Genius Club

Chapter 1403: Chapter 48: Our Club

"So...this is how it is..."

Looking at the brand new invitation in the vacuum safe, Lin Xian didn’t move, but internally connected many clues, figuring out many things.

"Lin Xian, take it out slowly."

Next to him, Hafnium Alloy VV advised:

"Although this is a vacuum safe, it’s not a time machine. Paper, being so fragile, after being stored for centuries, even without oxidation, will naturally become brittle and dry."

"Don’t worry, I know."

Lin Xian temporarily put his thoughts away.

He gently reached into the safe with both hands and cradled the brand new invitation.

The touch was still as it was before. As someone who had touched both a real and a fake invitation, Lin Xian could tell by touch that this invitation was made of genuine material.

After taking it out, he gently bent it a bit and found it was still elastic, and not as fragile as seaweed as he had imagined:

"It seems there’s nothing wrong. Vacuum preservation is indeed very effective."

VV poked Lin Xian’s knee with a clip, signaling him to squat down so that its eyes could see clearly:

"So...this invitation is truly the last invitation from the Genius Club, right?"

Its eyes flashed with green light, looking at Lin Xian:

"Just as you speculated before, the invitation you got from the Mirror was indeed obtained through improper means, an extra one that appeared out of thin air! It’s not among the original eight issued by Einstein."

"No, no, no."

Lin Xian waved his hand:

"You can’t say that, VV. Think carefully, Einstein can see every corner of the world, every second that happens."

"So, wouldn’t he know that my invitation was obtained through cheating from the Mirror? He would certainly be clear; not only does Einstein know my invitation came from the Mirror, but he also knows Newton hid an invitation..."

"But despite that, Einstein still recognized my No.9 identity, and there’s another detail, after I joined the Genius Club with the cheated invitation, he had Turing shut down the club’s new member guide system."

"This means my invitation is real and compliant, and indeed one of the eight invitations he issued. Do you understand what I’m saying—"

"The invitation I got through cheating is this one in Newton’s safe."

"[These two invitations are actually the same one!]"

?

Hafnium Alloy VV tilted its head:

"Clearly there are two, and you insist they’re one...wait a minute, could it be!"

VV suddenly realized.

The green eyes flashed rapidly:

"[Do you mean that the invitation in your hand was obtained from the future, or sent from the future?]"

"But how can this be explained in terms of spatiotemporal logic? From the perspective of the world line, it seems to be a paradox."

Lin Xian nodded:

"Thinking complexly, there are indeed some inexplicable parts; but inexplicable does not mean the hypothesis is wrong, it may just be there’s something we still don’t understand about the Space-time Law."

"But thinking simply, there’s nothing unreasonable about two invitations appearing at the same time, their relationship is just like Yingjun and Huang Que, isn’t it? Future entities can fully coexist with original entities in the same spacetime."

"However...my hypothesis alone isn’t enough, we need to verify whether this invitation and mine are the same."

Saying this.

Lin Xian looked down at the red wax block attached to the invitation.

Through the light, he could see a clearly black opaque object inside, needless to say, it must be the sealed Genius Club [Golden Badge].

To attend the club gatherings, it’s necessary to use this NFC device to connect to the network, and then use VR glasses to come to the venue.

He pinched the red wax block with two fingers, and with a gentle twist, removed the wax block almost without any resistance.

This is the mark left by time, gradually making the wax lose its adhesiveness.

Then, opened the invitation.

Sure enough, there wasn’t a word inside, exactly the same as the one he had obtained from the Mirror.

"In other words, to verify if the two invitations are the same, we must start with the Golden Badge. However...there’s no NFC device here, so it can only be taken back for disassembly and study."

"There is, there is! How come there isn’t!"

VV turned its body, attempting to stick out its backside, pointing above the tracks, roughly equivalent to the trash can area on its butt:

"I have an NFC scan device right here! You take that Golden Badge out of the wax block, then scan it here on my backside, and I can directly read the secret key information inside, and then compare it with your previous Golden Badge!"

"..."

Lin Xian was a bit speechless, looking at VV’s stuck-up backside:

"Why install the NFC device in such a strange place? What was the original intention of this design?"

"Because NFC is such an outdated thing, it has long been eliminated!"

VV gave another little wiggle, signaling Lin Xian to hurry:

"Back when Zhao Yingjun directed my design engineering, he told the engineers to make sure to install the NFC device."

"She is always so meticulous. Considering you would likely use the Genius Club’s Golden Badge after waking from hibernation; but in the 23rd century, NFC had already been obsolete for many years, she decided to leave one inside me for you."

"As for why leave it in such a remote corner...you’d need to ask the engineer. Perhaps for it, such an old and outdated thing was only fit to be thrown in such a place."