Red Tower Temple, Northern Suburbs of Yenching.
Inside a wing room.
Wei Cheng flipped through the "solution" set that Shen Yufei had just given him.
The electromagnetic Three-Body model was placed on the incense table by the monk's bed. Inside the glass sphere, three silver-white balls remained entangled, performing an endless, irregular dance. Wei Cheng lay on the bed, emptying his mind as usual, contemplating those three dancing spheres in the "void" of his consciousness.
"Achoo!"
A gust of chilling wind swept past him, and Wei Cheng couldn't help but sneeze violently.
"Is the wind picking up?"
Wei Cheng closed the documents in confusion and set them on the side table. He looked around; the door was bolted, and the windows were firmly shut with no sign of loosening.
"How strange."
Wei Cheng unbolted the door. Standing in his monk shoes with bare feet, he stared blankly at the silence outside. The sun had already set, the sky was pitch black, and the daytime pilgrims had long since descended the mountain. Red Tower Temple was wrapped in a rare silence.
Wei Cheng reached out and picked up a fallen leaf from the ground. It was early autumn; the withered yellow leaf lay quietly in his palm, its veins traced with a heart-pounding reddish-gold. The season of desolation had arrived.
"Was it an illusion?"
Wei Cheng watched for a long while. The ginkgo tree in front of the temple stood still. He recalled the bone-chilling cold he had felt just moments ago, then shook his head, refusing to waste thought on a meaningless question.
However—
As Wei Cheng grabbed the door latch to close up for the night, he suddenly spotted two dark shadows lingering near the mountain gate.
Is that... that strange woman? Who is the person next to her?
Wei Cheng, who had displayed superhuman mathematical talent since childhood, possessed not only extraordinary imagination and logic but also keen observation and memory. Even from the back, he could accurately recognize one of them: Shen Yufei, the strange woman who had invited him to join the "Three-Body Problem Research Group" after discovering his talent that morning.
From their movements, Wei Cheng could tell that Shen Yufei and the person across from her were having some sort of dispute. Just as he was thinking better to stay out of it and preparing to bolt the door to go back to sleep...
"Go take a look."
A voice suddenly rang out right next to his ear.
Damn it! A ghost!
Wei Cheng shuddered, nearly dropping the door latch. He scanned his surroundings, his brain working at high speed. He was certain the voice had come from right beside him, yet there was absolutely no one around.
Wei Cheng took a deep breath. He suddenly regretted giving up his stable university job where he could earn a decent salary just by clicking through PowerPoints. Compared to the supernatural occurrence he was experiencing, even the department head who had signed his "last-place elimination" notice seemed kind and approachable.
"Who are you..."
Facing a potential life-or-death crisis, Wei Cheng displayed unprecedented emotional intelligence. He quietly blew out the candle in his room, set his phone to silent, and stepped outside. He watched the two shadows at the gate and asked cautiously.
"You don't need to know who I am."
David stood behind Wei Cheng. Seeing that this mathematical genius from the original story could actually sense his presence, a flash of surprise crossed David's eyes. He spoke: "Do as I say."
"..."
Wei Cheng looked around again. Aside from his empty Zen room, there was nowhere to hide in this clearing. The voice sounded as if it were right in his ear—no, it was more like it was ringing directly inside his brain.
Once he was certain the voice was entering his mind in a way he couldn't understand, Wei Cheng's tone became even more cautious. "I understand."
Wei Cheng took a deep breath, crouched down, and slipped into a narrow forest path that could only fit one person. Whatever this thing was—a lonely ghost haunting the temple or an organization with technology he couldn't fathom—it wasn't something he could fight against.
"Go left! Duck down. Take the object out from the bushes."
As the forest remained deathly silent while the voice in his head sounded like it was pressed against his ear, Wei Cheng's heart grew heavier. Based on his knowledge of acoustics, the sound waves humans hear are low-frequency. The best directional sound technology currently on the market could only transmit high-frequency signals above 20kHz—so-called "ultrasound."
This meant that if the voice directing him was achieved through technical equipment, it was at least fifty years ahead of the most advanced human directional sound technology.
Could it be a secret military weapon?
An absurd thought rose in his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. If it were a secret weapon, using such advanced technology on him to "mislead" or "intimidate" would be a waste of resources. He was just a lecturer who had been fired; he had no talent other than his mathematics.
If this technology were available... Wei Cheng realized that if this was a new research product, it was already incredibly mature. There was no lag, no static, and no noise pollution common in market devices. The sound was so clear that he began to suspect it wasn't directional sound at all, but something acting directly on the brain—
Wait.
Wei Cheng's hand touched a piece of construction material left behind by workers after the recent renovation of the East Hall. It was a hollow iron pipe, about the length of a forearm, used for reinforcing scaffolding.
"Very good."
Wei Cheng heard the voice praise his action. The weight of the iron pipe in his hand brought a faint sense of unease. The strange, distinct voice of indeterminate gender and age rang out again.
"See that man? Sneak up behind him."
Wei Cheng gasped, realizing what was about to happen next.