Tusk twitching, the black hog made a loud snort. His nose spewed out streaks of steam and blew all over Li Ao’s dishevelled face.

‘’You pig—’’

‘’Don’t misidentify me, human! I am a mountain hog!’’

‘’...’’

A few seconds passed. Li Ao glanced at the serious and cold faces around him, then at the gleams of the multi-colored blades upon his entire body.

‘’...so, can you fellows give me some space?’’

Another few seconds passed.

‘’Hello?’’

A few faces twitched, but again they ignored him.

‘’Are you all deaf!?’’

‘’Oh shut up, you freak!’’ A seemingly important looking man flew out of the crowd. ‘’Where have you come from?’’

Now that made Li Ao think.

He hadn’t worn Xu Liao’s face—of course he couldn’t switch it now. The situation proved too awkward and dangerous to do so.

Then again, would anyone remember his face except a handful of them?

His heart empty at the second realization, Li Ao simply glanced at the crowd, then back at the man.

‘’Over there.’’

‘’Over where?’’

Li Ao swung his chin towards the back. ‘’Over there—’’

‘’Where is that?’’

Li Ao swung his head back. ‘’Over. There.’’

‘’...’’

‘’You don’t get it? I can show you—just release these binds, will you?’’

‘’Chief!’’

Ignored again, the officer flew up to a short-bearded man to whisper. The duo exchanged a glance, descended together, and the bearded man called Chief put his palm over Li Ao’s head.

‘’One moment.’’

Li Ao squinted his eyes.

There was a ringing, a sting struck the back of his head, then a white blast of light pushed Chief’s hand back.

‘’...did you try to read my memories?’’

The officer, face long, stared at his commander.

Face stoic, Chief Chen ruffled his beard.

‘’Are you a survivor?’’

‘’...I guess?’’

‘What is he even talking about?’

Trying to use his mind to infer the meaning, Li Ao decided to just go along with whatever Chief said.

‘’Is there any of your tribesmen left?’’

Li Ao took a short moment to think.

‘’Fourteen people. My grandpa, three uncles, great grandaunt, and cousins.’’

The way he spoke succinct and confident made Chief Chen nod.

‘’Then what brings you here? Have the demons begun to stir again? Or have you been attacked? Why have you come in such an overbearing manner?’’

‘’I came to find a man—the demons are prowling in small groups, no sign of anything—I have been attacked on the way, and I couldn’t outrun them.’’

Each of his replies received a nod from Chief Chen, who at the end cast a long look up and down at him.

‘’You seem to have suffered a lot, talented young man.’’

‘’Oh you can’t imagine.’’

‘’...’’

Feeling a few blades tremble, Li Ao shrunk back into his shoulders.

‘’Alright. Throw him into jail.’’

‘’...what?’’

In a second, seven random soldiers threw themselves at him. The hog horned his back, a rabbit-eared man held his arms, and the normal people strangled the rest of his limbs to carry him forward.

‘’Hey, stop! Stop! This is harassment! Listen to me, I am innocent!’’

‘’No one has accused you of anything—yet.’’

Smiling, Chief Chen flew out. The officer from before urged the group to move back to their positions while ordering him to be carried off.

Pushed and pulled and horned, hearing the drums sound away, the group carried Li Ao through several hundred meters of loosely-built nests and houses into a dirt-walled building. They descended a narrow staircase into a dark and tight tunnel of stone and earth.

Inside were five steel-caged cells, one occupied by a bird-man, and he was thrown straight into the cell across it.

The officer snatched all of his spatial bags and rings, strapped two hand-cuffs that absorbed his Qi, then left.

Dumbfounded by the sheer efficiency of their action, Li Ao only woke up a few minutes later.

Sighing, he put a finger in his nose and pinched out the rippling Bubbles.

‘’Man you are disgusting.’’

‘’?’’

Frowning, Li Ao saw the bird-man turn his back at him.

‘’...weird fellow.’’

Stuck in this chilly and lonesome space made Li Ao even more depressed.

He had tried hard, very hard, to muster the courage to break through. When he saw the walls, he had been happy, and now all that happiness became a slight grievance in his heart that threatened to grow with his thoughts.

‘’Will I get executed?’’

‘’Not likely, right?’’

Outrageous thoughts went back and forth in his head for a while. The bird-man was silent, and he heard nothing up the stairs too, and so Li Ao was left in silence with his own thoughts and heaviness.

‘’What is up with my shoulder anyway?’’

Fondling his neck and shoulder, Li Ao felt no comfort relieving him. The discomfort refused to go away no matter what.

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Disturbed, he stood up, stretched his legs and arms, pushed his neck down then up, and met a green-scaled lizard’s rolled tongue.

‘’Hiya Ao!’’

‘’HOLY SHIT!’’

Li Ao threw himself back and smashed against the wall with a loud thud—then he clasped his mouth and glanced at the shivering bird-man.

The fellow sat there, his back still turned to him, and shook as if he suffered a blizzard. From a side-long glance, Li Ao noticed his chattering beak.

He was almost scared to death from his shout.

‘’Right...’’

Sometimes, Li Ao forgot about his own body cultivation.

If it had been a mortal that heard him, they might have become deaf for life.

Still, these were all almost-subconscious and diverting thoughts that flashed past in an instant.

The pressing matter was this leather-armored, grinning green lizard man!

Li Ao tried to send a Qi transmission, but the cuffs absorbed his power, so he was forced to whisper. ‘’Kertl! How the fuck are you here!?’’

‘’What do you mean how? Didn’t I promise to meet you up here?’’

‘’Promise? What promise?’’

‘’When we were partying in the castle! Don’t you remember, boy?’’

It took Li Ao a moment to gather his memories.

‘’...HAH!?’’

Kertl’s grin fell off his scales.

‘’Don’t tell me you don’t remember?’’

The lizard hissed and stomped at the ground. ‘’I shouldn’t have bothered! I shouldn’t have bothered at all!’’

‘’Wait wait wait wait, why are you so incensed now!?’’

‘’Why? I wasted ten thousand coins to be received like this! Why should I not be angry!?’’

‘’...Ten thousand?’’

How far was his home?

Or was it even his home?

No, this conversation was going to a wrong place!

‘’Shut up! Keep your voice down first!’’

‘’It is okay, I sealed off the room!’’

‘’No you didn’t!’’

Li Ao pointed at the still-trembling bird-man.

Kertl, eyes blank, watched the beastman for a moment.

‘’Lalalala—hohohoho—mimimimi...’’ Hissing and speaking, Kertl tapped the scale on his chin. ‘’Ho, this world has some weird laws.’’

Then turning to Li Ao he grinned. ‘’Sorry, since the system helps us talk like this, I forget the minute details.’’

The sentence had some big implications that Li Ao decided to ignore for now.

‘’Okay, it is done.’’

‘’You didn’t even lift a finger.’’

Kertl lifted his pinky claw. ‘’Is this good enough?’’

‘’...okay.’’

Li Ao shook his head at the absurd re-union. ‘’Let’s start from the beginning—why are you here?’’

Kertl lost a bit of his shine again. Hissing, crossing his legs in the air, he tapped Li Ao’s nose with a claw. ‘’Now, you gave me an useful advice, did you not?’’

‘’I did?’’

‘’The kittens.’’

‘’Oh the kittens...’’

‘’Yes! Now, did you not also give me spare copies of your documents about the Divine Castle?’’

‘’I did that?’’

‘’You did!’’

‘’Okay, then?’’

‘’Now, that means I have an oath to help you back. And, as if you were so sure of her involvement, you screamed at Captain Karim about how your precious master might answer some unanswered questions too.’’

‘’...I fucked up’’

That wasn’t a good thing. Not a good thing at all.

Exposing his master’s still-doubted origin was just detrimental to her and himself.

‘’Why? I came here to help you reach her, and possibly go back to the castle—together.’’

‘’What if she doesn’t want to?’’

‘’Well, that is not my business.’’

‘’...huh?’’

‘’I am not bound by order or anything— I simply came here to repay my oath, boy! Captain is a good man, but he doesn’t understand the nature of our work!’’

Li Ao understood the coming of a rant from a mile away.

‘’In the first place, he is too sentim—’’

‘’Okay, okay, stop right there! Keep that thing between yourselves, okay?’’

‘’...are you sure? There is a lot of exposition about others between us!’’

‘’No! Thank you!’’

‘’Alright...’’

Kertl sighed—hissed—and put both hands under his chin. ‘’Well, should we get going then?’’

‘’You can take me out?’’

‘’Just like how I came here.’’

Without a sound, Kertl turned into a puff of smoke, then disappeared. Ten seconds later, he popped back into existence with a black helm on his head.

Then he headbutted into the earthen wall.

‘’This stuff is great for scratching the back of my head!’’

Ignoring the gruesome scratches of the denting helmet, Li Ao thought for a few moments.

‘’Can you find where they took my stuff?’’

‘’Rings and bags? Sure thing! Anything else you want me to take?’’

‘’Nothing. Just my own.’’

‘’We could get something useful—’’

‘’I have everything we need.’’

At the word ‘we’, Kertl’s eyes began to shine.

‘’Got it! See ya!’’

Then he was gone again.

Now left alone, Li Ao cast a glance at the poor bird-man, then towards the exit of his cell. The stairs were empty.

He heard no sound, felt no ripples, and when he did he put his head between his cuffed wrists with a growl.

‘’You fucking idiot! You retarded, moronic stupid idiot! Idiot! Idiot!’’

A moment later, he bit his lips and shut his mouth. The bird-man could still hear him.

‘’Drink—a drink! What did drinking ever do for me!? Why would I drink with strangers!?’’

Why would he?

Was it because he got caught up within the merry air?

Was it because he felt close to them as colleagues and senior models to look up to?

Was there, truly, enough intimacy between them?

Whatever the reason may be, the mistake was made, and knowing that the consequence of his actions could hurt someone other than him tore apart his already struggling heart.

He spent half an hour there, sighing again and again.

Then, feeling a ripple from the stairs, Li Ao put Bubbles away and lowered his head. One by one, each stomp of his feet vibrating, someone made his presence known to him.

With a creak the door to his cell opened. Above the wrinkled yet splendid pants was the face of the Chief from earlier.

‘’...hello?’’

With a thrust, Chief took hold of his chin, then his left index finger dug into his nose.

With a pinch, and a yuck, he took out the bubbling Bubbles.

‘’Hey, stop!’’

Li Ao smashed his head at his chest, but the Chief didn’t even flinch.

Instead, he stood there, cast a long, recognizing look at Bubbles, and put her back on his swelling forehead.

‘’This is Grandmaster Fan’s.’’

‘’...’’

Taking a few steps back, hands ready to purchase a Core Formation talisman from the store, Li Ao caught the man blinking at him.

From close-up, he seemed every bit the image of a military official. He was tall, verily so, and his stature could prove a match for the word Valor.

His features were ragged and wrinkled, though no white found their way on his hair, and his blinking eyes kept an astute wisdom through which he inspected Li Ao’s insecure flinches.

‘’...uh.’’

Li Ao found no words coming up his throat. Again, he was intimidated by this single, recognizing stare.

But Li Ao knew the man before him was a stranger. He was confident about recognizing anyone. Even if decades passed in here, it was only a short few months for him—his memory would not fail in that span of time.

Further retreating, pushing his back to the wall, Li Ao was about to speak when the chief smiled.

‘’Does it hurt?’’

‘’...what?’’ Bubbles vibrated on his forehead in alarm—he had noticed just now. ‘’Oh...good?’’

‘What, is he concerned?’

‘’Good.’’

Nodding, Chief crossed his legs and sat on the cold ground. He pointed in front of Li Ao.

‘’Sit.’’

Without a step forward, Li Ao squatted where he stood, neither standing nor sitting with the wall pushing his back.

Chief dropped his smile, his gaze even more intense, and once in a while a blink went past his dark pupils that made Li Ao creeped out. Knowing that he was the object of such intense observation made him restless.

Flinching again, but nevertheless suppressing discomfort, he waited for a few more seconds.

Then his patience ran out.