Chapter 141: Genetic Shackles_1

Pei Yunqi spoke eloquently, "My main focus is on pictographs, which are humanity's earliest form of writing. Our nation is now the only one that has preserved the heritage of pictographs."

"However, due to the influence of the broader context, our Chinese characters are also developing in a more 'phonetic' direction."

"The task for us researchers of ancient Chinese characters is to make the most of the 'ideographic' function of writing while it's still traceable, and to leave behind as much related literature as possible for future generations."

"So that we don't end up like the Egyptians or the Middle Easterners, who can no longer recognize the writings of their ancestors."

Jiang Yu listened intently as Pei Yunqi spoke with even more gusto, "All of humanity's earliest writings were pictographic."

"And the peoples of the Aegean Sea were engaging in trade all over the place quite early on when the writings and languages of different regions were distinctly different."

"For the convenience of communication, Westerners unified the pronunciation of writing through the use of alphabetic forms."

"The Mediterranean, although connected to the ocean, almost never experiences big storms due to its location inland, and there are numerous islands, so other islands are almost always in sight."

"This meant that seafarers wouldn't get lost, and even small boats could cross the Mediterranean. That's why there was a frequent exchange of civilizations in that area, which facilitated the rapid spread of 'phonetic' writing."

At this point, Pei Yunqi grinned and said, "But when it comes to the orthodoxy of writing, it has to be our pictographs."

"The I Ching contains descriptions of how ancient people created characters: drawing from the body for what is near, and from objects for what is far."

"This means that the sources of ancient character creation were based on the observation of the human body and the observation of various objects, resulting in universal symbols."

"So ancient pictographs generally represented a word or even the meaning of an entire phrase."

"Today's Chinese characters have been simplified for ease of writing, but most of them still directly reveal the meanings originally intended by the ancient people."

"Take the character '泰,' which conveys the meanings of comfort and tallness."

Pei Yunqi took out a pen and a small notebook from his pocket and wrote the character '泰': "The upper part of the character has a '三' and a '人.'

"This '三' has been simplified; in ancient characters, it depicted a beard."

"The upper part of '泰' depicts a man with a long beard, which represents a man."

"And the lower part shows water, not a man standing on water, but a man urinating!

"Of course, holding urine is uncomfortable, and after urination, there's a sense of relief. Hence, '泰' denotes feelings of being at ease and comfort."

Jiang Yu laughed, not expecting pictographic meanings to be so plain and direct.

Pei Yunqi continued, "'泰' also means 'tall.' In ancient times, there were no Chinese, Americans, or Europeans—just men and women."

"Generally, their heights were similar in everyday life. It was only while men were urinating that they seemed taller than women, hence the character '泰,' which depicts a man urinating, also signifies tallness."

Jiang Yu laughed, "I didn't expect this field to be so down-to-earth."

Pei Yunqi adjusted his glasses and said, "Language is essentially the ancients' summary and generalization of some fundamental logic, and it originates from everyday life."

Jiang Yu asked, "What do you think the Trisolarans' writing would be like?"

Pei Yunqi shook his head, "I don't know. Our writing and phonetics are inseparable from the human organs that receive and express information."

"Writing is the visual transmission of a thought, while language is the auditory transmission of sound."

"We don't even know what the Trisolarans' communication organs are, so it's difficult to have a clear concept of their writing."

Jiang Yu continued, "What if, and I'm just saying if, the Trisolarans' writing was also pictographic, could we decipher it?"

Pei Yunqi shook his head again, "Although the connotations of pictographic writing are profound, they can only be used on Earth and are highly regional."

"Let me give you another example, such as the character '北.'

He wrote the character '北' in his notebook, "This character depicts the scene of two people back to back. The shorter person also represents a shadow."

"Since the Huaxia civilization is located in the northern hemisphere, and as the sun shines from the Equator, the shadows always point to the north. So this character represents the north."

"If it were a civilization in the southern hemisphere, they might interpret it as 'south.'

"And what if we suppose it's a civilization without shadows from another world? How would they understand this character?"

Jiang Yu stared at the '北' Pei Yunqi had written and finally said after a long pause, "I have a top-secret project that I'd like to invite you to join."

"But the confidentiality level of this project is even higher than that of the Dark Forest research group, and no one will know of your contribution. However, it has the potential to thwart a conspiracy by the Trisolarans and the ETO."

Pei Yunqi pondered briefly before replying, "I'm willing to join."

"You can think about it, there's no need to rush into a decision," Jiang Yu said.

Pei Yunqi shook his head, "The battle for the survival of humanity outweighs everything else. I can't refuse."

Jiang Yu was somewhat moved, "Thank you for your trust in me."

At that moment, Jiang Yu felt as if he had returned to that era where unity was paramount, and everyone's contribution was vital and unequivocal.

There were no conversations overnight, and early the next morning, Jiang Yu said goodbye to Professor Jiang and Pei Yunqi.

Pei Yunqi's transfer orders would arrive in a few days.

Back at the camp, Jiang Yu had Wu Zheng settle Thirty-Six, then headed to the "Super Soldier" laboratory not far away.

The lab's courtyard walls were topped with barbed wire, and armed guards stood at the gate. The security level was even higher than that of the Black Square research group.

Although the two confidential units were close to each other, they kept to their own without intermingling.

Even Jiang Yu's vehicle was stopped by the guards for a credentials check, and they called Bo Xiangdong to confirm the purpose of Jiang Yu's visit.

Bo Xiangdong and several researchers greeted Jiang Yu in the yard. The two exchanged a few words of small talk, then entered the laboratory building together.

Bo Xiangdong looked darker and his skin rougher since five years ago, but his vigor had improved considerably compared to back then.

Once inside the laboratory building, Bo Xiangdong reported, "Our first step in the experiment hasn't been very successful. We had hoped to use hormones, radiation, and other methods to stimulate an emergency response in the genes."

"But the genetic shackles turned out to be stronger than we thought, and with our current methods, we can't break through this lock."

"Here is the first experimental subject, take a look!"

Before a steel door was a space the size of a basketball court where a three-meter-tall giant was being clumsily guided to walk by two researchers.

But after just a couple of steps, he fell and sat down on the ground.

Bo Xiangdong explained, "The first experimental subject is four years old this year, and his height is expected to reach around six meters."

"However, he has severe cardiopulmonary disease, and it's uncertain if he will live long enough to grow to six meters!"