What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Archer Xiang Kun

Tang Baona took Xiang Kun to the same archery range where she and Yang Zhen Er had been five or six times before. It was Xiang Kun and Xia Libing’s first time in an archery range, as well as their first time handling a bow and arrow.

However, Xiang Kun demonstrated an unusual talent for archery. Initially, they all used an 18-pound recurve bow to aim at a 10-meter target.

After receiving basic motion guidance and making a few short distance trial shots, and officially beginning the 12-arrow scoring, Xiang Kun, except for the first 3 arrows that didn’t hit the 10-ring, hit every other arrow in the 10-ring. What’s more, his last 4 arrows hit the bullseye.

Of course, they were beginners, so they used an 800mm target paper and the distance was only 10 meters. The difficulty was not high.

But Xiang Kun, on his first attempt, scored 114 in the first 12 arrows, which is quite rare.

Even the coach thought that his movements were unlike those of a beginner.

After hitting the 10 -ring with each arrow for two rounds of 24 arrows at the 10-meter target lane, Xiang Kun was taken by the coach to the 18-meter target lane, switched to a 26-pound bow, and given a smaller full-ring target paper.

After getting used to the bow’s pulling force and the arrow’s trajectory with 3 arrows, Xiang Kun’s performance stabilized again. Each of his following arrows hit the 10-ring, with even half of them hitting the bullseye XIO.

He shot 36 arrows in a row, always keeping a steady motion.

After switching to a 30-meter target lane, Xiang Kun’s accuracy finally decreased. He was no longer hitting the bullseye with each arrow, so the coach decided to have a tryout with him under the guise of giving instructions and surprisingly, he lost by 2 points.

The young and handsome coach wasn’t outraged. He just believed more firmly that Xiang Kun was not a beginner. He must have undergone professional training somewhere. Otherwise, no matter how talented, his actions wouldn’t be this steady.

Xiang Kun didn’t bother to argue. He just kept practicing with Tang Baona and the others. He wasn’t hitting the bullseye with every arrow. Sometimes it was XIO, sometimes it was 7 or 8 rings, and even 5 or 6 rings occasionally. The previous stability seemed to be just a fleeting individual performance.

When it comes to Xiang Kun’s archery talent, Yang Zhen Er also doubted: “I also feel that Teacher Saitama doesn’t seem like he has never touched a bow before. He might have practiced somewhere before, pretending to not know, becoming skilled in the archery range. Was he playing coy in order to show off?”

Tang Baona shook her head: “From the few times you both interacted, do you think he’s the type to show off in such a way?”

Without lifting her head, Xia Libing put in a word from the side: “I didn’t notice him lying when he said it was the first time he touched a bow and arrow.”

“So you’re saying he really has exceptional learning ability? Or is he a natural-born archer?” Yang Zhen Er asked, frowning.

“Let’s see if he really is that quick of a learner… Let’s go horse riding tomorrow? He probably hasn’t ridden a horse either. Old Xia, are you going?” Tang Baona shifted the conversation and asked Xia Libing.

Xia Libing was still looking at her phone, she confirmed: “I will.”

Yang Zhen Er was stunned, she asked curiously: “But tomorrow is Monday, a working day! Don’t you have to work?”

“I have plenty of unused vacation days. There’s not much going on in the company lately, so spending most of my time at work just playing with my phone,” Xia Libing replied.

Yang Zhen Er looked at her cousin: “Old Xia, what about you? Don’t you have to do your internship at the hospital?”

“I’ve finished my internship period, it doesn’t matter whether I go or not. I’m waiting for the procedures at the Haixi Province hospital to be completed, then I’ll go there,” Xia Libing explained.

“But that’s not right! Whenever I invited you to hang out before, you always found various reasons to refuse! Last time I invited you to play cards, I even had to bring you shoes and clothes before you were willing to come! So why are you agreeing now so easily? Is it because of Teacher Saitama?” Yang Zhen Er widened her eyes, staring at her own cousin.

Xia Libing replied: “Because it’s not interesting to just hang out with you two.”

Tang Baona couldn’t help but laugh: “Old Xia, could you be a little more tactful in your speech?”

Yang Zhen Er was suspicious: “Old Xia, you aren’t falling for ‘Teacher Saitama,’ are you? He’s a potential match for your Sister Nana though… Ah, got it wrong, have you taken him as an object of your research?”

Seeing Xia Libing didn’t respond, Yang Zhen Er quickly stood up, moved to her side, and asked while looking at her phone screen: “Who are you chatting with on WeChat? Usually, you only reply to one message after I send you ten, with whom are you chatting so busily… What!? It’s ‘Teacher Saitama’ again!”

Xia Libing didn’t hide her phone from her cousin, just kept typing on WeChat, replying to Xiang Kun.

Not only Yang Zhen Er, but now Tang Baona also leaned in. One on each side, they watched as Xia Libing chatted with Xiang Kun on WeChat.

“Clinical symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder… Psychological adjustments after recovering from a long-term disease… The effects of various bodily hormones on psychology and spirit… ” Yang Zhen Er looked confused, “You’re talking about these, and ‘Teacher Saitama’ can keep up with you?” Xia Libing glanced at her: “He was the one who asked.”

Hearing this, Tang Baona pondered: “It seems he’s really planning on making that medical information-related app, starting from the field of mental health? Is he planning on recruiting Old Xia?”

In the slightly swaying subway car, Xiang Kun stood near the intersection of the carriages, typing on his phone with both hands, seeming to lean against the wall of the carriage.

But in reality, his back was several millimeters away from the wall, not leaning on it.V?s?t ?ew ?o?el.o?g uрdated f??st

His body muscles were continuously adjusting with the shaking of the subway to control his center of gravity. His feet seemed to have taken root on the subway floor. Xiang Kun was also training his body in every possible time and opportunity.

While chatting on WeChat with Xia Libing, he collected and quickly judged the voice and scent information of the people in the subway car, hoping that this would become his instinct in the future. When in a new environment, he would

unconsciously collect information tor rapid judgment, just as easily as breathing. It wouldn’t require his active observation, thought, and judgment.

On WeChat, the discussion—or should be said as consultation between him and Xia Libing, was drawing to a close.

It was only today at the archery range that he found an opportunity to slowly start a conversation. From the impact of illness on psychological and mental aspects as a topic, he began to discuss with Xia Libing.

Although his mutation situation was different from ordinary sickness, things like cancer, from a certain perspective, could also be said as results of gene mutation and bodily variation. From the perspective of how physical changes impacted psychology, there might be theories or cases he could refer to.

Xiang Kun finally asked another question, “I saw a program online where someone could find hidden objects through ‘psychic induction.’ In the fields of psychology or neuroscience, is there any basis that can be used to explain this?”

Compared to the fast reply speed from before, this time he waited for quite a long time before receiving a message. He initially thought that Xia Libing would have a lengthy response, but instead, it was only a sentence:

“This question doesn’t sound like something you’d ask.”

Eh… Xiang Kun touched his bald head, unsure of how to respond. He understood what Xia Libing meant: it didn’t seem like he’d ask such an “unscientific” question.

But he could not explain himself. After all, he couldn’t exactly say he had indeed encountered a situation similar to “psychic induction” of items.

His discussion with Xia Libing reminded him of his previous encounter with Professor Li. These researchers, who deeply cultivate their respective fields, had a strong aversion to any “hypotheses” lacking evidence support.

This time, he received a WeChat message from Tang Baona who said that they would go horse riding in a neighboring city tomorrow and asked if he was interested.

Xiang Kun thought for a moment and confirmed

After putting away his phone, he remembered his trip to the archery range earlier in the day.

He didn’t lie to Tang Baona and her friends. Today was indeed his first time playing with a bow and arrow.

Now, his muscle strength, stability, control, endurance, vision, focus were extremely high. After listening to the coach explain some basic technical actions and precautions, he tested a few arrows to familiarize himself with the strings’ tension, the arrow’s weight, the trajectory and landing point of the arrow. He was immediately able to adjust his muscles, coordinate the series of actions for fitting the arrow onto the bow, hooking the string, pushing the bow, opening the bow, positioning, aiming, and releasing, all in one go, just like a seasoned veteran.

It’s safe to say that he’s highly suitable for archery now – or that nothing really suits him.

Furthermore, Xiang Kun felt that his rapid familiarization with archery technique and quick grasp of the bow and arrow’s aim was down to his body’s frequent evolutionary changes and brain’s targeted training and mutation during this period.

He can now quickly record and feedback information and data such as the force required to pull the bow, the aiming angle, the weight of the arrow, the trajectory and speed of the arrow after it’s released, and then adjust these through controlling his body muscles to achieve the best results.

If it were a week ago, even if his strength, stability, endurance, and vision were on the same level, it would be hard for him to master archery to this extent in such a short period

He believes that he can now double the results of any other sports or technical learning with half the effort.

Of course, Xiang Kun himself was also very interested in archery.

So at first, he immersed himself in learning archery without realizing his learning speed had accelerated so much, unconsciously overdoing it a bit.

By the time he began the “practice match” with the coach, he had become aware that his performance was too conspicuous, and began to consciously tone it down.

He deliberately underperformed for the last two arrows in the “practice match”. According to his assessment of the coach’s skill, the coach should have been able to beat him, but unexpectedly, the coach also unaccountably underperformed on his last two arrows, turning him into a center of attention at the archery range.

But afterward, Xiang Kun controlled his performance, after all, if he could aim at the 10-point center of the target, he could also accurately aim at the 7-point or 6-point rings.

Today he also casually chatted with other regular archery enthusiasts at the archery range and learned about the powerful force of modern compound bows.

Mass-produced hunting compound bows basically have a maximum draw weight of about 85 pounds, such as Mathews’ “Monster” model. However, its power is already quite terrifying, the arrow speed can even reach 350fps, coupled with specially made arrows, it can easily penetrate adult wild boars.

If one wants an even more powerful compound bow, one would have to custom order it from a bow dealer. Bows over 100 pounds and even 200 pounds can be made.

However, such bows are practically unusable for ordinary people. For hunting large animals, 85 pounds is sufficient, precision is a more important consideration.

If Xiang Kun had a powerful compound bow when he encountered the giant owl, along with specially made arrows, even if he couldn’t kill it in one hit, hitting its wing to make it fall from the sky, unable to fly away, would not be a problem.

In that case, whether to kill or to spare would no longer be up to the owl to decide.

Moreover, Xiang Kun himself would be safer.

Most importantly, bows and arrows without mechanical trigger mechanisms are not regulated items. If the arrowheads are disassembled and packed separately, even public transportation security checks can be passed. If one has an athlete card, there’s even less of an issue.

However, at the moment, purchasing a compound bow is not urgent. A Mathews Monster alone costs over ten thousand yuan, let alone a custom made high-pound hunting compound bow, along with custom arrows. The price would certainly be even more expensive.

Returning home and just as he was opening the door, the door of No. 706 suddenly opened. Little Fat Girl Liu Shiling saw that it was him and gleefully called out, “Uncle Bald, wait a minute!” Then she turned around and ran back into her home.

Xiang Kun was taken aback for a moment. After unlocking his door, instead of going in right away, he stood at his doorstep waiting.

As for the little fat girl who was the first to greet him after moving into this community, he held quite a favorable impression.

In no time, the little fat girl came out again, her hands holding a large plate with four honeycomb cakes on it.

The little fat girl walked carefully, fearing the cake would fall. Her mother also followed her out, standing in the doorway, watching her daughter with a smile. Then she said to Xiang Kun, “Mr. Xiang, these are a few honeycomb cakes I tried making. Give them a taste and see how they are.”

Xiang Kun was initially planning to refuse on the pretext that he did not like sweets but looking at the expectant look in the eyes of the little fat girl who had brought the plate to him, he didn’t say his refusal. Instead, he took the plate with a smile, gently patted Liu Shiling’s hair, and called her by her nickname: “Thank you, Xiao Lingdang.” Then he looked up at the plump woman at the doorway, “Thank you, Shiling’s Mom. I haven’t had dinner yet. Just looking at this cake makes me hungry.’

Back home, he looked at the four modest-looking honeycomb cakes on the plate. After some thought, Xiang Kun didn’t toss them straight into the trash. Instead, he took a bite.

Well, it had a bit too much sugar, too much milk, too many eggs, the taste of condensed milk was okay, and the honey was also a bit too much.

After chewing in his mouth for more than ten seconds, Xiang Kun didn’t swallow, but spat into the trash bin. He continued to eat, carefully tasting each of the four honeycomb cakes. After rinsing his mouth, he washed the plate and placed it aside to return it later.

Standing in the kitchen, Xiang Kun thought for a moment, then opened the refrigerator, took out a frozen rabbit to thaw, and prepared various sides according to a recipe he had read.

Since he has accepted others’ snacks, he should return the favor, right?