Chapter 101: Chapter 98: The First 42 in the World (Requesting Monthly Pass~)
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” this is a widely acclaimed, influential science fiction film.
Lin Xian had seen it many years ago.
Since he had discussed dreams with Gao Yang back then, who said he couldn’t imagine what the future would look like, therefore he couldn’t dream about it,
from that time on, he began to binge-watch science fiction movies and read science fiction novels. And this historically classic sci-fi film naturally made it into his catch-up list.
To be honest, if pressed to say how good the film really was… Lin Xian didn’t find it that impressive, to tell the truth, it was rather average. So many years had passed, and he had no urge whatsoever to watch it a second time.
But today was different…
After waking from the dreamland yesterday, he decided he wanted to revisit this film in the private cinema tonight.
And there was only one reason.
[The number “42” first appeared in the public eye… precisely in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” film.]
Lin Xian ordered a drink, carried it into his private booth, and the movie inside had already started playing.
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” was a movie released in 2005, considered a science fiction road film with whacky humor.
It was adapted from a science fiction novel of the same name, penned by writer Douglas Adams, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.”
Looking at the first half of the film with today’s eyes, it seems somewhat boring.
It tells of a group of aliens who want to build a galactic freeway and, therefore, need to clear away obstructions in the path of the construction—Earth.
Subsequently, Earth is destroyed, and the protagonist starts an intergalactic adventure with an alien.
After that, it’s a series of episodic short stories.
Lin Xian watched silently.
He waited for the most interesting and widely circulated part of the film:
On a certain planet in the Milky Way Galaxy, there was a highly advanced civilization with super intelligence.
To obtain the ultimate truth of the universe, they gathered the intelligence of all the geniuses to build the most sophisticated supercomputer in the whole universe—Deep Thought.
After the supercomputer was complete, billions of aliens gathered there, asking the question they had always cared most about and sought the answer to:
“Please calculate the ultimate answer to the universe, life, and everything.”
The mountain-like supercomputer Deep Thought flickered a few indicator lights, then replied:
“The calculation is too vast, please return here in 7.5 million years.”
7.5 million years later—
All the top civilizations in the universe gathered here, waiting for the supercomputer to reveal the final answer.
Amidst great anticipation, Deep Thought spoke:
“The ultimate answer to the universe, life, and everything is—”
The room fell silent.
Then that plot abruptly ended, and the next short story began.
Lin Xian muttered, rewound that part of the film, and watched it again.
The film didn’t explain the concept of 42 much at all; it just ended abruptly. In fact, everyone knows why… because the director didn’t know either; he couldn’t come up with an answer.
The ultimate answer to the universe, life, and everything…
It’s not a question any Earthling can solve.
Neither the director.
Not even Douglas Adams, the original author of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”…
In his novel of the same name, he still kept the concept vague and unexplained, posing as a mystery.
But after all, what he originally wrote was a comedic sci-fi novel, which was mainly about absurdity, and even at the beginning of creation, it was only a script for a children’s segment on a TV channel; there was no need to explain this concept, as long as it was fun and interesting.
Lin Xian didn’t think it’s that simple.
“Even if Adams initially wrote the novel just for fun, for an unexpected twist, which is why he made 42 the answer calculated by the supercomputer…”
“But why, specifically, 42?”
“Why such a coincidence?”
If Lin Xian hadn’t gone through so much up to now, he would never question why a novelist would make such a setting.
This is someone else’s novel, they can write it however they want, whether it’s 42, 37, or 58, that’s Adams’s freedom. It’s very likely that he just wrote it randomly.
The situation now is different…
Countless facts that have already occurred indicate that the number 42 is really special, it really does have some special significance.
My earliest time of entering dreams was 12:42,
The time I wake up after each dream ends is 00:42,
The time the future world was destroyed by the white light is 00:42,
Professor Xu Yun’s time of death is 00:42,
In The First Dreamland, the time of Big Face Cat’s father’s death is also 00:42,
In the second dream, the result Big Face Cat’s father calculated for the cosmological constant is 42,
In the room, the walls are covered with countless numbers, big and small, yet it’s still 42.
All these strange things, they all relate to the mysterious number 42.
This definitely can’t be a coincidence.
Lin Xian narrowed his eyes.
Watching the credits scroll by after the film finished playing, in the last section for scriptwriters and original creators, Douglas Adams’s name was written.
“Did Adams really know something? Or did he happen to hear something? Thus, he set the ultimate answer to the universe, life, and everything in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy… to be 42?”
Lin Xian didn’t have any way of knowing.
Because Douglas Adams himself had died in 2001.
Lin Xian had researched, Douglas Adams was born in 1952, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was written in 1979.
Could a radical inference be made—
[Did the Genius Club exist as early as 1979, 1952, or even earlier, hidden within the mists of history?]
The movie had finished playing, the screen turned black, and the entire room sank into darkness.
No matter what, to unravel the mystery of 42, one must dive into New Donghai City to look for clues.
Whether it’s the book Introduction to the Cosmological Constant or Big Face Cat’s father himself, only by locating one of the two can the investigation around 42 continue.
“The road ahead is long.”
Lin Xian stood up from the sofa and pushed open the door of the private room.
The sound of the door opening.
In the suburbs of Donghai City, Linhu Villa, sunlight filtered through the open door, threads of sunlight piercing through the airborne dust and creating the glittering Tyndall effect.
“Not opening the windows during the day, not turning on the lights at night… Ji Lin, when will you ever listen?”
The old man walked inside.
He didn’t close the door behind him.
Because it was the sole source of light.
Not a single light was on in the house, the curtains were drawn tight, and the dim and decrepit atmosphere was extremely uncomfortable for him as an elderly person.
He preferred sunlight over artificial light; the feeling of warmth on his skin was the only thing that truly made him feel the passage of time.
The living room before him was as messy as the last time.
To be exact, even messier than his last visit.
Last time, all the magazines and newspapers were at least neatly stacked together, but now… almost every paper and magazine was opened and scattered across the floor.
All the magazines were flipped open, and the newspapers were thrown about in disarray.
At this moment, Ji Lin was leaning against the pile of magazines, sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring at the glowing screen of a laptop.
The glow reflected on his gaunt face, showing an unhealthy pallor.
And that ray of sunlight coming in diagonally from the front door just missed his feet by less than ten centimeters… failing to pull this fair-complexioned boy out of the darkness.
“Are you welded to that spot on the floor? Shall I pour some water on you?”
The old man walked in and looked around with irritation at the mess:
“The butler told me… that you haven’t gone out these past few days. Since the last time I was here, you haven’t stepped out at all.”
“The butler also said you’ve been researching some ‘plush cat toys’ that you ordered online every day? My God… you’ve really become someone I don’t recognize.”
“So what are you actually up to? Ji Lin, are you really working?”