Genius Club

This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation

“C… C?”

Lin Xian’s eyes widened as he stared at the girl standing before him. She looked so familiar—exactly the same. The hair color, the eyes, even the slight curl of her hair and the small mole near her eye—they were identical.

And here they were in Brooklyn, CC’s old home. Lin Xian spoke without thinking, blurting out her name: “CC.”

For a moment, he was confused.

He had assumed this journey to 1952, in search of the Millennial Stake, would be challenging—nearly impossible. He had even planned to start by tracking down Albert Einstein, who was practically a superstar of this era. It seemed much more practical than chasing some legendary object without any clues.

But he hadn’t expected this.

The Millennial Stake of 1952 was right here, standing at the exact spot where the spacetime rift had opened.

Could this be… fate?

The rift had been caused by the stake, so maybe the stake itself had some kind of tracking ability for spacetime rifts?

“Huh?”

The girl looked at Lin Xian, startled by the name “CC.”

She jumped down from the railing, her eyes locking onto his. She spoke in clear American English, “How do you know my name? Do we know each other?”

Lin Xian froze.

He had called her name instinctively, but as soon as he said it, he realized it couldn’t be right. This girl wasn’t Chu An Qing, nor could she be CC.

The reason was simple: her flawless American accent.

He’d heard Chu An Qing speak English before, and her accent, like most people from X Country, had a foreign lilt to it. And if she really was An Qing or CC, she would definitely have spoken to him in their native language.

The fact that she confronted him in English meant she didn’t know him. She wasn’t Chu An Qing or CC—she was the original Millennial Stake, a girl from this time.

Which made sense. After all, this was 1952. Neither An Qing nor CC should be here.

But the problem was—

If that was the case, why had she reacted to the name “CC”?

Lin Xian couldn’t figure it out.

“Your name is really CC?” he asked, frowning as he studied the girl who looked so familiar yet so strange.

“Yeah,” she replied.

The girl’s pretty eyes were filled with curiosity. “No one’s called me that for a really long time. It was just a nickname my grandma used to call me when I was little.”

“My first and last names both start with ‘C,’ and both are really long. Since there were so many kids around, my grandma said it was easier just to call me ‘CC.’ And that’s how it stuck.” She looked at him, puzzled. “But how did you know? Only my family calls me that.”

Lin Xian opened his mouth to respond, but a voice interrupted him.

“Hey, mister! You need to pay for that newspaper!”

The small boy, who had been looking for change, turned back to Lin Xian, eyes wide as he saw the paper in his hand.

Tsk.

Lin Xian clicked his tongue.

All because of this girl, also named CC.

If she hadn’t interrupted him, revealing his attempt to steal the newspaper, he would’ve already been gone, his hands clean, slipping away unnoticed. Who would’ve thought…

The stealing skill he had used successfully countless times in dreamscapes had been exposed here, in reality, by someone who felt like “one of his own.” It was a little embarrassing.

Lin Xian looked at the boy and said in English, “I was just looking at it for a moment. I’m not interested anymore. Here, take it back.”

He held the Brooklyn Daily out to the boy.

But the kid stepped back, hands behind his back, refusing to take it. “Mister! There’s no return policy for newspapers after reading them. Since you’ve read it, you need to pay for it!”

Lin Xian protested, “Isn’t this forced buying? Where’s the fairness in that?”

“That’s just the rule here in Brooklyn!” the boy shouted. “Hey! Somebody! This man stole a newspaper and won’t pay!”

In response to the shout, people who had been sitting idly, waiting for work or just wandering about, stood up and began to surround Lin Xian.

This doesn’t look good…

Lin Xian pressed his lips together.

From what he knew of history, Brooklyn in the 1950s was filled with gangs and criminals. Most of them were ethnic or regional groups—Irish gangs, Italian gangs, and some particularly dangerous African American gangs. These people were at the very bottom of society and weren’t known for being reasonable.

Lin Xian turned to CC. “See, this is your fault for butting in. Now I’m in trouble.”

CC folded her arms, huffing slightly. “Stealing is wrong, and you know it. Just pay the kid and be done with it.”

“If I had money, I would.” Lin Xian sighed, patting his pockets, hoping for a miracle.

But, unfortunately, his makeshift outfit didn’t even have pockets, much less any money in them.

He looked at CC. “Can you lend me a few cents? I don’t want any trouble, and I promise I’ll pay you back tenfold.”

“I don’t have any money either,” CC said with a helpless smile. “If I did, why would I be hanging out here in the middle of the day?”

The people were closing in, cracking their knuckles and glaring.

Lin Xian turned to CC, panicked. “According to ‘Brooklyn rules,’ what happens now? Am I going to be beaten to death?”

“Probably just beaten half to death,” CC replied.

“What should we do?” Lin Xian asked. “Is there some sort of ‘Brooklyn solution’ to this?”

CC giggled, then grabbed his arm. “What else? Run!”

She yanked him along, and they sprinted away.

Behind them, the idle men, eager for a fight, shouted curses and chased after them.

Thankfully, Lin Xian’s parkour skills were top-notch, and CC was surprisingly agile. With her guidance, they weaved through the narrow gaps between buildings, and soon, the shouting behind them faded away.

Lin Xian had kept his cool earlier because he knew he could handle a chase like this. After years of practicing parkour in dreamscapes, there was no way he couldn’t outrun a few guys in real life.

Brooklyn’s gangs might be notorious, but they were nothing compared to the full-scale pursuit by SWAT teams, helicopters, snipers, and armored cars he had faced in the First Dream. If he could survive that, escaping a handful of men was a piece of cake.

The only thing that really worried him was guns. But even then, he was confident. If they tried to shoot him, the “forced avoidance” mechanism would kick in, and they’d be unable to hit him. He had tested it several times, and he knew how effective it was.

Lin Xian couldn’t help but wonder why this girl—who clearly wasn’t CC and had no memory of him—was willing to help him. This wasn’t her fight. He was the one who stole the paper; the men were after him, not her. She had no reason to get involved.

Maybe…

Maybe there was something else going on here?

He needed to know more about this girl, who looked just like CC, shared her name, and was connected to the Millennial Stake.

“Alright,” said CC, stopping suddenly in the alley and patting her hands together, as though she had just finished an unpleasant chore. She turned towards Lin Xian, her lips twitching into a sly grin. “We should be safe here. Those guys are lazy; they’ll give up soon enough.”

Lin Xian glanced down at his dust-covered shoes, his gaze heavy. “Thanks,” he muttered, rubbing his feet together nervously. He paused for a moment, then looked up at her, his expression curious. “Do you… know me?”

CC shook her head, her eyes narrowing. “Nope. Not at all,” she said bluntly.

“Then why did you save me?” Lin Xian pressed, the confusion evident in his voice.

CC folded her arms and leaned back against the alley wall, studying him with an amused look. “Shouldn’t you be the one answering questions here? How do you know my name’s CC? Who told you?”

Lin Xian blinked, then quickly shook his head. “No one told me,” he said, his voice sincere. “I just said it. I have a friend—she looks a lot like you. Her name’s CC too. I thought it might be a mistake, but somehow… your name’s also CC.”

CC frowned, her eyes narrowing further. “Are you messing with me? Is this how you repay someone who just saved your life?”

Lin Xian gave a helpless smile, raising his hands. “I swear, I’m telling the truth. It’s just that…”

He hesitated, glancing back down the alley. A chill ran down his spine, and he rubbed the back of his head, his fingers brushing against something—something almost imperceptible, like a tugging string. It wasn’t just a weird feeling; he could actually sense something there, something that seemed to be pulling at the back of his head, keeping him connected to something above.

It felt like an invisible kite string, tugging gently, and it had been there all through the chase. He hadn’t noticed it while running, but now that he had stopped, he couldn’t ignore it any longer. It was uncomfortable—a constant pull at the base of his head.

Where did this “kite string” lead to? Why could he feel it so clearly?

Suddenly, Lin Xian’s eyes widened. “I understand,” he whispered to himself, his voice barely audible. “This is the tether—the tether of the entangled spacetime particle. The kite string connects me back to 2234, the point where I began.”

It was a strange sensation—a mix of discomfort and awe. He could sense the tether—like he was a kite, drifting in 1952, yet still connected to his own time. As long as that string was intact, he could be pulled back. But if it snapped—if the worldline shifted—he’d be lost, a kite with no string, stranded in a foreign sky.

Lin Xian closed his eyes, focusing on the odd feeling at the back of his head. The connection was strong, and he realized he could follow it, let it pull him back to 2234 in an instant. But he forced himself to ignore it. He wasn’t ready—he hadn’t completed his mission yet.

“Hey!” CC’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. She sounded annoyed. “What are you doing? I’m asking you questions, and you’re just standing there, daydreaming? Ugh, I should’ve let them catch you.”

Lin Xian turned back to face her, blinking. “Sorry,” he said quickly. “You wanted to know how I knew your name, right?”

CC nodded, her arms still crossed.

“Is that name very important to you?” Lin Xian asked softly.

CC hesitated, her expression softening. “Not really,” she said finally. “It’s just… no one’s called me that in a long time. I guess I miss it.”

“Would you tell me your story?” Lin Xian asked earnestly. “I swear, I’m not lying. I know someone named CC who looks just like you, but she’s not you. I need to figure out the connection—if there is one. Could you tell me about yourself, your identity, where your name came from? Maybe it could help us both.”

CC blinked at him, her expression softening even more. “You’re serious?” she asked quietly. “You think you can help me figure out who I am?”

Lin Xian nodded. “I can’t promise anything,” he said honestly. “But I wouldn’t lie to you. And… just to be clear, I know it was wrong to take the newspaper without paying. I’ll pay the boy back, I promise.”

CC stared at him for a long moment, then finally sighed, shaking her head. “Alright,” she said, her voice soft. “I was adopted by an old lady when I was just a baby. She was kind—a widow. The First World War took her entire family—her husband and her children all died in the fighting.”

“When the war ended, the government gave her compensation and medals. She had no family left, so she decided to use the money to do some good. She set up an orphanage.”

Lin Xian listened intently, nodding slowly.

“I don’t know who my real parents are,” CC continued. “I was left on the steps of the orphanage when I was just born. All they left was a note, with my name on it, and a plea for the kind lady to take me in.”

Lin Xian nodded again, understanding beginning to dawn on him. He had thought CC might have meant her biological grandmother, someone related by blood. But instead, it was the orphanage director—a woman who had lost everything to war.

“There were over thirty kids at the orphanage,” CC said, a wistful smile touching her lips. “So Grandma—that’s what we called her—gave us all simple nicknames. She said my real name was too long, so she just used the first letter of each word. That’s how I became CC.”

She looked away, her smile fading. “There’s no deep story behind it. It’s just… no one’s called me that in so long, and I really miss those days. Living in the orphanage, with Grandma and the other kids… those days are gone forever.”

Lin Xian noticed a tear forming in the corner of her eye, but she quickly wiped it away.

“Do you mean… your grandma is…?” Lin Xian asked, his voice hesitant.

“Yes,” CC nodded, her voice soft. “She passed away a few years ago. After that, the orphanage couldn’t keep running. We all went our separate ways. Most of the kids got adopted, but no one wanted to take in someone my age. I haven’t seen any of them since then. In a place like Brooklyn, it’s easy to disappear.”

She looked up at him, her eyes hardening again. “So no, I didn’t help you because you called me CC. I helped you because… well, because you reminded me of something.”

Lin Xian frowned. “Reminded you of what?”

CC sighed, shaking her head. “Grandma always used to tell me that even though I had an American name, my face looked like I came from X Country. She said that my parents, or maybe my ancestors, must have come across the ocean, fleeing some war back in X Country. And she always told me that we should help our own people, especially when we’re far from home.”

Lin Xian nodded slowly, understanding now. “But… how could you tell I was from X Country just by looking at me?”

CC smiled, shaking her head. “Isn’t it obvious? Black hair, black eyes, yellow skin… You’re as X Country as they come.”

Lin Xian blinked, confused. “Wait—black eyes?”

“What else?” CC asked, raising an eyebrow. “Are you colorblind or something?”

Lin Xian barely heard her. He turned, looking around until he spotted a broken motorcycle, its rearview mirror still intact. He hurried over, tilting the mirror towards himself.

The face that stared back at him was his own—familiar, unchanged. But the eyes that met his gaze were not the bright blue he was used to. They were black. Completely black.

“What… what is happening?” Lin Xian whispered, his heart pounding in his chest. Had he really succeeded in traveling through time? And if he had, why had his eyes changed?