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Chapter Two: The Mutation

“Mom, work is hectic right now, but once things settle down I’ll be able to take some time off. I’ll come visit you then.” Xiang Kun hadn’t revealed to his mother that he had lost his job. He didn’t want his family to worry. He had some savings to tide him over for now. All he needed to do was find a new job soon.

After hanging up, Xiang Kun picked up his glasses he had taken off earlier, wiped them off, and put them on. He checked the date on his phone again; July 14th, Sunday, no mistake there.

However, he was certain that the day he left the company and drank his sorrows away was July 11th, Thursday!

His chat histories on WeChat, Alipay’s records of him paying at a food stand, and his ride requests on the Didi app all confirmed this.

According to the ride records, he got home around 8:50 p.m. Too drunk to brush his teeth or even change out of his clothes, he collapsed onto his bed and fell asleep.

And now it was 10:47 in the morning on July 14th. Had he been asleep for over two days, almost sixty hours?

Could such a long snooze be possible from just three beers? Even if he didn’t hold his booze well, it was unlikely!

The strange thing was that after having slept for such a long time, he didn’t feel hungry or thirsty at all upon waking up.

Xiang Kun boiled some water and fixed himself a bowl of instant noodles, but after only a few bites, he felt a strong discomfort in his stomach and rushed to the bathroom to vomit.

“Is it a hangover from getting drunk?” he wondered.

Still rubbing his belly, Xiang Kun slipped on his shoes and stepped out to find something light to eat.

Once outside, the glaring sunlight seemed to intensify his dizziness, so he stuck to the shaded sidewalks to avoid the sun as much as possible.

He found a small eatery near his place and ordered porridge with a couple of side dishes. However, he could barely eat for a few minutes before a wave of abdominal cramp hit him. He rushed outside and vomited by the roadside. His tears and nose ran as he hurled, drawing the perplexed stares of the shop owner and her assistant.

Xiang Kun took the tissue offered by the waiter and wiped his mouth, then turned to them and waved his hand. “It’s not your food,” he assured them, “I just drank too much last night and my stomach is upset.”

After he paid for his unfinished meal, Xiang Kun decided to visit a nearby clinic, even though he didn’t feel hungry and apart from feeling a little weak and dizzy, he didn’t have any other symptoms.

The local doctor at the clinic was an experienced elderly man. He was reputed to have been a skilled surgeon before retiring from a top-tiered hospital. Xiang Kun had visited this clinic a couple of times before and found the doctor reliable.

“Slept for two days after getting drunk?” The doctor checked Xiang Kun’s pulse and examined his tongue while collecting his medical history. “You barely drink, right? Plus, you’ve had lesser sleep and been staying awake for long hours recently. Your body is weak. Here are some medicines for you. Get proper rest, eat light, no smoking or alcohol, and consume more vegetables and fruits.”

“Doctor, is it troublesome to sleep for almost sixty hours after getting drunk? And my teeth seem a bit loose…”

“It’s unusual to sleep for such a long period. As for your loose teeth, it might be inflammation causing gum recession. Keep your mouth clean and stay hydrated. Or you might want to visit a dentist. If you are still worried, you should go for a full body check-up.” The old doctor noted down the prescription and handed it to Xiang Kun.

Even though the doctor didn’t see it as a major issue, Xiang Kun still felt something strange about his body. He decided there at the clinic entrance that he would take the prescribed medicine, get some sleep and observe. If he still felt strange the next day, he would go for a full-body examination at the hospital.

It was past noon by now. The delightful smells of food wafted from every small shop along the street, but Xiang Kun had no appetite at all.

This lack of hunger caused him anxiety. He should have been starving after such a long gap since his last meal. Why didn’t he feel like eating anything?

Thinking of buying some bread as a backup in case he got hungry later, he walked past a marketplace. There, he was attracted by an unexpected aroma and unknowingly stepped into the market.

The marketplace was quite empty at this time. Xiang Kun followed the tantalizing aroma until its source — a woman efficiently butchering chickens.

Unbelievably, the aroma that had attracted him was the putrid smell of chicken blood!

Normally, the sight and smell of blood would repulse Xiang Kun and make him want to distance himself. But now, he felt an insatiable craving welling up deep within him.

Xiang Kun hesitated for a little and then asked the woman if he could buy a chicken. The woman asked him to pick one himself. After Xiang Kun chose a chicken, the woman began to butcher it, but Xiang Kun stopped her and took the live chicken home instead.

As soon as he closed the front door, he brought out his Swiss Army Knife. He looked up how to kill a chicken and drain its blood, and then took the chicken to the bathroom to do it.

Since it was his first time butchering a chicken, the bird put up a fight and ran all over the place. It took a lot of effort to catch it. Once he had it, he clumsily plucked the feathers from its neck and slit the blood vessel to let the blood drain out.

Not waiting for the stainless-steel soup pot to fill up with chicken blood, Xiang Kun couldn’t resist the urge and started sucking from the wound.

…

When Xiang Kun finally woke up, he found chicken feathers all over his room, across the floor to his bed, even on his body and around his mouth.

The drained chicken lay dead at the bathroom door with blood everywhere, making his apartment look like a crime scene.

He remembered the irresistible urge that drove him to buy a chicken, kill it and drink its blood. After drinking the blood, he had felt completely exhausted and quickly fell asleep once he lay on his bed.

He checked his phone only to find that he had slept for over 24 hours again, from 1 p.m. the past day until 4 p.m. today.

He felt something in his mouth, spit it into his hand and found that he had just spat out two teeth.

Shocked, he rushed to the bathroom, flicked on the light and inspected his reflection in the mirror. He found his teeth were all loose in their sockets and could easily be pulled out with a little force.

However, beneath each pulled tooth were new teeth growing.

At thirty, losing his teeth and growing new ones?!

What baffled him even more was his face in the mirror. Apart from the chicken feathers and dried blood, the skin on his face looked like a torn layer of food wrap.

Upon closer inspection, he realized it was his skin peeling off like dead skin.

And it was not just his face. His arms, stomach, legs, his entire body was shedding its skin like a reptile!