Ken opened his eyes and glanced at his phone: 10:27 PM, July 25th.
Trying to recall, he remembered his consciousness had been fading before he fell asleep the previous night; he'd forgotten to stop the stopwatch. He roughly remembered the last time he checked was around 8:50-something PM, so he likely fell asleep shortly after 9:00 PM.
After his first feeding of chicken blood, he hadn't precisely tracked the time, but knew it was roughly 27 hours. Before the second sleep, he had used a timer: 25 hours and 17 minutes. This time appeared similar, about 25 hours.
The first instance had unique circumstances, so it could be temporarily set aside as a sample. The latter two times were nearly identical, allowing a tentative conclusion: after feeding, he required a long sleep of at least 25 hours, essentially causing him to vanish for a full day. Ken decided to set an alarm for his next sleep period to see if he could be forcibly awakened.
Next, he began checking the changes in his body. His first action was to look towards the three books propped open some distance away—the ones he had been using for vision training recently. The room light had been left on, so lighting wasn't an issue. After a glance, he got up, moved one book further back, and then retreated step by step himself until his back touched the wall. Before the third feeding, his vision was already better than average, but at this distance—or even a bit closer—he definitely couldn't have read the text clearly. Now, however, every character on the page was sharp and distinct. He knew that even if he moved the book another meter back, he would likely still see it clearly.
Pulling back the curtains and opening the window, he looked out at the night. For a moment, it felt as if the entire world had become clearer, switched to a higher resolution.
Not dwelling further on the visual changes, Ken took off his clothes to weigh himself and measure the circumference of his arms, thighs, and waist. All showed noticeable increases. His weight had risen from 87.4 kg last time to 91.7 kg. In fact, just before feeding last night, he had weighed himself at 87.1 kg, a slight decrease from his post-second-feeding weight. The rabbit blood he consumed, plus a later glass of water, totaled less than 400g. Judging by the growth in his muscle mass, it was clear the weight gain was in muscle.
He also tested his breath-holding time. It had jumped from a previous maximum of 8 minutes 44 seconds before the third feeding to 11 minutes 35 seconds.
From Ken's perspective, the vision and lung capacity he had focused on training in recent days showed very significant improvement. Of course, he couldn't definitively prove these gains were directly causedby his training yet. He needed to wait until tomorrow at the gym to test his left arm curl data—the exercise he had focused on. Originally, his right arm was stronger. If the physical changes were merely a comprehensive improvement of physical attributes post-feeding, his right arm should still be stronger. If his left arm showed substantial improvement, it would prove his training directly influenced the direction of his bodily changes and enhancements post-feeding. His recent strategy of solely training his left arm while completely neglecting his right was for this very purpose.
Even without gym equipment, based on the measured increase in his left bicep's circumference and the subjective feeling of strength, his left arm was now noticeably stronger than his right.
Following his routine, he recorded all bodily changes and data, took photos, and archived them. Staring at his photo, Ken frowned slightly. If he continued with such high-intensity strength training at the gym, wouldn't his muscle mass increase too rapidly? Online, fitness newbies often expressed worry before starting, saying they "don't want to become muscle monsters, big muscles don't look good," inevitably met with despise and helplessly replies from veterans explaining that such physiques aren't achieved easily; they require long-term, systematic training, planned diets, supplements, and sometimes even steroids. Now, however, Ken genuinely faced this issue. Judging by the changes in his physique after this feeding, continuing such high-intensity strength training would likely turn him into a "muscle-bound freak" after just a few more feedings. Such rapid physical transformation in a short time could attract unwanted attention and speculation. Moreover, excessive muscle bulk could impair agility. Therefore, it seemed necessary to adjust the direction and type of his training.
From this feeding, Ken obtained several key data points:
After one feeding, the next onset of hunger occurred roughly 6 days later. Subtracting the 25 hours of post-feeding sleep meant he had about 5 days of unaffected activity between feedings. These were 5 full 24-hour days, as he required no rest, sleep, or food.
From the onset of hunger to losing emotional control and exhibiting out of control behavior was about 22 hours. However, reviewing the "poem recitation" videos he recorded starting the night of the 23rd showed that if hunger began at night, clear, uncontrollable restless manifestations appeared by the 4th hour. Daytime onset would likely be much more manageable.
From the onset of drowsiness after feeding to falling into uncontrollable sleep was about an hour and a half.
He couldn't yet guarantee these data points would remain constant, but they provided a reference for planning ahead.
Ken checked his phone. After replying "Sorry, can't make it, something came up" to Zhu Ke'er two nights ago, she had replied, "No problem, let's make it another time," followed by a feeling of being wronged emoji. Judging solely from the chat log, Ken appeared rather aloof andcold. He guessed even if she hadn't blocked him, she likely wouldn't initiate contact again. Trying to explain now would be too late, and this outcome was, after all, what he had wanted. Thinking of that lovely, cheerful, and generous girl, Ken sighed with a tinge of regret.
He just hadn't expected to run into Zhu Ke'er at the gym the very next day.
A little after 7 PM, as Ken was leaving the gym to head home, he encountered Zhu Ke'er arriving for a yoga class downstairs at the gym entrance.