Huang Ji smiled at Hawking. In that brief moment, Hawking's fate had changed again.
Before coming to the party, Huang Ji had never seen Hawking in person, so he could not have predicted his actions. He had only used Information Sense on Hawking's home, learned what he could indirectly, and made a rough projection of his own.
Only after entering the room and seeing Hawking could he perceive the "universe's" projection.
The latter represented the most likely outcome objectively, but nothing was absolute.
Hawking was supposed to die of illness in 2018.
Yet just seconds ago, his fate had changed once more. The reason was that Huang Ji had said "I won't sell humans" twice.
Because I said it one more time than planned on a whim, his fate changed this much... Professor Hawking could go to heaven or remain among men, all on the strength of a single thought.
Huang Ji knew the extra repetition had been only a tiny disturbance, but it had led Hawking to a resolve he otherwise would never have reached.
He would give up his human identity and transform himself into another species.
"You're giving up being human?" Huang Ji asked.
Hawking's eyes grew brighter. "It must be technically possible!"
"I don't know whether your human appearance is a visual deception, the result of genetic modification, or merely a body you grew and control remotely."
"But I imagine turning a human into another species should be possible too."
"It is," Huang Ji said. "Even the Illuminati can do it. But you haven't understood the real reason I refused you..."
"I won't keep breaking the law for humanity. Picking a scientist at random and revealing the truth about the universe to him is just an eccentricity of mine. It's already the limit of what I'm