茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Tang Baona called for a ride and took the half-finished woodcarving packed in a cardboard box by Xiang Kun. She was originally planning to head home, but her mother sent a message telling her that she and her sister were at their grandfather’s house, so she instructed the driver to change course.

Upon arrival, Tang Baona learned from her sister Baoting that she’d brought her boyfriend along, apparently planning to announce their engagement. Their grandfather proposed that he should meet him.

Baoting’s boyfriend was rather introverted and shy, but he was tall and handsome. Baona had met him a few times before and knew he was a local public servant who had been dating her sister for over a year. Given their age, discussing marriage was only a natural progression.

Once Tang Baona arrived, she found a corner to sit in and play with her phone, not participating in the conversation. When the chatter was more or less over, their grandfather, Mr. Feng, noticed the box at her feet and asked: “Nana, what have you brought for your grandfather?”

Tang Baona blinked in surprise then quickly responded: “Oh, Grandfather, this is a woodcarving made by a friend of mine. It’s still not finished, so it’s not suitable to offer as a gift!”

“Oh? Made by your friend? Do young people also enjoy playing with woodcarvings these days? Is your friend an art student by any chance?” Mr. Feng was intrigued by the woodcarving Tang Baona had brought.

She then brought the box to her grandfather, took out the unfinished woodcarving, and put it on the table.

Upon seeing the woodcarving, her sister Tang Baoting couldn’t help but let out a chuckle—it was somewhat “humorous”.

Mr. and Mrs. Tang, along with Baoting’s boyfriend, understood then what Baona had meant by “unfinished”.

But Mr. Feng was curious about the woodcarving, which wasn’t sanded down, had clearly visible carving marks, imperfections in multiple places, and was slightly misshapen overall.

Mr. Feng had a dear friend in his early years who was a master woodcarver in the south. He also studied woodcarving and had quite a collection at home, so he had a discerning eye.

“Your friend’s skill is still rather raw, but his knife work isn’t bad. He has a steady hand, good control over the force applied, and is quite talented.” Mr. Feng remarked while scrutinizing the unfinished work, “Most woodcarvings nowadays are done with electric drills and carving machines for efficiency, less effort, and stability. It’s increasingly rare to see traditional handmade work.”

Tang Baona promptly took out her phone and showed her grandfather the Saber woodcarving she’d photographed, which was now carefully preserved in a transparent display box at home.

“This is the unfinished one that I asked him for today. The one on my phone is the finished product.”

Mr. Feng put on reading glasses and, as he examined the pictures of Saber taken from various angles, slowly nodded his head, “This one is quite interesting. Significant progress indeed. Very interesting.”

Tang Baoting also leaned in to look at the photos on her sister’s phone, expressing surprise, “Saber? From your profile picture? The carving is really good…your friend…” She suddenly seemed to realise something. She gave her sister a significant look, nodded and went back to her seat.

Mr. Feng didn’t notice anything unusual in his granddaughter’s words. After examining the pictures on the phone for a bit, he said to Tang Baona: “Nana, ask your friend next time if he wants to sell any of his works. I’d like to have one for myself.”

“Okay, I’ll ask him.” Tang Baona nodded happily, proud that her friend’s woodcarving had met her discerning grandfather’s approval. Her grandfather said, “Get one for me,” but she could tell that he meant to buy it. Of course, she wouldn’t let him pay. She would negotiate a price with Xiang Kun and buy it to give to her grandfather.

She knew that Xiang Kun, although he had just received a “reward” of 200,000, hadn’t been working for a while. It seemed his mortgage wasn’t paid off yet, so having an extra means of income would definitely be a good thing. Given her grandfather’s social circle, if he simply mentioned it a few times among friends, it was certain to bring in other customers, making Xiang Kun’s woodcarving popular quickly.

Tang Baona suddenly realized that she herself could do it. She could post the Saber woodcarving at home on her circle of friends and Weibo. It would quickly attract a lot of people to inquire about it, wanting to place orders. After all, such a lifelike and detailed woodcarving of a character from a secondary dimension of comics was indeed rare.

However, it was strange that Tang Baona, who usually enjoyed posting on her circle of friends, along with Yang Zhen Er, who also took pictures at the time, didn’t post this Saber woodcarving on their circle of friends or on any other social media.

She quickly understood her mindset. It seemed she subconsciously didn’t want Xiang Kun to make custom-made woodcarvings for too many people, so she didn’t post to her circle of friends. As for Zhen Er, it was easier to understand. She would, of course, wait until the woodcarving that Kun had customized for her was ready before showing off.

After seeing Tang Baona off, Xiang Kun did not go straight home. Instead, he inexplicably ran up to the rooftop and gazed at the thousands of lights in the distance from the railing.

He had found out before that standing in a spacious, high place with good visibility at night, his senses would become more sensitive, and he would feel more “lightweight”.

He would often hear or smell something that came with the wind, which should be far beyond the range of his senses.

He had acrophobia before the mutation. When looking down from a high place, he would hold the railing tightly.

However, now standing on the rooftop, at least sixty to seventy meters above the ground, standing directly above the railing, he felt no fear or worry.

Of course, it’s not because he is now so mighty that he would be unharmed from such a height. He was certain that if he fell, the consequence would be quite tragic. Whether he could heal afterward was another matter. He had no desire to test it.

However, because of his superhuman ability to control his body now, he had the confidence that he wouldn’t accidentally fall, whether a strong wind suddenly sprang up or someone ambushed him and pushed him suddenly, he could predict it beforehand and be prepared.

“It would be great if I could fly…” Xiang Kun sighed a bit, imagining himself flying freely in the sky like the superheroes he saw in movies and TV shows, and couldn’t help but let his mind wander.

If he stands at a certain height, such as one meter off the ground, and keeps jumping off, could he trigger his body to evolve the ability to fly?

Well, probably not. It might just enhance the buffering capacity of the joints, or increase the strength of the bones and muscles, as well as enhance the protective buffering of the internal organs. If he were to get injured from falling, it might also accelerate the healing process.

He also considers attempting to emotionally trick himself into thinking he’s about to leap off a cliff to his death, despite only really being a meter off the ground.

However, Xiang Kun quickly dismissed these impractical thoughts. If he could truly fly, he would probably develop a large pair of wings first. Based on basic physics, it’s impossible to fly without some initial form of upward propulsion.

It’s not like he could evolve to have a rocket-style propulsion system. Pumping out super farts to lift himself off the ground?

Amused by his own wild thoughts, Xiang Kun jumped off the guardrail of the rooftop, preparing to head home. He didn’t dare hang out there for too long in case someone saw him and thought he was attempting suicide.

Once home, Xiang Kun first sent a WeChat message to Tang Baona to make sure she got home safely. After a while, he received a reply.

It was Tang Baona asking if he had any previous woodcarving works because someone wanted to buy them. She asked him to set a price and specifically informed him not to give a friendly discount. It didn’t matter if the price was high.

Xiang Kun was somewhat taken aback: someone wanted to buy his amateur woodcarvings?

However, he quickly realized that it was likely because someone saw the Saber woodcarving he gave to Tang Baona and became interested.

Many fans of the second -dimension culture have strong purchasing power, especially when it comes to unique, custom-made, limited-edition items.

Xiang Kun was a bit perplexed though. He understood that the woodcarving he gave Tang Baona turned out well because he had a connection with the Boxwood material he used. Without this connection, he wasn’t confident he could replicate its fine details with normal materials, given his relatively short experience with woodcarving.

If he were to mass produce and sell woodcarvings, it would be quite labor-intensive, and he wasn’t motivated to do so. It would only be feasible if he could sell them at a high price, which seemed unlikely given his reputation and the actual level of his work.

So, Xiang Kun replied: “I don’t have any stock, and even if I carve again, I might not reach the same level as the one I gave you.”

Tang Baona quickly replied: “No problem! You can just carve something when you have time. I’ll let the buyer set the price!”

“Alright, sounds good.” Xiang Kun knew that Tang Baona was helping him find a way to make money. He also wanted to see what level he could achieve and what price he could sell at if he didn’t form a connection with the material and instead relied solely on his super sensory contact with the tools.

With this thought in mind, Xiang Kun found a piece of Boxwood that he previously discarded without forming a connection with, picked up his carving tools, and started to work.

However, he was somewhat undecided about what to carve. Should he ask Tang Baona for input? But if he had to replicate a specific object and it didn’t turn out well, he would feel embarrassed to present it to Tang Baona.

He decided to create an original figure instead. If it turned out ugly, he could just say that it was supposed to look that way…

As Xiang Kun pondered, his hands unconsciously got to work. Meanwhile, his mind was ruminating over some unresolved questions related to Guo Tianxiang.

The first was the recurrent image of a man and a woman in Guo’s memories their relationship with Guo, their connection to his mutation and subsequent special abilities.

The second was the white porcelain knife that Guo Tianxiang used. It was clear that the hollow-handled, handcrafted knife had an armature for injecting liquid. When the button at the end of the handle was pressed, the liquid would cover the blade through a notch near the sharp edge. However, after killing Guo, Xiang Kun found no traces of the liquid. It’s unclear whether Guo didn’t fill the knife with liquid or if the liquid, like a vampire’s tissue, could self-destruct. Search attempts in Guo’s memories yielded vague results, with only one recollection of the knife being filled with some green fluid, with no memory fragments of where it came from.

The third question concerned the Yangcheng Police’s investigation into Guo Tianxiang: the reason for it, its progress, and whether they discovered his vampiric characteristics.

But for now, Xiang Kun was concerned about attract the investigation’s attention, so he dared not get close to any likely investigation areas, only conducting rudimentary searches on the internet.

He could only find inquiries about Guo Tianxiang’s clinic online, with no substantial information. As for the name “Li Ting’an,” he couldn’t find any content that matched the description.

Moreover, he couldn’t find any similar designs or models for the white porcelain knives, which might imply that Guo Tianxiang created it himself. Unfortunately, nothing could be found in his memories.

As for the Yangcheng Police’s investigation, there was no information to be found either.

When Xiang Kun realized he’d finished the rough draft of the woodcarving in his hands, he drew back his thoughts. Looking at it, he was somewhat satisfied. It was an eight-armed humanoid woodcarving about the size of his palm..