As Shi looks up into my eyes, she seems to catch the change in my demeanor.

She gulps and takes a step back.

“I-I’m sorry for my forwardness, Master. It won’t happen again.”

“Shi… No, that’s… it’s not an issue at all. I actually like when you do things like that.”

She keeps her head down and seems to reflect on her actions. After a moment, she looks up again, seemingly trying again.

Let me be more straightforward.

“If I’m being really honest with myself, I really like you. Like, to the point where I’m not sure how to act around you… The issue is, I just had a friend try to manipulate me through sex, before we met up.”

Her eyes seem to shake a little, as she freezes with an awkward look on her face.

I hurry to clarify a little.

“I’m just… little sensitive right now to it.”

I pause again, trying to find the right words.

“I do want to say that with someone like you, I wouldn’t mind eventually trying things out. Though, I would prefer that I do something like that with someone who I truly cherish and will cherish me.

“But, currently, I’m not sure that I know you well enough, to do something like that. Especially, for my first time.”

Her mouth opens and closes.

Well, that was all over the place. I think I got the general message across.

… Ah.

I mentioned my virginity.

She seems to find the word she’s looking for after a few seconds.

“I… can understand that.

“Thank you for sharing that with me, I’ll definitely keep that in mind and work toward that in the future.”

Her face looks contemplative as we silently continue on. With me leading the way, since she doesn’t know where we are going.

Well. That made the moment awkward.

But that had to be done. I’m not going to allow myself to my emotions throw me all over the place.

I can’t afford to.

I already have one person tempting me. I don’t need another. Especially after my promise to Ai.

Though, I wouldn’t mind having my first time with Shi.

Well, as long as it’s not in a grimy, scary alleyway.

As we get closer to the area that Lin and Ai lived in, I extend my scan out toward the old shack.

I subtly tame the local rats and insects around the area, when we’re about 5 miles away from the location. I begin slowing down at around two miles and I throw a pulse in the direction again.

What I discover is that the shack is gone. There’s no body there.

Wait. No.

It seems to have been moved deep underground and covered in a white powder.

At seeing this, I practically stop in my tracks. My companion to my right looks at me sharply, but I quickly manage to assure her that everything is alright.

I run through a quick scan of the substance and find that it prevents resurrection or use in rituals, and is quite expensive. Quite expensive, indeed. A cultivator level item. The only other thing it reveals is that it can also remove traces of anyone that originally tampered with the body.

I push further, because of the severity of this situation. I stumble a bit from the pain. But, it’s right at the edge of dangerous territory. I can just barely feel a slowdown in my brain and immediately stop my scan.

Shi quickly grabs onto me, looking around cautiously. I reassure her that everything is fine. She seems a tad suspicious still and is looking around.

I’m pretty sure that if we were closer, she might have been able to tell what I was doing. It’s a good thing I stayed cautious.

The deeper scan reveals the truth, that Big Sister Crane, is the source and covered up the death of this guy. I have a guess of why she chose to do this, but I’m definitely going to take advantage of it, nonetheless.

This isn’t enough for me, though. Even with this on the body, there’s a slim chance he could still come back. I’m going to make that possibility even more remote.

Nonetheless, I seem to have gotten what I needed from the scan.

Time to just use the creatures to eliminate the evidence.

Just in case.

Using the team of rats and insects, I then have them head over to the body and begin devouring it underground. Based on the properties of the power, I could tell that while inedible, the rats and insects would be able to get it out of their bodies quickly and live normally after a while.

For the next 15 minutes, Shi and I made small talk to past the time as we stood there.

She didn’t seem to understand why we had stopped or why we were making casual talk here, but I used the opportunity to find out more about her.

I found that she actually seemed to get quite excited about explaining what the group does to take care of a people that enter their gang.

While she does briefly touch on the prostitute side of their gang, she mainly focuses on how it allows older women to train in Qi and provides children opportunities out of their situation. For her, after her prostitute years, she actually seemed to take to Qi quite well, but has hit a stop gap. She seems pretty disappointed about it.

Once I actually become a cultivator, I should start looking at ways to craft concoctions to help people through their breakthroughs.

From what I can tell, though, the gang is overall helpful to people who have no other option. And for people who’ve been with the group for a while, they help actively grow them.

The devotion level I’ve seen from most of the people in their group has been pretty high. Though I still disagree with their method of manipulating people, I think this is a decent group to work with. Much better than that Red Vermilion gang, anyway.

Offhandedly, I mentioned that I’m likely going to take the test to join the nearby sect. She freezes for a moment before nodding furiously. Exclaiming, that would be a good idea.

Soon enough, the body’s been eaten by enough insects and rats for them to still live and carry it far away. Scattering the pieces as far as they can go.

With this, I think I can rest easy.

Wait, not exactly. I’ll still have to figure out how big sister crane knew about the death of the man. It could be the obvious answer of looking into the death, but I want to be sure.

However, if I’ve learned anything over the past week or two… Is that I need to be a cultivator in order to make proper steps in this world.

That extremely weak cultivator almost got me killed. And if I were to fight someone like Shi, I’m pretty sure I would die before I even realized anything.

With these somber thoughts in mind and a slightly brighter woman at my side, we continue back to the yellow sashes area.

As we returned to the gate on this side of the yellow sashes area, it appears the street is still going through the crazy attractions.

Shi and I, still head through the back area, quickly moving within.

My scan catches a familiar-looking face throwing a thumbs up at Shi from an obscured place, before Shi wiggles a thumb up back at her. It’s pretty clear who that person is, at this point.

Should I worry about this? Nah, I think it probably should be fine.

Probably.

The rest of the walk back is pretty routine and boring, surprisingly.

There no ambush is. No surprises. Not even a wayward flirting. It almost purposely seems like they’re ignoring me. A look toward Shi reveals a proud look on her face.

As we get to the gate leading out of the yellow sashes area, I turned to her.

“Thanks again for joining me, Shi. I really appreciated and enjoyed our time together and I’m looking forward to the next time we can do it again.”

I pause, wondering if I should say the next thing.

“I also know that you must have let everyone know to not pay attention to me, as we head through these areas. I can’t say how much it means to me, that I have someone who I can rely on here and work with so easily. I really enjoy your company and am looking forward to the next time we can meet.

“… Unfortunately, I probably won’t be going out for a while, since I’ve quite a few things to prepare for. I will, however, be staying in contact and visit every once in a while.”

She seems a bit surprised at my words that I won’t be coming by again, but seems somewhat resigned to it….

“James, thank you for spending this time with me I’m honored to be working with you… And I’m really looking forward to earning your trust and being someone who you can cherish and want to be with.”

I can feel my face heat up a bit as I nod.

I know this is her job. I know it’s for her benefit to get close to me. But I can’t say it’s not a good feeling to have someone at least appear to like me.

Well.

At least someone whose life I haven’t saved and don’t want to take advantage of.

Following our words with goodbyes, I began heading back to the caverns in Gong’s area. It’s quiet, without a lot of activity.

I have a feeling that someone is doing something in the background right now. To make it this quiet. Whether it’s Gong or someone else, I’m not sure.

But that’s something for another day. For now, I just want to lie down in the bed for the next few days.

Doing nothing.