What It's Like Being a Vampire

Tang Baona gave a start, almost letting out a cry, but the person at the door quickly flicked on the light in the room. As soon as she saw who it was, her fears subsided.

“Old Xia!” Tang Baona felt a sense of relief washing over her, as if she had finally encountered a family member after wandering for a long time in a foreign land—despite the fact that she had just met Old Xia a few hours before, and they had been in the same building all along.

“How come you’re still awake? Oh, did I wake you up when I came downstairs?” Tang Baona said, a hint of apology in her voice.

“No, I wasn’t asleep,” Xia Libing replied. “Sister Nana, did something happen that made you want to check the surveillance?”

“Ah, I was on the rooftop earlier, and then when I was about to come back down… uh, I almost tripped, and then… I just wanted to see exactly how I tripped,” Tang Baona mumbled.

After all, her recent experience was too extraordinary. Without sufficient evidence, telling someone else about it would either make them doubt its authenticity or frighten them unnecessarily. There was no need for that.

“By the way, Xiang Kun must have informed you, right? I wanted to come in and check the surveillance, but I couldn’t open the door, so I decided to look for Xiang Kun to get the key. He probably assumed something had happened to me,” Tang Baona assumed. Given that she was in slippers and had been silent going up and down the stairs, she should have been quiet. For Old Xia to know she was checking the surveillance and to come down to look into it, it was highly probable that Xiang Kun had told him.

“Well, I wasn’t sleeping anyway.” Xia Libing didn’t confirm or deny it but came in to bend over the computer console with her to look at the surveillance footage. “It seems that there’s a transmission issue with that camera. The footage hasn’t been saved. This kind of problem happens often, so it’s not surprising.”

“Often?” Tang Baona picked up on the keyword.

“Old Xia… um… when you used to live here, did you ever encounter anything strange?” Tang Baona finally couldn’t help but ask tentatively.

“Like what?”

“Like… strange noises, or… strangers that you’ve never seen before, uh… hallucinations?” Tang Baona was frowning as she organized her words.

“You saw a hallucination just now on the rooftop, near the stairwell, so you thought to use the surveillance to confirm it?” Xia Libing asked in response.

“Sort of… you could say that,” Tang Baona said uncertainly. It seemed as if, without knowing it, she had confessed everything to Old Xia anyway. Fortunately, Old Xia wasn’t easily scared.

“What exactly did you hallucinate?” Xia Libing asked further.

Thinking that Old Xia might help analyze it, Tang Baona decided to say it frankly, “Earlier, I was about to come down from the rooftop and just entered the stairwell when I tripped. I was about to tumble down the stairs but was caught by… well, someone…from behind. But when I turned around to look, there was no one, and I couldn’t find a hiding place on the rooftop, nor did I see any trace of something climbing up. I wanted to check the stairwell’s surveillance, but that camera just happened to malfunction and didn’t record any footage.”

Xia Libing listened to her quietly, then said, “Sister Nana, please stand up.”

“Huh?” Tang Baona was caught off guard, but she did as he said anyway, staring confusedly at Xia Libing, who was half a head taller than herself.

“Turn around,” Xia Libing said.

Tang Baona turned around. And then she felt herself being hugged around the waist, and heard Xia Libing’s voice from behind her: “Were you held like this?”

“Eh?” Tang Baona couldn’t help but laugh. “No, my thigh was held, and it felt like a short arm, like a child, and there was even a ‘Hey!’ sound, um, something like ‘Hey!’. It was a little girl’s voice. Hey, I think my imitation is pretty accurate, ‘Hey! Hehe! Hey!~'”

Xia Libing crouched down again and semi-embraced her thigh: “About like this?”

“Yes, that’s right, it was my right leg, about that height,” Tang Baona said.

Then Xia Libing asked her to simulate how she was about to fall at the doorway of the stairwell, continued to crouch down and hold her leg, and helped her maintain her balance.

To recreate the scene accurately, Xia Libing even went to the living room to fetch a couch cushion so that Tang Baona could complete the entire action from nearly falling to being pulled back and kneeling down. ṘÂꞐÓ₿Ɛ𐌔

After running through the reenactment many times and picking apart the details with Tang Baona, Xia Libing summed up, “Based purely on your descriptions and our reenactments, there are two possibilities.”

“First, when you were in a dangerous situation, your adrenaline surged for a short time, your sympathetic nervous system was overly excited, and other hormones were rapidly secreted as well. Your body went into fight-or-flight mode, your muscles tensed up instantly and may have erupted with strength far exceeding your normal capabilities. During this process, your subjective consciousness might not have been able to adapt right away, leading to hallucinations, imagining a ‘person’ who helped you perform those actions. That ‘Hey!’ sound could have been you shouting as you exerted effort.”

Seeing Tang Baona’s thoughtful expression, Xia Libing continued, “The second possibility is that there indeed was a little girl who appeared behind you for a moment, held up your thigh, and prevented you from stumbling down the stairs. The fact that she could hold your leg and make a sound proves that she truly exists and can physically affect you. The fact that she appeared to save you when you were about to fall and disappeared without a trace when you turned around proves that she means you no harm, but for some reason, she doesn’t want you to discover her yet. The camera might also have been affected by her, hence the inability to save the footage.”

As Xia Libing spoke, Tang Baona nodded along. Considering it rationally, the probability of the first scenario Old Xia mentioned should be higher, especially after their many reenactments.

However, from another perspective, which she herself couldn’t quite articulate, Tang Baona preferred the second possibility. To think of having a cute little girl appear out of the blue, ready to help and protect her whenever she needed, felt somewhat… nice.

The reason she found it “cute” was most likely because she had unconsciously visualized the little girl in her mind, and she had pictured her looking quite like Little Fatty Girl.

Yes, after Old Xia’s analysis and the reenactments, not only did she lose the initial feelings of unease, chill, insecurity, and suspicion, but she also found herself somewhat hoping for the existence of that little girl.

Which is to say, regardless of what actually happened at the stairwell on the rooftop, Tang Baona could accept both possibilities. Not being able to see the surveillance didn’t seem to matter that much anymore.

She felt a lot lighter all of a sudden.

“Sister Nana, are you hungry? Do you want to join me for some instant noodles?” Xia Libing asked.

“All right then, oh, by the way, there seems to be some leftovers from what Xiang Kun cooked last night in the refrigerator…” said Tang Baona, having just heard Old Xia’s stomach grumbling. As for her own weight loss plan of avoiding late-night snacks, she’ll delay it until the operations at “QianKun Technology” settle down.

On her way to the fridge, Xia Libing said, “We can add the leftovers to the instant noodles and boil them together, it should be delicious.”

So the two of them chatted while figuring out which dish to add to the noodles and whether to cook or soak the instant noodles.

“By the way, Old Xia, did you notice that since we moved to Chongyun Village we hardly see any mosquitoes or insects? Our house is even more special. Outdoor lights usually attract light-seeking insects at night. In cities, streetlights can draw in many bugs that we see gathering in the dark. But there aren’t any insects around the lights in our yard or at our door. It’s strange! Have we sprayed any insecticide here?”

Xia Libing answered, “There could be many reasons. There might be certain predators in Chongyun Village that scare off mosquitoes and insects. Moreover, it probably has something to do with Goldfinch.”

“Goldfinch? Really? Does Goldfinch… eat bugs?” Tang Baona curiously asked.

“Goldfinch doesn’t want Xiao Pingguo to be bitten by insects, so it chases them away when they are near. Its scent is very strong, which scares the bugs,” Xia Libing explained.

“Is that so? Goldfinch seems to be… rather unusual. Old Xia, don’t you find that Goldfinch is much larger than an ordinary canary? It seems so understanding, not just compared to other birds, but also when compared to animals with higher intelligence like dogs. Sometimes I feel like it can completely understand what we’re saying, as if it can truly comprehend our words,” Tang Baona continued to inquire.

“Goldfinch is indeed rather unusual, after all, it’s a guide bird, probably the only one of its kind in the world,” Xia Libing replied.

As the noodles were about to be cooked, Tang Baona remembered the conjectures that Yang Zhen’er had previously made and the questions raised. She decided to directly ask Old Xia about them: “Old Xia, did you resign and come to Chongyun Village with Xiang Kun to build that research base just because you were interested in breeding?”

Xia Libing was about to answer when she noticed the coin Tang Baona was effortlessly and fluidly flipping in her hand. She could faintly sense that this coin was the “Super-connected Objects” coin that Xiang Kun had given to Sister Nana – her suspicion that the coin Xiang Kun had given was peculiar had started with this coin.

“You’ve mastered it.”

Caught off guard by this non-responsive comment, Tang Baona followed Old Xia’s gaze and realized what Xia Libing was referring to, and laughed, “Indeed, somehow it felt natural tonight. I had always struggled with flipping it continuously before. Isn’t it strange? No matter how much I practiced, I couldn’t do it, and tonight I didn’t even think about practicing, I was just casually flipping it while thinking, and without realizing it, I mastered it. I don’t even know how to explain it. It seems like the saying ‘expectations beget failure, effortlessness begets success’ is true.”

Xia Libing nodded in agreement, “Sister Nana is really talented.”

“Where’s the talent? You, Xiao Pingguo, and Xiao Lingdang have known how to do this for ages,” although Tang Baona said so, the smile on her face showed a hint of pride at her newly acquired skill at flipping the coin smoothly.

Xia Libing said, “Sister Nana, do you remember that the day after Xiao Pingguo and Professor Li visited Chongyun Village on the 21st, a ‘researcher’ who knew Professor Li found us?”

“I remember. That person’s surname was Zhou, right? There was another man with him, dark-skinned and very fierce-looking. They seemed to be inquiring about some ants and insects, intending to do some research on Chongyun Mountain,” Tang Baona replied.

Xia Libing nodded, “What Xiang Kun and I are doing at the research base essentially involves the same kind of research they are doing.”

Tang Baona realized, much to her surprise, that Yang Lao San had actually guessed part of it correctly. She then asked, “So… you resigned and came to Chongyun Village mainly to research insects?”

“Actually, it doesn’t have much to do with insects. When I was young, I had a very special disease, or you could call it a ‘congenital defect’. I received a certain ‘treatment’ but it wasn’t cured. The research that Xiang Kun and I are conducting in Chongyun Village might potentially help me repair this ‘defect’ and cure the disease. I can’t tell you the specific details for the time being, Sister Nana, because I haven’t fully understood or figured it out yet,” Xia Libing patiently answered.

Upon hearing these words, which corresponded to what Yang Zhen’er had said before bed, Tang Baona instantly had some of her doubts cleared. She didn’t ask Xia Libing what her “disease” or “defect” was specifically. Since Xia Libing didn’t go into detail, Tang Baona figured Xia didn’t want to talk about it, so she decided not to pry.

Thinking about her past experiences with Old Xia, about Yang Zhen’er’s descriptions of Old Xia’s childhood and student days, as well as Old Xia’s two chosen postgraduate majors, Tang Baona had a vague guess in her mind. Seeing Xia Libing, who was sitting across from her waiting for the noodles with her, Tang Baona couldn’t help but feel a pang of sympathy.

“It’s cooked.” Xia Libing expertly lifted the lid of the stainless steel pot, served the noodles to Tang Baona, poured the soup, then started slurping up her own noodles.

“Oh, I didn’t expect that adding leftovers to instant noodles could make it taste so good.” As Tang Baona lifted her head, her glasses were all misted up.

“It’s because we are hungry; there is some bonus,” Xia Libing said.

“Xiang Kun probably hasn’t slept yet, right? Should we send him a midnight snack too?” Tang Baona said, removing her glasses to wipe them.

“No need, he has food over there,” Xia Libing replied.

“Yeah, if he hasn’t slept yet, I bet he’s focusing on his work. We better not disturb him,” Tang Baona nodded.

Little did she know, Xiang Kun had already fallen asleep, and was going to sleep for ten more hours to come. The person she had just been texting on WeChat was not Xiang Kun, but the “little girl” who had rescued and startled her.

After saving Tang Baona and preventing her from falling down the stairs, Alice immediately informed the wide-awake Xia Libing.

When Xiang Kun is sound asleep, Xia Libing undoubtedly the top commander of the “Super sensory Item System”. When it’s impossible to make a single decision based on established rules and principles, Alice knows that asking Old Xia for suggestions would be the safest call.

When in doubt, ask the boss. If the boss is sleeping, ask Old Xia!

Of course, there was no doubt about revealing herself to save Tang Baona. Tang Baona, Yang Zhen’er, and even individuals like Xiang Kun’s parents, Chang Bin, Zi Cheng, You Meng, all require “real-time protection”. Their safety is always the most important thing at any time!

But after revealing herself, Alice was unsure how to guide Tang Baona, because there were too many ways and directions to do so.

——

Ji Cha’s new book “This is My Planet” has been released. It’s a mixture of science and cultivation, same formula, same great taste.

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