Genius Club

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Elon Musk slipped the ticket into his pocket, his expression serious. “I need to meet Lin Xian in person and clear up a lot of things.”

He paused, reflecting on his conversation with Copernicus. “What Copernicus said… it really made me think. People tend to trust and respect the unknown, and I’m no different. Looking back, it was naïve to trust someone just because they provided useful information, thinking that made them an ally.”

He sighed, frustration creeping into his voice. “Pride is a flaw, and I never thought it would be mine. But even so, I can’t just dismiss what Copernicus said. After all, you can’t just throw away the trust you’ve built with your comrades because of one statement, can you?”

“That’s why I need to find the real answers myself. The good news is that I already have a plan, and meeting Lin Xian is the final step in confirming the truth.”

Angelica remained silent, lost in thought. The information Copernicus offered was exactly what she needed, making the deal tempting. But Lin Xian had warned her that the assassin after him was sent by Elon Musk. Her secretary confirmed it, identifying the assassin as a blue-eyed girl with short black hair hiding in the observation tower.

Even though she didn’t fully believe Elon Musk’s words, she did agree on one thing: X Country was far safer than America as things stand. There, Elon Musk wouldn’t dare harm Lin Xian during official meetings. As a guest, he wouldn’t touch her either. It was safer than staying in America where Elon held all the cards.

Angelica wanted to keep Lin Xian safe, to avoid unnecessary risks. Otherwise… with his loyal and righteous nature, if he found out she was in trouble and that Elon Musk had figured out their plans, he would likely confront Musk directly, seeking revenge. But this was America, where Elon Musk had immense power. Lin Xian, fighting alone, wouldn’t stand a chance against Musk. He might even end up getting killed.

“Ah…” Angelica sighed deeply, staring out the window. She couldn’t let her rash actions drag Lin Xian into danger again.

So, to X Country, it is. She would lead both Elon Musk and Lin Xian to an advantageous place, far from Musk’s stronghold. That way, whatever Lin Xian planned next, he would be on his home turf in Donghai City, giving him a much better chance than in America.

“I hope you keep your promise this time, Elon Musk,” Angelica said, getting up from the couch. She crossed her arms, staring at the former world’s richest man. “I’ll be waiting for you to tell me everything about Copernicus.”

Elon Musk smiled and shrugged. “I always keep my word.”

A short while later, Elon Musk’s private jet took off from the airport. Angelica and Musk sat in the cabin, heading toward Donghai City. Four days later, on April 28th, Musk was scheduled to attend a trade promotion meeting in the capital and meet with officials. But in the three days before that, he planned to be in Donghai City, determined to solve the mysteries and deal with his true enemies.

“Oh, I almost forgot, I need to send a tweet,” Musk said as the plane sped down the runway. He took out his phone and opened the Twitter app. “I wasn’t going to make my visit to Zheng Xiang Yue public since she needs peace, but… I have to let Lin Xian know. Otherwise, how can I ensure he’ll come to meet me?”

As he began typing out his tweet, Angelica chuckled softly. “Why don’t I tweet too? My account hasn’t been updated in days. Since you want Lin Xian to know I’m going to X Country as well, why not let me post something to help you?”

Elon Musk shook his head with a smile as he typed. “Angelica, I’m not an idiot… Even an idiot could see what you’re planning.”

“When I’ve figured out the truth, I’ll let you go back to Lin Xian and regain your freedom. Just hold on for another two or three days.”

Angelica scoffed, crossing her legs and glancing at the seat next to Elon Musk. It wasn’t occupied by a person, but by a small, boxy white refrigerator.

This tiny, square refrigerator seemed out of place, looking more like a home appliance than something you’d see on a private jet. It was bigger than a typical car mini-fridge but still far too small to hold much, especially for a house appliance. Based on Angelica’s estimation, it was only about half a meter in height, width, and depth—barely larger than an average rice cooker. There were no visible logos or markings on it.

“It’s no problem for me to wait,” Angelica said, still eyeing the fridge. “But I’m curious… Why bring this little fridge from home on a trip to X Country? Your jet clearly has a fridge. And this one’s not even plugged in. Anything stored in there would have spoiled by now. So, what’s so important that you had to bring it along?”

The sound of the tweet being successfully posted pinged, and Elon Musk finally put down his phone. He turned to the small white fridge, his hand gently caressing it with a fondness that surprised Angelica.

“What’s inside… is extremely useful.”

Meanwhile, in the United States, New Jersey, on a highway, Lin Xian slowly opened his eyes, letting out a long sigh from the passenger seat.

Yu Xi, who was driving, glanced at him curiously. “Why are you awake? You’ve only been asleep for two hours.”

Lin Xian didn’t respond immediately, his gaze fixed on the swirling dust on the road and the dry leaves caught in the spinning wind.

In the dream he just had, nothing had changed. The soldiers were still the same heavily armed troops, the old man still the same shriveled, cackling figure. Despite all his efforts, he still couldn’t break through the fourth dream. It was impossible not to feel a bit disappointed.

Right now, he really missed Big Cat Face and his brothers… But most of all, he missed CC. Now that Chu An Qing had turned into blue star dust and vanished, CC was his only lead to uncovering the secrets of the Millennium Stake and Chu An Qing, and how to save her.

More than anything, he wanted to meet CC in the dream world. He wanted to ask her about her birthday, her secrets, and ideally, to go with her to open the safety deposit box at Time Bank, to see what was written on that little piece of paper.

CC had told him that the man who called himself VV, who was likely his older, bearded self, had said everything she wanted to know was in that deposit box, including the meaning of her life.

From a historical closed-loop perspective, the password to the deposit box and its contents had never changed… which made Lin Xian wonder if CC had been chasing after that seemingly ordinary piece of paper all along. It was hard for him to believe. Just a piece of paper? At most, it might contain a couple of lines written by Chu An Qing.

Could it really have that much power, enough to drive CC across such a difficult journey, through so many dangers, with unwavering determination? Before opening the deposit box, Lin Xian didn’t dare tell CC that there was only a piece of paper inside. Even if it were some kind of divine message, it wouldn’t be worth everything CC had gone through.

He couldn’t understand what that bearded man was thinking… Maybe he didn’t tell CC the password because he knew it wasn’t worth it, and couldn’t bring himself to say it. Ironically, this only made CC more determined to open the box.

“Or maybe… there’s another reason,” Lin Xian muttered to himself. He knew too little about CC, the Millennium Stake, and the bearded man, VV, to draw any conclusions. It was too early, too irresponsible to assume anything.

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For now, he could only hope to see CC soon. That way, he might feel a bit better.

“I’ll sleep a bit more. Wake me up when we reach Princeton,” Lin Xian instructed Yu Xi, then closed his eyes to rest again.

By evening, the SUV had reached the vicinity of Angelica’s villa. Yu Xi woke Lin Xian. They parked at a distance and approached on foot, guns in hand, moving cautiously. After confirming there was no danger, Yu Xi smashed a window with a punch, climbed inside, and opened the front door for Lin Xian.

They turned on the lights and looked around. The place was just as they had left it, with no signs of disturbance or recent activity.

“It looks like Angelica’s in trouble. She probably got caught the other day pretending to be her secretary,” Lin Xian said, scanning the table where glassware, fake eyebrows, and a false mustache lay—items Angelica had used to disguise herself for the banquet.

This meant Angelica hadn’t returned for days. Lin Xian pulled out his phone and checked Angelica’s social media accounts.

“In the past few days, she hasn’t posted or shared anything on any platform,” Lin Xian said, frowning as he put away his phone. “Did Elon Musk imprison her? Or did he just kill her?”

“I’d bet on the latter,” Yu Xi replied, grabbing some food from the fridge and sharing it with Lin Xian. “Elon Musk’s the world’s richest man. In America, he can do pretty much anything he wants. He’s no saint, and he’s tried to kill you with time-space assassins more than once. You’ve been lucky to survive their attacks so far. If not, you’d already be dead by Elon Musk’s hand. So, if he could do that to you, it wouldn’t be surprising if he killed Angelica too.”

“Especially since Angelica made the first move. If her disguise was convincing, Elon Musk might have spilled some important secrets to her before realizing it. By the time he figured it out, she might have learned too much. In that case, he would have no choice but to kill her and cover it up.”

“That reminds me of something,” Lin Xian said, putting down his buttered bread and looking at Yu Xi. “Since the time-space assassin was sent by Elon Musk, where did it come from? Just like you appeared in front of me, that assassin must have appeared at some point in front of Elon Musk.”

“So, who would send a time-space assassin from the future as a gift to Elon Musk? It must be either his partner, his ally, or his future self! Now that hibernation technology is nearly perfected, it won’t be long before it’s fully available. If Elon Musk wanted to, he could freeze himself for a few hundred years, wake up in a time where time travel exists, and send an assassin back to 2024 to help his past self.”

Yu Xi wiped some jam from her mouth and chuckled. “You’re only realizing this now? I thought you would’ve figured it out sooner.”

“Since you’ve figured this out, I can share more of my thoughts. Time travel isn’t as easy as you think. Otherwise, every era would be full of time travelers, and history would be in chaos.”

Lin Xian nodded. “I’ve considered that too. So, to make time travel possible, advanced technology isn’t the only requirement. The rarity of time travelers must be due to some other ‘conditions,’ ‘energy,’ or ‘resources’ being extremely hard to come by.”

“Because those conditions are so difficult to meet, or the required resources are so scarce, time travel isn’t something that happens often. Throughout human history, there might have only been a handful of time travelers.”

This made Lin Xian think about the rare, mysterious time-space particles.

“I don’t know if you know about time-space particles,” Lin Xian said, looking at Yu Xi. “They’re the only things I know of that can cross time. But the one I captured had no energy left, and my scientist told me that without energy, it’s useless, just a piece of junk.”

“But if a time-space particle were fully intact and still had its energy… what could it do?”

“I’ve thought about this for a long time, and I believe a complete time-space particle must be incredibly powerful. Otherwise, why would people fight so desperately for it? This shows that time-space particles, rare as they are, are extremely valuable.”

“At first, I didn’t understand. But now, seeing how strong you and that time-space assassin are, I think I get it—”

“Time-space particles must be the key to making time travel possible! If I’m right… did you use up a time-space particle to travel from the future to now?”

Lin Xian stared into Yu Xi’s blue eyes. He expected her to brush off his question with a “can’t say” or “no comment” as she usually did.

But to his surprise, she casually nodded while spreading jam on her bread. “That’s not a hard conclusion to reach. In fact, you should’ve figured it out the moment you saw a time-space particle.”

“Yes, since you’ve guessed it, I might as well tell you. Every time traveler must use up a time-space particle to make the journey. The specific details, rules, and precautions… with the current elasticity of time-space, I can’t tell you, and I probably won’t be able to for a long, long time.”

“After all, in your time, 2024, there’s still a long way to go before time travel technology is developed, and time machines are built. You’ll only understand the theory fully when that day comes.”

“That’s fine,” Lin Xian said, waving his hand. “The information you’ve given me is enough. So, based on my earlier reasoning, it’s not hard to guess that at some point in the future, Elon Musk got hold of a time-space particle and started this centuries-long time assassin plan.”

“Or let’s think bigger—who says the time-space particle Liu Feng discovered was the first in human history? Maybe others reached Earth before that, and with Elon Musk’s advanced aerospace technology, he captured one long before.”

The more he thought about it, the clearer his thoughts became. “If that’s the case, it’s not hard to explain why the time-space particle Liu Feng observed was drawn straight toward Earth… Its target wasn’t Earth, the Millennium Stake, Yellow Finch, or anyone else… but rather the time-space particle in Elon Musk’s possession! They were attracting each other!”

“It doesn’t even have to be Elon Musk’s. If Elon Musk has a time-space particle, it’s possible others do too. After all, who wouldn’t want their future self to send them a ‘Terminator’ or ‘Super Saiyan’ as a gift?”

“So, those who possess time-space particles would hide them securely, waiting for the day the time machine is built, when the particle will finally serve its purpose, sending people back in time.”

Once Lin Xian confirmed that time-space particles are essential for time travel, everything that had happened could be pieced together into a coherent logic chain.

“Elon Musk likely has a time-space particle,” Lin Xian mused, resting his chin on his hand. “At the very least, he knows a lot about them. Otherwise, he couldn’t have anticipated my actions and Kevin Walker’s so well.”

“Time-space particles, time assassins, and the future Elon Musk—these three elements form a perfect historical loop, and all three are necessary. The Elon Musk of today must ensure that the time-space particle ends up in the hands of his future self so that the time assassin can be sent back.”

“If that’s the case, it’s not hard to deduce why Kevin Walker tried to stop me from getting the time-space particle. He must think that particle is the key to my historical loop or someone else’s. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that Kevin Walker doesn’t want the loop to be completed! So, he had to interfere with me capturing the time-space particle.”

“But why did Elon Musk help me? And then, after helping me, why did he send the time assassin to kill me? If he wanted to kill me, why not do it in Copenhagen? What’s special about Copenhagen? That’s the part I can’t figure out. It feels like there are too many contradictions, something doesn’t add up! I must be missing a key detail!”

While Lin Xian was deep in thought, Yu Xi finished her jam-covered bread. She wiped her hands with a napkin, shook her short ponytail like a hamster, and blinked at Lin Xian.

“You’re talking about things I can’t fully understand. They seem to be unique to your timeline, your history. But… since you understand Elon Musk’s historical loop, which includes the time assassin, time-space particle, and future Elon Musk, then it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out how to break the loop, right?”

Lin Xian nodded. “Maybe all we need to do is steal Elon Musk’s time-space particle.”

“Just like how Kevin Walker interfered with me getting the particle, we could steal or destroy Elon Musk’s, rendering it useless.”

“If we do that, the future Elon Musk won’t have a time-space particle to use, which means he won’t be able to send the time assassin back… If the established historical loop is broken, wouldn’t the time assassin just vanish, like how Chu An Qing did?”

Yu Xi shook her head. “I can’t say.”

Lin Xian smiled knowingly. Nowadays, “I can’t say” pretty much meant, “You’re right.”

So, he continued, “Either way, based on what I understand, if we destroy Elon Musk’s time-space particle, we can break his historical loop, making the time assassin ineffective, causing it to disappear. At least, it wouldn’t be able to remain in this timeline.”

“This strategy sounds perfect in theory, but there are two problems—”

Lin Xian raised one finger. “First, Elon Musk probably understands the importance of the time-space particle better than anyone. He’ll protect it carefully until a future time when it’s needed. With his wealth and power, finding and stealing it won’t be easy for the two of us.”

“But that’s just the first issue, not the most troubling. The real problem is the second point.”

Lin Xian held up a second finger. “Second, we might be overestimating things. It’s possible that the current Elon Musk doesn’t even have a time-space particle yet. He might not get one until 2034, then send the time assassin back in 2334 or even 2534 to assist him in 2024.”

“This would make sense from a timeline perspective. He might not even get the particle until 2534, then immediately send the assassin back.”

“So, do you get what I mean? There’s a good chance the current Elon Musk doesn’t have a time-space particle, making our plan useless. The particle we’re targeting might not exist yet, so we can’t find or steal it.”

This novel is translated and hosted only on bcatranslation

Yu Xi pursed her lips, thinking for a moment. Then she looked up at Lin Xian, her face serious.

“Lin Xian, I think you’re overcomplicating a simple problem…”

“You know that Elon Musk’s historical loop consists of the time assassin, the time-space particle, and the future Elon Musk.”

“But right now, the time assassin is too strong to defeat head-on, and the time-space particle might not even exist yet. So why focus on two complex options when you could go for the simplest one?”

Lin Xian narrowed his eyes. “You mean…”

“Exactly,” Yu Xi said, pointing to the black handgun on the table. She raised her head, her crystal-blue eyes locking with Lin Xian’s. In the reflection of his pupils, the same blue glow appeared.

“Kill Elon Musk… so he has no future!”

This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation

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