Chapter 8: How Can I Live Without My Phone!

Thirty seconds per ad, 0.1 energy points per ad.

Chen Shijin rejected such a profoundly unprofitable deal. In those thirty seconds, he could knock ten big-eyed people into the lake, which seemed more worthwhile than a futile attempt at free shopping later that night.

Moreover, Chen Shijin was skeptical about the ads genuinely giving 0.1 energy points each. What if, upon reaching the ninth ad, they suddenly gave only 0.01 points...

They might end up spending the whole day here just watching ads.

With that thought, Chen Shijin squinted his eyes.

Is watching ads really harmless? Even watching a hotel promotional video can lead to addiction. Although each ad is only thirty seconds, lacking the addictive effect, people still spend thirty seconds on their phones for each ad.

Calculating at 0.1 energy per ad, it takes watching ten ads to earn 1 energy point, which means staring at the phone for five minutes.

What consequences could these five minutes bring?

Chen Shijin observed the people around him to find out.

Most of them were on their third or fourth ad, occasionally glancing up to check if they were getting addicted. Only after successfully looking away did they sigh with relief and resume watching.

Chen Shijin easily spotted the restless otaku moving around among the crowd of people looking down at their phones.

The otaku was in bad shape - his stomach growled loudly, his small eyes red from hunger. Desperate for energy to buy his coveted fried chicken leg, he hastily forwarded the chicken ad to his teammates for likes after barely finishing one ad.

"Brother Wang, give me a like, please! Liking big-eyed people is dangerous, but we exiles are our own people, it’s safe! Just one like, okay? I'm really, really hungry!"

But Wang Baojie sternly refused: "Watching ads is risky enough, don't put yourself in more danger! Don't like anything if you can avoid it. Speed up, ten ads and you can buy a bun."

"But I don't want a bun! I want a fried chicken leg!" the otaku shouted, startling others watching ads.

Wang Baojie frowned: "Calm down, you're not in a good state."

The otaku, his eyes red, thrust his phone under Wang Baojie's nose: "I want a fried chicken leg! Give me a like!!"

Wang Baojie's face turned cold: "I don't mind giving you a slapping 'like.'"

Seeing Wang Baojie's raised hand, a semblance of sanity returned to the ravenous otaku. He stepped back and turned to seek likes from others.

But no one was willing to give him a like, and everyone intentionally kept their distance.

Finally, the plump otaku turned his gaze towards Chen Shijin, who had never looked at his phone. By now, the otaku's stomach was growling incessantly, and his demeanor seemed off.

Chen Shijin, observing him, politely spoke, "I usually don't blabber unless someone is pestering me for likes."

The plump otaku: “…”

In the end, the otaku didn’t ask Chen Shijin for likes. Instead, he approached the fried chicken shop owner, clutching his stomach and through gritted teeth said, "I’ll give you a like!"

He couldn’t stand it any longer; his hunger was unbearable. All he wanted was fried chicken!

The owner of the fried chicken burger joint beamed, quickly pulling out his phone: "Good lad! Give me a like, and I'll pick out the biggest, most aromatic chicken leg for you!"

Thus, the plump otaku became the second person to give a like, after Liu Dakai. However, while Liu Dakai liked a big-eyed monster, the otaku liked a regular citizen. Comparatively, Liu Dakai seemed to be in more danger.

After giving a like, the otaku seemed to let loose, or perhaps one chicken leg wasn't enough to satiate his hunger. He ended up liking several other food stalls – soup dumplings, fried dumplings, and milk tea – under the enthusiastic persuasion of their owners, earning a feast of delicious breakfast treats.

Holding his delightful meal, the otaku ate heartily, feeling a sense of superiority over those still watching ads.

"Ah, this fried chicken burger is so delicious. I've never tasted one this good!"

"This milk tea is also fantastic! The taro balls are so sweet."

"I told you, you're all too suspicious. In a place called Phone City, isn't it natural to like each other? And it’s just liking these shop owners, not those big-eyed monsters. What harm could it do?"

He tried to coax everyone to switch from watching ads to the simpler task of giving likes, but when he saw no one responding, his sense of superiority mixed with an indescribable irritability.

"It's just a like! You act as if liking will kill you! I don’t believe liking on a phone can harm me. My awakened talent is [Otaku Domain]; it automatically creates a defensive space barrier around where I sit, blocking 80% of attacks!"

"Any attack that reaches me gets 80% blocked. I don’t believe a phone can kill me."

Reassured by this thought, the plump otaku continued to enjoy his delicious breakfast.

However, he didn't give any more likes to other vendors. He had given a total of eight likes, feeling it was better not to exceed ten.

By the time the plump otaku had almost finished his meal, left with only half a cup of milk tea and a few dumplings, Wang Baojie and the others had finally finished watching all the advertisements.

They spent about fifteen minutes in total.

Yes, almost ten minutes more than their initial estimate.

When they watched the seventh ad, the energy value they received decreased from 0.1 to 0.05, continuing to drop with each ad, eventually reaching a mere 0.01.

Everyone's expression turned sour upon noticing this trend, with Liu, the middle-aged man with great strength, even swearing out loud.

Fortunately, the ad earnings had a floor limit; it stopped decreasing at 0.01. Nonetheless, they ended up watching 27 food advertisements, almost three times more than the ten they initially planned.

By the time they finished watching, their stomachs were growling non-stop, their eyes nearly unable to resist the allure of the food displayed in the ads.

“Get me a big meat bun, quick!”

“I'll have a portion of pan-fried dumplings! Pan-fried dumplings!”

"I want wontons!"

They rushed to the food stall, voraciously devoured the tempting delicacies, finishing their meals in less than a minute.

Yet, the unbearable hunger hadn’t completely subsided.

But Wang Baojie was already taking charge: “Alright, now that we’ve had breakfast, let’s head out. According to the tourist map, we should first visit 'Bright Eye Street' nearby. It's said that the sights there are captivating.”

Wang Baojie turned to leave, and although the other newcomers were somewhat reluctant to part with the fragrant snack stalls, they suppressed their urge to like or continue watching ads and quickly followed suit.

Comfortingly, yet somewhat alarmingly, about 500 meters from the snack stalls, their hunger significantly diminished. Even the girls with smaller appetites finally felt full.

The round, chubby otaku who ate the most walked stiffly, clutching his stomach now and then, feeling overly stuffed.

Luckily, he was used to eating large meals; otherwise, he might have thrown up by now.

“Goodness, I felt possessed just now, like I could eat all those snacks! Looking back, it seems like a trap specifically set for us!” the courier guy said, still shaken. “Thankfully, we held back.”

The others nodded in agreement.

“Still, I feel like those ads are a trap too, but we haven’t found any issues with watching them yet…” the top-selling female white-collar worker remarked, her expression tinged with worry.

Then, she heard that distinctive, slightly husky male voice, one that was easy to remember.

“I’ve noticed a problem,” Chen Shijin said slowly as he looked at them. “Touch your eyes, don’t you feel they’ve swollen quite a bit?”

The top saleswoman was startled, then quickly touched her eyes, feeling they indeed seemed more swollen than the day before. More precisely, they seemed to be bulging out?

She wasn't sure, so she looked at Yang Mianmian's eyes next to her. Seeing her made it much clearer: Yang Mianmian's originally round almond eyes now resembled walnuts in their swollen state.

！！！

“Oh my, why have my eyes become so swollen?!”

“Me too, I feel like my eyelids can barely cover my eyeballs now, uh! Could it be what I think it is?” The office worker lamented, covering his eyes.

Following Chen Shijin's observation, everyone who had watched the ads realized their eyes had swollen significantly. This change easily led them to think of the “big-eyed” people chasing them.

“I'm afraid it's exactly what you’re thinking,” Wang Baojie’s voice grew heavy: “Everyone who watched the phone ads experienced slight eye mutations, except for Li Dun. This is why those vendors insisted we watch the ads – they want to turn us into big-eyed people.”

“If that's the case, we now know two dangers associated with phones:

First, prolonged phone use leads to addiction, rendering us oblivious to surrounding dangers.

Second, even short-term exposure to ads can't be overlooked; watching too many can cause our eyes to mutate.”

Wang Baojie frowned and summed up the situation, then turned his gaze to Chen Shijin.

“Pao Ge, do you have anything to add?”

Chen Shijin replied, “...Isn’t there a third danger?”

He didn't specify what the third danger was, but everyone's attention shifted to Liu Dakai and the otaku Li Dun.

They were the only two who had liked the posts.

Liu Dakai’s expression turned ugly, glaring furiously at Chen Shijin for exposing this fact.

Li Dun, also tense, regretted not controlling his urge to like so many posts. Consumed by regret and fear, he simply sat down and activated his [Otaku Domain].

“Don’t spout nonsense,” Liu Dakai angrily tried to rebuke Chen Shijin but stopped abruptly, his ears twitching suddenly.

Upon hearing a sound, he looked behind in terror and then threw himself forward with all his might.

His action looked comical because behind him was only Bear Paw Bro, who was innocently touching his eye and hadn’t done anything to him.

“What?! Don’t falsely accuse me! I didn’t push you!” Bear Paw Bro was utterly confused, then hesitantly waved his hand through the air: “Why do I feel like there was just…” a swoosh of a blade?

Before he could finish, Li Dun on the other side screamed as he was suddenly flung through the air.

Yes, flung through the air as if by an invisible force.

There were no speeding vehicles around Li Dun, yet he was flung away violently as if hit by something.

Everyone was instantly alarmed, scanning their surroundings for any invisible monsters in the air.

Chen Shijin glanced from Liu Dakai to Li Dun and raised his eyebrows, seemingly understanding the danger of "liking."

“Cough, cough! It's, it's good I activated my ability in advance.” At this moment, the battered Li Dun, blood trickling from his mouth, struggled to his feet amidst everyone’s shocked stares, smiling triumphantly.

He thought to himself that a mere "like" couldn't kill him!

His [Otaku Domain] could resist eighty percent of attacks!

Then, just as Li Dun had stood up and was still smiling, he suddenly crumpled as if struck by something, his head lolling to the side and blood gushing from his right eye and forehead.

“Ahhhh! What, what’s happening—”

Li Dun screamed in pain and terror, collapsing to the ground, reactivating his [Otaku Domain]. But as soon as he sat down, he violently arched backward, shaking his hands in agony, screaming, “Ahhh it burns, it burns, my face, my face, it’s burning me!”

In the end, Li Dun died.

He bled out from a major carotid artery rupture—his neck spurting blood as if slashed, and within a minute, he was gone, his face blistered and his forehead caved in.

Chen Shijin’s fingers pressed at the corner of his eye as he observed the materialized state of Li Dun, confirming his speculation.

[Li Dun (Level 1): Ability [Otaku Domain]

Health: 0/100 (Deceased)

Energy Level: 0 (Broke)

Additional Status: Injuries from a car accident, being hit by falling objects, scalded by boiling oil, and slashed by an iron shovel.

*

At a nearby snack stall.

"Oh dear, that was close! The oil in the fryer almost spilled over and burned me!"

"Tell me about it! Some people have no sense of public decency, throwing things off buildings!"

"I almost cut myself with the shovel. Heh, luckily I didn't."

"Hey, milk tea vendor, you didn't get hit, did you?"

"No, no, I was lucky today. Let's move on and find someone else to sell to!"