I am weak and friendly

Chapter 423 Old Man Du Qiming's Adventure

Chapter 423 Old Man Du Qiming's Adventure (5K views, please vote)
While Tang Yiping was experiencing the darkest moment of his life, in a hospital in Chuanling City, an elderly man was sitting by his wife's bedside, holding her hand.

"Old woman, did you hear what the doctor just said? You're feeling great now and you'll be discharged soon."

His voice was a bit loud because the old man, Du Qiming, was also hard of hearing.

He often worked in noisy mechanical environments when he was young, which damaged his hearing. As he got older, his hearing ability also declined significantly.

Fortunately, I haven't gone deaf yet; it's just that I always speak a little louder than others.

Of course, this could also be a habit he developed when he was young, since his work environment at that time meant that if he spoke softly, no one could hear him.

So he said loudly, "What do you want to eat? I'll go buy it for you!"

As he spoke, he grasped the white cane beside him and stood up.

The caregiver next to him tried to dissuade him, saying he was going to go buy it himself. The old man in the hospital bed smiled and said, "Let him go. Haven't you seen how cooped he's been these past few days?"

"But..." The caregiver was still a little worried.

"It's alright, he'll just be going to the cafeteria at most. It's not far, and there are people along the way," the elderly man in the hospital bed said.

Having spent decades with her husband, she sometimes couldn't help but sigh, saying that men, no matter how old, are all the same, just like dogs, needing to be let out to run wild from time to time.

"Tell me, what do you want to eat!" The old man stood in front of the hospital bed, head held high and chest puffed out, as if he wasn't going to buy food, but rather to carry out some important mission.

"The doctor said I should eat light food for the next couple of days, so please buy me some millet porridge and steamed egg custard. You can also buy me some other foods that I like."

"okay."

Having received permission, the old man picked up his cane and went outside.

He was already very familiar with this place and soon arrived at the elevator.

He fumbled for the elevator button and, while waiting, idly played with his white cane.

Just then, the white cane emitted an electronic sound.

"New firmware version detected: FORK-Cane v0.1. Update now? Tap the thumb button to update automatically."

what?
What did I just hear? My cane updates automatically?

If he remembered correctly, the last time he used this cane, Xiao Xu came over and struggled to fix it for a long time. He really struggled for a long time, from nine in the morning to three in the afternoon. As a result, he had to cancel his walk with his old friend and even got a free meal before leaving.

Each subsequent version update also took a long time, involving various tinkering and debugging.

Sometimes the old man even suspected that this guy was deliberately coming to freeload.

So, upon hearing this reminder, the old man tilted his head and leaned closer to hear it again.

but……

Before he could even hear clearly, his finger had already pressed down.

Oh no, I'm doomed.

"FORK-Cane is updating, estimated time is five minutes, please wait."

You impulsive jerk, why did you click on that?!

No, Xiao Xu is so unreliable. Why is he updating now without even telling me?

Five minutes? I don't believe you for a second. You'd be lucky if you could finish upgrading before dinner.

You even used your white cane to send a notification in advance. Did you know that your teacher's wife was going to be discharged from the hospital, so you sent your white cane ahead of time?

"FORK-Cane is downloading the update package, please wait." The old man's cane continued to emit the notification sound.

The elevator hadn't arrived yet, and the old man stood in front of it, moving about somewhat bewildered and uneasy.

This white cane still has all sorts of problems, but he thinks it's still very useful.

It has at least more functions than a regular white cane, and it is actually an improvement over the most advanced white canes on the market.

After getting used to it for a while, the old man felt that he was ready to carry out his grand plan.

Now that the white cane can no longer be used, the old man is still not used to it.

Going to the cafeteria to buy food suddenly became a challenge.

The old man then realized that although he often complained about the cane's various minor flaws, once he got used to a more convenient device, he suddenly found that he was no longer used to using ordinary devices.

The old man suddenly felt like backing out.

Otherwise... just go back obediently and let the caregiver get you food?
But... how can a man back down! If I go back now, what will my wife and caregiver think of me?
Just as the old man was struggling with his decision, the elevator doors opened.

"Elevator going down, main elevators go to odd-numbered floors and the basement. Sir, would you like to come in?" the hospital's elevator operator asked.

This elevator couldn't have come at the worst possible time.

There was no time to dwell on it anymore.

going or not?
The people inside the elevator waited quietly.

Although the elevators in the hospital are always busy and congested, everyone still showed patience for a few seconds when they saw an elderly man with a white cane standing outside the door.

But the old man couldn't waste everyone's time; he had already wasted the elevator's time by stopping it.

So after hesitating for a few seconds, he stepped forward, taking a step from which there was no turning back.

He got into the elevator.

"Where are you going, sir?" the elevator operator asked.

"canteen."

A hand came over to support him and guided him to stand in the middle of the elevator, slightly behind.

The elevator doors closed, and the old man stood inside.

I feel a little lost.

For a blind person who has lived independently for many years, going to the cafeteria to buy a meal is actually not difficult.

but……

I feel inexplicably guilty.

Indeed, one cannot rely too much on any external device, he thought.

Sure enough, I should return the white cane to Xiao Xu later, otherwise all the survival skills I've worked so hard to learn as a blind person will be for nothing.

Just then, he heard his white cane make a sound:

"The FORK-Cane smart cane update is complete. Current version v0.1. Initializing."

Wait, is the upgrade already complete?

So, Xu was just trying to freeload off me, right?

Although the prompt was very brief and restrained, the sound of the white cane was too loud, and the space inside the elevator was relatively small.

Although the old man was blind, he could still feel that everyone around him was looking at him.

"Can a white cane be updated with a new system?" he heard someone mutter. Judging from the voice, it was a young man. "That's so advanced."

Right? I'm very trendy. You young people have never seen anything like me.

The old man was inexplicably a little smug.

As people get older, there is always a fear of falling behind and being abandoned by the times.

Some people choose to learn new things, while others choose to reject and be stubborn.

The old man is the first type of person; he feels like he got a perfect score on a test.

Then he heard the white cane say: "Initial environment detection in progress. Current environment: elevator. There are 9 people in the elevator. There are 3 people in front of you, 1 person on your left, and 5 people behind you. It is quite crowded. Please be careful to avoid them."

"Wow!"

Are there nine of us?

"There really are nine people."

"That's amazing! Is there a camera there?"

The old man's white cane suddenly became the center of attention.

At this moment, the white cane reminded him again:
"To avoid disturbing others, would you like to switch the white cane to vibration mode? To switch, press the thumb button or tap the cane vertically twice to switch."

A white cane is a type of walking stick that is not heavy. The way it is held is actually a bit like a landmine detector, drawing a fan-shaped area in front of you. However, the space inside the elevator is small, so the old man now holds the white cane in his hand like a regular cane, supporting it on the ground.

Almost instinctively, he tapped his cane twice.

Even before he realized what "vertical staff strike" meant.

After finishing, I realized, "Hey, it's really easy to use."

For some reason, I even felt like I was handsome.

A slight pause, and the world seemed to fall silent.

Moreover, the cane provided immediate feedback, vibrating with a "hum" sound, indicating that it had switched to vibration mode.

Actually, the old man was a little regretful at this moment.

He wanted to hear what his cane was going to do next, since he wouldn't be able to hear it once it started vibrating.

Unexpectedly, the young man said, "No, sir, put it on speakerphone so I can hear it."

This is a young man from a wealthy family.

However, this statement was agreed upon by others.

"This is the first time I've seen a white cane like this. It's so smart!"

"What functions does it have?"

"Is this a camera or a radar wave?"

Just as the old man was about to strike the elevator door twice more, the elevator doors opened.

The old man suddenly felt his cane vibrate.

In fact, hearing is a very congested channel for the blind.

Modern society is an information overloaded society, and hearing is a linear input method with very low input bandwidth.

Therefore, in order to obtain more information, blind people have to train their hearing to be much faster. Du Qiming is old; his hearing was damaged when he was young, and it's worse now.

Often, he relies more on vibration feedback.

However, the vibration of this white cane is actually not very intelligent; it's a bit silly.

Xu Songnian also stuffed a few vibration motors inside, but not the high-end kind.

However, these vibration motors have never been properly adjusted, because they simply changed the previous "wheel control" to vibration motor control, so it's hard to say that their vibration feedback is much better than other white canes on the market.

Many assistive devices for the blind on the market also use vibration feedback, but vibration is actually very difficult to discern and is very easy to be interfered with. Usually, some kind of complex pattern encoding is required to help users understand the meaning of a certain vibration and form a mapping.

However, at this moment, the elderly Du Qiming had a very strange feeling.

I had to step back because someone came in.

The vibration of his white cane seemed to give him a kind of pressure from front to back.

So, he instinctively took a step back.

He also heard the elevator operator's reminder:

"Elevator doors open, someone enters. Please step back and watch your back, sir..."

Before she could finish speaking, the elderly Du Qiming had already taken a step back at just the right moment, making room for her.

At that moment, the elderly Du Qiming didn't know how he had done it.

He couldn't even quite distinguish whether this thought was conveyed to him by his cane or from his instincts after living in darkness for so many years.

But... the white cane definitely conveyed something to me.

Not those long or short tremors.

There are codes that need to be memorized and distinguished, such as "the higher the frequency, the closer" or "the stronger the vibration, the closer".

This white cane conveys a feeling.

The elevator operator spoke a complete sentence, conveying the message that the cane had completed in an instant.

This is a highly lossy form of information compression, but... it's incredibly efficient.

He didn't know how he did it.

He even felt that it was his own illusion.

It must be an illusion.

he thinks.

Then, the elevator doors opened.

His white cane vibrated again.

The cane held in one's hand still conveys that feeling of pressure.

This time it felt like the pressure was coming from back to front.

Does it mean to move forward?

He instinctively took a step forward, and then heard the elevator operator say, "First floor reached, proceed to the cafeteria..."

Is it not an illusion?

As he stepped out of the elevator, Mr. Du Qiming felt his white cane vibrating continuously.

There was no code, no tutorial, no hints, but the elderly Du Qiming had a very strange feeling.

My cane is extending forward.

In a gray and hazy world, it was as if a bright line had appeared.

At the same time, at Chuanling University, on the second floor of the second teaching building, Li Jianxing watched Xu Songnian walk freely up the stairs. After going up three or four steps, he turned his head blankly on the stairs.

"Has your cane become so sophisticated?" Li Jianxing exclaimed in surprise.

No, this is only version v0.1?

"No, my previous white cane wasn't like this at all... What's going on?"

What exactly happened? What did Tang Yiping do?
Why did my white cane turn out like this?
In order to accurately convey information, Xu Songnian has actually studied a lot of smart canes and learned from their various experiences.

I even bought a few of them with my own money.

That was so expensive, it broke his heart.

These white canes all attempt to convey more information, such as vibration intensity, location, frequency, etc., and try to simplify it into a code that can convey more information.

But now, he discovers...

Perhaps I've taken the wrong path.

In fact, perhaps humans don't need to convey precise information; conveying a feeling is enough.

For blind people, this feeling is a sense of direction, a sense of activation, a sense of confirmation, and a sense of security.

The problem is, how do you convey that feeling?
Is this even possible?
Is this something humans can do?

"Let me try! Let me try!" Li Jianxing snatched the white cane from Xu Songnian's hand, held it in his hand, and then closed his eyes.

"I don't feel anything... it's just vibrating... it feels different, but..." Li Jianxing was tasting it carefully like he was savoring wine, but it was all very vague.

"Don't overthink it," Xu Songnian said.

Even if you can't see him, you can still sense his shuffling gait just by listening to his footsteps.

Blind people have different perception abilities than sighted people, and they may not easily adapt to this feeling.

It's as if this feeling is highly adapted to the brains of blind people.

"I'm getting the hang of it, it feels like this..." Li Jianxing tried it out, and although he couldn't experience the whole thing, he was still amazed. "Wow... this cane. What does it feel like when you use it?"

"It's hard for me to describe, it's like... there's a line, a bright line..." Xu Songnian said.

Li Jianli: ? ? ?

Is it that fantastical?

Therefore, the most important question is...

"Who exactly did you ask for help?"

Was magic used?

Has technology advanced to this extent yet?
Li Jianxing, a senior professor at the forefront of mechanical and electronic engineering, head of a key laboratory, and a leading figure in the industry, has fallen into a state of self-reflection due to a lack of confidence.

In the hospital ward, the caregiver kept staring down from the window.

"Don't worry, sit down and rest for a while. You've had a hard time these past few days," the old man on the hospital bed comforted her. "Your Uncle Du will be fine."

"I see him, I see him, he's coming out." The caregiver looked down and saw that Grandpa Du was walking briskly forward from her perspective.

Her walking posture was completely different from when she was in the ward.

Aside from waving a white cane, he doesn't look like a blind person at all.

The problem is that there are steps ahead.

"Walking too fast, oh no, be careful not to fall." She looked down from upstairs, almost frantic, wishing she could open the window and shout.

"He's gone the wrong way! He's heading towards the main gate, but there are cars everywhere outside. Auntie, call him and tell him not to go the wrong way!"

"Help me up so I can see!" The old man on the hospital bed couldn't stay calm anymore; this old man was too unreliable.

The caregiver helped the old man to the window, and as he looked down, he saw Du Qiming walking towards the hospital entrance.

The chaos and congestion at the entrance of the major hospital were like hell.

Every year, the traffic congestion rankings released by various map websites show extreme values occurring near hospitals.

Not only are pedestrians and vehicles mixed together in a chaotic and disorderly manner, but all sorts of situations also arise.

"Quick, quick, get my phone, I'm going to call him!" The old man was extremely worried.

Before the old man lost his sight, she watched an old movie with him called "Rear Window".

Her anxiety now is exactly the same as that of the protagonist with a broken leg who sees his beloved woman going on an adventure through the back window but is unable to warn her.

I'm so anxious!

The call connected with a "beep beep beep".

"You've gone the wrong way! What are you doing over there at the main gate?"

"I'm going to Lingweiju to buy you a big meal!"

Buy a big meal? What kind of big meal? Didn't I mean millet porridge and steamed egg custard?
But now the question is…

"Isn't Lingweiju two kilometers away?"

"Yup!"

The old man said proudly.

……

In the fourth teaching building of Chuanling University, in the "Mathematical Analysis" class, Tang Yiping stared blankly ahead.

If you look closely, you can see that his eyes are unfocused.

Can't understand!
Can't understand!
I really can't understand a word of it!