"Sir, have you finished the movie? How did you like it?"

Private cinema lobby.

The waiter saw Lin Xian walking out of the room and stood up to greet him warmly.

"It was alright."

Lin Xian replied, "I watched it a long time ago. I just suddenly remembered it today and watched it again."

"You must be a sci-fi fan! Let me show you something!"

The waiter smiled and took out a poster from under the counter. It was a mishmash of famous characters from various science fiction movies.

And on the large background of the entire poster... was written a large, deep blue 42.

"Are you giving it to me? Your service is excellent. Thank you," Lin Xian asked.

"Wh... what? No way!" The waiter hurriedly folded the poster. "This is a treasure! I just bought it yesterday at the Donghai Exhibition Hall."

Lin Xian tilted his head. "The Donghai Exhibition Hall sells these things?"

"Yeah," the waiter said, putting the poster down and looking up with a smile. "To be honest... I'm also a sci-fi fan. My favorite movie is *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*!"

Rarely encountering a fellow enthusiast, the waiter seemed very excited. "Since you came specifically to watch this movie by Adams... you must be a very hardcore sci-fi fan, right? Most people who come here to watch movies usually choose romance movies, comedies, or some Hollywood blockbusters."

"Very few people like you come to watch this old sci-fi movie, almost none. If you really like *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*, you should really go to the Donghai Exhibition Hall."

"They're currently holding the World's Excellent Science Fiction Works Expo there. There are many valuable materials and first-edition manuscripts of famous works, including some manuscripts and creative notes by Mr. Adams, the author of *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*. They're all on display there."

Hmm?

The waiter's words successfully caught Lin Xian's attention.

"Douglas Adams's creative manuscripts? About *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*?"

"That's right!" The waiter checked the date on his phone. "Tomorrow is the last day of the exhibition. If you want to go, you need to hurry."

"Is there an explanation about 42?" Lin Xian asked.

"Haha, how could there be!" The waiter chuckled. "The number 42 is obviously just a mystery Adams made up, a low-quality joke purely for plot twists. It doesn't have any deep meaning at all."

"But as you know... it became a popular sci-fi meme precisely because it was too mysterious. The main storyline of the Marvel movies takes place in Parallel Universe 42. There's also the 42 meme in the Great Inventor's lines in *League of Legends*."

"Oh, right, there's a *Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse* movie coming out in June, and the mysterious spider that bit the protagonist seems to have come from Universe 42. The number 42 is written on the spider's back."

"Anyway, everyone's just playing with the meme. It doesn't have any real meaning. The author Adams himself has answered this question many times."

Lin Xian nodded.

It was clear that the waiter was a hardcore sci-fi movie fan who knew a lot about various sci-fi movies. He must really enjoy his job.

"Thank you for the reminder. I'll go if I have time."

"Since you like watching movies so much, get a membership card, buddy! Come here often in the future!"

"Definitely next time."

...

Walking out of the mall and into the outdoors.

Lin Xian looked up at the midday sun.

Stars shifted and the sun and moon rotated.

It's a pity that the dream world, the future world 600 years later... was forever fixed on August 28, 2624.

There was no shifting of stars there, no rotation of the sun and moon. Time did not flow, forever imprisoned

on this day. Destroyed precisely at 00:42.

Another 42.

Why always 42?

When he hadn't noticed it before, he didn't seem to feel so much 42 around him. But ever since he saw the strange phenomenon in his Garfield Cat father's room, and explicitly learned that the cosmic constant was 42...

He felt like he was already surrounded by 42.

"I feel like it's still necessary to go to the Donghai Exhibition Hall and see Douglas Adams's manuscripts when he created *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*."

Lin Xian was very clear.

The 42 Universe in Marvel movies, the 42 parallel spacetime in *Spider-Man*, and the 42 in the Great Inventor's lines in *League of Legends* that the sci-fi movie fan mentioned just now...

All of these 42s in film and games were just memes, without any meaning. They were all playing with the 42 meme from *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*.

But.

The number 42 that Douglas Adams wrote down when he created *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*...

Lin Xian felt that he definitely wasn't just playing with a meme.

Because he created the meme himself, who else's meme could he be playing with?

There were so many numbers that could be set at will.

Why did Adams choose the number 42?

Lin Xian felt that this was very suspicious.

Was it possible...

That he had heard of 42 somewhere?

Or seen 42?

Or perhaps he had been in contact with the Genius Club and knew about 42?

"I feel like things aren't that simple. I should still go take a look."

Lin Xian hailed a taxi and headed to the Donghai Exhibition Hall.

...

The Donghai Exhibition Hall, also known as the Donghai Exhibition Center, is a very large, historic, and magnificent group of buildings.

It was built in 1955 and is one of the representative buildings of Donghai City. It was also the first large-scale building built in Donghai City in the 1950s. Like the Imperial Capital Exhibition Hall, it belongs to the Russian classical architectural style.

Many international events have been held here, and it has witnessed many great historical events.

When there are no important events, the various exhibition halls here are rented out for various social activities.

Lin Xian had never been here before, and he felt a little confused as soon as he got out of the car.

There were actually more than 40 large exhibition halls here, and most of them were holding events.

After some effort, Lin Xian finally found the exhibition hall that the waiter at the private cinema had mentioned—

*World's Excellent Science Fiction Works Expo*

Today was a weekday, and there weren't many people inside. Especially compared to the other exhibition halls he had just passed, there were even fewer visitors here.

Perhaps the audience for science fiction works... is still a bit small in China.

Lin Xian looked at the index at the entrance and walked straight into the exhibition hall.

It must be said.

The content of the exhibition was very rich.

Many well-known science fiction works had their own dedicated exhibition areas inside, with setting collections, original film, shooting props, valuable materials and images, and so on... It was truly a carnival for science fiction lovers.

Many young men were excitedly exclaiming, probably because they had seen something they liked.

There were also a few scattered girls, but most of them were accompanying their boyfriends and weren't interested in these science fiction works themselves.

After winding through a few aisles, he finally arrived at the *Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy* exhibition area.

Compared to the popular IPs from this year, this area was pitifully small.

After all, this movie wasn't too popular.

Only the 42 meme was relatively well-known.

Lin Xian went straight to the glass case where the author Douglas Adams's manuscripts were placed.

Many valuable materials were placed inside, and there were bound copies on top of the glass case for browsing.

Although the handwritten notes inside were all in English, Lin Xian's English was quite good, and he could understand them in general.

After all, Adams was just a science fiction writer, not a scientist, so there weren't any professional terms in the manuscript notes. They were easy to understand.

The content recorded in the manuscript was very interesting.

Just like Lin Xian's intuitive impression of Adams, he was a person with very interesting thoughts and a great imagination.

Soon, he turned to the manuscript record about the "42" setting.

Douglas Adams's explanation was unremarkable...

He generously said that this was just a number that he randomly thought of in his subconscious:

"I can't explain it clearly. When I was creating the short stories in *The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*, I suddenly thought of the number 42."

"This number doesn't have any special meaning to me, or even to anything. But this is the first number that came to my mind in my subconscious..."

"It's hard for me to describe that feeling. When I was creating this stage of the story, I was also thinking, what answer should the supercomputer say to be the most dramatic, the most plot-twisting, and also convince the audience to accept that this is the ultimate answer to the universe, life, and everything?"

"When I thought of this idea... the first number that popped into my mind was 42. I thought it was good, so I wrote it down directly."

...

From the explanation in this manuscript, the author Adams himself actually had a flash of inspiration, and created the number 42 as the ending of the unit drama plot to create a plot twist.

But...

Lin Xian still keenly captured a keyword—

"Subconscious."

He inexplicably thought of Gao Yang's boastful talk:

"You understand the subconscious, right? You usually don't even realize its existence, but it always subtly influences your behavior, emotions, and... dreams!"

"Many times, you forget what you see and hear right away. But have you really forgotten? Actually, no! Your subconscious still remembers it for you. This is the feeling of deja vu that often occurs in life."

...

Snap.

Lin Xian closed the copy of the manuscript in his hand and placed it on the glass case.

He looked up at the photo of Douglas Adams on the wall...

If Adams really thought of the number 42 from his subconscious as the ultimate answer to the universe, life, and everything.

Then according to "Gao Yang Psychology":

"It is very possible that Adams himself had really heard the cosmic constant 42 somewhere."

If this was the case.

Then it would also mean that the time the Genius Club existed in the long river of history was perhaps longer than he had previously imagined...

Lin Xian closed his eyes.

In his mind, there seemed to be a rushing river flowing eastward.

Its end point was at 00:42 on August 29, 2624.

Then...

Where was its beginning?