-10-

Zhōngyāng is the capital city of the Qin Empire; divided into three layers, the outer layer of the city consists of the commercial and recreational districts filled with parks, shopping centers, restaurants, and community centers; the middle layer is the residential and educational districts, since Zhōngyāng consist mostly of aristocrats, the district consists of villas, mansions, universities and private schools; the center consists of the royal, governmental and religious districts.

Milla and Kai can see the large amount of people entering through one of the four entrances into the city. The outer wall was about twelve feet tall and was made of stone, Qin soldiers guarded each entrance with either spears or rifles equipped directing the commoners into the outer layer of the city, where the majority of the festival will be taking place. Jing parks his vehicle at the side of the road leading to the western gate.

As they enter the city entrance a soldier halts them.

"Identification please." the soldier demanded.

Wei responds "I am the current mayor of Xīchéng, Wei Tian." he looks towards the other three besides him "This is Jing Yu, he's here to raise money for our village. These children with us are called Kai and Milla." he attempts to keep the hound's and husky's last name unknown.

The soldier gestures with a short nod "Move forward, Wei Tian you may go to the governmental district to meet with the other town leaders; as for the rest of you, go to one of the waiting areas for further instruction."

Wei gestures Jing with a short nod, the hare nods in return as though he knew what the panda meant.

"Let's find a waiting area, stay with me until we are instructed to leave." Jing explains to both canines.

As Milla, Kai and Jing walk through the streets, looking for a waiting area, they witness how the tranquil parks and streets slowly became crowded with people of all types, a variety of colorful banners and decorations paints the city as lanterns of all shapes and sizes are found scattered throughout. They finally find an available waiting area, about ten minutes later a cheerful guide appears before the two canines, surprising them.

"Welcome to the Annual Establishment Festive!" The spunky guide says with great excitement.

"Thank you!" Milla responds with a big smile.

Kai interrupts "Over selling it, don't you think?" he said with a clearly annoyed look to his face. Milla scalds the monotonic husky as she bumps him with her shoulder.

"Sorry about that." Jing apologizes.

"It's alright, anyways take these IDs and have a great festival!" the guide says, handing over what appears to be cards with their first names written on the card with the pictures they took back at the west gate, before they entered the city. Milla, Kai and Jing take their respective cards, the guide tends to the other guests.

"Alright I'll be over at my booth, you two be careful and whatever you do, do not let anyone know who you are." Jing says in a soft voice.

"Don't worry I have an idea" Kai ensures, Jing gestures with a nod and leaves the two canines to themselves.

"Luckily for us I bought us some cloaks back at Běifēng, initially for when it rains but I suppose we can use them to maintain our cover" Kai hands over Milla a beige colored cloak as he puts on his grey one, the husky straps his rifle over the cloak but keeps the dual pistols and knife hidden underneath. Milla puts her cloak on, hiding her katana underneath; she still felt uneasy about hiding her identity for the reasons Wei explained, It's just isn't right…

As the two cloaked dogs walk down the crowded, loud and colorful streets, they see a large arrangement of carnival rides and booths, ranging from stores to minigames.

"Let's get on that ride!" she argues, pointing towards what appears to be a swinging ship.

"Seriously?" the husky responds with a monotonous manner.

"Come on! Even you want to have some fun once in a while, don't be a killjoy!"

"No." Kai persists.

"Please, I really want something to put my mind out of hiding my identity."

"So, you've tried to hide who you are before."

"This is different, I've tried to hide who I am for personal reasons, but not to hide where I'm from!" Milla admits in an exasperated voice.

Kai gives off a loud sigh "Fine." he says reluctantly, Milla makes a large excited smile as she dashes on all fours towards the admission booth, the husky follows behind her. They buy an admission ticket and waits in line, the embarrassed husky makes another loud sigh, Most of the kids in this line are like nine or ten, granted that's only a few years younger, but the only other older people are their parents.

As both canines enter the ride Milla continues to process her reasoning, Ugh, this hood is bothering my ears and hair. It feels weird hiding my face, to be notorious… I wonder why Jin sent us here, did he even know about this place's feelings towards me, I think he said he's wasn't from Qin too, where did he said he's from again…

… Lóng tǔdì?

Besides, maybe he knows how this feel, perhaps I shouldn't let it get to me…

Kai snaps his fingers in front of Milla's face, she snaps out of her thoughts and realizes that the ride finished it's circuit. The hound sees a few worried adult faces accompanied with the confused faces of their children.

"I'm alright" she announces, as she leaves the scene with Kai; she can hear the whispers from the crowds with her sensitive ears,

"Who is that girl?"

"Is she alright, she was acting kind'a weird"

"Why is she cloaked, what does she have to hide?"

Milla tried to cover her ears. Despite being capable of controlling her hearing, her curiosity and insecurity got the better of her, still hearing the crowd's whispers; she hears Kai's voice from the barrage of strange voices that seem to have been piercing through her ears like needles "Milla you're alright? Want to go to another ride, or you want something to eat?"

Feeling relieved to hear a familiar voice, Milla responds "I think something to eat will be nice." she says breathing heavily from stress.

The two dogs make their way to a restaurant for lunch, after going through the menu both Milla and Kai orders a turkey and fish sandwich respectively with fries, the husky comments on the type of food the restaurant makes "Who knew the rich eat this too." he said in his usual monotonic voice, the previously distraught hound makes a small smile and giggles.

It was about one in the afternoon and the two canines continued to walk around occasionally getting on rides and playing minigames to preoccupy themselves. When it became half past two, the crowds became more dense and harder to traverse; it was around three o'clock when Milla realizes that she lost sight of Kai, she didn't want to cause a scene so she just continued on her own.