What It's Like Being a Vampire

Leaving Old Xia’s house, Xiang Kun chose to walk back to the hospital due to the lateness of the hour and the difficulty of calling a ride. After all, it wasn’t too far away.

Actually, since confirming in the afternoon that he could take photos of the “co-manifestation”, and after experiencing a slight reduction in reactivity to the ten “super-connected objects” on Old Xia, Xiang Kun had been contemplating another issue.

On the premise that “super sensory contact items” were not physically damaged, this weakening reaction had occurred a few times before and had all happened with the “super-connected objects” given to the Little Fatty Girl, including two coins and a sheet of A4 paper.

Although Xiao Pingguo and Old Xia also established a special connection with “super-connected objects”, no such reduction in reactivity occurred with theirs. Nevertheless, no decrease in reaction was observed in Old Xia’s “super-connected objects” before the “co-manifestation” was recorded this afternoon.

Why then, was there a decrease in response with Old Xia’s “super-connected objects” this afternoon after the “co-manifestation” was recorded? And what is the reason for the lowering in response with Little Fatty Girl’s “super-connected objects”?

What differentiates Little Fatty Girl’s control of “super-connected objects” from that of Xiao Pingguo and Old Xia?

Reflecting on the ability developed by Little Fatty Girl, Xiang Kun suddenly realized, her control and influence over the “super-connected objects” and related electromagnetics, were far stronger than Old Xia and Xiao Pingguo.

Xiang Kun faintly felt that, contrary to what he had previously judged, to some extent, Little Fatty Girl’s integration into his “Super sensory Item System” was profounder.

It was like developers working on the same platform; some worked closer to the hardware development, whereas some worked on the application layer. Little Fatty Girl was the former, while Xiao Pingguo and Old Xia were the latter. One wasn’t superior or inferior to the other; the differences were just divisional tasks.

However, should he give the little girl some more instructions?

After all, she is still a preschooler, and Xiang Kun can predict that the influence of her power on the surrounding environment will become more significant, and the objective power will become stronger.

When reaching a certain intensity, if not controlled properly, it may pose a threat to others and even herself.

The next morning, Xiang Kun settled his father’s discharge procedure.

The doctor examined him and confirmed that his father was fine. Xiang Kun also observed in his way and considered that his father had only a bruised butt and no other significant problems.

After sending his parents home, Xiang Kun went out again.

The ticket he booked was for the evening, but at noon he was to attend a high school classmate’s wedding.

According to his current state, for events like weddings or reunions, he would typically find an excuse not to attend and would just ask someone to deliver the gift money.

But just like Chang Bin, the high school classmate who was getting married today was a close friend of his. Not only were they in the same class for three years, but they were also desk-mates for two semesters. Every new year and holiday since graduation, he would also gather with this old deskmate and a few other good friends

In addition, as the old friend had informed Xiang Kun about the specific date of the wedding more than half a month ago and insisted on his presence, Xiang Kun thought it appropriate to attend since he was indeed in Citong and had time to spare. After all, he will have fewer opportunities for such relatively “normal” social activities in the future.

He had planned well to come back during the blood-drinking period and arranged to attend this wedding on the third day.

At the hotel entrance, after Xiang Kun disclosed his identity to the groom, he was greeted with expected astonishment as expected.

“Wei Zhuo just came over and told me your change was immense. I asked what change, and he teased me and refused to tell. He just said it would definitely surprise me. I was puzzled. How much can a person change in a year to surprise me? Could he have gone bald? But damn… Seriously surprised me! Xiang Kun, not just your hairstyle… your body shape has changed drastically too! ”

After being marvelled at by his old classmate, his old deskmate, the groom, at the entrance, he entered the wedding venue and met other high school classmates. After being introduced by Wei Zhuo and Xiao Jie and her husband, who he had met at the supermarket entrance at noon on New Year’s Eve, he once again received astonishment and “onlookers”.

He naturally anticipated such a situation. If it were the old Xiang Kun, he would feel awkward, even wanting to escape.

As for now… he did seem a bit awkward and uncomfortable, wearing an embarrassed smile on his face, and his responses were a bit clumsy – but these were all deliberate imitations of how he might have previously reacted, in order to avoid arousing people’s curiosity and continued attention.

Even his posture and expression were intentionally altered, such as avoiding eye contact with others, slightly slouching and hunching his shoulders – just like the closed-off posture he’d maintain in crowded scenes in the past.

By guiding the conversation, Xiang Kun easily drew everyone’s attention from his changed figure and hairstyle to other people. Then he did not involve himself much in the conversation anymore and just played the role of an observer – just like his habit for many years.

After the classmates chatted about recent happenings for a while, Wei Zhuo saw a muscular man with a slick-back hairstyle walking over. He immediately smiled and addressed him, “Boss Li, you drove a Camry when Xiao Yang got married in ’16. At Spring Festival 2017, you changed to an A6. In 2018, you switched to a Mercedes. We were just wondering what car you’d be driving today?”

The muscular man punched Wei Zhuo in the arm and laughed, “If you call me Boss Li again, I will start calling you Grandpa Wei!”

That was also their classmate, named Li Peiye who inherited his family’s shoe factory. His business had developed quite well over the years, not only opening many branches but also having customers all over the world. He was known to be the most successful among their high school classmates.

As he spoke, he pulled out a key, waved it in front of everyone, and then stuffed it back into his pocket : “I came here in an electric car today.”

“An electric car? A Tesla?” Wei Zhuo guessed.

His wife Xiao Jie wondered: “Isn’t a Tesla a car that costs 300,000? Peiye used to drive a car worth over a million. He can’t be regressing, can he?”

“The one that costs over 300,000 is the locally produced model3, Tesla has high-end models too, 800,000, 900,000 ones. But considering Peiye’s extravagant style and flashy personality, I guess he switched to something like an electric sports car like i8…” another classmate guessed.

“Maybe it’s the Porsche Taycan?”

“That thing hasn’t been launched in China yet I think.”

After everyone had taken turns guessing for a while, Li Peiye finally laughed and pulled the key out of his pocket again, slapping it on the table: “The answer… Yadea!”

Wei Zhuo picked up the key, looked at it, and scolded with a laugh: “You’re messing with us deliberately right! If you’re riding an e-donkey, say you’re riding an e-donkey, don’t call it ‘driving’ an electric car!”

The others also joked, “Peiye, did you do something wrong and your wife found out, so your car was confiscated?”

Immediately someone picked up on it: “Ah! Peiye is such a macho man, he can’t possibly be henpecked, his car must’ve broken down or leaking oil, and that’s why he had to resort to an electric car, right Peiye?”

“You need to assert your rights immediately, Peiye. Go to the 4S shop! Sit on the hood!”

“Damn, with Peiye’s big butt sitting on it, making a dent every time he sits, I’m afraid the 4S will want to assert its rights against him!”

Despite the teasing from the crowd, Li Peiye wasn’t angry and laughed, “Given the traffic in our Citong, riding an electric scooter is much more comfortable than driving a car. You don’t have to worry about traffic and it’s easy to park. In the city, I ride my electric scooter everywhere. It’s great and environmentally friendly! Just that in Citong too many people are stealing electric scooters – I’ve lost two this year, damn those car thieves!”

As this topic came up, everyone felt deeply about it, those who ride electric bikes all had the painful experience of theft, some had their whole bike stolen, some had parts taken off.

“Recently, isn’t there a crackdown operation on e-bike theft? I hope this wave of crackdown can calm down those ‘Che Guevara’s’.” Wei Zhuo lamented.

Li Peiye suddenly remembered something and laughed:” Right, I heard a funny thing from a friend at the Yun Gang District Office today. Last night, two car thieves turned themselves in, and they also led them to an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city, where they found dozens of electric bikes, and a small truck used for committing crimes.”

“Oh? Were they forced into a corner due to the police crackdown?” Someone asked curiously.”

Li Peiye shook his head: “Actually, they didn’t turn themselves in because they were forced into a corner. The reasons these two gave… were quite bizarre. One said he felt his health was deteriorating, thought it was because of the work they did, that it was shortening his lifespan. He thought going to jail could give him a regular schedule, help him lose weight, and improve his health. The other said that he hadn’t been home for a long time and wanted to see his father, but he wanted to serve his sentence, atone for his sins, and go home ‘clean’.”

Wei Zhuo sighed: “I’ve seen it all now! Someone actually wants to go to jail to improve his health?”

Xiao Jie also exclaimed: “Were these two car thieves enlightened by a monk or something? Suddenly their conscience kicked in?”

“Whether they found their conscience or not, I don’t know. But there’s something even more spectacular… Last night, someone ran into the Yun Gang District Office with a kitchen knife and reported that hundreds of people were plotting against him, wanting to sell his kidneys and his liver.” Li Peiye said with a smile, “The people from the branch office were particularly nervous, thinking a patient from the psychiatric hospital had escaped. Once he was subdued and questioned, they were even more certain he was mentally ill. He said that those hundreds of people who were conspiring against him were everyone from restaurant owners, waiters, convenience store clerks, street-side motorcycle taxi drivers, to passersby that he didn’t know at all. He believed they were all plotting against him…”

Wei Zhuo asked, baffled: “Is this a case of paranoia?”

Li Peiye waved at him: “Don’t interrupt first, I haven’t gotten to the point yet.”

“Holy shit, Peiye, get to the point already, will you? You’ve been talking forever and you still haven’t gotten to the point?” Another classmate cursed with laughter.

“I’m getting to it! Here comes the point! Do you know what the point is? The point is… when the District Office investigated this guy according to his identity, they found out that this guy was actually the organizer and gang leader who the two car thieves who turned themselves in identified just a few hours ago!” Li Peiye slapped his thigh as if he was banging a gavel, saying.

Weizhuo blinked a few times and said, “Wait a moment, let me get this straight, two car thieves turned themselves in first, then a lunatic called the police, who turned out to be the boss of the two car thieves? So their little car theft gang just walked into their demise, completely wiped out huh?”

Li Peiye lowered his voice, and his tone became mysterious: “It’s not just walking into the trap. According to the guy who reported to the police with a kitchen knife, his two partners had conspired together to swallow his goods, they fooled him into an abandoned factory to harm him and also tried to scare him pretending to be ghosts.”

“I see, the two who were stealing eBikes found out that their boss had become mad, felt hopeless, bleak, so they just surrendered, motivated to change their ways and become good people?” One of the classmates summarized.

Li Peiye waved his hand and said: “Stop interrupting, it’s not over yet! There are more key points to be made!”

“Holy cow Peiye! Exactly how many key points do you have?”