"She has been praying for two hours: you see, we are a spiritual people after all." Jun smiled. "She can now relax and rest until her final moments. We will talk to her soon. Maybe then you'll understand."

Imagine my surprise then, in all this display of reverence and submission, the naked girl's calm and placid demeanor became more humanized and lively after finishing her prayers and preparation. Her expression became more alert, informal, and active. Taking a deep breath and turning her head, the naked girl called out to one of the waitresses passing by with a loud, cute voice, who nodded happily and brought a large glass of iced water with a straw to drink from. I was staring in complete silence as she sipped the water, sighed, and thanked her merciful help, who nodded and kept talking as if she asked for more (at least what I could guess), upon which the naked girl shook her head and smiled, politely thanking her, limbs perfectly still. Noticing me staring, her eyes narrowed in surprise and a bit of embarrassment since I was a total stranger, a tourist, witnessing a very private human sacrifice, dismembering of her vulnerable, sacred body into meat for the dead. I was an intruder to her chosen fate and her wish.

Yet, her surprise turned into a warm smile, which I awkwardly returned. She was smiling at me, bundled like a prized piglet and exposed on the altar, greeting me in Chinese casually and bobbing her head, still limbs bound gracefully, then addressed my companion, Jun in a serious, long sentence, who broke free of my hand and walked over, crouching to address her. Smiles faded, they were talking about something, Jun sagely nodding and counting something with her fingers, Me, my erection and numb, frozen body (hoping no one bumps into me because I would shatter)

About what could I talk to her?!?!?!

I said nothing. I could say nothing. I knew nothing of what to say, ripped from Europe's well-off, humanist-socialist, Christian, First World, pasty white suburbs! What was I to say to her? Do not destroy yourself. Your religion is wrong? This is madness? Run to the police(HA!) Good luck with that. Native Americans had cheerful days in Tenochtitlan where children ran around severed heads as people sang and danced, as the doomed prisoners marched sullenly. Hell, some even volunteered and were honored. This was happening, and I had no idea what to do other than follow Jun and see this event to its end.

Jun nodded and assured her of something before waving at a waitress, and started naming what seemed to be a list of instructions. The waitress, judging by her dark skin and Southeast Asian features, was likely a Filipina. She understood Jun's Chinese perfectly, nodded, and left, shouting a series of orders out of the opened door.

"Visitors will be paying respects before the funeral. These people are not famous, but their wealth overshadows those that are." Jun spoke coolly, hurrying back to me and holding my hand. "Let's sit for a while. Close to the girl?" She smiled "Or not? Feeling awkward?"

"A little. Let's sit..." I mumbled, Jun obliging. We took seats next to a large, smiling statue of some goddess, I was careful not to lean on it. When the doors opened, a small group of Chinese visitors, in somber suits and mourning clothes, filled the room, slowly walking towards the massive altar with somber expressions. Shady businessmen and women, wives, and evil-looking floozies, I caught a few stares but that was it. The procession walked towards the altar, our hostess in white mourning clothes waiting at the door and accepting each visitor with a bow and small conversation.

Even younger members of the funeral visitors were not surprised by the human sacrifice placed on the silver meat plate, their gazes suggested that they were quite used to such things as if these placid, calm-looking, rich, and powerful people of this land knew this and were perfectly alright with it, some smiling at the girl on the altar as they passed her by. Each bowed before the deceased's photo and left tiny trinkets on the topmost table next to the flowers and fruits.

My beautiful victim on the plate saw I was focused on her plight and accepted fate, youth, and morbid fascination getting the better of me. Her small eyes blinked in acceptance and understanding, and she smiled at me, returning my stare. She was unbothered, yet bound like a prized piglet with beautiful golden ribbons like a gift, perhaps out of tradition if nothing else. Around her, a few funerary visitors recorded the meeting with cameras and smartphones; she smiled at a camera recording her, saying something in Chinese and blinking and bowing her head. The old Chinese lady holding the camera, dressed in all her black business finery (must have been an elderly official or corporate bureaucrat) bowed and smiled with a polite word and left. When she passed me, the old lady shook my hand politely and spoke to my guide, who spoke in return and pointed at me. "She welcomes you to her boss' funeral, admires your acceptance of..." Jun gestured at the silver plate with the bundled girl offering with her eyes, "...and hopes you find what you desire,"

I said nothing, observing a fully naked girl in the midst of a funeral who was to be sacrificed in celebration as well-dressed Asian businesswomen and men paying their respects to the dead, some leaving small coins at the altar while they respectfully avoided bumping into the naked girl on a plate. A spiritual people, strange, yet it did feel arousing and even respectful. More than a few visitors knelt to say a few respectful words to the girl before leaving, our poor victim returning her respects and smiling cheerfully as they left. Most visitors left the altar, and some took a few seats, and completely ignored the nudity before them, looking at smartphones or talking to their friends, hands waving around: I suspected they were talking shop. Business. Money. Like savages of old; cruel rites around them were as casual as a cup of tea: I was surprised slaves weren't around. A dark aristocracy indeed: rivaling NASDAQ, yet likely not even having identification papers in the world's bureaucracy, like some horror movie rich enjoyers of torture and death, namely Hostel. Yet these people looked as normal as everyone else in the world.

I kept watching the most unique, bizarre procession, transfixed. The girl was content, her head down, eyes half-closed, her forehead resting on a small pile of hot towels with her arms and legs bound: it must be numbing to lay so for hours, and yet she was cheerful and accepting of it. She even laughed and replied to a comment made by one of the many waitresses, and housekeepers maintaining the altar, cleaned the floor, and restocked refreshments. These people truly went all out whether it was collecting trash, setting a painting, or even sacrificing a human being, since they had even a house doctor! Shock after shock kept me paralyzed: a Chinese woman in a doctor's lab coat had arrived, making her way across the chairs and waitresses giving way to her. With a nurse's Red Cross face mask for hygiene on her face, the doctor wiped the sweat off her body with a dry napkin and gloved hands, took the sacrifice's pulse and noted it on a small notepad, then powdered her beautiful back and breasts (sneaking a few wipes between her legs as well, the sacrifice was aroused by her situation, her pussy must have been wet), rubbed her feet with fragrant disinfectant, and maintained the funeral procession as if she was used to it. The Triad members, of mixed gender, mostly female, kept their polite distance, ignoring the bizarre offering altar as if it were the most normal thing in the world. I wouldn't be surprised if they were talking business and succession already, tattooed, grim-looking Chinese women with guns and suits looking at me with an interested stare. They were sexy and deadly, and I felt like a little lamb amongst wolves.

At my age with a sheltered life, I should have gone mad, maybe tried to escape. I didn't bother. My world had gone upside-down, might as well enjoy the ride to damnation. Years of online porn and fetishes helped as well, that goes without saying, I'll say no more.

"I see that you at least understand the meaning of sacrifice, and haven't done anything crazy," The "secretary" of the Triad, who had introduced herself to me as Jun Zheng two days ago talked to me gently, holding my arm as we sat on chairs in the front row.

"Human sacrifice," I could only mumble. The naked girl bound on the sacrificial meat plate brightly smiled at me, then turned her attention to the waitress who sat next to her, an older, slightly matronly Chinese woman in a grey, long-skirted uniform with her vest unbuttoned. The waitress seemed to be taking a break from serving drinks to the visitors outside, having unbuttoned her vest. She took out her smartphone with a weary sigh and started scrolling, careful not to disturb the prostrate naked girl in saffron-colored bonds, whose attention was drawn to the smartphone. Seeing the soon-to-be victim, the waitress turned and smiled, and turned the phone so she could watch as well. The naked girl's eyes widened in amusement, they started laughing at the video together, other waitresses taking breaks and joining in the fun. They all were talking happily, exchanging words, comments, and laughter, faces joyful and relaxed, perfectly aware of what the girl was in for.

Crazy was an understatement.

"It seems so normal!" I nearly wailed, my erection, fear, and emotions making me faint. Jun shrugged, smiling gently with understanding. "She is bound and trussed like a turkey to be offered as meat!" I spoke in a shaking voice as Jun smiled and nodded with understanding. "...and yet she makes jokes and enjoys her time with...the staff...on the internet! This has got to be a dream!" I told her, heart pounding, eyes widening. "A-are they taking selfies?!" I croaked as a darker-skinned maid who was cleaning the chairs and windows regularly took a break with the sacrifice as well. She was likely Thai, eagerly fishing out a smartphone from her skirt, and started taking a selfie with the naked offering. The girl smiled sweetly at the camera, with the Thai waitress making a "V" sign, cheek to cheek.

Selfies. Snap. She took a souvenir photo with the naked girl's prostrate nudity in the camera. What if the sight fell to the internet?

My body was as if it was floating, as the chair next to the offering was occupied by another young Asian waitress who took the chair, fished out her smartphone, and tapping, opened a video by the sounds of it. The sacrificial girl turned her neck to watch the video together as well, giggling. She spoke to the Thai girl in Chinese, who then stopped the video and tapped a comment to my surprise dictated by our bound victim, and started scrolling, both waitress and sacrifice watching funny videos to pass the time, occasionally stopping to chat. The "doctor" had returned, tapped the naked girl's shoulder, offered a glass of iced water with a straw to hydrate the soon-to-be dismembered, happy Chinese girl, and fed her a small pill.

"Hourly medication," The doctor told her in Chinese, as Jun translated to me. "Doctor Mingzhi gives regular doses of muscle relaxants and slow acting painkillers. It is a sacrifice, it doesn't need to be needlessly cruel. Interesting, isn't it?" She asked gently, seeing my aroused shock. "Her job is to care for her patient until the very end."

"I think so," was all I could say, watching the sight. The girl swallowed with a bit of difficulty and sipped the water afterward, her butt wiggling a bit as she swallowed, careful not to drop her flowers in her bound hands on her back.

"Xie Xie" she thanked the "doctor" girl bringing her refreshment and lining up with her mouth to slake her thirst. "Thank you." The girl smiled, noted the girl's neck pulse, recorded it, and left, likely promising to keep her hydrated until the end. I was frozen. The maid who showed her the video thanked her and waved goodbye, getting back to work. After she left, the girl on the plate asked politely a waitress for something, who brought a small book, opened, it, and left it on her plate, allowing the girl to calmly read a book that wouldn't even matter to her soon. In a room next to the funeral chamber, I could see a few Chinese women in cook's aprons and hats sharpening knives and making (vegetarian) dishes for the guests, but the knives and cleavers clearly showed what would happen to the girl, who was happily reading her book set on her chin as she held the sacred flowers in her bound palms, arms twisted and bound with hands on her butt. A waitress changed the page when she softly asked, and I could see them discussing the book as if they were long friends in a cafe.

Jun chuckled politely.

"It is a human sacrifice, but everyone is having fun here. Life and death are things to be celebrated, all-natural, with offerings and gifts to the heavens and hells. You Westerners are too simple: Mistress Xiwang-Mu was a crime boss but is very spiritual. In her death, she also offers to Yama because it is the proper form, the girl will be ritually slaughtered, and prepared as human meat to the Rakshasa so they won't bother the boss lady's soul." Jun motioned me to relax, her hands folded before her now:

"Shang Dynasty rulers did this, mass sacrifices of slaves at graves: I do not expect you to understand this, young man. My boss wanted you to see a very different side of the world where we are in harmony, but removed from your world in a very different way." Seeing me look around in a daze, Jun politely asked, her beautiful, fragrant body inches away from me:

"I am your guide here, and your protector, you have nothing to fear. Would you like a drink? Something to eat?" Her caring, oval, lovely Chinese face looked at me with utmost understanding. Seeing my emotional rollercoaster, and my eyes drifting to the naked girl, hands and feet bound and trussed on her face and knees on the plate, being cleaned, dried, and occasionally anointed with religious incense, Jun raised an eyebrow.

"Explain. Please." I could only croak, waving over a polite Chinese waitress for some water. Smiling, the dainty woman brought me a long glass of water, as Jun kept lecturing me politely and slowly:

"You understand that as Chinese, we make offerings to the dead. The offering of food and fake money signifies the continuing interdependence between the deceased and their living descendants. We conduct prayers and offerings to help the deceased's soul to find peace and escape the fate of becoming a "restless ghost" as your people put it." Jun coolly mentioned. "Human sacrifices are rare, but my boss wanted at least one human offering. I could only gather her in such short notice, her family offering her for the occasion. My assistants still think of a few more, maybe, it would bring much honor to our house. Since the next day's lunch will involve some of the meat prepared for the ancestors, we could use a few more people still." She didn't say "girls"...

This was getting better and better. At least one: what was she implying? Was she thinking of...adding ME to another plate, to be cut up and served to the dead spirits?

I bit my lips, careful about prying: "Jun, can I be honest? If I speak, your goons..." She frowned a bit. "...people will not hurt me?"

Jun said nothing, her face pensive. "Very well, speak, please."

"I'm not getting grabbed and killed together with her, will I?"

Jun smiled enigmatically, "Remember what I said? Nothing will happen to you unless you bring it on yourself."

Too much stress, too much out of comfort zone. I quickly changed the subject.

"I read that she is...er..." My face strained as I found the courage to say it. "Triad?" At my question, Jun nodded quietly, still in her demure secretary attitude.

"Yes."

"And yet your organization believes in that...stuff? Not out of tradition but genuinely believe in sacrifices?"

She kept patiently nodding as if I was an idiot, and she was a goddess of understanding. "Yes, of course. Shang rulers of China were all the same. Yet they sacrificed offerings like gold, pottery, hemp, and well..." She smiled at the sacrificial girl and gave a little wave, who, in her bound, naked position, smiled back and nodded, returning to read the book before her.

"...people."

"Human sacrifice." I still had difficulty grasping it, even less so since many Triad members were ignoring the ritual being prepared and talking about, from the foreign words I could hear, business. Export, Import, Corporations...All the while the human sacrifice was a content young girl who wore nothing but her ribbons, all the while as cameras flashed around her, and a middle-aged, gentle-mannered Taoist priestess making rounds, praying and burning incense around the altar, completely detached from the human sacrifice next to her or Asia's darkest mafioso relaxing outside, inside, ignoring the funeral.

"There is still some time: goodbye prayers, eulogies, and a few songs before the final ritual and appropriate sacrifices. She will enjoy her last hours here to the fullest. Wait here, I need to make a phone call." Jun took out her buzzing smartphone, looking at the Chinese name, and became very serious. "Business."

I nodded like an idiot as she left for outside, starting to talk in hurried Chinese. A waitress, after offering the sacrificial girl another sip of water (likely not to make her bladder fill up but to hydrate her against perspiration), approached me politely, a creamy-brown-skinned, chubby young Filipina wearing the catering company's uniform.

"Water?" She spoke in unaccented English, and I accepted her glass of water without protest. Suddenly, I was curious.

"Excuse me..." I touched her arm.

"Yes sir?" She turned and blinked, smiling.

"Can you translate something for me? Do you speak Chinese?"

"Of course!" She beamed happily. I led her to the kind, aging priestess who was cleaning and dabbing the altar's fixtures with fragrant incense. I hurriedly asked the waitress about a little question that lingered in my mind:

"Please ask in private if is she the only one being offered, and there won't be any bad surprises." I subtlely pointed at the bound girl on the altar happily talking with a Chinese maid having a break, her head looking up like a puppy even though the maid was seated, lost in deep conversation about...I don't know. They were casually talking as if they were long-time friends, one to be slaughtered at the end of the day, another a catering company's servant who seemed to be perfectly accepting the rite.

The priestess tilted her head, squinting. She gently spoke to the waitress who translated for me:

"Likely, unless more girls volunteer to pay their respects before we start." The priestess added a small word, and the waitress translated with a glint in her eye. "Or boys."The waitress grinned at me with a friendly look as the priestess spoke, but her words were not mischievous. She stated calmly, casually. "There is great..." The waitress bit her lips, expression serious as she found the word: "...magic power in a young body, more if virgin."

"Qi", I think I knew that from video games. These people believed in such things, as the Aztecs did. Barbaric? Maybe. But it was all consensual, could such a thing be barbaric? The girl across the chairs was naked, bundled with ceremonial ribbons yet calm, watching a funny cat video and laughing with the waitress, even poking the screen with her nose and dictating a cheerful comment. And yet they were polite, and calm about it: I didn't see the police barging in, so everyone was "in-the-know" here.

"Boys..."

I squinted, suspicious of such an enticing word spoken casually and meaningfully. Carefully I spoke, looking around so as not to embarrass myself in earshot.

"Like...me?" Smiling knowingly, the waitress translated, making the kind lady chuckle and smile politely.

"Yes. That is possible." She told the waitress, who was translating with a grin. The woman's portly, mature features broke into a slow, polite question, formulating every syllable with care not to scare me, it seemed.

"Are you interested?" The waitress translated. "Your secret is safe with me and her." My translator added with a nod and a serious look. This society valued their word, so I felt at ease, testing my mind's boundaries.

"So if I had said yes, would your people...do it?" I spoke as if my limbs were frozen. The priestess shrugged, smiling, her still beautiful, slightly portly face and eyes showing nothing but friendliness.

"Yes...If you want." The waitress translated with a careful gaze, gauging my reactions. "Do you want to?"

The priestess replied in Chinese, politely nodding and waiting as if I wanted to speak up, eyes twinkling. Digesting this information, and not to keep her from her work, I politely thanked her and bid her goodbye, the waitress shrugging and returning to their work. Before she did likewise, the middle-aged woman dabbed her right hand into her bowl and patted my forehead with some of the sacred dust and a mischievous smile. I watched her leave and decided to sit down, though I caught the priestess kindly smiling at me as she worked her rounds of prayers and incense. The aroma was beautiful, and calming, I could not deny it. Her gaze left me eventually, but as minutes passed, I found her looking at me occasionally. So I went back to my chair and tried to distract myself with the statue of a vicious-looking Asian demoness carved from solid marble. The craftsmanship was incredible, it didn't exactly look Indian, but with a re-imagining of whatever spiritual force that looked vicious (and needed blood and flesh) in Chinese aesthetics. After all, religions and schools intermingled in Asia far more than we knew.

I digested all of this, silently, in morbid fascination, until I felt the jasmine-scent of Jun's perfume, and her gentle hand on my shoulder, calming me:

"I'm back!" She smiled. "Had a call about succession. Some lieutenants needed their palms greased for the assembly. Even women can be vicious, don't you think?"

I gave a lazy-eyed stare, my brain acclimatized to the scene more or less: "Judging the situation..." I dangled it so as not to offend her. Luckily she wasn't and chuckled sweetly, clearly getting the point: this was a quasi-barbaric cult and a criminal organization, all in one. Holding my hand with her soft, yet strong fingers, she asked with a careful venture out of our comfort zone.

"Would you like to talk to her? I can translate."
"HER?"
She nodded knowingly.

Gulping, I nodded. This was coming.

"Come,"

She pulled my shaking hand and led me to the large plate, the naked, happy victim's gaze focusing on me as she did nothing to free her bonds.

"Ni-hao..." The girl politely nodded in what little freedom her neck had, turning her head to face me, Jun standing politely between us. They exchanged a few words, at the end of which, the girl nodded eagerly, starting to talk in her melodic, sweet voice, completely interested and focused on me.

"My name is Jia Li, offered for good graces of the dead." Jun translated her words with a neutral expression. "Pleased to meet you! What is your name? Where are you from? I never saw you before!"

Dear God, she was bubbly and happy, questions were coming one after another. With Jun's encouragement, I sat next to her in a pulled chair, Asian maids offering me fruit and water. Jun motioned me to give her a little bow of my head, which she returned respectfully. I told them all about myself, and how I came to meet the "Dragon Lady". Jia listened with a curious face, while still naked and exposed with her bountiful, pale butt stuck up to the air (and an awkward moment when the middle-aged Chinese priestess tapped the girl's feet and buttocks to puff sacred dust around her), she asked for the most minor details as if they would matter to her in the afterlife, to be eaten by demons and people in tomorrow's lunch. She asked about my favorite music, and my favorite foods, and told me all about her life, and I found myself relaxing talking to her despite her being butt-naked and offered on a plate to the dead. She liked Western pop music, also KPOP, and told me all about the movies and actors she loved. It was so weird, yet so calming. My heart twinged a little when she told me she would have loved to see Paris, but well...We all knew she would die today. She didn't mind, even relating a story about her family when they went on a trip in Beijing, laughing at her little sister trying to eat cotton candy, and her face smeared. Bound naked in the fetal position on a sacrificial plate while she told me about her family, an elderly Chinese visitor lady recording our conversation on-camera as well as the funeral room as if she was saving it for her children... I didn't know what to say. What's more, the motherly priestess I talked to earlier passed by us and playfully patted my back, neck, and ears with her powdery incense bundle, giving my cheek a friendly pat. I felt tingly, clearly aware of her implication and gentle manipulation. Jun felt it too, but said nothing, her polite demeanor showed no emotion. Some waitresses giggled, the worldly lady resuming her rounds.

I chuckled, relaxed, riding the crazy to damnation, why not play along? "Tell me about your family."

Her cheer was unbroken, she told me about her mother and father, and all her sisters. They were all hardworking and smart people, even her less educated two sisters were famous influencers. I even knew one of them, it seemed; advertising jewelry on Youtube! I spoke back in turn, recounting the events that led me here.

"All the way from there, to see the boss lady's funeral." Jia smiled. "You are fortunate to see our culture."

When I swallowed and replied shyly, she laughed.
"Even...this?" I pointed at her bonds, her soft, naked body adorned and given up much like the roast chicken next to her. A literal food animal for the spirit world.
And yet, she happily nodded with blushing cheeks. "It is an ancient tradition. You see..."

From this conversation I learned that she was a freshman student at Beijing University of Technology, School of Humanities and Languages, one of the five daughters of her parents, whose benefactor was our deceased crime lady Mei-Li the "Dragon Queen", educated in her ancient history and culture, she was a prodigy, unearthing many Shang-Era artifacts in field trips with a deep interest in virgin sacrifices and funerary offerings. When Mei-Li died, this time not evading her enemies in a shootout, her father donated Jia Li to be the appropriate sacrifice for the funeral: to allow her to experience the ancient culture firsthand, as well as to protect her mistress and boss in the afterlife, and bring much honor to the family. Probably also for a large monetary compensation. I changed the subject, only to fumble spectacularly:

"Did..do..you have any..." I squinted, trying to formulate, Jun biting her lips and holding her nose, eyes closed behind me, and laughing silently. I felt it.

Oof. I believe Jia knew English enough or got the context:

"I'm proud of my virginity! No boys!" Jia-Li chimed, Jun politely translated and congratulated her for the honor. "My body and flesh will sustain the purity my mistress will need to protect her in the afterlife. And then tomorrow's memorial lunch."

I blushed and had a fearful erection. What was I becoming here?

"You aren't a virgin? I wouldn't be surprised. Wes-teern." Jia-Li gave a half smile and smirk, speaking the last word in English and very subtly wiggling her butt in her bound position as my erection strained my pants. When I told her I actually was, a gasp of surprise rose, even from the waitresses.

"No way!"
"Impossible!"
"Is he gay or something?"
"Nonsense..." A Chinese waitress smirked and waved her hand dismissively. She returned to wheeling a tray of red juice and peaches and politely offering refreshments to the visitors, and left with the tray outside, to cater to the people relaxing in the gardens.
I heard the comments in Chinese, I didn't understand them but felt the context.

Behind me, Jun was deep in thought, beckoning to the Daoist priestess and whispering something, pointing at my body and making the measure of a size, who nodded, whispered back, and smiled gently, leaving to talk to a cook. I didn't see it. She had guaranteed me safety, these people honored their words, strange as it was. I hope she didn't relay to Jun what I had told her earlier! I have a deep interest in submissive erotic art, but, all of this was make-believe in my mind, desperately clinging to the coping mechanism in my head. Even if it was real, it was just her, willing, no harm was done to someone unwilling. Right?

Distracting me from these thoughts toward happier memories, Jia told me all about her favorite music and listened to my past. "Maybe it's fate," she suggested, smiling mysteriously. "That you are here for this auspicious event.

"But you will be...dead?"

Jia smiled, turning her neck around to exercise her muscles, careful not to shrug and drop her offerings of flowers on her palms. "Death happens all the time. I am honored to be the sacrifice in the spirits of our ancestors. It is a family tradition: our family has always had many children and ignored the limits of the infidel government. A girl was always ready for an esteemed funerary ritual, giving abroad to rich white men to be a spying bride, or even the dinner plate when times were scarce during the Mao Famine." Her face was slightly melancholic. "It's just that I am to be the one this generation. I was to graduate for a position in Culture Ministry. Don't tell them I said that, please!" She added, giggling. "They might expel me from college!"

Silence. She looked meaningfully with mischievous eyes as if she expected me to understand the joke. After a few neurons clicked together in my dumbed-down, erection-addled brain, I got it.

I broke into laughter, and she joined in. We laughed about the absurdity of her dissent from the government, it was innocent, happy laughter separated from the somber upcoming event. It was sweet, innocent laughter I didn't have for weeks, warming my soul. Still, her other words snapped me back to reality.

"I'm sorry." I swallowed, barely digesting the fact that her family literally reared children to be daughters to be traded, and even ate one in a famine, likely one of her potential aunts.

"Don't be!" Jia giggled. "I'm happy to have met you, even here." Her voice carried pure acceptance and contentment.

Jun touched my arm: "Let's leave her in peace, you will get to talk to her before it all ends. Let me show you around some more."

"Later!" Jia spoke in accented English as we left. I found myself smiling back, relaxed now, but amused. "Later", said the girl who would be cut apart for offerings, happily bound in erotic bondage on an offering plate.

We left the victim to relax on the plate, doomed on the altar with the occasional staff on break.

Jun showed the other tables with a flourish: "There are vegetarian meals, water, and refreshments. Take what you can. You won't get much chance when the eulogies begin, and hunger can be painful."

Hands shaking, I munched a peach, and took a drink of water as mournful Chinese traditional music softly echoed around the interior of the mansion, kept immaculate by the staff. The tune wasn't a string instrument, but a very low blare of a reed instrument being blown, accompanied by an occasional striking of a cymbal, a haunting tune.

Speaking of the staff, I had expected scantily clad maids, even slave women in chains maintain such a grim and grotesque procession. But it was clean, orderly, and polite: the Chinese way. A duo of Chinese and South East Asian waitresses leaned on the wall sharing a cigarette, laughing over a smartphone video, ignoring the doomed, naked girl reading her book and chatting with the resting staff. At least no children were present, thank God. Kids running around the sacrifice would have been grotesque. From the corner of my eye, I saw naked Jia looking at a smartphone video a waitress showed, sagely nodding and making a clever comment, making the waitress open her mouth in surprise as she wiped Jia's breasts clean of sweat and powdering her body with gloved hands.

Constant medical checks were probably Jia's rare enjoyment of sensuality, it seemed. I saw the masked "doctor woman" in her white hurriedly coming from another room as she was talking to someone over the phone. She quickly shut the phone, and waved over to Jia, taking out a thermometer. I knew what was coming:

"I'm sorry girls!" The female doctor donned her mask, explaining her apparent delay, "Foreign patient had a symptom, I had to take this call, pure white Fortune 500 American, big whale, big money. Is my patient alright?" The waitresses nodded eagerly.

"We are keeping her comfortable until she is sent to the gods, what are you doing?" A young, Eurasian-featured blonde (likely a Russo-Chinese) blinked when she saw the doctor reach into a bag hurriedly.

"Checking for fever," The doctor noted, speaking to her in Chinese, then leaned to face Jia, "Are you alright? Do you have jitters? Excited? I can apply another muscle relaxant if you like. The ceremony isn't ready yet. The last group didn't arrive, so you'll have to endure this a bit longer. Does your stomach ache? Sorry we can't give you anything to eat."

Jia smiled and shook her head.

"I'm sure the Gods enjoy the sight though, they won't be offended by the delay." One of the waitresses commented, eliciting a wave of giggles before returning to arrange refreshments, Jia giggling along, the doctor shaking her head in amused laughter. She nodded:

"A little pain, yisheng." Jia bowed her head to the plate in respect for the doctor. "How long must I honor my lady's memory like this?" She was enjoying the ministrations, her tight, pink, clean anus puckering as the white plastic penetrated it, and stayed, stuck deep inside to take her temperature. "I have to finish the book, visitors keep me busy though, not that I mind. So many new people to talk to!" She happily replied but bit her lips and closed her eyes at the sudden intrusion.

"Its cold!" Jia whimpered when it got in.
"Sorry."

The doctor had dabbed the tip with ointment, gently inserting it into the naked girl's bound ass sticking to the sky as the waitresses giggled, one of them, the dark Thai girl recording the examination, biting her lips, though the doctor frowned at her disrespect, who in turn shrugged.

"The priest and the cooks are present, but the gravesite isn't ready, so I'd say two or three hours. They are setting up a traditional kiln, grill, and the woks are being shipped: all bronze, all traditional Shang-Era, super expensive and special. Restraints and other things too." The female doctor spoke coolly, massaging Jia's ass and examining her vagina for cleanliness with an expert hand before replacing her gloves. "Then the ritual, eulogy, photo shoot, offering ceremony, paper burning, the final goodbyes." The doctor chuckled, caressing Jia's ass as she kept the thermometer inside with one hand until the device bleeped. Pulling it out gently, the doctor noted, patting Jia's ass softly so as not to disperse the sacred powders. "Good, no fever, no menstrual blood, no excessive dirt. Pulse steady. How much pain?" She noticed Jia squirm in her bonds, whether out of pain or pleasure, she didn't know.

Jia's face twisted a bit, thinking. "My arms and legs ache a bit. But I will suffer if I must." The masked doctor's beautiful, long hair shook:

"No, we can't have that unless you want it. Relax, this will sting." The doctor gently injected Jia's bare arms and round, white butt with two small syringes, the girl blinking in discomfort, face twisting, then relaxing in surrender, eyes half closed. "This will keep your muscles relaxed and calm. I will make a final injection and give you a stomach pill before you are sent off. Hunger pangs on empty digestive system can be very painful, and we don't want you to suffer it for another three hours."

"Thank you, yisheng." Jia smiled, looking up from her bonds. "Thank you for everything. I feel honored." Her voice was sweet, excited even.

"I'll remember you in my prayers to the boss. Thank you as well!" The woman bowed slightly, smiled behind her mask, and left, taking another phone call.

"Wei?" She disappeared into another room, muffled Chinese conversation coming from the room.

I didn't understand a word of the happy Chinese chatter, but I could guess what they were talking about, bound, happy offering, and serious, cold Chinese nurse, doctor. Jun poked my back with a nailed finger, her bespectacled eyes glowing with hidden excitement.

"I would like to show you something, and describe the funeral ceremony schedule. Come."

We entered a small, wooden room with bamboo walls, yet tastefully decorated with marble floors a small laptop, and a few papers, isolated from the hubbub of the funeral visitors, the room had two chairs, some flowers, a few Chinese scrolls stuck to the walls and a large, oak table in the middle. It looked much like a modern office interview room, but fragrant, and smelling of fresh flowers, and incense, with a calming presence. A young, black-haired (most of them were) Chinese maid in modern hotel staff attire brought a small plate with two glasses, a water beaker, and a few light vegetarian snacks, bowing, she left.

"This is a Non-Disclosure Agreement if you ever leave this place. Please sign."

"If?" I blinked, as Jun smiled and said nothing. Her smile was enigmatic.

"It says nothing of being a witness of a ritual woman-slaughter, which is illegal even if she is semi-willing, but will destroy your life in many other ways. Laws, after all, can be guided." Her smile was gentle as if she meant no harm. Sighing, I signed, with no other option. Jun relaxed, leaning back and showing a laptop with elegant Chinese text:

"This is the schedule: The funeral ceremony will start in two hours, we have time until then. The sacrifices will be presented to the altar along with the Vengeance Gifts, which are four crime bosses' blood in canopy jars: the same people you protected the 大家姐（dai ga jie), the Big Sister five years ago. We will count the offerings, joss money, the light food offerings to the holy dead, and the meat offerings to the impure." Jun took a drink of water, unbuttoning her tight vest. "The ceremony and prayers will commence as the priestess prays over and blesses each article including the profane meat (most of which will be entombed with the deceased in the end) and fake money (which we will burn together)" Sighing, she pressed a button, showing the next page:

"The daughter of the Big Sister Mei-Li, who will have to protect her position -but I will ensure she succeeds her mother, not that it's your concern- will preside over the eulogy, praising her mother and the consortium. Then, by seniority, family members will address the visitors and will exchange gifts, each burning a handful of joss money."

I haven't brought any, I told her, uneasy.

"Your presence is enough, no matter what happens, you are an honored visitor."

Her reply made me feel hot and bothered, but I wasn't ready to make the decision we both suspected yet, perhaps hoping to hook up with an Asian beauty. Who knows? Maybe that's why they brought me, to be the boy toy of a dangerous Triad lady, her boy sex slave. It is easy to imagine when you are young. But no matter. I drank my water as she clicked a button.

"The exchange over, we gather and bow to the offerings, thanking them for their sacrifice. Jia..." She smiled softly, breaking her seriousness, "...or any other human sacrifices included, who will be thanked by everyone present, lifted and "offered" before the picture with a short declaration."

It was hot. It was hot. I couldn't deny it. Jun knew my reaction.

"A round of prayers for half an hour or so with the priestess leading it will commence. Then we will address the honored dead, and will gather for a group photoshoot before the altar, the sacrifices and staff included, so everyone keeps their secrecy. Then we burn the burnable things like joss money, combustible food items, and incense at the altar, some may take pictures of the offerings."

"Speaking of which..." I interrupted with morbid curiosity, "A few people I noticed, took videos of the ritual, Jia included. Some even recorded her intimates, and her medical examination. You saw some took selfies, right?" Jun shrugged:

"These are small fry in this age, heard of "Fake News"? Trust me, a young man like you better not delve deep. Plus everyone here knows each other and their secrets." Her lazy smile was uninterrupted:

"Before the finale, everyone washes their hands signifying purity, and the live sacrifices will be prepared for their final moments: Jia..." She added with a sly smile. "...and any other sacrifices present will be given twenty-two minutes to come to terms, make final calls to her family and friends, and a short leisure time resting on the blessed silver plates offering their souls to the afterlife. Ten for the perfection of the ceremony, eight for the fortune she will bring in sacrifice, and four for death, the sad end of us all. Which makes twenty-two."

I was amazed: "If I might add, this is amazing. I just had to say it, this...eastern philosophy..." Jun gave a soft chuckle and a slight bow of her head.

"I'm glad you can appreciate it, even if "morbid" to your kind. The honored doctor will make a final quick health check on the sacrifice...s...and will sign the papers for the death certificate to obfuscate any legalities. Jia and any sacrifices will be declared dead, having been "lost in the wilderness" in various prefectures with natural disasters. Accidents bring investigations we don't want. Nature does not." That scratched the doubts in my head: the Russian mob killed my family.

Jun was sexy. Beautiful, petite, and gentle, she was vulnerable yet elegant, and driven, her short, pixie-cut hair and pale, noble Chinese complexion made her like a she-tiger in a pencil skirt.

She straightened up: "Next comes the finale, with the cymbals, sheng, and suona's music, a final ceremony and procession, the coffin of our departed lady will be carried, behind her, the sacrifices will be wheeled into the mausoleum prepared for the departed, to their final destination in fanfare. The staff sworn to secrecy will place Mei's prepared coffin into the mausoleum. The sacred offerings, meatless, bloodless offerings, and any gifts the visitors bring will be placed around the deceased, placating the higher beings." Jun's eyes bore on me: "The profane, blooded ones, meaning, animal meat offerings and Vengeance Canopies will be laid at the entrance of the grave before the sacrifice.

I shuddered.

"Jia will be killed..." I spoke that name as if I fancied her resilience, beauty, body, and gentle Chinese features, soon to be a grotesque series of human meat dishes to placate the unholy. Jun knew the yearning.

"Yes. Cooks with education in ancient methods and Sheng-Era rituals will initiate the final act: the naked victims will be sacrificed, dismembered, and cooked into various traditional Sheng-era meals on-site, the recipe changed with human meat, prepared in traditionally made brick kilns and Shang-era torture implements around the grave. Muscles are made into meat dishes, some edible organs will be each prepared as delicacies to their animal equivalent." I was listening with a raging erection mixed with fear. Torture? Jun held my hand as if soothing a child:

"It is a necessity, nothing is earned without a bit of pain but it ends quickly. Some rituals must be made during the sacrifice per tradition." Her fingers calmed me as they ran over my hand. She went on, explaining the grotesque rites as if they were a walk in the park.

"Genitals will be removed, cleaned, injected with silicon, gilded and preserved for fertility and good fortune to be hung around the deceased's coffin as charms. Heads will be removed, injected with preservatives, cleaned, preserved, blessed and set around the grave as watchers to protect the gravesite since the sacrifices give up their souls to protect the mistress' spirit, bound to the grave until Mistress' Dharma guides her to the Thousand Clouds. Once the offered meat dishes are set together with the vegetarian dishes, the ovens will be cleaned, and extinguished, any dirt will be cleaned, and the mausoleum will be bricked shut, the sacrifices' souls offered to protect the deceased against tribulations. They will suffer what the Big Sister must as their earthly body are devoured by Rakshasa, and ease her burdens...Or so am I told, I'm not a priest..." Jun shrugged with a smile. "There will be some dehumanizing sexual torture involved due to the nature of the preparation, as long as no sacrifice enters another not to despoil their virginity. Our cooks know some of the dark arts from unearthed scrolls, so, it will be, I must admit, painful, yet with a bit of enjoyment if one is into that kind of thing." She added with an apologetic smile. "It's a sacrifice after all. But I am told they give a bit of pleasure too, the cooks are not monsters, they are people with feelings too, women from the best schools in China and with good, loving families. One is famous for vlogging, you know her, a rural video artist, thirtysomething, all prim and proper. Famous. Does all these videos of food preparation with the tapping noises you people enjoy."

My jaw dropped, eyes widening. Jun seemed to love my reaction, her smirk turning into a blown raspberry and a chuckle.

"I love it everytime I tell people she is tied to us."

My mouth was open, I was frozen. I tried to wrap my head around it, after all the revelations today, it was still another milestone.

"No."

"Yes." Jun giggled, laughing sweetly and wiping my mouth. "Your mouth is drooling. After all the sights you had today, you got shocked by this?"

"Impossible!" I held on, protesting. "She makes traditional food, fruits and does all this...what do you call it... "I flogged my neurons for the word. "Tradwife stuff? She must have a mean streak, with all the tiny arms and cute..."

Jun smirked, sipping her water and speaking in a teasing, arrogant voice: "You are saying women are weak? Here? That she can't chop you up like a little piggy if she wanted?" Her lips broke into a grin: "We can leave you with her in the kitchens if you want...since you like to tease everyone and court doom, sweet young man."

I nervously waved my hands and laughed nervously. "I was joking!" I wailed. Her arrogant smirk faded away and turned into a calm smile.

"I know, I like to tease you. And yes, she will be likely present, but mostly do the cooking and seasoning, not the dismembering and beheading." I could never get used to her casual talking of grotesque acts, in her sweet, caring, and dutiful office attendant attire. "There will be stronger cooks for that. One of them is a shamaness, and a loving, fortysomething mother of eight kids. She might look like a cuddly mother, but is an expert on animal sacrifices." That made me shudder.

Why was she detailing the staff like that? Never mind...I thought.

"W-what happens to the meat, all wasted?" I croaked, thirsty, drinking water, eager to move on. She shook her head, explaining.

"Less than a third of it will be made into offerings to the dead on plates, the rest will be taken back, aged for a day, and made into consolation dishes for the living, served at lunch tomorrow. Just perfect ratio: three for the spirits, seven for the earthly mundane according to our traditions." Jun proudly exclaimed.

"Jia's meat will be on the menu. I suppose if she is happy about it..."

Jun's evil smile could brighten a city, as she clapped her hands and made a reverent gesture, bowing.

"I am glad you have come to understand!" Her gaze softened. "All humans are beings, and I respect them, but human sacrifice is a perfectly acceptable and heavenly concept. Her sacrifice and soul will be honored, protecting the gravesite's integrity. The amount of meat from her won't be enough for a banquet, but a few strips of it on everyone's bowl of rice is a beautiful symbolic act in itself. And that's enough for us."