Once we picked up Qing Yue, we all headed back to District A of The Fortress via helicopter. All the girls seemed to be quite exhausted from this fight, with the exception of Qing Yue, who was always energetic, and Mei Gui, who...well, even if she was tired, she wouldn't show it. As an aside, Flaria still was asleep...

Honestly...how long can this girl sleep for at a time? I just hope she doesn't wake up in the middle of the night and disturb the others...

In any case, Old Man Leng landed the helicopter in an enclosed area behind his shop, and we all piled out of it. He himself was the last one, and he shut off the machine on his way out.

"Now then, my dear youngsters, ya should all get some rest," Old Man Leng said, facing us and twirling the keys to the helicopter around on his finger. "I'm sure yer all tired, so just head on back to the same inn ya stayed at a few days ago. My wife already booked out a room for ya guys."

"Only one room?" I asked with a sigh. "Damn it...do I even have any ammo packs left to use as payment...?"

Old Man Leng frowned. "What, can't y'all just stay in one room? C'mon now, don't tell me ya haven't slept together before. I ain't believin' that. Lovers sleep together. That's the natural order of this world."

I sighed once again. "Well...I suppose I can work something out."

I'll probably just sleep on the couch, or floor, or something...any surface large enough to fit my body works, actually.

I then looked at the girls. "You all okay with this?"

Feng Mian shrugged. "Fine by me. I don't think you're the type to proactively try something."

Xiang Peng smirked, and crept up behind me. "Hey hey, Xuan Kai...you like being on the top or the bottom?"

Upon hearing this, I turned around slowly, and looked at her dead straight in the eyes.

"...What?"

She giggled. "I was talking about top bunk or bottom bunk! What did you think I meant, pervert?"

Like hell I'm going to believe that. Man...why did I choose to let this girl come with us back in Shenzhen...?

In any case, it seemed that all of the girls were fine with me sleeping in the same room as them. That made me feel relieved, but also kinda dubious at the same time. Relieved because they trusted me, and didn't think I would do anything to them even if left unchecked, but also dubious because...

Well...just what is their image of me? They really think I'm too cowardly to try anything sexual proactively, so they have to make the first move, or something like that?

I mean...that's not wrong, but...goddamn, it still kinda hurts, as a proud member of the male race.

Right before we left, Old Man Leng said something that made me slightly nervous:

"Rest up! After all...there's goin' to be another trainin' session tomorrow!"

*****

After that, we got to the inn without incident. Old Man Leng's wife was already there waiting for us, and when we arrived, she tossed us the room key.

"Room 420," she said briskly. "I think I can trust you all to find the room on your own. Ciao."

With those short words, she left the hotel.

"Uh, wait-" I called out, but it was too late. She was already gone. I sighed. "Man...is this even allowed?"

"Is what even allowed?" Feng Mian asked, tilting her head.

"I mean, Old Man Leng's wife booking a room for us like this," I explained. "Isn't it common knowledge that you can't have someone else check in at a hotel for you?"

"Hm...well, this place is pretty different from the outside world, so..." Feng Mian replied thoughtfully, before trailing off.

I sighed - for the millionth time tonight. "Yeah...you're right."

"If things go south tomorrow morning when we check out, we can always just call Mrs. Leng over," Yu An Yan added. By 'Mrs. Leng', she obviously meant Old Man Leng's wife.

I nodded, and we headed up the elevator to room 420. It ended up being on the 42nd floor. Apparently, the first digit(s) of the room number specified what floor said room was on, and the last digit told you which room exactly it was, out of the ten rooms on that floor. The 0 in 420 meant 10, I assume.

In any case, we piled into the room one by one. The lights were off, and all the curtains were closed. I was the first to enter, and since I couldn't see the light switch, I instead used an alternative method - magic.

Level One Light Magic - Illumination.

As I cast the spell in my head, an orb of light appeared above my hand, and I directed it around the room. Turns out, the light switch was right beside me on the wall the whole time, and I was just stupid, by the looks of it.

I flipped on the switch and the lights in the room immediately turned on. They were quite bright, as expected of a 5-star hotel. Of course, I didn't really see the need of staying at such a good place, but for one, a few of the girls with me - for example, Xiang Peng and the Yu sisters - are from prosperous families, so they are used to conditions like these. If we went to just some random third-rate hotel, they might not be accustomed to it, and feel uncomfortable sleeping there.

Ah...whatever. It's not like I'm the one paying.

The second reason was that...well, this was really the only hotel in District A. The next closest one was in District B, and I wasn't about to traverse the slums to get there. Besides, it was probably another expensive-as-hell-5-star one.

"Okay...it's been a long night. Let's take turns bathing, and then go to sleep," I said as all the other girls walked by me and inspected the room. I shut the door behind Obsidia, who was the last one.

"Who's bathing first?" Qing Yue asked, plopping down on the exquisitely designed velvet red couch.

"You guys can go first," I replied. "I'll go last."

"Woah, what a gentleman," Xiang Peng noted, but then her lips twisted up into a sinister grin. "...Is what I'd like to say, but...you sure you don't have ulterior motives for going last?"

I stared at her with deadpan eyes, preparing for another baseless, utterly irrelevant assumption of hers. "What do you mean?"

She snickered. "Hm...like, I don't know...using the bathwater we've used?"

"C'mon nyow...I dyon't believe Xuwan Kwai would do thyat - after nyall, why bother using nyour bathwater if he can just use us directly instead...?" Amane giggled cutely.

I merely shook my head and ignored her comment. She didn't seem fazed by this at all, however, and instead began laughing, amused by her own sad attempt of a joke.

Once again, I am questioning why I even considered letting her come along with us.

At any rate, in the end, the girls ended up going showering first, one by one, and I finally took my turn once they were all done. Turns out, everyone just took a quick shower to avoid staying in the bathroom for too long and hogging up more time, so the whole bathwater theory Xiang Peng had accused me with was completely invalid. Not that I would've really used their bathwater even if they did take a bath instead of just showering...that's just perverted as hell.

As I stood under the warm water of the shower, I began thinking.

...What is my goal?

I mean, my end goal is still to eliminate the Midnight Syndicate in order to fully avenge my parents. But...that's not happening anytime soon - I'm nowhere near strong enough yet. Come to think of it, the Midnight Syndicate had a base in Shenzhen - I wonder if they have one here in here as well. This is the Magic Capital - of course a dark criminal organization would want to have a secret lair stationed here.

That being said...this place is also under the direct watch of the IMF - more so than any other city. The IMF Headquarters is stationed within Fragment, after all. It would be difficult for the Midnight Syndicate to create a hideout here, and not get caught.

Anyway...back to the original topic...what is my goal? I don't mean as a whole - I mean here, inside Shanghai, the Magic Capital - otherwise known as the Fortress. I originally came here with the intent of getting stronger, but so far, all I've gotten is a gun, really. Well, that, and Amane, but that has nothing to do with my own, individual strength.

Hm...the Magic Capital is home to the best resources in the world, yeah? I'm sure the best of the best is all stored within Fragment, but even if I haven't got in there yet, I think there should still be quite a lot of good stuff to be found in these four Districts surrounding Fragment. I'll ask Old Man Leng tomorrow about where I can find a library...books are knowledge, and knowledge is power, after all.

Maybe, if I'm lucky, I can even learn some Level Three spells...yes, I could just ask Xiang Peng, who was an Ancestral Mage despite how she seems, but I really didn't want to owe her anything.

Sigh...I should probably get out of the shower now. There's going to be a long day tomorrow.