Chapter 15 Photo

"Senior Lin Xian! Ji Lin! Come on down!"

Chu Anqing's voice came from downstairs.

It was indeed getting late. Lin Xian and Ji Lin finished their chat on the roof and walked down the villa stairs to the first-floor lobby.

The two of them had just walked down the stairs side by side—

*Click!*

Chu Anqing hopped over like a little rabbit, stopping in front of them, cutely flashing a peace sign and smiling. At the same time, the shutter sound of a mobile phone taking a picture rang out.

Lin Xian and Ji Lin were still in a confused state, looking at each other, when Chu Anqing's classmate across from them raised her mobile phone with a giggle.

"Got it, Anqing! This group photo of the three of you is amazing! As expected, handsome men and beautiful women...it looks good no matter how you take it, any candid shot can be used as a magazine promotional page."

Chu Anqing turned her head, stuck out her tongue at the two of them.

"You boys are so difficult, you don't want to take pictures no matter what I say, so I can only sneak pictures like this when you're not paying attention! After all, this is my first birthday that I've spent on my own, so I want to keep some memories!"

Lin Xian was dumbfounded.

So that's how it was...

After dinner, Chu Anqing had been clamoring to take pictures. However, Lin Xian and Ji Lin were resistant to group photos.

Boys generally don't like taking pictures, especially when surrounded by eighteen- or nineteen-year-old girls, which made Lin Xian, a 24-year-old "old man," feel a strong generation gap. Ji Lin probably had the same concerns, and wasn't interested in taking pictures, so the two of them ran to the roof.

Ignoring the two of them, Chu Anqing trotted to her classmate's side, looking at the photo that had just been taken...

Lin Xian and Ji Lin, one tall and one short, stood behind her. Their eyes were all on her because of her sudden appearance, and she was prepared with a peace sign. This suddenly captured photo had a unique sense of warmth.

"This birthday is so happy! Everyone should come next year!"

Lin Xian and Ji Lin stood silently, without speaking.

Afterward, the birthday party ended.

Chu Shanhe's driver specially drove a large business car to take all the classmates back to Donghai University. Lin Xian and Ji Lin went back in Ji Lin's car.

As the car passed Ji Lin's villa, Ji Lin looked at the dark building outside the window and said softly:

"When it's my birthday, let's have a birthday party here, just like Chu Anqing."

"Sure."

Lin Xian leaned against the car window, looking outside, and replied casually.

"But I don't have any experience in decorating or preparing," Ji Lin continued, "I've never held a birthday party since I was a child. Mainly because I don't have any friends... There's no point in holding a birthday party if no friends come."

Lin Xian turned his head to look at him.

"Maybe the main reason is that your parents passed away too early. If your parents were still alive, they would definitely celebrate every birthday for you in a grand way."

"Speaking of which... you're sure your parents were murdered. Have you avenged them? You rushed to Donghai to avenge Xu Yun, whom you only met a few times... Have you caught the murderer who killed your parents?"

Ji Lin was silent for a while.

"No..."

"I've actually been looking for the murderer who killed my parents, but I can't find them. I have the same idea as you. I don't think the people who killed my parents and the people who killed Xu Yun and Tang Xin are the same group of people... Even if their time of death is at 00:42, it is not difficult to see from other details that it should not be done by the same type of people."

Lin Xian nodded.

"You mean... there were two groups of people killing people at 00:42. One group killed your parents, and the other group killed Xu Yun and Tang Xin."

"What do you think?"

Ji Lin looked at Lin Xian as if asking a question.

"If there are really two groups of people killing people, what do you think is the relationship between them?"

Lin Xian crossed his arms, looked at the streetlights retreating at a constant speed, and fell into deep thought.

This was a truly clueless question.

Judging from the killing methods alone... it seemed that one group's killing method was more flexible, while the other group's killing method was more rigid.

According to Lin Xian's speculation, Ji Lin, Ji Xinshui, and Zhou Duanyun belonged to the group with more rigid killing methods.

This was also a point that Lin Xian had been unable to understand.

Why was it so troublesome to kill someone?

Moreover, it seemed that their killing was not only troublesome in terms of methods, but they also had to abide by other inexplicable rules... It was these rules that guaranteed his current safety.

This was really too strange.

What was the reason that made their killing process so "awkward"?

"Perhaps..."

Lin Xian opened his eyes and put forward a hypothesis.

"Perhaps, there is essentially no connection between these two groups of people. It's just that one group is clumsily imitating the other group."

"I don't know what the meaning of this imitation is, but using a car accident to kill people at 00:42 is really clumsy and crude. Besides deliberately imitating... I really can't think of any reasonable explanation."

Ji Lin listened.

He sighed.

He shook his head and smiled.

"Sometimes I really feel that it would have been great if I had met you earlier. I feel like we met too late."

"You think so too?"

"Yes." Ji Lin nodded.

"But I don't think these two groups of people have no connection. This is the purpose of why I want to catch this group of murderers."

Ji Lin looked at Lin Xian.

"I want to find clues to the murderer who killed my parents through them. Debts must be paid, I always have to avenge my parents, right? A life for a life."

"That's right."

Lin Xian also looked into Ji Lin's eyes.

"A life for a life."

...

Three days later, an explosive news event triggered an earthquake in the scientific community.

Academician Lyon from the Ghana National Academy of Sciences published a paper claiming that he had made a major breakthrough in the study of room-temperature superconductors.

This long paper was well-founded, with everything from theory to experimental data.

The real foundation for achieving a major breakthrough in room-temperature superconductors came from the research results related to hafnium alloys and hibernation chamber filling fluid published by Academician Xu Yun.

Scientific research and inventions are always complementary. Many breakthroughs come from breakthroughs in other fields. Of course, more breakthroughs come from "accidents." This is a very interesting thing.

Ordinary people don't have any practical concept of room-temperature superconductors...

However, when the news media promoted it, they directly linked room-temperature superconductors with controllable nuclear fusion, making people mistakenly believe that controllable nuclear fusion was about to be realized!

Therefore, this news caused an uproar all over the world, and everyone couldn't wait to welcome the era of unlimited energy and the era of free electricity.

"But in fact... there is still a long way to go between room-temperature superconductors and controllable nuclear fusion."

In the office of the Donghai Public Security Bureau, Lin Xian's male colleague next to him said while swiping his mobile phone:

"Even if room-temperature superconductors are really successfully developed, it will be a long time before a controllable nuclear fusion device that can be actually used is realized. There are still a lot of problems to be solved."

This male colleague's major in college was in the field of physics, and he was now talking eloquently to popularize these nuclear physics knowledge to everyone.

Lin Xian, on the other hand, was spinning his pen, thinking with his eyes closed.

He didn't listen to his male colleague...

He was thinking about whether Academician Lyon's publication of "Breakthrough in Room-Temperature Superconductor Research" was in the original historical trend.

According to his understanding, it certainly wasn't.

Because without the release of hafnium alloy and hibernation chamber filling fluid, Academician Lyon's research would definitely not be able to make a breakthrough.

Then...

Now that "Breakthrough in Room-Temperature Superconductor Research" has been published...

Has his dream world also changed synchronously?

Lin Xian felt that it was very likely.

Such an epoch-making research would definitely cause a strong butterfly effect and produce huge space-time changes.

In that case, the future world 600 years later would definitely undergo earth-shaking changes again.

Perhaps New Donghai City no longer exists, and humans have truly achieved controllable nuclear fusion and entered the era of interstellar travel.

Where would his birthplace be?

Would it still be in the old Donghai abandoned by humans, or would it be on a high-speed interstellar spacecraft?

He really wanted to enter the dream to verify it immediately.

But...

He turned his head and glanced at Ji Lin, who was intently watching the news.

This guy monitored him almost 24 hours a day and chatted with him until one or two in the morning every night before going to bed.

Moreover, for the sake of insurance, he never slept and entered the dream in front of Ji Lin.

Once he entered the dream, he would not wake up unless he died or the time reached 00:42, even if there was strong external stimulation.

This had been verified when he was a child... His parents were once so scared that they sent him to the hospital in the middle of the night.

Later, fortunately, when he just arrived at the hospital, the time reached 00:42, and Lin Xian woke up by himself. It was a false alarm.

The doctor gave Lin Xian a comprehensive examination, and there was nothing serious. In the end, he told Lin Xian's parents that "this child just sleeps too soundly" and ended the diagnosis.

No matter what...

The current Lin Xian didn't want to reveal any flaws in front of Ji Lin.

Even if suicide could get him out of the dream early, the sequelae of suicide were too obvious, the adrenaline soared, his whole body turned red, and his heartbeat took a long time to calm down... If Ji Lin saw these conditions, it would be just asking for trouble.

"Let's find a chance to enter the dream to verify it in a few days. There will be opportunities."

Lin Xian thought to himself.

Neither Ji Lin's side nor his own would drag the battle of this cat-and-mouse game on indefinitely.

Perhaps...

Both sides were waiting for an opportunity.

An opportunity to seize the other party's flaws and find evidence sufficient to annihilate the other party!

Lin Xian opened his mobile phone without showing any signs and began to search for information about Academician Lyon.

The search results showed that Academician Lyon had a high scientific research status in Ghana. He quickly rose from a university lecturer to an academician of the National Academy of Sciences and was called a scientific research genius by the industry.

The reason why he was a genius rather than a talent... was because Academician Lyon's research path was very wild and his involvement was also very broad.

Other scientists often studied one subject direction to death, while Academician Lyon was driven by interest and studied whatever field he liked.

It sounded like a fickle and irresponsible scientist.

But the reality was that he was really a champion in every industry! He had breakthroughs of all sizes in many disciplines and could be called a comprehensive bloom!

Therefore, everyone called him a scientific research genius.

This time, the "Breakthrough in Room-Temperature Superconductor Research" was the same. A while ago, Academician Lyon had just released a patent related to food safety testing, and now he released a paper on superconducting materials not long after...

It was really admirable for this scientist's brain and energy, a typical mad scientist and inventive genius.

Lin Xian clicked on Academician Lyon's photo and looked at it.

It was unexpected.

Fat-headed and big-eared, bald, with a big belly, completely inconsistent with Lin Xian's stereotype of a scientist's appearance.

People like Xu Yun and Liu Feng, with their figures, hairstyles, and appearances, even if Lin Xian didn't know anything about them, he would intuitively think that they were engaged in scientific research at first glance on the street.

Temperament was such a magical thing.

And this Academician Lyon...

"This is the first time I've seen a scientist who doesn't look like a scientist."

Lin Xian couldn't help but complain.

Ji Lin next to him smiled slightly after hearing this.

"You can't judge a book by its cover, Lin Xian. In your opinion, what should Academician Lyon be doing?"

"Like a chef, a cook." Lin Xian replied.

Ji Lin put away his smile and nodded slowly.

"Your vision... is quite vicious."