What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 550: Mr. Liang’s Dream

Xiang Kun sensed Mr. Liang’s emotions of terror, sorrow, and then anger, even madness in his dream. He then witnessed a brief battle.

Clearly, Mr. Liang wanted to seize the body of Academician Shen and subdue the beautiful woman, but he failed and was beaten brutally, until he was on the brink of death.

According to ordinary human judgment, Mr. Liang should be undeniably dead—he had his heart gouged out and tossed before his face.

However, seeing as Mr. Liang was still alive, he obviously had not been killed or devoured at the time.

From Xiang Kun’s perception of the dream, the moment Mr. Liang opened the lab door, the beautiful woman must have already been drinking blood.

That might explain why she did not completely kill Mr. Liang or drink his blood—she had almost finished consuming Academician Shen and needed to leave as soon as possible to find a safe place to sleep and complete her transformation.

The scene changed again; Mr. Liang infiltrated a villa, fought with a beautiful woman, and successfully killed and drank her blood.

While the beautiful woman had slightly changed in appearance, she could easily be recognized as the one who had killed Academician Shen in the lab.

Throughout this process, Xiang Kun did not feel an intense desire for blood or impulse to drink blood from Mr. Liang. What he felt instead was anger accompanied by a touch of desolate emotion.

Xiang Kun carefully felt this emotion and felt that the sense of desolation was not just directed at the beautiful woman, but also at himself, at the deceased Academician Shen, and even at the world.

The final dream scene froze on a rabbit-shaped woodcarving.

…

Xiang Kun opened his eyes, still sitting in the chair without moving, recalling his perception of Mr. Liang’s dream.

He did not experience Mr. Liang’s or John’s dreams through Old Xia’s “Dream in A Dream”—the conditions did not permit it, as he hadn’t previously dropped the “black circle graffiti” that was connected to Old Xia underneath the Brilliant Fortune Building.

Therefore, what he perceived was essentially what Mr. Liang already thought a lot about, what he had always kept in his subconscious. These were the perceptions naturally revealed when the emotions evoked by the rabbit wood carving created the dream.

The information perceived might not necessarily be factual memories, but could be emotion-based concrete forms, like the underground buildings and various platforms in John’s previous dream.

However, based on this perception, Xiang Kun believed that the majority of these likely came from real memories.

Without understanding Mr. Liang’s information, the characteristics of “mutants,” the secrets behind “Divine Technology,” or what Academician Shen was doing, upon seeing these images and feeling these emotions, it would be impossible to understand or connect a complete context.

However, to Xiang Kun—who already knew Mr. Liang’s identity, roughly knew about Mr. Liang’s experiences and Academician Shen’s situation through the secret documents, and had an exceedingly good understanding of the characteristics of “mutants”—he could quickly grasp the key information within.

Although in the dream, Mr. Liang did not call out the beautiful woman’s name, but from the fact that she could meet Academician Shen and show up together in the lab, it was highly probable that she was the “Xiao Xue” or “Ah Xue” that appeared in the secret documents.

By synthesizing the information recorded in the secret documents, the things he heard from Mr. Zhang Hongpu, and the situations Alice helped investigate, the probable timeline should be:

Mr. Liang becomes paralyzed→Mr. Liang mutates→Mr. Liang meets Academician Shen→Mr. Liang meets a beautiful woman named Xiao Xue→Xiao Xue kills Academician Shen and feeds on him→Mr. Liang survives the trauma and changes his perception of mutation evolution, begins to try new directions of mutation, giving up on retaining human form→He finds Xiao Xue’s whereabouts, kills her and drinks her blood at the exact location of Mr. Zhang Hongpu’s friend’s son’s villa (However, from the dream, it seems that Mr. Liang actually saved Mr. Zhang Hongpu’s friend’s son)→Mr. Liang’s mutation evolution system becomes stable and more developed.

The death of Academician Shen would undoubtedly have had a significant impact on Mr. Liang; his perception of other “mutants” or “human-shaped mutated creatures” and his direction of self-mutation evolution changed drastically after this incident.

This is why he said, “Don’t easily believe any ‘blood-drinking creature'” in that video in the secret documents that seemed like a “trusteeship” or “message to successor.”

However, there are some details that Xiang Kun hasn’t fully understood. It could be because the sensory information displayed in Mr. Liang’s dream deviates from the actual facts, or because there are some hidden details that were not displayed in the dream and not recorded in the secret documents.

Xiang Kun walked out of the yard towards Chongyun Mountain; he needed Old Xia’s help in analyzing this.

Although he also has his own analytical methods and the knowledge model of Mr. Liang based on all the information he has, past experience shows that Old Xia, a double master’s degree holder in psychiatry and psychology, can always fill in the gaps in his model, offering constructive ideas.

Perhaps Old Xia’s emotional perceptual impairment is her advantage in analyzing others’ psychological cognition, as she does not prejudge or let her emotions affect her judgment.

…

It was now past four in the afternoon, and today happened to be the summer solstice; it was getting a bit hot.

However, Xia Libing and Xiao Pingguo were not at all affected by the heat in “Xiao Luobo’s” realm—the dense forest provides very comfortable shade.

Starting from the day before yesterday, during the day, Xia Libing often brought Xiao Pingguo to play with “Xiao Luobo,” because Xiao Pingguo has a very special perception of “Xiao Luobo.” Even before she actually touched or “saw” Xiao Luobo, she had already established some special connections through Gold Flash.

Of course, Alice, the intermediary “translator,” deserves credit for this. She can easily strengthen this connection.

Xiang Kun believes this is directly related to Xiao Pingguo’s way of perception and cognition. She can naturally better understand “Xiao Luobo’s” perception system. Moreover, her innate and gifted affinity for nature and other creatures is instinctive.

So Xiang Kun also agreed to let Xiao Pingguo contact “Xiao Luobo” and let her know about Xiao Luobo’s uniqueness.

Actually, with Gold Flash, Custard Pie, and Alice’s protection, Xiao Pingguo could get into the mountains alone and play with “Xiao Luobo,” but for safety reasons, Xia Libing accompanied her each time to ensure someone was with Xiao Pingguo.

Now, Xiao Pingguo was sitting on a tree-top branch that looked like a chair; the vine wrapped around it, forming armrests and a footrest—it was quite comfortable to sit on.

Previously, Xia Libing strictly forbade Xiao Pingguo from climbing trees because it was dangerous.

However, Alice co-manifested and guaranteed Xiao Pingguo’s safety, and on behalf of “Xiao Luobo” also made assurance. After applying to Xiang Kun, they finally got permission.

The fact also proved that, under the double guarantee of “Xiao Luobo” and Alice, Xiao Pingguo was indeed as stable as a rock.

With her eyes slightly closed, Xiao Pingguo sat comfortably at the top of the tree on the “throne”, seemingly asleep. The Custard Pie was napping on a nearby branch, and the loyal guide bird, Glitzy Gold, was soaring high in the sky, more like a hawk patrolling its territory than a canary.

Xia Libing knew that Xiao Pingguo wasn’t asleep. She was actually perceiving the entire space through “Xiao Luobo”, “Glitzy Gold,” and Alice.

A few days ago, when the “Ultimate Predator” gave Xiang Kun a “warning”, causing the deaths of a large number of birds, and even creating a small dead zone in Chongyun Mountain, Xiao Pingguo knew about it through Glitzy Gold.

Many of those birds had been Glitzy Gold’s brothers and good friends, and they were also known to Xiao Pingguo. The unnatural deaths of so many birds had greatly upset both her and Glitzy Gold. They couldn’t eat for a few days, and it was only when Xiang Kun started making different tasty foods for her did her appetite gradually improve.

She had asked Xiang Kun why the birds had died so suddenly, and after considering it, he told her a small part of the truth:

It was done by an evil existence outside of normal cognition.

Xiao Pingguo wasn’t surprised by this. It was what she had guessed. From an early period, based on her understanding of Xiang Kun, Glitzy Gold, Alice, Sister Bing, and the Eight-armed, Eight-eyed monster, she had developed her own cognition system. Her time in Chongyun Village, with Xiang Kun gradually unfolding his world before her, had allowed her to further refine her system of understanding step by step.

Not far from the tree, Xia Libing was holding a notebook, occasionally looking up at the peculiar branch shape of “Xiao Luobo”, then sketching it out in the book.

She wasn’t doing a full sketch of “Xiao Luobo”, but only drawing parts where it had obviously altered its form to adapt to certain functions.

As Xia Libing couldn’t directly interpret Xiao Luobo’s sensory information, she thought that understanding Xiao Luobo’s consciousness didn’t necessarily involve establishing a deep connection with it like Xiao Ping Guo. She felt that she could glean a lot of information through the external expressions of Xiao Luobo’s branches and the way it controlled the forms of various “offspring plants”.

“Xiao Luobo” had been profoundly influenced by Alice, Xiao Pingguo, Glitzy Gold, and Custard Pie, and had developed many human or, arguably, animalistic traits. Its consciousness and personality could be understood through its “limbs”.

Overall, “Xiao Luobo” seemed like a straightforward, reliable, diligent person. It looked up to and revered Xiang Kun, was close and dependent on Alice, and was curious and eager to please Xiao Pingguo, treating Glitzy Gold and Custard Pie like older siblings.

Just as Old Xia was profiling “Xiao Luobo” and establishing a personality model, a bald head appeared behind her, leaning over her shoulder to look at the sketch in her book.

Old Xia paused but didn’t turn around, speaking directly, “Did you perceive Mr. Liang’s dream?” What happened earlier beneath the Brilliant Fortune Building was promptly relayed by Alice to Old Xia on the mountain, with intermittent commentary like:

“Boss closed his eyes and entered super-sensory state”, “Boss opened his eyes and left super-sensory state”, “Boss closed his eyes again to perceive the wood carving”, “I guess Boss has begun reading Mr. Liang’s dream!”, “Boss is still in the dream, this dream takes a long time”, “Boss opened his eyes, and frowned, it seems things are not that simple”, “Boss is going up the mountain!”, “Old Xia, Old Xia, the boss should be coming to find you!”

Therefore, she wasn’t surprised about Xiang Kun’s arrival, especially since the shadow of the bald head had already given her a “foreshadowing”.

Xiang Kun looked at Old Xia’s notebook and asked curiously, “How come your drawing is so bad? It can’t be that you’ve been influenced by Alice’s painting style, right?”

“It’s not a realistic drawing,” Old Xia replied.

Xiang Kun understood immediately. “Is this… an analysis of Xiao Luobo?”

Old Xia nodded.

Xiang Kun laughed. This was just like Old Xia. No one else would probably ever think of doing a psychological analysis of a tree, even if it’s not an ordinary tree.

Xiang Kun glanced at Xiao Pingguo, who was sitting quietly on the “throne” on the tree, then motioned for Old Xia to come and sit down side by side with him on a large nearby rock.

Xiang Kun shared his perception of Mr. Liang’s dream and the information he had analyzed with Old Xia.

“As soon as I perceived his dream, I could see these sensory details, as though replaying the key events before and after his mutation. It is clear that he often thinks of these things, which continue to influence him and weigh on his mind. Seeing the rabbit woodcarving also shows that he recognizes the uniqueness of the carving and attaches great importance to it,” Xiang Kun stated his judgement.

Xia Libing listened carefully, made occasional notes in her notebook, and highlighted a few keywords.

“Are you planning to cooperate with him?” Xia Libing asked.

Xiang Kun nodded. “Clearly, the primary conflict for both him and me is to deal with the ‘Ultimate Predator’, address the limit of ‘mutant creatures’ themselves, and explore the secret of mutation contained in these creatures for the benefit of all humanity. The question now is how to cooperate in a way that he will trust me.”

After a brief pause, Xiang Kun continued, “Of course, there is also the timing of cooperation… I have a plan to deal with the ‘Ultimate Predator’. Although it is very immature at present, it’s just a rough estimate based on the currently known information. It requires the assistance of a ‘mutated creature’ that has completed multiple deep-stage transformations. At present, Mr. Liang seems to be the best candidate for cooperation.”

If the “Ultimate Predator” is likened to a “trojan horse” infecting the majority of global life forms, Xiang Kun only has the ability to manually remove it for the time being. He has to “manually” remove it one section at a time while in a “super-sensory” state.

Even after being cleared of the “trojan”, he must remain vigilant. Otherwise, even the creatures that have been freed from its influence could re-infect.

Therefore, among Xiang Kun’s several imagined solutions are: first, to find the true mastermind controlling the Trojan and disconnect its network so that it can’t do anything because, before it is activated, these Trojans do not harm living organisms;

Second, to find the connection between the mastermind and the Trojan-carrying device – say, a unique port – and then block this “port” in all organisms worldwide;

Third, to turn the Trojan-removal method into a kind of “script” that can surreptitiously run itself on all global devices, and remove all Trojans at once;

Fourth, to track backwards when the mastermind manipulates a device’s Trojan, and directly locate its stronghold and destroy it.

Of course, the situation with the “Ultimate Predator” is much more complicated than this analogy. The “Trojan” and the “mastermind” are in fact one and the same, and it can do a lot more.

If Xiang Kun rashly attempts and fails, he may not be affected, but it could put other organisms or people in mortal danger.