Chapter 72: Journey through Xi'an!

All but Ansel in Derek's successor team coming to his aid enjoyed the night of Xi'an, within the brightly lit city, Ryoh led the team through the city when their plane landed as he's the only member familiar with the city yet Haoyu's uncle's address was at a baffling building declared the grandest mall in the city itself. Ryoh knew without a doubt yet the team found themselves increasingly convinced how true that claim seemed. Ryoh wiped his nose as he grinned widely. "This is Sapphire mall, next we just gotta find Haoran's cologne kiosk somewhere…in here." Ryoh shouted excitedly before he turned towards Settembre. Alec Williams appreciated how vast it stood and found himself shocked by how convenient the mall proved to be while displaying that he's a humongous fan of markets like it to his friends with a gaping mouth. "Alright, if we all have our communicators that our Aunt Mai-Lin made, we'll have to split up our search and stay in touch— because this place is like a whole new planet." Settembre suggested in response. Ansel checked his pockets and sighed in relief as he pulled it out. Ryoh checked for his communicator. Noa checked for her communicator. Haoyu checked for his communicator. Rue checked for her communicator. Amin and Reynard had their communicators. Ryoh found his pockets emptied except for a pocket watch with his brother's photo captured inside, he held it to his chest before returning it to his pockets. The team held silence for a moment. Settembre raised his head again. "Alright, team one's going to be me, Ansel, Haoyu and Noa. Team two will be Reynard, Amin, Ryoh and you, Rue. Three will be wherever the hell Wilel went." Settembre directed as the lead. Rue pointed towards herself confused as to why he turned in her direction until she realized that she was the only member assigned to her team with her communication custom device. "Why couldn't his cologne kiosk be on the second, who would be alright with having their shop anywhere away from the entrance?" Rue asked herself as she had low brows. Settembre nodded as he saw her realizing when she looked around and her expression had shifted. The team went their separate directions, one began searching the second floor and the other traveled to the third floor. On the mega mall complex's third floor, Ryoh saw a map kiosk among numerous others. He ran and stared at an older man before turning his attention towards his maps with starry eyes, unsure of which to buy first. Haoyu and Rue joined him at the Kiosk, distracted from the search, Rue visibly showed her disgust when she laid her eyes on his face before deciding she'd wander elsewhere. Reynard and Amin appeared next to Haoyu and Ryoh. 

The old man attending the kiosk chuckled lightly and it made them feel creeped out. "You boys look new to the sapphire mall's collection floor?" Said the man who introduced himself known as Gaunsu. Amin grabbed a map written on it which claims to show some other world. "Map of the dieselpunk realm?" Amin wondered aloud as Ryoh wondered in his head with another map of a different realm. Gaunsu ceased chuckling and adopted a brief smile. "Realms are a beautiful thing. Tough to reach yet they can be worth it or bring out regret in you." Gaunsu responded with a sigh. Amin turned towards Ryoh as he read his map. "Where does this love of maps come from?" Reynard questioned Ryoh as he stood near him with his arms crossed. Ryoh smiled his usual way with his bright teeth displayed. "I was as young as eight and my family enrolled me into their dojo. The day coincidentally before a tournament to move up belts and I was feeling nervous facing off against a bigger kid, a friend of mine thought it would ease my nerves if we watched a documentary of cartography and famous cartographers in history. I was your pretty stereotypical boy. Had an idea of masculinity yet so full of insecurities, fears, doubts covered up by false ego truth be told. They each described how their careers went. They had this confidence, this competence, this appreciation for the idea of honesty that my father had, that all of the Patriarchs held and that I really wished I had for a while. I peed that day in front of everyone from the big kid I was going to face, I was terrified and shaking, I really needed what I recognized in them for myself. After that I began thinking about the beauty of portraits of landscapes and maps which brings me to my love for cartography and you know what else." Ryoh elaborated and answered as he grabbed a special card from his right pocket. Amin expressed his shock over his new friend's answer. "Not to be rude, you're a pretty deep muscle head. Maps are fruits of something that represents respectable traits for you, really, that deep into it?" Amin wondered aloud in disbelief. Ryoh nodded his head as he checked out another map titled the apocalyptic realm as he read while his new buddy was talking. "I'd love to spend a vacation or ten training in this place." Ryoh commented after he was done speaking. Amin looked at the map as the Throndson son presented it to him. "Squash this curiosity for a moment, cartography or martial arts tournaments?" Amin questioned. 

Rue meandered through the continent of Ul's Sapphire mall distracted from the search for Haoyu's uncle when she noticed an extravagant playing card kiosk. "What sort of decks you got for me?" Rue asked after she sprinted over to it searching for a deck her friend doesn't have yet for him. The cashier had a smile comfortably planted on his face as he laid out a few limited edition decks he thought that she would find spectacular and affordable. Rue bent over to thoroughly survey each pack of the kiosk's cards before concluding that her friend collected most except two, she had enough only for a pack conveniently in her purse. She bought the deck she particularly found beautiful without hesitation for her friend. The eldest Jepson daughter began to meander once more until something came up, she sprinted back to the kiosk and grabbed the card kiosk's cashier's attention. "He isn't here to get me out of the clouds. For him. Have you seen a kiosk called Tā pǎole colognes somewhere around this mall?" Rue asked him with a friendly smile. The playing deck collection kiosk cashier guided the Jepson child to an empty kiosk that she was relieved to be on the third floor. She refused to dither on the choice of whether to call her friends or not, she thought about Derek for a moment then immediately gathered everyone, when she returned a man with a short Caesar cut appeared. 

The short Caesar cut cashier at the Tā pǎole cologne kiosk leaned over the desk next to where cash register sat as he stared with a grin. "One minute I can comfortably leave my post for a jade bunny break to cure my boredom and the next I've got seven diverse customers lined up for my girlfriend's colognes." Said the short Caesar cut cashier with a more laid back tone than Settembre expected him to have. Rue looked at Haoyu then remembered that he doesn't care for talking much himself. "What's a Jade bunny break?" She whispered over towards Ryoh. The Throndson child shook his head with disapproval. "A woman that only enjoys doing a certain distraction from becoming a legend with Chinese men." Ryoh answered, then the prized fighter began laughing at her reaction. Rue visibly cringed after hearing the answer. "Then a break from work I'm assuming. Gross." She replied with a tone of disgust. Ryoh shook his head as he agreed that everything involved was gross before she stared at him. Haoran introduced himself in a friendly manner as he laid his hand out for someone to shake. "Something you few are searching for, something I can get ya?" Haoran asked before he recognized Haoyu from his mean mug. After five minutes when he stepped in front, he stood with his surprised expression before he approached him intending to give him a warm hug. Haoyu gave his uncle his wish and hugged him in return though their size difference was unbelievable. Haoran lifted his nephew's armpit to spray a bit of cologne. Wilel ambled to the kiosk out of the blue. "Reminds me of an Oompa Loompa hugging an orc with obesity." Wilel commented only to be ignored. 

Settembre hated to break the uncle and nephew's moment of reunion but he remembered the urgency of their situation. "We need you to give us all of the information about a place called the boundless service market." Settembre demanded though naturally still restricted to the politest tone he could muster. Haoran stood up straight, placed his legs together tandem and with his index and middle finger glowing a light lemon chiffon shine, he drew a vertical line that spawned industrial duct tape to close up his mouth. A couple of skeletons walked up to them. Settembre and Wilel first noticed someone's initials on their pelvis bone. Haoran released a heavy sigh from frustration. "Welp, if you didn't come to pay, uncle ran a visit, then we're about to go exactly there with the worst impression on the bosses thanks to your big mouth, Kaden's boy. Follow us and stay calm." Haoran commented then suggested as he shook his head with another disappointed sigh. The team ventured through the mall's third floor and down to the first floor from the staircase that led through both floors at once before they entered another door that held what seemed like a bottomless pit. Most of the team except Ryoh and Settembre react fearfully or hesitantly concerning trusting Haoran's suggestion that they follow him down the bottomless pit for the market and keep their composure. 

Ryoh smelled something he found very strange out of the blue which compelled the heroic thunderstorm wielding hero to take a look around filled with curiosity as to where it had been coming from as the others were reacting to the pit. Ryoh noticed a gray thin cloud of smoke traveling swiftly and it had flown down the pit. "Derek's here, let's go!" Ryoh shouted urgently before unhesitatingly diving into the deep, dark pit with Haoran, skipping through the others. Trusting in their pal, each wasted no more breath or time distrusting Haoran and followed closely after him. The successors and Reynard fell for a total of five minutes in darkness before splashing into a body of sweet water with slightly bright light shining over them. Haoran waited for the team within the cavern's entrance and watched as they swam over towards him with a grin that Rue found to be creepy, Ryoh swam the swiftest. "Welcome to the boundless market where the elite meet to find some of the greatest relic services in the world. Diverse collectors willing to take on any contract that's hurting their wallet for them enormously enough. Keep your composure as we move through, let me do the speaking when we arrive at the market's current leadership." Haoran informed the successors and Reynard. The team saw skeletons down the long, strangely formed and chandelier lit area of the straightened cavern as they followed Haoran and the moving skeletons behind them. Noa surveyed the cavernous area and saw zero sign of Derek's presence though she refused to believe that Ryoh was wrong. Settembre figured that Haoran would be intending to clear a misunderstanding such as them being government authorities. "We need information on a visitor known as Proxtere to save our brother, Derek Wiley, could you get this for us?" Settembre questioned Haoran leaving him dumbfounded. Haoran turned his head from the left to his right. "I'm not out of my mind." Haoran responded as he sighed.