Feng Yi chose to go out today because he had seen the weather forecast.
Before leaving the house, he thought, should he try to challenge himself and see how many people the elevator had carried in the past hour, what secrets it hid?
After stepping out, he encountered a middle-aged man in the elevator who seemed to have just come from the kitchen, having cooked fried foods. The smell of grease and spices penetrated his mask, irritating his nose so much he felt like sneezing a dozen times. This was already the result of Feng Yi's control, otherwise, he would have detected even more.
Holding his breath, Feng Yi abandoned the idea of exploring the "secrets in the elevator," not showing any sign of it on his face, and politely responded when the other person greeted him. It wasn't good to seem too unfamiliar with someone who lived in the same building.
The cramped elevator had limited air circulation, and with the number of people using it daily, the mix of odors was complex, including some that Feng Yi preferred not to investigate. Hence, he gave up the idea.
There were so many places to explore, why pick the elevator?
After leaving the elevator, Feng Yi headed to a nearby park.
At this time, there weren't many people in the park, and the weather was not very good today, so it seemed quite empty.
But for Feng Yi in his current state, it was just perfect!
He took off his mask and breathed.
It had just rained, and the air pollutants were either blown away or had settled with the rain. The gaseous pollutants were also not as noticeable, which was quite a friendly environment for someone as sensitive to smells as Feng Yi.
The public benches had been painted recently and still had a strong smell, so Feng Yi avoided them and chose a stone bench to sit on instead.
This stone bench was probably often occupied, with no old dirt, and it was very clean thanks to the rain.
His nose captured the scent particles in the air, including those adhering to the moisture. His brain worked to distinguish the sources of these odors.
After a week of seclusive practice, his brain's ability to distinguish these scent molecules had greatly improved. There might be delays when the odors were more complex and unpredictable, but he could still manage here.
Feng Yi identified the odors: the flowers and trees, the soil, and a faint medicated scent, probably from the park management's spraying.
With such a variety of plants, Feng Yi could name less than ten percent of them. However, he remembered the scent of most of them and might slowly match them to their names over time.
If he closed his eyes, what kind of world could he "see"?
Visitors, plants, birds, benches, each had their own scent.
Scents enveloped these people and objects, forming scent clusters similar in shape to their forms—human-shaped for people and tree-shaped for trees. These scent clusters would change shape with the wind's direction and strength.
Air flowed into his nostrils, bringing not only these scent molecules and particles but also other information. While smell could not precisely locate, it could sense.
Like the water vapor that tumbled and surged with the wind.
And like...
Looking up at the clouds, they seemed to convey other information—when it would rain or clear up, all of which he could sense.
Some tourists laughed heartily as they walked past him, discussing something that made them slap their thighs with mirth.
If he closed his eyes, he could "see" that around those tourists in their scented clouds, there were other fascinating informational molecules, even though Feng Yi could now detect too few to accurately identify them.
Nonetheless, he speculated that those fascinating information molecules might be emitted by people when they were emotionally charged. Different emotions would release different informational molecules.
Feng Yi "watched" the world in the park until nightfall before he stood up and left.
A gust of wind blew, and Feng Yi raised his hand, trapping a fallen leaf that flew past his head and tossing it into a nearby trash can.
Without needing to see, he could sense the drifting leaf and catch it.
Upon leaving the park, Feng Yi did not immediately return home but walked on the streets of the city.
There weren't many people walking in the rainy streets, but the shops and malls were still bustling.
The scents here were more complex, and it was somewhat difficult to distinguish them, but Feng Yi still tried to identify and record them.
He also observed the information released by passersby with different psychological emotions, although his perception of these was still very vague. Maybe in the future, as evolution continued and his senses upgraded, his perceptual abilities would further improve, and then he would be able to sense these emotion-released information molecules more accurately and see the "reality" of this world.
For example, the true psychological reactions hidden beneath the disguise: anxiety, restlessness, joy, indifference… Emotions can be feigned, but the molecules of emotional information cannot be hidden.
Under the night sky, the city was illuminated by the flashing neon lights, where various sources of light intersected to form a beautiful cityscape.
Walking down the street, Feng Yi "saw" through the remaining scent molecules—the person who had walked their dog 10 minutes ago, the passenger who had waited at the bus stop 5 minutes ago… The one waiting for the bus had even eaten a spicy hand-grabbed pancake.
By identifying these remaining scent molecules, Feng Yi could "see" scenes invisible to the naked eye. Although these scenes were comprised of clusters of scents without discernible faces or ages, he could know what they had done.
Walking towards home without wearing a mask, Feng Yi distinguished various scent molecules and the stories behind them along the way. Slowly adapting to the onslaught of information these complex molecules provided was a bit interesting.
Today's super sense of smell exploration √
…
Outside a deli, a little boy about five years old, dressed in a dinosaur raincoat, was using the shop's large floor-to-ceiling window as a mirror.
A gust of wind blew back the hood of his raincoat, but he didn't seem to mind.
When Feng Yi passed by him, he reached out to catch a large drop of rainwater falling above the boy's head.
The little boy, sensing the movement, suddenly looked up at Feng Yi with one hand quickly covering the top of his head, as if guessing what Feng Yi had taken from him.
Feng Yi stopped three meters away from him, turned back and smiled, "The candy in your pocket has melted."
The little boy's other hand hurriedly covered his pocket over his raincoat.
At this moment, the boy's mother, who had been watching from inside the store, quickly came out. After glancing at Feng Yi as he departed, she anxiously asked her son, "Why are you covering your head? Move your hand, let me see!"
The little boy removed his hand.
Apart from a few tufts of hair blown about by the wind, there was nothing unusual.
After a thorough check to ensure there were no wounds or pranks, the parent was relieved. But upon recalling the scene she had just witnessed, questions arose again in her mind.
The parent asked, "What did that uncle… young man do just now?" She hadn't seen his face clearly, but he seemed young.
The child, with wide eyes filled with confusion, mimicked a quick sweeping motion with his hand: "He just did this, swoosh~."
"And then?"
"And then… then he told me my pocket candy melted… Wow! It really did melt, it's all stuck to my clothes! How did he know? Does he have x-ray vision?"
"How many times have I told you those candies melt easily! Don't keep them in your pocket… Okay, we'll talk about this later. What else did he say?"
"Then he just walked away!"
"Have you seen him before?"
"I have!" The little boy, as if remembering something, jumped excitedly.
"Where?"
"On your phone!"
"Nonsense! I don't have him on my phone!!"
"You do! You even said last time that this 'snake spirit' was really pretty!"
"..."