Blind Spot

Boom!

Boom!

The Big-Face monster was banging against the crevice outside.

The body of a Big-Face monster had begun to soften like putty, squeezing in through the gap.

But Li Chengyi couldn't see anything at this moment; he had his eyes tightly shut.

After closing his eyes, it was time to count!

'Count!'

"One, two, three, four...." he started to count softly.

Finish counting, then hum a song!

Quickly reaching thirty, Li Chengyi swiftly began to hum.

Boom!

He heard the impact of the Big-Face monster banging from outside the crevice.

"The night is deep, the night is deep, someone is always outside the window..."

"Who is it, who is it, that's the chubby big guy..."

He began to hum out the song "Kind Bourou," a Grecius nursery rhyme, line by line.

It was impossible to don the Floral Dress in the crevice; while he hummed, he tested several times, but the gap was too narrow for the Floral Dress to form.

Strangely, as he hummed, the noise from the Big-Face monster outside gradually ceased and slowly quieted down.

By the time he had sung the song for the third time.

The surroundings seemed to have entered an extremely quiet environment.

The Big-Face monster was completely motionless.

Slowly, very slowly, Li Chengyi opened a slit in one eye.

He was still standing in the crevice.

But in front of him, outside the crevice, the Big-Face monster had completely disappeared, as if it had never been there.

The red maintenance door that was directly opposite the crevice was now wide open.

A pale young man in white clothes was standing in front of the door, quietly watching him.

Hum...

Slowly, an irritating, buzzing sound began to flood into Li Chengyi's ears from all directions.

He furrowed his brows, feeling his field of vision begin to spin.

The crevice in front of him started to rotate, and so did he.

The young man outside the crevice, along with the red door, slowly receded, shrinking and blurring in the spin.

Pff.

A soft pop, like the last remaining line when a TV is finally turned off.

Everything in Li Chengyi's vision suddenly compressed into a line.

Then shrunk to a point and then disappeared.

"Are you okay? Do you need me to call for emergency services?" A concerned voice approached slowly from afar, getting louder.

Li Chengyi shook his head and opened his eyes.

He was still standing outside the rice noodle shop, his body swaying as if he had been hollowed out.

He felt as if he hadn't slept for days and nights.

An elderly man with silver hair, carrying a shopping bag, was looking at him with concern.

Clearly a good Samaritan passing by, he saw Li Chengyi swaying and thought he was sick.

"No need, thank you, I... I'm fine. Just... too tired." Li Chengyi opened his eyes wide, quickly surveying his surroundings and replied swiftly.

No one died!

That realization hit him.

There were absolutely no casualties; he had left the Grecius Parking Garage!!

This time! He hadn't relied on the dead to escape! Instead, he had purely depended on the last technique of escape he had researched by Jiajier.

Recreating the Survivor Theory, then successfully breaking free from the Blind Spot!

'I... succeeded!!'

Li Chengyi lowered his head to look at his hands, his right hand had completely lost sensation, and a burning pain had started in the joint between his shoulder and chest.

But... he had succeeded!! He had successfully escaped!!

A sudden sense of relief, an extremely rare feeling of relief, gradually surrounded Li Chengyi.

He felt as if he had put down a heavy burden, his whole body much lighter.

"It's fine as long as you're okay, young man. Work hard but also take care of your health," the old man reminded him, obviously having encountered too many young people who gave him a bad impression.

"Just overdid the exercise a bit," Li Chengyi explained.

After saying farewell to the kindly old man, he stood still, overwhelmed, but momentarily unsure what to do next.

Go back to the hotel?

Or check out and go home?

As he had already escaped from the Grecius Parking Garage, as long as he did not encounter a new Blind Spot, there would be no danger.

'Finally... I can finally get some good sleep.'

Li Chengyi took out his phone and quickly shared the good news with Xindela and Song Ran, who, though their entering the Blind Spot had nothing to do with him, were the ones who helped him the most.

Beep beep, two text messages sent out.

Immediately, Xindela's call came through.

"How is it? Going home to rest, or continuing with company training?" He always got straight to the point.

"Home first, right now, I just want to take a good bath, sleep well, and not think about anything," Li Chengyi replied.

"Keep it up," Xindela didn't say much, perhaps he too understood Li Chengyi's mood at the moment.

After hanging up, Li Chengyi's face broke into a smile, and he walked briskly towards the direction of the chain hotel.

Check out, hail a cab, go home.

Done in one go.

Back at home, after hastily addressing his parents' questions, he rushed to shower, climbed into bed, and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

*

*

*

On the outskirts of Suiyang, within an upscale, sprawling residential area.

An old man with a face full of stubble, who hadn't shaved for days, was sitting by a lounge chair, next to which the ashtray on the table was full of densely packed, pale yellow cigarette butts, some still smoldering.

And it wasn't just the ashtray; some cigarette butts had even fallen off the table, scattered on the ground.

Thick smoke swirled around the man, yet he seemed indifferent, holding a cellphone in one hand and a newly lit, red-glowing cigarette in the other.

"Boss!"

Suddenly, from the living room behind, a man with a flat-top haircut wearing a black jacket quickly came out, calling out excitedly to the old man.

"We've found him!"

"Found him?!" The old man was startled, a slow glimmer of light appearing in his eyes.

"Is it news of Dongdong? Where is she?!" He stood up abruptly, his voice a low roar like a suddenly awakened lion.

The flat-top with the black jacket was startled but stood firm, quickly replying.

"It's not... Not Dongdong, boss. It's that person you ordered us to find. We've got his info from another channel!"

"Not Dongdong…" The old man's spirit deflated once again.

He was Meng Dongdong's father, Meng Mingcheng.

His daughter had been missing for a long time, right from their own home, despite being surrounded by a group of people protecting her and accompanying her day and night.

Yet, in the blink of an eye, she had vanished while going to the bathroom, and there had been no word of her to this day.

He had mobilized all his connections, sparing no expense in the search.

But up till now, there had been no news at all...

"Do you mean, you've found the information about those two people Dongdong mentioned?"

Not finding his daughter but finding the other two could potentially lead to information about her whereabouts from them!

Meng Mingcheng actually had a foreboding feeling but he neither wanted to think about it nor dared to.

"Did you find both of them?" he quickly snapped back to attention and asked.

"Yes, one has been missing for a long time, presumed dead. But the other is still active, spotted near the New Century Building by our brothers," replied the flat-top with the black jacket promptly.

Initially, Meng Dongdong identified Li Chengyi's appearance through profiling and AI image generation.

Even though it was locked down, the photos and his appearance were still retained.

"Seen him?" A glint of light gradually shone in Meng Mingcheng's eyes.

He stood up, pacing back and forth, snuffing out his barely smoked cigarette in the ashtray.

"Just him alone?" He suddenly stopped and turned to ask.

"Not just him. Our guys followed that person and tracked him down to his residence," the flat-top with the black jacket explained. "Once we know where he lives, it will be much easier to find out other information."

"I see... that's the way..." Meng Mingcheng pondered, his eyes filled with a glimmer of hope.

"Take some men over there in a bit and check out the kid's family situation," he instructed.

"What do you mean, boss?" the flat-top with the black jacket asked, puzzled.

"Everyone has a weak spot, and for most people, it's their family. Get control of his family, and then..."

Suddenly, he paused.

"No, no, no... Why did that man show up, but Dongdong hasn't?!"

A terrible thought crossed Meng Mingcheng's mind.

He stood there frozen, lost in thought.

Unconsciously, scenes of his daughter growing up from a cute, naïve child to a graceful young lady flitted through his mind.

Tears began to slowly fill his eyes, spilling over the corners of his eyes.

His lips quivered, he squinted his eyes, and tried to stem the tears with deep breaths, but it was futile.

"Boss..."

The flat-top with the black jacket sighed.

"Then shall I take the men over personally?"

"...." Meng Mingcheng paused, in silence.

After a long moment of quiet, he shakily reached from the table for a pack of cigarettes, attempting to pull one out, but failed to do so twice.

His hands were as slippery as if oiled, the cigarettes kept sliding out of his grasp.

"Xiao Lin, how have I treated you?" he suddenly asked.

"Boss... you've been very good to me," the flat-top with the black jacket, whose complexion changed slightly, seemingly understood something.

"Then, do me a favor," Meng Mingcheng said in a steady voice.

"... A fire... would that be okay?" the flat-top with the black jacket asked through gritted teeth.

"Make it clean, use a gun first," Meng Mingcheng turned his back to him, looking up at the great White Star in the sky.

"Alright," the flat-top with the black jacket nodded. "And about Brother Zeng... do I need to give him a heads up?"

Brother Zeng was the bald head previously ordered by Meng Mingcheng to find information.

"No need. The fewer people know about this, the better," Meng Mingcheng shook his head.

"Understood," the flat-top with the black jacket took out his cellphone, pressed the power button, and watched the screen slowly dim, displaying the XF symbol - the manufacturer's power on/off logo.

He lifted his head to look at his boss one more time and left silently.

Shooting first, then staging an accidental fire – this was not an unfamiliar task for him.

But this time, the target had people behind him too, posing far more danger than before; if anything went wrong...

Flat-Top knew the boss would take good care of his old mom and dad, as well as his brother. His sorry life was worth the exchange if it secured a promising future for his brother.

'It must be fast. Use a silencer from a distance, finish with one shot, then fabricate an electrical short circuit to start a fire. Total time must be kept within ten minutes.'

Flat-Top ran through the plan in his mind. His marksmanship was excellent; he had been a sniper in the military before retiring. Although not the best, a distance of one to two hundred meters, with the assistance system, ensured that hitting the target with ease was still very feasible.

He stepped out of the living room, walked through the half-open door, and stood in front of the elevator.

Hiss.

The elevator doors parted, revealing a young man in a blue tracksuit with long hair, standing inside, engrossed in his phone.