Too Sleepy to Go On

By 7 a. m., Xia Libing was so sleepy she could barely keep her head up; she'd bumped her forehead against the computer desk three times already. She couldn't write anything with a pen in hand; only one word echoed in her mind:

Sleep.

She's not unfamiliar with staying up late to read or research, but she's never stayed up all night before.

In addition, in Citong City, I spent several nights in a row discussing mutations and various abilities with Xiang Kun until late at night. Sometimes I would wake up after having a dream, so I slept very little and was severely sleep-deprived. As a result, I am now more and more prone to fatigue and drowsiness. I can fall asleep as soon as I am distracted.

However, based on Xiang Kun's estimated average blood-drinking slumber time of 25 hours, he would wake up at least around 1:30 PM, which is still a long time away.

Drinking caffeinated beverages is no longer effective. Xia Libing washed her face with cold water again, then did a few high kicks, hooks, and uppercuts in the living room.

After moving around for a while and feeling a bit more refreshed, Xia Libing returned to Xiang Kun's bedroom. Instead of sitting in the computer chair, she picked up the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving and walked around, playing with it and pondering it.

She remembered that Xiang Kun had mentioned before how to suppress drowsiness by swallowing pebbles after drinking blood to suppress the urge to vomit.

She naturally wouldn't use the same method to suppress her drowsiness, since Xiang Kun's stomach and digestive system were definitely different from ordinary people. She was thinking about whether there was a way to directly perceive fear-related emotions in reality through the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving without relying on Xiang Kun's senses or entering a dream, and then use these emotions to suppress her drowsiness.

The fear emanating from the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving stemmed from the threat of death brought on by extreme hunger, so she was able to alleviate it by "manifesting" food, just like her coping mechanism in her dreams. And this kind of fear should also be able to suppress drowsiness.

But just like a few hours ago, Xia Libing still couldn't sense any emotions or special connections through the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving.

However, she was not discouraged. Through her conversation with the Little Chubby Girl last night, she learned that the Little Chubby Girl could maintain a stronger sense of focus by Xiang Kun gave her—because the type of "Emotional Injection" from those chopsticks was focus.

Since the Little Chubby Girl could do it, she should be able to do it too, since the wood carving could trigger her dreams and resonate with her emotions.

Around 10 a. m., Xia Libing, who was playing with a wooden carving, almost fell asleep standing up when the buzzing of Xiang Kun the computer desk startled her awake.

I picked it up and saw it was a QQ message from Liu Shiling, the Little Chubby Girl.

Three consecutive audio clips:

"Bald Uncle!"

"Roast Chicken Wing Sister!"

Are you there? Are you there?

Xia Libing pinched her face to keep herself awake, then sent the Little Chubby Girl a picture of roasted chicken wings—a picture she had already saved as an emoticon on Xiang Kun's QQ.

"Roast Chicken Wing Sister, I've become awesome!" the Little Chubby Girl said in a voice message.

Xia Libing replied with a question mark emoji.

So the Little Chubby Girl sent a video call request. When Xia Libing answered, she saw the Little Chubby Girl staring at the camera with her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide open.

Compared to her appearance in the dream, the Little Chubby Girl on the screen looked much more lifelike, with a rounder and fatter face, chubby and adorably silly, making you want to pinch her cheeks the moment you saw her... and not far behind her was a chubby cat, also craning its neck and looking at the tablet screen with curiosity.

On the other hand, Xia Libing, who is 100% immune to cuteness, is focused on the Little Chubby Girl's "magic system" and Xiang Kun's "development ability" of his "Super-Sensing Item System".

"How powerful is it?" Xia Libing asked directly.

Upon seeing Xia Libing appear on the tablet, the Little Chubby Girl excitedly whispered, "Roast Chicken Wing Sister, it really is you!" She was clearly matching Xia Libing with the image in her previous dream.

Little Chubby Girl spoke, she stepped back a little, controlling two Coin to float beside her. The two Coin were like two living spirits, moving up and down, circling left and right, and even floating and turning in reverse. They were very flexible and free, and could suddenly accelerate and then suddenly stop. It seemed that she controlled them even more precisely than Liu Shiling's arms.

On the screen, Xia Libing, and on the ground, "Egg Pie," both stared wide-eyed, closely following the trajectory of the Coin. The Little Chubby Girl could control the Coin before, but never with such ease and precision.

After manipulating the Coin for a while, the Little Chubby Girl said to Xia Libing on the screen, "Roast Chicken Wing Sister, look at that light."

As she spoke, she moved the front-facing camera of her tablet to point it at the light bulb in her room.

Then Xia Libing saw that the light tube, which was originally lit, first dimmed, then quickly brightened, then dimmed again, and then brightened again.

Throughout this process, the Little Chubby Girl kept her eyes glued to the light tube, clearly indicating that she was controlling the changes in its brightness.

Xia Libing knew how difficult this was, of course. Xiang Kun could probably do the same thing using "Super-Linked Object" in "Hyper-Sensory State," but the Little Chubby Girl could control it directly, and it seemed that the control was extremely precise.

After adjusting the brightness of the room's lights more than ten times, the Little Chubby Girl turned around, wiped the fine beads of sweat from her forehead, and excitedly said to Xia Libing, "Roast Chicken Wing Sister, did you see that? My magic can control electricity! And it won't cut off the power to the whole neighborhood!"

As she spoke, she recounted to Xia Libing what had happened on the balcony around 1 a. m. the previous night.

The Little Chubby Girl talked about how she would make paper airplanes to scout ahead and deliver Coin, explaining her thought process in folding the paper airplanes. Then she talked about seeing a "Da Lu," and how the "Da Lu" saw her too, and how she drew and wrote on the paper airplanes, tossing them back and forth. Next, she talked about the grudge she had with the "Da Lu" yesterday afternoon, how unhappy and upset she was, how she was about to get angry. Then she talked about how someone grabbed the "Da Lu's " hair and dragged him into a house, how she was terrified, and how "Ice Cream" and "Chocolate" somehow "flew" over, and how she remotely controlled the appliances in the "Da Lu's " house, and then her "magic" leveled up, and then she fell asleep...

Her storytelling style was very disjointed; she basically talked about whatever came to mind, and her descriptions of abilities were all based on her "magical theories." If it were an ordinary person, they probably wouldn't understand what kind of "story" it was at all.

But Xia Libing didn't interrupt her at all. She listened attentively and even took notes from time to time. To understand the "magic system" created by the Little Chubby Girl as much as possible, she had to try to see things according to the Little Chubby Girl's logic and way of thinking.

Only after the Little Chubby Girl finished speaking did Xia Libing begin to ask Little Chubby Girl the questions she had written down, one by one, and she asked the questions in the same way as the Little Chubby Girl's "magic system".

The serious and attentive attitude of "Roast Chicken Wing Sister" gave "Great Mage" Liu Shiling a great sense of satisfaction. She answered all the questions in detail, basically without reservation—of course, according to her understanding of the "magic system." Some answers were very simple, some were very complicated, and some made people wonder if she had just made them up on the spot.

Regardless of the answer, Xia Libing listened attentively and took notes, saying that she would tell Xiang Kun was still sleeping in, when he woke up.

After more than half an hour, Liu Shiling ended the video call when her tablet was almost out of battery. She was very satisfied, and her liking for "Roast Chicken Wing Sister" rose to 99.99, second only to Bald Uncle.

She had contacted Xiang Kun and Xia Libing at this time precisely to show off her remarkable "magical" performance from the previous night, with a hint of seeking praise.

Although Xia Libing didn't praise her directly, the attitude she showed made her even happier and more satisfied than if she had been praised directly.

"Roast Chicken Wing Sister" must be a very, very powerful "magician"! -- Liu Shiling made a very confident judgment.

She suddenly noticed that the orange tabby cat "Egg Pie" had climbed onto the table at some point and was preparing to jump, its eyes fixed on the two Coin that were still floating behind Liu Shiling. Now, if she wanted to make the Coin levitate, she only needed to think about it; she didn't even need to keep staring at them.

Liu Shiling grinned mischievously, and the instant "Egg Pie" leaped up, she controlled the two Coin to quickly raise its height, causing "Egg Pie" to miss its target.

After landing, "Egg Pie" looked up at the two floating Coin and let out a disgruntled meow, but its eyes remained fixed on the flying Coin, and its head swayed from side to side.

Just as Liu Shiling was happily manipulating the Coin to tease the cat, there was a knock on the door, and then Shiling's Mother opened the door and came in.

Liu Shiling was startled, and the two Coin flew up above the door under her control, like two startled little flying insects.

When Shiling's Mother pushed open the door, she saw her daughter and the cat staring at her with wide eyes and astonished expressions.

She asked, puzzled, "Didn't I knock? Why are you all looking at me like that?" Then she realized her question was a bit odd, like she was asking a cat. But "Egg Pie's" expression was indeed a little strange; did she really look that scary?

Liu Shiling quickly controlled the two Coin to dart out from behind her Shiling's Mother and land on the sofa in the living room. Seeing this, "Egg Pie" also darted out after them.

Shiling's Mother opened the door, letting Egg Pie run out, then sat down on Liu Shiling's bed and said to her daughter sitting at the table, "I just called Xiao Mei's mother, and she said Zhou Lutong's uncle arrived in Star City early this morning, came to the neighborhood this morning to collect Zhou Lutong's things, and has already left. I guess Zhou Lutong won't be coming back to our neighborhood. But I heard from Xiao Mei's mother that Zhou Lutong is fine, just a little cut on her forehead."

This morning, after waking up, my daughter asked me about the short-haired girl in apartment 803 across the street. It's rare for my daughter to ask about other children, so I inquired around, thinking I'd take my daughter to visit if the girl came back. Unfortunately, it seems that the girl named "Zhou Lutong" is going to live with her uncle and has left Star City.

However, considering Zhou Lutong's alcoholic father who is still in jail, Shiling's Mother felt that it would be better for the child to live with her uncle.

The fact that her biological mother didn't come left Shiling's Mother somewhat puzzled. However, every family has its own problems, and she wondered if there were any special circumstances. In any case, if it were her, she would never abandon her daughter no matter what.

Shiling's Mother thought her daughter would be very upset to hear this, but to her surprise, she just said "Oh".

Sigh, I guess we haven't known each other long enough to build a friendship yet. That's all Shiling's Mother could think.

At 1:47 PM, Xiang Kun opened his eyes, sat up in bed, took a deep breath, and stretched his arms.

He felt a sensation as if his senses were "sharper," but upon closer inspection, it wasn't a specific enhancement of his senses such as sight, hearing, or smell. This made him instantly realize that the enhancement came from his sixth sense—the sensitivity of his sixth sense had increased once again.

In addition, he has a very special feeling that he can vaguely connect with the various electronic devices in the room, and even sense the wires buried under the bricks. This should also be attributed to the enhancement of his sixth sense.

He looked up at Xia Libing in the bedroom, preparing to tell her how he felt after waking up, but suddenly noticed that Xia Libing, standing in the bedroom facing him, was holding the base of the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving in her left hand, her right hand resting on the sculpture's head, her eyes narrowed, her chin slightly tucked, and her body swaying slightly back and forth. Judging from her breathing, heartbeat, and other bodily feedback...

She fell asleep standing up?!

But why is she holding that wooden carving?

Xiang Kun was stunned.

I recommend a new suspenseful horror book with a fresh and innovative concept: <I Own a Vintage Clothing Store>.