“What is this place supposed to be anyway?” she asked after taking a sip of the ambrosia. To be quite honest, it was more like swallowing sweetened air than actually drinking a drink. Although it was a liquid in the goblet, the drink immediately turned into vapor once it hit her tongue. At first, she thought it was because she was mortal. But Yi Xing quickly explained that ambrosia had the tendency to change phases when it hit different surfaces. “It doesn’t seem like a typical restaurant. And they keep mentioning that I shouldn’t taint their spring water. What’s so special about the spring water here?"

                “Have you ever heard of the fountain of youth?”

               “Of course! Who hasn’t?” she blinked a couple of times as she tried to process what he was trying to say. Gasping, she leaned forward, “Wait, are you telling me this restaurant housed the fountain of youth?”

                “Bingo! I always knew you’re a smart girl.” Yi Xing grinned.

                The Spirits’ behaviors made sense now. They were afraid that she would turn their fountain of immortality into a fountain of mortality. Apparently, even spirits were afraid of growing old and dying.

                “What will happen if I drink some of the spring water?”

                “You’ll become immortal but at a cost.”

                “What kind of cost?”

                Yi Xing didn’t look too happy when he explained the consequences, “You must drink from the spring every day for the rest of eternity. If you miss a day, your physical body will begin aging at an exponential rate until you’re nothing more than a pile of dust.”

                His answer chilled her bones. She could feel goosebumps dotting her arms as her mind envisioned the tragic ending, “What about my soul?”

                “It’ll vanish with the dust.” Yi Xing ran a finger over the rim of his cup, “This is why I don’t want you to drink this. I don’t want you to disappear from the world.”

                Gosh, if he continued to say romantic things like this, she would melt into a puddle of goo in no time. She leaned on her elbow, “Is there a way to be immortal without drinking from the fountain of youth?”

                “You have to be soul-bond with a spirit.” Yi Xing winced a little as he added, “Or a demon. But I would highly advise you not to bond with a demon, they will not keep their end of the deal. All they want to do is to take your soul.”

                She scoffed aloud, “I’m a demon hunter! Why would I want to be bond to a demon in the first place?”

                The fox chuckled and rubbed the back of his hooded neck, “Oh right, I forgot for a minute.” His black hood was pulled too far down for her to see anything but his mouth and chin, but she had a feeling he was blushing from embarrassment. It was quite amusing since he rarely show this side of him.

                “It’s okay.” She waved a hand at the various dishes of food in front of them, “We should eat.”

                Initially, she’d only planned on getting one item from the menu list. Breakfast might be the most important meal of the day but she never liked eating a big breakfast since it made her stomach queasy. On most days, she would eat a granola bar or a small banana to start her day off. Lunch would usually be her biggest meal, followed by a sizable dinner. However, her meals got switched around because of Yi Xing. Instead of simply ordering a bowl of fruit, the fox ordered a feast of dim sum.

                Having stayed in China for quite a while, she’d become acquainted with Chinese food. But she’d never had this much Chinese food in one sitting before. The food on the table could feed a family of eight. Before she could protest and complain that he was being wasteful, Yi Xing turned into his smartass self again and told her that they were eating Spirit food, not human food. The leftover food would simply turn into air and be recycled back into the atmosphere as tiny particles of atoms.

                She sighed, if only the human world had this kind of “technology”.  World hunger would be erased and the environment could be less polluted because there was less wasted food.

                After dropping a shrimp dumpling into , she asked, “After eating, we need to head back to the office. Nanna still has a list of demon cases for us to solve. It’s frustrating because the number of cases keeps increasing.”

                “We can handle it. Don’t worry too much.”

                She smiled, “If you say so.”

                When it was time to leave, Yi Xing reached into his pocket and left two golden coins on the table. They were no bigger than American quarters in terms of diameter but their thickness surpassed those of normal coins. If it weren’t for their hard, shiny exterior, she would’ve mistaken them for chocolate coins.

                The frog from earlier came back to them out the restaurant. The greeters didn’t even try to hide their happiness as she left the main door. She rolled their eyes on them and continued walking with her chin held high. As she was crossing the bridge, she felt a pair of eyes haunting her from behind. Furrowing her brows, she glanced behind and eyed her surroundings. She could see some of the greeters looking back at her from their spots outside the building but the haunting gaze didn’t come from them. Their gazes didn’t emit the same kind of malevolent energy that she’d felt on her back.

                Someone else was watching her…