The female voice instantly drew the eyes of every group in the izakaya. Those who recognized her and kept up with the news were amazed she had been released so quickly.
Gu He was just as surprised. "Captain Lorna, good evening..."
Lorna wore form-fitting black leather that outlined her fiercely captivating figure. Her right sleeve hung completely empty, stripped of any Cyberware, and a red crossbody bag was slung around her waist.
No female mercenaries accompanied her; this time, she had come alone.
"I haven't seen you for a few days and you're already hollowed out?"
Lorna walked over to the bar, studying Gu He's exhausted face with a teasing half-smile.
"Yeah, I really haven't been sleeping well," Gu He sighed. Being messed with by ghosts for days on end was truly a bizarre ordeal not fit to be told to outsiders.
Yet she didn't look so great herself. She seemed just as exhausted, and her emerald eyes were traced with bloodshot veins.
"Old Fan, did you hear that?" Lorna tapped her fingers against the bar, then threw a look at the other patrons. "I've booked Gu He. Any objections?"
None of the other customers dared raise an objection. Fan Debao glanced at her, sensing no manic aura, and after a brief, thoughtful pause, the heavy-set man said, "Fine, but don't overdo it. He still can't take too much."
"Alright, mix us some good drinks." Lorna waved him off and headed straight down the narrow aisle. She opened a small door opposite the restroom, glanced back at Gu He, who was still frozen in place, and urged, "Coming?"
In his six days here, this was the first time Gu He had seen that door open.
He had assumed it was Old Fan's bedroom, but it appeared to be a VIP booth instead.
The legendary host room...
Gu He nervously walked over and took a look inside. It really was a clean little private booth, decorated in the same izakaya style as the rest of the bar.
It held another Wooden-Box Television equipped for karaoke, a small cloth sofa pushed against the wall, and a low coffee table. A well-trimmed pine bonsai sat on the table, its patch of green radiating a vibrant aura of life.
As soon as she entered, Lorna sat down on the sofa, propped her long legs up on the coffee table, and patted the spot beside her. "Come here."
"Uh." Gu He stepped inside, shut the door, and sat down beside her as the psychedelic lights cast a hazy, intimate glow.
I am a psychological counselor, I am a psychological consultant, I am a host, I am an upright man. Unless absolutely necessary, I do not sell my body...
"Why so lifeless?" Lorna looked at his heavy dark circles and laughed. "How many clients have you taken? Look at what they've done to you—can you even move? I booked you for the night, I'm not getting ripped off, am I?"
She reached for the remote on the coffee table with a smile. "Shall we sing some karaoke?"
Gu He could tell she was only joking; she didn't actually want to sing.
He hadn't figured out what to say yet, or whether he should even bring up the incident in the mire...
At that moment, the booth door opened. Fan Debao walked in carrying a tray laden with cocktails and fruit. He set it on the coffee table, shot Gu He a glance, and his short, plump figure strode right back out.
It was a warning look. Recalling the fate of the bat, Gu He's exhausted body gave a sudden jolt.
If Old Fan went and complained to Miss Caiyin that he wasn't treating the VIPs with enough enthusiasm...
He carefully observed Captain Lorna leaning back against the sofa. Though she was tired, she seemed much calmer than last time.
The incident in the mire had, after all, been a life-and-death struggle. He decided to ease into the subject gently. "Captain, your right arm?"
"I didn't feel like wearing it today," Lorna murmured softly. "And I sort of missed my original right arm."
Here it was! Gu He's spirits lifted. If there was one thing different about Lorna today, it was that he could clearly sense her trying to open up. Just like she had moments ago, she was calmly and directly stating her problem without denying her own emotions.
Her mindset had improved. She wanted someone to confide in, which was why she had come to the Fishpond, straight for him.
She saw him as someone she could talk to; she was consciously trying to let him in.
"That right arm must have given you a lot of strength back then, right?" Gu He asked warmly.
Captain Lorna's biggest psychological hurdle remained reconciling with her past. By revealing a sense of "nostalgia," she had already handed the therapist a ticket to discuss it.
"Mhm... I suppose so..." Lorna murmured, taking a sip of her cocktail. "Come to think of it, flesh and blood can't compare to my Cyberware, but it just felt a little... special."
She looked at him, cutting him off before he could speak, and sighed in annoyed self-mockery. "You're going to tell me to look back at the past and let it go, right? Maybe you're right. Maybe you're right. But it's so damn hard. So hard..."
She drank faster, tilting her head back as her chest heaved.
Here it was, all of it!
Gu He's spirits surged. This was the classic moment a client told a therapist,
I am deeply troubled. She wanted to reconcile with her past.
"Actually, when I was a child, things didn't go smoothly for me, either."
Gu He said this to build empathy. In truth, his old man had been alright—just an honest, ordinary city-dweller whose worst habit was going off to play mahjong and occasionally dragging Gu He along.
But he was Ah Ming now, meaning he had a completely different childhood to draw upon. "I was an orphan who grew up in the Voodoo Ruins. I've suffered every kind of hardship."
"My childhood... how much do you know about it?" Lorna asked, completely still.
"Eighty or ninety percent," Gu He answered earnestly. "Though it's all secondhand. It's definitely not the truth you actually lived through."
Lorna gave a soft hum, sipping her drink slowly. A slight flush rose to her cheeks, and a trace of remembrance flickered in her eyes...
Gu He remained silent, simply refilling her drink and offering her fruit. Both psychologists and hosts had to understand the art of silent companionship.
After a moment, Lorna suddenly asked, "What do you think that damned old man of mine was like as a person?"
Gu He fell silent, taking a moment to answer. This question was challenging; it was clearly her primary inner demon.
He couldn't just say whatever popped into his head. That would show a lack of respect for the client's experiences, and besides, he really needed to think it through.
Should he just say,
I think Roden Ludd was a scumbag, utter trash; decapitation isn't enough, he should be carved piece by piece?
No, that wasn't the path to reconciliation. It would only worsen the patient's depression.
To say,
Forget that guy, life is cruel, would be far too hasty and unsuited for the present moment...
"I don't want to judge him myself, because only you truly understood him." Gu He leaned on therapeutic technique once more, tossing out a miracle question from solution-focused brief therapy: "If you could say just one sentence to him right now, what would it be?"
Lorna froze as if immobilized, her head tilted back, her eyes unblinking.
Gu He braced himself for any number of responses, such as
Go to hell, I'm not afraid of you anymore, or Screw you.
Reconciliation required catharsis first, followed by a transition to calm. If she could curse him out, that would be a very good sign of progress.
Evasion was always the most useless option.
"I would say..." Lorna had clearly thought about this with genuine emotion. "Roden Ludd, there are still people who remember you."
Gu He nodded slightly as he listened. The progress was going quite well—very well indeed.
The events of those years had been settled as an ironclad case, yet people still remembered them today as a warning to the world. The pain she had endured wasn't entirely meaningless, and that period of the past wasn't completely devoid of significance.
He noticed the program progress bar in his mind leap abruptly from Tier 3 5% to Tier 3 9%.
An elite monster was truly an elite monster!
Previously, he had hustled all day and only gained 3%, yet a few words of comfort to her instantly yielded 4%.
If this thing was a golden finger, it really was a cheat code that could instantly verify whether his therapeutic direction was correct, how the patient felt, and whether what he said hit the mark. It was extremely well-suited for psychologists and hosts alike.
"Captain," Gu He pressed his advantage. "As for what happened with Roden Ludd, I hope it never happens again."
"What kind of thing? What are you talking about?" Lorna suddenly furrowed her brow, the bloodshot veins in her emerald eyes seeming to expand.
Gu He naturally caught the shift. Her emotional fluctuations were still quite intense. After all, she had only just begun to accept him, so it was best to avoid mentioning the name Roden Ludd directly.
Without getting specific, and mindful of her emotional state, he said sincerely, "Unjust, cruel things."
"Oh." Lorna gave a soft acknowledgment, the bloodshot veins in her eyes subsiding. "Anyway, I don't want any part in them anymore."
"You don't have to be afraid anymore," Gu He said. "You already have the power to decide how Lorna Ludd lives."
"My ass. I want to live in a villa in the Acropolis District. I want to play golf in the Eden Lake District—can I?"
Lorna let out a dry laugh, chewing on a piece of fruit. "I, Lorna Ludd, am just a street rat who isn't even twenty years old."
Gu He was slightly startled.
Not even twenty years old yet? She's still a teenager? She looked mature enough that he had taken her for twenty-five or twenty-six.
"Lorna. I'll just call you Lorna."
For one thing, this would close the distance between them and frame them as friends. For another, their ages were actually quite close, making it much more natural.
"Do you really need to live like some wealthy tycoon?" Gu He didn't think so. "Happiness comes in many forms."
He noticed his host rating had ticked up another 2%, reaching Tier 3 11%. It seemed he hadn't said the wrong thing.
"You brat..." Lorna looked at him, poking his forehead with her left index finger, a faint smile appearing at the corners of her mouth. "How is it that when you talk nonsense, it sounds different from when other people do it? Is your mouth running a scavenger program, turning trash into treasure?"
Program—she was mentioning programs again.
Gu He merely smiled.
My mouth is smeared with honey; at least you enjoy listening to it.
"You really were born for this line of work. I've got a gift for you, as thanks for helping me out."
"Oh? Thanks, then."
What kind of gift? Gu He certainly wasn't going to refuse. He detested working for free; a gift was something he rightfully deserved.
He watched as Lorna's left hand pulled the crossbody bag off the coffee table and took out a pair of classic-style Pilot Goggles. A trace of confusion and disappointment inevitably crossed his mind. Was she giving him this to imply flying like an ox in the sky?
"These goggles contain Wondrous Item materials."
Lorna said, her lips curving into a smile as she pressed the Pilot Goggles into Gu He's hands. "Though some functions won't match if you aren't a scavenger, they have a universal feature—they can monitor a person's personality integrity. Pretty neat."
Third update! Another massive update today, please send votes, please invest and support!