The Cause of the Mutation (Part 2)

The landlord did not doubt Xiang Kun's story; he had always had a good impression of Xiang Kun.

Xiang Kun, who had been his tenant for many years, never paid the rent on time, and never caused any complaints from other tenants. In fact, last July, when another young couple was attacked with a knife, it was Xiang Kun miraculously kicked the assailant away and saved the couple's lives.

In his view, Xiang Kun was a person with a strong sense of justice and worked very hard—just look at his bald head now, and you can tell. With such hard work, it's no wonder he can buy a house.

So when Xiang Kun said he would take care of showing the house to his friends, the landlord was very reassured and simply left the keys with him, telling them to leave them at the grocery store across the street when they left.

The house looks different now than when Xiang Kun lived there. After the previous tenant moved out, the landlord hired someone to clean and tidy it up, so it looks fairly clean.

Xiang Kun Lao Xia about the layout and things he had when he lived there. Then he described in detail how he entered the house, took off his shoes, and lay down on the bed fully clothed after returning home drunk that night.

Based on the traces found in the room after she woke up, it was inferred how many times she vomited and in what position she vomited while she was asleep.

Also, information about the room's condition after waking up, including the status of the doors and windows.

He had actually reviewed these events many times, and he was basically certain that no one else had entered the room while he was asleep after getting drunk, at least based on the traces he could see at the time.

He had also suspected that he might have been bitten by some kind of insect, in which case it wouldn't necessarily have been necessary to open the door or window. However, through his later experiments and experience dealing with multiple "Mutated Creature," he obtained and analyzed the memories of other "Mutated Creature." He concluded that being bitten by other "Mutated Creature" would not have made it possible to be transformed into a "Mutated Creature."

The scenario depicted in some vampire-related films and entertainment works, where an ordinary person is bitten by a vampire and instantly becomes a vampire, will not actually happen.

As Xia Libing listened to Xiang Kun's recollection of the situation, she opened the window, looked around, and then turned back to ask, "Describe how painful and distressed you were when you lost your job? Use a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest level—unbearable, even suicidal."

Xiang Kun thought for a moment and said, "There is some pain and discomfort, but actually it's more about feeling frustrated and unwilling. As for the pain, it's less than level 4 or 5. I have absolutely no thoughts of suicide."

"Have you ever had a similar feeling before?" Xia Libing asked again.

"As for the level of discomfort... I have experienced it before. When I was rejected by girls I used to pursue, I felt really bad and frustrated. It was probably around level 4," Xiang Kun recalled.

Xia Libing didn't ask about the specific details of how he pursued the girl or how he was rejected. Instead, she asked, "Were you drinking at the time?"

"No, I was busy with my graduation thesis back then, I didn't have time. But that night, Zicheng brought a case of Coke, and the two of us drank fourteen cans in total, pretending to Drowning Sorrows... The discomfort was no less than that from drinking..." Xiang Kun couldn't help but laugh as he spoke, "Hey? Seems like we've gone a bit off-topic. You think it's related to drinking? I think that's very unlikely."

Xia Libing continued, "On the night of July 11th, after you drank, what emotional changes did you experience?"

Xiang Kun thought for a moment and said, "When I first started drinking, my emotions didn't change much. I just had all sorts of random thoughts. I wondered if things would have been different if I hadn't gone to that company in the first place, if I had switched jobs two years earlier, if I had realized the company's problems sooner, and if I had helped the company solve them. But after three cans, I couldn't take it anymore. I felt dizzy and nauseous. All the pain, discomfort, resentment, and frustration of being unemployed vanished. I just wanted to go home and sleep... In that sense, I really did succeed in 'Drowning Sorrows,' right? Although I already regretted drinking at that point..."

At this point, Xiang Kun also asked, "Lao Xia, have you never drunk alcohol before?"

As far as I can remember, I've never seen Lao Xia drink alcohol. Before the Lunar New Year, when I went to Tongshi Town, at Liu Caifu's house, most of the people except for Lao Xia and Zicheng who were driving drank some fruit wine, but Lao Xia still didn't drink a drop.

Xia Libing said, "I tried it once, and it didn't taste good. It reduces the sensitivity of your taste buds, affects the flavor of food, slows down your reaction time, and impairs your thinking."

Based on the questions Lao Xia had asked earlier, Xiang Kun guessed, "Are you suspecting that my mutation might be related to extreme emotional changes?" Indeed, for Xiang Kun himself, the biggest changes on July 11th, besides being drunk, were his drastically fluctuating emotions.

Xia Libing said, "Based on your previous hypothetical theories and the partial abilities you've demonstrated, as well as some phenomena we've observed, your brain activity, whether driven by emotional changes or subjective consciousness, can bypass the body and directly influence the surrounding environment to some extent. This special substance that can be directly driven by your brain activity should also be the reason you can establish 'Super-Sensory Link' and 'Emotional Injection' connections with matter, the reason you gained a 'sixth sense,' and should also be closely related to the cause of your mutation. Since this special substance can be directly affected by brain activity, could one of the triggers for your mutation be abnormal brain activity caused by drastic emotional changes?"

Xiang Kun nodded. "That's a good guess. Actually, I've had that thought before too." As he spoke, he went over to close the window for Lao Xia. He heard the tenants downstairs returning and didn't want them to be overheard. Then he continued, "Remember what I told you about my experience in the Qinling Uninhabited Zone?"

Xia Libing asked, "That spider?"

"Yes, that spider," Xiang Kun said. "I obtained a fragment of that mutated spider's memories. Those sensory memories are very different from human memories, but I still got a lot of information from them. One part of it told me that it had also devoured other 'Mutated Creature,' and that 'Mutated Creature' was a plant."

Xia Libing understood and nodded, saying, "I see. It seems that emotional changes are not a necessary condition for mutation."

Indeed, if plants could become "Mutated Creature," how could they have "emotional" changes before "mutating"? It's not like some plants actually cultivate into spirits.

Xiang Kun said, "The influence of my consciousness and emotional changes on the surrounding environment should be a special manifestation of that special substance within me, a result of my guiding mutation and evolution. Based on my experience with other 'Mutated Creature,' they do not possess this ability, including Guo Tianxiang, who was originally human."

After leaving Xiang Kun's former rented house, Xiang Kun took Xia Libing for a stroll around the lake where he had encountered the "Giant Owl," describing in detail how he found the "Giant Owl" and the situation of their first "close encounter."

Then Xiang Kun took Xia Libing to the small hill where he killed the "Giant Owl" and accurately found the place where he drank blood and slept after killing the "Giant Owl". He also told Xia Libing about the information he got from the Giant Owl's memories, as well as his experience and discoveries in searching the owl's habitat later.

I got home after 1 a. m.

Xiang Kun then showed Xia Libing the surveillance videos he had found and saved earlier: the video footage from outside the food stall where they were drinking on the evening of July 11th, and the video footage from outside the convenience store outside their rented house. This gave Xia Libing a clearer visual impression of his description.

In addition, Xiang Kun also showed Xia Libing the records of various data and images he had made from the very beginning of the mutation, as well as the "Vampire Mutation Model" that he had Alice make.

While looking at various data, Xia Libing created a table herself.

The most direct way to investigate the cause of Xiang Kun's mutation is to first Xiang Kun undergo gene sequencing to see what mutations have occurred in his body and whether he has been infected with any pathogens. If the mutation is confirmed to be caused by an infection, then relevant epidemiological investigations can be conducted.

However, on the one hand, the rapid transformation of Xiang Kun's body tissues after being removed from his body made sequencing impossible for him; on the other hand, Xia Libing believed that for Xiang Kun in his current state, gene sequencing would likely yield useless results—or rather, would be unable to help them determine the cause of the mutation. If sequencing had been done when Xiang Kun "woke up" on July 14th of last year, perhaps more useful information could have been obtained. But now, after so many rounds of mutation and evolution, Xiang Kun is fundamentally very different from ordinary humans. Moreover, she did not believe that these changes in Xiang Kun could be caused by any microorganisms or pathogens in the traditional sense.

Fortunately, Xiang Kun was not the "only" sample. He had previously encountered several "Mutated Creature" and even obtained fragments of their memories. This information from the "samples" could help Xia Libing find the hidden patterns and commonalities among them.

Xiang Kun also provided Lao Xia with all the information he knew without reservation, just like when he entered this information into the computer and let Alice build the "Vampire Mutation Model".

Xiang Kun currently knows of at least nine "Mutated Creature" that he has "perceived" through various senses:

The "Giant Owl," Guo Tianxiang, the "mutant spider," the "mutant bird," the "mutant ant," and "Shenxing Technology" took away the "unknown Mutated Creature" from the Rabbit Woodcarving, along with the three "Mutated Creature" surrounding the "unknown Mutated Creature."

There were also two other "Mutated Creature" that he had never "sensed" in any way, but knew about through various channels: one was a mutated plant that had been devoured by a "mutated spider," and the other was a "long-horned wolf" that his old classmate Xie Jun had mentioned, which had been hit by their convoy.

Among them, the "Giant Owl," the "mutant spider," and Guo Tianxiang are the Xiang Kun knows best and has the most information about, since he possesses some fragments of their memories.

Xia Libing didn't go to sleep until after 3 a. m., after she started yawning repeatedly. She then asked Xiang Kun to help her enter the dream again, and to pull the Little Chubby Girl into the dream—something she had promised the Little Chubby Girl at noon that day.

However, this dream ended rather quickly. Xiang Kun had just pulled the Little Chubby Girl into Lao Xia's dream when the dream collapsed.

The Little Chubby Girl was startled awake...