CH 12

Feng Yi went to Wu Ji’s house before going home.

There were no rats in Wu Ji’s house at this time, but it was uncertain if that would remain the case in the middle of the night. After all, the holes in the house were not sealed, and he was still on the waiting list for door-to-door rat extermination.

After knowing that Feng Yi had the ability to catch rats, Wu Ji forced Feng Yi to spend the night in his house.

“They must be wiped out to prevent future trouble!”

Wu Ji was quite energetic when it came to rodent control. “The guest room has been cleaned up. It’s so convenient to live in the same building. If you’re not used to the pillows here, you can bring your own pillows down. Bro, my sleep depends on you!”

Feng Yi also felt that it was just a matter of helping out, so he agreed and stayed overnight in the guest room that Wu Ji had cleaned out on the fifth floor.

The fifth-floor apartment belonged to Wu Ji’s parents. Wu Ji’s own apartment was on the twenty-ninth floor, but the rats on the lower floors were more serious, so the older folk temporarily moved to the twenty-ninth floor. Ever since Wu Ji moved to the fifth floor, he hadn’t been able to sleep well. He hated the rats, but Wu Ji couldn’t do anything about them. He couldn’t trap them or catch them. If Feng Yi could catch a rat tonight, it would be his revenge.

However, from the first floor to the tenth floor that night, the rats seemed to have suddenly disappeared. Even those apartments that already had rats in them had a very peaceful night. Although the middle and upper floors weren’t as quiet, it was still much better than before. He didn’t get his revenge, but Wu Ji had a rare good night’s sleep that night.

“Could it be that the rodent control work in the community is showing results?”

This was also discussed in the group chat. The situation of the entire community seemed to be much better than the previous days. Although the other buildings weren’t as peaceful as the one Feng Yi was in, the changes were obvious compared to before.

The rodent exterminators in the community were killing a lot of rats every day, so nobody thought of other reasons. They all speculated whether the rats had fled the area after seeing the increase in rat extermination efforts here.

“This dark life is finally coming to an end!” Wu Ji was excited.

“I didn’t see you make a move this time. I’ll look for you the next time I see a rat. It’s a shame to just let your skills go to waste. You really don’t want to start a rodent extermination business? If you have that idea, I will definitely invest in it!” Wu Ji looked at Feng Yi.

“No.” After thinking about it, Feng Yi asked, “What do you think about snakes?”

Wu Ji’s expression immediately changed.

“No, thank you. I still have the strength to fight a mouse, but if it’s a snake, my soul might fly out of my body!”

“You were born in the Year of the Snake, yet you’re still so afraid?” Feng Yi asked.

“Who said that people born in the Year of the Snake can’t be afraid of snakes? I am most afraid of snakes! When I was a child, I stepped on a snake whose color was similar to the surrounding grass. I didn’t pay attention and knew something was wrong when I stepped down. If I had jumped away any slower, it would have bitten me. I’ve been traumatized ever since!

It had been so many years, but looking back, Wu Ji still felt a little scared and trembled. “Thinking about it, I still prefer to face rodents.”

Feng Yi didn’t continue the topic.

When he got home, he looked carefully in the mirror to see if there was any change in his face. After one night, Feng Yi felt that his perception range had greatly expanded. If he was the center and the space he could perceive was a sphere, then the radius was about five stories high. If he wanted to, he could even sense how many people were upstairs and downstairs and what they were doing. It wasn’t completely clear; he could only get a rough sense of it. However, Feng Yi didn’t consciously perceive the surrounding people, as that would violate other people’s privacy. He’d try it the next time he went to the park.

Over the next two days, the rat disturbance in the community improved significantly. The cursing of the residents at night also decreased, and the barking of the dogs seemed to disappear. After eating, residents in the community smiled more when they went for walks, and the chat atmosphere in the property owners’ group chat became peaceful.

But compared with the gradually improving mood of others, Feng Yi was depressed. Something was wrong with him these two days! Nothing felt right!

He fried a flaky pancake for breakfast. When he ate it, he stuffed the whole thing into his mouth and then quickly spat it out before he choked. When he ate the egg, he didn’t even peel the shell and just put it directly into his mouth. Although he came to his senses soon after, he still broke out in a cold sweat. Once or twice, it could be excused as sloppy, accidental. But repeated occurrences couldn’t be dismissed as mere distraction!

Furthermore!

At lunch today, he also felt that the sauce was particularly pungent and even sneezed a few times. Initially, Feng Yi suspected that the sauce had expired, but the date on the packaging was new. He thought he had bought a defective product, but when he switched to other sauces, he still felt they were extremely pungent! After that, everything tasted strange to him. He had a headache and felt very warm, but his body temperature was normal. No matter what kind of thermometer he used, the temperature was normal.

Feng Yi couldn’t calm down anymore.

He couldn’t just go to the hospital either. The old butler’s words were still ringing in his ears. If non-human symptoms were indeed detected, he would probably be sent directly to the research institute.

So, did his current situation mean that he was sick? Or had some strange changes taken place, as the old butler said? Feng Yi himself didn’t know.

Should he ask the doctor or ask the butler?

He wondered if it was due to the many anxieties he had, creating too much mental pressure, and had nothing to do with what the old butler said? Even the perception that had been used well yesterday was now blurred. After thinking about it, Feng Yi came up with a solution.

He searched the Internet and clicked on a platform with relatively high praise, a twenty-four-hour real-time online fast consultation.

Feng Yi briefly described his symptoms.

Soon an online doctor replied:

[Hello! According to your description, you show slow reaction to the outside world and hypersensitivity, and there may be some cognitive impairment…].

The doctor typed out a long paragraph which Feng Yi completely skipped over. He waited for the doctor to finish before asking with trembling hands: “So, how can I improve my condition?”

The online doctor replied:

[It is recommended that you come to the psychiatric department of our hospital for a detailed examination.]

Seeing this response, Feng Yi’s heart skipped a beat. Pulling up a new tab, he searched “cognitive impairment” mentioned by the online doctor and saw——

[Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia patients… Unresponsiveness or hypersensitivity to external information may be a sign of psychotic symptoms and cognitive decline…]

Feng Yi felt a chill in his heart. After thinking about it, he couldn’t scare himself like this, so he called the old butler.

There was a hint of anticipation in the old butler’s voice. “Don’t worry, this is normal. This is just a preliminary reaction. Your genes are changing, and your body is adjusting to the change. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. You can use this time to go out and relax. After this adjustment period is over, you may not feel like going out anymore.”

After hearing this answer, Feng Yi didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. Fortunately, he wasn’t mentally ill. What was worrying was the old butler’s last sentence, ” After this adjustment period is over, you may not feel like going out anymore.” What were the so-called “small changes”?

With this extremely complicated mood, Feng Yi still participated in Wu Ji’s weekend farmhouse fishing trip.

He departed on Saturday morning.

This time, they were going to the Ecotourism Scenic Area of Mount Yue, which was about two hours away from Rongcheng by car. Wu Ji drove his parents, while on Feng Yi’s side, he provided the car and Qian Feiyang drove. He was “cognitively impaired”, so it was better not to drive for safety’s sake.

Probably due to the increased number of people going out on the weekends, there were a few traffic jams on the way out of town. Stopping at another red light, Qian Feiyang turned on the phone next to him and looked at the surveillance screen on it.

“You left Anise at home?” Feng Yi asked.

“It’s only for two days, and we will return tomorrow. There’s no need to send it to the pet shop. There is an automatic feeder and excrement shoveler at home, and the monitoring is turned on. I can check its status at home at any time on my phone,” said Qian Feiyang.

Feng Yi took a look at the screen. Anise was sleeping on the sofa in the living room on its back.

Qian Feiyang continued to drive. “Silkie said that we can catch a lot of fish at the farmhouse this time, but I don’t know if it’s true. Hopefully, it won’t be like last time when we fished for a whole day only to leave empty-handed. Well, I’m going to try for two hours anyway. If I don’t catch anything, I’ll just go and take pictures instead.”

“How do you feel about snakes?” Feng Yi asked him.

Qian Feiyang showed no disgust on his face. “You know, humans, as higher beings, have tendencies. Some people like warm-blooded animals, others like cold-blooded animals…”

“So?”

“I choose to pet my cat.”

Feng Yi stopped pursuing the topic.

After more than two hours, they reached their destination.

There were many farmhouses near Mount Yue Scenic Area, but the business here was much better than the five-star hotels in the center of the scenic area. Wu Ji had booked the room a week in advance. After they arrived and put their things down, Wu Ji’s parents needed to take a rest, but the three of them were full of energy.

“Let’s go, it’s time to go fishing!”

Wu Ji dug out from his phone the strategy guide that he had received from Uncle Liu, a member of the fishing group in the community. They rented or bought the necessary tools and materials, and then Wu Ji took Feng Yi and Qian Feiyang to find a place according to the strategy guide.

Uncle Liu had roughly drawn some good fishing spots for him. They arrived a little late today, and the nearest spot had already been taken. But that was okay. Uncle Liu had given quite a few places, and the fishing area was large. Even on weekends, when there were a lot of people, it wasn’t that crowded.

This side was actually part of the ecotourism scenic area, while the other was a nature reserve where tourists weren’t permitted. This farm was chosen because it had the best scenery and was closest to the fishing area.

For those who wanted to be close to nature after living in the city for a long time, this was a good place to go for the weekend. The lucky ones could meet some cute little animals like squirrels and foxes. Some internet celebrities or vloggers also occasionally came here to try their luck.

The weather was pretty good today, cloudy and windy, and the temperature was moderate. There were children running around the farm, but there were fewer children at the fishing spots. Young adults in their twenties like Feng Yi’s group were actually not common.

Feng Yi wasn’t too conspicuous with the mask and fisherman’s hat he had just bought when he rented the fishing equipment. The people fishing had their own ways of protecting themselves from the sun, and many were well covered.

After finally finding a spot, Wu Ji got ready. “Let’s compete to see who can catch a fish first!”

Qian Feiyang lacked interest and gave a lazy response.

Wu Ji was in high spirits. “Guess how many fish I can catch today?”