After five years of imprisonment, the heavy prison gates slowly opened. Soon after, a woman emerged slowly, holding a blind cane.
She was terrifyingly thin, resembling a desiccated corpse. Her skin, deprived of sunlight for years, was pale and bloodless, yet covered with blue and purple scars—not a single patch of it was unmarred.
The grimy clothes she had worn when she entered prison hung loosely on her frame, the waistband of her pants secured only by a rope wrapped several times around her waist to keep them from falling.
She looked like a worn-out clothesline pole, ready to snap at the slightest gust of wind.
She walked slowly, because she was blind and could see nothing, relying solely on the tap-tap of her blind cane to feel her way forward.
The backpack she carried was knitted for her by a fellow inmate, embroidered with a phoenix in the hope that she would be reborn in the days to come.
Because she couldn’t see, the prison guard had specially informed her before her release that the bag contained a few dollars and her ID card, cautioning her not to lose them.
Ji Liao found it ironic—what use were a few dollars to a blind person? And that ID card—could it possibly prove her innocence?
Thud!
Not far from the prison entrance, she stumbled and fell.
It was a sweltering summer day, the sun scorching the earth, the ground already baked hot enough to burn one’s hand.
Kneeling on the ground, she groped for her dropped blind cane. Though it lay just a short distance away, she couldn’t see it and spent a long, long time searching before finally retrieving it.
Others seemed oblivious to her plight, watching coldly from a distance.
The traffic light turned green, and cars began to move. A passing vehicle honked at her to be careful.
Clutching her blind cane, Ji Liao stood in the middle of the road, pitiful, helpless, and utterly powerless.
She tried to move left, but cars sped past.
She tried to move right, but cars sped past there too.
With a sharp screech, tires grinding against the pavement, someone yelled at her.
“Hey, do you even know how to walk?”
Amid more screeching brakes, Ji Liao realized she was blocking traffic.
Before she could respond, someone grabbed her arm roughly. Panicked, she let out a cry.
She was being dragged away!
“Wh-who are you? Let me go!” The air was thick with the strong smell of alcohol, and her heart sank to the depths.
He was drunk. She had been seized by a drunkard.
The man dragging her was breathing heavily, his grip strong, hauling her along unsteadily as if she were a chick.
After a short while, he threw her to the ground. Ji Liao immediately sat up, wanting to flee.
The drunkard wouldn’t allow it, drunkenly seizing her wrist.
Terrified, fearing he might lose control and do something horrible, Ji Liao screamed at the top of her lungs, “Help! Someone, help me!”
The drunkard let out a drunken belch, shattering her illusions. “Shut up, blind woman. No one else is willing to help you but me.”
“Wh-who are you? What do you want?” Ji Liao trembled all over, paralyzed with fear as he pressed her hand against the ground.
“This is tactile paving, made specially for the blind. These stripes mean the path ahead is clear. If you feel tiles covered in dots, you should know there’s a manhole cover or some other obstacle ahead… hic~”
His alcoholic breath sprayed across her face, nearly making her pass out from the stench. With no other choice, Ji Liao used her hands to feel the tiles, sensing the difference between the tactile paving and the rest of the sidewalk.
She had seen it before but never paid close attention, unaware that it was tactile paving. It wasn’t until she needed it herself that she realized this was the warmth the world had reserved for the blind.
“Thank you…” She nodded in gratitude. The man hiccupped and waved dismissively, “No need… no need… Just don’t walk into the middle of the road again. People released from prison get no help, hic~”
Ji Liao nodded numbly, feeling that even among all the indifferent crowds, there was still an exception of warmth.
She picked up her blind cane and began feeling her way along the tactile paving, walking in tandem with the man.
One cannot always follow rules perfectly in everything. The city had too many improperly placed obstacles. Ji Liao had barely taken a few steps when she knocked over a bicycle.
Getting up, she groped her way around it and continued. Within a few steps, her cane encountered an illegally parked car on the tactile paving, forcing her to detour again.
Walking and straying, she lost track of the tactile paving. The entire journey became clinging to walls, feeling the ground, grabbing railings—step by step without knowing which direction to go.
What appeared to others as a mere fifty-meter distance took her nearly half an hour to traverse. She didn’t know her orientation, didn’t know what lay ahead—the entire process was shrouded in confusion and helplessness. Only the blind cane in her hand provided a sense of security.
Suddenly, commotion erupted ahead. From afar, she seemed to hear shouts: “There’s been an accident! A truck hit a drunkard!”
People were discussing how the drunkard had just helped a blind person cross the road.
Ji Liao froze instantly. The drunkard who helped a blind person cross the road… Could it be that same drunk man from earlier…
Familiar dread sprouted in her heart. Recalling Yu Nanzhi’s words from five years ago, she felt a momentary return to hellish times.
Terrified, she dragged her emaciated and exhausted body forward, frantic and panicked. Unable to see, she knocked over trash cans and stumbled into several people. Accusations, curses, and strange glances fell upon her, but she paid no mind—she only wanted to move forward…
“Karma! Just after helping a blind person, he ends up under wheels. Not worth it, not worth it…”
“Look, his eyeballs are crushed beyond recognition. Definitely unsalvageable.”
“Never mind the eyeballs—just the amount of bleeding from his head means not even a Great Overarching Immortal could save him.”
The bystanders’ words were utterly chilling and terrifying. Ji Liao finally reached the accident scene, emerging on the crosswalk.
The onlookers began whispering again at the sight of her.
“What’s she doing here? She can’t see anything and is just getting in the way.”
“That’s the blind person the drunkard helped, isn’t it? How unlucky.”
“Stay away from her, or you might catch her bad luck.”
Word after word struck like sharp blades, carving into Ji Liao’s heart.
She gripped her blind cane tightly, comforting herself: If she didn’t care, if she ignored their words, she would fear nothing.
Traffic police arrived and set up a cordon. The crowd stepped back, leaving Ji Liao standing alone on the crosswalk.
“Officer, how is that man? Is he badly hurt?”
The officer countered, “Are you family?”
Ji Liao denied, “No.”
“If not, please return to the safe area. Don’t obstruct our work here.”
The officer took hold of her blind cane, preparing to guide her to safety.
Ji Liao remained motionless, Yu Nanzhi’s words echoing in her ears like an endlessly looping recording—they were all implicated because of you…
She panicked, not daring to act recklessly, and declined the traffic officer’s kindness. “Comrade, I can walk on my own.”
Snatching back her blind cane, she haphazardly tapped the ground. The surrounding crowd began whispering again, “Look, she truly doesn’t appreciate goodwill.”