"So this Sister's name is Xue. You left so early after I saved you from that spiteful person that I just didn't happen to catch it. Perhaps the crowd was so deafening that you didn't even hear what I said at the time."
He took another step closer to me and his gaze looked downward. His smile curved and turned into a smirk as he looked down.
'H-he's already looking at my chest? *Sigh* What a hateful person he is… w-wait i-is that!!!'
At that moment I finally realized what he was looking at. Just by tilting my head down a bit I noticed the torn fragments of cloth dangling and lightly flowing around.
A light breeze brought about a slight chill to the exposed skin. There a gap appeared at just the right spot for his viewing pleasure, a look between the mountains. It wasn't a massive window, but couldn't be negligible either; as if he really wanted to he could probably stick his entire hand in.
'Was this from that leopard beast? Wait! This bastard didn't even warn me about this! He was deliberately not saying anything! This, this… can't this person at least act like an upstanding man? The only redeeming thing about him is his odd sense of justice, but those have been immediately overtaken by his obvious lewd gazes.'
Once I knew what he was looking so intently at I immediately placed my hand over the torn spot to cover myself up as best as possible. It was my first reaction and thought when I realized it.
Anger filled my thoughts as I felt like I knew what he thought of me. Perhaps shame would have been the first feeling for some women, but the fact that he didn't tell me caused my anger to swell and a bit even showed on my face.
This was the complete opposite reaction I had for Big Brother; the thought of him seeing me like this kind of excited me. I would be elated for him to think of me as a woman, but this man in front of me isn't Big Brother. Whenever he looks at me like that a feeling of disgust rises from within, that isn't exclusive for him, yet the feeling I get from him is much greater than that of a normal stranger.
I wanted to hit him because of his gaze, but he did in fact save me. I can't possibly just slap him after he saved me not even half an incense stick ago.
'*Sigh* Good thing I packed a few extra supplies in this spatial ring, and a couple extra sets of clothing just happened to be included. But where am I supposed to change around here? I'll change later, first I have to get this man away from me'
I crouched down in front of the leopard-like body and cut through its side. When I got down I tried to make it as hard as possible for him to peek at my exposed chest. I dug around a bit to see if I could find a core and after a while there actually was one. Immediately a feeling of relief washed over me; this would be my way of repaying him, and if I didn't find one here I was prepared to forfeit the one I had.
The texture of it was a little different from the one I had previously obtained, but it was the only thing within the body which had this type of feeling; a feeling unique to those cores in a beast's body.
Pulling it out from the beast I immediately noticed differences between this one and the one I had gained previously. Firstly this one was more like a sphere instead of a jagged looking rock, second it was larger, and third even the hue of the core was a different color.
To Be honest now that I was looking at it I was really reluctant to give it up, but I decided that getting rid of him was better than some beast core.
Standing back up I presented the core to him.
"Here, take this beast core as a thank you for saving me."
"No, I think it suits you more. You should keep it for yourself."
Hearing his words a hint of anger surfaced on my face.
"Just take it and leave me alone!"
I stuck the core out towards him as he just stood there with a smirk.
"You want me to leave you alone? How could I when you can't even take care of yourself?"
"I can take care of myself!"
"Oh? From the looks of it, before if I didn't step up to help it looked like you would have probably died. Besides, aren't you here to get some points? I can help you with that."
"..."
I just glared at the man who said those words. He was right, but this is supposed to be my exam. Everything that happens is supposed to have a few consequences. I only have to get mentioned, but I supposed there weren't many rules besides that I had to make it onto at least the honorable mentions board. Thinking about this I took a quick glance at the storage ring on my hand. At any moment they could be easily watching her every move..
'If he really won't budge on the idea of leaving me alone then I guess I might as well make use of him. He said he would help me get points, but there has to be something he wants as well, after all nothing is truly free in this world. What could that something be? Is it perhaps me? That would be the most obvious "prize" for him, but there's absolutely no way I'll agree. I'll just try and keep an eye out for whatever it may actually be.'
"So, Sister Xue, how many points have you gained?"
After deciding that I might as well stay with him to help me gain points I responded.
"That? Let me check."
"Here, take a look at mine."
'Huh why would I look at his bracelet? I guess he's just trying to show off how many he's killed.'
Knowing that I lazily took a glance over and there on the bracelet was a number I didn't expect to see. The number 157 kept showing up on his bracelet.
"Y-you.."
"Oh Sister Xue, you only have 32 points?"
'I have 32 points? That leopard-like beast gave me an entire 5? No wait! How is it possible that he has 157 points? How many of those beasts has he been encountering? He has almost quintupled the amount of points I have! He must just have really good luck to find them all the time! Maybe it won't be so bad traveling around with him.'
"I think we've stayed here long enough, let's move."
"Wait!"
I frowned a little as he said that we had stayed here for quite a while already.
"Yes? What is it?"
"Hold still for me please."
Confused, I did as he said for a few moments before I saw that he tried to get close to me.
"Hey! What do you think you're trying to do?"
My cold voice came out as I took a step back and pulled out my weapon.
He gave a wry smile as he pointed to my left shoulder.
"Your wound, I was just going to help you heal it up a bit, that's all."
I took a peek and saw the condition my shoulder was in. It wasn't too terribly damaged, but it was still something I should treat. I looked at the man in front of me and realized his ulterior motives. He was probably hoping to come into physical contact with me while he was trying to treat me.
The only thing he could help me do was wrap a bandage around it, which I wouldn't let him do. We weren't at a point yet where we could even use Qi yet. So what l have for treatment are bandages, creams, and pills. The pills were the most potent healing item I had, but Big Brother only gave me a very limited number of it so I should only use it when absolutely necessary.
For now I'll just bandage the wound and apply some cream, while I'm at it I might as well change my outer robe with a new one.
"Alright I'll deal with it. Go behind the leopard and don't come out unless I say, do you understand?"
I didn't want to give this man anything about me to think about.
"Y-yes! "Don't worry I'm an upstanding citizen, I would never look at you while you're changing. So you don't have to worry about me!"
'He's assuming that I'll be changing since I sent him away huh? I guess he's not really wrong, but it's only really the top most layer of clothing.'
"Go!"
With a slightly dejected expression he went around. I took a good look to make sure he wouldn't be seeing anything before I started.
First I took off my outer robes and tossed it into my spatial ring. With a flash a small container appeared and when I opened it a healing cream was inside. I scooped out a small amount of the cream onto my fingers and proceeded to lather my wound with it. It didn't take long and with a bandage I quickly wrapped up the wound.
"Alright, you can come out now."
In only a single moment he reappeared in front of me, he had climbed over the leopard in only a few breaths, almost as if he had been there the whole time.
"Alright Sister Xue, lead the way for us!"
***
(Jing Xiuying POV)
I currently stayed alone within a room akin to a hotel which accommodated many of the people who brought their people here for the competition. In my hand was a jade tablet which displayed the view which the ring on Jinzi's finger could see. Currently she was walking along with a boy who seemed vaguely familiar.
'Oh wait! I think I might remember where he came from! Was he the one who tried to save us from that young master-like character. If I believe correctly then that person's surname is Ye.'
Earlier when Jinzi was changing, that man had peeked from above the leopard. The ring had sight of the entire act that occurred. When this man kept trying to do perverted acts it was almost like a small trigger which caused me to remember that repulsive man. He was even worse when you actually knew him compared to those distance impressions.
'I wonder why she agreed to wander alongside each other? I thought she was supposed to hate him? Was it a lie to me? Maybe she's only using him, but I guess time will tell the truth.'
All the while I was alone in the hotel room I could hear several voices and conversations occurring. But there was one distinctive voice which ruled over all of them in my opinion. My husband, my darling, was out there chatting with some of the guests. More specifically they happened to be some people from the Hao family; this was the main branch who came this time, not just a member of one of their auxiliary families. They had even brought their eighth son to this little competition to gain a bit of experience for himself.
Watching the jade tablet was a bit boring at times so occasionally I went out of the room and followed darling around for my own amusement.
There weren't many notable things that occurred on her journey. The first could be the very first fight she had with that boar, though it was actually more like a one sided bloodbath, in which she also found a rare beast core.
The only other notable time was actually what had just occurred. Normally throughout the past day and a half Jinzi would wander around to look for beasts and eventually find an easy one to kill. But today not only did she manage to kill a beast beyond the strength of those "normal" ones, she even met that hateful man.
I wonder how this will play out? I laid down in a more comfortable position as I held the tablet close, a look of interest on my face as I tried to anticipate what would occur next. The factor with the surname Ye should add some spice to her little journey on getting points.