Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Wrong Answer (Thanks to the alliance leader, I have two baby cats!)
The old man gritted his teeth:
“Because Xu Yun, he also… ‘disturbed history’.”
“No, no, I’m not asking you this. Do you think I don’t know?” Ji Lin twirled the pencil in his hand, his gaze still fixed on the old man:
“I’m asking you, why do you need to kill these people who ‘disturb history’?”
The old man didn’t speak.
After a long silence:
“Ji Lin, you’re very talkative today. You’ve never asked such a question before.”
“Because before, it wasn’t Xu Yun who died.”
Ji Lin looked at the list rolled up on the ground:
“You gave me this list, intending for me to find the person ‘disturbing history,’ right? Actually, I think it’s totally unnecessary.”
“There are only two or three hundred people on this list. Why not just kill them all? Why go through the trouble of singling out the one ‘disturbing history’? Being so cautious doesn’t seem like your style.”
The old man said vehemently:
“We must not kill the innocent indiscriminately.”
He opened ‘Mathematical Monthly’ September issue, found the Sudoku page, and continued solving problems:
“So you see… you still know something; you’re keeping something from me.”
“With your righteous talk, I almost thought we were some kind of justice organization.”
He stopped writing again and looked up at the old man:
“My parents were also killed by you, weren’t they?”
The old man turned away, sighing helplessly:
“Ji Lin, I’ve told you many times about this. Your parents weren’t killed by me… Even if it wasn’t just a simple accident, it was definitely not my doing.”
Ji Lin smiled wryly, continuing his Sudoku:
“I’ve figured it out.”
“Then you’d better investigate it thoroughly!”
The old man’s voice rose, his breathing heavy:
He waved his hand and sat down on a chair:
“Stop trying to pry words out of me, Ji Lin. Provocation won’t work on me.”
“We must find the person ‘disturbing history,’ find irrefutable evidence that they are indeed doing so, and then… only then can we kill him…”
“Only by this, we can achieve our ultimate goal—”
“‘To receive an invitation to the Genius Club!'”
Ji Lin completed another Sudoku game, threw the magazine to the ground, and picked up ‘Mathematical Monthly’ October issue:
“I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to understand, Ji Lin,” the old man interrupted:
“If you really want to get an invitation to the Genius Club, then do as I say!”
He coughed a few times, wiping the corner of his mouth:
“We have no other choice, Ji Lin… Believe me, this is the only way for us to join the Genius Club.”
“I’m even more upset about Xu Yun’s death than you are, but there’s no helping it; it’s a sacrifice that had to be made… Perhaps there will be many more such sacrifices in the future, possibly even you, me, many people… but it’s something we have to do, Ji Lin, believe me, we are doing the right thing.”
Ji Lin threw the October issue of “Mathematical Monthly” onto the ground.
The Sudoku puzzle in this issue was obviously too easy; he completed it with just a few quick strokes.
To his right, a stack of magazines that was once piled high now only had two left.
He picked up the November issue of “Mathematical Monthly”, opened it in his hands, and looked at the Sudoku puzzle on the page:
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t listen to you, because I have no other choice.”
He stared at it for a while before flipping his pencil around to fill in numbers:
“I’ve tried to investigate the Genius Club, but to no avail… It’s really amazing. I never believed that something or a phenomenon could exist in this world without leaving a trace.”
“It clearly exists, yet without a single trace. At least, I’ve tried for so many years and haven’t found a single correct clue. There are related details on the internet, but those are all game settings or the names of films and TV shows… Clearly, they are not the same thing as this mysterious club you’ve mentioned.”
“Even the name ‘Genius Club’ was something I coaxed out of you when I was a child. After so many years, apart from this name, I’ve found nothing, and you’ve kept your lips sealed tight, which I truly admire.”
The old man closed his eyes and rubbed his temples:
“I don’t know much more than you do, Ji Lin. But there’s one thing I’m certain of; this club, it’s mysterious enough and powerful enough. It’s omnipotent, it controls everything; it’s even more incredible than you can imagine…”
“So don’t doubt what we’re doing. Do as I say… Find the person disrupting history as soon as possible, and then kill him!”
“Each death will become our ticket to joining the Genius Club. In terms of receiving an invitation from the Genius Club, our goals align.”
“You are the smartest person I’ve ever met, the most extreme genius. I’ve always believed that you are the one closest to the Genius Club. So… help me, Ji Lin, you’d also be helping yourself.”
Ji Lin threw down the November issue of “Mathematical Monthly” he had in his hand.
And picked up the roster on the ground:
“I’ll find that person.”
Having said that, he scratched his messy hair and walked towards the bedroom.
A breath escaped the old man’s nose.
He looked at the “Mathematical Monthly” November issue lying on the floor…
And gazed at it, quite surprised.
The page that the magazine had fallen open to showed the Sudoku puzzle—astonishingly, it was incomplete.
Only about half of the numbers had been filled in, with several erasures, but in the end, the Sudoku puzzle was not solved.
The old man exclaimed:
“There’s actually a Sudoku you can’t do.”
“It’s not that I can’t solve it, the problem is wrong,” Ji Lin yawned, rubbing his eyes:
“If the problem is wrong, no one can solve it.”
The old man was curious.
He stood up, picked up the last “Mathematical Monthly” December issue, and flipped to the Sudoku page.
There was an “Apology Statement” in the most conspicuous place, where the magazine company apologized for the print error in the Sudoku game from the previous issue and corrected several numbers in this issue.
The old man smiled proudly and put down the magazine.
“As expected… you’ve never let anyone down! If you weren’t so ‘Lazy’, you would be quite likable.”
“‘Lazy’.” Ji Lin opened the bedroom door and walked inside:
“I hate this code name. I’m not the last one who joined the organization, why didn’t you pick a nice sounding name for me? I don’t like laziness.”
“Then get to work!” The old man’s patience had been worn out for the night.
Ji Lin yawned again and closed the bedroom door:
“Goodnight, ‘Arrogance’.”