What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 510: Chapter 510: The Buried Secret (Part 3)

Academician Shen, through his investigation and observation of some “Blood-eating Creatures”, as well as other researcher’s data he had acquired, wrote a document titled “The Influence of Blood Source Type on the Mutation of ‘Blood-eating Creatures’”.

In that document, Academician Shen believes that when “Blood-eating Creatures” first start mutating, if the blood source is the same species as the creature before mutation, then the creature would achieve the maximum improvement during the initial stage of mutation. It may even acquire abilities or characteristics that can be applied to other members of the same species before mutation,—except for creatures that were plants before becoming “Blood-eating Creatures”.

Moreover, if the blood source remains the same as the original species, the physical mutation will be relatively small, making it easier to hide within their original groups.

However, as time goes on and the number of mutations increases, the drawbacks of using the blood of the same species will emerge. The mutation traits become too monotonous, the evolution limit is very low, the phase limit will come early, the mentality will be affected, becoming more violent and bloodthirsty, and tend towards instinct. Mutation will also produce path dependence, and changing the type of blood source will not allow further adjustments.

Even for non-original species blood sources, if it always remains the same type, the mutation will also lack “imagination”.

Conversely, by not using the original species as a blood source and diversifying the choice of blood source, the mutation of “Blood-eating Creatures” can also be more diverse, and the phase limit can be delayed.

However, there are also disadvantages. The physical changes will be larger and less controllable, and the cycle of blood-drinking will vary greatly, the amount of blood needed for blood-drinking will also be very unstable.

Through his research, Academician Shen believes that the mutation characteristics and direction of “Blood-eating Creatures” mainly depend on the choice of blood source for their blood consumption.

If “Blood-eating Creatures” have high intelligence and complex thinking methods, “subjective intention” may also have an impact on the direction of mutation, but there is currently no substantial evidence to support this.

…

Regarding the viewpoints in this document, Xiang Kun only agrees with “subjective intention may have an impact on the direction of mutation” and part of the “advantages and disadvantages of using the pre-mutation species as a blood source”.

The former is based on his own practical experience, the latter is his judgment based on the portion of Guo Tianxiang’s memory fragments he has obtained, which is indeed valid.

However, he completely disagrees with the influence of “blood source” type on “Blood-eating Creatures”.

In his own personal experience, the stability of the blood source is actually more important.

A single, readily available blood source can provide him with a stable supply of blood, much like the “staple food” in the human diet, which is a basic guarantee of survival.

The blood of other “mutants” is a “dietary supplement,” which can greatly affect mutation traits and directions.

And in Xiang Kun’s view, the direction of mutation does not primarily depend on the choice of blood source, but mostly on targeted training.

From the memory fragments of the “Giant Owl” and “mutated spider” he has obtained, a diverse blood source cannot really delay the arrival of their phase limits—even though these two creatures have very mixed sources of blood.

If a comparison needs to be made, the mutation that Academician Shen imagines is akin to flying in space, in a vacuum. Most of the time it’s moving due to inertia. To change direction requires a power source, and this power source determines the direction of movement.

The mutation that Xiang Kun envisions, on the other hand, is like flying in the atmosphere, where the pilot is always in control of the direction. Even if the engine stops, it can still manually control its direction to a certain extent during glides.

Xiang Kun knows that neither Academician Shen nor his own views and judgments are necessarily entirely correct, the key lies in the difference of their research samples.

The individuality of each “Blood-eating Creature” or “mutant” is very strong, and their characteristics are often not uniform.

Moreover, Xiang Kun is becoming more and more aware that he himself is a unique mutation within the unique mutations.

Take for example the ability to obtain memory fragments after devouring the blood of other “mutants”. Based on all kinds of document records from Academician Shen, other “mutants” do not possess this ability, nor has this ability been described as existing.

This ability can clearly help Xiang Kun better understand the mutation paths of other “mutants”.

Relatively speaking, although Academician Shen has more experimental resources, more channels to obtain information, and has obtained more live samples and relevant data of “mutants”, but because “mutants” all come from mutations, they cannot be bred and observed. Basically, when they are discovered, they have already gone through several mutations stages. Therefore, unless human “mutants” are willing to cooperate, it will be very difficult for him to understand the true mutation process of other plant and animal “mutants”. The reference samples have great limitations.

In some other documents, Academician Shen analysed the viewpoint of some western private research institutions, which believe that the restraining “Mysterious Power” of human research on “Blood-eating Creatures” is the fundamental source of all mutant powers.

It’s clear that he does not agree with this viewpoint; he thinks that although the “Mysterious Power” has a close relationship with “Blood-eating Creatures”, many of its “operations” are so powerful that they are difficult to comprehend. It seems omnipresent and controls everything. However, in fact, compared to the disruptive knowledge brought about by the very existence of “Blood-eating Creatures”, it isn’t as powerful.

Latterly, Academician Shen provides a series of observable phenomena to prove his point of view, believing that the “Mysterious Power” should be a higher form of existence of “Blood-eating Creatures”. It doesn’t let humans or any life research the secrets of “Blood-eating Creatures” in order to prevent humans from discovering it and eliminate potential threats to it.

In fact, from early documents, at first Academician Shen’s viewpoint was similar to that of other humans. He also thought that the “Mysterious Power” might control the fundamental force of mutation, but further research on “Blood-eating Creatures” and his own experience as a “Blood-eating Creature” gradually changed his viewpoint and led to new ones.

This series of documents should also be for later generations to understand his entire path of thought and research, as well as the reasons for his change of viewpoint.

Next, Xiang Kun saw several documents in which Academician Shen was recording about himself. From the descriptions and photos attached, Academician Shen’s appearance had changed greatly.

The fingers of his left hand have become very thin but strong, very stable when performing delicate operations, and a small hole can be opened in the center of the index finger, thumb, and middle finger, becoming a suction cup.

On his right hand, an additional three-fingered limb has even differentiated from his elbow to assist him in performing some experimental operations.

In addition, there are many mutations with smaller but significant improvements, obviously all to help him better conduct experiments, allowing him to complete more experiments on his own and more complex processes.

Academician Shen also gives detailed records and analysis of each of his mutation characteristics. Of course, he still believes that these mutations are directly related to his choice of blood source, and his subjective intention has played a certain role in adjusting them.

Academician Shen even started to make “harmonious blood sources”, adding some juice of ordinary plants that have been proven to have “Blood-eating Creatures” into them.

Xiang Kun didn’t agree with Academician Shen’s views, or rather, they didn’t apply to him. But Academician Shen’s experimental methods under limited conditions, independent operation, various perspectives, and ways of thinking were greatly enlightening to him.

Particularly, Academician Shen often analyzed and interpreted new research on “Blood-eating Creatures” conducted by researchers from secret Western institutions, obtained through ways unknown to Xiang Kun. This allowed Xiang Kun to clearly understand Academician Shen’s thought process and methodology as if attending a class, hugely beneficial indeed.

After reading the vast amount of documentation, the image and cognitive model of Academician Shen came to formation within Xiang Kun’s mind.

For Xiang Kun, even after all these mutations, the notion of “no matter what I become, I’ll always be human,” still dominates his mindset, being his most potent instinct.

While in Academician Shen’s self-perception, the most important tag is “Chinese researcher.” He hardly cares about his own biological identity. Whether a human or a “Blood-eating Creature” or any other existence, it doesn’t matter much.

What he pursued was what insights and benefits the research on the properties and nature of “Blood-eating Creatures” could bring for the country, ordinary people, or even the whole of humanity.

His primary concern is that when the research on “Blood-eating Creatures” has breakthrough progress—when the secrets and mysterious powers hidden behind can be discovered and utilized, our country shouldn’t be left lagging in this field.

From the bio of Academician Shen retrieved online, and the era he lived through, things he’d done, Xiang Kun could understand where his strong sense of mission and scientific spirit came from.

After reading so many documents, Xiang Kun had a strong urge to have a chat with Academician Shen.

But when Alice previously obtained control of the dedicated network of the secret department of Divine Technology and gained a vast amount of information from the Abnormal Biology Research Center, there was no information related to Shen Hai Chong or the experimental plans and labs mentioned in those documents.

So Xiang Kun had a faint premonition that this Academician Shen might be no more. Otherwise, if he was still conducting relevant research, it can’t be possible that Divine Technology wouldn’t have any information about him.

Moving on, Xiang Kun found a document recording the mutation situation of “Mr. Liang”, Lu Qinliang. The recording style of this document was very similar to the original files of Mr. Liang he’d found first, which were incomplete and unsigned. However, this document had a signature—it was from Academician Shen Hai Chong.

It seemed that Mr. Liang, who’d just undergone mutation, was the first “partner” Academician Shen found.

But from the early records, the degree of Mr. Liang’s mutation was extremely slight, even lesser than that of Academician Shen. Two years after the mutation, he didn’t look any different from ordinary human beings. His change was even smaller than Xiang Kun’s current transformation—at least, he’d lost his hair and had grown more muscular.

Mr. Liang looked just like an average, somewhat weak teenager. Of course, at least compared to his pre-mutation state, he could now walk around freely.

Under the guidance of Academician Shen, Mr. Liang’s blood source was also a mixture of multiple types, but his direction of mutation wasn’t directly influenced by the blood source, contradicting Academician Shen’s initial theory.

Thus, in subsequent documents, Academician Shen started revising his original theory.

In a document resembling a diary, Xiang Kun found a remark of Academician Shen:

“Only human ‘Blood-eating Creatures’ can conduct related research, which has brought great obstacles to team building. There are very few human ‘Blood-eating Creatures,’ let alone those who can be groomed into researchers. Luckily, both Ah Liang and Xiao Xue are talents. In the future, they will surely become pillars in the research field of ‘Blood-eating Creatures.’”

“Ah Liang” was evidently Mr. Liang. And who was “Xiao Xue”?

Was she another human “Blood-eating Creature” recruited into the team by Academician Shen?

From the name, it seemed she was female?

But there were abundant records, mutation progression reports, and physical data about Mr. Liang, yet there wasn’t a single document about this “Xiao Xue.” Was it because Alice hadn’t transmitted them yet?

The following documents saw a drastic change in style. Although they were all unsigned, and the electronic files had no notes to identify their creators, the casual, crude tone was a far cry from Academician Shen’s meticulous rigor. Clearly, they weren’t by his hand.

Given the few relatively recent records he’d read earlier, including the documents about the discovery of Guo Tianxiang and the “Unknown Blood-eating Creature” in the Qinling Uninhabited Area, Xiang Kun was pretty sure that these documents were all created by Mr. Liang.

Where had Academician Shen gone?

And this “Xiao Xue”, where had she gone?

Xiang Kun was full of doubts, and what followed were records about Mr. Liang’s own physical condition, which began to dramatically change.

Mr. Liang’s appearance started to look less and less human, and various kinds of mutations began to occur.

Moreover, Mr. Liang had modularized his mutations. Through some peculiar methods, he combined his mutated organs with external materials and structures. By doing so, he forcibly guided and controlled his mutations to follow his “design ideas” and “functional concepts,” forcibly integrating his mutations with modern technology.

But in the early stages of such attempts, it was evident that the results weren’t good. His body underwent extremely horrifying transformations. He swelled up like a monster covered with hard moss, looking so grotesque that his figure could no longer be recognized as human.

Compared to that, the form of Mr. Liang he saw in John’s dreamland was a hundred times better looking.

Perhaps Mr. Liang had realized his transformation plan had failed or that he might not last much longer. He recorded a video apparently made for the “successors.”

In the video, he detailed his self-transformation plan, summarized the mistakes he’d made, the defects caused, and provided some new trial ideas, hoping the “successors” could give them a try.

And finally, he explained why he embarked on such a radical attempt:

“It’s a game of predators. To break free from the snare of the ultimate predator, we must exceed the limits of ‘Blood-eating Creatures’ mutation, we have to stage a surprise attack from an untouched domain, becoming a more formidable predator.”

“The limit of carbon-based life is under its control, and we have to break this limit.”