Genius Club

This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation

“Hehe, let’s see what you’re capable of.”

Newton made a motion as if removing glasses. His body became transparent, turning into a fading shadow before vanishing completely from the golden hall.

Lin Xian stared at the spot where Newton had disappeared. Then, he bent down and pressed a button on the side of Einstein’s chair.

Instantly, holographic projection lasers receded like a tide, revealing the true nature of the surroundings. The opulent curtains, decorations, and crystal chandeliers disappeared one after another. Even the virtual Rhine Cat mask on Lin Xian’s face dimmed and vanished.

Within seconds, the bright and virtual gathering venue was gone, and the underground shelter reverted to its original state.

“It seems this button controls the activation and deactivation of the Genius Club’s meeting system,” Lin Xian analyzed. “The system must be active for members to connect to the VR network using the Golden Emblems and appear at the venue in virtual form for meetings.”

“Two hundred years ago, regular meetings were held at prearranged times—every first day of the month at precisely 00:42. Einstein only needed to activate the system beforehand. But now… it’s 2234, and the meetings have been suspended for over 200 years. How did Newton manage to show up immediately?”

Lin Xian narrowed his eyes, quickly drawing a logical conclusion:

“This indicates that Newton has been monitoring the Genius Club’s activities constantly, likely with automated equipment to watch for when the meeting system is activated.”

“And naturally, the omniscient Einstein knew this. That’s why he was confident Newton would appear as soon as the system was turned on.”

As he pieced his thoughts together, Lin Xian descended the steps and approached Newton’s designated seat, labeled as No. 3. Sitting down in the high-backed chair, he tried to imagine himself as Newton, attempting to deduce his thoughts and profile.

Looking up, Lin Xian’s eyes fell on No. 2, Copernicus’s seat, directly opposite.

“Newton and Copernicus, the earliest members of the Genius Club, were not true adversaries as appearances suggested. Instead, they shared common ideals and beliefs. They were friends, or perhaps… allies and comrades-in-arms.”

Lin Xian closed his eyes, envisioning the scenes of the club’s earliest in-person gatherings:

Perhaps a cozy little villa with a burning fireplace… or a warmly lit small meeting hall. At that time, the Genius Club had only three members. Einstein, masked as himself, presided over the meetings, while Copernicus and Newton sat to his left and right.

Copernicus would have been older, and Newton somewhat younger—though not by much. After all, when Da Vinci met Newton, Newton was already an elderly man.

“No.” Lin Xian shook his head, catching a blind spot in his reasoning.

“If Copernicus and Newton had formed a strategic alliance from the beginning to deceive others, it’s difficult to determine whether Newton was genuinely old or merely pretending to be. Could it even be possible that Copernicus and Newton had a closer relationship—perhaps as father and son? And to artificially create the impression of rivalry, Newton, still young, might have disguised himself as an elderly man to mislead others?”

…

This was indeed a daring thought. Yet, it wasn’t entirely impossible.

The reasoning was straightforward.

Copernicus was incredibly old, so much so that even the hibernation chamber couldn’t preserve him. In contrast, Newton, even after 200 years, remained vigorous and active thanks to the hibernation chamber.

This undeniable fact suggested a conclusion: Newton’s true age was undoubtedly younger than Copernicus’s, and far younger than what Da Vinci or Galileo might have perceived from his appearance.

“You two have hidden your tracks well,” Lin Xian mused as he continued his deductions.

As the first two members of the Genius Club, it wasn’t surprising for Copernicus and Newton to have allied, sharing common ideals. What was puzzling, however, was their purpose.

“What could it mean?” Lin Xian frowned.

Firstly, the duo wouldn’t be foolish enough to conspire merely to deceive Einstein. With his omniscience, Einstein would have known about their pretense, their schemes, and their conspiracies. However, as this didn’t violate the club’s rules, Einstein likely tacitly allowed it to happen as part of their plan.

“Copernicus and Newton’s collaboration isn’t fundamentally different from the partnership between Jask and me,” Lin Xian reflected. “After all, the act of pretending not to know each other to deceive others is its own kind of coordinated double act.”

He continued reasoning: “Given this, their charade of being adversaries must have started after Galileo joined the club. Before that, they likely presented themselves openly to Einstein, asking direct questions and taking full advantage of their positions.”

Imagining the scene of Copernicus and Newton interrogating Einstein together was somewhat amusing, but the implications were undeniable. If these two founding members were in cahoots, the amount of information and secrets they could have gathered would be staggering.

This also clarified Einstein’s ultimate intention in bringing Newton before Lin Xian.

Copernicus and Newton knew many secrets that Lin Xian did not—secrets of great importance. Einstein was guiding him, nudging him to focus his attention and efforts on Newton.

This also explained why Copernicus and Newton took on the roles of an antagonistic villain and a righteous leader. It was a way to conceal their true purpose, plans, and relationship. As the Genius Club grew and the rules on questioning became stricter, their fabricated rivalry allowed them to maintain the upper hand.

Even when Copernicus frequently missed meetings, he would never miss critical information because Newton would inform him of everything. Similarly, Newton could avoid asking any direct questions while still having all his inquiries answered through Copernicus.

Their meticulous caution hinted at one thing: Copernicus and Newton were deeply afraid of their plan being exposed and of others discovering the truth about Universal Constant 42.

Lin Xian rose from the chair and began pacing in the underground shelter.

For him, delving deeper into the truths of Einstein, the Millennial Stake, and the World-Ending White Light required uncovering Newton’s secrets and the mysteries of Universal Constant 42.

This became clear as his next main objective: to find Newton amidst the vast sea of humanity and investigate the truth behind Universal Constant 42.

His thoughts clarified, Lin Xian exhaled a breath of relief. He walked back to the lab table, where a small oven held spacetime particles and a gift box containing a wristwatch.

Opening the oven, he reached inside and retrieved the gift, a relic of 300 years past. Thanks to the time-freezing properties of ordinary spacetime particles, the small gift box remained pristine, untouched by the ravages of time.

Gripping the box on both sides, he opened it. A silver wristwatch with a slightly dull sheen came into view. The hour, minute, and second hands had long since stopped, as though it was time itself, not the spacetime particles, that had been frozen.

Lin Xian pressed the watch to his wrist, feeling its cold surface. Securing the clasp, he strapped the $20 wristwatch, dated 1952, onto his arm.

With a few casual turns of the winding crown, the watch began ticking softly.

Tick-tick-tick.

The time that had been frozen for 300 years began to turn once more. The crisp sound of gears echoed, carrying the memory of 1952 into the present.

“This is the most valuable watch I’ve ever worn,” Lin Xian said softly.

It was a gift purchased by a poor girl from Brooklyn, using everything she had, surpassing the worth of any Rolex in the world.

At the bottom of the small, square gift box, folded neatly, was a slightly yellowed note. Lin Xian picked it up. Though it felt like he had read it only days ago, now it seemed as if countless eras had passed, with stars reversing in the sky and oceans turning to dust.

He already knew what the note said. It was a gentle reminder, urging him to adjust the watch back by an hour when daylight saving time ended the next day.

Now, in December 2234, he realized, “It really is standard time now.”

Suddenly, he remembered another note written by Chu Anqing, kept in the aluminum-alloy safe of the Time Bank. Coincidentally, that note, too, was preserved by spacetime particles and stored in a spacetime particle capturer resembling an electric rice cooker.

“According to Einstein’s theory, that note, along with the rice cooker, is also in a state of temporal suspension. No matter how much time passes, it won’t decay or age.”

Lin Xian wondered aloud, “What exactly did Chu Anqing write on that note?”

He vaguely recalled that aboard the spaceplane, Chu Anqing had written two lines in quick, deliberate strokes, the sound of her pen a rhythmic sha-sha-sha. The lines weren’t long and had been written swiftly.

Now, the note’s use in discerning reality from dreams was less significant to Lin Xian. Even without it, he would still strive to uncover the secrets of the Millennial Stake and save humanity’s future.

However, every time he thought of Chu Anqing’s unwavering and determined gaze aboard the spaceplane, or the rugged, bearded man from CC’s memory fragments, he couldn’t dismiss its importance.

“Perhaps that note holds meaning not just for me but for the Millennial Stake, for CC, and for Chu Anqing herself.”

“Hopefully, in my next attempt to alter the worldline and enter another dreamscape, I’ll find the long-lost safe.”

Currently, Lin Xian was in the underground shelter. With its aluminum-alloy structure forming a Faraday cage, there was no signal for his phone. As a result, even if the spacetime clock readings changed or the worldline shifted, Liu Feng’s call couldn’t get through.

That being said, Lin Xian felt there was little chance of a change in the worldline. This timeline, where humanity was nearly wiped out, had been forged by multiple geniuses. Einstein’s death, as Newton had remarked, would only make the worldline more stable.

For now, altering the worldline seemed possible only by uncovering secrets from Newton or Galileo. Galileo, however, remained missing and out of contact, leading to speculation that he might hibernate until the year 2600 to trigger a super-catastrophe.

Compared to that, Newton, who had already exposed some of his intentions, was relatively easier to track down.

Closing the small oven, Lin Xian moved to another section of the underground shelter to investigate. To his surprise, he found a variety of living essentials and support facilities there.

There was an ample supply of canned food, stored water, various nuclear batteries, and even a fully intact hibernation chamber.

“Einstein clearly didn’t need these things. He didn’t require food, drink, or hibernation.”

After careful inspection, Lin Xian confirmed that neither the hibernation chamber nor the provisions showed any signs of use. It seemed Einstein had prepared them merely as a precaution.

An underground shelter had to be equipped like an underground shelter. Even if he didn’t need them, the essentials had to be present.

Turning around, Lin Xian explored other areas of the shelter. They were largely what one would expect in a typical shelter—ordinary, practical, and showing almost no signs of use.

It was hard to imagine…

For hundreds of years, had Einstein spent his time sitting in that chair, utterly alone?

Perhaps he had been tirelessly searching for a way forward for humanity.

Perhaps he had been waiting for a reunion with Douglas.

Or perhaps he had immersed himself in a false vision of the future, silently awaiting the day it would arrive.

“Einstein, I’ll remember this debt of yours too,” Lin Xian said, staring at the spot where Einstein had fallen and vanished.

“The guilty have names, and the debt has owners. No matter who the mastermind is behind those two spacetime particles, I’ll make sure they answer for it.”

“To save Chu Anqing, to save CC, to uncover the truth of Universal Constant 42, and to resolve the World-Ending White Light… I suspect the answers to all four are tied to this hidden enemy.”

“Step one, by the book—find out Newton’s true identity and start with him.”

Lin Xian walked to the back of Einstein’s chair and placed his hand on the aluminum-alloy casings of the computers and servers. These devices were likely the backbone of the Genius Club’s meeting system.

From the intelligence he had gathered earlier, he knew the system’s security protocols and logic programs had been created by the genius hacker Kevin Walker. In the early days, Walker had sole authority and knowledge of every member’s true identity. After Walker’s death—at Lin Xian’s own hands—control of the system had passed to Einstein.

In theory, the data stored in these devices could reveal Newton’s true identity.

But…

“If it were really that simple, Newton wouldn’t have acted so arrogant and calm earlier. Since he knows I killed Einstein, he must also know I found the Genius Club’s headquarters. It wouldn’t be hard for him to guess that I’d analyze the network servers for connection data.”

“Yet despite this, Newton isn’t the least bit concerned or afraid of being found. Is it all just a bluff, or was Kevin Walker’s security system truly unbreakable?”

Lin Xian straightened up.

“Either way, I should at least try.”

He turned to look back at the once-bustling but now deserted Genius Club headquarters.

“This underground shelter shouldn’t be known to too many people. It’s a place even Newton, Copernicus, and all the other geniuses couldn’t find—an exceptionally hidden sanctuary. It might just be the safest place on Earth, and it could save lives in critical moments.”

“So, I’ll bring only Jask here. Let’s see if he can figure out a way to extract the data from the servers.”

“If even Jask can’t manage it…”

Lin Xian stretched lazily, a glimmer of resolve in his eyes as he thought of his long-time friend, who had pretended to be clueless for so long and would ultimately prove to be his most formidable trump card.

“Then I’ll have to find a way to eliminate the future virus and bring VV back to life!”

This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation