What It's Like Being a Vampire

After Alice found the method for “massive, automated super-connected object correlation” and used Tang Baona’s popular songs to continuously establish “temporary Emotion-Infused Objects connections” through secondary emotional assimilation, thereby expanding the scope of “super-connected objects,” Xiang Kun was able to confirm some information that he was previously unable to fully ascertain, through a rapidly increasing and expanding “super-connected object” network.

For instance, in Xiang Kun’s perception, the location of the “mutant” connector under the “Eight-armed, Eight-eyed Woodcarving” in the “Secondary Emotion Infused Object Network” was established.

When he initially detected that “mutant” in the “Secondary Emotion Object Network,” it exhibited the features of an Emotion Infused Object. Xiang Kun could sense its emotional changes, but without “super-connected objects” around it, he could not make a rough estimate of its location.

However, Xiang Kun’s “super-connected objects” have now spread near the “mutant” connector, allowing him to use these objects as references to determine its position.

If Xiang Kun had never visited that location before, he would only know the approximate direction and use the closest “superconnected objects” he had visited in the past to make a rough distance conversion. Even though Alice is now able to establish a conversion model, providing a relatively reliable margin of error, it still doesn’t enable him to pinpoint an exact location like a map application on a phone would, even if he had never been there.

However, the location of the “mutant” connector under the “Secondary Emotion Infused Object Network” that Xiang Kun sensed this time was a place he had visited before. Thus, he was able to immediately determine its coordinates—it was at his sea entry point in Burma, within a small fishing village near the sea.

Clearly, this “mutant” connector established a connection with the “Secondary Emotion Infused Object Network” under the influence of the “Eight-armed, Eight-eyed Giant Illusion” in Myitkyina, and then moved to the seaside village.

As to the time of mutation, Xiang Kun was certain it happened after being influenced by emotional transmissions, but whether it occurred in Myitkyina or after reaching the seaside village was uncertain.

While in a Super Sensory State, Xiang Kun made some initial judgments through cognitive information. This “human-shaped mutated creature” still had mainly human characteristics, and its appearance had not transformed into a non-human form. Its emotions were relatively calm, showing no signs of violence or frenzy.

Under normal circumstances, if this were within China, he would already know their whereabouts. With Alice’s assistance, a lot of information could be directly obtained.

For example, voice and image information could be gathered from various surveillance systems, cell phones, and other recording devices.

But in that seaside village, not only did the “mutant” connector not have a cell phone or computer, but it also hardly had any contact with people. The few people he came into contact with either didn’t have cell phones or had basic feature phones.

There were no surveillance devices nearby. The closest ones were a few kilometers away in the nearest town, which he absolutely avoided.

It seemed that this “mutant” connector deliberately ran away to a rather backward and isolated fishing village in Burma to avoid the discovery of his mutations.

Xiang Kun contemplated for a moment before deciding to head directly to Burma to closely observe this “human-shaped mutated creature” that had established a second-rate contact with the “Eight-armed, Eight-eyed Wood Carving.”

Currently, in his “Super Sensory Item System,” this man was the only “mutant”—Xiao Luobo was only a semi-“mutant,” quite different in essential aspects.

However, compared to that, Xiao Luobo had a much closer connection with him and had much higher “permissions” within the “Super Sensory Item System.” He became aware of the existence of the system from the very beginning and was able to actively apply and develop the system’s functions.

However, the “mutant” by the Burmese coast was probably still unaware of its existence within the “Super Sensory Item System”, just like the other connectors in the “Secondary Emotion Infused Object Network”.

This time, the trip to Burma was quite simple. Xiang Kun directly flew to Myitkyina. Alice took care of everything, including his passport, electronic visa, and airline tickets.

With Alice present, no matter what happened afterwards, she could completely cover up his traces, so there was no need to worry about exposing any abnormalities.

Upon reaching Myitkyina, he found a car and headed towards the beach where the “mutant” was located.

However, about five to six kilometers away from the destination, Xiang Kun got off the car and walked closer to the target location.

The “super-connected objects” extending to this location were mostly industrial products and their components from China, including electronic products such as mobile phones, household appliances, toys, and some parts used in cars and fishing boats.

But the “mutant” was not currently within the sensing range of the “superconnected objects”. By the process of elimination, was he in the sea?

Xiang Kun was in no hurry. He took off his shoes, wandered along the beach slowly, looking for traces of the “mutant,” and extended the sensing range of himself and Alice by casting tungsten steel balls from his pocket at regular intervals.

Under Alice’s control, these balls would not remain on the beach but would “cluster” and continue to make their way deep into the water. They acted as onshore “super-connected object” base extensions to help her locate the “mutant”.

However, soon Xiang Kun heard some sound coming from the sea, he calmly leaned against a large rock by the beach.

A few dozen seconds later, a naked figure adorned with various algae and shells emerged from the water, holding a large fish, and walked towards the beach.

At first, he appeared to be stumbling, heavy-footed, and had difficulty moving, as if he was very heavy. But after walking on the beach for a while, he started moving more normally, even lightly.

In just an instant, Xiang Kun concluded that the person emerging from the sea was his target: the “human-shaped mutated creature,” the connector within the secondary network of the “Eight-armed, Eight-eyed Wood Carving”.

Through the low-light night vision mode, Xiang Kun observed the target’s appearance. He seemed to be a medium-height, physically strong middle-aged Asian, though his facial features didn’t quite resemble the native Burmese.

Xiang Kun, paying no attention and making full use of his advanced vision, continued to observe him from a distance, shielded by a giant rock by the sea.

So far the middle-aged man had not spotted him, so he did not reveal himself and continued to observe covertly.

Xiang Kun saw the man shake off the shells and algae from his body after coming ashore. He then carried the massive, barely alive fish to a simple hut located not far from the sea and at a higher location. He dropped the fish into a bamboo basket at the hut’s entrance, and then he left without lingering.

Xiang Kun could sense that the small hut was occupied by three people currently deeply asleep: two younger and one older.

The man returned to the beach after delivering the fish, ran to a secluded area shielded by many trees, clambered onto a rock, sat cross-legged, stretched, and then sat on the rock staring at the distant sea as if in a daze.

Xiang Kun laughed, not because of the middle-aged man’s actions, but because the man muttered to himself, “Comfy,” in perfect Mandarin as he was performing those actions, hinting that the man was likely Chinese.

Xiang Kun took out his phone, described the middle-aged man’s facial features and height to Alice, and asked her to search among the Chinese in Myitkyina. During the time when Xiang Kun was creating the “Eight-armed Eight-eyed Illusion,” he wanted to know if there was anyone matching the description whose whereabouts were currently unknown.

Alice only took a few minutes to retrieve four files before putting the most likely one at the top of the list.

It was of a 41-year-old Chinese single male named Jiang Chun who disappeared the day after Myitkyina’s group illusion event. There were no records of him leaving or entering the country after that. His bank cards and other payment methods like Alipay showed no signs of being used.

Xiang Kun looked at Jiang Chun’s personal information sent by Alice on his phone. Seeing Jiang Chun’s photos and comparing them to the middle-aged man he just saw, although there were slight differences, he could basically confirm they were the same person. He decided not to bother with the other three files.

From Jiang Chun’s medical records, it appeared that before he came to Burma, he was already seriously ill and didn’t have long to live, right?

Of course, that was before the mutation. After the mutation, according to Xiang Kun’s perception of his cognitive information in the “Super Sensory State,” his physical condition was excellent, and cancer cells could no longer have any negative impact on his physical functions.

Was the terminal illness and the emotional projection of fear from the “Eight-armed, Eight-eyed Wood Carving” related to the cause of his mutation?

Xiang Kun recalled the information about Guo Tianxiang’s real identity that Alice previously found out through “Divine Technology” and Tea’s information network. The first “human-shaped mutated creature” and “vampire” Xiang Kun encountered had quite a tragic childhood before the mutation.

Guo Tianxiang’s parents were both drug addicts. His father died of an overdose while his mother’s new boyfriend was still an addict who would beat him and his mother whenever he had a craving. Guo Tianxiang’s mother was also abusive towards him. Following a fight involving kitchen knives and fruit knives, both his mother and his stepfather died from blood loss.

When the police arrived, they found Guo Tianxiang passed out from fear and sent him to the hospital. The expectation was for him to be sent to a social welfare institution. However, he left the hospital on his own when he woke up and disappeared without a trace.

Based on the partial memory fragments Xiang Kun obtained from Guo Tianxiang and combined with the police’s scene records, it seemed Guo Tianxiang may have had some direct involvement in his mother and stepfather’s deaths. Additionally, it was after their deaths that he began to mutate and drank their fresh blood.

From the cases of human mutations that Xiang Kun knew and studied, whether it was himself, Mr. Liang, Guo Tianxiang or Jiang Chun, the biggest commonality at the point of mutation was likely a drastic emotional fluctuation.

Of course, physical pain may also play a role. Perhaps, his body had already started to have some unknown changes during the time he and Guo Tianxiang were mutating.

Jiang Chun sat on the rock until nearly five o’clock, then he got back in the water.

Xiang Kun thought for a moment, then took off his phone and clothes and hid them, leaving only his underwear on. He slipped into the water, entered “Oxygen-saving Mode” and followed him.

The tungsten steel balls he had previously scattered all gathered as soon as he entered the water, ready to charge and break through at his beck and call.

At first, Xiang Kun kept a great distance from Jiang Chun, only tracking him through the “Super-connected Objects” he controlled. By observing Jiang Chun’s reactions, he tried to determine his range and pattern of perception underwater.

He began to gradually close the distance with Jiang Chun with extreme patience, looking for a more convenient and suitable observation position.

Jiang Chun’s swimming speed underwater wasn’t very fast. He often sank to the bottom of the sea, sat cross-legged, and observed his surroundings. To Xiang Kun, it seemed as if he was on a sightseeing tour on the seabed.

Jiang Chun’s breathing pattern was obviously different from Xiang Kun’s “Oxygen-saving Mode” and was also different from the gill respiration of ordinary fish.

Based on Xiang Kun’s observations of his behavior and the analysis of cognitive information in the “Super Sensory State,” his way of breathing seemed somewhat similar to a whale, in that he still needed to resurface to take in air.

His eyes had also mutated accordingly and can see things comfortably underwater with strong protection.

Xiang Kun was a bit puzzled as to why Jiang Chun would evolve the ability to stay at the bottom of the water. Could it be that he was being hunted and had no choice but to hide underwater?

After maintaining an excellent observation distance and following Jiang Chun in the water for more than ten hours, Xiang Kun suddenly sensed that Jiang Chun’s emotions began to become anxious.

He realized that Jiang Chun’s Blood-drinking Period had arrived.

Jiang Chun didn’t immediately start hunting and drinking blood. He lay down on the seabed, stretching out his limbs and closing his eyes. It seemed that he was trying to control his emotions, suppressing the urge to drink blood.

After more than an hour, during which the urge to drink blood was suppressed several times and kept resurging, making it hard for him to resist, he finally began hunting underwater.

His hunting method was to relax himself and appear like harmless dead matter. When the prey got close, he would suddenly pounce and seize it, then surface to drink blood. His actions seemed clumsy and amusing, but indisputably, they were very efficient and effective.

After completing the bloodsucking, Jiang Chun swam back. He found a section of the underwater reef near the sea, sat down, and wedged himself into a small hole at the bottom of the reef.

It was evident that Jiang Chun often hid here during the blood-drinking sleeping period. Wedged in the hole, he could use the surrounding rocks and seaweed to disguise himself, making it difficult to be discovered by humans who happened to be diving nearby.

As for other fish or marine life, none of them considered him food.

Only after confirming that Jiang Chun was in deep sleep did Xiang Kun approach him. He carefully observed Jiang Chun and then entered the “Super Sensory State” to perceive the changes in his cognitive information. He wanted to see how the mutation evolved in terms of cognitive information during his blood-drinking sleeping period.

Only eight hours had passed when Jiang Chun showed signs of waking up. Xiang quickly widened the distance between them in the water and continued observing from afar. He was already clear about the different blood-drinking cycles and blood-drinking sleeping periods of different “mutated creatures,” so he wasn’t surprised at all that Jiang Chun had completed his blood drinking in eight hours.

Jiang Chun was active in the water. When it got dark, he swam back to the shore around eight or nine o’clock at night.

This time he got out of the water much earlier than the last time Xiang Kun found him. He ran to the small hut by the seaside, made a few sounds like a frog, and then a little boy and a little girl ran out happily, followed by an old woman with a hunched back.

Xiang Kun emerged from the water nearby. But as soon as he came ashore, he immediately sensed something was wrong through his keen senses.

There were quite a few people hidden not far from the little hut.

Looking at this situation, were they after Jiang Chun?

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