C1 What Is This Before My Eyes?

Jianghai City...

Located somewhere within an impoverished, derelict neighborhood ... more commonly referred to as 'the slums'...

In a rundown flat; which, sadly enough, he co-habitats with the wandering vermin and roaches ... whom don't even have the decency to chip in on the rent...

The day begins like any other day; with the alarm clock repeatedly ringing over, and over again.

Jiang Nan is abruptly woken out from his sleep; and, immediately shoots up into a sitting position. He sharply turns his head, and glances at the time. A look of panic suddenly overtakes his countenance.

Actually; this is the second time that his alarm clock had gone off, this morning. Jiang Nan isn't sure whether the 'Snooze' button is a blessing, or a curse; but, he's certain about one thing ... he needs to get more sleep at night, instead of repeatedly crashing back to sleep in the mornings. He cries aloud, "Shoot ... I'm gonna be late for work, again!"

Jiang Nan frantically jumps out of bed, and rushes to the bathroom to wash up; then, rifles through his drawers ... fumbling through his clothes to pick out what to wear ... and, hurriedly dresses himself.

As Jiang Nan scrambles throughout the flat ... flailing about like a chicken with its head cut off ... he's emphatically praying in his heart that he won't be scolded by Boss; even though in his mind, he realizes that the scolding is inevitable. It is Boss, after all.

And, once Jiang Nan accepts his fate of probably receiving a scolding; he's instantly taken aback when out of nowhere the phrase Rate: 100% suddenly appears before his eyes ... seemingly floating in the air like some sort of ethereal apparition.

At first, he thinks that his eyes must be playing a trick on his eyes; that he probably hasn't fully woken up, yet. But, then again ... he wonders ... "Why is it so vividly clear..."

"What the heck's going on?"

Jiang Nan is totally confounded by this.

However, right now, time is of the utmost urgency for Jiang Nan; and, he needs that time to hurry to work ... and, not waste it mulling over and trying to analyze some inexplicable visual anomaly, at this time.

Jiang Nan has his backpack grasped tightly in his hands ... since he didn't even want to 'waste time' by putting it on properly ... as he charges down the dimly illuminated stairwell of the dilapidated building. He quickly glances down at his watch ... almost eight o'clock. Well accustomed to this routine ... which has become more like a morning ritual ... Jiang Nan surmises that as long as the bus wasn't early, he should be able to catch it. He desperately hopes that it didn't already arrive, and gone off on its way.

However, the moment that thought had run through his mind; once again, the phrase Rate: 100% pops up ... quickly flashing before his eyes.

A flabbergasted Jiang Nan instantly cries, "My God ... what's going on?!"

Jiang Nan feels that something's definitely up ... something bizarre. This isn't right.

He stops dead in his tracks.

Jiang Nan takes a moment to wait and see if this elusive 'optical illusion' reappears; but, nothing happens.

He mutters aloud, "Well, come on; where'd you go? ... Nothing; huh? Mhm..."

A bewildered Jiang Nan simply shakes his head and shrugs his shoulders; chalking these events up to a case of him probably just not getting enough sleep last night. He rationalizes that his fatigued mind must be messing with him ... using a hallucinatory trick as payback for depriving it of much needed sleep.

Jiang Nan stops dwelling on it; after all, he has more pressing matters to deal with, right now. He's already running late; and, he has to catch the eight o'clock bus, or it's game over. He starts charging back down the stairs.

Heavily panting, at this point; Jiang Nan rushes up to the bus stop, stumbling ... only to find the bus, which had just pulled away, 'mocking' him from almost two blocks away already. He thinks, "Damn ... why did I always insist on cutting PE class back in high school."

Then; he grumbles aloud, "Game over."

Jiang Nan ... because of his socioeconomic status, prides himself on his frugality ... starts clenching his fists and gritting his teeth; getting ready to 'bite the bullet'. Ordinarily, he wouldn't dare to dream about wasting his hard-earned, paltry income on a taxi; since for him, money was hard to come by ... and, when it does come by; there's usually very little of it. But, this was a dire situation; so, he caves in, and hails over the next empty taxi he sees passing by.

Once reaching the company; Jiang Nan jumps out of the taxi ... literally throwing the fare at the driver, in the process ... and storms into the building; only to have his path being blocked by the already awaiting Boss, as soon as he enters. Seeing that 'ravenously hungering' look in her eyes, as she hovers in the reception area, looking as if she anxious to 'pounce'; he suddenly feels like a gazelle that's being devoured by a lion ... and, Boss is the skulking hyena waiting for the opportunity to swoop in and gobble up the scraps left behind.

Boss is a shrewish woman in her thirties ... who looks like she could pass for her forties ... whose 'trademarked' scowl is constantly etched on her face. With her hands already poised upon her waist, posturing in an offensive-stance; she immediately begins lashing out, berating Jiang Nan.

Being how jobs aren't easy to come by ... in fact, they're actually harder to come by than money, as he sees it ... Jiang Nan decides to just stand there biting his tongue and take it. Forget about talking back and giving Boss any lip; for, he'd rather take a chewing out over a 'pink slip', any day.

He thinks to himself, "Just grin and bear it; Jiang Nan ... sooner or later, this nagging 'windbag's' gonna run out of air.

Jiang Nan continues to silently curse Boss in his mind; as she persists with her seemingly incessant tirade.

Jiang Nan thinks, "See this; you old witch , you ... this is exactly while you'll probably end up becoming an old maid. Who in their right mind would ever want to marry someone as coldhearted and ill-tempered as you?" Suddenly ... Rate: 0% flashes before his eyes.

Once again taken aback by these mysterious occurrences; random questions rush through Jiang Nan's mind ... "Oh my God; what's going on? What's wrong with me?"

Instantly, out of the blue; random numbers start appearing before his eyes ... jumbled together, and swirling about in the air. This causes Jiang Nan to begin losing his composure, somewhat.

Jiang Nan is overwhelmed by a 'wave' of trepidation that quickly inundates his psyche; and, he's immediately unnerved from this. He's self-absorbed in his own thoughts. The only good thing about this inexplicable incident is that he's temporarily oblivious to Boss's rant. ... He continues being lost in his thoughts...

"This is definitely not normal ... no; this is way beyond normal. Like something out of a 'Twilight Zone' episode."

And; what the heck's with this ... what ... data? Is that what these numbers are supposed to be?"

Boss finally wraps up scolding Jiang Nan ... who has recently been unaware of what's been spewing out of the shrew's mouth ... ending on a note which happens to catch his ears. The last thing Boss extols; which causes Jian Nan to wince ... actually, almost making him cry...

"Oh; by the way ... seeing how you make it a habit of frequently showing up late; you evidently don't care that much about money. So; I decided to refrain from giving you a bonus this month." She piercingly glares at him. "Be thankful that I'm not deducting the bonus that you hardly deserved last month from your pay, too." Boss stomps off; calling out without looking back, "Now; quit your dawdling, and hurry up and get to work ... while you're still lucky enough to have a job."

Now infuriated; Jiang Nan's body rigidly tenses up and starts trembling. He balls up his hands into two tightly clenched fists, and begins to feverishly grind his teeth. He wants to shout out and curse that wretched, old witch shrew; but, he refrains from doing it ... and wisely so.

Jiang Nan has no choice but to keep going on being Boss's 'punching bag'; if he wants to keep this job. He needs the money ... that is, if he wants to keep on eating; and, not wind up sleeping out on the streets.

After calming down a bit; Jiang Nan slowly meandered back to his seat, and began to languidly sort through his paperwork.

Jiang Nan was a junior real estate agent .... and, unfortunately; not a very good one, at that. Which is why he always seems to be targeted by Boss.

He perused through lists of potential clients who were in the market to purchase a house ... along with cross referencing listings of available properties ... and, began making calls in hopes of setting up appointments with them.

Jiang Nan had always been a wishful thinker; who constantly makes it a habit of praying for things that he wants. Today, he's earnestly hoping that he could be lucky enough to sell a house; and, make himself a nice commission from the sale.

As soon as he actively starts hoping for the elusive sale ... Rate: 0% suddenly appears flashing in the air.

He quickly starts looking around the room; and, realizes that none of his fellow co-workers seem to see the mystical apparition floating in the air in front of him. This proves that whatever this is; he's the only one capable of witnessing it. And, because this keeps occurring ... whatever this is ... perhaps he shouldn't dismiss this as being a mere hallucination; and, seriously try to make some sort of sense of it.

Jiang Nan repeatedly rubs his chin, as he intensely ponders over what these brief, enigmatic phrases that keep suddenly appearing in front of his eyes mean ... what could they possibly represent? And, as he mulls this over; different hypotheses starting running through his mind.

Of course, the simplest explanation being ... and, the one that kept crossing Jiang Nan's mind ... "Could there be something wrong my eyes?" ... And, in an instant; Rate: 0% flashes before him.

"Damn it ... what the hell!"

Next he wonders, "Could this all be just some strange, random phenomenon?" ... Poof; Rate: 0%.

"For crying out loud; not again ... damn it!"

Jiang Nan continues to find himself being mired down in a beguiling quandary.

These mysterious phrases ... which almost appear to be like some sort of data; or, percentage quotient ... have totally piqued his curiosity.

Jiang Nan takes a moment to clear his mind; then, once again begins to try to rationalize and make sense of this bizarre happening. And, after carefully attempting to analyze and find some kind of a pattern with these occurrences; it, suddenly comes to him like an epiphany.

"Wait a minute ... hold on..."

"What if it isn't supposed to represent a percentage quotient; but, something more like..."

The proverbial 'light bulb shines brightly above his head'; as Jiang Nan draws a conclusion ... "What if it's the percentage for the probability rate for the likelihood of something to happen?"

Jiang Nan begins testing this hypothesis.

"I won't be late today." ... Rate: 0%.

"At the rate I'm going; I will eventually earn a million yuan." ... Rate: 1%

"I can at least earn 10 yuan." ... Rate: 100%

"Oh my God ... what the...?"

"Don't tell me this means ... I can visualize the Success rates of any outcomes?

Jiang Nan is totally shocked ... and, elated ... over this apparent emergence of a potentiality limitless new power.