Chapter Six: The Issue of Eating
Xiang Kun drank two glasses of water before heading out. Until now, the only thing that didn't make him throw up, no matter how long it stayed in his stomach, was water.
He hadn't had a bowel movement since he woke up on July 14, but he had urinated twice.
However, he deliberately drank a lot of water the previous night, including two bottles of 500ML purified water and three 1L electric kettle boiled waters, only to urinate once. He also sweated very little during his workout, certainly not enough to make up for the water he had consumed.
Clearly, not only his digestive system, but also his urinary system and endocrine system, are vastly different from ordinary people now.
Xiang Kun went to the farmers' market. It was just after six in the morning, and the market was already packed with people.
He had never come to the market this early before. In fact, the last time he bought live chickens was his first time at the market.
The scent of the market was not particularly pleasant, and each section had a different odor.
Xiang Kun noticed that his sense of smell seemed to have improved a bit. He could distinguish the particular scent he was looking for amid a mix of various odors.
After wandering around the poultry stalls for a while, Xiang Kun didn't buy any chicken or duck but instead purchased two meat rabbits.
In his view, compared to other poultry, slaughtering meat rabbits wouldn't make much of a fuss.
After all, he told his landlord that he wouldn't cook when he moved in. If his landlord suddenly knew that he was slaughtering chickens and ducks in the room, it wouldn't matter if he cooked or not, he was sure to be troubled.
Xiang Kun's rented place is an old street that, for various reasons, wasn't demolished between two new residential areas. Many self-built houses here are put up for rent because the location is excellent, with a subway station not far from the old street, attracting many office workers.
Like others, Xiang Kun's landlord converted his self-built house into individual "studio apartments". Although fairly crude, they were attractively priced.
Over the past few years, Xiang Kun only went home to sleep, spending most of his time at work. It was rare for him to spend as much time at home as he had in recent days.
Back at the entrance of his building, Xiang Kun noticed that a surveillance camera had been newly installed at the entrance of the grocery store opposite. He went over to greet the boss and asked to review the footage, claiming he lost his phone on the evening of last Thursday and wondering if he might have left it by the front door without noticing.
As Xiang Kun had been living there for several years, the grocery store owner knew him well and readily pulled up the security video footage from the evening of July 11. From this angle, one can just see the front door of the building where Xiang Kun lives in the top left corner of the video frame.
At 8:44 pm, a Toyota sedan pulled up in front of the building. Xiang Kun can be seen emerging from the back seat and walking towards the building entrance.
Judging by Xiang Kun's posture, he seemed quite steady and did not stagger. He also had no trouble opening the door with his keys, and he was upstairs within a few seconds.
Xiang Kun then fast-forwarded the footage. The recording showed that until noon on the following day, all the people entering and exiting the building were familiar tenants. No strangers were seen.
Xiang Kun didn't continue to fast forward. He believed that if someone had entered his room and caused a series of changes in his body, it would have been within this timeframe. Otherwise, no matter how drunk he was, he would have certainly woken up by midday.
With the rabbits in hand, Xiang Kun returned home and recorded his findings on his laptop. He saved the new document as "Cause X Investigation 2: Front Door".
When he woke up on July 14, he clearly remembered that the security latch inside the front door was fastened, so even with the keys, it could not be opened from outside. The windows were also properly locked without any signs of tampering.
On the night of July 11, despite being drunk, he was fully conscious while riding back home in an Uber. There hasn't been any contact with the driver when he got on or off, or even during the ride.
Upon considering various factors, he believed that it's less likely that someone did something to him during this period that caused all the changes in his body.
However, he couldn't completely rule out the possibilities such as being drugged during his meal at some food stand or a more recent intervention causing – X - to manifest in his body after July 11.
If this relates to his bloodline or hereditary factors, investigator is bound to find some clues among his family members.
However, asking his parents directly might not yield any answers. He decided to wait until he returned to his hometown to investigate personally.
Learning from his last experience, Xiang Kun researched thoroughly online and bought a kitchen knife, so he didn't have to use his tiny Swiss Army Knife. Therefore, the slaughtering and blood draining process was much smoother this time.
After drinking a large bowl of rabbit blood, Xiang Kun found that he didn't have any particular taste for blood. He didn't find it disgusting or particularly tasty. However, after the blood was ingested, he felt a sense of joy and satisfaction emanating from the depth of his body, as though every blood vessel, muscle, and cell were rejoicing.
It seemed like his body was composed of countless autonomous entities, each celebrating and cheering like they did in an animation he once saw, "Work Cells," where each cell had its own consciousness.
Xiang Kun couldn't tell if it was due to the time or quantity, but he noticed that the rabbit blood brought a stronger "sense of pleasure" and "sense of satisfaction" to his body than the chicken blood he first drank.
After cleaning the bathroom and preparing water and vegetable leaves for the remaining rabbit, Xiang Kun started to feel tired and sleepy. This time, the sleepiness appeared later than when he drank chicken blood.
Xiang Kun brushed his teeth, lay on his bed, turned on the stopwatch on his phone, and relaxed his body as he went to sleep.
...
When Xiang Kun woke up, he lay in bed without moving, first assessing the condition of various parts of his body, then picked up his phone from beside his bed and looked at the stopwatch. 25 hours and 17 minutes.
He had gone to bed at around 9 am on the 17th and now it was past 10 am on the 18th.
This time, Xiang Kun paid close attention to the changes in his body. The first thing he noticed was that his vision had improved, practically back to the level it was when he used to wear corrective glasses. He opened the curtain and looked at the far-out billboard; even the fine print and phone numbers on the side were crystal clear.
Besides that, he also felt a significant increase in his physical strength.
Xiang Kun stripped and stood on the scales, only to find that he had gained 3.3KG, now weighing in at 87.4KG.