What It’s Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 29: Here! Hit here!

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

Why live in a rented place when he already owned an apartment?

Xiang Kun felt that he had already answered this question. But since Zhen Er had asked again, he explained another time. “If I lived in my apartment, I would spend twice as long commuting to and from work. That means I would get less sleep every day.”

“Then why did you buy an apartment at the outskirts of the city?” Zhen Er continued asking.

“Because that’s all I could afford,” Xiang Kun replied honestly.

“Why not drive to work everyday? You’ve already bought an apartment, getting a car isn’t going to make much of a difference, is it?”

“Driving isn’t much faster than public transport. Also, car maintenance is unnecessarily expensive.”

“Then what’s the purpose of buying that apartment?”

“It’s passive income. I collect more rent than what I need to pay for my rent. I can use the extra sum to repay the mortgage. And the apartment has appreciated by at least 8,000 yuan per square meter.”

“Have you found a new job?”

“Not yet.”

“Do you want Nana and I to help you find one?”

“No thanks. I wanna take a break for now.”

“Did you practice martial arts before? Are you really a warrior monk?”

“No, I never did… I shaved all my hair because I’m getting bald. I was never a monk.”

“Were you involved in fights a lot before? You flung the armed man to the ground so easily that day… And your kick in the video…”

“Enough, enough. Focus on driving! You almost drove past that red light!” Baona interrupted them.

Zhen Er began throwing him question after question once he got in the car. As long as the secret about his transformation was safe, he answered all of them truthfully.

Whether it was being jobless, or being out of money when he bought the apartment, or even his balding, he didn’t hide anything.

If he were to answer these questions in front of a potential date before his transformation, he would have carefully thought about what to say. He wouldn’t be so casual about it. He would want to leave a good impression.

But now, he didn’t really care how they perceived him. It would be better if they weren’t satisfied with him.

What was on his mind was not in this car. It was neither the hike nor Baona.

He was thinking about the “self-harming exercise” last night.

He hadn’t simply cut himself with a knife. He had burnt himself. Burns took much longer to recover than cuts. It had taken more than 15 minutes and 40 seconds. But even if he charred himself, it would still recover within the same time.

He had also endured the pain and crushed one of his pinkies. It had taken 18 minutes before he felt no more pain and the pinky could move as usual again.

He was very confident that his bones were harder than those of a normal person. He had smacked his pinky twice before it was crushed in half.

However, none of these were the biggest discovery last night.

He had sliced off a piece of flesh from his pinky that was approximately the size of a grain of rice.

The cut recovered in 13 minutes. No scars. But to his amusement, the flesh he had removed had turned into an ash-like substance.

When his blood dried, it would also turn into ash. A simple rub between his fingers, and the pieces just pulverized.

Although he had always suspected it, at that moment, it was finally confirmed to him that his bodily structure was becoming different from that of a normal human.

…

They finally arrived at the hiking ground after an hour and half on the highway and another hour on foot.

Baona and Zhen Er had a group chat that often organized hikes. This time, there were more than ten people apart from the three of them.

After Xiang Kun got out of the car, he saw two familiar faces.

One of them was the fitness trainer from the gym he had been frequenting recently. He was the guy that had approached Xiang Kun when he first went there and challenged Xiang Kun to bench presses.

The other was also a trainer. But he was from the martial arts gym below the gym.

Xiang Kun had gone to the martial arts gym yesterday. He wanted to sign up for a short course to learn MMA or boxing.

However, the two-month-long course he had been introduced to mostly focused on physical fitness. It was mainly strength and power training. Actual combat techniques would hardly be practiced or coached.

So Xiang Kun asked if he could attend only the higher level combat courses and skip all the fitness training.

Incidentally, one of the trainers overheard him. The trainer turned around and glanced at Xiang Kun. He then mockingly said, “You always hit the gym, don’t you? Big size. Tough muscles. Looks nice, and I always hear people like you claim that you have enough strength. But lemme tell you, it’s totally different in MMA. Come! Use all your strength and hit me! Here, hit here! All your strength…”

The trainer patted his own waist as he walked towards Xiang Kun, challenging the latter to punch.

In fact, he had already been listening to Xiang Kun’s conversation with the reception. From what they had said, he was able to identify Xiang Kun as a newbie who had never practiced martial arts. So he wanted to show off his skills and the standard of their gym.

The trainer was still going to competitions from time to time, so he had kept up his training. Therefore, his body was tougher than a normal person’s. On top of that, he stood at just the right distance so that Xiang Kun’s punch would have become weaker. When the fist approached, he could then find an angle to push his waist forward so that the fist could be deflected.

Unfortunately, he had met Xiang Kun.

Xiang Kun had deliberately controlled his power, stamina, and agility. After drinking blood three times, he had better control over his muscles. Even though the distance was a bit too far, he could turn his hips and his shoulders to give a slight extension that allowed maximum power upon contact.

So a seemingly weak punch has left the trainer lying on the ground, curled up like a prawn and speechless for a very long while.

Xiang Kun definitely hadn’t used his full strength. He was very aware of how strong he was now from the previous encounters.

The commotion quickly drew the attention of all the trainers and trainees. They immediately crowded over. The receptionist quickly explained the situation to them.

After the trainer had finally recovered, he got up. His face was clearly red with anger and his veins were more visible than usual. He then instantly dragged Xiang Kun to the ring.

“F*ck! I underestimated you! Pretending to be a newbie, aren’t you? Which gym are you from? Come, let’s have a fight in the ring!”

Xiang Kun didn’t try to reject or explain. He accepted the boxing gloves from the trainer. Then he took off his footwear and put on the gloves before going into the ring.

Obviously, the trainer had mistaken Xiang Kun as a challenger from another gym who had come to find trouble, so he didn’t give Xiang Kun any chance in the ring. It was just wave after wave of punches and kicks.