Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
Xiang Kun tried to ingest anything edible or potable in the house.
Then he recorded the results on the Word document:
“Solid food: Instant noodles X, French fries X, Oat biscuits X, Oreo X;
Drinks: Boiled water √, Plain water √, Milk X, Energy drink X;”
Recalling that he had thrown up all the porridge that he had eaten at the street-side stall on the 14th of July, Xiang Kun added three more items to the line of solid food.
“Porridge X, Fried bean sprouts X, Chinese pickles X”
After a full-body inspection and a detailed record of his observations, it was already 1:30 AM. Hence, Xiang Kun decided to wash up and go to sleep to ensure sufficient rest.
However, after close to one hour of tossing and turning, Xiang Kun did not feel sleepy at all. Thinking that this could be because of the 20 plus hours of sleep he had the day before, Xiang Kun got up and restarted his laptop.
Earlier, all the searches that he had conducted were based on keywords revolving around the physical changes to his body, and most of the results were about “vampires”.
This time, Xiang Kun planned to search for more information about “vampires”.
However, he had no interest in works of fiction like “Twilight”, “Interview with the Vampire”, or “The Vampire Diaries”.
The web page directed him back to the Quora question on “What’s it like becoming a vampire”. Casting aside those fabricated, creative vampire stories, there were some answers which provided scientific explanations to the origins of vampires, backed by serious references.
In fact, all of those answers were more or less the same. They believed that myths about vampires started in East and Central Europe in the 18th century.
Moreover, those who turned into “vampires” were usually humans who had encountered accidents or fatal illnesses.
Their family members were either critically ill or died one after another due to unforeseen circumstances. Before they died, they would dream that the dead had transformed into vampires to suck their blood.
In a nutshell, those were stories about dead family members, written by people experiencing misfortune or infectious diseases.
In those days, the common solution was to extract the body from the coffin and remove its heart, which would then be burned. As a result of gas accumulation in the body after the recent burial, eerie noises would often come from the corpses. Moreover, the atrophy of the decayed finger tissue tends to make the nails look longer. This further amplified the myths about vampires.
Nevertheless, medical development gradually resolved those queer observations. At the same time, a “vampire” had become more of a fictional character with a specific image and special abilities, like superpowers and immortality.
In the modern era, diseases like rabies, pica, or porphyria might also be used to provide scientific explanations for “vampires” due to their similar symptoms.
A few answers mentioned a documentary series filmed by National Geographic called “Vampire Forensics”. But, to Xiang Kun’s dismay, they were all about those few same old points, none of which could explain the series of changes to his body right now.
To be fair, the descriptions in fiction novels were in closer alignment with his current condition.
Unwittingly, it was already daytime. Still feeling awake, Xiang Kun decided to go grocery shopping.
He went to the bathroom for a wash-up. He opened his mouth and realized that most of his teeth had fully grown out. At the very least, it looked normal when he smiled, except his teeth were exceptionally white.
Luckily, his new teeth were normal, not some scary fangs.
Xiang Kun went out to buy some food, including fried dough, soy milk, Chinese crepes, and bread. He only took an experimental bite of each. Unsurprisingly, none of them could stay in his stomach without being vomited out.
Due to the small amount of food that he had swallowed, the nausea was greatly relieved when he threw up.
Then Xiang Kun went to a shopping mall by bus and bought a variety of foods, drinks, an electric cooker set, cleaning tools, a scale, and soft tape.
It was already past 10:00 AM when he was on the way home. Xiang Kun subconsciously avoided the bright sunlight.
July was the hottest month of the year, but Xiang Kun did not feel the heat at all. He did not even sweat after squeezing into a crowded bus with tens of kilos of items in his hands.
After getting off the bus, Xiang Kun purposely stood under the sun despite his natural instinct to keep to the shade.
This time, however, he did not sense any obvious discomfort, let alone the burning sensation that a normal human should feel.
Then he looked up at the sky and was immediately blinded by the bright sunlight. But this should happen to anyone, right?
Nevertheless, he could still feel the urge to shun the sunlight from deep inside his body, though he had yet to figure out why.
Based on the information that he had gathered the night before, “vampires” should dread the sunlight. Their skin would be rapidly oxidized and turn black upon exposure to light!
As for porphyria, a disease with the closest symptoms to a vampire, the patient would develop rashes, itchiness, and blisters under sunlight.
In comparison, none of those had occurred to Xiang Kun. On the contrary, he was even more heat resistant than before!
As soon as he reached home, Xiang Kun took a chair to the bathroom and started trying the drinks.
One sip of Coke, vomited after twenty-plus seconds.
One sip of Sprite, vomited after twenty-plus seconds.
One sip of orange juice, vomited after twenty-plus seconds.
…
Yet he did not throw up from Nescafe Gold Blend coffee after a few minutes. This kind of rang a bell. Earlier, he had vomited the three-in-one Nescafe instant coffee after merely twenty seconds. So, what was the difference between Gold Blend and the other drinks?
Then Xiang Kun ate a boiled egg successfully, same with boiled beef slices.
He started to ponder. Could it be related to the sugar content in the food?
After all, the amount of sugar in black coffee, eggs, and beef was significantly lower than in other foods or drinks.
But why sugar? Xiang Kun had learned in school that sugar played a pivotal role in generating energy for human bodily functions.
When Xiang Kun was about to return to his laptop, a heavy cramp in his stomach suddenly pushed everything up his throat again. Xiang Kun dashed to the toilet and threw up everything he had eaten, including the things that he thought were harmless.
Discouraged, Xiang Kun washed his face and added another annotation in the document: “Low-sugar foods or drinks can stay in the stomach for a longer time. But they will be thrown up after 20-30 minutes.”
Then he removed all his clothes, except for his boxer shorts. He measured his weight on the newly-bought scale and his BWH using the soft tape. He also took a full-body photo of himself with his phone.
Xiang Kun decided to track the changes to his body.