Buzz, buzz, buzz.
Luan picked up his phone, thinking he had finally received an art commission. Unfortunately, what greeted him was a notification saying that someone had added him to a group chat.
Feeling disappointed, he threw his phone onto the sofa.
The pain in his eye intensified. He had just returned from a visit with an ophthalmologist. His left eye had been hurting for almost a month now. He legitimately thought he was going blind, but the doctor had said there was nothing wrong with his eye.
He had been in and out of that doctor's office. He had even sought out other eye specialists, but they had all said the same thing—there was nothing wrong with his eyes.
Some of them had even recommended a psychologist. They had said it was probably due to stress. So basically, they were all telling him that it was all in his head.
Luan had never ruled out the possibility that he was going insane. The things that had happened this year were just too much for him to handle. But the pain in his eye was too vivid to be something that existed only in his head. It wasn't just about the pain; it also affected his vision.
His left eye's vision looked too saturated. Green looked greener, and red looked redder. It made him feel like he was having a fever dream. The overly saturated colors overwhelmed his senses, making him feel like he was about to vomit. Aside from the colors, his eye also struggled to focus on objects. Like a cheap, low-quality phone camera, no matter how much he tapped the screen, it refused to focus, leaving everything blurry. It affected his daily life.
Luan ran his fingers through his hair and, with a firm grip, yanked some strands out. He hoped that by doing this, the pain in his eye would ease along with the headache it brought.
He crashed onto the sofa and picked up a small square pillow, pressing it against his face—more specifically, his left eye.
Before, he would have been more careful. The eye was a very fragile organ. But now, out of desperation, he wanted to dig it out.
Buzz, buzz, buzz.
His phone vibrated again. Because of the pain, Luan refused to acknowledge its presence.
But as it buzzed once more, it started to annoy him. He picked up the phone, intending to switch the notification sound to silent mode.
When he pressed the power button, his phone lit up. He was surprised by the notification. Like a strange spam message, his home screen was filled with notifications saying:
[You have been added to the Wrecking Divine group chat. Tap for more information.]
Was it a virus?
Luan sighed. He wasn't tech-savvy. On the contrary, he was very traditional. Aside from digital art applications, messaging apps, and SocialYou, he was basically just an ordinary guy when it came to technology.
And yet, he, a tech idiot, tapped the notification that he suspected was a virus. Of course, this wasn't an impulsive decision. His phone was already five years old, practically an antique. He had planned on getting a new one anyway. Besides, he didn't have anything important stored inside.
The Wrecking Divine group chat opened. To Luan's surprise, the chat was empty. He had expected to be bombarded with weird advertisements the moment he entered.
Maybe because of this newfound curiosity, he managed to put aside the pain in his left eye.
Luan checked the group members. There were ten people in total, including him. Judging by their unconventional usernames, they were all using second accounts, commonly known as dummy accounts.
To pass the time and distract himself from the pain, he decided to play along for a while.
Mimi: Hello?
He saw two small profile pictures appear in the corner of the screen, indicating that two people had read his message.
Allen: Hi. What's up?
Mimi: Nothing. Who's the group chat admin?
Allen: Idk, I checked the settings, but there's no admin listed.
Mimi: Did you also randomly get pulled in?
Allen: Yeah.
Since they were all strangers, the conversation was dry and awkward.
Lady: Hello.
Allen: Hi.
Mimi: Hi.
Lady: I was just curious, sorry. @Mimi, I checked your profile. Are you an artist?
Mimi: Yes! You can commission me if you'd like. I'm open for requests.
Allen: Even NSFW ones?
Lady: Yuck.
Mimi: Hahahaha, except that.
Luan lied. In times when his budget was tight—when he lacked money to even buy food—he had accepted any commission as long as it paid well. Well, except for those he considered unsafe or borderline despicable.
Just as the conversation started warming up, a sudden burst of pain shot through his left eye, almost rendering him immobile.
"Argh!" A sharp cry of pain escaped his lips as his phone slipped from his hands and fell to the floor.
He had been dealing with this pain for weeks. Just as he thought he was getting used to it and assumed it couldn't get any worse, this happened.
It was a madness-inducing pain. Luan, for the first time in his life, seriously wanted to dig his eye out. He would rather live blind in one eye than endure this torture.
What was going on? Why did it suddenly hurt so much? The fact that his left eye was even in pain in the first place was a huge red flag. It wasn't supposed to be this fragile. Something weird was happening.
Then, he felt something trickle down his cheek.
His trembling fingers wiped the moisture, expecting tears. His vision was glitching—goodness, it worsened as expected. He then shut his left eye. It was messing with his overall vision, making him feel like he had just eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms. He looked down at his fingers, determined to see what the thick liquid trickling down his face was.
All he saw was red.
Is this what I think it is?
It was blood.
Goodness! His eye was bleeding without any warning. Wasn't it fine a while ago?
At first, he thought he was tripping, going into a pain-induced hallucination. But the hot feeling of something dripping down his cheek reminded him that what he was seeing was real.