Genius Club

A flash of lightning briefly illuminated the room.

Lin Xian jumped up, heart pounding, as he recoiled in shock.

Someone else was lurking in the office!

Initially, the sight of high heels and earrings led him to believe that Zhao Ying Jun was waiting for him, possibly as part of a trap laid by the Genius Club. However, a closer look at the woman’s face made him realize she was not Zhao Ying Jun.

She was fuller and appeared older, likely in her thirties, contrasting sharply with the 24-year-old Zhao Ying Jun.

Though her face wasn’t clear, her beauty was undeniable, especially her crystal blue eyes that seemed almost otherworldly, their depth akin to endlessly flowing molten glass.

Relieved that she wasn’t Zhao Ying Jun, Lin Xian found the prospect of confronting a stranger less daunting than someone familiar. It seemed less threatening.

But then he wondered…

Zhao Ying Jun had secured the office with a complex password known only to them.

Her presence raised questions about her intentions and whether she was an ally or adversary.

Lin Xian remained silent, observing her as she sat on the sofa.

Outside, the sound of rain against the glass began to wane.

As the rain let up, the curtain of raindrops cleared from the window, and the clouds parted.

The obscured waning moon emerged, casting a slanted beam of moonlight into the office, illuminating the rhythmic sway of the woman’s high heels.

“Are you looking for this?”

Her voice broke the silence as she picked up a dark red invitation from the sofa, waving it nonchalantly.

The invitation, half-opened, fluttered like a clamshell.

It bore no wax seal.

Golden characters on the back glimmered faintly in the moonlight.

She remained shadowed, the moonlight slowly traversing, revealing only her high heels and the edge of her draped clothes…

Lin Xian was puzzled by her familiarity with him.

Though they had never met, she knew his name.

He hadn’t uttered a word, yet she knew he was here for the Genius Club’s invitation.

How did she know he would come today?

“There’s no need to be so tense, Lin Xian. I’m not your enemy,” she assured him with a smile, tossing the invitation onto Zhao Ying Jun’s desk.

“That invitation is fake.” As Lin Xian reached for it, her tone deepened, “I left it at the front desk.”

“Fake?” Lin Xian, bewildered by the moonlight, asked, “Why would you leave it there?”

“To pique your interest.” She shifted, her leg draping over the side of the sofa, “Securing a real Genius Club invitation isn’t easy, but it’s not too hard for someone like you…”

“Well, sorry, but your plan didn’t work,” Lin Xian retorted, “I’m not interested in joining the Genius Club, and I don’t think much of it.”

“You’re already in too deep…” She leaned forward, her face still concealed, her gaze locked on him, “Lin Xian, you can choose to stay in this whirlpool of mysteries, remain static, or drift like an ant. But you can’t avoid being pulled in… History is relentless; you can neither resist nor escape it. To find the answers… the simplest path is to secure a real Genius Club invitation.”

“Why should I believe you?” Lin Xian stepped closer in the moonlight, “From your words, it sounds like the Genius Club is some sort of noble organization?”

“That’s for you to discover and judge,” she replied calmly.

“Or I could choose not to explore, not to judge.” Lin Xian shrugged, smiling, “Honestly, most of this doesn’t concern me. Why should I get involved?”

“Even if you don’t seek trouble, trouble will find you. Maybe you haven’t realized it yet… but your cat-and-mouse game has already begun,” she stood up from the sofa.

She walked toward the window where Lin Xian stood, picked up the dark red invitation from Zhao Ying Jun’s desk with two fingers, and stepped into the moonlight.

Her crystal blue eyes glowed once more in the moonlight… Suddenly, they were inches from his own.

The dark red invitation was pressed to her chest as Lin Xian reached out to catch it.

“I’ll be waiting for you at the Genius Club.” Her smile was captivating, her fragrance lingering in Lin Xian’s nostrils: “Don’t keep me waiting too long.”

With that, she turned to leave. Her silky hair brushed against Lin Xian’s cheek, carrying the sweet scent of white camellias.

Lin Xian inhaled deeply.

This scent… although slightly different from CC’s, was unmistakably white camellia.

“What exactly is your purpose?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“How can I get a real invitation?”

“I can’t say.”

Lin Xian chuckled, tossing the invitation onto the desk: “If you won’t tell me anything, then you can wait at the Genius Club forever.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, Lin Xian.” She paused, turning her head, “I just can’t. You’re already very close to the answer… Instead of questioning here, why not go back and ponder the laws of space-time? The laws of space-time are much more crucial and stringent than you think. Almost all the answers are hidden within them… But for now, your grasp of space-time laws is too superficial. Especially the law of space-time elasticity… It’s a critical law, why not delve deeper into it?”

Listening to her words, Lin Xian felt his certainty ebbing once more.

The term “space-time elasticity” was his own creation, something he had theorized and summarized himself. No one else had mentioned it before. Yet this woman knew it intimately.

“Who exactly are you?” Lin Xian squinted at her retreating figure.

“A mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the yellow finch behind…” She smiled, opening the coded door: “Next time we meet, just call me Yellow Finch.”

Bang!

The heavy coded door closed firmly.

The moonlight finally broke fully through the clouds, flooding the office with a frosty glow.

The digital clock on the desk displayed the time—00:42

End of Volume One: The Yellow Finch, to be continued.

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