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Knowing that his tongue wouldn't fork, Feng Yi felt much more relaxed.
As for the "different world," it wasn't as if he was seeing ghosts; there was no need to be scared!!!
Even though his face was still swollen and his nose still hurt, he would just have to tough it out, right?
The pain would eventually turn to numbness, and once he got used to it, it wouldn't be a problem!
It was just two weeks!
After psyching himself up, Feng Yi calmed down and even took his time to make a liquid lunch—the kind he hadn't had in a while.
He popped in a straw, and sipped away leisurely~
With a full belly, Feng Yi pondered how to get through the upcoming ordeal.
Two weeks. It wasn't too long, but it wasn't exactly short either. He couldn't just do nothing.
First, he needed to think about how to deal with the evolution of his nose.
Feng Yi started researching again but grew more anxious with each finding. The more hypotheses and conjectures he discovered, the more he worried. Eventually, he tossed his phone and laptop aside, not wanting to look anymore.
Exercise was the only way to relieve his worries.
Working out was a good method to drive away the blues, but with his nostrils blocked, breathing was a bit uncomfortable.
Besides researching and exercising, Feng Yi also took other precautions.
He would never fight an unprepared battle!
With the experience from the tooth growth process, Feng Yi began placing orders for equipment after his research.
With a hyper-sensitive nose, he'd surely smell all sorts of odors as he evolved. What would he do when odors he typically enjoyed became overpowering?
Take indole, for example, which has a distinct odor profile. At very low concentrations, it smells like flowers, but at higher concentrations, it turns into various indescribable stenches. How could that be bearable?
He didn't want to get knocked out by odors.
Having bought toothbrushes and toothpaste during his tooth growth, Feng Yi ordered different types of masks with various filters, along with spares that boasted over 90%, 95%, and 99% filtration efficiency.
Feeling that wasn't safe enough, he also ordered dust and poison protective masks.
Apart from odorous molecules, the air was full of dust and fibers, each with their own smell. Feng Yi didn't dare guarantee he wouldn't get "poisoned."
As it was his first time growing an evolution-enhanced nose, Feng Yi had no experience and didn't know if he was overreacting. But then, it's better to be safe than sorry.
In addition to these precautions, Feng Yi also ordered ingredients for liquid meals from a delivery platform. He thought his days of tooth and jaw pain were over and he could eat freely. He hadn't stocked up on these kinds of ingredients the day before, and now he was running short.
Once he had placed his orders, Feng Yi put on a jacket with a high collar that could stand up and a hood.
With the collar stood up and the hood on, "As long as I'm quick enough to receive the delivery, the delivery guy won't be able to get a good look at me!"
As for the parcels, he chose delivery service options that allowed him to pick up packages from the community's parcel locker at dawn, which minimally exposed him to others.
During his time at home, Wu Ji and Qian Feiyang had also called him, but he fended them off with various excuses. He wouldn't be meeting anyone until his face swelling went down.
A week later.
The swelling on his face had subsided somewhat, and the pain wasn't as intense as at the beginning. His face almost resembled its original contour and wearing a mask outside no longer made him feel like a pig's head.
The once-clogged nostrils were finally free to breathe.
The moment he could breathe, Feng Yi took a deep breath and then instantly stuffed his nostrils with tissue.
What does it feel like to have an ultra-sensitive sense of smell?
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It was as if countless indescribable, stimulating scents were assaulting him head-on, a massive amount of complex information instantly cramming his brain, throwing Feng Yi into confusion, even leading him to wonder, "Am I living in the real world?"
Once he collected himself, Feng Yi could only start by plugging his nostrils—
My nose is still not under my control, so, I'm sorry, but I have to plug it first!
Just like when his teeth had grown uncontrollably before, he needed to halt their function for the time being!
At times like these, the gas mask Feng Yi had purchased proved to be useful.
Although the mask itself also had a scent, it at least blocked out most of the odorous gases and particles, allowing his brain a chance to rest.
He had to take time to adapt to this change and explore whether he could control the new olfactory organ to selectively function; it would be best if it could hibernate normally, otherwise he couldn't expect to live a normal life.
The damage was too great!!
Feng Yi stood in front of the mirror, looking at the person in the reflection wearing a breathing mask, with a solemn expression, as if facing some difficult life question.
Forget it, better not go out.
If he went out like this, who knows if he would be taken for a madman.
It wasn't an emergency situation now, and on top of that, the continuous rainy weather for the past few days had been enough to wash the pollutants from the air, keeping the air quality consistently good to excellent.
Wearing a regular mask would have been one thing, but going out with such an exaggerated gas mask would give him a hundred percent, or at least eighty percent chance of turning heads. He might even end up in a short video shared online for discussion. If he encountered a particularly inquisitive passerby, they might even inquire if he had some respiratory disease, needing only to breathe germ-free air or something of that sort.
Therefore, for the following week, Feng Yi continued to stay at home, enduring this difficult adaptation period.
The evolution of his nose was not complete, and it was not easy to control, but Feng Yi could try to distinguish scents, using these captured odor molecules to identify objects.
Fabric, dining chairs, sofas, electrical appliances, and the like, all had their distinct scents.
To recognize these scents, to record them in his brain. Once he had registered enough information, he wouldn't be overwhelmed by a variety of scents causing his brain to freeze up.
He had to be selective and focused.
Without sufficient processing power, the biological cost of rapidly switching between multiple tasks was too high, too easily leading to fatigue.
Adapt slowly, gain control step by step.
Switching from a dust and poison filter mask to one with over 99% filtering efficiency, then to 95%, 90%.
Different masks had different focuses in filtration; the particles and gases they filtered varied. After adapting to gas information, adapting to particulate information also became quicker.
Of course, the burden on his brain during this period was extremely great; apart from practicing scent recognition and controlling the new olfactory organ, Feng Yi did nothing but eat and sleep. He was too tired.
At such times, the tea leaves Mute Uncle had given had no effect.
One month's shelf life had passed, and the tea leaves had served their purpose.
No matter how good the tea was, it couldn't help Feng Yi control his nose to identify scents.
The swelling on his face had subsided; it was still the same face, yet Feng Yi felt a bit of strangeness to it.
Does it really look the same just because it appears to be?
The nose seemed the same as before, but inside was a small new olfactory organ.
There wasn't an additional dimple on his face, but the changes that had occurred were not visible on the outside.
Looking at the gloomy sky outside, Feng Yi decided to take a walk.
During this time, although he practiced scent identification daily and his control over his nose had gradually deepened, to the point where he could navigate the house with his eyes closed, these activities were still confined to within the house. He wanted to see, as the old butler described, "a different world."