Chapter 24: Encounter
The organ responsible for smell in humans is the nose, precisely various nerve cells inside the nostrils.
Generally speaking, to have a more sensitive sense of smell, capable of discerning more and subtler aromas, one needs more olfactory cells. For example, humans have about 5 million olfactory cells, while dogs have between 100 million and 200 million, making a dog's sense of smell much stronger than a human's.
Xiang Kun was pondering that since his strength had increased and his muscles had obviously grown, he could feel their hardness when exerted, sturdier than ordinary humans—clearly, his muscle fibres had significantly strengthened and changed.
So, what kind of changes occurred in the organs when his sense of smell enhanced?
Would there be more olfactory cells or related nerves?
Or did a single cell become stronger, achieving many times the effectiveness of a regular human's olfactory cells?
There were no obvious changes to his nose's appearance, so perhaps the latter was more likely?
If Xiang Kun had a background in medicine and had the necessary equipment, he would probably already be studying samples of his nasal cavity. He could do so with ease due to his powerful regenerative capability, collecting samples would have no ill effect on him.
Perhaps this discovery alone could garner him a Nobel Prize or something similar.
...
On August 2nd, more than a day had passed since Xiang Kun had encountered a stabbing incident on the night of July 31st.
Yesterday and today, he still followed his established plan and pace—training in the gym during the day and wandering the streets at night, practicing his auditory and olfactory senses, while also collecting a "database" of various sounds and smells.
Moreover, he had a faint feeling that training at night seemed to yield better results.
But this would require further experimentation to confirm.
Since his chat on WeChat with Officer Chen yesterday, Xiang Kun had stopped paying much attention to the fugitive that was being hunted by the police. According to his view, once the fugitive's true identity was exposed, he couldn't possibly escape under the police's vigilant watch. He didn't even bother verifying whether the scent he had "collected" from the glove in the trash can came from the fugitive.
However, sometimes things just happened unexpectedly. Xiang Kun had not intended to find the fugitive, but the suspect unexpectedly appeared within his field of vision.
Or more precisely, the fugitive's scent appeared within the range of Xiang Kun's olfactory sensors.
At around six in the afternoon, Xiang Kun left the gym. He planned to follow the previously arranged route to train his senses of smelling and hearing. However, he had only taken a few steps when a familiar scent suddenly stood out among the medley of odours.
The night before, Xiang Kun had rummaged through a trash can, trying to see the results of his scent tracking. He found a blood-stained glove, supposedly left behind by the suspect. Even though the process was quite unpleasant, the scent had indeed impressed him deeply, especially since it had only been a little less than two days since.
He immediately looked around for the source of the smell. Based on the scent, the target should not be more than ten meters away.
Although he had been focusing his training on his olfactory and auditory senses recently, he had not neglected his visual sense. Specifically, because he was always wandering at night, his ability to see clearly in the dark had improved significantly. Coupled with deliberate training, his dynamic visuals had enhanced to a certain degree too.
His gaze quickly scanned all possible passersby, but the target was nowhere to be found.
Very quickly, he felt that the scent had faded somewhat, indicating that the target was moving further away from him.
Xiang Kun frowned slightly. It wasn't that he felt a strong sense of justice compelling him to catch the fugitive—he actually wanted to lay low and not expose his abilities. Even if he found the fugitive, he would inform Officer Chen to apprehend him. He had no intention of taking the fugitive down himself and playing the part of a hero.
However, being able to smell the fugitive but not see him was unnerving, like being mid-urination and having to stop abruptly—it was greatly distressing for Xiang Kun.
So, he started to move in the direction of the scent, focusing closely and diligently searching for the source of the smell.
About ten minutes later, he finally spotted a lean dark-skinned man with fluffy curly blond hair and sunglasses in front of a phone repair shop.
Xiang Kun had already seen the photos Officer Chen sent of the suspect, but those were ID photos and a few extremely blurry surveillance shots. Honestly, there is quite a difference between seeing a person in real life versus in a picture, especially the suspect's fluffy blonde hair—the photos showed him having flat black hair.
Approaching closer allowed Xiang Kun to observe the man's chin, nose, mouth, height, and body shape—based on these he could basically confirm that this was the fugitive that Officer Chen had sent him.
Just as Xiang Kun was about to pull out his phone to notify Officer Chen about his sighting of the fugitive, he was startled by a yell from behind him:
"Mr. Xiang!"
Xiang Kun paused and looked back to find Tang Baona and the pretty girl he'd met at the gym with her before, each carrying a fruit juice, approaching him.
"Mr. Xiang, who are you texting? We've been calling you, didn't you hear?" the girl who was with Tang Baona curiously asked.
Xiang Kun knew that he must not have heard them call him because he had been focusing his attention on his sense of smell and vision earlier, which inadvertently blocked out a lot of the noise.
However, Xiang Kun was still somewhat puzzled. If it was Tang Baona, that's fine, but what about this girl with Tang Baona? How can you speak in such a tone with a stranger?
But he didn't have time to entertain them. His first reaction was to look back in the direction of the blonde-haired suspect.
Whether it was because the girl's yell had attracted the man's attention or for some other reason, the blond man happened to look over at Xiang Kun at that moment.
The eye contact lasted only a split second, and Xiang Kun quickly and "naturally" moved his eyes away, pretending to be looking at something across the street.
But the blonde man still seemed to have sensed something and quickly walked away.
"Damn it," Xiang Kun muttered under his breath, turning to Tang Baona, "We'll talk later!" He then hurried after the blonde man.
At this time, the streets were crowded with people—those just off work, those going out for dinner—and pedestrian traffic was dense. The blonde man was evidently experienced at eluding pursuers, weaving through the crowd and quickly disappearing from Xiang Kun's sight, having possibly dashed into a nearby store or alleyway.
Earlier, Xiang Kun had maintained a certain distance to keep from startling the suspect. As a result, he could not catch up with him immediately.
A normal person would—theoretically—have to search everywhere or guess the suspect's escape route, but Xiang Kun had the suspect's scent lock. Thus, he was not worried about losing him.
He even had the leisure to send his location to Officer Chen via his phone. Officer Chen, however, was far from calm. He immediately called Xiang Kun after receiving the information.