Chapter 10 Old Friend

On the way, Lin Xian had been wondering who the boss Da Lian Mao (Big Pussycat) spoke of could be.

He had considered countless possibilities.

But without exception, they were all positive characters and respectable occupations.

After all…

Da Lian Mao in this dream had become a warm-hearted and kind village resident.

Although his rogue nature remained, his character wasn't bad. He was still respected and liked by everyone in the village, which was evident from the villagers' attitude towards him.

Undoubtedly, the current Da Lian Mao had become a partner of justice.

Therefore, it was conceivable.

The boss that Da Lian Mao worked for should also be an upright person.

Da Lian Mao was simple-minded, and the attribute of being a two-faced, morally ambiguous double agent wouldn't appear on him; his brain capacity wasn't sufficient.

But…

The smiling middle-aged man before him was none other than Li Cheng, the wicked, wealthy, and morally bankrupt scoundrel from the first dream!

Although the current Li Cheng, with his Taoist demeanor and aura of righteousness, completely contradicted the temperament of the previous nouveau riche, Li Cheng was Lin Xian's old friend and ATM in the first dream… Lin Xian would never mistake that face; this person was 100% Li Cheng!

In the first dream, whenever Lin Xian needed money, he would always steal it from Li Cheng's villa, where he was having an affair with his mistress.

When he needed to race, he would also go to the underground garage of this villa to drive sports cars; all kinds of luxurious beasts were available.

In any case, Li Cheng was always quite cooperative.

Because this guy was afraid of death and easy to talk to. On the contrary, his mistress was very loyal and would often step forward to save her husband, dying under Lin Xian's gun many times.

Just a few days ago…

During Lin Xian's last exploration in the first dream, he and Da Lian Mao had just robbed Li Cheng's villa together.

They not only killed the mistress but also forced Li Cheng to reveal information about the Genius Club in an attempt to test him. In the end, Da Lian Mao killed Li Cheng as well.

Now, seeing these two chatting together like good friends, Lin Xian was really a bit unaccustomed.

However…

Considering that everyone's fate would change after the shift in time and space, it couldn't be ruled out that Li Cheng, like Da Lian Mao, had turned over a new leaf and become a partner of justice.

Even looking at the five thousand years of history,

There were many such "heroes in troubled times, prominent figures in prosperous times."

Facts proved that Li Cheng was still very capable. Regardless of whether it was a troubled time or a prosperous time, he could always make a name for himself and become a boss and a wealthy man.

"Hahahaha! Unexpected, right!"

Da Lian Mao laughed loudly:

"Hehe, my boss is the well-known Boss Li! This is actually my real job. A Zhuang, Er Zhu Zi, and I have been following Boss Li since we were young, working for Boss Li."

Da Lian Mao was very proud in his words, and his eyes were also filled with respect and admiration when he mentioned Li Cheng's name.

In this way, his guess was correct…

In this second dream, Li Cheng had indeed become a good person and a respected person.

"Boss Li! This is the little brother I just took in; he's very skilled! His name is Lin Xian!"

Da Lian Mao pulled Lin Xian in front of Li Cheng, patting him on the back:

"Lin Xian, this is Boss Li." "Boss Li, hello," Lin Xian greeted with a smile.

This contrast… was really funny.

In the past, in the first dream, he would always point a gun at Li Cheng's head, watching him piss his pants, begging for mercy on his knees.

Now, it was truly thirty years east of the river, thirty years west; don't underestimate a middle-aged man, Li Cheng had transformed and become Lin Xian's superior.

"Lin Xian…"

Li Cheng nodded with a smile, looking him up and down:

"Truly a talented person! Looks like you've read a lot of books. Da Lian Mao, since you've taken him as your little brother… he must have other extraordinary abilities, right?"

"Of course! I, Da Lian Mao, am very accurate at judging people!"

He quickly pulled Lin Xian to the side of the courtyard wall, gesturing with his hands:

"Quick, quick, Lin Xian… quickly do a flip for Boss Li! Do a difficult one!"

"…"

Lin Xian was speechless.

His miraculous parkour skills were being used as a monkey show here, just doing somersaults all day long.

However…

In order to infiltrate the gang's activities, in order to find out the origin of the book *Introduction to the Cosmological Constant*, a real man should know when to yield.

Lin Xian used the same trick again, hooking his fingertips into the brick seams, exerting force with his hands and feet, somersaulting onto the courtyard wall. Then, he turned around and did a rebound jump off the pillar, once again jumping high to the balcony on the second floor next door. Immediately following with a pull-up and a flip, in just a few seconds, he had easily stood on the roof of the three-story building!

"Good!"

Da Lian Mao clapped vigorously, very supportive, smiling as he looked at Li Cheng:

"How is it, Boss Li? My little brother is skilled, right? What we need most now is this kind of talent who can climb walls!"

Li Cheng also nodded with a smile and admiration:

"Indeed, good skill… With his joining, our actions will be even more powerful!"

*Dong!*

While the two were talking, Lin Xian had already jumped down from the roof layer by layer, landing safely.

He heard their conversation clearly. Li Cheng's sudden transformation from an uncultured nouveau riche to the image of "Du Yuesheng of Old Donghai"… He was still a bit unaccustomed to it.

"Then Boss Li, does that mean you approve of Lin Xian joining our operation?"

Seeing his little brother being recognized by the boss so quickly, Da Lian Mao was very happy.

Li Cheng patted Lin Xian on the shoulder and smiled:

"Lin Xian, you have to think carefully. Joining our operation… won't really bring much improvement to your life, let alone wealth and glory."

"What we do is actually no different from petty theft. But… for the people of Old Donghai, for the world outside the walls, someone has to do these things."

"Everyone here is doing these desperate things with the determination to die, with the intention of sacrificing themselves at any time. And the impact we can bring is small… Perhaps we can only glimpse a fragment of [History], or be lucky enough to snatch a thread of [Knowledge], or even gain nothing."

"The only thing that can support us to continue doing this is faith, only hope. If… you have really thought it through, and have such awareness. Then…"

Li Cheng extended his right hand, looking at Lin Xian:

"Lin Xian, welcome to our big family!"

…

Lin Xian did not hesitate at all, directly shaking Li Cheng's hand.

From Li Cheng's words, it was not difficult to hear that what they were doing was related to [History] and [Knowledge].

Coupled with what Da Lian Mao said during his last dream entry—

"People like us don't even have the qualifications to know history…"

"History and knowledge are in their hands. If you want to see real history books, unless you can enter New Donghai City, there are bookstores and all kinds of high-tech gadgets there."

As things stood now.

It was not difficult to guess what Da Lian Mao and Li Cheng were doing.

Actually, Lin Xian didn't care what they were doing.

Anyway, everything could be repeated, so what danger was there in a dream for him?

The top priority was to find out the origin of the book *Introduction to the Cosmological Constant* as soon as possible and know who the original author was.

This way, he could leave the dream and directly find him in the world of 2023 to discuss the cosmological constant 42.

Lin Xian looked at Da Lian Mao:

"Brother Lian, can you tell me now where the *Introduction to the Cosmological Constant* in your father's hands came from?"

Da Lian Mao nodded, leading Lin Xian up the stairs outside the building to the roof of the three-story building, taking out a telescope, and handing it to Lin Xian.

Then, pointing to the distant giant steel city, like a black dragon coiled, New Donghai City:

"You know, here, in the outside world, there is no advanced technology, no useful knowledge, no real history. Everything is controlled in new cities like New Donghai City."

"Are there other similar cities like this all over the world?" Lin Xian asked:

"They are all surrounded by steel, isolated from the outside world, with no communication?"

"That's for sure."

Da Lian Mao glanced at Lin Xian with disgust:

"You're like a zombie crawling out of a grave; how come you don't know anything?"

"New Hangzhou City, New Imperial Capital City, New Shenzhen City… These giant science fiction cities started to be built hundreds of years ago, slowly dividing this world into two parts. Inside the steel walls and outside the steel walls…"

"I don't know how the world developed into this state, because we don't have real history here; we don't know everything that happened. Education, knowledge, science, technology… many things are gradually being cut off and lost."

"But fortunately, there are many great people like Boss Li in this world. They are determined to change the world outside the walls—"

Da Lian Mao stretched out his hand and pointed in a direction.

It was a corner under the huge steel wall of New Donghai City… Da Lian Mao motioned Lin Xian to observe with the telescope.

Lin Xian picked up the telescope and looked in that direction—

Under Da Lian Mao's guidance, he successfully found the target.

It was a [Garbage Disposal Plant] built at the foot of the steel wall… Compared to the 200-meter-high, tens-of-kilometers-long steel wall, the garbage disposal plant was as small as a sesame seed, difficult to find.

But upon closer inspection, it was not difficult to find that… in fact, at the foot of the steel wall, there were many similar garbage disposal plants.

They were similar in scale and structure, with a very large area for stacking garbage, also surrounded by high walls. But the walls were only a few meters high, and the material did not seem to be steel.

On the other side of the garbage disposal plant were several huge incinerators belching black smoke, countless pieces of garbage falling into the blue-flamed incinerators under the transportation of conveyor belts, burning to ashes…

"That seems to be a garbage disposal plant? Does New Donghai City burn all their residential garbage?"

Da Lian Mao nodded:

"That's right; they don't even want us to pick up their garbage."

He took out a cigarette, put it in his mouth, lit it, exhaled a puff of smoke, and looked at Lin Xian:

"And our mission…"

"Is to sneak into that [No. 221 Garbage Disposal Plant] at night and steal out the useful things."

"Any book, newspaper, or even small parts and toys… In our backward and poor place, they are all treasures that can be learned and utilized."

…

"I understand."

As things stood now, Lin Xian had a general understanding of Da Lian Mao, Li Cheng, the world outside the walls, the poor and backward Old Donghai, and so on.

"So… Brother Lian."

Lin Xian turned his head and looked at Da Lian Mao:

"The *Introduction to the Cosmological Constant* in your father's hands is actually a book stolen from New Donghai City, right?"

"That's right." Da Lian Mao said with the cigarette in his mouth, grinning:

"But that book should have been stolen from the garbage disposal plant when Boss Li was young. I was still young at that time and didn't know the specifics."

"Is there any stock left? Or was only one stolen?"

"Hard to say. You can look in Boss Li's warehouse." Da Lian Mao pointed to several connected warehouses next door:

"Brother, this is the real benefit of joining our Lian Gang! We work for Boss Li, so we can also use the stolen goods in the warehouse at will!"

"That warehouse over there is where Boss Li specifically puts books. Over the years, through the efforts of several generations… we have also stolen a lot of books from the garbage disposal plant. If you want to find it, go there and look!"

"Maybe… you can really find an old copy of the *Introduction to the Cosmological Constant*."

Lin Xian nodded.

Preparing to go downstairs to the warehouse to find the book.

"Wait a moment."

Da Lian Mao stopped him, pointing to another warehouse across the way:

"We have to go to that warehouse first."

"Why?" Lin Xian was puzzled.

Da Lian Mao smiled:

"Aren't you planning to act with us tonight? Then, as the first step of the operation…"

"You need to choose a [Mask] for yourself!"