Chapter 605: The Vicissitudes of Starshine

Xia Fei wrote a program dedicated to deciphering fractal geometry. Seeing him completely devoting all his focus to the task, Zanian Feng felt his heart fill with doubts.

*Ping*

Xia Fei pushed a button, and the visually overwhelming interpretation program he wrote began to activate in his terminal. A strange waveform constantly changed, and no one could understand just what sort of result Xia Fei was hoping to get from this or why he needed waveforms to crack the fractal geometry.

What everybody knew well was that once the program was completed, Xia Fei would have his result, be it right or wrong.

Xia Fei had one hand on his chin as he carefully observed the calculation process. According to his analysis, it would take approximately thirty minutes before he could get the answer given the calculation speed of the terminal!

Zanian furrowed his brows and retreated from the crowd. He sneaked off to a secluded corner and made a call.

“Father.”

“What’s the matter?” Kuzan asked with an expressionless look on his face.

Kuzan had always been strict with his sons and daughters. Though Zanian was his favorite son, the latter had hardly ever seen his father smile. In all the years he could recall, his father was always an impressive and stern existence.

“There’s something I need to report to you.” Zanian was speaking with decorum, completely unlike what an affectionate dialogue between a father and son should be and more like that between a subordinate and a superior.

“Speak,” Kuzan offered.

“The human candidate who placed first in our initial assessment today, Xia Fei, is very strange.”

“Busey already filled me in about Xia Fei belonging to the Skywing; is there anything else?”

“What I’m speaking about isn’t concerning rumors, rather geometry.”

“Geometry?”

“That’s right.” Zanian nodded severely. “You should be very familiar with that question in the initial assessment; only Xia Fei handed in a blank slip while the others attempted to solve the question. He even turned to leave after a single glance at the question.”

Kuzan wrinkled his brows. “It’s very normal for warriors not to know geometry. Besides, I wasn’t even hoping that anyone would be able to answer it.”

“But Xia Fei knows geometry,” Zanian solemnly corrected. “He not only knows it but also very proficient with it. Take a look.”

Turning the screen, he showed Kuzan how Xia Fei presently had his face all scrunched up in concentration as he contemplated on the answer.

“Father, right now, Xia Fei is attempting to decipher a very complex fractal geometry question—one that plenty of members from the Law Enforcement Board had been unable to solve. I believe that, even if the ultimate answer is incorrect, the knowledge that Xia Fei has toward mathematics and geometry is astounding!”

Kuzan showed no expression to this, an indication for his son to continue his elaboration.

“Since he has quite the deep foundation toward fractal geometry but didn’t answer the question, don’t you think that it’s very strange?”

“It’s somewhat peculiar. Any normal candidate wouldn’t have any reason not to attempt solving it,” Kuzan muttered to himself deeply. “What do you think?”

“I think that there are two possibilities: First, Xia Fei read the question and realized that there’s no solution, so he didn’t waste any time solving it.”

“That makes sense.” Kuzan nodded. “That scenario shows that Xia Fei knows his limits and isn’t a fool. He’s aware that there’s no answer with just a slight calculation. What’s the second possibility?”

Zanian answered, “The second possibility is even more shocking. We actually have no clue whether there’s an answer to the question or not, which is why it’s bothered us for so many years.”

“If Xia Fei has seen the question and knows the answer to it…”

Kuzan was slightly startled. Though he quickly regained composure, this slight motion had not failed to register in Zanian’s eyes—a clear indication of just how surprised his father was!

“If Xia Fei knew the answer but chose to give up rather than writing it down, the only conclusion we could draw was that he just wouldn’t answer it then!”

“He ‘wouldn’t answer’?!”

The difference between ‘could not answer’ and ‘would not answer’ was merely one word, yet it was also a world of difference! The father and son of the Feng family knew this point very well.

“If Xia Fei answered the question, then we would know it. However, if Xia Fei holds some unspeakable secret, which made him unwilling to share the answer, all he could do was give up on the test to keep his secret.

“There’s no other possibility besides these two. The former means that Xia Fei is a brilliant and intelligent person, while the latter means he’s involved in a major secret. If I were in his shoes, I would also choose to give up on the test,” Zanian said.

Kuzan was quiet for a good while. This matter was huge, and he had to consider all aspects of this revelation carefully.

“Don’t mention a word about this to anyone else after today. I’ll take care of this personally,” Kuzan said softly. “Remember: No one must know about this. Also, assign someone to keep an eye on Xia Fei in secret.”

*Click*

The screen was turned off, and Zanian Feng heaved a long sigh. He had no idea why he would feel so uneasy every time he talked to his father. Perhaps it was Kuzan’s overly demanding expectation toward him that caused this.

“The result’s out!”

“Isn’t this result too strange? What even is it?”

“A waveform? The answer you got is a waveform?”

As the crowd was reeling from the revelation, Zanian hurried over.

All he saw was Xia Fei flexing his stiff neck and shoulders, copying the result from the terminal and storing it in a button-sized storage device. He proceeded to place it on the stone plinth before reaching out to retrieve the reward.

“Hold it. We don’t know if it’s the correct answer yet. We’ll need to wait till the owner comes and verify this.” An elder reached out and stopped Xia Fei.

“Besides, I refuse to believe that this complex fractal geometric picture can be interpreted as a waveform.”

“Are you trying to take advantage of the confusion and abscond away with the item while Old Woods isn’t around?”

“Yes, that’s very likely. He hasn’t even grown a beard, yet he could already decipher that fractal geometric picture. What sort of nonsense is this? Even Eddie Johnson, someone who is proficient in fractal geometry, failed in this. Hell would freeze over if he could actually do it.”

Facing the crowd’s questioning and cynicism, Xia Fei lit a cigarette and softly said, “It’s true that my word holds no weight, but none of you has the qualifications to say a word, either, or else why don’t you all solve this and see for yourself?”

Xia Fei’s words had stabbed into the very nerve of plenty of those gathered. If any of them possessed the ability to solve this, would they even wait until today?

Suddenly several elders’ faces turned green with anger, with some even shaking in indignation.

Wolf Shunye quickly lowered his head, afraid that others would know that he had come here with Xia Fei.

Zanian held one hand over his mouth as he whispered, “You lunatic, you’re even more overbearing than that old freak from the Skywing Clan. Have you not considered just where you are?”

“Hmph! What a load of nonsense! Who gave you the right to speak thusly? Where’s Old Woods? Quickly get him out here.”

The one speaking was precisely one of the six vice-presidents of the Law Enforcement Board, Mu Qianling. Hailing from the Withered Mu Clan, he was both a Mu family elder and a vice-president of the board. Who knew just what wind had blown him here?

Mu Qianling had, of course, heard about the misunderstanding between Xia Fei and Mu Fuping. He originally already found Xia Fei distasteful. Actually, aside from Mu Fuping, everyone from the Withered Mu Clan hated Xia Fei. Now that he had heard Xia Fei’s name, Mu Qianling came over to take a look. He did not expect Xia Fei to speak so discourteously as well, further irritating Vice-president Mu. In his mind, he was already thinking up of a thousand different ways to torture Xia Fei.

Zanian was quietly bemoaning his fate. When investigating Xia Fei, he already understood the misunderstanding between him and Mu Fuping, which was why he had devised a plan to act like someone in the know and probe Xia Fei.

This was truly a case of a house with a leaky roof facing heavy rain every day and night; Xia Fei and the Mu family had not even resolved their differences when he ended up offending Mu Qianling. This was truly a troublesome situation to be in.

He really regretted bringing Xia Fei to the Law Enforcement Board. Even in Zanian’s wildest dream would he have imagined that Xia Fei would not give any face to anyone—even being bold enough to offend the old demons of the board! He must truly be tired of living.

The crowd soon parted and in walked an old man with a gaunt face.

He had a head of disheveled white hair and soulless eyes, while the Law Enforcement Board’s uniform he was wearing seemed to have not been washed for a very long time, with plenty of stains all over it.

“Woods.”

“Old Woods’s here.”

“It’s been so long; are you still doing okay?”

“Hey… What’s past is past. All of us are very worried seeing the haggard state you’re in now.”

Everyone was very respectful to this disheveled old man, all of them offering words of consolation and care as they greeted him. It seemed like Old Woods was fairly popular to the members of the Law Enforcement Board.

Old Woods returned words of courtesy to everyone with a wry smile, half jogging and half walking as he hurried over to Xia Fei’s side, evidently very urgent.

“Who managed to solve this fractal geometry?” Old Woods asked from far away.

Xia Fei stood up and bowed. “This young one found the answer.”

Old Woods did not care about his self-image as he came running over, looking extremely agitated. “Answer. What’s the answer?”

The crowd pricked their ears and listened. Plenty in the crowd had been stumped by this fractal geometry picture that Old Woods had set up, and it was even known to be one of the unsolvable mysteries of the Law Enforcement Board. Everyone was keen to learn whether Xia Fei’s answer was right or wrong.

Sweeping his gaze across all these elders and men who ridiculed him, Xia Fei flashed a crooked smile as he softly offered, “Elder, let’s walk and talk.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Woods nodded his head repeatedly.

Everyone was very disappointed. Xia Fei was intentionally not letting them hear the answer, not giving any face to these elders at all.

Picking up the things, Xia Fei found a quiet room with Old Woods, while everyone else crowded outside. All of them were men of status, so no matter how curious they were, they would not stoop so low as to eavesdrop on them through the door seams, and all they could do was hold onto their burgeoning curiosity and wait outside.

Zanian sighed. His eyes looked around uneasily, pondering to himself, ‘More and more people have gathered. Please don’t lure that old coot of the Xia family here.’

……

Closing the door behind him, Xia Fei carefully looked around once more. Only after confirming that there were no monitoring devices around inside the room did he finally take a seat by Old Woods. Actually, everything he had done was superfluous. Given what a sacred place the Law Enforcement Board was, no one would dare to even attempt to listen in on them as that was practically a death sentence if found out.

“Elder, please don’t worry. My answer is a little strange, so please listen well first.” Xia Fei calmly began.

“Listen?” Woods was somewhat taken aback as he took the earpiece that Xia Fei handed to him.

A melody was being played, and that weathered face of Old Woods was flooded with tears as great sorrow wracked him.

Once the song was over, Old Woods clutched Xia Fei’s two hands tightly, so choked with emotions that it took him some time to collect himself. He said, “That’s right. This song is called ‘The Vicissitudes of Starshine’, and it’s composed by my daughter!

“I… I never imagined that this fractal geometric picture my daughter left me before she died to actually be… a song!”

Old Woods kept speaking in broken sentences. It turned out that this fractal geometric picture was the only remnant his only daughter had left him. Two years ago, Miss Ellen Woods suddenly disappeared, and aside from this painting, nothing else was left. A month later, her corpse was discovered, and Old Woods had been heartbroken ever since.

His intuition was telling him that this fractal geometry picture his daughter had left behind was a clue of sorts, so he sought people high and low to try and decipher it, but each of them failed.

Interpreting a fractal geometric picture was nothing simple, and abstract geometry had always been the most difficult to understand. Xia Fei’s sudden whim of using waveform to interpret it had actually been a great success! What came of it was this melodious tune.

Xia Fei contemplated for quite some time before saying, “Elder, can you think carefully? When did your daughter compose this song and what’s so different about it from her past compositions?

“If it’s merely just a song, there’s no reason for her to use a complex fractal geometry to hide it. If you wish to find the answer, you’ll have to start from this song,” Xia Fei said solemnly.