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The reason Lin Xian thought of that skinny, stammering man at this moment was because of a question Gauss had asked during a Genius Club meeting and the answer Einstein had given him.

When Lin Xian attended his first meeting, the club president, who wore an Einstein mask, had asked each genius to introduce themselves and share what quality they thought was most important for a genius to have.

Gauss’s answer had been: “Equality.”

He believed that humans, from birth, faced great inequality. Some people were born with ordinary intelligence, while others were born brilliant, destined to be geniuses. But shouldn’t geniuses do everything in their power to make the world more equal and balanced?

Gauss’s goal, and all his future plans, centered around creating a world where everyone was equal.

At that meeting, he had asked a question: “If we wanted to enhance human physical abilities, nerve responses, and brain activity, where should we start in the year 2024?”

Einstein’s response had been negative. He said there wouldn’t be any breakthroughs in genetic enhancement until the year 2100.

Looking back, Lin Xian realized that Gauss had probably expected that answer all along.

If you really think about it—would mastering genetic enhancement truly make the world equal? Would everyone become like mythical heroes?

That was impossible.

It might even have the opposite effect, widening the gap between the rich and the poor.

At present, the gap between rich and poor was only about money and lifestyle. But if genetic enhancements became a reality, the rich could turn themselves into superhumans—able to leap across buildings, with strength like warriors from ancient legends. It could make them like time-traveling assassins, able to defeat a hundred ordinary people.

Was that equality? Clearly not.

Gauss, as brilliant as he was, must have known this. He must have hoped for a negative answer all along. He wanted genetic enhancement to stay out of reach, the further away the better.

At the second gathering, Gauss asked another crucial question: “When will humanity be able to fully strengthen our immune systems so we won’t get sick, won’t catch viruses, and can cure all diseases, making us immune to everything?”

It was this question that made Lin Xian connect the “Anti-Hibernation Virus” to Gauss.

On the surface, Gauss seemed to have noble ambitions—he wanted everyone to be healthy and free of diseases, striving for equality.

But actually, he was hiding something. He was masking his true intentions while trying to get real answers.

The moment he asked that question, it showed he had already decided to use the “Anti-Hibernation Virus.” But he hid his motives so well that everyone thought he was harmless, that he had no power.

At that time, Einstein’s answer had been: “Never.”

“There’s no such thing as a virus that can never be defeated. Viruses, like humans, constantly evolve and mutate,” he had said. “The good news is, most viruses weaken over time with repeated infections. The bad news is, along the way, new viruses always emerge.”

Einstein’s answer held the key.

Although Einstein dismissed Gauss’s question, Gauss must have been secretly pleased.

He knew—

His virus would spread across the globe and remain active until it lost its potency and ability to spread—effectively preventing humanity from hibernating.

With hindsight, Gauss’s plan was crystal clear.

From the beginning, his target had been “hibernation.”

He always believed: “Death is the fundamental equality for human civilization, but the advent of hibernation technology broke that equality.”

Lin Xian had once discussed this with Big Cat in the Second Dream.

There’s an old saying: “Wealth doesn’t last beyond three generations.”

No matter how brilliant a genius was, how powerful an elder was, or how wealthy a person was, there would always come a day when they died. Once they died, power and wealth were redistributed. Even in academia, young scholars could only step up once the older generation was gone.

But after the advent of hibernation chambers, that fundamental equality—death—disappeared.

Just like in the Fifth Dream, where Elon Musk’s SPACE-X company had ruled Mars for hundreds of years. He must have remained the world’s richest man for centuries.

That was a severe form of inequality. Musk’s glory lasted for centuries, overshadowing countless young people who should have had their time to shine in history, but instead faded into obscurity.

So, Gauss created the “Anti-Hibernation Virus.”

He had thought it through very carefully.

First, for the sake of equality, he designed the virus so that it wouldn’t harm the human body. If you didn’t attempt to hibernate, you wouldn’t even notice it, and it wouldn’t affect your health.

Second, the virus had a long incubation period of three months—long enough that people couldn’t guard against it. Plus, since it was harmless, it spread across the world quickly.

Finally, Gauss stayed true to his principle of equality, even including himself. He was the first to inject himself with the virus, giving up the chance to hibernate and live indefinitely, choosing instead to die naturally in his time.

The more Lin Xian thought about it, the clearer it became.

Einstein’s words were right. The virus spread worldwide for almost 200 years before it finally died out, losing its ability to infect people.

In those 200 years, humanity had completely said goodbye to hibernation technology and returned to normal life.

Gauss had probably hoped the virus would last thousands, even tens of thousands of years, so that humanity could never conquer it. But the laws of nature are like that—as Einstein said, there is no everlasting virus, nor a human immune to everything.

Suddenly, Lin Xian finally understood—

Why Einstein had said so firmly back then: “The future is already set. All possibilities have vanished. Now, this is… the only future.”

He also understood why the 0.0001764 world line was so unyielding, why the Ninth Dream couldn’t be changed.

Because—

“The 0.0001764 world line was the combined effort of several geniuses, forged together! The timeline’s resilience was naturally incredibly strong!”

That was it. No doubt.

In the Ninth Dream, the great disaster of 2600 was clearly Galileo’s doing.

The stagnation of technology, evidenced by the continued use of land motorbikes, was undoubtedly Copernicus’s influence.

And now, with the new information, it seemed that from 2025 to 2219, Gauss’s Anti-Hibernation Virus had temporarily blocked the possibility of hibernation.

Perhaps, somewhere Lin Xian couldn’t see, big brother Newton was also executing his plan…

Four geniuses, working simultaneously.

The result was the Ninth Dream—a future where humanity was on the brink of extinction.

“I see,” Lin Xian finally said aloud, understanding.

Why, at the last meeting, Einstein had insisted on conducting one-on-one questioning?

He had thought it was a special privilege.

But it turned out it was Einstein’s way of stabilizing the world line.

He wouldn’t reveal who won the salvation game because, in truth, the victory belonged to all of them.

So the best plan was—

To let each genius believe they had won!

That way, they would all keep waiting for a bright future in the following decades or centuries.

But it had all been a lie.

The future Einstein saw was false. He was unintentionally leading the geniuses in the wrong direction, pushing humanity towards a doomed future.

“Einstein, what happened to you?” Lin Xian frowned.

For the first time, he truly understood what it meant for the head to lead wrong and the body to follow.

Wait.

Lin Xian suddenly thought of something terrifying.

The white light.

The “World-Ending White Light.”

To this day, he still didn’t know what that white light at 00:42 was.

But no matter which dream it was, one thing remained the same—

Humanity had no awareness or defense against the arrival of the white light. Each time, they met their end in peaceful ignorance.

Even in Einstein’s response to Elon Musk, he hadn’t mentioned the white light. He had said that on August 29, 2624, more than four million people would be bustling in Donghai.

That was simply impossible!

Lin Xian squinted, trying to link three key clues:

Einstein couldn’t see the disappearance of the Millennial Stake in 1952, nor could he see the World-Ending White Light of 2624.

The arrival time of the white light was very coincidental—right when CC, as the Millennial Stake, was supposed to dissipate into blue stardust.

If humanity had any chance of preventing the white light, then in the future of the Ninth Dream, where humanity was extinct, that chance was zero. And this was the future Einstein wanted—the best one, to lock in this world line.

So far—

The Millennial Stake, the World-Ending White Light, and Einstein—these three were deeply intertwined, connected in countless ways.

The exact nature of the connection, Lin Xian didn’t know.

But he had a gut feeling—

“If I can uncover the truth about the Millennial Stake, I can save Chu An Qing, and maybe even stop the white light, saving humanity’s future.”

“It’s possible.”

The more Lin Xian thought about it, the more convinced he became.

“It really is possible!”

“I had thought before that the Millennial Stake and the white light might be related, but I couldn’t find any evidence linking them. Now, this connection is becoming clearer.”

“But…”

Lin Xian frowned, his lips tightening.

Right now, there was no time to think about such distant things. The immediate crisis was right in front of him.

He turned around and saw Mai Mai reading “Devouring Heaven Demon Emperor” by the light of the hibernation chamber, her face filled with delight.

Lin Xian picked up a sharp stone from the ground, using the wall as a blackboard, and wrote out his thoughts:

October 17, 2024, Gauss injected himself with the Anti-Hibernation Virus, officially beginning his “200-Year Equality of Life and Death Plan.”

January 17, 2025, after the three-month incubation period, the virus in Gauss’s body became infectious. He went to crowded places like airports, ports, terminals, squares, and crossroads—it didn’t matter where. That day, he infected tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of travelers from around the world.

April 17, 2025, after another three months, those tens or hundreds of thousands of infected travelers spread the virus, and it broke out globally. In just one day, the Anti-Hibernation Virus swept across the world. Anyone infected could no longer enter hibernation.

Thus began the “200-Year Hibernation Ban.”

And today, the current date…

It’s April 10, 2025.

Too late.

At this point, it was too late to do anything.

Gauss’s move was indeed sinister but brilliant.

In an era when hibernation technology was still in its infancy, a virus that only prevented hibernation but had no other harmful effects wouldn’t attract much attention.

For most people, hibernation was an optional technology—something they could take or leave.

The only people who genuinely needed hibernation were two groups:

Patients with incurable diseases.

People like Lin Xian, who had important missions and responsibilities.

But together, these two groups made up less than 0.01% of the world’s population.

Lin Xian sat, deep in thought. His voice was quiet, almost a mutter, as he said, “There’s one thing I still don’t understand.”

Mai Mai looked up at him from her book, waiting.

“Mai Mai already proved that Gauss’s Anti-Hibernation Virus would only last for 200 years…” Lin Xian’s brow furrowed. “Did Gauss know that?”

After a pause, he nodded to himself. “He probably did. After all, he created the virus. And even if he hadn’t known, he could have used that one last opportunity to ask Einstein about it.”

Lin Xian’s eyes clouded with confusion as he spoke aloud, more to himself than anyone else, “But what was the point of just 200 years of equality? In the grand scheme of human history, 200 years is hardly even a blink. After that, people would still be able to hibernate again, and inequality would return. Didn’t Gauss care about that? Was 200 years enough for him?”

He closed his eyes, trying to think. He stayed like that for several moments, as if something was beginning to dawn on him.

“Could Gauss have been targeting us?” Lin Xian finally spoke, his voice low. “Two hundred years may mean little to human civilization, but for the Genius Club, it’s devastating.”

He looked up, his face solemn as he continued. “From Gauss’s perspective, two hundred years without hibernation would be enough to kill off every single one of us, including Einstein. Could it be that Gauss thought we, the members of the Genius Club, were the biggest cause of inequality in the world? Like Copernicus, who was willing to kill indiscriminately, Turing, who pursued digital immortality, or Musk, who decided the future direction of humanity. Did Gauss think we interfered too much, that we were the real problem?”

Lin Xian shook his head, his lips pressed into a thin line. It was no use trying to guess Gauss’s motives now. Many things were beyond change at this point.

But there was still an urgent problem in front of him—what should he do now?

He opened his eyes, staring ahead, a deep worry shadowing his expression. The virus would spread across the world on April 17th, which meant it would infect him, Ying Jun, and little Yu Xi. If they couldn’t enter the hibernation chamber before that happened, then… all his plans would be gone, like smoke in the wind.

He wouldn’t be able to use the Time Travel Machine to return to 1952. He wouldn’t be able to find the Millennial Stake to save Chu An Qing. He wouldn’t be able to prevent humanity’s extinction 600 years in the future. He would fail—

He couldn’t save the future. He couldn’t stop the World-Ending White Light. He couldn’t save An Qing. He couldn’t change fate. He couldn’t shift the world line.

Gauss’s silent virus bomb had ruined all of Lin Xian’s plans.

“What should I do?” Lin Xian whispered to himself, his voice filled with desperation.

If he entered the hibernation chamber before April 17th, everything would go according to plan. But if he did, it would mean leaving Yu Xi behind. He couldn’t do that.

The Hibernation Manual was very clear. The minimum hibernation age was three years; in extreme cases, no less than one. Infants under a year old could not enter the hibernation chamber under any circumstances. The underdeveloped meninges of a child that young would absorb the chamber’s chemicals, causing irreversible damage—even brain death.

But if he didn’t go into hibernation… it meant giving up on saving the world. Giving up on the future. Giving up on his promise to Chu Shan He. He would just live his life in the present, an ordinary, powerless man, spending his time with his family, with the people he loved.

It was too hard a choice to make.

The more he thought about it, the more tangled his mind became. In frustration, he got up and walked over to where Mai Mai was sitting.

“Is there any way to avoid getting infected by the Anti-Hibernation Virus?” he asked. “Like staying in a sterile room or something?”

Mai Mai looked up from her book—”Devouring Heaven Demon Emperor”—and shook her head. “That won’t work,” she said. “I’ve really looked into it, for the book. You have to trust me. During those two hundred years, scientists tried every kind of experiment you can imagine, including complete isolation. But it didn’t work. This virus is just too powerful. It can use almost anything as a host—humans, animals, plants, dust, insects, probiotics, fungi, even other viruses.”

She closed her book, looking at Lin Xian seriously. “If there really was a way to isolate it, humanity wouldn’t have had to wait 200 years for it to lose its potency and transmission. Honestly, most people didn’t even care about this virus. If they couldn’t hibernate, they couldn’t. It wasn’t the end of the world.”

Mai Mai shrugged and gave a small smile. “For me, I was looking forward to centuries in the future. I wanted to make a big splash in a revival of fantasy literature—that’s why I hibernated. But if I couldn’t hibernate… I would have kept living, kept writing even if no one read my work. Life isn’t so terrible just because you can’t hibernate.”

Lin Xian nodded. He understood that. It was Gauss’s smartest move—to make the virus not seem like a big deal, something that no one cared about. He had subtly influenced society, achieved equality in the quietest, most unnoticed way possible.

But… Lin Xian’s situation was different. He had promised Chu Shan He that he would save Chu An Qing. He had also promised Ying Jun that he would always be there for Yu Xi.

And Ying Jun had reminded him over and over—if he had the power to change things, if he could save everyone, then he had a duty to do so. He had to be responsible. He had to be a leader, a savior.

So what should he do? Should he save Chu An Qing and the future of humanity? Or stay with Ying Jun and Yu Xi, to live a happy life with his family?

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Suddenly, everything was engulfed in a blinding white light, vaporizing everything in sight.

…

…

…

Lin Xian opened his eyes, lying in his bedroom. He quickly sat up, looking at the clock by his bed. It was April 11th, 2025, 00:42. Another day had passed. There were only six days left until Gauss’s virus outbreak.

He got out of bed, walked into the living room, and sat down on the couch. A few moments later, Zhao Ying Jun came out of the kitchen, holding a cup of hot milk. She set it down gently on the coffee table in front of him.

“Why aren’t you asleep?” Lin Xian asked, concerned.

Ying Jun smiled softly. “I was asleep. Our daughter woke me up.”

She touched her swollen belly, her expression filled with love. “Yu Xi has been moving a lot lately. She’s most active at night. It feels like she can’t wait to meet us.”

She looked at the time, almost 00:42, and decided to get Lin Xian some warm milk. She gave him a teasing look, “What’s going on with you today? Usually, when you wake up from a dream, you go straight to the study to analyze things. But today, you’re sitting here in the living room? Did something happen in your dream? Did that writer Mai Mai remember anything new?”

Lin Xian smiled, rubbing his forehead. “She remembered all her failures, and her editor told her she was from 200 years ago.”

Ying Jun laughed. “That’s harsh. Actually… I wanted to share some good news with you. It was supposed to be for tomorrow, but since we’re up now, I’ll tell you.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement. “It’s about our daughter’s birthday.”

Lin Xian looked up, curious. “What is it?”

“The doctor did a full checkup today,” Ying Jun said, her smile radiant. “Yu Xi is perfectly healthy. She’s developing well and is in the perfect position for a normal delivery. Today, they even calculated her exact due date.”

Ying Jun moved closer to Lin Xian, taking his hand and placing it on her belly. “Can you feel her? She’s kicking again. She’s eager to meet us.”

Lin Xian swallowed, his heart pounding. “The due date… When is it?”

Ying Jun smiled softly and whispered, “April 17th. That’s our daughter’s birthday.”