Chapter 1

I had just walked out of the massage parlor with my guide dog when someone shoved the back of my head hard. I fell flat on the ground.

The shrill scream of influencer Sophie Pierce pierced my ears:

"That's him! He's the pervert who was secretly filming me!"

Her assistant pulled out a pinhole camera transmitter from my bag, then kicked my white cane flying.

Onlookers gathered around cursing about "a blind man faking blindness to harass a pretty influencer." Someone started a livestream, with "pervert" flooding the comments.

Someone kicked my guide dog away. It yelped and crashed into a trash can.

I lay on the ground groping for my knocked-away cane, screaming inside---

I went blind at three years old. I've never seen light in my entire life.

A camera? I don't even know what a camera looks like.

I had just walked out of the massage parlor with my guide dog.

Someone shoved the back of my head hard. I fell flat on the ground as my guide dog barked frantically at me.

Before I could get up, a woman screamed.

"That's him! He's the pervert who was secretly filming me!"

Sophie Pierce.

I'd heard her voice on my phone. She was an influencer with thirty million followers on TikTok.

"I was changing in my hotel room and found a pinhole camera in the closet! The police said the signal transmitter was nearby!"

Chloe pulled something from the side pocket of my backpack and held it up, shouting: "Officer, found it! The signal transmitter!"

I lay on the ground, my mind completely blank.

What was that thing? How did it get in my bag?

A man rushed out from the crowd.

"You sick pervert! How dare you film Sophie?"

He kicked my white cane flying and pinned me down by the neck.

I tried to shout, but with my throat being squeezed, I could only wheeze: "I'm blind... I can't see..."

No one paid attention.

Sophie yelled: "Devon, stop hitting him!"

Devon roared: "Why shouldn't I hit him? He filmed you!"

"I didn't film anything..." The words squeezed out of my throat like a mosquito's buzz.

Devon said: "Blind? A blind man can run his own massage parlor? Stop pretending!"

Onlookers gathered around. I heard footsteps surging from all directions like a tide.

"A blind man filming people?"

"Probably faking blindness on purpose to film pretty women!"

Someone shouted: "Kick his dog!"

A dull thud. The guide dog yelped.

My whole body stiffened.

"Don't kick my dog!" I shouted.

The dog rolled on the ground, its paws scraping the pavement, trying to stand up.

It whimpered.

Sophie said: "Don't kick the dog!"

Devon said: "You're defending him? He's the pervert who filmed your private photos!"

Sophie went silent.

Someone started a livestream.

Noisy voices came from the phone speaker, people shouting "slap him" and "beat this pervert to death."

Devon said: "Bro, smash that like button! At a hundred thousand likes, I'll slap him!"

I heard voices from the phone saying "a hundred thousand likes already."

Then a slap landed across my face.

My mouth filled with the taste of blood.

I lay there, my head buzzing.

Why? I clearly didn't do anything.

I could barely hear what they were saying anymore.

"Officer, please handcuff him and take him away! The evidence is so clear!" Chloe was shouting.

"We're handling it, everyone stop! Nobody move!" The police officer's voice.

"He filmed Sophie! The evidence is right in his bag!" Devon said.

That thing wasn't mine. I didn't know how it got in my bag.

Sophie walked over, her high heels clicking crisply on the ground.

"You're so disgusting... Did you develop some psychological problem from watching my livestreams..."

"I can't see," I said.

"Can't see? If you can't see, how do you know who I am?"

I froze for a moment.

"I recognized your voice. I can recognize your voice."

Devon laughed: "Recognized the voice? You're pretty good at making stuff up!"

Sophie said nothing.

I heard her take two steps back.

The guide dog limped back and nuzzled my hand with its head.

The police officer walked over.

"Lincoln Shaw, right? Please cooperate with our investigation."

I lay on the ground, only one thought in my mind---

I went blind at three years old. I've never seen light in my entire life.

A camera? I don't even know what a camera looks like.