Genius Club.

Chapter 268 See you later
Lin Xian's heart rate suddenly soared!

Hold down the Bluetooth headset with your right hand...

At this moment, in the noisy conference hall, I could even hear my own breathing.

however.

After that sudden voice, there was no other sound.

Lin Xian slowly straightened up.

That was just now...

Kevin Walker's voice?

He said exactly the same lines as the mysterious old man in the fourth dream.

Did they also lock themselves in 600 years ago?

So when was he exposed?

Was it when he took off the mask of the stand-in in front of him, or earlier, even before he came to the United States?

"Don't panic, Lin Xian."

Ten seconds after the arrogant, contemptuous, and somewhat childish voice disappeared from the Bluetooth headset, VV's childlike voice came:

"【We were not exposed. I let him in on purpose.】"

VV told Lin Xian.

The wild laughter that came from all the electronic devices in the stadium was indeed initiated by Kevin Walker.

The reason why it is so sure that it is Kevin Walker is that it cannot find the source at all following the data. This is the best evidence that Kevin Walker is the only one on the planet who has such hacking skills that VV cannot find him.

"But the line "I see you" just now was not played to the whole audience, but only to your earphone. I had already noticed his attack and traces, so I thought it would be easy to intercept him."

"But... since he's only attacking you, what's the difference between intercepting him and not intercepting him? He's coming for you anyway, so why not just let him in and see what he has to say."

"But I am very sure that Kevin Walker has not discovered my existence and cannot find me. In hide-and-seek, hiding is always much easier than catching. This is the situation between him and me now. He can't find me and I can't find him either."

"On the contrary, we have an advantage because I am aware of his existence, but he is completely unaware of mine."

Lin Xian shook his head:
"I believe you haven't been exposed. You are the culmination of 600 years of humanity's top technology. I naturally believe that he can't find you. But... I must have been exposed, otherwise he wouldn't have said this to my earphone alone."

"Also, there is something I haven't told you before. Kevin Walker's words are exactly the same as what the mysterious old man said to me 600 years later. I can't quite figure out how they did it. How did Kevin Walker pass information forward and past across 600 years?"

……

Lin Xian closed his eyes and thought.

It seems impossible to transmit information in reverse time...

If I had to say, there are only two possibilities:

1. People like me can get information about the future from the past through a method similar to dreaming.

2. A time traveler travels from the future to the present in physical form, just like a yellow bird.

Lin Xian admitted.

The moment he heard Kevin Walker's voice in his headphones...

Countless possible traps did run through his mind.

For example, it was Kevin Walker in the future who caught himself first, and then passed the message to the young Kevin Walker in the past through some unimaginable way, asking him to kill himself in the normal timeline... just like what he has always done, getting information from the future, changing the present, and rewriting the future.

But now calm down and analyze it carefully.

If Kevin Walker really had this ability, why did he wait until now? Why did he have to wait until he took off Qiao Sen's mask before he could lock onto him?

For me, the fourth dream just happened a few days ago.

But for this world, that is the predetermined future 600 years later, which means there is a full 601 years of development in between, which is a long time.

and so.

The old man in the fourth dream must have known his name and his refresh location long ago; he even knew the evidence of his crimes. So how could he not know his appearance, identity and historical coordinates?

"Tsk."

Lin Xian smacked his lips.

It turned out that he had fallen into a blind spot in his thinking before. He saw the old man's appearance for the first time after his hood was taken off. Then, coupled with the old man's lines, he intuitively believed that the old man also saw him clearly at that time.

But actually.

I had been completely exposed long before this day.

only……

Even if it has been exposed long ago,

Even though the mysterious old man already knew his appearance and identity,

But they were still helpless until August 2624, 8, when they finally caught me by ambushing at my birth point.

These clues are linked together to explain two facts that make people feel a little relieved:

[1. Kevin Walker in 2023 has not received any intelligence information from the mysterious old man 600 years later (assuming he is the old Kevin). This is completely a temporary paranoia.]

[2. I was indeed exposed at some point in the past 600 years, but I was still at large and not caught by the enemy. Therefore, in the end, the mysterious old man could only resort to the worst strategy and ambush me on August 2624, 8... But in fact, this is a waste of effort, because this day is infinitely repeated, and it is useless even if I am caught. ]

If the above reasoning is correct.

That means...

Even though he was in danger of being exposed and being targeted by Kevin Walker, it seemed that the other party would be unable to do anything to him in the short term.

"There is another more crucial point."

Lin Xian opened his eyes and suddenly realized——

[Just go to sleep tonight and see if there are any changes in the dream world. ]

If the dream changes, it proves that I have indeed been exposed today and targeted by Kevin Walker. Then the world line changes drastically, and the future trajectory changes from this moment on, entering the fifth dream.

If the dream remains unchanged, it means that no matter whether you are really exposed or not, today is not an important space-time anchor point, and the space-time butterfly effect will not occur; either you have been exposed long ago, or you have not been exposed yet.

In short, if the dream does not change, it means that the current situation is the same as usual and is safe, at least... safe for a short period of time.

all.

The answer can only be found after falling asleep tonight.

No.

To be precise, it will be after I fall asleep tomorrow.

Lin Xian tried it on the first night he came here. The time he fell asleep and the time he woke up from dreaming were fixed, and had nothing to do with the time zone. He didn't know the principle behind it.

The time difference between New York and the capital of Dragon Kingdom is exactly 12 hours.

Therefore, 00:42 Dragon Country time is around 12:42 noon in New York, USA, which is exactly the opposite.

"VV, don't think so absolutely. The enemy may be much stronger than we think."

Lin Xian whispered, "The loophole I used was also used by Kevin, so it's not ahead of its time. It was reasonable for me to take off Qiao Sen's mask... He provoked me so much, so why can't I take off his mask and see? Anyone would do the same."

"The loopholes in the Dragon Country Internet Security Wall were also fixed by Dragon Country technicians themselves. You also interfered with Qiao Sen's attack on the Skynet system and cut off the power supply to the network nodes without leaving any trace. From this point of view... Kevin Walker really has no reason to see through my secret."

"However, nothing is absolute... We still cannot confirm whether Kevin Walker in 2023 and the mysterious old man 600 years later are the same person. Unless we find a real photo of Kevin Walker, this matter will always be an unsolved mystery."

"Next time I enter a dream, I will call out Kevin Walker's name in front of the mysterious old man and see his reaction. If he is really Kevin Walker and he came to see me at 00:42... After all, his eyes should be a little strange and his expression should be a little surprised when his name is called out so suddenly, right? I will find a way to confirm it."

"In short, we still can't take it lightly. After all, my future exposure is a fact. Even if it's not exposed today, it is very likely related to Kevin Walker. We still have to treat Kevin Walker as an enemy and find a way to...find out his true identity as soon as possible."

"Ah."

VV in the Bluetooth headset continued:

"Don't worry, Lin Xian. I know what you are worried about. But with me here, it won't be that easy for them to kill you."

"I am not as strong as you think, but I am not as weak as you think."

"During this period of time, you sometimes felt that I was not strong enough. The main reason was that I had to consider the underlying restrictions of not exposing my identity and leaving no traces. That's why I was very careful in everything. I didn't dare to use my strength, didn't dare to conduct in-depth investigations, and didn't dare to get too close to the enemy."

"But this doesn't mean I don't have the ability. It's just that I can't fight without leaving any traces. The difference is huge. If one day your life is threatened or in danger, then according to the first principle, which has the highest priority, I can ignore the second principle of hiding traces... and just tear my face off and turn the table over to kill as many people as you want!"

"Let alone Kevin Walker, in this day and age, if I do whatever I want without any worries or fear of being exposed... then no one and nothing can stop me. I can easily drag the whole world down with me."

……

Lin Xian did not doubt VV's words.

However, it is easier to avoid an open attack than to guard against an arrow from the dark, so you must be extremely cautious.

and so.

In the third dream, when Lin Xian and VV at that time were adjusting 13 lines of code, they added two restrictive principles to the underlying code for foolproof safety:
The first restrictive principle: Lin Xian’s personal safety is above all else, and Lin Xian must be protected at all means and at all costs.

The second restrictive principle: one's existence must be hidden from discovery and no traceable traces may be left under any circumstances.

According to logic.

When the first restriction principle can be guaranteed, the second restriction principle will naturally prevail.

But when first principles are threatened...

Then VV's second restriction principle will be unlocked immediately and will no longer exist.

VV can let go of all restrictions and kill as much as you want without any worries.

Just as VV said.

In order to protect its own life, it is even willing to drag the whole world down with it.

but……

Again.

Nothing is absolute, but being careful will never go wrong.

[Kevin Walker may have underestimated the other party just like VV. 】

Kevin underestimated VV.

VV may have underestimated Kevin as well.

Lin Xian believes that Kevin Walker's purpose is not limited to this, he must have deeper motives.

Or...

There is a [trap] hidden somewhere, waiting for you to jump into it.

Lin Xian had a hunch that if Kevin Walker was truly a genius worthy of joining the genius club, his methods and conspiracies would definitely not be limited to this.

but.

For now, I should hurry up and finish my affairs in the United States, go to Einstein's former residence in Princeton to take away the paintings that Ji Lin left for me, and then hurry back to China.

……

After the laughter that echoed throughout the stadium stopped, this exciting and accident-filled "2023 World Hacker Competition" also came to an end.

When questioned by the host, the young Qiao Sen also confessed that he was commissioned by Kevin Walker to participate in the hacker competition:
"The program for invading Longguo Skynet was written by Kevin for me to use in the competition. The program for attacking Beidou satellites through the Starlink satellite vulnerability was the reward and appearance fee Kevin gave me."

"He originally wanted me to exchange it for prize money in other major competitions... But I saw that I couldn't keep the championship prize money this time, so I took it out at the last minute."

At this point, the truth is revealed.

The host also joked that he would send Kevin Walker a bill to compensate for the broken glass at the venue, but because he couldn't find anyone, he had to ask Qiao Sen to pass it on.

Then came the award ceremony.

Lin Xian, surrounded by his teammates and team leader, came to the podium, took the trophy and held it high.

Huang Que saw this scene, smiled slightly, and patted Chu Anqing's shoulder:

"Okay, the game is over, you can go down from here and find Lin Xian."

Chu Anqing turned her head and looked at the woman's crystal blue eyes:

"Sister, aren't you going with us?"

"I'm not going."

The yellow bird shook his head:

"I have taken the initiative to look for him several times. How can I indulge him like this every time? This time... I will just wait for him to come to me on his own initiative."

what?
Chu Anqing blinked, looking confused:
"Sister, are you... a relative of Lin Xian? A cousin, aunt, or something like that?"

"Not really."

Huang Que shook his head and touched Chu Anqing's head:
"Okay, let's go."

She pushed Chu Anqing forward:

"If you don't hurry up, they'll leave from backstage."

Say it.

She waved, turned around, and walked towards the exit of the stadium in her high heels, her windbreaker swaying in the early autumn breeze, her sparkling blue earrings dangling.

"Wait...wait a minute!"

An Qing turned around and looked at the graceful figure going away:
"Sister, I don't even know your name, how should I call you?"

Hey.

The oriole stopped.

She smiled slightly and turned her head.

She pushed her hair that was messed up by the wind back and looked at Chu Anqing who had a serious expression on her face:
"Next time we meet, just call me Yellow Bird."

"Don't worry, we will meet again soon."

(End of this chapter)