A Tiger Doesn’t Eat Its Cub.
Zhao Ying Jun finally got up from the sofa and went to fill a bowl with dog food for her Pomeranian. The dog began eating hungrily, clearly having waited for its meal.
“Sorry,” she murmured, gently patting VV’s head. “I didn’t mean to forget about you.”
After rubbing her forehead and taking a deep breath, Zhao Ying Jun returned to her seat on the soft sofa. She leaned back against the cushions, trying to figure out the cause of this strange, “supernatural” event.
From a logical, scientific point of view, something like this just didn’t happen. Having a child isn’t instantaneous. It takes at least nine months to carry a baby. As a woman, she would know if she had gone through that—no doubt about it. And that girl, Yan Qiao Qiao, couldn’t possibly be her daughter.
“Ugh...” Zhao Ying Jun sighed, feeling a headache starting.
At first, she thought she might have found a long-lost sibling—maybe a child her parents had in secret. But instead, she was told that Yan Qiao Qiao was her daughter! It would have been easier to accept the story that Yan Qiao Qiao was just the granddaughter of a distant relative.
So, what now?
Zhao Ying Jun quickly regained her composure. Everything had to have a reason.
Having lived alone and thought logically for years, she put aside her emotions and started to think about where the real problem could be.
“The problem isn’t with me,” she said firmly. “Which means...”
She slowly opened her eyes and stared at the dim ceiling. “The problem lies with that little girl.”
Where did Yan Qiao Qiao come from? Who was she really? She needed to get to the bottom of this.
Zhao Ying Jun wasn’t usually someone who worried too much about details, but this involved her reputation. Plus, having a daughter suddenly appear out of nowhere didn’t make sense. She had to find the truth—not just for herself, but for her parents and even for Yan Qiao Qiao.
“But if she really is my daughter... what should I do?” The thought filled her with confusion.
At only 25, she had no idea how to handle this. She wasn’t prepared to be a mother; she didn’t know how to raise a child or even how to relate to one.
It wasn’t really her fault. For both men and women, becoming part of a family should happen gradually. Who would expect to suddenly be introduced to a teenage daughter and be asked to accept it?
There was no warmth, no sentiment—just shock, rejection, and a chill down her spine.
“I’ll go see Yan Qiao Qiao tomorrow,” Zhao Ying Jun decided, letting go of her complicated feelings. The problem was already here; there was no point in denying or avoiding it. She had to face it. The root of all this was that little girl, so she needed to find answers from her.
Feeling more resolved, Zhao Ying Jun stood up from the sofa, opened the fridge, and looked for something to eat.
...
“Hahaha!” Big Cat Face laughed heartily, holding a large pork hock in his hand. He tore it in half, placing one half on Lin Xian’s plate and the other on CC’s plate. His mood was unusually cheerful.
“Speaking of this village, you probably don’t know this,” he began, “but even before I became the village chief, back when my dad was in charge, this place was already called ‘Big Cat’s Village.’”
“Do you know why? Because when I was born, it was considered a sign of good fortune! Even though it was late at night, the moment I was born, all the chickens, ducks, cows, sheep, and even the pigs in their pens started making noises that sounded like my name.”
“Snorting ‘Big Cat Face’?” CC asked, looking at Big Cat Face, who was now flushed from drinking. She was skeptical of the story. “How could chickens and pigs do that?”
“Ah, sister-in-law, let your big brother finish,” Big Cat Face said, swaying his bamboo cup of wine and shaking his head. “Big Cat Face is just my nickname, not my real name. Ever since I was born, my face has been big; the midwife even said my face was round like a big pancake. That’s how the nickname stuck.”
“But I do have a real name! My father was quite the intellectual of his time and gave me a nice-sounding name, but... no one has ever called me by it.”
Thunk!
Lin Xian set down his bamboo wine cup, blinking at Big Cat Face. “You actually have a real name?”
“Of course I do, little brother!” Big Cat Face scoffed. “Everyone has a name!”
“Speaking of your father...” Lin Xian continued, “He always felt like a legendary figure—famous but never seen. He seemed impressive and smart. By the way, what’s his name?”
All this time, Lin Xian had never known Big Cat Face’s father’s name.
Big Cat Face sighed softly and said in a low voice, “Chen Heping.”
Lin Xian stared at the half-greasy pork hock on his plate, thinking about the name. It sounded solid and respectable.
Chen Heping was a genius who once figured out the Universal Constant of 42 using only pen and paper. That certainly lived up to his name.
Lin Xian realized that in this dream world, Big Cat Face seemed to be all alone. He hadn’t seen his parents, his gentle wife, his rebellious daughter, or even a younger version of Big Cat Face.
He decided not to ask about them. In this era, without modern medicine, even a minor illness could become deadly.
“I heard your father left behind a lot of research notes?” Lin Xian asked. “Could I take a look at them later?”
“Of course, little brother! You’re one of us now; no need to be shy. Do whatever you want! Hahaha!” Big Cat Face downed a few more cups of grain alcohol, wiping his greasy hands on Lin Xian’s shoulder. “He wrote plenty of notes. They’re all in the room next door. Before he got sick and passed away, he said that any kid who loves learning should go study them. He always believed that knowledge is the only way to change one’s fate.”
“But in these times, can knowledge fill your stomach? Ever since my dad died, no one has gone into that room or taught any more classes... From that point on, Big Cat’s Village has stayed pretty much the same. And honestly, we’ve done okay. At least we don’t worry about food and clothing.”
“Ah, let’s not talk about such depressing stuff! Tonight’s a happy time! Come on, cheers! After we drink, let’s dance around the bonfire!”
Big Cat Face raised his cup, clinked it with Lin Xian and CC, and then downed it in one gulp. He then grabbed Da Zhuang, Er Zhuzi, and San Pang, dragging them with staggering steps to the center of the village where a bonfire blazed several meters high.
With the rhythm of drums made from animal skins, they twisted around the fire, singing and dancing with the villagers.
CC nibbled on some fruit from the table, watching the dancing crowd with a slight smile. “If I’d known they were this nice, we wouldn’t have had to go through all that fighting and sneaking around. If I’d known they were so simple, I’d have joined them much sooner.”
Lin Xian chuckled and shook his head. “Getting along with people takes the right approach.”
“But sneaking in by yourself wouldn’t have been so easy,” he added. “Getting past Er Zhuzi would’ve needed a ‘sister-in-law’ or ‘wife’ title as a ticket... It takes two people working together.”
CC tossed aside the fruit pit and looked at Lin Xian. “So, do I still need to keep pretending?”
She wiped her hands. “Teacher Wei even taught me some tricks to act like a wife.”
“No need,” Lin Xian waved his hand. “Your acting is too over-the-top. Like I said at the beginning, there’s no need to act. Just be yourself. The people of Big Cat’s Village aren’t that complicated.”
“Besides, Teacher Wei taught you to act like his lover—like that clingy, sweet type... That style clearly doesn’t suit you.”
He picked up a piece of fruit and handed it to CC. “Didn’t you notice? Back at the village gate, your overdramatic performance seemed out of place. Didn’t it feel awkward?”
“Not really,” CC shrugged. “I didn’t feel anything special. Mainly, I’ve never been in a relationship, so I don’t know what real love is supposed to be like, or how people in love should act.”
“You might be oversimplifying things, Lin Xian. Surviving in this world is already hard enough. There aren’t any books or stories to guide us. Normally, kids my age wouldn’t have any way to understand this stuff.”
She took the fruit from him and turned to look at the lively dance by the bonfire. Every era has its own ways of having fun. The methods might change, but joy seems to be universal.
“Do you know how to dance?” CC asked, turning to Lin Xian.
“I do,” he nodded. “But not this kind of dance.”
He smiled wryly. “This must be the unique ‘Cat Dance’ of Big Cat’s Village. It doesn’t have any rules. I don’t get it.”
“Hey, there’s nothing to get!” Suddenly, Er Zhuzi’s voice came from behind. Startled, they turned around and found him standing there, as elusive as ever.
Er Zhuzi, also slightly tipsy, grinned and grabbed their hands. “Come, come! I’ll teach you!”
“No, no, that’s alright,” Lin Xian politely declined. He had come to Big Cat’s Village for a reason. He planned to go into Big Cat Face’s father’s room soon to check out the notes he’d left behind. After that, he needed to find Gao Wen’s safe in a corner of the village and try to open it to see what was inside.
Clearly, in the future world of the Fifth Dream world, the catastrophic disaster had destroyed everything. Most healthy humans had left for Mars, and Earth was abandoned.
Naturally, the only copy of “Introduction to Universal Constants” was never discovered, and it never reached Big Cat Face’s father. The research on the Universal Constant of 42 thus came to an end.
Time and space are logically intertwined—miss one thing by an inch, and you’re off by miles.
“Let’s go check out Gao Wen’s safe,” Lin Xian said, placing Big Cat Face’s father’s notebook back where it belonged. He picked up an oil lamp, and he and CC walked to the edge of the village.
The aluminum alloy safe was there. With the oil lamp held up, they could see that the brute-force method had already tried combinations up to 00002701.
Only 2,700 possible combinations were left!
At the fastest pace, it would take less than an hour to open Gao Wen’s safe.
“Thank you, Big Cat’s Village,” Lin Xian said sincerely. “If they hadn’t spent years breaking down nearly a billion password combinations for us, we wouldn’t be opening this safe today.”
“Is this safe really that important?” CC asked. “Do you know this person named Gao Wen?”
Lin Xian didn’t deny it but didn’t confirm it either. “I wouldn’t say I know him, and I’m not sure if this Gao Wen is the Gao Wen I know.”
“But if he is the Gao Wen I know—the academician Gao Wen—then what’s inside this safe is worth the anticipation.”
“Academician Gao Wen was a true genius. His inventions once changed the entire world and reshaped all futures.”
“I believe a true genius won’t just disappear. If he used a aluminum alloy safe, there’s a good chance he went into a cryo-chamber to travel to the future.”
“In such a situation, they usually leave something very important for their future selves... Anyway, there aren’t many possible passwords left. Let’s open it and see what’s inside.”
CC turned to look at the eight password dials. “They’ve already tried up to 00002701. Let’s continue from there and keep cracking it one by one.”
“No, no,” Lin Xian said, always someone who listened to reason. He reset the dials to 00000000 and smiled. “We’ll start from 00000000. Even though it doesn’t matter where you start with brute-force methods, it’s still a lesson worth learning.”
He began turning the dial on the far right, testing each combination one by one:
00000001,
00000002,
00000003,
...
Click, click, click. The familiar sound of a lock not opening.
For so long, so many aluminum alloy safes, so many dream adventures... Lin Xian had never managed to open one.
Right now, maybe, he would finally break that streak!
Click, click, click.
As the numbers on the dials kept increasing, Lin Xian’s lips tightened. He couldn’t help but feel a bit excited and nervous.
Click, click, click.
00000039,
00000040,
00000041,
He pressed the latch.
Still nothing.
Lin Xian adjusted the last digit of the combination.
The aluminum alloy safe’s dials now read—
00000042
This...
This was a very familiar number, a number he had seen many times.
It was exactly like the value on Liu Feng’s time clock: 0.0000042, just without the decimal point.
Lin Xian didn’t think too much about it and mechanically pressed the latch—
Boom.
With a deep sound that had been sealed away for centuries, the aluminum alloy safe clicked open!
“It’s open... it actually opened!” CC immediately jumped up from the stone bench, eyes wide open.
Even though they knew the brute-force method would eventually crack the safe, when it actually happened...
It still felt unbelievable!
Lin Xian stayed silent. He was still puzzled. Why such a coincidence?
The password Gao Wen set for his safe was not only related to 42 but also exactly matched the space-time curvature of the current timeline...
What could this mean?
With these questions in mind, Lin Xian opened the dusty aluminum alloy safe.
Inside, the safe was nearly empty.
Only in the bottom corner lay a notebook, entirely laminated in plastic.
Lin Xian gently picked it up.
Thanks to the full plastic sealing, it remained perfectly preserved even after hundreds of years, just like the small laminated paper from Zheng Xiang Yue, still clear and readable.
He opened the sacred and heavy notebook.
CC brought the oil lamp closer, and they both looked at the title page.
Through the intact plastic cover, they could clearly see several lines of black handwriting left on the paper inside—
[My name is Gao Wen. This diary was stored on December 7, 2201. I plan to enter a cryo-chamber and wake up within a safe 10-year window to retrieve this diary without losing my memory.]
[If you’re reading this and you are not Gao Wen, it means...]
[I am already dead.]