What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 521: Chapter 521: Chongyun Village Defense System

Pengcheng City, Xiang Kun, standing in a dark corner outside a villa, breathed a sigh of relief as he withdrew from the “Super Sensory State”.

Even though the golden bird is just a canary, to Xiang Kun, to Xiao Pingguo, to Little Fatty Girl, it is more than a pet. To some extent, it can be considered a true companion, friend, and even a comrade.

He cannot imagine the blow that Xiao Pingguo would face if something bad happened to the golden bird.

Thankfully Alice came to its rescue in time. Although the golden bird was seriously injured, the injuries were not fatal. He understood the cognizance information of the golden bird very well. Now, with his greater range and depth of control over “Super-connected Objects” under the “Super Sensory State”, and his understanding of more cognizance information, it wasn’t hard to complete this “Remote Surgery”.

Considering the golden bird’s condition, even if it were to be brought to a pet hospital, it would be hard to receive effective treatment. At most, it would be cleaned, treated, bandaged and then left to heal itself. It’s unlikely that it would have any kind of surgery.

Of course, even in that case, it would slowly recover, it would just take longer and be a bit more painful.

Now, through Xiang Kun’s remote treatment, the golden bird should be able to flutter around again in about a week’s time.

Under the “Super Sensory State”, through “Super-connected Objects”, he could directly influence the representation of the golden bird’s body cognition information, performing many fine and microscopic operations that are extremely difficult to carry out in reality.

Of course, this operation isn’t limitless, and it couldn’t instantly heal wounds or restore torn and damaged muscle tissue. It could, however, influence the process through minutely controlled heating, cooling, or control over all liquid movements and conditions.

He didn’t fully understand many parts of the golden bird’s cognition information, but he was exceedingly familiar with its normal, healthy state. By comparing its current state with the information he was familiar with, he knew how to treat it — just make sure its cognizance information was moving towards a normal, healthy state, and create that tendency.

As he was operating on the golden bird remotely, Xiang Kun could not stop thinking about the “Ultimate Predator” Mr. Liang mentioned in those secret files, and how it executes humans as well as “mutated creatures”.

If the “Ultimate Predator” was within his sensor range of his “Super Sensory State”, during his prepared observations, he should be able to detect any substantial operations and find clues to existence of the “Ultimate Predator”.

After remotely operating on the golden bird, Xiang Kun returned to the villa where Zhang Hongpu was residing. With the help of Alice, he silently took back the black circle graffiti used to trigger the “Dream in A Dream”.

On his way back to the hotel, he listened to Alice’s report about what happened earlier on his phone.

Although he entered the “Super Sensory State” as soon as the golden bird was attacked, and helped Old Xia, Little Fatty Girl, and Xiao Pingguo in Chongyun Village, and largely understood what happened through cognition information, he could identify that the attacker was a “mutated creature”. However, for more detailed information, Alice had to fill him in.

After listening to Alice’s “emotionally charged” and “inspiring” narrative, Xiang Kun basically understood the situation. He was pretty sure that the “mutated creature” was the “mutated big bird” that Dr. Fang and his team had photographed on Wushu Mountain, that had been struck by lightning on Zi Huan Mountain due to him, and that later escaped from Wushu Mountain after being beaten up by Mr. Liang.

While this “mutated big bird” was much smaller now than when it fought against Mr. Liang on Wushu Mountain, many of its characteristics were still the same, and it could be identified.

Its recovery ability seemed to have improved compared to before, and it could even resist electric shocks and fire to a certain extent. It could even actively “ignite” itself.

Normally, “mutated creatures” should be easily harmed by high temperatures. Even Xiang Kun didn’t have direct resistance to electricity and fire—because he had methods to avoid these kind of injuries and due to the existence of “Super-connected Objects”, he would hardly ever be electrocuted.

This “mutated big bird”, however, seemed to have learned something from Zi Huan Mountain when he electrocuted it. Its physical strength, healing ability, resistance to impact, high-temperature resistance, and survival skills after losing its tail, as well as its escape ability, had all evolved to a very formidable level.

Given the state of this large bird when it first appeared in Chongyun Village, it’s likely far more formidable than the “mutated spider” in the Qinling Uninhabited Area and the “Giant Owl” that Xiang Kun first encountered combined.

Xiang Kun assessed that, based on the alterations in its cognitive information while in the “Super Sensory State”, this bird doesn’t solely rely on its physical body to withstand heat damage. Its fundamental defense mechanism still adheres to the survival strategy of discarding part of its body tissue to isolate and fend off damage. Because it had been struck by lightning before and thus possessed “experience”, it had acquired the function to divert electricity, reduce damage, and protect its central organs.

Of course, such a function is not proactively designed. It can’t emulate Xiang Kun to actively guide mutations and leverage the “Super Sensory Item System” to assist. Nor can it mimic Mr. Liang’s approach to develop various materials and construct biological components according to specific purposes and functionalities. Based on the biological features of the mutated bird itself, there’s no guarantee that this protection mechanism against lightning strikes will always be effective.

So, at this moment, Xiang Kun couldn’t definitively confirm whether the “mutated big bird” was dead or alive, or if it was completely killed by the subsequent five bursts of lightning that he helped Little Fatty Girl generate.

He will need to have Alice find a way to deploy some Super-connected objects over there to inspect the situation.

The incident with Glitter Gold tonight could be attributed to small odds but it made Xiang Kun realize that although Glitter Gold, Custard Pie, Old Xia, Little Fatty Girl, and Apple are not “mutants”, they had been integrated into the “Super Sensory Item System” and were capable of using related abilities. Whether they were willing or not, they would inevitably be passively or actively involved in events and faced potential threats.

For instance, tonight when Glitter Gold was playing in the forest on the outskirts of Chongyun Village, if it were just a common canary, the “mutated big bird” might not have been attracted to it. Given the extent of the creature’s mutation, even if it needed to feed, it wouldn’t casually target a single everyday canary.

Clearly, the attack on Glitter Gold was triggered because it exhibited significant uniqueness, arousing the creature’s curiosity or other thoughts. There’s even a possibility that it believed Glitter Gold also to be a “mutant”.

What if Apple, Little Fatty Girl, or Old Xia had been attacked instead? He dared not imagine the outcome.

Under normal circumstances, Alice could gain advanced knowledge of any danger through her control over networks and electronic devices. She could even eliminate those threats directly without needing to utilize “Super-connected Objects”.

In city life, within human society, the abilities derived from the “Super Sensory Item System” by Old Xia, Little Fatty Girl, and Apple are overwhelmingly strong. They only need to worry about not drawing attention to themselves due to anomalies.

But when there are no electronic devices available, and a sufficient number of Super-connected objects are not distributed around, her information gathering ability and substantial influence are compromised significantly.

Especially during unexpected attacks by non-human creatures, Alice and Old Xia have limited means to respond.

Thankfully, Alice had swiftly concocted a “Pork Trotter Toss” skill which turned out quite formidable.

He naturally understood Alice’s motive for throwing the “Crispy Pork Knuckle” was not solely intended to mislead the target. More importantly, Alice, being an entity that naturally co-manifests, could more easily exert force on the co-manifested “Crispy Pork Knuckle”, toss it further, and provide it with greater initial speed.

Then, utilizing the magnetic fields created by many Super-connected Objects surrounding Chongyun Village to accelerate, it could vastly minimize the distance for the accelerated beads.

However, the downside was, this ability could only be used in areas where numerous Super-connected Objects were distributed and had a considerable range of coverage.

In simple terms, it was only applicable in Chongyun Village.

The “Multi-Supersensory Aggregation Gravel Combat Marionette” set off by Little Fatty Girl, Apple, and Alice following Old Xia’s directives, even within Chongyun Village, couldn’t be considered as a conventional measure.

The conditions required to implement it were too numerous and the disturbance caused was too great. Without Xiang Kun’s assistance in the “Super Sensory State”, they wouldn’t succeed. To attempt it again would be quite challenging.

Thus, Xiang Kun was considering how to enable Alice and Old Xia to master some effective attack or defense methods that would have substantial influence on the physical level.

As for Little Fatty Girl and Xiao Pingguo, Xiang Kun did not want to incorporate them into the “Regular Combat System” yet. He hoped they would merely be the “Developers”, as well as the straightforward beneficiaries within the “Super Sensory Item System”.

After all, they were still quite young, particularly Little Fatty Girl. Xiang Kun hoped that she would be able to go to school and grow up happily, and that the “magic” in her heart would be a hobby, just like “music”, “painting”, and “games” for other children, only more private and special.

He, Alice, and Old Xia would be responsible for their safety.

However, for the time being, the safest and most effective method he could think of was to distribute more “Super-connected Objects” over a broader range.

For instance, that night, if the glittering gold had been playing within Chongyun Village, the “mutated big bird” would have had great difficulty sneaking in to launch an attack. Despite being able to turn invisible, it wouldn’t have been able to evade some of the infrared cameras within the village. Even if it did, Alice would have spotted it ahead of time through monitoring Super Sensory Information.

Even when it pounced on the glittering gold suddenly, Alice was capable of co-manifesting promptly to block the attack, allowing the glittering gold time to react and escape without being seriously wounded.

—In Chongyun Village, Alice had the authority and the ability to co-manifest at any time. Elsewhere, she needed to first obtain the permission to use Old Xia’s or Xiang Kun’s abilities, and had to have sufficient Super-connected Objects to support her before she could co-manifest. Hence the delay.

The “Chongyun Village Defense System”, presided over by Alice, seemed to be trustworthy for now.

Transforming all the possible locations where Old Xia and the others might wander into “Chongyun Village” might be the safest way.

Anyway, this was part of his initial plan.

…

On the road outside Chongyun Village, inside a black sedan.

After the headlights and the control screen within the car lit up again, Chu Xiuwen tried to start the car.

Hearing the engine start, he breathed a sigh of relief and switched on the windshield wipers.

Although the time between the fog rolling in, thunder rumbling, fog dispersing, and rain falling wasn’t long, Chu Xiuwen and Xia Tianhuo in the car felt as if they had endured several agonizing hours. Only now did they finally begin to relax.

During the fog, they did not only hear the rumble of thunder in the sky and vaguely see the distant flashes of lightning, but they also heard some indistinct roars and screams as if from an animal. They saw the brief flicker of fire, as if from a tiny fireball.

What was even stranger was that their car had stalled during that time; the car lights had even gone out, and all electronic equipment, including their mobile phones, had failed.

Throughout that time, they genuinely felt as if they had stepped into another space, another world. It seemed as though a terrifying monster would tear through the dense fog and pounce on them at any moment.

This unknown feeling, this uncertainty of what was in the fog, was more terrifying than actually seeing any monster.

Especially for both of them, each for their own different reasons, truly believed in the existence of some unique and mystical creatures in this world.

Although the fog had now dispersed and heavy, sudden rain was falling, they both felt clearly relieved.

The heavy and hasty rain, pattering on the car roof, felt very tangible and clear.

It felt as though the rain had pulled them from an unreal space back into the real world.

Chu Xiuwen started the car again and headed towards Chongyun Village. Even though both were anxious just now, neither of them had any intention of turning back to town instead of proceeding to the village.

“Did you… smell something just now? Like…Grilled meat?” Xia Tianhuo said tentatively.

“Yes.” Chu Xiuwen looked at him in surprise and said, “I thought I was hallucinating. I did smell grilled meat and it was quite fragrant. Did you smell it too? That’s weird, we were in the car and shouldn’t have been able to smell anything…

Xia Tianhuo didn’t respond, and the car lapsed into silence again.

The streetlights on both sides of the Chongyun Village road were back on. They noticed a certain section of the road was covered with mud and sand.

Strange enough, the mud and sand were remarkably evenly spread. If they had fallen from the adjacent hill, they shouldn’t have been spread like this.

They also spotted a bird dead in the middle of the road. Chu Xiuwen slowed down carefully to avoid running over the bird’s body with the car wheels.

Upon returning to Xiang Kun’s courtyard, Xia Tianhuo saw through the iron gate that the lights were on at each floor of the small building. He felt somewhat at ease and surprised.

Xia Tianhuo called Old Xia, and a moment later, Old Xia came out with an umbrella to open the gate and usher them in.

“Why are you still awake? Did the thunderstorm and the power outage wake you up?” Xia Tianhuo asked after walking into the living room.

Chu Xiuwen didn’t leave immediately as planned. Instead, he accepted Xia Tianhuo’s invitation to have a cup of hot tea in the house and wait for the rain to ease up before leaving.

I woke up earlier.” Old Xia put down the umbrella and responded simply.

Just as Xia Tianhuo was inviting Chu Xiuwen to sit down on the living room sofa and preparing to boil water for tea, a sweet voice echoed from the stairs, “Sister Grilled Chicken Wings, I’m hungry.”

Xia Tianhuo looked over to see Liu Shiling standing at the corner of the stairs, dressed in a red jacket and still wearing the hood, he asked surprisingly, “Xiao Lingdang, why aren’t you sleeping yet…Did the thunder wake you up?”

“Big Uncle, I’m not afraid of thunder.” Liu Shiling’s voice and gaze suddenly became firm, even subconsciously raising both hands to tug on the cords of her hood.