"Well, my name is—" The office's telephone rung at the same moment, and the creature stopped speaking and waved a paw at him. "Answer that first."

Li Yang stared at it doubtfully, but soon picked up the phone. A familiar and calm voice immediately greeted him, and it was Bo Lifen's. "My apologies for missing your visit, I had woken up a bit later than usual and rushed.. I see. Thank you. I'll see you after work then, goodbye."

"What was that call for?" the Panda hovered in front of him.

"Miss Lifen called and offered to bring me to the black pearl supplier," he said and tapped his finger absentmindedly on his desk. "I suppose my overtime in the office will really have to be gradually lessened."

"Well, it's about time!" the Panda said.. "Is your entire life really focused on just your work? Live a little, will ya?"

"You're starting to sound like Liang."

"He acts like a bastard, but he has fun?" the Panda shrugged. "I feel like you have the short end of the stick. What does he do? Go around the world and meet beauties—heck, you don't need a System for this kind of stuff."

"He has other responsibilities too, mostly as a proxy to meetings around the world, so it's not only him chasing skirts... but I admit that I do take over a lot more than him. I don't trust him to do a proper job and I haven't exactly seen or considered a successor to take over my position," he admitted.

Even just the thought of it presented him with another option. He could actually find someone else in the company to replace him, he could give it up to Liang even..

That would be a too easy way out of his current problems.historical

He didn't like the idea of the heavens forcing him out of his routine—and so he continued with the rest of his work. The man corresponded with his company's executives about the board meeting, assessing and interacting with other potential clients.

Until he received a knock on the door.

It was Ying Yue He.

"Ah, I brought you your lunch, Mister Li." she said with a sheepish smile.

The CEO blinked and glanced at his phone. "Thank you.. can I ask you to transfer it to another container? I failed to mention that I have a personal errand."

"Oh, will do, boss."

"Make sure that you and Miss Taiga will have lunch together."

"You're not bringing her along, boss?"

"No need."

[ You Have Gained 5 Charm Points ]

"O-oh! Well, I'll pack your lunch, boss!" Ying Yue He left to fulfill his request.

"Eh, where are you going? I thought it was after work with Bo Lifen?" the Panda asked.

Li Yang glanced at him, "The DNA testing center, I've yet to give my sample."

"Huh, right."

The CEO would eventually do just that and leave the office, with Taiga begging him to come along—but he declined her request. Li Yang didn't like the idea of bringing her along and possibly causing more trouble or doing something strange. The spirit asking questions would also just bother him and he already had one following after him.

When he returned to his office, he took the opportunity to ask the creature once again. "You neglected to mention your name earlier, I assume that it's disallowed?"

"If you really want to stop calling me Panda—and for good reasons you should," The creature's eyes sparked red, "In your human language and native tongue, you can call me Bao."

Li Yang blinked at the name and the somewhat butchered pronunciation. He couldn't tell what exact form the creature was referring to. "Bao.. treasure, rare, honor, praise or bud," He didn't think it would be that and yet he only nodded. "However, I am curious about what you said, Bao. The way you mentioned human language and native tongue—"

"There's a universal language and I transmit it—your mind and that of the child can comprehend it. It takes a while to get used to it, you should pop open a dictionary sometime. There's a ton of languages from different planets and realms, so I wonder when interstellar craft becomes available."

Li Yang considered his words and parked his car. "I know a man currently researching into it—I suppose I could allocate some into his company."

"Or you find a willing non-earth visitor to bring you a new one and then.. argh, I shouldn't be telling this to you." The Panda, Bao, grumbled underneath its breath.

"It's not too hard to pick apart minor details," the CEO headed back to his office. "LSO for example—"

[ Observer 'The One Who Slaughters' Demands The End Of Commercial! ]

The notification appeared, and Li Yang paused. He had almost forgotten that he had some backlog of notifications from last night, and so proceeded to check them briefly—and collected an addition of 246 Charm Points. He wondered why they were sometimes stingy and otherwise gallant. If he could figure out the right buttons..

[ Total Current Charm Points: 9467 ]

He sighed slightly at the amount—estimating the costs for finishing the entire Qi Condensation Stage would no doubt cost more than what the Heavens offered for him to strip before. The idea of it still made him balk.. but now he was usually resigned to whatever it was they decided to give him.

If there was anything he had been eyeing more than Main Quests or Side Quests—both of which seemed to be locked and inaccessible to him—the Achievements Page was where he had the chance to accumulate points that did not necessarily force him to woo women. Some were related to strength, asserting one's dominance, and then there was something more entrepreneurial.

"Welcome back, boss."

"Bossman!"

Ying Yue He greeted him by standing up and bowing slightly, whereas Taiga barely lifted herself from the couch. He nodded. "Thank you, Miss He. Has anything happened while I was out?"

"Nothing demanding your immediate attention, boss."

"Thank you." he said. "I'll be leaving at 5pm today and I would like to urge you to do the same. How was your visit to Shen Society?"

"Ah, I received a cultivation method from them after testing my roots affinity. It seems like there are two paths of cultivation, body and spirit?" Ying Yue He scratched her cheek. "Since it seemed like I was capable of cultivating my body without any need for method, they gave me one for spiritual cultivation instead? I don't get it that much, but I am studying the manual."

"Taiga would have shared her cultivation method—but she's mixed roots and primarily earth, water and wood. Now Taiga's method wouldn't have worked for her. And I have near pure roots." she said and puffed her chest.

"I see that's good." He checked his secretary's status screen.

[ Cultivation Methods ]

[ Blossoming Vine Scripture (Mortal) ]

Power: Extremely Weak

Comprehension: Beginner ( 3/32)

Stage: Qi Condensation (0/9)

The CEO compared his cultivation method to hers.

[ Harem Cultivation (Mortal) ]

Power: Extremely Weak-Divine Grade

Comprehension: Beginner (17/32)

Stage: Qi Condensation (3/9)

Compared to hers that were classified by the System as 'extremely weak' with no reason, his own method in particular could ascend to 'divine grade' in terms of power.. possibly because of the System itself. He didn't quite know how to feel about it and asked, "How good is her cultivation method?"

"We had to get one from the market to find a compatible cultivation method, your secretary could have gone with something like Earth Splitting Manual or Azure Water Method.. but Blossoming Vine Scripture takes a little of all three elements."

"Thank you for the explanation, Miss Taiga." he glanced at his secretary. "Will you be visiting them after work?"

Ying Yue He blinked. "A-ah.. I suppose I could. Better to have someone help me step by step in understanding the manual and getting the hang of it."

"You don't have to force yourself to attend today if you're still in a state of shock," he said, taking note of her perplexed tone. "I would join you, but I need to meet up with a supplier of the Heavenly Jade Pavilion. I'll be there next time."

"Tomorrow?" Taiga asked. "That's a weekend, maybe Taiga can do a combined training session with you and Miss He."

He glanced at his watch and shook his head, "Thank you for the offer, but Miss He and I already have plans set for tomorrow. Speaking of which, have you prepared the tickets? I only managed to check on it now."

[ You Have Gained 250 Charm Points ]

"—ah, there's definitely not a problem, Mister Li. I'll bring them tomorrow, shall we meet tomorrow at the zoo?" Ying Yue He perked up immediately.

This was probably the largest amount of points he earned from her. "I'll pick you up at your apartment at seven, if that's alright with you?" He hoped it wasn't too early, but he had plans to have lunch with her and perhaps a walk in the afternoon? Or something else. Did his secretary also like visiting boutiques? His brother was taking his 'Mistress' out, and he didn't exactly have much of a comparison besides that. Either way, they still had to attend the concert that Director Wang's grandson gave them as well.

In some way, he felt obliged that he needed to treat her after everything that happened for the past week.

"Thank you, it's a good time since the zoo opens at seven-thirty in the morning—hopefully not a lot of people will be there since it's early."

"You two are going to the zoo?" Taiga said at last.

"It's a facility where animals are housed within enclosures.." Li Yang explained. When he picked his bodyguard based on certain attributes, he didn't expect it would be a tigress spirit. What were her ideas on something like this? He planned for her to follow in secret.

His secretary spoke up, "Boss, I don't think she'd be exactly comfortable going there?"

"Let Taiga speak up before you make a conclusion like that."