Chapter 12: Perhaps there is no past or future, only the present.

As Jiang Zhe's explanation concluded, the audience was left dumbfounded.

[Living in the future of 1980] faintly struck everyone's hearts.

Soon, the online bullet chat exploded.

"The answer to the Grandfather Paradox... it must be this!"

"Exactly! Host Jiang Zhe is amazing, absolutely amazing!"

"I still don't quite get it. Why is it like this? If the grandfather dies, there's no grandson!"

"Yeah, I don't want to overthink it, but the Grandfather Paradox always circles back to [grandfather dies] [grandson can't live]. Can some expert tell me?"

"I don't know, but it feels incredible!"

"..."

...

Shanghai University of Science and Technology.

In an empty dormitory.

Gongsun Zhi stared at his phone in shock. After hearing Jiang Zhe's analysis, his right hand couldn't stop trembling.

The first call was actually made by him.

While his roommates skipped class to go clubbing, he stayed in the dorm alone.

Bored, he was scrolling through mobile videos and accidentally saw the livestream of the Suzhou TV Station.

Mainly, the [Decrypting the Grandfather Paradox] title caught his eye.

He had originally intended to listen just to debunk Jiang Zhe's act.

At first, Jiang Zhe spoke conventionally, with nothing special.

Until later, when Jiang Zhe used Quantum Mechanics to verify the Telepathy between identical twins and mother-daughter pairs—this made him feel that Jiang Zhe's ideas were extremely unique yet reasonable!

Thus, Gongsun Zhi continued watching.

The more he watched, the more startled he became.

He had reinvented scientific theories based on existing ones in this world.

This required not only strong scientific prowess but also a completely new way of thinking and logic.

This wasn't something a typical graduate should have.

In fact, at that time, Gongsun Zhi already knew that Jiang Zhe's knowledge far exceeded that of a freshly graduated host.

But who would have thought that at the end, a certain answer to the Grandfather Paradox would actually be revealed by Jiang Zhe!

"[The grandson lived in the future of 1980] rather than [living in the past of 1980]."

"Yes, yes, [the past 1980] has always been the grandson's own [future]."

"In [the future of 1980], whether the grandfather dies or not has—absolutely no connection or influence on the grandson!"

"He's right. He really solved the Grandfather Paradox under the premise of a single timeline!"

Gradually, a frantic smile appeared on Gongsun Zhi's face.

Perhaps all paradoxes are solvable; it's just that no one in this world has Jiang Zhe's new way of thinking!

"Are you still there? If not, I'm going to switch to the next viewer."

Jiang Zhe's voice came from the other end of the phone. Seeing no one speaking, he quickly hung up.

...

Inside the Suzhou TV Station.

Old Wang, who was monitoring the ratings, was once again struck with horror.

He had thought that as the program neared its end, the ratings wouldn't rise further.

Who would have thought that as it approached the end, the number of online viewers for the station broke the 1 million mark.

"I'll be damned, it's almost over and the online count and retention are still this high."

"Is decrypting the Grandfather Paradox really this popular?"

After a moment of surprise, he hurriedly called to tell Station Manager Zhao.

When Station Manager Zhao heard the news, he was also stunned.

Other TV stations have their lowest ratings near the end, but at our station, it's the complete opposite.

"Of course they're high. Jiang Zhe really solved the Grandfather Paradox in the first question."

"What? Solved it? How?"

"How else? The grandson lives in the future of 1980 instead of the past of 1980!"

"This..."

Hearing this answer, Old Wang, who hadn't watched the mobile video at all, was dumbfounded.

If even an academic slacker like him could understand the answer, most people probably thoroughly understood Jiang Zhe's response.

Wang Guosheng looked at the pensive Wang Lin, "What are you thinking, Little Wang?"

Wang Lin shook his head self-mockingly, "Living in the future of 1980 has nothing to do with whether the grandfather in the past dies; it's a very bold answer. Teacher Jiang used the core of Quantum Mechanics to explain the Grandfather Paradox."

Xiao Shiyi frowned, "The core? What is the core?"

Wang Lin took a deep breath and explained, "Besides the observation and non-observation of quanta, there is another core in Quantum Mechanics—past, present, and future exist together."

Station Manager Zhao looked confused: "Exist together?"

These words immediately left everyone even more bewildered.

Seeing this, Wang Lin quickly took out a pen and paper from the side and drew a sketch.

[Pattern on the paper—]

(Past) (Present) (Future)

| | |

| | |

| | |

| | |

------------------------------ (Timeline)

Everyone looked over curiously.

Holding the paper, Wang Lin said seriously: "Yes, you could say that. On the same timeline, there are actually three small time-node lines, and these three small lines correspond to the past, present, and future."

"For the grandson, the grandfather lives in the [past]. The grandson himself lives in the [present]."

"For the grandfather, the grandfather himself lives in the [present]. The grandson lives in the [future]."

Having said this, he crossed out the [past] and [future] of the other two small lines.

Finally, he held the paper vertically again and explained once more: "So, the answer is clear. For whoever it is, that person is living in the [present]."

"For Qin Shi Huang, Qin Shi Huang lived in the present."

"For Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Taizong of Tang lived in the future; for Emperor Taizong of Tang, we live in the future."

"For us, who lives in the [future]? No one. There have never been so-called [future people]. There have only ever been [present people of the past], [present people of the contemporary], and [present people of the future]!"

"If everyone thinks about it a little, they can discover a simple and easy-to-understand truth: did the [past] and [future] ever really exist?"

"So, Teacher Jiang's answer is exactly telling us these deep truths!"

As Wang Lin's explanation finished, everyone in the meeting room was stunned and immediately fell into deep thought.

Yes, how can there be any past or future!

The past for the people of that time: was the present.

The present for us: is the present.

The future for the people of the future: will be the present.

As long as you look at it by weighting ratio, you can clearly see that the past and future have never truly existed!

There has only, ever, been, the present!

Just as the leaders were lost in thought, Jiang Zhe's voice came from the large screen.

"Alright, please welcome our second viewer!"

"Beep beep beep!" A few sounds, then a "Click!"

The new call was successfully connected.

The person calling this time was a middle-aged to elderly man with a very magnetic voice.

"Hello, Teacher Jiang. I am Professor Feng Zhiyuan from Kyoto University of Science. I specialize in Macroscopic Theoretical Physics. I have a question I'd like to ask you!"

As soon as these words were spoken, all the viewers and leaders suddenly realized.

The audience was surprised. A science professor from Kyoto had actually stepped forward?

The leaders had strange expressions. Someone even more professional than the previous professional had appeared. What should be done?"}],