Together with Yue, we all head to the Treasury. Although despite the expectations we originally had, that we would have to wait a bit to speak with Dai Jiang, under Yue's influence we able to head straight to her office. As we arrive we see the sign on her door indicating that there's currently a guest inside, and our suspicions are confirmed as we hear a loud voice from the other side, a familiar arrogant and condescending voice.
I can't seem to match the voice to anyone in particular, but I can't help but feel an urge to punch the owner of the voice. But before I can figure out who's inside, Yue ignores the sign and opens the door, starting the few people inside.
Sitting down on the large couch by himself is a young man with two well built guards standing right behind him. Giving us a nasty look, he says, "how rude, does anyone here know how to be polite. Manager Dai, both your other guest and employees here need to learn what it means to face those with power."
"This..." trailing off, Dai Jiang turns her head over towards us, but her gaze clearly stops on Yue as her eyes widen, before sighing and shaking her head.
"Young Master Sun, it's her, the one with the blue feathers, she's the one who attacked us previously."
"So it's you, you got lucky last time between that cowardly sneak attack and the fact that my guards mistook you for an Imperial, but we know your identity now, just a few outsiders with no background or backing."
"Ha, no background?" I say while looking towards Aurelia and Lia, within seconds I find myself being unable to hold back, "ha ha haha ha!"
I remember who this is now, I had already punched him, for being a pest. Seeing how I don't take him seriously at all, this so called Young Master Sun turns so red I can practically see the fumes coming off his head.
"Just keep laughing, we'll see if you can keep it going once your on the ground, I'll have you begging for forgiveness. You two! don't just stand there, go put these dogs in their place!"
"Yes Sir!"
Taking a quick peek at their stats, the two guards are certainly strong... in comparison to normal people, close to the Imperial Guards from the night raid, but weaker than their leader. Of course, this means that these two guards of his are of no problem of any of us.
"Wanjing, why don't you handle this, I don't want to dirty my hands by touching something so filthy," I say, stepping back slightly.
One of the things we discovered over the past few days is that Wanjing's ability to devour the qi and life force of others works in a similar way to my Soul Furnace. Meaning Wanjing receives permanent bonuses as she absorbs the qi of others. Much like me, it's only a single additional point to most of her stats, but it feels very complimentary to me as she kills as she devours their qi then I go further and devour the soul.
With Lia's help in restraining the two guards, Wanjing grabs hold of their head in begins to drain them as their body's start to shrivel and compress. Watching this, the young man who had been bossing them around is terrified as I see a wet spot around his nether region as he stumbles to the ground and crawls as far back as possible.
Walking over to the trembling Young Master Sun, I stare down with a cold gaze, saying, "you want to know why I was laughing? You claimed we have no background or backing, but in the outside, Lia over here has considerable degree political influence and Aurelia has far more as the leader of the strongest nation on the outside. And of course, there is also my good friend Yue."
"Let me deal with him," Yue says as she walks over carrying a small box in her hand, "he was trying to have the Treasury sell this, the content of the box, I mean. Its jewellery made from condensed souls given physical form, both the creation and sale of this stuff is outlawed by all three nations in Shengdi. Why don't I introduce myself to the Young Master Sun, I'm Inspector Hong Yue, I had the pleasure of speaking with your parents just the other day, I'm sure they'll appreciate my quick return to tell them what their son has been up to."
"No please don't! My father will kill me if he finds out! I'll do anything just don't tell him!" he cries out, trying to hug Yue's leg.
Ignoring him, Yue just kicks him away, knocking him unconscious. "How disgusting, I can't believe someone like this is the Governer-General's son. I'll go and take this fool to his family, unlike this guy, his father is a respectable person, so this idiot is going to be facing a fate far worse than death. I'll see you all later."
As Yue leaves, she shuts the door behind her, leaving me, Lia, Aurelia, Wanjing, Dai Jiang, and the two shrivelled guards in the small room. The awkward silence doesn't last long as Dai Jiang says, "I'll have someone deal with those bodies later, why don't you all take a seat."
As we're all seated on the couch, Dai Jiang continues, "I'm surprised you came here with her of all people, the Scarlet Feather. Not even I knew what her real name and day job was until now. She usually hides her face, but I'm quite familiar with her so I was able to recognise her voice. Anyway, what brings you to me today?"
"It's like this," Wanjing says.
Taking the lead as the one most familiar with Dai Jiang, Wanjing explains the situation, how we learned that more members of the Imperial Guard coming and how we need a place to stay until the special auction.
"So we wanted to know if we can stay at your place?" Wanjing asks.
"I'm ok with it. It's actually very convenient for you to do so, I live on the Treasury's top floor after all and my living space is more than large enough to accommodate you all."
"That's great, I've always been curious about your home..." Wanjing says, but quickly pauses as she realises something, "wait you live on the top floor here? How does that even work, aren't you just a manager here?"
"Oh? Did I never mention this before, I'm one of the founders of the Treasury, I naturally have a lot of authority over it, so it's only natural that I can live here. I could have sworn I did at some point, that's strange, well it doesn't matter now. Just remember to keep this a secret, most people don't know about this, Including the employees here. Putting that aside, follow me, I'll take you to my place."
Dai Jiang casually brushes aside the bomb she just dropped as she beckons us to follow. While we obediently follow along, both Lia and Wanjing look confused, it's only Aurelia who doesn't seem particularly shocked after Dai Jiang announced her true relation to the Treasury. I'm almost she looked into on her own and knew this whole time, this peeping tom...