What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 627: Chapter 627: The Young Man

After dinner, the group returned to the “Intelligent Internet Breeding Research Base” at Chongyun Village, back to the underground conference room where Fang Pingfang and others had met with Xia Libing in the morning.

Old He first had a meeting with Xia Libing, then remotely connected with Xiang Kun. Representing the “Abnormal Biology Research Center,” he confirmed the identity of Xia Libing and signed several routine agreements.

Next, he held a general meeting with Fang Pingfang’s team, introducing them to the organizational structure involved in “mutant” research, some past research results, and research plans.

However, the more Old He described, the more Fang Pingfang and the others recognized that Xia Libing seemed to have a more systematic understanding of “mutant” related information and research, with far more detailed insights.

This made them increasingly puzzled. Which of them had the higher authority?

Or was it because Old He was in charge of administration and management, he didn’t have much understanding of the technical aspects?

Moreover, according to Old He, the future research plan and overall direction of research would be presided over and determined by Xia Libing. She could represent Xiang Kun or Mr. Liang, while Old He would represent the “Abnormal Biology Research Center” to supervise and help their research.

It was clear that the research institutions they would set up in the future, and the research programs they would establish, would be under the management of Xia Libing.

Even without Old He explicitly stating it, the fact that “all acquisition of mutant samples must be carried out by Xia Libing or the research institution she commands” was enough to demonstrate her status.

Next, Xia Libing shared the vision for the newly established research institutions. The projection screen behind her displayed a series of planning icons and special-effect images, clearly outlining the future research direction and rationale, what they needed to do, and the potential difficulties they might encounter.

Certain aspects surprised Fang Pingfang, Zhou Rui, and Mijoe, who thought they were seeing direct visuals of the questions and scenarios they had raised earlier in the day’s meeting with Xia Libing. Between picking up Old He and coming to dinner, she had been with them the entire afternoon. There was no time to make this video–and certainly not of this quality.

Could it be that the queries and scenarios they proposed were things that Xia Libing and her team had already thought of?

Because they had spent a whole day in meetings during the day, Xia Libing talked about a lot less that night and finished quickly.

That evening, she took advantage of Old He’s presence to propose the basic organizational structure of the future research institutions. The secret department of “Divine Technology” would continue to operate independently, but after a certain training period, Fang Pingfang and her team would detach and draw personnel from “Divine Technology’s” secret department to form new departments and teams. They would be responsible for different projects and teams based on their expertise. Clearly, Xia Libing knew everyone well.

If she had started off in the morning by presenting this plan, even backed by Old He and Mr. Liang’s authorization, Fang Pingfang, Zhou Rui, and others would have assumed that Xia Libing and her team were trying to snatch Mr. Liang’s rights and seize the research results of “Divine Technology”.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

But after the information output from Xia Libing, especially compared to Old He’s statement, they understood that the research on “mutants” and hard data controlled by Xia Libing and her team was much more extensive than both the official “Abnormal Biology Research Center” and the secret department of “Divine Technology”.

In this case, Xia Libing’s arrangements would be seen as “technical support”, “research guidance”, and “top scholars leading the less advanced.” They had no grounds for objection.

However, Mijoe still couldn’t help but ask, “Old He, Miss Xia, when will Mr. Liang be back?”

Xia Libing looked at Old He, who was sitting with his arms crossed, apparently prepared for him to answer.

“Ah Liang has some work to do and can’t confirm when he’ll be back. But don’t worry, when he returns, he’ll still work at the newly established organization,” Old He said.

Initially, based on his conversation with Xiang Kun, Old He thought that Xiang Kun wanted Xia Libing to establish an independent investigative and research organization for “mutants”, similar to the secret department of Divine Technology. He assumed that Fang Pingfang and her team would go there, representing Divine Technology for collaboration and linkage.

But now it seemed… had Xia Libing directly subsumed Divine Technology’s secret department as a subsidiary of her own? Moreover, Fang Pingfang, Zhou Rui, Mijoe and others who were originally loyal to Ah Liang in Divine Technology, didn’t resist and accepted this matter-of-factly? Could it be that his phrase, “follow Miss Xia’s arrangements,” had influenced them?

However, for Old He, the Abnormal Biology Research Center, and the officials, in the Post-Ultimate Predator Era with the removal of restrictions on deep scientific research, the future research institutions and investigative organizations will be unified, requiring further integration and restructuring. Unifying the command system and research directions now can be a good thing, making it easier to manage.

In the following days, Old He remained in Chongyun Village, receiving “guidance” from Xia Libing along with Fang Pingfang’s team.

Since they were staying at the research base in Chongyun Village, they naturally couldn’t return to the villa near the Wushu Mountain Scenic Area, so they rented a three-story civilian house in the village.

At first, they thought that the living conditions here would be much worse than the villa they had been living in for several months, but surprisingly, from the first day they moved in, they could clearly feel the uniqueness of this village.

Perhaps due to the high oxygen content, fresh air, and less dust in the air, Ye Chong, who had always been suffering from a bit of rhinitis and sneezed every morning, miraculously recovered. Mijoe, who usually had trouble sleeping at night and difficulty waking up in the morning, also successfully changed her sleep habits and woke up feeling refreshed.

This immediate effect made them become intensely interested in Chongyun Village.

Through their observations, they indeed discovered many details and unique aspects they hadn’t noticed when they had passed by or briefly stayed here before.

Whether it was the air, temperature, wind, small animals, insects, and various other aspects, Chongyun Village appeared to be an open space, but it had a kind of “closed, unique, orderly rule” that forms an independent entity.

So on the fourth day after moving to Chongyun Village, before the start of Xia Libing’s “mutant research teaching course,” Zhou Rui asked proactively:

“Miss Xia, when you and Mr. Xiang decided to come to Chongyun Village to set up this research base and live here, was it because there’s something special about this place?”

Xia Libing replied calmly, “We didn’t come here because Chongyun Village is special, but after we arrived, Chongyun Village became special.”

This remark stunned Zhou Rui, Mijoe and even Old He. Such a confident statement, if said by someone else, would either be seen as bluffing or joking. However, when Xia Libing, who was casual and nonchalant yet absolutely certain, said it, it seemed perfectly reasonable and irrefutable.

Especially Old He, who had investigated the situation in Chongyun Village before and knew that Xia Libing was right. After she and Xiang Kun developed here, not only did Chongyun Village undergo drastic changes, but so did Tongshi Town. Many unusual events and “mutants” that appeared around Chongyun Mountain and Wushu Mountain only emerged after their arrival.

Zhou Rui originally wanted to ask Xia Libing how she and Xiang Kun made this place “special,” what their specific experiences and changes were, what the principles were, and the mechanism of how they work, but before he could ask, he saw Xia Libing take out a fluffy white thing from her coat pocket and present it in front of them, drawing everyone’s attention.

Their first reaction was that Xia Libing had taken out a cream cake or something like that, but upon closer inspection, they realized that the three dots on the fluffy white thing were not decorative chocolates, but two little eyes and a bird’s beak!

The “fluffy white thing” in Xia Libing’s hand was actually a little bird!

Both female scientists Fang Pingfang and Mijoe, being rational and technical minded, did not react with shouts of how cute the chubby little bird was when they saw it.

But still, someone let out a “wow”. It was Zhou Rui: “Is that a Silver Throated Long Tailed Tit? Pure white? How rare…”

After his encounter with the “Giant Raptor”, not only did he start to take an interest in ants but also in birds. The previous stagnated period of research and investigation he had was filled by reading books about birds, so he instinctively determined the species based on the feature of that “white fluff”.

However, Xia Libing said, “It’s not a common tit; it’s a ‘mutant’.”

This time, it was Fang Pingfang who exclaimed with surprise, “A live research specimen?”

“No.” Xia Libing denied, “It’s not a research sample, its name is ‘Little Mantou’. It’s our companion. I brought it today to give you a basic idea of ‘mutants’.”

Having said that, Xia Libing signaled Zhou Rui, Fang Pingfang, and Mijoe, who were standing in front of her, to step aside, and then gently tossed the small, plump, white bird in her hand in their direction.

The little white bird’s body suddenly contracted into a narrow shuttle shape before accelerating and shooting forward. In the blink of an eye, it pierced a hole through a table in front, even lifting a layer of floor tiles.

The white bird seemed a bit dizzy from the collision itself. It bounced on the ground a few times before returning to its small plump white shape, sitting on the ground and shaking its little head, then fluttering its wings and flying back to perch on Xia Libing’s shoulder. It seemed docile and adorable as usual, harmless to humans and animals. But the large hole in the table and the mess on the ground attested to its terrifying power.

“Although you have seen some ‘mutants’ before, due to the limited types you have been exposed to, there are some cognitive restrictions on the characteristics of mutants. The most important thing when dealing with ‘mutants’ is not to judge their danger and attack power by their size or appearance. Unlike traditional creatures, the physical characteristics they display are likely to be drastically different from their actual characteristics.” Xia Libing explained.

Fang Pingfang and the others looked at the damage on the ground, then at the little white bird, they all seemed thoughtful.

And “Little Mantou” just slightly tilted her head, quietly adorable, behaving obediently, if it were “Gilt” sitting on her shoulder, it would certainly crow twice in a swaggering manner to show off their pride.

…

After dinner in Tongshi Town in the evening, Old He did not go back to Chongyun Village with Xia Libing and Fang Pingfang. Instead, he roamed around the pedestrian street for a while before entering a tea shop to have a cup of tea.

He had noticed this shop several previous times when he came to the town for meals, but he didn’t have the time to come in. Today, since Xia Libing was going to discuss some new equipment purchases with Fang Pingfang and the others, he did not understand it and had no reason to pay attention, so he had spare time to satiate his passion for tea.

When he entered, there was already a thin, spirited middle-aged man sitting in front of the beautiful female owner of the shop, drinking tea.

He knew this middle-aged man. When Mr. Liang introduced Xiang Kun to him before on a video call, he investigated Xiang Kun. In addition to Xia Libing, Tang Baona, Yang Zhen’er, Zhang Qian, Chang Bin, Liu Chuang, etc., he also had contacts with Qi Haoguo, Liu Feibao, Liu Gaoshang, Liu Zhengyi, Liu Caifu, Chu Xiuwen, and others in Chongyun Village.

This thin, sharp-looking middle-aged man in the tea shop was Chu Xiuwen.

After entering the shop, Old He just courteously nodded at Chu Xiuwen. Unexpectedly, as soon as he sat down, Chu Xiuwen said: “You are a guest of Mr. Xiang, aren’t you? You’re Old He, right?”

Old He was stunned. He knew Chu Xiuwen because he had conducted a covert investigation into Xiang Kun, which was very normal, but how did Chu Xiuwen know him?

Chu Xiuwen apparently saw his confusion and said with a smile, “I often go to Chongyun Village to chat with Deputy Village Chief Liu Caifu, so I know you are training with a batch of employees at Dr. Xia’s. The house you’re staying in belongs to a relative of Director Liu. Dr. Xia’s brother is my business partner. Of course, I naturally hear about what’s going on at Dr. Xia’s research base. By the way, my name is Chu Xiuwen, you can call me Xiao Chu.”

With such an explanation, Old He felt relieved. True, what they’re keeping secret is the research content inside the research base. It is naturally impossible to keep their existence a secret outside, Chongyun Village is not a closed research institute.

“So it’s President Chu, nice to meet you.” Old He laughed.

Chu Xiuwen laughed: “Don’t call me President Chu; it sounds weird in this setting. Haha, just call me Xiao Chu. Old He, how do you find living in Chongyun Village?”

“It’s great, Chongyun Village is a nice place, very suitable for living.” Old He laughed.

“Indeed.” Chu Xiuwen nodded, then added thoughtfully: “Chongyun Village has changed a lot this past year… Old He, I heard that you and Dr. Fang used to work at the Citong Research Institute?”

“Dr. Fang and the others did, I was from a different unit.” Old He prevaricated.

Chu Xiuwen waited for the beautiful shop owner to pour Old He a cup of tea before asking again: “How did Old He meet Mr. Xiang?”

Old He said: “We have some mutual friends. By the way, Xiao Chu, you know Qi Haoguo, right?”

“Of course, does Old He also know Boss Qi?”

“Hehe, I have chatted with him. He has some unique views on Tongshi Town, Chongyun Village…” Old He had met Qi Haoguo, who was serving his sentence when he was investigating Xiang Kun. He even had a brief chat with him. This man gave him a special feeling, even being held in prison, he exuded a strong sense of confidence and certainty, which certainly came from Xiang Kun.

“Yes, he indeed has some special feelings, not so much for Tongshi Town and Chongyun Village, as it is for… hehe. Old He might know what I mean?” Chu Xiuwen said meaningfully.

Old He was also interested, and he casually chatted with Chu Xiuwen while sipping his tea.

Both of them felt that the other party had information they didn’t know, so they both tried to fish for the other’s information with the least amount of their own.

The news about the abnormal weather around the world was playing on the TV. Chu Xiuwen started, “Old He, have you noticed that the temperature fluctuation in Chongyun Village is much less than in the town, and it is neither cold nor hot, very comfortable, just like central air conditioning is on.”

“Yeah, logically speaking, the temperature difference in the mountains should be greater. Xiao Chu, is this also a change that happened this year? Is it related to Mr. Xiang’s research base?” Old He replied.

As he spoke, someone walked into the tea shop, temporarily interrupting their conversation.

Old He glanced at the young man who entered the shop. In his early twenties, he was a spirited young man.

Young people nowadays like drinking tea too?

But why does this young man look familiar?