Genius Club

Bang!

At the aerospace base, Lin Xian shoved open the hallway doors and hurried down the corridor towards a room deep inside.

“Wait, Lin Xian! Wait!”

Behind him, Gao Yang scrambled to catch up, grabbing Lin Xian’s arm and stepping in front of him to block his path.

“Lin Xian, don’t be rash! Let’s talk this through calmly!”

Lin Xian pushed Gao Yang aside. “I’m not being rash. Besides, we all share the responsibility for letting Chu An Qing leave the capsule… Everyone went to space to capture the time-space particles because of me.”

“Yellow Finch had her reasons and limitations. But no matter how many excuses we make, Chu An Qing is still gone… I promised her father, Chu Shan He, that I’d bring her back safely. What am I supposed to do now? How do I face Chu Shan He? Our friend is gone, and Chu Shan He’s precious daughter is gone too.”

“Is she dead, alive, missing, or what? What’s this ‘Millennial Stake’ Yellow Finch mentioned? We need the truth!” Lin Xian said this before turning and continuing his stride forward.

Gao Yang’s hefty hand pressed down on Lin Xian’s shoulder.

“Lin Xian, you don’t know what happened after you jumped from the space shuttle, do you?”

Lin Xian stopped in his tracks. He turned back to look at Gao Yang.

After jumping from 20,000 meters, grabbing Chu An Qing, deploying the parachute, and finding Chu An Qing missing upon landing, he immediately contacted rescue using his radio communicator. It wasn’t long before an official helicopter from the country arrived. Then he flew directly to the secret aerospace base. Once he landed, he handed the container with the time-space particles to Liu Feng, explained Chu An Qing’s situation, and after Liu Feng briefly examined the particles without finding any concrete answers, Lin Xian rushed to find Yellow Finch, only to be stopped by Gao Yang.

“What’s the matter?” Lin Xian asked.

Gao Yang swallowed hard. “Yellow Finch didn’t want us to tell you, but I couldn’t keep it from you. I planned to tell you, but you were like a runaway mouse the moment you got off the plane, impossible to catch. Finally, I get to speak…”

“When you jumped from the plane, Yellow Finch fainted. Actually, saying she fainted isn’t quite accurate; I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like… You remember, right? When Chu An Qing jumped from the wing, Yellow Finch yelled something about a Millennial Stake. I was too focused on you to understand clearly.”

“Then you jumped, and Yellow Finch collapsed. We were frantic, calling out to you on the radio with no response. Wei Cheng remotely closed the main hatch. We rushed to check on Yellow Finch and found her shaking on the ground, clutching her helmet and refusing to let us take it off. But the situation was urgent, so Liu Feng and I forced it off her.”

“Do you know what we saw?”

Gao Yang trailed off, struggling for words. It wasn’t for suspense; he was genuinely at a loss for description.

After a pause, Gao Yang continued. “It’s hard to describe. It was like… like Yellow Finch became transparent…”

“Transparent?” Lin Xian frowned. He hadn’t expected that description. Could a person become transparent?

But thinking of how Chu An Qing had vanished… Yellow Finch, a known time traveler, becoming transparent wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

“Did her eye color fade too?” Lin Xian pressed.

Gao Yang was taken aback. “Ha! So you knew!”

“I didn’t know; I was just guessing. Hurry up, tell me if it’s true.”

Gao Yang nodded. “You guessed right. Yellow Finch’s eyes, which were bright blue like light bulbs, turned completely black.”

“Black… like ours, with no light, no blue. At that moment, she looked just like a normal person. Her expression was pained, as if she’d been stabbed.”

“But she quickly recovered, got up, and immediately tried to call you on the radio. But the space shuttle’s long-range communication was broken, so of course, you didn’t hear. She then notified Wei Cheng to return.”

“After landing, we reconnected with ground control, learned you were safe, and that rescue was on the way. That’s when we all relaxed. Yellow Finch then told us not to mention what happened on the space shuttle.”

“But we couldn’t comply. We’re not working for her. So Liu Feng and I decided you had to know. I just learned what happened to Chu An Qing from you, and I thought these events might be connected.”

…

Lin Xian recalled what Chu An Qing had once told him. It was similar to Gao Yang’s account.

Back at the astronaut training base, Yellow Finch had also become weak and trembling in the washroom, kneeling on the floor in pain.

The difference was, she hadn’t turned transparent that time, and her eye color… now that he thought about it, her eyes must have faded or turned black just like this time. She had refused to lift her head for Chu An Qing to see, likely to hide this change.

Gao Yang’s hand left Lin Xian’s shoulder, and he stepped back, no longer blocking him. He looked up and spoke softly.

“I’m not saying this to defend Yellow Finch. I don’t like her. She’s full of lies, knows everything but says nothing, and doesn’t care about our lives.”

“But… I’m conflicted. I’ve told you everything I know. You decide the rest.”

“I feel the same. Chu An Qing is our friend, and her disappearance hurts and angers me too. But as the old saying goes, ‘If alive, we need to see the person; if dead, the corpse.’ We haven’t found either, so don’t assume she’s dead.”

“We’ve seen so many supernatural things lately—time-space particles, Yellow Finch turning transparent, her eyes changing color… Really, Chu An Qing might not be dead. Maybe she’s just invisible!”

Gao Yang spread his hands and looked at Lin Xian.

“That’s all I have to say. Don’t worry, Lin Xian. You’re my best friend. Whatever you decide, right or wrong, I’ll always support you.”

“So… go do what you need to do. Find Yellow Finch and get the answers.”

Lin Xian nodded. He patted Gao Yang’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

…

The iron door of the office creaked open, the hinges emitting a piercing noise that echoed through the quiet room.

Lin Xian stepped inside, glancing around. Yellow Finch, as if anticipating his arrival, was not seated behind her desk. Instead, she stood in front of it, perched on its edge with her arms crossed, her crystalline blue eyes gazing at him like polished glass.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Lin Xian,” she said calmly. “I’m surprised you dared to jump from the plane… and landed safely. I admit, I underestimated you. You’re stronger and quicker than I thought.”

Lin Xian closed the office door behind him and walked to the center of the room. “You know why I’m here. Tell me… what happened to Chu An Qing? Why did she disappear?”

“I can’t say,” Yellow Finch replied, her voice steady.

“Is she dead? Missing? Invisible? Or somewhere else?” Lin Xian pressed, his frustration growing.

“I can’t say,” she repeated, her expression unchanging.

“What does ‘Millennial Stake’ mean? You can tell me that, right?” Lin Xian insisted. “Why did you mention it?”

“Because ‘Millennial Stake’ is a term I created,” Yellow Finch said, blinking slowly. “The original term isn’t ‘Millennial Stake.’ It has a more precise, definitive name. If I told you that, you wouldn’t need to ask me anything because you’d understand immediately.”

She paused, then continued. “Lin Xian, even if you hadn’t come, I would have called you. It’s time… I have something very important to tell you. It’s crucial for you.”

“What is it?” Lin Xian asked, his curiosity piqued.

Yellow Finch uncrossed her arms and leaned on the desk, looking at him intently. “Do you understand what I mean by ‘I can’t say’?”

Lin Xian shook his head, still confused.

“Look at me, Lin Xian,” she instructed, her voice firm. “This is what I need to teach you today… Although it’s sudden, given that you know about the Millennial Stake and want its truth, it’s something you must understand.”

Their eyes locked, Lin Xian’s dark gaze meeting Yellow Finch’s bright blue eyes.

“Watch me carefully,” she said, staring unblinkingly at him, speaking slowly and deliberately. “The Millennial Stake is—”

Suddenly, she fell silent, as if choked!

“What?” Lin Xian thought he hadn’t heard right and stepped closer.

Yellow Finch bit her lip, sweat forming on her forehead. Her hands trembled as she reached back to support herself on the desk.

“The Millennial Stake is—” she tried again, but once more, she was silenced. It was as if the sound system playing music was abruptly unplugged, or a phone call suddenly cut off, or a thrilling movie halted mid-scene! Just like that! Like a breath stuck in her throat!

Yellow Finch was inexplicably, irrationally silenced!

Then—

Thud!

Yellow Finch lost her balance, fell backward, and collapsed on the office floor. She lay prone on the ground.

“Hey!” Lin Xian hurried over to help her up. But… she was transparent. Transparent! Just as Gao Yang had described, Yellow Finch’s body had turned transparent!

She could still be touched. But she felt light, easily lifted, and with her came a shower of blue star-like particles! It was familiar, just like the tiny blue particles from Chu An Qing’s spacesuit! But these from Yellow Finch… In large amounts! Clumps and clumps! Like scattered sand, like a dispersed swarm of bees!

These blue particles collapsed, dissipated, and vanished in the air.

“What is this?” Lin Xian witnessed this supernatural phenomenon again. What was happening? Was his initial thought correct…

Blue time-space particles, Yellow Finch’s eyes, the star particles left when Chu An Qing vanished, and now the blue quantum particles from Yellow Finch… All blue!

This confirmed his previous theory!

[All things from other time-spaces, not originally from this time-space, show a blue glow, and when they collapse, they turn into tiny blue star particles, disappearing…]

At this moment, Yellow Finch’s eyes had turned completely black. Supported by Lin Xian, she was incredibly weak, as if breathing took all her strength.

Gradually, her body recovered from transparency, stopped shedding blue particles, her breathing steadied, and a hint of blue reappeared in her eyes.

This time, just a hint. Barely discernible around her black pupils.

“Lin Xian… Xian…” Yellow Finch looked up at him. “This is… what I need… to teach you today. I want… to tell you about the Millennial Stake, but I can’t… You must figure it out yourself.”

She swallowed hard, forcing a smile. “Don’t… look so… worried. I always intended… to tell you… about the time-space laws. This is why I came back… the most important thing…”

“Time-space laws?” Lin Xian’s eyes widened. Again, time-space laws.

“History Locked…” Yellow Finch bit her lip and said each word clearly. Then she sighed.

“I know you don’t understand, but because you don’t, I can say it. Don’t ask why… Just think about it. Think about it with the Millennial Stake…”

“This is the first time-space law I need to tell you. Next, there’s a second one…” Yellow Finch paused before continuing. “The second time-space law… I can’t say it. That’s why… I made you watch the changes in me.”

“This shouldn’t happen. Normally… in a normal time-space, it wouldn’t happen.”

“Only when there’s both time-space rejection and history locked… does this occur.”

Yellow Finch coughed lightly. Her eyes gleamed with both blue and black, her color improved, and she gained strength. She stood up from Lin Xian’s support, looking down at him.

“Think carefully, Lin Xian… What this time-space law means, what it can bring you, what it can help you understand.”

She gazed deeply into his eyes.

“This is very important. Perhaps… it’s the last thing I can teach you.”