茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Just a moment ago, Xiang Kun had an inexplicable intuition that caused him to subconsciously look out of the window on his right side.

Far away from the plane, there was a large bird swiftly flying away.

The sky was very blue, the weather was very good, and the visibility was far, but if it was an ordinary person, they would not be aware of nor see that large bird, because it was just too far away.

Even Xiang Kun couldn’t make out what type of bird it was.

But he was certain that his intuition was warning him of a problem with that bird.

After confirming the bird’s position, he switched to his Infrared thermographic vision mode for the first time, where he vaguely saw a very small, blue dot, like a broken spot on a screen, rapidly moving away from him. But after a mere two seconds, even his vision couldn’t see it anymore which showed how far it was.

It must have been a mutated bird, but for now, it was uncertain if it was a falcon, a goose, a stork, or any other large bird, or a small bird that had grown into a large bird after mutation.

Xiang Kun was less surprised by this unexpected discovery. After all, the first mutant creature he had encountered was an Owl, and by probability, there are evidently more mutated creatures in the world than human vampires.

Was it just passing by?

Xiang Kun started to build a mental map of the nearby area, trying to predict the direction of the bird and where it might be going.

According to the behavior patterns of non-human mutants he had encountered, they were all very wary of human beings and knew to consciously avoid them. They generally wouldn’t easily enter human-inhabited areas, even if they were in the sky.

Its appearance here, could it also be like the Giant Owl, having gone through enough blood-drinking mutations that it needed to consume the blood of other mutants now?

Xiang Kun didn’t think about it too much. He didn’t have a strong interest or need to pursue this potential mutant bird in such a short period of time.

After all, the area where that bird might be flying towards was too vast and unpredictable. Looking for it based only on a mere fleeting glimpse in the sky was almost impossible.

Upon arriving at the airport, his old friend You Meng and his wife Liang Yulong, each driving a car, had been waiting for a long time.

This time, they flew directly to Jianzhou City without stopping by Citong City first, planning to go straight to Tongshi Town today. The hotel they booked for Tang Baona and the others was also in Tongshi Town.

Because the main activity area for the next few days would be in and around Tongshi Town.

After leading everyone off the plane and out of the arrival gate, Xiang Kun introduced Tang Baona, Yang Zhuo, and Zhang Qian, and others to the You Meng couple. They then split up and got into the two cars the couple had driven over.

For the airport pick-up, You Meng didn’t drive his old beaten up van. Instead, he borrowed a Corolla and a Sagitar.

Looking at the layers of mountains beside the national road, Yang Zhuo’s girlfriend, Xiao Min, curiously asked, “Is this where Brother Xiang grew up?”

Liang Yulong, who was driving, laughed and said, “Brother Xiang’s hometown is in Citong City, and this is Tongshi Town, under the jurisdiction of Jianzhou City. If you take a car on the highway from here, it takes about four hours to get there. Of course, it might be faster if you take a bullet train. But I heard from my husband that Brother Xiang lived in Tongshi Town for a long time when he was a child, so he technically counts as half a Tongshi Town local.”

“How did you guys get the idea to open a rabbit meat restaurant here?”

“My husband’s family is originally in the catering business, and he started working in this industry quite early. He just never really made it big. The rabbit meat was Brother Xiang’s idea. The video leaked on the Internet was made at that time too, when he was teaching us how to make food videos to promote our restaurant,” Liang Yulong honestly replied.

Zi Cheng, sitting in the passenger seat, exclaimed, “When I was at university with Xiang Kun, he didn’t know how to cook at all. His cooking skills are basically the same as mine – boiling instant noodles with sausages. And I’m better at boiling the noodles and peeling sausages. I didn’t expect him to stop studying code and start studying cooking, and now he’s really good at it. I heard from Chang Bin that Xiang Kun’s cooking skills are insanely good. Now that we’re on his turf, we must make him show off his skills.”

In this car, except for Liang Yulong who had tasted the semi-cooked bamboo rat meat made by Xiang Kun last time, Zi Cheng and Yang Jie, Yang Zhuo, and Xiao Min from the back seat have never tasted Xiang Kun’s cooking. But from Yang Zhen Er calling Xiang Kun “Brother Chef,” they believed they had a basic idea of Xiang Kun’s cooking abilities. They were all looking forward to the meals in the upcoming days, as in their minds, Xiang Kun was versatile and could do anything well.

Just as Yang Zhuo and Xiao Min continued asking Zi Cheng and Liang Yulong about Xiang Kun’s cooking, the Sagitar that You Meng was driving suddenly swerved sharply left and right, as if it was drunkenly snaking from side to side, then gradually pulled over and stopped.

Luckily, their speed was not too fast, and they were not too close to the car in front. So, Liang Yulong hit the brakes in time to avoid rear-ending the car in front.

Even though they didn’t rear-end the car in front, they were rear-ended by the car behind them.

Just one minute before, in the Sagitar that You Meng was driving.

Xiang Kun and You Meng were discussing the dinner menu. Before their trip, once he confirmed who was coming along, he had arranged the hotel, plane tickets and talked to You Meng about picking them up at the airport. He also got an idea of the guests’ general food preferences, what they couldn’t eat, their dining habits, and what dishes would be most suitable.

Although he had not personally cooked for Zhang Qian, Yang Zhuo, and Yang Jie, they had eaten together once or twice, so he had a basic understanding of their tastes. As for Zi Cheng, they lived together since college, so he was extremely familiar with what Zi Cheng liked to eat.

As per Xiang Kun’s instructions, You Meng had already prepared the ingredients. The ones that needed to be chopped were chopped, those that needed soaking were soaked, and those that needed marinating were marinated.

Once they arrived at the place, the two of them would prepare dinner together, each taking care of a few dishes, to speed up the process and offer a richer taste for dinner.

Merely listening to their discussion made Yang Zhen’er swallow in anticipation. Then she proceeded to boast about the culinary artistry of Brother Xiang to Zhang Qian, who was looking curious.

Xiang Kun, who was discussing whether to add a little spice or just garlic to a dish, suddenly reached over and grabbed the steering wheel.

Shocked, You Meng had no time to respond. With a loud bang, the car veered sharply to the left, threatening to take a left turn. But Xiang Kun’s hand, tight as a vise on the steering wheel, subtlety steered it back to the right, then left, then right, constantly adjusting the steering wheel in different degrees at a rapid pace.

Meanwhile, Xiang Kun directed You Meng: “Lift off the accelerator, don’t hit the brakes yet. Let it slow down and get to the side before braking. The rear left tire burst, it’s no big deal, it’s okay. There are no cars on the side, don’t worry. Your wife’s car was rear-ended, but it was moving slowly, so it’s fine, at most the bumper will have some paint scraped off.”

His voice was calm and composed, completely undisturbed, and watching him made the ladies at the back— Zhang Qian, Tang Baona, and Yang Zhen’er — feel like they were still engrossed in the same discussion from just now.

After the tire blew out, besides the initial shock, the car didn’t bounce much and was still steadily moving towards the side of the road.

By the time Tang Baona and the others realized the tire had blown, the car was nearly stopped. They didn’t even have enough time to panic or feel frightened.

After the car stopped, they came to realize that Xiang Kun’s maneuver from just now had been, to say the least, very… nonchalant?

“Distinguished guests, are you okay?” he asked, looking back and smiling after the car had stabilized.

Earlier, he had spotted an irregular piece of metal on the opposite lane, which was shot out towards them after being run over by a fast-passing dump truck. After quickly assessing the situation and predicting the trajectory, he concluded that it was likely to hit the left rear wheel.

If he were driving the car, he could have dodged the metal piece using the accelerator and brakes, even preventing it from hitting their vehicle.

But since he was a passenger, sitting in the passenger seat, directing You Meng verbally wouldn’t have been fast enough. So he took control of the steering wheel to help You Meng stabilize the car. Relying on his perception of the car’s attitude and understanding of the adherence friction between the tires and the road, he quickly adjusted the car’s posture, bringing it back from the edge of complete loss of control.

Fortuitously, they were not on the highway and their speed was not high. Since it was the rear wheel that blew out and not the driving wheel, he was able to control the vehicle quite steadily. The three ladies in the back seat barely felt the car losing control.

However, the car behind, driven by Liang Yulong, was rear-ended, causing an unexpected nuisance.

Of course, compared to a more severe accident that could have occurred if their vehicle had lost complete control, these two minor issues didn’t really count as trouble.

Zi Cheng and Liang Yulong got out of the car to inspect the rear-end collision. The other car was an Audi A8L, and both vehicles had almost stopped, so the collision was not severe.

There were some cracks in the rear bumper of the Corolla and some paint had chipped off, while the front bumper of the A8L had also lost some paint. There seemed to be no significant damage.

The four people from the Audi also got out. Apart from the driver who was a robust young man in his twenties, the other three were in their thirties to fifties. They had large bellies, flushed faces, and reeked of alcohol.

“Have you ever taken a driving test? How do you drive! You’re causing problems blindly!” an annoyed middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses, who had been sitting in the back seat, inspected the damage of the A8L whilst complaining.

A bald middle-aged man from the other side of the rear seat gave Liang Yulong a glance, chuckling, “Women drivers, whether or not they have driving licenses, are all the same.”

Yang Jie, who had also gotten out of the car, was quite dissatisfied with this. She frowned and said, “There was an emergency up front, and we didn’t have any issues braking sharply! It’s your fault for not keeping a sufficient distance or driving too fast and causing a rear-end collision. This is completely your fault! It’s evidently your problem, and yet you’re still making discriminatory remarks against women. Where are your manners?”

Liang Yulong glanced at their license plate and gave them a once-over. She pulled Yang Jie by the hand and whispered, “Don’t argue with them. Let’s call the police and insurance to handle it.”

“Miss, from your accent, are you not from around here? Are you here for a visit? Well, there are quite a few fun places in Tongshi Town. Having been here for only two days, I don’t feel like leaving at all. Would you be interested in touring, playing around together?” The bald middle-aged man wasn’t offended by Yang Jie’s criticism. Instead, he came forward, chuckling.

Although his words didn’t contain any obscenities, his flushed face, lecherous, somewhat vulgar gaze, and frivolous tone made everyone, including Yang Jie, furrow their brows. They found it extremely uncomfortable.

Zi Cheng had some feelings for Yang Jie, so hearing this remark made him instinctively step in front of Yang Jie and say to the bald middle-aged man, “Stay away from her.”

“Hey? Are you her husband? If not, what do you care what I say to her?” The bald middle-aged man stepped closer, almost confrontationally close to Zi Cheng.

Zi Cheng was getting bothered by his alcoholic breath and subconsciously pushed him a bit, “Step back!”

The bald middle-aged man staggered back a step, and the tall driver and the other two middle-aged men immediately surrounded him, “You have no manners, young man. Do you know who are you talking to? Do you know who Boss Qi is? If you hurt Boss Qi, believe it or not, you won’t be able to leave Tongshi Town.”

Yang Zhuo, who was already easily impulsive, stood with Zi Cheng, ready to roll up his sleeves and start a fight.

Seeing that several people were pushing and pulling each other, seemingly about to start a fight, Liang Yulong, Yang Jie, and Xiao Min also grew anxious. They wanted to pull them apart, but their attempts were futile.

However, in the next moment, another bald man suddenly appeared, forcibly inserting himself between the men and separating them.

This bald man was naturally Xiang Kun. In front of his overwhelming strength, the others were as weak as kindergarteners.

Of course, his actions were only directed at the people from the A8L, grabbing their fingers which were hooked on Zi Cheng and Yang Zhuo’s clothes, making them obediently let go and separate. Then, he simply used his robust body to keep them apart.

In a short two to three seconds, the three men were pushed to one side.

“Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing, hey, hey…” The bespectacled middle-aged man stumbled back, nearly tripping over himself, as his already red face from the alcohol turned even redder.

“Don’t resort to violence, let’s talk it out. We’re all adults here; we should reason and follow the law.” Xiang Kun spread his hands, adopting a mediating demeanor.

But the next moment, his gaze became somewhat profound and strange, directed at the bald middle-aged man behind the three, momentarily locking eyes with him.

When he came over, he instantly determined that the car belonged to the bespectacled middle-aged man and the driver was also his subordinate. However, the highest-ranking person among the four in the car should have been the bald middle-aged man.

“Follow the law? I’ll tell you, here, I am…” The middle-aged man with the gold-rimmed glasses adjusted his glasses and prepared to lay down his “claims”.

Suddenly, a scream full of fear came from behind them, sending the bespectacled man’s words back down his throat, and he instinctively turned to look at the bald middle-aged man behind him.

The bald middle-aged man known as “Boss Qi” looked at them with a fearful expression.

Seeing them turn around, “Boss Qi” quickly opened the car door and shouted, “Go! Quickly, go!”

The bespectacled man and his two employees looked at each other, confused.

The next moment, the car door was opened again, and “Boss Qi”‘s bald head reappeared, glaring at them: “Are you deaf? Go! Go now!!!” Although he was cursing loudly, the panic in his eyes was unmistakable, something anyone could perceive.

Although not understanding why, the bespectacled man didn’t dare to hesitate, because “Boss Qi”‘s status was unquestionable, and he still had things to ask of him. He shot a glare at Xiang Kun and the others, then prepared to get back into the car with the driver.

But Xiang Kun quickly stepped forward, blocking the driver’s side, and said to the bespectacled man, “Are you planning to leave the site of an accident?”

“You…” The bespectacled man was about to explode again, but seeing the strange state of “Boss Qi” in the back seat, he could only swallow his anger and tell his driver, “Give him a thousand!”

As the driver was preparing to hand over the money, Xiang Kun shook his head, “A thousand isn’t enough. Look at how badly the car was hit; the bumper probably needs to be replaced. It will cost at least three thousand.”

“What nonsense, that piece of junk got a little paint scratched off and is asking for three thousand? A thousand is enough to replace two bumpers you!” The driver, who is nearly one meter ninety tall, was also angry and walked towards Xiang Kun.

Though Xiang Kun was shorter than him, he wasn’t worried at all and said with a smile, “Or we could call the police, let the traffic police come to ascertain responsibility and then go through insurance. You guys should have third-party liability insurance, right? Whatever the insurance determines we’ll cover.”

Not far away, Yang Zhuo, Zi Cheng, Yang Jie, Zhang Qian, and Tang Baona, who had come from the Sagitar, all looked at Xiang Kun with surprise as he strongly “claimed” for compensation. They were somewhat baffled, wondering why the several people, who were just domineering and unreasonable, suddenly wilted in front of Xiang Kun?

The bespectacled middle-aged man didn’t want to back down. There was no reason for him to back down here in Tongshi Town, and he couldn’t afford to back down in front of “Boss Qi”. He glared at Xiang Kun and looked at Liang Yulong and the others not far away. After taking back his gaze, he slowly said, “Young man, what’s your name? You don’t seem to be from Tongshi Town, but you should have friends from Tongshi Town, right? You might want to ask around…”

At this time, the rear window of the A8L lowered, and an enraged yell came out, “Liu Feibao! What the hell are you dithering about? Quickly give him three thousand! I’ll pay you back thirty thousand later!”

The bespectacled man turned his head in confusion, only to be met with the murderous, bloodshot eyes of Boss Qi.

He was startled and quickly instructed his driver to hand over the money.

The tall driver hesitated, “Boss, I don’t have enough cash…”

“Then transfer it!”

So the driver looked at Xiang Kun, “Wechat payment!”

Xiang Kun calmly shook his head, “I only accept cash, or we can wait for the police and insurance.”

The bespectacled man looked back at Boss Qi, who was staring at him from the back seat, and gritted his teeth. He and another employee started to search their pockets. In the end, they emptied all their pockets and collected the spare change from the glove box and the center console of the car. They managed to scrape together two thousand eight hundred in cash. After Xiang Kun had Zi Cheng take it, he finally moved away from the front of the driver’s door.

After watching the A8L drive away, Yang Jie, Yang Zhen’er, Zi Cheng and others huddled around, exclaiming in disbelief, “What’s going on? Why did that bald boss look like he’s scared of you?”

Zi Cheng couldn’t help scrutinizing his friend, “You don’t have some hidden identity like ‘Underworld Boss’ or ‘Illegitimate Child of a Gang Leader’, do you?”

“In your dreams! You’ve read too many pulp fiction!” Xiang Kun let out a laugh and kicked Zi Cheng playfully before turning to address Yang Jie and the others, who were equally puzzled. “Do you know what happens when two positively charged particles meet?”

“They repel each other? Why bring this up all of a sudden? How does that relate?” Yang Zhen’er voiced out her confusion.

Xiang Kun chuckled, “When one bald guy approaches another bald guy, they also produce a repelling force. The uglier bald guy is scared off while the handsome one stays. It’s called the Bald Repulsion Theorem.”

Whew!

Yang Jie, who was studying for a master’s degree in a physics-related field, had been listening attentively to Xiang Kun’s words, thinking he had some profound theory to convey. She didn’t expect him to utter such a sentence, and she couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Yang Zhen’er looked equally dumbfounded, with an expression that suggested she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

However, with Xiang Kun’s diversion, the irritability arising from the minor accident with the two cars and the annoyance caused by Boss Qi and his group seemed to dissipate.

After a quick examination of the rear of the Corolla revealed just a scratched bumper and possibly an old crack, they volunteered to help You Meng change his spare tyre as there seemed to be no further problems.

When they hit the road again, more than forty minutes had passed since the accident and the sky was getting darker. They were going to be pressed for time to cook once they got home.

From monitoring the heartbeats, scents, facial expressions and other sensory information in the car, as well as drawing conclusions from his comprehensive cognitive model, Xiang Kun could tell that the mood of Tang Baona, Yang Zhen’er, and Zhang Qian sitting in the back seat had rebounded. The negative impact of the accident had now become an interesting topic of discussion, thanks to Xiang Kun’s performance.

Actually, when Zi Cheng, Yang Jie, and the others had their verbal dispute with the people in the A8L, multiple solutions had popped up in Xiang Kun’s mind.

Rationally speaking, he should have used a more conservative solution to ensure his companions’ safety and minimize future troubles.

However, Xiang Kun eventually chose a slightly more aggressive plan. His stance was that Yang Jie, Zi Cheng and the others were his friends whom he had invited to Tongshi Town for fun, and he wouldn’t let them be treated unfairly, not even psychologically.

That’s why, after separating the two groups, Xiang Kun immediately gave Boss Qi, the bald guy, a “projection” through eye contact.

This was a “projection” that he had “summoned” through sensing the “Eight-Armed, Eight-Eyed Wood Carving”, an image of a monster derived from his fear.

Before this blood-drinking period, Xiang Kun had to influence others first emotionally to create a “co-projection”. He would “open the channel” and transmit the intended projection image. Initially, he used “Emotional Assimilation” and later implemented a “combination attack” using “Mental Deterrence” and “Projection Co-manifestation” for makeshift “hypnosis” or coercion at Chang Bin’s wedding.

However, after this blood-drinking period, Xiang Kun obtained a newly “developed” ability directly from Xiao Pingguo.

In this new ability, he made the images represented by those emotions co-manifest by sensing the “Emotional Infusion” into the wood carving, and forcefully projected it into the target’s consciousness.

Because the projection obtained by “Emotional Infusion” of the target embodies the emotion itself, it can directly “open the channel”, forcefully co-manifest the complete image within the target’s perception and bring along emotional influence simultaneously.

After making eye contact with Xiang Kun, Boss Qi saw a terrifying monster, more than two meters high, with eight arms and eight eyes, and disgusting tumors all over, appearing by Xiang Kun’s side.

This was not a simple projection of the wood carving’s image; it was the actual co-manifestation of Xiang Kun’s original fear, unadorned, unpolished, horrifying and terrifying.

Boss Qi’s first reaction was undoubtedly that he ‘d drunk too much and was hallucinating, feeling an unreal sense of surreality. But the next moment, the monster stood in front of him, raised its hand to hold his bald head. The stinky smell, the feel of his scalp, the powerful oppression, and his inner fear all gave Boss Qi a strapping, intense sense of realism.

The monster spoke in a voice that sounded as if it were chewing on chunks of meat, giving him an explicit threat, coercing him into getting in the car, and then sitting with him in the back seat. Its immense body nearly filled the entire back seat, and Boss Qi could even feel the car chassis sink dramatically under the monstrous weight.

To Boss Qi, there was not only the fear originated from the monster but also the doubt about his senses and existence, along with the terror deep down that his body was rapidly rotting from the inside out.

He just wanted to get away, to leave as soon as possible, to confirm whether he was alive, dreaming, or already in purgatory.

The “Eight-Armed, Eight-Eyed Monster” projection was made only for Boss Qi; nobody else had any perception of it.

The man in the gold-rimmed glasses, whose name was Liu Feibao, seemed to be someone powerful locally.

Xiang Kun naturally had to guard against any possible vengeance from him. Not because he was scared of vengeful consequences to himself, but due to the possible risk to You Meng, Liang Yulong, and others.

He believed that he could achieve this through the influence he had on Boss Qi, but just to be on the safe side, while separating Liu Feibao and others from Zi Cheng and Yang Zhuo, he subtly slipped a bead of “Super Sensory Contact” into Liu Feibao’s coat pocket.