Genius Club.

Chapter 100 The World's First 42 (asking for monthly ticket)

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is a critically acclaimed and influential science fiction film.

Lin Xian had seen it many years ago.

Because after talking with Gao Yang about dreams, Gao Yang said that he couldn't imagine what the future world would be like, so he couldn't dream about it.

So from that time on, he began to make up for his sci-fi movies and novels. And this very classic sci-fi movie in the history of film was naturally on his list of sci-fi movies.

Actually, if I had to say how good this movie is… Lin Xian really doesn’t think it’s that good. To be honest, it’s just average. After so many years, he has no urge to watch it a second time.

But today is different...

After waking up from the dream yesterday, he decided to go to the private cinema tonight to review the movie.

There is only one reason.

[The number 42 first appeared in the public eye... in the movie "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."]

……

Lin Xian ordered a drink and walked into his private room, where the movie had already started playing.

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is a movie released in 2005. It is a science fiction road movie with a creative twist.

It is adapted from the science fiction novel of the same name, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" written by writer Douglas Adams.

The first half of the film seems a bit boring from today's perspective.

It tells the story of a group of aliens who want to build a galactic highway, so they have to clear the obstacle on the project route - the Earth.

Then the earth was destroyed, and the protagonist began his adventure in the galaxy with an alien.

Then, there are some short stories in the style of unit dramas.

Lin Xian watched silently.

at last……

He waited for the best and most widely circulated clip in the film:
On a planet in the Milky Way, there is a highly developed and super-intelligent advanced civilization.

In order to obtain the truth of the universe, they gathered all their genius and built the most advanced supercomputer in the universe - Deep Thought.

After the supercomputer was built, tens of billions of aliens gathered here and asked the questions they had always been most concerned about and wanted to get answers to:

"Please calculate the ultimate answer to the universe, life, and everything in the world."

The giant computer, as huge as a mountain, thought for a few seconds and then answered:

"The amount of calculation is too huge. Please come back here in 750 million years."

750 million years later——

All the top civilizations in the universe gathered here, waiting for the giant computer to announce the final answer.

Amid the expectation of the crowd, the giant computer spoke thoughtfully:

"The ultimate answer to the universe, life, and everything in the world is——"

"42."

There was silence.

Then this part of the story comes to an abrupt end and the next story begins.

……

"42..."

Lin Xian muttered to himself, rewound the section and watched it again.

The film didn't explain the concept of 42 too much, and it just ended abruptly. In fact, everyone knows why this is... because the director doesn't know either, and he can't make it up.

The ultimate answer to the universe, life, and everything in the world...

This is not a problem that any person on Earth can solve.

The director can’t do it.

The audience can't.

Neither can Douglas Adams, the original author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...

In his novel of the same name, he still keeps this concept vague, never explains it, and deliberately makes it unpredictable.

But what he actually wrote was a funny science fiction novel, and the main theme was nonsense. In fact, at the beginning of its creation, it was just a contribution to a children's program on a TV station. There was no need to explain this concept. It was just fun and interesting.

but……

Lin Xian didn't think this matter was that simple.

"Even if Adams wrote this novel just for fun and unexpected twists, so he let the giant computer calculate the answer to 42..."

"But why 42?"

"Why is it such a coincidence?"

If.

Lin Xian has not experienced so many things so far, so he would never question why a novelist would set it up this way.

This is someone else's novel, he can write whatever he wants, no matter if it's 42, 37, 58, that's Adams' freedom, it's very likely that he just wrote it randomly. But...

The situation is different now...

Countless facts that have happened have shown that the number 42 is really special and it really has some special meaning.

The earliest time I fell asleep was 12:42.

The time when I wake up from each dream is 00:42.

The time when the future world will be destroyed by white light is 00:42.

Professor Xu Yun's death time is 00:42.

In the first dream, the death time of Big Face Cat's father was also 00:42.

In the second dream, Big Face Cat's father calculated the cosmological constant to be 42.

The walls of the room were covered with countless numbers of all sizes, still 42.

This is so weird…

So many strange things are all related to the mysterious number 42.

This is definitely not a coincidence.

Lin Xian narrowed his eyes.

Looking at the slowly rising cast and crew list after the film was finished, Douglas Adams' name was written in the last column for screenwriter and original work.

"so……"

"Did Adams really know something? Or did he hear something by chance? Therefore, he set the ultimate answer of the universe, life, and everything in the world in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to 42?"

Lin Xian had no way of knowing.

Because Douglas Adams himself died in 2001.

Lin Xian checked the information and found that Douglas Adams was born in 1952 and "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" was created in 1979.

Is it possible to make a radical inference?

[Did the Genius Club exist as early as 1979, 1952, or even earlier, and was hidden in the mist of history? ]

The movie was over, the screen went black, and the whole room was plunged into darkness.

Lin Xian stood up.

No matter what, if you want to solve the mystery of 42, you have to sneak into the New Donghai City to look for clues.

Whether it is the book "Introduction to the Cosmological Constant" or Big Face Cat's father himself, only if one of the two is found can the investigation into 42 continue.

"It's a long road ahead."

Lin Xian stood up from the sofa and pushed open the door of the private room.

squeak-

……

The sound of the door opening.

On the outskirts of Donghai City, in a lakeside villa, sunlight shines in through the open door. The rays of sunlight pass through the floating dust in the air, presenting a flashy Tyndall effect.

"Don't open the window during the day, don't turn on the lights at night... Ji Lin, when will you listen to me?"

The old man walked into the house.

He did not close the door.

Because that's the only light source.

There was no light on in the room and the curtains were drawn tightly. The dim and dilapidated atmosphere made him, an elderly man, feel extremely uncomfortable.

He prefers sunlight to lights. The warm feeling shining on his body can truly make him feel the existence of time.

The living room in front of me was still as messy as last time.

To be precise, it was even messier than the last time he came.

The last time I came, at least all the magazines and newspapers were neatly stacked together, but now... almost all the newspapers and magazines are opened and scattered on the floor.

All the magazines were opened and the newspapers were scattered all over the place.

At this time, Ji Lin was leaning on a pile of magazines, sitting cross-legged on the floor, staring at the fluorescent light emitted by the laptop in front of him.

The fluorescent light reflected on his thin face, making it appear pale and sickly.

The straight ray of sunlight that slanted in from the front door just happened to shine less than ten centimeters away from his feet...and did not pull the fair-skinned boy out of the darkness.

"Are you welded to the floor? Do you need some water?"

The old man came in, looking at the mess annoyed:
"I heard from the housekeeper that you haven't been out for the past few days. You haven't gone out once since the last time I came."

"The housekeeper also said that you bought some [plush cat toys] online and studied them every day? Oh my god... You have really become someone I don't recognize."

"So what are you doing? Ji Lin, are you really working?"

(End of this chapter)