Chen Xiao silently looked at Lao Tian's face, then suddenly asked in a low voice, "You...love her?"
"I love it very much." Old Tian nodded.
Then he seemed to smile: "I've been married several times in my life, but none of them lasted long... Oh, I mean, not long enough compared to my lifespan. Every woman I fell in love with, I watched helplessly as she grew old and died. Even my children and grandchildren grew old and died... I think you can't understand this feeling."
At this moment, Lao Tian's voice was hoarse and bitter.
“She was the last woman I ever loved. And also the one I loved most. I’ve lived for over four hundred years, and it’s not that I haven’t been with other women, but… Mingyue is a special woman. She’s beautiful, and she possesses a charm that no one else can match. She is a unique woman, a unique woman that you can’t find another like her in this world.” Old Tian said this, and then gave a bitter smile: “Perhaps, there’s another reason: I’ve never received her love.”
What you can't have is always the best.
Old Tian walked to the innermost display window. He nimbly took out an old, worn-out wooden box and pulled out a pocket watch from inside.
This is a copper pocket watch, with green patina on the chain and scratches all over the case.
“This is mine…it was the first birthday present Mingyue gave me.” Old Tian gently stroked the scratches on the watch case with his fingers, and said softly, “She said that she would give me a watch every year on my birthday. Unfortunately, she died very early…but she made sure her descendants kept that promise. Until the last owner of this watch shop passed away, I received a brand new watch every year on my birthday. But the one I cherish most is still this one.” Old Tian put the old pocket watch back, shaking his head, and said, “This thing is too precious. I can never bear to keep it with me, nor dare I keep it with me. I can only secretly hide it here.”
“Mingyue…she is a phoenix…” Chen Xiao asked in a low voice.
But Lao Tian waved his hand and did not answer immediately.
“Mingyue’s story is the beginning of the whole incident.” Old Tian shook his head: “Even… the service center, the club, and many, many other things… are all related to this peculiar woman! If it weren’t for her back then… I’m afraid… the situation now would be very different…”
Then, Lao Tian pointed to two old chairs in the shop: "Sit down, I'll tell you slowly."
He sat down first, holding the cigarette in his hand, and then skillfully pulled out a lighter from beside the coffee table. Looking at Chen Xiao, he smiled and said, "I often sneak here alone. When I'm in a bad mood, I sit here, smoke a couple of cigarettes, and talk to myself. It feels like the bright moon is still here with me. So, I hid a lighter here, hehe."
He lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and as the bluish smoke rose, Old Tian began to tell his story.
“Mingyue was born into a wealthy family in the late Qing Dynasty, during the Self-Strengthening Movement. When she was young, Mingyue was like a boy; she was completely unfamiliar with the traditional arts and crafts expected of a well-bred young lady. Later, her two older brothers were sent abroad to study by their father, and this delicate young lady actually packed her bags and secretly ran away from home, boarding a steamship.” Old Tian sighed as he smoked, “That’s when I met her. I was doing something for the service company at the time, and I happened to be on that cruise ship, which is how I met her…”
Chen Xiao suddenly smiled: "You're talking about it like the Titanic."
Old Tian laughed: "She was a tomboy. Back then, in order to sneak out, she deliberately cut her hair and even wore a Western-style dress and round glasses like other girls. But she was too slender, so she was still easily spotted. Luckily, she had a special skill: makeup." As Old Tian spoke, he couldn't help but drift off into thought for a moment. The cigarette ash between his fingers was quite long, and he didn't even notice it falling onto his clothes.
Chen Xiao didn't interrupt his reminiscence, and just waited quietly.
After a long while, Lao Tian sighed and shook his head: "Let's not talk about this anymore. Actually... I wasn't the main character in that incident. Because the person she met on the ship... or rather, the main character in her heart wasn't me."
After a pause, Lao Tian's expression turned serious: "There was another man from the service company on the ship with me at the time. That man was of a higher rank than me in the service company. I was just assisting him in that incident."
assist?
Old Tian, a monster who's lived for four hundred years, possesses unfathomable strength! Let him be an assistant? And that man's identity…
“He was K,” Old Tian said in a low voice. “Back then, he was K. And he was the youngest K on the service committee!”
His voice turned bitter: "Speaking of which, that encounter on the ship led to a very cliché love story: a rich young lady who ran away from home met a man with a peculiar background. And I... was just an observer."
“We took Mingyue with us to Europe. After we finished our business there, K accompanied her on a tour of Europe, to Paris, London, Berlin, Antwerp… The three of us were very happy together, like three good friends. But I knew very well that in their hearts, I was a friend, but their relationship was not that of friends.”
"K is a very special man. He is a staunch organizer, loyal and extremely responsible, with an innate sense of mission. He believes that the existence of the Service Society is to be responsible for watching over this world and guiding our direction... Haha, I believed those words back when I was in the Service Society."
"I believe their love was pure at the beginning. Although I... I'm willing to bless them. Mingyue is a beautiful woman, and she's very kind-hearted. I think she understands my feelings for her, but she never makes me feel awkward. She's very smart and knows how to handle things harmoniously. Even when the three of us are together, she always has a charm that makes us feel comfortable. Although... at that time, K and I were just colleagues, not friends."
"But things changed more than two years later. They got married in Paris, and after the marriage, K almost temporarily gave up everything at the service agency to live a secluded life with her on the banks of the Seine. During those days, I would often find opportunities to go to Europe on missions and visit them frequently. They were always very happy and living a very good life. I remember that year, I went to Paris, which happened to be my birthday, and she gave me a pocket watch, this one. But one day, two years after we met, when I went to Paris to visit them again, things had changed. When I went that time, they already had a child, but I didn't see K. She was alone in her home in Paris. Although she still smiled brightly at me, I could tell that she was unhappy, not happy at all."
"Why?" Chen Xiao asked.
“Because… Mingyue, she is not an ordinary person either.” Old Tian’s voice was somewhat bitter.
"Is she also a superhuman?" Chen Xiao frowned.
"No, she's not a superhuman." Old Tian frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "I'm not an expert in this area, but perhaps this way of understanding will make it clear to you. Mingyue's genetic material contains a certain substance that, if she had met an ordinary person or another superhuman, wouldn't have produced any special results. But unfortunately, she met K."
Old Tian smiled and said, "To give a chemical example, water is composed of H2O. When two different substances come together, a chemical reaction occurs, creating a new substance. That incident was purely coincidental. I only learned a little about it afterward: the genetic components in Mingyue's body just happened to undergo a strange mutation with K's genes. The probability of such a coincidence is extremely small. But in this vast world, amidst the sea of people, Mingyue happened to meet K, fall in love, marry, and have children. And the offspring, inheriting the genes of both, a child combining their genetic makeup, underwent a chemical reaction. In other words, their offspring are gifted individuals, and their abilities aren't simply inherited from K. Instead, some new changes occurred that were incomprehensible at the time!"
"K's ability is time manipulation!" Old Tian's voice was very serious. "It's an extremely powerful ability, with almost no obvious weaknesses. K, who possesses this ability, holds a very high position in the service organization. But the result... their child is neither an ordinary person like Mingyue, nor does he have K's time manipulation ability. Instead, he has developed a completely new and extremely powerful new ability! This discovery reignited K's fervent sense of mission and responsibility, which had been consumed by love and willing to live in seclusion. Faced with this new discovery, he felt as if he had found a new path for humanity to reach the future—yes, that's K's exact words. That's what he said at the time, when I questioned him. That's how he answered."
"What exactly... happened?" Chen Xiao heard the deep sorrow in Lao Tian's voice.
Old Tian stubbed out his cigarette, sighed, and then looked up at Chen Xiao: "In your opinion, what is the greatest weakness of humankind today?"
Chen Xiao frowned, though he didn't understand Lao Tian's intention. He still thought about it seriously: "Hmm...too fragile? Shorter lifespan? Or..."
"What I mean is, all humans, including those with superpowers!" Old Tian said calmly. "For those with superpowers, the individual is not fragile. Some, like me, have very long lifespans. However, even those with extraordinary abilities have one major weakness that they cannot avoid, a weakness that all humans possess."
"What exactly is it?"
"Inheritance!" Old Tian uttered these two words with unwavering conviction.
His speech quickened: "Inheritance! The inheritance of knowledge. And the inheritance of skills... and so on and so forth, everything! The inheritance of everything!"
Chen Xiao frowned: "I don't quite understand what you mean."
Old Tian looked into Chen Xiao's eyes, his gaze carrying a hint of something strange: "Okay, let's say a person, no matter how talented, from the moment a person is born into this world, from infancy to adulthood, and then learning all sorts of external knowledge... it takes a very long process."
He smiled and continued, "Take our modern society for example. A normal person needs to receive more than ten years of schooling to learn a basic set of civilized knowledge, whether it's mathematics, physics, chemistry, or anything else. And even after studying in school for more than ten years, what they learn is only some of the most basic and common things. Those advanced and cutting-edge knowledge are only areas that a small number of elites have the energy to delve into. For example, an ordinary college student might study advanced mathematics. But what about going further? For example, a college student might study physics and chemistry. But that's only some relatively basic theory, far from comparable to that of professional experts!"
Chen Xiao frowned: "That's natural. After all, human strength has its limits. To delve deeply into a field requires a great deal of effort and a long time."
"But this knowledge is all that our ancestors discovered! It already exists! Humanity is no longer capable of simply mastering the knowledge and civilization left by our predecessors." Old Tian smiled. "Take Einstein's theory of relativity, for example. This is also a legacy of knowledge from our ancestors, but for the vast majority of people in this world, it's simply unlearnable… Why? Because they simply don't have the time, or rather, the energy, to learn these profound things—even if it's just about inheriting the knowledge legacy left by our ancestors." Old Tian shook his head. "As I said, even if a person studies in school for over ten years from childhood, they can only master a very small portion of the most basic and ordinary knowledge. It's impossible to learn all the existing cultural and knowledge legacy left by our ancestors. There are even some terrible situations where a professional with profound knowledge in a certain field dies, and then much of that knowledge is lost to future generations."
He gave a bitter smile: "For example, my children will not be able to learn all the martial arts I have learned in my lifetime. There are many things that will probably be lost after I die. Even if I pass them down in written form, no one can learn them all. If they only remain on paper, it is the same as losing them!"
Chen Xiao gradually guessed what was going on: "So, you mean..."
"Passing down knowledge is a very troublesome thing. Currently, the transmission of human civilization and knowledge relies solely on learning, which requires effort, time, and talent. Those with good talent can learn more, while those with less talent learn less. Moreover, it takes more than ten years to learn even the most basic and ordinary things… For most people, how many decades do they have in their lifetime? Passing down knowledge through learning is too slow and inefficient." Old Tian shook his head: "Especially in the era when K and Mingyue met, there were no computers, no massive storage tools. Even the transmission of knowledge could only rely on writing and printing… So, when K suddenly discovered this new path, all the fervor in his heart was ignited!"