Chapter 52: Chapter 50: The Mysterious Appearance of Sneakers
Inside the grilled fish restaurant.
After casually brushing off Li Yi, Xu Yun leaned against the corner wall and pulled out his phone, opening Weibo directly.
Sure enough, after scanning just a few lines of the trending topics, he saw the hot topic Li Yi mentioned:
#Newton’s Portrait, Anta#
The trending rank had already dropped to eighth, below ’#Slow Motion in Snow#’, and ahead of ’#Stilt Walkers Box Office#’.
Xu Yun couldn’t help but shake his head slightly.
In the end, Weibo still leans more towards entertainment, coupled with the brand name which might cause some users to dismiss it as an ad, resulting in this topic that would surely shoot to top 1 in the physics community, being lukewarm on social media.
Then Xu Yun scrolled through a few more screens, selected a primary media post to open, and found that the blog content consisted of two pictures sourced from some foreign media, accompanied by a large paragraph of Chinese text.
"According to Al Jazeera BXC, renowned British collector Belém Brisson passed away last Monday due to liver cancer, and his will stipulated that all 80-odd items in his collection be donated to the British Museum."
"The donation ceremony began yesterday at 8 PM Yanjing Time, with over 50 media outlets present to interview and broadcast, and about 200 people attending in total..."
"The Newton’s portrait causing heated discussion is item number 34 in the collection, and a reporter from Al Jazeera found while taking photos that the portrait depicted a modern-style pair of sneakers on the table behind Newton..."
"This immediately raised doubts among some attending media, with one journalist suggesting on the spot that the portrait might have been modified in modern times, but British Museum curator Puzemeslo Mills stated that as one of the world’s four great museums, the British Museum has conducted precise age analysis on each piece. He could guarantee this portrait was done by the well-known late 17th-century painter Aswede, and he produced an authentication report on the spot."
"Several internationally renowned experts analyzed the portrait on site and unanimously agreed it was an original by Aswede. The expert group included two well-known scholars from the Huaxia Academy of Fine Arts, @Central Academy of Fine Arts Chen Yiping @Gu Guangtao of the Central Academy of Fine Arts..."
"But Puzemeslo Mills also admitted that in numerous prior identifications, the museum had never noticed this pair of sneakers that appeared overnight in the portrait, as if by magic."
Xu Yun then clicked to enlarge the pictures in the blog and looked more closely.
The subject of the drawing was an older version of Old Niu, with a significant difference in demeanor and appearance from Little Niu, yet the youthful shadow of a young man who loved to reason was still faintly discernible in the brow and facial features.
Old Niu in the image was wearing a luxurious green outfit, holding a Holy Book in his arms, and sternly gazing forward.
Behind Old Niu, one could see a fireplace, lounge chairs, and other furniture items. On the table to his right hand, a modern sneaker was faintly visible.
Xu Yun was very familiar with these sneakers, which he had purchased for 328 yuan from a physical store back then, the same pair that Little Niu snatched away.
It was obvious.
Through some special force, some of his experiences in a parallel universe were reflected in the local history.
Unexpectedly, this was probably the Easter egg reward.
What can I say...
After experiencing rebirth and space-time travel, Xu Yun was quite comfortable with this kind of situation.
So instead of feeling shocked, he felt a hint of happiness in his heart, or rather, an excitement from knowing the truth alone.
While Xu Yun’s thoughts were fluctuating, several junior and senior students nearby were expressing their own views.
"I think the chance of coincidence is quite high."
The speaker was the last boy among the five who hadn’t been introduced, named Ren Yongcun, a classmate and roommate of Xiaozhao, currently in the first year of his master’s program:
"The 17th-century brogue shoes I remember had laces, right? Maybe Old Mr. Niu, on a whim, modified a pair of shoes after some sneakers? After all, a portrait is not a photograph, and under certain circumstances, it coincidentally matches Anta’s design."
Upon hearing this, Tang Yiqiu shook her head and pointed at the photo:
"Senior Brother Ren, we’re all science students, we shouldn’t be too emotional in our thinking. Honestly, how big do you think the chance of this happening is?
Look here, the shoe surface has a small patch of black between red and white, identical to the Anta shoes, this situation is just too hard to describe as a coincidence."
"Exactly, exactly."
Zhou Peiyao puffed up her cheeks in agreement and then pointed at Tang Yiqiu’s bowl:
"Qiuqi, can I have one of your beef balls? I don’t have them in my side dishes, I’ll trade you a triangle dumpling for one!"
"It’s Qiuqiu..... ah, no, it’s Yiqiu."
Tang Yiqiu softly retorted and helplessly handed a beef ball to Zhou Peiyao:
"Senior Sister, be careful, I ordered extra spicy, you might not be able to handle it."
Zhou Peiyao gleefully stuck her hand into the hood of Tang Yiqiu’s down jacket, rubbing it constantly:
"Got it, you’re from Jiangxi, even brush teeth with chili water."
"..."
Seeing the relationship among the junior and senior students getting closer, a slight smile appeared on Xu Yun’s face.
Although the character of Li Yi’s five was beyond question, those with bad reputation and no ability wouldn’t have passed Xu Yun’s initial review, but for a team to advance smoothly, individual capabilities alone weren’t meaningful, their mutual understanding must also align—at the very least, they can’t remain strangers throughout.
Originally, Xu Yun intended this meal as an icebreaker, guiding the atmosphere so everyone wouldn’t be too reserved, something he had quite a bit of experience with, having attended many banquets and meals in his past life, he could pick up on some cues.
But he didn’t expect that even before he spoke, this Weibo trending topic would give everyone an opportunity to become familiar with each other, where after several rounds of discussion and speculation, there was clearly a greater familiarity among the five.
Especially Zhou Peiyao, she was almost on the brink of getting romantically involved with Tang Yiqiu.
When there’s time, I’ll take them for a barbecue, and the group dynamics for this temporary project team will be more or less set in stone.
After chatting for a bit longer, once everyone was fed and watered, Xu Yun settled the bill.
As they walked out of the restaurant, Xu Yun was about to call everyone back to the lab, but before he could speak, he suddenly had a sense of foreboding.
He hesitated for a few seconds and then said to Li Yi, the only second-year master’s student among the five:
"Xiaoli, take Xiaotang and Xiaozhao back to the lab first, I have some paperwork to deal with for Director Tian. Until I get back, listen to Old Qiu’s instructions and feel free to contact me if anything comes up, I’ll be back by 3 PM."
Li Yi nodded:
"No problem, God Xu, you go ahead, is there anything else you want me to pass on?"
"No, just be careful during the experiment."
"Got it!"
After parting ways with Li Yi and others, Xu Yun hurried back to his house, locked the door, and entered the enclosed space.
At that moment, the door representing the 1665 dungeon displayed the number.....
3/100!