Chapter Three: Analyzing the Current Situation
Xiang Kun vigorously rubbed the skin on his face and arms. Soon, the hardened dead skin was rubbed off, revealing the new, smooth skin underneath.
He grabbed his hair, which, as if glued to his head, came off in clumps as he casually pulled at it.
After taking a bath and scrubbing his whole body, Xiang Kun stood in front of the mirror again. He saw a much younger version of himself, except for the bald head, which looked somewhat awkward, and the teeth that were still regrowing, making him appear somewhat strange.
He packed the dead chicken, which had even started to smell, into a garbage bag wrapped in several layers. After briefly tidying up the chicken feathers and blood around the house, Xiang Kun sat down on the only chair in the room and began to contemplate the series of events that had occurred to him.
Without a doubt, everything started from getting drunk on Thursday evening. After waking up, his body began to exhibit abnormalities.
He had no appetite for normal food, vomiting everything he ate, yet he felt an inexplicable craving for animal blood, even buying a live chicken to slit its throat and drink its blood.
Although he remembered clearly the process of buying, killing, and drinking the chicken's blood, at that time, he felt driven by a primal hunger and an inability to control himself.
Now, after drinking chicken blood and sleeping for a day, his skin had molted, his hair had fallen out, and his teeth had all fallen out and begun to regrow. He also noticed during his bath that his fingernails and toenails had peeled off, revealing a new and tender layer underneath.
Unless all this was an illusion, this obviously was not caused by a hangover, overheating, or lack of sleep, nor did it resemble any disease he had heard of or seen before.
Various plots from novels and TV shows he had seen flashed through his mind, and then crystallized into three words:
"Vampire."
If someone had told Xiang Kun before last Thursday that he would turn into a vampire, he would have definitely thought the person was either crazy or a scammer.
But at this moment, with these transformations on his body and his prior experiences, he couldn't help but think of those three words.
He opened his laptop, searched his symptoms using a search engine, and as expected, didn't find any "scientific" explanation. The so-called pica, rabies, and porphyria differed greatly from his symptoms, at least not explaining why he would regrow his teeth or shed his entire skin.
As a programmer, using a VPN to access GOOGLE was a basic operation for him, but searching in English on foreign websites also only yielded a bunch of unreliable legends, none of which completely matched his symptoms.
What should he do now?
See a doctor?
With the hospital's equipment and professional diagnosis, it would certainly help him understand his condition.
But how would he explain to the doctor? Say that after a bout of binge drinking, he suddenly couldn't eat normal food anymore, vomiting everything he ate, but developed a liking for drinking chicken blood, and after sleeping, molted his skin, regrew his teeth, and lost all his hair?
Assuming he had a disease, not finding any related cases online could only mean:
One, he was the first person to contract this disease;
Two, past cases were deliberately concealed and not made public.
In either case, if Xiang Kun sought medical treatment, he was very likely to become a subject of intense surveillance, or even "protectively" deprived of his freedom.
At that time, he might not have to worry about medical expenses, but the hospital or other institutions' first goal might not be to save his life or cure him, but rather to study the disease he had contracted.
So after careful consideration, he decided not to go to the hospital for the time being, unless his "condition" deteriorated uncontrollably or his life was in danger.
Of course, this was risky. If it really was a life-threatening illness, he might miss the best opportunity for treatment.
Xiang Kun opened a new WORD document on his laptop, put on his glasses, prepared to type, but suddenly felt a bit dizzy, and the images on the screen appeared slightly distorted.
After removing his glasses, the situation became clear at once. Xiang Kun realized something, pulled back the curtaining slightly, and looked toward the distant billboard. He found that the previously blurry ad slogans were now clear to the naked eye. Although still slightly nearsighted, his vision had improved significantly.
Having previously experienced issues with his teeth and skin, Xiang Kun immediately realized this was also one of the "symptoms."
After licking his teeth with his tongue, Xiang Kun went to the bathroom to look in the mirror. He discovered that from waking up at just after 4 AM to nearly 6 AM, over the span of an hour, his teeth had noticeably grown. At this rate, his teeth might return to their normal state by tomorrow morning, and the previously decayed areas had also healed.
Xiang Kun sat back down in front of the computer and typed out the following document:
Assuming that the factor causing all bodily changes is X.
One, possible reasons for the appearance of X:
1. Something was wrong with the food or drink consumed at the food stall on the evening of July 11;
2. A hereditary illness was triggered by external factors, such as alcohol;
3. Infection through other means, such as a bug bite;
4. Something unknown occurred after passing out drunk at home;
5. Other.
Two, bodily changes caused by X:
1. Complete skin shedding, new skin healthier and more delicate, previous scars disappeared, teeth and nails renewed, total hair loss, significant improvement in nearsightedness;
2. Unable to eat normal food, quickly vomits after eating;
3. Unexplained craving for blood, attracted by the smell of blood, triggering a strong hunger, driving the body to obtain blood. Drinking blood brings a sense of satisfaction and drowsiness;
4. Changes not yet identified.
Three, how to deal with X:
1. Investigate the cause of X;
2. Record the changes in the body, and find the causes and trends of these changes;
3. Resolve issues with eating.
Looking at the document he had written, Xiang Kun stroked his chin and found that the changes in his body were mostly beneficial, even if the loss of his hair did not really affect him.
If it were to be described in terms of a game, the changes in his body were mostly BUFFs, not DEBUFFs.
Except for the issue with eating.
Living requires eating, otherwise, one cannot supply the energy needed to survive and would die. But from the evening of July 11 to today, July 15, he had not eaten anything except for drinking chicken blood, because he vomited everything else he ate.
He did not believe that little bit of fresh blood could provide all the energy necessary for survival.
Xiang Kun poured himself a cup of warm boiled water and sat quietly after drinking it for ten minutes. His stomach showed no reaction, clearly presenting that water was not rejected by his current stomach.
He then found a half box of cartoned pure milk left at home and drank it all in one go.
Twenty seconds later, Xiang Kun rushed to the bathroom and threw up completely.