A spectacular sight befell the townspeople. With three leading them, a long line of people steadily made their way to the lower towns.
Wu Shen gritted his teeth and attempted to shield his face from the public. This- Wasn't this going too far?!
They took the road route back and continued in this fashion to the mansion.
"F*ck."
The boys' jaws dropped as they saw where they were staying. By now, Tingting had sorted out the front garden and a few sprouts of green had popped up around it. In other words, the place was looking considerably more presentable.
'It's massive'
Wu Shen was also one who stared at it. However, his admiration soon turned into wonder as he took note of the charred and not so stable half of the place.
Mike kicked open the door.
"Li'l sis! We've brought you a friend!"
His voice that boomed into the distance was followed by the unmistakable clatter of dishes and soon, Tingting's petite face poked out of the kitchen.
"!"
She stared in shock at the amount of guests in the mansion. There were at least twenty of them.
Her eyes locked onto a figure clinging pitifully onto Lukas's arm.
"A girl!"
Her shyness faded away as she darted to Xiaozhi and introduced herself.
"I'm Tingting. What's your name"
Xiaozhi drew back a little and stammered, "X-Xiaozhi..."
Tingting beamed but then she took in Xiaozhi's tattered appearance. Her gaze traveled downwards until it stopped at the large red swellings on her ankle. The smile turned into a frown.
"Oh no! Are you hurt?! Let me take care of you." Tingting pulled on Xiaozhi's arm and ran upstairs with her.
Lukas turned to the others.
"You'll be staying here from now on."
Silence.
'What did he just say?'
"How about school?"
"What about our work?"
"You want to hole us up in this place?"
Cries of rejection and disapproval burst from the hall. Lukas cocked his head slightly to one side.
"What do you mean? You can still go. You can even study in the library. The books in there won't help you though."
'Hmm?'
'Is he crazy?'
'Does he really think it's that easy?'
"It's fine. If there's no rent then I suppose this won't be so bad."
'?!'
All of Wu Shen's followers turned to look at him at the same time. Their faces clearly screamed 'Please tell us you're joking!'
Wu Shen shook his head silently.
"Nooooo!"
They all clutched at their heads in anguish. How were they meant to get to school? What would they tell their parents? Was this place even safe?!
Wu Shen ignored his people and turned to Lukas. "You won't treat us badly will you?"
"Only if you listen to me."
Wu Shen sighed and turned back to his gang. "We're staying. I'll discuss the important stuff with blondie over there."
The group of boys moaned even louder. Wu Shen glared at them and looked back at Lukas.
"You're ok with doing that, right?"
"Sure." Lukas shrugged. "Make yourselves at home."
"Ah." Mike who had stayed silent all this time suddenly spoke up. "Whatever you do... Don't go near the sealed up room." Mike felt that he needed to mention this. Who knew whether these idiots would deliberately remove all their security measures.
Yes. Ever since that incident, Mike and Lukas had spent all their time and effort into sealing up that horrible room. What if the pure innocent Tingting happened to wander into there? They were men so they were completely fine with seeing such atrocities but a girl like Tingting? Hahahahahaha... Never.
"What? Anyway. Are you sure there're enough rooms for each of us? Half the place is in a wreck..." Wu Shen scrutinised the cracking bricks and blackened walls.
"Of course. The rooms are big enough for two or three to live in the same room. Since you're their boss, you can pick your own room."
The noisy teens fell quiet.
'Oh... Pick any room? This might not be so bad after all...'
They were teens. Getting to choose their own rooms, having no adults around to boss them and getting to do thrilling activities together... it was exciting.
The boys ran around the mansion, drawing lots to decide who would stay in which room together and tidying up the best one for Wu Shen.
Tingting had dressed Xiaozhi in proper attire and bandaged her swollen ankle. Both girls busied themselves in the kitchen, preparing for the great dinner.
Mike had run off back up town to buy a whole lot of blankets and other necessities. Naturally he forced some of Wu Shen's followers to help him with the bags. He also invited Yu Jing back down to eat with them when he had finished.
"Are you sure I should go?" Yu Jing scratched his head uncomfortably. The memories he had of Wu Shen and his gang were not pleasant ones.
"Of course. They'll apologise to you. I'll make sure of it." Mike smiled reassuringly and slapped the back of Yu Jing's head.
"Ok..." He wasn't entirely convinced but as long as he could spend time with his friends, he didn't mind too much.
The necessities bought came up to quite a large sum. However, this was not a problem. The three of them, Lukas, Mike and Tingting, had become well-versed in the art of thievery.
Yes. Their main source of income was through theft. At this point, it was a wonder that the police weren't on the lookout for them.
...
Though night was fast approaching, the mansion's inhabitants were lively and bubbling with excitement at the thought of living in such a mysterious place.
Soon, a mouth-watering scent wafted from the kitchen and into the rest of the mansion. The boys drooled at the smell and as soon as they were informed that the food was finished, they all rushed to eat.
...At least they tried to.
As they ran down the stairs, the boys came dangerously close to crashing into the human barricade below. Who made up the barricade? Well of course it was Mike, Lukas, Tingting and Xiaozhi. They stood with their arms outstretched and prevented anyone from passing.
"What's going on?" One boy who had successfully halted himself questioned them with a confused tone.
Mike spoke up. "To eat, you must apologise for your treatment towards li'l bro."
"Huh?"
"Apologise to Yu Jing or you can return to your rooms and hunt for mice or something."
The room chilled. There was, once again, a division between the two groups.
Unbelievable.
Baffling.
...Ridiculous.
"Why should we apologise to him?! Didn't you already do enough to us before?!"
"Enough of your nonsense. No apology, no food." Lukas glared at them. His arms were aching now and he really just wanted to hit someone. The more his arms ached, the shorter his temper became.
"Wha-"
A hand blocked the boy. Wu Shen stepped forth and squinted his eyes. Unable to find what he was looking for, he asked, "Where is he?"
"Here." Yu Jing made his presence known and the boys hushed themselves. Wu Shen shifted his feet and clenched his fists. He loosened them and made eye contact with Yu Jing.
"I'm not asking for your forgiveness 'cause that'd make me feel pathetic. Just know that I've thought about what I've done and I kind of regret it. I suppose I apologise for treating you like dirt and not an actual being."
Yu Jing nodded then hid behind Lukas.
Lukas understood and lowered his arm for Wu Shen. With the ache slowly dissipating, Wu Shen's favorability rating rose in Lukas's mind.
"Well you guys. I guess I'll be the only one eating now, won't I?" With that, Wu Shen passed the human barricade and walked out of sight.
With their leader making the first move, how could the others not follow?
Creating a long line, each boy mumbled their apologies to Yu Jing and scurried after Wu Shen. Yu Jing didn't care that most of their words went unheard. Just the fact that they were saying something relatively nice to him made him happy.
After that problem was cleared up, everyone settled down to finally appease their grumbling stomachs.
They ate in the library. Two bookcases were emptied and overturned to create a large table. With the moonlight spilling through the large window, a dazzling setting was made and the feast was eaten in joy.
The food tasted just as good as it smelled and served to break down the invisible divider between the two groups. Exclamations of how delicious the food was filled the room. Unused to being praised by a bunch of boys, Tingting blushed and huddled closely to Yu Jing, Mike and Lukas, making sure that Xiaozhi sat close by too.
Lukas looked on around him. Though everyone here hadn't known each other for a very long time, a harmonious mood hung in the air. The sides of his mouth curled unconsciously and he sat back, content, bathing in the warmth that blanketed him and lulled him to sleep.