590 Infinity (1/2)

Chapter 590: Infinity

Translator: Nyoi-Bo StudioEditor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The Cocker Spaniel that Meng Li brought over was well trained, and didn't bark or wander around everywhere. It lay quietly on the floor, sniffed, blinked its big eyes, and stared at the kitchen of the small restaurant, where the aroma of cooked food was coming from.

Zhang Zian took a few sips of his orange juice, then thought silently about the letters on the napkin.

Since they were talking about science fiction, he remembered a fiction story he'd read in the past. He asked, ”Professor Meng, I'm wondering if you've read a short fantasy story, called the Book of Sand?”

”Book of Sand?”

This time, it was Meng Li's turn to feel shocked. He was bending over to comb out his Cocker Spaniel's fur. Cocker Spaniels had naturally curly long fur, which easily tangled and needed frequent combing. Otherwise, they would look sleazy. Besides from studying, his graduate students had another assignment to comb the dog's hair, which made them joke that they were working at a cotton mill.

Meng Li thought for a while and was certain that this name was unfamiliar. He hadn't read it.

”Like I said, I rarely read science fiction. Most of the books I read are about math. You have to keep learning these days, otherwise you'll get outdated very easily.” He smiled. ”Is this Book of Sand an interesting read?”

”No, despite the fact that it's called Book of Sand, it's not an actual book, but a short fantasy story with only 2000 words. The author is the Argentinean writer, Jorge Luis Borges. This is his most recognized work,” explained Zhang Zian. He'd read the story a long time ago, but he still remembered it because it was so mind-blowing.

”Oh?” Meng Li was slightly interested. ”In math, brevity is beauty. A story of 2000 words is somehow this author's most recognized work? It must be deep in thought and artistic. What is it about?”

Zhang Zian recalled this science fiction story and began retelling it.

In the beginning of Book of Sand, the hero was an ordinary man living in an ordinary house. One day, a stranger visited him with a suitcase. The stranger was selling the Bible, but the man was not interested, as he already owned a few Bibles. Then the stranger took out another book. It wasn't a Bible, but the cover read The Holy Book.

After flipping open The Holy Book, the protagonist found that the page numbers were odd. They weren't in sequential order, but completely random. Most importantly, the page number of the book was endless, and he could never find the beginning nor the end. New pages always appeared out of nowhere, and the book had pictures like a dictionary.

The stranger said that he bought this book from a village. The salesperson called it The Book of Sand, as it was endless like sand.

It was a very strange book, but the stranger was willing to sell it to the man at a relatively low price. In fact, he'd wanted to get rid of it for a long time.

After getting this book, that man also became its slave. He stopped going out, for he loved the book so much that he couldn't step away from it. He studied it all day and night, because of his obsessive interest in it. He could no longer sleep. And even if he did sleep, he dreamed about it all the time.

Like the stranger, the man suddenly realized that his life would be completely ruined if he continued on this way. So he decided to get rid of this nightmare just as the stranger did.

After getting this far, Zhang Zian suddenly started acting mysterious and asked, ”Can you guess how the hero got rid of the book?”

Meng Li was completed drawn in by this odd story. He stopped combing the Cocker Spaniel's fur and took a guess. ”Did he sell it to somebody else, like the stranger did?”

Zhang Zian smiled. ”He did something smarter. He hid it like a tree in the forest. When nobody was watching, he hid the book on a bookshelf of a national library with 0.9 million books, and tried not to remember which shelf it was. He never even visited the street where the library was.”

Meng Li knocked on the table with excitement. ”Great idea! If he did so, this Book of Sand could no longer be found, unless some extremely unlucky guy picked it up, with a chance of 1 out of 0.9 million!”

Zhang Zian smiled bitterly. This extremely unlucky is sitting right in front of you, and offered you a glass of orange juice.

He remembered that when Pi first arrived at the pet shop, it would make a gesture of slipping sand out of its hand. Back then, he thought that it was referring to the sand of Ganges river. Could he be wrong?

”So is the story is over?” Meng Li was looking forward to hearing more.

Zhang Zian nodded. ”It's finishes with an open ending. Professor, is this Book of Sand similar to The Hyperwebster Dictionary?”

Meng Li said, ”Indeed. But the Hyperwebster is more rigorous, and it does have a beginning.”

Zhang Zian agreed on this. The Hyperwebster was a theory of science, but the Book of Sand was a fantasy of literature. They shared some similarities only in certain aspects.

”Either the Hyperwebster or the Book of Sand, if they do exist, would be very precious. Aren't they? They would be the most impressive books on Earth. Or if there are other civilizations in the universe, could they come up with better books?” he asked.

He remembered that Galaxy once said the nameless book was the most impressive book on the earth, but not in the universe.

Meng Li asked, ”Impressive? Of course. Except that both books have limitations, which is because they're written in English, and are limited to the 26 letters. Some ideas can't be expressed by just 26 English letters. If some civilization in the universe has a more comprehensive linguistic system, they could theorize a better version of the Hyperwebster.”