Genius Club

Chapter 1366: Chapter 34 Cunning and Scheming_2

"Although the questions cannot involve members of the Genius Club, asking questions is actually an art. Let me ask the question about Copernicus!"

He snapped his fingers at Lin Xian:

"Rhein, you came the latest, let me teach you how to ask questions cleverly."

At that time, Lin Xian had a good impression of Newton and regarded him as an elder in the anti-Copernicus faction.

Thus, he felt a sense of delight inside.

Since Brother Newton was willing to help with the question verification, he could gain an extra opportunity to ask questions, feeling he benefited from it.

But now, looking back...

Why did Newton, who never asked questions, suddenly want to ask questions that time, not allowing others to do so?

[Because he and Copernicus were in cahoots, and it was very likely that the subsequent murders of scientists were his deeds.]

[Therefore, the question had to be asked by Newton personally; only then would Einstein give an answer. If others asked... Einstein would definitely refuse to answer, which would cause Newton and Copernicus’s plan to fail.]

"You are truly scheming."

After understanding all this logic, Lin Xian leaned against the black wooden chair, overlooking Newton sitting in Copernicus’s seat:

"I have to say, Newton, you really hid well, deceiving all of us."

"It’s not surprising you could deceive me; after all, I just joined the Genius Club not long ago, not very familiar with the members, easily fooled by first impressions."

"But you, Copernicus, Galileo, Da Vinci, met offline so many times, they all firmly believed you and Copernicus were arch-enemies, wishing to throttle each other... your acting is truly admirable."

"One plays the good cop, the other the bad cop; one acts as the villain leader, the other as the righteous head; one openly asks questions, the other remains silent all the time... your enactment of ’Infernal Affairs’ is truly brilliant."

"Now thinking back, at that gathering after Copernicus’s death, you rushed to ask [in the future, if any scientists or mathematicians will die at 00:42 due to human reasons]... it was completely a thief crying, ’Stop thief!’, defending yourself."

"You and Copernicus were in league early on, sharing the same enmity and goals; Copernicus was old and sure to be outlasted by time, so after his death, only you could carry on his will, continuing to murder scientists and mathematicians."

"But according to the Genius Club’s questioning rules, questions and answers cannot involve other club members; this question, whether by Da Vinci, Jask, or myself... Einstein’s answer would inevitably be ’Refuse to answer, query wasted.’"

"Whereas if you, as Copernicus’s successor, future killer, personally asked the question, you would not be refused an answer by Einstein and rather would be given the true answer."

"It seems you’re different from Copernicus, not so strict in killing methods and timing, nor so many rules... so if you decide at the moment never to kill at 00:42 again, switching randomly, or having no fixed time... then no scientist will ever die precisely at 00:42."

"Thus, Einstein would honestly give the answer, saying no more scientists would die for human reasons at 00:42."

"You and Einstein obviously know what this answer means... it means you fooled all the other geniuses with clever questioning and controllable answers, making everyone mistakenly believe Copernicus has completely died, and no more scientists will be killed."

"Using the death of a frail old man to completely hide [Copernicus] in the river of history, your plan was indeed successful."

...

Listening to Lin Xian’s words, Newton sitting in Copernicus’s seat revealed a calm smile.

Lin Xian watched his face.

That was a completely virtual image, with the area from the nose above to the forehead below appearing as a deep black hole, showing no eye details; Lin Xian could only judge Newton’s gaze by the direction of his head.

"Analyzed quite well, Rhein."

Newton chuckled:

"After so long, you can still remember the meeting 200 years ago, proving you are indeed meticulous. But now... it’s too late for everything."

"Although I don’t know how you found Einstein, I have to say, I admire your ability."

"But don’t you think killing Einstein would change all this? No... on the contrary, your actions will only make the worldline more stable."

However.

Lin Xian gently shook his head:

"Newton, have you never doubted that the future Einstein saw is false?"

"Your hands are covered in blood; I surely won’t persuade you to turn back. I’m just curious, aren’t you all smart, haven’t you made your own judgments about the future?"

"It’s been over 200 years since our last meeting. Thanks to you, humanity’s technology has squeezed the last drop out of Moore’s Law, and the technology frontier has nearly stalled."

"Why, in such circumstances, do you still firmly believe that humanity has a perfect future? What you’re doing and the future you hope for... aren’t they contradictory?"

Heh heh heh.

Newton crossed his legs, letting out a meaningful laugh:

"You wouldn’t understand, Rhein. You joined the Genius Club too late, you have no idea what real crisis humanity will face in the future... you don’t know the correct questions, so you’ll never get the right answers."

"How can you be sure you’re correct then?"

Lin Xian retorted:

"Isn’t your so-called correctness also based on the information given by Einstein?"

"Maybe you should rethink, Einstein can die today; I can sit in his place; doesn’t that prove... the future he saw must be wrong; since he is wrong, how can you be right?"

Newton snorted softly:

"Give it up, Rhein; you can’t extract anything from me. I’ve lived this long, and you think you can play tricks in front of me, you’re too green."

"It’s fine if you don’t say."

Lin Xian was nonchalant:

"Even if you don’t say it, I can roughly guess it. But... things between us won’t be settled so easily."

"Many of my friends died at your hands, and all these years, I’ve been brooding over not having completely killed Copernicus, not having fully avenged them."

"Thank you for attending this gathering today; now... I can finally visit their graves with a clear conscience."

Newton laughed aloud:

"Such big words, Rhein, do you really intend to wipe out the Genius Club from top to bottom?"

"If you really have such thoughts, you shouldn’t have killed Einstein; he’s the only one in the world who can find me. Now, you removed this risk for me; I should thank you instead."

"However... if you really want to find me, feel free to try."

Newton propped himself up on the chair and stood, waving to Lin Xian:

"I’m not young anymore; don’t keep me waiting too long."

"How could I."

Lin Xian chuckled lightly:

"In the future, many can calculate the cosmological constant, wouldn’t you give up so early?"

"Oh?"

Newton stopped smiling, his expression serious:

"Seems you really know something, can you provide any hints about this mathematician?"

"Of course."

Lin Xian sat up straight:

"I’m curious about one thing. Copernicus once said he would never harm innocent children and would even raise those who lost parents to murder."

"What about you, Newton, if a car accident could kill both a mathematician and his granddaughter... what would you choose?"

"Isn’t it obvious?"

Newton shrugged:

"You just said, I’m different from Copernicus; he’s overly compassionate and ceremonial... which to me are redundant and unnecessary processes."

"I see, that’s great."

Lin Xian also stood up from the black wooden chair, watching the young man below the steps:

"Take care of yourself, Newton."

"If I can’t kill you myself... I’ll feel quite regretful."