“You see, while men may seem like they only look at your breast size when it comes to sex appeal, that’s not true in the slightest,” Liuan lectured. “It’s about presentation and balance, but also your breast-to-ass ratio. Increasing your ass size is more important than your cup size. If you had enormous jugs but a relatively normal butt, then you’d look kind of weird, right? But if you had a flat chest and a large ass, you’d still look perfectly fine.”

“How do you know this?” Taiwei asked.

“My late husband was into asses and thighs.”

“Late husband? Did you…”

“In case you're wondering if I killed him, I most certainly did not. Large breasts may fill a man’s hand, but thick thighs will fill a man’s heart. And hand.”

Taiwei caught wind of something with a delicious scent in the air, and her head swiveled towards its general direction, which was a corner in the central marketplace. She couldn’t quite place it, but it was an unfamiliar aroma that felt so familiar at the same time. It was rich and heavy, almost like meat grilling on a stove, yet something was off.

“Hey, care to get some snacks?” she suggested, pointing at a stall that was surrounded by a surprisingly large crowd of about eight people.

“I’m not hungry, but you certainly look like you could use some meat on your bones. Make sure not to eat too much, or else you’ll lose your appetite.”

Taiwei chuckled. “Do you have any children?”

“Hm? Well, I guess it isn’t that odd of a question to ask. No, I can’t say I do. Why?”

“Oh. It’s just that you act very...motherly sometimes, I suppose?”

“I see. Well, that’s MILF fetish checked off the list. I’m guessing our next big character is a loli.”

They shifted through the small crowd to see a small girl behind the stall spinning pots on her fingers and juggling them through the air. When she seemed to decide that one of the pots had been sufficiently abused, she opened the lid and gracefully poured what looked like small cotton balls into cheap bags fashioned out of tea leaves.

“What is this?” Taiwei muttered. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this stuff before.”

“I’m glad you asked!” exclaimed the girl. “It’s a southern food called bao mihua. Light and fluffy, corn-based, and a little salt is all you need for a perfectly good snack. Would you like a bag? It’s only three coins.”

Taiwei was already reaching into her purse. “Really? Well, don’t mind if I do.”

As they walked away, she popped a couple of the light ball-shaped snacks into her mouth and widened her eyes in pleasant surprise. It couldn’t be said to be a masterpiece, but it certainly surpassed much of what the other stalls were selling.

“Are you sure you’re not hungry? These things taste alright. It’s not exactly a hundred-coin-mochi or anything, but it’s good,” she offered to Liuan.

For some reason, Liuan had been staring at the stall over her shoulder while they were walking away, and Taiwei tapped her on the shoulder.

Liuan snapped back. “Huh? What?”

“You want a taste?”

“No, I’m fine.”

“What’s wrong?”

Liuan cupped her chin with her hand and hmmed for a while. “I can’t really put my finger on it. That girl kind of looked familiar. My husband used to be madly in love with someone who looked like her. Although, their personalities were pretty different. The one my husband loved was fairly shy and timid.”

“Oh.”

“In case if you’re wondering if it interfered with our marriage, it didn’t. Besides, that person is dead by now. Anyway, there’s no use pondering over things in the past.”

She watched Taiwei eat a couple more.

“Okay, I’ll have one,” said Liuan.

 

Huan had doubled the number of personnel in his escort and handed them a single pill of limit-break to keep in a bottle that hung around their necks. Now that he looked around, he couldn’t help but notice the looks in people’s eyes. Resentment, insanity, and most of all, envy.

Indeed, how could the poverty-stricken citizens of the East District feel as if this was all right? They survived on scraps and narcotics, waiting for the next trip, hoping that it would be enough to put them out of their misery while they were still in bliss. After all, only a couple of heavily guarded bridges separated them from the other side of the city. 

Personally, he didn’t know how anyone could stand it. Living in a hellscape of constant turmoil, with their salvation only a short walk away. The towers were protected by the Syndicate for business reasons, but could only hold so many people. 

“So, what do you have for me? It’d better be good,” he said to the gang leader, dangling a pouch of coins that made up the rest of the payment. 

“Y-yes, yes! Uhm, first, we asked a couple’a questions and they says that it first started when a fight broke out between two immortals in a pub. Then they blew a big hole into the side of the tower. The guy who owned the pub was a southerner. They says he got somewhat tan skin, but not much darker than the average northerner. He ain’t thin, but he’s got more muscle than fat, dark hair, and a trimmed beard and mustache. His sideburns were also trimmed, and his hair was cut down on the sides. A guy and some lady walked into the pub in the late afternoon or so - it’s kinda hard for people to tell the time of the day while inside of a stone tower, you see - and the woman turned out to be an immortal. For some reason, Rouyi, a bigshot on the - no wait, you probably know about him already.”

“Get on with it.”

“R-right! Right, so they say that Rouyi ended up picking a fight with the lady, and then they smash through the tower. At some point, the lady came back and left with the guy and the southerner.”

“Rouyi must’ve lost, then. She’s probably powerful. Any idea what she looks like?”

“Er, she’s apparently got long brown hair, but they didn’t say how long. She was short, about up to my chest, and had a flat chest. But she also had a huge ass and thighs, although I don’t really know if it’s true or not, ‘cause, well, y’know how some people add things to the story when they don’t really remember it too good, right?”

“Anything else? Facial structure, eye color, voice, manner of speech?”

“It was kind of dark for them to see her eye color, but she had a light voice and definitely lives in the West District.”

“...I see. Well, if she was an immortal, she must have been quite beautiful. What about the man she came with?”

“He wasn’t much. At least middle-aged, with some stubble, so I guess he shaves? Oh, and he was also kind of fat around his belly, but he did have some muscle around his arms.”

Huan frowned and stayed silent for a while as he mulled over this information.

That’s it? Didn’t the boss say that someone had a reality-bending artifact on them or something? As far as I can see, this is just two typical immortals escalating a situation for no reason and then coming to blows. Do we have the wrong guys? Maybe it was just a coincidence that this fight happened at the same time someone was about to use this artifact. Although, it’s way too coincidental for my liking.

“Are you sure?” he said. “Nobody noticed anything odd? Nothing really out of the ordinary other than these two breaking out in a fight?”

“I’m sure. Yeah, I’m definitely sure,” the gang leader replied, rapidly nodding his head.

Huan tossed him the rest of the money and clapped his hands. “Very well. Lads! Escort this guy to the bridge. We’re done here. One of you, report to Liuan and Taiwei once you’re on the other side.”

The rest of the gang stared at first, then began to glare at Huan’s group. They had their eyes on him, and their heads swiveled to focus on him as he moved. He could already tell what was going on inside of their heads.

Why does he get to leave this place? What about me?

After carefully exiting the building, his group broke out into a hasty march, checking back every once in a while to make sure that they weren’t being followed.

 

Taiwei was finishing off a cup of hot tea at a small cafe with Liuan when she noticed one of Huan’s personal guards come running in.

The man stopped after reaching their table, then doubled over and slammed his armored hand down while breathing heavily.

“...You must be from Huan,” she started.

“Hold, h-hold on,” the man panted while leaning on their table. “I just- I just ran across the entire city in full armor and then some more looking for you.”

“Okay then. So, what’s he got to tell us?”

“One moment. My chest hurts. A lot.”

She leaned back while the man recovered, and noticed that quite a number of people had their eyes on Liuan and her. Frankly, she had no idea how they were able to maintain their anonymity as organized crime leaders at all.

“Alright,” the man gasped. “So, we’re looking for this southerner guy, a short girl with a big ass, and a middle-aged guy with no unique features.”

“Can you be more specific?” Liuan asked, tapping the table impatiently.

“Yeah, yeah. Right, the last guy could be anyone, so you probably won’t find him. But the southerner guy - well, he’s a southerner, and he’s got black, trimmed facial hair. He’s of average build, and the girl is an immortal, has long brown hair, and is probably exceedingly beautiful.”

“Wait, hold on. You said a guy from the south was one of the suspects, right?”

“Right.”

Taiwei and Liuan stared at each other, then exclaimed in sync, “Southern food!”

“I’m lost,” said the man.

“You’re coming with us,” said Taiwei, getting up from her seat and rushing for the door. “There was a stall selling snacks from the south a while ago, and I’m pretty sure the girl selling the food had long brown hair.”

Liuan stood up and grabbed her by the shoulder. “Hold on, we’re dealing with an immortal here. We’ll need more than just a bodyguard. Maybe we should call the boss?”

For a moment, Taiwei bit her lip and considered her options. The people they were looking for could have already been alerted to their presence after Huan’s bodyguard had been running around in eye-catching armor. They could have prepared an ambush so the moment she got close, the immortal girl would blast her to pieces in the blink of an eye and disappear without a trace, then come back to wreak havoc on the syndicate later.

Then again, she had no clue as to what the boss’s personality was like, as she had only met him for the first time a few days ago. He could have been one of those people who would execute everybody in the room once they reported to him on their findings because he was unsatisfied with something.

Who am I kidding? Of course, I should go tell the boss. There’s no way I’m going to compete with an immortal.

Taiwei was about to turn around and speak, then stopped halfway.

It was at that precise moment both of them realized that they had no idea where their boss lived.

 

Seni was bewildered when Min, of all people, walked up to the stall. They locked eyes, and Seni froze as he was about to perform another trick with the pots.

“I thought you worked as a waiter,” said Min.

“I...got fired. Did I forget to tell you?” 

“Well, you clearly did. But that’s not important right now. Today’s my day off, and I can teach you about boxing some more.”

“Oh, alright. Hey Ainsworth, we’re closing down early today! I’ve got to prepare for my next action sequence, whenever it is.”

He hopped over the stall counter after extinguishing the fire burning under the pots with a snap of his fingers, then casually left with Min. 

It happened so suddenly that Ainsworth almost couldn’t tell what had just happened. He gaped after them, his jaw hanging loose in disbelief. Then, he swept the money he had been counting into their box and walked up to the front of the stall.

More pairs of eyes than he could count focused their stare on him, fully expecting him to pick up the duty of making more food. Instead, he stacked the empty pots into a corner, then began to gather everything as he prepared to leave.

“What are you doing here? Shoo! We’re closing early today,” he told the crowd.

As if they didn’t know what to do, they stood around and shifted their feet.

“Begone! Go do something else!”

Then, they turned around and walked off, probably to buy a meat skewer.

It wasn’t a very long walk back to the inn, but he had a heavy load to carry. He paused and considered whether or not he should pay for a quick carriage ride, yet ultimately decided against it in the spirit of saving money. Besides he didn’t have any plans, and it wasn’t like they had enough money to invest in anything. 

I guess I should just drop off the stuff at our room and see what Min’s teaching my business partner. Maybe I could learn something, too?

Grunting, he hefted the stack of cooking utensils and leftover bags of dried kernels up. Just as he was beginning to leave the stall, a group of no less than six men walked over.

“Sorry to disappoint you fellows, but we’ve decided to close early. Come back tomorrow, if you will!” said Ainsworth.

Just then, he paused and looked at the group.

They weren’t normal people. Rather, they looked more like soldiers than anything. Some of them carried spears, while others had a sword strapped to their hips. Their faces were covered by their helmets, and they had armor that looked like metal scales covering their bodies. It was clearly high quality, and although it could have been a trick in the light, the metal seemed to be slightly tinged in blue.

“Oh, shit,” he muttered under his breath.

His heartbeat drastically quickened as one of them walked up to him wielding a spear. Then, faster than he could react, the blunt end of the spear smashed into his abdomen, knocking the wind out of him. The utensils he had been carrying clattered to the ground.

Shit! Why is nobody helping me!? Do they not see this?

Everybody else in the market square simply went on with their day, ignoring his struggle. And when one of the men held up a card with a particular symbol on it, he realized why.

“You’re coming with us, southerner,” he said in a voice that slightly echoed through his helmet.

“You couldn’t have told me before hitting me with your spear!?”

“Our boss wants to have a word with you.”

Ainsworth gulped nervously. Whenever a crime lord wanted to see you, it was hardly ever for a virtuous reason.

 

AN: Honestly, I’m unsatisfied with how I ended this. But as of right now I can’t really think of a way to make the ending better. I’ve mulled over this chapter far too long for my liking. Is this what authors go through? I guess if I haven’t really got anything better I should just put it out and be done with it. The first part of this one was kinda dialogue-heavy, which I find to be a flaw in my writing, so I tried to have some less talking and more descriptors and shit to pad out the word count. 

Just wondering (although nobody really comments on this anyway), do people like more or less dialogue in these types of stories? I should’ve probably asked this question on the forum.