What It's Like Being a Vampire

Old Xia sent back an OK emoji.

On the day when he had to leave Citong City two weeks ago, Xiang Kun had Old Xia put a “black circle graffiti” in the room of the “vampire patient” he found problematic at the Third Hospital, intending to seize the opportunity to observe her dreams and identify her “problems”.

In the two weeks since his return, Xiang Kun had sensed the dreams of the “vampire patient” multiple times.

Even though he saw information related to the “vampire” every time, he even saw the “person” who guided her to become a “vampire”- or should I say, the person she believes guided her into becoming a vampire, in her dreams.

However, through several dream perceptions, Xiang Kun judged from various details that the “vampire duke” with a figure like an internet drama’s handsome actor, dressed in European clothes, pale skin, sharp teeth and red lips, and a gentle voice, seen in the dreams of the “vampire patient”, was certainly not a real “vampire”; wasn’t a “mutant”.

That “vampire duke” with handsome looks probably was an imagination and delusion created by the “vampire patient” and didn’t really exist.

But based on some of the content from the dreams, the related information that Alice found for him earlier, and his intuition, he surmised that these illusions and delusions of the “vampire patient” were likely induced or even hypnotically caused by the real “mutant” to achieve certain purposes.

However, as for the exact purpose and the specific means of hypnosis, he hadn’t figured out yet.

It was possible that the “mutant” wanted to manipulate others to gather fresh blood for it. Earlier, Alice found a news report about this “vampire patient” and three men bewitched by her, kidnapping people in the streets, perhaps to find that “mutant”. However, they were discovered by passers-by who called the police and got them all arrested. The three men were locked up, and after being judicially identified, the “vampire patient” was sent to the Third Hospital for compulsory treatment.

Whether facing interrogations by the police or the treatments from doctors, the “vampire patient” didn’t confess who was driving her to act this way. She stated that she was born of the noble blood clan and had just awakened, needing to drink blood.

The “vampire patient” had a deep delusion, and it was difficult to get to the truth from the dream provoked by “emotion infused objects”. Xiang Kun’s ability to edit dreams after entering a “super sensory state” in the dream couldn’t guide her too meticulously yet.

However, the “dream inside a dream” developed by Xia Libing last night, as well as the series of operations in Mijoe’s dream, made Xiang Kun discover a method to extract the truth – to let Old Xia carry out hypnosis or interrogations on the “vampire patient’s” subconscious within the “dream inside a dream”, using the form of the dream to more intuitively exhibit the problem.

Now Old Xia was heading to the Third Hospital to get close to the ward of the “vampire patient”, first to establish a connection with the “black circle graffiti” he set up in the room two weeks ago. After the patient fell asleep at night, both of them would find a way to explore her dreams and carry out their operations.

It was necessary to deal with the matter of the “vampire patient” first, otherwise, Old Xia would be busy preparing their lab, the preparation of various equipment and custom items, and he would have to resign from his work at the Third Hospital. In that case, even if they discovered some issues about the “vampire patient”, it would be difficult to interact with her in a perfectly normal fashion, and there would be more troubles.

After discussing with Old Xia, Xiang Kun thought for a moment, then texted Tang Baona on WeChat, “What are you doing?”

After a short while, Tang Baona sent a link to a Bilibili video, following with a laughing emoji, “Remember to triple combo-Ao!”

Xiang Kun opened it and found it to be a cover and remix video. After finishing editing the “Youlong Play Rabbit” video, Tang Baona finally had time to update her own videos.

Xiang Kun gave the video a one-click triple combo, but then said to Tang Baona, “Next time for sure!”

Tang Baona replied with an emoji saying, “I’ll beat you up”.

Xiang Kun replied, “Just kidding, I’ve already triple comboed! I’ll watch it later! By the way, I remember you’re pretty good at drawing, aren’t you?”

Tang Baona sent a dumbfounded emoji, “No, I’m quite average at drawing.”

She quickly followed up with another message, “Are you looking for someone who can draw? Are you looking for an art designer for your game? I can connect you with Xie Peng. He’s the art director of a game company and would definitely know a lot of people. He can help you find all kinds of talent.”

Xiang Kun replied, “It’s not about work. Do you remember Liu Shiling, the little girl who used to live next to me in 706? She’s the one who, you and Zhen’er found her coin-flipping video online while we were in Tongshi Town.”

Tang Baona immediately replied, “Of course I remember! That little girl is so cute! I really want to pinch her cheeks!”

Xiang Kun: “Here’s the thing, she wants to learn how to draw, and I thought of you. When you’re free, could you perhaps guide her remotely online?”

To be honest, when Little Fatty Girl made this request, Xiang Kun had many other plans.

For example, he could pay some money and ask Xiao Min, Yang Zhuo’s girlfriend, a student in the related field who had studied art for seven or eight years, to guide Little Fatty Girl online during her free time.

Or he could help Little Fatty Girl find a locla art student from Star City to teach her. If he had a good talk with Shiling’s mom, there were many homeschooling platforms available to offer services, so there should be no problem.

These plans were actually more professional.

However, Xiang Kun dismissed all the other plans in a split second and decided to ask Tang Baona for help. He knew Little Fatty Girl’s purpose of learning to draw. She might draw something related to emotion-infused objects or dreams. He hoped that the person who would teach Little Fatty Girl and have contact with her, would be someone he could trust.

Moreover, from the fact that Little Fatty Girl asked him for drawing lessons through a video, it could be seen that she probably didn’t want to attend a class or any interest-based group for learning. Otherwise, she would have told her mother about her desire to learn drawing. Based on Shiling’s Mom’s typical approach, she would definitely help her sign up for a drawing class and find an art teacher.

Tang Baona herself said she was average at drawing, but according to Xiang Kun’s judgment, her skill level was already quite good. At least, she was more than capable of teaching Little Fatty Girl.

In addition to asking Tang Baona for help, Xiang Kun provided Little Fatty Girl with two “packages”. One was a series of online videos teaching children to draw, the other was to have Little Fatty Girl send her drawings to him. He would then have Alice “modify” them before sending them back, guiding Little Fatty Girl to improve and helping her draw what she wanted to draw.

Upon hearing Xiang Kun’s request, Tang Baona agreed without any hesitation, and sent an emoji of a fist-bumping little boy, saying, “No problem, leave it to me! It’s a good opportunity for me to learn the coin-flipping skills from Liu Shiling!”

After talking about Little Fatty Girl, Tang Baona brought up another matter with Xiang Kun, “By the way, are you free the day after tomorrow? My grandfather would like to invite you to have a meal and chat about wood carving and calligraphy. Zhen’er, my sister, and Gao Yao will also be there.”

After considering for a moment, Xiang Kun responded with an OK emoji.

“Have what we’ve been preparing for the game’s official launch, company registration and funding talked privately with you? She called me and talked about it this morning.” Tang Baona started discussing the game they were working on with Xiang Kun.

They kept talking until past five in the afternoon, when Tang Baona needed to go for dinner, then they stopped.

Of course, Xiang Kun didn’t need to eat dinner. He remembered the video that Tang Baona had sent before, so he scrolled through their chat history and opened it to watch.

The song Tang Baona covered was Nightwish’s “Last Ride of the Day”, a highly imposing and difficult song to sing.

Xiang Kun was also familiar with Nightwish. Their songs seemed to be seldom covered by others because they were all quite challenging.

Usually, Tang Baona, as an amateur, would find this song difficult to handle, particularly the high notes. If her skills were barely enough, or somewhat deficient, her rendition would sound quite lacking. Singing a song at 80 points with a skill level of 120, is wholly different from doing the same with a skill level of exactly 80 points.

However, to his surprise, Tang Baona’s rendition of the song was exceptionally good. It seemed that some post-processing had been done, but regardless, her performance was truly fiery, smooth, and even more energetic and immersive than the original in Xiang Kun’s opinion.

The video matched with the music was a montage of scenes from several animations, including One Punch Man, Fate, Giant, and others that Xiang Kun hasn’t even seen before. But with the screen crowded with bullet comments like “Give your heart”, “Execute justice”, and the thirty-year-old Xiang Kun, were stirred with a feeling of passionate fervour. He felt like he was heading with his companions towards a world-destroying enemy, defending something that must be protected, risking everything.

No more need to hide, no more need to be low-key, no more fear of being discovered. Shed all burdens, release all restrictions, and have a hearty fight, a hearty battle!

Just when he was listening to the line “Once upon a night we’ll wake to the carnival of life”, the phone screen suddenly went black, the music came to an abrupt end. It was as uncomfortable as having your breath cut off halfway through a deep breath.

At the same time, Alice’s somewhat “anxious” voice came from the speaker, “Boss! Danger! Boss! Danger!”

Xiang Kun looked up in surprise, understanding in an instant what was going on.

His phone had stopped playing the video because Alice had directly cut off the playback. He unknowingly entered an “emotional assimilation” state while watching the montage and the cover by Tang Baona.

There was no one around at the moment. And even if a neighbor was slightly affected by this emotion, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

But the problem is, Xiang Kun now is not the same as he was a few months ago.

After the mutation evolution over this period, along with the abilities “developed” by Little Fatty Girl, Apple and Old Xia, if his emotions fluctuate too violently now, he could unintentionally cause a series of influences either through the “super sensory item system” or his abilities. Especially interference and control over electricity and magnetism.

Looking at the dozens of coins on the table, all of which had established “super sensory contact” during the previous blood-drinking period, neatly laid out on the computer desk like a ready-for-battle army. And the box of tungsten steel balls in the corner of the bedroom, from the perception information obtained through memory retrieval, he knew that those balls were also influenced to float in the air like a squadron of attacking fighter jets. Xiang Kun then understood what Alice meant by “danger” – not that he was in danger, but Alice was.

If Xiang Kun had fully let his abilities loose without any subjective avoidance and control, most likely all the electronic devices in his bedroom would be affected.

Xiang Kun shook his head with a wry smile. It seems that he’ll have to pay attention to the occasion and environment when watching such thrilling videos or listening to music in the future, or first sense Old Xia’s highly rational emotional type for insurance through “emotion-infused objects”. Otherwise, he could easily create a widespread impact without thinking.

He then thought of the few cries Alice made just now, the “emotion” in her voice was becoming more and more realistic.

Moreover, her reaction was really fast. She predicted the possible results with just a slight influence on her surroundings. Although this has something to do with the “vampire mutation model” which plugged all data into Xiang Kun, her ability to foresee “danger” wasn’t taught by Xiang Kun, nor was it given a specific task. It all came from her self-learning and evolution.