong froze before reacting. The officer thought he had fabricated the messages?

“You didn’t?” the officer pressed.

“Of course not!”

“So you’re saying you’ve been chatting with an inactive number this whole time?”

“I…” Qin Weidong couldn’t refute it. Even he didn’t understand why the number was inactive.

“Could the number have been checked incorrectly? Or maybe another number sent the messages, and something went wrong during transmission, making it display as this inactive number…” he asked, unwilling to give up.

“We’ve verified it three times. The number is correct. As for the display error you mentioned, I’m sorry, but I’ve never heard of such a case.”

The officer had a good impression of Qin Weidong. Even if the boy had made a mistake, he didn’t want to press too hard, so in the end he spoke patiently:

“The internet café fire case has already been closed. We sincerely appreciate that you helped rescue people during the fire. We hope you can keep up that spirit and become someone useful to society. Don’t casually challenge the authority of the law.”

Qin Weidong: !!!

Just yesterday, he had been praised for having “a strong sense of social responsibility and awareness,” and today it had turned into “don’t casually challenge the authority of the law”?

Qin Weidong felt a surge of anger rising in his chest, but he had no idea how to explain himself!

The call ended with the officer’s final words: “You’re in your senior year now. What matters most is focusing on your studies.”

Qin Weidong’s chest rose and fell sharply. He was so agitated that he didn’t even notice Hu Wei had come back.

“The second-floor bathroom’s clogged. Everyone’s coming up to the third floor now, and the line’s already out the door…”

Hu Wei wiped his hands with a tissue and spoke in relief about the situation, but halfway through, he noticed Qin Weidong gripping his phone tightly. The veins on the back of his hand were bulging, his emotions clearly unstable.

“Brother Qin?” Hu Wei asked cautiously.

Bang—

Qin Weidong kicked the bed in frustration. He was wearing slippers, and the hospital bed was made of steel. The moment he kicked it, his big toe swelled instantly.

“Hiss!”

He sucked in a sharp breath and reflexively grabbed his toe. Standing wedged between the bedside cabinet and the bed, he lost his balance, hit his head against the cabinet, slipped, and his phone flew out of his hand.

With a crack, it hit the ground and split into two pieces.

Qin Weidong, Hu Wei: …

……

“Brother Qin, I think this won’t turn on anymore.”

Ten minutes later, Qin Weidong’s toe had been treated with antiseptic. Hu Wei sat by the bed, fiddling with the broken phone. Translated on Hololo novels. Qin Weidong had been using the Motorola K5, a newly released model that month. It had a 300,000-pixel camera, could record short videos, had a web browser, and supported four-times digital zoom. It was a flip phone.

It had fallen while open, and the impact had been too strong. The screen was completely shattered, and the keypad had split down the middle, exposing the internal circuitry.

“Such a good phone, and now it’s useless…” Hu Wei said regretfully.

Qin Weidong frowned. He didn’t care about the phone itself. He was thinking: what if that unknown number sent another message and he missed it?

He had just taken a major hit over the message situation, but he had to admit, he was extremely curious about the other party’s identity. At the very least, he wanted to know whether the person had really been at the café, how they predicted the fire, and most importantly, how they managed to send messages from an inactive number.

“Brother Qin?” Hu Wei nudged him when he saw him lost in thought.

After a moment, Qin Weidong pulled out his wallet from his jacket pocket. “Go buy me a phone?”

“Not fixing this one?”

“Not for now.”

Hu Wei took the wallet. “What model?”

“Motorola K5.”

“That one’s hard to find. What if they’re out?”

“Just get anything.” With his right arm and left foot injured, Qin Weidong couldn’t go out himself. He just needed a temporary phone so he wouldn’t miss any messages.

Hu Wei left with the wallet and soon returned carrying a box. There were no official retail stores yet, so most people bought phones from electronics counters. He had gone to a nearby mobile market. If not for traffic, he might have come back even faster.

“It’s a Motorola K5. Only two left there. 6,700 yuan, no markup.” As he spoke, he handed over the wallet, phone, and receipt.

Hu Wei often took money from Qin Weidong, but he had a sense of boundaries. For errands like this, he only took what was needed. Even if there was a stack of cash in the wallet, he wouldn’t take an extra bill.

“Thanks.” Qin Weidong put away the wallet and opened the box.

It was the same model as his previous phone. The last one had been bought on release day and had been in such high demand that he had paid an extra 500 yuan. Now the price had returned to standard.

He inserted the SIM card.

He had already saved the unknown number under the name “Unknown Number.” Looking at the familiar last digits, he first confirmed the phone was working, then sent a message.

Message failed.

Normal.

Once he confirmed the phone worked, he didn’t dwell on it. As for the old phone, he stuffed it into his jacket pocket, planning to sell it to a secondhand dealer later. He had money, but he wasn’t stupid. Recovering even a little was still worth it.

After sorting things out, Qin Weidong looked at Hu Wei. “What do you want to eat? Let’s go all out for lunch!” He still remembered being misunderstood by the police and decided to channel his anger into appetite.

“Anything’s fine.” Hu Wei was peeling an orange beside him. The fruit had been sent over by Qin Jianzhang, along with durian, mangosteen, and other rare fruits that looked appetizing.

“Then spicy fish, boiled pork slices, kung pao chicken…” Qin Weidong listed a few common dishes, then grabbed a takeout menu from the bedside cabinet and started ordering.

At nine in the evening, Hu Wei returned to school. Qin Weidong, bored, played some Tetris. When it reached 10:15, he sent another message to the unknown number.

Message failed.

Qin Weidong frowned. The first message had gone through at 10:12 on the first day, and at 10:15 the previous day. He had assumed this time window allowed successful sending, but now it didn’t work?

While he was puzzled, in a hotel in Xuhu in 2024, Lin Wu was also frowning at his phone.

After ten o’clock, memories updated. The connection across time activated.

This was a pattern he had begun to piece together over the past two days. Now that his message had successfully sent, it confirmed his hypothesis about the “time connection.” But the other side hadn’t replied… hadn’t seen it?

Lin Wu closed his eyes.

There had been no memory update today, which meant that his 2004 self was still fine.

✧˖°.──⋆⭒˚.⋆💌⋆⭒˚.⋆──✧˖°.

Previous