Chapter 292: Chapter 11: The Disappearance of CC_2 Chapter 292: Chapter 11: The Disappearance of CC_2 “`
[If the Genius Club’s purpose is not merely to suppress technological advancement but to use it as a decoy to mislead others…
then what is their real purpose?]
“It’s becoming more and more incomprehensible.”
The only reason Lin Xian could think of was…
Could it be related to the universal constant 42?
Unfortunately, Big Face Cat’s father in the Third Dreamland, who had died from radiation illness when Big Face Cat was just a child, had no achievements in the field of mathematics, and Lin Xian thus missed this convenient route to clarify what 42 truly was.
After walking out of the square, Lin Xian saw the sign at the entrance of the square and realized the name of the square was Rhein Memorial Square.
No horns allowed here, no vehicles, no flying.
It seemed like a place of high prestige, very solemn and dignified.
And since Zhao Yingjun could have a statue erected in this place, she must hold a very high status in Rhine Sky City.
He was, after all, the founder and president of the Rhein Company…
What exactly happened during these 600 years?
To clarify these matters, finding a bookstore to check the history would be the most convenient… of course, that’s if the history in this world could be checked, and hadn’t been artificially segmented.
Unfortunately, Lin Xian had searched for a long while and even asked passersby but couldn’t find an open bookstore; many people even showed a puzzled expression:
Does anyone still read books nowadays?”
Anyway, he didn’t find a bookstore, but he did find a pharmacy.
Upon inquiring inside, there indeed were drugs for treating radiation illness, but not many.
The clerk told Lin Xian that barely anyone gets radiation sickness now, this kind of immune antigen can now be absorbed directly through breast milk by infants, and even baby formula has been fortified with it for a while.
The small stock of medication was only kept as a precaution against special circumstances, and most likely, the drugs would expire without anyone buying them.
Wandering through the streets aimlessly, Lin Xian truly felt the lives of people in Rhine Sky City were very relaxed, very free.
Even in terms of security, it was very lax, a world apart from New Donghai City’s strict patrols… At least an intruder like him hadn’t aroused any suspicion, questioning, or undue attention and had perfectly blended into the environment.
“Excuse me, where should I go if I want to learn more about the history of Rhine City?”
Seeing that the female clerk in the pharmacy was easy to talk to and very sociable, Lin Xian asked her this question.
The female clerk replied without hesitation:
“Then you should go to the [Rhein Museum], there are a lot of materials there, and at the very back of the museum…
there’s Miss Zhao Yingjun’s personal exhibition hall, which has many precious historical relics.”
When mentioning the name of Zhao Yingjun, the female clerk’s face showed genuine respect:
“It’s a pity, though, that the museum has already closed for the day, you should go there tomorrow.”
Zhao Yingjun’s personal exhibition hall?
A new map and a new location have been unlocked.
Lin Xian thought that if Zhao Yingjun had really left any important information for him, it might be hidden in the personal exhibition hall of the museum.
In any case, it was essential to go there and have a look.
As for the issue of the museum being closed in the evening… he’d find a way to sneak in when the time came.
If he was not enough on his own, he would call for Big Face Cat and the others.
As long as he could accurately locate the gap in the air defense network next time, Big Face Cat and his group would surely be willing to join him.
In fact, Lin Xian realized now.
The genuinely terrifying aspect of Rhine Sky City lay all in the laser air defense network; once inside, there was no difficulty at all, with unimpeded access.
Walking out of the pharmacy, Lin Xian checked his watch; it was already 00:40.
Today’s time had been wasted wandering around and getting familiar with the environment, but for a first-time infiltration into the Sky City, the gains had been plentiful.
“I’ll come back tomorrow.”
Lin Xian glanced at his watch while looking up at the sky.
Even with technology so advanced…
were humans still completely unaware of the cataclysm at 00:42?
This really made Lin Xian question his earlier speculation.
That eerie, destructive white light, what on earth was it?
Was it an explosion from Earth itself?
Perhaps an attack by aliens?
Or maybe some kind of disaster from a dimension completely incomprehensible to human civilization?
“There’s another possibility though,”
Lin Xian suddenly remembered movies like “The Matrix.”
This isn’t the real world but a simulation made to resemble the actual future so realistically that it’s indistinguishable, adhering to all physical laws and rules of development…
and that 00:42 is just the server restart time?
Lin Xian shook his head.
“I think that’s unlikely, but the question is easy to verify; all I have to do is wait for Tem Bank to be established in the real 2023.
Then, I’ll deposit something in my safety deposit box at Tem Bank, and in the dream, find Tem Bank again to open my safety deposit box and check if the items inside are consistent…
that will naturally reveal whether this dreamland is indeed connected to reality.”
With this thought, Lin Xian checked his watch again.
There’s still time to ask one more question!
He hurriedly retreated back into the pharmacy and approached the female clerk:
“Excuse me, I have one more question to consult; do you know where I can find Tem Bank in the city?”
The female clerk shook her head:
“I’ve never heard of it, let me check for you.”
After the clerk finished speaking, she stood still without any movement, and Lin Xian did not know what she was using to perform the search.
Or integrated visual computer in the retina?
About ten seconds passed, the female clerk shook her head again:
“I’m sorry sir, I can’t find the existence of this bank in any district of Rhein Sky City.”
Lin Xian was quite surprised.
Tem Bank doesn’t exist?
What kind of unprecedented situation is this?
Lin Xian had thought…
Tem Bank, as well as the safe deposit box with his name on it, were as enduring as Big Face Cat, that no matter how the space-time world changed, they would never disappear!
What kind of temporal flux had occurred?
Erasing Tem Bank and the safe deposit box entirely?
What made Lin Xian most uneasy was…
In the previous two dreams, he could always meet CC, because she would always come to Donghai City in search of the bearded man, VV, and the safe deposit box he had left her, to find her own truth.
But now, both Tem Bank and the safe deposit box were gone.
[CC has also disappeared?]
“What in the world is going on?”
It seemed as if hundreds of butterflies with blue starry specks were dancing, their wings stirring countless invisible currents into disarray, a complicated and unbearable mess.
Just like a violin string, strongly plucked by an external force.
With a snap, it broke off.
Familiar and scorching white light came crashing down, reducing the sky and earth to ashes.
In a corner of the bedroom, Lin Xian opened his eyes on the bed.
He got up with furrowed brows and looked at the clock on the nightstand—
does Tem Bank no longer exist?”
Lin Xian closed his eyes.
He didn’t imagine what the anchor of this temporal flux was.
The Space-Time Butterfly Effect is already a chaotic system, just as he had realized at the beginning with the Space-Time Law:
Temporal changes are uncontrollable.
Even from the perspective of Space-Time Law, there is nothing that will never change, never disappear.
A change in quantity causes a change in quality, and this is still a matter of scale, a matter of elasticity.
“[Space-Time Elasticity].”
Lin Xian recalled what Huang Que once told him, she emphatically reminded him of how crucial this Space-Time Law of elasticity was, almost containing the answers to all puzzles.
But he never could grasp the profound meaning of that statement, nor understand any deeper significance of this rule.
He also wanted to understand what Huang Que meant by crucial, and where its importance lay.
isn’t that just the resilience of space-time?
The tolerance within a certain range of change?
Could there be any other meaning?”
Lin Xian felt as if he was about to grasp some clue, but was missing the last step, a step away, unable to grasp that crucial point.
“Ah, better go to sleep early.”
Lin Xian decided not to stay up late.
He checked his phone for his schedule and looked at the flight information sent by Liu Feng on WeChat:
“I have to go to the airport to pick up Liu Feng tomorrow morning.”
“He said on WeChat that he has a new invention to show me…”