Genius Club

Chapter 103: Chapter 100: Catch Me If You Can (Seeking Monthly Pass~)

“Enough, Ji Lin.”

The old man slowly opened his eyes and twisted his neck:

“Let go of my neck.”

He removed Ji Lin’s hand from his neck and got up.

He did not speak.

Instead, he walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows that took up the entire wall in his shiny leather shoes, stared at the thick, opaque curtains, and looked at the silk-thread patterns on them, whispering:

“I don’t want our relationship to be like this, constantly doubting and competing with each other.”

“I don’t want it either.”

Ji Lin put his hands in his pockets:

“So why don’t you just give me the answer? Could I still betray you? Over the years… we’ve long been in the same boat.”

“Besides, you raised me, even if we each have our purposes… haven’t we both worked so hard together for years just to get an invitation from the Genius Club? Doesn’t that all deserve your trust?”

“Or is it that… revealing the truth would affect our receiving the Genius Club’s invitation?”

…

There was a long silence.

The old man turned around, hands clasped behind his back, gazing at Ji Lin:

“I’m not sure. But… I can’t gamble.”

He paused, swallowed, and continued:

“You’re smart, Ji Lin, very talented. But even so, not everything in this world can be guessed correctly by you… Even geniuses make mistakes, there are things they can’t understand, and problems they can’t solve. You must believe what I’m telling you—”

“What we do is not wrong. Everything we do is right.”

Ji Lin snorted lightly:

“So… we are partners in justice, huh?”

“Only children always talk about justice and evil.”

“Then what do adults talk about?”

“Beliefs.”

The old man’s eyes were resolute:

“It depends on what you believe in.”

“I still like the children’s way better.” Ji Lin sat down again in the chair the old man had just vacated, legs crossed:

“Beliefs… sound very hypocritical to me.”

“But nobody can be a child forever, Ji Lin.”

Ji Lin turned his head to gaze at the warm fireplace:

“If, as you say, killing those who disturb history is right, then what they’re doing is wrong?”

“They’re not wrong either.”

The old man took off the black wool felt hat on his head and placed it on the newspapers on the nearby dining table.

The front page of that newspaper featured Xu Yun’s obituary photo.

Xu Yun looked young and happy in the photo.

The old man covered up the photo with his hat and sighed:

“So… letting them die at 00:42 is the highest tribute to them.”

“What is 00:42 after all?” Ji Lin swung his leg:

“Or to put it another way, what is 42? Why are you so obsessed with this number?”

“You can try to find the answer, Ji Lin.”

The old man looked down at him:

“Perhaps… it’s the real key to joining the Genius Club.”

Having said that.

The old man pulled out a chair from under the dining table and sat down again:

“Shall we get to work then, Ji Lin? I think… you should have already figured out who the rat is, right?”

Ji Lin nodded:

“To be precise, we can only say that we’ve identified the first investigation target, as we still lack sufficient evidence to prove that he is indeed disrupting history.”

“That’s right, we must find absolute evidence. Under no circumstances can we kill an innocent person by mistake. If we do make such a mistake… the Genius Club will shut us out forever.” The elder lowered his head, looking at the newspaper pressed by a wool felt hat on the dining table:

“Those two cars… you handled them very well, the police haven’t found them to this day.”

“They will never find them.” Ji Lin exhaled through his nose:

“It’s not really any special trick, if they had watched the movie ‘Fast & Furious’, they might have guessed how those two cars were transported away.”

“It’s just too late now. Moreover, even if they were discovered, it wouldn’t matter; with you here, 90% of things can be dealt with.”

“However, I do have a suggestion.”

Ji Lin, picking at his fingernails, continued:

“The trail of a goose is the trace it leaves behind; if similar cases start to increase, they will surely draw the attention of certain individuals. The reason they haven’t garnered attention yet is simply because there aren’t enough cases… Especially domestically, Xu Yun was only the first person we killed.”

“Are you sure you can’t change the way you kill a little? As for the time, I don’t hold out hope for you to change it, it seems you must kill within the 60 seconds between 00:42-00:43… But could you use something other than car accidents for the method of killing in the future?”

“No.”

The elder shook his head without hesitation:

“It must be by car accident.”

“So, you are still a ‘copycat’.”

“Say whatever you want, Ji Lin, I won’t take the bait anymore.”

“One last question.”

He lifted his head, looking at the elder in the moonlight by the window:

“How exactly can we prove that someone is definitely disrupting history? From the sounds of it, we don’t have an original history to use as reference.”

“That’s something you need to consider, Ji Lin.”

The elder spoke with his head down:

“This person is different from those who disrupted history in the past… Those before were likely disrupting history passively, but this person now… I believe his intent to disrupt history is active. We don’t know his motives or why he wants to disrupt history.”

“Of course, the most difficult part is proving that this person has indeed disrupted history. That is the real challenge. But I have faith in you, you may already have a way.”

“You really know how to delegate responsibility.”

Ji Lin didn’t deny it; after so many years together, they understood each other all too well:

“But I might have to actively leak some information to him… about us, about the Genius Club… you wouldn’t mind that, would you?”

“Not at all.”

The elder replied:

“As long as we can prove that he is indeed disrupting history, even if there is a certain sacrifice, it is acceptable. But you must be careful not to harm any innocent bystanders. That is critical.”

“I’m already too lazy to criticize your contradictory values,” Ji Lin stretched languidly:

“This is not an easy battle to fight… although on the surface, it seems we are in the shadows and he is in the light, we have all the advantages.”

“But in reality, we have to adhere to too many crooked rules. Not only do we have to find a way to prove that he is indeed disrupting history, we also have to prevent him from discovering our intentions… otherwise, we might be the ones to die.”

“If that person truly has the ability to disrupt history, killing us might not be difficult for him. Moreover, once we begin our investigation, he will sooner or later sense our actions and will inevitably start to conceal himself… We are hunting him, and he is also hunting us.”

“I believe in you, Ji Lin.”

The elder was very confident:

“You are the smartest person I have ever met. The person who is disrupting history may have some special abilities we cannot comprehend, but… he certainly doesn’t have a brain as clever as yours, he might not even have any sense of danger right now.”

“So… in this game of cat and mouse, we have no reason to lose.”

“You are still too optimistic, Arrogance.”

Ji Lin returned to his original position and lay down amidst the messy piles of magazines.

Resting his head on his palms, he tilted his head to look at the Rhine Cat Doll placed on top of the nearby stack of books:

“As I said quite clearly earlier, this game of cat and mouse is mutual.”

“So you can also understand that, in the hide-and-seek between us and this history disruptor, whoever exposes their identity, their intentions first… is the one who dies.”

The Rhine Cat Doll in front of him had a playful and adorable expression, a bun hairstyle paired with a cheongsam dress, quite lively and attractive.

“I still very much enjoy playing games.”

Ji Lin reached out and pinched the Rhine Cat’s ear, tilting it and lifting it in the air, staring into its swaying eyes:

“In this game of cat catches the mouse…”

“Who is the mouse, and who is the cat?”