Chapter 159: The Watcher of Physics

Chapter 159 -67: The Watcher of Physics

“This… is completely unreasonable,” Wen Xiao said, hugging her knees. Her chin rested on the soft, plush collar of her clothes, her brows furrowed tightly. “If it’s just because he personally dislikes technology and is prejudiced against frontier science, then at most he would write a few books and complain. But…” She looked up at Yu Xian, her eyes filled with confusion. “If Professor Ning is telling the truth and Su Mingyuan is trying to ‘stop’ this great flood, does that mean in his logic, ‘destroying physics’ is equivalent to ‘saving the world’?”

Yu Xian took a deep breath. Looking at the three silent people in front of him, he calmly analyzed the situation. “We have too little information right now; a lot of things can only be guessed. But just looking at the facts that have already occurred, we can sort out three clear clues.”

He held up his first finger. “First, if the ‘Torrential Calamity Water’ Su Mingyuan mentioned refers to the great flood, it proves he indeed possesses some kind of foresight. Whether he calculated it through the Yi Jing Trigrams or learned about it through some other channel, the ‘Torrential Calamity Water’ he spoke of and the ‘endless days of tribulation’ Yiyi calculated completely coincide in their timing and the form of the disaster, despite the different phrasing.”

Shao Yiyi nodded, her face pale.

Yu Xian held up a second finger. “Second, the amount of information he has is far greater and dates back much earlier than ours. He started taking action half a month ago. Judging from his warning to Professor Ning, not only does he know the disaster is coming, but he even believes he knows ‘how to stop’ it.”

“At least half a month ago, maybe even earlier,” Shi Zuozhou added.

Yu Xian held up his third finger, his tone grave. “Third, and most crucially, the ‘solution’ he offered—or rather, the action he is currently executing—is extremely specific: making physicists shut up.” His gaze swept over the continuous curtain of rain outside the window. “Whether through coercion and threats, or by fabricating rumors to incite riots as a physical blockade, he has only one goal: to bring those cutting-edge physics experiments to a complete halt.”

“But the problem is, just like Professor Ning said, there’s no causal relationship here at all!” Shi Zuozhou’s voice grew urgent. “Are you telling me that as long as we stop physics research, it will stop raining? The floodwaters will recede? How is that any different from thinking the sun won’t rise if you kill the rooster? This is complete superstition and anti-intellectualism!”

“Perhaps… Su Mingyuan is abiding by a different set of rules that we don’t know about,” Wen Xiao murmured.

“Or perhaps, that claim about the artificial rainstorm isn’t a rumor at all, but a fact…” Shao Yiyi speculated.

The lounge fell into silence again. If that were the case, then Su Mingyuan wasn’t simply a madman or a radical anti-intellectual. He was a “watchman”—one who had no choice but to raise the butcher’s knife for the “greater good.”

“If this is the truth… then is Mr. Su killing people to save the world?” Shao Yiyi tightly hugged the throw pillow in her arms.

“Right now, all our clues are cut off, except…” Yu Xian looked at Shao Yiyi. Before the words could leave his mouth, he paused, remembering the divination message: “Danger to those who approach.”

“I’ll go find him.” Shao Yiyi took a deep breath. She raised her head, her face pale but her eyes stubborn. “I also want to know what the truth of this world actually is.” Her voice trembled slightly, yet it carried an all-or-nothing resolve.

Looking at Shao Yiyi’s slightly reddened eyes, Yu Xian ultimately swallowed back the words of dissuasion that had reached his lips. Gazing past the girl in the dinosaur pajamas before him, he seemed to see something much more ancient and grandiose. It was an instinct carved deep into human genetics—an almost self-destructive thirst for knowledge.

From the moment the first Homo sapiens stepped out of their cave and looked up at the starry sky, this species was destined to walk a restless path. Even knowing there were fierce beasts deep in the jungle, undercurrents beneath the deep sea, and that dancing flames would burn their skin, humanity would still reach out without hesitation. Like moths in the dark, well aware that plunging into the flames would end in ashes, they still surged forward wave after wave for that single, fleeting moment of light and truth.

To hear the truth in the morning is to die without regret in the evening!

Compared to death, what humans feared more was merely scraping by in the ignorant darkness. Furthermore, if the great flood truly was coming, then no one would be able to eke out a living anyway. And if any useful information was genuinely obtained, Yu Xian could still find an opportunity to tell his cousin.

“Alright,” Yu Xian nodded. “You can start with the trigram you calculated. Be extremely careful, and don’t clash with him head-on.”

It was getting late. The streetlamps downstairs at the North Campus dormitories diffused halos of dim yellow through the rainy mist.

The four of them said their goodbyes downstairs. Yu Xian and Shi Zuozhou opened their umbrellas and walked out into the pitch-black, rainy night.

The boys’ dormitory building remained eerily quiet. Pushing open the door to their room, it was exactly as expected. On Zhang Yang’s and Li Boxue’s beds, the blackout curtains were pulled tightly shut. White data cables acted like IV drips, connecting them to that illusory world. Without even needing to lift the curtains, Yu Xian knew they must be wearing their headsets right now, lingering endlessly in bizarre and dazzling dreamscapes that satisfied their every desire.

Looking at those two tightly drawn bed curtains, Yu Xian felt a complex mix of emotions. Outside was the rainstorm, the flood, and the truth that could potentially destroy the world.