Chapter 1 The Starless Night

Late at night, under a starless sky, Lin Xian from the Rhine Laboratory at Donghai University pushed open the door with his briefcase in hand. Liu Feng had been waiting there for a long time. "Look," he said.

Liu Feng pulled Lin Xian to the central experimental table and had him observe the readings on the spacetime clock. It was now stably displaying 0.0000168, still a multiple of 0.0000042, but the minus sign in front had disappeared. In other words, since fleeing in the early hours of the morning and receiving Liu Feng's call, the worldline had risen from 0.0000042 back to 0.0000168.

"How exactly did it change?" Lin Xian asked, "Describe it to me in detail."

Liu Feng glanced at his watch. "At 01:18 AM, the reading on the spacetime clock plummeted. It dropped drastically from the original 0.0000336 all the way down, eventually falling to 0.0000042."

"Then I frantically called you, but you didn't answer. By the time you picked up, more than twenty minutes had passed, but the reading was still stable at 0.0000042, without any change."

Lin Xian nodded.

He knew the reason for this change. At 01:18 AM, he was at a meeting at the Genius Club. At that time, the club's president, an old man wearing an Einstein mask, named him "No. 9 Rhine" and asked everyone to stand and applaud his official joining of the club. Jask, wearing a Tesla mask, applauded the loudest.

Everyone in the club knew he was Jask; he didn't even try to hide it. They didn't even call him Tesla. Lin Xian also recognized Jask and went up to shake his hand. But at the moment of the handshake, Jask disappeared.

That time... was precisely 01:18 AM.

Therefore, this spacetime change, this worldline shift, was definitely caused by Jask's actions. Lin Xian considered that Jask, having learned in advance that there was a traitor by his side, would not sit idly by and would definitely use the "substitution of the prince for the raccoon" tactic.

So, the Jask who should have died didn't die, and the fake Jask who should have lived died. Naturally, the worldline changed.

As the leader of the Mars immigration project, whether it was the real or fake Jask, they both had enough weight; there was no doubt about that.

What's more, judging from what Jask meant when they last met... it seemed he had other plans besides the substitution tactic.

Presumably, that's why the curvature of the worldline jumped across such a large span. Then, it goes without saying.

Lin Yuxi regained her memory at this point in time. What was the reason?

Was it because the worldline briefly passed the 0.0000000 worldline where Lin Yuxi was located during the drop?

Or... is there still a Lin Yuxi in the 0.0000042 worldline?

Lin Xian felt that the second possibility was more likely.

Because Lin Yuxi and the blue-eyed girl No. 17 knew each other, and they were clearly very familiar. This meant that Lin Yuxi must also have some role in the 0.0000042 worldline. However, what was certain was.

The 0.0000042 and 0.0000000 worldlines were close to each other, and their worldviews and future landscapes must be very similar. So, for the time being, it could be assumed that the blue-eyed girl No. 17 came from 0.0000042 and also used entangled spacetime particles.

So, in this worldline, the spacetime police station, the spacetime court, and the spacetime shuttle were all facts, and the world was still under Copernicus's dominance.

"What happened after that?"

Lin Xian pointed to the spacetime clock and continued to ask, "At what point in time did the spacetime clock change again?"

"02:14 AM." Liu Feng said accurately. This was what Lin Xian had instructed Liu Feng to do, to accurately record the time of each spacetime change and also to arrange a surveillance camera to point at the spacetime clock 24 hours a day.

"At 02:14 AM, the reading on the spacetime clock began to climb, and the worldline changed from negative to positive." Liu Feng continued, "Then it climbed steadily, passing 0.0000000 again... and climbed all the way to 0.0000168, where it stabilized."

"After that, there were no more changes. It's been that reading until you came to the lab."

Lin Xian looked at his watch.

02:14 AM.

That was probably the time when Lin Yuxi's whole body turned into a blue quantum state and used blue stardust covering the entire Donghai City to blast the spacetime killer, the blue-eyed girl No. 17, into oblivion. There was a rather strange point here: Lin Yuxi seemed to suddenly regain a certain memory at this moment, hugged Lin Xian, and called out a heartbreaking "Dad," and then... rushed forward and turned into a blue snowstorm, saving him. Lin Xian was certain.

Lin Yuxi's move must have been a temporary acquisition of memory. Because in the previous encounters with the blue-eyed girl No. 17, Lin Yuxi was repeatedly at a disadvantage, forced into a corner. No. 17's enormous pressure made them have no chance of winning.

Especially when she single-handedly pulled a V12 engine directly out of the rear compartment of a Ferrari, directly announcing the end of the match. Before that, Lin Yuxi had no indication of sacrificing herself for righteousness. Even more ironclad evidence was.

When Lin Xian ran over to pick up Lin Yuxi lying on the ground, he clearly saw a flash of blue light in Lin Yuxi's eyes.

Just that one flash.

Only half a second. Combined with the frequency of each jump in the spacetime clock reading, which was also half a second, Lin Xian had reason to believe.

Probably when the spacetime clock reading passed the 0.0000000 worldline again, Lin Yuxi gained the memory of turning into a blue bomb.

To reiterate the process of the second worldline shift: because of "something," the worldline climbed again, Lin Yuxi regained her lost memory, and then killed the blue-eyed girl No. 17.

He was able to survive, the spacetime butterfly effect occurred, and the worldline continued to climb, stabilizing at 0.0000168.

There was one thing that wasn't quite certain.

Whether it was the influence of "something" or the butterfly effect of his own survival that allowed the worldline to climb back to this level... it was now impossible to separate and verify.

Perhaps it was the result of both things combined. It was pointless to dwell on this matter now.

0.0000168 was a completely new worldline that had never been experienced before. 0.0000000 was the fourth dream; 0.0000042 was the fifth dream; 0.0000084 was the sixth dream; 0.0000336 was the seventh dream. Then the current 0.0000168 worldline naturally corresponded to the unknown and unexplored eighth dream. So far, the reasons for the two worldline shifts had all been clarified.

Then.

The matter of the blue-eyed killer No. 17 appearing in the sixth and seventh dreams was also roughly understood.

It was obvious that No. 17 was very jealous of Lin Yuxi having a name, and she herself was quite obsessed with the matter of names.

In the seventh dream, when Lin Xian and the blue-eyed village chief were hunting, he also confirmed this obsession from her. According to the original history.

The killer No. 17 not only beheaded himself but also most likely killed Lin Yuxi along with him and then took the most precious family photo of Lin Yuxi and used Yan Qiaoqiao's name to sleep in the hibernation pod. As for why she didn't use the characteristics of entangled spacetime particles to directly return to the future world, return to the spacetime police station.

Lin Xian guessed that there were two possibilities: 1. After traveling through time and killing himself and Lin Yuxi, killer No. 17 caused a shift in the worldline due to some accident. Therefore, the 0.0000042 worldline she was in, as well as the future in which the spacetime police station existed, all disappeared, and she naturally couldn't go back and could only return to the future by riding in a hibernation pod.

This possibility was a bit illogical. 2. In the eyes of killer No. 17, the obsession with having a name outweighed all other honors and medals. She would rather abandon her original identity and memories, including completely forgetting the code name 17... in order to start a brand new life with the name Yan Qiaoqiao.

Lin Xian felt that this possibility was more likely. After all... this blue-eyed girl No. 17 was indeed very persistent in her obsession with names, and even after hundreds of years of hibernation, she couldn't forget her obsession.

Moreover, if she didn't completely forget that she was No. 17, she probably wouldn't be able to deceive herself into accepting the name Yan Qiaoqiao.

But if she underwent complete amnesia through a hibernation pod, everything would fall into place.

After she woke up.

Everyone would think her name was Yan Qiaoqiao, and everyone would naturally call her Yan Qiaoqiao, so she would naturally think that she was Yan Qiaoqiao, and this was her name.

In the seventh dream, when Lin Xian and the blue-eyed village chief were hunting, he once asked her: "Are you happy with your current life?" The blue-eyed village chief replied without thinking, "The ten years after waking up from hibernation were the happiest and most blissful ten years of my life... Even if I don't have any previous memories, I still think these are my happiest ten years."

The blue-eyed village chief bluntly said that she didn't care about the past, didn't care about memories, and didn't care about parental affection. She only cared about this name.

When others called her Yan Qiaoqiao, called her Village Chief Yan, she could feel her existence and would bow and do her best to fulfill her duties as village chief.

Alas.

Thinking of this, Lin Xian couldn't help but sigh. In fact, neither Lin Yuxi, who once wanted to kill her father to prove her worth, nor No. 17, who was ruthless in carrying out orders, were bad children in essence. Lin Xian really thought so. Even though these two had both wanted to kill him, Lin Xian knew that it was all because Copernicus had brainwashed them and instilled wrong ideas.

At the beginning of humanity, people are inherently good.

What's more, were these children who were orphans? After Lin Yuxi lost her memory, she became Yan Qiaoqiao, well-behaved, obedient, and sensible.

After No. 17 lost her memory, she became the blue-eyed village chief, kind, dedicated, and respected.

They themselves were all good children.

They themselves should all have had happy lives.

But they were instigated by bad people. That's right.

The mastermind behind all of this, the culprit, was none other than Copernicus!

Thinking of this, Lin Xian took a deep breath and clenched his fists. Copernicus was the truly heinous sinner.

Just like the promise Lin Xian made to Zhao Yingjun before.

If he didn't personally kill Copernicus to avenge his dead friends and family members... he would be unworthy of being a father, and unworthy of being a human being!

Copernicus killed innocent people and induced them to commit crimes for his so-called worth and so-called beautiful future. Even if there were thousands of reasons, Lin Xian believed that he was wrong and deserved to die.

Before today.

Lin Xian's primary goal in joining the Genius Club was to understand the secret of the Millennium Stake, break this rule, and save Chu Anqing.

But now.

He had an equally important and even clearer goal: to kill Copernicus! To find out the truth behind all the mysteries for all the children, all the adults, all the humans on Earth.

To create a truly beautiful future!

"It's still unclear what the other members of the Genius Club are planning."

Lin Xian thought to himself, "But Copernicus... must die!"

Perhaps because Copernicus joined the Genius Club the earliest, was able to ask Einstein questions alone, and learned the most information and truth, his ability to control the world and control history was very strong. No one knew what his real purpose was.

No one knew who he was or how to defeat him. From the several future worlds that Lin Xian had experienced, it seemed that Copernicus's hand covered everything, and it was very likely that all the other geniuses had lost, and only Copernicus was the winner.

"The person who has the ability to kill No. 2, Copernicus." Lin Xian narrowed his eyes: "Perhaps, only me."

Seeing Lin Xian standing there blankly without speaking, Liu Feng walked to the corner of the lab and patted the white mini-refrigerator on the table. "I've finished reporting the spacetime clock situation to you. Then there's the entangled spacetime particles... come over and take a look."

Hearing Liu Feng's words, Lin Xian walked over quickly. Liu Feng entered the password "di di di di", opened the refrigerator door, and showed Lin Xian the situation inside. Rotating, rotating.

What first caught his eye were two spacetime particles orbiting each other, rotating around each other, just like when Lin Xian first saw them.

Each one was violently full of filamentary lightning, tirelessly rotating around the other, and the internal charge spheres were constantly impacting the blue spheres, aggressively.

This was the complete form of the "entangled spacetime particle", the complete form was full of energy.

Full of vitality.

"When did it recover like this?"

"It was the moment that blue snow disappeared." Liu Feng replied, "You know, at 02:14 AM, blue stardust was blowing up in Donghai City, and then it disappeared in a few seconds."

"Then, immediately, the white mini-refrigerator made a 'di di' beep, and when I opened it, this entangled spacetime particle had recovered its energy."

"But it's not just visually. Before you came, I also used instruments to test it. The energy of this entangled spacetime particle is exceptionally complete, not a bit has been consumed! This is the most complete, most original state of the spacetime particle!"

Of course, it was inactive, so it could be bound in the mini-refrigerator, so it wouldn't jump around in the sky and not follow any laws of physics like when we captured it before.

Lin Xian crouched down and observed the entangled spacetime particles closely.

Indeed... tirelessly, endlessly rotating, like a binary star system in the universe, constant, stable, and unchanging.

Then.

What was the reason for the spacetime particle to regain its energy? Lin Xian shook his head. In fact, what the reason was no longer important. What was important was that it verified a conclusion: spacetime particles can indeed be recharged. And this series of thrilling troubles were all caused by the recharging of spacetime particles. Lin Xian sighed lightly and patted the mini-refrigerator: "This thing is really a scourge."

"Huh?"

Liu Feng was a little puzzled, and raised his head: "This is a treasure! It would be one thing if you said other ordinary spacetime particles weren't precious... but this is an entangled spacetime particle! Its very existence is a miracle... It's even more of a miracle that Jask was able to capture it!"

"And now, this entangled spacetime particle that had lost its energy has been recharged, it can only be said to be a miracle of miracles! I've been watching it excitedly all night, how can you say it's a scourge?"

Lin Xian shook his head.

He said softly, "Liu Feng... some things, you don't know. You should know that the greatest function of spacetime particles is to cooperate with spacetime shuttles for spacetime travel. It sounds cool, and the Oriole came here because of this."

"But have you ever thought about it? If good people can travel through time, then bad people can travel through time. If someone from the future spacetime can come and help us, then someone will also come back from the future to kill us."

"Just like in the Terminator movies, enemies from the future are often much stronger than partners from the future. After all, killing someone is much easier than protecting someone."

"Otherwise, why do you think Fieske was so reluctant to part with this entangled spacetime particle back then, but ultimately gritted his teeth and gave it up? The reason is that Jask knew he couldn't hold on to this particle and it would be stolen by the enemy sooner or later, so he would rather break the jade than preserve the tile and simply overturn the table so that no one could have it."

"It's just a pity that we miscalculated one step. We really didn't expect that this thing could regain its energy as long as it wasn't completely destroyed and become a consumable for spacetime travel again."

"This is a bit troublesome. Originally, we all thought that spacetime particles that had lost their energy were worthless and could only be used for research at most. But now the facts prove that the 'container' of spacetime particles is as important as the particles themselves. As long as we master the method that allows spacetime particles to recharge, we can use entangled spacetime particles almost infinitely."

"Imagine, using entangled spacetime particles countless times, sending super powerful 'Terminators' from the future to kill us countless times... even immortals can't withstand it."

Instantly.

Liu Feng suddenly realized and paced quickly in the lab with his fingers pointing: "I understand, what you said is indeed a problem."

"Although spacetime shuttles can't be built in a short time and the enemy won't come to steal our spacetime particles, but... there's a long time in the future, who can guarantee that the other party won't steal the entangled spacetime particles in a few decades or hundreds of years?"

"But, there's a problem now!"

Liu Feng spread his hands and looked at Lin Xian: "How should we completely destroy the spacetime particles? If it was before the spacetime particles lost their activity, then it would be enough to touch or collide with them. After they become invisible, unless it's a Millennium Stake like Chu Anqing, no one can see them at all, so naturally they can't be caught."

"Moreover, active spacetime particles flicker around, and they are so difficult to catch even when they can be seen and detected, let alone when they can't be seen."

"But now... whether it's with a rice cooker or a mini-refrigerator, in short, all the spacetime particles captured by these spacetime particle detectors have no activity. Even if you throw them into the sea or into a volcano, they can still be detected by detectors."

"Of course, if you throw them into the sea or a volcano, even if they are detected, it will be difficult to capture them a second time, but it's not impossible to capture them. In the decades or hundreds of years to come, who knows how technology will develop? Many problems that can't be solved now will be solved then."

"Like you said, the 'container' of spacetime particles that have lost their energy is no different from spacetime particles that are full of energy in the hands of enemies who have mastered the means of recharging, it's nothing more than a dead battery that can be recharged."

"So, now that entangled spacetime particles have completely lost their activity, how should we completely destroy them?"

Suddenly.

Liu Feng had a flash of inspiration: "I've got an idea!"

"Lin Xian, you can go to Jask! Borrow his rocket and send this entangled spacetime particle into space! Let it fly out of the solar system like Voyager 1! With the current technology of mankind, it will definitely not be able to catch up."

"And even when future human technology is able to catch up with spacetime particles, the spacetime particles will have already run several light-years away."

"At such a long distance, no detection instrument can detect signals, and there's no way to capture them a second time."

"In this way, wouldn't it be possible to completely eradicate this scourge?"

Lin Xian smiled.

He pulled a chair and sat in front of the experimental table: "You're right, that is indeed a solution, but it's only a last resort."

"Entangled spacetime particles are indeed something that military strategists must compete for. Now everyone isn't snatching them because they don't know how precious, how perverted, and how unreasonable they are."

"I can already imagine what it will be like when humans completely master spacetime shuttle technology regarding this entangled spacetime particle."

"That's right!" Liu Feng was a little puzzled: "So, we should hurry up and dispose of it! Throw it into space! Wouldn't that completely eliminate future troubles?"

Lin Xian shook his head: "Listen to me finish."

"It's too wasteful to throw away such a precious thing. Moreover, in order to completely eliminate future troubles, in addition to throwing it into space, there is a more practical way..." Lin Xian raised his head and looked at Liu Feng: "We consume this entangled spacetime particle."

Liu Feng's eyes widened.

He took a deep breath: "Wh... what? Consume it?" He swallowed: "But how can we consume it! We don't have a spacetime shuttle!"

Pa.

Lin Xian opened his briefcase and slapped a stack of manuscripts onto the experimental table. Liu Feng stretched his head to take a look: "Spacetime Shuttle Theoretical Principles, and Spacetime Shuttle Construction Ideas."

"Holy crap!" He exclaimed, "Where did you get this thing!"

"That's not important."

Lin Xian waved his hand: "What's important is that we must create a spacetime shuttle as soon as possible, and then consume this entangled spacetime particle to eliminate future troubles once and for all."

Liu Feng straightened up and looked at Lin Xian: "Don't tell me you..."

"That's right."

Lin Xian nodded decisively. His two relatives in the future, in other timelines, had traveled through the river of time because of him. The Oriole had guided him from a confused boy into a man who shouldered responsibility. Yuxi had once again transformed him from a not-so-mature man into a stalwart father. This time... it was his turn!

Lin Xian looked into Liu Feng's eyes and said, word by word, "I will personally use this entangled spacetime particle to carry out the first 'spacetime travel' in human history!"