茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

The woman in formal attire, sitting in the passenger seat, was somewhat nervous, gripping the handle above the car window, and asked, “Why are you driving here? Be careful not to get stuck in the mud.”

The middle-aged man driving merely chuckled, “Don’t worry, I’ve been here many times, I am quite familiar.”

The woman squinted and turned to look at him, her tone dropping, “Oh? Quite familiar? Manager Wang, seems like you bring girls here quite often, hmm?”

The man’s expression didn’t change a bit, smoothly saying, “You’re mistaken, I often come here late at night to work overtime. I just stay here silently alone, smoke a cigarette, look at the moon, listen to the river and calm down my emotions. This is my private place, today…it’s the first time I brought someone here. Be it a man or a woman, you’re the first.”

The woman lightly chuckled, her gaze shifted towards the front, and faintly said, “Regardless of whether these words are genuine or made up on the spot, I believe you.”

The car came to a stop, the middle-aged man opened the sunroof, and said to the woman beside him, “Look at the sky.”

As the woman lifted her head, the sky was clear, the stars in the sky were bright, the view was incredibly clear, which was hard to see in the big cities due to heavy light pollution.

The man’s voice echoed again, “My heart, is like the night sky, don’t you understand?”

The woman chuckled, “Are you saying your heart is particularly dark?”

“Naughty!” The middle-aged man lightly laughed and reached over to unbuckle her seatbelt, reclining the passenger seat.

Time ticked away, the middle-aged man and the woman began to lay back in their seats, hand in hand, whispering, with an air of intimacy.

Then, from some moment, they couldn’t see the night sky through the sunroof any longer because they were enveloped by fog.

“What’s going on? Why did it suddenly become foggy?” The middle-aged man furrowed his brows, turned on the headlights, but still, the visibility was quite short.

The woman sat up abruptly, reached out and turned off the headlights.

“What are you doing?” The man asked, confused.

The woman put a finger to her lips, hushing him, and said softly, “I think I hear water… It sounds strange.”

At her words, the middle-aged man also turned tense. He promptly turned off the engine and carefully listened.

The car became quiet. The sounds from outside reached the inside through the opened part of the sunroof, becoming extraordinarily audible.

This place was close to the river, so hearing the sounds of water was normal, but what the woman heard was clearly not the regular sound of the river flowing. It sounded like something emerging from the water.

Now, they faintly heard as if something was moving in the grass?

The middle-aged man’s forehead broke out in a cold sweat, instinctively holding his breath.

If it was just the sound of something moving in the grass, he wouldn’t take it too seriously. In all probability, it was just small animals like stray cats or dogs, or rats – very normal.

They were in the car, perfectly safe.

However, the clear night where they could see the stars a moment ago was suddenly covered in thick fog. It was too mysterious, too strange.

He weirdly remembered two movies that he saw with a girl years ago – “Silent Hill” and “The Mist.”

So, seeing the fog seeping in through the sunroof, the middle-aged man felt a jolt in his heart. He started the car again, intending to close the sunroof and prepared to venture out in the fog.

But unexpectedly, when he pressed the START ENGINE button, the car gave no response?

He began to feel uneasy, a chill running down his spine.

Seeing the man frantically pressing the start button with no response from the car, the woman quivered, “Is… Is the car broken? Why of all times…”

She glanced at the white fog outside the window, and whispered, “I’ve heard rumors before, that there’s something in this river…”

“Shut up! Don’t pull these rumors out now!” The man snapped irritably. He picked up his phone, but found that he couldn’t turn on the screen, just as if it had crashed.

Hence, his idea to use the cellphone as a flashlight to check the car was immediately dismissed.

Frustration surged within him and he even had the urge to smash his cell phone onto the dashboard.

The woman also scrutinized her own cell phone, and found she could not turn it on. She couldn’t help but say: “Could we… have left Star City?”

This time, the man did not scold her again, because his mind also bubbled with all sorts of conjectures and relevant images.

The rustling sound from the grass outside echoed like the scratching claws of a monster in his mind.

Just then, the ringtone of the mobile phone suddenly rang, startling both of them in the car.

The man realized that his own phone was ringing, with the contact displayed as “Wife”.

In the past, when a call came through from his “wife”, his first reaction was always to mute the phone and pretend he didn’t hear it.

But in this moment, the illuminated screen felt like a beacon of “hope” shining from another world. Without any hesitation, he answered the call in front of the woman in the passenger seat.

“Why aren’t you home yet? Have you been drinking? If you’re drinking, don’t drive and remember to call for a designated driver…” A slightly muddled and sleep-heavy female voice came from the phone.

“I haven’t had a drink! I’m on my way home now!”

Seemingly startled by her husband’s sudden loud voice and brief response, the woman on the other end of the line paused for a moment before speaking. “Oh, well…be careful on your way.”

After hanging up, the man looked up to find the fog outside had completely cleared. The starry sky and the nearby river once again presented themselves clearly before his eyes.

The woman in the passenger seat, seemingly indifferent to his phone conversation, continued to stare blankly outside.

The man hit the ignition button, and the car engine started smoothly. Everything seemed to be back on track. The thick fog, the problems with the car and the phone, and the rustling sounds from the bushes outside seemed to have never existed.

But the two people in the car seemed to have a sudden clarity, and they didn’t say a word to each other even after they got back onto the paved road and onto Riverside Road.

A few hundred meters away, Xiang Kun, who had already dressed and was retracing his steps to the hotel, saw the Q7 drive past. He helplessly shook his head and silently vented his frustrations.

After the commotion caused by his previous rescue, Xiang Kun genuinely wanted to keep a low profile, finish his experiments in the river and quietly return to the hotel without causing any more disturbances.

But it was unexpected that in the middle of the night, there would be people driving out to such a remote place for romantic escapades. It was truly unforeseen.

The unfortunate thing was that the car parked near where Xiang Kun had hidden his clothes.

When Xiang Kun came out of the water, it would definitely not be without any noise. If he fooled around trying to get his clothes, there was a high chance of being discovered.

He certainly couldn’t just return to the hotel wearing only his underwear. Not to mention his phone, which was still there.

At first, Xiang Kun was patient and caught a few fish in the river to observe and kill time. He hoped to wait for the couple to finish and leave before getting out of the water.

But to his surprise, after the couple had done their business, they began stargazing and chatting in the car!

Xiang Kun was really angered. These people who could afford such luxury cars, if they wanted to have some fun or a romantic outing, why wouldn’t they just rent a room at a hotel?

Seeing that it was almost dawn if he kept waiting, Xiang Kun felt he had no choice. He had to use the new “trick” he had discovered that night to spread the mist he created on the river to the riverbank so he could get out of the water and retrieve his clothes undercover.

Fortunately, the river wasn’t far away, otherwise the fog wouldn’t have spread far enough.

Then, Xiang Kun used the strong influence created by the matrix of “Super-connected Objects” to temporarily paralyze the electronic devices in the Q7 without having to enter the “Super Sensory State”. This was to prevent the two people in the car from daring to drive in the thick fog and ending up driving the car into the river.

From the final outcome, even though the sudden appearance of the mist had startled the two people a bit, they generally seemed fine.

Whether it was rescuing people or metaphysically enhancing the river, he wasn’t directly witnessed or photographed by anyone, so he didn’t have to worry about being discovered.

All in all, tonight’s river-night adventure was quite fruitful.

You could say that it further defined the specific abilities and evolution direction he had gained from swallowing the “mutated parasite,” as well as revealing many derivative abilities and patterns of ability development.

Though his direct physical functions declined to some extent after entering the “Oxygen-saving Mode” in water, the potentiation gained from his water environment far exceeded this decline. In the water, he felt more unbounded and unhindered than in a stormy sky.

Xiang Kun was convinced that the evolution brought about by the “mutated parasite” was far from over. As he became more proficient in controlling his abilities and adapting to his surroundings, the abilities would become further integrated and enhanced during the next few Blood-drinking Periods.

Moreover, when combined with the “Super Sensory Item System,” the practical application of related abilities could potentially increase exponentially.

As he continues to control more “Super-connected Objects” and the “Super Sensory Item System” becomes more mature, with an increasingly varied range of applications, he might even be able to control entire bodies of water as readily and effortlessly as controlling “Super-connected Objects.”

At the same time, he could also leverage the adhesive effects of bodies of water to enhance the influence of the “Super Sensory Item System.”

Upon returning to the hotel, Xiang Kun paused at a fish tank in the lobby filled with ornamental fish, observing and sensing for a while.

He discovered that although his newly acquired ability was essentially derived from the help of water, water and water were not all the same.

A glass of water, a basin of water, a tank of water, a pool of water, or a river of water all gave him different feedback. The more water there was, the stronger the assistance he could obtain.

Yet, he had to be immersed in it and in the “Oxygen-saving Mode” to truly be able “fuse” with the water and borrow its “power” and “force.”

Xiang Kun knew that if he were to change to another river, or even the same river but a very distant part with significantly different environment and ecology, he would still need a process of fusion and adjustment to regain the same level of “control” as last night.

After a shower back in his room and a change of clothes, Xiang Kun received a text message from Old Xia – an emoji of a spaced-out expression.