Chapter 25: No Medicine to Send or Something Else?

As Jiang Zhe finished speaking, before the crowd could recover from their surprise, a flash of white light appeared, and he successfully vanished, leaving behind the shocked ministers.

The playback stopped here, and the screen paused.

Upon seeing this, the bullet comments flew across the screen.

"Wait, don't stop! I haven't finished watching yet!"

"Host Jiang, play it back! I didn't see whether Qin Shi Huang took the medicine or not!"

"..."

Clearly, many viewers were immersed in the animation.

However, the science popularization segment had a time limit; Jiang Zhe couldn't actually let the public watch an entire feature-length animation.

At this moment, the camera cut back to Jiang Zhe.

Facing the camera, Jiang Zhe began to explain:

"Alright, we've seen half of the simple animation, and there's no need to watch the rest."

"The subsequent parts involve severe paradoxes, which are difficult to depict in a simple animation."

"I might as well say it now. Shrimp... no, let's just say he's the animated version of me. The middle-aged man in the suit he first met in the park was none other than the immortal Emperor Qin Shi Huang. That was the Emperor Qin Shi Huang who lived until the modern era, fulfilling his promise."

"And so, the paradox arrives."

"The first time, Shrimp received two Elixirs of Immortality from Emperor Qin Shi Huang. He gave one to Emperor Qin Shi Huang and asked him to keep the other until the modern era to return it to Shrimp."

"Next, the modern-day Shrimp went back to that park and met Emperor Qin Shi Huang again."

"This time, the Emperor Qin Shi Huang who had lived to the modern era handed Shrimp that box, but there was only one Elixir of Immortality inside it."

By this point in the narration, many people had already understood.

If you continued to trace it back, the number of pills in the box would gradually increase—it would definitely be three, four, five, six, and then rise to an infinite number!

Shrimp's mission was to obtain the ability, ask questions, visit the park, meet the immortal Emperor Qin Shi Huang to receive the medicine, and finally travel back to the Qin Dynasty to deliver it.

At this point, Jiang Zhe asked with a serious expression:

"The ultimate paradox arrives."

"Who exactly was the original creator of this Elixir of Immortality?"

For a moment, the bullet comments in the livestream disappeared as everyone was suddenly plunged into that question.

...

Inside a dormitory building at Shanghai University of Science and Technology.

A hint of doubt flashed in the eyes of Professor Li from the Philosophy Department.

Previously, he and his colleagues had been prepared to expose the loopholes in Jiang Zhe's arguments.

At first, when Jiang Zhe said that time was neither a line nor a circle, they had already felt a sense of disdain.

But as the simple animation played out, it truly caused Professor Li and the others present to fall into deep thought.

Everyone present knew that the protagonist in the animation Jiang Zhe showed must have returned to the Qin Dynasty to offer the Elixir of Immortality to Qin Shi Huang more than once.

The starting point they saw involved two Elixirs of Immortality, but later, in Jiang Zhe's words, it became one Elixir of Immortality.

If another cycle occurred, wouldn't the protagonist have no Elixir of Immortality left to offer?

Tracing it backward, it was indeed as Jiang Zhe said: the protagonist would receive three, four, five, or even an infinite number of Elixirs of Immortality from Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

"It seems I still underestimated Jiang Zhe's power. This Example 2 could stand as a theory on its own; it seems much more advanced than the 'hamlet' he talked about last time."

Stormy waves of shock rose in Professor Li's heart.

He hadn't expected there to be such an exquisite paradox in the world!

It was almost unsolvable. This time, even if Jiang Zhe couldn't decipher it, he wouldn't say anything.

Because he was won over by this paradox!

While the philosophy professor might only partially understand, the physics professors on site had their eyes light up.

"The world he's describing seems to be a circle, but not a single circle; it's a world of circles within circles."

"It seems so. If parallel worlds don't exist in this paradox, then time is always developing along a single line. So who made the medicine?"

"By the way, what exactly could it be?"

As soon as this question was asked, the professors all shook their heads.

They couldn't even scratch the surface of Jiang Zhe's thoughts. It felt as if they were hearing a profound theory in Jiang Zhe's words—a brand-new theory they had never witnessed, a 'New Theory' that had never appeared in this world!

...

Inside an office at Guangzhou University of Science and Technology.

Seeing her mother remain silent, her face was filled with confusion.

Standing beside her mother, Tang Qian also showed an admiring smile. "Mom, you said he wasn't good enough before. Who knew that as soon as a little animation came out, you wouldn't know what to do?"

Hearing this, her mother really wanted to smack the child. Not only did she not speak up for her own family, but she was even helping an outsider.

Professor Tang Yan didn't pay attention to that and said thoughtfully, "The paradox in this Example 2 is very advanced; it truly is many times more advanced than 'hamlet'."

Tang Qian smiled mischievously. "Mom, my judgment of people is never wrong. By the way, where exactly is the 'advanced' part in this?"

"Infinity!" her mother responded.

"Infinity? What does that mean?"

Professor Tang Yan's brow furrowed as she used a simpler explanation: "If the previous 'hamlet' was a single-threaded time-traveling event, then this Example 2 is an infinite loop of infinite threads of the same nature occurring within a single timeline."

What Tang Yan meant was—

Jiang Zhe's 'hamlet' in Example 1 was at an elementary school level; it would make more people think, but they could quickly figure it out.

But Example 2, 'Jiang Zhe Delivering Medicine', was at an academician level. Even if billions of people were given time to think about it, they wouldn't be able to fully grasp it for the time being.

The gap between an elementary student and an academician wasn't as simple as a single chasm.

Hearing her mother praise Jiang Zhe so much, the expression on Tang Qian's face was a bit strange. "Is it really as exaggerated as you say?"

Tang Yan nodded. "Actually, this act of Jiang Zhe Delivering Medicine theoretically has no set number of occurrences; it approaches infinity. In other words, it's unsolvable for others. It truly is a very powerful paradox!"

At this moment, as a professor, Tang Yan admired Jiang Zhe's innovation.

But could such a bold innovation really be successfully deciphered?

She had her doubts!

...

At this moment, in the leadership conference room.

Everyone was staring intently at the large screen.

From the screen came Jiang Zhe's impassioned question again: "In my act of delivering the medicine, there is indeed no upper limit to the number of times, but there is a lower limit. If the upper limit is infinity, then when the number of Elixirs of Immortality in my hand reaches zero, I will have no medicine to give. What will happen then?"

Station Manager Zhao was full of confusion. "How can this possibly be resolved... You give the medicine to Emperor Qin Shi Huang, and tracing it back, there are three, four, five, infinite pills—an act without a starting point... Tracing it forward, it eventually leads to having no medicine to give. Doesn't the paradox break itself?"

When he looked at Wang Lin seeking an answer, Wang Lin shook his head.

This time, he couldn't understand it at all.

He only knew the essence of this paradox: the Elixir of Immortality and 'hamlet' both appeared out of thin air in the river of time, with no one researching or manufacturing them.

This was almost impossible to decipher or answer!

This was a super paradox that stood far above the Grandfather Paradox!

This was a super problem that was far beyond what could be solved by just traveling through time!

"I don't know, I don't know, I just don't know!"

Wang Lin felt like his head was about to explode.

Fortunately, at this moment, Wang Guosheng let out an excited cry.

"Good news! The number of people in Jiang Zhe's personal livestream has reached 50,000 concurrent viewers; the donation amount has reached over 40,000 yuan, which is higher than my salary for two months."

50,000 concurrent viewers, and it hadn't been long since the broadcast started.

"He's the one making money, why are you so excited?" Old Zhao grumbled, then took out his phone to check.

As soon as he entered the livestream, a massive amount of bullet comments appeared.

"Damn, this question has me going in circles, but it sounds impressive even though I don't get it!"

"I really am a bad student. Last time's hamlet example was interesting because I could still understand it. Now you're giving me the advanced version. Even with the little animation, it's killing me!"

"It's true. If you think about it, the Elixir of Immortality was handed to Jiang Zhe by Qin Shi Huang; Jiang Zhe just went back to the Qin Dynasty and completed the act of giving the medicine to make the First Emperor immortal. This process forms a closed loop. If you trace it back, you can't find the source. Does the medicine come from Jiang Zhe, or Qin Shi Huang, or someone else? It's unsolvable—a proper world-class paradox!"

"Hahaha, Jiang Zhe is going to fail. He proposed a paradox that he can't explain himself. Your show is supposed to be about deciphering paradoxes!"

"..."

He was hosting a show about deciphering, not a science popularization show.

That being said, the fans in the livestream didn't mind.

At this time, more good news came in quick succession.

Old Wang's excited voice came through the walkie-talkie.

"More great news! A few seconds ago, the number of television viewers soared to 1.7 million. Reaching 2 million is just around the corner. At the same time, the number of people online in the livestream grew instantly. This guy Jiang Zhe keeps us so busy every time."

Su City had a total population of 12.75 million.

If all 2 million viewers were in Su City, nearly one-sixth of the population would be watching this program.

But Station Manager Old Zhao also knew that was impossible; these viewers were from all over the country.

Hearing this, Old Zhao's mouth twitched.

If it weren't for the good news, in the past, he definitely would have used his authority to make Old Wang work overtime.

The ratings went up, and yet he's still acting like he's doing us a favor, huh?!