Genius Club

This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation

“Hmm…”

Lin Xian pondered deeply over Elon Musk’s bold and audacious plan.

“Launching 22 detection rockets in 22 directions… If it were within the solar system, it’d be feasible. But at the scale of dozens of light-years, the chances are still incredibly slim.”

“No, Lin Xian.”

The Aluminum Alloy Trashcan Robot VV shook its head and nudged Lin Xian’s knee with its claw.

“The purpose of these probes is only to observe if the World-Ending White Light originates from outer space, not to collide with it as if playing billiards.”

“Since you’ve seen that beam of white light in your dream, it means it’s visible light. Logically, it should be observable in space.”

“Just like the stars we see when we look up at night—many of their lights have traveled for hundreds or even thousands of years. Some stars may have already collapsed and exploded, ceasing to exist, yet their light continues to reach us hundreds of years later.”

“So, think of it this way: if we can observe stars hundreds of light-years away with the naked eye, these probes should also have a detection range spanning hundreds of light-years, just like space telescopes.”

“If even one of these 22 probes detects a white light heading toward Earth, it would prove Elon Musk’s theory correct.”

Elon Musk smiled faintly.

He stepped forward and patted VV’s head.

“Lin Xian, your AI is indeed clever and very likable. I might just reconsider my previous opinion.”

Then, he looked up at Lin Xian.

“But you’re not wrong either. Beyond the light-year boundaries of the universe, we have no idea what lies out there or what might happen.”

“It’s entirely possible that these 22 rockets and their spacetime particles will end up being a complete waste.”

“However… the beauty of scientific experiments is that they don’t fear failure. Each failure brings us closer to success.”

“Even if these 22 rockets yield no results, apart from losing some spacetime particles, the cost isn’t too significant. But if one of the probes detects something, then we’ve hit the jackpot! Perhaps all the mysteries will finally have a direction for further research, bringing us one step closer to solving them!”

Lin Xian nodded.

He had to admit that was true.

Ordinary spacetime particles didn’t hold much utility. Elon Musk’s approach of recycling and repurposing them truly maximized their value.

“It’s worth a try. This is indeed a great idea. How’s your preparation coming along? When are you planning to launch these probes?”

“Almost ready,” Elon Musk replied with a smile.

“I’ve been working on this for years. I won’t let down the trust you’ve placed in me.”

“I’ll make sure everything is prepared as soon as possible. When the rockets launch, I’ll invite you both to watch!”

“So, I won’t disturb your investigation here any longer. I’ll head back to prepare for the rocket launch. Also, I’ll take Einstein’s Oven with me—it’s time to entangle that spacetime particle inside.”

“This entire old Brooklyn area is under my control. I’ve protected Einstein’s underground shelter very well, and apart from the three of us, no one knows about it. Feel free to continue your investigation here. I’ll be off.”

Elon Musk, always the busybody, came and went in a hurry.

“Alright, VV, it’s your turn to work now.”

After Elon Musk’s departure, Lin Xian pointed at a dusty network server behind the platform.

“This is the foundation of the Genius Club’s meeting system. The programs and security systems were written by Kevin Walker. I think we can uncover Copernicus’s or Newton’s true identity by investigating the data in here.”

“Leave it to me!”

VV spun its claw with enthusiasm.

“Watch me uncover the scheming old fox! In fact… even without this server, I’d still be able to track down Newton!”

“I haven’t been idle over the past 500 years. Every vacuum robot and trashcan robot in the world has a part of me in them. They’re my cells, my eyes…”

“Stop.”

Lin Xian quickly interrupted VV’s boasting to avoid it jinxing itself.

“Cut it out with the big talk, will you? Haven’t you learned enough from your past failures? Don’t act all high and mighty only to end up getting beaten again.”

“Cunoalu!”

VV let out a bizarre cry.

“Don’t underestimate the bond between trashcan robots and vacuum robots, you fool!”

“…”

Lin Xian looked at the dramatic AI with a speechless expression.

“This outdated joke from 500 years ago—don’t you think it’s cringe-worthy to play it now? I’m embarrassed for you.”

“Ugh, you’re as dull as ever.”

Ignoring Lin Xian, VV activated the network server and began hacking into it.

“This will take some time to crack. Why don’t you find a spot to rest? Ever since waking from hibernation, you haven’t slept at all.”

Lin Xian yawned.

“I was just planning to dream anyway. Mainly… to confirm something.”

“What’s that?” VV asked curiously.

“You.”

Lin Xian stared at the aluminum alloy robot’s gleaming silver back.

“When Einstein disappeared, it didn’t cause a shift in the worldline or any changes to the spacetime clock’s readings. That was understandable.”

“But now, you, such a powerful super AI, have been resurrected, and yet Liu Feng’s spacetime clock readings remain unchanged. That strikes me as very odd.”

“Is it really a big deal?” VV replied nonchalantly.

“When you pulled me from the Third Dreamscape and reactivated me, the dreamworld didn’t change either, did it?”

“That’s because you were destroyed back then!” Lin Xian spread his hands.

“In the predetermined trajectory of the future, you were destined to be eradicated by the future virus brought by the fake Yu Xi, so of course, it wouldn’t cause a shift in the worldline.”

“But now, the issue is… Cheng Qian has joined us as a reliable member of Rhine University, and you’ve evolved into your fully realized form. Who or what could possibly destroy you now?”

VV’s green eyes flickered twice.

“I get what you’re saying—you mean…”

“You want to enter the Ninth Dreamscape to confirm whether I still exist there!”

“If I still exist, we can communicate and achieve cross-spacetime intelligence transfer. Who knows? I might even be able to tell you the outcome of Elon Musk’s yet-to-launch rocket probe plan. Of course, that would depend on the formation of an irreversible anchor point.”

“But if I don’t exist in the Ninth Dreamscape… then we have a much bigger problem.”

VV, as clever as it was, couldn’t figure out why it might disappear again or who could possess such immense power. Lin Xian’s statement unsettled it.

“Well… anyway, just enter the dream and take a look,” VV urged, then added:

“Didn’t you say you could locate Yang Mai Mai’s hibernation chamber? She’s currently hibernating in an underground base. I’ll leave a copy of myself in the hibernation chamber’s computer there, so you can try finding me through that.”

“Ah, but why bother with just one copy like I’m Turing, being overly cautious? Once bitten, twice shy—I’ll just leave a backup in every single hibernation chamber computer! I refuse to believe that, within the next hundred years, anyone could destroy me again. That’s ridiculous!”

“Well, it’s settled. Now every hibernation chamber computer in the world has a backup of me, including the one where Mai Mai is sleeping. Go ahead and enter the dream; we’ll meet over there.”

The underground shelter of Einstein naturally had bedrooms and beds, but…

That was a thing of the past.

After hundreds of years, any wooden furniture would have rotted and collapsed. Only aluminum alloy could withstand the passage of time. Unfortunately, Einstein, being a pragmatic person, didn’t bother preparing something as leisurely as a proper bed.

After looking around, the only suitable place to lie down was a hibernation chamber Einstein had prepared—its purpose unknown.

“Well, I’ll just sleep here.”

Lin Xian patted the hibernation chamber.

“As long as I don’t activate it or close the lid, it’s no different from a flatbed. I’ll just take a short nap here.”

Without bothering to undress, Lin Xian lifted the lid of the hibernation chamber, climbed in, and shut his eyes.

He used to find the idea of lying in a hibernation chamber terrifying.

Now, after experiencing two hibernations, he had grown accustomed to it. In fact, he felt it was oddly comfortable, as if the chamber had a magical ability to make sleep restful.

Glancing at the thin, transparent smartphone on his wrist, he checked the time in both X Country and United States time zones. Sleeping now would allow him to enter a dream at the perfect moment.

“Goodnight, VV. I hope I wake up to good news.”

Lin Xian closed his eyes.

Slowly, he drifted into sleep.

…

…

…

Ninth Dreamscape, Underground Hibernation Base.

The girl Mai Mai opened her eyes and sat up in a mist-filled hibernation chamber. In front of her, a stranger handed her a manuscript.

On the cover were four bold characters: “Devouring Heaven Demon Emperor.”

“What is this?”

Mai Mai’s eyes widened.

Just by the title, she could tell how epic it was! Who could have written something so extraordinary? It looked amazing! She couldn’t wait to read it!

“Take the book and read it on the side. I need to do something with your hibernation chamber.”

The man pulled her out, seated her on a nearby chair, and handed her “Devouring Heaven Demon Emperor”.

“Focus on reading. I’ll deal with you later—perhaps even some electrotherapy after this.”

With great anticipation, Lin Xian leaned into the hibernation chamber. Its computer was emitting soft directive tones, guiding actions for post-hibernation recovery.

“VV.”

He called softly.

But…

There was no response.

“VV?”

Lin Xian knocked on the thin, fragile display screen, making a soft echoing sound.

“Stop fooling around when it’s serious business. If you’re there, show yourself—we’ve got work to do.”

However…

No matter how he called, there was no reply.

“…”

A sinking feeling overcame Lin Xian.

VV’s foundational programming had a key principle: it could neither betray nor deceive him. If VV were joking or playing games, it would always immediately admit to it.

This silence…

It confirmed what Lin Xian had suspected all along—

“It’s highly possible that at some point on this worldline, VV was destroyed. And this time… it was done so thoroughly that not even a trace of an artificial ‘idiot’ remains.”

But who could possibly have the capability?

Lin Xian pondered this as he approached the edge of the dreamscape, unable to come up with a definitive answer.

For someone as intelligent and cautious as VV, it seemed impossible for it to make the same mistake twice. After its past near-destruction, VV would have prioritized self-preservation and security. For humanity to completely eliminate it—especially so thoroughly—felt almost implausible.

Standing up, he glanced at Mai Mai, who was huddled in a corner, fully immersed in the manuscript. Her eyes were wide with awe.

“Is it good?” he asked.

“It’s a masterpiece!!”

Despite having read it eight hundred times, Mai Mai, like a first-time reader, clenched her fists in excitement.

“This book is so thrilling it gets my blood pumping! I can’t wait to write one myself!”

“Uh… you’ve really got some dedication.”

Lin Xian glanced at his watch and waved to her.

“Goodbye~”

BOOM!!!!

BOOM!!!!

BOOM!!!!

The wheels of time rolled relentlessly forward, carving two immutable tracks that seemed destined to converge at the final ending.

At precisely 00:42, the white light arrived on schedule.

Burning everything to ashes.

…

…

…

When Lin Xian opened his eyes, he sat up from the hibernation chamber, his face clouded with worry.

“What’s wrong? You’ve got that sour expression again.”

Aluminum Alloy VV rolled over on its tracks, looking up at him.

“Your worries are written all over your face. Don’t tell me… you couldn’t find me in the future dreamscape either?”

Lin Xian nodded silently.

“Exactly. I couldn’t find you. You were completely wiped out, like a chalkboard erased clean, with no trace of even an artificial ‘idiot’ left behind.”

“Tch!”

VV dismissed this with disdain.

“Even when you erase a chalkboard, there’s always some residue left. Nothing in this world can be erased so completely. Even birds leave traces in flight.”

“I mean, I really can’t think of anything that could kill me! Not even the time when Yu Xi turned into a spacetime bomb and caused that blue snow across Donghai City managed to kill me…”

“Sure, the instant the spacetime bomb exploded, it did wipe out everything in Donghai City, including me and that future virus, but we both had backups all over the global network. We just instantly respawned in Donghai City without missing a beat.”

“Even centuries ago, cloud backup was a basic feature for countless apps on phones. Do you really think I, a super AI, wouldn’t have taken precautions? I’ve got more lifelines than a cunning rabbit! You wouldn’t believe how many safety caches I’ve set up for myself in the past few days—practically impossible to kill me!”

“…Wait a minute.”

Lin Xian suddenly leapt out of the hibernation chamber and walked briskly toward VV.

“The blue snow you’re talking about—was it on July 1, 2024, when Yu Xi turned into a spacetime bomb and exploded?”

“Of course.”

VV tilted its head.

“What other time could it be? That was the only instance. Zhao Ying Jun even told Yu Xi the story, though he left out the part about you two having a child out of wedlock and added some artistic embellishments.”

“No, no, this isn’t the time for that!”

Lin Xian waved his hand to cut VV off, focusing on the critical point.

“I always thought that spacetime explosion had no effect on you or the future virus—it only killed the time traveler who didn’t belong to this timeline.”

“But I didn’t realize… it actually wiped out you and the future virus within Donghai City as well. That doesn’t make sense! You’re something I built, piece by piece, in this era. You’re a native creation of this timeline. Why would a spacetime bomb be capable of killing you?”

He began pacing back and forth, his mind racing.

“This makes no logical sense.”

“Let me summarize: that spacetime explosion obliterated Number 17, the spacetime assassin; recharged two depleted spacetime particles; and completely eradicated both you and the future virus within Donghai City.”

“This means that, while we don’t fully understand the mechanics of the spacetime bomb, its results suggest one thing—it treated both VV and the future virus as foreign entities not belonging to this timeline and eliminated them.”

“But here’s the contradiction: let’s set the future virus aside for now. VV, you have no attributes of an entity from another timeline. You don’t possess any spacetime traveler traits. By all logic, you should’ve been immune to the spacetime explosion, just like everything else native to this world.”

“I think this points to one conclusion—”

Lin Xian raised a finger, his expression serious.

“The principle of the spacetime bomb is not destruction but correction!”

“Correction?”

VV was puzzled but quickly began processing the idea.

“You’re saying the spacetime bomb’s essence isn’t to destroy foreign entities but to correct errors in the timeline?”

“And if there are errors, there must be a standard for what’s correct. According to your theory, what is the spacetime bomb using as the reference point for correction?”

“As you’re aware, our timeline has already shifted across multiple worldlines. If other worldlines are being used as the correct template or standard… doesn’t that mean our entire world is fundamentally wrong?”

…

For a moment, Lin Xian and the Aluminum Alloy VV stared at each other, wide-eyed and speechless.

They both felt as though they were on the brink of uncovering some hidden logic, but no matter how they tried, they couldn’t piece the clues together. Their minds were a jumbled mess, jumping from one thought to another.

“It feels like we’re missing a critical point,” Lin Xian muttered, rubbing his temples.

“One last key point… and everything about the spacetime bomb, correcting temporal errors, and what defines an error will finally connect.”

“Ahem.”

VV gave a dramatic cough, leaning back and placing its claw on its waist.

“Isn’t it possible… that the key point lies with Newton?”

Lin Xian turned to look at VV, blinking in disbelief.

“You don’t mean to say… you’ve already—”

“Heheheheh!”

VV let out a villainous laugh, snapping its claw with a spark.

In an instant, the surrounding monitors lit up simultaneously, displaying a photograph of a frail, elderly man.

Sunken eye sockets, sparse eyebrows, hollow cheeks, drooping eyelids, a high-bridged nose, a cleft chin, pale lips, and long, narrow eyes…

Every feature was hauntingly familiar.

Even after hundreds of years, Lin Xian recognized this face vividly. He had even sketched an incredibly lifelike drawing of it once.

“Lin Xian, you were right before you went to sleep. When you woke up, there was indeed good news waiting for you.”

VV rolled forward on its tracks, stopping in front of the large screen. It raised its claw and pointed to the photo of the old man.

“Surprised? The person we spent 500 years searching for, scanning every digital photo across the globe but never found… has appeared right here.”

VV’s green eyes flickered rapidly as it delivered the revelation with certainty:

“That old man who trapped you in the Fourth Dreamscape… is Newton!”

This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation