Yu Zhijing frowned as he looked at the soy milk his sister brought over, but he drank it all down and continued to lean against the doorframe, watching the children below play with swords and spears.
Seeing her brother like this, Yu Zhiling said with some distress, "Brother, you should go to sleep. Don't keep thinking about problems!"
Yu Zhijing's face was expressionless as he continued to watch the activity outside. He knew his sister meant well, but he simply couldn't sleep. Even after drinking the steaming soy milk, he had no intention of sleeping. The phrase "full and weak" had no effect on him.
Just then, Yu Zhiling saw their father returning from a distance and immediately ran out to call, "Dad."
Yu Muhe walked in slowly, holding his daughter, and asked Yu Zhijing at the door, "How long did you sleep yesterday? How are you feeling now?"
Yu Zhijing spread his hands helplessly and said, "I only slept for two hours, and after that, no matter what, I couldn't sleep. It seems my illness won't be cured anytime soon!"
Seeing his son like this, Yu Muhe no longer wanted to ask his own questions. He knew that his son's current state was his fault. If he hadn't fed the child random things, his son wouldn't be like this.
A month ago, Yu Muhe had found a fruit tree in the wild with bright red fruits. Many animals around were fighting over these fruits. The situation was chaotic, and Yu Muhe didn't dare to rush forward to snatch them. He hid in the shadows, waiting for the fight to end. In the end, all the fruits on the tree were snatched and eaten by mutated beasts.
However, when Yu Muhe went to the base of the tree to search, he found one remaining fruit. It was a wild fruit, entirely red, and looked very appealing. A fruit that had been fought over by countless mutated beasts, and one was left behind by chance. It was truly lucky.
Yu Muhe had intended to eat the fruit directly, but he remembered that his two children at home hadn't eaten fresh fruit in a long time. Fruits in Yuzhou were expensive, and only the rich could eat them freely. For the sake of his children, Yu Muhe brought the fruit home to his son.
As a result, after eating the fruit, his son began to sleep. He slept for a whole day before waking up. After waking up, he felt restless all over, scratching his ears and cheeks, and unable to sit still, as if he had ADHD. Only when he was reading would he quiet down.
Yu Muhe thought his son liked reading, so he bought many books for him to read. Whether it was dry history books or slightly interesting novels, he bought them all for his son. Books were not expensive, as long as his son could remain quiet.
However, Yu Zhijing suddenly displayed the ability of photographic memory. Whatever he read, after the first glance, he would remember it firmly and never forget it. Therefore, after reading a book once, he could record it all in his mind and never read it a second time. Now, the room was filled with books, a whole bookshelf.
At the same time, Yu Zhijing also displayed mature thinking. Although he was only ten years old, when he looked at problems, his considerations were more than those of an adult. Such a person was simply a genius, having read extensively at a young age, and his way of thinking was no different from an adult's.
Initially, Yu Muhe was very happy about his son's transformation. He thought his son had become a genius after eating his fruit. Although he was only ten years old, his intellectual level far surpassed that of adults. If this continued, he would definitely be able to get a position in the City Lord's Mansion and his future would be limitless.
But Yu Zhijing also developed a problem: he couldn't sleep. Even when he closed his eyes, countless thoughts were active in his mind, so much so that when he opened his eyes the next day, he hadn't slept a wink.
At this point, Yu Muhe finally felt that something was wrong and quickly took his son to the hospital for a check-up, even if it cost a lot of money. In the end, nothing could be found. Only the neurologist noticed something unusual. Although this symptom had never appeared before, a careful examination revealed that the ten-year-old's nerves were abnormally excited, and his neural activity far exceeded that of ordinary people. Both his photographic memory and his super-intellect were consequences of his excited nerves.
"A person cannot stop thinking, because if they stop thinking, they are either brain-dead or in a vegetative state!" the doctor frowned and said, "But it's not good for a person to think constantly. It's like 'too much wisdom leads to an early death.' Thinking is very energy-consuming, and constant thinking not only deprives you of rest but also consumes a large amount of bodily energy, leading to an overload!"
"Doctor, what exactly do you mean?" Yu Muhe couldn't quite understand what the doctor was saying and asked.
The neurologist shook his head and sighed, "People need rest, not just for their bodies but also for their brains. But your son is constantly thinking, and his body cannot withstand it, and his lifespan will be reduced. Perhaps, while others can live to a hundred years old, your son can only live to fifty, or even less."
"Then how much longer does he have to live?" Yu Muhe felt deep despair. He hadn't expected his son to have a shortened lifespan. Would he have to send his son off before himself?
"At most twenty more years, and at least, I don't know. In any case, take the medicine and rest. If he doesn't sleep at all, he will die suddenly within a few days. Rest well, and perhaps he can live a little longer," the doctor said helplessly.
Thus, Yu Zhijing, a ten-year-old child, had to take sedatives and hypnotics at a young age. If he didn't take the medicine, he couldn't even fall asleep. His brain was constantly running, causing him to become abnormal. He was thin, with sunken eyes, and always listless. Only when he was reading did he feel a moment of comfort.
Yu Zhijing had become a genius. His IQ and knowledge base were now beyond the reach of ordinary people, but the price was a shortened lifespan. Others might have slow intellectual development, still playing childish games on the street at a young age, but they had long lives. As long as they could grow up healthy, fifty or sixty years old was no problem. If they didn't live in the apocalypse, seventy or eighty years old would be simple.
Yu Muhe couldn't bear to let his son continue thinking. He still hoped his son could rest for a while, otherwise, if he continued to think, he would surely be exhausted to death.
However, while Yu Muhe could restrain himself from asking questions, Yu Zhijing saw through him. He had once read a book on expression management and knew what people's expressions corresponded to their thoughts. So he directly exposed his father's pretense: "Your worries are all over your face. Ask whatever questions you have quickly, and I'll answer them promptly."
Although Yu Zhijing was only ten years old, he had read two hundred books, and his way of thinking was no different from an adult's. He had become Yu Muhe's strategist. It was strange for a man in his thirties to have to take advice from his son.
Yu Muhe no longer concealed anything. He directly stated the content of the notice he had seen that day and then asked, "What should I do now?"
Yu Zhijing pondered for a moment, his brain working furiously. After only two minutes, he had figured it out and replied directly, "Follow these people into battle. Perform well during the battle, don't be too focused on the rewards, and try to take care of others. This will help you win people's hearts. After the war, you should immediately expand your mercenary group and recruit mercenaries with families. As long as the mercenary group expands to over two hundred people, you will be a dominant force outside the city."
Yu Muhe nodded. In fact, when he heard about this, he had two plans: one was to go through the motions without putting in any effort, and the other was to pretend to be sick and avoid it. If that didn't work, he would deliberately get injured so he could be withdrawn from the front lines and not have to fight mutated beasts. But now, it seemed his son's advice was more far-reaching.
However, Yu Muhe now had a new question and quickly asked, "Son, what if I encounter danger on the mountain? I can't just think about charging forward and ignore my own safety, right?"
Yu Zhijing said softly, "There won't be too much danger. Since Shen Feng dares to organize people to enter the mountains to clear out mutated beasts, he must have made the best preparations. Although they won't mobilize the entire force, most of the combat power will be gathered. Following the main force will definitely be safe, so the better you perform, the greater the subsequent rewards will be."
Yu Muhe understood this advice. The more people were unwilling to fight, the more one should strive to show oneself.
At this moment, Yu Zhijing swayed and stood up from the doorframe, walked to the bookshelf, and stroked the books, saying, "I've read some papers on evolution, and now I understand what my illness is. It's a sequela of incomplete evolution!"
Yu Muhe was stunned. He didn't understand what his son was saying, but if he could understand the condition, did it mean that he could find a cure for it in the future?
"Can this sequela be treated?" Yu Muhe quickly asked.
Yu Zhijing shook his head and said, "I don't know. I really don't know."
Yu Muhe hadn't expected there to be something his son didn't know. It seemed that humans always had limits, and besides, his son had only read books for a month, so it was reasonable for his knowledge base to be insufficient.
Yu Zhijing continued, "Humans and animals both evolve. The evolution of animals mainly involves their bodies, improving their physique, endurance, and even reproductive capacity. But humans are different. Humans evolve their brains in addition to their bodies. The brain capacity of humans is the largest among animals of the same weight, and my illness is precisely caused by incomplete evolution!"
Then, Yu Zhijing began to explain patiently. It turned out that the fruit Yu Muhe found in the wild was indeed a good thing that could cause evolution. However, the problem was that Yu Zhijing was too young. If an adult ate it, the energy and viral proteins in the fruit would not reach the level of evolution. But Yu Zhijing was still in the developmental stage. After eating the fruit, he began to evolve, but he only evolved halfway. He strengthened his brain and then stopped evolving, getting stuck between evolution and non-evolution.
After the brain evolved, it began to think frantically, even unable to stop. However, his body was still that of a child. The energy consumed by the brain and the strength the body could withstand were inconsistent, which led to the current consequences.
When Yu Muhe heard his son's explanation, he couldn't help but slap himself hard and said, "It's all my fault. It's all my fault for randomly bringing things back from the wild. If you hadn't eaten this fruit, you wouldn't have this sequela!"
But now, even if Yu Muhe blamed himself, it was meaningless. Things that had already happened could not be changed.
Yu Zhijing thought carefully and said, "Perhaps, there are also foods that specifically evolve the body in the world. As long as I eat foods that evolve the body, I can complete the evolution and become a normal person again. However, this kind of thing is not easy to find."
Hope appeared in Yu Muhe's eyes. Since there was a possibility of food that evolved the body, there was hope of finding it. For his son's health, he had to try.
Yu Zhijing looked at the renewed spirit in his father's eyes and couldn't help but shake his head slightly. He knew that finding such a thing was almost impossible. Foods that could evolve the brain were easily discovered because the brain was affected, and human behavior would become abnormal. But if a person's body was strengthened, at most, their hands would be faster than their brains, and there would be no outward abnormalities. Even if they ate it, they would only feel that they had completed the evolution, making it impossible to search.
However, Yu Zhijing couldn't bear to shatter this truth at the moment. If he destroyed a person's hope, that person might not be able to accept such a huge blow. He had become a genius in a month, and his mindset had changed. He could gradually accept death, but that didn't mean others could accept it.