Chapter 2: Strange Characters

“Lu, wake up!...”

In a daze, Lu Yu heard someone calling his name. He struggled to open his eyes and saw his troublesome friend, Chen Xiaofei, shaking his shoulder and shouting at him.

He shook his head, forcing himself to wake up a bit more before asking, “What are you doing here?”

Chen Xiaofei replied, “Why do you think I’m here?”

Lu Yu laboriously sat up, squinting at Chen Xiaofei.

He’d showed up so suddenly, without any warning or concern, just appearing before him out of the blue. Was he here to bring a surprise?

But looking at Chen Xiaofei’s messy hair, his haphazardly thrown-on clothes, and his expression of someone who’d just escaped disaster, he was a complete mess.

He looked like he’d tried to seduce the Jade Emperor’s consort but failed, ending up chased with swords by a legion of heavenly soldiers from the Southern Gate of Heaven all the way to Penglai East Road. Clearly, he wasn’t here to bring any surprises.

A fright seemed more likely.

Lu Yu pondered for a moment, then asked offhandedly, “What, did another goddess try to kill you?”

Chen Xiaofei’s expression froze. He opened his mouth but couldn’t get a word out for a long time.

Lu Yu continued, “Oh? Not a goddess? Was it a man, then?”

Chen Xiaofei said nothing.

“Or maybe the goddess is already married?”

No response.

“Still not? Don’t tell me she’s underage? You animal!”

Chen Xiaofei’s face shifted from pale to green then back again, his hands alternately clenching into fists and spreading open.

He seemed to run through all the lost martial arts classics, from the Nine Yin Manual to the Bone-melting Palm to the Seven Injuries Fist and beyond.

That’s what friends are for, after all.

What is friendship? This is it.

Teasing each other for the pure joy of seeing the other suffer, then feeling refreshed and gleeful afterward—your unhappiness is my happiness! That’s the true essence of friendship.

As for the ideal world where everyone is happy together, Lu Yu thought to himself that he was just an ordinary man. Such lofty things as finding joy in others’ happiness were too difficult for him.

“Do you know how long you’ve been asleep?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your phone’s been off for three days!”

“How long?”

“Three days!”

“That’s impossible! Don’t mess with me, I went to bed around six or seven last night.”

“What date was that?”

“The second. Why?”

Chen Xiaofei didn’t answer. He silently took out his phone and lit up the screen. It clearly displayed January fifth.

Lu Yu stared at the screen for a long time, speechless. He frowned at Chen Xiaofei, then at the phone, full of confusion. He got up, plugged in his own phone, and waited for it to power on.

After a while, his phone also displayed January fifth.

“So you’re saying I slept for three days?”

Chen Xiaofei, amused by Lu Yu’s actions, said, “What did you think? I was starting to think you’d lost it and were planning to end your sinful life!”

Lu Yu’s mouth twitched. “I just had a few drinks—I didn’t expect the booze to hit so hard. Damn, I’m quitting for good!”

Chen Xiaofei burst out laughing. “Yeah? Do you really believe that yourself?”

Lu Yu answered solemnly, “I do, I mean it this time!”

Chen Xiaofei clicked his tongue. “That sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before?”

Lu Yu gave a cold snort, speechless. “Don’t you have any sense of shame?”

He shot Chen Xiaofei a fierce, disdainful look.

Chen Xiaofei, the classic shameless type, was unbothered: “No clue what you’re talking about. Come on, let’s eat. Celebrate your... survival after the booze.”

“Fine.”

Lu Yu headed to the bathroom. While washing up, he kept seeing strange symbols popping into his mind.

He vaguely remembered having a strange dream while sleeping, but he couldn’t quite recall the details.

He didn’t think much of it, assuming it was just a hallucination from sleeping too long.

He quickly finished washing up and drying his hair, then called Chen Xiaofei to head out.

On the way, they chatted idly, occasionally commenting on the girls passing by—discussing outfits, or whether someone’s looks were average but their youth and energy made up for it.

After winding through several streets, they ended up at a food street. They picked a little hole-in-the-wall place, ordered hotpot, and started putting in ingredients.

The steaming hotpot drove away the winter chill.

Watching the meat sizzle, Lu Yu felt an unprecedented hunger. “Ahem, should we have a drink?”

Chen Xiaofei grinned. “Ha! I knew it!”

Lu Yu chuckled at himself and called the waiter for drinks.

The two of them dug in without a care for their image, too busy eating to speak for a while.

...

After they were full, Chen Xiaofei sipped some hot tea. “You really haven’t eaten in days, huh? Your appetite today isn’t even on the same level as usual.”

Lu Yu ignored his teasing. “Mainly, you, Young Master Chen, aren’t used to these little places—that’s what’s holding you back.”

Chen Xiaofei rolled his eyes and flipped him off. “But honestly, these little spots are where you find the real taste of Shudu. Perfect.”

Lu Yu just smiled. He had to admit this time Chen Xiaofei wasn’t wrong. After all, his family was fairly well-off, running a couple of car dealerships and owning a commercial building near Chunxi Road. Even though Chunxi Road wasn’t as fancy as Taikoo Li anymore, its value was still staggering.

They’d been college dormmates.

At first, they bonded over skipping class to check out pretty upperclassmen, neither participating in student union or club activities, making them outsiders in their dorm. That’s how they got close.

Later, they ate their way through all the best spots near campus and had countless drinking sessions.

Eventually, whenever Chen Xiaofei had a date, Lu Yu would tag along as wingman, tasked with distracting the girl’s friends and classmates to create the perfect opportunity.

Even after graduation, they stayed close, and Lu Yu’s wingman skills still occasionally came in handy.

Seeing Lu Yu lost in thought, Chen Xiaofei fell silent too. He handed Lu Yu a cigarette, lit one for himself, took a few puffs, and finally asked, “I heard your company went under?”

Lu Yu nodded. “Yeah.”

“So, what’s your plan?”

“No clue. First, I’ve got to earn some money to pay off my debts. Then I’ll figure out the rest.”

Chen Xiaofei considered this. “If you need anything, just say so. No need for pretense between us.”

Lu Yu replied, “Alright, if I really need help, I’ll ask.”

Chen Xiaofei patted his shoulder, his mischievous grin returning. “So, what now? Want to hit up Space for a party?”

Lu Yu hesitated. “Let’s go in a couple of days.”

“Sure. What about now? How about a few rounds of CS:GO at a net café?”

“Some shooting? That sounds good.”

Men’s happiness really is that simple. There’s no trouble a few rounds of shooting can’t solve. And if there is, just play a few more.

Laughing, the two headed off to the nearest internet café.

By the time they left, it was already late at night. They agreed to hit the club in a few days, and Chen Xiaofei called a driver to take him home.

...

After seeing Chen Xiaofei off, Lu Yu wandered alone through the streets of Shudu.

Beneath the dim streetlights, his shadow lengthened and shortened as he walked, and once again those strange characters began to surface in his mind.

This time, it wasn’t just isolated symbols, but entire sentences.

Lu Yu was deeply puzzled, but couldn’t figure out what was happening. He vaguely suspected it was connected to that earlier dream.

But every time he tried to recall more, a wave of dizziness struck him.

Rubbing his temples, he made his way home, exhaustion washing over him. Lying down, he fell into a deep sleep in less than a minute.

...

This time, he didn’t dream. He simply woke up, famished, near noon.

As soon as he was awake, those strange characters appeared again.

Lu Yu decided to get up and wash his face, then sat down at his computer desk.

He ordered delivery on his phone, grabbed pen and paper, and started copying down the odd symbols from his mind.

To his surprise, he could write not just a hundred characters or so, but he also clearly understood their meanings.

This astonished him even more. He was certain he’d only ever studied Chinese characters and English.

He had never learned a third script!

So what was happening now? Not only could he write these strange characters, but he also knew exactly what they meant.

After all, writing isn’t just about symbols; every script represents a civilization.

Lu Yu realized he was dealing with something inexplicable.

His phone rang. He opened the door for his food delivery.

Eating, he kept staring at the paper, trying to remember the origin of those characters but coming up empty.

Only after finishing did he realize he was still hungry, though the amount was about the same as usual. So he ordered more.

While waiting for the second delivery, he finally recalled a few more symbols and eagerly wrote them down, continuing his research.

Compared with Chinese characters, these symbols were a bit more streamlined, but not quite pictographic.

Each symbol could mean several things, and it wasn’t like English, where basic letters combined into words and then sentences.

Clearly, this script had evolved through countless transformations to reach its current form.

It was somewhat like Chinese—progressing from pictographs to bronze inscriptions to traditional and then simplified forms—but even more complex in its expression.

Lu Yu lost himself in studying these characters, forgetting time entirely.

...

When the second delivery arrived, he was ravenous again.

He wolfed down the food, cleaned up the containers, tossed them in the stairwell trash, and then returned to his room to continue pondering and studying the script.

After recalling a few more characters, that familiar wave of fatigue swept over him, and he collapsed onto his bed, plunging into deep sleep once more.

Over the next few days, Lu Yu was completely absorbed in recalling and learning this new script.

Every day, he woke up from hunger, ordered takeout, and jotted down the characters that emerged in his mind.

He compared them, connected them, and studied this new language, sleeping again whenever he was tired.

He even flaked on his promised night out with Chen Xiaofei.

Other than eating more and more each day, he noticed little change in himself.

But whether it was his imagination or not, he felt much smarter than before.

And he seemed to be getting smarter by the day, with a noticeably sharper memory.

He couldn’t help but wonder: could eating snacks and sleeping more really boost your IQ?