Genius Club-Chapter 175 - 18 Inside the Light Cone

Exiting the cinema, Tang Xin stretched happily:

"What a fantastic movie! My colleagues were right to recommend it!"

Lin Xian nodded:

"Yeah, it was even better than the first one."

...

Tonight, Tang Xin said it was to thank Lin Xian for the meal he had treated her to a few days ago, and she had arranged everything.

After dinner, Tang Xin took out two movie tickets and invited Lin Xian to the cinema.

"Wandering Earth 2."

Lin Xian was indeed tempted.

He had wanted to see this movie since the Lunar New Year, but hadn’t found the time... After the holidays, he went straight to Shanxi, and after dealing with Liu Feng’s matters, he returned to Donghai City, only just getting some downtime.

It had to be said...

This was a real science fiction movie; this was the real science fiction world.

In the plot of "Wandering Earth," humanity had already been propelling the Earth out of its orbit using heavy fusion engines, wandering in space since 2075.

But who would have thought...

In the actual future, 600 years later, humans were still cooped up in the palm-sized area of New Donghai City, playing Victorian-era COSPLAY.

Based on Lin Xian’s observations of the technological level of New Donghai City...

Compared to 2023, there was definitely development, but the magnitude of it was just too small.

Lin Xian had thought that this city of steel would have already conquered controlled nuclear fusion and possessed an inexhaustible source of energy.

But the reality was... quite disappointing.

The related books in the bookstore still pessimistically stated that controlled nuclear fusion was difficult to achieve for civilian breakthroughs, and humanity’s current use of nuclear energy was still limited to nuclear batteries.

While nuclear batteries and controlled nuclear fusion both involve the use of nuclear energy, the gap between them is quite significant, which can simply be understood as the difference between a battery with a large capacity and a battery with an unlimited supply of energy.

Nuclear batteries had already been used in 2023, and were even on the space probe Voyager 1 launched in 1977, which carried an early model.

In these 600 years, humanity had only developed and refined existing technologies; if anything, it seemed there really hadn’t been any new fields or disciplines emerging.

So.

In the world 600 years later, there still existed a mysterious force suppressing technological development.

The Genius Club?

Or the murderer who killed Xu Yun?

Or maybe someone else entirely?

The answer... might not be far from me.

"If there really were an end of the world... where would humanity go?" Tang Xin looked up at the overcast sky and murmured to herself:

"Although the helium flash of the sun in ’Wandering Earth’ won’t come so soon, nobody can tell what the future of humanity will really be like. If there really were an end of the world... how should humanity face it?"

Listening to Tang Xin’s words, Lin Xian remembered the destructive white light of the world 600 years later:

"Perhaps people wouldn’t even be aware of it."

He said softly:

"Maybe it’s not as pessimistic as you think, If it’s a world-ending crisis that can be observed and prevented, humanity might be able to find a way to avoid it, whether through a Wandering Earth or some other means... humans will always think of a way to survive."

"But if it’s the kind of crisis that can’t be predicted, I think there’s even less reason to worry, people won’t know it’s coming, and by the time they do, it will already be too late, I guess everyone won’t suffer too much, just evaporating in their sleep."

Tang Xin nodded silently:

"A crisis that can’t be observed... that’s an interesting idea!"

She said with a laugh:

"I hadn’t thought about that before. It seems like in all sci-fi works, humanity is aware of the impending doom. Whether it’s the helium flash of the sun in ’Wandering Earth’ or the alien fleet in ’The Three-Body Problem’... humanity has always foreseen it centuries in advance."

"With the current level of technology that humanity has, even if there were a giant meteorite hurtling towards Earth, it could be predicted and prevented. To speak of a world-ending crisis that is undetectable to humanity..."

"Maybe only those radiation and rays that strike at the speed of light, right?"

"That’s right."

Lin Xian had also considered this issue before:

"If the crisis that would destroy Earth were to come at the speed of light, then it would be impossible for humanity to predict or observe it, as the speed of light is the fastest in the universe... by the time it’s seen, it’s already arrived, completely unpreventable."

"So I’ve always found it strange how those mecha battle works managed to dodge lasers by twisting their bodies... Logically speaking, it’s absolutely impossible to evade light-based weapons, because light travels too fast."

"If that’s really the case... then there’s nothing that can be done," Tang Xin sighed:

"Actually, after being in scientific research for a long time, the more I feel how insignificant humans are, the Earth itself is barely a speck in the cosmos, not to mention individuals in history?"

"Just like you said, if there really is a force capable of destroying Earth coming at the speed of light, then there truly is nothing that can be done, and humans can only calmly accept the fate of civilization’s extinction."

"Within the light cone, all is fate..." Tang Xin lamented.

Completely helpless...

Listening to Tang Xin’s description, Lin Xian didn’t say anything.

She wasn’t wrong.

If, in the world 600 years later, that world-destroying white light really was coming at the speed of light, then humanity would indeed be completely helpless.

The speed of light is that absolute.

```

"Within the light cone, all is destiny," this phrase was quoted by Tang Xin from the book "The Three-Body Problem 2: The Dark Forest."

It seems she really is a science fiction enthusiast.

Lin Xian had thought that these serious scientific researchers wouldn’t be too fond of science fiction works, but now it seemed that wasn’t the case. According to Tang Xin, many of her colleagues were very fond of sci-fi movies and novels.

The destiny within the light cone, indeed, can’t be changed, for those are facts that have already occurred.

But...

[What if one is outside the light cone?]

The only thing Lin Xian could think of, which might exist outside the light cone... was the universe constant.

42.

The mysterious power of this mysterious number was so awe-inspiring that it even made the Genius Club apprehensive.

Lin Xian hoped that he could quickly resolve the crises around him, and soon figure out the meaning of 42.

"Speaking of which... you said you had something for me?"

Lin Xian and Tang Xin walked to the side of the road, and Lin Xian spoke.

"Ah, I nearly forgot with all the movie-watching and pondering!" It was only then that Tang Xin came back from her contemplation of the universe and destiny, and took out a beautifully printed admission ticket from her coat pocket to give to Lin Xian:

"Hehe, this is for you!"

This...

Lin Xian was momentarily taken aback.

The familiar size and print pattern...

It was a ticket to the "Donghai City Music Gala"!

Even though he hadn’t received it yet, Lin Xian recognized it at a glance. After all, just the other day, Chu Anqing had just given him one... and it was still lying in his drawer.

"Although it’s a little late to give it to you, the main reason is that I wanted to get you a ticket with a better seat," Tang Xin said, scratching the hair behind her ear and smiling apologetically:

"I don’t know if you’re free the evening after tomorrow... Our symphony orchestra has been practicing this program for a long time, and I think it’s quite good. And the leaders of the orchestra value me a lot, they even gave me the position of concertmaster... If you have time, why not come and watch my performance~"

Lin Xian took the ticket from her hand.

At a glance.

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What a coincidence.

It was also a VIP seat.

Generally speaking, performers in such internal shows are given a few tickets by the organizers, but they’re normally in very ordinary locations, definitely not VIP seats.

So this VIP ticket must have taken some effort for Tang Xin to obtain... Unlike Chu Anqing, the little princess of Donghai with Chu Shanhe as her wish-granting genie, Tang Xin had to wait until now to get a ticket for him.

To be honest...

If Tang Xin hadn’t brought it up today, Lin Xian would have almost forgotten about it.

"Then I’ll definitely have to come and appreciate it," Lin Xian said with a smile:

"Although I’m not great at appreciating music, I have to show support for an old classmate’s performance."

"Heehee, then I really have to do well!"

Tang Xin was very happy to hear Lin Xian agree to go.

Lin Xian put the ticket in his pocket... with the one Chu Anqing gave him, he now had two VIP tickets to the music gala.

When the time comes, he’d bring Gao Yang along; this would also prevent any awkwardness. With proper communication with the person next to him, they probably wouldn’t mind switching seats to let him and Gao Yang sit together.

Whether it was Chu Anqing or Tang Xin, since they both went out of their way to give him tickets, Lin Xian couldn’t let their kind gestures go to waste.

...

The next day, Lin Xian put both tickets into his office drawer, then took some documents and headed to Zhao Yingjun’s office for his regular work.

Nowadays, he had to visit Zhao Yingjun’s office several times a day, handling a lot of work involving company secrets.

Entering the password for the door smoothly, Lin Xian went straight in.

Zhao Yingjun was unfazed by Lin Xian’s arrival and immediately started discussing work matters.

The two of them working together were indeed much more efficient.

Recently, Zhao Yingjun no longer appeared as tired as before, her complexion had improved a lot, and many people in the company said President Zhao had become much gentler lately.

A person’s mood is certainly related to their state of mind; when work is less stressful, naturally their mood improves as well.

"Lin Xian, are you quite interested in music and dance?"

"Huh?"

Lin Xian was a bit surprised, unsure how to answer:

"It’s okay, I guess."

Why would Zhao Yingjun suddenly bring this up?

Could she know about Chu Anqing coming to the company to give him a music gala ticket?

Perhaps Chu Anqing had told Zhao Yingjun directly. Their private relationship seemed quite good; maybe Zhao Yingjun was also invited, given that Chu Anqing probably had plenty of tickets.

"Someone gave me two tickets for the ’Donghai City Music Gala,’ which is tomorrow evening at the Oriental Art Center."

Zhao Yingjun took out two overly familiar tickets from her drawer... placed them on the table, and smiled at Lin Xian:

"Would you like to go together?"

```