Chapter 217: You can tell me anything.

The lens from the man's glasses cut his cheek slightly and he looked back up with wide eyes. He looked at Lao with both shock and fear as he clutched his face.

"What was that?" Haru asked, confused. He didn't understand what had just happened but he knew that it couldn't have been anything good given the reaction of the man in the black suit.

"I think those glasses were a type of technology like that gun we saw used on the dead body of the Leung families servant. It must have exploded when he looked at me." Lao said quietly. His brows furrowed for a moment as he began to think.

'For a planet this far out in the middle of nowhere, they have some pretty advanced runic gear. But I guess that because a clan of dragons once lived here.' Lao thought.

The understanding of runes that the humans of earth had was much more advanced than most worlds in the middle realms had since they combined technology and runes. It was strange to see but he could clearly see how well they worked together.

"He could see everything about you with just a glance?" Haru asked. He thought about all of the uses it would have. If he could use it during a fight then he might be able to find a weakness with it.

"No. I doubt it. The device probably tried to determine my age or species and exploded while trying to process it. It has happened with similar things like identity crystals in the upper realm. It's nothing to worry about." Lao reassured Haru that it wasn't a big deal before picking up the man in the black suit by the collar of his shirt.

"Where do you keep the children that you train to become cultivators?" Lao demanded an explanation while looking directly into the man's eyes.

The man couldn't resist the pressure that Lao was exerting on him and cracked, spilling the exact location of where they kept the children.

"On the twenty-seventh floor! Please don't hurt me. The children all have their own rooms on the twenty-seventh floor." The man in the black suit shouted in fear as he looked away from Lao's face.

Lao let go of his collar and he dropped down onto the floor with a thud before shuffling away on the floor and pushing his body up against the wall out of fear.

"What did you do to him? He's terrified." Haru asked. He had watched the whole thing but didn't understand what Lao had done to make him so scared. But it was probably the fact that he couldn't get any data on Lao which would make it seem like he was too strong for the device to read his strength.

But that wasn't the case at all. Lao was only at the manifestation stage he wasn't strong cultivation wise but his understanding of Qi and techniques was way above that of a regular person at the manifestation stage so he didn't need a strong cultivation stage to fight against other people.

"I'm not sure…" Lao replied and then began to think for a few moments to try to understand for himself. He came to the conclusion that the man was just a coward and didn't have a fighting spirit but there was always the possibility that he was acting to lure them into an ambush and that didn't sit right with Lao.

"Do you think he was telling the truth? What if we are walking into an ambush right now?" Haru also thought that he could have been acting given his extreme reaction but as they got into the elevator and arrived at the twenty-seventh floor, their worries were laid to rest as the whole floor was silent and the feeling of Qi resonated throughout the walls.

The sounds of dozens of snoring children seeped through the hallway as many of the doors were open with just a crack. Lao's eyes immediately looked on one of the doors and he began to walk toward it.

Haru used his Qi to scan the floor for anyone that could be a threat to their plan but it was like the man in the black suit had said. The only people on the twenty-seventh floor were the children that they were teaching.

"It's this one. She's in here" Lao said.

"How do you know?" Haru asked, surprised. They hadn't had time to search any of the rooms yet Lao said that he had found the girl already.

"I can feel her power… And it seems like she feels mine too." Lao said quietly as the door to the room slowly opened up revealing the young girl that Haru had first met in the dungeon beneath the twilight moon sect.

"Who are you?" Meiling asked as she saw Lao standing in the corridor outside of her room. She had never seen him before in her life yet his presence felt familiar.

The memories she had of her past and spending time with her grandfather seemed to be sparked as she looked up at Lao with his long blue hair and green eyes. She then noticed the silhouette of someone else standing in the shadows behind the unfamiliar man.

"How are you doing, Meiling? Are they treating you well here?" Haru asked as he saw her but before he could say anything else she had begun to run toward him with her arms out wide and jumped up before wrapping her arms around his neck.

Haru didn't know her that well but it didn't seem like a strange reaction since he was the one who had saved her life and stopped her from being tortured to death. He hugged her lightly before putting her back down to the ground and putting his hand on her head.

"How are they treating you here? Are they teaching you things about cultivation?" Haru already knew the answer by the fact that she was already at the late Qi refining stage. But before they asked her if she wanted to go with them he wanted to know if she enjoyed being there.

Meiling hesitated in her reply like she was holding something back and didn't want Haru to know before responding to his question.

"Yes! They have been teaching me all kinds of things. Things about Qi and how strong people can get by surrounding their bodies in a layer of Qi. It's called amplification.

Did you know that people can even learn how to fly if they become strong enough!?" Meiling seemed impressed by that thought and smiled as she informed Haru of the great things that she had learned.

"Is that so?" Haru chuckled a little bit.

"So you like it here?" Haru asked directly. He didn't feel right if he was going to take her away from a place that she enjoyed and he didn't want her to feel any resentment to Lao if he was to become her teacher.

"Well… It's nice and they feed us good food and we even get a place to sleep." Meiling began to say. She seemed like she was trying to hide something from Haru which only made him more suspicious.

"What is it? Is there something going on that you can't tell me about?" Haru asked with a gentle expression. He was concerned. He had no idea what it could be that she didn't want to tell him but he knew it must have been something serious.

He found her in a torture chamber where she had watched many people die. If there was something going on that she didn't want to talk about it must be something that is affecting her much more than what she had seen before.

Meiling looked up at Haru with trusting eyes. She knew that he wasn't a bad person but she didn't know what he would do if she told him what was going on. Haru could see that she was considering if she should tell him or not so he decided to reassure her.

"Hey, look at me," Haru said calmly. Meiling had glanced down to the floor so she didn't have to look him in the eyes. But quickly looked back up at him as he told her to.

"You can tell me anything. I came to make sure you are happy here. If you aren't happy here, then you can come back with me.

That man there would like to become your teacher. He is extremely strong and was even the teacher of my teacher if you can believe it." Haru said with a smile but Meiling's expression didn't change at all.

She was still hiding something and it seemed like it was something important hence why she didn't want to talk about it. Haru was both confused and angry at the same time as he tried to think of an explanation in his head to come to a conclusion about why she couldn't tell him.

But the things that he thought of only made him angrier.

'Is someone bullying her? Is it hard for her to make friends here? Or is it something to do with the teachers here? Did anyone try to force her to do anything that she didn't want to?' The thoughts running through Haru's head were getting worse and worse as time went on.

He had saved her from one hell hole and it wouldn't feel right if she had ended up in a worse situation now than what she was in before.

Haru knelt down and held both of her hands to reassure her.

"Do you remember the promise that I made to you when we first met?" Haru asked with a smile.

Meiling looked him in the eyes for a moment while she thought before quickly nodding her head.

"You do? Then what was it?" Haru asked again with the same gentle smile.

"Was it when you promised that nobody would hurt me?" Meiling asked, unsure of if that is what Haru was referring to.

"That's right. As long as I am alive. Nobody will ever hurt you. And if they do… Then they will have to answer to me okay?" Haru brushed her hair out of her face that was still all messy from being asleep all night.

"Do you really mean it? I can tell you anything?" Meiling asked with a sad expression Like she doubted Haru's words but also still wanted to believe him.

"Of course you can," Haru said and then looked up at Lao who also had a worried expression.

"Okay then. I will tell you…" Meiling said and then took a deep breath.