Genius Club-Chapter 258 - 73 Welcome, Join the Genius Club

"I know,"

Ji Xinshui nodded.

As an expert in pharmacology, he naturally knew about this:

"The drug injection death penalty involves administering three injections to the prisoner. The first injection is just a common anesthetic, which is not lethal; the second injection is a muscle relaxant, which will cause the prisoner’s muscles to relax and gradually stop breathing; the third injection is the main lethal agent, typically potassium chloride, and an overdose can easily kill a person."

Upon reaching this point, Ji Xinshui had a sudden realization.

He looked somewhat resistant and also a bit puzzled:

"You... you mean to say, have me undergo the death penalty?"

Lin Xian nodded:

"Just like today, I have arranged everything for you. When it’s time for your execution, we will replace the second and third injections with saline solution. That way, you will only fall into a deep sleep from the first anesthetic injection, and the prearranged coroner will issue you a death certificate, and then... we will legitimately transport your ’corpse’ out."

"In this way, you will have died in the eyes of the law, in front of the whole world; but you will come back to life in the Genius Club and the annals of history."

This was Lin Xian’s plan.

He intended to make Ji Xinshui voluntarily undergo the death penalty.

And his bargaining chip... was this unique, indistinguishably authentic invitation to the Genius Club.

He was betting on Ji Xinshui’s desire and persistence.

If Ji Xinshui were a rational person, his plan would mostly fail, as Ji Xinshui would weigh the risks and not dare to trust himself or take risks so easily with something as serious as the death penalty.

But if.

If Ji Xinshui was a person of desire, of obsession, of madness, someone who for the sake of joining the Genius Club would "disown his relatives," "kill his most beloved student," "use his subordinates as cannon fodder," "casually trample the lives of others"...

Lin Xian believed.

Such a person would most likely take the bait.

As the saying goes, humans die for wealth as birds die for food; driven by a significant enough interest, capitalists are even willing to risk their lives.

What’s more, for Ji Xinshui, what is the Genius Club?

This was Lin Xian’s gambit for today.

In front of him.

Ji Xinshui was obviously hesitating.

His face expressed indecision as he said in a low voice:

"I will be released without charge in just over ten hours... then, perhaps I could arrange a more solemn, more dignified fake death."

Lin Xian’s expression remained unchanged, and he did not try to persuade him further.

He didn’t know if Ji Xinshui was hesitating, becoming doubtful, or whether he simply didn’t care about faking his death and was more concerned about the dignity and solemnity of his death.

But in any case, it was no longer time to stay here.

The more one talks, the more they lose.

It was time for him to leave.

"Ji Xinshui, this is a test,"

Lin Xian placed his right hand’s index and middle fingers on the invitation and pulled it back towards himself:

"Of course, you can choose whether to participate or not. But for us... we would prefer to have a trustworthy partner."

Lin Xian stood up, took the invitation, and deliberately shook the Genius Club’s seal at Ji Xinshui:

"Goodbye, Ji Xinshui."

Lin Xian put the invitation into a file bag and walked toward the interrogation room’s door:

"I’ll be waiting for you at the Genius Club."

Bang.

The solid door of the interrogation room closed.

...

Whew.

Lin Xian let out a sigh of relief.

He had managed to get through the intimidation act.

The outcome of this gamble depended on whether Ji Xinshui could overcome his own desires.

Walking through the corridor, Lin Xian returned to the interrogation monitoring room.

The staff, Chu Shanhe, and Officer Liu immediately crowded around him:

"How did it go?"

"Any progress?"

"What did he say? Did he change his mind?"

Lin Xian shook his head with a smile and pointed to the dark monitor screens:

"Turn all the surveillance inside on, let’s see what he will do next,"

The staff turned their head and performed a few operations on the keyboard, and the cameras in the surveillance room where Ji Xinshui was located were turned on again.

Lin Xian leaned in to observe.

He saw Ji Xinshui with closed eyes, looking solemn, as if facing a great enemy.

Undoubtedly, his mind must be in turmoil right now.

On the one hand, there was the invitation to the Genius Club, which indeed had a great allure to him.

The Genius Club was so mysterious and secretive that just to find out a name or its existence was already quite remarkable.

Let alone the fact that the invitation Lin Xian held had a seal on it, the presence of the seal greatly increased the authenticity of the invitation.

And judging from Ji Xinshui’s reaction earlier,

He never once doubted the authenticity of the invitation to the Genius Club.

Perhaps... he was so certain because he had seen a real invitation or knew what a real one looked like.

Thinking about this...

Ji Xinshui knew quite a lot about the Genius Club, clearly more than Lin Xian did.

If Lin Xian were to actually win this gamble, there would indeed be an element of luck involved.

Tick tock.

Tick tock.

Tick tock.

The entire surveillance room was silent except for the clock on the wall; the second hand moved steadily, making the only sound in the room.

Lin Xian’s eyes were fixed on the monitor screen, staring at Ji Xinshui handcuffed to the iron chair.

Time... felt incredibly long, yet another three hours passed.

Ji Xinshui just sat there, frowning and pondering, without any other movement.

Lin Xian did the same, sitting there, quietly watching Ji Xinshui.

What would he choose?

Would he stay for another 10 hours, be released innocently and forfeit the chance to get an invitation from the Genius Club?

Or would he, for the sake of this invitation, believe in Lin Xian’s "final exam," abandon his life, status, reputation, and pledge allegiance to the Genius Club?

Lin Xian didn’t know which Ji Xinshui would choose.

Mainly because he didn’t understand Ji Xinshui as a person.

What kind of life did he lead?

What kind of experiences had he been through?

What kind of obsession did he have, and what reasons was he willing to gamble his life for?

He didn’t understand.

But in this world, for many people, there are things far more important than life itself.

Like Zheng Chenghe, whose sister had a congenital heart disease and whose parents were beaten to death before his eyes.

Like Li Qiqi, who longed to see a meteor shower and only wanted to make a wish upon it for Liu Feng.

Like Zhou Duanyun, who was full of lies, who desired to defy fate, yet insisted on sending a goodnight message to his mother every day.

Or Lee Ningning, who risked death to steal books;

Or CC, who was willing to sneak into New Donghai City alone by her side;

Lee Cheng, who lived by a hero’s code for the country and the people; Big Face Cat, who was blinded by revenge for his daughter...

In this world.

There are far too many people with reasons to fight to the death.

What about himself?

Lin Xian began to analyze himself.

For himself... were there things he was willing to risk his life for?

Lin Xian thought it over.

He found none.

Indeed, none.

He now didn’t believe there was anything more important than life.

But...

What about the future?

"People change."

He remembered the words he had said to Zhao Yingjun.

"Lin Xian, you must do what you like, what you are willing to persist in, what you are willing to bet your whole life on, not to prove anything to others, but because you truly wish to."

He also remembered what Zhao Yingjun had said to him.

In the future... would there be something he was willing to risk his life for?

Suddenly.

On the surveillance screen of Ji Xinshui’s detention room.

The old man who had been looking down for a long time finally raised his head and looked into the camera.

Everyone in the monitoring room held their breath for a moment!

"Send in the interrogator."

On the screen, Ji Xinshui’s eyes were resolute, and a genuine smile appeared on his face:

"I have something to confess."

...

At this moment.

Ji Xinshui in the interrogation room had clearly made up his mind.

He had never feared death.

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Never.

He was already 86 years old. At his age, no one truly feared death.

Moreover...

If it weren’t for Copernicus, he would have died at 56.

At 56, he was still just an ordinary researcher at the Donghai University Research Institute.

He was born in an era of war, fleeing overseas on a refugee boat with his parents as a child.

Losing his parents early, he struggled alone in poverty to study, finally returning to his homeland with dreams, only to live without achieving much, facing exclusion in the research institute.

He wasn’t skilled in socializing, adapting, or playing politics and was treated as an outcast by colleagues, often met with harsh words.

At 56, he stood on the rooftop, ready to jump down to end his nightmarish life, when he met Copernicus.

Copernicus from the Genius Club showed him the invitation he had yearned for all his life.

His life was changed from then on.

Copernicus could do everything and was almighty.

Soon, with Copernicus’s casual help, he invented a major patent, secured the position of the head of the Donghai University Research Institute, with numerous transnational corporations under him, wealthy enough to rival nations.

Yet he still loved his position as head of the Donghai University Research Institute the most.

Even though he had unlimited money and an influential name in the world.

He still preferred sitting in his office as head of the institute, drinking tea, watching students in the campus, and looking at that building he almost jumped from.

The 56-year-old Ji Xinshui indeed died beneath that high building.

But the 56-year-old who yearned for the Genius Club was born on the rooftop of that building.

If it had not been for his parting ways with his favorite student, Xu Yun, whom he tried to force to return to his side by abandoning the research on the Hibernation Pod...

He definitely would not have resigned from that position he loved most in his heart.

When one day Copernicus told him to kill Xu Yun,

He was in agony.

But at the same time, he was helpless.

His life was given by Copernicus, his life was a boon from the Genius Club, and his greatest wish in executing Copernicus’s orders was to also receive an invitation to the Genius Club.

In fact, while Xu Yun was alive, he had secretly visited Xu Yiyi many times.

He had deliberately arranged Zheng Xiangyue’s hospital room next to Xu Yiyi’s.

But after Xu Yun died...

He never went again.

He knew that once he had embarked on this road to the Genius Club, toward the sun, toward ultimate power and authority, he must accept everything and be ready to give it all up at any time.

Now, it was time for him to give it all up, to vanish from reality, to become a part of history.

To die and to be reborn.

This was the final test of the Genius Club.

The 86-year-old Ji Xinshui would "die" on the execution stand.

But the 86-year-old Ji Xinshui would be reborn in the Genius Club.

He had long planned everything for the time after his initiation; he wanted to become a person like Copernicus, standing beside him, looking down on the entire world.

He was never afraid of death, especially when this was just a false death to fool the world.

That moment of hesitation was only because he hoped to die with dignity, to be lavishly memorialized and praised for the legend he left in the medical field.

But perhaps...

Willingly giving up these things to become a purer presence in the long river of human history might just be the key to this final test.

The moment he realized this,

Ji Xinshui seemed to see a great light shining before him!

Copernicus was standing in that light, applauding him:

"Welcome, to the Genius Club!"