What It’s Like Being a Vampire

Seeing Xia Libing fast asleep on the bed, Xiang Kun had no choice but to pull the quilt over and cover her to prevent her from catching a cold.

Then he took off the rubber band from her hair and spread her hair.

Then he took out the eight-armed and eight-eyed wooden sculpture from the cabinet and placed it on the bedside, next to the box containing the chopsticks.

In Xia Libing's usual style, since she made it clear that her purpose was to try Xiang Kun's dream induced by the eight-armed and eight-eyed wood carving, she also brought another emotional item, chopsticks, and placed it beside her head. , obviously with a purpose.

Sitting on the computer chair in the room, looking at the eight-armed and eight-eyed wooden sculpture placed on the bedside, Xiang Kun did not immediately sense it, but first deduced in his mind the possible situations he might encounter in his dream.

Judging from his previous experience in dream perception, the dreams and emotions caused by the eight-armed and eight-eyed wood sculpture have relatively strong negative effects and subsequent influence. This is why he took this wood sculpture back from Tang Baona's grandfather. The reason why it has been "sealed" in the cabinet.

So regardless of whether the eight-armed and eight-eyed wooden sculpture can successfully induce Lao Xia's dream, how to judge Lao Xia's status and limits after the induction, how to provide help and support to her in the dream, when to end the dream and how to end it, All need to be planned in advance.

Originally, these issues should have been discussed and settled by Lao Xia and him before induction and before falling asleep.

As a result, Lao Xia was too sleepy now. He came over and fell asleep immediately. It was not easy to pull Lao Xia up and shake her awake and then put her back to sleep after discussing it. Xiang Kun could only make his own decision.

After five minutes, after considering various possibilities and coming up with multiple plans, Xiang Kun began to sense the eight-armed and eight-eyed wooden sculpture. Then a large amount of sensory information came in, and he successfully triggered Lao Xia's dream.

It seems that this emotion also has an effect on Lao Xia.

In the dream, Xiang Kun observed his surroundings through Lao Xia's perception.

This was a dark and unclear world, and she couldn't see clearly what was going on around her. It seemed like she was in space, boundless, but there was invisible solid ground beneath her feet, which kept her firmly on the ground.

A strong sense of hunger drove her, and she kept searching around, trying to find something to eat, but there was nothing, and it seemed that there would be nothing.

Hungry, so hungry.

My body is getting weaker and weaker, and I can even feel the passage of life. I feel that my stomach is constantly shrinking, my internal organs are failing, and my muscles are constantly decomposing.

Xiang Kun felt that in Xia Libing's dream perception, she was like a candle, constantly "melting", feeling herself being "melted" by hunger bit by bit, heading toward death.

Just like hunger, this is the body's most instinctive reaction and its most primitive feedback.

Xiang Kun could clearly sense the source of Xia Libing's fear. This should also be the sequelae of Dr. Li's treatment of her when she was a child.

In other words, the death threat and fear brought about by this extreme hunger are the main methods of "treatment". Only by using this method can the little old Xia integrate into a normal lifestyle and understand what can and cannot be done.

In the dream, after being frightened by hunger and death, Xia Libing did not panic, hysterically, or panic like ordinary people.

Sharing Lao Xia's perceptions and emotions in Lao Xia's dream from a first-person perspective, Xiang Kun knew that she was constantly observing her surroundings. Even at a glance, she could see that there was nothing around her.

It seems that even if he has not "awakened" from the dream, Lao Xia's instinct is still dominated by rationality. Even if he perceives the strongest fear, he is not simply thinking about running away, but how to "solve" it - —Although normally,

This is an endless loop and a problem with no solution.

Then, Lao Xia saw a white door in the distance. There was a window on the door, and there was a blurry face on the window.

Lao Xia ran over quickly, and as the distance quickly shortened, when she saw the face on the window clearly, her pace couldn't help but slow down.

It was a face with two rows of eight eyes. It was a monster.

In an instant, the entire door merged with the monster. Not only did it have a head with eight eyes, but also a huge and weird body with eight arms, giving people a strong feeling that this was the only door. It was impossible to get out.

She was going to starve to death in this empty space. This was Lao Xia's instinctive feeling in the dream.

The next moment, extreme reason came, and Xia Libing "awakened" from his dream.

Xiang Kun's perspective of perceiving the dream was transferred, and the support of the dream was transferred from him to the ten "super-connected objects" that had established a special connection with Xia Libing.

Compared with the previous times when Xia Libing's dreams were triggered by chopsticks, this time she "wake up" in her dreams at a slower pace.

Moreover, in the previous dream, the emotions caused by the chopsticks would be quickly suppressed by Xia Libing's reason after she "awakened". But this time, Xiang Kun could clearly feel that the emotion brought about by the eight-armed and eight-eyed wooden sculpture, the fear of death caused by extreme hunger, was still there, but slightly weakened.

Although the emotions that the homemade chopsticks and the eight-armed wooden sculpture evoked in the dream have some similarities, they are all related to eating and hunger.

But the emotion of the former is mainly focused on "eating", the satisfaction brought by eating, and the urge to possess food. The latter is more about the fear caused by hunger, the threat of physical harm and death.

There is no doubt that the intensity and negativity of the latter's emotions are far greater than those of the former. Perhaps it is for this reason that even if he is "awake" in his dream, Lao Xia cannot completely suppress the negative feelings caused by his emotions. .

In the dream, Xia Libing looked around again, and the empty space immediately "filled up". Except for the door that was still firmly blocked by the eight-armed and eight-eyed monster, other places had actually appeared - exactly. It was in the closed room with nothing in the dream caused by Xiang Kun using chopsticks for the first time.

There is no doubt that this is where Lao Xia's fear was born.

Xia Libing walked directly towards the eight-armed and eight-eyed monster. The closer she got, the stronger her fear became. Even in her dream, Xiang Kun could clearly see that she was shaking slightly - if not in the dream, he could I directly felt Lao Xia's emotions. Objectively speaking, her performance was more like suppressing excitement and excitement rather than suppressing fear and fear.

But this didn't stop her. She knew very well that she was in a dream now, and she also knew very well what this eight-armed and eight-eyed monster represented.

But no matter how close she got, she was always a small distance away from the eight-armed and eight-eyed monster, and it seemed she would never be able to touch it.

Xia Libing thought for a while and stopped carrying out futile operations. Nine coins and a tungsten steel ball appeared in front of her. The next moment, they disappeared together and turned into a crispy pork knuckle.

She ate the pork knuckle with big mouthfuls. After eating, she found another piece of pork knuckle and kept eating it.

But after eating a few pieces, she found that neither the process of eating nor the process of swallowing it relieved her hunger and the fear caused by hunger.

She frowned and thought for a moment, raised her head, looked at the empty ceiling, and said, "Chopsticks."

Xiang Kun, who was observing Lao Xia from the perspective of an eight-armed and eight-eyed monster, immediately knew that she was talking to him and immediately understood what she meant - she was asking Xiang Kun to sense the pair of chopsticks now.

Normally, in the process of perceiving other people's dreams through "emotional objects", he cannot perceive other "emotional objects" at the same time. But Lao Xia's dream was different. When she "awakened" from the dream and transferred the support of the dream to the dream projection of the "super-connected object", Xiang Kun had the ability to sense other "emotional objects". Ability, as in “freeing up”.

Last time, he tried to sense Liu Shiling's pair of chopsticks in his dream, and he successfully merged the dreams of Little Fat Girl and Lao Xia. The two of them even met in their dreams and had a "dinner" together.

But this time, the "chopsticks" Lao Xia mentioned obviously did not refer to Liu Shiling's pair, but the pair that Xiang Kun gave her and were now placed on the bedside.

Xiang Kun immediately sensed the pair of chopsticks. After a while, the dream changed. A figure appeared next to Lao Xia. It was the emotional projection of the dream of the pair of chopsticks, that is, the image of the little fat girl.

The fat girl representing appetite and the eight-armed eight-eyed monster representing fear, these two "love objects", projections of two different emotions, actually appeared in a dream at the same time.

Xiang Kun knew that the underlying structure of Lao Xia's dream had also undergone great changes. Now this "system" was both Windows and Linux.

The little fat girl raised her head and looked at the eight-armed and eight-eyed monster not far away. She approached Xia Libing and gave her a chicken wing. Then she hugged her thigh and looked at the monster timidly. monster.

Xia Libing ate the chicken wings and finally felt that his appetite was satisfied. As a result, his hunger was relieved and his fear was reduced. The eight-armed and eight-eyed monster seemed to become less ferocious and smaller.

Xia Libing dragged a chubby girl holding her thigh, and while eating chicken wings, she leaned close to the eight-armed and eight-eyed monster and carefully observed it. From time to time, she used a scalpel to make cuts on the monster's body. A few times, a few pokes.

Xiang Kun suddenly realized that Xia Libing was so interested in this eight-armed and eight-eyed wooden sculpture. Perhaps it was because he had heard the group hallucination created by Little Apple before, and saw him in the abandoned factory area doing what he did to three car thieves. I also want to try to have a more direct connection with the "emotional object" outside of the dream world, and try to use the projection of the "emotional object" for my use.

Xiang Kun couldn't help but look forward to it. Will Lao Xia be able to find a way to "reveal" the eight-armed and eight-eyed monster in reality by "revealing it in fantasy"?

Although the ability "developed" by Little Apple can also create "illusions" for others, allowing them to "see" an eight-armed and eight-eyed monster, the objects created by "illusions" are essentially different from illusions.

Xiang Kun had never thought about the purpose of the "Co-Presence" thing. He simply had the feeling that "this function seems difficult to realize and difficult to achieve. If it is made, it will be very interesting."

However, judging from the previous situations in which other dream objects "appeared", it may not be that easy to do so.

…

After the dream ended, Xiang Kun opened his eyes, only to find that Lao Xia on the bed had not woken up. Instead, he was lying on his side and curled up, like a baby, sucking his thumb joint, with an expression on his face that was like "alcoholic" The feeling of satisfaction after having eaten enough.

It seemed that she was too sleepy tonight, or that the dream consumed too much, so after the dream ended, she did not wake up, but continued to sleep and rest.

Naturally, Xiang Kun would not wake her up. There were many things to do during the day tomorrow, and next, he would fall into a deep sleep after drinking blood. Lao Xia would most likely have to "keep vigil", so he had to rest well and get enough sleep tonight. important.

He turned his computer chair so that his body was facing the bed instead of facing the computer.

Because he was afraid of waking up Lao Xia, he did not call Alice through voice, but through the keyboard. .

After asking Alice to reply to him via text, Xiang Kun began to summarize the improvement direction of today's game and reissue the task to Alice.

But unexpectedly, after Alice reported the progress of some previously assigned tasks as usual, Xiang Kun discovered something that surprised him.