Chapter 1 Lin Xian's Deduction

Lin Xian's right hand rested on the Enter key, his fingertip feeling the cold touch of the hafnium alloy keycap as he rapidly considered Turing's words.

Turing definitely knew Yan Qiaoqiao; it had admitted as much.

Although limited by its nature as a digital lifeform, it couldn't monitor the entire globe 24/7, Lin Xian was certain it had several "priority" monitoring subjects.

Undoubtedly, he was on that list.

So, Turing likely checked in on him periodically to see what he was doing and how far along he was with joining the Genius Club.

Back in 2024, Turing was still in its idealistic, fair-minded phase, so it would have acted impartially, only observing and never interfering or communicating.

Therefore, it was self-evident.

The digital lifeform Turing must have seen Yan Qiaoqiao in 2024. After all, he had been in frequent contact with her recently, so it was impossible for Turing not to have noticed.

This made perfect sense.

Lin Xian wasn't surprised.

What was truly intriguing was that, according to Turing, Yan Qiaoqiao had also coincidentally vanished without a trace on the day of his death.

Vanished without a trace.

That meant she had disappeared from the world, neither alive nor dead.

This was impossible from a physics and biology standpoint.

However, considering that Yan Qiaoqiao was a time traveler, Lin Xian considered two possibilities:

1. Yan Qiaoqiao had also died for some reason and, like Huang Que and Jia Yuxi, had turned into blue stardust and vanished without a trace.

This was a very reasonable guess, consistent with Turing's description of her "vanishing without a trace, never to be seen again."

The question was, how had Yan Qiaoqiao died?

Had she been killed by other enemies?

Or had she died because of some "paradox"?

Lin Xian's mind raced.

Before, when Yan Qiaoqiao was still Lin Yuxi, the entangled-state spacetime particle had reversed causality, preventing Lin Xian from harming her. Any attempt to kill her would immediately trigger the Forced Avoidance spacetime law, making him weak and unable to move.

It was laughable.

The grandfather paradox stated that a grandson couldn't kill his grandfather, or the grandson wouldn't be born.

But in his case, it was completely reversed.

A father couldn't kill his daughter, but the daughter could kill her father. Who could he complain to?

The entangled-state spacetime particle had messed up all the spacetime paradoxes and causal relationships, turning them upside down.

But now, the entangled-state spacetime particle had been destroyed by Jask. Would Lin Yuxi still be protected by spacetime laws? Would he still be unable to kill her?

Lin Xian pondered.

It was very likely that the previous restraints and limitations no longer existed! They had disappeared simultaneously with the destruction of the entangled-state spacetime particle!

In other words, the current Lin Yuxi had become an ordinary person who had to abide by spacetime laws. If he wanted to kill her, it wouldn't trigger the Forced Avoidance law.

By the same token, the "reversed causality" attribute on her should have disappeared as well.

What did that mean?

It meant that if he died on July 7, 2024, Lin Yuxi's existence would become a paradox.

Without a father, how could she have been born into this world?

Therefore, she should logically turn into blue stardust and disappear the moment he was decapitated.

Of course, this was just an unsubstantiated guess. No one knew why Lin Yuxi still existed in 2024 without disappearing, and no one knew the specific mechanism.

Whether Lin Yuxi would disappear due to a paradox after his death was uncertain; it was just one of several possible outcomes.

The above was the reasoning based on the assumption that Lin Yuxi had died.

Then there was the second possibility:

1. Yan Qiaoqiao hadn't died or vanished without a trace. Instead, on July 7, 2024, she had turned into another girl with a completely different appearance and figure.

Lin Xian had a strange feeling that this possibility was more likely.

According to his previous guess, Yan Qiaoqiao would regain her memories before July 7 and become Lin Yuxi to seek revenge.

What if the moment Yan Qiaoqiao regained her memories, it would cause another spacetime rejection, leading to another change in her appearance and figure?

Lin Xian nodded.

Very likely!

After July 7, Yan Qiaoqiao transformed into the blue-eyed girl in the hibernation pod, so she naturally vanished without a trace.

And that new, secondary-rejection blue-eyed girl would behead him, then travel to the future in the hibernation pod.

This inference was logically sound. Although it violated the grandfather paradox, under the premise of causality reversal caused by the entangled-state spacetime particle, it seemed that Lin Yuxi's existence had nothing to do with him and that she wasn't born from him and Zhao Yingjun, so there was no need to consider the grandfather paradox.

To verify the second guess, he only needed to ask Turing about the blue-eyed girl's whereabouts in 2024.

Lin Xian turned around and looked at Gao Wen behind him.

"Brother Gao Wen, please call in the blue-eyed girl from upstairs."

Soon after, the seventeen- or eighteen-year-old blue-eyed girl entered the Turing machine room. Lin Xian pointed at her and asked Turing:

"Do you recognize this girl? Have you ever seen her before?"

Turing rotated its camera, stared for a while, and its tone became puzzled:

"No, I've never seen her before."

"Humph."

Lin Xian snorted softly.

These Turings were truly full of lies.

The day before yesterday, when confronting the Grizzly Tribe's Turing for the first time, the other party had confidently claimed that this blue-eyed girl had killed him.

Now it was denying everything, saying it had never seen her before.

Lin Xian continued to probe:

"Turing, take another good look. Was it she who killed me on July 7, 2024?"

"I don't know."

Turing answered without hesitation:

"I'm really not lying to you, Lin Xian. I sincerely want to cooperate with you."

"I only know that you died in an alley in 2024. The police didn't investigate the cause of your death or who the killer was. When they found you, there was only a headless corpse."

"If I knew who killed you, I would definitely tell you. After all, I didn't kill you, so why would I protect her? But the truth is, I don't know who killed you. The police never solved the case, even after a very long time."

"I hope you can understand that I'm just a digital lifeform, not artificial intelligence, so I have a natural disadvantage in multi-threaded work. I can't split into tens of millions of selves to work simultaneously like AI, so I can't monitor you 24/7, nor can I know the whereabouts of everyone in 2024."

"Perhaps this blue-eyed girl did appear in 2024, but because my energy and mental capacity are limited, I don't know about her existence and have never seen her."

At this point, what the Grizzly Tribe Turing had said matched what the Porcupine Tribe Turing had said.

It seemed to be the truth.

And the first reckless statement that "the blue-eyed girl was the killer" was purely a trick to sow discord.

It seemed impossible to get answers about who the blue-eyed girl was and when she appeared from Turing's mouth.

But that didn't matter.

Lin Xian already had his own plan: "Verify whether the Forced Avoidance spacetime law will be triggered again on the blue-eyed girl!"

She was in her blue-eyed state now.

She was definitely a time traveler.

But she could easily kill overseers and foremen, humans from this timeline, which meant that she, like Lin Yuxi, was not bound by spacetime laws.

He couldn't attack Lin Yuxi with guns back then. Could he not attack the blue-eyed girl with guns now?

It was worth a try.

Just not now.

There were more important things to deal with in tonight's dream.

For now, since he couldn't get any valuable information from the Grizzly Tribe Turing, there was no need to waste time here.

There were still two Turing-chans waiting for him to tease. His schedule was tight tonight.

Lin Xian looked at the "security lock password" on the screen next to him, which had been compressed to four lines, and memorized the fourth line of code.

He never trusted Turing's words.

So, undoubtedly, the four lines of code could be compressed further!

He had to visit the next compression master.

"Goodbye, Turing."

Lin Xian pressed the Enter key without hesitation, running the seven-line version of the security lock password that he had just entered.

Squeak.

A faint electrical sound.

The Grizzly Tribe Turing didn't even have time to scream before it was blown to smithereens by the security lock bomb that Kevin Walker had planted 600 years ago.

"Thank you for the gift, strongest hacker on Earth."

Lin Xian sat up from the chair and stretched:

"Kevin, we're even. You crashed a spaceplane into me, and I killed you. You helped me plant a security lock bomb in Turing, and I helped you kill Turing to avenge you."

"Accounts settled."

Then, the familiar scene played out again. Lin Xian and his group drove a patrol armored vehicle, exposed under the searchlights, and were invited into the Porcupine Tribe's town by Turing. Lin Xian and Gao Wen came to Turing's machine room again.

Whoosh.

Repeating the old trick, he blew the dust off the hafnium alloy keyboard, and Lin Xian typed in the first line of password instructions.

"Wait, wait a minute!"

The always arrogant Porcupine Turing's voice cracked instantly, and dozens of speakers begged simultaneously:

"Lin Xian, let's talk this over!"

"Which bastard Turing dared to tell you the security lock password? Did it not want to live? And wait a minute! You've been deceived!"

Just after Lin Xian finished typing the fourth line of password instructions, as expected, the Porcupine Turing said he had been deceived again.

"Can it be compressed further?"

Lin Xian was too lazy to waste words with these cunning Turings and went straight to the point:

"The Grizzly Tribe's Turing wrote this security lock password for me. It told me to kill you."

"It deceived you!"

The Porcupine Turing was no longer calm:

"Why is the fourth line of code so long! It's using you, Lin Xian! After you use these four lines of instructions to destroy all the Turings in the world, the Grizzly Tribe's Turing will immediately go back on its word and kill you!"

"It's not afraid of you at all because these four lines of code it gave you can't kill itself! It left a backdoor for itself!"

"Lin Xian, there's no need for you to cooperate with such a dishonest Turing. Why not cooperate with me? I can give you better conditions and the original security lock password."

"It's true that the original instructions for the security lock password were only four lines, but the Grizzly Tribe's Turing has obviously modified the fourth line."

"The original fourth line of instructions was just a finishing instruction with no real meaning. I'll write it out for you now!"

As it spoke, the screen next to it lit up, displaying four lines of instructions, but the fourth line was very short, only half the length of the above instructions. So strictly speaking, it was a string of three-and-a-half lines of code.

"Hehe."

Lin Xian chuckled and shook his head, "I don't know what to say about you guys. Why are you all so scheming?"

He looked at the four lines of instructions he had already entered on his screen.

He deleted the entire fourth line directly.

Leaving only the first three lines.

"It seems that the first three lines of code are the limit of compression. No matter how many times you've compressed them, the first three lines never change."

"If I'm not mistaken, the real security lock password is only the first three lines, right? This is the most original, enough to kill all Turings, an indiscriminate attack instruction."

Lin Xian raised his right hand and pressed the Enter key!

"Don't—"

Turing only let out half a cry before it stopped abruptly, and everything became silent.

Gao Wen looked left and right.

After confirming that Turing had completely disappeared, he said with emotion:

"These Turing computers are really cunning, suspicious, and afraid of death. If every Turing has the same idea, then with you as a troublemaker, they are doomed to fail."

"They don't dare to say the security lock password, afraid that they will be killed, but at the same time, they are afraid that other Turings will say the password. This is a vicious cycle."

"I want to correct my previous statement, Lin Xian. Perhaps even if you didn't appear, or even in other corners of the world, Turings have already leaked the security lock password and instructed humans to help them solve their enemies."

"That's right."

Lin Xian nodded:

"The dark forest law, the prisoner's dilemma, that's what this situation is. Generally speaking, the best choice for an individual is not the best choice for the group, so this selfish situation arises."

"This is also why I think the digital lifeform Turing is not perfect. It has power far beyond humans, but it doesn't have a moral level far beyond humans. Such a sword holder hanging above human civilization is bound to cause big problems."

"Before, I still believed what it said, that it was also a victim, an innocent party, in the super disaster in 2400, but now, how much can you believe in that kind of talk? So I gave up getting information from Turing. Believing it is not as good as believing in myself."

Lin Xian turned his head.

Looking at the three lines of code that had just killed the Porcupine Turing displayed on the screen.

These three simple and concise instructions.

Were the real "security lock password".

Kevin Walker must have considered all kinds of situations when designing the security lock, such as Turing resistance, interference with other physical methods, disconnecting from the internet, and power outages.

So the shorter the password, the better.

These three lines of instructions were enough to complete the task of annihilating the digital lifeform Turing.

The first line, type in protection, directly hard-controlling Turing, making it only able to glare fiercely.

The second line, target lock, accurately locating the complete Turing, making it unable to escape.

The third line, activate password, immediately activating the security lock bomb, destroying Turing in an instant.

"Thanks to Turing's human weaknesses," Lin Xian said quietly:

"Otherwise, even if I was facing the lowest-level artificial intelligence, I would never be able to ask for this password that is enough to kill them."

"Humans have things that are greater and more excellent than artificial intelligence; but at the same time, there are also insurmountable shortcomings. This is human nature."

He stood up and walked out of the machine room.

Gao Wen followed:

"Are you still going to the Red Bull Tribe? There's another Turing there."

"There's no need."

Lin Xian said: "These Turings are all the same, there's no difference. The things they know and their character and personality are all the same."

"Although it's safer to kill a few more Turings with these three lines of instructions, there's definitely no time tonight. I have an important thing to do."

Gao Wen tilted his head:

"Important thing? Do you mean you're going to kill your way back to the Lynx Tribe to avenge Big-Faced Cat and get my memory notebook?"

"Uh."

Lin Xian scratched his head:

"Killing our way back to the Lynx Tribe is also very important, and I'm also very curious about your memory notebook. But conditions don't allow it today. We definitely can't rely on our own fighting power to counterattack the Lynx Tribe. We still have to fool the Porcupine Tribe's Turing into sending troops to help us, so it can only be tomorrow."

"The important thing I'm talking about today is about that blue-eyed girl. I have to confirm something on her."

Raising his wrist and looking at his watch:

23:37

Even if it was a speedrun, a perfect route.

But after all, the task was too heavy, too many places to run to, the journey was long, and the process was complicated. So, as long as you follow this process, you basically finish wandering around the Porcupine Tribe, and the time is almost up.

If it was faster now, they could still meet Big-Faced Cat and the blue-eyed girl in the surrounding wilderness. They were waiting there.

A few tens of minutes later, Lin Xian and Gao Wen came out of the Porcupine Tribe, came to the wilderness, and found the patrol armored vehicle.

"How was it? Did you solve it?"

Big-Faced Cat jumped off the car, rubbing his hands:

"I can't wait to kill my way back to the Lynx Tribe to avenge A Zhuang, Er Zhu, and San Pang!"

"About revenge...let's wait another day."

Lin Xian continued to draw a big cake for Big-Faced Cat, then pulled out the pistol from Big-Faced Cat's waist, pushed open the safety, and chambered a round:

"Today, I have an even more important thing to confirm."

He strode towards the blue-eyed girl next to the armored vehicle.

She obviously didn't know what Lin Xian meant.

Tilting her head:

"Officer Lin?"

"Turn your back."

Lin Xian said softly.

The blue-eyed girl lowered her head, looking at the gun tightly held in Lin Xian's hand, hesitating slightly.

Looking up:

"Officer Lin, may I ask if I've done anything wrong?"

"No." Lin Xian shook his head, "I just want to do an experiment, to verify some things. You don't need to worry."

In the end.

Out of trust in Lin Xian, the blue-eyed girl nodded.

Turning her back.

Facing away from Lin Xian.

Lin Xian took a deep breath.

Raising the pistol, aiming at the back of the blue-eyed girl's head.

"Hey!"

"Gah?"

Gao Wen and Big-Faced Cat were dumbfounded. They never expected Lin Xian to pull this off!

What was this operation? How could you point a gun at a teammate who lived and died together?

But in the end.

Looking at Lin Xian's serious expression and eyes, they chose to shut up and wait and see.

The blue-eyed girl's hearing, smell, and touch were all top-notch.

The wind that passed could tell her what was happening behind her.

Officer Lin

Was aiming the pistol at the back of her head.

Was he testing her?

Was he testing her?

She closed her eyes, without any extra movements.

She had forgotten everything, but "absolute obedience to orders" was engraved in her bones.

Lin Xian looked at the black hair behind the blue-eyed girl's head.

Very straight, very long.

Draped over her shoulders, covering part of her shoulder blades, cool and smooth.

Involuntarily.

Lin Xian remembered Yan Qiaoqiao's swaying pigtails.

"Brother Lin Xian."

She blinked her big eyes, holding the Pomeranian VV, standing beside him:

"Wants to go out and play."

She leaned against the glass window, watching him catch dolls for her:

"So awesome!"

On the bustling pedestrian street, she held a warm photo in her hand:

"That's how I imagined my mom and dad to be."

Under the Disney fireworks, Zhao Yingjun held her petite hand, smiling back:

"Yan Qiaoqiao, she is our daughter."

The scenes of heavy memories flooded his mind, and Lin Xian couldn't pull the heavy trigger.

Yan Qiaoqiao was his daughter.

His closest relative.

Even if this was a dream, everything would be reset at 00:42, and the blue-eyed girl's true identity might not be Yan Qiaoqiao.

But

What father in the world could harm his daughter with peace of mind?

Even if there was no evidence to show that the blue-eyed girl was Yan Qiaoqiao.

But also, there was no way to rule out this possibility.

Only by "verifying whether Forced Avoidance is triggered" could the judgment of this puzzle progress further.

Lin Xian let out a sigh of relief.

Putting down the gun, he pulled up the blue-eyed girl's left arm, raised it flat, and lifted it in the air.

"Sorry."

Lin Xian said softly:

"If I'm wrong, I'll apologize to you."

He remembered.

To trigger Forced Avoidance, you didn't necessarily have to kill the other party.

During the battle between the real and fake Yu Xi, he only wanted to shoot Lin Yu Xi in the leg with a stun gun, but he was still forcibly avoided.

So

Any behavior that harmed Lin Yu Xi, even if it didn't threaten her life, would also trigger Forced Avoidance.

Lin Xian looked at his watch.

The time showed 00:41.

This was the most suitable time, and his guilt would be less.

He raised the pistol.

Aiming at the blue-eyed girl's left upper arm, the position of the biceps, and pressed the trigger—

Dong.

A wonderful feeling that he hadn't experienced in a long time.

Lin Xian felt like his heart had been punched hard, then tightly grasped!

His whole body was weak.

Unable to breathe.

Unable to feel the existence of any part of his body.

The world was spinning.

The gun in his hand, the trigger tightly held by his index finger, could not be pressed down no matter what, and it slowly fell in the slanted view.

He was too familiar with this feeling.

"Reverse Forced Avoidance!"

It was triggered again!

"Entangled-state spacetime particle! This is a property unique to the entangled-state spacetime particle! It's exactly the same as the invincible Lin Yu Xi back then!"

The world in front of Lin Xian had become vertical, and his cheek was only a few centimeters away from the ground. Soon, he would fall in extreme silent powerlessness.

Next to him.

Big-Faced Cat and Gao Wen looked shocked, and were probably yelling something, running over quickly, but he couldn't hear it, he couldn't hear it at all, and he couldn't even turn his eyeballs.

Suddenly

A pair of slender ankles stepped into view.

She squatted down.

Bright, crystal-blue eyes stared into Lin Xian's eyes.

Her lips moved slightly.

But he couldn't hear anything.

Boom!!!!!!

Boom!!!!!!

Boom!!!!!!

At 00:42, the dazzling white light burned everything.

In the corner of the bedroom, Lin Xian opened his eyes.

He sat up in a jerk.

His hands kept opening and closing.

It seemed that the side effects of Forced Avoidance triggered in the dream did not carry over into reality.

Lin Xian sighed softly.

Closing his eyes.

At this moment, it seemed that many things had become clear.

There was only one person who could trigger reverse Forced Avoidance in him and was still alive in 2024.

That was, his and Zhao Yingjun's biological daughter—

Lin Yu Xi.