What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 409: Simple Joy (Part 1)

For most young women, when complimented on their appearance by a cute little girl like Liu Shiling, the usual response would be something like “Oh, thank you, Shiling”, “You sure know how to sweet talk”, “You’re very cute too, Xiao Lingdang!” or “I’m not that pretty!” usually followed by a thank you, a humble response or a return compliment.

However, Xia Libing, who was holding Liu Shiling’s hand, slightly opened her mouth as if to say something, but after a moment of hesitation, said nothing.

Shiling’s mom, on the other hand, didn’t sense anything amiss as she assumed that Xia Libing was probably shy or inherently introverted. But Xiang Kun almost burst into laughter.

He, of course, knew that Old Xia was neither embarrassed by compliments nor shy. Rather, she has accurately assessed Little Fatty Girl’s true needs. She had already begun trying to control the super-connected coin on her to activate the Illusion Reality ability, though realized that it might not be an appropriate situation to use it.

As for what Old Xia would co-manifest, it was obvious: it would either be grilled chicken wings or crispy pig’s elbow.

Oh, yes, now she could even co-manifest ice cream.

After fetching Liu Shiling, instead of going home, the four of them decided to find a restaurant and have dinner together.

Little Fatty Girl was excited about having dinner with Xiang Kun and Xia Libing, but she didn’t forget her home’s languishing ‘Custard Pie’. Looking upwards, she said, “Uncle Bald, let’s rescue ‘Custard Pie’ at home before we go to dinner!”

“Don’t worry, Old Xia and I just came from your place. ‘Custard Pie’ is already alright,” Xiang Kun said with a smile.

After landing in Star City that afternoon, he and Old Xia had first visited Shiling’s home. Shiling’s mother, who was at home, introduced them to ‘Custard Pie’, who was still lying on the couch.

When Shiling’s mom heard Xiang Kun mentioning this, she couldn’t help but admire him.

This afternoon, Mr. Xiang and Miss Xia visited her home. Instead of making idle chit-chat, they asked to see ‘Custard Pie’ instantly.

The moment she brought Xiang Kun into Liu Shiling’s room, the lethargic cat that hadn’t moved for nearly two days, suddenly sprang up from the couch as though sensing something. But maybe due to all the starvation, the cat soon flopped back to the ground, allowing Xiang Kun to pick it up.

Xiang Kun held ‘Custard Pie’, carefully inspecting and palpitating the cat as if to conduct a full-body check. At the same time, he explained to Shiling’s mother that he had studied some veterinary knowledge. ‘Custard Pie’ was fine, just reacting to the temperature change and feeling lonely since Liu Shiling had started school and wasn’t home during the day. He suggested using his pet massage technique to stimulate a few acupoints and to boost circulation.

Shiling’s mother listened in confusion. Although she found Xiang Kun’s explanation abstruse, it seemed perfectly logical, and he sounded very confident and certain, giving her the impression that he was highly professional and unquestionable.

However, Xiang Kun had explicitly said that he had only learned a little relevant knowledge…

But in the end, it turned out that Xiang Kun’s pet massage technique indeed worked. After the massage, ‘Custard Pie’ perked up and started to meow energetically.

By the time they left to pick up Liu Shiling from kindergarten, ‘Custard Pie’ had already started chomping on cat food.

Shiling’s mother was really impressed. Mr. Xiang was truly capable, not only being able to afford a house in a first-tier city but also being good at cooking. He even knew how to deal with a sick pet. No wonder the beautiful Miss Xia on the side was taken with him – even though Xiang Kun only introduced her as a friend, she had already assumed Xia Libing and Xiang Kun as a couple.

In reality, Xiang Kun didn’t know anything about veterinary science. All that talk was just baloney on the spot. His so-called massage to ‘Custard Pie’ was in fact him using various methods to examine the cat.

In addition to observing via infrared thermographic vision mode, Xiang Kun could probe and inspect ‘Custard Pie”s body structure, such as bones, muscles, blood vessels, and internal organs, using his “sixth sense”.

And this examination process gave Xiang Kun a very strange yet familiar feeling, like an inside-out familiarity with ‘Custard Pie’.

This familiarity, to some extent, was similar to his relationship with ‘Golden Shimmer’. This was probably because ‘Custard Pie’ has been partially drawn into the “Super Sensory Item System” by Little Fatty Girl in a unique way.

And the other part simply involves familiarity and understanding of cats as living creatures.

At first, Xiang Kun was somewhat puzzled because he had not specifically studied the physiological knowledge of cats and had very little interaction with cats in reality. Therefore, he should not have such a clear understanding of a cat’s body structure.

But, in an instant, he realized what was happening. This information wasn’t remembered using his traditional senses, it was retrieved through using his “sixth sense”. He understood — this was the ability from the “mutated parasite”. The parasite must have parasitized a cat before.

After examining the “Custard Pie”, Xiang Kun still did not figure out how Little Fatty Girl managed to partially incorporate the “Custard Pie” into the “Super Sensory Item System”, but he gained a general understanding of its current status in the system.

For now, the “Custard Pie” is only connected on the level of consciousness to a small system that Little Fatty Girl herself “established”. This system, on a foundational level, is built from two super-connected coins named “Chocolate” and “Ice Cream”.

It doesn’t give the “Custard Pie” any direct abilities, but it does allow it to communicate with Little Fatty Girl at the conscious level. Of course, this communication is even far inferior to the one with Xiao Pingguo and “Gold Glitter”. Even Little Fatty Girl herself hasn’t realized this super connection with the cat.

However, when the three new “super-connected” coins that Xiang Kun sent to Little Fatty Girl arrived, she began to familiarize herself with and integrate these new coins into her own local system. The “Custard Pie” then began to feel uncomfortable, and a barrier arose in its conscious communication with Little Fatty Girl.

To it, it was as if a part of its sensory abilities were missing, so it started to feel frightened of its surrounding environment.

The solution was of course straightforward, Xiang Kun directly gave it an “approval” attitude so it could officially be integrated into the “Super Sensory Item System”.

In this way, it could proceed to accustom itself to the local system established by Little Fatty Girl using Xiang Kun’s “Super Sensory Item System”.

In terms of the conscious connection between them, Little Fatty Girl needs to realize this point herself, and then help the “Custard Pie” change its contact method.

As for the specific method, Xiang Kun could only guide her but he could not interfere as he didn’t know how Little Fatty Girl managed to do it.

For dinner, they went to a Japanese restaurant because Little Fatty Girl said that she had never had Japanese food before, and Xia Libing noticed grilled chicken wings on the advertising board outside the restaurant…

Yes, there were actually grilled chicken wings on the sign board of a Japanese restaurant.

Even though Little Fatty Girl had known Xiang Kun for a longer time, during dinner, she stuck with Xia Libing, eating and whispering various questions.

These questions initially remained limited to some basic physical knowledge which Xia Libing had no problem answering, and didn’t mind further inquiry. If Little Fatty Girl dared to ask, she could answer.

However, gradually, Little Fatty Girl’s questions started getting random, such as why do horses have four legs while humans have two, why do flies have eyes on their forehead, why do birds have feathers on their wings, why don’t pterosaurs have feathers, why can’t cats grow as big as tigers, why can airplanes fly even without flapping their wings, why chicken and duck taste differently and so on…

Xia Libing explained everything from a biological evolution standpoint with no impatience, as if she was capable of handling any question.

Granted, Miss Xia did not know everything, but for any question, she could provide some degree of explanation with her acquired knowledge. It may not be deep, but it was something. Even questions that were nonsensical, childish, or absurd from the onset, she would clarify with a few sentences, seriously correct the way the question was asked, propose the “correct” question, and then answer herself.

As for Little Fatty Girl, even though she didn’t understand 98% Xia Libing’s explanations, it didn’t deter her from listening in awe and admiration with her little face tilted up and mouth slightly open.

Indeed, a real magician ought to be like Miss Grilled Chicken Wings, knowing everything!