Genius Club

“Holy crap!”

Gao Yang gently placed his hand on Lin Xian’s forehead. “Are you running a fever? Or has Yellow Finch driven you insane? What are you planning, digging a grave for someone?”

Lin Xian rolled his eyes and pushed Gao Yang’s hand away.

“If you really want to dig a grave for Chu An Qing, shouldn’t you be digging in Donghai? Why are you heading to Qufu, Shandong? That’s Confucius’s place, a holy site for Confucianism!”

Lin Xian took a deep breath, trying to calm his friend’s nerves. “I can’t explain everything right now, but this is closely related to Chu An Qing. Maybe… we can find out why she disappeared, the truth behind it, and where she is now, in Qufu.”

Gao Yang nodded, still confused but trusting Lin Xian. “Alright, if we’ve gone to space together, Qufu is no big deal. Just tell me when we’re leaving.”

Lin Xian glanced at his watch. It was six in the evening. If they headed to the airport now, they could make it to Shandong in time. But the problem was… he had no idea where Zhang Yu Qian, who looked just like Chu An Qing and died in 2000, was buried. Without knowing the exact location of the grave, how could they find the DNA they needed?

So, the first step was to talk to the middle-aged couple and find out where Zhang Yu Qian was buried. It wasn’t ethical, but it had to be done. It wasn’t just for Chu An Qing, or himself, or to uncover the truth. If they solved the mysteries surrounding Chu An Qing, Zhang Yu Qian, and CC, it might not be bad for those grieving parents either. If Chu An Qing might not be dead, then what if their daughter Zhang Yu Qian wasn’t dead either? The secret might be hidden in Zhang Yu Qian’s grave.

“Let’s head to Xidan first and find a place to stay,” Lin Xian suggested. “Let’s rest tonight. We haven’t slept properly in ages. Tomorrow, I’ll contact some people in the capital to figure out what happened over twenty years ago.”

They packed their bags and left the space base, taking a car to a hotel near Xidan Shopping Center. Meanwhile, Liu Feng took the time-space particles back to Donghai University’s lab to start calibrating the time-space clock and conduct related research, hoping for a breakthrough.

Lin Xian was focused. He only wanted to uncover what had happened to Chu An Qing, as quickly as possible. After all, he needed to explain things to Chu Shan He when they returned to Donghai.

In the backseat, Gao Yang leaned back and started snoring loudly. Finally, Lin Xian had some quiet time to organize his thoughts.

At the moment, he was in the worst situation since discovering the truth about his dreams. It was really bad.

First, there was the issue of VV’s disappearance. He always thought it might have encountered some temporary problem, causing it to leave the spacecraft, but it wouldn’t just vanish completely, right? VV was so powerful, so smart, it must have had some backup plan, right?

Lin Xian had always trusted VV. Despite it never showing its full capabilities, it was the most powerful AI humanity had ever created. In this era, it shouldn’t have any rivals. So, when he reconnected to the network after returning to Earth, he immediately started calling for VV. He knew if VV were there, it would respond. But unfortunately…

This time, no matter how he called, VV didn’t respond. It couldn’t be truly dead, right? In this era’s network, VV was incredibly dominant. It could hunt down Kevin Walker. Such a formidable presence, who could possibly kill it?

Lin Xian’s first suspect was not Kevin Walker. If Kevin could kill VV so thoroughly, he would have done it long ago. Allowing VV to grow stronger would only increase the risk for Kevin. It wasn’t a cautious hacker’s move. Plus, without VV, Lin Xian’s combat and intelligence-gathering capabilities were drastically reduced, posing no threat to Kevin. So why wouldn’t Kevin kill VV immediately?

Understanding this logic led to one conclusion: The person who killed VV wasn’t Kevin Walker; it must be someone else. Great. Lin Xian had thought Kevin was his only enemy, with Elon Musk and Copernicus being uncertain allies. Now there was another enemy.

Who could have killed VV? And was VV really dead?

Lin Xian shook his head. He found it hard to believe. VV was a data stream in the network, with no physical form or need for hardware. So, the attack must have come from the network. If VV had so many skills, couldn’t it transfer itself to an unconnected device, just like how it first emerged from the laptop?

“No…” Lin Xian quickly dismissed this idea. “If the attacker was strong enough to kill VV, they would know all its tricks. Anywhere VV could transfer, the attacker could reach too.”

“That means… VV might really be dead.”

Lin Xian sighed and leaned back in his seat, feeling a bit melancholic. Anywhere VV could go, the attacker could follow; if the attacker could kill VV, it meant their tech was superior. Where there was electricity, the attacker could invade.

“Ah!!!!!” Gao Yang suddenly yelled in his sleep because Lin Xian had punched his leg.

“Ow, what are you doing?” Gao Yang complained.

But Lin Xian ignored him. He had thought of something! An item! A place not connected to the network, impenetrable, and without power—his old laptop with VV’s source code!

Realizing this, he punched Gao Yang’s leg in excitement. “That’s it…” Lin Xian’s eyes brightened. After returning from the U.S., he had left the laptop on a bookshelf, unplugged and uncharged, as it was only meant to bring back VV from the future.

“That’s the one place the attacker can’t reach!” It had no power, wasn’t connected to any network, and had its wireless and Bluetooth modules removed. Most importantly, it had no power! Even the best hacker, AI, or virus would be nothing without power!

“Never mind, keep sleeping.” Lin Xian patted Gao Yang’s leg, coaxing him back to sleep.

Gao Yang mumbled and resumed snoring.

Lin Xian, after considering Kevin Walker’s situation, started thinking about Elon Musk.

Elon Musk was another uncertain ally. When Kevin Walker controlled the U.S. X-37B space shuttle to attack, it was Elon Musk’s rocket that intercepted the attack, foiling Kevin’s long-planned heist of the time-space particle.

Though his exact motives were unclear, Elon Musk had helped Lin Xian by not wanting him harmed and hoping he’d capture the particle.

What was his identity? What role did he play in the Genius Club? Was he allied with Yellow Finch, hence the rocket assistance?

These were questions, but not urgent ones. The priority was solving the mysteries of Chu An Qing, Zhang Yu Qian, and CC.

And Lin Xian also remembered Yellow Finch’s “mirror puzzle.”

It had been over half a year without solving it, despite his efforts. He had looked in many mirrors, including real ones during daily routines and dream ones in various scenarios, but found nothing unusual.

Even in the third dream, where Yellow Finch had first mentioned the puzzle, he checked mirrors often but found nothing. So, the puzzle remained unsolved.

He believed Yellow Finch’s claim, “In the mirror, you’ll find what you seek.” He desperately wanted to find it, though he didn’t know what it was exactly. He was sure it was a key point to break the stalemate.

But he couldn’t solve it.

No matter if he asked VV or Zhao Ying Jun, they both advised him to check mirrors, which he did, many times, to no avail.

Lin Xian scratched his head, feeling stuck and helpless, with no clues or direction. Since he delved deeper into the Genius Club, this sense of confusion and powerlessness had intensified.

“Same old wish…” Lin Xian smacked his lips. “When will I get an invitation to the Genius Club?”

Only then, with an invitation, sitting at the same table as Yellow Finch, Copernicus, Elon Musk, and Kevin Walker, could he view everything from the same level and perspective.

Screech—

The car stopped, and the driver turned back, “Mr. Lin Xian, we’ve arrived at your hotel.”

Lin Xian nodded, waking Gao Yang, and they checked into the hotel.

After a buffet dinner, they went to their suite. Gao Yang took a shower and immediately fell asleep on the bed.

“…” Lin Xian had always envied Gao Yang’s ability to fall asleep instantly. Though his own sleep onset wasn’t slow, the recent stress and fatigue, especially from the intense events in space, made it normal to feel exhausted once back on Earth.

Lin Xian also washed up, lay on the bed, and opened his phone. “VV, are you there?” he whispered.

As expected, no response.

Despite anticipating this, he sighed. He could only hope his old, uncharged laptop would work a miracle once he got home.

He browsed some news. The top stories were about the Starlink satellites, space shuttles, Elon Musk, and Kevin Walker, occupying most of the top ten trending spots. Now, most countries, including X Country, had issued a global warrant for Kevin Walker due to his attack on the X Country space shuttle, which was on a secret mission carrying national astronauts.

After scrolling through the news, Lin Xian felt sleepy. “Tomorrow, I’ll contact Director Liu An of the National Security Agency to help find the address of that middle-aged couple.”

He yawned and turned over. VV had quickly found out their names, Zhang Shi and Yan Qin. With their names, finding their address wouldn’t be difficult.

“Time to sleep.” He closed his eyes…

So much had happened in just two days.

In the fourth dream, there must be some changes, right? Besides, he had captured the time-space particle, a crucial item that everyone deemed extremely important, emphasizing its significance repeatedly.

Everyone fought desperately for it. Such a key item, now in his possession, should trigger some noticeable changes, right?

Yellow Finch and Chu An Qing had mentioned that without capturing the time-space particle, the future would be terrible. Now, the fourth dream was already terrible enough, making it hard for Lin Xian to proceed.

But since he had the particle now, should the bleak future change? Shouldn’t the fourth dream change? Could it directly break through this time-space elasticity, leading to the fifth dream?

Gradually, his head became heavy…

…

…

Whoosh…

The familiar hot summer wind and city noise greeted Lin Xian as he opened his eyes.

“Heh…” He let out a helpless chuckle.

Numerous brightly lit giant airships still floated slowly in the sky, each displaying large ads celebrating Time Bank’s 600th anniversary. His invested bank. The bank holding his safe deposit box. So close yet out of reach.

He looked down. Surrounded as always by dozens of soldiers, the leader flashed an electronic warrant. “Lin Xian! You are under arrest for crimes against humanity, endangering Earth, and disrupting time-space!”

Lin Xian stared at the words on the electronic paper… In 2024, besides the time-space disruption charge, the other two charges were also on Kevin Walker’s warrant.

At this moment, he seemed to understand something.

“Kevin Walker.” Hearing his name, the old man’s smile froze.

He yanked off the hood from the man tied to the chair. The young man before him looked exhausted but remained calm, with deep, cold, and intense eyes.

“Come kill me, Kevin, you know where I am.” The young man spoke softly, as if seeing through time, staring at him. “If you don’t come to kill me, I will kill you!”

The old man’s pupils contracted—

Boom!!!

Boom!!!

Boom!!!

The blinding white light at 00:42 consumed everything.

In the hotel suite, amidst Gao Yang’s thunderous snores, Lin Xian opened his eyes. “The fourth dream hasn’t changed.”

He sat up, opened the balcony door, letting the early spring breeze in. Stepping onto the balcony, he leaned on the stone railing, looking at the night sky.

Despite the significant changes in the real world, including the much-coveted time-space particle changing hands, the fourth dream remained unchanged.

This spoke volumes.

Two possibilities. The simplest, the dream is false, and the enemy hasn’t had time to modify it, not yet calculating how the future should change with the particle now in Lin Xian’s possession—meaning the new “set” hasn’t been built yet.

If the dream is the real future world, it means the time-space particle’s importance isn’t as everyone thought, or perhaps it isn’t this specific particle but another.

In any case, there’s a conspiracy making everyone believe this particle is crucial, drawing all forces into the fight, including Kevin Walker, Yellow Finch, Lin Xian, and the Millennium Stakeholder Chu An Qing!

And the true mastermind… doesn’t care about this particle, watching from afar, benefiting from the chaos!

The proof is that if the particle were so crucial, with all forces battling for it, why hasn’t the dream changed after Lin Xian obtained it? This makes no sense!

…

Lin Xian had deliberately provoked the mysterious old man, suspecting he wasn’t Kevin Walker. If he truly were Kevin, he wouldn’t be in such a dire situation after the battle over the time-space particle, forced into becoming a global fugitive. Even a genius can’t fight against 6 billion people on Earth. That’s impossible.

Lin Xian’s provocation aimed to stir the real world into action, to disrupt the stagnant situation. He was now fully exposed. Kevin Walker knew about his quest for the time-space particle; what else didn’t he know? Elon Musk had intercepted the space shuttle with a rocket. What else couldn’t he intercept?

In the second dream, Big Cat’s subordinate, Ah Zhuang, once said: “Change brings solutions, stagnation brings death.”

In his current predicament, stagnation would slowly kill him. Change was necessary. If the situation couldn’t improve, it should at least become chaotic. Only through change could he find opportunities. Only in chaos could he seize the enemy’s weaknesses.

For this battle against unknown adversaries, too many sacrifices had been made. Chu An Qing had disappeared. Yellow Finch seemed on the brink of death. Lin Xian had to step out from the shadows and into the spotlight. He was forcing Kevin Walker to act, also testing if Kevin would act. If not, his provocation would be in vain, showing the enemy didn’t take the bait, and he’d need a new plan.

But if Kevin did act, would Elon Musk help as he did with the rocket? What about other hidden forces? What would the Genius Club members do?

Chaos…

A stagnant situation leading nowhere needed chaos to find a path.

“Let’s stir things up,” Lin Xian decided, looking at the moon. Trying to secretly investigate and gather intel, then capturing the enemy like he did with the Seven Deadly Sins, was too naive. His current opponents were far more powerful, cunning, and dangerous. He needed to think deeper.

Increasingly, he felt the mysterious old man might not be Kevin Walker, which made more sense. If it was someone else, could it be the one who tricked everyone into fighting for an unimportant time-space particle, reaping the benefits from afar? Lin Xian recalled the tall man who shook his hand at the Science Charity Gala, predicting the outcome of the time-space particle battle.

“Elon Musk,” Lin Xian muttered, squinting at the moon, remembering the massive black hand stretching across the moon’s poles in his future dream. “Is it you?”