Chapter 1244: Chapter 59 Equality (Monthly Ticket Bonus!)_3

The 200-year-long “Winter Sleep Prohibition Era” has arrived.

And today, the current date…

[is April 10, 2025.]

Too late.

No matter what happens at this point, it’s too late.

Gauss’s move was indeed insidious, yet brilliantly executed.

During the early days of hibernation technology, a virus that prevented only hibernation and caused no other harm wouldn’t attract much attention.

Winter sleep, for the vast majority of people in the current world, was merely a dispensable technology.

If one could hibernate, they might give it a try; if they couldn’t, they wouldn’t care.

The people who truly had a pressing need for hibernation fell into only two categories–

1. Patients with incurable illnesses.

2. People like Lin Xian, who bore essential missions and responsibilities.

But combined, these two groups accounted for less than 0.01% of the world’s population.

“There’s one thing I don’t quite understand.”

Lin Xian muttered:

“Maima already proved that Gauss’s Hibernation Suppression Virus only lasts for 200 years… Does Gauss know about this?”

Thinking it over, Lin Xian nodded:

“He must know. After all, the virus was created by him. Even if he didn’t know, he could have used his last chance to ask Einstein directly in a private inquiry.”

“But the problem is… would Gauss really be satisfied with just 200 years of equality in life and death? 200 years is but a blink in the grand timeline of human history. After 200 years, everyone can hibernate again, and the world will revert to inequality. Does Gauss truly not care?”

“Would 200 years… really be enough for Gauss?”

Lin Xian closed his eyes.

He thought for dozens of seconds.

And then.

He seemed to start understanding.

“Could it be that Gauss… was targeting us?”

Lin Xian said gravely:

“200 years is insignificant to human civilization. But to the Genius Club, it’s catastrophic.”

“From Gauss’s perspective, banning hibernation for 200 years is enough to exhaust everyone in the Genius Club, even including… Einstein.”

“Could it be that Gauss views the geniuses of the Genius Club as humanity’s greatest inequality? Like Copernicus’s indiscriminate killings, Turing’s eternal digital life, Jask shaping humanity’s future trajectory, and so on… Could it be that due to the extensive interference by these geniuses in the course of the world, Gauss believes they are the true culprits deserving eradication?”

…

Lin Xian shook his head.

At this point, guessing Gauss’s purpose no longer mattered.

Things had reached this stage.

Many outcomes were already too late to change.

Moreover.

A more urgent and difficult dilemma awaited him–

What now?

He opened his eyes, trapped in endless anguish.

On April 17, this virus would infect the entire globe, naturally affecting himself, Yingjun, and Yu Xi as well.

If he couldn’t enter the Hibernation Pod,

then…

all the plans would come to nothing, reduced to dust.

He wouldn’t be able to use the Time Shuttle Machine to travel back to 1952;

nor find clues to the Millennium Stakes in 1952 and rescue Chu Anqing;

nor contend with the fate of humanity’s extinction 600 years into the future.

Unable to save the future,

unable to stop the white light,

unable to bring back An Qing,

unable to alter destiny,

unable to shift the world line…

The silent bomb Gauss planted with this virus completely disrupted all of Lin Xian’s plans for the future.

“What now?”

Lin Xian couldn’t think of an answer.

If he managed to enter the Hibernation Pod before April 17, those previous plans could still be carried out, yet inevitably, he would be forced to abandon Yu Xi.

The “Hibernation Manual” was very clear: the minimum age for hibernation was three weeks old; under extreme circumstances, one week old; however, infants younger than one week were absolutely prohibited from entering Hibernation Pods.

This was because the membranes of infants below one week old were not yet fully developed. The chemicals in the Hibernation Pod Filling Liquid would infiltrate the brain and cause irreversible damage or even brain death.

And yet.

If he didn’t hibernate before April 17, it would mean giving up on saving the world, relinquishing the future 600 years later, abandoning his promise to Chu Shanhe… and ultimately embracing reality, becoming an ordinary person indulging in fleeting pleasures.

This choice,

was too difficult…

The more Lin Xian thought about it, the more muddled his mind became.

He walked up to Maima:

“I want to ask, regarding the Hibernation Suppression Virus, is there any way to avoid infection? Like… isolating oneself in a sterile room?”

“It’s useless.”

Maima lifted her head from “The Demon Emperor Devouring the Heavens”:

“I’ve researched extensively for this novel; trust me on this.”

“During those 200 years of hibernation prohibition, scientists certainly conducted numerous experiments, including the sterile isolation you mentioned, but… it was futile. This virus is truly overwhelming; it not only uses humans as hosts but can inhabit animals, plants, dust particles, insects, probiotics, fungi, and so on… even other viruses can serve as its hosts.”

“Don’t underestimate this virus. If it were as easy to isolate as you suggest, humanity wouldn’t have had to wait 200 years for its toxicity and transmissibility to disappear naturally, right?”

“Every possible method was tried, but ultimately none worked. That’s why humanity chose to relinquish control and wait for the virus to extinguish itself. Honestly… it wasn’t as dramatic as I wrote in my novel; the vast majority of people didn’t care about the virus at all.”

Maima spread her hands:

“So what if people can’t hibernate? Is hibernation all that important? Look at me–I hoped to dive into a literary resurgence in a few centuries with my fantasy novels, making a grand splash. That’s why I’m here exploring hibernation.”