"Baldy Must Be Rich"

Seeing this expression, Xiang Kun knew what Lao Xia meant; she was telling him that she had woken up and wanted to see him.

Xiang Kun used his hearing to confirm the situation next door, knowing that Lao Xia finished washing up, while Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er were still fast asleep, so he replied, "At the door."

As Xiang Kun walked out of the room, Xia Libing also opened the door and came out—which, of course, was within his expectations.

The two exchanged a glance, said nothing, and walked together toward the elevator.

After entering the elevator, Xia Libing glanced at him a few times, sniffed slightly, and asked, "You went out last night and just got back?"

Xiang Kun knew that she had noticed he had changed his clothes and taken a shower, which was why she asked the question.

"I went to the riverbank last night," Xiang Kun said as he walked out of the hotel after exiting the elevator.

Xia Libing followed behind, thoughtfully saying, "You found something in the river? No wonder you seemed a little distracted on the way last night."

"Oh? You noticed I was distracted?" Xiang Kun laughed. Although he had been paying most of his attention to the river, he didn't think it should have shown in his behavior.

"Your reaction to Nana's song was too mild, that's not normal," Xia Libing said. "But at the time I was just guessing, I couldn't be sure."

Xiang Kun nodded, and after leaving the hotel, he turned right and walked onto the adjacent pedestrian path.

Xia Libing didn't ask where they were going; she simply followed.

"It's not what's in the river, but the river itself." Only then did Xiang Kun begin to tell Lao Xia about his special feelings about the river last night, the process of someone sinking into the river last night, and the results and conclusions of various experiments, including the rescue and the situation of creating mist when finally emerging from the water.

Halfway through the conversation, Xiang Kun turned into a small alley and walked to a breakfast shop that looked dilapidated and old, but had a long line of people outside. Xia Libing also waited next to him.

Xiang Kun didn't speak, nor did she press him for details. She squinted her eyes, deep in thought.

After queuing for a while, Xiang Kun bought two large meat buns, one vegetable bun, one spring roll, three shumai, and a cup of soy milk. Then he turned around, handed all the food to Lao Xia, and went back to add sugar to the soy milk.

Xia Libing took the soy milk that Xiang Kun had added sugar to, took a sip, and thought, "Hmm, the sweetness is just right." Then she started eating the meat buns.

Although there were several tables set up inside and outside the breakfast shop, they were all occupied at this time. Xiang Kun then moved two small stools and sat down with Lao Xia on the roadside, a few meters away from the others. He helped Lao Xia carry the food that he hadn't eaten yet, acting as a table for him.

There's no need to ask if it's good or not; just watching Lao Xia panting and finishing a bun in four or five bites tells you how delicious it is.

He had just found this shop online using his phone while at the hotel. It's a well-known, long-established brand in Star City, and the fact that so many people were queuing up so early shows that its reputation is well-deserved—even popular online shops don't have people queuing up this early.

He knew from the wall that Lao Xia was hungry when they were at the hotel, and since the hotel breakfast wasn't open yet, he brought her here directly.

After Lao Xia finished another meat bun, Xiang Kun handed him the bag containing shumai before continuing, "That insect probably originally lived in water, so it has a stronger adaptability to water than land, but I don't think it has the same level of control over water as I do. The reason I can have such strong control over water is mainly due to the combination of my other abilities, especially the application of the 'Super-Sensing Item System,' a result of quantitative change leading to qualitative change."

Xia Libing listened to Xiang Kun speak while eating, making no time to waste.

After finishing breakfast and drinking the last sip of soy milk, Xiang Kun finished speaking and handed over a tissue he had brought from the hotel.

"Do you have to be in the water to enter 'Oxygen-Saving Mode,' or can you do it anytime?" Xia Libing wiped her mouth and asked.

"Anytime is fine." Xiang Kun said, paused, and continued, "Right now I'm in 'Oxygen-Saving Mode,' so to others there shouldn't be any obvious difference. Of course, if you look closely, you can see that I'm not breathing."

Lao Xia had also considered this question and had already conducted experiments. Even without submerging his face in the water, he could now find a way to enter "Oxygen-Saving Mode," which was much easier than entering "Hyper-Sensory State," somewhat like switching visual modes.

"Then try doing some breathing exercises now?" Xia Libing said while observing Xiang Kun's condition.

Xiang Kun did as instructed, taking a few deep breaths before saying, "The breathing action is possible, but the air inhaled doesn't actually change. It seems these two methods of oxygen intake cannot be performed simultaneously."

"It seems that the 'Oxygen-Saving Mode' doesn't simply absorb dissolved oxygen from the water, but rather indiscriminately absorbs oxygen molecules from the surrounding environment." Xia Libing nodded thoughtfully. "Or... what you're absorbing isn't oxygen at all?"

"Not oxygen? Then what is it?"

"Once the lab is ready, we can further confirm it through experiments." Xia Libing finished her sentence briefly, then asked, "Can you maintain 'Oxygen-Saving Mode' continuously?"

"I haven't tested how long it can last, but based on the current feeling, it should be fine," Xiang Kun said.

"Do you feel anything about the surrounding water now?"

"I can feel it a little bit, but the sensation is very weak. I guess it's because the total amount of water is relatively small. I can feel the water flowing in the pipes, the water in the ditch, the water tanks and reservoirs behind the shops, and some bottled water. However, I have to use other sensory information to pinpoint the location before I can vaguely determine it. I think this is still based on my original senses and judgment, which is fundamentally different from my direct contact with the water." Xiang Kun said while sensing and thinking.

Xia Libing then asked, "Is it related to the purity of the water? Does the sensitivity differ depending on the amount of impurities in the water? Is your special sensation simply due to the H2O molecules, or is it due to the liquid state of the substance?"

"It should be directly related to water molecules... but this is just my intuition, and we still need to conduct experiments to confirm it," Xiang Kun said.

As he spoke, Xiang Kun got up and went to the convenience store across the street to buy a bottle of mineral water. Then he came back, washed the cup that Lao Xia had used to drink soy milk, and filled it to about eight-tenths full.

Xiang Kun placed the cup on the low plastic stool where he had been sitting, then squatted down in front of the stool, dipped his index finger into the water, and slowly stirred it.

After a while, Xiang Kun stopped stirring, his fingers still in the water. Then, after the surface of the water in the cup returned to calm, he looked up at Lao Xia and asked, "Did you see that?"

Xia Libing nodded. Throughout the entire process, she sat on a small stool, propped her chin up, and observed the water in the cup and Xiang Kun's fingers with great concentration. She noticed that after his fingers stopped stirring and the water surface slowly became still, a very small ripple spread outwards along Xiang Kun's fingers.

If it were anyone else, they wouldn't find this strange at all. A car driving by, or his fingers trembling, or some other vibration could all produce this effect; it's perfectly normal.

They might even say to Xiang Kun with disdain, "That's it?"

However, Xia Libing knew very well that Xiang Kun's fingers were very steady and did not tremble. At this moment, there was no vibration nearby that could cause such a fluctuation—if it were a vibration from the ground, the source of the wave would not be at the location of Xiang Kun's fingers.

She knew this was the effect of Xiang Kun's ability.

After confirming that Lao Xia had seen the effect, Xiang Kun took out a tungsten steel ball from his pocket, dropped it into the water glass, and then inserted his finger into the water.

Soon, the bead began to "swim" in the water, looking like a confused, tailless tadpole darting around aimlessly.

A moment later, the whole glass of water began to tremble slightly, as if Xiang Kun was shaking the glass, but in reality he did not touch the glass, and his fingers inserted in the water remained completely still.

The trembling of the water began to become regular, as if countless forces were converging together, and the water in the cup began to rotate clockwise, just as if Xiang Kun were stirring it with his fingers.

Of course, his fingers remained completely still.

Not far away, some people eating at the breakfast shop entrance also glanced over seemingly unintentionally. After all, Xia Libing was really too beautiful and had a very special temperament, while Xiang Kun's bald head and figure were also quite eye-catching.

Although they couldn't see what was inside the cup, they could guess at a glance that the bald, bespectacled guy was using it to do some little trick to please the pretty girl.

From the pretty girl's focused expression, they all came to the same conclusion—this bald guy must be very rich...

Xiang Kun was fully aware of the situation around him and knew that many people were secretly watching him and Lao Xia, but he didn't care because apart from him and Lao Xia, no one else saw what was in the water glass, and even if they did, they wouldn't know what they were doing.

He took the ball out of the water glass, exited the "Oxygen-Saving Mode," and looked up at Lao Xia: "So, what do you think?"

Xia Libing said, "If you expand the cup to the entire river, can you create the same impact?"

"Of course not right now, but the future is uncertain, maybe it's possible," Xiang Kun said.

Xia Libing then asked, "Have you ever tried to establish a 'Super-Sensory Link' with water?"

"I've tried, but it didn't work." Xiang Kun picked up the water glass from the low stool in front of him and said, "The most difficult thing about establishing Super-Sensory Link between gases and liquids is defining their boundaries and specific forms. For example, if I want to establish Super-Sensory Link with this glass of water, then its boundaries are determined by the glass, so most of my attention will be divided on the glass and I won't be able to focus on the water itself. But if I want to define water down to a single or a few molecules, unless my microscopic vision evolves to the point where I can see the molecular structure, it's probably impossible. Even if I can see a single water molecule with an electron microscope, it can only improve my overall understanding of water, but I can't see it clearly in real time, so I can't establish Super-Sensory Link at the particle level."

"What about ice?" Xia Libing immediately asked. Ice is a solid form of water, and is essentially still water, but unlike water, it does not need a container to define its boundaries.

Xiang Kun said, "I haven't tried it, but I guess it might work. However, even if you successfully establish a 'Super-Sensory Link' with a block of ice, the connection is limited to that block as a whole. If it melts into water, the connection will degrade significantly, becoming negligible. It's like a piece of paper with a 'Super-Sensory Link' established; as you keep tearing it, the connection and sensation will continuously weaken."

After speaking, seeing Xia Libing nod thoughtfully, Xiang Kun asked her to sit for a while, then got up and went to the breakfast shop to pack two breakfasts to take back to Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er.

Compared to the breakfast provided by the hotel, there was no doubt that the breakfast at this time-honored restaurant was much tastier, and based on his judgment of Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er's tastes, he was quite certain that they would both like it.

On the way back, Xia Libing offered her opinion based on the information provided to Xiang Kun: "I think the situation you observed last night and the abilities you gained are essentially the same as the 'Electric Flight' ability you developed after devouring the 'mutant spider'."

"It all involves utilizing the power of the environment and enhancing and further utilizing this power with the help of the 'Super-Sensing Item System.' However, you now have a much stronger grasp of various abilities and yourself than you did in the Qinling Uninhabited Zone, and your foundation is much better, which is why you were able to achieve good results after just a few hours of trying last night."

"Following your proposed 'Parasitizing Everything' model, selecting a small pond for in-depth experiments and continuous modification should be a better way to develop this capability. As for the pond, I'll ask Deputy Director Liu to help me find one when we build the Research Base in Chongshan Village."

Xiang Kun listened and nodded. Lao Xia's judgment largely matched his own, but there were some aspects that he hadn't considered, which further helped him refine his theory and thinking. Indeed, having someone to discuss things with was helpful.

Xia Libing thought for a moment and then said, "I will also try to explore whether I can find new directions for developing your new abilities after you acquire new abilities. For example, I can try to see if the manifestation of water can become an effective aid in your 'Oxygen-Saving Mode'."

After chatting for a while about the possible principles behind the new ability and how it could be developed, Xiang Kun, seeing that they were almost at the hotel, changed the subject and mentioned the idea that had popped into his head when he was grocery shopping with everyone at the supermarket the day before.

His desire to control his surroundings, his constant urge to manipulate various variables, and his idea of "Parasitizing Everything"—could this mean that his thoughts and spirit have undergone changes due to continuous mutation and evolution?

Although he seems normal at the moment, this is only his own perception of normalcy. He needs others to judge him from other perspectives to prevent him from unknowingly developing some overly extreme thoughts in the future.

He attaches great importance to and is just as vigilant about his mental state as he is about his physical state.

Without a doubt, Lao Xia, who knows the secret of his mutation and is a psychiatrist, is the most suitable person to consult.

After listening to Xiang Kun's description and his concerns, Xia Libing replied directly, "These are normal psychological changes, there's no problem. With greater ability comes greater desire; it's human nature. Since you're human, you're no exception. I'll keep an eye on you, don't worry."

As they talked, they returned to the hotel and stopped discussing these matters.

It was already past eight o'clock, Xiang Kun asked Lao Xia to wake up the two lazybones who were still sleeping, so that the breakfast they had packed back wouldn't get cold and taste bad.

After Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er finished breakfast, they checked out of the hotel and went to visit two attractions in Star City. They met up with Shiling's Mother around noon to pick up their Little Chubby Girl from kindergarten.

They'll have one last lunch together before flying back to Haixi Province.

Knowing they would be leaving that afternoon, the Little Chubby Girl was very reluctant to part with them and even ate less at lunch.

These past two days have been the happiest time of her life.

Learning to draw, sing, and dance with her sisters, playing games together, petting cats together, going grocery shopping together, and eating food cooked by "Bald Uncle" together—in her dreams, she could even eat with "Roast Chicken Wing Sister" and "Bald Uncle" and practice magic together. For her, these were truly "fantastic" days.

The Little Chubby Girl now deeply understands the meaning of the phrase "happiness is always fleeting." Her little heart is filled with melancholy and sadness. After lunch, even the Ice Cream that "Old Fairy Sister" bought for her doesn't taste good anymore.

Xiang Kun and the others were about to take a car to the airport, and when Shiling's Mother was preparing to take Liu Shiling back to kindergarten, the Little Chubby Girl finally couldn't hold back anymore. She ran over and hugged Tang Baona's leg with her left hand and Yang Zhen'er's leg with her right hand, and started sobbing, "Pretty sister, waaaah, fairy sister, waaaah..."

She knew that her sisters and "Bald Uncle" had important things to do and couldn't play with her all the time, so she was too embarrassed to ask them not to leave or to stay. She just cried.

Yang Zhen'er gently rubbed the Little Chubby Girl's head, feeling a pang of sadness in her heart, her nose stinging with tears. But along with the tears, there was also a tiny bit of pride, because the Little Chubby Girl's first instinct was to hug her and Nana, rather than Xiang Kun and Lao Xia, whom she had known for longer and should have had a better relationship with. This proved that the Little Chubby Girl definitely liked her and Nana more!

She used to think that if she had children in the future, she hoped they would be like Lao Xia when he was a child—smart and easy to manage, unlike other children who were sometimes cute but mostly noisy and unreasonable. But now, she thinks that Little Bell is the perfect child—cute, fun, well-behaved, and has a big appetite. Well, although she's a little silly sometimes, that's just the innocence of a child!

Tang Baona, standing beside her, whispered to comfort the Little Chubby Girl, "Little Bell, all good things must come to an end. Our separation now is to prepare for our next meeting. When you're on vacation, you can have your mom bring you to visit us. Then I'll treat you to delicious food and fun games, okay?"

Liu Shiling sniffled, looking up at Tang Baona with a tearful expression, and said, "Okay."

"Oh dear, Shiling, don't wipe your snot on your sisters' pants! Quickly wipe it off. Say goodbye to your sisters and your uncle; they have to catch their flight." Shiling's Mother quickly hugged her daughter and said apologetically to Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er, "This girl is a bit too emotional..."

Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er naturally didn't mind, and after saying goodbye for a while, they got into the car.

After watching the car drive away, merge into the traffic, and disappear from sight, the chubby Little Chubby Girl, her face streaked with tears, finally put down her aching arm and took her mother's hand, walking towards the kindergarten.

After walking a few steps, Liu Shiling suddenly remembered something, looked up at her, and asked, "Mommy, why did 'Pretty Sister' say 'There's no mat that can't fall apart'? Why do mats always fall apart? Our mats never fell apart before!"

Shiling's Mother was taken aback and didn't know how to answer for a moment.