How Did It Taste?

To be honest, if Xiang Kun had devoured this "Mutated Parasite" before developing his "Hyper-Sensory State" and gaining his "sixth sense," he probably wouldn't have known what the information he perceived during his dormant period was, and he probably wouldn't have even paid it any attention.

But now, Xiang Kun knows very well that the information must be the "memory" of the "Mutated Parasite" he obtained after devouring it.

However, these "memories" are not like the memories of Guo Tianxiang or the Giant Owl, which are composed of visual and auditory information familiar to ordinary people. Instead, they are a special kind of sensory information that is difficult to describe in words.

Actually, the memory information Xiang Kun obtained after devouring the "mutated spider" in the Qinling Uninhabited Zone was also quite special. However, although that memory information was special, it was still within the basic scope of understanding, allowing him to make a judgment immediately and know what he was seeing.

However, this memory information from the "Mutated Parasite" is completely different from normal sensory information.

This is actually quite normal, since judging from the appearance of that "Mutated Parasite," it doesn't have eyes.

Clearly, its perception of the outside world does not directly share the host's visual and auditory sensory information, but rather has its own unique processing mechanism.

More importantly, Xiang Kun discovered some characteristics in this information that were similar to those of cognitive information in a "Hyper-Sensory State".

Of course, this perceptual information is far less complex than the cognitive information in a "Hyper-Sensory State," and in his view, it is much easier to analyze.

Moreover, this also allowed Xiang Kun to deduce its possible mode of perception, which further increased his expectations for the benefits of devouring this "Mutated Parasite".

Although the "Mutated Parasite" died unexpectedly, much of its experimental and research value has now been transferred to Xiang Kun.

Xiang Kun was about to close his eyes to carefully experience and examine his sensory abilities, his phone vibrated, revealing WeChat message from Xia Libing.

After finishing guiding Fan Jiading through the "Dream Within a Dream," Xia Libing had already woken up from the dream and discussed the next course of action with Xiang Kun.

Xiang Kun knew very well that, knowing he was going to take action tonight, to deal with the host and the "Mutated Parasite," Lao Xia would never be able to fall asleep—no matter how tired he was.

Perhaps during this time, Lao Xia has already been considering what equipment he needs to purchase for research and experiments after he catches the "Mutated Parasite," and may even have figured out the experimental methods and procedures.

When she opened WeChat, Lao Xia sent her a panda looking blank, clearly asking how things were going and indicating that she hadn't slept and was waiting for the results.

Xiang Kun sighed and sent over the video he had just recorded.

The video recorded the entire process from the moment the "Mutated Parasite" broke through his arm and burrowed in, attempting to parasitize him, until the worm crawled out of his arm, lay in his palm, and slowly died.

After a while, Lao Xia, having clearly finished watching the video, sent a panda emoji with a head full of question marks.

Then came a message: "Dead?"

Xiang Kun replied with an emoji of tapping his two index fingers together and nodding.

Then, a full half minute later, Lao Xia's message arrived. "Have you eaten?"

Xiang Kun responded with the same nodding emoji, where they tapped each other with their index fingers.

Nearly three minutes later, just as Xiang Kun was about to call back, Lao Xia's new reply arrived:

What does it taste like?

Upon seeing this reply, Xiang Kun felt a little dazed, because he remembered when he had returned from the Qinling Uninhabited Zone and stopped in Star City to treat the Little Chubby Girl to dinner, he had told Little Chubby Girl that he had hunted and eaten a monster. The question this girl had asked was also about this:

"Is it tasty?"

Although Lao Xia and Little Chubby Girl are vastly different in age, personality, and way of thinking, in some ways, these two foodies share a surprisingly similar thought process.

These two are truly remarkable; they can even merge their dreams.

Citong City Purple Huan Mountain City.

The sun is slowly rising in the east, and its warm rays quickly spread across the mountains and forests. The chirping of birds rises and falls, making one clearly feel the breath of spring.

In a GL8 minivan speeding along a winding mountain road, Mi Qiao, Zhou Rui, Gao Shu, who had gotten up early that morning, and Ye Chong, who had just arrived in Citong the night before, were yawning and looking at various information and videos on their tablets, having a low discussion.

Yesterday, they received a message from Dr. Fang saying that there were suspected signs of the "giant raptor" that they had photographed at Wushu Mountain in Purple Huan Mountain Citong City. He also sent Ye Chong overnight with data and equipment to Citong. So this morning, the four of them went to Purple Huan Mountain to investigate.

To be honest, even though I watched it several times last night, seeing that video used to determine the appearance of the "giant raptor" again today Mi Qiao felt a bit... fantastical.

It was a large bird engulfed in flames, flying across the sky. The processed video allowed her to make out the bird's shape, giving the impression of watching a fake video, a game scene, or movie special effects.

If the "firebird" in this video is indeed that "giant bird of prey," how did it become like this?

The combination of the "firebird video" Ye Chong found and the video of the small-scale, high-intensity thunderstorm on Purple Huan Mountain on the same night it was filmed further fueled Mi Qiao and the others' suspicions—could the "giant raptor" being on fire be related to that thunderstorm? Was it struck by lightning?

Mi Qiao suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Ye Chong sitting in the back. "These videos recorded events that happened in the early morning of February 14th, and the videos should have been circulating online around February 14th as well. Why were we only allowed to enter Purple Huan Mountain to investigate now?"

Ye Chong shrugged and spread his hands, saying, "I don't know either. I got the information yesterday at noon, and not long after I gave it to Dr. Fang, she asked me to come to Citong to find you guys to go into the mountains together."

Mi Qiao frowned slightly. "Xiao Yezi, did the information gathering department analyze these video materials and give them to you directly, or did Mr. Liang send the videos to you?"

Ye Chong paused for a moment, then said, "It was given to me directly by the IT department. Uh... but before they gave it to me, they probably showed it to Mr. Liang first. It's possible that Mr. Liang didn't give feedback immediately, so they only sent it to me yesterday."

Mi Qiao nodded thoughtfully.

Zhou Rui asked curiously, "If this bird is really engulfed in flames... it should be badly injured, or even dead, right?"

"Our assessment is that the 'giant raptor' is not dead," Ye Chong said.

"But... so many days have passed. Even if we find something, it's too late. It's difficult to track down that 'giant raptor' now. Could it be that Mr. Liang mainly wants us to investigate and analyze the bird's changes over this period? I have a feeling that Mr. Liang doesn't really want to catch that bird. If he really wants us to catch the bird, shouldn't it be the four of us?" Zhou Rui asked again.

However, no one in the car answered his questions. Or rather, the only person who might have been able to answer them, Mi Qiao, was staring blankly out the window at the lush green forest, lost in thought.

They couldn't drive directly to the area they were investigating. After parking their car on the side of the road, the four of them walked for quite a while before finally arriving at the place that had been ravaged by thunderstorms in the video they had seen earlier.

Although four or five days have passed, the traces of lightning strikes still convey the terror of that night's thunderstorm.

It's also hard to imagine how the "giant raptor" survived and even flew away if the fire on its body was related to the thunderstorm.

Just as they took out their equipment to start collecting samples and conducting on-site testing, they encountered two "passersby" in this area, far from the scenic spot and without any paved roads leading in.

What's even stranger is that these two "passersby" actually came over and questioned them.

Let me promote my WeChat account, "Divine-Stride Hamburger). I occasionally update it with side stories, independent short stories, and chat about movies, American dramas, Japanese dramas, Korean dramas, web dramas, anime, Bilibili, basketball, football, and other related content.