The wooden box contained intermediate Body Tempering Potions, as well, though there were only two vials each. This was a small token of Song Chi's gratitude for being called "brother" by them for so many years.
As someone who had watched them grow up since childhood, Song Chi still hoped that the two would eventually awaken their Seeds of Torch.
In the back seat, the two girls clutched the wooden boxes tightly, their luminous eyes shimmering with unspoken thoughts.
After taking a small detour, Song Chi dropped the two girls off at their respective homes and soon returned home with Song Ting.
As soon as they entered the door, their busy mother, Chen Lixia, appeared from the kitchen, followed by a familiar cajoling.
"Oh my, my precious daughter, come give me a hug."
…
The next day, Song Chi got up early, ready to embark on his arduous journey of practicing the Guidance Technique in the Ruins Market.
Unexpectedly, he was first dragged away from home by Song Ting. According to her, it was their scheduled day for shopping and enjoying good food together.
And so, he naturally became conscripted into service.
As much as Song Chi was extremely reluctant, he eventually agreed, considering Tenglong Middle School's policy of granting leave only once every few months.
In the central city district of Jiangyuan City, People's Source Road.
After two hours of shopping and buying a lot of things, the group of four finally arrived at the "Spicy Hot Pot" restaurant located on People's Source Road.
Having ordered some signature dishes like White Tower mutton and seasonal vegetables, the four were chatting about the various aspects of the Primary and Advanced Torch Academies when suddenly, the sound of a fierce argument emanated from another private room not far from them.
In a short amount of time, the argument escalated into the sounds of tables, chairs, and bottles colliding. Song Chi concentrated some of the Spectral Energy within his body at his ears, and immediately, the sounds he could hear became much clearer.
"Brother Peng, I told you, I really don't know where Erhua and the others are. They've been missing since they came back from mining three days ago. I'm close to them, sure, but they really haven't contacted me this time."
You know your Heishan Club's reputation well. Even if I had ten times the courage, I wouldn't dare deceive you, Brother Peng."
"Bullshit, I know you. You've practically grown up in the same pants as them. How could you not know where they're hiding? I'll lay it on the line right now—if you don't tell me where that Ma Erhua is hiding, I'll break your legs, get him!"
…
"Brother Peng, stop hitting me, I'll talk, I'll talk. Although I don't know exactly where Erhua and the others are, I do know a few places where they might be hiding..."
In just a couple of minutes, Song Chi had pretty much figured out the conflict happening inside the adjacent private room.
It seemed that a member of the Heishan Club called Brother Peng was looking for some miners and was now laying hands on the friends of those miners.
Regarding this, Song Chi felt a slight stir in his heart. The word "miners" made him sensitive, but he quickly suppressed the thought.
He was somewhat familiar with the miners of the White Tower Floating Land. Around the White Tower Floating Land, there was an asteroid belt, and the miners worked in that belt.
However, the diameter of this asteroid belt around White Tower Floating Land wasn't very large, and after hundreds of years of constant mining, it was now on the brink of depletion. The chances of finding any rare minerals were extremely slim, and even if there were any, the quantity would certainly not amount to much.
Furthermore, the Heishan Club had some influence in Jiangyuan City, with several Torch Ship Captains said to be in its ranks. Naturally, Song Chi did not want to get involved.
While he was thinking, a dull thud sounded from outside, followed by the forceful opening of their private room door as the external conflict evidently reached them.
Seeing this, Song Chi's eyes turned cold. The Spectral Energy inside his body began to circulate, and he was about to summon the Fire Peony Soldier Figurine to suppress the fight.
However, by then, the restaurant's security personnel had finally arrived at the scene. With several Guidance Technique practitioners of no low Level among them, the conflict was eventually quelled.
In this Starry Sea Era where everyone practiced cultivation, conflicts happened frequently. Therefore, most businesses had a comprehensive security system in place. Even smaller shops would band together to form a security team to deal with such emergencies.
With the intervention of the shop's security staff, Song Chi was no longer needed to handle the situation personally. However, their meal had been disturbed, and none of the four felt like continuing their hot pot experience. Soon after, Song Chi led the three women to the cashier to pay and then quickly left.
An incident occurred in the process—the manager of the restaurant understood that Song Chi and his companions had been disturbed during their meal and insisted on waiving their bill. However, Song Chi declined the offer, as the hot pot restaurant could not have anticipated the incident and had done its duty by calling security before the conflict could escalate further.
Of course, the most significant reason was that the meal was not expensive, costing only a few hundred Credit Points. Now that Song Chi was a full-fledged Torch Ship Captain, he could earn a starting point of millions of Credit Points for a single exploration mission; a few hundred Credit Points were nothing to him.
After lunch, the group continued to shop for a few more hours, and naturally, Song Chi ended up carrying a large number of bags, both big and small.
Even with his Guidance Technique reaching Level 4, Song Chi began to feel slightly fatigued. But the three girls, each with only Level 1 Guidance Technique, seemed inexhaustible, their faces showing no sign of tiredness after several hours but rather an eagerness for more.
As for this, Song Chi could only helplessly attribute it to women's hidden shopping talent, which was the same in his previous life and hadn't changed in this Starry Sea Era.
Finally, close to five in the afternoon, Song Chi couldn't take it anymore and stopped the three who still wanted to continue. He then took them home by flying car, dropped off each of them, and returned home with Song Ting, thus ending the particularly taxing day.
ps: The Black Mountain Club is a force that was meant to make an appearance in Jiangyuan City's underground scenes in the story later on. This chapter was originally designed to introduce this power and an underlying plot line. Maybe I didn't handle the introduction properly, and many readers felt it was too abrupt. Now that I have revised it, it should be a bit better.