茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Chapter Eighteen: Nothing is Different

“Dial 110, dial 120, call an ambulance!”

After subduing the perpetrator, Xiang Kun rushed to check on the stabbed young couple. Blood was smeared all over their bodies, with multiple puncture wounds on their torsos and limbs.

Xiang Kun had been reading a lot of medical articles lately, acquiring quite a bit of first aid knowledge. Following a brief examination, he determined that neither of them had any arteries pierced. He instructed them to apply pressure to their wounds, stay put, and wait for the ambulance.

The police and the ambulance arrived speedily. Although the hooligan knocked unconscious by Xiang Kun never came to his senses, the grocery store owner and the helping neighbors had him bound up like a rice dumpling.

Soon, everyone, including the thug, was taken away by the ambulance.

According to the on-site paramedic, although the young couple was stabbed multiple times, their lives were not in danger as no vital parts were hit.

As for the thug, his nasal bone was definitely broken and he probably suffered a mild concussion, but his life was not in danger either.

Xiang Kun breathed a sigh of relief. Honestly, he was somewhat surprised at the force of his punch — underestimating the power of his own fist, he saw the thug’s face seemingly smashed sloppily as the man went limp instantly. His first thought was that he might have killed the man.

Logically speaking, even if he did kill someone with one punch, it would undoubtedly still be justifiable self-defense — as the thug’s first response after hitting the ground was to reach for his knife. The grocery store owner and the surveillance footage at the store’s entrance would testify to this.

But if he did kill someone, it would be impossible to avoid a series of investigations, and there’s a good chance his secret would be exposed.

Both Xiang Kun and the grocery store owner went to the police station to make official statements. They were both eyewitnesses, especially Xiang Kun, who directly subdued the assailant.

However, in the police car, the officer sitting in the front assured Xiang Kun that he was safe. They had seen the surveillance footage from the entrance of the grocery store, it was definitely justifiable self-defense. After providing the record, he could go home. The officer also asked if he had any injuries and if he needed to go to the hospital first for a check-up.

Xiang Kun naturally didn’t want to go to the hospital, and he had indeed not suffered any injuries. After a flying kick and a punch thrown upon his descent, the thug was done for.

The officer asked as such because Xiang Kun was covered in blood, not just his hands but also his face and the corners of his mouth, which at a glance seemed worse than the three individuals taken away by the ambulance.

The grocery store owner, sitting in the back seat with Xiang Kun, didn’t stop talking since getting on the car. At times, he described the criminal proceedings to the officers in the front seat, and at others, he lauded Xiang Kun’s exceptional skills and wondered if he had received prior training.

During the conversation, Xiang Kun learned that the thug was the ex-boyfriend of the girl living downstairs from him. He had caused a ruckus a month ago, almost escalating to violence, but several friends of the girl’s current boyfriend had managed to calm him down, thereby avoiding a confrontation.

However, no one expected that he would show up today, armed with a knife and intent on violence.

Xiang Kun only responded intermittantly to the officer and the grocery store owner’s conversation, staying out of it unless directly addressed.

At this moment, his attention was truly on himself.

After subduing the thug and checking the couple’s injuries, Xiang Kun was smeared with a lot of blood. Upon seeing it, he felt a desire to drink it.

However, perhaps because he had just awakened from a long sleep following a blood-drinking episode last night, he wasn’t particularly thirsty for fresh blood. Thus, he managed to control his urge rather easily.

Moreover, Xiang Kun sneakily licked the blood off his arm, pretending to wipe away sweat.

This experimental “sip” slightly relieved Xiang Kun — human blood didn’t make him feel any different than rabbit’s blood.

He was always apprehensive about becoming like the vampires in various works of fiction, dependent on human blood for survival. That was something he couldn’t accept.

After quickly providing their statements at the police station, the officer who brought them there arranged for someone to take them home.

By the time he got home, it was already past 11PM. Xiang Kun went straight to the cage in the bathroom, took out the rabbit he had just bought that morning, slaughtered it, bled it, and drank 50ml.

Xiang Kun felt it again and confirmed — there was no difference between human blood and rabbit blood.

Although the sight of blood still kindled a certain degree of hunger in his body, Xiang Kun didn’t consume the rest of the rabbit’s blood after drinking the initial 50ml. Instead, he wrapped up the remaining blood and the rabbit carcass together.

One, he didn’t want to fall into a 25-hour sleep again. Two, he didn’t want to indulge his bloodlust and was intentionally trying to exercise restraint.

Sitting down at his computer, Xiang Kun reflected for a moment and recorded several pieces of information he encountered that day in a document.

One noteworthy event from the day was that he remained very rational and clear-headed throughout. This enabled him to stop after landing a heavy punch on the thug.

This wasn’t like him.

Xiang Kun was not particularly courageous. He had witnessed a similar incident in college when two young gang members chased a student with a knife at the school gate. When the student couldn’t escape, he was slashed multiple times. He was hospitalized for half a year, but luckily there were no long-term disabilities, only a few horrifying scars.

At that time, Xiang Kun was about twenty or thirty meters away from the conflict, walking with a big group of peers. He remembered feeling icy cold and instinctively following the crowd away from the danger, without ever considering intervening. Even after the school guards subdued the thugs and the student was removed by ambulance, his hands were still shaking.

Xiang Kun was almost certain that if he hadn’t experienced the physical transformation, he would have called the police at most and would never have dared to intervene.

But, when he saw the knife-wielding thug this time, he felt neither fear nor concern. He was absolutely certain that the thug posed no threat to him.

This was an instinctive bodily reaction.

Xiang Kun examined his fists, which had severely disfigured the thug’s face. The punch was indeed potent, but his knuckles showed no signs of injury, not even a graze.

Xiang Kun suddenly felt a stir in his heart. Reaching for the knife he used to slaughter rabbits, he cleaned it with alcohol and lightly cut the tip of his finger.