Dan Heng would like to repeat himself: he was not having a good time. Not one bit.
"Hmm... I would like to visit a few places from my memories, enjoy a glass of wine, and reminisce about the good times."
He should have known that following the location inscribed on that letter would be a terrible idea. He hadn't known who the sender was, just that they were clearly familiar with Dan Feng. On a personal level, most likely.
And anyone who retained any personal connection to Imbibitor Lunae belonged in an unopened can of worms, sealed shut and abandoned in the bottom of the sea. Whether the nature of that connection remained positive or not had not a single thing to do with his desire to avoid Dan Feng's traitorous sins.
Blade had tried to kill him in his deranged vengeance. Jing Yuan had used him for the Luofu's goals, no matter how the General honeyed his words.
So, it was only natural that Dan Heng expected some form of trouble and complications from the icy-haired lady leading him around, the one who called herself Jingliu.
In other words, he was horrified. Primarily because Sunny seemed horrified himself when he abandoned him — that traitor.
Next thing he knew it was going to be revealed that Sunny was in cahoots with Blade.
Dan Heng sent Jingliu a fleeting glance as they walked through alleys and unexplored side paths, not able to muster the bravery to gaze at her for more than a few moments.
"Have you mistaken yourself for a tourist?"
He blanched at the sarcasm that unwillingly left his own mouth. Death had never felt so close before.
The corner of Jingliu's lip curved upwards in an amused smirk for an instant so short that it may as well have never happened, before falling back into a cold mask of neutrality.
"Lower your guard, Imbibitor Lunae. After this, I plan to return to the Shackling Prison without complaint. This is only the last of the interests I have left to satisfy."
...The curtain of mystery unveiled very slightly for Dan Heng, revealing a truth that was both pivotal if he wanted to calculate his chances of survival, and terrible in the way that it completely slaughtered those chances.
The Shackling Prison was the Xianzhou Alliance's state-of-the-art... well, prison. There wasn't really any other way to describe it. What made it so state-of-the-art in the first place, however, was its effectiveness as... once again, a prison. Whether it be beings too difficult to kill, or those too valuable to kill, the Shackling Prison had numerous mystical features and failsafes to ensure the containment of the criminals and abominations sealed within.
And Jingliu, who supposedly left the Shackling Prison, planned to go back.
Which meant that she escaped.
Which meant that she was a danger he had no business accommodating.
Accommodate he shall, if he feared for his life.
***
"Looking at their path... it's the ship place, right?"
"It's called Stargazer Navalia."
"Blah, blah, blah, unnecessarily long names that exist only to sound cool don't change the fact that it's a ship place! If the creators had any naming sense, they'd just call it 'The Ship Place.'"
"Uh-huh..."
Sushang dismissively ignored the very... straightforward naming Sunny was preaching. Instead, she changed the subject of their very hidden, discrete conversation, filed away behind corners as they slowly trailed their targets, drawing odd looks from the rare passerby.
"More importantly, who the hell is that lady, and who does she think she is?!"
Sunny's brow creased.
"Someone who could mutilate you if she wanted to, so keep your damn voice down!"
His gaze lingered on Dan Heng and Jingliu's backs, eyes narrowed. No matter what she said, Dan Heng was his boytoy first! Or... more like finders keepers? So, she better back off before... before he...
...He'd come up with something. He was sure of it!
Sunny sighed as he and Sushang tiptoed over to their next cover of the conveniently-placed variety, suddenly turning his attention to her.
"What were you bothering Dan Heng for, anyways?"
The brunette Cloud Knight huffed, sending him a slightly embarrassed glare.
"I wouldn't call it bothering... just, uh, catching up! Yeah, that."
"He kind of just stared at you."
"...Isn't looking at your conversation partner normal?"
"If you were actually having a conversation, sure. You were the only one yapping, so..."
...Wait a minute.
An unusual amount of excitement and investment when it came to Dan Heng's activities. The entire 'Silent but Deadly' thing was just a pet name. The embarrassment she was displaying right now. Her clear dislike for Jingliu, despite the fact that they have never met...
Could it be...
"Oh."
A shit-eating grin rose on his face as he dramatically placed a hand on Sushang's shoulder.
"Daddy Dannie doesn't like girls."
Sushang stiffened for a very long while, much to Sunny's amusement. He sighed.
He was real glad that he didn't have even half of Dan Heng's seductive capabilities. A situation like this would really suck...