Chapter 5: The Days That Follow

  The next day, the midday sun beat down on the Jinlun harbor, the air thick with the familiar smells of salt and sweat. Inside the cavernous warehouse, Kun was diligently sweeping the floor, a soft, tuneless hum escaping his lips as he worked.

  He thought back to the night before, to the strange, comfortable silence and the easy laughter. He remembered how Lin had seemed to leave so quickly after their dinner, a sudden return to the regal, distant woman he had first seen. He wondered why. Was it so she wouldn't get discovered visiting me? he thought, pushing a pile of dust and wood shavings across the floor. It's not like it's that big of a deal.

  But then again, maybe it was. He sighed, leaning on his broom for a moment. I guess the Snow Flower still needs to maintain her public appearance. Can't be seen with some nobody janitor. The thought left a bitter taste in his mouth. He shook his head, a small, sad smile on his face. He'd probably never see her again.

  "It's pretty rare to see that face from you," a booming voice rumbled from behind him.

  "Oh, Jack. What's up?" Kun looked back at his coworker. Jack was, as always, an impressive sight—tall, impossibly buff, but with a kind face and a pair of long, fluffy white rabbit ears that seemed completely out of place with the rest of his stature.

  "Just wondering what's on your mind," Jack asked, easily lifting a crate that Kun would have struggled with.

  "Not much, really. But it's been kinda quiet. Where's the boss? Haven't seen him since I checked in this morning."

  Jack scratched his cheek. "Boss Zhang slipped off the stairs of his estate this morning. Seems he won't be supervising us for a couple of days. He left me with the checklist."

  "He died?" Kun asked, a little too hopefully.

  "No, just a couple of broken bones," Jack replied with a chuckle.

  "Figures," Kun groaned. "That old man wouldn't die even if he got stabbed in the heart. Is he the devil's reincarnation?"

  "Don't say that." Jack was smiling. "At least he's kind enough to hire us, right?"

  "Yeah, yeah, you're right, Jack." Kun sighed, returning to his sweeping.

  He looked back to a few years ago. He was eighteen at the time, too old to stay at the orphanage any longer. Even the kind Miss Yinzi, the director who had given him his name, had to let him go. Kun had obliged peacefully; it was the least he could do for the woman who had taken him in when no one else would. But without money or a place to go, he was just another homeless man on the streets.

  Miss Yinzi had a plan, though. She told him to go to Jinlun, that a city of that size would have opportunities waiting for him, unlike in the quiet countryside. She believed in his potential.

  Unfortunately, he had let her down. Even in the bustling capital, he couldn't find a proper job. He had no family record, no formal education, and no money. Once again, it felt like no one wanted him. That was, until he met Mr. Zhang. The gruff warehouse boss had taken him in from the streets, given him a temporary spot in one of his shared housing units—where he first met Jack—and offered him a job as a janitor. The pay wasn't much, but it was always just enough for his meals, and after a year, he had managed to save just enough to rent his current, decrepit apartment. Mr. Zhang may have been harsh, but Kun couldn't deny that he owed the old man a great deal.

  "Kun. Kun... Hey!"

  A heavy hand shook his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts.

  "I'm up, I'm up," Kun mumbled, turning to see Jack looking down at him with a concerned expression. "What's going on?"

  "That's what I should be asking you." Jack's booming voice softened. "You were a million miles away. So... that lady over there. Do you know her? She's been waving at you for a while now, you know, while you were having your flashback."

  Jack pointed with his thumb toward the massive open doors of the warehouse. Standing just outside in the bright sunlight was a woman dressed in a simple but elegant white dress. She had long, blonde hair, wore dark sunglasses, and a wide-brimmed straw hat. In one hand, she held what looked like a picnic basket. She was waving her hand in their direction.

  Kun squinted, his eyes adjusting to the light. "I don't know who that is," he said, though a sinking feeling in his stomach told him otherwise. "But I might have some idea."

  He handed his broom to a very confused Jack, let out a long, weary sigh, and started walking toward the woman, shaking his head the entire way.

  As he got closer, the woman put on a bright, cheerful smile. "Hello, kind sir," she began, her voice a little too high and formal. "What a lovely day! Do you want to—"

  Flick.

  "Ouch!"

  Before she could finish her sentence, Kun gave her a quick, light flick on the forehead.

  "What are you doing here, Lady Meihua?" he asked, his voice flat and unimpressed.

  The woman took off her sunglasses, revealing a pair of shocked, luminous silver eyes. She put her sunglasses back on and pouted. "I thought my disguise was perfect. I was going to surprise you."

  "Hmph. It's a thousand years too early for you to deceive Shilook Huang's number one disciple," Kun declared with a puff of his chest.

  Lin tilted her head in confusion, then giggled. "Idiot." She lifted the picnic basket. "Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to go out to eat. I made some lunch."

  "I would if I had a break," Kun said with a sigh, "but unfortunately..."

  Before he could finish, Jack coughed loudly next to them, his massive frame towering over them both. "Sorry, miss, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. But, uh, Kun here is free, if you want to take him away." He gave a huge, unsubtle thumbs-up to Kun.

  "Oh my, that is fantastic!" Lin replied, her voice instantly shifting back to a high-pitched, regal tone. "You must be the Mr. Jack that Kun talks so much about."

  "Kun talks about me?" Jack laughed, a deep, hearty sound that made the nearby crates rattle. "Hahaha!"

  "Hey, Jack, what the heck—" Kun started to protest, but Jack's arm wrapped around his neck, pulling him into a tight headlock.

  "Don't worry, I'll cover your shift," Jack whispered into his ear, his voice a low rumble. "Your girlfriend clearly wants to go out with you, so you should appease her. Trust me."

  "Wha—she's not my—" Kun sputtered, his face turning red.

  "Just go," Jack whispered again, giving him a final thumbs-up. "Trust me, you don't want to make a girl in love angry." With a final, friendly shove, Jack pushed Kun out of the warehouse and toward the disguised Lin.

  They walked together in an awkward silence, a careful distance between them. They weren't strangers anymore, but they weren't exactly friends yet, either. And they were definitely not a couple.

  "So that was Mr. Jack you talked so much about," Lin said, breaking the silence. "I can see why you're comfortable around him. He seems very strong and kind."

  Kun looked at her, confused. "Mr. Jack? Why are you calling him 'Mr.', Lin?"

  "He is older than us, is he not?" she asked, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It is only natural."

  Kun stopped walking and burst out laughing. "Lin, Jack is fifteen."

  "Fifteen?" Lin was left speechless, her mouth hanging open slightly. She stopped dead in the middle of the street. "Fifteen? With that build? And that face?" She grabbed the collar of Kun's shirt, her silver eyes wide with disbelief.

  "Yup," Kun nodded, trying to suppress a grin.

  "You're lying."

  "Nope. You should've seen him a few years ago," Kun explained, starting to walk again. "Small, cute kid. Then suddenly, one night, poof. He has that build and face. Most of the guys, even Mr. Zhang, were so shocked at his transformation. But inside, he's still the same Jack."

  Lin fell to the ground, her legs giving out from under her. She couldn't believe it. The hulking beast of a Sacred was a fifteen-year-old boy. Her entire perception of reality seemed to crumble for a second.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  "Hello? Calvenoor to Lin? Are you there?" Kun waved his hand in front of her face.

  "Fifteen... fifteen..." she muttered, staring blankly at the cobblestones. Then she snapped back to reality, shaking her head as if to clear it.

  Another walk later, they arrived at the place Lin had mentioned. It was a wide, open meadow just beyond the city walls, filled with short, soft grass and dotted with beds of wildflowers. A nice, flowing breeze rustled the leaves of the surrounding trees, making it the perfect situation for a picnic between... strangers? Friends? Definitely not a couple.

  "Woah," Kun said, looking around. "This place is nice. You weren't lying."

  "Right?" Lin replied, a small, proud smile on her face. "I've always wanted to come here, but I never had the chance. You're my first guest ever, Kun."

  Kun froze, his breath catching in his throat. "You... you said my name."

  Lin looked at him, confused by his startled reaction. "Am I not supposed to? I let you call me by my first name, so I figured I was allowed to call you by yours, right?"

  "Yeah, I guess you're right," Kun said, bowing his head quickly to hide the sudden blush on his cheeks. "Thank you."

  Lin became even more confused by the formal gesture, but then she giggled, thinking it was just another one of the "idiot's" weird quirks.

  "So, let's eat," Lin said, gesturing to the picnic basket she had set down on the grass. "I made some sandwiches."

  "You... made... bread?" Kun asked, his eyes wide with a mixture of shock and surprise.

  "Well, I wanted to repay you for last night," Lin said, a shy blush coloring her cheeks. "So I tried."

  "Okay, okay, I'll try one," Kun said, sitting down next to her on the grass.

  Lin passed him a carefully wrapped sandwich. Kun took a bite.

  His face, which had been smiling a moment ago, went pale. It's inedible, he thought, his mind racing. Is the meat uncooked? Is that salt or sugar? Or both? It was a chaotic, imbalanced assault on his taste buds, a culinary disaster of the highest order. It was pretty much poison.

  He forced himself to chew, his throat protesting with every swallow. He couldn't say anything. Not when Lin was looking at him with those hopeful, silver eyes, her face practically screaming, "How is it? It's good, right?"

  Please, Lords, great god Silas, anyone, help me, Kun screamed internally, hoping the world would grant him some miracle that would let him throw away this sandwich without hurting her feelings.

  Ask, and you shall receive.

  Suddenly, the ground began to tremble. A thunderous sound of hoofbeats grew louder and louder. From the edge of the forest, a group of wild boars burst forth, stampeding directly toward them.

  "Look out!" Lin yelled.

  They both scrambled to their feet and dodged to the sides. The boars thundered past, their hooves tearing up the grass. The sudden chaos gave Kun the perfect excuse. He turned away, spitting the half-chewed poison out of his mouth and tossing the rest of the sandwich into the bushes.

  The boars, in their panicked flight, trampled directly over the picnic basket, crushing it and scattering the rest of the sandwiches into the dirt.

  "Oh no, they trampled the sandwiches," Kun said, his voice flat and deadpan. He looked over at Lin, who was sniffling, a single tear rolling down her cheek. She had clearly put a lot of thought into that lunch.

  "Damn, the boars ran away, boss," a rough voice called out from the edge of the forest.

  "No worries," another voice replied. "We can always find more replacements."

  A group of five rough-looking bandits, led by a scarred and heavily armed man, emerged from the thicket.

  "Boss, look," one of the henchmen said, pointing at Lin and Kun. "Witnesses. Two of them."

  "Can't have them knowing our plan to use the boars to raid the caravans," the boss growled. "Get them, boys."

  "Uh, Lin," Kun said, his voice trembling with panic. "We have company."

  But Lin wasn't listening. A cold, dangerous rage had replaced the sadness in her eyes. She ripped the blonde wig from her head, her midnight-blue hair tumbling free.

  "Do you know how hard I tried to make those sandwiches?" she asked, her voice dangerously quiet. "And you dare trample them because of some stupid plan?" She took off her sunglasses, revealing her luminous silver eyes, now glowing with an icy light. "You will pay."

  As she spoke, the air around them dropped twenty degrees. The moisture in the air condensed and froze, forming over a hundred shimmering lances of pure ice, each one hovering ominously in the air. The lances shot forward in a single, deadly volley, each one homing in on a fleeing bandit. The impacts didn't pierce, but froze the ground solid beneath their feet, sending them tumbling to the ground. Before they could recover, more lances rained down, encasing their limbs in thick, unbreakable ice.

  It was an easy, terrifyingly efficient display. In mere seconds, the entire bandit group was quelled, trapped and shivering but otherwise unharmed.

  Meanwhile, Kun, who had watched the entire spectacle with his jaw on the floor, was carefully making a mental note. Do not, and I repeat, do not anger Lin Meihua.

  Lin strode over to the bandit boss, who was now a human popsicle from the neck down. She crouched down, her silver eyes boring into his.

  "You will tell your men to leave this area," she said, her voice as cold as the ice that bound him. "You will find a new, honest line of work. And you will never, ever trample a picnic again. If I hear of you or your men causing trouble in this region, the 'Snow Flower' will find you. And next time, the ice will not be so merciful. Do you understand?"

  The man, his teeth chattering uncontrollably, could only nod frantically.

  With a final, disgusted look, Lin stood up and walked back to Kun, grabbing his arm and pulling him along.

  "What about the ice?" Kun asked, stumbling to keep up with her.

  "It will melt in an hour," Lin replied, not looking back. "Enough time for them to reflect on their sins."

  Kun looked back at the frozen, whimpering bandits, then at the calm, beautiful girl dragging him away. She's scary, he thought. Really, really scary. But then, another thought pushed its way through his fear, a strange and unfamiliar warmth. But... spending time with someone is pretty fun.

  They walked and walked, the silence returning, but this time it was less awkward. Finally, Kun broke it. "You have no idea where we're going, do you?"

  Lin, who was now back in her slightly ruffled disguise, simply nodded. "My only plan today was the picnic," she admitted, a small pout forming on her lips. "I wanted to repay you. I tried so hard to make those sandwiches... and you seemed to like them, too."

  Kun shivered, the memory of the poisonous bite still fresh in his mind. It was like poison, he thought, but he couldn't possibly say that. He didn't want to be turned into a human popsicle like those bandits. But at the same time, he couldn't ruin the day for this girl who had tried so hard, even if she clearly should not be allowed anywhere near a kitchen.

  He steeled himself. "Alright," he said, his voice full of a confidence he didn't feel. "I know a place. Follow me."

  This time, it was Kun's turn to take the lead, gently taking Lin's arm and pulling her in a new direction. As they walked, the scenery began to change. The open fields gave way to the narrow, winding streets of the city, and the clean, polished stone of the outer districts was replaced by the cracked cobblestones and tightly packed buildings of the forgotten district near the harbor.

  "Kun, where are we going?" Lin asked, her voice a mix of curiosity and confusion.

  "Told you I know a place," he replied with a small smile. "Speaking of which, here we are."

  Kun stopped in front of an old, unassuming shop, its wooden sign faded and its windows dusty. But from the outside, Lin could see that the inside was filled from floor to ceiling with books.

  "I remember you like to read," Kun said, gesturing to the shop. "So here we are. The best bookshop in Jinlun, though not many people know about it. Just go inside. I'm sure you'll find something you like."

  Lin nodded, still a bit confused. What makes this bookstore so different from the ones in the main district? she thought. She pushed open the old wooden door, a small bell chiming above her head.

  And then she saw it. Her eyes, which had been scanning the dusty shelves, immediately glued to a single book sitting on a display stand.

  'Lady Huanli and the Adventure of the Hidden Depths.'

  She walked toward it as if in a trance and picked it up, her gloved fingers tracing the worn cover. "No way," she whispered, her voice filled with a genuine, childlike wonder that Kun had never heard before. "This book... it was supposed to have gone out of circulation years ago."

  "You're welcome," Kun said softly from behind her.

  An elderly woman behind the counter looked up from her own reading. "Ah, a fine choice. A rare one, that is."

  "How much is it, miss?" Kun asked, stepping forward.

  "That one?" the old woman said, peering over her glasses. "That'll be one hundred Cal."

  Without a second of hesitation, Kun reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, worn pouch, counting out the coins. It was nearly all the money he had.

  "Hey, you don't need to do that," Lin said, trying to stop him, but it was too late. "I can pay with my own money."

  "It's alright," Kun said, handing the coins to the shopkeeper. "This is for the ruined picnic. And... it's a bribe for what I'm about to tell you."

  Lin looked at him, confused. "A bribe? What are you talking about?"

  Kun took a deep breath. "I can't handle lying for too long, so I have to say this. Your sandwich... it was absolutely inedible. I thought you were trying to poison me."

  Lin's face turned a shade of red so deep it put Zhu Lihua's hair to shame. "You absolute idiot!" she yelled, and with a speed that Kun couldn't possibly follow, she slapped him across the cheek.

  Clutching the book to her chest, she turned and ran out of the shop, leaving a stunned Kun behind. He stood there for a moment, holding his stinging cheek, a goofy, smile spreading across his face. Outside, he could see Lin running down the street, and even from a distance, he could tell that she was also smiling.

  “Ah, young love.” the elder woman commented quietly.

  That night, the city of Jinlun was quiet.

  In a small, decrepit apartment in the forgotten district, a young man lay on his thin mattress, staring at the dark stain on his ceiling.

  In a vast, opulent chamber in the Amber Palace, a young woman lay on a bed of silk and down, staring at the ornate canopy above her.

  Their surroundings were worlds apart, but their thoughts were exactly the same.

  Wait... Kun thought, his eyes wide in the darkness.

  Wait... Lin thought, her silver eyes reflecting the faint moonlight.

  Did we just go on a date?

  A hot blush crept up both of their necks in the solitude of their own rooms. They weren't even friends, not really. They were a noble and a janitor, two people from different universes who had stumbled into each other's lives by pure chance. And yet, they had spent the day together, shared a (ruined) meal, and found a strange, easy comfort in each other's company. The reality of what had happened, and the unspoken question of what it meant, was enough to leave them both completely, utterly embarrassed.

  Now, Let’s turn back the clock a little, to the morning of the same day.

  An explosion rocked the kitchens of the Amber Palace.

  "What in the name of Silas was that?" Zhu Lihua yelled, dropping the training weights she had been lifting. She sprinted from the training grounds toward the source of the commotion, her heart pounding with the fear of an attack.

  She burst through the kitchen doors to a scene of absolute carnage. Soot covered every surface, a small, stubborn fire was still burning in a corner where a pot of oil had overturned, and the air was thick with the smell of burnt... something. It was a smell she couldn't quite identify, a smell that violated every known principle of cooking.

  The royal chefs were in a state of panic, trying to douse the flames and waving smoke from their faces.

  "What happened here?" Zhu demanded, her commander's voice cutting through the chaos.

  The head chef, a portly man whose white hat was now a shade of grey, pointed a trembling, flour-dusted finger at the epicenter of the disaster: a ruined stove and a counter covered in a black, tar-like substance.

  "We don't know, Commander!" he wailed. "We just came in to prepare breakfast, and... this! It's as if a demon tried to make bread!"

  Zhu Lihua stared at the wreckage, her brilliant strategic mind trying to piece together the events. She saw no signs of forced entry, no traces of an enemy's Core power. It was just... a ruined kitchen. A mystery with no culprit.

  But the reader, of course, knew exactly who was to blame for this culinary catastrophe.