Look who's finally finished the next chapter for Ruthlessness is Mercy, so here you go
The report they had gotten had come with a list of victims and the information about their next of kin for further interviews about the time before the victims death to uncover any similarities between them. There was one address on the list that Shen Yuan could not possibly subject any of his shidimeimen to.
Shen Yuan felt a little bit awkward once he'd reached the correct street, he was not used to walking down it in broad daylight. Not that he was used to it in general! He hadn't been here that often, and he certainly hadn't entered any of the brightly lit establishments lining the street before!
But now there wasn't any choice really, Shen Yuan thought morosely, as he opened up the door to the first victim’s workplace. Thanks to the early afternoon hour, the place was relatively empty, though Shen Yuan noted that, still, there were some patrons already seated at the tables around the main room, watching the guqin performance of a beautiful woman with rapt attention.
Having now, for the first time in his life, set foot into such an establishment, Shen Yuan slowly came to the realization that he was thoroughly out of his depth. He didn't know where to look! Staring at the women bustling around would be rude even though clearly they were aiming to be stared at with how much of their bosoms were on display. Staring at the men in attendance would certainly inspire their ire, no one liked to be gawked at when they were trying to get some discreet adult entertainment.
So, Shen Yuan ended up staring at his own feet, unsure of how to proceed and hoping that either a solution came his way sometime soon, or the gods decided to strike him with lightning. This certainly felt like some kind of heavenly tribulation, so he was honestly placing his hopes on the latter.
At last, Shen Yuan was saved– if one wanted to call it that— from his fate of gradually calcifying into a statue from sheer awkwardness by a buxom maiden that would have counted amongst the great beauties of the century if she wore just slightly less makeup and was maybe two decades younger.
“Oh, what a pleasant sight! For such a handsome gongzi to have found his way into our humble establishment!” She trilled a bright laugh, hiding it behind a delicately raised hand, before those same fingers attached themselves to Shen Yuan's upper arm.
It was all Shen Yuan could do not to jerk back from the sudden contact, so he actually stumbled along for a few steps while the woman tittered on. “I'm sure it won't be difficult to find one of our girls to play with you.” She gave him a coy wink.
Shen Yuan could feel the skin of his face bursting into flames, and he finally found enough wherewithal to dig in his heels, grinding them both to an abrupt stop. “This humble one is sorry to disappoint Madam but I'm not looking for company. I'm a disciple from Cang Qiong Mountain here to—“
His stiff speech was interrupted by a shrill sound of excitement. “Oh, I'm so sorry, dear. You should have said so right from the start. Come, come right this way.”
Instead of relenting, if anything the woman had become even more enthusiastic in her attempt to haul Shen Yuan along. With the misunderstanding cleared up, Shen Yuan gave up on mounting any further resistance, laying his fate reluctantly into her well manicured hands.
Surprisingly, she kept chattering on, while leading him out of the main hall down a smaller corridor. “Oh, we were so relieved, you can't imagine! Frankly, this isn't the first time one of my girls got killed, it's just that rarely anyone cares enough to get our input at all, much less be polite about it, so really it's a great blessing for us this time around. It's good to be able to trust that the problem will be handled by someone willing to listen.”
Shen Yuan had to admit that her lung capacity was remarkable. She probably had been very popular for her singing voice in her prime, it was still very melodious even now that it had dropped with age.
She paused, to turn around a corner and knock against an unassuming looking door. After waiting for the muffled invitation to enter she threw the door open with a wide grin.
“A-Shen, one of your disciples is looking for you!”
