Chương 78: Chapter 77 — Pottery Workshop

Since neither of them had a phone or any method of contacting other people, Lin Che and Shen Yue channeled Qi into their ears to listen for any people on the street. They took a sharp turn to the right and weaved through a couple of narrow streets before coming across a club sat at the end of the block. Its entrance was framed in a neon pink and techno music spilled out of the doors. Lin Che slowed his pace as he eyed up a potential target.

There were a few drunk people gathered outside waiting for a taxi home, and he wanted to find the drunkest one possible. Shen Yue understood what he was going for: drunk people don't ask questions. He approached a man swaying back and forth by the pavement, phone already in his hand waiting for his driver to arrive. The smell of a brewery dominated the air in a small radius around him, causing Shen Yue to pinch her nose entirely.

"Hey, brother," Lin Che said, pitching his voice warm.

"Rough night?"

"Fantastic night," the man corrected.

"But looks like yours is about to be even better," he said, subtly motioning his head to point at Shen Yue. In his drunken state, however, he was not very subtle and almost even tripped in her direction. Lin Che caught him before he could fall and hit the ground, and swiped his already-unlocked phone in that same motion.

"Careful," he said.

"You might end up breaking your phone." Lin Che waved the man's phone in his hand.

"My phone's out of charge — mind if I use yours for thirty seconds?" The man looked at his phone and smiled without hesitation.

"Yeah, man. Whatever." He swayed sideways into a lamppost and caught himself against it and did not ask for the phone back. Lin Che tapped on the screen a couple of times to search on the maps app and typed 'pottery workshop.' Thankfully, there were only two in the area, and they were close enough together that a single walk could cover both of them within a few minutes. He held the phone up so that Shen Yue could see it.

"It's one of these two, but I'm not sure which."

"We can check out both," she replied, already walking in the direction of the nearest workshop. Lin Che followed suit and made it a few steps before he realised he ought to return the phone to the drunk man. He jogged back to him, handed him his phone, then jogged back to Shen Yue, who did not slow down for him.

When they found the first workshop, the two stood outside for a long moment in silence. Although there was no guarantee that the owner would be a cultivator, and, even then, no guarantee that they would have any obvious signs of cultivation at their place of work, neither Lin Che nor Shen Yue had any better ideas. They found nothing — it was just a building with absolutely nothing of note.

"Not here," said Shen Yue.

"Not here," Lin Che agreed, and they moved on.

From a distance, the second building looked far less promising. It was a very modern workshop, with large walls of darkened glass and solid beams of marble at the front. There was a sign at the front with custom typography of the shop name — 'Clay and Play!' Given that it was in English, it was clearly catered to a much younger or richer audience, and the chalkboard sign with café prices at the front was ludicrously expensive. Yet, when the two of them inched nearer, the hairs on their skin raised slightly.

"Do you feel that?" asked Lin Che. It wasn't really a question — Shen Yue's sensitivity was much stronger than his after all. Shen Yue nodded.

"Artificially-increased Qi density. Looks like this is the place." The two of them went around to the side of the building where all of the waste refuse was kept. There was a padlock on the door leading towards the inside of the building, which made the two of them raise their eyebrows. After all, it seemed very strange for a cultivator's building to have almost zero security. Neither of them had any belongings with them to use — no paper or ink to draw a talisman, which meant that there was only one option.

Shen Yue took hold of the padlock and was about to pull and break it, but Lin Che tapped her on the shoulder to stop her just in time. Then, he took a hairclip out of her hair, causing a chunk of her hair to drop down somewhat messily, and jammed it into the key slot. He fiddled with it a couple of times until he heard a couple of clicks and the padlock disengaged. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"It's better to leave no traces that we were here," he whispered, pocketing the padlock for safekeeping.

"We'll look around a little and stay the night, then lock up and come back in the morning pretending to be customers, okay?" Shen Yue nodded and flicked on the light switch. There were a few rows of electric wheels bolted to the floor with a few marks of dried clay on them, but not many. Either the equipment had recently been replaced, or the workshop itself was very new — Lin Che wagered it was most likely the latter.

Around the backside, there were stacks of stools neatly arranged beside a shelf which contained a handful of fired pieces ready for a 'sip and paint' night, each item clearly labelled with a price underneath. There was also a panel on the wall which had a chalk class schedule alongside a QR code for further information regarding booking and hosting private events.

"This place seems very fun," said Shen Yue.

"You know, I've always wanted to get more into pottery. If we had a workshop like this nearby, it would be difficult to get me out of it."

"I'll make sure to ask this aunt of mine to let us join in on a class," replied Lin Che.

"That is, assuming she likes me."

"Your aunt owns this place?" Shen Yue's mouth was agape.

"Why would you break into her workshop like this instead of just staying the night at her house?"

"I've never met her. I don't know where she lives," Lin Che shrugged.

"There's a chance I could ask my mother, but I'm afraid the authorities might be keeping an eye on her." The two of them travelled deeper into the workshop and entered a section containing lots of small kilns. The Qi there was much denser, and the room was also far warmer, which was a boon to Shen Yue, as she could stop using her own Qi reserves to heat herself up.

"It looks like they're using the heat generated by this array to fire the kiln," said Shen Yue, crouched down.

"Look here," she gestured at Lin Che to drop down with her, which he did.

"Can you read arrays?" she asked.

"Not one bit."

"Me neither. I just assumed you would know more about this place than just the fact that your aunt owns it." A pause.

"Is this the furthest you have made it in all your loops?" Lin Che froze. The question came out of nowhere.

"How much do you know?"

"Not much," she admitted very easily.

"Though I guess this must be the first time I have ever asked you anything like this, Mr Looper."

"And how much is not much?"

"I heard Elder Wong talk about loops and I'm not an idiot. We always thought you were a mortal, but now you're suddenly stronger than me, which means you must have looped back in time with your cultivation." She's mostly there, thought Lin Che.

"Do I truly have such little talent that the only plausible explanation for this is that I can go back in time?" Shen Yue laughed slightly.

"Yes."

"You're taking this very calmly, you know. Does your bloodline ability keep you coolheaded too?"

"You mean the Chaotic Yin Body I found about a week ago? Honestly, yeah."

"Really?"

"I get very numb and dazed if I'm not taking my medication."

"So your bloodline ability makes you suffer whilst my one gives me functional immortality?" Shen Yue seemed unbothered about this, but Lin Che chalked it up to her coolheadedness. It was either that or a coping mechanism.

"Functional immortality?"

"I can only loop back if I die, which means I'm not dead."

"And how many times have you looped?" Lin Che was silent for a brief moment, attempting to tally up all of his deaths.

"I'm not sure, to be honest. Elder Wong alone has killed me around forty times," he said.

"And then you finally killed her."

"I'm—I'm really not sure how I did it," said Lin Che, softly.

"It's like I fell asleep and woke up suddenly and she was just dead in front of me. And then I really, and I mean really wanted to hurt anyone I saw. And you were the only person in front of me," he sighed.

"I am so sorry about that, Yue-er. I really did not mean to do anything to make you scared of me."

"I will accept your apology," smiled Shen Yue.

"But do not call me Yue-er. We are not that close. We may have been closer in one of your lives, but she and I are different people. Call me by my full name." Lin Che managed a wry smile, but, inwardly, his heart stung and ached. He always knew that the people from his previous loops were not the same people they were in his current loop, but now it was far too late to 'reset' his relationship with Shen Yue and walk that same path into closeness. In fact, doing so would have just been manipulative of him.

"I'm sorry, Shen Yue," he replied.

"I just wish I could show you my memo—" A lightbulb lit in Lin Che's head.

"New goal," he said aloud, grinning.

"I can read the memories of puppet cores. If I get back Elder Wong's core, I could remake the pill and provide you with my memories from all of my previous loops if I share the memory-reading method!"

"And what's the point of that?"

"If I read your memories and have to loop back, I can give you my memory of your memory and would save lots of time!" Shen Yue looked at him with mild disgust on her face.

"I am not giving you my memories." Only now did Lin Che realise what he had said.

"Wait, no — I didn't mean that. I just meant tha—" She laughed more heartily this time round.

"I know what you meant, Lin Che. I'm just messing with you," she yawned.

"Don't take things too seriously between friends." She choked out 'friends' as though it were an unfamiliar term, but Lin Che was too busy thinking about the friend-zone that he didn't even notice. It wasn't like the two of them had anything beyond friendship going on anyway, but a certain part of him really wanted things to progress in that direction. He pushed down that part of him and yawned as well. Shen Yue decided to sleep in the room with the array for warmth, whilst Lin Che took the larger room for himself.

They wished each other goodnight and slowly drifted to sleep.

Shen Yue woke up early, thirsty, having been sweating all night. She moved her hand towards the light switch, hoping to find her way to the small café section to get a cup of water. Instead, her room was covered in a faint, red, and uncomfortable fog, which was coming from Lin Che's part of the workshop. Concerned that something was going on, she walked in his direction. She did not turn on his light switch, as the ambient light from her room was enough to make things out without stirring him awake.

Except, it seemed that Lin Che was already awake. He was holding a photo of the owner and staff from the grand opening of this workshop, and staring intently with deep, black eyes. And, around him, the air was a thick cloud of red killing intent.