“Because…”

The old man gritted his teeth and said,

“Because Xu Yun, he also… {Disrupted history}.”

“No, no, that’s not what I’m asking. Do you think I wouldn’t know that?” Ji Lin twirled the pencil in his hand, his eyes still fixed on the old man.

“I’m asking you, why kill these people who disrupt history?”

The old man didn’t speak.

He remained silent for a long time.

“Ji Lin, you’re talking a lot today. You never used to ask these kinds of questions.”

“Because it wasn’t Xu Yun who died before.”

Ji Lin looked at the rolled-up list on the ground.

“You gave me this list so I could find the person who disrupted history, right? I actually think it’s completely unnecessary to go to so much trouble.”

“There are only two or three hundred people on this list. Wouldn’t it be easier to just kill them all? Why bother painstakingly ferreting out the person who disrupted history? This cautiousness doesn’t seem like your usual style.”

“No!”

The old man’s voice was stern.

“Absolutely no indiscriminate killing of innocents!”

Ji Lin chuckled.

He opened the September issue of *Mathematics Monthly*, found the Sudoku page, and continued solving the puzzle.

“So you see… you still know something. You’re hiding something from me.”

“You’re so righteous; I almost thought we were some kind of justice organization.”

He paused again, looking up at the old man.

“You killed my parents too, didn’t you.”

“Ji Lin!”

The old man’s voice rose.

“I’ve told you many times! I didn’t kill your parents! Even if it wasn’t a simple accident, I definitely didn’t kill them!”

“Stop pretending.”

Ji Lin smiled and continued to solve the Sudoku.

“I’ve found everything out.”

“Then go and investigate properly again!”

The old man was furious, veins popping on his forehead as he gasped for breath.

“If that’s the level of your investigation skills, I suggest you stop writing detective novels! You’re a laughingstock!”

The air fell silent.

Only the old man’s heavy breathing and the scratching of Ji Lin’s pencil on paper could be heard.

“Enough.”

The old man waved his hand.

“Stop trying to get information out of me, Ji Lin. I absolutely won’t say anything about this.”

“But I can tell you clearly that this is the only way! It must be done this way! It must be done strictly this way! To achieve our ultimate goal –”

“{To obtain… an invitation to the Genius Club!}”

*Thump.*

Ji Lin finished another Sudoku puzzle, threw the magazine on the ground, and picked up the October issue of *Mathematics Monthly*.

“I don’t understand.”

“Then don’t understand!” the old man interrupted him rudely.

“There’s no need to understand! Ji Lin! Do as I say!”

“If you really want to get an invitation to the Genius Club, then listen to me –”

“Find the person who {disrupted history}!!”

His withered body swayed as he pulled up a chair, sat down, and coughed a few times…

“We must prove that a person is indeed disrupting history before we can kill them.”

“Don’t ask… don’t think… do as I say.”

*Thump.*

Ji Lin threw the October issue of *Mathematics Monthly* on the ground.

The Sudoku in this issue was clearly too simple; he finished it with a few quick strokes.

The stack of magazines that had been piled high on the right was now down to just two.

He picked up the November issue of *Mathematics Monthly*, opened it in his hands, and looked at the Sudoku puzzle on it.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t listen to you, because I have no other choice.”

He looked at it for a long time before reversing the pencil in his hand and filling in the numbers.

“I tried to investigate the Genius Club, but I came up empty… It’s really amazing. I never believed before that something, a thing, could exist in this world without leaving a single trace.”

“It clearly exists, but there’s not a trace of it. At least, I’ve tried so hard for so many years and haven’t been able to find a single correct clue. There’s some related information online, but it’s all game settings or movie titles… obviously not the mysterious club you’re talking about.”

“Even… the name ‘Genius Club’ is something I tricked out of you when I was a kid. So many years have passed, and I haven’t found anything except this name, and you’ve kept a tight lip. I really admire that.”

The old man rubbed his temples, frowned, and sighed.

“It’s not that you can’t trick it out of me, Ji Lin. It’s because I don’t know any information about this club other than the name.”

“Where they are, what they do, what their purpose is, who their members are… I know nothing about all of this. So don’t try to get information out of me anymore. If I really knew, you would have tricked it out of me years ago.”

“But I can be sure of one thing –”

The old man looked at Ji Lin, who was focused on solving the Sudoku.

“I can be sure that this club is mysterious and powerful enough… It is omnipotent, it controls everything…”

“I only know one more clue than you do, so don’t doubt what we’re doing. Do as I say…”

“Find the person who is {disrupting history}… Once that’s proven, I’ll send someone to kill him!”

“Every death will become our ticket to join the Genius Club. We both have the same goal of obtaining an invitation to the Genius Club.”

“You are the smartest person I have ever met, the ultimate genius. I have always believed that you are the closest person to the Genius Club. So… help me, Ji Lin, and you’ll be helping yourself.”

*Thump.*

Ji Lin threw down the November issue of *Mathematics Monthly*.

He slowly stood up…

And picked up the rolled-up list on the ground.

“I’ll find that person.”

With that, he scratched his messy hair and walked towards the bedroom.

The old man breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked at the November issue of *Mathematics Monthly* that had been thrown on the ground…

He looked closely and was very surprised.

The Sudoku puzzle on the open page wasn’t finished.

Only about half of the numbers had been filled in, and there were several erasures, but in the end, he still hadn’t solved the Sudoku puzzle.

“That’s rare…”

The old man exclaimed.

“There’s actually a Sudoku puzzle that you can’t solve in this world.”

“It’s not that I can’t solve it, it’s that the question is wrong.” Ji Lin yawned and rubbed his eyes.

“If the question is wrong, no one can solve it.”

The old man was curious.

He straightened up and picked up the last issue, the December issue of *Mathematics Monthly*, and turned to the Sudoku page.

In the most obvious position, there was an *Apology*, in which the magazine apologized for the printing error in the previous issue’s Sudoku puzzle and corrected the positions of several numbers in this issue.

The old man smiled triumphantly and put down the magazine.

“As expected… you never disappoint! If you weren’t so {lazy} usually, you would be very likeable.”

"{Lazy}." Ji Lin opened the bedroom door and walked inside.

“I hate that code name. I wasn’t the last one to join the organization. Why didn’t you choose a nicer one for me? I don’t like Lazy.”

“Then go to work properly!” The old man’s patience for tonight had been exhausted.

“Got it…”

Ji Lin yawned again and closed the door.

“Good night, {Arrogance}.”