What It's Like Being a Vampire

Underground in a certain building.

Mr. Liang is quickly filtering out information on several screens, data organized from various briefings sent from the information gathering and analysis department from all over the country.

These briefings are about unusual and peculiar events that have happened around the country over the past few days. After the relevant personnel have conducted preliminary filtering and analysis, they are passed to him to make the decision whether to send field teams for further investigation, or to have the team continue to gather more exhaustive information.

With the advancement of the mobile internet today, a countless number of users are posting all sorts of peculiar things, monsters, and strange people, whether they’re in the form of text, images, or videos.

However, most of this information is clearly false, and it’s not difficult to discern and filter them out.

Even a computer AI with preset rules can help filter out a large part of the useless information.

However, because the total amount of information is too large, the workload for manual filtering is still considerable. After all, Mr. Liang is very strict about this and doesn’t allow anyone to give a half-hearted job.

And the people from the information gathering and analysis department don’t want to lose a job with such rich rewards, so they work very diligently and hard.

The information that gets to Mr. Liang has been confirmed to exist. The staff will take the preliminary investigation results obtained through the internet and other channels, prepare them into briefings, and present them for further judgment.

What Mr. Liang has to judge, naturally, is whether there are “blood-eating creatures” lurking behind these incidents.

Of course, even after a round of screening and preliminary investigation, most of the briefings are unrelated to “blood-eating creatures”.

Mr. Liang quickly makes his selection, simply swiping his hand in front of the screen without needing to touch it.

His hand stops on one report. It’s today’s latest news, from a personal account on social media.

The incident happened in Star City. The source of the message claimed that his friend accidentally fell into the river yesterday, then something strange happened. His friend was “actively” “tossed” onto the shore by the river, and his friend also said that there seemed to be something in the river.

The river was shrouded in fog at that time, and the street lights along the way had also dimmed, which was very eerie.

When he got home, he looked up public news and folk stories that happened on the riverside over the past decade or two decades and felt that there might be something in the river.

But this thing saved his friend, so it should also be a good thing.

The message did not make a splash on social media and did not attract much attention or conversation. After all, there were no photos or videos, and the person issuing the message was not a well-known figure, only some friends of the person discussed or forwarded.

However, the members of the information gathering department, through other channels, found that the basic facts of what he mentioned might not differ much from reality, so they prepared a briefing and uploaded it to Mr. Liang.

Apart from the information posted on social media by the person, the briefing also contains footage from a surveillance camera that the information staff found, of the person involved wrongly parking on the side of the road when the incident occurred.

From the surveillance video, you can see three men and one woman getting off a car one after the other, and a few minutes later, three of them supporting a man who was soaked through, return, get into the car and leave.

From another angle of surveillance, you can also see the entire process of the man falling into the river, and it’s obvious that the man didn’t fall into the river accidentally, but jumped deliberately. It seems like a quarrel between a couple had occurred, which led to an impulsive action.

The video also showed that when the two men got out of the car, and the three men ran along the embankment, the brightness of the street lights changed.

Unfortunately, there’s no footage that shows the situation on the river, and there’s no footage of the man being tossed on the shore.

However, these can already prove the part of the truth in the message posted by the person on social media.

Mr. Liang reviews the two surveillance clips and ponders.

Are the “blood-eating creatures” born in water?

No, if they are aquatic creatures, they probably wouldn’t have saved people.

But if it’s a “blood-eating creature” that has undergone a human mutation, why would it be in the water?

Or is it possible that this incident has nothing to do with the “blood-eating creatures”?

It is possible that the man regretted his action after jumping into the river and swam to the shore himself. In that section of the river, the water flow should not have been fast. But because of vanity, he told his friends that he was tossed ashore by the water. He used the excuse that there was something in the river to shift their attention. As for the street lights and the fog on the river, there are also reasonable explanations.

Mr. Liang swipes the brief to his right, leaving it behind, intending to assign someone to conduct further investigation later.

In general, for this kind of information, if there is a high probability of confirming the presence of “blood-eating creatures”, he would directly send a field investigation team to conduct on-site investigations, just like the response after the incidents in the Qinling uninhabited area and Wushu Mountain.

In fact, sometimes, he would take action himself.

Just as Mr. Liang was preparing to continue browsing other briefings, a screen showed an external call request. The screen displayed “He Haomin”.

Mr. Liang pondered for a few seconds before accepting the call.

“Ah Liang?” A deep male voice asked.

“I’m here,” Mr. Liang replied in his distinctive voice, like metal scraping against metal.

“Are you still in Peng City?”

“Yes.”

“I heard that you confirmed that the fiery flying object that appeared on Zihuan Mountain, in Citong City, Haixi Province, on February 14, was the ‘giant raptor’ that caused the tourist accident on Wushu Mountain?”

“Yes.”

“Where is it now?”

“Not sure currently, still investigating.””

The voice on the other side suddenly became stern: “Have you forgotten the regulations? Any ‘blood-eating creatures’ that could potentially harm the lives and property of the people must be subject to necessary controls and monitoring. Any ‘Blood-eating creatures’ that have damaged the lives and property of the people must be subject to compulsory measures to prevent further harm!”

“Mr. Liang” replied: “I have sent an investigative team…”

The person on the other end immediately interrupted him: “Dr. Fang’s investigative team? Don’t bullshit me, I’ve seen the personnel composition of her investigative team, they have no ability to take compulsory measures, you never intended for them to catch the ‘mutated raptors’.”

Indeed, compared to the field investigation team entering the Qinling Uninhabited Area, the investigation team led by Fang Pingfang has too simplistic a personnel configuration, they simply don’t have the ability to capture the large bird.

“You didn’t discover Guo Tianxiang in Yangcheng beforehand, I don’t blame you for that, after all he hid very well. But these ‘Blood-eating creatures’ that have behaved harmfully and exposed their whereabouts, you must attach importance to them.” The tone of the man named He Haomin on the other end became more gentle and earnest: “Ah Liang, I won’t interfere… I can’t interfere, in the research aspects, these you have to manage by yourself. But some things, you have to pay attention to moderation. For those ‘blood-eating creatures’ that have already shown a huge threat, regardless of what kind of research plan you have, you must not adopt a ‘farming’ approach, there must be a bottom line in researching. Don’t forget, it was Academician Shen who initially vouched for you to do this thing against everyone’s objections, even though Academician Shen is no longer here now, but I hope you won’t let him down…and not let down the many people who trust you.”

“Mr. Liang” listened to everything the other party had to say before replying: “Old He, don’t worry, I will personally track down that bird.”

After ending the call, “Mr. Liang” pulled out an operation interface, entered a string of codes representing the “giant raptor”, and let the computer predict, based on the available information, the areas where it might appear. Then, he sent the prediction results to the information collection department and had them sift through human investigation and analysis, selecting the highest possibility results.

He Haomin’s suspicion was right, “Mr. Liang” did admittedly want to “farm” the “giant raptor” and conduct some related experiments and research on it.

But it’s not that he deliberately set the “giant raptor” loose, he just didn’t put all of his efforts into tracking and capturing it.

Because he had some speculations about that “giant raptor,” but he couldn’t express these speculations to the researchers and field staff under his hand, and he also couldn’t tell old He.

Now that Old He has issued a very severe warning, he must deal with the “giant raptor” as a priority.

He knew that Old He’s support was very important for him.

While waiting for the feedback from the information collection department, “Mr. Liang,” whose eyeballs were not covered by eyelids, looked at the rabbit wood carving on a metal stand next to him.

He had been staying in this building since New Year’s Eve and never left, spending most of his time researching this wood carving. He believed there was something wrong with this wood carving, that it definitely had something to do with a “Blood-eating creature,” but no matter what method he used he couldn’t find where the problem was.

He also pretended to “sleep,” lying motionless and relaxing his whole body for several hours, but no “dream” appear, let alone illusions.

He also tried to let his driver, Old Xie, help with the experiment, placing the woodcarving next to him when Old Xie was asleep, but when he woke up, he didn’t even have any dreams, let alone dreams “related to rabbit meat”.

Is it that the woodcarving could sense his threat, so it “dared not” respond?

Or has it’s “attribute” dissipated after such a long time?

…

“Xiao Pingguo” held her mobile phone, listening to Little Fat Girl Liu Shiling’s song “Learning Cat’s Meow,” that she sang yesterday afternoon, her face showed “maternal laughter” just like Tang Baona and Yang Zhen Er did.

Even though the singing was a bit sporadic, there were many places where she forgot lyrics and meow randomly. To be strict, she didn’t sing as well as the first time “Xiao Pingguo” taught her.

But there’s no denying that Little Fatty Girl’s naive and lovely voice was just too cute.

Even if “Xiao Pingguo” couldn’t see from the video that Yang Zhen’er posted in the group, Little Fatty Girl’s slightly uncomfortable and nervous expression while singing, just hearing the voice was a lot of fun.

Even Professor Li Yang, who had entered the room upon hearing the voices, stood by and watched the content playing on the phone, couldn’t help but break into a big smile: “This little girl is so cute, she reminds me of you when you were little. She’s the kid who lives in Star City and who you said was learning to sing from you, right?”

Xiao Pingguo replied, “Yes, her name is Liu Shiling, but we call her Xiao Lingdang. She’s adorable and so understanding. She used to live next to Uncle Xiang’s house and was very close to him. So, when Sister Nana, Sister Zhen’er, and Bing went with Uncle Xiang to Star City, they visited her.”

Li Yang nodded and glanced at “Gold Flash,” who was standing on Xiao Pingguo’s shoulder, seemingly watching the video, and asked, “Speaking of which, have you been letting ‘Gold Flash’ out on its own a lot lately?”

As if sensing that it was being discussed, “Gold Flash” let out a chirp, then fluttered its wings and flew into the open birdcage on the table.

“Yes, sometimes I let him out for some fresh air. Otherwise, being cooped up in here with me all the time would be stuffy, I suppose…” Xiao Pingguo became somewhat flustered and hastily made an excuse.

Every time she released “Gold Flash” to be her “eyes and ears,” exploring the surroundings, her father wasn’t around and Aunt Yang was busy. She thought her father hadn’t noticed.

“Ah, I have been so busy lately. I thought I would have time during the winter break to take you out and have some fun, but something came up in the department and got delayed, making it even busier than during school. Your uncle has also been busy during this time, and doesn’t come visit often. Even Aunt Yang’s family has stuff happening…”

Even without using her object sensing abilities, Xiao Pingguo could hear guilt, apology, and distress in her father’s voice.

Then she realized that her father probably thought she had stayed at home all the time and hardly went out, felt that she was too lonely, and didn’t want “Gold Flash” to be like her, hence he thought she’d let “Gold Flash” out on its own for a breath of fresh air, while she herself could not fly or go out on her own.

She quickly said, “Daddy, I actually don’t want to go out lately. There’s a lot to do at home. I have to record audios for Sister Nana, make bird science popularization videos, learn computer knowledge from Uncle Xiang, test Uncle Xiang’s voice games with Sister Zhen’er, and teach Xiao Lingdang to sing. I have a lot of things to do at home.”

Li Yang gently touched his daughter’s head and sighed: “I know, you are a good kid.”

Xiao Pingguo felt helpless. Her father thought she was putting on a brave face to comfort him.

But she had no way to directly tell her father that letting “Gold Flash” out meant letting herself out. “Gold Flash” was her drone and camera, allowing her to know everything happening in the city from her bedroom, even gossip that ordinary people don’t know. Even though her eyes still couldn’t see, her sensing abilities were far beyond those of ordinary people.

“Daddy, I’m really fine, really.” Xiao Pingguo could only reply with a resolute tone.

“Mm, I know, I know,” Li Yang nodded in response.

However, from her father’s tone, Xiao Pingguo knew he didn’t take her words seriously.

“But… if you keep letting ‘Gold Flash’ out, would it not come back, or get lost, or be attacked by other birds? After all, ‘Gold Flash’ was raised by your Uncle Xiang. If it goes missing, it wouldn’t be good…” Li Yang said with some worry.

Xiao Pingguo laughed: “Daddy, don’t worry, ‘Gold Flash’ is very clever and can take care of itself. It won’t give up on the bird food Aunt Yang and I prepared for it with so much effort, which it can’t find anywhere else. And it wouldn’t leave me, I’m 200% sure it will come back. And Uncle Xiang knows that I let it out.”

Over at the birdcage, “Gold Flash” chirped a couple of times in cooperation, causing Li Yang to look over in surprise.

“By the way, Xiao Pingguo, your uncle said that someone wants to consult you about the training method of ‘guide birds’…” Li Yang remembered what his brother told him over the phone, “It’s a policeman from Haixi Province. His police school classmate, the first one who arrived when you called the police by the lake last time, Officer Xiao Wang, told him about your ‘guide bird’. This policeman from Haixi has a friend working at a school for the blind in Haixi, and he wants to ask for his friend. It seems you didn’t really systematically train ‘Gold Flash’, so is this guide ability based on your special relationship with ‘Gold Flash’, or can it be trained? If it can’t be trained, should your uncle reject it for you?”

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I’ve just posted a sideline story about Alice on gōng zhòng hào in Microblog (search sxhb2020 to follow). You can read it by sending “Alice” after you follow. I’ll post other sideline stories and all sorts of discussions and short stories there in the future. Of course, not reading the sideline story won’t affect your understanding of the main text.