It was too lovely a morning to be up and awake, but Kilin couldn't really complain. She had willingly accepted the invitation to be a medical consultant.

Why Future Industries would want a medical consultant was beyond her at the moment, but since they were paying her for her time, the healer wouldn't let that puzzle nag at her mind. It didn't stop the rest of her clinic's healers behind her from voicing their speculations, even as they triple-checked the barrels of water kept on standby, or the bandages and other medical equipment that was stashed aside.

Still, it was a curious assembly of people at the Sato's private racetrack, which apparently also served as a test track for their Satomobiles. Standing just a few feet away from Kilin was a group of sharply dressed corporate people, probably the company's higher ups, which included a pleasantly curious Hiroshi Sato and his more confidently smug daughter. Just behind them was another group of meeker, more subservient subordinates with clipboards and pens and abacuses. The two kids that had approached Kilin for this job were standing with them, though they were noticeably more excited than anyone else.

Another group stood beyond those two, wearing more practical work clothes with grease-stained aprons and gloves. The engineers, most likely, and they seemed to be the most apprehensive of everyone here. A couple of them were manning bulky cameras set on tripods, though this didn't look like any photoshoot setup Kilin was familiar with.

The idle murmurs died as a quartet of Satomobiles drove up and parked themselves before everyone. One of the cars was markedly different in appearance compared to the other half, or any other vehicle Kilin knew of, for that matter. It had a flatter and longer profile, with sloped windshields, and an additional set of lights on the front and back.

The drivers quickly exited their vehicles, and all but one quickly went to drag things out from the cars' back seats.

Kilin recognized Xing walking up to the spectators, wearing a confident showman's pose. He took the time to give her group a polite nod in greeting before turning to address Hiroshi Sato and his clique of executives.

"Mister Hiroshi, directors, thank you for allowing me this opportunity, and for attending this presentation."

The founder of Future Industries gave an indulgent smile. "You've earned it. And I have to admit, I'm quite eager to see the ideas you've got. Hopefully we don't need the Avatar for this one?"

Polite chuckles rang off as Asami Sato gave a look of exasperation. "Don't get him started, dad." Curiously, some folks, including the two kids, shared that look as well. An inside joke that Kilin was missing out on, then. Eh, she wasn't being paid for that.

Kilin was, however, familiar with the smile Xing gave; it was the same as actors trying to rein in their immense satisfaction as they accepted praise from critics or pledges of undying love from fans. He was genuinely glad and proud to be standing there.

"I hope the investment in resources and personnel will not disappoint."

Murmurs arose when the other three drivers reappeared, dragging out moo-sows of all things. Judging from the looks of the animals (especially the obvious gash on their necks), they'd been freshly slaughtered and bled out, but not gutted. As puzzlement rose among the spectators, Xing turned and went over to help stuff the animals in the driver's seat of each Satomobile. Kilin heard a distinct click coming from one of the bog-standard Satomobile, and after craning her head a little, she saw the pig in it wearing straps of some sort.

It took barely a minute before Xing was walking back to address the crowd. He gestured to the additional lights on the vehicles. "As you've all no doubt noticed, we've implemented the turn signal lights that Miss Asami-"

"That you came up with," Asami cut in with amused exasperation. "Stop giving away your credit, Xing."

More chuckles, and then Xing cleared his throat to continue. "That Miss Asami had approved enough to develop the prototypes."

Another round of laughter, with Hiroshi joining in this time and giving his annoyed daughter a smirk. "Now I know what you mean, my dear."

"Yes. Annoying, isn't it?" the heiress replied with feigned irritation.

"Only because he's genuine, instead of being suckups like some prats we know." That response earned quite a lot of snickering and nodding from just about everyone in Future Industries. "Now then, Xing, I suppose the moo-sows have nothing to do with the turn signals?"

"No, Mister Hiroshi. The turn signals will be proving themselves in the road tests next week, I just thought to show you that the lights themselves aren't as bulky as some feedback has worried about."

Now that he mentioned it, Kilin joined everyone in giving the lights on the Satomobiles another look.

Yeah, the smaller lights didn't look too bad, though she supposed it would sound clunky if you just heard that a car's going to have another set of lights on it.

"Hm. That's true."

That marked the last comment about the turn signals, and then Xing gestured to the pigs. "This will be a demonstration of a potential safety device. The moo-sows will stand in as drivers." He then smoothly turned to Kilin with a short nod. "Madam Kilin, I hope I'm not mistaken, but the animals would make for a decent proxy for a human when it comes to studying damage?"

Feeling the attention of everyone locked onto her, the old healer let out a nervous cough before she answered. "The… Moo-sows are a bit on the heavier side… Their skin is tougher too." Now that she was thinking about it… "But when you prop them up like that, their bone structure and organ layout isn't too different from ours, not counting their legs anyway."

"So, anything that mangles the moo-sows would mean a far worse result on a human driver?"

She nodded curtly. "Yeah, that's about right. Not useful for light damage, but for heavy stuff like car crashes…I suppose they'd do."

Xing's smile grew warmer as apparently his method of presentation was reinforced, and he gave a nod to several engineers, who stomped their feet and created a wall of earth in the middle of the lane several yards down from the Satomobiles. Another collective stomp, and the wall visibly compacted with an audible crunch into something much more solid.

"We'll start with the stock variant. Could everyone please take a few steps back, for safety's sake." He turned to an engineer by the Satomobile with the unstrapped pig, and the man tinkered for a bit before jumping away right as the vehicle coughed to life and promptly began speeding down the lane. It was going at a decent speed as far as Kilin could see. The earthen wall ahead of it shifted about to intercept the car as it swerved, and eventually, the Satomobile crashed into the barrier with a loud crack of metal and wood, and the shattering of glass.

"Now then, if you'll follow me?" Still smiling, Xing bade everyone to follow him, Kilin's group included. They came to an all too familiar sight for Kilin. The Satomobile had buckled a bit, the front wheels collapsed. Smoke spurted from underneath moo-sow who lay on the deformed car's hood, and the glass windshield behind it was a shattered mess.

Xing casually walked up to the mangled scene and gestured for Kilin to join him. "Madam Kilin, if we imagined the body to be a living, breathing human, what would your initial impression be of the damage sustained?"

Kilin scowled as she stepped up, not a few of her older cases coming to mind. "Very likely dead, otherwise they'd be dead soon."

"Too soon for a healer to arrive?"

She nodded, and pointed at the shards of glass sticking out of the pig. "Sometimes blood loss, but often due to the damage to their internals."

The young man helpfully walked up to the mangled moo-sow and flipped it onto the ground, where the body crumpled into a sagging heap of shattered bones. Kilin didn't bat an eye as she heard sounds of disgust from behind her.

Pussies. This corpse wasn't bleeding, nor was its eyes holding desperately onto the glint of life.

She pointed to the deflated and shredded torso of the pig. It was practically eviscerated from going through the glass. "Chest's completely gone, impact with the steering wheel and the dashboard… Abdomen would require a lot of work, organs can be healed up with time, but the spine…" She glanced at the bent steering wheel and the scraps of skin and meat stuck to the glass still on the windscreen. "Even with water healing, that'll leave a lifelong impairment at best, like Zheng Jia."

There were mutterings as Kilin brought up the former theater diva. Even with Kilin fortuitously being at the scene of the accident as it happened, the actress had been so shredded by glass and metal that she was a mess of scars even after months of healing. Even if she was brave enough to return to the stage after that, the crippling spine injury and similarly maimed lungs and heart kept her firmly stuck in a wheelchair.

Because of what happened to her, the theater folks now saw thick fur scarves as taboo, particularly when driving.

"Now then, if we can return to witness the modified Satomobile?"

As earthbenders carried away the wreck and shredded corpse on rolling waves of earth, the other Satomobile was started up. The mood was understandably heavier now as everyone watched the second vehicle roar towards the wall of earth at the same speed.

The collision was slightly different this time around. There were the sounds of metal buckling and glass breaking, and the damage at first looked the same. Except that as they approached, this time the moo-sow was not draped on the car's front. Instead, the pig was still strapped to its seat, showing only some signs of lacerations due to glass shards.

Everyone slowly walked around the vehicle to appreciate the damage and have a clearer look at the driver's compartment. Up close, Kilin could see the two straps around the pig - one across the shoulder, one across the waist - which had kept it in its seat.

Engineers stepped up to create two earthbended walls, which sheared and isolated the smoking engine compartment from the rest of the vehicle.

Once more, Xing walked over to the pig, and with some fidgeting in the seat, something clicked to release the straps and allow him to liberate the corpse and deposit it to the ground.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Safety belts. Seat belts. Madam Kilin, if you wouldn't mind?"

Kilin didn't hide her surprise when she inspected the body. "Nothing obviously fatal, yet… The cuts from the straps aren't lethal, and I don't think there's much impact against the steering wheel…" She gave gentle, probing presses with her fingers across the chest, and then carefully moved the moo-sow's head. "There might be fractures, and maybe a few bones broken… Yeah, the lungs might get punctured from this one…"

"How's the neck?" Xing politely and almost rhetorically asked.

"I…no, it's still connected," Kilin reported as she swiveled the head in her hands. "At worst, there might be whiplash… Maybe a couple of months in a wheelchair if the spine's dislocated badly…which it's…not."

She glanced down at the rest of the corpse and frowned. "Internals might get badly bruised."

"But it's preferable to being launched out the windshield?" he casually asked.

"Obviously." Kilin scoffed.

"Of course, a moo-sow is tougher than a normal human…"

"Same difference," she added, playing along. "Even if they're taking more damage, they'll live long enough for me to heal the broken bones and bruised organs. Short of the neck snapping, or the broken bones shredding the heart and lungs, I'd say the chances of surviving in these straps-"

"Seat belts."

"-is way better."

Her declaration was the signal for the gathered spectators to break out in excited murmurs. Uki stepped up beside Kilin to inspect the moo-sow herself, and eventually wore a smile. "If these…seat belts…are around, we'd get more customers from accident victims…"

Smart girl.

Before Kilin could comment, the venue host of the little show spoke up to silence the growing chatter.

"That's a rather effective demonstration, Xing," Hiroshi said with a smile that was only second to the beaming smile his daughter directed at Xing. "Now, not to detract from its effectiveness, but how expensive would this contraption be?"

As an answer, Xing glanced at one of the surlier engineers, who then gave a grunt and spoke in his stead. "Not as much, boss. Took a bit figuring out the spring mechanisms, but I'd say it'd be cheap enough…if we can get the machinery for it up."

"You're vouching for it, Hyung?"

The engineer shrugged. "It works, it's simple enough to build, and we've done more finicky additions to the assembly line…"

"Hm…"

"It could be held as an advantage against the competitors, Mister Hiroshi," Xing smoothly added.

"That is true… By the way, Xing? Those two cars there…"

Xing glanced back to the flatter shaped Satomobiles and smiled at his employer. "Ah, right. Another safety feature, this time in its design. Coupled with the seat belt, it should increase passenger survivability by a noticeable margin for higher speed collisions."

"That one would take a bit of vouching," the engineer Hyung mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear.

With a curious nod, Hiroshi let Xing make his second presentation, and the young man walked over to a Satomobile, clicked the seat belt on the seated pig, and then stepped away as it began shooting towards a wall of compacted earth. At the same time, the last standard Satomobile was also sent hurling down the track alongside its newer designed counterpart by an engineer. Both were moving much faster than the previous two vehicles, and the collisions that ensued were far more spectacular.

For a moment, as she watched the front end of the newer designed car disintegrate into bits of flying metal (which landed harmlessly on an protective earthen dome created by the earthbenders) as it smashed itself against the wall, the Kilin felt a twinge of sympathy at the catastrophic failure. Especially compared to the more intact standard Satomobile.

But then she noticed that Xing was still smiling.

What awaited them at the scene of the wreckage was a weird contrast of survivability.

The front of the badly dented but otherwise intact Satomobile looked decent enough, but upon tearing its buckled door open, Kilin saw the moo-sow hanging limply within its seat belt restraints. A quick check confirmed that if it was alive before this, the chances of the pig surviving the crash was slim. Kilin gave the head a gentle tug, and sure enough felt it move a bit too freely.

Maybe less than slim.

On the other hand, the front of the longer Satomobile had completely caved in. Yet the destruction seemed to stop there, and behind the flattened mess, the moo-sow strapped in its seat was cut up a little from the bits of glass and metal flying around, but it wasn't lolling about ominously. Kilin was acutely aware of Xing's satisfied smile as she checked the body and found that it was a little mangled, but in a far more preferable state than the pig in the other car.

"It'd take some healing, but you'd walk out of this wreck more often than you would from the other."

The astonishment was unanimous, with Hiroshi and his inner circle walking around to inspect the remains of the front-flattened Satomobile. Xing shared a look with Hyung, and the older man let out a sigh before shaking his head.

"Fine, maybe it might not be as hard a sell…"

Instead of retorting, Xing addressed the amazed crowd with what almost sounded like a lecturing voice. "Just like an egg being wrapped in crumpled paper is more likely to survive a fall compared to one wrapped in a metal shell, this prototype utilizes a longer profile with a weaker front that's designed to crumple and absorb the force of a crash. The passenger's compartment was still kept strong though, to ensure that they were not completely crushed. There are improvements to be made though, like a means to ensure that the engine block doesn't shoot inwards to crush the passengers…"

"Do you have a list of such improvements?" Hiroshi asked with an eager glint in his eyes.

Xing lowered his head apologetically. "Unfortunately, my understanding of vehicle design is poor, so I'm still unaware of what areas that could be improved." He paused for a moment before tilting his head towards Hyung. "However, Chief Engineer Hyung has his suggestions on how to improve on this design."

"They ain't gonna be cheap, though," the chief engineer muttered, but Hiroshi was already nodding.

"It doesn't have to be. Animal-drawn carriages are cheaper than automobiles, but people are buying our Satomobiles because it's safer and more convenient. If we can sell safety to the public…" And the industrialist threw a speculative look at Xing, who subtly braced himself under the gaze. Like an actor preparing to hear whether he'd be assigned a speaking role or as 'Background Bush #1'. Hiroshi gave a glance at Asami, who seemed to be just as tense as Xing.

After a moment, he addressed Xing in an authoritative tone. "Xing. Now, you've been coming up with plenty of good ideas already, but I can't help but notice you're better at showing how good those ideas of yours are."

"Thank you, sir."

"Now, I'll agree with Asami that you're too good to be stuck as an aide right now. However, Future Industries does not have a fitting role for a keen mind such as yourself. Can't let Isashi slack off now, can I?" He ended with a jocular smirk which caused one of the stiff collared directors to deflate a little, and which Asami didn't appreciate.

"But-"

Hiroshi raised a firm hand to interrupt his daughter. "That being said, while Future Industries does not have a fitting position…we've other companies in other fields that could use your skills."

Asami froze and blinked a few times, while Xing still remained tense. However, Hiroshi's clique of executives and directors were nodding without being smarmy about it, which was probably a good thing?

The industrialist broke into a wide grin. "So…how do you feel about leading one of our subsidiaries? Say, head of Future Media?"

There was a heavy pause in the air before Xing finally answered, with an uncharacteristic stammer nonetheless. "I… Uh, head, sir? Me?"

"Yup." And Hiroshi gave his daughter a second to let out a triumphant noise before he continued. "We've been mostly using it as an arm for marketing - mostly to liaise with the stations, and secure licenses and locations…menial stuff. If you're up for it, I'll have you turn it into something more." He nodded to the smoking wreck to the side. "The…meatier advertising campaigns, the sponsorships, I'll leave those sorts of promotions to you. Future Industries' marketing team will remain focused on managing our galleries and billboards as usual, but Future Media will be going out to reach out to the public."

Kilin stared with dumbfounded amazement as Xing seemed to actually be thinking the offer over. How was this even a dilemma? Judging by the looks from several people, including the two kids just behind him, she wasn't the only one that felt the urge to strangle him into saying yes.

Eventually though, Xing let out a cough and shared a definitely non-platonic look with Asami Sato. Then he gave her father a resolute nod. "Thank you greatly for the opportunity, Mister Hiroshi. I'll not disappoint you."

"I'm sure you won't," came the hearty and very pleased reply. "And please, just call me Hiroshi."

"Good luck with that," Asami muttered, earning scattered snickers.

With the demonstration coming to a close, Kilin and her excited staff left the racetrack in high spirits. She'd wished good luck to Xing as he handed over the hefty pay, which more than made up for playing consultant for a day.

"I hope you don't mind if we sought your services again?" he'd asked, as if she was actually on the fence about it.

"Keep the pay good, and I'll even help you find people to drive your Satomobiles into the walls," she joked, and then lazily waved the contract of secrecy about as she turned to leave. "Hope you enjoy the promotion, director. And don't worry, my clinic knows how to keep secrets. Even simple ones, like requests for…preventatives and protection for young couples."

That got her group snickering, but that Xing only smirked and nodded instead of sputtering like an embarrassed dolt was quite admirable indeed.

"I'll be sure to bear that in mind should the need arise."

A very ambitious young man, that Xing.

Alas, if only Kilin was younger, and was as rich and pretty as Asami Sato.