茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

It wasn’t until the midday of the following day that Xiang Kun returned to where he had hidden his backpack.

After retrieving his bag, he didn’t immediately turn on his mobile phone, even though he instinctively knew that the energy surrounding him must have dissipated after such a long time. To be safe, however, he decided to wait a bit longer – he really didn’t want to have to replace his phone again.

After changing into the replacement clothes he had brought and putting his shoes back on, Xiang Kun put the dirty, worn-out clothes he had taken off back into his bag. Sporting a cotton cap, he then wore his bag and continued to walk towards the city, looking every bit the tourist.

Only after getting on the bus back to his city in the afternoon did Xiang Kun take out his phone to turn it on and check the messages on WeChat.

During the two days that he had been in the mountainous area, Xiao Pingguo had sent him several voice messages, saying that her “Object Sensing” practice seemed to have made significant progress. It seemed that she had established some sort of connection with the Minion Wood Carving, allowing her to sense some things through it.

The messages were sent before Xiang Kun started his attempt at flight, resulting in a violent thunderstorm. This further demonstrated that Xiao Pingguo and Liu Shiling’s reinforced connection with those items was largely due to the mutations that Xiang Kun underwent after drinking blood.

This mutation was akin to a server that provides services undergoing a hardware upgrade, enhancing certain abilities. Some of the phenomena that occurred during flight perhaps meant a temporary increase in bandwidth for all users. This meant that not only could they enhance their control and sensing of the linked items, but Xiang Kun could also gain more information in return, even directly sensing from them.

Xiang Kun thought for a bit and then took the initiative to call Xiao Pingguo. He made up an excuse to explain why he hadn’t replied to her WeChat messages earlier, and “casually” touched on the “Object Sensing” issue that Xiao Pingguo had mentioned in her messages.

However, during the call, Xiao Pingguo didn’t mention any abnormalities from the night before.

Xiang Kun’s first reaction was that Xiao Pingguo’s sensing of the “Emotionally Infused” items all occurred in her dreams, therefore, she might have seen all the sensed content as part of the “dreamland”. However, from her voice, she seemed to be withholding something and was hesitant to speak.

After hanging up the phone, Xiang Kun didn’t pursue or probe further on WeChat. He suspected that either there were other people around Xiao Pingguo at the time who made it inappropriate to talk, or she had some concerns that made her unwilling to directly discuss the events of the previous night.

Sure enough, twenty minutes later, a notification popped up on WeChat. Xiao Pingguo had sent a voice message.

In a hushed whisper, Xiao Pingguo explained: “Uncle Xiang, I was at home just now and my Aunt Yang was nearby, so I couldn’t speak freely. I’m at the park now. Aunt Yang is chatting with someone she knows by the roadside so she can’t hear me.”

“Uncle Xiang, I had some pretty strange dreams last night…”

Xiao Pingguo sent over a dozen voice messages in succession, telling Xiang Kun about the strange dreams she had last night. She described the unusual perceptions in her dreams and the strong sense she had towards the Minion Wood Carving after she woke up. Through the Minion, she established a connection with the CPU carving and sensed a weird, strange existence from afar.

If it was anyone else, they might not have understood Xiao Pingguo’s descriptions of the dreamland, including the bizarre and strange scenarios, and how she herself was morphing into a multi-armed monster being chased and the like.

But Xiang Kun immediately understood what she was trying to express, because the dreamland she experienced was essentially the scenes and senses that he had conceived in his mind when creating those wooden carvings and employing “Emotional Infusion”.

Moreover, he had more than once sensed Xiao Pingguo’s dreams, experiencing various things through her emotions and insight.

Thus, he could understand, why the scenes Xiao Pingguo “saw” appeared quite bizarre. On one hand, the memories or imagined scenes infused into the wood carvings along with the emotions would lose many details when sensed or transposed by others;

On the other hand, Xiao Pingguo was congenitally blind. The nerves in her brain related to vision could have developed differently compared to those with normal vision, as the activation direction would be different. Her preset understanding of all things would also differ, hence even in dreams, or even when transposing Xiang Kun’s memories, her “view” and her understanding of “normal” sights would bear discrepancies.

There are two things that Xiang Kun gave particular attention to:

Firstly, in Xiao Pingguo’s initial dreams, she heard the sound of thunder and felt as if she was in a thunderstorm. Following that, she embarked on the journey of three “dreamlands”.

Secondly, apart from the wooden carvings Xiang Kun gifted to Xiao Pingguo, she also sensed the Eight-armed, Eight-eyed Wood Carving that was kept in a cupboard in Xiang Kun’s house. Whether it was in her “dreamland” or afterwards, it was clearly related to that carving.

It’s clear, as per Xiang Kun’s previous understanding, that Xiao Pingguo established a deep connection with many of Xiang Kun’s “Emotionally Infused” items for a period of time after the lightning storm was triggered.

And the cognition and sensations she reflected while connecting with these objects can be considered a type of functionality “developed” based on her unique cognitive pattern, grounded in the peculiar characteristics of these items and Xiang Kun’s abilities.

As the provider of these abilities, Xiang Kun naturally gained these functionalities directly.

The reason why Xiao Pingguo sensed that Eight-Armed, Eight-Eyed Wood Carving and not any other “Emotionally Infused” items seems random, without any special mechanism at work.

If she were given more time, she should be able to establish a connection with more “Emotionally Infused” items.

However, Xiao Pingguo’s words about her sensation toward the Eight-Armed, Eight-Eyed Wood Carving after waking up made Xiang Kun somewhat exasperated.

In Xiao Pingguo’s perception, she didn’t realize that what she was sensing was the same type of wood carving as the Minion she held in her hand. Instead, she thought she had sensed an actual “Eight-Armed, Eight-Eyed Monster,” just like the monster she had transposed herself into in her dreams.

Thus, in the guess she subtly conveyed to Xiang Kun on WeChat, she believed that: the monster was trapped somewhere, devoid of freedom. It, therefore, sparked the dream within her, as if it were invoking her “help”.

Xiao Pingguo believed that the path the monster used to contact her and enter her dreams was “Object Sensing,” the practice Xiang Kun taught her. This practice seemed to have opened up a channel for her to connect with the monster, at least on some level.

In the end, Xiao Pingguo asked Xiang Kun, “Uncle Xiang, do you think what I saw later on were ‘illusions’?”

Well…

How should he answer this question?

From Xiao Pingguo’s descriptions, strictly speaking, the Eight-Armed, Eight-Eyed Monster that was being chased everywhere and filled with terror and panic in the dream… that was actually Xiang Kun!

However, what happened in those dreams, is not even a memory, but simply a fantasy based on emotions.

Xiang Kun could actually understand Xiao Pingguo’s speculation, as her initial connection to the Eight-Armed, Eight-Eyed Wood Carving was through her experiences in the dream.

So, when she woke up and sensed the wood carving afar, the similar perception from the dream immediately projected its understanding and image, as if it was indeed a living monster.

Xiang Kun initially wanted to correct Xiao Pingguo’s misunderstanding and guide her towards truth. But on second thought, the reason Xiao Pingguo was able to “develop” the new function of “Emotional Infusion” into items, was her and Liu Shiling’s distinct and self-consistent cognition system towards these items that differed from his.

To some extent, a cognitive model is like a tool. As long as it’s useful and convenient, it doesn’t necessarily have to be perfectly aligned with the facts.

Nevertheless, Xiang Kun reminded her, “Whenever you sense something like this, pay attention to your emotional changes. If you feel that negative emotions are too strong, stop promptly, and don’t let it affect you. If that many-armed monster actually exists, it may not be a good thing. If there really is such an abnormal world, there must be other creatures who can communicate with people in this way, you can try to see if you can establish new connections, which can also be used to corroborate whether the multi-armed monster is an illusion. If you have any difficulties or doubts, you can contact me at any time.”

Originally, Xiao Pingguo was able to enhance her emotions by using the “Emotionally Infused” items. Now she was able to connect with other “Emotionally Infused” items and sense the emotions imbued in them at certain times.

If it were just those few things Xiang Kun gave her, either making her happy, joyful, or focused, interested, there wouldn’t be any negative impact.

However, for other “Emotionally Infused” items, especially the “Eight-Armed, Eight-Eyed Wood Carving” which is a product of fear, if she was affected by the returned emotions from the carving, which were then strengthened, it would definitely cause a bad experience for her psychologically.

Being happy that Xiang Kun didn’t laugh at her for having childish and ridiculous views, but instead seriously engaged in discussion and offered advice, Xiao Pingguo replied in a cheerful voice, “Okay, then I will consult Uncle Xiang when I have problems in the future.”

After ending the chat with Xiao Pingguo, Xiang Kun was pondering how to find the state of the previous night without causing a lightning storm, or needing to fly, to sense the special bond between Xiao Pingguo and Liu Shiling. Suddenly, he felt alert, and abruptly got up from his seat, looking towards the front of the bus.

His attention was mostly focused on his conversation with Xiao Pingguo, and he was carrying out extensive thinking about his abilities, but his gathering of surrounding environment information has already become instinctive. Through the various sounds outside the vehicle, he had a premonition of danger.

Sure enough, in the next instant, the bus driver noticed the small car that had lost control, broke through the barrier and rushed into their lane from the opposite side. Startled, the driver instinctively swung the steering wheel to dodge, but he was going too fast. The bus swerved sideways and began to tip over.

Seeing the oncoming car break through the barrier strip, Xiang Kun entered a state of extreme focus. His brain was rapidly computing and extrapolating various possibilities based on different pieces of information.

The moment the driver stepped on the brakes, Xiang Kun knew that the bus was bound to tip over, but it was too late to do anything to stop it.

His vision swept through the inside of the bus, taking in the condition of all the passengers. His rapid cognition calculated the scenarios, making plans for him to dodge, leverage, absorb impact, avoid collision and minimize injury within the bus.

With his reaction speed, physical strength, and agility, coupled with his foreknowledge of the situation, there should be no problem in minimizing damages to the greatest extent.

Besides, he has extraordinary healing abilities and does not need to worry about anything.

But as Xiang Kun’s gaze swept over the other passengers in the bus, he couldn’t help but ask himself:

What about them?

What would happen to them in this crash?

Therefore, Xiang Kun’s brain began to quickly extrapolate how the other passengers would fare when the bus started rolling.

Although Xiang Kun seemingly became a so-called “hero” by accident in many occurrences, like stopping criminals, catching wanted criminals, capturing human traffickers etc., he, in reality, is not a person who enjoys playing the role of a “hero”. So, even after his body gradually mutated, developing various abilities over time, he never thought of becoming a superhero, to stand for justice and punish the evil.

Because, he did not believe that it could bring actual justice, and he was also not the self-sacrificing type of “hero”.

However, like the previous encounters with criminals, faced with a wanted criminal, or when crashing into human traffickers, when something happens right in front of him, and when he has the ability to do something, he is not able to just stand by and convince himself that “it’s none of my business”.

Everything seemed to be in slow motion, very slow. It was because his brain was working at its limit, his consciousness constantly calculating and extrapolating based on previous information, constructing one cognition model after another. And due to his extraordinary dynamic vision, he was also able to accurately see all the changes happening inside the bus.

From a visual and cognitive standpoint, Xiang Kun had plenty of time. He could create a very detailed plan to help others reduce the injuries they might incur from the accident.

But the problem was, though Xiang Kun’s body was stronger compared to the average person, he was not Flash or Quicksilver or Superman. Even if he reacted at that very moment, he wouldn’t be able to do much in the frame of time before the bus tipped over. He was the only one, and he could only save a limited number of people.

So who should he save?

Through his extrapolation, he could estimate who was likely to be the most severely injured. If there were people he knew on the bus, he would, undoubtedly, choose them. If there were several people he knew, he would definitely choose the ones he was closest to. Selfishness is human nature, and he was no saint.

But at this moment, he didn’t know anyone on the bus. So who should he save?

When the sudden braking, swerving, and tipping of the bus began, Xiang Kun had already made a decision. Leaning on the bus wall, using the enormous inertia, when the bus flipped over, he opened his arms to catch the little boy falling from the side, quickly spun around, utilized his body as a buffer to soften the impact, created a space for the little boy, preventing him from being crushed by other passengers and objects.

From the oncoming car losing control, breaking through the barrier, to the bus braking, flipping, and stopping moving, everything happened within just a few seconds.

Most passengers did not realize what had happened until they came back to their senses, immobilized, or even unconscious.

I recommend a humorous and cheerful novel “The Master Has a New Task”.