Hard Work
Seeing this video in this flower shop was unexpected for Xiang Kun.
Alice didn't find this video when she searched for information related to "vampire patients".
Either the female shop assistant who filmed the video didn't upload it online, or it didn't generate any buzz online or the keywords had no connection to the "vampire patient" case.
Xia Libing, also looking curious, joined the other shop assistants to watch the video on the young girl's phone.
Even the proprietress, who had already seen it before, couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh again when she saw the scene of the drunk man being dragged and pulled by three young men, shouting for help.
Although it's a rather serious matter with a terrible impact, the audio-visual presentation in this video does have a strangely comical quality.
The other girls in the shop also burst out laughing when they saw that.
Even Xiang Kun and Lao Xia, who didn't find anything funny, smiled and chuckled along when they saw everyone laughing.
When others watch this video, their attention is naturally focused on the "comical" process at the beginning where the three young men pull the drunk man into their car.
But Xiang Kun's focus was not on this, because he knew very well that during this process, the "Mutated Parasite" was still inside the "vampire patient's" body.
The real focus for Xiang Kun came after the police cars arrived and the officers took everyone out of the van.
The young woman from the flower shop also filmed part of this content.
As you can see, the van stopped immediately when it was intercepted by the police car, without any attempt to speed away. The process of rescuing the drunk man and arresting the three young men also went very smoothly.
A struggle ensued during the arrest of the "vampire patient," and it took the police some effort to disarm her, remove her from the car, and take her to the hospital.
After the "vampire patient" was taken off the van, Xiang Kun's gaze remained fixed on the area below the van. However, the young girl filming the video wasn't his hired cameraman, so she couldn't keep an eye on that spot all the time. Instead, she mostly followed the arrested suspect.
After watching the video, Xiang Kun echoed the emotions of the florist and her staff, saying, "This is nothing but a farce!"
Lao Xia nodded in agreement, "Yeah, that's hilarious."
The young girl who filmed the video said, "When I posted it on my WeChat Moments, everyone who saw it said it was so fake..."
After chatting for a while and getting the information he wanted, Xiang Kun Lao Xia to choose a box of roses and two bunches of carnations before leaving the flower shop.
After placing the flowers in the back seat, Xiang Kun stood on the street for a while before getting into the passenger seat and saying to Lao Xia, "Let's go to Purple Huan Mountain."
Once the car started moving, without Lao Xia even asking, Xiang Kun began to explain, "'The Mutated Parasite' needs a way to leave Nanhua Street. Based on the situation in that Dream Within a Dream, we can preliminarily judge that the worm has a certain degree of autonomous activity when it is separated from its host. Relatively speaking, it is more active in water and clumsy on land."
"Judging from the video taken by the florist, after it came out of your hospital's 'patient,' it didn't leave the van immediately; it was still inside."
"Based on my speculation, its next target will definitely be humans. But given its intelligence and how it judges external information, it will naturally not 'invade' its host when others are watching."
"The first option is for it to get out of the van when the police or passersby aren't paying attention, enter the sewer through the roadside drain, and then use the extensive sewer system to find a host;
"The second option is to wait for someone to approach the van alone, for example, after the police have finished their investigation and collected evidence at the scene and driven the van back to the police station parking lot. If someone is driving alone, they might be caught while driving or parking."
"The third option is that, in the video from the flower shop, about a minute after the 'patient' was arrested, someone approached the van, peered through the window for a while, and left after being reprimanded by the officer. Because the camera wasn't constantly on him, we can't be sure if a 'parasite' got on the van and attached itself to him, but theoretically, it's possible."
"If it doesn't have obsessive-compulsive disorder and chooses the first method of leaving, we can't track it accurately for the time being. We can only use other methods to investigate further later."
"If it's one of the latter two options, we still have ways to determine and eliminate them."
"However, almost a year has already passed, so there's no rush for these investigations. I'll start them after I finish the next blood-drinking session."
"As for going to Purple Huan Mountain, it's to investigate its past, what it is, where it came from, and what its characteristics are. Understanding these things will be of great help to us in our next search for its whereabouts."
Xia Libing nodded. "I understand."
After driving for more than an hour, when they reached the foot of Purple Huan Mountain, Xiang Kun told Lao Xia to stop, "I didn't tell my family I was coming back last night. I'll be staying in the mountains tonight. You go back by yourself. Tomorrow, please send a bouquet of flowers to my mother. You can give the remaining carnations to your third aunt. Once I've finished investigating here, I'll call you to come pick me up. The latest you can do so is by 6 PM tomorrow. If you haven't received my call by 6 PM, call me. If you can't get through, just drive over here and wait for me."
Xia Libing knew that with Xiang Kun's current vision, sensory abilities, and motor skills, it would make little difference whether the investigation was conducted at night or during the day; in some cases, nighttime would even be more convenient for him.
"Okay." Xia Libing's answer was still very decisive. She knew that there was no point in her going into the mountains with him. On the contrary, she would become a hindrance and greatly affect Xiang Kun's investigation speed.
So Xiang Kun not only left behind the luggage he brought back this time, but also took off his coat, shoes and socks and put them in the car, so as not to get them dirty or torn on the mountain at night.
For him, being barefoot in the mountains is more comfortable than wearing shoes.
"By the way, if you have time tomorrow, please prepare the meat rabbit for me in advance, so that we won't be too rushed the day after tomorrow." After getting out of the car and closing the door, Xiang Kun leaned against the car window and said to Xia Libing.
"Okay." Xia Libing nodded.
After giving his instructions, Xiang Kun patted the roof of the car. "Thank you for your hard work."
Xia Libing made an OK sign by making a circle with her right index finger and thumb.
Seeing the Camry turn around and leave, Xiang Kun began to run into Purple Huan Mountain.
He didn't take the winding mountain road or the sightseeing stone steps, but instead climbed directly along the shortest route at an extremely fast speed, faster than even a monkey.
Purple Huan Mountain is a general term for a whole mountain area. Before coming, Xiang Kun had already used satellite maps and combined them with the previous Dream Within a Dream scenario of the "vampire patient" to roughly pinpoint the location where she was attacked and infected by the "Mutated Parasite".
Deep in the mountains at night, Xiang Kun had his own way of finding his way. He didn't need a mobile phone for navigation or to look at a paper map. With his ability to climb and leap across all terrains, he arrived at the stream where the "vampire patient" had been infected before 3 a. m.
Parasites generally choose their hosts selectively; the different characteristics of each parasite determine the different hosts they choose.
The characteristics exhibited by the "Mutated Parasite" on the "vampire patient" led Xiang Kun to deduce that this was definitely not the first time it had parasitized a human, and it had most likely already evolved and mutated in other human hosts before.
Based on its parasitic method, it is clear that it does not simply feed on the host's blood, but rather induces the host to actively obtain fresh blood, and then absorbs this blood through some kind of "connection" to the host's digestive organs.
In this case, having experienced humans, the current "rulers" at the top of the food chain on Earth, as hosts, the intelligence exhibited by those "Mutated Parasite" would generally make it difficult for them to accept other hosts.
In Xiang Kun's view, its goal should be to parasitize a human with enormous wealth and power, then it could simply lie down and be "supported" without having to go through the trouble of "kidnapping" a human like the "vampire patient" did, only to end up getting itself trapped and forced to "escape" temporarily.
Xiang Kun suspected that the reason why the "Mutated Parasite" appeared in the stream of Purple Huan Mountain and parasitized the "vampire patient" was probably because something unexpected happened here that changed the parasitism plan. Its previous host might have died here.
Alice couldn't find any news reports about the discovery of accidental deaths in Purple Huan Mountain in the past two years. If his guess was correct, and the previous host of the "Mutated Parasite" had died in Purple Huan Mountain, then the body should not have been discovered yet.
If the "Mutated Parasite" appeared in the water, then the corpse should also be in the vicinity of the water or at the bottom of the water.
Purple Huan Mountain is not Qinling Uninhabited Zone. Even in the more remote areas, tourists and local villagers often venture there. If a body had not been found for a long time, it certainly wouldn't have been in an easily accessible place.
Of course, it is also possible that Xiang Kun's conjecture and assumption are wrong. The "Mutated Parasite" arrived at Purple Huan Mountain through other non-human hosts, or the former human host did not die. Like the case of the "vampire patient," some accident occurred, forcing it to temporarily abandon the host.
Around 4 a. m., Xiang Kun, who was running quickly through the mountains and constantly collecting various sensory information, had not yet found the corpse he "hypothesized" to exist, but suddenly smelled a "familiar" scent - the unique smell of the "Mutated Creature".