What It's Like Being a Vampire

They didn’t go somewhere else to drink. Chang Bin only wanted to vent and let off some steam. His goal had been achieved, and there was no need to actually get drunk.

Originally, Chang Bin wanted Xiang Kun to drive the car back, but Xiang Kun stated that he would take a taxi home to avoid the hassle of coming back to get the car later.

However, after leaving Chang Bin’s underground parking lot, Xiang Kun didn’t immediately hail a taxi, he walked around on the road instead.

He needed to sort out the results of tonight’s experiment at the bar.

Thinking of the crowd’s expressions when he was singing in the bar tonight, Xiang Kun couldn’t help but fantasize. If he decided to make a career in the entertainment industry now, he might gain numerous fans with his live performances. However, if those fans posted videos of the performances online, he would probably be condemned by netizens…

If he could project a movie directly from his mind, could he use the method of “co-manifestation” to let people on the scene watch it as if they were personally on the spot? Could they even have certain tactile and olfactory sensations? A super-real 5D movie?

However, on second thought, it was unlikely. Although the co-manifestation only required a moment of eye contact and did not need to be maintained continuously, there was still a time constraint associated with it—it could not maintain its effect for an extended period. At present, he didn’t have exact experimental data on how long it could last, but it should not exceed five minutes.

Well, if they were watching a movie in a cinema, he could use “Emotional Assimilation,” he estimated that he could make everyone in the theater join him in the same emotion – of course, he himself would also need to be emotionally touched by the movie.

But influencing only one cinema wouldn’t make much sense. The effect of a concert would reach a wider audience.

It could also be useful in product introductions. As long as he sincerely believed a product was very good, he could make customers feel the same and happily place their orders.

He could also convince investors…

After aimlessly fantasizing about the potential applications of his power for a while, Xiang Kun put his attention back on the power itself.

He called this power built on “Emotional Assimilation” , enhanced and evolved, as “co-manifestation”.

Although the specific form of “co-manifestation” was quite different from Guo Tianxiang’s “self-fearing projection”, it was undoubtedly influenced by the power obtained from his blood. This could be seen from the fact that after making eye contact with others, the image that others see would be fed back to him—a function that his original ability did not possess.

If the human brain was likened to a computer terminal, then Guo Tianxiang’s “self-fearing projection” would be sending an instruction to the target terminal, and the target terminal would process this instruction (imagine it), feeding back data, and allowing oneself to see the processed “fearing projection”.

Xiang Kun’s “co-manifestation,” performed in the bar earlier, was to first process the data on his own terminal (the image that the emotion brought out), then send it to the target terminal, allowing the other party to see the co-manifested projection. Then, it would carry out a small amount of processing, feeding back the data that the other party saw.

It can be seen that Guo Tianxiang’s “self-fearing projection” is simpler and more efficient, the data processing is all on the target terminal, making it more compatible with the target terminal; however, the disadvantage is that the transfer of data is limited and the function is singular.

On the other hand, Xiang Kun’s “co-manifestation” allows for more control and flexibility in determining what kind of projection the target terminal gets to see. However, since data processing is required on both terminals and more data is transferred, the entire process is relatively slow and the perceived reality (authenticity) is somewhat weaker.

Even though he discovered the derivative ability “co-manifestation,” Xiang Kun was still upset that he was unable to replicate “self-fearing projection,” and was unsure about the problem’s origin.

He believed that the key difference between Guo Tianxiang and himself was that his influence on the minds of others was far stronger—in layman’s terms, he could transfer more data.

The crux of Guo Tianxiang’s ability was how he gave the directive to construct a fearful projection to the other person’s mind.

In terms of difficulty, his “co-manifestation” was definitely more challenging.

Once he found the triggering switch, Xiang Kun should be able to easily master Guo Tianxiang’s “self-fearing projection” ability.

But where was this “switch” exactly?

Xiang Kun kept musing, offered a smile and nod to occasional passersby, and when they glanced back in bewilderment, he would try to catch their gaze, hoping to trigger an inspiration.

Of course, everyone who met Xiang Kun’s gaze promptly looked away and walked away faster, including two drunkards.

He even went as far as finding rats and stray cats foraging in corners by following their scent, and tried to make eye contact with them. Again, he didn’t get any desired effect, nor did he trigger any signs of “self-fearing projection”.

It was almost midnight, and he had no choice but to hail a cab home, albeit reluctantly.

There were very few people on the streets at this hour, and it would be weird if he continued to loiter around too late, especially considering the lesson he had learned from before.

Xiang Kun planned to continue digging through Guo Tianxiang’s memories when he got home, in hopes of finding some clues.

In retrospect, just considering the “Direct Eye Hypnosis” and “self-fearing projection” abilities, Guo Tianxiang had more than enough power to thrive in human society.

In this era, physical attributes such as strength, speed, and response aren’t crucial for survival. Can your body stand a chance against machine guns, cannons, or even more advanced weapons?

Conversely, the ability to influence the consciousness of others would prove to be a truly insurmountable advantage in human society.

In biology, there is a concept called “specialization,” which refers to a trend of evolution from general to specific.

For example, the saber-toothed tiger, their enormous fangs were useful for ambushing large, less agile, slow-moving herbivores, suppressing them, and killing them instantly in the early days.

Due to changes in climate and other factors, the population of large, thick-skinned herbivores declined dramatically. As the saber- toothed tigers were inefficient at hunting agile, smaller herbivores, they dwindled quickly to extinction.

There was another cat-like animal similar to the saber-toothed tiger: Scimitar-toothed cat. Their specialized short and thick saber teeth could crush animal skulls, causing strong lethality. They thrived by ambushing and killing baboons and the ancestors of humans – Southern Apes.

However, when humans began to use primitive stone tools and substituted

cave dwelling for tree dwelling more than a million years ago, the Scimitar-toothed cats, who could only eat baboons, gradually faded out.

The same went for Guo Tianxiang, his specialization was his ability to affect and control the mental and conscious level of other humans. Even the ability to “self-fearing projection” worked well with animals. Once he imposed it, the other party would either have no power to resist, or would be scared into running away. He was invincible. He could obtain his desired blood source in many surreptitious ways.

For him, the natural enhancement of his physical fitness brought about by blood drinking was enough.

It’s like a powerful magician who adds all the points to magic power and casting speed, etc. With 100 magic strength, he could deal easily with other mundane players, whose magic strength was around 5 or 10. One control skill and one damage skill would end the combat, and there would be no need to carry healing potions. Occasional hand-to-hand combat would suffice with just using the magic wand to hit opponents. However, he wasn’t prepared for coming face-to-face with Xiang Kun, a Martial Monk with 99 magic resistance, and perished before he could react.

Of course, Xiang Kun still needed to confirm one thing: how Guo Tianxiang’s infrared imaging ability in the eyes and the two mental influencing abilities came about.

Also, did Guo Tianxiang know the method of targeted training guidance for mutation, or did he even have that ability?