Blind Date (Part 1)

Chapter 12: Blind Date (Part 1)

Today was July 20th, the eighteenth day of the sixth lunar month. The moon was still large and full.

The weather was good, too. There were barely any clouds blocking it, and beneath the hazy moonlight, the entire city seemed to have been given a filter, taking on a peculiar atmosphere.

Xiang Kun could indeed feel that under the moonlight outdoors, his physical condition seemed to be ever so slightly better than it was indoors at the same time.

Of course, compared with the difference between day and night, this difference was so small that it could practically be ignored.

He even suspected that it was simply because the air outside was better and contained more oxygen.

But Xiang Kun also had a very strange feeling: even when he closed his eyes, he could faintly sense the moonlight shining on him.

It was an indescribable sensation. When basking in the sun, one could feel sunlight on the body because its heat raised the skin's temperature, allowing it to be perceived.

Moonlight, however, was different. It did not carry such strong heat. Generally speaking, if one did not look with one's eyes, it was difficult to tell when moonlight was shining on them.

Recently, Xiang Kun had been pondering where the energy he consumed came from. Not just the energy expended in everyday movement—he felt it could not all be supplied by that little chicken blood and rabbit blood.

The difference between his condition during the day and at night was likely one of the keys.

Xiang Kun knew that moonlight also came from sunlight, but it was fundamentally different from sunlight.

The moon's surface was uneven, so when sunlight struck it, it was not simply reflected like a mirror. Most of the sunlight and heat were absorbed by the moon, then radiated back out.

Could his mutated body now react differently to moonlight?

Xiang Kun closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and relaxed his body. Then he discovered that his hearing seemed to have improved significantly.

Amid the whistling wind around the building and all the distant and nearby background noises, he could actually clearly pick out the whispered conversation of a young couple in another corner of the rooftop.

Though he could not hear them clearly, catching only scattered fragments and faintly making out a few sentences, it was enough to astonish Xiang Kun.

He opened his eyes, closed them again, then opened them once more.

Xiang Kun quickly realized that closing his eyes did not make his hearing shoot up. Rather, it was only after closing his eyes that he noticed just how sharp his hearing had become.

In fact, as long as he concentrated and listened carefully, he could hear the couple's murmured words whether his eyes were open or closed.

In other words, his hearing had most likely already improved enormously after his second time drinking blood.

It was just that he had not felt it too clearly before. The improvement in his vision had claimed nearly all his attention where his senses were concerned. In his daily activities, he also relied more on sight than hearing.

Xiang Kun naturally considered whether he should train his hearing specifically before his next blood-drinking session and see if it improved further.

But considering tomorrow's date, and worried that drinking blood ahead of time might cause problems, he could only put that training off for now.

He did not stay on the rooftop for long before returning to his room. He sat before his computer, reading all kinds of materials as he waited for dawn.

Near five-thirty, rosy light spilled across the horizon. Just as expected, Xiang Kun felt a noticeable decline in his physical functions, and his spirits were no longer as high as they had been during the night.

He happened to be reading about tidal forces at the time, and could not help wondering whether X might be related to the moon's tidal force on Earth.

Seawater was affected by tidal forces, and blood in the human body was also liquid, so naturally it would be affected to some extent. Of course, for ordinary people, that influence was negligible and impossible to perceive.

Or perhaps, after his body had undergone a series of changes due to the unknown X factor, it had become more sensitive to changes in these force fields and magnetic fields?

But he quickly rejected that guess. Earth's tidal forces did not come solely from the moon; the sun played a role as well. Moreover, the strength of tidal forces had no particularly obvious direct relationship with the shift from day to night.

As he frowned in thought, watching through the window as sunlight gradually spread across the street outside, Xiang Kun suddenly froze and muttered, "Maybe the night doesn't provide a boost at all. Maybe sunrise brings suppression?"

A little after one in the afternoon, Xiang Kun put on a baseball cap and headed out for the café where he was supposed to meet the girl.

After arriving at the café and ordering a drink, Xiang Kun chose a seat in a corner. Then, using the excuse of going to the self-service counter for napkins, he poured out all the drink in his cup, refilled it with water from the pitcher at the counter, and returned to his seat.

He checked the time. It was only a little past two, while he and the girl had agreed to meet at three.

He was in no rush. He simply sat in the corner, scrolling through online materials on his phone.

In the past, before meeting a blind date, he would definitely have prepared topics to talk about. Based on the information he had, he would judge the other person's likely personality and interests, arrange a possible itinerary for afterward, and prepare several backup plans.

But now, he truly had no intention of dating or getting involved with anyone. All he wanted was to end this blind date as quickly as possible without offending anyone or putting Chang Bin in an awkward position, so there was naturally no need to think too much about it.

Xiang Kun's attention was entirely on the changes in his body.

His morning idea—that some factor after sunrise was suppressing his physical functions to a certain degree—needed further verification.

Without question, sunrise was an extremely distinct dividing line, so sunlight was absolutely one factor that had to be considered.

But over the past few days, he had basically been indoors at sunrise and had not been exposed to sunlight. And if it were due to rising temperature, there should have been a gradual process rather than a change occurring precisely at that threshold.

Xiang Kun guessed that it might be related to changes in Earth's magnetic field at sunrise. His body sensed those changes and triggered some kind of adjustment mechanism similar to a biological clock, beginning to suppress his physical functions in order to reduce consumption and achieve some sort of balance?

While he was thinking, a new WeChat message arrived. The girl had arrived too and was asking Xiang Kun what he wanted to drink so she could order first.

He looked at the time. It was 2:41 p.m. This girl had come pretty early as well.

Xiang Kun looked up around the café just as a girl walked in. Though she was indeed, as Chang Bin had said, "very cute and pretty," he was not sure whether she was the blind date he was supposed to meet.

The girl wore denim shorts and a white T-shirt, had her hair in twin ponytails, and wore large round-framed glasses. She looked far too young—perhaps not even twenty?