Two Dark Clouds

April 27, 1900, London, inside the lecture hall of the Royal Society.

Li Qiwei suddenly opened his eyes. It took a full five minutes before he finally accepted the reality that his soul had crossed into another body.

From the jumbled memories in his mind, the original owner of this body was also named Li Qiwei. He had been born into a large Han family in the Qing Dynasty.

He was twenty years old. Three years ago, his father had sent him to study in Britain, and he was currently enrolled at the University of Cambridge, majoring in Theoretical Physics.

If all went well, he would graduate next July with a bachelor's degree.

In this age, whether in the East or the West, the original owner counted as an undoubted intellectual.

"Good thing I didn't end up as a foreigner. That really would've taken some getting used to."

Li Qiwei congratulated himself silently, then calmed down and began observing the audience in the hall.

Looking around, he seemed to be the only person of Asian descent in the entire assembly.

Although he wore a respectable gentleman's suit and had no loathsome queue on his head,

Li Qiwei still felt a little uncomfortable. He guessed it might be the original owner's lingering instincts.

He came from a backward, feudal country with a weak national power, where people lowered themselves before foreigners. Now he had crossed oceans to study abroad, only to be met with cold stares.

Perhaps the original owner's troubled thoughts had suddenly made him ill, leading to his death—and Li Qiwei's transmigration.

But Li Qiwei would never again feel inferior or timid.

In his previous life, he had been a newly graduated physics PhD from the University of Science and Technology of China.

He carried knowledge more than a century ahead of this era, along with the fortune of a superpower from the future.

In an instant, his whole bearing changed!

Li Qiwei's eyes sharpened, his gaze blazing like a torch. He swept it across the hall once more, then fixed it on the podium.

There, an elderly man with white hair and beard was delivering an impassioned speech.

He was the renowned William Thomson, ennobled as Lord Kelvin.

He had proposed the Second Law of Thermodynamics, utterly disproved perpetual motion, and would later be hailed as the "Father of Modern Thermodynamics."

He was also an undisputed elder statesman of the physics world.

However, the old man had a notoriously explosive temper. He was arrogant and difficult to get along with.

At the same time, Li Qiwei confirmed that this was the famous "Two Dark Clouds" lecture.

Sure enough, Lord Kelvin's voice rang out again:

"The edifice of physics is essentially complete. All that remains is a little patching and mending."

Then he added, "However, two small clouds still drift across the clear sky of physics."

Hearing that, Li Qiwei smiled knowingly and muttered under his breath,

"The edifice of physics is nowhere near complete. We've barely laid the foundation."

And those so-called Cloud Problems would eventually unleash a tremendous storm.

They would give birth to the two greatest theories of twentieth-century physics: the Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics!

Countless geniuses would draw upon the height of their intellect to create an unprecedented feast of science.

Just as Li Qiwei was reveling in his glimpse of the future, a voice suddenly interrupted him.

"Young man, would you mind telling me what you're laughing about?"

On the podium, Lord Kelvin looked at Li Qiwei, his tone stern and his face faintly angry.

At once, countless gazes swept toward him. They discovered that the center of attention was an Oriental.

In this era, the Orient was synonymous with backwardness; the West was the land of civilization.

Everyone was eager to see this Oriental make a fool of himself.

Under all those stares, Li Qiwei felt awkward, but his expression didn't change. He answered openly and confidently:

"Forgive me, my lord. I meant no interruption. Your lecture simply gave me a sudden insight."

He'd thought that if he apologized and offered the man an easy way out, the matter would be over.

He hadn't expected the old man's next words to ignite his fury.

Lord Kelvin said coolly:

"Oh? How interesting. I don't believe ignorant, backward Orientals can understand my lecture."

"Would you care to tell me—and everyone here—what you've been thinking?"

Damn it!

Li Qiwei was at a loss. He could put up with insults directed at him personally, but he couldn't tolerate an insult to his people.

He sprang to his feet. At six feet tall, he wasn't short even among Europeans.

Then he slowly glanced around before meeting Lord Kelvin's eyes and declaring, with absolute conviction:

"I believe physics is only just getting started. Those two clouds will usher in a new era."

Boom!

The moment the words left his mouth,

the hall erupted in a wave of gasps. Everyone thought Li Qiwei was outrageously boastful—mad, even.

"That Oriental kid is far too arrogant. Who does he think he is?"

"Physics can already predict the orbits of celestial bodies and send messages over a thousand miles by telegraph, and he says it's only just getting started?"

"Of course he's an inferior from some backward place. He probably doesn't even know what physics is."

Li Qiwei could clearly hear the jeers around him, but he didn't care in the slightest.

Even though many among them were the greatest scientists of the age,

he remained confident and proud, looking down on everything as if he stood apart from the entire world.

"Heh," Lord Kelvin said. "Weakness isn't a sin. Arrogance is. That's why your civilization has failed."

Li Qiwei couldn't be bothered to keep arguing with the old man. What he said next was even more earth-shattering.

"Lord Kelvin, I'll wager with you. Within five years, I'll solve the Cloud Problems in a paper and prove that I'm right."

Boom!

The hall erupted all over again.

Quite a few people even stood up, wanting a better look at this conceited fellow.

Where had he found the nerve to say such a thing?

Just then, several people seemed to recognize Li Qiwei. They pointed at him and said,

"His name is Bruce Li. He's from the Eastern Qing Empire, and he's currently studying physics at the University of Cambridge."

"I hear he even brought a male servant and a maid. He hardly seems to have come here to study—more like he's here to have fun."

"Haha, so he's nothing but a joke!"

Another round of laughter filled the hall.

But one young man in the crowd merely regarded Li Qiwei with curiosity. He didn't join in the mockery.

He had distinctly Jewish features, a head of slightly curled black hair, and deep-set eyes that gave him a confident air.

Li Qiwei didn't notice any of that. He remained calm and composed.

His eyes fixed brightly on Lord Kelvin as he waited for a reply.

The other man didn't fly into the rage Li Qiwei had expected. Instead, he smiled faintly and spoke as if recalling old memories:

"When I was ten, I became the youngest student ever admitted to the University of Glasgow."

"At seventeen, I went to the University of Cambridge for further study, and published three papers that same year."

"At twenty-two, I was appointed professor of physics at the University of Glasgow, where I served for more than fifty years."

"At twenty-seven, I was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences."

"At fifty-three, I was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences."

"At sixty-six, I became president of the Royal Society."

"Today, although I hold no particular office, I still have some influence in the world of physics."

"I don't say this to boast. I'm telling you, young man, what kind of person you're speaking to."

Then, as everyone looked on in confusion and astonishment, Lord Kelvin said,

"Young man, I accept your challenge!"

Boom!

That sent the atmosphere in the hall soaring to its peak.

No one understood why the lofty Lord Kelvin would wager with an unknown young man.

Especially when that man came from Asia, a barren wasteland of civilization and science.

In any case, by tomorrow morning this bombshell of a story would have spread throughout the world of physics.

Li Qiwei watched the crowd's excitement with a calm expression.

Come on. He was a physics PhD from the future, and his transmigration had sharpened his memory.

Even ten Lord Kelvins wouldn't stand a chance against him. This was a crushing victory from a higher era.

He'd chosen a five-year deadline instead of presenting the Theory of Relativity on the spot only to be cautious.

After all, he'd just crossed into this world and hadn't yet familiarized himself with the situation. He couldn't act rashly.

He couldn't slap them in the face right away, but he wasn't about to lose the verbal battle.

So, when the hall had gradually quieted down, Li Qiwei smiled and said:

"My lord, I admire your talent."

"But we Huaxia have an old saying: 'Every age brings forth its own talents, each reigning supreme for centuries.'"

"Your achievements are many, but you're old, after all. The age belongs to the younger generation."

"Besides, we Huaxia people are inferior to no race!"

His words rang out with conviction. Quite a few people saw Li Qiwei in a new light. This young Oriental was a little different!

The meeting could have ended there.

The other speeches that followed were just a formality. No one was paying attention anymore.

Under everyone's gaze, Li Qiwei strode out of the hall, head held high.

At the same time, the young Jewish man in the hall kept watching Li Qiwei as he left.

Then, as if he'd made up his mind, he hurried after him.