茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Xiang Kun headed directly to one side as soon as he reached the rooftop. He didn’t need to observe anymore.

He had already established a highly detailed 3D map of the building in his head, like a hologram. He knew exactly where he was and where Mijoe was located.

Descending from here to the twelfth floor was easier than climbing up from the ground and less likely to be discovered.

After climbing over the rooftop railing and scanning the area below, he quickly formulated several routes that would lead him directly to Mijoe’s master bedroom balcony.

It was impossible for Xiang Kun to stay here and continually monitor Mijoe. It also seemed unlikely that he would get the information he desired in the short term. Therefore, he needed to figure out how to play his “cards” for the future.

There was still no news from Alice, so he prepared himself for the possibility of a dead end.

Xiang Kun considered several options, like sneaking into the bedroom from the balcony and messing with her computer. Alternatively, he could leave objects connected to “Emotional Infusion” and “Super sensory contact” for future remote tracking and surveillance.

After weighing the pros and cons, Xiang Kun came up with a plan. He observed and sensed the situation between the opposite building and the path from the rooftop to room 1203. He checked for the possibility of being accidentally spotted by someone.

It wasn’t until almost fifteen minutes later that Xiang Kun began his planned descent.

Each of his movements was precise and purposeful without any hesitation. In less than 20 seconds, he quietly landed on the balcony of room 1203.

Xiang Kun gently turned the doorknob. It wasn’t locked, just as he hoped.

He listened to Mijoe’s breathing and heartbeat from inside the master bedroom. He knew that she was in a deep sleep. With his heightened senses, he would be able to detect if she woke up and react accordingly, so he wasn’t worried about waking her and getting exposed.

Upon seeing the laptop and portable router connected to it by a data cable on the table, Xiang Kun figured out why he hadn’t gotten feedback from Alice. Mijoe wasn’t using this broadband network. Instead, she was using her SIM card and mobile device to connect to the internet.

The laptop was closed, but it wasn’t switched off.

Xiang Kun slowly opened the laptop, turning it away to avoid the screen light disturbing Mijoe.

After awakening the laptop, it naturally prompted for a password.

When Guo Tianxiang and Mijoe used the laptop together, he had seen her enter her login password more than once. Xiang Kun saw the same in the memory fragments he obtained. Therefore, he tried using that password—even though the laptop had changed since those fragmented memories, people usually used the same password.

Xiang Kun successfully accessed the system. She hadn’t changed the password.

Xiang Kun did not transfer any data, leave any back doors, or tamper with her laptop. Instead, he simply inspected it.

After a while, he closed the laptop, put it back in place, and then began to inspect Mijoe’s other belongings.

Xiang Kun noticed that Mijoe’s laptop bag looked old. It was the same bag she had on when he first noticed her through the surveillance footage in a convenience store. In Guo Tianxiang’s memories, she used the same bag whenever she carried her laptop.

Now that Mijoe was part of “Divine Technology,” she had changed her laptop and her hairstyle, but she was still using the same bag.

It seemed that this laptop bag had a special meaning for her?

Xiang Kun slowly picked up the bag and inspected it. He found an ID card with the name “Chen Tianhua” but with Mijoe’s picture on it. This was obviously a new identity arranged for her by “Divine Technology.”

However, he did not find any of Mijoe’s original ID documents. Perhaps, she didn’t bring them to QiCheng City.

After inspecting some of her personal belongings, a soft leather notebook caught Xiang Kun’s attention. Upon flicking through it, he found a lot of new information.

He also saw a small knife in the notebook drawn with a neutral pen. The knife, a unique white porcelain dagger that was surely the one Guo Tianxiang had initially prepared to use against him but eventually got killed with, was instantly recognizable.

Presumably, both from Guo Tianxiang’s memories and the appearance of the drawing, it was not a blueprint; the white dagger was unlikely to have come from Mijoe’s hand.

What was her purpose for drawing it in the notebook? Did she simply find the small white dagger aesthetically pleasing and wanted to capture it, or was there something about the dagger? Or perhaps, she was explaining it to someone through this drawing, maybe that “Mr. Liang”?

After flipping through the notebook and recording the information he found, Xiang Kun took out a 3cm x 3cm piece of paper and tucked it into the notebook’s leather sleeve. It was an item imbued with “Super sensory contact” just like the one he had tucked into the bag of an employee at a breakfast shop that morning.

However, there was only one “Emotional Infusion” pencil drawing from that morning. Compared to “Super sensory contact,” the “Emotional Infusion” process was more cumbersome and complex. Moreover, these pencil drawings were time-consuming, and he didn’t have any suitable stashed objects at his disposal.

But Xiang Kun had other options. After drawing numerous “black circles” under “Super Sensory State,” he realized that he had successfully “emotionally infused” these drawings during the process. After his next blood-drinking period, these “drawings” would possess the corresponding characteristics.

Moreover, he had a vague feeling that objects “emotionally infused” in this way might have some unique features.

Xiang Kun tore off one of these “black circle” drawings. He had several plans for hiding the object, but after considering for a while, he placed all of Mijoe’s belongings back in their original spots, being careful not to disturb anything. He then slowly walked out of the bedroom and silently closed the balcony door.

Standing on the balcony, Xiang Kun folded the “black circle” drawing into a peculiarly-shaped paper airplane. He wedged it into the edge of the bedroom window, making it look like it had just happened to land there from somewhere.

Based on his updated cognitive model of Mijoe, Xiang Kun came up with a plan, which also served as an experiment. As for the results, he would have to wait and see how things progressed.

Early the next morning, Xiang Kun left QiCheng City.

His trip to QiCheng City had led to the discovery of Mijoe. The information he obtained exceeded his initial speculations and expectations. Staying longer to continue monitoring Mijoe or trying to infiltrate the company might provide more information. However, based on Xiang Kun’s deductions, the information he most wanted to find would likely not be quickly obtained from this place. It wasn’t worth the risk to spend so much time here.

Of course, what was more important was that the wedding of Chang Bin and Wang Han was approaching.

Not only was he a good friend of Chang Bin, but he was also a groomsman, so his absence was not an option.

Luckily, the wedding day was not Xiang Kun’s blood-drinking period. Otherwise, he might have had to adjust his blood-drinking schedule to ensure he wouldn’t have any issues during the wedding.

As one of the groomsmen, Zi Cheng arrived early.

After putting on his custom-made suit in the boutique, Zi Cheng patted his stomach and said, “Ah Tu, your prediction was spot on. I did gain quite a bit of weight this month after seeing the doctor and taking care of my health. Thank goodness you told Master Xu to leave some room for me.”

Xiang Kun chuckled, “At this rate, you’ll outgrow this suit soon and it’ll become a one-time-use item.”

When he last saw him, Xiang Kun noticed that Zi Cheng had health problems. After his powerful reminder, Zi Cheng immediately underwent a checkup and started treatment. The issues weren’t too significant, so he recovered quickly. Xiang Kun had been keeping tabs on Zi Cheng’s condition through WeChat and calls. After attentively observing Zi Cheng during their last meeting, he confirmed that Zi Cheng was in good health. If he continued to take care of his health, the problem wouldn’t be severe.

“Off you go! I’ll start working out soon! And just like you, I’ll get all buffed up!” Zi Cheng said confidently.

“Holy shit, really? You’ve finally decided to work out? You’re not joking, are you? During our university days, I invited both of you to join me in working out. Xiang Kun was convinced, yet you never agreed. On the rare occasions that you did go, you’d only work out for two minutes before resting for half an hour. Now, all of a sudden, you actually feel like doing it?” Now dressed in a custom-made groom’s suit, Chang Bin walked over, glaring at Zi Cheng with skepticism, “Confess now. Are you hiding another woman from me?”

Upon hearing this, the female employee holding the clothes giggled.

Xiang Kun also laughed, “You guys ‘inflating yourselves with hot air’ like this, I’m embarrassed to admit that I know you.”

Zi Cheng looked at him seriously and asked gravely, “Ah Tu, what do we do? Brother Bin has discovered our affair, we can’t hide it any longer!”

With gritted teeth, Chang Bin replied, “I never knew you had a thing for Baldy?!”

“What’s wrong with bald men? They’re like natural flashlights – energy-saving and eco-friendly…” Zi Cheng was about to pat Xiang Kun on his bald head, when Xiang Kun just kicked him away.

The lady shop assistant stifled her laughter.

After leaving the suit shop, Xiang Kun hopped into Chang Bin’s car to go pick up three of their university mates from the airport.

Zi Cheng, Chang Bin, along with another high school friend acting as the groomsman, all had their own tasks to attend to. There was still much to do before the wedding.

Before Xiang Kun could drive off, Zi Cheng leaned into the car window and slyly suggested, “When you see Laopeng, don’t tell him who you are, just go up and scare the shit out of him! Hey, doesn’t Chang Bin’s car have a pair of sunglasses? Just swap your black glasses for those when you go! Peng is always bragging about how brave he is. Let’s see if he dares to fight back… Holy shit, I’m so excited just thinking about it. I wish I was going along to film it.”

Laopeng was their other roommate from university, Peng Xiao. Peng had found a girlfriend very early on and moved out of the dorm to live with her. Therefore, his bond with Xiang Kun’s group wasn’t that strong. Of course, it wouldn’t be accurate to say their relationship was bad either.

But Zi Cheng used to argue quite a bit with the boastful Peng Xiao, and since Zi Cheng wasn’t a smooth talker, he often ended up on the losing side.

Chang Bin, who was standing nearby, laughed, “Just make sure you don’t scare him so bad he calls the police, and if scaring Laopeng is okay, scaring his girlfriend is not. She’s on the same plane.”

“Oh? Didn’t his girlfriend use to chase our Brother Bin?”

“In your dreams!” Chang Bin retorted, landing a playful slap on Zi Cheng’s head.

“Alright, we’ll chat later. I should head off, it would be rude to have them waiting at the airport for too long.”

Once on the airport expressway, Xiang Kun couldn’t help reminiscing about his college days.

Thanks to his enhanced memory, he could not only clearly remember everything that happened after his mutation but also easily recall memories from before the mutation, things that he thought were fuzzy or forgotten.

Free from his parents’ restrictions, and without the heavy academic burdens of high school, his early years in college were undoubtedly some of the happiest and most carefree times of his life.

Back then, he definitely wouldn’t have been able to imagine his current situation.

His current situation…

Just thinking about it made Xiang Kun want to burst out in laughter. Since no one else was in the car, he let himself go. Soon enough, his quiet laughter turned into a hearty guffaw. He was laughing so hard that he was almost in tears.

On the expressway, a young man driving an SUV was flushed with what seemed to be a strong emotion.

The young woman in the passenger’s seat was also upset, complaining non-stop, “I told you to use the GPS, but no, you thought you didn’t need it. Look what happened now? You missed the exit, didn’t you? Now, we’ll surely be late!”

The young man in the driver’s seat argued back, “I’ve driven this road hundreds of times, why would I need a GPS?”

“So, did you, or did you not miss the exit?” the young woman snapped back right away.

“That’s because you were distracting me with all your chatter!”

“Oh great, now it’s my fault? Your mistake is my fault now? Once we get there, tell them that we were late because I was speaking to you! I should’ve just stayed silent! I should’ve been a mute!”

“That’s not it, I… I told you we needed to get going earlier, but you kept stalling, saying there was no need to rush. You took your time getting ready but went into a frenzy once we were about to leave. If we had left on time, we wouldn’t even be late even if we had to go through the exit again!”

“Would we be late if you hadn’t missed the exit in the first place? Wasn’t my timing perfect? Would we even be late if you hadn’t missed the exit?” she glared at him.

“You damn …meow!”

“Did you just curse at me?”

“No! I cursed at a cat!” the young man quickly retorted.

“A cat? Where’s this cat you speak of?” the woman continued to glare at him.

“Your granny… she has a cat!” the young man blurted out.

“You can’t even admit when you’re wrong. You’re even more of a wuss than a woman!”

“I am a wuss?” The young man was furious. Inadvertently, he stomped on the accelerator resulting in the SUV overtaking a couple of cars, including a Magotan.

The young man suddenly burst out laughing, and soon the young woman, who was also blushing from anger, started laughing too.

They glanced at each other, and both of them laughed even harder.

The tension inside the car instantaneously dissipated.

“Let’s get a divorce,” the young man said, looking straight ahead, his face carrying a hint of a smile, his voice calm and composed.

“Alright,” the young woman answered without hesitation or any trace of doubt in her voice. It was surprisingly warm and gentle.

The SUV slowed down and cruised calmly along the highway.