Bigtooth’s expression changed from shock to horror. He extended his bulky claws and bent his legs, as if trying to kneel to Li Bai. “You mustn’t, esteemed god,” he cried. “You mustn’t!”

“What’s got you so scared?” Yi Yi regarded Bigtooth with astonishment.

“You idiot! Don’t you know that atomic bombs are made of atoms? The storage device will be made of atoms too, and its storage precision can’t possibly exceed the atomic level! Do you know what atomic-level storage is? It means that all of humanity’s books can be stored in an area the size of the point of a needle! Not the couple of books you have left, but all the books that existed before we ate Earth!”

“Ah, that sounds plausible. I’ve heard that a glass of water contains more atoms than the Earth’s oceans contained cups of water. Then, he can just write down those poems and take the needle with him,” Yi Yi said, pointing at Li Bai.

Bigtooth nearly burst with outrage. He had to rapidly pace a few steps to summon a little more patience. “Okay, okay, tell me, if the god writes all those five-character- and seven-character-line poems, and the common lyrical poetry formats, one time each, how many characters would that be?”

“Not many, no more than two or three thousand, right? Classical poetry is the most concise art form there is.”

“Fine, you idiot bug-bug, let me show you how concise it really is!” Bigtooth strode to the table and pointed at the game board with one claw. “What is it you call this stupid game … ah yes, weiqi. How many grid intersections are on the board?”

“There are nineteen lines in both the vertical and horizontal directions, for a total of three hundred and sixty-one points.”

“Very good, each intersection can be occupied by a black piece, a white piece, or no piece, a total of three states in all. So you can think of each game state as using three characters to write a poem of nineteen lines and three hundred and sixty-one characters.”

“That’s a clever comparison.”

“Now, if we exhaust all the possible permutations of these three characters in this poem format, how many poems can we write? Let me tell you: 3361, or, let me think, 10172!”

“Is … is that a lot?”

“Idiot!” Bigtooth spat the word at him for the third time. “In all the universe, there are only … grargh!” He was too infuriated to speak.

“How many?” Yi Yi still wore a befuddled expression.

“1080 atoms! You idiot bug-bug—”

Only now did Yi Yi show any sign of astonishment. “You mean to say, if we could save one poem in every atom, we might use up every atom in the universe and still not be able to fit all of his quantum computer’s poems?”