Reality Programming Association

Chapter 142: Chapter 58: The Physics Exam is Gone

”But what if... a completely new, subversive ’new order’ or ’new logic’ were on the verge of arriving? Something new that violates the existing laws of physics, something that can’t be explained by current science.”

He lowered his head and said slowly,

”Then, to this ’new order,’ physics would become the greatest ’feudal superstition.’”

Perhaps it was the cold rain, but Yu Xian’s voice trembled slightly.

”Those physicists who cling desperately to Newton’s laws and quantum mechanics—to the rules of the old world—would become the most die-hard conservatives. They’d become ’stubborn bishops’ clutching the ’Old Testament’ of physics, obstructing the dawn of a new world.”

Shi Zuozhou’s throat felt dry. He retorted instinctively,

”But how could the laws of physics possibly be wrong...?”

”People in the Middle Ages didn’t think there was a problem with the geocentric model, either,” Yu Xian cut him off.

”The fastest way to establish a new faith is to tear down the old idols and bury all the priests who served the old gods. Isn’t it?”

A few streetlights in the South District were out. The two of them had reached their dormitory building.

Shi Zuozhou took a deep breath of the cold air, still seeming unable to believe such an absurd theory.

”What about the third possibility?”

”The third possibility is the most terrifying one.” Yu Xian turned to the side and looked Shi Zuozhou in the eye.

”What do you think is the most precious resource a physicist has?”

”Experimental data and research theories?”

”Exactly. What if they discovered something unusual in their experimental results? Like ’the Three-Body Star People are about to invade Earth,’ or that some massive, incomprehensible disaster is on the horizon... This group would definitely be the first to spot the signs.”

”You mean... ’silencing’? The government is killing all the scientists in the know to prevent public panic? Like killing the canary in a coal mine so no one finds out about the gas leak and starts a riot?”

Shi Zuozhou shuddered and glanced instinctively at the curtain of rain sweeping across the sky.

”This ’massive disaster’ you’re talking about... it couldn’t be this heavy rain, could it?”

Yu Xian didn’t reply, only nodded. If a massive disaster really was about to happen, then this storm seemed like the most probable cause at the moment.

”But that makes no sense!” Shi Zuozhou said, his voice urgent.

”If this rain really is a disaster of that magnitude, or a precursor to some great flood, wouldn’t we need this group of pinnacle Kings from the top of the human intelligence charts more than ever? We’d need them to calculate models, engineer artificial interventions, or even build a Noah’s Ark! If you kill off all the smartest people, who’s going to solve the problem? Who’s going to help us survive?”

Yu Xian fell silent, too. ’This was the part I couldn’t figure out either. If the goal was just to prevent panic and maintain public order, there should have been plenty of other ways. They could have them sign non-disclosure agreements, or even use their families as leverage to ensure their silence...’

’Why push them into a corner, cast them into hell, and drive them to their deaths?’

The two walked into the dormitory building in gloomy silence, taking one last look through the glass doors at the vast expanse of rain.

The black curtain of rain was like a wall, obscuring their view.

As Yu Xian walked, he thought, ’If a natural disaster like the one in *2012* is really coming, then the most important thing right now is...’

’How do I get a ticket for the ship?’

’How do I get aboard that so-called ’life raft’?’

’Have the physicists who already evacuated, like Professor Shu, already taken their equipment to some safe location?’

’But right now, we don’t even know if this downpour *is* the disaster...’

Just then, a phrase flashed through Yu Xian’s mind.

”Endless days of tribulation; the Land Sinking into the Sea for years unknown.”

That was the trigram Shao Yiyi had divined for the great rain.

’At the time, I just thought it was a rather obscure verdict. Besides, the rain was letting up, and I had the whole Midnight Bus affair to deal with, so I didn’t give it much thought.’

But now, connecting it to the clues—”natural disaster,” ”great flood,” ”whistleblowers being purged”—the phrase from the divination sent a chill down his spine when he thought about it more carefully.

’The ”endless days” corresponded to this long, seemingly unending rainy season.’

’And ”Land Sinking into the Sea”... could that be predicting some kind of geological cataclysm, or the fall of civilization?’

Shao Yiyi’s trigram was certainly related to his third theory, the one based on logic and speculation.

’But...’

Yu Xian frowned. ’How exactly does this cyber-divination system that those two girls with the hair buns created actually work?’

’Wen Xiao had explained it to me once, at the coffee shop the Saturday before last...’

’”The divination rules in the *Book of Changes*—the changing lines, the moving lines—are actually just an extremely complex set of logic gate circuits. A changing line is equivalent to an ’XOR gate,’ and a moving line is a ’NOT gate’.’”

’”Casting a hexagram is like storing data in a register. Calculating the upper and lower trigrams is a modulo operation. The primary hexagram operation uses a 6-bit concatenated register. The moving line calculation is a decoder that generates a single-bit mask. The derived and complementary hexagrams are just shift and reassembly operations. And the interpretation is simply a ROM table lookup and decode.”’

He recalled Wen Xiao’s words, but he still couldn’t grasp it. ’What is the black box at the core of it all? Is it some kind of predictive model? Or a random number algorithm?’

’Shao Yiyi might be a bit of a flake, but her partnership with Wen Xiao somehow made the whole thing feel more reliable.’

’One deals with metaphysics, the other with computer science. The two fields seem completely unrelated, yet they’ve created a strange kind of chemical reaction...’

’Looks like I’ll have to find time to talk to them in more detail...’

’Unless I can figure out the underlying logic of that divination system, I can’t fully trust this ’prophecy’.’

As he walked down the dormitory hallway, the phone in Yu Xian’s pocket suddenly vibrated.

He pulled it out and saw a single word flashing on the screen: ”Cousin.”

He waved at Shi Zuozhou, motioning for him to head back to their room, then walked to the balcony at the end of the hall and answered the call.

”Hey, Cousin?”

”Xiaoxian, you’re out of class, right?”

On the other end of the line, his cousin didn’t sound like he was home yet; there was shouting in the background.

”Yeah, just got back to the dorm,” Yu Xian said slowly, gazing at the swaying plane trees below the balcony.

”Good. It’s nice that you’re with your classmates, having a good time.” Hearing this, Yu Zhengze seemed to relax a little.

”By the way, Cousin,” Yu Xian said, gripping his phone. He hesitated for a moment but decided to test the waters.

”That TDI I mentioned last time, and the Midnight Bus audio... has your tech department made any progress?”

The line went silent for a few seconds before Yu Zhengze’s voice came through.

”It’s not that fast. The tech department ran into some roadblocks. The audio’s encryption method is quite complex, and they’re still analyzing it.”

He paused, his tone growing more serious.

”Xiaoxian, don’t you worry about this. And more importantly, don’t go messing with that stuff yourself out of curiosity.”

”I know. I haven’t listened to it.”

’Yu Xian’s heart sank. ’So the technical barrier for this TDI really is something else.’’

’If not for the unencrypted MCH source file that Senior Sister Yiyi provided for comparison, Wen Xiao would probably be completely stuck right now, too.’

”Alright, get some rest,” Yu Zhengze said hastily before hanging up.

Yu Xian took a deep breath, slipped his phone back into his pocket, pushed open the balcony door, and went back into the dorm room.

Zhang Yang and Li Boxue were already in bed, the blackout curtains drawn tight. The only thing visible was a charging cable snaking out, like an IV line feeding nutrients to a bedridden patient.

Yu Xian knew that they must have already boarded that bus to a world of illusion.

’I wonder where that bus will take them tonight,’ Yu Xian thought.

”The two highnesses are at it again. The sleeping saints.”

Shi Zuozhou complained, plugging in his new watch to charge and pointing toward Li Boxue’s bed.

Yu Xian shook his head and picked up his washbasin. There was nothing they could do right now.

Until Rabbit Hole officially launched and they found the ”antidote,” there was no point in waking them. It might even trigger withdrawal symptoms.

”Go get washed up. We still have Advanced Calculus tomorrow morning.”

Shi Zuozhou wailed.

”The world is ending, so why do we still have to go to Advanced Calculus?”

”Because as long as the world hasn’t ended, we still have to take our finals.”

Yu Xian gave a self-deprecating laugh.

’Unfortunately, even if physics ceased to exist, physics exams would not.’