What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 87: Influence

By three o’clock in the afternoon, the boy with earrings had almost no abnormality left in his body.

Of course, this was determined by Xiang Kun based on the boy’s heartbeat, respiration, and body odor. It was not certain that the effect had completely vanished, and Xiang Kun had no idea how the boy was feeling subjectively.

From the conversation between the boy and his companions, it appeared that he wasn’t even aware of the persistent odd condition of his body.

Nor did the boy or his companions suspect anything abnormal when they tried to corner Xiang Kun, they only thought they were too nervous and confounded to react, and at most impressed by the imposing aura of ‘Baldy’ as being out of the ordinary.

The boy had no concept that if his condition at that moment had continued for a few more seconds, he could have dropped dead.

Although Xiang Kun couldn’t detect any abnormalities in the boy anymore, he did not leave immediately. It wasn’t until almost ten to five in the afternoon when the three boys left the internet café that he followed them after waiting for a minute.

The boy with earrings didn’t leave with his two friends, they parted ways.

The boy walked at a leisurely pace, looking down at his phone; from the voice messages he was receiving on WeChat, it was clear he was setting up a date to hang out with a girl that night.

Seeing him enter a convenience store, likely to buy cigarettes, Xiang Kun, trailing far behind, quickened his pace before entering the store, then slowed down as if he was just passing by. He walked straight to the corner fridge, took a bottle of water, and stood by the checkout counter to pay.

When Xiang Kun entered the convenience store, the boy noticed him. His eyes grew wide and he choked, unable to inhale or exhale, the mobile phone in his hand that he had just used to finish his payment dropped to the floor, his forehead beaded with cold sweat, face deathly pale, and knees went weak. Xiang Kun didn’t look at him; he paid for his water expressionless, and walked out of the convenience store without laying his eyes on the boy at all.

In fact, Xiang Kun had even taken the effort to control his physical condition before walking into the store, maintaining an unusually relaxed and casual state.

Upon entering the store, he hadn’t intentionally collected signs such as the boy’s heartbeat, breathing, and body odor. Only after he stepped out of the store and took a few more steps forward that he cast his attention on the boy again.

Xiang Kun had always felt that the strong reaction of the boy’s body back at the entrance of the residential area was much more severe than normal shock or intimidation.

He wanted to test, without targeting the boy, what kind of reaction he would have when he saw Xiang Kun again.

After Xiang Kun left the convenience store, he overheard the clerk asking the boy: “Dude, you dropped your mobile phone… Are you alright? Goodness, how come you’re sweating so much all of a sudden… Are you sick?”

Xiang Kun focused his senses on the boy and could clearly feel his body undergoing drastic abnormal changes, somewhat similar to his state outside the residential area earlier today.

Apparently, the moment the boy saw him again, his body experienced a severe stress reaction.

Such influence wasn’t brief.

It seemed he had to be extra cautious in the future, not to use it casually on people, and not to treat people as experimental subjects lightly. From afar, Xiang Kun saw the boy with the earrings walk out of the convenience store, looking around nervously. Xiang Kun chose to stay in the boy’s blind spot for a little while. Once he confirmed that the boy’s condition had quickly returned to normal, Xiang Kun didn’t linger and made his way to the bus stop.

As for the ballpoint pen bead that he had left on the boy, establishing a connection with him, he didn’t plan on taking the trouble to retrieve it.

The unexpected strong influence he imposed on the boy today made Xiang Kun refocus on the drastic changes he experienced after drinking the blood of the Giant Owl.

This change must have come directly from the owl’s blood, because he himself had never undergone any targeted training in this regard. Furthermore, there was no corresponding mutation after he had drunk blood on many previous occasions.

He used to think that when his muscles were tensed, his gaze fixed, and he was prepared to fight, those animals like cats, dogs, and rabbits could discern his danger and power through their keen senses, or through his gaze, or the pheromones he exuded. Therefore, they chose to back off or submit. Indeed, every time, those animals had to notice him first, only then his state could affect them.

But after drinking the owl’s blood, his ability seemed to have changed, and not just enhanced based on his original capabilities.

At the equestrian field, apart from the target horse he selected, the other horses hadn’t seen him. They were also far away and shouldn’t have noticed him.

However, when he affected the target horse, all the horses in the field were affected.

Then again, whether it was the targeted horse or the other horses in the field, they just didn’t want to be ridden and didn’t show much change in their physical conditions.

But in the residential area today, the boy with earrings, who he marked, underwent severe physical reactions to the point where his life might have been at risk.

At the same time, other people nearby were also influenced to some extent.

Subconsciously, they didn’t have a clear understanding of their own influence.

This was obviously not as simple as being “scared” or “frightened”. Xiang Kun suspected that he might have directly affected the bodies of those people, including the boy with earrings, in some way, causing their bodies to react “spontaneously.”

This process might be somewhat similar to the “sense” he had recently established with the objects he “observed” and formed a connection with.

— Both were initiated by his mind and consciousness, creating a direct impact on the real world.

To validate his some of his ideas, he went to the largest bird market in the city early the next morning.

The market was far from the city center but not too far from where he lived. He only had to take the subway for three stops and then two more by bus.

He went straight to the area with the most bird shops, there were dozens of stores all selling various kinds of birds and their related products.

Xiang Kun slowly tensed his muscles, regulated his breathing, and entered a state where he was ready for a life-or-death fight any time.

However, he didn’t lay his attention on any target. Instead, he watched the ground with his head lowered and walked slowly along the street.

A few minutes later, Xiang Kun relaxed. He sensed the people and the birds in the cages around him and found no creature affected by him.

Then he stopped, looked at a yellow canary in a birdcage by the door of a store nearby, and began to slowly adjust his state.

He didn’t get into a combat-ready state like before, instead he maintained a lofty, overlooking, calm, and majestic state of existence.

He even recalled images from the Giant Owl’s memory, of soaring in the sky, surveying its territory.

The canary, which had been chirping, suddenly fell silent, it was as if it had turned into a stone statue. Stupefied, the canary stood on its perch, motionless.

Moreover, within two or three seconds, the noisy chatter of various birds that had been echoing down the whole street crazily, quickly ceased.

Though noises from outside like vehicles, passersby, and other tumult remained.

However, the sudden disappearance of one type of sound that they were used to hearing made everyone instantly realize that something wasn’t normal. They looked up in surprise, looking around bewildered, not knowing what had happened..