Genius Club

Chapter 100: Chapter 97: Einstein (For Alliance Leader Love’s Warrior King Wilder)

Lin Xian’s idea was simple.

This would also help determine whether the safe was truly his own, or simply a case of mistaken identity with a common name.

“All I have to do is write a letter to advise my future self to set a fixed password when establishing a new hafnium alloy safe in the future,” he said.

Lin Xian didn’t think of himself as a stubborn person.

At least, he shouldn’t be stubborn with his past self, right?

Who would pick fights with themselves?

Actually, Lin Xian was well aware.

As soon as he clarified this idea, there was no need to write the letter.

Because once he made up his mind about this idea, his future self would definitely follow it; conveying information to oneself didn’t require the hassle of writing a letter.

“But still, it’s better to write it down as a form of evidence, lest I forget it decades later.”

Professor Xu Yun had said that there were memory loss side effects associated with hibernating in a hibernation pod.

One could never be certain about the future. If one day it really became necessary to enter a hibernation pod and then experience amnesia, forgetting the agreement about the password, today’s plan would be in vain.

So.

He took up his pen and wrote:

[To my future self:

Hello.

I am Lin Xian from the year 2023, please ensure that when you set the password for a hafnium alloy safe with an eight-digit code, you make the password 29990203.

Maybe you set a non-obvious password for the sake of security, but I believe this password is already secure enough, trust me.

0203 is our lunar birthday, and 2999 is a thousand years after our birth year, not too hard to remember.

Don’t make things unnecessarily hard for yourself!

If this safe really is set by you at some point in time, you must set the password to 29990203!

Remember this at all costs!]

…

After writing the letter, Lin Xian capped his pen and looked at the letter he had written to himself.

It felt odd, almost foolish.

But it didn’t matter, as the objective had been achieved.

From this moment on, he was committed to one conviction—

“No matter what happens in the future, no matter what meaningful dates I encounter, I must always set the hafnium alloy safe’s password to 29990203!”

Lin Xian repeated this phrase several times to himself.

OK.

It was as if he had imprinted it upon his mind with steel.

If the safe was indeed his own, if the password was set by his future self,

then the space-time butterfly effect should have already started working from this moment on.

After entering the dream realm tomorrow,

the password on the safe bearing his name… should change to 29990203!

He stood up,

folded the letter neatly,

and placed it inside a small iron box in the wardrobe.

The box contained many small items, all meaningful mementos from Lin Xian’s life, things he had not had the heart to throw away over the years, making it an appropriate place for the letter.

After all, the ideological imprint had been made.

“I trust that my future self will keep his word.”

After tidying up,

Lin Xian returned to his desk and sat down again.

He had gleaned much from his dreams…

But at the same time, they also brought many mysteries.

He needed a plan to prioritize and tackle these issues; he had to figure out and understand them one by one.

First, the simplest and easiest issue to resolve was to meet with CC, clarify her identity, and attempt to open the hafnium alloy safe.

Then, he would find a way to infiltrate New Donghai City.

Beyond searching for those two books, it would be even better if he could find Big Face Cat’s father.

Countless clues indicated that the cosmological constant 42 was a crucially important mystery, a number of profound significance, even feared by the Genius Club.

Understanding the meaning of the cosmological constant 42 might allow him to truly comprehend the Genius Club and gain the power to counter it.

For Lin Xian to speculate now…

He couldn’t begin to imagine how a seemingly ordinary number could possess such destructive power or be so terrifying.

Even Lin Xian’s own “Space-time Law” relied on the mighty “space-time butterfly effect” to reach 600 years into the future.

But 42 was just a simple number…

Big Face Cat’s father scrawled a wall full of 42s and still couldn’t make the house fall down.

With Lin Xian’s reasoning, he simply couldn’t fathom any special significance or power in the number 42.

The most straightforward method would be to directly ask Big Face Cat’s father.

Procedurally, it was the simplest approach.

But in terms of practicality, it was the most difficult.

Firstly, whether he could safely infiltrate New Donghai City was questionable to begin with.

Not to mention, the area of New Donghai City seemed bigger than the current Donghai City; Lin Xian was not confident about finding Big Face Cat’s father in that vast crowd.

Moreover, it wasn’t as though Big Face Cat’s father had gone there on vacation; there was a high probability he’d been captured and controlled by the Genius Club.

In that case, finding him would be even more difficult.

Even if he could pinpoint his exact location, figuring out how to break through the Genius Club’s defenses and safely meet Big Face Cat’s father was an unsolvable issue.

“Since the Genius Club has taken Big Face Cat’s father, they will undoubtedly guard him closely,” he mused.

“If my earlier predictions are correct and the Genius Club is indeed going to kill the scientist at 00:42, then there’s time to spare; at least, Big Face Cat’s father should be alive until 00:42.”

“But… these are all speculations. Who knows whether the details in the second dream will change?”

Lin Xian sighed.

He was increasingly convinced that this plan was too difficult to execute.

The Genius Club was undoubtedly powerful, certainly armed with some level of weaponry.

But what did he have on his side?

Lee Cheng might have already been the top dog of the old Donghai City, but he didn’t even have a gun.

CC did have a gun in her possession…

However, Lin Xian didn’t look at it too carefully at the time, feeling that the gun was all flash and no bang, not resembling a normal pistol.

Even if it were a pistol, so what?

With just a pistol, to forcefully break into a sci-fi steel metropolis… even Hollywood wouldn’t dare to shoot such a scene. Not to mention that New Donghai City was surely riddled with danger, with various types of police patrols and the like.

“It’s very difficult.”

As for the secondary plan B… it was to find the original author of “Introduction to the Cosmological Constant” in the present year of 2023.

Lin Xian picked up his phone, opened the search engine, and typed in “Introduction to the Cosmological Constant” as keywords.

Since Big Face Cat’s father had said that this book was a 600-year-old ancient tome, dug out from a tomb.

600 years before 2624… that would be 2024.

In other words, next year.

If someone who died next year would put a book in their own coffin, it must mean that the book should have been published a few years earlier.

Academic books, unlike novels, take many years to write, with many scholars spending their whole lives just to produce one piece of academic work.

Previously in his dream, Lin Xian had thought that he might find publication information about this book online, but with so many things crossing his mind upon waking, he had simply forgotten.

He thought that even if he couldn’t find “Introduction to the Cosmological Constant” on the internet, he’d at least find some bits and pieces, right?

However…

It was a disappointment.

There was nothing about the book online, not a trace of information, a dead end.

Just as Lin Xian was about to lock his phone with a swipe of his index finger…

Suddenly.

A name in the search results caught Lin Xian’s attention—

[Einstein].

“I remember now.”

Seeing the name Einstein, Lin Xian instantly remembered that this great man indeed had a certain connection to the cosmological constant.

Einstein’s accomplishments were vast, and he was known for many interesting things, the cosmological constant being one of them.

In his younger days, to account for a static universe, he added a very small proportionality constant to the gravitational field equations.

The value of this constant was so small that it could be neglected even on the scale of the Milky Way, only making sense on the scale of the universe, hence it was called the cosmological constant.

In a somewhat ironic twist, the elder Einstein negated his younger self, stating that the cosmological constant was a mistake and that such a thing did not exist. He even expressed deep regret, claiming the biggest blunder of his life was the introduction of the cosmological constant into the equations of general relativity.

It was as if he was wrestling with himself.

An interesting scientific anecdote.

But Lin Xian knew clearly.

The cosmological constant mentioned by Einstein and the cosmological constant 42 spoken of by Big Face Cat’s father were two entirely different matters, and it held no referential value for him.

If Lin Xian were to travel back in time now and tell Einstein:

“Einstein, the cosmological constant is 42.”

If Einstein gave him even a glance, it would count as a lost for Einstein.

So…

This was yet another useless piece of information.

Click.

Lin Xian turned off his phone.

Since he couldn’t find any information about “Introduction to the Cosmological Constant” online…

Then to understand the true meaning of 42, he had to follow the original plan and infiltrate New Donghai City.

He got up and went to the kitchen.

Pulling out the oven tray once again, he crumpled up the A4 paper that contained his organized thoughts and placed it in the tray.

Watching the flames ignite and dance in the imperceptible air current.

Caution never led to a mishap.

These pages of deduction not only betrayed his exploration desires towards the Genius Club but also involved the cosmological constant 42 and changes to the future world.

Clearly, those were all things in opposition to the Genius Club.

If found or leaked, it was hard to ensure he wouldn’t be hit by a car on the street like Professor Xu Yun someday.

Even…

“Professor Xu Yun is a great scientist, deserving an elaborately planned accidental death at 00:42.”

“As for someone insignificant like me, who knows how I’d be done in.”

So.

Given that the existence of the Genius Club was confirmed, and they could very well be stirring up the historical timeline in secret, too much caution was never excessive, too much prudence always warranted.

Not to mention, the stance of MX Company and Zhao Yingjun was also an unknown.

“Like walking on thin ice…”

Watching the flames in the tray die down, Lin Xian flushed the ashes down the toilet, then laid down on his bed to catch up on some sleep.

…

The next morning, Lin Xian didn’t go to the company.

After eating something at a nearby mall to fill his stomach, he went straight to a private movie theater.

This place was different from regular cinemas. It offered a private room for viewing and allowed the on-demand screening of old movies.

Of course, it didn’t have resources for new releases or movies currently in theaters.

Beep.

After scanning the code and paying for a movie, the attendant looked up, smiling as he handed Lin Xian an iPad to select a film:

“Buddy, what movie do you plan to watch? Our resources are very comprehensive here, we have most of the old movies. And our private theater is a national chain, with all movies authorized legally, in high definition and also with official bonus features.”

Lin Xian nodded:

“Legal versions are good.”

“[Supporting the legal version].”

He scrolled through the iPad, finding a movie he had seen once before, but now found it necessary to watch again:

“Let’s watch this movie—”

“‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.'”