Analyze the Current Situation

Chapter 3: Analyzing the Situation

Xiang Kun scrubbed his face and arms vigorously. Soon, the layer of hardened dead skin sloughed off, revealing the fresh, smooth skin beneath.

He raked his fingers through his hair; it felt as though it were merely pasted onto his scalp, coming away in thick clumps with every touch.

After taking a shower and scrubbing his entire body, Xiang Kun stood before the mirror once more. He saw a version of himself that looked significantly younger, though the bald head looked awkward, and his mouth appeared strange with teeth that had yet to fully grow in.

He packed the dead, slightly foul-smelling chicken into several layers of trash bags. After tidying up the mess of feathers and blood in his home, Xiang Kun sat on the only chair in the room and began to contemplate the series of events that had befallen him.

Without a doubt, everything had started with the drinking binge on Thursday night. Upon waking up, his body had begun to exhibit abnormalities.

He had no appetite for normal food and would vomit it back up, yet he felt an inexplicable craving for animal blood—so much so that he had bought a live chicken just to slit its throat and drink its blood.

Although he remembered the process of buying, killing, and drinking the blood with perfect clarity, he felt as though he had been driven by bodily instinct and hunger, unable to control himself at the time.

Now, after drinking the blood and sleeping for another day, his skin had shed, his hair had fallen out, and his teeth had all fallen out and begun to regrow. While showering just now, he had discovered that his fingernails and toenails had also peeled away, with thin, tender new nails growing underneath.

Unless this was all a hallucination, it clearly wasn't caused by a hangover, internal heat, or sleep deprivation, nor was it any illness he had ever heard of or seen.

Fragments of various novels and films he had consumed in the past flashed through his mind, eventually settling on three words:

Vampire.

If someone had told Xiang Kun before last Thursday that he would turn into a vampire, he would have certainly thought that person was either a lunatic or a con artist.

But at this very moment, regarding the changes occurring within him and his previous experiences, he couldn't help but dwell on those three words.

He opened his laptop and searched for his symptoms using a search engine. As expected, he found no "scientific" explanation. So-called pica, rabies, and porphyria were vastly different from his symptoms; at the very least, they couldn't explain why his teeth were regrowing or why his entire body was shedding skin.

As a programmer, using a VPN to access Google was a basic skill, but even on the English-language web, he only found a pile of unreliable legends, none of which perfectly matched his condition.

What should he do now?

See a doctor?

With hospital equipment and professional diagnosis, it would certainly help him understand his physical state.

But what could he tell a doctor? That after a hangover, he suddenly couldn't eat normal food, threw up everything he consumed, developed a taste for chicken blood, and after drinking it and sleeping, woke up with a new layer of skin, a new set of teeth, and no hair?

Assuming he had contracted some kind of disease, the fact that no relevant cases could be found online suggested two possibilities:

First, he was the first person to ever contract this illness.

Second, past cases had been deliberately concealed and never made public.

In either scenario, if Xiang Kun sought medical help, he would likely become a subject of intense surveillance, or perhaps even lose his freedom under the guise of "protective custody."

In such a situation, he might not have to worry about medical bills, but the hospital or other institutions might not prioritize saving his life or curing him—they would prioritize the disease itself.

Therefore, after careful consideration, he decided that until his "condition" deteriorated to a point he couldn't control or his life was in immediate danger, he would avoid the hospital for now.

Of course, this was a risk; if it truly were a life-threatening illness, he might miss the optimal window for treatment.

Xiang Kun created a new Word document on his laptop and put on his glasses to start typing, but he suddenly felt a bit dizzy, and the image on the screen became slightly distorted.

He took off his glasses, and the situation immediately resolved. Realizing something, Xiang Kun pulled the curtains open a bit and looked at the text on a distant billboard. He discovered that he could now clearly read advertising slogans that he previously couldn't see without his glasses. Although he was clearly still nearsighted, his vision had improved significantly.

Having already experienced the changes to his teeth and skin, Xiang Kun immediately realized this was also one of the "symptoms."

He ran his tongue over his teeth and went to the bathroom to check the mirror. He found that in the hour or so since he woke up after four o'clock, his teeth had grown noticeably. At this rate, he might not even need to wait until tomorrow morning for them to return to their original state, and even the previous cavities had healed.

Xiang Kun sat back down at the computer and typed into the document:

Assuming the factor causing all these physical changes is X.

I. Possible causes for the appearance of X:

1. The alcohol or food consumed at the street food stall on the night of July 11th was tainted;

2. A genetic condition triggered by external stimuli, such as alcohol;

3. Infection via other means, such as a virus or bacteria from an insect bite;

4. Something happened after he returned home drunk and fell asleep that he is unaware of;

5. Other.

II. Physical changes caused by X:

1. Full-body skin shedding, with new skin being healthier and more delicate; previous scars have disappeared; teeth and nails have been replaced; hair has fallen out; nearsightedness has significantly improved;

2. Inability to consume normal food; it is vomited up shortly after ingestion;

3. Inexplicable bloodlust; attracted to the scent of blood, triggering intense hunger that drives the body to obtain it. Drinking blood provides satisfaction and induces sleepiness;

4. Other as-yet-undiscovered changes.

III. How to deal with X:

1. Investigate the cause of X;

2. Record physical changes and identify the causes and trends of these changes;

3. Solve the problem of food intake.

Looking at the document he had written, Xiang Kun rubbed his chin. He realized that most of the changes occurring in his body seemed to be beneficial; even the loss of his hair wasn't a major issue.

If he were to use gaming terminology, most of the changes to his body were buffs, not debuffs.

Aside from the issue of eating.

A person needs to eat to live; otherwise, they cannot provide the energy required for survival and will die. However, from the night of July 11th until today, July 15th, he had not consumed anything other than chicken blood, because whatever he ate, he threw up.

He did not believe that that small amount of fresh blood could provide all the energy he needed to survive.

Xiang Kun poured himself a glass of warm water, drank it, and sat quietly for ten minutes. There was no reaction in his stomach; clearly, water was not rejected by his current stomach.

So, he found the half-box of carton-packaged pure milk he had bought previously, poured it into a glass, and downed it in one go.

Twenty seconds later, Xiang Kun rushed to the bathroom and vomited everything up.