Waking Up

Chapter 43: Waking Up

Xiang Kun had gained the upper hand in his fight to the death with the owl, so the close-quarters struggle that followed was basically just the owl's death throes. Although its talons had scratched him and the impact had broken many of his bones, to him these were no more than "superficial injuries."

After killing the owl, Xiang Kun could no longer restrain himself. He drank deeply from the wounds in its body.

He had no measuring cup and had no idea exactly how much blood he drank, but it was definitely a lot.

By the end, he didn't even know how he'd fallen asleep.

As for the owl's body, which had vanished without a trace—not even a spot of blood remained—Xiang Kun had already been prepared for this after seeing its feathers mysteriously disappear earlier.

The Giant Owl was very likely a mutated creature like him. Just as the flesh cut from his body had turned into fine powder not long afterward, the owl's entire body might have undergone the same change after it died.

A light breeze would be enough to scatter that powder into the air. It was no different from dust.

Xiang Kun checked his body. Apart from his tattered clothes, he had no injuries at all. The wounds he had sustained fighting the owl had already healed while he slept.

He could clearly feel that his physical abilities had improved tremendously. He didn't even need to put himself through specific tests; simply clenching his fist let him feel the abundant strength in his muscles. He could also control more individual muscle groups, another sign of how developed his muscles had become.

Even more noticeable was the improvement in his hearing and sense of smell. Before, he had needed to concentrate intensely to distinguish different scents or pinpoint the source of a sound. Now, he could pick them up with a mere thought, and he had ever finer control over his senses.

Clearly, drinking the Giant Owl's blood had benefited him enormously. Its effects far surpassed those of rabbit blood or any other blood he had tried.

It was just like something Chang Bin had once said when they used to work out together: "Training is thirty percent; eating is seventy percent."

Even targeted training required the right kind of nourishment in sufficient quantities to bring out the greatest results.

Still, Xiang Kun didn't examine his physical changes any further or test exactly how much his abilities had improved. He needed to leave first.

But he couldn't simply walk away.

As he searched for any remnants of the owl, Xiang Kun gathered up his own belongings.

His shoes, his shattered phone, flashlight, Swiss Army knife, keys, and even scraps of his clothes. He also spent quite a while following the screwdriver's scent until he found it in the grass.

He checked his appearance. He was filthy, but there was no blood on him. Once his and the owl's blood had dried, it had turned to powder and was easy to brush off.

His pants weren't badly damaged, and he had found his shoes. Xiang Kun quickly brushed the dirt, broken leaves, and weeds off himself, then jogged back, pretending he'd gone out for a morning run.

This wasn't the first time Xiang Kun had returned to the residential complex bare-chested, but last time it had been the middle of the night. Apart from the security guard, he had hardly run into any residents. This time, it was morning, and he passed quite a few people heading out. They all kept glancing at him, especially the women. They frowned as if displeased, but their eyes lingered on him for a long time.

Xiang Kun's muscles were very well developed, but at first glance they didn't look as "beautiful" as those of people with very little body fat who focused on sculpting their physiques. He looked more like a basketball player or a boxer. His abs didn't seem particularly defined, and there was no exaggerated eight-pack; at a glance, his stomach looked more like a slightly curved slab of iron. His back didn't form an especially dramatic V-shape, either. His lats were broad and well developed, but his waist was thick too.

Still, anyone could see the strength contained in his body. It had nothing to do with their sense of aesthetics. It was an instinctive judgment rooted in biology.

He jogged through the entrance to the complex and nodded to the old security guard who had been staring at him. Just as he was about to keep running, the guard called out, "Sir, did you go to the lake again?"

Xiang Kun paused, then stopped. "Oh, I went for a morning run, but not to the lake." He was puzzled. Unlike last time, when he'd deliberately jumped into the lake and gotten soaked and covered in mud, he hadn't been near the water. Why was the guard asking?

The old guard laughed. "Oh, right. When we changed shifts this morning, Xiao Li said you accidentally fell into the lake last night. I thought you'd gone back there first thing this morning... That lake is dangerous. Some parts look shallow, but the silt is really deep. If you fall in, you'll sink, like in a swamp. Even knowing how to swim won't help. You need to be careful..." Xiang Kun had only moved in a few days ago, but his bald head made him easy to recognize, so the guards already knew who he was.

But the old guard's words made Xiang Kun pause.

Last night?

He had questions, but he didn't ask. He simply replied, "All right, thanks. I'll be careful from now on."

When he got home, Xiang Kun went straight to his laptop and woke the screen. Then he checked the time in the lower-right corner:

8:15

Then he checked the date:

2019/8/11

Xiang Kun frowned. He had encountered the Giant Owl by the lake and fought it briefly, then gone home after being injured. By then, it had already been the early hours of August 11.

When he went back out, it was already past two in the morning.

By the time he found the Giant Owl, it was after four.

There had been a standoff and a fight, and eventually he killed the owl and drank its blood. He couldn't be sure exactly when that happened—there was no way to tell, since his phone had been smashed.

But it had probably been around five in the morning, perhaps a little earlier.

Judging by the angle of the sunlight when he woke up, it should have been around six thirty.

In other words, he had slept for only a little over an hour after drinking the blood?!

When Xiang Kun had first woken up and seen that it was morning, he had assumed it was the morning of August 12. Based on the usual pattern, sleeping for twenty-five hours was normal for him.

He wouldn't even have been surprised if he had slept for more than forty-eight hours after drinking so much fresh Giant Owl blood.

But he hadn't expected to sleep for only a little over an hour!

He thought back to the last time he drank rabbit blood. He had gone to sleep while still noticeably hungry and slept for thirty-two hours, far longer than his usual twenty-five.

Xiang Kun speculated that perhaps the more the blood he drank met his needs, the higher its quality and the greater the quantity, the less time he needed to sleep.

So was sleep making up for an insufficient energy supply?

If he was extremely hungry, could he skip eating and rely on a long sleep to get by?

But when he tested how long he could endure hunger before, he had lasted twenty-two hours and become increasingly restless, but never sleepy. Or had he simply not endured it long enough?

Perhaps next time he could conduct the experiment in an environment with no "food" at all.

After thinking it over, he decided he could put the experiment off for now. There were more important things to do, and he was a little worried that if he did fall asleep like that, he might sleep for far too long. If he slept for ten days, twenty days, or even several months, something could happen beyond his control. It might even damage his body or affect the way it was changing.