Montamira Urban Legend (Part 2)
Regarding the sudden outbreak of riots in Montamira, Mao Ting said that the police's attention was focused on the bigwigs who were confronting each other and their henchmen, and they couldn't manage what the "others" were doing.
However, in fact, after realizing the possibility of radical reactions from various forces today, the police had already dispatched three state and regional police mobile units to Montamira in the afternoon.
Although the police were still short-handed despite responding to the riots on multiple fronts and were unable to quell them immediately, the Montamira authorities acted swiftly, deploying several heavily armed police battalions (equivalent to armed police) into the city. The nearby garrison was also prepared to enter the city at any time to maintain order.
Under normal circumstances, this riot would be quelled quickly. After all, the Myanmar and the authorities in Montamira have been committed to developing tourism and attracting investment in recent years. Such a serious incident would be a heavy blow to the implementation of policies and economic development. It must be stopped with swift and decisive measures before it leads to even worse consequences.
Of course, even though the Montamira authorities wanted to actively quell the riots, they were still a step behind and reacted too late. By the time the riots were quelled, it would be late at night at the earliest, by which time many people would have already been harmed.
The dead cannot be brought back to life, and the wounds suffered are forever etched in memory, changing the fate of many.
However, the official "thunderbolt" failed to arrive in time, Xiang Kun's "thunderbolt" had already struck ahead of schedule.
The emotional projection of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" swept across several blocks in Montamira where riots were taking place with unprecedented influence, preventing many impending tragedies.
In order to control the "Super-Linked Object" at the optimal distance and spread the influence of the emotional projection through the "Super-Linked Object" matrix, Xiang Kun did not stay in one place. Instead, he changed locations seven times to enter the "Hyper-Sensory State" and mobilize the emotional projection.
Although the area affected by the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" emotional projection is not very large compared to the entire Montamira, and its total duration is not long, its influence is persistent and far-reaching.
Like Mao Qiang, a local youth who might have unwittingly become a member of the rioters was influenced and not only stopped his violent behavior, but also rescued Ye Zijun and her family of three and escorted them back to their hotel.
Similar things are happening everywhere. The fear evoked by the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" is not just simple terror, but has a deeper and more lasting impact.
Therefore, the actual area affected by Xiang Kun's emotional projection is much larger than the area where he can see the illusion of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster".
Based on past experience, the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" emotional projection initially brings the most direct fear impact, which can basically interrupt all of the other person's actions. Next, it will make people feel the most primal and real fear deep in their own mind.
The initial shock of fear is temporary, varying only slightly from person to person. However, the lasting impact varies from person to person.
Xiang Kun summarized the lasting impact of the fear projection from the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" on people into three categories:
The first type is those who accept their true fears, follow their hearts, and then find ways to avoid them. After thinking and acting in this way, they often experience a sense of enlightenment. This type is the most common, because seeing their true fears is also seeing their true needs. Avoiding fears is also fulfilling those needs, providing great mental comfort and leading to a better understanding of themselves and building self-awareness. In short, "following" one's heart makes life better.
The second category consists of those who weren't significantly and persistently affected, but simply felt shocked and found it unforgettable. This is because they already knew exactly what they feared before, and they still fear it now. For example, they might have a simple fear of heights, the dark, sharp objects, certain monster images, claustrophobia, etc. This category is small; most people in this category are simple-minded, relatively young, and often children.
The third type involves people trapped in a vicious cycle of fear, constantly suspecting and frightening themselves, then scaring themselves without accepting their own fear, ultimately leading to a mental breakdown. Xiang Kun use of emotional projection, such as the car thief who ran to the police station with a kitchen knife claiming someone wanted to kill him, and "Brother Kui" who kidnapped Xia Tianhuo. However, this is largely related to his use of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" emotional projection, which mostly occurred when he needed to use violence as an alternative. This type is actually the rarest and most difficult to encounter in the general population.
This large-scale emotional projection in Montamira also confirmed Xiang Kun's previous deductions and predictions regarding the impact of fear projection on the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving".
But what he didn't expect, or didn't anticipate, was that in this unprecedentedly widespread influence of emotional projection, he himself also gained a lot of new information—as the influence progressed, the scope and intensity of the entire emotional projection's influence continued to expand. This was not due to any change in his own mode of calling "Emotion-Infused Object" or any improvement in his application of "Super-Linked Object," but rather to the "growth" of the emotional projection itself.
It's not that the world's fear "nourishes" the emotional projection. The emotional projection itself is just an "ability" that Xiang Kun combines with "Emotional Assimilation" and "Super-Sensing Item System." Its strength or weakness ultimately stems from Xiang Kun.
Today, Xiang Kun truly realized that, in terms of emotional projection, the homogenized emotions around us can, in turn, become the medium through which they influence the surroundings.
To use an analogy, the emotional projections that Xiang Kun invokes in his "Hyper-Sensory State" through a certain number of "Super-Linked Object" are like the wind blowing out of a fan with a fixed power.
At first, only a few scattered water droplets were blown up, so it looked like rain falling sideways. But as the environment changed, the water droplets turned into large bodies of water. Although the wind power remained the same, the waves that were stirred up were now enormous.
Once assimilated, all human emotions become part of this wave, which in turn amplifies its influence.
Therefore, the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster" that others saw grew larger and larger. This was not something Xiang Kun did intentionally, but rather a natural occurrence that arose as time went on and the surrounding sense of fear became more and more homogenous.
This is something Xiang Kun hadn't noticed when he repeatedly invoked the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" emotion projection before.
This extensive use of emotional projection also allowed him to discover other information while in a "Hyper-Sensory State."
Xiang Kun could immediately discern the cognitive information of everyone affected by emotional projections. This indicates that the affected emotions, under the "Hyper-Sensory State," would transform into cognitive information that he could instantly recognize.
Xiang Kun believes that this is the "decoding" effect of the emotional projection of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving," an Emotion-Infused Object. The cognitive information is "annotated" through the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving," and he is essentially using the "emotional projection" as a "plugin" to discover, interpret, and understand this cognitive information.
In a sense, this kind of emotional projection through "Emotion-Infused Object" to influence others on an emotional level is equivalent to establishing a "connection" between the person being influenced and the person being influenced.
However, this "connection" is different from the deep connection he has with "Super-Linked Object" and "Emotion-Infused Object," and is more like a "marking" type, a shallow, dynamic connection.
As the emotions of those affected continue to escalate, the degree of this connection may constantly change.
He knew that this connection might not only occur when invoking the emotional projection of "Emotion-Infused Object" to exert influence, but also when he performed "Emotional Assimilation" or even "Mental Intimidation," he would establish this very subtle and special connection with the influenced beings, a connection that could only be detected in a "Hyper-Sensory State."
However, when he used "Emotional Assimilation" or "Mental Intimidation" before, he had to stay focused and was unable to enter a "Hyper-Sensory State" to observe. He could not see the changes in his overall cognitive information when the emotions he was being influenced to change, so he had not noticed it until now.
Of course, when the emotions were projected onto the three car thieves in the abandoned factory during the Spring Festival, no abnormalities were found under the "Hyper-Sensory State," proving that the marking and differentiation of this cognitive information is related to his recent evolutionary mutations on the one hand, and to the large-scale influence of emotional projection, where quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes on the other.
For now, it would be more appropriate to call this connection a "tag," since he can only observe it unilaterally in his "Hyper-Sensory State," but he cannot influence it in any way.
At most, he can instantly determine whether someone has been affected by the emotional projection of the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" in a "Hyper-Sensory State," and from this, the way to judge other people's emotions in a "Hyper-Sensory State."
However, this discovery brought Xiang Kun benefits far beyond that.
Human emotions and even thoughts can be presented as cognitive information in a "Hyper-Sensory State," and through the emotional projection of "Emotion-Infused Object," he has a shortcut to "interpretation."
In the long run, this means that Xiang Kun has a more fundamental and profound understanding of "Hyper-Sensory State," and that he has found a more convenient way to "decode" various cognitive information under "Hyper-Sensory State."
Prior to this, his "decoding" could only be done clumsily by switching between two states to compare the sensory and cognitive information of the same observed object, thereby distinguishing the meaning represented by the cognitive information.
If he can quickly "decode" enough cognitive information from this, it could very well bring about a qualitative leap in his "Super-Sensing Item System" and related abilities.
At that time, "parasitic world," "decoding everything," "hacking everything," and "programming everything" will no longer be childish slogans, abstract theories, or unattainable goals, but rather topics for which we can truly begin to prepare practical plans.
So even though Xiang Kun felt that the commotion he had caused tonight was a bit too much and might bring some follow-up troubles after ending the emotional projection and retrieving all the "Super-Linked Object," he still had no regrets.
He climbed to a high point in the city and, through visual and other sensory information, confirmed that the riots in the city had basically subsided, and that, under the mobilization of the Montamira authorities, a large number of military and police personnel had entered the city and brought the situation under control.
So Xiang Kun didn't linger and walked out of the city, preparing to travel through the night and leave as soon as possible.
Although the entire city is under martial law and all roads leading out of the city and main thoroughfares are filled with military and police conducting strict checks, it would still be very easy for Xiang Kun to leave.
After all, he could move freely across all terrains once he took off his shoes, and he could completely "take unconventional routes" and leave through unpaved mountains and forests.
Tonight's unprecedented large-scale emotional projection had an impact on Xiang Kun. Not only could he temporarily escape the mania and violence brought about by his blood-drinking urges when he entered a "Hyper-Sensory State," but he also felt a strange sense of exhilaration after the emotional projection ended.
This feeling is somewhat like driving a 720-horsepower supercar, but only daring to drive cautiously at the 40 km/h speed limit, and suddenly having the opportunity to drive onto an airport runway, floor the accelerator on a long straight, and unleash its full performance.
It seems like I have a 2080TI graphics card and a 4K monitor, but I've only ever been able to read novels, type documents, and browse 480P short videos. Finally, I have the chance to play a single-player AAA game and experience the visual explosion with all the effects turned on.
However, after this exhilaration, the mania and violence brought about by the blood-drinking urge still remained, and were amplified at night. When he ran, his instinctive sensory information collection allowed him to quickly identify various animals in the surrounding mountains and forests, and then he would constantly calculate the blood volume of each animal and devise various plans to kill them and drink their blood.
Although Xiang Kun had decided long ago that he would not engage in normal blood-drinking and sleep in the uncertain environment of Myanmar unless absolutely necessary, his brain, under the influence of the blood-drinking impulse, kept generating blood-drinking plans based on the sensory information it had collected.
The plan to drink blood outside is not entirely impossible, but there is a prerequisite: it must involve devouring other "Mutated Creature".
Because it devours other "Mutated Creature," its sleep time is very short, usually only twenty to thirty minutes, which is much safer than sleeping continuously for 25 hours.
Therefore, while traveling through the forests, searching in the cities, or later going out to sea to find "Brother Kui" and his crew's boat in Myanmar, he was always on the lookout for any traces of other "Mutated Creature".
Unfortunately, he hasn't found any other "Mutated Creature" along the way.
Therefore, before sunrise, Xiang Kun was on his way, he could only try to remain rational and clear-headed by occasionally sensing Lao Xia's emotions.
In the rented house in Citong City, Xia Libing.
A girl with a ponytail was still sitting in front of the computer, holding a notebook in her hand, with her eyes closed, as if she were meditating.
However, every now and then, she would open her eyes and use a translation plugin on the computer in front of her to browse a Burmese-language social networking site and see the latest online discussions.
The girl was Xia Libing. Although it was already three in the morning, she still stayed awake because she knew that Xiang Kun should have entered the blood-drinking period and needed to use the "Emotion-Infused Object" around her—such as the notebook Black Circle Graffiti and doodles—to sense her rational and clear "emotional-like" state and suppress her manic and violent emotions.
Therefore, she needed to remain conscious so that Xiang Kun could sense her at any time and alleviate his blood-drinking urges.
This afternoon, she, her third uncle, and her third aunt received news from Xia Tianhuo's company that Xia Tianhuo had contacted them via satellite phone. The kidnappers had taken him to a boat and sailed out to sea, but for some reason, a fight broke out between them, and only one of them survived. Now he is safe.
As night fell, new information came from Montamira: the company's accomplices had located Xia Tianhuo's boat and helped him moor it at the nearest port. The police then took over the boat, and Xia Tianhuo and the remaining kidnapper were sent to the hospital for examination. Accompanying them were company personnel and staff from the Chinese embassy.
Xia Tianhuo still has to cooperate with the Myanmar police investigation and cannot return immediately, but his safety is basically guaranteed.
This turn of events came very suddenly, catching everyone, including Uncle and Aunt, as well as the police and officials who came to help, quite off guard.
Regardless, the fact that Xia Tianhuo escaped safely and seemed to be unharmed was the best news, and everyone's tense nerves immediately relaxed.
Third Uncle was going to meet with Xia Tianhuo's father, who had just returned to China, and then they would go to Myanmar to pick up Xia Tianhuo. Third Aunt had to go back to the Third Hospital to deal with some urgent matters. Xia Libing also made an excuse to leave Third Uncle's house and return to her rented room in Citong.
Although Xia Libing had previously discussed with Xiang Kun about preparing the meat rabbits needed for the blood-drinking ritual in advance at the house in Chongyun Village, she has now changed her mind and decided to move the location for Xiang Kun's blood-drinking ritual from Chongyun Village to Citong.
After receiving a call from Xia Tianhuo's company in the afternoon, Uncle San, Aunt San, and the others were all surprised. Xia Libing, however, immediately knew that Xiang Kun must have found Xia Tianhuo.
She could even guess the methods Xiang Kun would use from the word "internal strife".
After Xiang Kun emerged from the sea, he immediately contacted her via WeChat and confirmed her suspicions.
However, another message from Xiang Kun that evening changed Xia Libing's mind. She had already prepared to call a car and rush back to Chongyun Village overnight to prepare for his blood-drinking ritual.
Xiang Kun's message was simple. "We're going to make a big splash in Montamira before we leave."
Xia Libing didn't know the specifics of Xiang Kun's situation, but staying in Citong was convenient for her. Firstly, if there was any emergency requiring her assistance, it would be much easier for her to get to the scene from Citong than from Chongyun Village, whether by plane or high-speed train;
Secondly, according to her investigation, there were more flights to Citong from the Xiang Kun had previously arrived at than to Jianzhou, with more flexible schedules and earlier departure times. Arriving at Citong Airport and then to her place was also much closer and faster than arriving at Jianzhou Airport, then going to Tongshi Town, and then to Chongyun Village.
Given that Xiang Kun is already in a state of needing to drink blood, the sooner the drinking of blood begins, the less likely any unforeseen complications can be encountered.
Thirdly, this wasn't Xiang Kun's first time drinking blood in this place; she knew exactly where to buy rabbits and what the process entailed. This would also prevent her from falling asleep on the way back to Chongyun Village overnight. Furthermore, she could provide Xiang Kun with "technical support" at any time, such as "Dream Within a Dream."