Lao Xia's Straight Shot

"Yes," Lao Xia replied readily.

"How did you know I didn't come back last night?" Xiang Kun asked curiously.

"I don't know," Lao Xia said. "Don't you get up early every morning to run? I was planning to tell you when you came down for your run."

Xiang Kun thought about it and realized it was true. In the few days he had been in Tongshi Town, except for the first night when he stayed in a hotel, he had been running errands at night for the next three days, and then buying breakfast every morning under the pretext of going for a run.

"What if I'm lazy today and don't get up to go for a run?" Xiang Kun asked deliberately.

"I called my cousin to wake her up; she said last night she would take me home," Lao Xia said.

Okay, Yang the Third...

Xiang Kun drove the car out of the parking lot and onto the road. Just as he was about to ask what games they had played at the restaurant after he left last night, Xia Libing spoke first, "You didn't see Deputy Director Liu last night, did you?"

Xiang Kun glanced at Lao Xia in the passenger seat with some surprise and said, "I see."

"So after you met with Deputy Director Liu, you went to do other things and were busy all night," Xia Libing said with certainty.

Xiang Kun didn't deny it, nor did he immediately make up a reason. Instead, he asked with some curiosity, "Why do you say that?" He felt a little uneasy because Lao Xia usually spoke very little, and when he did, he was usually very concise. Once he turned on his "talkative" mode, it was definitely because something was wrong.

"Because of your answer when I just asked, 'Didn't you go back to the hotel last night?'" Xia Libing said.

"What's wrong with my answer?" Xiang Kun thought back to his response. It was very brief, leaving a lot of room for maneuver and explanation. Strictly speaking, it wasn't even a lie.

Xia Libing turned to look at him and slowly said, "When you left the hotel last night, you said that Deputy Director Liu was looking for you. So, given your personality, under normal circumstances, your answer just now would have directly stated that you finished talking with Deputy Director Liu too late last night and then specified where you spent the night. You are quite resistant to lying to close friends, so unless absolutely necessary, you won't lie directly but prefer to use vague language to guide others to think in the direction you want."

Xiang Kun was taken aback. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that he really did have this habit, especially when he needed to hide the secret of his transformation into a vampire. He felt no pressure to lie to strangers or people he wasn't very familiar with, and he only considered whether there was any risk of being exposed. However, when facing relatives and friends, he hoped not to lie as much as possible—although sometimes it was just a form of self-comfort, because under his verbal guidance, he still achieved the effect of lying.

But could Lao Xia really determine that he was doing something else based solely on this?

Xia Libing seemed to know his doubts and continued, "Although your shoes were obviously wiped clean, there are still many traces of mountain soil on the surface. Moreover, compared to last night, your shoes are much more worn, as are your pants, which smell of trees and soil. You must have gone into the mountains yesterday. But your jacket has no marks, which means you weren't wearing it when you went into the mountains."

Xiang Kun remained silent; it wasn't too surprising that Lao Xia had noticed this.

Last night, following the information he had gathered during the day, he went to the area in the mountains where the tourists had taken photos. He didn't really have high hopes; he just wanted to see what traces the "mutated bird" might have left behind. Then, he would focus on Mi Qiao and the others to observe the investigative methods of "Shenxing Technology."

So he only left his jacket in the car and didn't change his other clothes, nor did he take off his shoes and go barefoot like he had done in the many mountainous areas before. He was quite careful when going into the mountains and didn't get his shoes and clothes dirty.

But he never expected to find that "mutated bird" last night. In the time that followed, he had too many things to consider, so he naturally didn't care whether his clothes and shoes were dirty or worn out.

In the rapid movement between observing the location of the "mutated bird" and spying on the location of "Shenxing Technology," they basically ignored all the difficult terrain, traversing dense forests without paths and climbing steep cliffs more than once. Under such intensity, the wear and tear left behind was naturally considerable.

However, normally this wouldn't really be considered a problem.

Before getting into the car, he made a quick clean of the mud and other marks off his clothes and shoes. Then he put on the thick cotton coat he hadn't worn into the mountains, which concealed most of the marks and smells. He believed that ordinary people wouldn't notice. He figured that the other nine friends who had come to Tongshi Town with him wouldn't notice either.

Moreover, in his view, after he returned, he went straight to his hotel room. Zicheng, who was woken up to open the door, was probably still half asleep and wouldn't notice anything wrong. He could just take a shower and change his clothes and he would be fine.

As it happened, we ran into Lao Xia in the lobby, and Lao Xia happened to notice these details.

Lao Xia not only has sharp eyes, but his nose is also quite sensitive.

Ultimately, it's because Xiang Kun didn't consider his friends at the hotel as people he needed to be highly wary of.

Xiang Kun was pondering how to answer and explain where he had gone last night, Xia Libing continued, "When you drove us back to 'Youlong Restaurant' yesterday, I glanced at the odometer, and it showed 116,456 kilometers. When I got in the car just now, it showed 116,531 kilometers. Based on the distance you drove last night, the places you've been to these past few days, and the marks on your body, I deduce that you most likely went to the mountainous area near Chongyun Village or the Wushu Mountain Scenic Area."

"However, if you went to the vicinity of Chongyun Village, you should have vaguely said that you stayed overnight in Chongyun Village, making me think that you stayed at Deputy Director Liu's house, but you didn't say that, so I am more inclined to believe that you went to Wushu Mountain Scenic Area last night."

"Considering your condition at the scenic spot yesterday, I suspect that you weren't entirely unwell, but rather troubled by something, and that's what you were dealing with last night. Those two drivers yesterday were probably also involved in that matter."

"You don't look very tired right now, so the things you've been dealing with probably aren't too physically demanding, and you may have even taken a nap."

"Judging from your expression and body language when you entered the hotel, you weren't very excited, but you weren't frustrated either. Things must have gone fairly smoothly last night."

While Xia Libing was speaking, Xiang Kun kept his eyes on the road ahead, driving quietly without interrupting.

On the surface, Xiang Kun wore a faint smile, his expression unchanged, seemingly calm and composed. But inside, Xiang Kun's mouth was agape in a wide "O".

He had long known that Lao Xia had been observing his every move and might have figured something out. He had always considered his cognitive model of Lao Xia to be relatively complete. But after hearing what Lao Xia had just said, he realized that his original cognitive model still had many deviations, and he had still underestimated Lao Xia.

The above speculation and analysis, apart from the incorrect connection between the two drivers and the incident, is actually quite correct in all other directions.

The carriage fell silent. Xiang Kun looked up and realized that they had unknowingly arrived at the train station.

"When are you going back home for the Spring Festival?" Xiang Kun asked, but his question had nothing to do with the previous topic.

"I'm not going back," Xia Libing said.

"Why?" Xiang Kun, somewhat surprised.

"My parents are abroad and won't be coming back, and the hospital is short-staffed, so I applied," Xia Libing said simply, returning to her usual concise manner.

"Oh, I'll send you a pair of chopsticks later, remember to check them." Xiang Kun nodded and said something seemingly out of the blue, but Xia Libing nodded in agreement without any doubt.

The train had already stopped at the station. After picking up her backpack, Xia Libing blurted out, "Do you have any Lucky Coin left? Can I have one?"

Xiang Kun was taken aback, then said with a wry smile, "You mean the one I gave Nana? You already know it's a 'Lucky Coin,' where would I get so many? I'm not a 'god of luck'."

"You can give it to 'Little Apple' too," Xia Libing added.

Xiang Kun asked curiously, "You still know that I gave 'Little Apple' Coin?" He had told "Little Apple" not to tell anyone about the "Object-Sensing" thing, and he believed that "Little Apple" wouldn't tell anyone, even though she was now on good terms with Tang Baona, Yang Zhen'er, and Xia Libing.

"We've been practicing finger flipping of Coin together these past two days. Last night when I was video chatting with her, Nana said her Coin was a 'Lucky Coin' that you gave her. Little Apple said the Coin she was using was also a gift from you. You didn't tell her if it was a 'Lucky Coin' or not, but she felt that Coin was pretty 'lucky' too." Xia Libing explained quickly, reaching out her hand as she spoke, seemingly certain that Xiang Kun still had a "Lucky Coin".

Xiang Kun turned to face her, pretending to move his ten fingers rapidly in front of her, as if he were about to perform magic. "I do have another Coin here, but it's not a 'Lucky Coin,' nor is it an 'ordinary Coin,' it's... a universal Coin!" As soon as he finished speaking, a Coin flipped between Xiang Kun's index and middle fingers amidst his dazzling finger movements, and then gently placed it in Xia Libing's palm.

"This Coin looks ordinary, but it actually has a bit of a history..."

Xiang Kun was about to start brainstorming and give the Coin some kind of story, Xia Libing simply stuffed Coin into her pocket. "Let's chat on WeChat later." Then she picked up her backpack, got off the bus, and walked towards the entrance.

Watching Xia Libing's tall figure and swaying ponytail disappear into the crowd entering the station, Xiang Kun gave a helpless bitter smile, his fingers lightly tapping the steering wheel, lost in thought.

Recalling what Xia Libing had said on the way, he suddenly realized that it wasn't that his cognitive model of Lao Xia was too far off, but rather that Lao Xia had suddenly changed his behavior.

In fact, Xia Libing had seen more and understood more than others in the past, but most of the time, like Xiang Kun, she saw through things but didn't say anything. She didn't directly expose others' problems, and even when she did speak, she only said part of it, leaving more room for maneuver and testing between them.

But today, Lao Xia clearly abandoned his previous behavior pattern, using a more aggressive and direct approach, directly lifting the lid off Xiang Kun's pot. "Let me see what you're cooking?"

However, after that analysis, Lao Xia didn't ask him for any answers, nor did she ask him to confirm whether his analysis and guesses were correct or not. She didn't ask him to tell her where he went or what he did last night. It was as if she was simply telling Xiang Kun that she had seen through what Xiang Kun was hiding and how she had seen through it.

So, why?

Why did Lao Xia do that?

What's the point?

And what about the Coin? Did she discover something unusual about Coin through analysis and observation, or did she have some special feeling about the "Lucky Coin" in Tang Baona's hand?

If he didn't have any particular feelings about that Coin, given Lao Xia's personality, he wouldn't have specifically asked him for it.

This is also a way of telling him:

I can see there's something wrong with the Coin!

Xiang Kun wasn't worried about Lao Xia discovering these things, because he was certain that Lao Xia didn't have any ill intentions towards him, but it wasn't just pure curiosity either. It seemed that Lao Xia's attention to him had other motivations and other reasons.

Xiang Kun pondered that once he successfully sensed Lao Xia's emotions or triggered her dream according to his previous plan, if he could find out the reason for Lao Xia's special reaction under the "Emotional Injection" item and find out the motivation for her to pay so much attention to him, perhaps he could be a little more "open" with Lao Xia and "share" his understanding of Lao Xia with her.

On the bullet train, Xia Libing placed her backpack on the luggage rack, but before that, she took her black leather notebook out of her bag.

After sitting down, she took out a B5 notebook page covered with black circles and arcs from the leather-bound notebook, unfolded it, and while looking at the lines on it, she flipped the one-yuan Coin that Xiang Kun had just given her.

The Coin flips between her slender fingers, first pinched and pushed by her thumb and forefinger, then flicked by her middle finger, pushed by her forefinger, then passed to her ring finger, and finally held by her little finger, before coming together with her palm and thumb to complete another cycle.

As Xia Libing became more and more skilled at flipping the Coin, she became increasingly certain that the Coin Xiang Kun had given her had a better "feel" and was easier to flip.

This is not a psychological effect, but a real and objective characteristic.

What could be the reason?

Xia Libing raised this question in her mind again.

Of course, she knew that Xiang Kun's "origins" were just made up on the spot, so she couldn't be bothered to listen.

Just now in the car, she didn't actually tell Xiang Kun all her analysis results.

Just as she said, she saw that Xiang Kun was in good spirits in the morning and did not seem very tired, so she guessed that he did not exert too much physical strength last night, and even if he went into the mountains, he probably did not walk for very long.

But that's just speculation under normal circumstances.

In fact, Xia Libing had discovered long ago that Xiang Kun's physical strength and physique were extremely strong, and that there were many "extraordinary" aspects to his body, so it could not be speculated using "normal circumstances".

Moreover, judging from the wear and dirt on Xiang Kun's shoes and pants, he must have had quite a bit of exercise last night.

Related to his physical uniqueness is his diet, in which Xiang Kun also exhibits remarkable characteristics.

Given his physical attributes, strength, and size, he should normally have a very large appetite, but he has never shown a correspondingly large appetite.

One or two times could be explained by eating small, frequent meals or lack of appetite, but Xia Libing and Xiang Kun had already eaten together many times. In the past few days, they had eaten most of their main meals together, so by keeping a close eye on Xiang Kun, she could basically keep track of Xiang Kun food intake.

He appears to be eating normally at each meal, but it's still too little compared to his energy expenditure, and he doesn't show the expected, matching appetite.

Just like my Xia Tianhuo, he's also a muscular guy, but he has an enormous appetite and gets hungry very easily, like a starving ghost. Every time he says he's full and not hungry anymore, he'll still eat a little bit to taste the flavor if there's something delicious... and then he'll eat more and more.

A person's muscle mass is like the engine displacement of a car. The larger the displacement, the greater the basal energy expenditure. Even at idle, it can consume the same amount of fuel as someone else's normal driving. People with more muscle burn many more calories every day just by opening their eyes. If they don't eat, they will lose muscle, so they will crave food, which is a natural bodily instinct.

Xiang Kun's level of restraint with food is very abnormal.