What It's Like Being a Vampire

Amidst the sky-reaching thunderclaps, a figure accompanied it, arriving in an instant.

Whether it was he who brought the thunder, or the thunder that brought him, was hard to say.

The energy, forcibly guided for release in a short time, resulted in a terrifying storm within a small range, bombing the entire area as if it had been hit with explosives.

Many of the struck trees ignited immediately.

Normally, even if a person is struck by lightning, even if they die instantly, they wouldn’t seem to catch fire or explode like a tree. There were some who survived after being hit, with no severe injuries.

After all, the human body contains a lot of water, and the electrical resistance is not that high. As a conductor only for a very brief moment, the instantaneous heat generated is not as great as in some other objects.

But this time, the two men caught in the thunderstorm were not spared. Like the struck trees, they met a brutal end.

In the area “visited” by the lightning storm, the only place spared was where the raincoated woman stood.

Around her, nine coins hovered, seemingly forming a safety zone.”

“Are you okay?”

The figure that brought the thunderstorm asked without approaching and maintaining a certain distance.

Arcs of electricity were still flashing around him, slithering like small snakes, and his hair blowing from behind in an unfelt wind, glowed with an electric light, making him look eerily bizarre.

These two were none other than Xiang Kun and Xia Libing.

In the afternoon, Xiang Kun predicted from weather reports and his own perception that the mountainous environment tonight would be perfect for his ‘Electric Mastery Flight’.

So, after sunset, he and Xia Libing, who had slept all afternoon to ensure she was well rested, equipped themselves and entered the mountain to have her record and observe his ‘Electric Mastery Flight’ process.

Xiang Kun had demonstrated his ‘flight’, or more accurately his ‘gliding’, in an abandoned factory area in Citong City when he had ‘come clean’ with Old Xia.

He simply made use of the magnetic field created by ‘Super-connected Objects’ to change his state of free falling from a high place. He hadn’t exactly demonstrated ‘Electric Mastery Flight’ in its entirety.

Flying in thunderstorm weather could result in lightning storms, which posed some danger to observers and could directly impact observing equipment. Therefore, Xia Libing and Xiang Kun kept a considerable distance between them during the flight, with the latter on a mountain peak a kilometer away.

When the two fugitives appeared near Xia Libing, Xiang Kun had just begun his electric ascent. Even though he was far away, he still saw the two men approaching Old Xia with knives due to his superior vision.

If he had been on the ground at the time, he might have had other ways to stop the two fugitives, for example, by rapidly entering the ‘Super Sensory State’, manipulating Old Xia’s ‘Emotion Infused Objects’ for sensory perception, and then projecting the fear emotion of the ‘Eight-armed, Eight-eyed Wood Carving’ through her ‘Super-connected Objects’.

Even if he wasn’t so intently focused on flying, he should have noticed them with his strong vision even from such a great distance and taken preemptive measures before they noticed Old Xia.

But with Xiang Kun high in the sky and realizing the danger facing Old Xia, while his brain was calculating at lightning speed, his body’s first reaction was to rush over.

In this state, he pushed his flying ability to its limit. Accompanying him was the triggered lightning storm, which swallowed the sky and covered the earth upon his arrival.

In the state of ‘Electric Mastery Flight’ and with all the lightning in the area triggered by him, his control distance of the ‘Super-connected Objects’ surged suddenly. As a result, he did not need to enter the ‘Super Sensory State’ and, at this distance, could directly control the nine ‘Super-connected coins’ and one ‘Super-connected bead’ on Xia Libing.

His aim was just to reach Old Xia’s location. He had made no deliberate attempt to guide the lightning to strike the two hostile attackers. But the possible formation of a lightning storm and its potential results had all been within his quick prediction.

Therefore, he manipulated Old Xia’s ‘Super-connected Objects’ to carve out a ‘safety zone’ in the storm for her.

He couldn’t make this area completely insulated, but used his abilities to control water vapor and direct the magnetic fields to make the outer area of the zone more attractive for lightning strikes. He established a path with less resistance for the lightning to be guided away after it hit the ground to avoid harming Xia Libing inside the safe area.

As for the two men outside the safety zone, naturally they faced great danger.

Xiang Kun did not know their identities. But since he saw them approaching Old Xia with knives, he wouldn’t care about their fate.

After hearing Xiang Kun’s voice, Xia Libing stood up from the ground, checked her physical condition, and looked at the camera she held in her arms before responding, “I’m fine.”

She glanced again at the “remains” of the two men and said, “They must be the two escaped convicts.”

She had glimpsed one of their faces in the lightning’s glow, and he broadly matched with the pictures of the convicts circulated online. Considering their crew cuts, their reaction on spotting her, and their strange behavior of climbing the mountain at night with flashlights but not using them until they encountered her, she was almost 99% sure about their identities.

Xiang Kun again glanced at the two “remains” and shook his head, “I guess I won’t be able to claim the hundred thousand reward. Wait… Their direction of approach… Could they have entered the mountain through Chongyun Village? Damn, do I really need to change my name to Xiang Kexing (“Star of Unluckiness”)?”

If he had found these two men in the mountains during the day, or in the village, Xiang Kun could have played the role of the “Whistleblower Hero” again and claimed the high reward.

Unfortunately, under the current circumstances, he definitely couldn’t connect himself with this incident.

The electric arcs around him soon disappeared and the charged hair flaring from behind his head also dissipated, returning his head to its earlier state.

The coins that had been floating around Xia Libing fell to the ground. Xia Libing bent down to pick up each coin, wiped off the mud sticking to them with the hem of her raincoat, and put them back into her pocket.

When she had been confronted by the two fugitives, she had actually been prepared to deal with them.

Immediately, she put her hand into her pocket and held the key that Xiang Kun had left with her in her hand, with one key protruding between her fingers to give her fist more lethal force.

She certainly couldn’t beat two desperate men armed with knives in a close combat, but she was much more familiar with the complex terrain than they were. She had equipment unknown to them beside her, she had the ‘Illusion Reality’ ability to distract them with a surprise attack, she had Xiang Kun, the “Reinforcement” who could arrive in a short time, and she knew all the vulnerable parts of a human body and how to immobilize them in the easiest and simplest way.

Therefore, even if she wasn’t completely assured of defeating the two sudden fugitives, she was basically confident that she could launch a surprise attack, retreat a safe distance, and wait for Xiang Kun to come to her aid.

If she was lucky, she could take him down directly by using the terrain, it wasn’t entirely impossible.

When the fugitive at the front was startled by the “Crispy Pig’s Elbow” co-manifestation, she was already prepared to attack and had thought about how to deal with the fugitive trailing behind.

However, when she suddenly noticed her “Super-connected” coin floating out of her pocket, she quickly guessed what Xiang Kun might be planning, hurriedly crouched down covering her head, prepared to dodge the lightning.

She had speculated with Xiang Kun about his “Electric Mastery Flight” ability and other abilities. Although she had never actually seen the lightning storm triggered by Xiang Kun, she still had some predictions and guesses.

However, when the lightning storm actually came, the scene was far beyond her guessing, just the thunder alone was loud enough to cause temporary tinnitus.

Xiang Kun didn’t directly control the “Super-connected” object to help Old Xia to recover the coins, because he had to first clear the static electricity remaining on his body after the “Electric Mastery Flight”. He had finally figured out a way to use the “Super-connected” object to eliminate the residual static electricity.

The storm came down fiercely but also ended quickly. Basically, as soon as Xiang Kun landed, it stopped.

Then the rain poured down, gradually extinguishing the burning flames around.

By the time the heavy rain started, Xiang Kun had already helped Old Xia repackage the equipment they had brought out this time.

He placed the backpack in front of his chest and carried Old Xia on his back, moving forward. Although Old Xia was wearing a raincoat, it didn’t help much in such heavy rain, so he tied the rain cloth, which he had used to cover the equipment earlier, on the three “Super-connected” coins. By controlling the coins, he made the rain cloth float at a slight angle above his head to shield from the rain. He also manipulated the two Super-connected coins to erase the footprints behind him as he walked.

Xiang Kun did not know when those in pursuit of the escaped convicts would find this spot, but with such a loud disturbance just now, the forestry department would definitely come to inspect after the rain stopped, and they would surely find the remains of those two bodies.

Therefore, Xiang Kun had to clear any traces he and Old Xia had left. Thankfully, under the heavy rain, it was relatively easy to do. He planned to scare away some wild boars or similar beasts afterward to deliberately make some traces, which seemed a safer option.

The reason he carried Old Xia was not only to minimize the traces they would leave behind but also to significantly increase their pace.

Surprisingly, Old Xia was so carefree that he fell asleep only a few minutes after lying on Xiang Kun’s back.

…

Earlier, at Liu Caifu’s house in Chongyun Village.

Chu Xiuwen visited Liu Caifu in the evening. They dined and drank together, played some chess and chatted. Just as they were starting to feel drowsy and were about to rest, Liu Zhengyi and Liu Gaoshang arrived.

After Liu Zhengyi told them about the escaped convicts, Liu Caifu took the matter seriously, immediately contacted the police, and reported what Liu Zhengyi had said to the temporarily established Joint Pursuit Command targeting the Wushu Mountain Prison escapees.

The Command said that they had just received Liu Zhengyi’s report and were now sending people toward Chongyun Village. They would need his and the villagers’ cooperation to pursue and arrest the escapees when they arrived.

The Joint Pursuit Command also informed Liu Caifu that they had speculated the true escape route of the two fugitives in the afternoon and had arranged a search perimeter. Search teams were already entering the mountainous area from the other side.

Once Liu Caifu ended his call with the police, Liu Zhengyi expressed his concern, “Could those two escapees still be hiding in the village?”

“There’s a small chance, but we can’t rule it out completely,” said Liu Zhengyi. “I’ll contact the young men in the village. Let’s check it ourselves first.”

“What about Mr. Xiang… should we notify him? The house he lives in is quite close to the mountainside, like ours. It’s significantly far from the others. If the escapees were looking for a place to spend the night, they might go there,” suggested Liu Zhengyi. “What if we go and check it out first?”

Upon hearing this, Liu Caifu seemed to recall something and looked at Chu Xiuwen.

Chu Xiuwen came to the village with good wine in the evening mainly intending to have dinner with Xiang Kun.

But at dinner time, Liu Caifu went and found Xiang Kun was not home, and his call was out of service.

Chu Xiuwen then called You Meng, only to find out that Xiang Kun hasn’t come to the restaurant either. He asked Chu Xiaoting, who was having dinner with Zi Cheng Yi, and found that Xiang Kun wasn’t with them either.

Liu Caifu guessed that Xiang Kun and Dr. Xia might have gone into the mountains. They often went into the mountains recently, seemingly to take pictures and conduct some biological research.

But normally, they should have gone during the day and wouldn’t have stayed overnight in the mountains.

Concerned, Liu Caifu immediately dialed Xiang Kun’s number again but his phone was still out of service.

“Could the two escapees have run into Mr. Xiang?” asked Liu Caifu, holding his phone.

“Mr. Xiang might not necessarily be in the mountains. Even if he is, it’s such a large area, encounter is not likely,” Liu Zhengyi shook his head.

Chu Xiuwen kept quiet but inexplicably, he thought of the incidents he had learned about in Citong City. He had a strange feeling that if the two escapees really ran into Xiang Kun, it would likely be them who were unlucky.

Suddenly, a loud booming sound came from the distant mountains.

The four men in the house were all startled and looked toward the mountain through the window.

Or more precisely, the whole Chongyun Village was awakened by this startling thunder, and some people saw the faintly visible and spectacular lightning storm in the distant mountains.

In Chu Xiuwen’s mind, a certain news event he had seen in Citong City years later popped up again.

…

At this moment, sitting in the riot vehicle heading towards Chongyun Village, the young policemen, who were checking their equipment, also heard the booming sound and looked in the direction of the mountain through the car window.

One of them clicked his tongue and said, “Do you think that it was divine justice from the heavens that struck down the two culprits?”

“What divine justice! If the heavens had any sense of justice, they would have improved the weather early on, allowed us to use drones and tracking dogs, and caught those two bastards earlier,” another man retorted.

The lightning storm in the distant mountains ended soon, and then a torrential downpour began.