It had poured all night, even heavier than the day Bi Yiping asked her father for money. Today, the entire city was humid and stuffy. After finishing his classes and evening self-study, Bai Yang returned home, took a shower, and then sat at his desk with his hair still damp. He turned on the air conditioning and the radio.

According to their agreement, he was supposed to go online tonight.

And she was supposed to provide him with evidence.

“BG4MSR, this is BG4MXH. I’m waiting for your evidence, OVER.”

“BG4MXH, this is BG4MSR. I… I couldn’t find any evidence, OVER.”

As expected.

Bai Yang grew increasingly convinced that the person on the other end was a mental patient with severe delusions, imagining herself living in an apocalyptic world twenty years in the future.

“BG4MSR, this is BG4MXH. Normally, you couldn’t find evidence because it’s impossible to find any… It’s 2019 now, how could you possibly find proof of 2040? OVER.”

“BG4MXH, this is BG4MSR. Today I went to Nan Tu, the Nanjing Library. I thought the library would have preserved all documents and materials from the past decades, which could prove that it’s 2040… But for some reason, the Nanjing Library was emptied. All the materials had vanished. I couldn’t find anything…”

Nan Tu?

The library was emptied?

Bai Yang was startled, thinking this girl’s imaginary world was getting more and more absurd. How much manpower and resources would it take to empty such a massive library?

“It was still pouring in Nanjing today, raining so hard. On my way to the library, I fell into a sewer manhole. I was completely soaked…”

Bai Yang froze.

The girl on the channel continued talking, sounding increasingly distressed.

“I almost drowned in the manhole. After I finally climbed out, monkeys stole my umbrella. They tore it apart – that umbrella was a gift from my teacher.”

“BG4MSR, this is BG4MXH. Are there monkeys in Nanjing city? OVER.”

“BG4MXH, yes, several groups of them. They occupy the street from Zhongshan Gate to Zhongshan East Road. They often get into gang fights. Some get injured and fall from trees to their death. Half a month ago, I picked up one that had died and ate it, OVER.”

Bai Yang scratched his head. Several groups of monkeys between Zhongshan Gate Street and Zhongshan East Road?

What kind of animal kingdom was this?

“BG4MSR, continue, OVER.”

“I walked for two hours in the downpour before reaching the library. I was dazed by the wind, my clothes and backpack were completely soaked, and then there was nothing in the library. I couldn’t find anything. Why? Why is it like this? Why can’t I find evidence to prove I’m living in 2040?”

Listening on his end, Bai Yang thought, “Because you’re living in 2019, is, of course, you can’t find evidence proving it’s 2040.”

But he didn’t say it out loud, because she was upset and heartbroken.

It was genuine distress. Although this girl was severely delusional, she remained deeply immersed in the sadness and pain of her imagined world.

“I am in 2040…”

Bai Yang felt like a doctor listening to a mental patient’s tearful confession – like a patient crying about being a mushroom unable to release spores, worried about leaving no offspring. The doctor could only pat their shoulder and comfort them: “It’s okay, you’re just not sexually mature yet. Once you’re bald like me, you’ll be able to produce spores. You’ll have descendants everywhere eventually.”

On the other hand, Bai Yang felt somewhat guilty, since it was to satisfy his request that she had ended up so distressed and miserable – whether or not the misery was real, her helplessness and pitiful state in the channel were genuine.

“I am in 2040. I stake everything on it. I swear on my character…”

The girl could no longer find any compelling evidence. She could only repeat her insistence over and over on the channel, her voice getting softer and softer.

“BG4MXH, can’t you believe me? OVER.”

“BG4MSR, uh…”

Bai Yang was now in a difficult position.

How should he respond?

Say he believed her?

Impossible to believe – saying so would make his physics teacher roll in his grave.

His physics teacher would pound on the coffin lid: “I’m still alive and well!”

Maxwell and Einstein would roll in their graves too.

Any high school student of normal intelligence who had completed nine years of compulsory education would find it impossible to believe that a shortwave radio could traverse time and communicate with someone twenty years in the future. None of humanity’s known physical laws supported such an occurrence. This wasn’t a novel – how could something like this happen in real life?

If there were a quadrillion parallel worlds, with a quadrillion Bai Yangs, then 999,999,999,999,999 of them would choose not to believe.

Say he didn’t believe?

Then she would inevitably try to prove her claims again, and after today’s battle of wits with manhole covers and monkeys on the way to the library, who knew what hardships and trials tomorrow would bring? Bai Yang didn’t want to put her through more trouble.

As for simply turning off the radio and ignoring her from now on, Bai Yang couldn’t bring himself to do it. Who knew what might happen to such a strange girl without someone watching over her? If he had never known her, that would be one thing, but now that he did, he couldn’t just leave her alone.

Sigh… What a hassle.

“BG4MXH, if you don’t believe me, I can try to find other methods. There must be evidence somewhere besides Nan Tu. Just give me some time, I’ll find it for you, okay? I’ll look again tomorrow. Will you come online tomorrow night to wait for me? Is that alright? OVER.”

“BG4MSR, this is BG4MXH. Don’t go searching anymore. If you couldn’t find anything at Nan Tu, other places probably won’t yield any results, OVER.”

“I…”

The other end fell silent.

“BG4MSR, you said you stake your character on this being true? OVER.”

“I stake my character on it.”

“BG4MSR, I have an idea. Let’s do this – if you can’t find evidence proving you’re in 2040, then I’ll assist you. I’ll help you find the evidence. How does that sound? OVER.”

Bai Yang decided to play along with the act.

He couldn’t ignore her performance.

There was a 999,999,999,999,999 in a quadrillion chance that this girl had some mental issues, and this whole thing was a farce from start to finish, but that wouldn’t stop a bold high school student from verifying that one in a quadrillion possibility.

Among a quadrillion parallel worlds, there would be one Bai Yang who made a different choice.

“BG4MXH, this is BG4MSR. What did you say? You can help me find evidence? OVER.”

Bai Yang nailed down his physics teacher’s coffin lid first, then replied:

“BG4MSR, this is BG4MXH. That’s right, I can try to see if I can prove you are in 2040, OVER.”

End of communication.

Bai Yang took out his phone, opened Taobao, and started searching.

The page refreshed in a tenth of a second.

Thanks to modern society’s powerful search, e-commerce, and logistics capabilities, it only took Bai Yang one minute to find what he wanted.