What It's Like Being a Vampire

When Xiang Kun got back home, it was already very late. His parents who usually didn’t stay up late were asleep. He went to his room and started to ponder the ability he got from Old Xia – the ability to co-manifest objects from dreams in reality.

Xiang Kun temporarily named this ability “Illusion Reality”.

Although this ability, which seemed a bit childish and incredibly powerful, was in practice only able to co-manifest a “Napoleon Cake” or a “Crispy Pig’s Elbow”.

As far as it currently stood, compared to the abilities he had “developed” for Little Fatty Girl and Xiao Pingguo, his understanding of this ability was even more superficial, only being able to co-manifest two types of food that Old Xia could co-manifest. He could not, like Old Xia, use these two foods as a basis to change into various forms in his dreams. At most, his ability to “call upon” was stronger, and he could maintain the “co-manifestation” longer than Old Xia, but he still could not derive other aspects from this ability.

This probably had to do with the fact that Old Xia’s process of “developing” this ability was completed in her dreams, which created a barrier in Xiang Kun’s understanding of it– but if it were not in the dreamland, Old Xia probably could not “develop” this ability.

Xiang Kun sat at his desk, once again co-manifested a Napoleon Cake into his hand, and carefully observed it.

The layered puff pastry, cream, and chocolate chips, etc., all appeared very distinct and real to the eyes, and the aroma was very clearly conveyed to the brain through the sense of smell. The feeling in his hand was also very clear. Whether it was the weight or the touch, everything felt realistic.

Xiang Kun slowly brought the cake to his mouth, stuck out his tongue to take a lick, but just as he was about to taste it, the cake disappeared without warning.

Whether it was the sight, smell, or touch, everything vanished without a trace. Even with Xiang Kun’s current super-sensory abilities, he could not detect any trace of its disappearance.

He then co-manifested the Crispy Pig’s Elbow, but like the cake, it looked, felt, and smelled real, but whenever he tried to eat it or try to break off or pinch a piece, it would disappear.

This feeling gave him the impression of a program that was not fully developed, as if some functions were still missing, but when the user forcefully attempted to use these functions, it would not respond at all, but directly exit the program, effectively going on a “strike”.

Xiang Kun tried to record the co-manifested cake using his phone, but although he could see the cake on the phone screen, once he pressed the record button, the cake instantly vanished.

He brought the cake back and tried to take a video, but again as soon as he pressed the record button, it vanished.

This made him very confused. In theory, he didn’t use the flash, so taking a simple photo should not have any effect on the material existence, right?

Could it be that it really was just an illusion, so it could not be captured by light-sensitive devices?

But it shouldn’t be…

Xiang Kun again entered his “Super Sensory State”, attempting to observe the co-manifested food with his sixth sense in this special state, but in the “Super Sensory State”, he saw nothing, and when he exited the “Super Sensory State”, he found that both the cake and the pig’s elbow that he had co-manifested were gone.

It seemed that when he entered the “Super Sensory State”, the co-manifested food could not be maintained.

So Xiang Kun thought, if Old Xia co-manifested it, could he observe it in his “Super Sensory State”?

Since he could use “Emotion Infused Objects” to jump in the “Super Sensory State”, he didn’t necessarily have to be by Old Xia’s side to do this.

So he began to monitor whether Old Xia was using her ability through the three coins, but strangely, Old Xia showed no signs of doing so. Clearly, on the way back home earlier, Old Xia had been using it frequently, seemingly addicted to “playing” with it.

He sensed the emotion-infused chopsticks and did not receive any emotional feedback from Old Xia. Based on his experience, Old Xia was likely asleep.

However, because the ability of the “Emotion Infused Objects” to trigger dreams could not be used consecutively on the same person and had a cooldown period, even if Old Xia was sleeping now, he could not trigger her dreams again.

However, Xiang Kun found something strange, based on his assessment of Old Xia, the discovery that she could co-manifest the two types of food appeared in her dreams in reality and have them appear incredibly real in front of her, she should have been excited as if discovering a new continent. She should have “played” with it for at least an hour or two. Just like on the road earlier, he could feel her frequent and continuous use of her abilities.

Could she really have been too tired?

But didn’t she just wake up from a nap?

Xiang Kun entered his “Super Sensory State”, and his perception directly arrived near the emotion-infused chopsticks. Through the cognitive information nearby, he quickly confirmed Old Xia’s presence.

He was now very familiar with Old Xia’s cognitive information in the “Super Sensory State”, and he wouldn’t mistake it for anything else. Moreover, under the “Super Sensory State”, those three super-connected coins stood out like three distinct lighthouse beacons.

He still didn’t know how to determine whether someone was asleep or awake in the “Super Sensory State” using these cognitive informations, but judging from the structure of the wooden furniture around Old Xia, she was not lying in bed but was sitting at a desk.

Xiang Kun then realized that Old Xia was probably summarizing her findings after her consecutive “experiments”.

It might be because Old Xia had several “Emotion Infused” items from Xiang Kun in her room, including the lyric calligraphy, the black circle graffiti, and the homemade chopsticks, which have a certain enhancing effect on Xiang Kun’s perception. He felt that his current collection and retrieval of cognitive information around him were considerably stronger than when he usually used this method.

However, after sensing Old Xia and the cognitive information around her, Xiang Kun noticed something wrong. Old Xia basically had no interaction with the cognitive information in her surrounding environment. So her state was either sitting at the desk in a daze or… sleeping with her head on the table?

A daze, probably wouldn’t last this long. Could she really have been too tired and fallen asleep on the table?

Could it be that her continuous ability activation through the three coins earlier put a great strain on Old Xia?

Just as Xiang Kun was thinking about this, he suddenly sensed a change in the cognitive information representing Old Xia’s body.

Then he sensed that a laptop computer nearby was turned on. Such electronic devices were the most accurately identified by Xiang Kun in his “Super Sensory State”, and he could also make relatively precise impacts, such as causing the computer to power off, or the screen to malfunction, causing the phone to lose signal, the screen to be non-responsive, etc.

Of course, he would not interfere with Old Xia’s laptop, he figured that Old Xia was either looking up related information through the internet or recording her observations?

He wondered what Old Xia’s judgments and perceptions, and what her thoughts would be on this phenomenon?

This ability was developed by Old Xia by combining the associations with the three “Super sensory contact” coins, projecting this association in some form in her dreams, and setting something in her dreams. When she returned to reality, she still relied on her connection with the three “super-connected” coins to realize the setting in her dreams.

Like creating an item using a 3D printer to make a model designed on a computer.

Of course, Xiang Kun does not believe that Old Xia actually “created” the two foods from her dream, but they aren’t like ordinary hallucinations, either. They don’t seem to act directly on human consciousness, yet they aren’t separate from it, either.

While pondering this, Xiang Kun suddenly felt a surge from the three coins, invoking his abilities. With renewed focus, he knew that Old Xia was about to initiate an “illusion reality” operation.

Sure enough, the next moment, a unique bundle of cognitive information abruptly appeared beside Old Xia.

In a “Super Sensory State”, Xiang could distinctly tell that the sudden burst of cognitive information originated from the three coins he gave Old Xia. There was a large volume of information interacting.

Xiang Kun had never seen such cognitive information before, so he couldn’t yet understand its specific implications. It differed from the cognitive information of items he had sensed before, and definitely contrasted with the ordinary Crispy Pig’s Elbow and Napoleon Cake.

However, by comparison, he realized that a part of the suddenly emerged information was identical to his own “Super sensory contact items”. It’s as if some cognitive information was both the guideline and structure for the creation of this new form of cognitive information.

Moreover, Xiang Kun felt a peculiar sense of the cognitive information in question; it seemed to exist and yet not entirely. This feeling was somewhat similar to his sensations towards some “super-connected objects” whose exact locations he couldn’t determine, only their general direction.

It felt like crossing the void of time and space.

Soon, the cognitive information disappeared. However, he could still sense the tremendous changes in the cognitive information represented by the three “Super-connected Objects” coins, evidenced by them interacting with their surrounding environment.

The interactions seemed to stretch infinitely. Xiang Kun knew these interactions were with his body, serving to “invoke” his abilities.

He could imagine that when he co-created cakes and pig elbows at home, if he could enter into a “Super Sensory State” to observe, he should be able to see the extensive connections between his body and the co-manifested items.

After exiting the “Super Sensory State”, Xiang Kun sat in his room, deep in thought. As always when faced with a newly discovered ability, his approach was “bold hypothesis, careful testing”.

However, he somewhat hoped he could discuss his current hypothesis with Old Xia this time.

He picked up his phone and sent a message that he already knew the answer to: “Are you asleep?”

A few seconds later, Old Xia’s reply arrived, “Awake.”

Xiang Kun didn’t chat with her about this over the phone, but went straight to the point: “What time do you finish work tomorrow?”

Old Xia: “Noon.”

Xiang Kun: “Any plans for lunch tomorrow?”

Old Xia: “None.”

Just as Xiang Kun was about to type a message, inviting himself over for lunch at her place, Old Xia sent another message:

“My treat. At my house. You cook.”

Thus, Xiang Kun deleted the half-typed message and replied with an “OK” emoji.

He figured that Old Xia undoubtedly had a load of questions for him. Which was understandable as if it were only the special senses towards the coins and chopsticks, it would still be forgivable to find a reasonable explanation. But after now having had those two dreams, and acquiring the ability to manifest food from those dreams to reality, this supernatural phenomenon would not be so easily understood and accepted.

In fact, when in Tongshi Town and faced with Old Xia’s repeated innuendos, Xiang Kun had considered whether to reveal his situation to her and ask her for assistance.

There was a saying: “Three cobblers add up to a Zhuge Liang”. Even though his brain has mutated and evolved multiple times, displaying far superior cognitive ability than that of an average person, past experiences have proven that having someone else provide an alternative perspective is essential from time to time.

Previously, Alice vaguely filled that role. He considers himself as one and a half, and counted Alice as half. Together, the two made two “cobblers”.

If Old Xia could join, it would provide significant assistance to many of his plans and deepen his own cognition.

But as with his previous considerations, trust is not the issue. Whether it be his parents, or brothers like Chang Bin and Zi Cheng, or even Tang Baona whom he’d known for less than half a year, they could all be trusted. He believed that if he revealed his vast changes to them and asked them to keep it a secret, they would.

But they are normal people all leading their regular lives. From previous experiences, Xiang Kun knew that he was likely to face great danger in the future – he himself might even become the source of danger.

So, even though he’s always wanted someone else to assist him, offer opinions and help, especially in research and providing assistance when he’s in his vampiric sleep, he hasn’t dared casually pull those he trusts into the “quagmire”.

Yes, present Xiang Kun feels like he is stuck in a quagmire. He doesn’t want to pull others in — even if they would without hesitation come to pull him out if they knew he was stuck.

But, Old Xia is different. Xiang Kun found out that Old Xia may also be in some kind of quagmire.

And it seems like Old Xia is reaching out herself, wanting to enter his quagmire.

Now, Xiang Kun must consider just how deep Old Xia’s quagmire is. If it’s also a pit of muck, then since they’re both muddy anyway, pulling Xia into his pit to huddle together for warmth might slow down their sinking rate…

So, Xiang Kun decided to have a more “open and honest” conversation with Old Xia tomorrow, first to understand her situation, then decide whether to fully reveal his own.

Of course, if Old Xia was unwilling to reveal any specifics about her “quagmire”, then Xiang Kun wouldn’t reveal his own, despite believing that she means no harm to him.

However, based on his understanding of Old Xia, he believed that the incidents of tonight… or rather, this morning — the “illusion reality” ability — would be enough to make Old Xia open up to him.

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