What It's Like Being a Vampire

“This is your ‘research subject’. The drone has it locked in place, it won’t be able to escape. You can begin observation and recording, though, don’t disturb or approach it yet – it’s highly dangerous.”

Xiang Kun, eavesdropping on the two vans, naturally heard the distinctive, abrasive voice belonging to ‘Mr. Liang’.

However, Mr. Liang’s words puzzled Xiang Kun. They weren’t intending to immediately handle the ‘mutated big bird’? Only conduct observation and recording?

Xiang Kun was aware that Divine Technology was not a ‘Mutant Organism Protection Organization’. From what he had learned about them, they were not saints, they hunted mutant creatures.

As for why they currently weren’t taking action with the ‘big bird’, he could deduce from listening to the discussion inside the van involving Mijoe and Dr. Fang, that not just him, but everyone at Divine Technology, was somewhat puzzled.

Could it be that Mr. Liang thought they couldn’t capture the ‘mutated big bird’ with the people and equipment they had here, or had Mr. Liang also realized that the reason the ‘mutated big bird’ was guarding this area was because it was possibly hunting another mutant creature, so he wanted to wait and observe a bit more?

Xiang Kun was actually more eager to see Mr. Liang show up in person, he was curious about this clearly high-ranking and distinctively voiced man in Divine Technology. Moreover, he had a gut feeling that this ‘Mr. Liang’, might also be a ‘vampire’, just like him.

He also wondered about the possible ‘vampires’ behind Mr. Liang or Divine Technology. If he had such technology, financial strength, manpower and material resources to support a large corporation, and ran a secretive department, what would his attitude be towards other mutant creatures?

Unquestionably, exploring the mutations of himself and other mutants, discovering the underlying principle, learning to control and harness it, would definitely be the primary goal.

Be it other mutants, or himself, all could be considered ‘subjects for research’.

Of course, the researcher must be someone trustworthy, or himself.

However, the treatment towards ‘mutants’ would differ. For ‘vampires’ mutated from humans, he would first undertake sufficient investigation and understanding, then decide whether to attempt communication, or whether they could be potential research partners. As for ones like Guo Tianxiang who hunted humans for blood, they would, along with certain aggressive “mutant beasts, birds”, be classified as dangerous targets requiring stringent measures.

Moreover, it appeared that mutants had a ‘must-have’ requirement to consume the blood of other mutants at some stage, making peaceful coexistence among mutants a hurdle, especially for creatures that were already extremely aggressive before mutation.

If he had the ability, he would hope to locate and ‘monitor’ as many mutants as possible, providing more data and samples for his research, helping him find the cause and details of mutations.

Simultaneously, it could enable him to take compulsory measures against very dangerous ‘mutants’, preventing them from harming humans, avoiding negative societal opinion, and preventing humans from developing general hostility and hatred towards ‘mutants’.

He could also assist some rational human ‘vampires’ or relatively harmless ‘mutants’, offering them protection and blood food, guiding them to find the appropriate mutation or evolutionary path, and in turn, assisting his research in revealing the truth behind mutations.

Of course, these were simply assumptions made by Xiang Kun by putting his own current thoughts into the people behind Divine Technology. He was trying to infer Mr. Liang’s or other hidden figures’ ideas, intentions, and characters behind Divine Technology, and their perspective and position on these matters.

However, his knowledge was still too minimal, his understanding of the various arrangements of Divine Technology’s secret department was just the tip of the iceberg. Thus, despite contemplating many scenarios, he was unable to grasp Mr. Liang or other hidden figures’ thoughts.

The only thing for certain was that they knew about the existence of ‘mutant creatures’ and were very aware of many characteristics of ‘mutants. But whether they themselves were ‘mutants’, whether they were humans interested in all this, vampires seeking reasons for their mutation, or major players connected to the authorities, was still uncertain.

As of now, many of “Mr. Liang’s” actions left him somewhat perplexed, such as his attitude towards Mijoe and Dr. Fang. Did he trust them or not?

If he trusted them, why were they unaware of many characteristics of the “mutants”? They even wondered why the temperature of the “mutated big bird” was lower than other birds.

If he did not trust them, why would he let them investigate these matters, these “mutants”?

Could it be that whoever was behind “Mr. Liang” or “Divine Technology”, wanted to see Dr. Fang and others discover on their own?

What was the point of that?

Xiang Kun eavesdropped for a while, listening to Mijoe, Dr. Fang, Zhou Rui, and others as they observed the various imaging patterns transmitted back from the unmanned drones, compared them to the mess created by the big bird they had filmed during the day, along with the blurry photos taken by tourists, all while carrying out discussions and analyses.

From their discussions, it seemed that apart from Mijoe, everyone else knew very little about “mutants”.

Feeling that eavesdropping further wouldn’t yield much, Xiang Kun found their investigative methods rather disappointing, save for the unusual drones that were visibly different.

He had initially hoped to learn something about “Divine Technology’s” analysis and research results on “mutants”, to obtain some information he was not privy to.

Xiang Kun returned to where he had found the “mutated big bird”, hiding himself and maintaining a safe distance while keeping an eye on the drones.

The “big bird” was still there. Based on his past encounters with mutants, Xiang Kun speculated that with its sensory abilities, it should have noticed the drones in the sky.

But showed no reaction. It must have been quite confident in its hiding place, believing that the things flying in the sky “couldn’t see” it.

Xiang Kun estimated that the big bird wouldn’t stay for long. When it was about to leave, would “Divine Technology” attempt to capture it if they couldn’t keep track of its movements?

He didn’t have the time to continue waiting. He had to return to town before dawn. He was leaving Tongshi Town today, and his Blood-drinking Period was also on the verge of starting.

So he wished that “Divine Technology” could stir something up with the “big bird,” allowing him to understand more about them both.

However, now that he was sure the drones were equipped with infrared thermal imaging devices, he couldn’t rely on the darkness and his nimble body to hide using the terrain and environment of the forest. He could only keep his distance and not get closer, leaving his options quite limited.

Xiang Kun had considered that if he could approach Mijoe while in a “Super Sensory State”, uses the sheet of paper that had established the “Super sensory contact” as a “stepping stone”, impact and control the equipment in the car, thus controlling those drones, perhaps he could directly order the drones to “disturb” that “big bird”.

Unfortunately, his ability to affect electronic devices in a “Super Sensory State” was still very limited. He was incapable of precise control. He couldn’t even control his phone screen accurately, let alone devices he had never been in contact with.

At most, his current ability could disrupt the devices’ operation temporarily, causing the people in the car to lose control of the drones temporarily, causing device malfunctions. However, from his observations, the drones were mostly controlled by AI, not manually. Mijoe and the others only used the equipment in the car to issue instructions to the AI, setting specific flight rules. So, a short malfunction in the car’s equipment would not immediately affect the drones. Besides, this would not allow him to observe “Divine Technology’s” modus operandi.

Xiang Kun had also considered creating illusions for Mijoe or Fang Pingfang, like he did with Zhou Rui, making them see ants, making them believe that the “big bird” was about to flee, controlling the drones to get closer, making the “big bird” feel threatened. However, just like the previous plan, it was still very difficult to execute. The illusions he could create for Mijoe, Fang Pingfang, Zhou Rui and others were very limited. They could only be “sourced” from elements that appeared in their dreams, or rely on other objects for “Emotional Infusion” for sensory projection.

Since it was not a good idea to start with the people from “Divine Technology”, Xiang Kun decided to target the “big bird” instead.

If the “big bird” discovered his existence as a “mutant”, it would likely abandon its “watch” here and hunt him.

In that case, the balance between Mijoe and the rest of “Divine Technology” and the “mutated big bird” would be upset, but it would expose him directly.

When the big bird was hunting him, “Divine Technology’s” drones would also discover him.

He must upset their balance while remaining well hidden.

Or simply call the police, claiming someone was poaching in the scenic area and ruining the environment?

No, that wouldn’t work. The drone technician just mentioned that these drones are authorized to operate in the mountains near Wushu Mountain, so the police can’t interfere with them.

If nothing else works, then he only has the choice of startling the “bird” by some forceful action.

Xiang Kun’s gaze started to pace over several mountains in the vicinity, constantly calculating.

A few minutes later, he began stealthily moving toward a distant mountain. The mountain had stone steps for tourists to climb, but Xiang Kun, in order to avoid the unmanned drones high in the sky, chose to climb the opposite side. For an ordinary person, there were no paths to follow; for Xiang Kun, there were no obstacles.

As he neared the mountain top, he carefully switched to the side facing the big bird’s hideout and then brought out two smooth cobblestones from his pocket – tools he usually used to suppress the feeling of food churning in his stomach, hence suppressing nausea during meals.

Xiang Kun returned a cobblestone to his pocket, held onto the other one, then closed his eyes and entered the “Super Sensory State”.

Using the influence he had over the objects in the “Super Sensory State” to which he had established a “Super Sensory Contact”, he charged the cobblestone with an electrical charge.

After he left the “Super Sensory State”, Xiang Kun, without any hesitation, ran a few steps in the limited space, tensing his muscles to the extreme, exerting the maximum strength, pushing off the ground, twisting his waist, transferring the power to the cobblestone in his hand, and threw it into the air at an angle.

The stone flew into the sky at a high speed, and when it reached beneath one of the drones from “Divine Technology”, it suddenly seemed to be pulled by some force, and under the acceleration of gravity, went toward the “hidden” “big bird” on the distant slope.

Xiang Kun was over a kilometer away from where the “big bird” was located. This distance doesn’t even take into account that the cobblestone had to travel upward and then downward, tracing a strange “broken line”. So from the time he threw it to when it reached the vicinity of the “big bird”, a few seconds passed.

The little cobblestone the size of a fingertip missed hitting the “big bird”, but it still startled it, so it could no longer “stoneify”, flapping its wings in panic to dodge.

Just as Xiang Kun anticipated, the bird raised its wings, took off, and rushed toward one of the drones in the sky.

After all, from its angle, the only thing in the direction of the thrown stone is the drone. To the bird, it seemed like the hovering ‘idiot’ was attacking it.

After throwing the cobblestone which had established “super sensory contact”, Xiang Kun didn’t change his position. He was confident the drones didn’t capture him throwing the stone. So, once the cobblestone had reached its apex, the subsequent trajectory couldn’t hint at his throw’s actual location.

Xiang Kun made use of the ‘super sensory state’ to add a layer of charge to the cobblestone. He combined the power Liu Shiling had “developed” to control the ‘super sensory contact’ objects and “programmed” the movement trajectory and speed of the cobblestone in advance.

Xiang Kun now had a certain ability to influence ‘super sensory contact’ objects over a short distance, but only to the extent of changing a paper plane’s flight direction slightly. He hadn’t yet managed the feat of massively changing an arrow’s direction after it was shot to make it track a target, and the same applied when throwing the cobblestone.

However, using the direct influence of ‘super sensory state’ over the ‘super sensory contact’ objects, Xiang Kun successfully combined the controlling power that Little Fatty Girl had ‘developed’ for him and gave the cobblestone a driving force. While the cobblestone was climbing upward, the charge around it was constantly accumulating, which, in turn, used the channel established by the friction with the air for a certain degree of acceleration. Upon reaching the preset apex, these forces collectively exploded, changing the direction of the cobblestone, making it ‘shoot’ towards where the ‘big bird’ was.

Even if nearby drones from ‘Divine Technology’ or any recording equipment managed to capture the second-half movement trajectory of the cobblestone, they definitely couldn’t trace back to Xiang Kun’s throwing position.

As for the ‘cobblestone’, which had established a super sensory contact, it didn’t matter if people from ‘Divine Technology’ got it. They couldn’t trace it back to him based on the stone.

On the contrary, it would mean he had one more ‘super sensory contact’ object embedded within ‘Divine Technology’.

The ‘mutated big bird’ was obviously startled, or rather enraged, and its response was quite intense.

When the ‘mutated big bird’ rapidly and fiercely flew up, the sturdy wind it created tipped many of the less stout trees nearby. Leaves, sand, and broken branches were swept into the air, it was as if a Harrier aircraft was taking off.

The commotion made by the ‘mutated big bird’ did not seem like that made by a bird with a wingspan of just over three meters but rather like some giant bird with a seven to eight-meter wingspan, weighing over a hundred kilograms.

This somehow illustrated the immense power of this ‘mutated big bird’.

Looking towards the distant sky, watching the ‘big bird’ that was flapping its wings and rising up, a line from Li Bai’s poem spontaneously sprang into Xiang Kun’s mind:

“Like a grand Roc, on the same day risen with the whirlwind, shooting up ninety thousand miles…”

Just by witnessing the burst of energy, Xiang Kun was certain that the big bird must have mutated and evolved for a long time. Even with just considering its strength, it would be able to crush the giant owl that Xiang Kun had encountered initially.

If the first mutant he had encountered hadn’t been the giant owl but this ‘big bird’ instead, the outcome was not easy to predict.

The drone in the sky adeptly dodged the ‘mutated big bird’s’ attack, quickly ascended higher, moved rapidly and nimbly, appeared extremely agile, and was clearly in auto-avoidance mode – a human operator probably wouldn’t have been able to react as quickly.

And the performance of this drone was evidently not something any ordinary commercial product could compete with – it was extremely powerful.

Finally, the “drama” had started.

At this moment, Xiang Kun suddenly felt the same mischief he had experienced in elementary school when he had flicked a paper ball from his desk onto the class monitor, a sense of thrill from a “mischievous prank”.