Chapter 545: Life Is Finite While Knowledge Is Infinite
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Another morning.
Other elves, including Richard who rarely got up early in the morning, had gone downstairs. Zhang Zian was cleaning the shop downstairs with Wang Qian and Li Kun. Everything was moving along and orderly as usual.
Pi briefly took off the pince-nez glasses on its nose, rubbed its eyes, and put the glasses back on its nose. It jumped from the swivel chair to the table and then jumped onto the windowsill. Next to the laptop, there was a crumpled old newspaper. A Microsoft Word document was displayed on the laptop's screen, and the cursor was flashing at the end of the content. Except for occasional typos and inexplicable numbers, the content of the document was almost identical to the front-page headline of the old newspaper.
Pi placed its forehead against the window glass and stared blankly at the pedestrians that were passing by the pet shop. Most of the pedestrians were in a hurry, walking in silence. Some people were walking together and talking with each other, while some passers-by were talking on their phones. Without exception, they were speaking Chinese.
When it looked farther away, Pi could see an old neighborhood across the street.
Lu Yiyun lived in that neighborhood. Pi had checked before. It even knew Lu Yiyun's apartment number. It also knew that her cat was called Jasmine, who was abandoned by its previous owner.
Yes, Pi knew about the life of Lu Yiyun.
Pi's untitled book contained everything. The book had recorded every detail, whether it was known or unknown to other people, about Lu Yiyun's life. She was a good girl before, and then in the eyes of her parents, she transformed into a rebellious girl who didn't like studying but cared about painting. She had drawn several illustrations, and currently, she was trying to publish a comic strip on social media. Yes, every detail of her life had been written in the book.
There was nothing special about Lu Yiyun, and Zhang Zian was just an ordinary person. However, Zhang Zian's life had also been recorded in detail in this book. Zhang Zian successfully downloaded the Pet Hunter game before the "limited download time" expired. Later, he luckily encountered Galaxy and won the trust of Galaxy. Afterward, he captured Fina, Old Time Tea, Richard, Snowy Lionet, and Famous one by one. Not a single aspect of Zhang Zian's life was omitted, even all his thoughts had been recorded in the book.
Not only the life of Lu Yiyun and Zhang Zian could be found in the book, in fact, the life of every pedestrian that was walking in front of the pet shop had been written in the untitled book. As long as Pi took some time to read the book, it would find out about the lives of these people.
Not only the deeds of these living people had been recorded in the book, theoretically, the deeds of their parents, grandparents, and ancestors could be found in the book.
Not only the evolution of human beings, but the evolution of all the creatures on earth had been written in this book.
In fact, everything in the entire universe, including things of the past, present, and future, had been faithfully recorded in this book.
While knowledge is infinite, life is finite. No one, not even Pi, could grasp all the knowledge in the universe. Although, Pi could find out about the life of the people passing in front of the pet shop from the book, it had no intention of wasting its own time to learn about the life of these strangers.
Though no one had told it before, from the book, Pi knew that Galaxy had experienced endless reincarnations in the black box; Pi knew about Fina's heart-wrenching departure from Cleopatra VII; Pi knew that the righteous Old Time Tea had helped preserve justice in the jungles and mountains; Pi knew about Richard's melancholy because Richard couldn't meet its previous owner Dr. Irene Maxine Pepperberg; Pi knew that Famous was creating the new history in its world of the imagined landscape…
Because Pi was interested in them and wanted to know about them, it went to look up their lives in the book.
Even for Pi, looking up the untitled book was an extremely difficult task, so it only opened the book when necessary or when it was interested in something or someone.
The untitled book was not omnipotent. The book only recorded everything in English. For example, Zhang Zian had written a composition about his mother in primary school. Pi could find the English translation of each sentence of this composition, but it could never know what Chinese characters had been used in this composition.
Theoretically, the untitled book also recorded the things of the present and the future. But the texts responsible for recording the things of the present and the future were changing constantly and were difficult to interpret due to their uncertainty. Only the texts that recorded history were fixated because history is a foregone conclusion.
"Pi, what are you doing?"
Zhang Zian appeared at the door to the living room. He knocked on the door before coming in, so that he won't startle Pi.
"Eeek!"
Pi grinned at him, pointing out the window.
"Looking at the scenery?"
Zhang Zian also went to the window and looked outside with it.
"Looking outside is good for your eyes, especially when you have spent some time in front of the computer." He pointed to his own eyes and said, "Too bad it is winter now and most of the leaves are gone. A little greenery would be even better for your eyes."
"Eeek!"
Pi happily waved its hand. It jumped from the windowsill to the table, and then to the swivel chair. Pi typed something in the Word document: It's okay. If winter comes, can spring be far behind?
Zhang Zian frowned and thought, "This sentence is said by whom?"
Pi typed: Shelley.
Zhang Zian suddenly realized, "Yes, he is a British poet, right? Pi, you are so resourceful! Although Richard can also quote from the classics, it always changes some words to create dirty jokes."
"Eeek!"
Pi typed: Richard is very funny.
"It is, I guess…by the way, Pi, you are a skilled typist now!" Zhang Zian noticed that Pi could almost type smoothly without looking at the keyboard.
"Eeek!"
Pi, embarrassed, scratched its head.
Just when Zhang Zian was about to continue complimenting Pi, his phone suddenly rang. He didn't recognize the caller's number.
Zhang Zian answered the phone. The caller was a courier who asked if Zhang Zian was at home.
Zhang Zian said he was at home, and then hung up the phone.
"Pi, I bought you an interesting gift, and you don't have to sleep on this chair anymore." He smiled, "It will be delivered later."
"Eeek?"
Pi looked at Zhang Zian's single bed and looked at Fina's princess bed and Galaxy's crib.
"No, it's not a bed. These beds are probably not suitable for you. What I bought for you is a basket hammock chair. Do you know what a basket hammock chair is?" Zhang Zian asked.
"Eeek."
Pi shook its head. The information about basket hammock chairs was available in the untitled book. But for some reason, Pi didn't want to look up the untitled book. It would rather be pleasantly surprised later.
Just then, a delivery tricycle parked in front of the store. Zhang Zian asked Wang Qian and Li Kun to help move the huge box upstairs, and then they were sent downstairs to do something else.
Zhang Zian opened the box and took out all the stuff inside.
Pi gazed at him curiously.
It was very easy for a strong person to assemble the basket hammock chair by fixating the base and then by hanging the basket upon the base. Zhang Zian quickly completed the installation process, and then placed the complimentary cushion from the online shop onto the chair.
"Look! What do you think? You can try sitting on it," he said.
"Eeek?"
Pi had never seen this thing before. It looked at Zhang Zian nervously.
"Go on. It's just like sitting on a swing," said Zhang Zian.
Pi carefully walked to the basket hammock chair and touched the chair with its hand. The chair was made of real wood and vines. The cushion was thick and soft. It's obvious that this basket hammock chair was of upscale quality.
Pi put the untitled book on the cushion, and then it jumped into the chair itself. The basket hammock chair began to swing gently back and forth. Pi felt that it was lying in clouds.
"Eeek!" "Eeek!"
Pi was so excited that it rolled several times in the chair just like an innocent child. Apparently, Pi liked this gift very much.
"Pi, where do you want to put it?" Zhang Zian asked, "Either the bedroom or the living room is fine."
Without hesitation, Pi pointed to the area next to the desk. It was close to the window and had better day lighting.
"Well, can you come down from the chair? I'll move it over for you."
Zhang Zian exerted his full strength to push the basket hammock chair next to the window.
"Eeek!"
Pi was so delighted. It jumped into the basket hammock chair and then jumped onto the table, to the swivel chair, and back to the basket hammock chair again.
"Pi, there is another gift for you." Zhang Zian laughed.
"Eeek!"
Pi stopped playing. It looked at him with anticipation.
Zhang Zian took out a tablet PC and opened a reading App, where he had downloaded some e-books.
"Pi, you are learning Chinese, aren't you? These are the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese Literature, I hope you will like them. It must be very cozy to read books sitting in this basket hammock chair!"
He handed the tablet PC to Pi. Pi curiously held the tablet PC in its hand.
Zhang Zian knew that there was no Chinese in the untitled book, so Pi certainly had never read the Four Great Classical Novels in Chinese. If he had no time to accompany Pi, these novels could help drive the loneliness away from it.
"Eeek!"
Pi gazed attentively at the words on the screen with astonishment. It was immediately attracted to the magical story.