What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 522: Chapter 522: The Aggressive Little Fatty Girl

Seeing Liu Shiling’s “I’m super brave” posture, Xia Tianhuo couldn’t help but laugh.

This little girl, like a happy nut, even if she didn’t actually intend to make others laugh, these few days every time he saw her, Xia Tianhuo couldn’t help but have a faint smile.

However, looking at the Little Fatty Girl now, why, after putting on her hooded coat, did she seem a bit aggressive and fierce? Hmm, although she was still very cute, but judging from Xia Tianhuo’s few interactions with the Little Fatty Girl over the past few days, this little girl’s personality was quite nice, most of the time she was in a silly and lovable state, soft and sweet, seemingly incapable of getting angry.

Xia Tianhuo could also feel that the Little Fatty Girl wasn’t acting aggressively towards him, and definitely not towards her Sister Apple or Old Xia, so what was going on? Was it the grumpiness of being awakened in the middle of the night?

Or was the little girl a bit embarrassed and somewhat defiant because her fear of thunder had been exposed?

Xia Tianhuo chuckled and said, “Good, good, Xiao Lingdang is super brave, not afraid of thunder, must have woken up hungry, all because your roast chicken wing sister didn’t make something delicious for dinner.”

Now it was Liu Shiling’s turn to be a bit embarrassed. She scratched her head through her hood, went down the stairs, greeted Chu Xiuwen, and quietly defended Old Xia’s cooking: “The dinner was actually pretty good.” However, her defense sounded a bit weak.

Seeing the Little Fatty Girl sidle up next to Old Xia, who was making instant noodles, leaning against her leg, Xia Tianhuo couldn’t help but say, “Old Xia, when you’re making late night snacks for kids, you should at least make something nutritious and healthy. Is instant noodles all you’re making? That’s a bit too careless.”

However, after being glanced at by Xia Libing, he immediately shut his mouth, because he realized what Old Xia meant: “If you can do it, then you do it.”

He couldn’t, either.

When he was abroad and had to cook for himself, he basically threw meat and vegetables into one pot and stewed them. He added seasonings like oil and salt as it suited him, far from knowing anything about cooking. Especially after tasting Xiang Kun’s cooking, his definition of being able to “cook” had been raised by much.

When Old Xia had added hot water to the instant noodles, and the Little Fatty Girl had gone upstairs to call Sister Apple to come down to eat, Chu Xiuwen couldn’t help but ask, “Dr. Xia, when the power was out and there was heavy fog earlier, if you were awake, did you hear or smell anything?” Even though Xia Libing didn’t work at the hospital anymore, he was still used to this address.

Xia Libing replied, “I heard thunder and some bird calls. Probably birds from the mountain were startled by the thunder and confused by the fog, unable to tell direction and mistakenly entered the village. The visibility was too low, they might have flown around and hit buildings in the village.”

Chu Xiuwen and Xia Tianhuo immediately thought of the deceased bird on the road and unconsciously nodded in agreement.

“Did you smell anything? When we were on the road, once the fog came up, we smelled a bit like grilled meat…” asked Xia Tianhuo.

“Could be that lightning struck something.” said Xia Libing.

Chu Xiuwen frowned, “There was also a bit of cumin smell…”

“Oh yeah, I think I saw something catch fire over the village and fly towards the mountain. Could it be a bird that got struck by lightning?” Xia Tianhuo said and immediately shook his head with a self-deprecating laugh, “No, if a bird really got struck by lightning, it would definitely die on the spot, it wouldn’t be able to fly.”

After giving him a glance, Chu Xiuwen felt the urge to argue. He thought of the “fire phoenix” incident on Zi Huan Mountain he had heard about when drinking tea with his old classmate Guo Lin and Officer Xu in Citong City after the New Year. Even though it had been clarified by many people as a burning drone and not a fire phoenix, after watching the related video, he had different thoughts. Besides, he thought of the two escaped convicts struck by lightning in the Chongyun mountain area, there must be some “existences” in these mountains, maybe this was also a reason that Mr. Xiang chose to settle permanently in Chongyun Village and set up his research base.

After hesitating for a while, he didn’t speak his mind.

A few minutes later, the noodles were ready, and Liu Shiling brought Sister Apple downstairs to eat.

Sitting around the dining table eating noodles, the two girls, who were usually quite lively and loved to chat, were both silently slurping down noodles, not uttering a word, the atmosphere seemed a bit stifling.

Especially Sister Apple, when she first came downstairs, you could see her eyes were a bit swollen and her eyebrows were locked, her expression seemed off, a world of difference from her usual cheerful and sunny demeanor.

Xia Tianhuo couldn’t help but quietly ask Old Xia, “What happened to Sister Apple?”

Xia Libing said, “Goldie was injured on her way back before the fog set in, and both of them were very upset.”

Thinking of the very spiritual and chubby canary, Xia Tianhuo also expressed concern, “Is the injury severe?” He immediately understood why Little Fatty Girl was in that state just now, it seemed that she was not so much full of fighting spirit, rather she was filled with worry.

Chu Xiuwen hurriedly said, “I know an old friend who used to run a pet hospital in Jianzhou City and lives in town now. Since the fog has cleared now, let me take you to see him with the bird.”

Xia Libing shook her head, “No need. The wounds have been treated and bandaged, it’s not a problem.”

Hearing her words, Xia Tianhuo and Chu Xiuwen thought that Goldie had probably just suffered some minor skin injuries that could be handled by simply dabbing it with alcohol or iodine and bandaging it. As for Little Apple and Little Fatty Girl’s reactions, they were also understandable. Little Apple could not see and so couldn’t determine Goldie’s specific injuries, and Little Fatty Girl was too young and would be scared at the sight of blood, so she was understandably overly worried, while Old Xia seemed much calmer.

However, Old Xia always seemed to be this calm.

After drinking a cup of tea and seeing that the rain had lessened, Chu Xiuwen also said his goodbyes and left.

On his way home, he deliberately drove around the newly repaired village road to check on Liu Caifu to see if he had woken up, then made a detour to Xiang Kun’s research base construction site, and chatted a few words with Liu Gaoshang and Liu Zhengyi, the two brothers who hadn’t slept yet.

On the other hand, despite having had some tea, Xia Tianhuo was starting to feel sleepy. Seeing that Little Apple and Little Fatty Girl had finished their noodles and were whispering something, he said to Old Xia and went upstairs to his room to sleep.

As he passed by Little Apple and the others’ room on the second floor, he wanted to check on Goldie’s condition so he opened the door to take a peek.

As soon as the door opened, he saw a large orange cat stand up on a table and stare at him. At that moment, this fat cat, which usually seemed quite dumb and cute, suddenly burst forth an aura that did not match its size, startling the nearly two-meter tall Xia Tianhuo.

However, after recognizing that it was him, Custard Pie laid its chubby body down again, shut its eyes, and started to doze off.

And behind it was Goldie, half of her body bandaged up.

A cat guarding a bird?

…

Downstairs, Xia Libing, who had also eaten a bowl of instant noodles, looked at the two girls who were still awake and energetic, and asked, “Aren’t you going to sleep?”

Little Apple shook her head, “I can’t sleep.”

Liu Shiling also shook her head, “Me neither.”

Xia Libing first used her phone to ask Alice if Xia Tianhuo had gone back to his room and gotten into bed, then contacted Xiang Kun, asked a few questions, then turned to Little Apple and Liu Shiling and asked, “Are you scared of ants?”

“Not scared.” Little Apple said.

“Scared…not scared!” Liu Shiling immediately corrected herself at the sound of Sister Apple’s answer, swallowed her saliva, then added in a low voice, “As long as the ants don’t crawl on me and don’t bite me, I’m not scared.”

Xia Libing nodded, instructing, “Go put on another layer of clothes and change shoes. We’re going out.”

Thinking they were going to confirm the trajectory of the monster that had severely injured Goldie, Little Apple and Little Fatty Girl became energetic and dashed upstairs to change their clothes and shoes and came down.

Then Xia Libing led the two out the door. The rain had basically stopped outside, the moon had reappeared, and with the lights in the village, they could see clearly without needing flashlights.

Dr. Xia Libing, holding Little Fatty Girl with her left hand and Xiao Pingguo with her right, did not head towards the edge of the village near Chongyun Mountain. Instead, she led them to the courtyard she and Xiang Kun had rented when they first arrived at Chongyun Village.

After unlocking and opening the courtyard gate, Dr. Xia Libing took the two girls inside, but didn’t proceed into the house. She instead turned on the light in the porch, walked back to the middle of the courtyard, and idly flipped a coin in her hand, seemingly waiting for something.

Soon, two dark objects flew out of the tree and the adjacent underbrush, landing on Dr. Xia Libing’s arm.

Liu Shiling, subconsciously stepping back, gripped the hem of Dr. Xia’s clothes tightly, her eyes wide open staring at the two dark objects on Dr. Xia’s hand.

“Grilled Chicken Wing Sister, are… are these ants?!” Little Fatty Girl’s face was filled with an expression of shock that seemed to say, “Sister, I didn’t study much, so don’t lie to me.”

The bigger one was larger and plumper than a AA battery and had thin wings. It didn’t look like an ant at all. The other one was a little smaller but still as big as her pinky finger, also had thin wings and a glossy, shiny carapace with barbs, which made it look quite fierce.

Upon seeing these two “ants,” Little Fatty Girl got the creeps. If it hadn’t been for the promises and instructions from Dr. Xia Libing and having Sister Apple nearby, she would’ve run off crying or thrown her protective Little Elf Guardians—who took the form of stuff like chocolate and ice cream—at them.

Xiao Pingguo had no major reaction. She held up her phone, aiming the camera at the two “ants” and tilted her head, lost in thought.

Alice was currently using the phone camera, the original cameras in the courtyard, and the super-connected objects placed in the yard to transform all kinds of information about the two “ants” into cognitive information that Xiao Pingguo could understand and then passed it on to her.

“Sister Bing, are these two ants being raised by Uncle Xiang?” Xiao Pingguo asked. From the brief conversation between Dr. Xia Libing and Xiang Kun earlier, she had realized that these two ants were probably special existences like Gold Flash, with special abilities coming from Xiang Kun.

Dr. Xia Libing nodded: “Yes.”

Hearing this answer, Liu Shiling suddenly felt less afraid. She even thought the two large ants looked cute and chubby like Custard Pie and Gold Flash. She couldn’t resist standing on her toes to get a better look.

Dr. Xia Libing placed the larger ant in Xiao Pingguo’s palm and said, “This is 002, the Ant Queen.”

She placed the smaller ant on Little Fatty Girl’s arm, atop her clothes, and said, “This is 001, a Worker Ant.”

“Ah, the names of it and I both have ‘Ling’ in them?”

“It’s the ‘Zero’ from ‘Zero-Egg.’

“Oh.”

Liu Shiling gently touched the “001” on her arm with her finger. The big ant touched her finger with its two antennae and two translucent tentacles; it cocked its head and rubbed her fingernail with its back.

Feeling the ant’s affinity for her, Liu Shiling was no longer afraid or worried. She grinned as she toyed with the ant, mumbling, “001, you’re 01. I’m Shiling, which is 40. So I’m older than you by… Forty minus one equals… equals… Ten minus one equals nine, four minus one equals three… Thirty-nine, so I’m thirty-nine times your age. You must call me big sister.”

“Little Bell, ants can’t talk.” Xiao Pingguo laughed.

“That’s okay, I’ll teach it.” Liu Shiling declared.

Dr. Xia let the two girls play with the ants in the yard while she went through the door into the house. In a short while, she brought out two specially designed boxes.

She placed the boxes in the center of the courtyard and as soon as she opened the unique lids, a mass of dark ants came into view, flying out by whipping their wings.

Although these flying ants were far smaller than 001 and 002, they were still a size bigger than ordinary ants. At first glance, the scene was quite terrifying.

Liu Shiling was startled and instinctively wanted to dodge, but then remembered that these were probably Uncle Bald’s pets, so she put on her hood, cringed her neck, and carefully watched.

Fortunately, after these flying ants scattered and took off, they quickly gathered again above Old Xia, not around Little Fatty Girl or Little Apple.

Xia Libing took out two palm-sized small cloth bags from his coat pocket and gave them to Little Fatty Girl and Little Apple respectively: “Divide these among the flying ants and let them take them into the mountain to search for the place that has just been struck by lightning and help Alice find the ‘monster’ that ran away.”

Hearing this, Little Fatty Girl and Little Apple immediately perked up, carefully poured the tungsten steel balls out of the small cloth bags, spread them on the palm of their hand, and then let the flying ants come and place the tungsten steel beads into their mouths with their forelimbs and mandibles, and then flap their wings to fly away.

The ants crawling on the palm of her hand tickled, which made Little Apple couldn’t help but laugh, sweeping away the gloom when Jinshan was injured.

Little Fatty Girl, on the other hand, extended her hand into the cloth bag, then took it out, her finger covered in a dense layer of tungsten steel beads, and said to Old Xia, “Sister Chicken Wing, look!”

The tungsten steel beads that covered her index finger flowed around the surface of her skin like a liquid.

“I get it, these are the magic beads that Alice uses!” Liu Shiling happily said. She controlled them through the five coins on her body. Although there was a layer in between, this low level of complexity control was still very easy as the beads were too small and too light.

After dispatching over two hundred flying ants and letting Zero Zero One and Zero Zero Two lead them into the mountain, Xia Libing put the two boxes back into the room, locked the courtyard door and took Little Fatty Girl and Little Apple home.

Back at home, in the bedroom, after changing clothes and slippers, Little Fatty Girl and Little Apple sat side by side at the end of the bed, and Xia Libing put the laptop on the table in front of the bed.

Alice called up an electronic map on the screen and then marked the positions of the more than two hundred ants carrying super-connected objects with dots.

As can be seen, more than two hundred small dots, on the edge of Chongyun Village, moved outward neatly and orderly like a striking army.

With these over two hundred super-connected objects, Alice had a “Mobile Chongyun Village” that could detect and co-manifest in a short time, or in other words, the range of Chongyun Village was forcibly extended through these ants.

Through this method, Alice can very clearly judge whether there are “mutants” within the covered range, and analyze the related super-sensory information to determine whether the “mutant” has been struck to death and reduced to ashes by the lightning.

In fact, the arrangement for Zero Zero One, Zero Zero Two, and those secondary derivative ant colonies to carry super-connected spheres into the mountain area did not require Old Xia, Little Apple, or Little Fatty Girl to operate, but was handled remotely by Xiang Kun in a “Super Sensory State”.

Although Zero Zero One and Zero Zero Two have also entered the “Super sensory Item System”, their comprehension and IQ are far from comparable to Custard Pie and Jinshan. If there is a layer in between, it is difficult for either Old Xia or Little Apple, or Little Fatty Girl to give precise commands to the secondary derivative ant colony.

But Xia Libing still took Little Apple and Little Fatty Girl to complete this seemingly redundant step, because she knew that the two girls were a bit “discontented” tonight because of Jinshan’s injury.

Although they teamed up to beat the “weird big bird” through the black monster made of condensed gravel, and Jinshan’s injury was remotely treated by Xiang Kun, they had been in the room for the whole process. Without knowing whether the “weird big bird” is dead or escaped, they were upset without a clear result.

And Xia Libing couldn’t possibly risk taking them into the mountains to search, so she could only let them distribute the super-connected items of the ant army, giving them a real sense of participation in the search.

When on the computer screen, the little dots representing the ants arrived at the location of Little Fatty Girl’s five lightning strikes, Alice materialized in the room, holding a scalpel and pointing at the notebook screen.

“Zero Zero One is this dot. It leads the first army of 130 ants to the first lightning crater. According to my sense, the bug was not electrocuted here. The second army is led by Zero Zero Two, it will first go to the second lightning crater to check.” Alice, who had materialized, sat cross-legged on the table and pointed and explained the specific investigation situation on the notebook, and she even made the ant “army” into “legions”.

Little Fatty Girl was very interested in this novel way of investigation, staring intently at the screen, her eyes flashing, as if she was a great commander, watching the actions of the many troops she dispatched.

Little Apple, through the cognitive information simulated directly by Alice, was also exploring the mountain area, which was even more direct than Little Fatty Girl.