茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Based on his previous observations and online map analysis, he found a secluded, dimly lit area by the river that was not covered by security cameras.

Xiang Kun jumped over the river dike and carefully examined the riverside bushes using various senses before he began stripping down to his shorts.

After hiding his clothes, mobile phone, and room card in a dry spot he had identified, Xiang Kun slowly walked into the river.

Around him, floating in mid-air, were six coins and twenty tungsten steel balls—these were the “super-connected objects” he always carried with him.

As he stepped into the icy river, Xiang Kun slowly dipped his body, letting the river envelop him completely. All twenty-six “super-connected objects” entered the water with him.

On the surface of the river, only faint ripples remained. Then there was an absolute stillness with only a few bubbles, quieter than if a stone had been dropped.

Under the surface, Xiang Kun was scanning around with his eyes open, but he didn’t seem to be holding his breath, behaving just as comfortably as if he were on land.

Indeed, Xiang Kun did not need to hold his breath to maintain his activity. His body could “breathe.”

Ever since his mutation last year, Xiang Kun had run many breath-holding experiments and trainings, always keeping a record of the time he could hold his breath.

Although his breath-holding time was getting longer, he was very sure that despite his drastically mutated body, he still needed oxygen.

Just after a riverside walk back to the hotel with Old Xia, Tang Baona, and Yang Zhen’er, an “inspiration” popped into Xiang Kun’s mind. He filled the sink basin with water, exhaling all the air from his lungs before submerging his head.

Then he found that after holding his breath, he could access a previously unseen “anoxic mode”. He stopped the act of breathing but experienced no difficulty nor an urge for oxygen. His body seemed not to need oxygen immediately.

However, Xiang Kun believed that instead of not requiring oxygen, his body had evolved other ‘breathing’ methods due to the ingestion of the “mutated parasite”.

Since the hotel did not have a bathtub for him to experience fully submerging his body, Xiang Kun secretly left the hotel and plunged into the river at night.

Sinking into the river was smooth due to his already substantial weight. In the water, after switching to the special “anoxic mode”, he experienced that cessation of breath again, just like in the hotel bathroom.

Xiang Kun carefully observed the changes in his body, drifting along the riverbed like an abandoned stone statue.

He then realized that after switching breathing modes, some of his physical functions declined slightly. However, this didn’t affect his sensory abilities and cognitive functions. Clearly, the body automatically prioritizes these areas.

The decline was mostly in strength, endurance, and “explosive power”. Of course, without real testing or experimenting, he couldn’t tell how much exactly these had declined.

Nonetheless, he noticed no significant changes in the sensations of muscle exertions and other body functions compared with when he could breathe normally.

It was like an electronic device that could still light up the screen, just with lower brightness. Nothing seemed to have fundamentally changed in its operation.

So Xiang Kun speculated that what he switched to after holding his breath underwater was not an “anoxic mode”, but an “oxygen-saving mode”.

Then where did the oxygen come from?

Xiang Kun knew that fish breathe underwater using gills.

Fish use their gills to capture dissolved oxygen in water and to release carbon dioxide. But even if he had developed the function of fish gills, wouldn’t he need to open his mouth to suck in and expel water?

But the fact is, he didn’t need to open his mouth under water, or filter it.

Xiang Kun immediately thought of his observation after catching the “mutated parasite”.

Most of the internal parasites in this world rely on glycolysis for energy and do not need oxygen.

However, it was clear that the “mutated parasite” is not among them. Even after leaving its host, it could still survive and had certain mobility. Its maneuverability and adaptability in water far exceeded that on land, so it must need to breathe.

However, in Xiang Kun’s observation, it didn’t have a gill-like structure.

So how does it breathe?

Xiang Kun continued to perceive carefully and then noticed the slightly cool feeling to the touch of the skin. He had noticed this feeling at the very beginning, but initially thought it was simply due to the cold water.

Upon carefully recalling the subtle differences before and after fully submerging and activating the “Oxygen-saving Mode”, he soon realized that this slightly cool feeling covering the entire skin may be the result of the “respiration” of the skin.

Xiang Kun carefully observed his own skin in the water. By constantly switching between dusk vision and the Infrared thermographic vision mode, even underwater, he could still take advantage of his visual superiority.

Often, some cosmetic advertisements claim that “human skin also breathes”, “pores breathe”, but in reality, pores do not have the function of “breathing”.

However, it seemed that on Xiang Kun’s body, those advertising slogans had come true. He seemed to be breathing through his pores at a very low rate, absorbing oxygen in the water, and expelling out carbon dioxide from the metabolism through the pores. But in the water, this process had been broken down into smaller reactions, which were difficult to observe visually, and even he himself could hardly perceive them clearly.

After confirming his breathing method under the “Oxygen-saving Mode”, Xiang Kun began to expand his attention outward and open his senses.

Following the “Inspiration” from the casual stroll by the riverside with Old Xia and others, Xiang Kun once again used the “Parasite Everything” mode to sense the surrounding river water.

Then he found that while breathing through the skin, he also had a new sensing ability in the water. His skin seemed to be more sensitive to the fluctuations of the water. He could judge the movement tracks of creatures in the water, the location of dead objects within ten or even twenty meters through this sense.

Xiang Kun carefully sensed these pieces of information, thinking that they were not only derived from the evolution of abilities brought by the “mutated parasite”. Most of the credit went to his own super sensory, information processing, and judgment capabilities. Only when combined could such comprehensive information scanning capabilities in water be achieved.

Then Xiang Kun no longer “drifted with the flow”, but began to swim actively in the water.

He had only learned the Frog Style before and was pretty average, but now in the water, he was swimming according to an “instinct”.

His swimming posture was like a fish, similar to the butterfly leg swimming posture, but compared to the human butterfly leg swimming, it was much more relaxed and effortless. His two hands also stretched out from under his chest from time to time, controlling the direction, allowing himself to save energy by going with the flow.

After swimming for a while, Xiang Kun found that his connection with the river water seemed to become more intimate, as if a pair of shoes had just been put on, after wearing and exercising for a while, they became increasingly fitting.

So Xiang Kun’s movements in the water became smaller and smaller, but his speed and flexibility increased.

After swimming in the water for more than an hour, Xiang Kun stopped again, then controlled the twenty-six following “super-connected objects” to gather around him.

As soon as he started swimming, he had loosened his control over these “super-connected objects”, only gathering them after swimming a certain distance, to avoid them being taken too far by the river water and getting out of his control range, which would be too troublesome to retrieve one by one.

But at this time, Xiang Kun sent these twenty-six “super-connected objects” far away on the riverbed, the furthest even more than a hundred meters away.

Originally, at such a distance, he could sense it but definitely could not control it, he had to enter the “Super Sensory State”, precisely locate it first, before he can operate it.

But now, in the river water, Xiang Kun found through the magnetic fields of the “super-connected objects” spanning from near to far, that the river water acted like a glue, integrating the individual magnetic fields of the twenty-six “super-connected objects” into a whole in his sense.

Thanks to this “super-connected objects” matrix, Xiang Kun’s underwater perception again broadened significantly, reaching as far away as hundreds of meters, with much more detailed senses.

He could perceive the small boats moored on the opposite side of the river, the fish swimming around him, and the various sizes of shells hidden at the bottom of the river, among other floating creatures.

Slowly, Xiang Kun realized that he was not only able to perceive, but also had a certain “control” ability.

Through the influence of the “super-connected objects” matrix, he regrouped twenty-six “super- connected objects” and attempted to intervene in the flow of the river, finding leverage points to influence the current.

After continuous attempts, he finally created a tiny vortex underwater.

However, what the underwater Xiang Kun didn’t know was that some strange phenomena started to appear on the surface of the river as he conducted these experiments.

The wind seemed to change direction slightly and became a bit stronger. Near the vortex of the river, a faint layer of mist began to form, but it was quickly dispersed by the wind.

Of course, no one could see this scene on the river’s surface late at night.

Meanwhile, Xiang Kun, underwater, was still engrossed in his research and experiments on controlling the river.

By this time, nearly three hours had passed since he submerged into the river.

Just as Xiang Kun was getting the hang of controlling water by experimenting with the “super-connected objects” matrix, an object fell into the river about sixty meters from his location, accompanied by a series of women’s screams from the riverside.

The twenty-six “super-connected objects” that were originally gathered around Xiang Kun instantly followed his will and shot out into the water, like torpedoes, rushing towards the splash.

Xiang Kun quickly discovered that the person who had fallen from the embankment into the river was an adult male, while the woman who was screaming was a female.

Accidental fall into the water?

Xiang Kun swiftly made a judgment. If it was within his power, he had to save the person. With his speed, he should be able to swim over and save the person in time.

However, he had been underwater all along, without the process of jumping in from the side. It was now late at night, with no other people around and no ships on the river. Saving the person by suddenly popping out of the water would be too abrupt.

He can’t save the person and then shout “The light of justice!” before turning around, jumping back into the water, and disappearing out of sight. That would scare the person he was supposed to save.

And probably a big news story would follow, attracting a lot of unwanted attention and investigation.

So Xiang Kun decided to swim towards that direction, while trying to save the person by using his newly discovered “water control” technique.

…

Several minutes earlier.

On the riverbank.

A car pulls over at the roadside.

The back door opens and a young girl with chestnut short hair gets out of the car in a huff and heads toward the river.

On the other side of the back seat, a handsome young man quickly follows suit, running after her and calling her name, trying to hold her hand.

Apparently, a young couple was having a quarrel.

The two people in the front seats exchange a glance, shake their heads helplessly, roll down the window, and start to chat leisurely, waiting for the couple to come back themselves. As their friends, they’ve seen this scene countless times.

But the development of events was somewhat different this time. The young man seemed to have drunk quite a lot, his emotions somewhat high. After bickering with the girl, he suddenly bellowed, “What the fuck do I have to do for you to trust me? Could it be that you’ll only trust me if I jump into the river?”

The girl, still in a fit of anger, instantly responded, “If you’re fucking ballsy, then…”

Panicked at the sight of the wide river, she tried to stop halfway through her sentence. But it was too late. The drunken young man shouted “Alright, I’ll jump!” and took a running start, then dove into the river.

“What? Ahh!! Fuck!! Help!! Help!! –Quickly come save him!!” The girl screamed repeatedly, even wanting to jump in after him, but she was, like her boyfriend, a non-swimmer and could only hop around on the river bank, calling her companions in the car to come save him.

When the two people in the car realized something was wrong and hurried over, they saw a scene that left them dumbfounded together with the now tear-stricken girl.

The young man who had fallen into the water was quickly moving towards a beach in the direction of the river, spinning as he went. From his position in the water, it was clear that this was not him swimming on his own.

After seeing the young man being carried to the downstream beach by the river, the three people hurriedly ran over.

By the time they arrived, the young man was lying in some water plants, screaming and crying, as he climbed up onto the embankment.

It took three people, using all their strength, just to pull their friend out of the water.

“What the hell, you almost drowned in a five foot pool, and you dare to fucking jump into a river? You must’ve been drunk out of your mind…” said the man who had been driving, his face filled with fear.

The young man’s girlfriend was crying non-stop, constantly asking her boyfriend whether he was hurt, and if there was a need to call 122.

“122 my ass, it’s 120!” said the man who had been driving, annoyed at the girl. He then said to the person who was sitting with him in the front seat, “Call his brother and let him know about this, we need to take him to the hospital…Hey? What are you staring at?”

He looked up and saw that his companion was dazedly staring at the river, and he couldn’t help but wonder.

However, when he followed his companion’s gaze and looked at the river, he also fell quiet.

The other side of the river, clearly visible under the moonlight just a moment ago, was now shrouded in fog. And oddly enough, the fog was only present at their location and where the young man had jumped into the river.

After a few dozen seconds, or maybe a few minutes, the fog quickly dispersed. A cold wind blew through, making the few people on the river bank shudder.

At this moment, the lights around them suddenly became brighter. Then they realized that the lights seemed to have dimmed a lot while they were rushing over to rescue their friend, but they didn’t pay much attention at that time.

So they weren’t getting brighter, but returning to their normal state?

At that moment, the man who had jumped into the river, now wet and miserable from crying and sobbing for half the night, suddenly raised his head and yelled at his girlfriend and friends, “Run… Run! There’s something in the water… There’s something in the water!!”

The three, already somewhat on edge, were startled by his shout.

After the three helped the man who had jumped into the river stumble away, a bald head slowly emerged from the water near the river bank.

Xiang Kun watched the four panic-stricken people running towards the car by the side of the road, feeling a bit helpless. He originally intended to make it seem like an “accident”, where the man who fell into the water was “lucky” enough to be washed ashore, but his unfamiliarity with the operation still ended up scaring them.