What It's Like Being a Vampire

Liu Shiling widened her eyes to look over, there was a faint figure on the other side, but because the balcony light was off, she couldn’t clearly see who it was.

She took out the chopsticks that Xiang Kun had given her, tightly holding them in her hand and then stared hard across. With the chopsticks in hand, she was able to focus her attention better, making it easier to see and hear the overlooked details.

After looking for a while until her eyes were sore, even though her image hadn’t become clearer, she was certain that the figure standing on the 803 balcony was the short-haired girl called “Da Lu”, and it seemed like she was crying, her shoulders shaking slightly.

Why was she crying?

Had she been up to mischief and been spanked by her mom?

Or did she have a nightmare in the middle of the night that startled her awake?

There also faint sounds of a man and a woman arguing in the room behind “Da Lu”, perhaps her parents were quarreling and she was frightened into tears?

Various speculations popped up in Liu Shiling’s mind, reminding her of a night in January when her mom and dad had a fight.

That night, she was also very upset. After being scolded by her parents, she packed her school bag to run away from home, intending to seek refuge with Uncle Bald. But as soon as she stepped out of the residential area, she regretted it, because it was so cold outside.

Unconsciously, it seemed as though Liu Shiling forgot she was supposed to be angry.

On balcony 803, “Da Lu”, who was silently crying, noticed through the gaps in the balcony railings a little girl on the balcony of a building diagonally across, looking up towards her.

Because Shiling’s Mom was sleeping, Liu Shiling didn’t turn on any lights when she came out to the balcony, but the light in the living room was on. Using the light from the living room, and from a higher vantage point, “Da Lu” could vaguely recognize that the girl standing on the balcony looking towards her was Liu Shiling, whom she had scolded in the afternoon.

“Da Lu”‘s first reaction was to shrink back, avoiding Liu Shiling’s gaze, hiding herself in the corner.

But then she remembered that the lights on her balcony were off, and the door to the room was closed, everything was pitch black. Even if Liu Shiling’s gaze was towards her, she probably couldn’t see her.

So she wiped the tears and snot off her face and slowly peeked over again.

The Liu Shiling on the balcony below was still staring at her, their eyes met for a few seconds. She finally confirmed that Liu Shiling was indeed looking at her.

“Da Lu” immediately thought of the last thing she said to Liu Shiling in the afternoon. She regretted it the moment the words left her mouth. She knew very well how Liu Shiling felt at that moment. One could even say that among all the people nearby, she was the one who understood most the hurt such words could cause – because she herself had been on the receiving end of such words, more than once.

The space between the two buildings separated Liu Shiling and “Da Lu”, who were looking at each other well past midnight. Even though neither girl could clearly see the other’s eyes or expressions.

Liu Shiling was somewhat at a loss as to what to do. Technically, she should still be angry, but she didn’t know how to show it. There was no point in cutting off electricity to “Da Lu”‘s house now that she wasn’t watching cartoons, and she couldn’t use her “magic” in front of “Da Lu”.

Should she just start cursing? Liu Shiling had never cursed at anyone, she really didn’t know how…

Besides, if her voice was too low, the other party wouldn’t hear. If she cursed too loudly, it would disturb others and might wake her mom up. She expected she’d be spanked then.

So, the two girls who had only recently met in the afternoon, who certainly couldn’t be called friends, who even had a grudge against each other, kept staring at each other across the expanse of air, not moving or speaking.

After a while, Liu Shiling glanced at the paper airplane in her hand, made from a calendar page, and thought for a bit. She took out the coin from the plane’s coin compartment, then threw the plane towards the balcony where “Da Lu” stood.

The design and balance of the paper plane included the coin in its calculations. Now that the coin was gone, its trajectory changed somewhat but Liu Shiling knew her paper planes very well. She adjusted her throwing technique and used her sensory ability to slightly control it, allowing the paper plane to glide steadily upwards and get stuck in the middle of the railing of the 803 balcony.

“Da Lu” took down the paper plane and looked at it for a while, before suddenly turning around and going into her room.

Liu Shiling scratched her head, not quite understanding why she had thrown the paper plane, perhaps simply wanting to end their staring “competition”?

However, just as Liu Shiling was about to leave the balcony, “Da Lu” came out again and threw the paper plane back.

But Liu Shiling’s paper plane was designed specifically to be easily thrown upward from a lower point. Coupled with “Da Lu’s” poor throwing technique, the plane was clearly headed towards the balcony above Liu Shiling’s house.

Fortunately, as the paper plane approached the building, the shorter distance strengthened Liu Shiling’s sense of the plane, allowing her to slightly control its flight direction. It hit the railing of the balcony above and flipped downwards, where she conveniently caught it with her outstretched hand.

Holding the paper plane, Liu Shiling looked up at the balcony of 7#803, saw “Da Lu” squatting on the ground and pressing against the balcony railing, staring at her. “Da Lu” points at the paper plane in her hand, hinting for her to look at it.

She lowered her head, and under the light of the living room, Liu Shiling saw three crooked characters written on the wing of the paper plane:

“Sorry”

Whether it was her kindergarten teacher or Shiling’s mom, they both taught her how to read. Though she knew not many characters, she recognized these three.

Liu Shiling blinked, looked up at “Da Lu” who had her face against the railing, and then at the three characters on the paper plane. She scratched her head, momentarily unsure of what to do.

After a while, she finally took the paper plane back to her room and wrote the character for “okay” below the word “sorry” using a watercolor pen. Then she returned to the balcony and threw the paper plane back up.

Normally, when someone says “sorry” to you, you respond with “it’s okay” if you forgive them. That’s what her teacher and mom taught her.

But while Liu Shiling found it hard to remain angry, she couldn’t respond with “it’s okay” either. Not only because she didn’t know how to write the words, but because she didn’t think everything was okay.

All she could do was respond with an “okay”, acknowledging “Da Lu’s” apology.

After receiving the response, “Da Lu” wrote and drew more on the plane and threw it back.

This time instead of words, a small plane was drawn on the paper plane, followed by a pattern larger than a thumb. It was clear that “Da Lu” was greatly talented in drawing.

Liu Shiling understood that she was complimenting the appearance of the paper plane. She thought for a while, then drew a few patterns on it too.

At some point, “Custard Pie” also came around, lying next to the “Little Fatty Girl” and continuing to doze off. It seems to have come out specifically to accompany its young owner, dutifully playing the role of a guardian.

The paper plane flew back and forth between the two buildings, and the calendar paper used to make the paper planes was gradually filled with stray Chinese characters and numerous drawings.

Although Liu Shiling couldn’t be angry anymore, she hadn’t completely put the afternoon’s events behind her; they were not friends right now.

However, she was not opposed to this method of communication. It was an experience she’s never had before and she found it very interesting, plus “Da Lu’s” drawings were really good.

After throwing it back and forth many times, Liu Shiling made some minor adjustments to the structure of the paper plane to make it more suitable for its current “route”. “Da Lu” also greatly improved her paper plane throwing technique, which made it easier for Liu Shiling to sense and control the plane when catching it.

Just as “Da Lu” was once again examining the paper plane, trying to find a spot to continue drawing, a loud door-slam was heard from 7#803. Even Liu Shiling across the building heard it clearly, showing how forceful the door was slammed.

“Da Lu” stood up from the ground, looking back at the balcony door. After a short while, the balcony door was forcefully pulled open, a tall figure emerged, and angrily grabbed “Da Lu’s” hair, dragging her back into the room amidst her screams.

This sudden event frightened Liu Shiling, who was on the opposite balcony, causing her whole body to shudder. “Custard Pie”, which was dozing by the young girl, also jumped up, staring blankly in the direction of 803.

Hearing the faint sound of beating and “Da Lu’s” cries for mercy from 803, Liu Shiling was both scared and anxious. She remembered what Uncle Bald had told her, so she turned to find her mom and get her phone to call the police. But after taking two steps, she returned, intensely staring at 803, her eyes widened, her expression tense, unconsciously biting her lower lip.

The lights in the room and living room connected to 803’s balcony suddenly became extremely bright, and then with a snap, they went out.

Meanwhile, the television, which was initially on but at a very low volume, suddenly increased to its maximum so loud it neared the speaker limit. The advertisements that were playing echoed loudly in the depth of the night around 2am.

Inside apartment 803, the exhaust fan, air conditioning, and desk lamp were all turned on, while the ringing of the intercom continued without pause.

The moment these unusual occurrences began, the sounds of beating and screaming stopped instantly, clearly distracted by the strange happenings.

Moreover, the neighbors, who had already been awakened repeatedly by the loud slamming of doors and the adults’ quarrels, finally had enough and began knocking firmly on the door.

If one observed Little Fatty Girl closely at that moment, they would have noticed a storm seemingly raging within her wide, round eyes.

If anyone were to observe the space near the balcony of apartment 803 closely and with enough light, they would have found two one-yuan coins floating nearby as if they were two mini UFOs surveilling the scene unfolding in apartment 803.

The disturbance caused by apartment 803 lasted just a few seconds. When someone started knocking on the door, Liu Shiling recalled both the “chocolate” and the “ice cream” coins.

She had not understood how the two coins had ended up there. For her, causing such a disturbance in apartment 803 was much more challenging than cutting power to the entire complex for a few seconds.

Soon, more and more neighbors who had an issue with apartment 803 appeared. The building in front of them seemed to come alive with activity.

Not only the building where “Da Lu” lived, but other buildings around the complex, especially the two buildings surrounding building number seven were filled with residents woken up by the noise.

Not long after, Shiling’s Mom was awoken. Squinting and still groggy, she put on a robe and went out to the balcony. Holding her daughter in her arms, looking over at the building across from them, she began rubbing her daughter’s chubby cheeks, muttering, “Why did you wake up too? Your room is on the other side, so you shouldn’t have heard any noise… It’s so cold outside; why didn’t you put on more clothes?”

Just then, she noticed some commotion below and, peering down, she exclaimed in surprise, “The police are here already?”

At the same time, an old lady from the neighboring balcony, wrapped in a thick cotton jacket, came out. She glanced at the situation across the building and said to Shiling’s Mom, “It’s Zhou Taimo of 803 again, hitting his wife after getting drunk. He has terrible drinking habits, always turning violent with alcohol and has driven away two wives already. I’m afraid his current wife will leave him too sooner or later. Alas, I feel sorry for their child, Xiao Lu, for having such a father…”

Just as Shiling’s Mom felt her gossip spirit awakening and was about to ask the old lady for more information about the situation in 803, the Little Fatty Girl in her arms suddenly felt heavier. Looking down, she found that the girl had fallen asleep, leaning lopsidedly against her.

With no other choice, Shiling’s Mom had to take her daughter back to her room first.

“Custard Pie” naturally trotted along behind them.

After tucking her daughter back into bed and ensuring she was warmly covered, Shiling’s Mom returned to the balcony to observe the situation across the building.

By then, the old lady from the neighboring balcony was chatting with a resident from the seventh floor across the building. Given the scale of the disturbance, with even the police involved, the residents of both buildings were basically awake. One after another, people appeared on their balconies to watch and join the conversation.

Shiling’s Mom had only moved here a few months ago and didn’t understand many things. She didn’t know many neighbors either, so naturally she didn’t interject. She just listened from the side.

She soon learnt from the exchange that Zhou Taimo of 803 had been drinking again and had violently assaulted his wife, who ended up injured before leaving for the hospital. Zhou Taimo didn’t stop there; he even started beating his daughter Zhou Lutong. If he hadn’t turned up the volume of the television to cover the sound of his assault, causing the neighbor to knock on their door, it could have been much worse for the child. According to a neighbor of 803, when the door opened, they discovered the child had been hit so hard on the forehead that it was bleeding.

The reason the police came so quickly was that the wife he had beaten had called them immediately after leaving the house.

He even hit a child? Thinking of the short-haired girl whom she had seen playing paper airplanes with her daughter in the afternoon, Shiling’s Mom silently cursed Zhou Taimo in her heart. Although she would often spank Liu Shiling when she was naughty as a child, this was completely different.

Then, from the neighbors’ conversation, Shiling’s Mom learned why Zhou Lutong’s mother, after being beaten and injured, did not take her daughter with her when leaving — she was not Zhou Lutong’s biological mother.

Zhou Taimo had three wives in total, and the one who had just left him was his third wife. Zhou Lutong was the child of his second wife.

Apparently, his first two wives had also been driven away because of his bad behavior when drunk.

Zhou Taimo was quickly taken away by the police, and his daughter Zhou Lutong was sent to the hospital for examination and treatment. As for the follow-up treatment, the neighbors speculated that the police would probably contact her biological mother. They hoped that her biological mother could take her away, or that other relatives could take care of her so she wouldn’t have to live with her father anymore.

Shiling’s mom sighed deeply, wrapped herself tightly in her coat, and went to sleep.

At this moment, Xia Libing, who was guarding the sleeping Xiang Kun, naturally had no idea what the Little Fatty Girl, who had taken action just a few hours after their discussion earlier this evening, had gone through. Nor did she know that the Little Fatty Girl’s “magic system” had unknowingly taken another leap forward.

The interaction with the Little Fatty Girl was not just Xia Libing’s one-sided guidance, she also deeply understood the “magic system” created by the Little Fatty Girl in the process. Although she had not interacted with the Little Fatty Girl in person and watched her perform some operations, her understanding was theoretical.

Based on previous discussions with Xiang Kun and her own experience of “creating” – or as Xiang Kun puts it, “developing” – the ability to “manifest illusions,” understanding the process of developers like Xiao Pingguo and Little Fatty Girl, who rely on Xiang Kun’s “Super Sensory Item System,” in developing their own systems of power will help her better analyze and understand the root of Xiang Kun’s mutation.

From a traditional cognitive perspective, whether it’s the “other-world monster system” built by Xiao Pingguo, or the “magic system” constructed by Little Fatty Girl, they are both very naive, and no one would believe in these little girls’ fantastical imaginations.

But these “little girl fantasies,” under Xiang Kun’s “Super Sensory Item System,” are working in reality, not only “borrowing” Xiang Kun’s abilities, but also “developing” some abilities as needed. Even Xiang Kun needs to leverage the abilities they “develop” to better expand his own ability system and further derive and combine various abilities.

This indeed made Xia Libing feel incredibly amazed.

Clearly, many of the mutations happening in Xiang Kun can no longer be understood using existing knowledge and theories, and contain a lot of illogical content.

For now, they do not have enough equipment for observation and experimentation, so like Xiang Kun, summarizing, hypothesizing, and building based on known phenomena and feelings can help them better utilize the abilities brought about by this mutation.

On her notebook, Xia Libing, according to the understanding of Liu Shiling’s “magic system” told to her in the evening, combined with her own understanding, tried to establish a few reasonable formulas and models.

But the more she pondered, the more miraculous she thought the Little Fatty Girl was. No matter how she tried to input, she still could not understand the Little Fatty Girl’s thought process, yet she nonetheless successfully made Xiang Kun’s “super-connected objects” work.

However, through this series of analyses, Xia Libing also discovered that the “systems” she and Xiao Pingguo have constructed lean towards one type, which can be described with the same framework or model, while the Little Fatty Girl is an exception.

She suddenly remembered the canary named “Shiny” given to Xiao Pingguo by Xiang Kun. During the Spring Festival period, this bird also entered Xiang Kun’s “Super Sensory Item System,” helping Xiao Pingguo “develop” a new ability while Xiang Kun, in turn, utilized this ability to derive a group illusion capability under “Super Sensory State.”

The “position” of “Shiny” is definitely completely different from her, Xiao Pingguo, and Little Fatty Girl.

So Xia Libing began to hypothesize, perhaps Little Fatty Girl was not simply a “user” and “developer,” or perhaps she was also the “application,” “functionality” itself, and like those coins and steel beads “super-connected objects,” a terminal or part of the system platform?

Following this line of thought, reapplying the previously established models and formulas, many previous hypotheses that could not be established, inexplicable or contradictory, all fit.

It’s clear that in Xiang Kun’s “Super Sensory Item System,” the Little Fatty Girl’s existence is indeed more deeply embedded and has more characteristics compared to others.

Unknowingly, Xia Libing’s forehead rested on the computer desk and she abruptly sat straight, almost falling asleep again.

She turned her head and looked at Xiang Kun who was still lying straight on the bed with no reaction, picked up the canned black coffee next to her and took a sip. However, she knew that ingesting caffeine at this point would be of no use, as there are three cans of Red Bull and an empty coffee can lying in the trash can nearby, consuming more of these beverages wouldn’t provide any stimulating effect.

So, she got up, washed her face with cold water in the bathroom, came back and checked Xiang Kun’s data, then flipped a coin to sense the “super-connected objects,” made a record, sat back down, and continued to look for issues to concentrate on in order to resist the sleepiness.

She wasn’t testing her “Illusion Reality” capability at this point, because she knew that using “Illusion Reality” too frequently would make her mentally fatigued and likely cause her to fall asleep.

With six or seven hours left until Xiang Kun was projected to wake up, she had to hold on until then.

But the fatigue was too much. Soon, Xia Libing’s eyelids began to droop again, her head nodding off a bit at a time and with the swaying of her ponytail, she was on the verge of falling asleep at any time.