"Is this a side effect of Extreme Sensitivity?"
All the way there, Xiao Xiao struggled to adapt to this abnormal perception.
He knew he needed to learn how to control it. Otherwise, he would be like the woman in the video camera, constantly anxious and suspicious.
But it was probably because the ability had only just been enhanced. He would get better after he grew accustomed to it.
After arriving at the docks, perhaps because he had returned to a familiar environment, the feeling of being watched finally began to fade.
However, Xiao Xiao could also sense that the other workers around him were acting strangely. Their gazes kept flickering, and whenever they secretly glanced over and were caught by his eyes, they would only reveal an awkward, ingratiating smile. He quickly realized that this was because of the conflict he had had with Huang Mao and the others yesterday. The workers did not quite understand him now, and were a little afraid of him as well.
He did not care about that. He was preparing to change into his work clothes and start working when, unexpectedly, Foreman found him with a grave expression.
"You got into a fight with Huang Mao yesterday?"
"..."
"Yes."
Xiao Xiao nodded calmly. "He brought people to block me outside, so we got into a fight."
"You... sigh."
Foreman seemed to want to say something. His brows knitted into a tight knot, but in the end, he merely patted Xiao Xiao's shoulder worriedly.
"Come to me first next time something like this happens. Why risk your life fighting with those lowlifes?"
"Little Xiao, from the moment you arrived, I knew you weren't like the rest of us. I don't know what you've been through these past few years, but anyone can tell you're not the sort who makes a living through manual labor. If you're short on money, work hard, save up some tuition, go study, find a good job, marry a wife, and live a stable life. Everyone at this dock is a rough sort. This place really isn't suitable for someone as refined as you to stay at forever..."
"..."
Looking at Foreman's serious expression, Xiao Xiao felt faintly moved. It was clear that Foreman was speaking to him sincerely. He had never expected that this burly, uncouth man, who cursed people's families within three sentences, could possess such kindness.
To be honest, that was also something he had once longed for deep in his heart.
But could he really hope to live that kind of life now?
He merely smiled and agreed before going to change into his work clothes. He prepared to do his job properly. Unlike the others, who dawdled over changing, Xiao Xiao took less than two minutes. When he came out, he saw Foreman still standing by the door, looking over the work schedule.
Xiao Xiao walked past him, when Foreman suddenly spun around. His expression was sinister.
"I heard you got into a fight with Huang Mao yesterday?"
Xiao Xiao's heart jolted. Feeling that something was strange, he did not answer.
Hadn't they just talked about this?
When Foreman saw that he did not answer, he suddenly raised his voice. "I'm asking you, did you get into a fight with Huang Mao yesterday?"
An extremely strange feeling arose in Xiao Xiao's heart. After a long moment, he slowly nodded.
"You're pretty impressive..."
Foreman immediately sneered, his face cold and sinister. "Then do you know that the docks have a rule? Anyone who fights gets fired."
"..."
For a moment, extreme astonishment flooded Xiao Xiao's heart.
In the brief instant when their gazes had shifted away, Foreman seemed to have completely become another person.
Why had he suddenly turned hostile?
Xiao Xiao could not even determine whether Extreme Sensitivity had caused him to hallucinate, or whether this scene had truly happened.
He did not answer. He merely watched Foreman quietly, trying to understand what was going on.
Seeing Xiao Xiao's silence, Foreman grew increasingly furious. He snorted. "Don't look at me like that, either. There are degrees of closeness between people. How many days have you even been here? And you're already relying on that bit of muscle to beat people up? Heh, don't think that just because I curse Huang Mao every day, he isn't my little brother. He might even become my godson someday. You beat him up—that's a slap in my face. Are you deliberately trying to go against me?"
As he spoke, he ground his teeth, and blazing flames of malice seemed to rise in his eyes.
The strange feeling in Xiao Xiao's heart grew heavier. The expression on his face gradually disappeared, while his mind began racing.
His voice sounded very calm. "So what do you want to do?"
"What do I want to do?"
Foreman's anger seemed to flare up with a bang. His palm abruptly tightened, crumpling the work schedule with a rustle.
"You've still got the nerve to ask me what I want to do?"
"If I don't teach you a lesson, who on these docks will listen to me in the future?"
"..."
"Whoosh!"
Xiao Xiao took a step back and fixed his eyes on Foreman.
He did not know why this had happened, but he clearly was not foolish enough to stand there and take the blow.
"You dare dodge?"
Foreman's expression was sinister as he forced his way forward step by step. His eyes grew redder and redder, almost as if blood were about to seep from them.
"On these docks, I'm the boss."
"Anyone who dares provoke the people under my protection, I'll make them regret it..."
"..."
"Foreman, what happened?"
The workers around them noticed that something was wrong with the atmosphere and hurried over. They seemed to be coming to mediate, but for some reason, when one of them reached them, his eyes also became faintly red. He sneered. "Is this about yesterday? Heh, I saw how brutally he beat people up. He didn't even seem to feel pain. Is that something a normal person could do? He's a lunatic!"
"Who wouldn't be afraid of working alongside a lunatic every day?"
"Drive him out!"
"Drive him out?"
Another worker came over, his red eyes fixed on Xiao Xiao. "How could it be that easy?"
"How much work has this kid taken from us since he arrived?"
"The important thing is, we're all doing manual labor at the docks. Why does he get to be so handsome?"
"..."
More and more people gathered around Foreman, glaring viciously at Xiao Xiao. "Exactly. I've never liked this kid..."
"I'm so afraid of him. What if he suddenly has an episode and kills us..."
"He dared beat Huang Mao yesterday. Tomorrow he'll dare beat us. Lunatics don't get punished for killing people..."
"So why don't we kill him first?"
"Right. Let's ruin his face first. Why should he get to be so handsome?"
"..."
Xiao Xiao watched as more and more people piled up before him. Their faces all wore strange smiles, as if they had been carved from the same mold.
Their eyes were wide, as though they had bulged out of their sockets. The corners of their mouths were pulled sharply to either side, revealing dark-red gums and yellowed, blackened tooth roots. Their smiles were stiff and strange, yet filled with excitement and exhilaration as they stared fixedly at him.
The pungent stench of blood rushed into his nose, as though he were standing before the gates of a bloody hell.
Xiao Xiao realized that something had definitely gone wrong, but by then he had already entered a state of Mind Burst. His face, however, remained expressionless.
He suddenly withdrew his gaze, took out his phone, and called Yang Jia.
Now that he had confirmed something was wrong, he naturally had no intention of dealing with it alone. His first reaction was to seek help.
However, after trying several times, no one answered.
Xiao Xiao's face became even more impassive. He called Ruan Ruan, but once again, no one answered.
Gradually sensing that something was wrong, Xiao Xiao gripped his phone and raised his head again.
Something had definitely happened, but he could not determine the cause.
Was the city's malice surging in?
That should not be possible. He still had so many points. They formed a substantial buffer against the city's malice.
Then was it man-made?
Why had Foreman and these workers suddenly turned hostile? Had some will twisted their thoughts, or strengthened the malice in their hearts? Was something guiding their hatred and concentrating it on him at the same time?
As he thought, a warning suddenly rose in his heart again.
Ever since he had left home that morning, he had constantly felt some malicious gaze watching him.
At first, he had assumed that this was merely a side effect of Extreme Sensitivity, but at this moment, he could confirm it.
It was not an illusion.
He could even determine that some source was definitely present nearby. It had been watching him since morning, and it was also this source that had influenced these familiar workers, causing them to suddenly undergo such twisted and malicious changes.
No, it was not only these workers. There was also Huang Mao.
Xiao Xiao suddenly remembered that when Huang Mao had angrily come looking for him yesterday, he had also carried that strange hatred.
It was just that he had not been enhanced yet and had been unable to distinguish it.
Only now, after seeing the strange behavior of Foreman and the others, did he recall Huang Mao's abnormality yesterday.
If so, had something been at work since yesterday?
Then where was the source?
Xiao Xiao searched desperately, but all he saw were one strange face after another. Countless malicious gazes surged toward him like an overwhelming tide.
It was even very close to him. Xiao Xiao could sense it, but there was still no way to find it amid so much intense hatred.
"He's still on the phone..."
The workers gathering around him grew more numerous, and every person's eyes had turned blood-red.
Countless voices, seemingly packed with anger and oppression, growled from their mouths.
"Is he trying to call the police?"
"Do it, do it! Just thinking about the feeling of killing someone gets me excited..."
"Shouldn't we ruin his face first? Go get some sulfuric acid from the warehouse. Why should he get to be so handsome?"
"..."
More workers surrounded him, and even more vicious voices rang out. Their words grew increasingly poisonous.
Xiao Xiao felt the malice radiating from them multiply.
He saw the familiar workers he knew in daily life. Their skin began to split open, crack by crack. Their intact faces tore into several pieces, revealing writhing tentacles inside their bodies. They crowded together, probing and stretching toward him.
"They've split open..."
Even though he knew they had been affected by something, their undisguised vicious words and aggressive advance still caused anger to accumulate faintly in Xiao Xiao's heart. Finally, the smile of relief appeared on his tense face.
"I've got experience with this. I just need to kill you all. You'll revive anyway..."
At the same time, on the other side of the city, Ruan Ruan was calling Yang Jia.
"Jiajia-jie, something's strange. Xiao-gege called me just now. The call connected, but he didn't say anything."
"I received one too."
Yang Jia lowered her voice. "When I answered, all I heard was the sound of an argument. I called back afterward, but he didn't answer."
"Something might have happened."
"I've already sent Little Four over. He's the closest, and he's the fastest. We need to go too!"
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