Chapter 548 - 324: Tyrant, Contrast, Public Exposure

Chapter 548: Chapter 324: Tyrant, Contrast, Public Exposure

Hearing the praise, Lin Chu’s brow furrowed slightly. He stared at the man, his expression unreadable.

After a dozen or so seconds, he gave a slight nod.

"Just the basics."

"Where is he?"

Being evaluated like this made Lin Chu feel a little uncomfortable, but he decided to ignore the minor details for now.

"At the summit, in a small wooden cabin. For tonight’s dinner, it will be just you and Mr. Li."

"Actually, Mr. Li’s impression of you has changed over time. At first, he simply thought of you as a lucky guy who happened to win that antique, earning a ticket into the club."

"But then, as we conducted our background check, Mr. Li’s interest in you grew significantly. He came to believe you have the potential to become a core member of the club."

"The club currently has only six core members in total. There is a permanent limit of one member per country. Mr. Li previously tested Jack Ma but found him unsuitable. He’s assessed a dozen or so others of similar standing, but none of them ultimately passed."

"Personally, I’m quite optimistic about your chances. After all, you’re only twenty-four, not even twenty-five yet."

Li Jingxian was talking a lot, clearly revealing this information on purpose. Setting aside the arrogance in his tone, a genuine curiosity sparked within Lin Chu.

"What’s the core principle of your club?"

Lin Chu asked.

Hearing this, Li Jingxian smiled and replied directly, "Three words: Explore the unknown."

"I won’t elaborate on the wealth and resources the club possesses publicly. As for exploring the unknown, we have been working tirelessly for decades."

"This includes, but is not limited to: space exploration, discovering unknown life forms, archeological digs of ancient civilizations, researching frontier science and medical technology—things like curing cancer, the immortality project, and genetic engineering. And, of course, the study of extraordinary humans."

"To give you a small example, the Guinness World Records project was something Mr. Li started on a whim when he was younger."

"Beyond that, the club is also deeply invested in the study of traditional Chinese culture: Traditional Chinese Medicine, physical arts, breathing techniques, the I Ching, even legendary alchemical recipes... Every year, vast funds, countless researchers, and brilliant minds use scientific methods to conduct comparative studies on these ancient and mystical unknowns."

Hmm?

Lin Chu was stunned by all this.

’Damn,’ he thought, ’that actually sounds pretty impressive.’

"Have you found anything?"

Lin Chu asked, his curiosity piqued.

These things were clearly part of their "exploring the unknown." After all, five thousand years of civilization held far too many unsolved mysteries.

But Lin Chu’s mood was complex. It was as if these foreign entities were appreciating the treasures of his homeland more than his own people did.

Of course, people within China were surely researching these things as well, but that was likely classified at the state level. In any case, he had never personally come across any of it.

’Not that he really believed in it anyway.’

Still, from public news and available information, it was clear this knowledge hadn’t been lost, just that the channels to access it had become more secretive.

Li Jingxian sighed softly and shook his head with a smile.

"We have achieved some interim results, yes. But that fundamental power, something that transcends scientific understanding? No."

"Of course, we’re inclined to believe it’s not that such things don’t exist, but simply that we haven’t found them yet. Mr. Liszt’s time is running out. He hopes that those who come after him in the club will carry on this vision and forge a new frontier for humankind."

"Let’s not even talk about the potential financial gains. After all, none of us are short on money."

"His greatest fear, in fact, is that future generations will be reduced to merely pursuing wealth and resources."

Lin Chu was speechless.

’Holy crap.’

The whiplash from that statement was so intense Lin Chu almost felt like he’d thrown out his back.

’So... "noble"?’

’He didn’t dare to believe it.’

’Then again, it could just be a fancy sales pitch.’

"You’ve been researching this stuff yourselves for decades, and in the end, the old man is about to die from his research, and you can’t even save him?"

"What a joke."

"You’re from China too, aren’t you? Thousands of years ago, Emperor Shi proved there’s no such thing as immortality. Isn’t this whole damn thing... a complete waste of time?"

Lin Chu said this with a sneer, partly to provoke the other man into revealing more.

Li Jingxian sighed softly.

"Yes, of course I know that, and so does Mr. Li. You may be misunderstanding... Mr. Li isn’t researching these things for the sake of immortality. He’s simply curious—curious about the unknown, while also recording the known."

"Like the Yongle Encyclopedia commissioned by Emperor Yongle, Mr. Liszt wants to record all of human civilization’s current achievements. He wants to preserve them on every possible medium—stone, books, computer chips, satellites. It is the memory of a civilization..."

"Perhaps many years from now, humanity will travel deep into space. Or perhaps, we’ll go extinct. But this will be the proof that we existed."

"The path to exploring the unknown frontier is destined to be difficult, but someone has to walk it. If not us, then our children and grandchildren will have to."

"Mr. Liszt has always believed that humanity has put its points into the wrong tech tree. We were capable of space travel back in the sixties, yet here we are, still confined to the bubble of the internet, using endless entertainment as a pacifier to numb all of humankind."