What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter Four Documentation

Xiang Kun had tried everything edible and drinkable in his house.

Then he documented it:

Solid food: Instant noodlesX, chipsX, oatmeal cookiesX, OreosX;

Liquid beverages: Boiled water√, purified water√, pure milkX, Red BullX;

Recalling that on July 14th he had eaten some plain porridge and vegetables at a small outside shop and vomited it all up as well, he added to the solid food:

Plain porridgeX, stir-fried bean sproutsX, picklesX.

After performing a self-examination and records, Xiang Kun glanced at the time, it was already half past one in the morning, so he washed up and went to bed, ensuring a good sleep and rest.

But after tossing and turning in bed for almost an hour, Xiang Kun was not the least bit sleepy. He thought it might be because he had just slept for more than twenty hours so he did not feel sleepy, so he got up and reopened his laptop.

Earlier, when he had used his physical changes as keywords for a search, most of the search results pointed to “vampire”.

So, Xiang Kun prepared to gather some information with “vampire” as the target.

Of course, literary works like “Twilight”, “Interview with the Vampire”, and “The Vampire Diaries” would not be his targets for gathering information.

He again saw that question on Zhihu: “What does it feel like to become a vampire?”, apart from the answers of vampire novelists who clearly made things up, there were also some that seriously gathered information and discussed the origin and scientific explanation of vampires.

About the origin and scientific explanation of vampires, most of the answers were actually quite similar, believing that the origin of the vampire legend lies in Eastern and Central Europe of the eighteenth century.

Those who became “vampires” were usually people who died from accidents or sudden diseases.

Their relatives either got seriously ill or died one after another from other accidents. And in the days before their deaths, they would all dream of the deceased becoming a vampire and drinking their blood.

In the final analysis, when they encountered disasters or epidemics, or other misfortunes, they would attribute all these to the deceased members of the family.

The treatment at that time was usually to open the coffin, remove the deceased’s heart, and burn it. Because the corpse bloated and made strange noises in a short time, and the contraction of the tissue made the nails seem to grow after death, the legend of the “vampire” was furthered.

Latter, with the development of medicine, various phenomena were explained and “vampire” became more and more romanticized, with more images and features added, and even given superpowers and immortality.

Sometimes sufferers of rabies, pica, and porphyria are used to scientifically explain modern “vampires”.

Xiang Kun specifically went to watch a vampire analysis program made by National Geographic called “Vampire Forensics”, but it also talked about those same things and there was nothing that could explain the series of changes in his body.

It was the descriptions in some unreliable literary works that coincided more with his situation.

Unknowingly, it was already dawn, and Xiang Kun was still energetic, so he decided to go out and buy some things.

He went to the bathroom and washed his face and checked his mouth, finding his teeth had almost grown back. At least when he smiled, other than finding his teeth very white, people shouldn’t notice anything.

What relieved him was that his newly-grown teeth were very normal, without any terrifying fangs.

Xiang Kun went out and bought several kinds of food, like fried dough sticks, soy milk, pan-fried pancakes, and bread. He would try to eat a mouthful of each, one by one. But without exception, in the end, he threw them all up.

However, since he ate less, the nausea, and the discomfort when vomiting, were a lot less severe.

Xiang Kun took a bus to the shopping mall to buy some things, including various types of food, drinks, an induction cooker and matching pot, cleaning tools, a scale, a tape measure, and so on.

When he got home, it was already more than 10 in the morning, the sun was very big, and Xiang Kun instinctively tried to avoid it.

Contrary to what one might expect, Xiang Kun didn’t feel hot at all during the peak of July. Buying things, squeezing onto the bus, carrying several bags of things weighing dozens of kilograms, he didn’t sweat much.

Although his body instinctively seemed to be adverse to sunlight, after noticing this, Xiang Kun deliberately stood under the sun, letting the bright sun shine directly on him.

In his feeling, standing under the sun did not have any obvious discomfort, and even the sensation of being scorched by intense sun exposure did not exist.

He looked up at the sun, squinted because of the glare, but wouldn’t all people be the same?

Although he did not understand the specific reason, he could still feel his body’s instinctive avoidance of sunlight.

According to the information he read last night, the degree of a “vampire”‘s photophobia can be much more severe, scorched, oxidized, and charred by the sun.

And the so-called disease that is closest to “vampire”, porphyria, during sun exposure, will experience photosensitive dermatitis with itching, blisters, and other symptoms.

In comparison, while his body instinctively wanted to avoid light, he did not have any obvious symptoms or reactions under the sun, and seemed to be even more heat resistant than ever?

Back at home, Xiang Kun directly moved a chair into the bathroom and started drinking beverages.

He took a sip of Coke, and more than twenty seconds later, vomited it out.

He drank a sip of Sprite, and more than twenty seconds later, vomited it out.

He drank a sip of orange juice, and more than twenty seconds later, vomited it out.

…

But after drinking coffee made with Nescafe Gold Instant coffee, Xiang Kun didn’t vomit for several minutes, which vaguely gave him some clues because before he had also drunk Nestle’s 3-in-1 instant coffee and vomited within more than twenty seconds. What was the difference between them, and what was the difference between them and the other drinks he had tried?

Xiang Kun boiled some eggs and ate them, and he had no reaction. Then he boiled some slice beef in water and ate it also with no problem.

He started pondering, whether it was due to the sugar content in the food?

Although the black coffee, eggs, and beef also contained a minor amount of sugar, they were much lower compared to other foods and drinks.

But why sugar? From what Xiang Kun had learned before, a majority of the energy required by the human body is provided by sugar.

While Xiang Kun was making records on his laptop, he suddenly felt a cramp in his stomach, rushed into the bathroom again, and started retching. Everything he had eaten earlier that he thought was safe was thrown up.

Xiang Kun helplessly wiped his mouth, washed his face, and returned to the computer to make a note in the document saying: Low-sugar foods or drinks can stay in the stomach for longer, but in twenty to thirty minutes, they will still be thrown up.

After that, he started to undress until he was only in his boxer shorts. He got into the new electronic scale to weigh himself, used the measuring tape to take measurements of his chest circumference, waist circumference, and arm circumference and other data. He also set up his phone on delay photo mode to take a full-body photo of himself.

He was about to start recording the changes in his own body.