Every time Zhao Youyue obtained a new iconic character card, she felt as if she had just gotten a new wife. That sense of accomplishment could not be described with words.
No wonder Lady Zhao was now into girls. Who had asked her to be addicted to hobbies like collecting wives! Most importantly, her wives had varying levels of cuteness. There was the loli type, the one type, and the sophisticated type. She was too happy to think of the real world, as she now could play with them, every single day!
This time, Zhao Youyue obtained ‘Zhang Yanwei,’ the human supremacist mad scientist with brilliant ideas. Her research abilities were at the maximum. She could even view alternate futures. All this had led Zhao Youyue into thinking that this character card was extremely powerful. The past three months she spent causing trouble in “Endless Apocalypse” had not gone to waste!
Of course, reality would not permit the blatant use of her abilities. The real world was extremely restrictive and powerful. Basically, any supernatural abilities would never be able to fully manifest in reality. Perhaps, the only alien, or in other words, the only superhuman was Zhao Youyue, Lady Zhao.
Zhao Youyue was actually hoping to have this level of uniqueness. If not, all sorts of spiritual entity or ghosts would come to life, and her character cards would also be able to fully demonstrate its abilities. That would not be fun. This real world that was above all of the Source Worlds would no longer be real. Was it just another world of novels?
If this was the case, then it would be terrible. If the real world was also a novel, then it would not be that bad if Lady Zhao was the main character. Anyway, she had the main character aura, so she would be favored by the creator who created her. If she was not the main character, but a normal character in a harem-fiction novel, she might be inducted into the male protagonist’s harem!
Therefore, Zhao Youyue did not hope that the real world, which she saw as her backyard garden, was a novel. She hoped that the real world would forever remain in its own form, without any interference of some unscientific phenomenon that would collapse reality. Everything should run according to logic.
Zhao Youyue, bearing the same feelings as a newly married couple on their wedding night, activated the ‘Zhang Yanwei’ character card that she so longed for. In the blink of an eye, her worldview changed entirely!
Zhang Yanwei was a super genius like Einstein. Zhao Youyue was no longer looking at things as they were. Instead, she could calculate everything, she could see everything in the form of vectors and numbers…
Science, quantum physics, bioengineering, biomechanics, you name it. Concepts that Zhao Youyue could not even begin to grasp were all in her head now. It was not like she knew the answer to the universe. Instead, she could now see a clear direction to take. A path that did not lead to a dead end. She could now produce the cutting-edge, revolutionary technology that she wanted!
Of course, something had to be pointed out. Climbing up the tree of technology in the real world was definitely more difficult, compared to the Source World. The real world had far too many variables and unturned stones. There were all kinds of rules, regulations, and restrictions that inhibited the process of discovering new technology…
Therefore, Zhao Youyue wanted to be like Zhang Yanwei who could easily make a name for herself in the literary world. That might be asking for a little too much, as things were now. She needed more time, and at the same time, she needed to find a good cover for her to research dark technology. Then, she needed to safeguard it from the rest of the world.
This was a no-brainer. Zhao Youyue’s base personality did not match that of a typical scientist. No matter how you viewed it, she was a right-brained artist. That was a fact. However, there would actually be a day where Zhao Youyue, who had always been doing arts, would research about the legendary “Grand Unification Theory” [1]. She was striving to transport mankind out of the solar system out of the milky way. How does she do that without raising eyebrows? It was not like she could read a poem and fool everyone [2]…
Therefore, Zhao Youyue decided to amass a fortune in silence. A real fortune, unlike what she possessed at the moment. It’s never wrong to save up. When her company gains worldwide fame, she would venture into the field of science and technology. Just you wait, she’ll come up with more shocking news!
Zhao Youyue firmly believed that science and technology was the right path to take. Thus, she would take some time off every day to become “Zhang Yanwei” and pursue research that had been sidelined thanks to the apocalypse in her world. It was what she would have stuck to doing, prior to that rude interruption. The world was just so wonderful. There were people who hated studying, but there were also people who loved researching. There was nothing arduous about it. The process of exploring the mystery and truth of the world was their raison d’etre.
When Zhao Youyue obtained the “Zhang Yanwei” character card, she had earned the key to a new horizon. Who knows, she could build a suit and be Ironman. That was completely possible. Of course, the Zhang Yanwei in the real world would not be able to replicate the speed of research in the literary world.
After all, she had to consider about Zhang Yanwei’s aura problems in the literary world. If she did not have the creator’s “divine power” blessing, then Zhang Yanwei’s various abilities, especially in luck, would definitely decrease. It was also well known that in any scientific experiment or research, luck and coincidences were crucial factors. Sometimes if you were lucky, then the experiment would be successful, and new things could be discovered. However, if you were unlucky, then…
Regardless of her researching abilities, Zhao Youyue was quite curious about Zhang Yanwei’s other ability – being able to see other world lines. Very interesting.
In the novel, Zhang Yanwei could clearly remember her entire past life, without skipping any details. Would she experience similar clarity in this world?
No. It was a severe disappointment. The Zhao Youyue in the other world line was nothing like her. Not even the slightest!
The Zhao Youyue in the other world line led such an uninteresting life. She was an insignificant, side character missy with no sense of presence at all…
Suddenly, Zhao Youyue realized that the Zhao Youyue in the other world line was the Zhao Youyue that never obtained the “Two Dimensional Gate.” It was the Zhao Youyue who never experienced that eureka!
That explained it all…
Translation note:
[1] “Grand Unification Theory” (大一统定律) is a model in particle physics in which, at high energy, the three gauge interactions of the Standard Model which define the electromagnetic, weak, and strong interactions, or forces, are merged into one single force.
[2] ED: I think this was a nod to Michael Caine’s repeated recital of Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night” in Interstellar. He had been fooling everyone. Well, watch the film and you’ll know.