茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Chapter 116: The Beast

Xiang Kun led Tang Baona to a corner in the hallway outside the private room and whispered, “I’m not feeling quite right. I’ll leave first. Could you let Zhen’er and our friends know?”

Tang Baona looked at him with surprise and concern. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Did you catch a cold with the weather changing?”

“It’s nothing serious. I’ll be fine after a sleep. You should stay and enjoy yourselves. Oh, I forgot to say; happy birthday.” Although he was starting to feel hungry, Xiang Kun didn’t show anything unusual on the surface.

Having undergone tests and calculations from the beginning of his mutation, he found his toleration period from the onset of hunger to the need for blood was at most 22 hours, and his restlessness would emerge only after 4 hours at night.

However, he was acutely aware that he might lose control very easily when he was hungry, especially during the night. His mood was like dry firewood, ignited at the slightest spark and unpredictable. Thus, going home early to take a drink of blood and sleep was the most prudent course of action.

“Thank you! Speaking of, we haven’t cut the birthday cake yet. Want to have some before you leave?” As soon as she spoke, she remembered something, “Oh, I almost forgot. You don’t have a liking for sweets. You should go home and rest then. What a pity! I really wanted to hear you sing again. You sang so well earlier, it was like telling a story and I was completely captured by its emotions….”

As she was speaking, two obviously drunk young men walked past them. One of them, a tall man wearing a pink T-shirt, heard what Tang Baona said and chuckled, then stopped and said, “Miss, I can sing well too! Come to our room and listen. I know all of the trending songs. I promise, if you don’t like it, you can hit me over the head with a wine bottle. We have a bunch of handsome guys in our room too…..”

Tang Baona frowned slightly and was about to respond when Xiang Kun suddenly lashed out, aggressively grabbing the tall young man’s neck and lifting him up, slamming him into the wall in the hallway.

Though Xiang Kun immediately let go, the young man was left coughing and clutching his throat.

The other young man was startled, hopping back a few steps before advancing again. Seeing the bald man who effortlessly picked up his friend and slammed him into the wall, only to turn around nonchalantly, he didn’t dare to do anything.

Then he noticed the bald man’s eyes behind his glasses were somewhat scattered, as if he wasn’t really looking at him, but somewhere far away with a completely innocent and bewildered look.

But this expression only made him more terrified. He swallowed the curse that was on the tip of his tongue and cautiously went to help his friend, who looked quite miserable, away from the scene.

The tall youth wearing the pink T-shirt brushed off his friend’s hand, glaring at Xiang Kun furiously, “You…”

Xiang Kun didn’t meet his gaze, but continued to look innocent and confused, as if to say, “Why are you looking at me? I didn’t do anything.”

The tall youth glared at Xiang Kun, his fists clenched, hesitating to attack. However, he eventually decided against it and growled “You’ll pay for this!” before being half-dragged away by his friend.

Unknown to them, after Xiang Kun grabbed the taller young man, he immediately regretted it, realizing he was affected by his hunger-induced irritability. So, he consciously controlled his strength. It looked like he threw him into the wall, but in reality, he’d only pushed the taller young guy against the wall for just a moment. His actions looked intense, but didn’t inflict any harm.

After the incident, Xiang Kun deliberately shifted his attention away from the two, reciting in his mind to calm himself down, “Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. Anger harms, no one can replace. If I die from anger, who’ll be happy…All things are nothing more than illusion…”

He knew he shouldn’t have reacted impulsively. There could have been a better way to handle it. During normal times, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but now if a fight ensued and ended with a visit to the police station, the delay would just increase the number of variables- an extra minute would mean one more risk.

He didn’t even dare to pay attention to the two young men. At night, especially when his hunger was demanding fresh blood, he feared he would unconsciously use “mental deterrence” and be influenced by it, lose control, and kill them on the spot. That would be a disaster.

Fortunately, the two didn’t make any further trouble.

Tang Baona also breathed a sigh of relief, patting her chest and saying, “That scared me, I thought you guys were going to fight.”

Indeed, she had been startled by Xiang Kun’s sudden move, by the time she reacted and wanted to intervene, the two had already run away.

Honestly, Xiang Kun’s performance just now did surprise her.

Even though she and Yang Zhen Er had watched a video of Xiang Kun kicking a knife-wielding thug under their rental building and witnessed him capturing a wanted criminal and subduing a human trafficker, they predominantly perceived Xiang Kun as a gentle and patient person. Even when he confronted wanted criminals and human traffickers, he seemed unflappable, extremely collected and calm—there was a sense that he had everything under control.

However, she distinctly felt the fury and even ferocity erupting from Xiang Kun at that moment. For an instant, Xiang Kun felt like a beast ready to tear someone apart.

Xiang Kun controlled his emotions and relaxed himself and said to Tang Baona, “I’m sorry, I lost control just now. You should go back to the private room quickly, I’ll leave first.”

“Yes, be careful on the way, go home and rest early.”

Although Xiang Kun wanted to rush home and recover immediately, after bidding farewell to Tang Baona, he did not leave the KTV right away. Instead, he took a walk around the passageway and traced the scent of the two young men to their private room.

Xiang Kun was a bit worried that these two may not have erupted just then but might look for trouble in Tang Baona’s room later.

If because of his reasons, Tang Baona, Yang Zhen Er, and their friends were harmed, then his guilt would be massive.

He needed to be sure if these two would make any subsequent moves.

He didn’t go directly to the room where the two were, but stood two rooms away, buried in his phone at a corner, giving the impression that he was a customer from a nearby room on the phone.

Xiang Kun focused his attention on that room and quickly heard the two young men’s voices.

“…Damn, that Baldy must have some problems in his brain. That look and expression on his face seemed quite perverted!” This was the voice of the companion of the tall young man.

“Yeah, damn, he just finished choking me and then he opened his eyes wide and looked so innocent. It was kind of creepy and woke me right up…” This was the voice of the tall young man whom Xiang Kun had choked.

Xiang Kun, standing at the corner of the outside corridor, had a puzzled look on his face: I deliberately controlled my ‘mental deterrence’. I didn’t focus on either of them, and definitely didn’t use ’emotional assimilation’ at that time. Why are they saying I looked perverted and creepy??

Xiang Kun felt slightly annoyed and wronged deep down.

“What? So hardcore, choking you and smashing you against the wall? Brother Dong, Xiao Qi was bullied. We can’t let it go right? Let’s go and see what that perverted Baldy looks like, he couldn’t have gone too far, right?” This voice must be from the original room occupant.

“Ah Hua, you said that the guy who choked Xiao Qi is Baldy?” The other voice sounded quite familiar to Xiang Kun..