Chapter 7: Hurts the Eyes

Vanished.

That was something that belonged to Little Li’s sight.

Xu Xiye’s expression remained calm, completely unsurprised. Sometimes, he could see what others saw through their eyes.

It wasn’t anything special. Just like people have different personalities and different talents—some have strong teeth and can swallow anything, others are self-sufficient, plucking out their own eyes as easily as grapes, one bite and the juice bursts.

All were enviable talents. Unlike himself. What was the point of seeing those things? Not much use.

Moreover, he couldn’t just borrow anyone’s eyes whenever he wanted. He didn’t even know how he did it.

Forget it. It wasn’t important. What mattered was what Little Li had seen. Had he gone mad already?

Madmen could see things normal people couldn’t.

Xu Xiye became conflicted. The company would never allow a madman to stay. This wasn’t just about whether the work could get done; this would affect others.

Everyone knew emotions were contagious. Xu Xiye did not want to become another madman.

He finally made it to the end of the workday with difficulty, planning to talk to Little Wang and have him explain things clearly to Little Li. But then the Supervisor strode in right on the dot.

The Supervisor had his hands clasped behind his back, his belly pushed out. His neck was still so long, his eyes still so narrow. But today, he looked exceptionally smug.

“Everyone, everyone, please pause your work for a moment. I have a few words. I want to thank all the leaders and colleagues for your tolerance and support, which have allowed me the honor of assuming the role of Manager.”

That’s right. Supervisor Hao had been promoted to Manager Hao.

“To live up to the trust of the leaders and colleagues, and to create even more value for the company, I hereby announce: two hours of overtime to celebrate!”

Everyone: “…”

Xu Xiye clenched his fist.

Damned promotion celebration.

No one liked this kind of celebration except the leaders. The moment Manager Hao left, the sound of rustling, slacking-off activities filled the office. Wang Xiaodian was probably hearing such a shocking reason for overtime for the first time. He sat dumbfounded in his chair.

“Little Wang. Little Wang.” Xu Xiye called him.

“Ah, Shifu.”

“Sigh, that’s work for you.” He glanced at Little Li, and seeing no reaction, continued, “Come here, I need to tell you something.”

Wang Xiaodian leaned in, saying, “Shifu, aren’t they going to eat dinner? They’re just starting overtime like that?”

“Not everyone needs three meals a day. Besides, they can eat after the overtime. Let’s go outside to talk.”

“Oh, okay.”

Xu Xiye led Wang Xiaodian down the corridor and through the fire door. Once he was sure no one was around, he said to him, “Little Li has gone mad.”

Wang Xiaodian: “…Ah? H-How is he mad?”

Little Li’s mind was polluted, that was for sure, but how did his Shifu know?

Wasn’t the madness after pollution highly compatible with your world of anomalies? It shouldn’t be enough to get him purged, right?

In a split second, Wang Xiaodian’s mind raced with chaotic thoughts.

“He saw a woman hanging from the ceiling fan above your heads, and he smiled at that woman,” Xu Xiye said, his expression one of someone who couldn’t quite stomach it. “If he could see the woman’s face and smiled at her, that’s one thing. But the woman’s hair was all loose, covering her front and back completely. Turn and turn, all you saw was the back of her head. To smile at a time like that—if that’s not crazy, what is.”

Wang Xiaodian: …So if her face was visible, it would be okay to smile at a corpse hanging from a ceiling fan?

Xu Xiye: “When he turned around, the woman’s foot was right by his mouth, and he was still smiling.”

Wang Xiaodian: “…”

Wang Xiaodian felt he couldn’t cope. Ever since learning a woman had died hanging in the office, he’d been constantly worried about a corpse suspended above his head. Now, that image had materialized. He could even imagine the woman’s hands parting her long hair, Liu Lingling’s pale, expressionless face staring at him.

Wang Xiaodian shivered. Xu Xiye’s casual tone pulled him back to his senses.

“I told you before, he looked overly stressed at first glance. Now that he’s gone mad, it’s not surprising at all.”

“That’s not… Shifu, what are you suggesting?”

Xu Xiye suddenly became serious. “Little Wang, do you know that madness can kill?”

Wang Xiaodian: “Huh?”

He had heard from Jiang Wuning that once Sanity Value dipped negative, there was no saving the person. They would either become an anomaly or become food for anomalies. He knew people could die, of course. He just didn’t know if that was the same thing his Shifu meant.

Xu Xiye: “Madness is the burning away of one’s inner self. Once it burns out, you die. Before things get serious, he should resign and go home to rest. Or else, call the Psychiatric Hospital.”

Wang Xiaodian opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Xu Xiye said meaningfully, “Little Wang, take this seriously. The psyche can be infectious.”

“Shifu, how do you know what Little Li saw?”

“I saw it.”

“You saw it?”

“I saw Little Li seeing it.”

Seeing what Little Li saw—that could be considered indirectly witnessing the anomalous phenomena emitted by the Pollution Source. Was this his Shifu’s ability?

Wang Xiaodian didn’t understand, nor did he ask further. The solution his Shifu offered might work for local anomalies, but not for them, the Outsiders.

Outsiders needed a valid identity. Their identity was their protective shield; it couldn’t be stripped away.

That distressed look on Wang Xiaodian’s face clearly meant he was hiding something. Xu Xiye put on his authority as Shifu: “Little Wang, you’re keeping something from me.”

The air around them grew still. Wang Xiaodian gritted his teeth. He decided to go for broke.

“Shifu, Little Li can’t lose this job. Besides, there’s another person in the company with the same madness. That person is the source. Little Li was infected by them.”

~

Sigh, Xu Xiye thought, the pressure of work really is immense. With this much pressure, it’s perfectly normal for one or two people to go mad.

But ever since he’d learned of this matter from Little Wang, he felt his own pressure had increased by a layer. He didn’t understand. What business was it of his? It wasn’t his responsibility. Perhaps, subconsciously, he was afraid of being infected.

This person had to be found.

But not now. Returning home from overtime, Xu Xiye collapsed onto the sofa. A substance like liquid or smoke engulfed him, he couldn’t maintain his human form any longer.

(Churning) (Twisting) (Splitting) (Forming various irregular shapes) Clearly expressing his agitation.

He needed to go out crawling. He needed to climb to the hotel and look at those silver-blue eyes.

Before leaving, he unwrapped one of the candies Jiang Wuning had given him. The red candy was stuffed into the black mist. The shiny red candy wrapper was carefully smoothed out and placed into the glass bottle on the TV cabinet.

Having done this, Xu Xiye crawled out the window.

The world at night was the free time of the working class. At this hour, no one cared what you did. Everyone was strange and misshapen anyway. You could run into an acquaintance and not even necessarily recognize them.

Climbing windows, climbing trees, climbing rooftops all the way, Xu Xiye happily headed straight for the hotel. However, the hotel wasn’t lit up tonight like it was yesterday.

Xu Xiye pressed his entire being against the floor-to-ceiling window. Inside the window, a thick layer of curtains was drawn. Whether there was light inside was impossible to tell.

But Xu Xiye knew someone was inside.

It was still the same person from last night.

The person staying inside was He Sui. He Sui was already asleep. He hadn’t been asleep long when he was woken by a series of noises.

“Thud thud thud thud.”

“Thud thud thud thud.”

Someone was knocking on his window. A 12th-floor window.

“Thud thud thud thud!”

“THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!”

Having been ignored for an extended period, the knocking on the window became heavy and urgent.

A trace of irritation surfaced on He Sui’s handsome brows. Anyone whose sleep was disturbed would be in a bad mood.

“THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!”

He Sui threw off the covers and got out of bed. He didn’t turn on the light but navigated without any hindrance to the spot where the window was being knocked upon.

“Swish.”

The curtains were pulled open. Outside the window was pitch black, nothing there.

He Sui frowned.

“Thud!” The window was knocked on again. A muffled, indistinct voice came through. Looking closely, he finally saw a black, lumpy thing right opposite his position.

It was that same blob that had been stuck to his window last night.

He Sui was bold enough to sleep soundly in the hotel, sometimes even forgetting to draw the curtains, because no anomaly dared to approach him casually. But now, clearly, an exception had appeared. Driven away by him yesterday, this thing actually dared to come back today.

He Sui didn’t catch what the thing said and kicked out a foot, intending to repeat his previous method and shake it off the building.

It didn’t work.

The black blob outside distorted. From its edges extended tendrils of varying thickness and length, like tentacles, gripping the window. From the inside, it looked just like someone had splashed a bowl of thick ink on his windowpane.

But this ink moved. Not a natural downward flow like liquid. Every slender limb, every part of it, showed clearly that this was a living thing.

Sanity-draining.

Hurts the eyes.

If He Sui’s Sanity Value wasn’t sufficiently high, he wouldn’t be able to stand here so unflappably.

“Thud thud!” The window was knocked on twice more. This time, He Sui saw it was the black thing using a tentacle to knock.

“You have a really bad temper,” it said, louder this time.

He Sui heard it clearly. He thought to himself: this thing looks like that, but its voice is quite pleasant.

But… saying he had a bad temper?

If his temper was truly bad, he wouldn’t have stopped after just one kick and stood there without taking more violent measures against an anomaly climbing his window.

“Get down.”

“I have business.”

A clear, melodious voice, tinged with a hint of willfulness, yet surprisingly coherent and logical.

He rarely encountered anomalies this rational at night.

He Sui found it peculiar for just a moment, then warned, “Don’t disturb my sleep again,” and pulled the curtains shut once more.

Xu Xiye outside the window: “…”

This man was the most unfriendly person he had ever encountered in his life. He said “Hello,” and the man responded with a kick. Before a conversation could even start, he told him to get down.

Don’t disturb his sleep?

What kind of person just goes to sleep in the prime of the night? Unless they were an Outsider.

If this were daytime, Xu Xiye would have accepted the rejection and left it at that. But nighttime Xu Xiye was far less agreeable. He was more willful, more unrestrained. And this man had the eyes he wanted. So he wasn’t getting down.

“Thud thud thud!” Xu Xiye started knocking again. Before he could knock a few more times, a faint silver light suddenly exploded before his eyes. A numbing, stinging sensation spread through his entire body. His form loosened, and he plummeted from the building again.

Xu Xiye cautiously checked his surroundings. Relieved that he didn’t see the gatekeeper grandpa or any other equally warm-hearted person rushing up to confront the man, he settled down. But in the shadows, several craning, probing silhouettes had already noticed this commotion.

Xu Xiye lay quietly on the wall a few floors down, hoping those onlookers, seeing no more excitement, would quickly disperse.

Whether well-intentioned or otherwise, he generally didn’t like others meddling with his things.

He stayed quiet for a long time. Noticing the surroundings were still, he planned to climb back up. But this time, it was no good. That layer of energy persisted on the window, giving him no place to anchor his limbs. If he forced his way up, it would definitely cause a significant disturbance.

Xu Xiye knew very well. This man was never going to agree to be kept at his place.

Out of good ideas for the moment, he could only sullenly leave.

Go wander somewhere else first. Possess some other things he liked.

As soon as Xu Xiye left, sounds that would be unbearable and incomprehensible to ordinary people arose from the distant shadows.

It was some kind of conversation.

“He wants that thing.”

“He wants that thing.”

“Should give it to him.”

“Give it to him.”

“Move that thing over there.”

“Put it at his doorstep.”

“Delivery.”