What It's Like Being a Vampire

Xiao Pingguo gently touched the Minion woodcarving with her left hand and played with the CPU one with her right hand, initially deciding to use one of these two wood carvings as her “emotional anchor” for training.

Comparatively, the CPU woodcarving was smaller and easier to carry, allowing for training anytime when going out.

However, deep down, she preferred the Minion woodcarving more.

Simply touching the bald head of the Minion made her want to laugh and feel happy.

Every night, she would place the Minion on her bedside, hoping to have happy dreams after falling asleep.

However, compared to the CPU woodcarving, the Minion was slightly larger and less convenient to carry.

After debating between the two wood carvings, Xiao Pingguo eventually chose the Minion. After all, she was not in school now, and she mostly went to the park outside the neighborhood when she went out, so carrying the palm-sized Minion wood carving wouldn’t be too much of an inconvenience.

So, Xiao Pingguo set the CPU wood carving aside, typically held the Minion with both hands, and, following the method Xiang Kun taught her in the afternoon, she focused her attention on the Minion, imagining she was sensing her surroundings through it.

However, she couldn’t help but wonder why Xiang Kun had not replied. She feared something bad might have happened to him. She even imagined scenes of hearing the news about a highway accident, where Xiang Kun was one of the victims. Or the idea of Xiang Kun suddenly falling ill or being kidnapped sprang to mind, making her anxious about his safety.

The more she thought about it, the more worried and uneasy she became. Xiao Pingguo couldn’t help but pick up her phone, used voice control to dial, and called Xiang Kun.

After hearing the voicemail stating that the phone was switched off, Xiao Pingguo became even more worried. She put down her phone, stood up to head to the living room, but because she got up so hurriedly, she tripped over her own chair and fell.

Hearing the commotion in the room, Li Yang, who was in the living room reading lesson plans on his PAD, immediately ran in. Seeing his daughter on the floor, he was taken aback. He didn’t immediately help her up, but instead knelt down to ask Xiao Pingguo what happened.

Although Xiao Pingguo had been blind since she was young, her senses of hearing and smell were very keen, along with good memory and spatial awareness. She knew exactly where everything in her house was. Whether it was Li Yang, Li Sheng, or “Aunt Yang,” they were also careful to return things to their original places, preventing sudden “obstacles” in the room. It had been many, many years since she had been tripped by a chair or anything else.

Xiao Pingguo wasn’t hurt, she quickly got up, took her father’s hand, and said anxiously, “Daddy, I think something might have happened to Uncle Xiang!”

The statement was somewhat cryptic, and Li Yang was confused, “Xiang Kun is in trouble? What happened?”

“Uncle Xiang went to the station this afternoon. I have been chatting with him on WeChat, but then he suddenly stopped responding. I thought he was sleeping on the bus, but according to the time, he should be at the station by now, or even home. Even if his phone was out of battery, it should be charged by now…” Xiao Pingguo said anxiously.

Li Yang found it increasingly odd. He first comforted Xiao Pingguo, helped her sit down on the chair he had lifted, then picked up her phone and listened to her chat with Xiang Kun in the afternoon. They were discussing the “training method” of focusing attention on external objects. There was nothing strange about it except that Xiang Kun had not replied in the end; there was no indication that something might be wrong.

He then took his phone and called Xiang Kun, only to confirm that the phone was indeed switched off.

“Don’t worry, even if Xiang Kun is home now, he should have only just arrived. Maybe he ran into a familiar face on the way home, or was stuck in traffic? Or maybe his phone was charging after he got home, but he was taking a bath or fell asleep? All those possibilities could have happened.” said Li Yang. However, he felt somewhat strange; not about Xiang Kun not responding, but why Xiao Pingguo would worry and become anxious out of the blue as if she was overthinking. Usually, Xiao Pingguo was calmer and more rational about things than he was.

Xiao Pingguo was silent for a while, seemingly calming down. Her voice became much colder and said, “Let’s wait until ten o’clock. If Uncle Xiang’s phone is still unreachable by then, tell uncle about it and ask him to contact the property management of Uncle Xiang’s neighborhood to check whether he has returned home, ensuring his safety.”

Although he felt she was making a fuss about nothing, Li Yang still agreed.

After Li Yang returned to the living room, Xiao Pingguo began to calm down, realizing that she might have reacted excessively. She took a few deep breaths, deliberately relaxing herself, imagining the scene when she was in the park in the afternoon, listening to the sounds of various birds and insects. She grabbed the Minion wood carving again.

After purchasing the clothes, Xiang Kun immediately used his super sensory abilities to survey the area and found a private car available for hire, negotiated a price with the driver, and although it was more expensive than taking the bus, there were no buses available at that time, and he didn’t want to run back either–not that long-distance running would not benefit him, but because the cost-to-value ratio was too low considering the time it would take.

Xiang Kun sat in the backseat, putting the shiny birdcage as far away from him as possible. Ever since he took the canary back from the mountain, it had been in a constantly terrified and unsure state.

Xiang Kun knew this was because the canary was highly sensitive to the change in magnetic field around him, making it look scared and confused.

He didn’t have a solution. He tried several ways to eradicate static electricity, such as grounding, washing hands, touching metal, but none could get rid of the remaining influence completely, so he had no choice but to wait for it to slowly diminish on its own.

For instance, the driver had been listening to the radio, but as soon as Xiang Kun got in the car, the radio got interrupted. After changing the station a few times without finding a clear and listenable one, the driver could only turn it off in frustration and apologetically assure Xiang Kun that, although his car radio was poor, the mechanical quality of his car was excellent and Xiang Kun did not need to worry.

Close to their destination, Xiang Kun had a sudden intuitive hunch, a vague thought telling him he should sense a certain woodcarving.

Feeling curious and a bit confused, unsure if his hunch was real, Xiang Kun still followed that feeling and sensed the Minion woodcarving he had given Xiao Pingguo.

Once he did, he immediately established a sensory connection and clearly sensed Xiao Pingguo’s emotions–a strong sense of nervousness and worry.

Xiang Kun was surprised, as it was normal for him to sense other people’s emotions through these “emotion-infused” items, but it was the first time he’d sensed them so clearly. This level of clarity was about three to five times higher than what he usually experienced.

At the same time, Xiang Kun also felt somewhat worried. He wasn’t sure why Xiao Pingguo had such strong emotions. He suspected that it might be because he hadn’t replied to her after getting off the bus earlier, making her worry about his safety. But he felt like that was unlikely, because it had only been a few hours since he left, and it shouldn’t have caused such intense nervousness and worry, even if she couldn’t reach him.

If he were still in the city where Xiao Pingguo lived, Xiang Kun estimated that he would choose to go near Xiao Pingguo’s home to check and ensure the safety of her and her father.

But now he was only a few kilometers from his home, and any detour would take too long. He needed to first ascertain the situation.

However, he soon sensed a change in Xiao Pingguo’s emotions, transitioning from tension and worry to calm and peace, just like the feeling he had in the park near her house that afternoon.

Moreover, his perception of her emotions was becoming clearer, as if it had been enhanced.

This sensation aroused doubt in Xiang Kun’s mind, prompting him to make subtle conjectures.

Arriving at the entrance of his residential complex, he paid his fare, returned home to drop off “Golden Sparkle”, then grabbed his bank card and headed out the door, heading straight to a local mobile shop that was still open.

Although he had brought back the wreckage of his Redmi NOTE8pro, it was obviously beyond repair, so he opted to buy a new Honor phone, priced at a thousand yuan, from a physical store.

Of course, before buying the phone, he had already confirmed that the “Charging” after-effect around his body had almost dissipated, and it was not even affecting phone signals. Otherwise, if he “destroyed” another phone, he would be devastated.

After inserting his SIM card, Xiang Kun logged into WeChat, replied to Xiao Pingguo’s previous messages, and explained: “My phone broke while I was in the car, I’ve just bought a new one.”

“Oh, I’m glad to hear you made it home safely, Uncle Xiang!” Xiao Pingguo replied with a voice message. She didn’t mention her previous concerns, as she now realized that she may have been overly anxious.

Xiang Kun then continued their afternoon conversation on the topic of practicing with charged objects.

As they spoke, Xiao Pingguo mentioned her intention to use the wooden statue he had given her as a charged object, adding that practicing with the Minion Wood Carving had been particularly effective.

Xiang Kun quickly confirmed his earlier conjecture — Xiao Pingguo could now use his “Emotionally Charged” woodcarvings to enhance her own emotions.

In this way, if she was focusing her attention on observing her surroundings, like the tranquil, peaceful feelings she experienced when in the park, the woodcarving could heighten these feelings, allowing her to concentrate more effectively and shut out distractions, thereby enhancing her perception skills.

It’s evident that only after Xiang Kun’s visit today, did Xiao Pingguo manage to use the woodcarving to access this new ability.

Xiang Kun speculated that his visit today served as a sort of psychological validation for Xiao Pingguo which, in turn, ‘activated her access permissions’.

Although Xiao Pingguo had begun to somewhat subconsciously believe in the special tendencies of the Coin due to Xiang Kun’s guidance, the objects that she deeply believed were special were actually the wood carvings he had previously given her.

In a twist of fate, Xiao Pingguo had veered off the path Xiang Kun had laid out for her, yet ended up on the right track.

It’s clear that Xiao Pingguo’s ability to use the Minion Wood Carving to reinforce her own emotions is a “call” to Xiang Kun’s abilities. However, Xiang Kun believes that the “emotionally charged” woodcarvings should have more than just this function. Perhaps after gaining a deeper understanding and more practice, Xiao Pingguo will discover and develop more ways to use them.

Whether it’s Little Fatty Girl who has made contact with the Coin that is linked to “Super sensory contact”, or Xiao Pingguo who has made contact with the Minion Wood Carving linked to “Emotional Infusion”, Xiang Kun is filled with anticipation. He even feels as if two players have finally joined the game he painstakingly developed, and these players have even played in ways he never anticipated.

However, Xiang Kun gave Xiao Pingguo a few more instructions, telling her directly that using such “charged items” for practice might magnify her emotions. Therefore, she should only practice when her emotions are calm.

Xiang Kun certainly didn’t want Xiao Pingguo to use the “Emotionally Infused” woodcarvings to enhance negative emotions when she was afraid, depressed, or sad. That would be a bad outcome. He had faith in Xiao Pingguo’s intelligence and believed she would gradually realize where her intense anxiety and worry had come from and, after his reminder, would be more careful.

After finishing his chat with Xiao Pingguo, Xiang Kun took his new phone and returned home.

He summarized the unexpected “Charging” process that day, had Alice input some of his estimated data into the “Vampire Mutation Model”, and asked her to analyse it and provide some suggestions.

Xiang Kun knew that the “Electric Mastery Flight” cognitive model he had built using the combined data and perceptions in his brain was far superior to the “Vampire Mutation Model” in the computer, even though Alice had heavily modified the latter.

After all, his new cognitive mode could directly incorporate his sensory experiences into improvements, but for the computer model, he had to digitize specific situations. But many situations, many perceptions, were ambiguous and unclear to him; he couldn’t possibly come up with accurate data. Not to mention that it’s impossible to digitize some perceptions.

However, Xiang Kun knew that sometimes you need “other people” to provide different perspectives. These ideas don’t have to be accurate or correct; just having them could often lead to ideas that open up new possibilities.

Alice’s previous comments on the mutation model are a good example of this.

Just like last time, Alice didn’t immediately respond, so Xiang Kun got up and went to the balcony, intending to get a sense of the current atmospheric electric field outside.

The biggest gain of the night was not “charging”, but the comprehensive improvement to his understanding of the “Atmospheric Electric Field”.

In thunderstorm weather, where the atmospheric electric field is significantly enhanced, he could now accurately discern the movement trends of the field and surrounding charges, just like a surfer comprehending the waves, knowing when and how to ride them.

Truthfully, he didn’t know how to “charge”, he couldn’t control that process, whether it was “charging” or “flying” after, he felt as though he was kicked into the air.

All he did was sense changes in the atmospheric electric field, knowing that at that time, at that place, if he made his appearance, he would get an “assist”.

The ability that “charged” him, creating the light sphere, was something he still needed to further dissect and merge.