Blind Spot

Honk!!!

The sharp blast of the car horn was piercing, making the eardrums ache.

Li Chengyi suddenly snapped back to awareness from his rigidity, finding himself standing at the bus station platform, with no change in his position.

An old white bus was incessantly honking its horn, urging a pedestrian in front of it to hurry out of the way.

That pedestrian, a woman carrying a burlap bag, was recklessly crossing the street and quickly stepping up onto the platform.

The horn was warning her.

Li Chengyi had a dazed look in his eyes, as if the vision of that scene he had just witnessed were still lingering.

That enormous face edging closer.

He still felt numb all over, as if his scalp had lost all sensation, resembling the feeling of having lost all his hair.

"Huff... huff..." Another dream?

He looked around; he hadn't entered the underground garage but was still standing at the bus stop.

A nearby metal signpost marked the location.

Andu Road Tongfeng Road.

The slightly warm air turned into a breeze, carrying the scent of leaves and flowers in waves.

The faint fragrance helped Li Chengyi's consciousness to somewhat freshen up.

Ding-dong, ding-dong.

His cell phone vibrated twice.

The faint vibration was like a lifeline, instantly pulling Li Chengyi's consciousness back from the brink of confusion.

He quickly took out his phone and turned on the screen.

It was a text message from his parents.

'Remember not to come home early, your sister has instructed us. Do you still have money on you? I'll transfer some more to you.' — Dad.

'Stay at school a bit longer and don't go back until after you've eaten. Your sister's business is important, and your future job might depend on her.' — Mom.

Li Zhao and Feng Yurong, as always, were completely focused on his sister.

Li Chengyi could understand that, after all, for a common family like theirs, the only chance to turn things around might be to nurture one strong elite.

And now, his sister Li Chengjiu fit that expectation to a T.

'Got it.' He calmed his emotions and sent a brief reply.

After putting away his phone, he remained standing in place with his chest heaving rapidly as he recalled everything that had happened.

He also remembered the words he had read on a forum.

'If you encounter the Blind Spot, you must not contact us. Try to enjoy your last beautiful moments. The Blind Spot will approach slowly and will completely pull you in at the third premonition. Go do everything you've always wanted to do, but never dared to.'

'The third time...'

If last night was the first time, then what happened just now at school shouldn't count, since it wasn't the same place, and I didn't fully enter.

But just now...

Does that count as the third time?

Or is it still the second time?

Li Chengyi's mind was in complete disarray.

He didn't know what the Blind Spot was or what the large face was, but he just wanted to survive.

He had inexplicably come to this world and became another person with the same name and surname.

He really didn't want to die.

He didn't want to die in such a meaningless way, drowned in fear.

The fear of the struggle to live was making the panic in Li Chengyi's heart grow heavier.

'What should I do!?'

'Maybe what happened just now wasn't a premonition, right, it definitely wasn't, since it could also be because I was too sleepy and dozed off.'

He kept finding reasons for himself in his mind.

As he was thinking this way, suddenly he felt a slight stinging pain in his ankles.

He looked down and quickly rolled up his trouser legs to take a look.

A dense collection of blood spots was clearly distributed around his ankles.

Li Chengyi was stunned on the spot.

After a brief pause, he quickly stood up, opened his collar, and checked his body.

Thankfully, there were no blood spots on his body.

'It was just now! It happened just then!'

He suddenly remembered.

Just now, in that mysterious underground garage when he encountered the giant face, he had also felt a stinging pain in his ankles.

And now...

The sting had somehow made its way to reality...

'Is this a reminder... that it wasn't a dream??'

His chest heaved violently, he gasped for air rapidly, and it felt like a heavy stone was pressing on his heart, making it difficult to breathe.

What to do!?

What should I do!?

Countless chaotic thoughts raced through his mind, but if everything that had just happened was real,

then facing that terrifying giant face, which was clearly not a normal creature,

he was at a loss.

'Perhaps, I should call the police? Seek help from the nation!?'

This thought flashed through Li Chengyi's mind.

No sooner had the thought arisen than it persisted, growing stronger by the moment.

Facing a danger that was completely incomprehensible, perhaps seeking assistance from the state apparatus was the best option.

But suddenly, the crying girl he had met in the Yesili Coffee Shop, the girl in the white sweater, came to mind.

'Why didn't she call the police?'

A doubt surged in his heart.

At that thought, Li Chengyi could no longer stand still. He looked around quickly and made his way back to the coffee shop he had visited earlier.

He ran all the way there, a deep sense of urgency and danger constantly pushing him forward, speeding up.

He feared that the dangerous situation from before would occur again.

If only there was someone to exchange thoughts with now, someone to give him some advice, perhaps...

He jogged back to the spot—Yesili Coffee Shop.

There was now a small mobile cart set up at the entrance of the coffee shop, displaying a sign for a newly released coffee and providing samples of new desserts in small cups.

Li Chengyi entered, wandering around the first-floor hall where there were even more people.

Most of them were college students, but he could not find the girl in the white sweater he had seen earlier.

Everyone had a gentle expression, some chatting and laughing, some playfully whispering, and others just eating while studying on their tablets.

Their lives seemed completely isolated from Li Chengyi's, as if belonging to another world.

Not finding her on the first floor, he hurriedly went up to the second floor.

Unfortunately, the girl in the white sweater was still nowhere to be seen.

A bit disappointed, Li Chengyi descended the stairs and went out the door to the accompaniment of a gentle 'welcome to come again' electronic sound.

Outside the door.

On the sidewalk.

A white city SUV was parked quietly by the curb.

The car window had already been rolled down, revealing the driver's face.

It was a middle-aged man who clearly had some years on him, with thick eyebrows, piercing eyes, and a neat grayish beard that ran along his jaw. His face was slender, and his hair slicked back neatly.

He rested one hand on the steering wheel, staring blankly at the people passing by the window, as if he was lost in thought.

For some reason, the moment Li Chengyi stepped out of the coffee shop, the middle-aged man's gaze swiftly shifted onto him.

He seemed to be observing something, as if he had seen something significant.

Li Chengyi's body tensed slightly; he didn't know why he felt nervous, but his body involuntarily tightened up.

Having not found the two girls from earlier, a stream of thoughts continually flickered through his mind.

'The most helpful thing now is to search for solutions online and to seek official help.'

The complexities in his mind rapidly clarified, sorting out the most viable way for him to survive.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be wandering around outside like this."

Suddenly, a deep male voice drifted from ahead.

"While there's still time, why not go mad?"

The voice continued.

Li Chengyi abruptly looked up, following the sound, his gaze meeting that of the middle-aged man looking his way.

"You... what do you know?!" He opened his mouth, only to realize that, for some reason, his voice had become hoarse and deep.

Unconsciously, he walked closer, approaching the white city SUV.

"You're about to die." The middle-aged man spoke indifferently. "The third premonition is about to occur. Then, just like the others, poof."

He brought his hands together and simulated a sound with his mouth.

"Completely vanish."

"Is there a way?" Li Chengyi's eyes widened as he quickly asked, responding with a calmness he himself hadn't expected.

"Has anyone survived? Can you help me?"

A sense of release seemed to rush through him as if he had found an outlet, a lifeline.

If someone in the know were to help him, perhaps he could escape!

This thought rapidly surfaced in his mind.

"Me?" The man laughed, turning his head to look out the front window. "I'm just a failure. A wreck, what help could I possibly be to you?"

"That place," he turned back to face Li Chengyi, "no one can help you, you can only rely on yourself."

"Just like my once friends, my son, they were all like this."

As he spoke, he pulled out a cigarette from the inner pocket of his black suit, bent down to light it, and took a puff.

"Better go now, don't stay with me, bad luck," he gestured for Li Chengyi to leave.

"There must be a way, right? Since you came here and spoke to me, there must be a way, right?" Li Chengyi wasn't foolish.

The man's ability to see the premonitions on him and strike up a conversation wasn't without reason.

If he found him bad luck, why didn't he simply keep quiet from the start?

"Somewhat clever." The man chuckled and flicked the ash from his cigarette outside the window.

"What's the point of avoiding it temporarily? After all, you're going to die sooner or later, time and time again, without end, without hope."

"The future is the future, but now, I don't want to die!" Li Chengyi stared at him earnestly and replied deliberately.

"Then why should I help you?" the man asked again.

"Since you came to me and started a conversation, it means there must be something about me that you need," Li Chengyi said, "So...

"So," the man interrupted, "if you can survive the first time, then we might have a chance to work together."

"Good! How can I survive?" Li Chengyi quickly asked. "Should I tell you what I've experienced..."

"No need!" The man interrupted again. "It's meaningless. Blind Spot can only be entered by specific people using their unique method, and once inside, they will continually be drawn back, until it completely consumes them."

"Then how can I survive?" Li Chengyi persisted.

"After you fully enter for the third time, find the exit and leave that place to survive," the man replied. "But... there's no actual exit there, just like when you entered. You need to find a special method to discover the door out."

He pointed at his own head.

"You need to think, not use force. There, force and firearms, regardless of the number of people, are useless. Oh, and it's best not to call the police, or you might lose the very last glimmer of hope."

"I..." Li Chengyi wanted to ask more, but the man rolled up his window.

The man gestured to Li Chengyi through the window, started the car, and slowly drove away.

It seemed he didn't have much faith in Li Chengyi's chances of survival, his eyes betraying a hint of disappointment.

Perhaps Li Chengyi wasn't the person he was looking for at all.