What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 663 - 663 Afterword

Chapter 663: Chapter 663 Afterword

When Xiang Kun closed his eyes, and the iron sphere covered by the tungsten steel ball was the size of a volleyball, though no sound was made physically, everyone on the rooftop seemed to hear a cry of despair.

Yang Zhen’er, excitedly at the stairwell door, enthusiastically grabbed Tang Baona’s arm and proclaimed, “The ‘Exotic Pig’ was done away with, right? It was, wasn’t it Nana? He he, I told you, why was it being so smug, couldn’t kill it! It thought it was important! There’s no dish in this world Brother Xiang can’t handle!”

As her voice faded, Xiang Kun had already opened his eyes and smiled at them.

Although Xiang Kun and Alice finished the preliminary cognitive model test in the “Hetero World,” and fully took over the high-dimensional factors of “Hetero-dimension One” in the “Hetero World”. In the real world, the time between Xiang Kun closing and opening his eyes was only as long as Yang Zhen’er’s exclamation.

“Uncle Xiang, you have hair!” Xiao Pingguo said in surprise.

“Xiang Kun, you have been asleep for so long!” Tang Baona cheerfully greeted.

“Chef Xiang! Well done!” Yang Zhen’er cheered.

“Mr. Xiang, safe and sound.” Mr. Liang, floating above the rooftop, his face shield smiled.

“Brother Xiang! You’re fantastic!” Yang Zhuo couldn’t help shouting.

Liu Zhengyi wanted to say something, but as soon as he opened his mouth, his nose started to run, so he had to give up.

Xiang Kun greeted everyone and eventually looked at Xia Libing, who just nodded, “Mission accomplished?”

“Accomplished.” Xiang Kun also nodded.

He then leapt off from the roof. Little Fat Girl Liu Shiling, who had slimmed down since flying back had already been shouting “Bald Uncle” in the parking lot below for a while.

The hailstorm of Xiang Kun scared Liu Shiling, who had been waving her arms around in the parking lot, and Old He who was standing next to the car. Other researchers in the parking lot were also speechless in astonishment after seeing Kun’s descent – instead of free-falling, he plummeted, like a missile. But when he landed, he floated gently. This unnatural scene gave them a strong sense of power and impact.

“What the f…” Korowin murmured: “Who is this? This is more terrifying than Mr. Liang in his suit…”

Old Qian whispered, “Could it be… the legendary Mr. Xiang?”

Their team leader said decisively, “Impossible! This man has hair!”

Liu Shiling, who was standing on that side watching Xiang Kun’s descent, paused for a moment. When she confirmed it was Xiang Kun, she could not contain her joy and ran over shouting, “Bald Uncle!” and gave him a big hug.

But after embracing Xiang Kun, Liu Shiling seemed to think of something and looked up at his head: “Ah! It’s not Bald Uncle!”

Xiang Kun laughed and said, “Which looks better, bald or with hair?” He knew that when Liu Shiling said it was “not the Bald Uncle”, it meant “not being bald” was now the uncle’s defining characteristic.

Liu Shiling smiled brilliantly, “Hair looks better, but bald seems more familiar!”

The black clouds dispersed, and sunlight shone down.

…

Tongshi Town, Youlong Restaurant.

The Youlong Restaurant is now globally renowned as a chain restaurant brand with branches all over the world. Its main specialty is rabbit meat cuisine, and Tongshi rabbit meat has become a universally recognized delicacy.

However, to many who have been to the Youlong Restaurant in Tongshi town, the franchise restaurants in other places are not authentic. Only the food from the head office on the commercial pedestrian street in Tongshi Town has “that taste”—and it must be eaten in the restaurant.

This is the consensus of all those who have been to the Youlong restaurant, which is why despite having three branches in Tongshi Town alone, the main store on the pedestrian street is always bustling with people during meal times.

Of course, for the owner’s “old friends,” there is always a private room for them on the second floor. Even if the restaurant is full, this room is always reserved for them.

At this time, it was lunchtime. Besides Xia Tianhuo, Liu Caifu, and Chu Xiuwen, who had already collaborated on over a dozen projects in Tongshi Town, there were also Liu Feibao, Qi Haoguo, He Haomin and others.

Today, they had gathered to welcome Qi Haoguo, the former boss of the “Haoguo Group,” who had been sentenced to eight years in prison for multiple offences but had his sentence reduced for his excellent behavior and was released early.

Frankly, many of his offenses wouldn’t have been known had he not confessed, as there was no evidence or victims. However, he confessed everything voluntarily and even helped the police collect evidence and assisted the prosecution. As a result, his sentence wasn’t as harsh as expected.

After serving several years in prison, Qi Haoguo’s demeanor had become more refined and reserved, and he even looked younger and healthier than when he first went to prison.

His family did not leave him when he was imprisoned. During his time in jail, he regularly corresponded with his children, discussing various issues related to life and studies. He also asked his children to recommend books on philosophy, literature, and various fields to him. His wife frequently brought their children to visit him in prison. When he was released from jail, his relationship with his family was much closer and more intimate than during the peak of his business career.

After lunch, everyone parted ways. Qi Haoguo still had an house in Tongshi Town, which Xiao Liu had been taking care of, so Xia Tianhuo and Old He sent him home.

After seeing off Qi Haoguo, Xia Tianhuo drove Old He back to Chongyun Village. Most of Old He’s time was spent in Peng City, and he mainly went to Chongyun Village’s Research Base when in the West Sea. He had missed the taste of rabbit meat from Youlong restaurant this time, so he flew here and went straight to Tongshi Town for meal. He happened to witness them welcoming Qi Haoguo and was pulled by Xia Tianhuo to join them in the private room for the meal.

“Old He, Qi Haoguo told me in confidence at the restaurant just now, that he wants to make a donation to our research base.” Xia Tianhuo said.

Strictly speaking, he and Old He were now colleagues. Old He was the leader of the “Non-Research Center,” and Xia Tianhuo belonged to the Research Base’s Field Investigation Department.

A few years ago, when Old Xia started proposing the “Spirit Control Theory,” Xia Tianhuo accepted the first “spiritual test” along with Yang Zhuo, Li Shibao and others. Although he easily passed the “spiritual test,” his performance was dismal in the subsequent learning and missed several practice opportunities. He was still left at the research base for “make-up classes”.

After listening to Xia Tianhuo, Old He smiled and said, “He doesn’t need to donate anything. Tell him that the research base is not short of money.”

Xia Tianhuo nodded, “I thought so too, but he has another request. He wants to join the research base as well.”

“Join the research base? He’s not a researcher…” Old He frowned, then quickly realized what Qi Haoguo wanted to join and asked, “Did you tell him about the Field Investigation Department?”

“Not at all!” Xia Tianhuo hurriedly said, “I didn’t say anything. I remembered the confidentiality clause. If I leaked any information, Old Xia would skin me. It’s Qi who guessed it. As you know, Qi is not less informed than us. But he doesn’t know the details, he just guessed that we must have a department like that, and that I am in it.”

“Oh, in that case, you should ask Dr. Xia, shouldn’t you?” Old He said.

“Old Xia would certainly ask me to go through the formal application process. I don’t know how to fiddle with that so of course I’d ask you. I heard that you need political review to join the research base, and Qi just got out of prison. Could he pass?” Xia Tianhuo said.

“I know about Qi’s situation. Hmm…,” Old He thought about Qi Haoguo’s previous encounter with the “Barbie Warrior” and said, “Shouldn’t be a problem. I can help you with the basic procedures here and let him be assigned to the ‘Non-Research Centre’ first. But to join your Field Investigation Department is still up to Dr. Xia.”

“That’s natural. Thanks, Old He.”

“What’s there to be polite about, it’s all for the sake of work.”

A little while later, Xia Tianhuo couldn’t help but ask again, “Is Xiang Kun back?”

“Hmm, why do you ask?”

“Was it when you were on a mission in Yangcheng at the end of August?” Xia Tianhuo added.

Old He looked a bit surprised, but he didn’t say anything. After that mission, Dr. Xia had explicitly instructed that Xiang Kun’s return was to be kept confidential. Yet, Xia Tianhuo, who is not only a relative of Dr. Xia and Miss Yang but also got along well with Li Shibao and Yang Zhuo, might have got the news from somewhere.

Xia Tianhuo spoke up, “Since coming back from that mission, Yang Zhuo and Liu Zhengyi have been acting strangely. Yang Zhuo was like a fan who just met an idol, all excited, and walking as if he was on springs. Liu Zhengyi seemed like a believer who witnessed a miracle, murmuring to himself. And our Yang Lao San, for over a week, did not share any food exploration posts on social media. But I know during that time, she was in Peng City with Old Xia, Nana, and Xiao Lingdang. Most importantly, a European Union investigation team in Antarctica reported spotting a person flying out of the ground, riding the lightning and disappearing into the clouds. It was the day you were on the mission in Yangcheng, and there were also abnormal weather changes in Yangcheng that day.”

Hearing his “deductive” process, Old He laughed and said, “You should ask Dr. Xia about this.”

Xia Tianhuo immediately got the answer and appeared excited, “I see.” Old He’s reply was obviously acknowledging his speculation.

“It seems that Xiang Kun still has other tasks…” Xia Tianhuo looked as if he was deep in thought, “Old He, how powerful do you think Xiang Kun is now? He must be the undisputed number one, right? Basically, no ‘mutants’ can beat him, right?”

“You should still ask Dr. Xia about this question,” Old He laughed.

“You’re no fun, Old He, no fun at all~!”, Xia Tianhuo shook his head.

Old He just smiled and didn’t say anything, but he thought about the conversation he had on a similar topic with Mr. Liang a month ago after that mission.

How strong is Xiang Kun?

He was also curious about this question.

Mr. Liang said he didn’t know, it was hard to measure.

Then Old He asked: How many of you do you think it would take to beat Mr. Xiang?

Mr. Liang laughed heartily: Hundred, ten thousand of me couldn’t beat Xiang Kun. It’s not a comparable issue. How many whales do you think it would take to beat the ocean? The powers of me, Dr. Xia, Miss Tang, and Jiang Chun, all of us come from the power system established by Xiang Kun.”

Old He was somewhat surprised at that time: So isn’t Xiang Kun invincible?

Mr. Liang had a sense of emotion in his tone: You should be glad that the invincible one is Mr. Xiang.

Now, as Old He looked at the scenery of Chongyun village out of the car window, he thought of Mr. Liang’s words again.

While he was thinking in the car, he saw two people fishing by the artificial lake in Chongyun village. One of them should be Mr. Liang judging from the back.

When did Mr. Liang start fishing?

And he was fishing with someone else. Usually, unless he was on a mission, he didn’t like face-to-face communication with others.

Old He shifted his gaze to the other person, and quickly recognized who it was.

…

By the lakeside, Mr. Liang, who looked like someone in his twenties, was sitting steadily with his fishing rod, motionless. Not far away, a majestically-looking old man in his sixties or seventies, his dyed black hair neatly combed, also had a fishing rod in his hand.

Both men seemed to be engrossed in their fishing and hadn’t said a word to one another.

Soon after, Mr. Liang caught a fish first.

Seeing him holding the six-seven pound fish, the old man also beamed at him, “Good job, Ah Liang. I’ve heard that the fish here are decent, and I’ll use the kitchen at the restaurant on the other side to cook you up a masterpiece at noon. I remember when you were little, you loved fish. Every time your mother…”

The old man suddenly stopped speaking, his face becoming somewhat helpless and anxious.

Mr. Liang laughed, “Dad, it’s okay, I can eat now. I still remember, I used to love the fish soup my mom cooked for me. She would always remove the fish bones for me. So later…when we ate fish for the first time, I got a fishbone stuck in my throat. You rushed me to the hospital. I remember that night…you cried secretly.”

“You remember all that…” The old man turned out to be Lu Cheng’an, the founder of Divine Technology and Mr. Liang’s father.

Five years ago, after Mr. Liang reconstructed his body, he visited his father.

At the first sight of Mr. Liang after his reconstruction, Lu Cheng’an didn’t say much, but he was so moved that he almost fainted. Luckily, Alice was there to secretly help maintain the old man’s heart.

However, the father and son hadn’t seen each other for a long time and there was some discomfort due to their lack of communication. At that time, he’d been busy dealing with various matters at the research base, the Non-Research Center, and Divine Technology, frequently traveling back and forth. Thus, the father and son didn’t get much chance to spend time together over the years.

But for the past two years, Mr. Liang had gradually understood a lot of things and began to take the initiative to spend time with his father, often inviting him to stay in Chongyun Village for some time.

Although father and son still didn’t converse much, the bond between them was becoming more and more natural.

“I remember it all.” Mr. Liang said with a smile as he stood up, ready to assist his father.

However, Lu Cheng’an waved him off and stood up on his own, “I do feel that Chongyun Village is blessed with a great environment. I’ve been staying here a lot for the past two years, hiking and fishing, and my old back problems have mostly improved.”

Mr. Liang smiled and said, “Why don’t you just move here, the company has professional managers and my team to look after it, nothing will go wrong.” He knew that his father’s health had improved significantly with age because of the care provided by Xiang Kun and Alice, and because of the blessings of the Super Sensory Item System.

Lu Cheng’an nodded, “I’m considering it.” He patted his son on the shoulder and sighed, “I wish your mother could still be alive to see what you’ve become, she would be very happy.”

Mr. Liang also sighed in his heart: Yes, how nice it would be if Mama was still alive. He wished that Xiang Kun had been born twenty years earlier and that he’d been this powerful then.

As they carried their fishing gear and their catch towards the lakeside restaurant not far away, standing on higher ground, looking at the multiple research buildings that were constantly expanding around the research base, and the various construction sites underway, he couldn’t help but sigh again in his heart:

I wish you could’ve seen all of this, Academician Shen.

When it comes to research and application of “Blood-eating Creatures”, we are definitely number one in the world.

Our research is beneficial to our country and people, and to all mankind.

…

October 4th, Peng City.

Today was Tang Baona’s birthday. Everyone had gathered at Old Xia’s newly purchased suburban villa from the day before. Even Little Fat Girl Liu Shiling, the honorable primary school student, was able to spend the National Day holidays with everyone.

Old Xia didn’t originally have a house in Peng City. When she came to Peng City, she stayed at the same building as Tang Baona, Yang Zhen Er, and the Little Fatty Girl. She rented a suite there, but she mostly slept at the homes of Yang Zhen Er or Tang Baona.

The reason they bought the villa was to facilitate someone’s “prolonged sleep”.

It had been over a month since the mission at Yangcheng Chinese Medicine Hospital. During that time, Xiang Kun had concentrated on establishing a cognitive model of the “Other-dimensional World”, often requiring prolonged periods of sleep.

Therefore, Old Xia and the others had set up a large, hidden bedroom underground in the villa specifically for him to sleep.

The bedroom door was gradually opened, and Yang Zhen Er peeked in. Seeing that Xiang Kun was deep asleep, she gestured to the others to come in and whispered, “Chef Xiang is sleeping, come on in.”

Under Yang Zhen Er’s lead, Tang Baona, Xiao Pingguo, Liu Shiling, Xia Libing, Custard Pie, Golden Twinkle, Little Mantou and even “Mini Old Xia-version Alice” all filed in.

Yang Zhen Er held a birthday cake, looked at Xiang Kun, then placed it on his stomach. She started smearing the cake cream with her hand, trying to smear it onto Xiang Kun’s face.

“Come on, come on, come help.” Yang Zhen Er called out excitedly in a whisper.

Liu Shiling and Tang Baona both leaned in, laughing as they helped smear cream on Xiang Kun’s face.

Xiao Pingguo was worried, “This will be hard to clean up later, Uncle Xiang still needs to sleep, isn’t this a bad idea… Why don’t we just use the cream that Sister Bing can co-manifest, that way it can vanish later and won’t make a mess.”

As Yang Zhen Er put two cherries on Xiang Kun’s cheeks, she replied, “Because we want to take photos! It’s more troublesome to photograph Old Xia’s cream, so we need the real stuff. Don’t worry, it’s all on his face, it can be cleaned up with a towel! Maybe we can let Custard Pie lick it off, hehe.”

Tang Baona smeared some cream on Xiang Kun’s forehead, laughed while pinching his cheek, pinched his nose, then turned to ask, “Alice, Xiang Kun really didn’t wake up, right?”

“Don’t worry, he is indeed asleep!” Alice replied firmly.

After applying the “cream make-up” to the sleeping Xiang Kun, Yang Zhen Er called everyone to lie on the bed next to Xiang Kun, and then had Alice control a camera on the ceiling to take a group photo.

“Everybody look at the camera! Three, two….”

Just as Alice was counting down, Xiang Kun suddenly opened his eyes. His hand was already holding a piece of cake that he splatted onto the exuberantly smiling Yang Zhen Er who was next to him, posing with a yeah sign. Then, amid her cries, he splatted more cake onto Tang Baona’s and Liu Shiling’s faces.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Xia Libing grabbed a piece of cake and smeared it on Yang Zhen Er’s face. Xiao Pingguo tried to smear some on Little Fatty Girl, but hesitated, and ended up getting cake smeared on her own face by Tang Baona.

As the cake fight started, Alice began to control the camera to continuously press the shutter, capturing the scene amidst her laughter.

She had tricked Baona for sure. When Xiang Kun’s consciousness went into the “Other-dimensional World”, it wasn’t like the blood consumption transformation where he couldn’t wake up halfway. When Yang Zhen’er suggested taking a group photo, he was already awake.

“Chef Xiang! You’re too cunning! Alice, you liar! Wa-aaahhh…” Yang Zhen’er’s exclamations were cut off halfway as a piece of cake thrown by Liu Shiling hit her in the mouth, and she angrily launched her counterattack.

After a massive cake fight, everyone was covered in mess, even Xia Libing showed a rare smile on her face.

Once the ceasefire was declared, Liu Shiling, despite having cake on her face, clothes, and hair, excitedly grabbed Xiang Kun’s hand and asked, “Uncle Baldy, what new power did you acquire this time?”

Recently, every time Xiang Kun woke up from his explorations in the “parallel world,” he would gain a new power. Liu Shiling was now very excited to see Xiang Kun’s new power, as she believed these powers are also the ones she could potentially gain from the “Super Sensory Item System” in the future.

“This power I gained this time is quite impressive,” Xiang Kun said, and he then wiped the cake off Little Fatty Girl’s face with his hand.

Next, the cake on Little Fatty Girl’s face suddenly began to move quickly, gathering together. It then followed a very strange trajectory in the air before landing back onto the plate.

Little Fatty Girl touched her own cheeks, looked at the intact cake on the plate surprisingly, “Wow, that’s awesome…Can I eat a single piece of cake many times in the future?”

Tang Baona burst into laughter. Then, Xiang Kun, Yang Zhen’er, Xiao Pingguo, and Old Xia also started laughing.

“If it comes out of your stomach, would you still dare to eat it?” Tang Baona teased, pinching her cheek.

“Why wouldn’t I dare if it… oh right… indeed… I wouldn’t dare.” Liu Shiling scratched her head, the cream in her hair still hadn’t been removed.

Xiang Kun picked up a glass, threw it onto the ground, and when the glass shattered, with a slight lift of his hand, the pieces gathered back together following their original trajectory, returning to his hand, as good as new.

Xia Libing looked at the unscathed glass, seemingly deep in thought.

Liu Shiling and Yang Zhen’er ran over, indicating “we want to learn this too”, while Tang Baona and Xiao Pingguo appealed to restore the cake on their faces and heads, so that they wouldn’t need to wash it off themselves.

…

Two days later, in a park in Citong City.

Mr. Xiang, looking at Xiang Kun, who was letting Xiang Shinran ride on his neck and stroll forward, gave Mrs. Xiang a look, the two lagged a few steps behind, then whispered, “Have you asked our son about Xiao Tang and Xiao Xia yet?”

Mrs. Xiang hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.

Mr. Xiang looked confused: “Why didn’t you ask?”

Mrs. Xiang fretfully said, “I’m afraid…”

“Afraid of what?”

“I’m afraid if Xiang Kun chooses to be with Xiao Tang, Xiao Xia might demand Xiang Shinran back. In that case, it won’t be easy for us as grandparents to see our granddaughter in the future,” Mrs. Xiang said, worryingly.

Mr. Xiang was taken aback, “No way…”. He hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth, “Never mind, he should resolve his relationships with Xiao Xia and Xiao Tang himself. As for us, we will take care of our granddaughter.”

“Yes, yes.” Mrs Xiang nodded in agreement.

Xiang Kun could clearly hear his parents’ whispers from behind, he felt somewhat amused and helpless, not expecting that Old Xia and the others had made such a big deal while he was in hibernation in Antarctica.

Grabbing Xiang Shinran’s little feet in his hands, he strolled slowly toward the setting sun, asking, “Alice, how does it feel to be humans?”

“Very good! Grandpa and Grandma like me very much and they are very kind to me!” Sitting on Xiang Kun’s neck, Xiang Shinran held his ears to balance herself and answered cheerfully.

“So do you prefer being Alice, or being Xiang Shinran?”

“Both are good!”

“What if you can only choose one? Would you rather be Xiang Shinran or Alice?”

“I won’t choose, Boss chooses!” Alice answered decisively.

“Ha, ha, you don’t have to choose, you don’t. I used to upset my parents a lot, so you must treat them well in the future.” Xiang Kun laughed.

“Rest assured, Boss. Grandpa and Grandma said that I am much better behaved than you were when you were young! Xiang Shinran is the most well-behaved and cutest in the world!” Alice lifted her chin slightly, declaring it proudly.

“Have you ever been spanked?”

“I will tell on Grandpa and Grandma!”

“Aren’t you the invincible Alice?”

“I am the cute Xiang Shinran!”

Neither Mr & Mrs Xiang from behind nor any passerby would ever think that the harmonious father-daughter-like pair, was in actual fact, the controllers of the world.

Ah, now they’re the controllers of two worlds.

(The End)