LRAB Chapter 519: Newton
Chapter 519: Newton
Chapter 519: Newton
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
Einstein’s thin arms trembled against the armrests as he rose from his chair. His voice was shaky:
“Rhine...”
His entire body quivered.
“No...”
With his right hand, he gripped the mask labeled Sorrowful Einstein on his face and slowly lifted it away, letting it fall to the floor. What lay beneath was a face Lin Xian knew all too well.
Three centuries ago, back in 1952, Lin Xian had seen that same face many times: the face of one of the greatest physicists in history—
Albert Einstein.
He truly was immortal.
Time seemed to have stopped for him.
His appearance, his hair, even the lines on his face—identical to the elder Lin Xian had met in 1952.
Until this moment, nobody would have guessed that under the Einstein mask...was Einstein himself!
What an almost laughably clever trick, so plainly deceptive that it bordered on genius.
Still...he had hidden his piercing blue eyes to avoid suspicion.
Now, those ageless eyes locked onto Lin Xian’s from across the carpet, bridging three centuries of history. Einstein’s lips trembled, and in a raspy, disbelieving voice, he managed:
“Doug...Douglas?”
Lin Xian nodded and smiled slightly.
“Einstein, it’s been a long time,” he replied. “I told you I’d come back for the watch. Have you...kept it safe for me?”
Einstein bit his lip, covered his eyes, and sank back into his chair. Lin Xian couldn’t see his face, but he could feel the depth of Einstein’s emotion—pain, more than excitement or relief at their reunion. It was a hurt so deep it seemed to weigh on his soul.
Perhaps in those three hundred years, Einstein had yearned for Douglas’s return, yet also feared it. In 1952, Einstein had never believed they would meet again—though Douglas had insisted they would...
When two possible futures collide, one must be false.
If...
If everything he had seen was untrue...then what had his efforts meant all this time?
“No, Douglas, something’s wrong.”
Einstein looked up, his once-bright blue eyes filled with grief.
“You were struck by spacetime particles too, so why...why are your eyes black again?”
Lin Xian shook his head.
“Remember the last question I asked you at the Genius Club gathering? Back then, I thought you were lying, but now I know—you weren’t lying. You really couldn’t see that piece of history.”
“In 1952, there was a girl who turned into blue stardust and disappeared. Another spacetime particle didn’t hit me; it hit her. You can see all possible futures, so you must know—I just returned from 1952 using a time machine.”
“That’s why your perception was wrong. You missed the key part of history while you were unconscious. The truth is: Douglas wasn’t originally from 1952. He was a time traveler. In other words...me.”
“My blue eyes weren’t caused by spacetime particles like yours, but by spacetime rejection. You’re brilliant, at the pinnacle of human intellect. I’ve explained enough for you to connect the dots, haven’t I?”
...
As he listened to Lin Xian—his old friend “Douglas”—Einstein closed his eyes and lowered his head, like a child realizing he’d made a terrible mistake. For the past three centuries, he had never stopped hoping Douglas would return. But no matter how the worldline shifted, no matter how the future changed, he never once saw Douglas again. It was as though his friend had simply vanished.
Still, he refused to give up. Just as Lin Xian had said, Einstein rebuilt the farm over and over, each time replicating every fence post, every brick and tile, every detail of 1952. Even the layout of the rooms and the elevator stayed exactly the same. He wanted to preserve that place for the day Douglas might come back. He was afraid that if Douglas returned to a modern Brooklyn, he wouldn’t recognize anything at all.
Deep down, Einstein knew that if Douglas ever reappeared, there could only be one reason—just as there was now. Lin Xian had arrived with the missing piece of history and come as “Douglas” to reclaim the watch. The truth stood before him, undeniable.
“Your watch, I’ve kept it safe.”
Einstein, still seated on the plain black wooden chair, pointed a frail arm at a device on the corner table—a spacetime particle capturer.
“I’ll admit, I never truly believed you’d return for it, but I’ve never broken my promise. Even without seeing this moment, I kept my word.”
Click.
A faint static crackled. Instantly, the computers, monitors, and servers that lay dormant around them began to hum and whir. Something was coming online. With a final, heavy breath, Einstein rolled onto his back, utterly spent. This was all he had left to give—one last effort to help Douglas, one final hope that his mistakes might be repaired.
“I’m sorry...for everything...” he managed, voice trembling.
Then, in a flurry of glimmering blue fragments, Einstein’s form dissolved. The stardust shimmered, swirled, and disappeared. Lin Xian knelt there in shock, unable to stop it or even say goodbye properly. It had all happened so fast. He hadn’t even gleaned the answers he needed before Einstein was gone.
Someone had orchestrated this, Lin Xian realized. It was deliberate. Standing up, he turned to see the servers flickering with life. This was Einstein’s final clue, his dying gift to Douglas—something so important he used his last breath to make sure Lin Xian saw it.
A pair of soft beeps echoed. The machines stabilized. Then, brilliant lights burst into the air, projecting vivid holograms across the walls. All at once, the dark underground room transformed into a grand golden hall:
The Genius Club’s meeting room.
Lin Xian recognized it right away, almost like he was stepping back into the club’s gatherings of the past. He glanced at the eight black chairs—a row of four on the left and four on the right—where eight geniuses from different eras had once gathered.
But there was no Einstein. No formal invitations. And it wasn’t even 00:42, their usual meeting time. Would anyone truly come? Lin Xian lifted his gaze to the lavish crystal chandelier overhead. Thin beams of light danced across his face, and a virtual Rhine Cat mask appeared over his features. He was, once again, the ninth member of the Genius Club—No. 9 Rhine.
Yet, what was the point of a meeting with only one attendee?
He strolled across the carpet and sat, not in his usual last seat on the far right, but in Einstein’s chair—No. 1. Gazing at the closed double doors at the other end of the hallway, he sighed.
“No one’s coming to this meeting,” he muttered.
Copernicus, Da Vinci, Gauss, and Turing were all gone. Einstein had been taken by Forced Evasion. Newton, Galileo, and Jask were still alive, but how would they know that this system was suddenly back online?
Then—
Creeeak...
Those very doors swung open, pushed by two firm hands.
Lin Xian looked up.
A young man wearing a Newton mask stepped in with calm confidence. It was No. 3 Newton.
“Haha!” he chuckled, strolling across the carpet and giving Lin Xian a slow clap. “So the Genius Club is meeting again! Einstein never made mistakes, so if something unpredictable is happening, there’s only one explanation.”
He stopped, eyes gleaming through the mask.
“Rhine, where is Einstein? And why are you in his seat?”
Lin Xian let out a weary breath. Through the holographic cat mask, he looked at Newton.
“Einstein has left this world,” he said simply.
“Oh ho?” Newton replied, not sounding surprised at all as he continued his casual approach.
“So, he’s gone. In that case, someone must have stepped into his place and rebooted the club.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Rhine, was it you? Did you find Einstein, kill him, and crown yourself our new president?”
Lin Xian shook his head.
“I have no intention of taking over,” he answered quietly.
“Hahaha, is that so?” Newton said, spreading his arms wide in an almost theatrical gesture. “Then why are you sitting in his chair?”
He shrugged.
“But since I’m feeling adventurous, I’ll switch seats too.”
With that, he walked across the lush carpet to the chair opposite Einstein’s—No. 2, once Copernicus’s place. He sat down. Then, with a careless motion, he pulled off the mask bearing Newton’s face and tossed it onto the empty No. 3 seat. It hit with a dull thump before sliding to the floor.
Smirking, the young man ran a hand through his hair and crossed his legs. He looked at Lin Xian with a sly grin.
“Let’s reintroduce ourselves, Lin Xian,” he said smoothly.
“From now on, you can call me...Copernicus!”