Genius Club

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: Harvest

The attitude of CC left Lin Xian somewhat astonished.

This was probably the best, most patient, and most communicative she had ever been towards him in all of their interactions.

Maybe it had something to do with the plot that had transpired between the two of them.

In their previous encounters, they were either enemies or each harbored ulterior motives, or they simply bickered and quarreled, making it difficult to have such a calm exchange.

But this time, everyone’s identity was different.

Because of a common goal, everyone banded together.

Even if they ultimately failed to open the safe, they had truly gained CC’s trust.

That’s why she was willing to exchange information with him for the first time ever.

“Okay, I’ll go first,” said Lin Xian as he leaned against the unheated safe, gradually recounting the Lin Xian he knew…

In reality, he was just introducing himself.

Beginning from graduation from university and moving on to his day-to-day work—just as if he were in a job interview.

But just as he had barely started to tell his tale—

“Alright, you don’t need to continue,” CC interrupted, shaking her head:

“The Lin Xian you know shouldn’t be the same person as the owner of this safe.”

“Why?” Lin Xian didn’t understand.

He had indeed doubted it before, suspecting that this safe was not his at all.@@novelbin@@

But as much as he doubted… deep down, he still held onto a sliver of hope.

What if this safe was one he stored in 2032, or perhaps in 2042? Logically speaking, it was possible.

Because it was still 2022 for him, a time before he would have had the chance to store anything in the safe, he naturally didn’t know the password.

But unexpectedly, CC directly concluded that this Lin Xian was not that Lin Xian—it couldn’t be him.

“Because… it’s too ordinary,” CC sighed:

“Actually, I don’t know what the real Lin Xian should be like. I don’t know any Lin Xian at all, but my intuition… it definitely isn’t the ordinary Lin Xian you know.”

“Alright then,” Lin Xian spread his hands:

“Since you don’t want to listen, I won’t talk about it. Now, it’s your turn to answer my questions, right?”

CC nodded and also leaned against the safe:

“I don’t even know where to start, but ever since I was young, my memories have been a mess.”

“I can’t describe the feeling, it’s as if there are many memories in my mind that don’t belong to me, yet they are experiences from my life. It’s like… the life of another me, in another world.”

“Is it a dream?” asked Lin Xian.

CC shook her head:

“It’s not a dream, of that I’m certain. Even though these memories are fragmented and vague, just a series of disconnected snippets, I’m sure they aren’t dreams.”

“Does it feel like a parallel universe?” Lin Xian asked again.

CC was silent for a moment, then nodded ambiguously:

“I’m not sure. Whatever it is, it’s a feeling hard to explain. I’ve seen doctors, and they say it’s a delusional disorder, possibly multiple personality disorder.”

“But those fragmented memories… they just feel too real. I have a hard time believing they are just fabricated fantasies. So, I wanted to come here to verify.”

She turned around, pointing to the safe with Lin Xian’s name on it:

“Among those fragmented memories, there is a middle-aged man that I’m certain I’ve never seen before and absolutely do not know, with really long, messy hair and an exaggerated beard.”

Middle-aged man?

Long hair?

Large beard?

The image of a wild, eccentric uncle surfaced in Lin Xian’s mind.

“In the memory fragments, that person told me that he left something for me in this safe, and said—”

Click!

A crisp sound of an electrical circuit connecting.

Woo-ah! Woo-ah! Woo-ah! Woo-ah!

Piercing alarms started blaring all around!

“Crap, the main power is back on, and it’s triggered the automatic alarm!”

Big Face Cat, who had been listening intently, leapt up as if electrocuted:

“We have to run fast!”

CC quickly stood up, grabbed her mask, and turned to leave.

“No, no, no!”

Lin Xian, who detested being left hanging, hurriedly grabbed CC:

“Finish what you were saying! Finish it, then we run! We won’t miss this last line!”

CC turned back to look at Lin Xian:

“That person said, ‘If you want to know all about the past and the truth, go open that safe.’

“In the memory fragment, he was supposed to tell me the password, but for some reason, he never did. I’m not sure if it’s because the memory fragment isn’t complete.”

Woo-ah! Woo-ah! Woo-ah! Woo-ah!

Amongst the blaring alarms, CC shook off Lin Xian’s hand and turned away:

“Ah, and one more thing.”

She turned back, smiling uncharacteristically.

Her eyes seemed to bloom like pear blossoms.

Eyes curving into charming crescents, and faint dimples peeking out from the corners of her mouth:

“[That man’s voice, it’s quite similar to yours.]”

“That’s why I was willing to cooperate with you today, otherwise… I wouldn’t have come with you at all.”

Boom!!!!

Boom!!!!

Boom!!!!

The scorching white light arrived punctually.

Burning away everything in sight.

…

…

Clang clang, clang clang…

The biting cold wind struck the windows.

In a corner of the bedroom, Lin Xian opened his eyes.

He threw back the covers and sat up in bed, recalling what CC had said in his dream.

Although he hadn’t opened the safe in this dream…

He had made significant discoveries elsewhere.

He put on his slippers and got up.

Lin Xian went to his desk and turned on the desk lamp:

“This dream brought in substantial information; I must sort out my thoughts properly.”

He picked up a water pen.

While the memories from the dream were still vivid, Lin Xian wrote down his recent findings on a piece of white paper:

[1. Temporal Flux is uncontrollable.]

Although this point seems simple and straightforward, hardly worth writing down, Lin Xian had indeed suffered a setback because of it.

He had always believed that using future resources to alter reality and rewrite the future would always benefit him and lead the future in a positive direction.

But that wasn’t the case.

“Changes in the future are uncontrollable… It’s quite possible to end up worse off, ultimately shooting oneself in the foot.”

He took this lesson to heart.

In the future, when attempting to alter reality or rewrite the future, he would definitely need to consider the pros and cons more carefully.

[2. When does Temporal Flux occur? A point of no return is needed.]

Lin Xian understood why the new Hafnium alloy and the Hibernation Pod Filling Liquid, although both were Professor Xu Yun’s breakthroughs, only the new Hafnium alloy triggered the Space-Time Butterfly Effect, while the Hibernation Pod Filling Liquid did not.

The reason lies in a very simple concept—

“Spilled water cannot be retrieved.”

With the new Hafnium alloy, Xu Yun had already sent samples and data to China’s Aerospace Research Institute.

From that moment on, no one could prevent this product from spreading into various industries around the world.

Even if China’s Aerospace Research Institute decided to keep it to themselves, over the span of 600 years, the material would inevitably leak and transition from aerospace to civilian use.

Therefore, from that point in time, the new Hafnium alloy became “spilled water” that could no longer be retrieved, hence the Temporal Flux occurred as scheduled.

But the Hibernation Pod Filling Liquid was different.

The research findings were not yet published and were still in a “Schrodinger’s cat state,” with only Xu Yun holding the sole copy of the paper. There were many ways to prevent its publication.

Even Lin Xian himself could casually speak to Xu Yun and persuade him to change the method of publication. Lin Xian believed Xu Yun would consider his opinion to some extent if he insisted.

After all… Xu Yun had indeed asked for his opinion, and in this respect, Xu Yun still genuinely respected him.

Moreover, Xu Yun’s paper was not yet fully organized, and everything was still uncertain.

Therefore, for the time being, the Hibernation Pod Filling Liquid hadn’t been spilled yet and still had the potential to be altered, so it hadn’t triggered any Temporal Flux.

“Temporal Flux needs a point of no return… interesting, I thought it would be a real-time change.”

Lin Xian somehow felt that there must be other rules or laws in the details of Temporal Flux.

[3. CC’s mind contains memories that don’t belong to her.]

This is hard to explain at the moment.

But Lin Xian had also experienced similar dream confusions, so he could somewhat understand it.

He wasn’t sure if CC genuinely had delusional disorder or a split personality… Her memories were not complete, just fragmented and unconnected pieces.

And CC was risking opening the safe precisely to prove whether those were delusions or real memories.

“This point… is quite similar to my previous attempts to validate dreams, all for the sake of a truth, an answer.”

[4. The long-haired, bearded middle-aged man in CC’s memory fragments, his voice is very similar to mine.]

This piece of information was crucial.

“No wonder CC didn’t kill me many times before, and she had this mysterious trust in me… It must be due to the voice that made her curious about me.”

Lin Xian nodded.

This cleared up his previous doubts.

CC didn’t know him and hadn’t seen him before.

But his voice was similar to that of the man in her memory fragments, which explained her abnormal attitude toward him.

“Could that strange uncle be me?”

Lin Xian couldn’t help but consider this possibility…

Mainly because the dream had ended too abruptly; he hadn’t had the chance to ask CC for more details, which could have helped him make a judgment.

But at the moment, Lin Xian felt the likelihood wasn’t very high.

“First of all, CC and I live in completely different eras. In a normal timeline, we would never meet in our lifetimes, or even across several lifetimes.”

“Secondly, there are many people with similar voices; I even find hers oddly familiar. Plus, CC’s memory fragments might not be reliable.”

“Lastly, and most decisively—”

Lin Xian touched his clean-shaven chin, his brow slightly furrowed:

“I would absolutely never grow long hair and a beard…”

“Absolutely not.”