Genius Club

Chapter 1126: Chapter 25 I’m Going to Start Lying Now

2234…

It is still the same year!

Lin Xian narrowed his eyes and couldn’t help but sigh deeply.

Initially, he still harbored hope.

He wondered if there was any way to obtain the Astatine-339 isotope in advance and thereby use the Time Shuttle Machine ahead of schedule, consuming Space-Time Particles earlier.

But now.

Einstein’s words had directly dashed all of Lin Xian’s hopes.

“Even if all possibilities are exhausted, the answer to this question will not change at all.”

This statement was so absolute.

The elderly man wearing the Einstein mask, the president of the Genius Club, was just as definitive.

He who could see all futures spoke thus.

Then…

Is there really no way at all?

Indeed, as Gao Wen said in The Eighth Dreamland, humanity’s greatest capability is merely to tickle the Earth; we can’t even leave the Solar System, let alone influence the trajectory and arrival time of a comet from outer space.

The arrival time of this comet on Earth was set in stone.

Even if astronomical studies were to develop exponentially and observing distance made a qualitative leap, one might observe this comet several decades earlier, but… no matter what, one cannot change the fixed fact that it will reach Earth only on December 11, 2234.

In the face of the cosmic scale.

The power of humanity is still too insignificant.

Let alone making a comet arrive decades earlier, even advancing its arrival by one second is impossible.

“Heh heh…”

Hearing this answer, Copernicus didn’t show much surprise or shock.

He still smiled so calmly.

As if…

All he needed was an exact date.

“Cough cough… cough cough…”

He coughed weakly twice, cleared his throat, and spoke with a smile:

“What a distant date indeed, much more so than I imagined. So today, at this gathering, it’s time to… bid farewell to all the geniuses here.”

He sat up straight.

Spread his hands.

From Galileo on his left, he scanned counterclockwise, his gaze finally resting on Newton directly opposite him, and he said with emotion:

“Fellows, after this meeting, I’ll be entering the Hibernation Pod. It will be a long slumber, a… 211-year-long slumber. I will awaken again in 2234 to witness the first space-time traversal in human history.”

“211 years, such an incredibly long time.”

He turned his head to look at the man seated on the high-step railway, in a black high-back chair, wearing an Einstein mask:

“My old friend, Einstein… ever since the 1970s when I joined the Genius Club, you’ve always been like this, in this state, never changing.”

“You seem perpetually old, yet never aging further. I’ve even come to suspect… ever since we entered the Internet era and switched offline meetings to online ones, from the initial BBS to later video conferences, and now VR meetings… it’s been decades since we last met, so… are you hiding something?”

“Are you still the original Einstein? Or have you already died, and someone has taken your place, or have you, like Turing, become an ageless digital lifeform?”

Copernicus’s questions also made the other members very curious.

In the Genius Club, one must not discuss the club itself.

No one knew Einstein’s true identity, nor why he could see the future.

Everyone was curious…

How long can he, appearing so old and frail, continue? How long can he live?

Especially Copernicus, Newton, Galileo, and Da Vinci, who had met this elderly man wearing the Einstein mask at a face-to-face meeting back at the end of the last century.

Back then, he was already an elderly man.

Now, his virtual image is still that of an elderly man.

So in reality… what is his condition?

Everyone waited for Einstein’s answer.

However…

The old man, as immovable as a clock, said without any fluctuation in his tone:

“Copernicus, your questioning has ended, and you have received my answer. According to the rules, after this, you may chat, express opinions, even question me.”

“However… apart from your first question, I will not answer any of your subsequent questions at this meeting, nor will I correct any errors in your words.”

“If you truly have more questions for me, they will have to wait until the next meeting. But as the club’s most senior member, I shouldn’t need to remind you again, right? Questions and answers involving Genius Club members or the club itself will be refused, and the opportunity to ask will be voided.”

Einstein made his stance clear.

He would not respond to any other questions.

Copernicus had anticipated this and shook his head with a smile:

“You misunderstand, old friend. I wasn’t questioning you, I was just concerned… when I wake from hibernation after more than two centuries, whether I will still be able to see you, whether this decades-long gathering can continue.”

“Of course, this question involves the Genius Club itself, which you certainly won’t answer, so just treat it as me complaining, reminiscing about the past.”

“However, I believe in you. You are so mysterious and powerful, time surely cannot erase you.”

Having said that, he looked again at Newton, at Da Vinci, and turned his gaze around every person present:

“What about you all? My colleagues, even if none of you like me, it would be a great pity if I woke up two hundred years later to find you all gone, leaving only me and Einstein in this grand golden hall.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by novlove.com