茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Seeing Xia Libing returning in a rush, her aunt, who had been standing at the door for a while, wasn’t upset at all. After all, she didn’t inform Xia Libing before coming over. Besides, Xia Libing had just borrowed her car in the afternoon, so it was normal for her to still be out.

She had actually just visited the hospital and thought she’d drop by her niece’s place since it was not far from the hospital. Now though, she was actually more curious. “Where did you come from just now?” she asked.

“I went to the medical university hospital to see a friend,” Xia Libing replied simply. She took out the car keys and handed them to her aunt. “Thanks, Auntie.”

“Just keep driving it. I’m using your uncle’s car anyway; he won’t need it the next couple of days.” Auntie said. She had always liked her unusual but polite and detached niece.

“I won’t need it for now,” Xia Libing said, opening the door and helping her aunt carry things into the house.

As soon as they stepped into the house, her aunt noticed the state of the dining table in the living room.

Xia Libing and Xiang Kun could not clean up after their meal as they had to rush to the hospital upon receiving the call about their father’s accident.

Later, when Xia Libing came back alone, she focused on managing her work, leaving no chance to clean up.

So, upon entering now, what aunt found was pretty much the same scenario as when the two of them had left after lunch.

“Did you eat at home at noon? Is this… with a friend?” her aunt asked curiously. Judging from the dining table, it was obvious that two people were eating, but what was even more strange was that one set of bowls and chopsticks seemed untouched. Was it one person eating while the other watched? Or was it originally two people, but one left?

“Yes.” Xia Libing nodded. She started to clean up the table and asked, “Did Auntie need something?”

“Oh, I saw the weather forecast predicting a significant drop in temperature in the next few days, so I brought a blanket for you. I also brought some food, you can put it directly in the refrigerator, and heat it up when you’re hungry.” Auntie said.

While helping Xia Libing with the cleaning, she looked at the leftovers. After taking the tableware to the kitchen, she exclaimed, “Did you make lunch yourselves?” She had always thought that Xia Libing wasn’t much of a cook.

“A friend made it,” Xia Libing simply explained.

“Was it that Mr. Xiang who was with you the night before last?” her aunt asked, probing further.

Since Xia Libing had started working in Citong, her aunt had been quite concerned about her social situation. But as far as she knew, Neice was a loner, had an average relationship with her colleagues, and didn’t seem to have any local friends in Citong. The only exception was Mr. Xiang, who had helped her catch those troublemakers the night before.

“Yes,” Xia Libing replied simply, not hiding anything.

“You just went to the hospital, were you also visiting him? He didn’t suddenly get hospitalized, did he?” her aunt speculated further. In her view, Xia Libing wouldn’t visit the hospital if she wasn’t working or if there wasn’t a problem.

“His father had a fall,” replied Xia Libing, still being straightforward.

“Oh? Is it severe? What is his condition?” her aunt wondered with concern.

“He suffered a mild concussion, but they kept him in the hospital for observation,” Xia Libing briefly explained Xiang Kun’s father’s condition.

Her aunt nodding thoughtfully, then asked, “I heard that someone had sent you late-night snacks last night while I was at the hospital. Was that Mr. Xiang, too?”

“Yes,” replied Xia Libing.

Aunt laughed, “In a few days, invite Mr. Xiang over for a meal with me and your uncle. It’s also a way to thank him for his help the night before.”

“No, he doesn’t like eating with too many people,” Xia Libing said, pausing slightly before adding, “He’s solitary and timid.”

Auntie San thought for a moment, then said, “What about… tomorrow we find a time, and you and I go together to the first sanatorium to see Mr. Xiang’s father? I have some old friends there, they can take extra care of him.”

Xia Libing declined again, “No need.”

Not being affronted, Auntie San continued to chat with Xia Libing for a while. When she found out that Xia Libing hadn’t eaten dinner yet, she warmed her some food she had brought this time before leaving.

Sitting in the car that Xia Libing had returned to her, Auntie San scrolled through her phone contacts, found a name that started with ‘Xia,’ and dialed it.

A moment later, the call was answered, and a cheerful voice said, “Auntie San? Why did you think to call me… Oh, I know, it’s because I didn’t call to wish you a happy new year last night! My mistake, Auntie San! Happy New Year! May you be prosperous! Wishing you every success! Tonight I ate… delicious food, my body is in great health!…”

“What a load of rubbish!” Auntie San couldn’t help interrupting, “Tianhuo, do you have Yang Zhen’er’s mobile number? Give it to me.”

“Eh? Auntie San, what do you need with our Old Three Yang? Did she cause some kind of trouble again?” Xia Tianhuo, who was currently overseas, asked in surprise over the phone, “Tell me, what kind of trouble did she get into? I can help you scold her!”

“She didn’t get into trouble. I’m trying to inquire about someone, a friend who is close to both her and Xiao Bing,” Auntie San said.

“Xiao Bing? Ah right, Old Xia is also in Citong now, a person who is also close to Old Xia? Why don’t I know about this? Wait, Auntie San, are you talking about a bald man?”

“You know Xiang Kun too?” Auntie San asked surprisingly.

“Oh, I have met him once, what are you asking about him, Auntie San?”

“What kind of person is he, do you know?”

“I don’t really know him well, but based on my initial impressions from when I met him, he seems pretty decent.”

“Decent in what way?”

“How should I put it, I can’t really explain it, it’s just a feeling…”

“Feeling… Stop talking nonsense with me, send me Yang Zhen’er’s number, and then go do whatever you were doing,” Auntie San said exasperatedly, “By the way, you’re not allowed to call your Xiao Bing ‘Old Xia’ anymore. She’s a pretty young girl, only a teenager, and you guys keep calling her ‘Old Xia.’ Is that appropriate? Especially from you, her older brother. If I hear you call her that again, I’ll tell your dad.”

Meanwhile, after quickly finishing her dinner, Xia Libing was sitting at her desk. She was staring at the six coins Xiang Kun had given her that afternoon along with the three she already had — nine coins in total — on the table, a frown creasing her forehead as she pondered something.

After a while, a Napoleon Cake appeared on the table, but quickly disappeared, replaced by a piece of Crispy Pig’s Elbow. It looked authentic down to the last detail, emitting a scent that made people’s mouth water.

Xia Libing stared at the two types of food she had co-manifested, her frown deepening as though she had encountered a problem.

She opened her laptop, created a new Excel spreadsheet, and began compiling some data.

Xiang Kun had previously instructed her not to leave many explicit, traceable records, so when she made the spreadsheet, she used all kinds of special symbols that only she could understand. Aside from her, no one would understand what the data represented.

After a while, she seemed to understand something. Her frown smoothed out, and she picked up her phone, found Xiang Kun’s WeChat profile, and sent a message to him.

After separating from Xia Libing, Xiang Kun didn’t immediately return to his father’s sickroom. Instead, he found a stone bench in the hospital and sat down to check the notification that “Alice” had just sent him.

The information about the “vampire” psychiatric patient at the Third Hospital, which “Alice” was asked to investigate earlier, has yielded several contents that fit the description.

He asked “Alice” to send the information over and took a look.

In March of last year, in a small town under Citong City, a twenty-seven-year-old woman who claimed to be the “Vampire Ancestor” led three young men who were bewitched by her and kidnapped a passerby on the street in the middle of the night, intending to drink his blood.

Luckily, the local residents spotted them kidnapping and promptly called the police. The officers arrived before any harm could befall the innocent passerby and apprehended both the “Vampire Ancestor” and the three young men.

After a judicial psychiatric evaluation, it was determined that the woman who claimed to be the “Vampire Ancestor” was a patient with a mental disorder. After her trial, she was assigned to undergo compulsory treatment at the Citong Psychiatric Hospital.

This must be the patient Old Xia mentioned last night, the one who claims to be a “vampire” and only eats “red” foods.

“Alice” found the judgment at the time and even managed to find various manic statements posted online by the woman who claimed to be the “Vampire Ancestor”.

The statements she made were all based on various vampire settings from movies and TV dramas, possessing none of the characteristics of real “mutants” or “vampires”.

Frankly, if Xiang Kun was looking for his kind, he would automatically dismiss this information when searching online. Even if he did come across it, he wouldn’t consider this person to be of his kind or related in any way.

However, now, due to the special intuition he had after conducting a detection under his “Super Sensory State” at the hospital, he felt that there might be some issues with this person.

Of course, investigating this person wouldn’t totally rely on him now. Since Old Xia already knew his situation, if he wanted to investigate that patient, he could simply tell Old Xia later—There’s one of us in there!

He had to admit, telling Old Xia, another person, about the secret that he had been keeping for half a year seemed to have immediately lifted a heavy burden from his psyche. Furthermore, since Old Xia would be helping him, the planning process for many things could now be much more relaxed.

Not only for investigating the “vampire” psychiatric patient, but also for planning his upcoming Blood-drinking Period—he now has more options and ways to proceed.

While planning changes to some of his previously set plans in Citong following Old Xia’s involvement and devising new arrangements in his mind, Xiang Kun received a WeChat message from Old Xia:

“I’m going to bed now.”

If someone else read this message, they might find it baffling. It was only seven o’clock now; why was she going to bed so early? And what did this completely out-of-the-blue message mean? If they knew that Old Xia had little sleep the day before, they might guess that she was about to catch up on some sleep and asked him not to disturb her?

But upon reading this message, Xiang Kun instantly understood what Old Xia meant—she was about to enter a dream again and hinted him to make preparations.

Did Old Xia suddenly think of something related to “Illusion Reality” after she returned home and needed to verify it in that special dreamland?

Xiang Kun didn’t overthink it. He simply closed his eyes and started sensing the pair of chopsticks he had given to Old Xia.

Knowing that the dream was guided by the chopsticks, Old Xia would definitely place them by her side before going to bed, which was something he didn’t need to remind her of.

About six minutes later, Xiang Kun sensed some fluctuating images and successfully instigated Old Xia’s dream.

The scene of this dream was surprisingly the one from their lunchtime. However, sitting opposite Old Xia where he was originally seated was the Little Fat Girl Liu Shiling, who was feasting away with the chopsticks—this was the emotional projection of the chopsticks.

In the dream, Old Xia was also eating heartily, but this time, she stopped after just a few bites, then she slapped five coins on the table from her left pocket, followed by another four coins from her right pocket.

The “Little Liu Shiling” sitting across from her blinked in confusion, stopped eating, and stared at the nine coins on the table, asking sotto voce, “Can you eat coins, Sister Old Xia?”

Old Xia didn’t respond, but Xiang Kun could already feel it—the intense rationality and wakefulness. Old Xia had “woken” in the dream, and this time she woke much faster than before.

Upon entering the “Lucid Dream” state, Old Xia began to walk around the room, and the nine coins were spinning around her like satellites.

“Xiang Kun, are you there?” Old Xia suddenly asked aloud.

At this point, Xiang Kun’s perspective and perception could change at will within the dream, no longer limited to Old Xia.

But the issue was, this wasn’t a dream caused by black circle graffiti. He wasn’t able to use his “Super Sensory State” in this dream or directly manipulate it, therefore he had no idea how to “respond” to her in the dream.

However, he quickly thought of a solution – he revoked Old Xia’s permission to summon one of the nine coins. So in the dream, the nine coins around Old Xia suddenly became eight, as the dream projection of one coin disappeared.

But the next moment, that coin reappeared.

Old Xia apparently understood that Xiang Kun was trying to “greet” her, so she didn’t ask further and began controlling the nine coins.

The nine coins disappeared instantaneously. At the same time, a little girl appeared in the dream.

That little girl was not Little Fat Girl, but the younger version of Old Xia that Xiang Kun had seen in the PDF file earlier that afternoon.

The little girl was holding a scalpel, dressed in a fancy princess skirt, wearing black leather shoes and a cute hair decoration on her head. She had delicate features, but her face was expressionless and her eyes were devoid of any emotion.

Er… Did Old Xia co-manifest her younger self in the dream?

So, once she wakes up, in reality, there wouldn’t be…

Just as Xiang Kun was thinking this, Old Xia’s dream immediately collapsed, and all senses disappeared.

He quickly grabbed his cell phone and dialed Old Xia’s number.

Two seconds later, the call was answered. Old Xia said, “Are you free now? Come over.”

“Alright.”

After hanging up, Xiang Kun first went back to his father’s ward to check on his condition. After informing his mother, he took a taxi to Xia Libing’s rented residence.

When Xia Libing opened the door, and Xiang Kun walked in, the first thing he asked was, “Can you co-manifest your childhood self?”

Frankly speaking, his initial thought was that since Old Xia could co-manifest things like cake and crispy pig’s elbow, co-manifesting a table, chair, or even a car or plane, seemed possible. Gradually progressing towards more complicated entities, like attempting to co-manifest a plant next, he never expected Old Xia to directly manifest a person. And her own childhood self at that! What would the situation look like if this were to be co-manifested in reality?

Xiang Kun was extremely eager and curious.

However, Xia Libing shook her head: “No.”

“Oh, I see.” Xiang Kun was not disappointed per se. If Old Xia really “co-manifested” a “little Old Xia”, he would find it rather horrifying.

“What’s the difference between them?” Xiang Kun asked right away.

He knew Old Xia called him over after waking up probably because there was a reason for it, not just to tell him that she was unable to co-manifest the “little Old Xia” in her dream.