ALL NOVEL 114: Mission Start!
“I still can’t believe she called us out like that,” Lin Songmei reminisced, wiping her bow down with a cloth.
“We weren’t exactly being... subtle though,” Yan Mingqing answered from across the room where she was bent over, stretching her legs. “Also, it’s been a whole day, are you still embarrassed?”
“Yes!” Songmei blurted, a touch of a pink appearing on her cheeks, “I just wasn’t expecting it...”
Shaking her head, Mingqing just laughed, “You can be surprisingly dense, you know?”
“Yeah...”
As of the moment, both Songmei and Mingqing were just sitting in their living room on the first floor, getting dressed, checking their weapons, and just hanging out. They had woken up early to ensure they’d have ample preparation time: it was mission day!
It had been a little less than a day since their little meal with Xueli, but Songmei and Mingqing were... rejuvenated to say the least.
Storing her bow away into her ring and taking out a couple of quivers, Songmei checked them over. Getting home from their callout session with Xueli, she and Mingqing had just spent some time cuddling, cultivating, and playing some games together.
Originally, Songmei and Mingqing had planned to just cultivate for the whole afternoon and potentially the whole evening. They had cut it short though when Mingqing broke through and opened her fifth meridian—why not cut it short and just spend some time celebrating?
Therefore, though not a “gamer,” Songmei couldn’t help but crack a smile thinking back to the time they spent. Mingqing had finally introduced to her the bricklaying game that was all the rage. And... It was fun! Songmei was absolute garbage, but it was relaxing! She decided not to enter the rumored “PvP Arena,” though. Mingqing warned her that it was... not very welcoming to say the least.
Pulling out the arrows one by one to just give them a quick look over, Songmei also did a quick count of how many she had. One hundred and twenty... one hundred and twenty one... and so on.
Oh how Songmei looked forward to the day she could just make her own arrows...
Switching to a new quiver of arrows, Songmei looked over to Mingqing. Bored and scrolling through her terminal, Mingqing was just leaning against a table as a disinterested yawn pushed its way out of her mouth.
“Any details from the two guys?” Songmei asked, storing the quivers all into her ring.
Looking up from her terminal in phone form, Mingqing’s face brightened as she answered Songmei’s question about Wang Taigang and Han Youhong. “Not really, they both woke up later than us so they said to just go ahead if we wanted and sent us to the meeting spot. We could go if you want, but there’s still a while before the mission actually starts.”
Still amazed at how fast Mingqing’s ice queen facade melted whenever they made eye contact, Songmei shrugged. “Up to you, I don’t care. Though looking back, we probably should’ve slept in a little longer... waking up at dawn really wasn’t the move.”
Facepalming, Mingqing sighed, “Songmei, why don’t you have an opinion on anything...”
“I... I do,” Songmei stammered with an indignant nod as she walked over to Mingqing who was now looking away while trying to suppress a laugh. Reaching up and pinching Mingqing’s cheeks with a squint, Songmei leaned in close, “Why are you looking away, hmm? Just say it you big tease.”
Snaking a hand up between them, Mingqing grinned and winked as she booped Songmei’s nose, “I just think you’re cute when you’re flustered, princess.”
Sputtering as a stream of half-words tumbled out of her mouth, Songmei looked down as a blush tinged her cheeks. Wilting in Mingqing’s arms, Songmei decided to just give Mingqing a quick hug and an aggressive squeeze of revenge before detaching herself.
“Anyway,” Mingqing sang with a smug grin dancing across her face, “Going back to what we mentioned earlier, I do have to agree, waking up at dawn was not our smartest moment. But now that we’re ready, shall we get going? Maybe we can meet some people while waiting for Taigang and Youhong.”
Furrowing her eyebrows with a doubtful glance, Songmei stood there, staring at Mingqing for a quiet moment. The ice queen? Saying she wanted to meet new people? Who was this?
Holding the gaze until Mingqing cracked, Songmei laughed as Mingqing confessed, “Well, I’m not going to talk to anyone, but maybe you can, you’re quite good at just... having people meander their way towards you.”
“I’m just as much of an introvert as you...” Songmei murmured, offering a hand to Mingqing as she turned off the lights, “Shall we though? We can always just talk to each other while sitting out of the way.”
Squeezing Mingqing’s hand, Songmei set off, closing the door behind her with a click as she patted herself down to just triple check she was wearing a set of clothes with good mobility. Meandering down the hall, she and Mingqing took the glass elevator as usual, sighing as they saw the morning rush was still going on.
With a nod to the receptionist at the front desk, Songmei and Mingqing took a breath before walking out.
Cars of all shapes and sizes whizzed by them. There was a reason they tried to always avoid the morning and evening rush as non-cultivators (as well as some cultivators actually) bustled to and from their workplaces.
Seeing cars both on the ground, in the air, and... on the sides of buildings... Songmei leaned back as a man in a suit ran by on the phone. It wasn’t just a vehicle rush, it was people too. Feeling the stream of people flow around them like they were a single steadfast rock in a river, Songmei sighed as she watched the man in the suit disappear while shouting on his phone. “We should’ve gotten up later.”
“For sure...” Mingqing agreed with a nod, raising an eyebrow as she ducked to dodge a briefcase thrown by an angry woman who was shouting on the phone to... presumably her boss. It could’ve been her employee as well though...
Keeping a tight hold onto Mingqing’s hand, Songmei and Mingqing weaved and bobbed their way through the crowd as they moved towards the meeting spot. Checking her terminal one more time, Songmei confirmed, “It’s a courtyard in the smack dab middle of the north district, territory of Wrath.”
“That’s... pretty far, but we should get there in a couple of minutes if we run.” Mingqing hummed, brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
Agreeing, Songmei began cycling her Qi through her body and activated her body enhancement technique as she felt herself speed up. They were lucky that the majority of the morning rushers were normal, non-cultivators. Seeing a relatively rare sight, most of the people just parted like waves.
With a focused effort, the two slipped through the crowds of people, across a bridge to descend from the central district and ran through the northern district. Songmei, having fun feeling the wind blow through her hair, couldn’t help but have a bit of a moment though. Existential reflections, for some reason, always hit in the weirdest of times...
She... was really a cultivator.
It... felt weird but sometimes, sometimes it really hit her how much her life had changed.
Of course, the people in Westriver were a little more accustomed to cultivators because the city was where a ton of young cultivators went, but Songmei couldn’t help but have a moment of sonder. A couple of months ago... she was just like them, considering a job and everything.
She couldn’t even imagine seeing a cultivator in her backwater city, and yet, here she was, in a... not backwater city, but not for reasons she had ever considered.
Brushing the thoughts aside for a moment, Songmei reached out and squeezed Mingqing’s hand.
Songmei hoped she was using her time, resources, and opportunities well. As a child, she dreamt every night of becoming... not poor. Now, by luck, she had rocketed up in wealth and entered a whole different side of society.
Exhaling as she stared up at the vehicles soaring by up above, Songmei slowed to a halt.
A quiet moment later, Mingqing pinched her nose, “You okay? You just randomly stopped... we’re almost there, so I can carry you if you’re tired...”
Laughing, Songmei shook her head, “No, no. I’m totally fine, I was just thinking that I want to do community service sometime...”
“Well, I’d be happy to join you,” Mingqing reassured, a little confused, but happy to see Songmei’s eyes clearer than before.
“I’d be honored...”
