What It's Like Being a Vampire

Qin Ping is a highly skilled graduate in mechanical and electronic engineering, having studied abroad at a famous university and having worked in one of the top companies in the industry.

She plans to stay in the country after returning this time, and is looking for a job in the same field.

With the school she attended, major she specialized in, and work experience at that previous company, she’s highly sought-after in the industry.

She later hesitated between Divine Technology, a company specialized in exoskeleton technology for rehabilitation, and another company. The former offered better benefits, but the exoskeleton work at the latter was more consistent with what she had done abroad and therefore easier for her to adapt to.

“Divine Technology also said they would develop powered exoskeletons, but not for rehabilitation. They didn’t reveal the exact details, but from our conversation, it seemed that they might be thinking about industrial applications. As far as this area is concerned, it seems that the prospects are not very promising until some breakthroughs in technology occur…” Qin Ping said.

“Powered exoskeletons, like the ones often seen in science fiction movies? Is Divine Technology going to dabble in such high science and technology again?” Tang Baoting asked curiously.

“Not exactly a high-tech feature. The area of powered exoskeletons was actually hot a few years ago, with domestic and foreign capital pouring in. But then it was found that some key technical problems could not be solved, costs couldn’t be reduced, and large-scale application was very difficult, so the heat died down. Now what’s left is mainly focused on rehab exoskeletons. However, it is not surprising for Divine Technology to enter this field. They always like to quietly force in these areas. If they didn’t make a product breakthrough and held a press conference, the public probably wouldn’t know that they’d been researching this topic.” Xie Peng, the art director of a game company, has many friends in the venture capital field, so his sources of information are also wide.

“Divine Technology is solid, it’s serious about research and development.” Even Gao Yao, who typically doesn’t say much, spoke up.

“My guess is that you want to challenge yourself and attempt a breakthrough; choosing Divine Technology should be a good choice. It’s a powerful company and, like you said, it offers higher benefits.” Wang Han also commented.

Xiang Kun was quietly listening on the side, without interjecting.

From their conversation, Xiang Kun came to a conclusion easily:

First, Qin Ping herself was actually leaning more towards Divine Technology, and it was obvious that it was not because of the benefits, but the name “Divine Technology”. But rationally speaking, she knew that her skills and experience were actually better suited to the company that focused on rehabilitation exoskeleton and had a mature product;

Then, it was the others. Surprisingly, all of them had a good impression of “Divine Technology”. Although “Divine Technology” has always been low-key and does not have any popular products, its actual popularity is not low. At least all ten people who came to Tang Baona’s party today knew about it.

But thinking about it, it was normal. If Xiang Kun had not speculated that the two people who got in the Prado at the entrance of the small town hotel were likely to be related to Divine Technology and guessed through other details, he would have been suspicious of the background and boss of “Divine Technology”. He would have thought that Divine Technology was a solid tech company that did R&D silently without making a fuss.

Of course, even now, it can’t be said that Divine Technology is a “bad” company. Perhaps the boss behind it is not a vampire, but has simply discovered some mutant creatures and the existence of things in the world that continually mutate by feeding on the blood of other creatures. To research this, is indeed quite normal.

However, now Xiang Kun was a little bit paranoid. On the one hand, he knew that mutant organisms at a certain stage might really need the fresh blood of other mutant organisms and it would be difficult for them to coexist peacefully; on the other hand, he could not find any real news about mutant organisms or vampires on the Internet or other media, which made him very wary.

In this situation, as for “Divine Technology” that might be studying vampires and mutant creatures, he was naturally paying high attention and remained highly alert.

“What’s the story with the boss of this ‘Divine Technology’? He seems to be quite mysterious, doesn’t he?” Xiang Kun, curiously listening to the discussions about Qin Ping’s job choice, asked during a lull in the conversation.

Even though Xiang Kun had asked Alice to search for all sorts of information about Divine Technology on the Internet, he knew that the boss of Divine Technology was actually from this city. Wang Han, Tang Baona, Yang Zhen’er, Xie Peng, and Linlin were also from this city, and their families were those with quite a few connections and resources. They probably knew many “inside stories” that couldn’t be found online.

As expected, Yang Zhen’er spoke up: “The boss of Divine Technology seems to have a successful career but a tragic family life. As I heard, his wife died of illness a long time ago, and then his only son became paralyzed.”

“Yes, I also heard that Chairman Lu is very devoted and has always missed his dead wife. He didn’t remarry or find a new girlfriend. And I heard that the high-tech areas that Divine Technology is involved in were personally instructed by Chairman Lu. Even if there is no hope of profitability in the short term, he continues to invest continuously. It seems that Chairman Lu wants to resurrect his wife with some technologies…” Linlin added.

Gao Yao, puzzled, said, “Resurrecting the dead? Is it cloning technology? But I haven’t heard that Divine Technology has invested a lot in the field of biological technology?”

“Speaking of this, I just thought about the film ‘Replicas’ starred by Keanu Reeves. The protagonist also wanted to use technology to resurrect his wife and children.” Tang Baoting said.

Gao Yao seriously said, “I also watched that movie. The technology mentioned in it is unreasonable and it’s not possible to achieve it now.”

Xie Peng laughed at Gao Yao, saying, “You are listening to their nonsense, women’s ideas are always romantic and naive, resurrecting a wife, that’s ridiculous. But helping his paralyzed son regain the ability to move freely might be possible. For example, the powered exoskeleton technology that Xiao Ping mentioned, combined with other technologies, could indeed make his paralyzed son stand up again. However, overall, the layouts of Divine Technology in various fields must have their strategic intentions. It’s just that outsiders are not clear.”

However, Wang Han said, “But I heard that Lu Cheng’an’s son had been cured a few years ago and can now move on his own.”

“He’s been cured? Did he use some kind of high technology?” Yang Zhen’er asked curiously.

“I’m not sure, these are all rumors. Their family keeps a low profile. Even their relatives rarely get to see them. If there are any activities, they usually send a representative to attend, and neither Lu Cheng’an nor his son have appeared publicly.” Wang Han clearly has a lot of sources for information.

“How did his son become paralyzed?” Xiang Kun asked with an expression full of curiosity about the stories of the rich.

“It seems that it was from some genetic disease that gradually led to paralysis.” Yang Zhen’er said.

“It should have been a car accident.” Wang Han said.

“I heard that he fell down the stairs when he was a kid?” The news received by Linlin was different.

Xie Peng frowned and said, “The father and son of the Lu family are indeed quite strange. They are too low-key and mysterious.”

“Could it be that Lu Cheng’an’s wife’s death and his son’s paralysis were caused by someone?” Tang Baoting couldn’t help but speculate again.

Qin Ping laughed, “This sounds like the setup from those billionaire stories.”

“Huh? Xiao Ping, do you also read web novels? Come on, if you have any good ones, recommend some to me?” Linlin smiled and leaned in.

The topic began to shift, Xiang Kun didn’t deliberately guide it further, because it was evident that everyone didn’t know much about Lu Cheng’an, the big boss behind “Divine Technology”, and his family. However, compared to what Xiang Kun had found in his simple online search, they knew more – he hadn’t even found out that Lu Cheng’an’s wife had passed away or that his son was paralyzed.

This was clearly not just a result of Lu Cheng’an keeping a low profile, but the result of someone deliberately controlling and blocking this information online.

Taking his earlier speculations into account, Xiang Kun suspected even more that the Lu father and son were suspicious and one of them was likely to be a vampire, or they both could possibly be vampires.

After finishing their late-night snack and sitting and chatting for a while, seeing that it was nearly one o’clock and several people started yawning, everyone began to say goodbye and leave.

Based on the previous conversation and his understanding of Qin Ping, Xiang Kun believed that she was still leaning more towards accepting the offer from Divine Technology. However, he did not plan to influence this in any way. Even if Qin Ping joined Divine Technology, he would not try to obtain any information about Divine Technology from her. Firstly, she would not have access to any core secrets and would not find the information he wanted, and secondly, he would not do something that would deliberately put someone he knew in danger.

On the way home, Xiang Kun rode with Chang Bin’s car.

After dropping Xiang Kun off at the gate of his community and watching him walk into the gate, Wang Han, who was sitting in the passenger seat, said rather curiously, “Your old classmate is different from the first time I met him.”

“Oh? In what way?” asked Chang Bin casually, turning the steering wheel around.

“Well, when I saw him at the restaurant last time, although he was also talkative and humorous, you could still tell, like you said, he might not like to participate in social activities, so he might not be very good at finding a topic to talk about. But tonight, he didn’t speak much, but he could always attract everyone’s attention and naturally lead everyone in the direction of his topic. This feeling is kind of like my boss and my third uncle, who are all successful entrepreneurs in their fifties and sixties. When they speak, they have added the weight of their status, and people naturally pay more attention to what they say. But Xiang Kun was different, his attitude while speaking was quite modest, but the effect was very similar, what is that phrase? Empathetic?” Wang Han said thoughtfully, her elbow propped on the car window, supporting her cheek.

Chang Bin laughed, “You’re making it sound too complicated, it’s just that he knew more people today, so he was more relaxed.”

“I don’t think so, apart from you, Nana, Zhen’er –oh, Boating and her husband have dined at Xiang Kun’s house a few times, so they’re familiar, but everyone else, including me, is either meeting for the second time or for the first time. And didn’t you say that when you guys were all together he was unable to relax?” Wang Han continued.

“Hmm, there indeed has been a change. Since he lost his job, there has been a significant change. In the past, he would never have had the courage to sing in a bar, and his singing skills weren’t as good as they are now.” Chang Bin nodded, “it might also have to do with him hanging out with Nana and the others these past few months.”

Wang Han recalled, “I observed carefully tonight, his relationship with Nana is indeed very good, but it’s strange, it doesn’t look like they’re in a romantic relationship, there’s no ‘spark’ between them, it’s a bit like the relationship with Zhen’er.”

Chang Bin laughed, “They are more than friends but not yet lovers, this is a good sign. I think that this year he will attend our wedding, and next year we may attend his.”

“Don’t be too optimistic, friendships can grow deeper over time, but that’s not necessarily the case for love. Sometimes, it’s a thing of the moment. If there’s a connection, there’s a connection, if there isn’t, no amount of time together can change that.” Wang Han shook her head, “But it’s not our business anyway, it’s up to them. Your old buddy, he’s not looking for a job yet, right? If he doesn’t want to stick to his old job, doesn’t want to do technical work anymore, you could ask him if he’s interested in doing something else?”

“Haha, he did mention to me that he wanted to go back to his hometown to start a farm. But if things work out with Nana, I guess he won’t leave. Why, you want him to join your company as a salesperson?”

After entering the community, Xiang Kun slowed down. He could hear the first half of the conversation between Chang Bin and Wang Han in the car not far away.

Xiang Kun wasn’t surprised that Wang Han had noticed the difference in him compared to the first time they met. In his cognitive model of Wang Han, he also thought she was empathetic and had strong observational and insightful skills. However, Xiang Kun didn’t care too much about it, he could just laugh it off with a “I’ve become more outgoing”. Plus, neither Chang Bin nor Wang Han would hold any ill feelings towards him.

The other aspects of work Wang Han mentioned, Xiang Kun could roughly guess, should be related to sales and other work that directly interacts with customers. Frankly, with Xiang Kun’s current abilities, even without using “Emotional Assimilation”, he should be able to perform well in these types of jobs.

Of course, this is just speculation, he certainly cannot go to work at the company now.

As the car got farther away, the conversation between Chang Bin and Wang Han gradually faded until it disappeared, and Xiang Kun quickened his pace. However, after returning to his floor, he did not go home but went up to the roof via the staircase.

In the days since he returned from the Qinling Uninhabited Area, he would often come up to the rooftop, especially at night. Sometimes he would return after only ten or twenty minutes, sometimes he would stay for several hours.

Xiang Kun stood on the railing again, gazing at the distant night sky, then sensing his own body.

Yes, he was contemplating the issue of flight again.

But before it was a daydream, a fantasy, a brain hole.

Now it’s different, he drank the blood of that mutated spider, and that mutated spider was obviously capable of flying—at least it had the ability to glide and control flight.

And from a physiological point of view, it did not grow wings or the like, which could take advantage of aerodynamics.

Xiang Kun originally thought that this mutated spider could acquire the ability to fly by devouring the fresh blood of other mutants, but after getting the memory fragments of the mutated spider and doing his own research on the habits and characteristics of spiders, he found that this ability to fly might have evolved from the spider itself, possibly by utilizing principles related to magnetic fields—this could be seen from the fact that the spider glowed all over after flying into the sky that night.

Since then, Xiang Kun has been constantly contemplating on how to make that ability to fly his own.

He doesn’t really care about the other abilities of the mutated spider, but he really covets the ability to fly.

Being able to fly freely without relying on external objects is an ability many people fantasize about. Once you can fly, in a sense, it means that the space you have to move around in multiplies.

Moreover, in the future when he encounters another mutant that can fly, he will have stronger means of escape and attack, and he would be able to handle more various terrains.

Xiang Kun initially thought that after the mutated spider “devoured” two mutated plants, it obtained some abilities of the plants, like “Transformation Branch” and “Reconstruction Branch”. This mechanism of gaining abilities through the blood of other mutants should be the same as his.

But later, through a further analysis of the memory fragments of the mutated spider, and his own previous experiences of gaining the abilities of the Giant Owl and Guo Tianxiang, he found that the two were not exactly the same.

In “I Add Points to Everything”, the protagonist gets a point-adding system, and the points he adds are very strange and interesting. Adding points to his mobile phone, he obtains a lolita; adding points to the swimming pool, he obtains a pool god who can swap items randomly; adding points to a squid, he obtains a squid that can’t dive. The story is very interesting, you can check it out if you’re interested.