Human Joys and Sorrows Are Not Shared
After rummaging through a bunch of snacks in her bag for a while, Xia Libing finally settled on the vacuum-packed bread.
Tearing open the packaging, Xia Libing held the bread through half of the bag with her left hand, revealing a fragrant, crispy pork knuckle in her right hand. She then took a bite of the bread in her left hand, followed by a bite of the pork knuckle in her right, and as she chewed, her eyes unconsciously narrowed.
With Xiang Kun gone for the past few years, the only way they can enjoy "Chef Xiang's style" food is through Lao Xia's ability to "Fantasy Manifestation."
However, to the disappointment of Tang Baona, Little Chubby Girl, Yang the Third, and the others, Lao Xia's "Xiang Kun cuisine," whether it was pork knuckle, rabbit meat, or any other food, was all geared towards her taste. Although it was delicious, the most impressive aspect of "Xiang Kun cuisine" was its ability to fine-tune it according to everyone's different preferences. From 98 points to 100 points, although it may seem like only a two-point difference, the experience is fundamentally different.
Moreover, although the food that appears to be real can taste and has the same texture as the real thing, there is still a psychological difference in eating it after knowing that it is fake. In addition, the lack of a feeling of fullness further intensifies this strange feeling.
Of course, in the beginning, they often ordered "Xiang Kun's Dishes" to eat. Even if Lao Xia was busy at the Chongyun Village base, or the others were in Peng City or Shenhai, Alice could order them. Every time Tang Baona, Yang Zhen'er, and Little Apple failed in their cooking lessons and made terrible dishes that made them cry, they would ask Alice to order "Xiang Kun's Dishes" to change their taste.
However, not long after, Lao Xia restricted the manifestation of "Xiang Kun Cai". She made a rule on the number of times everyone could eat manifestation food each month, especially for Little Chubby Girl and Little Apple Guo, strictly limiting it to six times a month, and also strictly requiring the amount each time.
The reason for this is the concern that they might become addicted to the flavors of "Xiang Kun Cai" (a type of Chinese cuisine), which would reduce their appetite for other foods. Although the food itself may not provide a feeling of fullness, the process of eating it is a real experience that can have a psychological impact and create a sense of "deception" towards the body.
Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er would think about "losing weight" and deliberately try to eat more imaginary food instead of real food. Little Chubby Girl and Little Apple, on the other hand, would be greedy and eat too much "Xiang Kun Vegetables," which would unconsciously reduce their intake of normal food and make them increasingly picky eaters. This was obviously not good for the two of them who were still growing.
In particular, the longer Xiang Kun is gone, the stronger their longing for "Xiang Kun's cuisine" becomes. The psychological enhancement of the deliciousness brought by these tangible foods will be further amplified, and their threshold for the deliciousness of other normal foods will become higher and higher.
Although Alice is "watching over" them, ensuring their health won't suffer any major problems, Xiang Kun's consistent philosophy has always been to provide Little Chubby Girl and Little Apple with the most "normal" possible lives, including their diet during their growth. Little Chubby Girl, in particular, needs nutrition and shouldn't be allowed to indulge in the deliciousness of virtual food while she's growing.
Xiang Kun Fantasy Manifestation Kun not around, she naturally had to control and limit this ability, since she was the one who "developed" it.
It was only after Lao Xia stipulated the restrictions on the appearance of "Xiang Kun Cuisine" that Tang Baona, Yang Zhen'er, and Little Apple began to take Little Chubby Girl to "street sweep" in Peng City and surrounding cities, looking for delicious food, and even actively guiding and cultivating merchants to adjust their flavors to meet their needs.
Of course, as the one who proposed the limit on the number of times she can manifest, Lao Xia will also set an example by saying that she will also abide by the limit of six times a month for "Xiang Kun Cai" manifestations - naturally, "food" manifested during battle is not included - those are not for eating.
Although Lao Xia has a strong obsession with food and gourmet food, she also has a strong sense of self-control. She is usually immersed in research related to "Mutated Creature" and various affairs of the base. As for food, she usually goes to the canteen with everyone at the appointed time to eat, seeking quick and filling meals. Only when Tang Baona and Yang Zhen'er come to find her will everyone go to Youlong Restaurant for a good meal.
Just like before she met Xiang Kun, Yang Zhen'er had no idea that her cousin was so particular about food and had such profound insights into it, and that she was actually a little foodie at heart.
Therefore, Lao Xia's spending limit is basically never used up each month. This time, she happened to be in the car and took out bread from the backpack Xiang Kun gave her. Only then did she remember that she could spend her favorite "crispy pork knuckle" to eat.
With the crispy pork knuckle in hand, Xia Libing quickly ate three pieces of bread, drank some mineral water, let out a satisfied sigh, burped, and then continued driving.
Having already eaten, Xia Libing didn't go to Tongshi Town. Instead, she drove directly to Jianzhou City Airport to head to Peng City.
Tomorrow is July 1st, and July 2nd is Xiang Kun's birthday. Although Xiang Kun is not here now, the girls have developed a habit of having a meal together on July 1st.
Xia Libing actually knew that her cousin and Nana were deliberately making excuses to let her temporarily leave her work and research to relax. After all, most of the time, her cousin, Nana, Little Apple, and Little Bell were all in Peng City and lived together, so they didn't need to make a special effort to get together.
At this time, Nana, her cousin, and Little Apple are still on a mission in Bratislava. They will likely return home immediately after completing their mission today. According to Alice's schedule, they should arrive in Peng City before dinner tomorrow.
If Xia Libing arrives in Peng City first today, she can chat with Little Bell and check on her studies and hobbies. Although Alice usually reports to Little Bell about her situation, and Little Bell often comes to Chongyun Village with Yang Zhen'er and the others to visit her during holidays, there's still a gap in their understanding from a distance. It's not easy to discuss too many technical matters when they come to visit. Now that Little Bell has just finished her final exams and is in a relaxed mood, it's a good time to communicate.
Xia Libing could sense that Little Bell was putting a lot of pressure on herself, being too engrossed in building her own ability system. However, she wasn't completely absorbed in the process; she still had a need to demonstrate her abilities and craved opportunities to fight. Therefore, the more complete and powerful her ability system became, the greater the pressure she would feel.
Given the current situation, Xia Libing certainly wouldn't let an elementary school student handle issues related to "Mutated Creature"—even though, based on her abilities, she's actually among the top three in destructive power within the "Super-Sensing Item System."
However, Xia Libing wasn't too worried about this. She knew Little Bell too well and was confident she could keep her happily going to school, living, and playing, reducing her obsession with "fighting monsters and making magic work." After Little Bell graduated from junior high, she could give her an internship at the base, showing her the hope of demonstrating her abilities. This would naturally help the little girl settle down and finish elementary and junior high school peacefully.
Of course, if Xiang Kun had already woken up and returned by then, all the problems would be gone—as long as Xiang Kun was there, Little Bell's heart would be at peace, and her inner drive would return to "becoming stronger so that she can fight alongside 'Bald Uncle'", instead of "becoming strong enough to protect her mother, her sisters and Little Screw" as she does now, which would relieve her of the burden she had placed on her little shoulders.
Upon arriving at Jianzhou City Airport, Xia Libing parked his GL8, which looked quite old for its time, in the parking lot, slung his well-worn, spacious backpack over his shoulder, and strolled into the airport terminal.
In fact, the Research Base has a dedicated driver team with many vehicles that are far more advanced and comfortable than her old GL8, and drivers are responsible for picking up and dropping off the base's experts and senior researchers.
As the top figure at the Research Base, Xia Libing should logically have a dedicated driver, assistant, and even security personnel. She shouldn't be driving a beat-up van to catch a plane. However, Xia Libing is used to being alone and never needs any assistant, even at the base. Alice is enough; no assistant can match Alice's level of cooperation with her.
As for driving, if she has "official business" and travels with people from the base, she will still take the base's vehicle and travel with everyone. But if it is private, she will definitely drive herself, and she will always drive her old GL8.
It wasn't entirely because she wanted to be alone in the car; if that were the case, Alice could easily modify it into a self-driving car that met her requirements. Even with this GL8, without any modifications, Alice could take over operation and control it—because over 95% of the car's parts are "Super-Linked Object."
Xia Libing simply enjoys driving this car. She doesn't know if it's because driving this car reminds her of the days when everyone was in Chongyun Village and she drove them around together, but every time she drives this car, she feels a strange feeling. This feeling is vague, elusive, and hard to describe, but it definitely exists.
She liked this feeling.
After completing the formalities and going through security, Xia Libing, clutching her bag, sat in the waiting hall, awaiting her coronation.
The waiting hall was crowded. Behind her was a group of elderly people who were traveling together, enthusiastically discussing their itinerary after arriving at their destination and sharing snacks and fruits.
To her left was a couple, snuggling close together, whispering sweet nothings, pinching and teasing each other.
The young couple then passed a middle-aged man who was having a video call with a smile on his face, and on the other end was clearly his child.
To Xia Libing's right was a family of three, who looked like they had just finished a trip to Haixi and were preparing to go back. At that moment, the couple and their child were watching videos they had taken during their trip, laughing continuously.
Next to the family of three was a young woman in her twenties, holding her phone horizontally and playing a game with a focused expression, occasionally muttering curses.
Looking at her reflection in the glass, Xia Libing felt as if she were in a different world from everyone else around her. A phrase involuntarily came to mind:
"Human joys and sorrows are not shared; I only find their noise bothersome."
However, she immediately realized that this statement did not apply to her, because she did not find other people "noisy". If she needed to think or concentrate, she would naturally block out the surrounding noise. This was a "talent" she had always had, even before she met Xiang Kun.
As for the first half of the sentence... she actually shares the joys and sorrows of others, but only with one person, and only when she shares the joys and sorrows of him does she experience joy and sorrow herself.
During the many years that Xiang Kun was in a state of "dormancy" during his transformation, the more Xia Libing researched the characteristics of "Mutated Creature" and the deeper her integration with the "Super-Sensing Item System" became, the more certain she became that if she wanted to achieve a breakthrough in emotional experience and have a richer emotional experience, she had to rely on Xiang Kun's Emotional Assimilation.
The only way she could obtain normal emotions was to first acquire new emotional perceptions through Emotional Assimilation, and then deepen those perceptions through repeated scenes, thus establishing corresponding emotional perception habits.
In the years that Xiang Kun was away, Xia Libing had been repeating the spontaneous perception conditions of several emotions she had experienced, deepening the intensity of these emotions and expanding the range of triggers for them. Now, when she watches Little Bell, Yang Zhen'er and Little Apple rehearsing a new crosstalk, she occasionally finds it funny, but it's not funny enough to make her laugh out loud. From the outside, she still seems indifferent.
Although she doesn't talk about Xiang Kun as often as Nana, Lao San, Little Bell, and Little Apple, Xia Libing is actually the one who most wants Xiang Kun to come back as soon as possible. This is because only Xiang Kun can bring her new emotional experiences, only Xiang Kun can help her solve some of the problems related to the characteristics of "Mutated Creature" that Alice doesn't understand yet, and only Xiang Kun can help her verify some new conjectures about the nature of High-Dimensional Factor.
Xia Libing suddenly stood up, walked closer to the reflective glass, stopped just half a meter away, looked at her reflection, pinched her cheek with one hand, pouted her lips, pushed her nose up with the other hand, rolled her eyes, and made a very exaggerated face.
The next moment, she felt a very strong emotion, so she let go, hugged the backpack slung over her chest, and grinned.
Looking at her own incredibly bright yet somewhat unfamiliar smile reflected in the glass, Xia Libing suddenly realized something.
A small body appeared beside her, leaning against her leg. In the reflection in the glass, the image of Alice, who appeared beside her, was also smiling broadly, her eyes crinkling with joy.
Xia Libing looked down at her, and she looked up at him, their smiles still lingering.
"He's awake?" Xia Libing suddenly asked.
The feeling of "funny" she had just experienced was so intense that she had never felt it in the past five years. And Alice's sudden appearance was without her permission.
Although Alice could have arranged for all the surveillance cameras and electronic devices that would capture her image if she suddenly appeared in such a crowded place, and could have diverted the attention of those who were looking at her, she wouldn't normally need to do that.
Clearly, something big has happened.
"Hehe." Alice hugged Lao Xia's leg, twisting her body and grinning foolishly.