What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 205: Wild Boa

Why Old Xia’s personality is what it is now, why Xiang Kun perceived such an extremely rational, indifferent sensation when he previously sensed the lyrics written in calligraphy, why he could never perceive Old Xia’s dreams – these could all point to the same reason.

Autism? Maybe not necessarily. Yang Zhen’er probably doesn’t know much about it.

But it is true that Old Xia was hospitalized due to some issues when he was a child – it might be a key point.

Xiang Kun thought while continuing the conversation at the dinner table. Knowing that Yang Zhen’er didn’t have a clear understanding of the origins of Old Xia’s personality, he didn’t pursue the topic excessively so as not to raise any suspicion.

“By the way, Chef Xiang, let me use your AI too!” Yang Zhen’er, who almost finished her meal, suddenly looked up and said to Xiang Kun.

What?! Xiang Kun was taken aback, how did she know about “Alice”? I haven’t mentioned it to anyone, right? If Old Xia found out, at least we could talk about it, but when did Yang become so clever?

But then Yang Zhen’er’s following words reassured him: “Last time, your AI made everyone in the company think that Nana was pursuing a handsome guy named Xiang Kun! I wanted to borrow it to play with, but she refused to give it to me! Chef Xiang, send me a copy too, send it to my QQ!”

Tang Baona glared at Xiang Kun: “No!” Then she told Yang Zhen’er: “It was made with my voice, I own the exclusive copyright to it, Xiang Kun won’t let anyone else use it without my permission!”

So, what Yang Zhen’er was referring to was the voice synthesizing system that was previously made using Tang Baona’s voice sample.

“If you want, you can also provide your voice like Nana did for me to use as a sample. But you have to have patience, as we have to record quite a lot,” Xiang Kun told Yang Zhen’er.

Yang Zhen’er was skeptical: “You wouldn’t use our voices for anything weird, would you?”

“Come on! Is that the kind of person I am?” Xiang Kun immediately cried foul.

“If you’re not that kind of person, why would you leave the words ‘Xiang Kun, you are handsome’ on Nana’s AI?” Yang Zhen’er mimicked a coquettish voice when repeating “Xiang Kun, you are handsome”.

Tang Baona, who was sipping her soup, almost choked and repeatedly pinched her arm.

Xiang Kun was a bit helpless, these words had indeed sullied his reputation! They couldn’t be washed away!

After dinner, the two girls helped Xiang Kun clean up the table and wash the dishes. Then they sat and chatted for a while. The conversation drifted from the video Tang Baona had made for the “Youlong Restaurant” to recent news.

For instance, the bodies of three backpackers, who disappeared in the Qinling Mountains a short while ago, were found. They were reportedly in such a decomposed state that they must have been devoured by beasts.

“One of the deceased was an outdoor host. I watched his videos and live broadcasts before. They were pretty good.” Tang Baona checked her phone while talking to Xiang Kun and Yang Zhen’er.

Yang Zhen’er also said, “Yeah, I also watched his live broadcasts. This time it seems that he was planning to explore some unknown monsters in the depths of Qinling. He went in on October 15th, came out in his 20s, and released a video. He found a hunted wild boar and speculated that it was slaughtered by a blood-sucking monster because there were only a small amount of blood traces at the scene.”

Tang Baona said, “I think that wild boar was probably killed by them. They made this video on purpose to create an atmosphere of ‘monsters’.”

“I think so too,” Yang Zhen’er agreed, “among those who were with the host, they say there was a professional survival expert. But that expert might not have been as professional as they say. From the discussion online, it seems that they ate some wild fruits and got poisoned, then starved to death in the mountains.”

“Alas, it’s a pity they didn’t prepare enough for safety,” Tang Baona regretfully said.

“Didn’t they check the traces around the wild boar? If other beasts did indeed hunt the wild boar, there should be traces,” Xiang Kun said, taking Tang Baona’s phone to look at the video of the unidentified “monster” hunting the wild boar that the host had once posted.

“You don’t actually believe in this blood-sucking monster, do you? That wild boar was obviously killed by them, and that wound was probably caused by a hunting gun or a crossbow, right?” Yang Zhen’er asked.

After watching the video for a while, Xiang Kun returned the phone to Tang Baona without saying much.

He had heard about this news before and knew that three backpackers had gone missing in the Qinling Uninhabited Area, but he didn’t know that one of them was a host nor about the blood-sucking monster video.

Just from watching that video, he couldn’t make any specific judgement in a short time. This news, however, did piqué his interest.

He always felt that since he, Guo Tian, and the Giant Owl exist, there should be many more mutants in nature.

Why haven’t these creatures been widely known?

Is it because the news is being purposely suppressed, or is there another reason?

They chatted until about nine in the evening when Tang Baona and Yang Zhen’er went home.

Xiang Kun then pulled out his laptop and started looking up the news they talked about earlier. He paid particular attention to the video of the wild boar being killed by the “monster” filmed by the host named Xue.

From the video, it was clear that the wild boar had only a small, two-centimeter wound on its neck and no other visible injuries.

Moreover, there wasn’t much blood around the wild boar.

From the look of that wound, it didn’t seem to have been caused by a gun. But as he had never used a hunting gun, he could only make inferences based on pictures found on the internet.

After checking some survival forums and other relevant discussion boards, most people seemed to think that the wound on the wild boar was caused by a special arrow from a bow or crossbow and not a gunshot.

As for the so-called blood-sucking “monster” mentioned by the host, it was generally believed to be a hype and no one took it seriously.

No creatures in nature have a similar hunting method, let alone leaving the prey untouched after hunting. The whole boar was basically intact; apart from humans, what creature could do this? Or perhaps the boars were hunted and then the hunters got scared away by the host named Xue. Could it be such a coincidence?

Xiang Kun watched the video over and over again, pausing and zooming in, closely observing the boar and the surroundings when the body was discovered, while thinking rapidly.