Genius Club

Chapter 1449: Chapter 12: The One and Only

Bean-sized tears slid down Liu Feng’s face, unstoppable.

It’s hard to imagine.

That such a man, who had lived through six centuries, and was over 90 years old, could cry so sorrowfully. It was a feeling he must have bottled up for a long time.

Liu Feng was indeed deeply remorseful.

He still remembered the meteor shower Lin Xian had orchestrated for Qi Qi; that dreamcatcher-like yellow trajectory not only took Qi Qi away but also reignited hope in him, driving him into mathematical research.

Yet.

In the blink of an eye, 600 years had passed.

He had accomplished nothing, calculated nothing.

"Introduction to the Cosmological Constant" was his work, yet he couldn’t decode the true secret of 42;

He had studied diligently for 600 years without any respite, yet his progress couldn’t even match Chen Heping’s calculations from a few years;

Many times, it wasn’t because he was reticent, but because after Chen Heping joined the Cosmological Constant Research Institute... he quickly surpassed him completely; Liu Feng no longer needed to speak much, he couldn’t even get a word in.

Every time he couldn’t help, Liu Feng would think of his late friend, Emperor Gao Wen.

If on that day of the super catastrophe in 2504, it was he who died instead of Gao Wen...

Wouldn’t the two emperors have already cracked the cosmological constant 42 by now?

They definitely could have.

Liu Feng knew very well that it was Emperor Gao Wen who was on the same level as Chen Heping; both were equally brilliant and wise; unlike himself... contributing nothing, just dragging behind.

"That day, Gao Wen should have been the one who survived..."

Liu Feng’s voice was full of pain and dejection, haunted by countless nightmares:

"I achieved nothing, wasted so much time for nothing."

Crash——————

The dim hospital room suddenly brightened.

Liu Feng opened his eyes in confusion.

He realized...

it wasn’t the lights in the room that turned on.

Instead, Lin Xian walked to the bedside, pulled open the curtains forcefully, letting the moonlight that had long been eager to pour in, flood the confined small world in a piece of silvery white.

Lin Xian raised his head.

Looking at the brilliant galaxy in the distant night sky:

"How long has it been since you looked up to the stars?"

"A long time."

Liu Feng slowly sat up, leaned against the headboard, and said in a low voice:

"I don’t have the courage to look at the starry sky."

Lin Xian turned around:

"Why so? Is it the fear of that World-Ending White Light approaching at the speed of light?"

"Of course not."

Liu Feng wiped his eyes:

"Who would be afraid of such a thing? If I were, I’d have started fearing it hundreds of years ago."

"I just... ah, I just don’t have the face to look at the stars... or face Qi Qi."

Liu Feng rarely turned his head, looking out through the window at the ever-constant starry sky:

"On the last card Qi Qi wrote to me, she said she would become a star... watching over me, protecting me from the sky, waiting for the day I prove to the world the cosmological constant is correct."

"She would always be with me in the sky, always close yet far. But in any case... she wouldn’t get any farther."

"To me, in the sky, every star is Qi Qi; every twinkle is Qi Qi’s smile."

"You know, Lin Xian, back in those days, everyone concluded the ’Introduction to the Cosmological Constant’ was wrong... but only Qi Qi firmly believed that my research was correct."

"Watching the meteor shower you created back then, Qi Qi, in her final moments, said to me to go with you, saying you were the meteor coming to take her, specifically for her, to take her back to a more glorious starry sky."

"But now... look at me, having achieved nothing or everything I did was meaningless; the World-Ending White Light is only two years away, yet we’re nowhere near understanding the truth of 42."

"In this situation, I’m not only deeply remorseful to you but utterly unable to face Qi Qi... I’ve let everyone down. I... I’ve failed."

...

Lin Xian looked at Liu Feng, who was repenting alone.

He took a deep breath through his nose, exhaled slowly, and didn’t speak.

A 90-year-old man, 600 years worth of time, all weighing on Liu Feng, it was indeed too much pressure.

Especially since he himself was a stubborn scholar, and when he was the rotating principal, he was a hands-off manager, completely unskilled at handling matters outside the laboratory.

But... because of the super catastrophe in 2504, with everyone else either dead or missing, Liu Feng was the only one left to shoulder responsibilities far beyond his capabilities.

Just like that.

He propped himself up alone for over 100 years.

It wasn’t until he met Lin Xian again that he showed his inner softness, and on this day when cracking the truth of 42 seemed hopeless, he completely broke down.

"I’m sorry."

Lin Xian said softly.

A thousand words condensed into one apology.

He stepped to Liu Feng’s bed, first taking down the infusion bottle and rehung it on the wheelchair’s IV stand; then he lifted Liu Feng and helped him sit properly in the wheelchair.

So light.

The elderly, withered Liu Feng was as light as a handful of feathers.

After securing all the straps.

Lin Xian pushed the wheelchair, rolling it out to the outdoor balcony, gazing at the starry sky from the cleanest and widest angle——

Today’s weather was excellent.

The moonlight and stars danced together, weaving across the entire galaxy.

These were lights emitted by stars across tens of billions of light-years, even hundreds of billions of light-years, traversing the vast universe, falling upon Liu Feng.

Just like Qi Qi putting a layer of cotton clothes on him, just like the care he gave to Qi Qi 600 years ago.

"I’ve never understood what 42 is."

Lin Xian stood behind Liu Feng’s wheelchair, watching the galaxy flow, and slowly said:

"I didn’t understand from the beginning, I couldn’t comprehend; until now, I can only barely grasp the concepts you talk about... vaguely, without understanding."

"But I have always believed in you, also always believed that your ’Introduction to the Cosmological Constant’ is correct."