Chapter 26: Jiang Zhe's Ambition and Character

At this moment, in the lecture hall of the Kyoto University of Science.

Professor Feng stared at the large screen, momentarily lost in thought.

He could understand the first example Jiang Zhe had given earlier.

In the first example involving hamlet, there was only one timeline, making it not difficult to comprehend.

Xiao Ming buys a copy of hamlet, travels back to the past, and gives it to William Shakespeare. Shakespeare claims it as an original work, and Xiao Ming returns to the present.

However, in the timeline of the elixir, there seemed to be countless timelines in places invisible to the eye, yet they were not parallel worlds.

He looked toward the audience; Leng Fei and the other top students all wore expressions of utter bewilderment.

"Who am I, and what am I listening to?"

"Example 1 is truly easy to understand—it's just about who the source of hamlet was. But Example 2 isn't just about where the elixir originated; the elixir also increases exponentially. I freaking can't wrap my head around it!"

"If we aren't allowed to use parallel worlds to explain it, then this is an unsolvable question. Even a god would have to kneel on the ground and say through tears: [I was wrong, I shouldn't have created timelines]."

"..."

It was clear that the graduate students were being tortured to the point of a headache.

Professor Feng thought for a moment and decided to present a simpler version of the Bootstrap Paradox.

"Let's sort this out again!"

"This Bootstrap Paradox can be switched to other scenarios."

"For example: Tonight, at my front door, I receive a book. I look around but can't find who left it. I take it home to read, only to find that the book contains content about a time machine."

"I then spend ten years finally building the time machine."

"Just before I step into the time machine, I bring that same book with me back to tonight."

"Because I am extremely curious about who exactly wrote this book!"

"Then I place the book at my front door and quietly leave."

"Naturally, I built the time machine by relying on this book; yet the book has no traceable source."

"This is a revamped version of the Bootstrap Paradox that I've modeled after Teacher Jiang's first example."

As he finished speaking, the graduate students below were silent, their eyes filled with a thirst for knowledge.

They hadn't heard the details of the Bootstrap Paradox from Jiang Zhe personally before, but now that the professor explained it this way, everyone suddenly felt it was incredibly novel.

Professor Feng felt quite gratified and continued with the example:

"Now, regarding Example 2 that Jiang Zhe mentioned—the case of gifting the Elixir of Immortality to Emperor Qin Shi Huang."

"Essentially, he turned one Elixir of Immortality into multiple Elixirs of Immortality."

"With '1' as the foundation, it's not hard to understand."

"But if it increases frantically on the basis of '1', then understanding it requires a certain level of skill."

Indeed, this was where Jiang Zhe's brilliance lay.

Professor Feng knew Jiang Zhe's ambition; Jiang Zhe was not content with a simple Bootstrap Paradox.

If he was going to solve something, he would solve the most complex version.

Others might walk a single path to the end and succeed.

But what about Jiang Zhe?

He insisted on splitting himself to walk a thousand broad paths simultaneously, and every single one had to lead to Rome!

He wouldn't stop until they all reached Rome!

At this moment, Professor Feng truly felt his scalp tingle at Jiang Zhe's ambition.

However, he continued with the example.

"The elixir in Teacher Jiang's words is actually a consumable item."

"And the ability to travel through time and space in Teacher Jiang's words doesn't actually require building a time machine; it's a value granted out of thin air."

"The person he gifted it to was Qin Shi Huang, but now I'll revamp it and change Qin Shi Huang to Emperor Wu of Han."

"Now, I will also use his version to conduct a new example."

"Suppose: Tonight, I am in a park, and an old man gives me a box, telling me to return to the Han Dynasty and give the medicine in this box to Emperor Wu of Han."

"I successfully travel back, open it, and find two pills. I then instruct him to eat one and keep one, and to give this one Elixir of Immortality back to me in the year 2024."

"Then I instantly return to 2024, and another old man gives me a box, but there is only one elixir inside the box."

"Here, there is a question: Did I return to the future of the same timeline or the future of another timeline? Let's not dwell on that and just continue according to the example in Jiang Zhe's words."

"At this point, I'm puzzled. Didn't the old man give me two pills before? Why has it become one now? Could something have been changed?"

"So I step through time and space again to return to the Han Dynasty and present the medicine to Emperor Wu of Han."

"This time, Emperor Wu of Han achieves immortality and successfully lives until 2024."

"The problem arises here: Will Emperor Wu of Han, disguised as the old man, still hand that box to me and have me carry it back to the past to continue this act of gifting?"

"If the old man doesn't give me the medicine, I can't go back to the past to gift it, and Emperor Wu of Han won't live forever until 2024."

"If the old man does give me the medicine, that one pill previously in the box was eaten by Emperor Wu of Han. Is he going to make me take an empty box back to the Han Dynasty?"

"Now, the problem arrives."

"Since the medicine is a consumable, will the end result definitely be me taking an empty box back to the past?"

"Core 1: Where did the elixir come from? Unsolvable."

"Core 2: When the elixir in the box is gone, I probably wouldn't choose to go back to the past to give the medicine to Emperor Wu of Han, because there's no medicine in the box. Why the hell would I travel back?"

"As for what happens after that, I can clearly say it's unsolvable!"

As the string of analysis concluded, the graduate students were filled with horror.

Yes, no matter how the example changed, the final conclusion was that no one created the elixir.

The elixir involved the lives of Qin Shi Huang or Emperor Wu of Han.

It was just that Jiang Zhe had deliberately raised the threshold of the Bootstrap Paradox, turning the single-threaded hamlet into the multi-threaded or even infinite-threaded 'Jiang Zhe Gifting Medicine'. The many details of Example 2 were far beyond what hamlet could compare to.

"Damn, Jiang Zhe is freaking ambitious!"

"Yeah, he's only twenty-four and already so ambitious. Everything he says and does is different from others. I find his ambition a bit terrifying."

"Why do I feel a sense of fear toward someone younger than me? Just why?"

At this moment, the graduate students were no longer marveling at the wonder of the paradox, but rather at Jiang Zhe's character and nature.

As they tried to analyze Example 2 of the Bootstrap Paradox, they gradually realized that since the broadcast began, Jiang Zhe had been treating others and events with an attitude of looking down on all living things from a height.

What exactly did Jiang Zhe rely on that made him so confident he could solve the heaven-defying Bootstrap Paradox?

If Jiang Zhe heard these words, he would certainly look bewildered.

I'm just simply decoding a difficult paradox—a paradox others can't imitate—to increase viewership, make a bit more money, and gain some fame. That's all. It's really not as complicated as you guys think!

Just as the graduate students were feeling incredible and amazed.

Jiang Zhe's voice came from the screen.

"Actually, there was a detail earlier that everyone missed. I deliberately cut off the subsequent animation."

"As for what the subsequent animation would be?"

"It can actually be understood as—"

"The animated version of me initially receives a box from a middle-aged man in a suit. There are two elixirs inside the box. Then I travel back to the Qin Dynasty, give the two pills to the Emperor, and instruct him to eat one and keep one."

"Okay, the Emperor did as told, lived until 2024, gave the last one to me, and continued to have me take this pill back to the past."

"Because the middle-aged man in the suit was Qin Shi Huang. I saw him, which proves that Qin Shi Huang ate the elixir in the past and continued to survive."

"So I will definitely do as told!"

"When I give the last pill to the Emperor of the past."

"There is a key point here!"

Having reached this point in his explanation, Jiang Zhe posed a question: