Bao

There it was. Civilization.

Zero had spent weeks in the forest; getting lost, feeding off hibernating rodents and dodging some strange mutated creatures. None were as deadly as the flesh shadow beasts so it was much easier to change routes.

He had no idea where he was going but was determined to move in a straight path, hoping to find a village. He had almost lost hope, resigning to just spending his life in an endless forest, when he came across a small city.

He spotted it from a distance with its old and timeless pavilions standing out the most. It was not very busy and he could see a few travellers and wagons coming in and out of the city.

At last.

He sighed tiredly and limped slightly as he moved forward. His wound had not totally healed but it had gotten better. Zero noticed how easy healing was now after eating the eye. He even felt more agile than before and although it was extremely freezing out, he didn't find himself in dire straits of dying.

' Benefits of feasting on a corpse organ. I should eat more body parts. Ha. '

The young boy made his way down the path leading to the city, making sure to keep his head low at all times. His appearance would attract unwanted attention.

Now, no one would have cared in his first life. When he was just a scrawny fellow with scanty tufts of dark hair and hollowed cheeks.

But after his rebirth, he had changed.

In the slave caravan, he had no time or leave to dwell on all his changes but now that he did, he knew how much trouble he would get into.

Zero looked like a ghoul.

At least in his village, Qiqi, that was what they were called.

Little but extremely dangerous monsters with white or silver hair and eyes who caused a whole lot of bad fortune. They were occurrences that appeared as result of accumulated amounts of dark mana in the air. The same cause for the Mutation and many strange diseases.

It was rare to see a ghoul in Qiqi. But Zero had heard stories. Some extremely devastating ones too.

It was the main reason he had worn the hat, hoping he would not get noticed. People accused of demonic nature of any kind at all in these times, did not meet exactly happy endings.

Now he was going into this city that was foreign to him and he had no idea how long he could go without being singled out.

Ghouls were usually frail and a meter tall in size. He could imagine the reception he would get if he showed up in the size he was. He wasn't tall for a teenage boy. But he was extremely huge for a ghoul.

Apart from his appearance, he wondered how to act. He had never been outside Qiqi, or even had a formal education on the people living outside it. Now he was finally out and he could not be sure how to act around people.

' Keep your mouth shut. Smile. Be polite.'

Easy enough. He sighed again.

He stood at the gates now. On a plaque above the great was written, "River's End City."

Two turtle statues sat at the pillars supporting the gates and their old wise eyes seemed to pierce through Zero's soul.

He shook the feeling away, drew his gaze down and proceeded further.

The first thing he noticed when he entered the city was the jubilee in the air. It was a huge contrast to the looming doom outside in the wilderness. A grand opposite too, to all the events that had happened to him in the past weeks.

As he walked slowly through the buzzing city, he recalled his experiences. It had been a month since he ate the strange eye. And more than three weeks had passed since the horrid full moon night when he lost control.

Time had really flown since his "death".

All these things had made him forget the simple things in life. It made him forget the warmth.

It was winter. And these city people were preparing for the winter solstice. The Dongzhi festival that was held to honor the passage of the seasons and to respect the coldest and longest nights of the year.

It was one of his favorite festivals as a child. He remembered how he would spend his mornings honoring the ancestors and his evenings, feasting on dumplings his mother had made. Zero was nostalgic.

But he didn't stay on the streets for long. He moved forward, hoping to find an inn to rest for the night.

As he went deeper into the city, it became crowded. It was so easy to be distracted as he could see different sights about.

Once, he saw a small child half his height, adorned in the heaviest jewels. She was surrounded by chanting monks who threw their sticks at the locals screaming, "get back!"

The scents of various dishes kept him turning this way and that. Zero had never seen so many people before in one place. And even the festivities in his village could not match up to half of theirs.

At last, he walked into a diverting lane where most travellers headed.

He made sure keep his head as low as possible, knowing he would have to interact with someone soon enough.

In some alleys, ladies with painted faces and cherry red lips would coo and call out to him. Some even went as far as showing a bit of the milky white skin of their thighs and a sliver of their pale chests.

Zero paid them no mind. He had no experience with women and he could not possibly start now, not with the threat of death pulsing inside him.

Even his appearance was of the demonkind. He wished to stay out of as much trouble as he could.

One of them, however, was particularly desperate.

"Young mister! Handsome! Yoo-hoo!!" At first, Zero planned to walk past her in peace like he had done with the others. But this one would not give up. She stepped out of the shadows, her round deer eyes twinkling.

She wore a pearl hairpin on her head that shimmered in the yellow light of the paper lamps on the street.

"Fellow. Don't you care for a drink and a good night's rest? Our pavilion of flowers have the best meals in this part of the city..."

She paused, getting even closer to the young man. Zero could only tuck his face down as much as it could go while shrugging the lady off.

"...and the best beds."

Ha! Zero wanted to laugh. Only if she saw his face. A ghoul. Besides, he was not even faintly interested.

So he smiled, teeth glinting from beneath his hat. "Thank you, fine lady. But I must be on my way now. Have a lovely night."

He made to move but was instantly drawn back with such force that he was left in utter shock.

The prostitute however, was greatly flattered. It was the first time in a while any man had spoken to her with such softness. Such courtesy. Her chest heaved and she pushed her bossom against his arm while bending to get a glimpse of this stranger's face.

"I'll give you my body for half the fee, sir." She said coquettishly, squeezing herself even more to him.

At that point Zero raised his head to look her straight in the eye. His silver ones met hers and he smiled again.

"No."

The night woman was stunned to her marrow.

"G-ghoul! Demon! Ah!"

Blast. Zero made a mistake.

He instantly pulled his hat tighter and hunched, moving quickly into the crowd. The people around who had heard her became alert but could see no ghouls or demons about.

She kept hollering and pointing, a dainty palm flung across her chest, but Zero had long since gone.

He moved on to the other street that was free from painted faces and soft chests. At the end, he stopped at an inn in a tight corner. It had just one inscription as the name.

"Bao," Zero softly said.

Two men sat at the entrance with mugs and smoke pipes, singing a ballad and laughing away.

Zero nodded a greeting to them and went inside.

Bizarrely, it seemed bigger on the inside, with a celling that spiralled far above them. Hanging bells danced in the celling and strange patterns were carved into every wooden surface. It was odd.

The people in here had a bearing about them that was above that of the city people.

They were not particularly adorned in jewels or fancy clothing. But their aura seemed to surpass even those vane things.

It really was a strange inn.

Zero didn't have the time to dwell on this. He decided he would first have a meal and a night's rest before asking the inn keeper for directions to the imperial city.

That was all he had planned as he walked up to the counter, hat covering his face as much as it could.

But then he heard a familiar voice that made him stop.

"There's talk of riot, old Bao. The lands are in distress. Commoners speak rashly of the Mandate of heaven. You and I know exactly what that means."

Stone. He was here.