Thoughts

After returning home, Xiang Kun summarized his training plan for the recent period and made some modifications. He decided to stop his nightly "street patrols" for the time being, as there were plenty of other ways to train his hearing and sense of smell.

Moreover, his hearing and olfactory abilities had significantly improved after this latest intake of blood. Even when suppressed during the day, they remained potent, and he was no longer distracted by the cacophony of sounds or the myriad of scents in the bustling city center.

Just like today, he had been able to lock onto the disguised suspect in a crowded area purely by scent.

Xiang Kun re-encrypted and camouflaged the documents on his computer that recorded the various data of his physical mutation. In truth, he had already applied some obfuscation; it wasn't easy for an average person to find those files, as they never appeared in the quick access bar or browsing history.

At the same time, his internet traces were automatically cleared every time he closed his browser.

However, this level of camouflage was practically nonexistent to a computer expert with a preconceived notion who was determined to find issues; they could easily unearth those documents.

After today's events, especially since his "street patrol" activities at night had been discovered, Xiang Kun felt he had to be even more cautious.

The folder containing the documents on his physical changes was packed, disguised, and encrypted to look like a DLL file within an application folder. Opening it required a password, and although it was only six digits, entering it incorrectly twice would trigger a script Xiang Kun had written, which would instantly overwrite the contents of the documents with garbled text.

Xiang Kun had been contemplating what would happen if his mutation were exposed. But there were simply too many possibilities, and there were no reference cases to go by.

Ultimately, Xiang Kun decided that until he discovered other "cases," he must continue to camouflage and conceal himself with all his might to avoid detection.

Afterward, Xiang Kun grabbed a knife, sliced his fingertip, and started a timer.

The wound was only a few millimeters deep, and as the blood welled up, it hung from the cut like a red fruit.

After wiping the blood away, Xiang Kun observed the wound, taking photos at regular intervals just as he had done before.

Before his last intake of blood, Xiang Kun had discovered that his wound recovery ability far exceeded that of a normal person, so he had spent an entire night "self-mutilating" with the idea of "targeted training" in mind.

However, he had later shifted his training focus to his hearing and sense of smell, so he hadn't arranged any further targeted training.

Since waking from the slumber following his last blood intake, Xiang Kun hadn't yet had the chance to check if there had been any changes to his recovery ability.

Thirteen minutes passed, and the wound on Xiang Kun's finger was essentially invisible.

Xiang Kun then tried a few other spots, cutting wounds of varying depths and lengths on his other arm and his thigh. They also healed in exactly 13 minutes, with a margin of error of no more than 5 seconds.

It was certain that his healing ability had improved; the tests conducted before his last blood intake, performed after sunset, had consistently taken about 15 minutes.

However, what Xiang Kun couldn't be sure of was whether his targeted "self-mutilation training" had actually contributed to the improvement of his healing ability.

After considering it for a while, Xiang Kun decided to incorporate "self-mutilation training" into his targeted training plan for the coming days.

In any case, since he wouldn't be going out for "street patrols" at night anymore, he could conduct the training at home.

This time, he would adopt a more aggressive form of "self-mutilation" to further explore and train his healing capabilities.

As for his daytime training plan, he was hesitant about whether to learn combat. Officer Chen assumed he had practiced martial arts since childhood and had a foundation in martial arts or fighting, but Xiang Kun had actually never practiced any such thing and had zero combat foundation.

Whether it was the time he took down the thug attacking the young couple with a single kick and punch, or today when he floored the blonde suspect in a single encounter, Xiang Kun had relied almost entirely on physical instinct or reflexive reactions.

Although both men had been armed with knives, Xiang Kun hadn't felt the slightest threat or any fear or tension when facing them. Furthermore, their movements were easy to predict with his current dynamic vision, and combined with his overwhelming strength, he didn't need any combat techniques at all.

His strength, reflexes, and speed were clearly at the human peak, and if his sensory abilities were included, he could be considered to have surpassed ordinary humans.

If he were to add combat techniques on top of that, would he be able to better utilize these physical advantages?

After thinking it over, he decided to check out the gym downstairs tomorrow. It seemed there was a coach there who was a former top-three finisher in a provincial Sanda competition; he could go see if he could sign up for a short-term course.

After finishing his training plan, Xiang Kun couldn't help but feel that time was a bit tight. Although he didn't need to sleep if he didn't drink blood—meaning he had 24 hours a day to use—he only had 5 days of truly disposable time between blood intakes.

According to his calculations, the next time he would feel hunger would be in two days, on August 5th.

And he had already agreed to go hiking with Tang Baona and the others on August 4th. According to what Tang Baona had said previously, it would almost certainly take up at least an entire day.

This meant that during this interval between blood intakes, the time he had to "guide" his mutation through targeted training was already very limited.

August 4th, Sunday, 6:30 AM.

Yang Zhen'er drove her MINI to pick up Tang Baona and then head to collect Xiang Kun.

Because of the "misunderstanding" on the street two days ago, and having seen with her own eyes Xiang Kun "instantly kill" an armed fugitive with his bare hands, knowing he was the bald "expert" from the video, Yang Zhen'er's attitude toward Xiang Kun had undergone a significant shift.

The identity of this middle-aged unemployed programmer was suddenly veiled in a layer of mystery.

However, upon seeing Xiang Kun come downstairs wearing athletic shorts, white sneakers, and carrying a multi-functional laptop backpack, Yang Zhen'er couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Yang Zhen'er asked after they exchanged greetings in the car.

Xiang Kun was stunned: "Didn't you say we were going hiking, and that I should wear something loose?"

Tang Baona said: "Forget it, we aren't planning on staying overnight on the mountain anyway, and the trail isn't that difficult."

Yang Zhen'er didn't say anything more about Xiang Kun's attire, and while turning the car around, she asked: "Mr. Xiang, didn't you buy a house? Why are you living here?"

The building Xiang Kun had just emerged from was clearly a self-built house, and it was obvious at a glance that it was a rental.

"The house I bought isn't here; it's in the outer suburbs. Renting here is closer to my old company," Xiang Kun replied casually. He wasn't surprised that she knew he had bought a house. He had learned from his chat with Tang Baona the night before that Yang Zhen'er was her best friend and that they lived together, so it was normal for her to know these "dating conditions" that Wang Han had passed along.

"Is your house still under construction?"

"It was handed over a long time ago; I've rented it out."

"Why rent out your own house and live in a rental yourself? I think the environment here is quite average, isn't it?" Yang Zhen'er found it somewhat difficult to understand.