No Difference

"Call 110, call 120, get an ambulance!"

After knocking down the assailant, Xiang Kun rushed over to check on the young couple who had been stabbed. Both were covered in blood, with multiple puncture wounds across their torsos and limbs.

Xiang Kun had been reading many medical-related articles lately and had learned quite a bit about first aid. After a brief examination, he confirmed that neither of them had suffered arterial damage. He told them to press down on their wounds, stay still, and wait for the ambulance.

The police and the ambulance arrived quickly. Although the assailant, whom Xiang Kun had knocked unconscious with a single punch, had yet to wake up, he had already been tied up like a zongzi by the grocery store owner and neighbors who had rushed over to help.

Soon, everyone was taken away by the ambulance, including the assailant.

According to the paramedics on the scene, although the young couple had been stabbed several times, fortunately, none of the wounds hit vital organs, and their lives were not in danger.

As for the assailant, his nasal bone was definitely broken, and he likely had a mild concussion, but he was also not in any life-threatening condition.

Xiang Kun let out a sigh of relief. To be honest, he had been genuinely surprised after that first punch—he had underestimated the strength of his own fist. The assailant's entire face had seemed to cave in, and he had gone limp instantly. His first reaction had been that he might have killed the man.

Logically, even if he had killed the man in that situation, it should have been considered clear-cut self-defense. The assailant's first reaction after falling to the ground had been to reach for the knife; both the grocery store owner and the surveillance camera at the store entrance could prove that.

But if the man had actually died, it would inevitably lead to a series of troubles, and the secrets he carried might very well be exposed.

Xiang Kun and the grocery store owner both went to the police station to give their statements. They were both eyewitnesses, and Xiang Kun, in particular, had been the one to take down the assailant.

However, in the police car, the officer in the front seat told Xiang Kun to set his mind at ease. They had already reviewed the surveillance footage from the grocery store, and it was a textbook case of self-defense; he would be fine. He could return home after giving his statement. The officer even asked if he had any injuries and whether he needed to go to the hospital for a check-up.

Xiang Kun naturally didn't want to go to the hospital, and he truly hadn't sustained any injuries. After running downstairs, a flying kick and a single punch had been enough to GG the assailant.

The reason the officer asked was that Xiang Kun was covered in blood—not just his hands, but his cheeks and the corners of his mouth as well. At first glance, he looked even worse than the three people taken away by the ambulance.

The grocery store owner, sitting in the back of the police car with Xiang Kun, hadn't stopped talking since they got in. One moment he was telling the officer in the front seat about the process of the assault, and the next he was praising Xiang Kun's skills, asking if he had practiced martial arts before.

From the owner's chatter, Xiang Kun learned that the assailant was actually the ex-boyfriend of the girl who lived downstairs from him. He had caused a scene last month and nearly started a fight, but it hadn't escalated because the girl's current boyfriend and his friends were there to pull them apart.

He hadn't expected that the guy would bring a knife to commit such a violent act today.

Xiang Kun only responded to the officer and the store owner with half-hearted replies, not interjecting unless directly asked.

At this moment, his attention was entirely focused on himself.

When he had taken down the assailant and checked the couple's injuries, Xiang Kun had gotten a lot of blood on himself. Upon seeing the blood, he felt the same urge to drink it.

However, perhaps because he had just woken up from his post-feeding slumber last night, the need and craving for blood were not intense, allowing him to control his impulses easily.

Moreover, when no one was looking, Xiang Kun used the motion of wiping his sweat to smear the blood from his arm into his mouth.

This tentative "sip" made Xiang Kun feel slightly relieved—compared to rabbit blood, human blood did not give him any special sensation.

In truth, he had been worried that as time passed, he would become like the vampires in various works of fiction, needing human blood to survive. That was something he would find very hard to accept.

After quickly giving his statement at the precinct, the officer who had driven them there arranged for them to be taken home.

It was past 11:00 PM when he arrived home. Xiang Kun went straight to the cage in the bathroom, took out the rabbit he had bought that morning, slaughtered and bled it, and then drank 50ml from a measuring cup.

Xiang Kun sensed his internal state and confirmed once again that there was no difference between human blood and rabbit blood.

Although his body still felt a certain level of hunger after seeing the blood, Xiang Kun did not drink the rest of the rabbit's blood after finishing the 50ml. Instead, he processed and packed away the remaining blood and the rabbit.

One reason was that he didn't want to fall into another 25-hour slumber, and the other was that he didn't want to indulge his need for blood, choosing to exercise restraint instead.

Sitting in front of his computer, Xiang Kun thought for a while and recorded the information he had gathered today into a document.

There was one other thing about today's incident that caught Xiang Kun's attention: from the moment he saw the assailant attacking to the moment he rushed downstairs to deliver the flying kick and punch, his entire process had been incredibly rational and clear-headed. That was why he had been able to stop his second punch in time after realizing the first one was too heavy.

To him, this was not normal.

Xiang Kun was not a particularly bold person. He had witnessed a similar situation back in college when two young men from off-campus chased a student from his school with knives at the school gate. The student didn't get away and was slashed several times; it was said he spent half a year in the hospital. Fortunately, he didn't suffer any permanent disability, though he was left with hideous scars.

At that time, Xiang Kun had been twenty or thirty meters away from the conflict, walking with a large group of students from his department. He only remembered his hands and feet turning cold, and he had instinctively dodged to the side with the crowd. As for stepping in to stop it, he hadn't even considered it. Even after the attackers were subdued by school security and the student was taken away by ambulance, his hands had still been shaking.

Xiang Kun was almost certain that if it were the old him, without the physical mutation, he would have at most called the police after seeing what was happening from upstairs; he certainly wouldn't have dared to run down to intervene.

But earlier, when Xiang Kun saw the assailant with the knife, he hadn't felt a shred of worry or fear. He had been absolutely certain that the man could not threaten him.

This was a physical, instinctual reaction.

Xiang Kun examined his fist. That punch had smashed the assailant's face, so the force was naturally immense, but his fist and knuckles showed no damage at all—not even a scratch on the skin.

Suddenly, a thought struck Xiang Kun. He picked up the knife he had bought specifically for killing rabbits, cleaned it with alcohol, and gently sliced his fingertip.