Chapter 111: Five Senses

Having narrowly dodged the falling flower pot, Chen Shijin sustained minor injuries—the debris from its descent sliced his arm and pants leg, and a tiny shard grazed his cheek, leaving a faint scratch.

Feeling the sting, he reached out to touch it and then looked up at the rooftop, unable to discern the culprit behind the mishap. His brow gradually furrowed.

"Oh, young man! Are you alright? That was quite a close call!"

"You really should have run when you saw something falling from the sky! Luckily you managed to dodge it in time, or that flower pot could have seriously injured or even killed you!"

Chen Shijin snapped back to reality as the crowd around him started to converge on him. Stepping back hastily with a smile, he said, "Thank you all for your concern, I'm fine. My eyesight isn't great, so could everyone please not get too close and obstruct my path?"

His straightforward words left some of those approaching him momentarily stunned. As the rest still attempted to draw near, he swiftly turned and entered the mall.

Though legally blind, he could still discern objects within a step's distance. It might slow down his reaction time, but it was better than complete blindness.

He had assumed that by evening, he would be entirely blind, losing his sight completely.

But now, it seemed that perhaps this world wasn't ready to strip him of one of his five senses entirely.

Not even on the first day.

One must make the most of the remaining visibility while it lasts.

With an appearance of composure but in reality, with cautious and sluggish steps, he made his way to the supermarket within the mall, determined to put his hard-earned hundred yuan to good use.

Currently, he couldn't distinguish colors and objects beyond a step were blurry, causing him to take his time in selecting items.

Fortunately, he had a clear objective - instant noodles, long-lasting bread, self-heating rice, and a few extra sausages.

There were six days left, accounting for eighteen meals, plus tonight's dinner.

He purchased three large six-packs of instant noodles, five sausages, two boxes of self-heating rice, and finally, from the supermarket's deli section, a bag of cold skin and a grilled sausage, leaving no penny of his hundred yuan unspent.

Today's part-time job had already seen several unexpected incidents, even when his vision was still relatively good. If he were to work again tomorrow, he would undoubtedly face a series of challenging situations.

Under the gradual decline of his senses, it would be extremely perilous.

Therefore, it was best to avoid working if possible.

Attempting to stay low at home seemed the wiser choice.

Though nearly impossible to lay low for six days, it was undoubtedly safer than being out on the streets.

As Chen Jin stood in line to pay, such thoughts crossed his mind, and he couldn't help but glance back again.

Something felt off.

He had an eerie sensation that someone was following him.

Ever since he picked up the instant noodles, he felt as if he was under scrutiny.

Strangely, the gaze felt benign at times, yet discomforting at others.

It didn't quite add up.

Currently, his field of vision was limited to those in front and behind him. With a peripheral glance, he caught sight of the middle-aged man in line behind him, who appeared weary with his head bowed down.

Probably just another worn-out working stiff after a long day, Chen Jin surmised.

Chen Shijin withdrew his gaze but suddenly heard the crisp sound of metal clashing behind him.

In the midst of the bustling supermarket, it was hardly noticeable. However, due to his fading vision, he had unconsciously heightened his sensitivity to sounds.

That sound... It didn't resemble the clinking of keys, but rather, the collision of something long and sharp with a key.

Upon this realization, Chen Shijin felt a chill run down his spine, as if pricked by a thorn. He swiftly turned sideways and simultaneously hurled the shopping basket behind him!

Clatter.

A sharp hiss echoed,

followed by the puncturing sound of a blade piercing through a pack of instant noodles and a plastic basket.

Simultaneously, shrill screams erupted around them.

"Ahhhh!"

"Someone's wielding a knife, killing people! Ahhhh!"

Before Chen Shijin stood a towering figure with a blurred face, whose expression seemed to contort as he punctured Chen's basket.

"Kill you! Kill you, you damn pretty boy!!"

"It's guys like you, shameless pretty boys, seducing women every day that make it hard for us honest men to find wives! And then we get cheated on with green hats!!"

Chen Shijin couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity, promptly kicking the tall man precisely where it hurt. Amidst the sharp crack and the man's sudden, shrill wail, he delivered another fierce kick to the man's chest and the hand holding the knife.

He sensed malice in this man, clearly an embodiment of either the Spider Spirit or the Big-Eyed Monster.

"You're ugly and can't find a wife, yet you blame others! If you have the guts to wield a knife, why not use it on your own face?!"

"Knowing you're ugly and good for nothing, stay home and reflect on yourself or just stop harming others! No honest man would randomly stab someone with a knife! Stop blaming your incompetence on genuine honest people, will you?!"

Chen Shijin continued to stomp away furiously, rolling the tall man across the floor.

In the end, however, he was stopped by the supermarket security guards who arrived promptly. He was then escorted to the security office alongside the man, where they were questioned by the police before being allowed to leave.

This delay stretched until eight o'clock in the evening.

However, Chen Shijin still received an apology from the supermarket – they didn't charge him for the hundred yuan worth of goods, and even gave him a 200 yuan shopping voucher.

"Mr. Chen, rest assured! That lunatic won't bother anyone again. He's ugly, lazy, and has no prospects of marrying a beautiful wife despite being almost fifty due to his appearance. He's now obsessed with the idea of a partner, and takes handsome young men as his imaginary rivals. You've been a victim of circumstances. It won't happen again."

Chen Shijin: "Please make sure he's properly taken care of."

Since when was good looks a crime? If you're mentally unstable, you should be in prison!

Tsk.

Afterward, Chen Shijin was honorably escorted home by the police car. When he returned to his neighborhood, the flashing police car attracted curious gossip from other neighbors.

Upon reaching home, a kind old lady from next door even knocked on his door specifically to ask what had happened.

While Chen Shijin was recounting his supermarket experience to the old lady, the police car heading to the station suddenly broke down by the river.

The two officers got out to inspect the vehicle, leaving the elderly man in the car. Seizing the opportunity, he quietly opened the door to make a run for it.

Whether it was due to his incredible luck or the incompetence of the two officers, he managed to escape unnoticed for three hundred meters.

Amidst his silent delight, he suddenly noticed a man standing before him, seemingly out of nowhere.

Then, he was engulfed in a terror and beating unparalleled to anything he had experienced before.

"Aaaahhh—"

"Help, I won't dare do it again! I'm sorry! I'll never meddle with that pretty boy again! Help, help, help! I'm going to die, someone save me!"

By the time two police officers traced the cries to the scene, they found a middle-aged man on the verge of death, his bones shattered all over his body.

Staring at each other, they could only carry the living corpse back to the police station.

As the police car faded into the distance, Lezi, his lips curled in a cold sneer, turned around and vanished into the darkness.

He couldn't interfere with Chen Shijin's decisions, but rendering a discarded pawn completely useless so that it no longer played a role in the world's power dynamics was something he should still do.

This world was already unfair; those who bullied others deserved to perish.

At that moment, Chen Shijin was at home enjoying some cold noodles, accompanied by a bowl of pork rib soup kindly given to him by his neighborly grandma.

The flavor of the rib soup was delightful, complementing the cold skin for a satisfying dinner.

As Chen Shijin ate, his mood lifted, and suddenly, he felt as if he was being watched again.

He paused and slowly straightened up.

Silently sensing his surroundings for a while, he finally exhaled in relief.

Phew.

It seemed to be just a illusion.

He pressed his temples, exhausted from the events of the day, exacerbated by the weakening of two of his senses, which made him extra edgy.

Chen Shijin resolved to take a shower after finishing his meal and then go straight to bed.

As he sipped the last bit of rib soup, Le Feng sat quietly on an empty bar stool in the living room to his right, watching him with a mixture of quiet concern and frustration.

He truly couldn't comprehend why humans could sometimes be so stubbornly self-destructive.

Simplifying matters into intricacies.

With this pitiful state of being confined at home, it was likely to worsen in the future. Why didn't he just ask for his help?

It was, in fact, very straightforward.

Yet, Le Feng had to admit to himself.

His refusal probably looked much more appealing than his act of humility.

So much so that he was tempted to take action directly, without allowing him to utter a single word.

Tsk.

Perhaps there's something seriously wrong with me.

Le Feng shook his head.

At that moment, Chen Shi Jin had finished his shower and emerged, clad only in a pair of pajama pants. Water droplets still gently rolled down his fair and toned skin, making him all the more enticing.

Le Feng's head-shaking motion ceased.

Chen Shi Jin abruptly stopped toweling his hair. "Le Zi?"

Le Feng swiftly shut his eyes.

After a while, he couldn't resist turning his gaze back, only to be astonished by the alluring figure, resembling a delectable cake, that had magnified in front of him.

Startled, he was met with a hard slap right then and there.

A solid one.

With an expressionless face, Chen Shi Jin swung his hand as Le Feng's figure gradually became clearer from the impact of the slap. "Decided how you want to die?"

Le Feng blinked. "...Dying beneath a peony flower?"

Chen Shi Jin almost slapped him again.

Le Feng coughed dryly. "I didn't do anything. I was just protecting you."

Chen Shijin chuckled softly.

Was he the one who had protected him from being stabbed in the supermarket?

So those vague gazes in the supermarket were from him and that middle-aged man.

No, it should be their two combined stares.

"Well, I was about to lend you a hand when you were on the brink of death. But since you managed the crisis yourself, there was no need for me to intervene."

After all, if he had acted, the entire world would have been on the verge of collapsing.

Chen Shijin glared at him for a while before huffing and turning back to his bedroom, slamming the door shut.

"If I catch you peeping again, I'll poke your eyes out!"

Lying on his bed, Chen Shijin's tense nerves, which hadn't relaxed even after returning home from a stressful day, suddenly eased up.

He didn't want to acknowledge it, but the presence of that leisure-seeking Loafer, who rarely did anything productive, seemed to provide him with some comfort just by existing.

Obviously, that guy was the one who could be most dangerous, yet he felt reassured around him.

Tsk.

This was rather troublesome.