He didn't complain or even make a sound of behest. He was grateful, eternally grateful for her kindness towards him. He could have been abandoned, thrown out into this new and strange age—where lofty towers reached beyond the clouds, vehicles faster than horse and carriage were made. Where men and women boarded long metal creatures that slithered underneath the ground like snakes. Where a small device could hold information greater than an endless library from the heavens. 

Yes, the world was more vast than the last time he had been here—and she chose to take him in.

She had given him a name.

Xue sighed inwardly as he glanced out the window panes, the glittering stars were hidden from his sight—the view of towering buildings now becoming a little less wonderful to him.

"You look like you're missing a certain someone again." Han Jing's voice brought him out of his reverie.

He managed a smile, "I'm just a little anxious of Miss Chan Lee's arrival...this world is quite different from what I can recall."

"Don't you fret at all," Han Jing smiled as he looked up from his phone. "Our city is pretty safe. I'll let you know that Chan Lee probably missed a station or something."

"I apologize...I'm nervous despite her wearing a talisman now."

"Ye—what? What did she wear?!"

"A talisman, she got it yesterday night...I feel bad about it." Xue chewed on his lip. Did she get it because of him? Was his presence bothering her?

"She's not going to purchase a talisman!" Han Jing bursted out. "She's not the type to believe in the supernatural—heck, if you weren't gleaming and beaming with that smile and your glowing hair, she'd see you as a crazed lunatic."

"Uh, I think you were the one who called me demented?" Xue recalled with a sheepish smile. A time where cultivators and spirits no longer roamed...it was enough to call him crazy for believing otherwise.

But the talisman had been proof.

He could feel the faint power within it, but it hadn't done anything else to him or to her.

"When I saw that necklace, I assumed she bought some weird funky trinket—why didn't you tell me?!" Han Jing stood up from his spot in the room. 

Guilt made its way to his chest. "I...I thought she didn't want to talk about it." Maybe it had been used to ward spirits? Were other spirits now attaching themselves to her?

"What if it was some cursed talisman!"

"I would have told her, but I think that one was safe." There hadn't been anything scary like that for the days he'd been here, so it was unlikely.

"You aren't sure?!"

"I sensed nothing harmful from it." Now that Han Jing mentioned it, he thought about it more. "If Miss Chan Lee isn't one to buy a protective pendant, it must have been a gift from—"

The door swung open to reveal her and Hua Zhao. She was nestled on his back. His question now easily answered.

"Woah—not prepared for an armed robbery!" Han Jing shouted dramatically and backed into the wall.

"Huh, neat apartment." Hua Zhao simply walked towards her bed, ignoring Han Jing's outburst. "Well, down we go."

Chan Lee settled down on her bed, looking up to him. "Uh, thanks."

"No problem, better rest your ankle a bit." 

It was like they were lost in their own little world. 

"Nice greeting." Han Jing sighed and glanced over at him. "Doesn't it feel like we're invisible, Xue?" 

Xue pushed down that feeling.

"Are you alright, Miss Chan Lee? What happened?" His brows furrowed, moving over to the closet and grabbing one of the shirts lent to him. "Uh, it's not much, but please let me compress your ankle?" He wasn't deaf to Han Jing's words—but her situation came first.

"I-I'm fine, I just tripped over something." She gave him a pained smile. It etched his heart, his grip tightening over the shirt—she was trying to look brave.

Xue moved closer before feeling a noxious scent fill his nose. It smelled of death and dark obnoxious energy, he swallowed and looked at Chan Lee. 

She wasn't the cause of it so that meant—

"Huh, easy aversion to the Jiangshi's abhorrent scent?"

Xue blinked at the man who brought Chan Lee home. The boy from Hua clan. Hua Zhao.

Zhao dusted his shoulders, "We had an encounter with them, but the lingering scent will dissipate soon. I guess you aren't a nature spirit?"

"You mean the hopping vampires?!" Han Jing bolted up, moving towards Chan Lee. It was as if his eyes were glowing in interest, fanning over her like a child.

Xue inwardly sighed and stepped back, "Han Jing, aren't you crowding over—"

"Why am I not surprised that Jing knows about these hopping zombies or whatever." Chan Lee rubbed her forehead. "And you say you want to be a cultivator like Zhao?"

"Well, it'd be easy to cut them—wait, you're a cultivator?!" Han Jing turned to Hua Zhao, his jaw dropping. "You look like some thug!"

"Han Jing!" Chan Lee covered her face. 

Xue bit back a chuckle.

"I'm more of a martial artist? If I were a cultivator, it would have been easier to identify both him and the man, Lee and I encountered earlier." Zhao's gaze returned to him. "Yaksha? Shen?" 

Xue didn't feel comfortable telling it to him, despite being the first person who still practiced the ancient traditions. And more importantly, he glanced at Chan Lee. He had protected her, so Xue owed this man in some way...

Han Jing laughed and moved over to him, slinging an arm over his shoulder. "Don't be alarmed, brother. This guy over here is no ordinary spirit or even a celestial one—he's the Moon Rabbit, the one who can create immort—"

A hand was clamped over Han Jing's mouth, Zhao shaking his head. "I wouldn't keep announcing that if I were you." He released his grip over Han Jing's mouth, wiping his hand over his pants and then bowed slightly to him. "And though I can't prove it, whether you truly are what you claim to be...it's better that way."

Xue stared at him blankly.

The young man sighed aloud. "And I thought it was really just some weird ghost spirit or corporeal entity bothering you, Lee." His face scrunched up. "I thought that a simple talisman could have driven you away."

Driven him away? When he had seen Zhao for the first time, he had been nice! So why did he—?

"Hah! This bunny boy isn't going away anytime soon." Han Jing sniffed. "He's quite a long way from home to find a way back."

"I… see." Zhao nodded. "Well, I'm glad that it had been Lee who found you and not anybody else."

"Why?" Xue frowned slightly. He had a feeling that the man was trying to say something but was keeping it under wraps. 

"Best situation would have been the jail or mental ward." Zhao rubbed the back of his neck, "At least I can finally confirm that you're not some malicious spirit of sorts. I guess what's left is that mystery spirit entity at school."

"His name was Kit." Chan Lee spoke up, her gaze fleeting towards him. "Does it sound familiar to you, Xue?"

"No." He shook his head.

"Why would he—wait, Lee—that guy had talked with you? He knows our friend here?" Zhao motioned to him.

Xue didn't exactly feel that good being called 'friend' with how the man said it, but he stayed silent. This Kit had talked about him? He didn't know what to feel…somebody who had been alive when he first roamed the earth?

Chan Lee hesitated for a moment. "He may have noticed something with me and guessed?" 

"He had guessed that you were in contact with a very specific individual?" Zhao had a frown on his face. "I thought we were going to be a little more honest with one another now..."

"Fine!" Chan Lee pursed her lips and crossed her arms . "He said that he was old friends with the lousy rabbit… but that could be another rabbit right?"

"I-I don't really know anybody else." Xue scratched his cheek. His mind tried to rack through memories, but no 'Kit' appeared.

"I guess I'll be confronting him tomorrow then." Zhao decided with a reluctant sigh. "For now, I suggest you stay home, Lee. That necklace I got you was supposed to hide your presence, but interacting with another spirit had crumbled its effectiveness." He explained to Chan Lee before grumbling to himself. "—I'm complaining tomorrow of the talisman's quality, they said it was high grade."

"I'm guessing that it hardly managed to block Xue's celestial aura, and that sneaky Kit guy happened to be powerful too." Han Jing shrugged offhandedly.

Zhao pinched the bridge of his nose. "One of the reasons why I don't want Lee attending classes tomorrow."

"But it's absolutely fine that others are attending?" Chan Lee glared at them. "They could get endangered!"

Han Jing rolled his eyes. "There's also the chance he left now that he managed to pass the message to Lee." 

"He'll be there tomorrow." Xue decided.

The three of them stared at him. "What makes you say that?" Zhao asked.

"I'll be meeting up with him."