A Leisurely Day

Xiang Kun got up early in the morning and made a table full of breakfast for his parents.

Although my parents kept saying, "Why didn't you sleep more last night when you came back so late?" their expressions clearly showed they were happy.

Based on the statistics and improvements made after cooking a few meals for his parents during his last visit, Xiang Kun has adjusted the food to better suit their tastes. The two of them ate with beaming smiles, but they still said things like, "Why make such a fancy breakfast?", "There's no need for so many dishes, it's a bit wasteful," "You should rest more since you're on holiday," "Do you think your mom's cooking isn't good anymore?", and "Just buy two steamed buns downstairs."

Xiang Kun said he had already eaten, but he still sat at the table and chatted with his parents.

He knew that although his physical condition was currently good and there were no immediate life-threatening problems, based on his previous encounters with Mutated Creature, even without external factors, he would inevitably face more and more problems as the mutation continued.

I may not have many more opportunities to spend time with my parents like this, eating and chatting.

Before his company went bankrupt, he focused all his attention on work for several years. Even when he came back for the Spring Festival, he was so tired that he just wanted to take every opportunity to rest. As for spending time with his parents, there would be plenty of time in the future.

But in reality, there really isn't that much time.

Even if he hadn't mutated, it would be the same.

As they chatted, Mom Xiang suddenly remembered something and asked, "You came home so late yesterday, were you with some friend? Was it someone I know?"

Upon hearing this, Xiang Kun observed the subtle changes in his mother's expression and other sensory information. Based on his understanding of his mother and the cognitive model he had built around her, he immediately knew that his cousin's wife must have immediately "tattled" to his mother last night.

"You don't know her, she's a friend's sister. I was carrying a bag when I went out yesterday, I was just bringing something for my friend's sister," Xiang Kun explained.

With Mom Xiang asked, "Your friend's younger sister? How old is she? Where is she from? Where does she work? Is she pretty?"

Xiang Kun smiled and said, "Mom, did your cousin's wife contact you last night?"

"Hehe, we just chatted for a bit on WeChat." Mom Xiang didn't hide anything and said, "She said she saw you at the coffee shop last night, and that you were alone with a very pretty young girl, and you seemed to be getting along very well."

Xiang Kun said, "Mom, don't overthink it. She's much younger than me, just a friend's sister, an ordinary friend."

"Does she have a boyfriend?" Mom Xiang asked.

"No..."

"Okay, I understand. Ordinary friends always start as ordinary friends. Good luck," Mom Xiang said, nodding with an "I understand" expression.

"What the hell are you talking about...?" Xiang Kun, both amused and exasperated.

"So you came back so late last night, were you with her the whole time?" Mom Xiang said with a "don't try to fool me" look.

Last night, when Xiang Kun went to the branch office to assist with the investigation, he called home and said that he was with friends and would be home late.

After thinking about it, Xiang Kun briefly explained what had happened last night, "Actually, I was supposed to be back around 10 p. m. last night, but on the way home with my friend's sister, we discovered someone was following her. So I helped her catch the person who was following her, called the police, and went to the police station to give a statement and assist with the investigation, which kept us up so late. I was worried you'd be worried, so I came to the police station with you last night and couldn't sleep well, which is why I didn't tell you."

He knew that his parents had a wide network of information in Citong City, and they also had relatives working in the public security, procuratorate, and judicial system. What happened between him and Lao Xia last night wasn't a big deal, but it wasn't a small one either. Once it spread internally, people who knew his parents would quickly get the news to them. So he simply decided to "confess" himself.

Of course, his description of last night was much more understated. He didn't mention dealing with two people, that both of them were armed, or that he had taken down the two thugs single-handedly before the police arrived.

Mom Xiang was both surprised and frightened. "Thank goodness you found out! How could there be such a person? They're so wicked..."

"My friend's younger sister is named Xia Libing. She works at the Third Hospital. She had a case that required a forensic examination..." Xiang Kun gave a brief overview of the case to distract his mother.

Mom Xiang nodded repeatedly, then said, "That Xia, that young girl works alone in Citong City and something like this happened; she must be terribly frightened. She probably didn't sleep a wink last night. As a local and older than her, you should find some time today to go see her and check on her. After all, your friend asked you to take care of his sister, didn't he? By the way, she works alone in Citong; why not invite her to have New Year's Eve dinner tonight? Even if she has to work, she should eat first, right? She can go on duty after dinner..."

Xiang Kun laughed and said, "Mom, although she rents a place to live by herself, she's not exactly alone in Citong. Her third uncle's family is all in Citong, and her third aunt is a leader at the Third Hospital. Even if she's not on duty, she still goes to her third uncle's house for the New Year."

"Oh, I see. Well then... just make sure you show more concern for them when you have time. Good luck! Okay, fine, if you don't like hearing 'good luck,' then how about using the Japanese phrase... 'Gantate'?"

Dad Xiang hadn't said much until now, couldn't help but speak up, "You mispronounced it, okay? That's not 'cheer up,' that's swearing! Cheer up is 'Saranghae,' it's 'Saranghae,' okay?! When you watch those original-language dramas on your phone, you don't even read the subtitles, do you?"

Xiang Kun stayed home chatting with his parents until after 8 p. m. before going out to buy some ingredients to prepare for the New Year's Eve dinner.

Of course, Mom had already bought a lot of ingredients in advance, and the refrigerator was almost full, but if he wanted to cook according to his own plan, there were still some ingredients and seasonings that needed to be replenished.

Moreover, although Lao Xia said that she would prepare the ingredients when he "invited" him to dinner, considering that Lao Xia also had to work shifts and probably wouldn't be able to buy ingredients during normal times, it would be better to prepare some for her in advance.

He was initially worried that since it was New Year's Eve, supermarkets and farmers' markets might be out of stock. After all, he had never bought groceries before, let alone on New Year's Eve, or even on ordinary days when he was at home.

To his surprise, the supermarket had more vegetables, fruits, and fresh produce than usual, and of course, there were more customers and higher prices.

Xiang Kun pushed the shopping cart, making purchases according to plan. After buying almost all the necessary ingredients, he went to the tableware section.

According to the menu he planned for the evening, some dishes would be better served in larger bowls, but the ones he had at home were either too deep or too small, so he would have to buy some suitable tableware.

However, after lifting a stainless steel soup bowl, Xiang Kun couldn't help but start to feel its material, weight, and other data.

While he was shopping, he was also thinking about the new ability that the Little Chubby Girl had "developed" on the train back – the ability to create a special magnetic field environment suitable for him to use by utilizing multiple "Super-Sensory Link" items.

He had a premonition that when he mutated and evolved to a certain extent, what might determine the upper limit of his abilities and help him break through that limit would be the number of various "Super-Sensory Link" and "Emotional Injection" items he was associated with.

Of course, this is on the premise that his brainpower, calculation ability, and thinking ability can keep up at that time; otherwise, no matter how many "Super-Sensory Link" items he has, he will not be able to use them all at the same time.

However, it's still very necessary to start building as many "Super-Sensory Link" items as possible now.

After so many months, so many "Super-Sensory Link" items, and so many blood-drinking mutations, Xiang Kun naturally had a lot of experience to share on how to establish "Super-Sensory Link" more efficiently.

When repeatedly establishing "Super-Sensory Link" with the same type of items, the time required to establish a connection will decrease to some extent.

For example, he is currently the fastest at establishing "Super-Sensory Link" with three things: a one-yuan Coin, A4 paper, and Ballpoint Pen Tip, but this is not simply a matter of "practice makes perfect".

The key to establishing "Super-Sensory Link" lies in gaining a deeper understanding of those objects and acquiring more information.

For example, size, dimensions, material, place of origin, composition, characteristics, etc. Therefore, if he has more prior knowledge and research about an item, he is more likely to successfully establish a "Super-Sensory Link".

However, so far, with his abilities, he can only make "Super-Sensory Link" with relatively simple objects of a single nature. He can't connect with anything slightly complex, not even clothes or shoes, let alone things like cell phones or computers.

Currently, the most efficient way to establish "Super-Sensory Link" is still through the tungsten carbide ballpoint pen; it now takes less than a minute to establish an "Super-Sensory Link" with a ballpoint pen.

Establishing a "Super-Sensory Link" with a Coin, a piece of paper, a piece of wood, or a bead is no different within the "supersensory object" magnetic field system "developed" by the Little Chubby Girl; they all simply represent a supersensory unit.

Therefore, the inconspicuous, low-cost, and easily damaged sphere, which can quickly establish "Super-Sensory Link," is naturally the best basic supersensory unit.

At first, he obtained tungsten carbide balls by simply taking them from cheap pens. But this was both troublesome and more expensive.

So when he started establishing "Super-Sensory Link" on a large scale, he bought 10,000 0.5mm tungsten carbide beads online.

These tungsten carbide beads are very cheap when bought in bulk, costing only a few cents each, making them excellent value for money.

However, this time when he returned, he only brought back a few dozen, and all of them had already established a "superpower connection".

Although he currently has no tungsten steel beads that haven't been established with "Super-Sensory Link," Xiang Kun hasn't given up on his plan to establish as many "Super-Sensory Link" with as possible.

Besides Coin and paper, there are actually many other things you can try to establish a "Super-Sensory Link" with.

For example, stainless steel basins made of relatively uniform materials.

The stainless steel used in tableware is generally 304 steel. Xiang Kun had some prior knowledge of this type of steel and had consulted a lot of information, so it was relatively easy for him to "get started". Of course, even though it is the same 304 steel, the composition will be slightly different under different standards, and the content of C and Ni will be different, etc., but the general characteristics will not change much, which will still allow him to quickly establish "Super-Sensory Link".

Xiang Kun held the steel basin in his hand, examining its thickness, size, weight, and craftsmanship, and trying to determine which steel mill the material might have come from.

Besides observing for a long enough time and understanding enough details, Xiang Kun recently discovered a way to accelerate "Super-Sensory Link": in an "Hyper-Sensory State," he understands the cognitive information representing the object, and the more he understands the parts of that cognitive information that correspond to the characteristics of the object in reality, the faster he can establish an "Hyper-Sensory State."

Moreover, this increase in efficiency is permanent. Just like how he has now reduced the time to establish a connection to less than 5 minutes by constantly entering a "Hyper-Sensory State" and comparing the characteristics of reality, he can establish a "Super-Sensory Link" with any steel basin within 5 minutes, not only with this one steel basin, but also with any other steel basin in the future.

"Captain, in Section C, on the stainless steel cutlery shelf, there's someone acting strangely. He's holding a steel basin, staring at it for a while, then closing his eyes, looking completely absorbed... It's been almost twenty minutes."

While Xiang Kun was engrossed in establishing Super-Sensory Link with the stainless steel basin, his strange behavior caught the attention of the supermarket's security guards, who then contacted the security captain in the monitoring room via walkie-talkie.

Having just emerged from his "Hyper-Sensory State" once again, Xiang Kun keenly caught the security guard's words and immediately realized that he had lost track of time, stayed there for too long, and acted too strangely.

So he put the stainless steel basin in the cart—there were already two identical steel basins there, both of which he had just established a "Super-Sensory Link with."

Seeing Xiang Kun pushing his shopping cart and leisurely selecting items, the security guard observed him from a distance for a while, then notified the people in the monitoring room to keep an eye on him before leaving him alone and continuing his patrol to other areas.

Xiang Kun had finished selecting his items and was ready to pay the bill.

However, as he was pushing the shopping cart toward the checkout area, he suddenly sensed something familiar. He turned around and saw a tall figure pushing a shopping cart in the fresh produce section. She was dressed in a sporty style, wearing LeBron 17 shoes, with a high ponytail and long legs. It was none other than Xia Libing.

Why is she here buying groceries now?

If it were anyone else he knew, even a relative, Xiang Kun probably wouldn't have taken the initiative to go up and say hello, but Lao Xia was naturally different.

He wanted to test whether Lao Xia had suddenly "woke up" in his dream yesterday because he was aware of or perceived something.

So Xiang Kun changed the direction of the shopping cart and headed back towards the fresh produce section.

However, even after reaching Lao Xia's side, she didn't notice Xiang Kun, which was quite unusual for her usual habit of paying close attention to her surroundings and being extremely vigilant. Besides, given what had just happened the night before, Lao Xia should have been more alert.

Xiang Kun followed Lao Xia's gaze and saw that she was carefully selecting pork knuckles, her hand hovering over several large pork knuckles, seemingly hesitating about which one to take.

"The best is all here, you don't need to take any more," Xiang Kun said.

Xia Libing swallowed hard, turned to look at him, then lowered her gaze to his shopping cart, quickly spotting the ingredients already packaged in various plastic bags.