The girls were a picture of tragedy.
The clothes that were in pristine condition were now in tatters and the skin visible were covered in cuts and bruises.
Stunned into silence, Lukas could only stare. A thousand scenarios ran through his mind, but none could truly explain one thing; the girls' satisfied expression.
Maybe they'd beaten up the people who had assaulted them? Or perhaps the two got into an argument, fought and made up?
"Tingting came up with a great idea to get rid of the bodies."
All of a sudden Xiaozhi spoke up.
"What does that have to do with the state of you two!?"
Wu Shen's eyes were bulging as he scanned them for knife wounds.
To say that the boys were in shock was an understatement. The only flowers of the group had actually come back so beaten. Were they not a gang now? Who dared mess with them!? They'd have to teach that person a lesson!
Xiaozhi coughed lightly.
"Listen properly. Initially, it was only Tingting who got injured-"
"Someone jumped our angel first!?"
"Now they're just seeking death!"
"Listen! Geez, all of you are so quick to jump to conclusions."
The boys all quietened under Xiaozhi's glare.
"As I was saying, Tingting, fell over and scratched up her hands and knees pretty badly." Tingting grinned as she showed her bloodied palms. "I said that it looked like she was attacked by something, then Tingting had a little idea."
"Yup. We'll just blame these men for kidnapping us and trying to assault us."
Tingting smiled brightly at the tied up men.
The men felt like they just heard something incredible. Just what did that kid say she'd do?
"We're gonna call the police?"
A frown quickly formed on Mike's face.
"Mmhm. "
The plan, like all other plans, was risky but there wasn't exactly a better solution.
Lukas quickly surmised what they had to do and gave a pointed look at Wu Shen.
"Fine, fine."
Wu Shen told Xiaodong and Zhifan to pack all their guns away and scout the area for a suitable spot to hide.
He monitored them for a while before getting bored of standing around.
Having successfully dumped his workload onto the others, Wu Shen explored the warehouse in hopes of finding something more useful than Mike. Passing by a particularly dark spot, he came across a slumped over body.
"Huh, this guy was actually asleep all this time-!"
Wu Shen flinched. On a closer look, he realised that the body was actually the man he had killed. The man's lifeless eyes seemed to stare straight at him, asking him why he had to die. Why he had to be sacrificed. The chill of death seemed to creep around him and he could no longer hold it in.
The nausea still held a tight grip on him even after he threw up the contents of his stomach. Again and again he choked until there was nothing that came up except bile.
"Hey, are you ok?"
The sound of a soft male voice startled Wu Shen, and he looked behind him with anxiety.
Mike's eyes narrowed as he saw Wu Shen's current state.
'Both his mind and the floor is a mess'
He glanced at the bodies stacked in the corner and scratched his nose. Now he regretted being lazy and not disposing of them properly.
Mike sat cross legged beside Wu Shen and pat his back.
He pondered on how to comfort him. The kill was done in such close proximity, it was no surprise that Wu Shen's mental state had taken a sharp blow.
The first time Mike had killed was in a kill or be killed situation. But Wu Shen's case was different. The man had no gun. No weapon. No means nor signs of being any form of a threat. He was only killed to make a statement. There weren't many excuses Mike could make up to ease Wu Shen's mind.
"He has no family."
"Huh?"
Both boys' heads jerked up at Lukas' sudden involvement. He had been helping Xiaozhi from afar but spotted Wu Shen crumpling to the floor. It was easy to guess what was happening.
'Seriously, this guy.'
Lukas continued,
"All his family are already dead. He's abusive to his girlfriend and he's committed all sorts of unthinkable acts. A true criminal."
"Is that true?"
"Have you ever heard me tell a lie?"
"No, but..."
"You saw before that I used to be very close to their boss. I also knew this guy personally."
Colour slowly returned to Wu Shen's face as he straightened his back.
"If it gives you some kind of closure, bury the body yourself."
Lukas thought about the place the both of them had went before to dump the old man's body.
"I can do that?"
"Of course."
Wu Shen turned to look at the meaty man. Lost in thought, he didn't notice that Mike and Lukas walking away.
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't understand. Both the annoying guy and the happy-go-lucky guy could kill without thought, but he, he reacted so strongly to one person? Was this all he was made of?
No.
That couldn't be true.
He'd also killed the enemy's boss in the river. At that time, how did he feel? Did he even feel anything? In fact, he was so excited he acquired the man's password that he forgot he had even left him to drown.
What was so different?
Both were gangsters. He knew that. It wasn't as if he had killed some innocent off of the streets.
So why did it have to affect him this badly?
Was it his feelings towards both of them? The old man had tricked him, made him feel like a fool and kicked up a whole lot of fuss that made him actively kick him back into the river. The meaty one, on the other hand, apart from the initial struggle, did nothing to anger him.
Was that the reason?
In any case, it wasn't like he had torn a family apart. The man had no family, was abusive, and was a criminal. That was what Lukas had told him. That guy wasn't the type to comfort others with lies. It must have been the truth. But what if- No!
'It was the truth. Definitely! If not- If not, then-'
The cries burrowed in the back of his throat choked him. The man in front of him blurred like an afterimage as hot wet tears rolled down his pale cheeks.
'What have I done?'
. . .
After some time, Mike mumbled,
"Was that true?"
Lukas glanced at Wu Shen before answering with a shake of his head,
"How would I know some random guy's life story?"
"You lied to him?"
Mike stared wide-eyed at Lukas. This time it may have worked, but that was only because Wu Shen's mind was in a very fragile state. If Wu Shen properly thought about it, the lie was so obvious. Things would surely then become worse.
"What else could we do? He doesn't want to leave, he said he'd accept responsibility, yet he's like this. I don't know why he chooses this hard path for himself."
"Hmm"
"For now, this should be fine. Later, we might have to resort to other things..."
Mike's eyebrows knitted.
"Let's hope we don't have to do that."
Lukas sighed. From across the wide space, he could see Wu Shen with his head buried in his hands yet again. From the uncontrollable shaking to the nails digging into flesh, the level of distress was easy to gauge.
"I'll make sure of it."