茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Every half an hour, Xia Libing would get up to check on Xiang Kun’s health condition, then note down the relevant data in symbols she had created herself on a piece of paper.

Compared to when he was awake, Xiang Kun’s respiration rate was now much faster, and his body temperature was also rising.

However, there were still a lot of related data that couldn’t be observed and measured with the current conditions. She needed more equipment.

While observing Xiang Kun’s sleep state, Xia Libing was also writing down the equipment and tools she needed to purchase on her black leather-bound notebook. This was not the one she always used, but a new one she had bought on her recent outing.

Before sitting back in her computer chair, Xia Libing suddenly noticed the camera indicator light on the computer desk was on, implying that the camera was active. But as she took two steps towards the desk, the light went out.

This made her puzzled. She moved over to her computer table, turned on one of the monitors, gently tapped the keyboard to wake up the system. Instead of the WINDOWS login interface, she saw a very ordinary WIN10 desktop, having only the recycle bin and computer icons, the wallpaper was also the default one.

She checked the wiring of the camera and reconfirmed that it was connected to the host machine she was currently operating, the same as one of the three computer hosts, two monitors, and one laptop in Xiang Kun’s bedroom. Given Xiang Kun’s role as an independent developer and his previous work, it’s quite normal to have this many computers.

After disabling the camera in the device manager, Xia Libing closed the monitor again. But after thinking for a while, she turned the camera around to face the wall.

Actually, her first reaction was that someone might have hacked Xiang Kun’s computer and was remotely controlling the camera. So her initial response was to unplug the network cable. But then she thought, considering Xiang Kun’s understanding of computer and internet security and his personality, this situation seemed unlikely. Moreover, Xiang Kun had specifically mentioned before that the computer in the corner could not be disconnected from the power supply and should not be operated by her. So perhaps the spontaneous ‘activation’ of the camera was set up by Xiang Kun himself.

But to be safe, Xia Libing decided to face the camera towards the wall for now, because she didn’t need any other recording equipment to film Xiang Kun’s sleeping state with the video camera she purchased.

Xia Libing glanced at the host machine in the corner connected to the UPS and thought about the small generator in the living room, which wasn’t there before her trip to Citong City, pondering over Xiang Kun’s instruction of “cannot be disconnected from the power supply”.

It seemed that Xiang Kun had put a lot of thought into ensuring the power supply for that host machine.

She knew Xiang Kun would not do meaningless things, so there might be some programs running on that host machine, which could be crucial for Xiang Kun and couldn’t be interrupted. Even though the instruction from Xiang Kun only mentioned that power should not be cut off, and not that the network couldn’t be disconnected, she wasn’t sure if the execution of the program required network or not, hence she didn’t hastily unplug the network cable before.

Xia Libing sat back in her chair, picked up her notebook and started to write and sketch, recording some of the things she thought of, things that needed to be done next, and things to be purchased. She planned to discuss them with Xiang Kun once he woke up.

As time ticked away, Xia Libing felt no impatience. When she wasn’t writing in her notebook, she would flip coins with the back of her hand, feeling the connection between her and the “Super-Connected Objects”, and whether that sense of “control” had changed because of Xiang Kun’s blood-drinking sleep.

She would occasionally pick up the chopsticks and the eight-armed, eight-eyed wood carving, read the lyrics of the song that Xiang Kun had given her written in brush strokes, the two pieces of black circle graffiti, and tried to observe or sense the properties of these “Emotional Infusion” items in a non-dream state.

Just after twelve, she decided to eat in Xiang Kun’s room when she felt a bit hungry. She had brought in the bread and milk she bought in the morning and sat at her computer chair to eat.

She would take a bite of the toast, eat a mouthful of the co-manifested Crispy Pig’s Elbow, drink the milk then taste the co-manifested Grilled Chicken Wings. Not only was this to add some flavor to her lunch, but it was also to check whether Xiang Kun’s sleep had any effect on the “Illusion Reality” ability.

By 2 p.m., there was no visible change in Xiang Kun, who was only wearing his loose basketball shorts on the bed. After checking Xiang Kun, Xia Libing noticed that his body temperature had started to decrease, not just lower than when he fell asleep, but also lower than normal and before drinking the blood. His heart rate and pulse also dropped dramatically, to almost negligible.

If someone unaware of Xiang Kun’s condition suddenly touched his body, it would give a fright assuming he had turned into a corpse.

After recording her observation data, Xia Libing sat back in her computer chair and began to think about the cause of this situation.

The cellphone on the computer table vibrated slightly. Xia Libing turned to have a look – the phone belonged to Xiang Kun.

Before going to sleep, Xiang Kun handed his phone over to her for safekeeping, instructing her to only respond to certain emergencies on his behalf, but mostly, whether it was messages or phone calls, she didn’t have to bother.

Xia Libing thought for a moment, took Xiang Kun’s phone, unlocked it, and checked a new QQ message. It was a voice message sent from someone with the nickname “Great Wizard’s Little Bell”, asking some simple questions about electromagnetism.

Under normal circumstances, Xia Libing wouldn’t reply to such questions on Xiang Kun’s behalf – obviously, this was not a “dire emergency”.

But seeing that nickname, and the avatar of a little girl with a round face wearing a cap with cat ears – which was clearly drawn by herself with watercolor pens, as well as the familiar voice of the little girl, Xia Libing realized that this was Liu Shiling, the little girl who used to live next to Xiang Kun, had a special connection with Xiang Kun’s “Super-connected Objects”, and had “dined” with her in her dreams.

Knowing about the ability this little girl “developed” and her uniqueness from what Xiang Kun told her, Xia Libing thought for a while and replied to Liu Shiling in the simplest and easiest-to-understand manner, answering her question.

But ten seconds later, a voice message came from the other end:

“You’re not Uncle Bald, are you?”

Before Xia Libing could ask her how she figured it out, another voice message came:

“I don’t understand what you’re saying, so you’re definitely not Uncle Bald.”

Then another voice message, “Ah! Right! Uncle Bald should be at home, then… are you Uncle Bald’s mum and dad?”

Another voice message, “Hello Grandfather Bald, Grandmother Bald… wait, that’s not right!”

Message withdrawn.

A few seconds later, a new voice message came, “Hello Grandpa Xiang, Grandma Xiang! I’m Liu Shiling! Happy New Year!”

Hello-less Xia Libing watched as the voice messages kept coming, thought for a moment, then looked up a picture of “grilled chicken wings” on her phone and sent one over.

A few seconds later, Liu Shiling’s voice message came: “Ah! It’s Sister Grilled Chicken Wings! The Sister Grilled Chicken Wings from my dream? Is that you?”

Xia Libing sent an emoji of a nodding head. She now understood that although Liu Shiling wasn’t in a state of “lucid dreaming” during the dream feast, she seemed to remember it after waking up, and naturally assumed that Xia Libing also remembered.

A voice message from Liu Shiling came again, “Sister Grilled Chicken Wings, are you now hiding in Uncle Bald’s phone?”

Message withdrawn.

New voice message from Liu Shiling arrived, “Sister Grilled Chicken Wings, do you have Uncle Bald’s phone now?”

After thinking, Xia Libing sent an emoji of a bald head, next to it, a Zzz sleeping emoji, then an image of a girl, and next to it, an emoji of a phone.

Instantly understanding the series of emojis, Liu Shiling sent a cheerfully voiced message: “Sister Grilled Chicken Wings, are you saying Uncle Bald is sleeping? Sister Grilled Chicken Wings, can you come into my dream again tonight? The chicken wings were delicious, and the roasted pork knuckle, and the cake, they were all delicious… I’ll treat you to rice balls! Mommy made me some really tasty rice balls today!”