BTO CH56

After lights out at night, the dorm plunged into pitch darkness, and the motion-sensor lights in the hallway dimmed along with it. Xu Sheng had showered late, his hair still slightly damp. When the word “metaphysics” flashed across his mind, he propped himself up and sat up.

Since science couldn’t explain it, maybe they could try metaphysics.

The more Xu Sheng thought about it, the more he felt it.

This was a fucking great idea.

Zhang Feng had just managed to send his mom away under the guise of focusing on his homework and booted up his mobile game.

But right as the game started, his Big Boss called. Staring at the words “Xu Sheng” on his phone screen, Zhang Feng froze for a moment, and then the other side suddenly hung up.

Zhang Feng immediately called back, but Xu Sheng didn’t answer.

Zhang Feng could only send a voice message to ask: “What’s up, Boss, looking for me at this hour? Why didn’t you answer the phone?”

Xu Sheng thought to himself: Because I almost forgot who I currently am.

S: Phone has a glitch, can’t do voice calls. S: Let me ask you something.

Zhang Feng sat up straight: Speak.

S: Do you remember last semester before finals, when you went to the commercial street near school to ask for a fortune slip?

Zhang Feng remembered. He had been mercilessly mocked by Xu Sheng at the time: I remember. You said only dumbasses go draw fortune slips. If burning incense and praying to Buddha worked, there wouldn’t be people failing exams in this world.

He actually said that?

“…”

Xu Sheng’s fingers paused, the next sentence “Any recommended shops?” hovering in the input box.

The commercial street outside the school had everything. Ever since a fortune-telling tarot card shop became an internet sensation, various quacks and street swindlers sensed a business opportunity. They began setting up stalls selling “guaranteed passing” slips, “pass every exam” silk pouches, and “guess correctly every time” ABCD dice… Business boomed for a while.

Zhang Feng was relatively familiar with that area of the commercial street since he liked accompanying girls shopping. Xu Sheng deleted the line of text and finally had to start with: “I have a friend.”

“A fortune-telling stall with good reviews… Let me think. I heard a newly opened one called ‘Half-Immortal Abode’ is pretty decent,” Zhang Feng thought for a moment and sent a voice message. “You have to book online, and just bring your birth data when you go. The readings are supposedly super accurate. Zhang Tong just got her fortune read there last week and came back hyping up that ‘Half-Immortal Hu’ like he was a god, saying he’s definitely a secluded master. If your friend wants to check his exam luck, he can go try it.”

S: Okay. S: Thanks.

After the chat ended, Zhang Feng scratched his head in confusion while staring at his phone: Why is Xu Sheng suddenly asking about fortune-telling stalls?

[Ding.][Match found.]

Forget it, whatever.

Zhang Feng switched back to his game, not taking the matter to heart and quickly tossing it to the back of his mind.

Lights out did not affect a top student grinding problems.

At the same time, Shao Zhan pinched the bridge of his nose and flipped past the last competition test paper.

Holding a pen, his clothes clung to his straight back. Xu Sheng’s fingers were long and slender, the knuckles slightly prominent. The desk lamp pierced the surrounding darkness, shining directly onto his slightly bent knuckles.

After flipping the page, Shao Zhan paused for two seconds, suddenly recalling, for whatever reason, the sight of Xu Sheng holding a paintbrush with this hand.

On the back was the final major problem: Let V be a set of 2019 points in space, no four of which are coplanar. Some points are connected by line segments. Let E be the set of these line segments…

Shao Zhan withdrew his gaze. Sweeping over the problem, before he had time to find a solution path, someone knocked on the door twice.

Xu Sheng had sent Shao Zhan a message. After not receiving a reply for a few minutes, he simply came knocking directly.

When Shao Zhan opened the door, Xu Sheng was leaning against his own dorm door, fiddling with his phone across the aisle.

Seeing him open the door, Xu Sheng flipped his phone around and shook it: “Sent you a message, you probably didn’t see it.”

Shao Zhan indeed hadn’t seen it.

When doing problems, he rarely looked at his phone except to set a timer.

Usually, Xu Sheng looked perfectly natural slouching around like a boneless creature wherever he went, but doing it in Shao Zhan’s body made Shao Zhan feel strange looking at it. He stepped sideways: “Come in.”

This was his dorm anyway; without needing an invitation, Xu Sheng naturally sat on the bed and stated his purpose directly: “I thought of a solution.”

Shao Zhan couldn’t guess what he wanted to say.

Xu Sheng: “Let me tell you a story.”

“…”

Shao Zhan: “A story?”

Under Shao Zhan’s gaze, Xu Sheng changed his posture and said, “When my younger cousin was little, he accidentally fell into a river. After being fished out, he had a high fever that wouldn’t break. No matter what medicine he took or how many doctors he saw, nothing worked.”

Now Shao Zhan truly couldn’t guess what he was getting at. Telling a story about his cousin in the middle of the night. The genius youth who could score 145 on Chinese exams was defeated, failing to grasp the main point.

Reaching this point, Xu Sheng paused and asked: “Guess how my cousin finally recovered?”

“…” Playing along, Shao Zhan asked back, “How did he recover?”

“Metaphysics.”

“…”

“There’s a female shaman in our neighborhood. She drew him a talisman. He burned it, drank the ashes, and was fine the next day.”

“So?”

“So, sometimes when science can’t explain things, we can seek help from the power of metaphysics.”

Shao Zhan unscrewed the mineral water bottle on his desk, walked over to the bed, and handed it to him.

Xu Sheng took it and said, “I’ve already asked Zhang Feng. There’s a newly opened ‘Half-Immortal Abode’ near the school, and the reviews are pretty good.”

The desk lamp’s light wasn’t strong, and the light reaching the bed was even weaker.

After Xu Sheng took the water, just as he was about to tilt his head back to take a gulp, Shao Zhan didn’t retract his hand. Extending his index finger, he tapped lightly but firmly on Xu Sheng’s forehead: “What exactly goes through this head of yours all day?”

The blazing temperature of the teenager’s fingertip brushed him lightly.

Clutching the water bottle, Xu Sheng blinked, his mind going blank for a moment along with the heat.

Shao Zhan: “When are we going?”

Before coming over, Xu Sheng was worried that Shao Zhan would find the proposal absurd. A dignified top student seeking out a fortune-telling master—no matter how one thought about it, those two elements didn’t belong together: “After evening self-study?”

Shao Zhan had also thought he would find the proposal absurd, but faced with the Four Schools Joint Competition, even the toughest person had to bow their head.

“Alright.”

Only after Shao Zhan withdrew his hand and returned to the desk to continue his test papers did Xu Sheng belatedly take a gulp of water, then screw the cap back on.

A bit of sweat coated Xu Sheng’s palm. Carrying the water bottle, he walked over: “You’re doing competition problems?”

Although Xu Sheng couldn’t understand a single problem on this stack of test papers, he had, after all, brought them back from the meeting room.

Glancing over, Xu Sheng saw the major problem Shao Zhan was calculating on scratch paper. The problem statement was long, and Xu Sheng only noticed a few scalp-numbing numbers inside that looked terrifying: “Satisfying the condition, if E has n elements, then E must contain 908 binary subsets.”

908. Binary subsets.

What did that mean??

Shao Zhan glanced at him: “Want to try? This problem isn’t hard.”

Xu Sheng: “…”

Shao Zhan: “Familiarize yourself with it in advance.”

The worst-case scenario was participating in the competition wearing the identity of Shao Zhan—the Demon King of the Four Schools Joint Competition.

Xu Sheng hesitated for a moment, thinking it wouldn’t hurt to broaden his horizons with Shao Zhan in advance. He might not be able to solve the problems, but he definitely had to put up the right front when the time came. Besides, Shao Zhan even said the problem wasn’t hard… maybe he had a talent for competitions?

Every academic slacker who never studied inevitably harbored the fantasy that once they flipped their study switch, they might just astound the world with a single brilliant feat.

With absolutely zero self-awareness, Xu Sheng said, “I’ll try it then.”

Honestly, listening to Shao Zhan explain problems was a pleasure. The teenager’s tone was cool, his logic clear as he followed the steps and wrote simple theorems on the paper: “For this problem, first prove a lemma. Let G=(V, E) be a simple graph, and G is connected, then G contains…”

Xu Sheng gave up very decisively.

He sobered up in an instant.

The “not hard” coming out of Shao Zhan’s mouth was completely different from a normal person’s understanding of the phrase.

After finishing this section, Shao Zhan handed the pen to him, gesturing for him to solve it once himself.

“…I’m leaving,” Xu Sheng said. “Can’t write.”

Having truly faced a competition problem and learned its difficulty, Xu Sheng’s desire to visit the Half-Immortal Abode grew even stronger.

The next day.

After evening self-study, the two packed their things and prepared to slip out through the back door.

“Zhan-ge, Sheng-ge,” Hou Jun and Tan Kai patted their shoulders from behind. “We’re going to the commercial street to eat. A new noodle shop opened recently, want to join?”

Since they were all heading to the commercial street, saying it wasn’t on the way would be inappropriate right now.

Xu Sheng: “You guys go ahead, we’re going to the commercial street to buy some other things…”

Before Xu Sheng could finish, Hou Jun wedged himself directly between them: “Aren’t we all going to the commercial street? Let’s walk together.”

After school, the commercial street was festooned with lights and decorations. Half of the school name “Linjiang” (Facing the River) came from the school’s natural environment, surrounded by biting river waters. The commercial street was built in an ancient town style with wooden architecture. Square gates stood at the street entrance, and shouts rang out continuously from the shop fronts.

“Noodle shop grand opening! 20% off special discount—”

“Tarot cards! Test your exam luck—”

Xu Sheng and Shao Zhan bit the bullet and walked a stretch with them.

Other than coming out to eat, Xu Sheng rarely browsed this street. Occasionally, when Zhang Tong and a few girls wanted to buy things and asked for his input, he would tag along and wander for a bit.

He had booked a 7:00 PM appointment with the master last night, but the “Half-Immortal Abode” was hard to find. The two checked shop numbers as they walked.

“The noodle shop is just ahead,” Yuan Ziqiang asked curiously. “What did you guys come out to buy?”

Xu Sheng answered absentmindedly: “Isn’t the Four Schools Joint Competition starting soon? I’m buying some competition workbooks.”

Yuan Ziqiang turned to Shao Zhan: “What about you, Sheng-ge?”

Shao Zhan: “Accompanying him to buy.”

Oh.

While Xu Sheng was searching, Shao Zhan tugged him: “Is it that one?”

Following the direction Shao Zhan pointed, Xu Sheng looked over. At the corner of an intersection, far away from the bustling areas, sat a shop without any special decoration, not even a signboard. Only an advertising board stood out front with the words “Half-Immortal Abode” written in brush calligraphy. It gave off a faint aura of a secluded master’s retreat, easily missed if one didn’t pay attention.

Xu Sheng: “It’s this one.”

But Hou Jun and the others were still here, so how could they go over now?

Just as Xu Sheng was thinking of slowing his pace to quietly put some distance between them and Hou Jun, Shao Zhan moved even more decisively—he simply grabbed Xu Sheng and walked against the current of the surging crowd. Using the throngs of people pushing forward from behind as cover, they vanished and put distance between themselves and those in front in the blink of an eye. After passing through layers of obstruction, when Hou Jun turned around, he found the two people behind him had disappeared who-knows-when.

Wisps of blue smoke drifted out from the half-open crack of the Half-Immortal Abode’s door. Incense burned in the main hall.

Pushing open the door, before seeing the person, a voice resembling an old man’s raspy tone sounded: “…Could it be you’ve encountered a thorny matter? I see an extraordinary aura shrouding the two of you.”

The voice continued: “Come in then.”

The next second, a gust of wind blew in from nowhere, followed by a snap as the door they had just pushed open slammed shut on its own!