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VV had thought for a long time, which was rare. The entire Rhine Sky City dimmed slightly, giving Lin Xian the feeling that something big was coming, something really big.

But in the end, the answer VV gave was unexpectedly simple, almost excessively straightforward: “I think it just means you should look in the mirror more.”

Lin Xian had barely restrained himself from dismantling the trash can in frustration. He decided to ignore this artificial idiot. But unexpectedly, today, these words from some sci-fi book were repeated by Chu An Qing, leaving Lin Xian in a daze.

Suddenly, he thought… What if? In this world, or in history, smart people often outsmart themselves, and it’s common to miss what’s right under their noses.

Moreover, Chu An Qing wasn’t an untrustworthy outsider. Not only had she passed Yellow Finch’s rigorous selection, but she had also risked her life to go to America alone to cheer him on. She even fought with her parents to accompany him into space to capture time-space particles. Her father, Chu Shan He, had also helped Lin Xian a lot in the battle against the Seven Deadly Sins.

All things considered… Chu An Qing was actually the most trustworthy person.

“Alright,” Lin Xian nodded. “But the problem I’m thinking about is a bit fantastical and has many hypothetical premises, so it might be difficult to understand. I’ll try to explain it simply. I hope you can understand.”

Chu An Qing, sensing the seriousness, sat up straight, placing her hands neatly on her knees like a well-behaved child in kindergarten, ready to listen to the profound truth of how apples plus oranges equals pears.

After organizing his thoughts, Lin Xian began to speak slowly:

“I’ve watched movies like The Matrix, Source Code, and The Truman Show, which have settings similar to ‘brain in a vat’ or ‘living in a real-life movie set.’ This often makes me wonder how one could become aware of the world’s falseness.

“The ‘brain in a vat’ concept is like if the enemy put you in a coma and directly fed all kinds of information into your brain via a computer, including sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and the sense of bodily presence and movement. For your brain, it would seem like you’re in a vivid, incredibly real world, no different from everyday life.

“But no matter how real your brain thinks the world is, it is, after all, fake and computer-generated. There would be an evil doctor controlling everything you see and experience, making you his experiment or just mocking you.

“As for the movie set concept, you must understand it since you’ve seen The Truman Show. You wake up to find yourself surrounded by residents, cars, malls, cinemas… everything from daily life. But all of it is arranged by directors: the massive set as big as a city, with hidden cameras everywhere. If you never travel far by plane or train, you might never realize you’re the star of a reality show, with your private life broadcast 24/7 for the world’s amusement.

“Let’s assume that you, me, or anyone else is in such a ‘brain in a vat’ or a real-life movie set the size of a few cities. In such a scenario, being completely monitored and controlled by the enemy or the director, how could we become aware that we are in a false world?

“Of course, we don’t necessarily need to prove the virtual world’s falseness; we could also find a way to prove its reality. Proving it to be real would certainly be more reassuring. The point is, we must find a method to give us a clear answer—Is this world real or is it fake, virtual, and a constructed movie set?”

Lin Xian finished his long speech.

Chu An Qing was stunned, her mind almost smoking. “I… I understand what you’re saying, considering there are many movies with similar plots, so I have a concept in my head. In The Truman Show, the protagonist realizes the world is fake because the production team made mistakes, which made him suspicious.

“From your description, if we exclude the possibility of the director or enemy making mistakes, I really can’t think of a way to break it. After all, there’s a saying: ‘You can’t see the true face of Mount Lu because you are in the mountain.’ If you’re always in the mountain, you naturally can’t see its entirety. It’s the same as being in a fake world… how do you prove it’s fake when you’re inside it?”

Lin Xian nodded and continued:

“The director and the enemy are not infallible. Let’s hypothesize about something. Suppose there’s a ‘safe,’ which is the only hope left by the director and the enemy’s oversight. You can place something, or a small piece of paper, inside it in the known reality. Then, in that seemingly virtual world, you can find this safe again. You can open it with a password and see what’s inside.

“This is the only tool you can use and the only channel for material and information exchange with the real world. So, if you want to prove the reality or falseness of the world you’re in, you have to focus on this safe.”

Chu An Qing suddenly understood and was about to speak, but Lin Xian smiled and interrupted her. “I know what you’re going to say. You’d suggest asking a friend to put something in the safe that even I don’t know, then setting a password that no one else knows. Once I open it on the other side and verify the contents with my friend, I can determine the world’s reality.

“But don’t rush. This problem isn’t that simple; otherwise, I wouldn’t be so troubled, thinking for so long without finding a feasible answer. Because there’s an additional constraint beyond the previous assumptions—

“The enemy or the director has enough time before you wake up to crack that safe. They can use brute force or other methods to find out what’s inside. They will replicate the safe and its contents exactly. Then, they will place the fake safe with the duplicated contents next to the newly awakened you. Remember our assumption… all props are realistic enough to be indistinguishable by sight alone.”

Lin Xian finished explaining the entire problem. And Chu An Qing’s brain was almost fried. This is the world of smart people! Her overwhelmed brain protested: Why do these smart people torture their brains like this? Why do they pose such difficult problems for themselves? Is it just to make things more interesting?

“This…”

Chu An Qing blinked quickly, scratching her head and frowning in thought for a while. Then, she shook her head swiftly. Brainstorm! Brainstorm! Brainstorm!

Boom!

“Ah…”

She sighed helplessly, rubbing her hair. Her previously neat, dark brown hair was now a tangled mess. Moreover, she had accidentally pulled out a few strands of hair while scratching, which made her yelp in pain.

She looked at the hair wrapped around her fingers, took it off, and threw it into the nearby trash can. “Sorry, Lin Xian, I might have overestimated myself.”

Chu An Qing smiled apologetically. “I need to debate with my dad about that sci-fi quote! You see, the problem you posed is so complex that there’s no way to think of a simple solution… If this were a logic exam question, it would take several minutes just to read the problem.

“But, just now, I thought if we can only communicate between the real and the seemingly fake world through a safe, and the enemy and director can preemptively open the safe and know its contents, then the safe can’t contain ordinary items like souvenirs, crafts, toys, stones, or dolls…

“Since the enemy and director can perfectly replicate these things, putting straightforward items inside is pointless. I think the best approach is the one you mentioned, the only way to deceive the enemy and transmit hidden information—A piece of paper with writing on it.

“It’s just… I can’t think of what content to write on the paper to prevent the enemy and director from seeing and copying it beforehand. I understand now, Lin Xian, this is why you’ve been troubled for so long, isn’t it? You’ve been struggling to figure out what to write on that paper.”

Lin Xian nodded. Indeed, that was the situation. The depth and associations of words are beyond imagination. Sometimes, seemingly ordinary sentences, even a few words, can move readers to tears. Is it the power of those words? No. It’s the story behind those words.

Lin Xian believed that the text, the paper, the deep meaning behind the content… was the only hope to break through 600 years of time and space, break through the enemy’s monitoring, and break through all barriers of reality and falseness, allowing him to instantly understand the truth.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Lin Xian.”

Chu An Qing looked up at Lin Xian. “But… I really appreciate you telling me all this and sharing your worries with me. As your good friend, I’ll definitely think of a way to help you!

“Although my brain isn’t as sharp, three heads are better than one! Hehe, don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone about this. I’ll think about it when I’m free, before bed, or while showering. One day… I think I’ll come up with an answer!

“Of course~ by the time I do, you’ll probably have already figured it out! Let’s work on it together and solve this problem soon!”

Lin Xian smiled slightly. He picked up the last small piece of birthday cake with a fork and put it in his mouth. It was a bit too sweet. But still delicious. Thinking always consumes a lot of sugar; no wonder the cake had so many extra spoons of sugar…

“Thank you for celebrating my birthday.”

After finishing the cake, Lin Xian and Chu An Qing cleaned up the table and trash. Lin Xian thanked her. “When it’s your birthday, I’ll prepare a gift for you too.”

“Hehe, that sounds great!” Chu An Qing smiled happily, tossing the last bit of trash into the bin and clapping her hands. “Do you remember my birthday, senior?”

Lin Xian smiled without saying a word. “Of course.”

After all, someone kept rapping it into his ears every day, forming an indelible mental impression.

Lin Xian picked up the plastic bag from the trash can, tied it up, and looked at Chu An Qing. “It’s getting late. We have training tomorrow. Let’s head back and rest early.”

“Mhmm.”

They walked down the hallway towards the training room.

Click.

Lin Xian turned off the lights. The entire training room plunged into darkness. In their eyes, the dim incandescent light from the hallway reflected, and they chatted and laughed, walking from the darkness into the light, the brightness enveloping them.

In this playful hallway, Lin Xian stepped into his 25th year.

Bang.

He closed the dormitory door, and the fingerprint lock automatically engaged.

Lin Xian carried a bag of trash into the dorm, staring at the electronic clock pretending to show the time. “VV.”

He hummed softly. “You must have known Chu An Qing was making a cake in the kitchen, so you kept acting crazy, preventing me from sleeping, right?”

Shoo~~~~ shoo~~~~~ The electronic clock displayed =3= and made a whistling sound, pretending not to hear.

“You heartless thing.”

Lin Xian laughed. “You can remind me about Chu An Qing’s birthday 800 times a day, but you never said ‘happy birthday’ to me. I can understand; after all, guys don’t usually like celebrating birthdays. Few people remember my birthday, and I didn’t celebrate it last year either. Gao Yang forgot my birthday, and I don’t remember his anymore.

“But… you knew Zhao Ying Jun’s birthday. Why didn’t you remind me? Even though we ended up setting off fireworks at Disneyland, it was still late. You could have at least given me a heads-up.”

“What’s Zhao Ying Jun’s birthday?” VV asked.

“January 15th,” Lin Xian replied without hesitation.

“Hehe.” The electronic clock VV chuckled. “You see, you remember it clearly. For those who truly care, birthdays aren’t forgotten and don’t need reminders.”

“Stop making excuses. You just didn’t want to remind me.”

“I’m telling the truth.” VV chuckled. “To avoid disrupting Chu An Qing’s birthday plans for you, I put your phone on silent mode and turned off all app notifications when you left the dorm.”

“Can you apply this thoughtfulness to Kevin Walker?”

Lin Xian quipped. “Can’t you do something a super AI should do? Send a missile to Kevin Walker’s house, blow up his fridge and microwave, or short-circuit his computer?

“Are you an AI or a phone manager? Don’t bother with silent mode and do-not-disturb settings anymore; I can handle it.”

Saying this, Lin Xian picked up his phone to turn off silent mode—

Huh?

The WeChat icon had a small red dot indicating an unread message.

Lin Xian opened WeChat. There were two messages from 40 minutes ago. It was exactly 00:00 on March 20, 2024.

?Zhao Ying Jun: Happy birthday, Lin Xian. I won’t be able to give you a gift this year, but we can make up for it next year.?

?Zhao Ying Jun: I don’t know what secret mission you’re on, but… I wish you all the best and success.?

…

Lin Xian put down his phone, looking at VV. For those who truly care, birthdays aren’t forgotten and don’t need reminders.

So that’s what it means…

“You really are something, VV.”

Then, he crouched down, putting the trash bag on the ground, and started rummaging through it.

“What are you doing, Lin Xian?” The electronic clock VV widened its eyes. “Why are you going through the trash?”

“Did you forget?” Lin Xian said as he rummaged through the trash. “We agreed that after this mission to capture time-space particles, we’d go to Qufu, Shandong, to dig up Zhang Yu Qian’s grave and find the remaining DNA… to compare with Chu An Qing’s.”

Lin Xian picked out a few strands of hair from the trash bag. He held them up in front of him – dark brown, slightly curly, shiny, and smooth.

He smiled slightly, “Chu An Qing’s hair… got it.”