As Xiang Kun began to meticulously carve and polish the wood carving, the overall appearance and details of the wood carving gradually became clear.
This palm-sized wooden human figure has eight arms and eight eyes, arranged in two rows on a round, bald head. A row of sharp teeth can be seen in its open mouth. It is wearing a sleeveless suit jacket, suit trousers, and big leather shoes.
This is the fear projection that appeared when Xiang Kun faced Guo Tianxiang's ability to "Self-Fear Projection".
The projection of fear he saw at the time was much more detailed, and far more grotesque and terrifying, with its entire body covered in all sorts of ugly tumors, utterly disgusting.
His clothes were completely ripped apart, and he had no shoes on his feet, which were covered in grotesque, thick limbs and fleshy growths.
That was because he was worried that he would mutate and become a monster.
The boxwood carving in my hand, about the size of my palm, looks naturally beautiful.
This small wooden carving looks several sizes smaller than the Saber carving he made for Tang Baona, but it is actually quite difficult to make. The eight arms alone are a major challenge. It would be easy to mess up with an electric drill or electric carving machine, let alone with hand tools.
If you haven't sculpted Saber before and try to sculpt this directly, you'll almost certainly fail several times.
And now it was completed in one go, and it was even carved from wood from which no Super-Sensory Link had been established. To be honest, Xiang Kun himself was quite surprised, so he was naturally quite satisfied.
After careful and meticulous polishing, Xiang Kun finally finished the wood carving and found that it was already broad daylight outside. The canary "Gold Glitter" had already flown over to say hello once, and it was now past two o'clock in the afternoon.
Before I knew it, I was engrossed in carving for more than ten hours.
Looking at the finished eight-armed, eight-eyed monster, Xiang Kun was really reluctant to give it away.
Thinking about it carefully, he suddenly couldn't remember why he had chosen to sculpt this monster, which he had previously projected fears and hallucinations into. It seemed that he had wanted to create an "original" image, and so, without realizing it, he had sculpted this thing?
It seems that he no longer harbors the fear of turning into such a monster?
Where does this sense of certainty come from?
Xiang Kun stretched his neck and shoulders, checked the messages on his computer and phone, and found that the online friend who had previously collaborated with him and given him outsourced work had sent him a message again.
"Hey bro, do you have any regular projects you're working on right now?"
After checking the time of his message, Xiang Kun replied, "No, what's up? Any job recommendations?"
The last collaboration went quite smoothly. The other party was generous with their money and was a knowledgeable person who didn't argue over trivial issues, saving him a lot of trouble.
"Hey sir, are you interested in coming to Pengcheng to help me with a project? The basic details are... the base salary is... and depending on the final result, the client will offer an additional bonus. Based on my experience working with this client, they're quite generous. As long as the result isn't too bad, the bonus will be at least 30% of the salary."
After hearing the other party's introduction, Xiang Kun was actually a little tempted, but going to Pengcheng was a real headache. Given his situation, it would be difficult for him to work, let alone lead a project. Disappearing for 25 hours every week without being contacted? Not having to eat while working overtime at the company? These were all problems, so he had no choice but to refuse.
"Sorry, I only take on outsourced work. If I could build a local team to handle this project, maybe I could manage," Xiang Kun said. He didn't have high hopes, though. Projects like this, with such a large investment, usually require building your own team. Even if you're outsourcing, you'd definitely want a reliable local company or team for better communication on details and future maintenance and expansion. Since the client is in Pengcheng, finding such a company shouldn't be too difficult.
"I see... I'll talk to them about it, but I doubt they'll agree." The reply from the other end was exactly what Xiang Kun had expected.
"Okay, sure. By the way, why did they choose me to lead that project? The projects I worked on at my previous company weren't the same type as theirs."
"The job I asked you to do last time was also with this client. Their technical director raved about what you did, especially your code. The logic was clear, concise, and concise, with few comments, yet it was all easy to understand. He said reading your code was a real pleasure..."
Xiang Kun was speechless, not knowing what to say, and could only send a panda rolling around in gratitude emoji.
On October 24, six days after Tang Baona had eaten a rabbit feast at Xiang Kun's house alone, she and Yang Zhen'er, who had just returned from a trip, visited again and ate a six-dish meal and soup prepared by Xiang Kun for them.
After dinner, the three played cards for a while. Because they had to get up early the next day, Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er went home before 10 o'clock.
In the car, Tang Baona played with the eight-armed, eight-eyed wooden carving, quite fond of it. Although the carving could be described as somewhat ugly or even grotesque, for some reason, she felt a strange sense of harmony with it.
"What anime character is this? I've never seen it before! Even the octopus-man in One Piece only has six arms! And these eight eyes look really creepy, it's giving me trypophobia..." Yang Zhen'er, who had just pulled out of her parking space, glanced at the palm-sized wooden carving in her friend's hand on the passenger seat and said curiously.
"I asked him, and he said he was just imagining things."
"Eight arms and eight eyes as a figment of my imagination? Hmm, I'll have to ask Lao Xia later if that represents anything in psychology."
Looking at the wooden carving in her hand, Tang Baona suddenly felt a little reluctant to give it to her grandfather. "This is art, okay!"
Yang Zhen'er suddenly remembered something and said with a hint of disdain, "Oh right, that bird at Chef Xiang's house that's become a spirit is actually named 'Gold Glitter'? You named it that, didn't you? You have such a twisted sense of humor!"
When they were at Xiang Kun's house, he showed the two of them his interaction with "Gold Glitter," which greatly shocked Yang Zhen'er. She exclaimed that the bird was a spirit, not only could Xiang Kun understand what the bird was saying, but the bird could also understand the meaning of Xiang Kun's casual movements and sounds, which was really too unreasonable.
Moreover, in addition to the titles of "archery genius," "culinary genius," and "wood carving genius," Xiang Kun now has the title of "bird language expert," which she finds hard to believe.
"Don't you think the name 'Gold Glitter' is very fitting?" Tang Baona said proudly.
"I don't believe you for a second!" Yang Zhen'er said, but couldn't help licking her lips, exclaiming, "Chef Xiang's cooking skills are getting better and better! Not only the rabbit meat, but that plate of lamb and that pork chop were also delicious! Especially the pork chop, crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, fragrant, juicy but not greasy, ah, I'm speechless... It feels like these dishes really taste exactly what I imagined they should taste like... No, they're even better than I imagined, because no matter how high my expectations are, there's always a surprise. If he were to open a restaurant, I would definitely invest my entire fortune. He really chose the wrong profession, why did he have to learn programming, why did he have to get involved in IT, and he's gone bald now, hmph, if he had started learning to cook ten years ago, he would probably be a top chef by now. Sigh, Nana, why don't you just put in some effort and win over Chef Xiang, it'll be much easier for me to mooch meals from you guys in the future..."
"You big dummy! Drive carefully! Stop teasing me!" Tang Baona glared at her, but frowned slightly and said, "But the dry pot rabbit meat today didn't taste as good as last time, the flavor was a little too strong."
If Xiang Kun heard this, he wouldn't find it strange. It wasn't that his understanding of Tang Baona's tastes and preferences had declined, or that the taste of his cooking was inconsistent. Rather, the dry pot rabbit meat he made today was intended for Yang Zhen'er, so it was naturally seasoned to suit her taste.
Logically, friends who frequently eat together should gradually develop similar tastes. However, despite living together for so long, Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er still have quite different tastes, which makes Xiang Kun feel somewhat exhausted every time he cooks for them at the same time. He has to differentiate which dishes are mainly suited to whose taste.
Thank you to the new alliance leader "Guang Gao Fa" (additional chapters are temporarily owed (TT)), and thank you to readers Northern Darkness Has Oranges, 20190418200836215, and 20170712185302434 for their donations.