Chapter 496: Chapter 496: Thoughts in Deep Sleep (part 1)

On the morning of April 23, before Shiling’s Mom received a call from the police in Star City, Xiang Kun had already begun his blood-drinking hibernation period.

The place where Xiang Kun was hibernating was the yard he and Old Xia had rented before, where the rabbits used for blood-drinking were already prepared by Old Xia.

At this time, Xia Tianhuo, Professor Li Yang, and others were still in Chongyun Village. Xiang Kun told them that he needed to make some upgrades and changes to the game, adding and modifying some features, which required his confirmation and refinement. That’s why he needed to “seclude” himself and work for a day—his computer and related equipment were all in that previously rented yard, so naturally, he had to return there.

Liu Caifu, at Xiang Kun’s request, would continue to accompany Xia Tianhuo, Li Yang, and others as they toured around the village and Chongyun Mountain, allowing them to experience the agritourism project he was setting up with Chu Xiuwen.

As for Xia Tianhuo, Li Yang, and the others, they naturally didn’t doubt Xiang Kun’s reason, even worrying that one day might not be enough.

After all, in their eyes, the game was still in the testing phase, yet the main “high-level” executives of “QianKun Technology”, Tang Baona, Yang Zhen Er, and Xiang Kun, now all seemed somewhat neglectful of their duties.

Especially Xia Tianhuo, knowing the scale and strength of Zhang Qian’s “Tengjiao Interactive Entertainment”, compared to them, Xiang Kun’s operation seemed like a makeshift troop.

However, he also suspected that Xiang Kun might have another game development team working for him. He might be primarily responsible for overall control; otherwise, he alone would probably not be able to handle such a big project.

Xia Libing was already aware of Xiang Kun’s “seclusion” and didn’t need to say much. Li’l Apple vaguely guessed about Xiang Kun’s “seclusion” and realized something, but naturally, she didn’t say much.

The only one among the others who immediately got suspicious when she heard Xiang Kun mentioning “secluding and working” was Yang Zhen Er.

After lunch, she found Tang Baona, leaned into her ear, and mysteriously said, “Nana, the grand chef is at it again.”

“Again?” Tang Baona, who was chatting with Li’l Apple in the yard, looked up at the front door and wondered, “He’s not here, isn’t Xiang Kun working at the house he used to live in?”

“Didn’t I tell you… Xiang Kun is bound to go MIA for a few days each month, and now it’s ‘happened again’!” Yang Zhen Er whispered, “Believe it or not, Xiang Kun is surely not in that yard at the moment. His ‘work’ and ‘seclusion’ are just a smokescreen; he must have slipped away again without a trace.”

“You’re still not giving up on your speculation that ‘Xiang Kun is a member of a secret organization’, huh? The way you put it, it sounds like Xiang Kun is having his ‘monthly visitor’,” Tang Baona laughed and couldn’t stop herself.

Li’l Apple, who was next to her, focusing on feeding “Goldie”, pretended not to hear their discussion.

However, regarding the assertion that “Xiang Kun is a member of a secret organization,” she somewhat agreed and even thought that she might also be “recruited” into the “organization” before too long.

Yang Zhen Er continued in a low voice, “Do you want to bet? Let’s go to the yard together and take a peep now. I assure you Xiang Kun will not be there!”

“Xiang Kun is working. Don’t disturb him, we’re at least part of the company’s management team! We can’t help now, so don’t add chaos!” Tang Baona glared at her.

“We could just use the pretext of delivering food to pay him a ‘visit’. As soon as we see him, we drop the things off and leave, without disrupting his work.” Yang Zhen Er suggested, “Let’s take him the steamed buns we made this morning.”

“Uncle Xiang said he has stuff to eat there, no need to deliver food,” Li’l Apple couldn’t help but whisper.

Yang Zhen Er immediately leaned over and said, “We’re not truly going to deliver food, we’re going to ‘visit’ your Uncle Xiang under the guise of food delivery! Just a quick look and then run! Li’l Apple, want to come too?”

Ten minutes later, it was only Yang Zhen Er who sneaked out of the yard on her own toward the yard where Xiang Kun was previously living.

However, upon arriving, Yang Zhen Er found herself in trouble. The outside gate was locked, and the fence surrounding was quite high. With her skills, she was unsure if she could climb over it.

Even if she could climb over, she might end up falling flat on her face, which would be disastrous.

So, she waved her hand in front of the surveillance camera at the gate, jumped twice, and shouted for Xiang Kun a few times.

She knocked on the door for a while, but there was no answer.

After loitering outside for a bit, Yang Zhen Er sent a WeChat message to Xiang Kun: “Chef Xiang, open the door, I brought you some food.”

Although she firmly believed that Xiang Kun was surely in a “missing” state and wouldn’t reply, she didn’t expect a “No way, Jose” panda emoji response after just a few seconds.

Could it be, he’s not missing?

Yang Zhen Er thought about it and called directly, but it was immediately hung up. Then she received a “Don’t Disturb” panda emoji in WeChat.

Yang Zhen Er was still not convinced. She knew that both Old Xia and Deputy Director Liu should have keys to the courtyard here. While she was pondering whether to coax Deputy Director Liu or “steal” Old Xia’s key, her shoulder was suddenly patted.

Yang Zhen Er was startled and nearly jumped. When she turned around, it was Xia Libing.

Yang Zhen Er patted her chest and let out a sigh of relief, “Old Xia, you could make a sound before scaring people to death!”

“What are you doing here?” Xia Libing asked.

Yang Zhen Er replied, “I came to bring Xiang Kun some food.”

“Where’s the food?” Xia Libing asked.

“Uh… that’s not important. Old Xia, are you going to look for Xiang Kun? I have something to ask him, can I go in with you?” Yang Zhen Er chuckled.

Xia Libing said, “I heard from Nana that you thought Xiang Kun wasn’t here and you wanted to confirm. I was worried you might slip while trying to climb the wall since you can’t open the door, so I came to open it for you.”

In fact, when Yang Zhen’er arrived, Alice had already informed old Xia through a surveillance camera and offered several strategies such as “calling her with Xiang Kun’s voice”, “scaring her off with ‘001’”, “throwing a bug off a tree with ‘001’ to scare her off”, and so on. Of course, these were mild measures because Yang Zhen’er was the one who showed up. If it were people with malicious intent or thieves, Alice would have 101 more ruthless solutions.

However, Xia Libing chose the most straightforward approach – he came directly and showed her.

Seeing Old Xia take out the keys and open the yard door, Yang Zhen’er was surprised. On her way to Chongyun Village, she had already suspected that Old Xia might have been bought over by Brother Xiang and would be aiding him.

That’s why she didn’t directly ask Old Xia for the key when she decided to spy on Xiang Kun earlier, but she didn’t expect Old Xia to bring her here willingly.

After entering the yard with Yang Zhen’er, Xia Libing didn’t take her directly into the house but instead led her to a window on the side. He signaled her to look inside, saying, “Take a look.”

Yang Zhen’er did as she was told and peered through the window. She saw a tall figure seated in front of a computer in the dim-lit room. His screens were glowing softly, filled with code she couldn’t understand; clearly, he was actively operating something.

Even though the person was sitting with his back to the window, the phone on the desk next to him, and the characteristic bald head made his identity clear.

Yang Zhen’er stuck out her tongue a little, and feels somewhat embarrassed, “I really didn’t expect Brother Xiang to be really here…”

“Now that it’s confirmed, let’s go. You don’t really plan to go in and say hello to him, do you?” Xia Libing said.

“No need, no need, let’s just go, hurry.” Yang Zhen’er quickly fled from the yard. She was only joking, if she did actually go say “hello”, she would definitely get a good scolding from Brother Xiang. Perhaps the next time he cooked, he wouldn’t make the dishes to her liking, and she couldn’t bear that.

Watching Yang Zhen’er leave the yard, Xia Libing turned back and looked at the window. The curtains that were initially drawn back were slowly closing – evidently, they were automatic curtains.

At this moment, Xiang Kun was deep in sleep. Previous observations from numerous deep sleep experiments have shown that Xiang Kun won’t unconsciously move his body while in deep sleep and that his sleep position doesn’t matter. Even if it’s uncomfortable, he won’t feel any discomfort when he wakes up. Therefore, this time Xiang Kun chose this unusual sleeping position sitting in front of the computer, to cope with situations like Yang Zhen’er’s.

In fact, he had many other coping strategies, such as Alice using his voice package to respond via a phone call, and so forth.

Xia Libing looked up at the several visible and hidden cameras in the yard, followed Yang Zhen’er out, and then turned back to lock the door.

From this morning, she has been communicating with Alice through her phone. However, the topic of their conversation was not Xiang Kun, but Little Fatty Girl.

After Shiling’s mom received the call from the police, Alice immediately got clear about the situation through her own methods, and then notified Old Xia.

Alice had indeed been given instructions by Xiang Kun. She now had not only to protect the sleeping Xiang Kun and Chongyun Village, assist Old Xia, act as Xiao Pingguo’s ears and eyes, monitor the actions of Divine Technology, including Mr. Liang, Dr. Fang, Mijoe, Zhou Rui, et cetera, but also serve as Little Fatty Girl’s tutor and protect her in all possible ways.

For her “Sister Lingdang,” Alice was extremely concerned. So after she learned what crime Shiling’s dad had committed, where he was, and his current situation, after eavesdropping on Shiling’s mom deciding to take Little Fatty Girl back to her parents’ home to find Little Fatty Girl’s grandmother, she immediately used Shiling’s mom’s relevant information to locate her grandmother. She informed Old Xia, and proposed that Old Xia directly take Little Fatty Girl to Chongyun Village.

Alice also came up with several plans on how and under what pretext to fetch the little fatty girl.

Xia Libing was willing to bring the little fatty girl to Chongyun Village temporarily. Having her, Apple, a Custard Pie, Golden Shimmer, and Alice all together might spark something, helping her better observe the “Super Sensory Item System”.

However, her original idea was to wait for Xiang Kun to wake up from his blood-consuming sleep, and then go to Star City together to pick up the little fatty girl. They could justify it as a work trip, contact Shiling’s mom, and express their wish to bring the little fatty girl to Chongyun Village. This would be more appropriate, mainly because Xiang Kun knew Shiling’s mom and Liu Shiling well, and secondly, it would be safe for someone aware of his condition to watch over him during his blood-consuming sleep.

Normally speaking, if Shiling was sent by her mom to live with her grandma and aunt, even if the environment is a bit lacking, she wouldn’t encounter problems within a day or two.

But unexpectedly, by the afternoon, Shiling’s grandma had left Shiling’s aunt’s house, with her in tow, to go to Qing Mountain Village.

Meanwhile, Alice, who has been monitoring the electronic devices of several related people, had overheard the afternoon phone call between Shiling’s aunt and Shiling’s other aunt, concluded that the latter’s family also had negative attitudes towards Liu Shiling and her mom, and therefore conveyed this judgment to Old Xia. She proposed that the little fatty girl would have a hard time in Qing Mountain Village and suggested bringing her to Chongyun village sooner. She assured him she would take good care of the sleeping Xiang Kun and promised there would be no issues.

So, when Shiling’s grandmother was taking Liu Shiling by car to Qing Mountain Village, Xia Libing had already set off alone to catch a plane to Star City from Jianzhou City.

Xia Libing told Tang Baona and Yang Zhen’er about the little fatty girl’s current situation, and her intention to pick her up. She proposed to contact Shiling’s mom once they reached Star City, and use the excuse of being “on the way” to have the little fatty girl come visit.

Although she did not mention how she learned of the situation, Tang Baona and Yang Zhen’er naturally assumed the little fatty girl had contacted her through QQ. Believing that it was a reasonable request from Little Fatty Girl’s “Pretty Sister” and “Old Fairy Sister”, they raised no objections. The two would have liked to accompany Xia Libing, but given Xiang kun’s current “seclusion” and the presence of Xia Tianhuo and Little Apple father-daughter trio, the two “semi-hosts” had to stay behind, especially to keep company with Little Apple.

When Xia Libing was waiting at the airport for her flight, Alice informed her about the unexpected situation with Little Fatty Girl in Qing Mountain Village.

Xia Libing naturally asked Alice to ensure the safety of Little Fatty Girl and guide her to a safe place to wait until her arrival.

At the time the man with sudden malevolent intentions came across Little Fatty Girl on her way, Alice actually had multiple solutions.

The simplest was to help Little Fatty Girl physically destroy the man. Alice had already obtained a lot of his information through his phone, and based on his onsite behavior and the “emotion-infused object”‘s emotional perception, she had mostly confirmed his motives, so she wouldn’t be penalizing an innocent person.

Even if Alice didn’t do anything, the unbeatable Little Fatty Girl, who had overextended the activation of five “super-connected objects”, could still handle the situation.

But upon hearing about the situation, Old Xia immediately instructed Alice to use a plan that required Little Apple’s powers: to try to use the “hyperstimulation state” of Little Fatty Girl’s “superconnected object” for the remote projection of “Eight-armed, Eight-eyed Wood Carving” emotional infusion.

Xia Libing believed that Little Fatty Girl was too young; if she directly controlled the power from the “Super Sensory Item System” to destroy a person and witnessed it firsthand, it might have a negative impact on her.

The goal was to keep her safe and as far removed from this incident as possible.

As for evildoers, they’d handle them.