Genius Club-Chapter 290 - 10 Loser_3

If you do mind it...

When this thing isn’t happy, it goes straight to pulling the plug and sounding the alarm, and then those unidentified flying objects zoom in with their lasers, quite frightening.

To mind or not to mind, what exactly should one do?

Lin Xian massaged his temples, genuinely not having expected that a once high-and-mighty five-star good citizen would now be stumped by a trash can.

He sighed.

Lin Xian propped himself on his knees and slowly crouched down, looking at the trash can robot that was within arm’s reach:

"Big brother... what in the world do you want to do?"

Hm?

Lin Xian blinked.

Only upon getting closer, face to face, did Lin Xian clearly see the details of this trash can robot.

It really was very old, with rust stains in many places on its shell.

Such antiquated stuff seemed out of place in this advanced science fiction City in the Sky.

And...

Because Lin Xian had just thrown it down from the high platform, its head was dented, and several pieces of metal had fallen off, exposing the metallic nameplate inside.

Lin Xian leaned in a bit more, looking at the nameplate through the cracks in the metal. The inscription was also rust-stained but still legible—

[Micro Waste Treatment Robot - VV]

?

VV?

Lin Xian looked at the familiar name.

This...

Wasn’t VV supposed to be the long-haired, bearded, decadent man mentioned by CC... that is, very likely the future me?

Why is this trash can also called VV?

Lin Xian studied the nameplate’s format closely and realized VV must be the model of this particular robot.

But could it really be such a coincidence?

He turned his head to look at the Zhao Yingjun statue erected in the very center of the plaza, then back at the waste treatment robot before him with the model number VV...

This shouldn’t be a coincidence.

According to Zhao Yingjun’s design, since she had deliberately left the gap in the air defense net right above the statue, it indicated that she intended for Lin Xian to parachute from the sky and land right at her statue.

Under such precise planning, every step must hold its special significance!

Moreover...

There was not a soul around the entire statue. Even though there had been quite a few people around the plaza when he looked from above just moments before.

Besides, Lin Xian noticed something else odd.

Whether looking up from the ground or from the sky above, this City in the Sky was filled with flying vehicles zipping between skyscrapers.

There were cars, robots, buses, and some other things he couldn’t understand.

But now...

The area surrounding this plaza, including the sky overhead, was eerily quiet, with not a single flying vehicle in sight.

Could it be that, for safety reasons, flying over the plaza was prohibited in Rhine Sky City?

But anyhow...

This trash can robot was the only thing that appeared near the Zhao Yingjun statue.

There was no flow of people, no traffic, no other notable things around—only such an outdated and somewhat dim-witted trash can robot...

And its model number was, by chance, VV.

So.

Could it be...

This trash can robot was the clue Zhao Yingjun had left for him? Was this the extensively hidden, time-spanning gift from 600 years ago?

"Could there be something hidden inside this trash can?"

Lin Xian pondered, touching the robot’s flattened head...

When he had thrown it off a several-meter-high platform, landing it half-dead, it hadn’t sounded the alarm.

Yet by simply hanging it in a tree, it had triggered the alert.

So, its alarm mechanism must be related to being suspended in air? Or perhaps to being unable to move?

As long as he made sure it stayed on the ground in a movable state, could he then destroy it as he pleased?

"Let’s try it, it doesn’t matter if it goes wrong, I can come back tomorrow."

Although Lin Xian wasn’t sure if he could accurately find the gap’s location the next day, he had a rough idea of the direction, and he was confident that he could make it in at least five or six times out of ten attempts.

No sooner said than done.

"Sorry about this."

Lin Xian pried the robot’s clamp off his ankle and then lifted it high—slamming it down hard!

Bang!!

The trash can broke into a few more pieces.

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

Its eyes were still green, staring at Lin Xian:

"Trash! Trash! Trash detected!"

Good.

He guessed right.

As long as it was not in a suspended, immovable state, it wouldn’t trigger an alarm.

Lin Xian lifted it once more and slammed it down fiercely!

Slammed it down fiercely!

In passing, he even sought out a stone platform’s edge to slam it down, to make dismantling it a bit more thorough.

Smash!

Smash!

Smash!

Finally...

With the last piece of circuit board shattered, the trash can robot completely lost its "life," its eyes forever dimmed... the tracks no longer twisted, and its mechanical claws hung motionless in the air.

Lin Xian rummaged through the parts on the ground, but didn’t find anything of use at all.

He didn’t find anything meaningful in other parts of the trash can robot either.

Lin Xian had searched every nook and cranny, even sticking his head into the trash can for a thorough inspection... still no clues were uncovered.

"Alright, I might really have guessed wrong," he said apologetically, patting the carcass of the trash can robot:

"Sorry, I wronged you. I’ll put you back together tomorrow."

He thought it over carefully.

Perhaps it really was just the fall he had taken earlier, which caused the already old robot to malfunction and its programming to go haywire.

Think of it from another angle.

If Zhao Yingjun truly wanted to leave him a message, a password, it wouldn’t likely be hidden so blatantly.

The gaps in the air defense network were so subtly designed, the difficulty so high, this suggested... Zhao Yingjun might also have her own unspeakable difficulties, and might be under surveillance or control by someone or some organization.

So, even if she wanted to transcend time and space to leave him some information, she couldn’t make it too obvious, or else it would probably be discovered by the enemy before he could find it.

Enemy?

Lin Xian suddenly thought of this word.

Zhao Yingjun had the capability to construct thousands of nuclear fusion engines, to create a City in the Sky that dominated the world, who else could be her enemy?

Who had that capability?

At this thought...

Lin Xian slowly raised his head to look up at something higher than the City in the Sky, at a presence that needed to be gazed up at even more than the statues—

The moon.

At this time, it was the deep of night.

The round disc had already moved to the middle of the night sky, with a black hand stretching across the north and south poles of the moon pointing straight at the starry sky, looking down on everything with arrogance and disdain.

"It seems, only you are worthy..."

Lin Xian squinted his eyes, gazing at the familiar yet unattainable seal:

"Genius Club."

He had a vague feeling.

Perhaps, the reason the world of the Third Dreamland had become this way, why Rhine Sky City existed, the statue of Zhao Yingjun and the challenging puzzles deliberately left for him... they seemed to all recount the same sad history.

This was a war with the Genius Club, one that was overt and covert for himself, Zhao Yingjun, and the entire world.

In a history where the outcome was already decided, a history of kings and losers...

He was the "loser."

But...

Zhao Yingjun, it seemed, had not given up.

She still held hope for this world, still believed that one day on August 28, 2624, on the last day of the end of the world, he would come here to meet her again, and he would change everything...

"When you talked about leaving MX Company, I was a bit reluctant," she had said.

"This might be the most special birthday present I’ve ever received, these flowers... I might remember them for a long time."

"Why don’t you teach me to drive? I find drifting, that feeling of speeding and overtaking, quite interesting."

"I don’t really care about winning or losing. I’ve lost many times in my over twenty years of life. But... I just don’t want to lose to her."

"On May 20, 2023, you took the most memorable step of your life, finding the thing you truly wanted to do, giving your company a name you liked. I’m really happy for you."

Zhao Yingjun’s words lingered by his ear.

"So... let’s shake hands then."

She laughed softly and extended her right hand:

"I am honored to be a witness to your success."

...

Lin Xian turned back.

Behind him, the statue of Zhao Yingjun stood towering above the plaza, year after year watching the sparse lights in the distant night, gazing upon the old Eastern Sea that had seen millennia, those 600 years of bygone times...

"You will do it."

Lin Xian turned around, standing upright in front of Zhao Yingjun’s towering statue:

"This time... I don’t want to lose either!"