Breakfast

[3rd POV]

I watched the girl lying on my bed in silence. She had fallen asleep mid-way into our conversation. The rhythmic rise and fall of her chest indicate that she was clearly asleep but I found myself questioning it.

Because who the fuck sleeps that peacefully when they were in the presence of an enemy?

I knew humans were lacking in animal characteristics and their instincts were lower than any other animals but damn, she had absolutely zero survival instincts.

Or was it me? Do I give off good kitty vibes or something?

Hey, not even a week ago I wiped out thousands of your fellow Tibetans with one gesture. I wanted to tell her.

I couldn't figure her out at all.

Well, it was still the first day, I would know everything about her soon enough. For now, I was happy with what I have learned today.

I couldn't help but grin when I thought of that. I went near the bed and sat down on the floor. There were other rooms with beds but I had no intention of sleeping tonight.

And what I was about to do would take quite a bit of focus from me so if I wanted to keep an eye on her and stop her from escaping, I had to be close.

I sat down cross-legged and closed my eyes to meditate. I muted all of my other senses to allow my brain to focus on my thoughts as the noisy city and the scents dwindled.

Then I went into a deep meditation.

Now what was it that made Mei so special compared to others?

It was because her chi could command other chi around her. She could literally stimulate the chi of the world and tell them to act a certain way.

When she was enhancing the durability of the wooden spoon, she did not enhance it with her chi. Instead, she merely used her chi to stimulate the spoon's own chi and ordered it to make itself sturdier.

It was more remarkable than it initially seemed.

That meant if she were to know how to use her abilities properly, she could maybe create miracles without using her own chi. She could theoretically probably set the world on fire if she just ordered it to, and the chi of the world would do that itself.

I was not the one with the ability so I did not know the limitations but it was possible.

If I could just replicate that, if I could just replicate how her chi could command other chi to act a certain way, then it opened up multiple doors for me.

My chi did not have to be as potent as hers, I could just command the chi of the world to enter my body, maybe then I would be able to achieve a state akin to sage mode where I used the world's chi as a source of energy.

I could do this with my own chi, after all, chi was reality-bending energy but the amount required to achieve such feats and the result would completely cancel each other out.

So I needed to find how Mei could do it effortlessly and spare only the tiniest amount to control the other chi around her.

Or better yet, healing would be much easier as I would just command their own chi to heal their body instead of using my own.

The utility was endless.

I spent the entire night on the floor, meditating and coming up with new theories on how it works and pondering on how I could achieve the same results as Mei.

I didn't expect to learn in just one night but it was a good step forward

....

///////////////

(The next morning)

I opened my eyes to see her face inches away from me. She reeled back when she saw that I was awake and she fell back on the bed.

The room was brightly lit up by the sun and from the smell of food I caught in the air and the angle at which the sun was shining in from the window, I concluded it was around 7 in the morning.

She was still dressed in the same way as yesterday, she had not even taken off her mask while she slept. But her hood had fallen off to reveal her long hair which flow down like an avalanche behind her. She had bed hair.

"Good morning." I greeted her and she remained silent for a minute, a little uncertain.

"You were zoning out. You won't react even when I call you." She said and I tilted my head quizzically. Yes, I did hear her call me, I would never allow myself to drop my guard that much, but she called me in a way that asked if I was sleeping or not. And I found no need to respond immediately.

"It's just that I am surprised at your lack of survival instinct. You know I am your enemy so is it wise to drop your guard like that?" She asked me, leaving me dumbfounded.

Hairless monkey says what now?

"it's fine. I understand even the strongest warrior needs rest and it must be tiring, harbouring all of that chi inside you." She said as if she was smart - coming to a conclusion that was not even there.

"But I wonder, is it a tradition in China to stay near your victim and watch them sleep? Or is it just your creepy behaviour?" She asked me again and I raised my hand to stop her.

I sighed. At least she seemed more talkative than yesterday. Maybe now she would tell me all of those things she didn't tell me before.

She might think she could fool me but I knew there were many things she was not saying.

"I am going to go wash up." I said and stood up. My legs felt numb and I took a few moments to stretch myself and to get blood pumping in my muscles.

"Wait, I need to wash up too." She said and stood up as well.

I shrugged and we both went out of the room. She followed behind me and I heard a small jingle from her bell.

*Ting-Ding-Ting*

..

..

??

Odd.

We went to different bathrooms and it seemed she was still kneen on hiding her human identity, thinking that I had not realized it the moment I saw her.

I did not call her out on it though. If she wanted to hide it, then it's her right to do so. I did not really care.

"So, what are we going to do today?" She asked me, all cleaned up and refreshed.

"Exactly what we did yesterday," I said and thought for a moment, "Maybe a few more experiments so that I can learn more about what makes your chi special."

"That's all?" She asked, her tone an octave lower and her ears droop.

"Yes, what else did you expect?"

"I was thinking maybe we can explore the city for a bit. It's not really often that I get to go out." She said in a surprisingly honest tone.

But did she think she was? Princess spoiled? Like she said, she was a victim of kidnapping here. She had no right to make demands.

"There is nothing much to explore. It's like any other city." I said, "Maybe their fish are a little remarkable compared to others but it ends there." I shrugged.

"Fish?"

I paused and then slowly turned towards her.

"You haven't tried fish?"

She shook her head.

..

..

..

Okay, that's it. Forget about the experiments or getting stronger.

First and foremost, we are having fish for breakfast.

[IMAGE]

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