Chapter 7: The Great Purge

Old Chen, having returned home, was still shaken by his recent encounter.

"How could this be? It's impossible. It makes no sense..." he thought, a storm of mixed emotions brewing within him. "Even if Su Tan was worried about me facing danger on this trip and made up a lie to scare me, it couldn't possibly be such a coincidence."

After interacting with Su Tan for over a decade, how could Old Chen not know what the man was truly capable of? To put it nicely, Su Tan was a fortune-telling demigod. To put it bluntly... it was all just a scam.

Everyone for miles around knew the truth. Ordinary folks didn't go to him for fortunes because he had any real skill. They went when they were backed into a corner by thorny problems and had no other choice. They just wanted to hear comforting words to deceive themselves and wish for good luck. Everyone knew exactly how accurate his predictions really were.

In Old Chen's mind, there was no way Su Tan could actually tell the future.

But what had just happened... was simply too bizarre.

Su Tan, of course, was completely unaware of Old Chen's inner turmoil. After seeing the village chief off, he resumed exploring his house. He touched every floorboard, every wall, the front and back of the house, and the furniture inside—more than once.

Naturally, he didn't mind doing it a few more times. The more familiar he became with the layout, the easier his life would be. The storage room, the bedroom, the living room, the courtyard, the latrine... Su Tan was getting the hang of it all.

The latrine in particular had been specially modified to accommodate a blind person. Speaking of which, on his very first day, Su Tan hadn't asked where the latrine was and had nearly burst his bladder holding it in. When he eventually asked Village Chief Chen, the older man had been briefly confused as to why Su Tan had suddenly forgotten where his own toilet was, but he hadn't probed further.

Exploring again and again made Su Tan highly familiar with the building's structure. As long as nothing was moved out of place, he could navigate freely. He knew the exact locations of everyday items like cups, bowls, and the water supply like the back of his hand.

In his mind's eye, he pieced together the shape of the house. It was a timber-framed, tile-roofed structure, ancient in its architecture. It had two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a storage room, and a latrine. Outside, a bamboo fence enclosed the property. Beyond the fence lay a wide dirt road—the main thoroughfare leading in and out of the village... though Su Tan didn't know if it was the only route.

There was a small courtyard by the front door containing two flowerbeds, also fenced in, where unknown flowers grew. He didn't know if someone at the Chens' had planted them for Blind Su, or if the original Blind Su had planted them himself. The floral scent was lovely.

In addition to the flowers, a large tree stood in the courtyard, shading a table and chairs. Usually, Su Tan loved to lie on the long wooden chair in the yard, listening to the chirping birds, smelling the fragrant blooms, and soaking in the fresh air and warm sunlight. He couldn't see, but his imagination would automatically conjure up idyllic scenes: blue skies and white clouds, singing birds and fragrant flowers, quaint cottages by babbling brooks, and a blind man resting in the shade of a tree.

Having familiarized himself with his surroundings, Su Tan finally felt a sliver of security. What gave a person a sense of security? Undoubtedly, it was owning a house, a home of one's own!

If he didn't have to worry about sourcing food, Su Tan was confident he could survive in this house without needing his eyesight at all. Of course, it would be a bit boring. Being blind was intensely boring. He couldn't read; any activity requiring vision was completely off the table. Before his eyes, aside from the interface provided by the system, everything was a void of pitch-black emptiness.

Now that he knew the house inside out, Su Tan realized he would eventually need to step outside and experience the world, or at least find something to occupy his time, lest he die of boredom. He was well aware of his current limitations. Going out right now was out of the question—if he did, he probably wouldn't even be able to find his way back.

Thus, he had to find something to do at home.

Groping his way around, he gathered the bedding and his clothes, deciding to do some laundry. Su Tan was a mild germaphobe; he detested filth and messiness. Then again, liking things clean... hardly seemed like a character flaw.

When he first arrived in this world, Su Tan was deeply repulsed by his clothes, blankets, and mattress. Back then, when he hadn't even mapped out the layout of his room, washing clothes was naturally impossible. But now... he truly couldn't stand it a second longer.

Feeling along the bed, he stripped the quilt covers and bedsheets. This was a simple task he could manage perfectly well without eyes. Carrying the bundle of bedding, he carefully made his way to the well, dropped them into a wooden basin, and then navigated his way back to the room to grab all the dirty clothes. While exploring the house, Su Tan had pinpointed exactly where everything was kept.

"Blind Su really didn't care about his appearance at all!" Su Tan thought helplessly, harboring deep grievances against the original owner of his body. Not a single piece of the guy's clothing was clean.

Doing laundry was genuinely a massive challenge for him in his current state. He drew water from the well, soaked the clothes, and meticulously scrubbed them using a packet of cleaning powder—something Blind Su hadn't used in who knew how long, given the thick layer of dust on it.

SCRUB, SCRUB, SCRUB!

Su Tan couldn't tell which spots were dirty and which weren't, so he washed entirely by feel. But according to his intuition, it seemed like no part of these items was clean anyway, so he simply gave everything a thorough, all-over wash. It was a massive undertaking. The chore took up a huge chunk of his day. Washing five shirts, three pairs of trousers, the bedding, and his shoes consumed an immense amount of time.

"My back is killing me, and I don't even know if it's clean," he mumbled to himself. "But it has to be cleaner than before, at least!"

He inspected the bamboo laundry pole in the yard. It hadn't been used in ages, but it was still functional. One by one, he hung the clothes and sheets over the bamboo pole. The scent of the cleaning powder wafted through the air. Standing in the courtyard, Su Tan smiled. Doing laundry was just a mundane chore to anyone else, but for him, it was a source of pride. Doing it for the first time as a blind person was a true accomplishment.

"It's pretty warm today. They should be dry by tonight!" he thought.

The spot where he hung the laundry received ample sunlight. Su Tan turned around, put the wooden basin and the remaining cleaning powder back in their places, and settled comfortably beneath the large tree to rest. Before he knew it... he had actually drifted off, sleeping all the way until evening.

It wasn't until the Chens' little grandson came to deliver his meal that Su Tan finally woke up. After eating, he felt his freshly washed laundry and realized it was completely dry, carrying the crisp scent of sunshine. Delighted, Su Tan made his bed and neatly folded his clothes.

"Finally, a clean place to sleep. Hopefully, I'll get a good night's rest!" he thought.

When night fell and Su Tan prepared to sleep, he felt that his own body wasn't clean enough to grace such pristine sheets. After a moment of thought, he went to take a bath before finally climbing into bed.

"A clean bed is just so comfortable," he mused.

That night, Su Tan slept exceptionally well. Perhaps he had adapted to the pace of life here, perhaps he had accepted the reality of being blind, or perhaps it was because he had washed the sheets himself, giving him a deep sense of security. He slept soundly until dawn.

Sleeping in a clean bed seemed to have completely unleashed Su Tan's inner germaphobe. He found himself increasingly intolerant of the grime in the house. The tables, the chairs, the doors, the windows, the cabinets... He couldn't stand any of it. Su Tan fetched a basin of water and began wiping down everything in the room that could be cleaned. He didn't have anything else to do anyway. Since he was idle, he might as well clean and give himself a decent place to live.

Cleaning the entire house was certainly not a one- or two-day job, and Su Tan had no intention of scrubbing everything down all at once. He would take it slow; he had plenty of time, after all. His efforts weren't in vain. The items he used most frequently had all been thoroughly cleaned. He didn't know how it looked to the naked eye, but it felt great to him—leagues better than before.

That morning, Su Tan woke up early, just as he always did. However, he didn't immediately get up to clean. Instead, he sat on the edge of the bed.

"Judging by the time... Village Chief Chen's tribulation should be arriving soon. I wonder how he's doing?" Su Tan thought, worry knotting his brow.

Over the past few days, whenever someone from the Chen Family came to deliver his meals, he had made a point to remind them to tell the old village chief to be careful. He just didn't know if the man had actually listened.