That was the same question Shane wanted to ask her. He could tell that he had died unjustly, but Tess…
'What the heck happened to her? Wasn't she in her high-school back in his hometown?' he thought, completely stunned.
No, if she died, then their parents must be left behind. That can't be! He instantly pushed her off him and asked in a voice laced with anxiety, "What the heck happened?!"
The girl was shorter than him by a head as she rubbed the back of her neck in an awkward way, "Well, we went on a long trip in the mountains. Had an accident."
"Who else died?" Shane felt his heartbeat rising as he held the shoulders of his sister.
The latter glanced away as her eyes turned red. It seemed That she was suppressing her emotions, "Well, our parents. I think the three of us died at the same time."
Shane's heart thumped upon hearing that. He felt like his entire world crumbled. He had been fine with dying himself, but the fact that his parents ended up like him….
He couldn't take it at all. His body trembled as he stared at his sister, who was on the verge of tears, and asked, "You…. Are you telling me the truth?"
"Why would I die, bro?!" Tess finally shed some tears as she raised her head. She wiped her face with the back of her hand, "You have any idea how I managed to survive?! Do you know what my emotional state was when I woke up all alone only to be told that my parents didn't survive and were sent to the reincarnation portal just because they didn't have enough karmic energy?!
"I wanted to die too! And you doubt my words?!"
Shane also felt a hot teardrop trickling down his right cheek. It was fine if they died, but their parents…..
'Why did it have to be them?' He took a deep breath as he calmed himself down.
If they were still alive, he would be fine with it as long as they could breathe and remember him even after death, but now that they had died, Shane didn't want them to just die like this. His eyes turned red at this thought, but he took deep breaths to suppress his emotions.
He glanced at his sister as he put his hand on her head, "I'm still here, aren't I?"
Tess sniffed and nodded. A moment later, she realized something was on her head as she hit the youth's hands and glared at him, "Am I a puppy to you?"
'No, you're the only family I have left,' he thought, but he wouldn't dare say these words out loud. So he opened his mouth as he rubbed her hair furiously, "That's right, little dog. Bark on my order."
Veins popped out on her forehead. She seemed to have forgotten everything about their parents' death as she glared at her brother and turned her head away while crossing her arms on her chest, "You'll never change, will you?"
That was when Shane noticed the dress she was wearing. He had glanced around earlier and seen that normal girls would wear an outer robe to cover up their bodies and make themselves look decent, but his troublesome sister didn't do that. She only rushed about in her sky blue shirt with a black tie that made her breasts pop out.
Anger filled his heart, "Can't you dress properly?"
"Who are you to tell me what to do?"
"Your brother!"
"So act like one!" Tess was also angry as she firmly stood on her ground, "You're not my mom!"
Shane's aura cooled down in an instant. Sure, he wasn't their mom, but he was still her superior. He hated it when she acted like a spoiled brat, but they were in public, and he didn't want to teach her a lesson in front of everyone else.
His fingers curled up in a fist as he coughed and pulled out his jacket before throwing it at her chest, "Cover up yourself if you don't want to be strangled."
Tess seemed to have realized that things had gone out of her hands as she pouted but listened to her brother.
That was when someone cleared his throat. The brother-sister duo turned their heads only to see a man standing in front of their eyes with a bald head. His height was enormous, and he looked somewhat similar to Dwayne Johnson.
It was just that he wore an ancient western outfit resembling a teacher's. He looked like a proper scholar while holding an invisible notepad in his hands and a pen.
He looked at Shane, "Number?"
Number?
What number?
Shane's head tilted when his sister whispered in his ears, "The system number. Everyone has one. None of these guys converse with names. It's the numbers."
The youth realized as he uttered the number he had memorized just in passing, "12254801."
The bald man nodded and turned toward Frank, who opened his mouth and closed it. Then he frowned as if he were thinking about something deeply.
Shane rolled his eyes. He could tell what was going on, "12254799."
The bald man jotted down on the transparent pad as he placed it in his pockets and looked coldly at the two newcomers, "Rest today. We will start by tomorrow."
"Start what? At least give us some introduction!" Shane spoke without thinking twice.
That was when he felt his sister nudging his side as he flinched and glared at her, "Hey, what was that for?"
"I'll tell you everything. Don't trouble him. He's bald for nothing. He stresses over every small thing."
The bald man cleared his throat and narrowed his eyes at the girl, "Miss 12254712, I hope you act like a proper student from tomorrow onwards. Otherwise, we have punishment centers to teach brats a good lesson. You'll clean the dining room today, twice as punishment for speaking ill of your future instructors."
"WHAT?! NOOO, DON'T DO THIS TO ME!!!!"
"Pfft," Shane burst out laughing, but when he received his sister's glare, he shut his mouth and pretended he didn't hear anything.
The bald man ignored the girl's whining as he ordered his men standing behind him dressed as ancient guards to take her away. Then he turned toward Shane and Frank, "Now that we have twelve newbies, we can start the classes tomorrow. Be ready. Have some sleep and recover your stamina. The servant behind me will guide you to your rooms."