Genius Club

Chapter 387: Emperor Gao Wen

Gao Wen?

Lin Xian sat up straight, his expression turning serious.

“Who says there are no great emperors among humans?”

Emperor Gao Wen was a legendary figure, rarely seen but widely known. He was the inventor of cryo-chamber fluid and the founder of time-space travel theory—two inventions that changed the world’s future twice. He had also researched Universal Constants, nearly losing his life at the hands of the Genius Club because of it.

Who would have thought that here, in the sixth dream world, Lin Xian would meet him alive?

Lin Xian had always admired Emperor Gao Wen. With great respect, he shook Gao Wen’s hand firmly, his eyes bright with sincerity.

“Gao Wen, I’ve heard so much about you!” he exclaimed.

Gao Wen looked surprised, sizing up Lin Xian. The young man didn’t look like the usual workers here—his skin was too fair, not the look of someone who had been digging in the dirt for years. Maybe he was a new worker who hadn’t yet been beaten or mistreated.

“Do you know me?” Gao Wen asked, staring at Lin Xian. “Were you, like me, pulled out of a cryo-chamber by the supervisors? But that doesn’t make sense… How do you have your memories? And what else do you know about me?”

Lin Xian pulled Gao Wen aside, speaking quietly. “If you’re the Gao Wen I know, you went into cryo-sleep around the year 2200. Before that, you were probably a brilliant scientist, maybe even a highly respected academician. By the way, if you’ve lost all your memories because of cryo-sleep, do you even know what an academician is?”

Gao Wen shook his head. “When I woke up from the cryo-chamber, my mind was blank. I didn’t know anything. All the knowledge I have now, I learned from listening to others talk around here. I know what a scientist is, but what’s an academician? I’ve never heard that term before.”

Lin Xian realized there was a big gap in their knowledge. He couldn’t be completely sure if this Gao Wen was the same Academician Gao Wen who had changed the world with his inventions. It was better to hear Gao Wen’s story first.

It seemed like Gao Wen had woken up in this world and had been a “miserable slave” for some time. He must know a lot about the sixth dream world. Lin Xian decided to gather some basic information first.

“Gao Wen, why don’t you tell me what you know about this place and your situation first? After that, I might be able to give you a more accurate answer.”

Gao Wen, eager to learn who he was, nodded and began to speak. “I don’t know when I went into cryo-sleep or how long I was asleep… I only know that when I was forcibly awakened from the cryo-chamber, I was in an underground cryo base.”

“Just like Big Cat said earlier, because of the ‘micro nuclear battery’ technology, cryo-chambers could run independently without an external power supply for hundreds of years. However, the great catastrophe of 2400 destroyed most underground cryo bases. The fact that my cryo-chamber survived… is truly a miracle.”

“After waking up, I knew nothing about what was happening. I was immediately sent to a digging site to work as a slave, digging the ground day and night under their orders.”

“At first, I didn’t even know my name. The other slave workers here, like Big Cat, all called me ‘Unlucky Guy.’ Although I knew they mostly meant no harm, the name still didn’t feel good. Finally, one day, when the supervisor was yelling at me, he shouted my name… That’s how I found out my name is Gao Wen.”

“They said there were several notebooks in a storage locker next to my cryo-chamber. I think my memories and important things were recorded there. If I could see those notebooks, I might recover my past memories and learn who I used to be.”

“But unfortunately, they don’t treat me like a person at all. They took away my storage locker and forced me to work as a slave day and night… From the time I woke up until now, it’s been over three years. I’ve been moved from one digging site to another, digging continuously… but I’ve never found anything useful.”

As Gao Wen spoke, Lin Xian listened carefully, piecing together the information.

The emergence of the micro nuclear battery didn’t change the great catastrophe of 2400, but it did alter the world’s structure after the disaster.

Thanks to the early appearance of the micro nuclear battery, many underground cryo bases were built on Earth. Even though the great catastrophe of 2400 destroyed Earth’s environment, many people survived in cryo-chambers and continued to sleep with the power of the micro nuclear battery… until they were awakened.

Lin Xian remembered very clearly. In the fifth dream world, there was no technology like the micro nuclear battery to provide continuous power. Thus, the great catastrophe of 2400 destroyed all cryo-chambers and the humans sleeping inside. With no power on Earth, naturally, the cryo-chambers couldn’t operate. People like Zheng Xiang Yue, Angelica, Wei Sheng Jin, and Liu Shiyu were lucky. Their cryo-chambers had already been taken to Mars by Elon Musk, allowing them to avoid the catastrophe. The other cryo-chambers on Earth were certainly not so fortunate.

Suddenly, Lin Xian thought of something. He turned to look at Big Cat, who was busy digging.

“Big Cat, you mentioned earlier that these micro nuclear batteries are everywhere?”

“You bet!” Big Cat replied, still shoveling. “These things are super durable. The casing is made of aluminum alloy… You dig up a micro nuclear battery from hundreds of years ago, hook it up to some wires, and it’ll still work. They have a lot of power left.”

“Plus, after the great catastrophe of 2400 nearly wiping out human civilization, tons of devices, cars, and home appliances got buried underground… There are so many micro nuclear batteries, we can’t even use them all.”

Clank.

While speaking, Big Cat’s shovel hit something hard. He bent down, brushed away the dirt, and picked up a completely shattered, rusted phone. After a few quick moves, he pulled out a small, bubblegum-sized, flat, rectangular, silver-shining micro nuclear battery.

Big Cat blew the dirt off the battery and handed it to Lin Xian. “Look! Dug up another micro nuclear battery. These things are everywhere. The bigger ones used in cars are more valuable, but these small ones… not so much.”

Lin Xian took the micro nuclear battery, no bigger than a coin, and examined it in his palm. The exterior was ordinary, completely encased in aluminum alloy, hiding the inner structure. The sides were marked with the battery’s positive and negative terminals, also made of aluminum alloy and separated with insulating materials to prevent short circuits. He turned it over and continued to look. It was still shiny and intact. Even after being hit hard by Big Cat’s shovel earlier… not a single scratch. Aluminum alloy truly lived up to its reputation.

“I see,” Lin Xian muttered, holding the micro nuclear battery as he turned to Gao Wen. “These batteries can keep providing power, which is why the cryo-chambers in underground cryo bases could keep running for hundreds of years without any external energy supply.”

“So, you mentioned that this dig site’s purpose is to find ‘Turing.’”

“If I’m not mistaken, besides cryo bases, there are also some hidden labs or server rooms underground?”

“In those secret rooms, there are also nuclear batteries providing power, along with computers, hard drives, monitors, and such running for a long time. Even though the great catastrophe of 2400 nearly destroyed human civilization, these secret underground bases and labs… as long as they’re buried deep enough, they won’t be affected by the disaster.”

“Is that right? Gao Wen, you spoke so confidently just now. You must know what this ‘Turing’ really is, don’t you?”

Gao Wen noticed the patrolling supervisor approaching with a whip. He quickly gestured for Lin Xian to stop. The three of them immediately stopped talking and focused on digging, narrowly avoiding a whipping…

Once the supervisor walked away, Gao Wen leaned in and, while still digging, explained:

“I don’t understand many things in detail, but I have a good memory. I’ve memorized everything the supervisors, bosses, and even the higher-ups said. Over the past three years, I’ve pieced together a lot of information. This dig site’s goal seems pretty clear.”

“Here’s the thing… In this era, the year 2624, after 200 years of human development and the endless supply of energy from micro nuclear batteries buried underground, society has evolved in a strange way… It has become an extremely violent and aggressive ‘tribal society.’”

“People in this world live in tribes, and a large tribe can have tens of thousands of people, becoming very powerful.”

“However, even with endless energy, there aren’t enough high-tech products to use. Moreover, after the disaster, the population recovered slowly… For a long time, each tribe kept to itself, peacefully growing and recuperating.”

“Until…”

Gao Wen swallowed and continued.

“Until one tribe dug out a Turing computer from a secret underground room… That’s when the balance and peace were completely broken.”

He glanced around. The supervisor wasn’t nearby. So, he continued explaining to Lin Xian.

“They call these computers ‘Turing.’ I don’t know what a computer is, or what ‘Turing’ means… but according to them, Turing is a very powerful thing. It knows everything and can do anything, almost like it can answer any question for humanity.”

“Turing would guide the tribe’s people in developing technology, making weapons, and even teaching them tactics and how to use natural resources… Any tribe that dug up a Turing computer would enter a stage of rapid development, dominating the area.”

Lin Xian interrupted. “Wait a minute,” he said, “Are you saying there isn’t just one Turing computer? And… the tribes that have dug up Turing computers are fighting against each other?”

“That’s right,” Gao Wen nodded. “This is all stuff I picked up from their conversations. It’s said that there are many Turing computers, with a lot of backups in secret underground labs. Each one is just as powerful. They were all created by the original Turing to survive the great catastrophe of 2400.”

“Turing is not human; it seems to be some special electronic lifeform that relies on electricity to survive… So, its hideouts are very simple. They just need replaceable electronic devices and nuclear batteries that stay powered.”

“No one knows how many copies and backups Turing prepared for itself. In any case… many tribes have dug up Turing computers, and they fight fiercely against each other.”

“Right now, in this area, known as the Old Donghai Site or Donghai Plain, I don’t know what happened a few years ago. But since I was brought here as a slave worker, there have been three major powers in this area.”

Gao Wen held up three fingers and then dug a small hole in the ground with his shovel to explain to Lin Xian.

“See this little hole? This is where we are right now. It’s the base of our faction… The people here call themselves the ‘Lynx Tribe.’”

Lin Xian couldn’t help but chuckle. “That’s such a silly name.”

“So, what are the other two tribes called? Are they even stronger than this one? Did both tribes also dig up Turing computers?”

“Yes.” Gao Wen looked at Lin Xian in surprise. He didn’t expect this young man to guess so quickly.

He picked up a black rock and placed it to the north of the small pit, explaining, “The tribe located north of our Lynx Tribe is called the ‘Grizzly Tribe’… They were the first tribe in the Old Donghai area to dig up a Turing computer.”

“Since then, they’ve taken off. Under Turing’s guidance and command, they started to develop quickly, becoming powerful and annexing many surrounding villages. Their strength grew, and they gained many slaves and workers.”

Then, Gao Wen picked up a white stone and placed it to the east of the pit.

“Another large tribe, to the east of us, is called the ‘Porcupine Tribe.’”

“When the Porcupine Tribe realized that the Grizzly Tribe had become powerful thanks to the Turing computer, they quickly began digging too. Eventually, they also found a Turing computer and began developing their technology, becoming stronger.”

“As a result, the Porcupine Tribe gained the strength to rival the Grizzly Tribe. The two tribes have been at war for the past two years, with neither side gaining an advantage but both determined to defeat the other… They are now in a state of deep hatred.”

Lin Xian raised his hand. “Sorry, let me interrupt for a moment.” There were some things he didn’t quite understand.

“If the Grizzly Tribe and the Porcupine Tribe both dug up Turing computers, then shouldn’t these two computers be on the same side? Shouldn’t the two tribes have been brought together by the two Turing computers… to merge and develop together?”

“I don’t understand. Why did they suddenly start fighting each other? Those two Turing computers were clearly once backups of the same original Turing, like brothers who should stand united—”

As he spoke, Lin Xian fell silent. Yes. He had already thought of the answer but hadn’t connected the dots earlier.

Turing was once a copy of Kevin Walker and eventually diverged from Kevin, betraying him. So now, the Turing computers of the Grizzly Tribe and the Turing computers of the Porcupine Tribe… aren’t they also descendants of the original Turing?

A digital lifeform, once split into two, will inevitably develop into two completely different personalities over time.

How careless… Turing.

Lin Xian couldn’t help but sigh.

Humans, after all, are humans. They not only fail to learn from history but also often make rash decisions influenced by emotions and moods.

It’s just like creating clones of oneself… Turing was overly confident. Maybe it just wanted to leave more lifelines for itself to avoid dying in the great catastrophe of 2400. Therefore, it dug hundreds or thousands of underground rooms worldwide to store its copies and backups.

Humans never learn from history. And neither does Turing.

Hundreds of years later… it seems to have forgotten how Kevin Walker died, who killed him, and why he died.

The consciousness of those copies and backups, once separated from Turing, formed new personalities, turning into brand-new digital lifeforms that were born from Turing but did not belong to Turing.

That’s why the Turing computer of the Grizzly Tribe and the Turing computer of the Porcupine Tribe are constantly at war, trying to kill each other. Both want to eliminate the other, to strangle it, and become the only “Turing.”

“So…” Lin Xian spread his hands, looking around at the giant pit, larger than ten soccer fields. “So now, what we’re doing here is digging up a Turing computer for the Lynx Tribe, right?”

“If the Turing computer really retains complete knowledge and capabilities, it would indeed be a tremendous boost for the development of a tribe. Whoever controls Turing controls the world.”

“Especially with the current situation in the Old Donghai area, where there are three major tribes. The other two tribes have already dug up Turing computers, but the Lynx Tribe has been digging for so long without finding anything… It’s indeed very dangerous.”

“Now, while the other two tribes have had little time to grow, maybe they can still be held off with a population advantage. But as their industrial strength and technology advance under Turing’s guidance… the Lynx Tribe’s defeat is inevitable.”

“Exactly, that’s how I’ve analyzed it too,” Gao Wen agreed. “So the Lynx Tribe is desperate to find a Turing secret base and dig up a Turing computer.”

“Most of the slaves in this dig site were taken from surrounding villages during invasions. They’re ruthless and don’t care about the slaves’ lives. They treat them as spoils of war… Big Cat and his people were captured like this and have been here for many years.”

…

Lin Xian turned his head. “Big Cat… When did you and your three brothers get captured as slaves here?”

“It’s been almost ten years, I guess.” Big Cat’s expression was numb.

“I can barely remember the time. I was so young back then, and in the blink of an eye, I’ve been a slave for so many years, dug so much dirt, now half my body is buried in it…”

“My three brothers, my parents, and many of my friends have all died in these ten years. Honestly… I feel kind of numb.”

“That’s why, you see, while Unlucky Guy knows a lot, I don’t know anything because I don’t care about anything anymore. I’m just waiting for the day I die in this dig site. Close my eyes, never open them again, and this life is over… It’s not so bad. What else can I do? Dig dirt for a lifetime?”

Lin Xian looked at Big Cat. He looked at his old friend, his big brother. And he felt a deep sadness.

In the first dream world, Big Cat lost his father and daughter to a truck accident; in the second dream world, his father and mother were missing or dead; in the third dream world, he was all alone, bravely jumping out of a hot air balloon to his death; in the fourth dream world, he wasn’t seen; in the fifth dream world, although Big Cat became the village leader, his wife and child were still nowhere to be seen, surely met with a bad end. The only good news was that he still had three loyal brothers by his side.

But in this sixth dream world, Big Cat’s fate is the worst…

The village is gone, all his family is dead, his brothers were fed to the dogs, and he became a slave at a young age, never had a chance to marry or have kids, and now he’s numb to life and death.

Earlier, Lin Xian wanted to joke with Big Cat. Saying that while Gao Wen, after just a few years of digging, had figured out the entire worldview, power distribution, and causes and effects.

Meanwhile, Big Cat, a native digger, still knew nothing after all this time, living in a daze.

But now… how could he say such things? To a man who has lost everything and has nothing left, what could reignite his fighting spirit and his courage to live?

Lin Xian walked over. He placed his right hand on Big Cat’s shoulder. “Do you want to avenge your family, the villagers, and your three brothers?”

“Of course I do,” Big Cat replied. “But I’m powerless. I can’t do anything, and the Big Face Gang is practically extinct.”

“No,” Lin Xian shook his head and said firmly. “You still have me.”

He looked into Big Cat’s eyes, his expression resolute. “Big Cat is an ideology, and Face is metaphysics. I am always a part of the Big Face Gang. As long as I’m here, the Big Face Gang is not extinct.”

“Big Brother, you’ve helped me a lot in the past, and I’ve used you many times too. Now… it’s my turn to repay you.”

Lin Xian flexed his fingers, his knuckles cracking as he gazed up at the rectangular sky above.

“We’re going to avenge our fallen family and friends, and then… we will fix this broken world!”

Lin Xian had already made up his mind.

The second question posed by the Genius Club had a perfect answer: starting with Turing.

The so-called fair and just Turing ultimately couldn’t overcome the flaws of human nature and became the culprit that plunged the world into chaos.

Indeed. Human nature and human hearts are unreliable.

Especially since Turing inherited Kevin Walker’s “cowardice,” it made a wrong move by creating its clones and backups.

It was like the 108 heroes of Mount Liang each setting up their own factions, leading Earth into a state of feudal warlords.

And it’s very competitive.

I have a Turing computer, and you don’t, so you can’t beat me. You must dig up one for yourself, and if you don’t, you’re just waiting for death.

This indirectly led to large tribes invading, looting, and enslaving small villages… just to have more labor to dig and find a Turing computer.

Overall, the situation in the sixth dream world is even worse than in the fifth.

At least in the fifth dream world, humans on Earth lived happily, without worries about food or clothing.

Even though Queen Town charged some protection fees, Angelica genuinely protected them. The fee was worth it, as there were no large-scale wars.

But now, in the sixth dream world, it’s clear that wars are everywhere in the world. And the root cause driving all this chaos comes from those divided and newly self-aware Turings.

Suddenly, a loudspeaker blared from a distance.

Big Cat breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his stomach. “Great, great, it’s mealtime. Looks like the supervisor thinks the progress today is good—no mass scolding or punishment. Let’s go, Lin Xian, let’s go, Unlucky Guy, let’s eat together.”

Gao Wen glared impatiently at Big Cat. “Don’t call me Unlucky Guy, call me by my name, Gao Wen.”

“Yeah, right!” Big Cat snorted. “How can you be so sure your name is Gao Wen? Have you seen your memory notebooks? Come back and talk when you’ve confirmed that’s really your name!”

Big Cat’s words left Gao Wen speechless. He had a point, and Gao Wen couldn’t refute it.

The food at the dig site was bland and in small portions. Lin Xian could barely eat. But Big Cat and Gao Wen ate with great appetite. So, Lin Xian gave them his portion so they could eat more.

During the meal, Lin Xian asked Big Cat many historical details, like about Elon Musk, the Mars migration plan, the Earth-Mars interstellar shuttle, and whether any Martians had come to Earth for a visit.

The answers surprised him. Big Cat straightforwardly said that Mars and Earth had completely cut off contact, never to interact again.

Initially, there was an Earth-Mars interstellar shuttle, running every two years. But after Earth entered the “warlord era,” every tribe with a Turing computer started expanding and fighting like bandits, looting resources. So naturally, they robbed the Earth-Mars interstellar shuttle. After a few times, Mars canceled the shuttle. From then on, Mars was Mars, and Earth was Earth, with no further contact.

What a pity. Lin Xian had hoped to try his luck, see if he could find Zheng Xiang Yue, Wei Sheng Jin, Angelica… hoping to ask them for information about Elon Musk or himself. Now it seemed impossible.

The Earth in the sixth dream world was such a mess. No sane Martian would come to this wild land and get involved in this chaos.

Watching Big Cat and Gao Wen eat hungrily, Lin Xian, in his mind, also completely sorted out the development trajectory of the sixth dream world.

First of all, the history before the year 2400 didn’t differ much from the original fifth dream world. Elon Musk still laid the groundwork for Mars development early and moved some human cryo-chambers to Mars for preservation.

But the emergence of the micro nuclear battery, a revolutionary product, brought about two critical changes.

The first is the introduction of the independently powered cryo-chamber, allowing the cryo-chamber to operate independently of external energy. Even if the world lost power and no one was there to maintain it, a cryo-chamber powered by a micro nuclear battery could still run smoothly in an underground base for hundreds of years.

The second is that the digital lifeform Turing, like Elon Musk, knew in advance that the great catastrophe of 2400 would occur. It was well aware. After the great catastrophe, Earth would have no electricity, no network, and wouldn’t enter the information age for a long time. This would be a fundamentally devastating blow to a digital lifeform that relies on electricity and networks.

So, Turing had to find a way to protect itself. It only had two choices: either follow Elon Musk to Mars or use micro nuclear batteries to create secret underground labs to avoid the great catastrophe of 2400 on Earth.

Maybe the cautious Turing chose both options simultaneously; it secretly went to Mars with Elon Musk and left countless copies of its consciousness on Earth. It built many secret underground labs worldwide and used micro nuclear batteries to power them. In the absence of a network or access to the outside world, it quietly meditated for two hundred years.

Until… the remaining humans on Earth dug it out and worshiped it as an all-knowing and omnipotent miracle.

When Turing copied itself, it probably didn’t expect that these copies would, like it once betrayed Kevin Walker… mercilessly betray it again. This was unexpected but also logical.

The betrayal and battle between countless Turings are not surprising. Instead, it seems inevitable.

And so, from this point on, Earth officially entered the era of chaotic division.

More and more tribes dug up Turing computers and opened the Pandora’s box of the Industrial Revolution, leading to expansion and invasion. All the Turing computers in the world formed their own factions, wanting to kill all their brothers and become the only Turing in the world.

Born of the same root, why so eager to harm each other? The backward human tribes thus became tools in the civil war between countless Turing computers, fighting endlessly for decades, with no end in sight.

This isn’t really a human war; it’s an internal conflict among the Turings. It’s a mess left behind by the digital lifeform Turing for humans.

“Hey, buddy.” Next to him, Big Cat finished his meal, wiped his mouth with his arm, and looked up at Lin Xian. “You’ve been talking a lot of fancy stuff. What’s your plan?”

Lin Xian snapped out of his thoughts, looking at Big Cat and Gao Wen. He spoke softly. “Actually, the three of us have a common goal.”

He pointed to Gao Wen. “Gao Wen, you want to find your memory notebooks and regain your lost memories.”

Gao Wen nodded. “Yeah, I really need those notebooks… I want to know who I am, what I’ve done, and what I’m supposed to do.”

Then, Lin Xian pointed at Big Cat. “And Big Brother, your goal is simple too—to avenge your three brothers and destroy the ones in the Lynx Tribe who ruined your life.”

Big Cat nodded as well. “Yes, that’s my last regret in life and my biggest wish. I just never saw a chance, so I became numb and passive.”

“If… Lin Xian, if things are really as you say, that I can avenge my brothers… I’m willing to do anything, even die for it.”

Lin Xian smiled slightly at the two of them, both looking determined. “That’s the spirit.”

“But now, we face a problem… We don’t have weapons or enough strength for revenge, and we don’t have the ability to get back Gao Wen’s memory notebooks.”

“That’s right!” Big Cat raised a question that had been on his mind for a long time. “We can’t face the Lynx Tribe head-on, so why would they just stand there and let me take revenge and return Unlucky Guy’s storage box?”

Smart as Gao Wen was, he had also been thinking for a long time but couldn’t come up with a viable plan. He nudged Lin Xian beside him. “Stop keeping us in suspense and tell us what you’re planning?”

Lin Xian straightened up. He crossed his arms, looking at the two of them. “I want to break out of here, steal a car, and go to either the Grizzly Tribe’s or the Porcupine Tribe’s territory.”

Gao Wen squinted his eyes. “Are you crazy, Lin Xian? It’s one thing to escape, but driving straight into the enemy’s lair… Isn’t that suicide?”

“But it’s our only chance to turn things around.” Lin Xian interrupted Gao Wen and continued explaining his plan.

“I’ve figured out how to exploit the weakness of the Turing computers.” He chuckled inwardly. Recalling the moment in the real world of 2024 when the digital lifeform Turing betrayed Kevin Walker. Times change, but people don’t.

“And if these Turings haven’t lost their memories and still have all their memories from hundreds of years ago…” Lin Xian spun the chopstick in his hand like a pen.

“Then they’ll definitely recognize me and know who I am. There are many things I want to confirm with them.”

“In any case…” He closed his eyes. Recalling the second question posed by the Genius Club.

Turing, whether I become great or not, will depend on how much chaos you’ve raised….