Chapter Four: Einstein's Secrets

Looking at the scene before him, Zhou Yu had already begun to vaguely guess what was going on. He glanced at the wrists of those people and saw that each wore a watch identical to his own.

A white man was frantically pressing the buttons on his watch, muttering rapidly in a language Zhou Yu could barely understand.

Zhou Yu turned and left the room without entering.

The old man hurried after him. “Those people—are they the same as you?”

“I think so. The clothes they wear, the language they speak—it’s all from our world,” Zhou Yu replied, his eyes unfocused as he gazed ahead.

“It seems that little girl tricked us,” the old man said. “No matter what, you’re still my disciple.”

“No matter what, you’re still my friend,” Liu Yueming said, catching up with them.

Zhou Yu gave a self-deprecating laugh, turning around to say, “Thank you.”

“Let me be alone for a while.” Zhou Yu walked off into the distance.

The old man sighed, pulled out his flask, and began to drink.

Liu Yueming cradled her sword in her arms, watching Zhou Yu’s retreating figure. “Could this be a conspiracy?”

“What do you mean?” the old man asked.

“I’m starting to think the troubles at the Sword Sect are connected to these ‘travelers’.”

A spring breeze swept past Liu Yueming, and the temperature dropped abruptly.

Zhou Yu kept walking until he found a patch of clean grass and sat down.

In the distant woods, white apes leapt among the branches while cranes soared overhead. Countless mystical beasts and exotic birds moved through the landscape. On those enormous, unfamiliar trees, brilliant flowers bloomed in profusion.

Green mountains, white clouds, clear waters—the scenery of this spiritual realm was picture-perfect.

Yet Zhou Yu’s heart was heavy. After crossing over to this world, he had finally begun to let go of the bitterness from his past, resolved to make a great effort in this new world, then return to save his loved ones—his parents, his brothers in arms. Who could have imagined it was all a lie?

“Are you disappointed?” The Guide appeared by his side, who knows when, and sat down gently.

“You deceived me. There can only be one reincarnation of the King of Asura. What’s with all these others? What’s really going on with me?” Zhou Yu could barely contain his emotions.

“You’re very agitated. Why?” The Guide’s eyes widened in confusion as she looked at Zhou Yu.

“Why? If I’m not the reincarnation of the King of Asura, how can I go back? How can I return to save my parents? To save the brothers who’ve been with me since childhood?”

“Is this what you humans call emotion?” The Guide grew even more puzzled. Following Zhou Yu’s gaze toward the distance, she suddenly noticed that the little beasts and birds in the forest gave her a special feeling.

“You’re nothing but a computer. Even if you can imitate humans, you’ll never truly understand human emotion.” Zhou Yu tore up a blade of grass, put it in his mouth, and chewed.

The Guide gazed into the distance. Gradually, a peaceful smile appeared on her face, her expression no longer as stiff or mechanical. “There’s a word—‘adorable’—is that how you’d describe those little animals and birds?”

With a “ptoo,” Zhou Yu spat out the grass root, the taste of earth making him uncomfortable. Yet he pulled another stem and put it in his mouth. “What exactly do you want? Which of your words can I believe?”

“Every word I say is true, because my programming dictates it,” the Guide replied.

“Screw your programming!”

“I don’t have a mother.”

Suddenly, a thought struck Zhou Yu, and he asked, “Just now you said your programming dictates your words. Does that mean every bit of information you give me is pre-programmed?”

“That’s right,” the Guide answered.

“Logically, if your programmer wanted you to deceive me, why would he let you tell me you’re lying to me?” Zhou Yu pressed the contradiction.

“He didn’t program me not to say so. If I want to say it, I say it.” The Guide conjured a cup of coffee out of thin air, sipped it, then looked up. “What does real coffee taste like?”

Zhou Yu ignored her, lost in thought. After a while, he looked up and asked, “Who created you?”

“Einstein,” the Guide answered.

“Einstein? The one who came up with relativity?” Zhou Yu asked, astonished.

“Mhm.”

“But he’s long dead, isn’t he?”

“How could an Asura die so easily? I told you, the Asura have always lived in the earth’s core, possessing unmatched power and technology. The seal set by the heavens has already weakened. Einstein wasn’t even among the first Asura to walk the surface. Throughout history, many Asura have appeared all over the world in human guise, advancing human technology.”

She paused, then continued, “The theory of relativity that Einstein presented was long ago proposed and proven by the Asura.”

Her words struck Zhou Yu with a wave of shock.

“The highest theory is the Theory of the Absolute,” the Guide said.

“What is the Theory of the Absolute?” Zhou Yu couldn’t help but ask. The idea that Einstein was an Asura was beyond belief.

“This theory is far too advanced for human thought. Simply put, it’s about power—absolute power,” the Guide explained.

“Absolute power?” Zhou Yu still didn’t quite understand.

“You can compare it to the concept of the universe. In fact, the vast majority of human theories were revealed by the Asura—they’re just conjectures. Beyond Earth is the solar system, beyond the solar system is the galaxy, beyond the galaxy are other galaxies—but what’s beyond that? Even the gods can’t answer!”

“In the same way, the levels of power are F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS. But what comes after SSS? And after that? In the end, there’s only one answer: the Absolute! Absolute space, absolute time, absolute power!” As she spoke of this highest Asura theory, the Guide herself became a little excited.

Zhou Yu looked at her as if she were a fool. Wasn’t that all just empty talk?

The truth often hurts, while nonsense is what rings true most of all.

“Why did those people’s watches stop working?” Zhou Yu recalled the image of the white man desperately pressing his watch.

“It was probably a programming issue,” the Guide answered, frowning in thought.

“Then why can you still appear?” Zhou Yu asked, already guessing her answer.

Sure enough, the Guide replied, “A programming issue.”

“My designation is 001. I haven’t seen the others, but every program is bound to be different. There’s no such thing as two identical things in this world,” she added after a moment.

Zhou Yu spat out the chewed-up grass root and began to analyze. “Alright, let’s break this down based on your so-called programming issue.”

“First, everything you’ve said is set by your programming, or in your database. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

“Let me hazard a guess: what you told me—especially about the reincarnation of the King of Asura—has now been proven a lie. That means your programmer, Einstein, wanted you to lie to me. And then, you tried to kill me several times, and that strange cultivation technique you gave me only hurt me. If the Medicine King hadn’t told me to stop, my body would have exploded by now, my meridians a complete mess. This also proves it was Einstein who wanted to harm me, right?”

The Guide replied, “A computer can’t judge speculation. But I think you make some sense.”

“Einstein is an Asura, and those three men in black are Asura too—Minas and the others. Given their power, killing me would be as easy as flipping a hand. Why go to all the trouble of sending me here? That proves they didn’t know Einstein tampered with the program. So, maybe the reincarnation of the King of Asura is real, but for some reason, Einstein wanted to sabotage it.”

Zhou Yu thought for a moment, then continued, “If the reincarnation of the King of Asura is real, but there’s more than one traveler like me, then there’s only one possibility: all of us travelers are potential candidates for the reincarnation of the King of Asura!”

The Guide listened, frowning as if deep in thought.

Her core program was spinning madly, resisting her own attempts to think.

“My head hurts!” she suddenly cried, clutching her head. Her form dissolved into a shower of lights, which then drew back into the watch. The Guide vanished.

Just then, from the training hall where the travelers had gathered, a burst of fire exploded, followed by a thunderous boom. Zhou Yu turned to see a massive golden dragon soaring above the bluestone plaza.

A dragon—there was actually a dragon! Zhou Yu was stunned. He saw the old man wave to him and quickly ran toward the training hall. No matter what, those in the training hall had all come from Earth, just like himself. He had to find out what was happening.