95: Experiencing the World of the Blind

"Hey guys, this game... looks kind of interesting, huh."

Streamer said, operating the controls to enter the game.

Yet, to her surprise, the moment it finished loading, Streamer and her livestream room were instantly plunged into dead silence.

Darkness.

Pure, profound, and boundless darkness.

It wasn't the black screen that appears when game graphics fail to load, but a void with an incredibly strong sense of presence.

It felt as if her entire being had been instantly cast into the deepest corner of the universe, stripping away any sense of direction.

"What the f*ck?!"

Streamer almost cried out, instinctively waving her hand in front of her eyes, but her field of vision remained nothing but ink-like blackness.

"What's going on? Is the game bugged? Is the screen black? Is there something wrong with my holographic pod?"

Her panicked voice sounded exceptionally clear in the silent darkness, and it was clearly transmitted to the livestream room as well.

[????]

[What's going on? We can't see anything either.]

[There must be a problem with the game.]

[I was eating instant noodles, and it scared the crap out of me; I spilled them all over my pants.]

Just as Streamer was panicking, a clear, gentle male voice rang out beside her ears, or perhaps, it rang out in her mind.

"This is the 1081st day after I went blind, and also the 1081st day of my new life."

"I said goodbye to the past, came here, opened a bar, and play the piano that I still love."

"She and I..."

Accompanied by the slow narration of this male voice, Streamer gradually calmed down.

"So, it's about being blind..." she muttered softly.

It seemed as if she was afraid that if her voice were too loud, it would disturb this young man's recounting.

Not until the male voice finished did Streamer and the many viewers in the livestream room see a blurry black-and-white piano appear before them.

Then, her line of sight shifted upward; it appeared to be a window.

Why use the word "appeared"? Mainly because, aside from the black, there was only that blurry object.

She couldn't see it very clearly either, and wasn't entirely sure.

Streamer watched as a blurry figure walked over.

Just when she thought this NPC would ask her name or introduce themselves.

The Protagonist spoke directly instead.

And that NPC only responded with the sound of knocking on the table from beginning to end.

Then the NPC left.

Streamer wanted to follow, but discovered she was not in control.

She couldn't move at this moment.

"It seems the freedom of this game isn't very high, but what exactly does this mean?"

Unlike other combat games, where you just start fighting or get asked for your username right after entering.

This game goes straight into the plot upon entering.

Immediately after the woman left, the Protagonist said, "I should go too."

Streamer discovered she could suddenly move, but because she couldn't see, she took a step and tripped.

Yet, when her hand touched the floor, she discovered she could "see" for a brief moment.

At the same time, the game provided a prompt.

【Touch to perceive the outlines of objects】

Then the game gave a task—【Find your white cane】

Streamer felt the pain caused by the fall, climbed to her feet, and fumbled around, searching for the white cane.

At this moment, the live chat was truly heating up.

[Hahahaha, although, it was actually pretty funny when Streamer fell.]

[Experiencing the life of a blind person? Maybe that figure from before was actually a monster.]

[Come on, Streamer, find the white cane first!]

[I think it's pretty interesting. The Protagonist is a blind person, so what is this game actually about? Can a blind person fight? Looking forward to it!]

[Wahahaha, be careful, Streamer, don't fall again.]

After a series of fumbling, Streamer finally found that thin, hard white cane.

"This... how do you play this?"

Streamer's voice carried a hint of panic.

Accustomed to always being able to see, suddenly being stripped of the most important visual sense made her feel like a newborn baby, fragile and helpless.

No one responded to her.

The game gave another prompt—【Open the door and leave the bar.】

She instinctively and tentatively tapped the white cane in her hand forward lightly.

"Tap."

A crisp, faint tapping sound rang out, like a pebble cast into a calm lake in the absolute darkness.

Streamer tapped the white cane and reached out, fumbling until she found the door.

After opening the door.

She still didn't see any light.

Darkness, it was still darkness.

She could only keep tapping the white cane, even feeling a bit annoyed.

She felt that this Producer must have nothing better to do, or perhaps they made this game just to torture players.

Yet, she inexplicably wanted to keep playing.

She wanted to know what this Producer was actually doing.

So Streamer continued tapping the white cane, and this time, parts that she could "see" appeared before her eyes again.

"Is this... tactile paving?"

Streamer asked hesitantly, as she really wasn't sure if this was what tactile paving looked like.

Too many people know nothing about tactile paving.

[It really is tactile paving. Does this game have monsters appearing ahead?]

[Wow, it's so dark, I can only see a little bit of the tactile paving.]

[Will it become bright again later?]

[Let's see what happens if we go forward.]

[This game is kind of interesting, keep playing, Streamer.]

Seeing the chat, Streamer worked even harder, operating the white cane and tapping continuously.

Crisp tapping sounds accompanied the appearance of the areas she could "see."

"Tap... tap..."

Every tap lit up a small coordinate point on the dark map in her mind.

She cautiously tapped the white cane in front of her.

The game gave another instruction—【Follow the tactile paving to exit the commercial street】

Streamer really wanted to complain, "Does this game just give tasks this bluntly?"

"Couldn't they have an NPC or something to guide the way?"

Complaining aside, Streamer was still playing seriously.

Although she found the game a bit annoying to play, the number of viewers in the livestream room was growing visibly.

[What game is this? Just tapping away, where are you going?]

[It's all black, I was wondering what you were doing. Turns out it's a blind person simulator?]

[This is actually quite novel; at least it's the first time I've seen a game from this perspective.]

[Come to think of it, this Producer really isn't afraid of driving players away, it's so dark you can't see anything.]

[I'm going to go play and check it out, it's called "See," right?]

Streamer didn't know when she started playing more and more seriously. She was tapping cautiously, but unexpectedly, she walked straight into a utility pole.

She rubbed her slightly painful head and continued walking forward.

However, what greeted her was—

A continuous, noisy roar approaching from afar, accompanied by the sound of tires screeching against the ground.

"A car!"

Streamer exclaimed almost instinctively, stopping abruptly, her body tensing up, and she unconsciously took a step back.

Even though she knew it was virtual, the oppressive feeling of that behemoth made of sound whizzing past made her heart rate accelerate suddenly.

The car sounds stopped for a while and then returned; Streamer didn't know when a car would drive past her again.

Misfortunes never come singly.

"Tap!"

The white cane struck a hard object; the sound was high up, not at her feet.

"Hmm?"

Streamer probed suspiciously with the tip of the cane and fumbled with her hand.

A cold, metallic texture lay across the middle of the tactile paving—it was the frame of a shared bicycle!

"Who the f*ck parked their bike on the tactile paving?!"