Chapter 81: Chapter 81: In the Dead of Night
The house was silent, the only sound being the faint purring of Big Face Cat’s youngest son as he slept, with not a single other noise to be heard.
Lin Xian tiptoed downstairs, careful to avoid making any sound.
Big Face Cat indeed was keeping something from him.
He himself had admitted as much.
But he planned to take him to see the boss tomorrow and let him join the plan… but tomorrow, that thing really couldn’t wait.
During dinner, he had already checked the calendar in the house; today was still August 28th, 2624.
This meant that although he hadn’t seen the white light that destroyed the world at 00:42 yesterday, in all likelihood, the world had probably still been destroyed by the white light.
The loop was still ongoing.
The dreamland remained.
It’s just that this world had changed its appearance.
Lin Xian tiptoed across the living room.
Because of the rowdiness of Big Face Cat’s youngest son, there were many cluttered items around the house. Thankfully, Sister-in-law Lian was diligent and capable and had tidied the room before bedtime so it was clean and neat.
What a pity… the house was so small and crowded that no amount of tidiness could change that.
Lin Xian moved to the front door.
The door squealed open, causing Lin Xian to tense up.
Turning his head to look…
Thankfully, there was no movement inside; Sister-in-law Lian and the children hadn’t been awoken.
Lin Xian carefully locked the door. He didn’t plan to return, lest thieves break in.
Turning around and walking on the rugged, winding path, he had no idea which direction to go or where to head.
The self-built houses here were so disordered they made one’s skin crawl, looking left and right, his view entirely blocked by the uneven rows of houses… No wonder he hadn’t seen New Donghai City just a few kilometers away during the day, nor the towering black skyscrapers reaching into the clouds.
“Living here for too long really does depress and sicken you.”
Lin Xian couldn’t tell north from south, and without sight of the moon, he could only arbitrarily pick a direction and wander around.
Gradually, he found himself at the small market where Big Face Cat bought roasted chicken.
It was equally crowded, completely unsuitable for vehicles to pass through.
According to Big Face Cat, all the resources of this world, including knowledge, history, and technology… were controlled by those in New Donghai City.
Lin Xian still couldn’t figure out the state, structure, or rules of this world.
With his current thinking, he simply couldn’t grasp how this distorted development had come to be.
Although just a few kilometers apart, the actual distance between New Donghai and Old Donghai was likely much further than the distance from Earth to the moon.
In Big Face Cat’s words, they looked at each other like they were aliens, with no possibility of even the slightest material exchange.
“We don’t even get their leftover trash!”
Big Face Cat had said so, though whether it was an exaggeration in anger or a realistic statement was unclear.
After aimlessly wandering for quite a while, he gained nothing.
Lin Xian was beginning to want to give up.
On reflection, even if he turned this backward, impoverished village upside down, what could he possibly find?
Big Face Cat said that there were not only no history books here, there was no history at all. The children couldn’t learn real knowledge, and generations had lived out their lives in ignorance.
Even someone as strong as the “Former Fields Mathematician,” Big Face Cat’s father, was merely a primary school math teacher in this dreamland.
“Forget it, I’m not wandering anymore, I’m getting dizzy from getting lost.”
Lin Xian decided it was better not to explore aimlessly… Currently, the two most direct courses of action were:
1. Enter the dream earlier tomorrow to find Big Face Cat’s father and clarify matters about “Introduction to the Cosmological Constant,” as well as to understand the phrase he kept muttering. Lin Xian had an intuition… Cat Dad’s research might be the reason the Genius Club killed him and perhaps the secret they feared.
2. Find a way into the walled New Donghai City and inside, look for history books or records to understand why and how the future world developed the way it did. Although Big Face Cat said there was no way to get into New Donghai City… who was he? In this endless loop of a dream, Lin Xian didn’t think there was any place he couldn’t get to; at most, it might just take dying a few extra times.
Lin Xian casually gripped the top of the wall, kicked against it with his feet, then with a strong push, leaped to an even higher stone wall on the opposite side. Grabbing onto the bricks with his hands, he somersaulted in the air—
He landed safely on the balcony of a second-floor apartment, then sprinted and leaped onto the third-floor balcony of the neighbor, tapped his foot for another jump, grabbed on, and flipped onto the rooftop of the third floor.
Standing high up, with an open view, I no longer had to squeeze through the narrow paths below.
I looked up at the eerie moon hanging in mid-air.
It had drifted directly above my line of sight, with a black hand silhouette extending a straight index finger on the lunar surface, giving the impression of a crushing force so formidable it sent shivers down my spine.
Big Face Cat, his children, and everyone in this world wouldn’t feel this strange sensation when they looked at the moon.
Because they were used to it.
The moon had always looked since they were born.
Even when their grandparents’ grandparents were born, it had looked the same. Generations of people’s perception had changed, and it became deeply rooted.
In their minds, that’s just how the moon should look.
But Lin Xian came from 600 years earlier; he had seen the real moon…
What exactly was that black shadow?
A majestic structure spanning the lunar poles?
Or some kind of material that blocked, absorbed, and diffusely reflected light?
There must be something on the lunar surface that created such an “art piece.”
Unfortunately, to fully understand this, one would have to go into New Donghai City to look for historical books and documents.
“But… it really is art.”
Viewing the moon from an artist’s perspective, from the standpoint of creation,
the only way to describe it was as a masterpiece of ingenuity.
Due to Earth and the moon being tidally locked, the moon’s rotation period matches its orbit period.
“The moon will always show its face to Earth, and humanity can never observe the far side of the moon from our planet.”
That also meant that the Genius Club’s emblem could rise punctually every night and always gaze upon the mortal Earth from the correct orientation.
Year upon year, waxing and waning with the moon, but never absent.
This feat can’t be achieved by any other celestial body, only by the tidally locked moon.
Lin Xian turned his head, looking towards the brilliantly lit colossal sci-fi city.
Even though it was the dead of night, New Donghai City was like a city that never sleeps, still bustling and bright.
Don’t the people there need sleep?
Don’t they need rest?
What kind of life do they lead? What kinds of life experiences do they have?
Or, as described in games and movies, have they all switched to prosthetics or even complete mechanization?
Lin Xian couldn’t find out.
“I’ll have to go in and take a look.”
He raised his wrist, looking at his watch.
If the rules here are the same as in “The First Dreamland,” then in 19 seconds, this dream will end.
An all-consuming white light that would destroy everything would appear on time, and I would open my eyes in bed.
Human technology has already developed to such a sci-fi level.
Is it still completely ignorant of such devastating blows, without the slightest prevention?
Lin Xian looked up once more at the endlessly bustling New Donghai City, everything as usual.
He lowered his head to look at the watch—