A few minutes later.
Wang Ye parked the shared bike at the entrance of the street stall.
He was about to get off and lock the shared bike.
Suddenly, Wang Ye raised his hand sharply, reaching back from beside his right ear, and caught an arm that was about to land from behind,
The failed attacker, Yi Tian, looked completely shocked and exclaimed:
"Do you have eyes on the back of your head? How did you notice that?"
"Your footsteps were too obvious." Wang Ye let go of his hand.
"You really don't miss a single sound, your ears are different ever since you practiced martial arts." Yi Tian said in a weird tone.
Listening to this, Wang Ye thoughtfully touched his ear.
During these days of evolution, his hearing indeed underwent a qualitative change.
However, the benefits weren't obvious and instead brought him some troubles.
For instance, at night before sleep, he could hear the shouting from the couple next door, the meowing of a cat in the park downstairs, and the constant rustling voices around him. These subtle sounds that he couldn't hear before suddenly appeared in his world, and it was hard to adapt for a while, seriously affecting his sleep.
Due to the qualitative change in his hearing, Yi Tian's footsteps sounded deafening to him, like drums beating. He could distinguish everything clearly through his hearing, whether it was distance, weight, or quantity. Even the friction sound of the air caused by Yi Tian's arm swing couldn't escape his ears.
Yi Tian and Wang Ye walked into the street stall and took a menu from the waiter.
They spent a few minutes ordering a bunch of fried skewers and a case of Wusu beer.
After ordering, Yi Tian looked up at Wang Ye and frowned, "To be honest, Brother Ye, I feel like you've become more handsome than in college, even though your cheeks are thinner, you give off a healthy and strong vibe, and your arm muscles have obviously increased."
"Believe it or not, ten days ago I was just a fat otaku." Wang Ye shook his head.
"Nonsense." Yi Tian spat, "Do you know what a fat otaku is? You're just insulting the term, someone like me is the real deal."
"I'm serious." Seeing Yi Tian didn't believe him, Wang Ye had no choice but to take out his phone, flip through the album, and find a picture from last year's company team-building trip.
It was when the company went to Guizhou for team-building, Wang Ye stood in the middle of his colleagues, his white T-shirt drenched in sweat, making him stand out.
At that time, Wang Ye's face was greasy and plump, wearing a loose and creased white T-shirt, which couldn't hide his round belly. Compared to the muscular Wang Ye now, he seemed like a completely different person.
When Yi Tian saw the pictures in Wang Ye's phone album, his jaw dropped open so wide it seemed about to dislocate.
He naturally didn't believe Wang Ye's claim that "I looked like this ten days ago." But even if the time span was just a year, such a dramatic change was enough to make someone incredulous.
You know, just losing weight from a fatty to a normal body is already at hell level difficulty.
What's more, Wang Ye had trained a strong muscular body and mastered exquisite throwing skills.
It's practically a comeback story that could be adapted into a movie.
"Alright, let's not talk about this, where are the others? Aren't they here yet?" Wang Ye looked at the tall and slim Yi Tian.
Like Wang Ye, Yi Tian had also changed quite a bit over the past ten years.
Originally taller than his peers, he had grown even taller over the past decade, now estimated to be around 185 cm. He was dressed in a clean white shirt, obviously just off work from the company, not having changed into casual clothes yet.
However, Yi Tian was still filled with a dense otaku vibe, especially with those thick black-framed glasses on his nose, combined with his introverted aura, made it clear at a glance that he was not good at socializing.
"Brother Shan said he had to work overtime suddenly, Old Zhang said his wife wouldn't let him out to drink, Brother Niu seemed to say he would come, but he's picking up his child from class right now, probably going to take a while." Yi Tian sat on the chair with his legs crossed, methodically counting with his fingers.
"These bird people, they even have wives and kids now...?" Wang Ye exclaimed in shock.
In comparison, he felt like he was the only one not having a proper career.
It was like all his classmates had grown up, but he was still a child.
"We're all almost thirty, at this age, getting married and starting a career isn't that rare." Yi Tian spread his hands, a nonchalant expression on his face, and explained, "At this point, in the dormitory, only you and I are still single, everyone else is married or about to get married, and Brother Niu is even more ridiculous, his kid can already buy soy sauce."
"..." Wang Ye fell into silence.
Indeed, is the price of invincibility loneliness?
...
...
The two of them chatted intermittently.
Soon, the waiter brought over the fried skewers and a plate of oysters.
Wang Ye tore open the packaging of the disposable chopsticks and quickly grabbed an oyster to eat. Oysters are rich in zinc and protein, which help promote growth and development, making them an excellent source of protein for someone like him who works out.
Seeing this, Yi Tian took a bottle of beer from the nearby beer case, opened the cap with an opener, and handed it to Wang Ye.
"Brother Ye, here you go."
Wang Ye took the beer, thanked him, and explained, "I have a competition in a few days, need to conserve energy, so I can only drink a little with you."
"What competition are you participating in?" Yi Tian asked.
"Half marathon." Wang Ye answered.
"I really envy you for being able to exercise freely." Yi Tian sighed slightly, "As we age, everyone gets busier, and among the peers I know now, only you can still exercise freely and cultivate hobbies."
Wang Ye nodded without refuting.
It's easy to forget what matters most when you go with the flow in the crowd for too long.
He could well understand Yi Tian's thoughts now because Wang Ye before getting ill was such a person.
The two of them ate skewers and drank beer as they chatted.
They chatted away from six until half-past seven.
Until the case of beer they had underfoot was completely consumed,
Brother Niu, who said he would come after picking up his kid, still hadn't shown up.
Yi Tian was already tipsy, his face flushed, and inadvertently revealed many of his inner thoughts.
Wang Ye noticed that he had drunk more than a dozen bottles of beer but hadn't felt the slightest bit drunk.
Actually, when he was drinking his third bottle, he started to notice. No matter how much he drank, he couldn't feel even a hint of intoxication. Realizing this, Wang Ye got excited and started drinking bottle after bottle, intending to test how many bottles his current physique could take before getting drunk.
But the final result left Wang Ye extremely shocked.
He found his alcohol tolerance was already beyond human.