What It's Like Being a Vampire

By the time the plane arrived, it was already past midnight. As Xiang Kun stood in front of the baggage carousel waiting for his luggage, he seemed somewhat dazed.

Since drinking the blood of that mutated spider and waking up, he always felt that his sensory perception had greatly improved, and that he was receiving much more information. However, when he tried to analyze exactly what sensory abilities had been enhanced and what specific sensory information he had gained, he found nothing.

In the two days he spent in the Qinling Uninhabited Area after waking up, and on his return journey from the deep mountains, Xiang Kun was constantly exploring where his sensory enhancements specifically manifested, but it always seemed elusive.

On the plane back from Star City, on a whim, Xiang Kun began to collect information about the aircraft he was on. From various sounds and smells, to the images of the various shapes and structures of the plane he saw while boarding, and the information observed through infrared thermal imaging mode, he made a comprehensive judgement, constructing an overall picture of the airplane.

Unconsciously, Xiang Kun went from a casual thought to increasing focus. The Boeing 737-800 Winglets, which he had never previously researched, was slowly being constructed in his mind in a very unique way.

Only when the plane began to prepare for landing, lowering its landing gear, did Xiang Kun extricate himself from that state of extreme focus. What followed was a strong feeling of dizziness and a headache, as though his head was about to explode, and all-round throbbing pain. It took more than ten seconds for it to slowly ease.

It was only thanks to Xiang Kun’s frequent injuries after his mutations, having endured various types of pain, and having a strong tolerance, that he did not lose control and cry out.

This feeling was somewhat like when he first underwent targeted training for his hearing, just after it was enhanced through mutation. At first, his brain couldn’t withstand too much information when he began to listen for various sound details, but the discomfort and pain this time were several times worse.

Although that feeling was incredibly painful, Xiang Kun also felt somewhat pleased, because he now had a rough idea of why his sensory abilities were so noticeably enhanced after this blood drinking session.

In fact, among traditional senses such as hearing, smell, and vision, only his close-range dynamic visual ability was noticeably enhanced, the improvements in other areas were very limited. However, in terms of cognitive patterns, he seemed to have basically mastered the cognitive pattern that he could previously only experience through Xiao Pingguo’s dreams and apply to a small number of things in reality.

However, this cognitive pattern did not exist in isolation, it mixed with the information gained from his vision, hearing, and smell to jointly establish a cognitive model. So compared to Xiao Pingguo’s cognitive pattern, it was quite different, something he hadn’t experienced before. This was precisely why he had not realized that the enhancement he was experiencing was in this aspect.

Xiang Kun knew that this cognitive pattern was akin to installing a new “decoding software” for his brain.

When ordinary people perceive information through vision, smell, hearing, touch, etc., they have one cognitive construction pattern.

Since Xiao Pingguo was born without visual information input, her cognitive construction pattern is different. With the same sensory information from hearing, smell and touch, this pattern obtains more complex and abundant cognitive information.

What Xiang Kun is now doing is essentially combining the two patterns using a new “decoding software”, perceiving all external sensory information from a more comprehensive perspective.

In terms of sensory information obtained from the outside world, there hasn’t been a very noticeable increase. But after processing with the “decoding software”, the cognitive information obtained becomes much more abundant. Since his own hearing, smell and other senses are much stronger than ordinary people, and there are visual modes such as night vision and infrared thermal imaging that provide much more sensory information, the comprehensive cognitive information obtained through the “decoding software” will also surge and multiply.

This is why he feels such a significant increase in his senses after waking up this time.

It’s like before you learn a language, when you hear others speak in that language, it’s just pure sound, focusing only on its volume, tone and so on. But after you learn that language, when you hear those sounds, you know much more, knowing what the sound is expressing, and so on.

Xiang Kun suspects that this new cognitive pattern, this newly added “decoding software” in the brain, was not brought about by the mutation, and did not come from the mutated spider.

Instead, after experiencing that special cognitive pattern through Xiao Pingguo’s dream, he had been slowly and purposely training it. After several blood-drinking mutations, this is the result of brain evolution.

In the previous blood-drinking mutations, the enhancements were small, so they only worked on things that appeared in Xiao Pingguo’s dreams, and the cognition established were all imitations of Xiao Pingguo’s cognitive pattern. After drinking the blood of the mutated spider this time, he was finally able to establish this new cognitive pattern relatively completely.

It’s as if you installed a new game on your computer, but the original hardware configuration only performed at 2% of its capacity, so all the features and effects had to be turned off, basically making it unplayable. Each upgrade of the configuration was a small increase, so the game could not be fully experienced.

Not until, after saving up a lot of money, he was able to upgrade several key settings at once, fully enabling the features and 75% of the special effects, did he startle himself when he began to play. The experience was completely different from before: Is this the game I originally installed?

But obviously, the current “hardware” is still not at its optimal compatibility, so on the plane, when he collected all kinds of sensory information wholeheartedly, and used the new cognitive pattern to construct the cognitive model of that 737, there was a strong sense of discomfort.

For him, this kind of system, not fully understood and overly large and complex, is still beyond his current processing scope.

Therefore, from the moment he disembarked the plane, Xiang Kun looked dazed and absent, actually because he was constantly observing things around him, listening to, sniffing various pieces of information, and making judgements with the new cognitive pattern.

Having picked up his checked bow box, Xiang Kun moved outside the airport. He did not line up for a taxi, nor did he use his phone to call one; he just stood by the roadside in a daze.

Watching one passenger after another pass by, Xiang Kun quickly established new cognitive models of them in his mind.

A passenger walking by, from when they approached him to when they passed him and went on their way, took only a few short seconds. Yet, he had already drawn several layers of analysis, mixed them together, and formed a cognitive model.

The first layer was constructed from physical structures, with the body, limbs, and joints being like a combination of lines and points. The way the joints changed when walking, the points where the body bore weight, the way force was exerted, etc. formed the first layer of data;

The second layer was, under infrared thermal imaging mode, the changes in body heat, the transfer of thermal energy, to guess the mode and intensity of muscle use, as well as the state of the body;

The third layer was filled in with related data on human body structures he had seen before, forming an energy transfer map of the entire body at that moment;

The fourth layer was filled in with information about some internal organs and secretion systems, obtained through smells and sounds.

Level Five, …

He swiftly integrated various pieces of information layer by layer. After a passerby crossed paths with him, Xiang Kun was already able to establish a swift cognition model in his mind through this new cognitive pattern and make many direct calculations.

For example, he could tell that this person had a cut on his lower leg that affected his foot tendons, and he could guess at the angle of the injury; which soft tissues in his body were severely worn, the habits when he walks or runs, and what influences they had; which organs were problematic and what was the likely cause; the state of his physique and athletic ability, and an approximate measurement of his strength; his possible occupation and the level of threat he potentially posed to him; in what way could he subdue him with minimal effort and without hurting him, and how could he make him quickly lose resistance…

In the past, Xiang Kun could deduce a lot of information through normal observation and analysis of various sensory information, but it’s not as direct and swift as it is now. This new cognitive pattern possesses greater efficiency and comprehensiveness, allowing him to see things more quickly than before, and also from a completely new perspective on things he couldn’t see before.

However, the downside, is the significant consumption of mental energy. Only after a short period of observation, he began to feel a bit dizzy.

Xiang Kun stopped his observation, took a more than a minute rest. Once the dizziness had subsided, he took out his phone to call a taxi, preparing to go home.

While waiting for the cab, a tall woman dragging a suitcase passed by. As she approached, Xiang Kun started observing her unconsciously. But as soon as he glanced at her, he was captivated, his gaze fixated on her.

It was evident that the woman was accustomed to such stares, especially from men, so she didn’t pay it much heed and walked past, pulling her suitcase.

However, two steps past him, Xiang Kun couldn’t help but call out to her, “You should go for a check-up when you have the time.”

The woman frowned, looked back at him, muttered “Crazy,” under her breath, and then quickened her pace to leave.

Xiang Kun anticipated this reaction, but he just couldn’t resist, because according to the cognitive model he had established, this woman had a very serious internal illness. The specific cause and condition were unclear. But he knew if her condition continued to deteriorate, it wouldn’t be too long before her life was at risk, so it was a reflex to advise her. As for whether she would see a doctor, and whether she would get better after, he wouldn’t concern himself with that.

Shortly afterwards, Xiang Kun got into the car and unconsciously began to establish a cognitive model of the car he was now riding – starting from the physical structure of the car, to the structure of the chassis, transmission system, and the gearbox, to the structure of energy conversion and transmission, up to the trajectory and state of the car at this moment.

Arriving at the entrance of the residential area, he got off and stood for a while, pulling himself out of the slightly dizzy state.

He now basically understood that this kind of “new mode cognition” was not versatile. To successfully establish an effective cognitive model still required sufficient sensory information collection and a thorough understanding of the object.

For instance, regarding the 737 plane, he had not researched and studied these airplanes in advance. The sensory information temporarily collected from his seat on the plane was not sufficient to create an effective cognitive model, even though it felt like his brain was about to explode.

In the case of the car, he knew more about it than airplanes, but his understanding was still limited, so he was unable to establish a complete cognitive model along the way, thus its usefulness was limited.

Concerning other human beings, because he had seen a large number of medical-related materials, he had a relatively detailed understanding of the general human body shape, movement, muscles, bones, internal organs, and ways of energy transformation. Therefore, he could establish a relatively effective cognitive model.

If he could study more materials on various diseases and have sufficient observations, establishing enough samples for cognitive models, there would be enough references for comparison. Then, the rapidly established cognitive model will be more comprehensive and efficient. For example, just within the few tens of seconds that the woman passed by, he could diagnose her specific illness and locate the lesion.

Xiang Kun then thought of the items he established “super sensory contact” with – the process of establishing “super sensory contact” was actually somewhat similar to the current establishment of cognitive models. The more and the better the understanding of the target, the easier it is to succeed.

He believed that now that he had this new cognition pattern, establishing “super sensory contact” with items should be faster and easier.

And an object that had “super sensory contact” with him, a larger entity that an item belonged to, should also be easier to form a new cognitive model by him.

Combining both will help Xang Kun to control some more complex objects.

For instance, wanting to control a car previously, he could disassemble it, and make “super sensory contact” with most of its parts or key components, which might help him to drive or repair the car better.

Now, he just needed to have a sufficient understanding of the structure and performance of the car, make “super sensory contact” with just a few parts of it, which could help him establish a new cognitive model, making driving and repairing more convenient.

The same applies to other objects.

After returning home, the first thing Xiang Kun naturally does was to check on Alice’s status.

He had been away for almost ten days. Previously arranged tasks 1, 2, and 3 were all completed. Task 4 was in progress, and the further improvement of the voice system was underway. Long-term tasks were also in progress.

Xiang Kun then recorded his observations of the mutated spider, the memory analysis obtained from drinking its blood, all kinds of information about the mutated spider, and the characteristics of the two mutated plants from the spider’s memory, into the “Vampire Mutation Model” through Alice.

He proceeded to measure and summarize his current various data, as well as some other changes after this time’s blood drinking, and input them into the model.

Then Xiang Kun asked, “Alice, what’s your view on my mutation trend?”

In fact, he didn’t expect to get an effective answer to this question, as Alice was still too “young.” Many functions were not mature yet, and she still needed to grow.

However, he needed to have many conversations and interactions with Alice. Even though Alice’s core was constantly changing and maturing herself, what could truly have a significant impact on her was only the interaction between her and him.