A Startling Surprise

Xiang Kun opened his eyes, and with a slight exertion of his waist and abdomen, he sat up straight from the ground.

Through the gap in the bedroom curtains, it was clear that it was still pitch black outside, and the night was still deep in the night.

Lao Xia wasn't in the bedroom bed; judging from the sounds and smells, she was sitting on the living room sofa, using her laptop.

Xiang Kun stood up, checked his body, and stood there stunned for nearly ten minutes.

Before returning from Myanmar and even before drinking blood, he had a premonition that he might gain something special after this blood-drinking experience—the extensive application of his abilities in the Myanmar seas and in Montamira was equivalent to a special guided training method, which could very well help him further digest, absorb, reconstruct, and enhance the abilities of the "Mutated Parasite" he had previously devoured.

While drinking blood, he also felt an increase in his "appetite". Fortunately, Lao Xia, following the previous practice, prepared a few more rabbits than the number consumed in the last blood-drinking session, so that he could obtain the amount needed to complete this blood-drinking session.

Now awakened from his slumber, his body has completed this cycle of mutation and evolution. Xiang Kun has a hard-to-describe feeling, realizing that this time his changes may be even greater than he had anticipated.

Previously, Xiang Kun focused more on, trained more specifically, used more frequently, and relied more on his sensory abilities, including sight, hearing, smell, the sixth sense, and the "Hyper-Sensory State." He was constantly and subtly improving these abilities, and each blood-drinking period would bring about evolution. However, due to the marginal effect, unless he was in a special blood-drinking period such as devouring "mutant spiders" or "Mutated Parasite," the improvement was very limited.

This time, however, the two abilities used in Myanmar involved not only the application of already powerful sensory abilities, but also an attempt to influence the outside world on a large scale, for a long period of time, and with high intensity using the "Super-Sensing Item System".

Domestically, he is very restrained in using his abilities. Even in the wilderness, during thunderstorms, he has to consider whether his "Electric Flight" will cause collateral damage. If the thunderstorm ignites a wildfire, will the subsequent rain be able to extinguish it in time? Will it cause any disasters? Will the commotion attract the attention of meteorological and forestry departments? Will it leave traces that allow people to directly investigate his identity?

So, both at sea and in Montamira, he had the opportunity to make unprecedented attempts, and the mutations and evolutionary mechanisms of his body clearly responded to the "demands" he made in this way.

Upon waking this time, he could clearly perceive that even without consciously engaging his senses, using his sixth sense to perceive things carefully, or entering a "Hyper-Sensory State," simply by standing in a relaxed state, he could feel as if he were extending his "spiritual tentacles" into the surrounding environment, capable of "leveraging" the environment and creating an impact at any time.

The "fulcrum" of this influence comes from a large number of "Super-Linked Object" with whom he has established a "Super-Sensory Link," which are like extensions of Xiang Kun's limbs.

He could sense that the connection between him and the "Super-Linked Object" had become stronger.

If we were to compare his connection with the "Super-Linked Object" to a physical chain, then this feeling would be that the latch and joint between the chain and the "Super-Linked Object" remain unchanged, but the chain itself has become thicker and stronger, making the transmission of his will and power more direct and efficient.

Xiang Kun walked out of the bedroom. Lao Xia, who was sitting on the sofa, was yawning. He was halfway through yawning when he saw Xiang Kun, paused for a moment, and then stopped yawning.

Clearly, Lao Xia was stubbornly staying awake, waiting for him to wake up.

"It's two hours later than normal." Xiang Kun glanced at the time in the lower right corner of Lao Xia's notebook. This time, the blood-drinking slumber period lasted 27 hours, which was much longer than the normal average.

Xiang Kun has gone through the blood-drinking period dozens of times now. Under normal circumstances, the dormant period is about 25 hours, with little error.

Only when there is a severe lack of blood can the dormancy period be prolonged, or after devouring other "Mutated Creature" it will enter a very short period of dormancy. Therefore, the mutation in this blood-drinking dormancy must be different from the past.

Xia Libing tossed the notebook from her lap onto the coffee table, stood up, and asked, "How is it?"

Xiang Kun was about to say something, he noticed a half-full glass of water on the coffee table in front of the sofa, and suddenly had an idea. He walked over and picked it up.

After picking up the water glass, Xiang Kun glanced at Xia Libing's pretty face, which remained expressionless, and a playful thought struck him. He suddenly took a few steps back and splashed the water in the glass at Lao Xia.

However, faced with Xiang Kun's sudden action and the splashing of warm water, Xia Libing did not dodge at all. She didn't even raise her hand, blink, or change her expression. She simply shifted her gaze from Xiang Kun to the water in front of her.

The warm water that spilled from the cup lunged at Xia Libing like a menacing monster, but when it reached her, the water suddenly froze, as if the "monster" made of water had been frozen in mid-air.

After hovering for half a second, the liquid began to condense into a ball, then twisted and stretched, with tentacles extending from both sides, as if it had become a piece of clay that could automatically deform.

Soon, the water that Xiang Kun had splashed from the cup coalesced into the image of a miniature eight-armed monster.

Of course, it was because Xia Libing had seen the Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving and often saw "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster" that she could recognize it at a glance. If it were an ordinary person, they would probably think it was an octopus-man with legs or a sea urchin or something similar.

The eight-armed water figure floated nimbly in the air, its eight arms and two legs swinging gracefully as it circled around Xia Libing. Half a minute later, it returned to the water glass in Xiang Kun's hand and returned to its normal state.

However, Xia Libing keenly noticed that the temperature and humidity in the room had increased significantly. The windows in the living room were covered with condensation, and the exterior of the refrigerator, the coffee table, and other smooth mirrors in the room were also covered with moisture, even forming water droplets.

Holding his water glass, Xiang Kun didn't immediately discuss the abilities he had just demonstrated. Instead, he asked, "Lao Xia, why didn't you dodge or flinch, and why didn't you even close your eyes?"

Xia Libing said matter-of-factly, "I know you must have had a reason for doing this, and that glass of water wasn't harmful."

"Well... what if I fail to control my ability and the water actually spills? After all, this is the first time I've used this ability," Xiang Kun asked with a smile.

Based on his subconscious mental calculations, given Lao Xia's personality and consistent behavior, the reaction to the sudden splash of water would be over 70% if he didn't dodge but closed his eyes—after all, when something suddenly comes at you, the instinct to protect your eyes will kick in regardless of rational judgment; 20% would not dodge but raise his hand; 5% would subconsciously dodge to the side; 2% would stare directly at the splashed water without dodging, raising their hand, or closing their eyes; 2% would crouch down with their head in their hands; and the remaining less than 1% would dodge while simultaneously exclaiming in surprise.

Although Lao Xia's reaction in the end was a small probability of 2%, he actually hoped to see that less than 1% at the end, and he was particularly looking forward to giving Lao Xia a surprise.

Unfortunately, it didn't scare them.

To Xiang Kun's question, Lao Xia's answer remained matter-of-fact, "Given your brain's deductive abilities, you must have been very confident to do that. Even if you messed up, you'd be the one agonizing over how to handle it."

Xiang Kun was speechless. If he really accidentally splashed Lao Xia's face, he would be the one feeling embarrassed, apologetic, and having a huge headache.

Of course, just as Lao Xia said, although the way to use the ability only popped into his mind for a moment, through sensing the surrounding "Super-Linked Object" and the rapid calculation of his brain, he was quite confident in the application of this ability.

Xia Libing didn't Xiang Kun's comical way of demonstrating his ability, focusing instead on the ability itself. "You didn't enter 'Oxygen-Saving State' just now?"

She knew that last month in Star City, Xiang Kun had integrated the abilities of the "Mutated Parasite" he had previously devoured, and developed an "Oxygen-Saving State" that allowed him to breathe underwater and control the water flow to a certain extent.

Moreover, this ability was also used when rescuing Xia Tianhuo in Myanmar.

However, according to Xiang Kun, before controlling the water, one needs to enter an "Oxygen-Saving State," regardless of whether one is in the water or not. If one wants to have a "strong influence" on the surrounding water, one needs to have direct contact and connection with the water, being immersed in it.

Xiang Kun's control over that glass of water was undoubtedly "strongly influential," but according to Xia Libing's observation, Xiang Kun did not seem to have entered an "Oxygen-Saving State," nor did he have any direct contact with the water.

"Yes, I didn't enter 'Oxygen-Saving State'. Just now, I used all the 'Super-Linked Object' in this room—the ones on my body, the ones on your body, and the ones in my bag—to help me build this area into a whole, and then control a part of the water in this whole," Xiang Kun explained quickly.

"Did you deliberately create that shape?" Xia Libing asked again. In her opinion, making that ball of water take on such a complex form was a complete waste of effort.

Xiang Kun naturally knew she was asking about the miniature Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Monster form condensed from water, and said, "It wasn't intentional... but this ability was 'developed' by the Little Chubby Girl... For now, like your 'Fantasy Manifestation,' if I want to use it quickly outside of an 'Oxygen-Saving State,' I can only condense and construct liquid water in that way. Otherwise, there's no way to control it so freely. I'll have to figure out the specific implementation method of this ability before I can use it completely freely."

Upon hearing this, Xia Libing seemed to regain her sleepiness and continued to experiment with this ability with Xiang Kun.

This newly developed ability from the Little Chubby Girl is not a derivative or extension of the "Oxygen-Saving State," but a broader ability that encompasses a wider range of fields. It can control not only water, but theoretically, most gaseous, liquid, and small particulate objects, allowing them to appear as an "eight-armed monster" within the designated area.

However, all the "eight-armed monsters" look the same. Without the ability to "refine" the details, most people, except for those like him and Lao Xia who have preconceived notions, probably wouldn't recognize what it is.

This capability is undoubtedly very strong and can be applied in a wide variety of scenarios.

With his significant improvement in the ability to connect and control "Super-Linked Object" and the increasing number of "Super-Linked Object" that have established connections, the weakness of the limitation on the area of use can be greatly compensated.

Putting everything else aside, it's quite powerful just for "scaring people".

If used in conjunction with the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" emotion projection during Montamira, wow...

Of course, even if Xiang Kun had already mastered this ability at that time, he wouldn't have done it.

No need.

After demonstrating to Lao Xia several more times, even using flour to form a loose yet controllable "eight-armed little flour man," the lights in the room began to dim, and various electrical appliances seemed to be affected.

Considering that the room was extremely humid when the eight-armed water man was first created, they stopped the demonstration because continuing to try new abilities through "Super-Linked Object" in such an environment might damage electronic products and various electrical appliances.

Xiang Kun sat on the sofa, using Lao Xia's laptop to access QQ, and recounted his experiences in Montamira and the process of controlling the "Super-Linked Object" to invoke the "Eight-Armed Eight-Eyed Wooden Carving" to project emotions and exert influence over a Lao Xia area.

Because the requirements of various operators are quite strict now, the person must come in person to replace the SIM card. So Lao Xia only bought him a new phone during the day, but he still has to go and replace the SIM card himself. The phone is not usable for the time being and he can't access WeChat. He can only use Lao Xia's computer to open QQ.

As soon as he logged onto QQ, he received several messages from the Little Chubby Girl. He logged onto QQ specifically to check on Little Chubby Girl, because he knew that after Little Chubby Girl "developed" her new ability, she would probably send him a message to report and show off.

"Bald Uncle! Bald Uncle! I saw 'Barbie Warrior' on the news! There are pictures of her!"

"Da Lu helped me revise my 'Barbie Warrior' drawing, and now it looks so much better!"

"And I can use 'magic' to piece together 'Barbie Warrior,' and it looks much more like her than before!"

"Uncle Baldy, when will you come to play with me again? I'll put it together for you to see, it'll be really awesome!"

"I wanted to use cookie crumbs to build a 'Barbie Warrior,' but my mom found out I was crushing cookies and scolded me."

"That Meng... that Meng... Meng Lalala in the news, is there a bad guy or a monster among them? I heard from my teacher that 'Barbie Warrior' saved a lot of people?"

"Barbie Warrior are awesome! I'll study hard, go to elementary school early, learn physics and math, practice magic, and help Uncle Baldy fight monsters!"

"Egg Pie will try her best too! I'm training it now! It wants to learn magic too!"

"Uncle Baldy, can I use my 'Barbie Warrior' figure as a body for 'Barbie Warrior'?"

After listening to the Little Chubby Girl's series of voice messages and seeing the "Barbie Warrior" drawing she sent, Xiang Kun finally understood why the Little Chubby Girl's newly "developed" ability could only be presented in the form of that "eight-armed little man".

To be honest, the Little Chubby Girl's drawing skills have indeed improved a lot. She's only been really passionate about drawing for a short time, but the speed of her progress is quite astonishing.

Moreover, within the "Super-Sensing Item System," this girl is also a wildly imaginative "genius developer," far more talented than in drawing.

If Xiang Kun had to figure out, develop, evolve, derive, and expand all these abilities she "developed" from scratch, it would have taken who knows how long, since his focus on abilities is not in these aspects at all.

Of course, if it is something he gradually guided, evolved, integrated, and controlled from his own abilities, then its power would definitely be many orders of magnitude greater, and its application would inevitably be much richer and more flexible.

Xiang Kun replied to the Little Chubby Girl with a panda thumbs-up emoji, expressing his appreciation for her "development achievements" and "improvements in drawing".

After Xiang Kun finished telling him about Montamira's experience, Xia Libing then told Xiang Kun about the series of "conjectures" made by Yang Zhen'er during her previous phone call.

"Your cousin's guess was actually pretty accurate," Xiang Kun smile. He wasn't worried about Yang Zhen'er's suspicions. Anyway, she didn't have any direct evidence, so it didn't matter how much she suspected. Besides, they were all on his side, and all the suspicions and guesses stemmed from curiosity, so they wouldn't be detrimental to him subjectively.

In fact, there were still quite a few hidden dangers left from this trip to Montamira. Although he had made simulations and contingency plans for most of the situations, some of them were even deliberate smokescreens and baits he had planted.

But no matter how good he is at calculation and thinking, he can't completely control external factors and information from others. So he still has to find a way to make thorough preparations before those who might actually harm him find his "tail" in order to deal with all kinds of possibilities.

"Is there anything I need to say in response?" Xia Libing asked.

"No need, I'll just call her later," Xiang Kun said casually.

He glanced at the time; it was almost four in the morning. Just as he was about to tell Lao Xia to go to sleep, she suddenly asked a question that was clearly pointed:

"Did you make that game all by yourself?"