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-habitated with the wandering vermin and roaches ... whom didn't even have the decency to chip in on the rent...

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

Jiang Nan was abruptly woken out from his sleep; and, immediately shot up into a sitting position. He sharply turned his head, and glanced at the time. A look of panic suddenly overtook his countenance.

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

Jiang Nan frantically jumped out of bed, and rushed to the bathroom to wash up; then, rifled through his drawers ... fumbling through his clothes to pick out what to wear ... and, hurriedly dressed himself.

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

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

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

"What the heck's going on?"

Jiang Nan was totally confounded by this.

However, right now, time was of the utmost urgency for Jiang Nan; and, he needed 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 had his backpack grasped tightly in his hands ... since he didn't even want to 'waste time' by putting it on properly ... as he charged down the dimly illuminated stairwell of the dilapidated building. He quickly glanced down at his watch ... almost eight o'clock. Well accustomed to this routine ... which had become more like a morning ritual ... Jiang Nan surmised that as long as the bus wasn't early, he should be able to catch it. He desperately hoped 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% popped up ... quickly flashing before his eyes.

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

Jiang Nan felt that something was definitely up ... something bizarre. This wasn't right.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

Jiang Nan took a moment to wait and see if this elusive 'optical illusion' reappeared; but, nothing happened.

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

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

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

Heavily panting, at this point; Jiang Nan rushed 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 grumbled aloud, "Game over."

Jiang Nan ... because of his socioeconomic status, prided himself on his frugality ... started 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 did come by; there was usually very little of it. But, this was a dire situation; so, he caved in, and hailed over the next empty taxi he saw passing by.

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

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

Being how jobs weren't easy to come by ... in fact, they were actually harder to come by than money, as he saw it ... Jiang Nan decided 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 thought to himself, "Just grin and bear it; Jiang Nan ... sooner or later, this nagging 'windbag's' gonna run out of air.

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

Jiang Nan thought, "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% flashed before his eyes.

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

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

Jiang Nan was overwhelmed by a 'wave' of trepidation that quickly inundated his psyche; and, he was immediately unnerved from this. He was self-absorbed in his own thoughts. The only good thing about this inexplicable incident was that he was temporarily oblivious to Boss's rant. ... He continued 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 wrapped up scolding Jiang Nan ... who had recently been unaware of what had been spewing out of the shrew's mouth ... ending on a note which happened to catch his ears. The last thing Boss extolled; which caused 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 glared at him. "Be thankful that I'm not deducting the bonus that you hardly deserved last month from your pay, too." Boss stomped 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 tensed up and started trembling. He balled up his hands into two tightly clenched fists, and began to feverishly grind his teeth. He wanted to shout out and curse that wretched, old witch shrew; but, he refrained from doing it ... and wisely so.

Jiang Nan had no choice but to keep going on being Boss's 'punching bag'; if he wanted to keep this job. He needed the money ... that is, if he wanted 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 was why he always seemed 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 made it a habit of praying for things that he wanted. Today, he was 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 started hoping for the elusive sale ... Rate: 0% suddenly appeared flashing in the air.

He quickly started looking around the room; and, realized that none of his fellow co-workers seemed to see the mystical apparition floating in the air in front of him. This proved that whatever this was; he was the only one capable of witnessing it. And, because this kept occurring ... whatever this was ... 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 rubbed his chin, as he intensely pondered over what these brief, enigmatic phrases that kept suddenly appearing in front of his eyes meant ... what could they possibly represent? And, as he mulled 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% flashed before him.

"Damn it ... what the hell!"

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

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

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

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

Jiang Nan took a moment to clear his mind; then, once again began 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 came 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 drew a conclusion ... "What if it's the percentage for the probability rate for the likelihood of something to happen?"

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