A Disagreement

"By the way, what do you guys do when we're at school?" Wu Shen revealed his interest in the activities of those who didn't go to mandatory education every day.

The girls' answer: "Shopping~"

The boys' answer: "Scouting."

"Oh. I see. You sure are carefree." Wu Shen rolled his eyes. These dropouts were either messing around all day or were up to something that he would hate to be part of.

Mike studied Wu Shen's expressions and figured that the brat wanted to slip away from his responsibilities. His eyes curled with mischief. As if he would let that happen.

"Heh." Such a derisive smirk could not escape Wu Shen's eyes. His temper rose and he wanted to slap that annoying look right off his face.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing."

Mike's flippant attitude riled Wu Shen up, but at the same time, alarms rang in his mind. He had a bad foreboding that something terrible was about to happen. No. He couldn't think like that. Shaking his head, Wu Shen walked away from the infuriating Mike.

Lukas rolled his eyes. A hint of amusement in his voice, he turned to Mike.

"Is it fun?"

Mike grinned impishly.

"Very."

...

Lukas collapsed into his make-shift bed tiredly.

In truth, over the past couple of months, he and Mike had worked very hard to prepare for the next important stage of his plan. The same went for the girls.

They had successfully scouted the area and, as a result, they were able to mark out suitable places to create bases or possible escape routes. Lukas believed that they were ready to do something bigger.

Weapons.

Honestly, he'd have preferred to have the whole group be able to ride a bike. It would make escaping much easier. However, things weren't looking too good. With the rate he and Mike were learning at, it'd take a year to actually ride the vehicle.

There was no point in waiting for that long. They had to act faster. Whilst he was stuck in this run-down place, that filthy half-brother of his was sipping on the finest wine and sinking his teeth into the wealth that should have belonged to him. Not to mention that witch. She must be cackling in delight. Their lives sure became more luxurious.

Lukas grit his teeth.

Just wait. He'd go to the Capital soon enough and shred that fortune into pieces.

...

The main leaders had gathered that same evening in the candle-lit library.

Seated comfortably on the couch was Xiaozhi who petted the fluffy hair of Yu Jing who happily sat crossed-leg on the floor in front of her. Wu Shen slouched into the room and slumped into a chair. His eyes were slightly red from his yawning.

Tingting and Mike stood on either side of Lukas who glared at the drowsy Wu Shen whose eyelids already began to droop.

Mike took immediate notice and clapped loudly, startling Wu Shen into becoming sober once more.

Lukas cleared his throat to prepare to tell them what they'd be doing the following day.

"As you all know, we've been making no progress with the motorbikes. Therefore, we've decided to move on for now. Tomorrow afternoon, we'll steal the weapons from the officers when they appear to take men away-"

"Wait!"

He was interrupted by Wu Shen's sudden exclamation.

"Yes?" Faced with Wu Shen's clear confusion, Lukas answered calmly.

"What do you mean? What officers? Taking whose man?"

"Ah."

Tingting, Mike and Lukas looked at each other in realisation. They hadn't mentioned anything about this to the others. First of all, the boys were always at school. There was never a chance for them to bump into the men. Even when they went out, it would only be really early in the morning or late in the evening. Secondly, its importance was about as minuscule as a speck of dust. Who would remember to mention such a thing?

Mike coughed and explained. His explanation was the same as when he informed Tingting and Lukas of this matter in the past.

When he was done, Wu Shen was no longer in the mood to yawn.

"That's just-"

"Despicable." Yu Jing finished Wu Shen's sentence as he stared hard at his hands. "To think those noblemen were using the poor and innocent as disposable tools. Not even their deaths would bring the victims to justice." His tone fluctuated as he spoke, revealing his disgust.

Xiaozhi stroked Yu Jing's hair to calm him as she recalled something.

"Although I didn't know about it in full detail, some of the men I used to... work with would often boast about the amount of 'fools' they owned. At that time, I merely assumed that it was just the usual filthy hobbies of the rich. Never thought it was something this big."

Tingting sighed. To boast about something so inhumane. Scum would remain scum.

"Now you guys know the truth. Bro and I have actually been observing them for a while now, and, finally, we've discovered a pattern." Mike grew excited. He could finally reveal the fruit of their hard labour. "They come with five trucks once a week on the next day. For example, if week one is Wednesday. Week two would be Thursday. They go to other slums on the other days. After rotating around the different seven days, they'll stop coming for a few weeks. Each time they come, they only take away fifteen males. They take three each and split up after getting back to town. This week, they'll come on a Tuesday. That's tomorrow. But it will be the last time they'll come for a long while so we've got to act quickly-"

"Stop." Wu Shen spoke up all of a sudden.

"What?" Mike wasn't happy with being interrupted.

"From my understanding, these 'officers' are armed macho men who have no problem with shooting the sh*t out of anyone who gets in the way and we are to go up against them?" The disbelief in Wu Shen's expression grew more prominent with every passing second.

"Yeah, glad you learn quick." Mike's eyes narrowed. He didn't like where this was going.

"Hahaha. F*ck no."

"What do you mean by that, bro?"

"I mean, f*ck this. I'm not doing it."

The temperature dropped.

"I see..." Mike pinched the bridge of his nose, reigning in his annoyance that was quickly turning to fury. "You do realise that you swore to follow us on that day you lost to us."

"Of course I do." Wu Shen stood up. "How about we fight again? If I win, I'm leaving." Wu Shen paid close attention to Mike's movements. Who knew when this wild person would attack him?

"Well. If that's what you really want," Mike's right hand clenched into a tight fist. "That's what you'll get!" Before the words had even faded away, Mike leapt at Wu Shen ferociously but Wu Shen would not be caught off guard. The first strike hit air and Mike stumbled. Using this chance, Wu Shen tripped him up with a sweep of his leg. Mike groaned as his back struck the floor. Wu Shen made to sit on Mike but Mike kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him wobbling backwards, clutching his abdomen in pain. Mike stood up quickly and sent yet another swift punch at Wu Shen. The fist hit flesh this time and the skin underneath reddened from the power exerted in the attack.

Lukas looked on without any expressions on his cold face. When he glanced at his left, he shivered. Beside him, Tingting stood with a wide smile etched on her face. The smile grew wider and wider as the fight continued, her gaze never shifting from Wu Shen. Just as Lukas thought that her smile couldn't get any wider, she finally parted her lips to say,

"Aw~ Don't be like this~ You'll be the main attraction!" The voice that was neither too soft nor loud caught everyone's attention.

Wu Shen froze. His head stiffly turned to look at the smiling Tingting. Her eyes fixed onto his. Confirming that that statement was for his ears, something snapped within him. His eyes became crazed as he practically shrieked,

"You f*cking b*tch! Are you trying to get me killed?! After all I've done for you! I've cleaned, I've cooked, I've listened to each of your commands, and now-" Wu Shen took in a deep breath.

"I can hit girls, you know."

Mike, sensing danger, launched himself at Wu Shen and slammed his head into Wu Shen's chin, causing a lot of damage.

A growl escaped Mike's throat. "Don't you dare speak like that to li'l sis."

"F*ck!" Wu Shen shoved Mike aside, sending him crashing into a bookshelf, some books falling off the shelves and hitting the person below.

Blinded by rage, Wu Shen strode over to Tingting in four steps and seized her by the collar.

"B*tch. You better wipe that f*cking smile off your face before I smash your pretty little face in."

Tingting's smile only deepened as she felt the droplets of spittle land on her. Her eyes slanted into two crescents as she thrust her knee into Wu Shen's most sacred place.

"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Wu Shen crumpled to the floor without fully registering what had just happened.

Lukas: 'Ouch. My condolences.'

"Oh my." Though Xiaozhi had expected this to happen the moment little Wu had grabbed Tingting, it was still a bit shocking.

Yu Jing only nodded with pride. His Goddess' strength couldn't possibly be compared with that of a mere mortal. Maybe his heart still bore some grudges against the delinquent. When he witnessed the scene unfolding, a great feeling of delight came over him.

A booming voice burst into laughter. Previously, when Mike saw Tingting being seized by the filth with overly gelled hair, he had scrambled back up immediately with the full intent to pummel his head in. However, he soon saw that his concern was unnecessary.

Presently, Mike stood above Wu Shen and cackled in laughter. "Ahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!" This felt too good. Seriously. The fool had become overconfident and forgot that Tingting could also fight. Served him right. The act of hurting an angel would only be met with divine punishment.

Wu Shen trembled in both pain and anger. His face completely blackened.

'F*ck this place. F*ck my life.'

"Well then, shall we continue?" Tingting's clear voice rung out once more.

Wu Shen silently crawled back to his chair and sat back down with much effort.

Tingting continued to speak. "As you all know, there are many slums in this country. For this town, there are at least six slums. To make this easier, we'll use the alphabet to name them. The slum we're in is slum A. Mike, Lukas and thirteen of Wu Shen's boys will go down to slum E at 10:00 tomorrow. Make sure that everyone gets on each truck. They shouldn't be guarded that strictly, but, just in case," Tingting stared pointedly at Wu Shen. "Yu Jing will hide near the entrance to the main road and contact Wu Shen that they have arrived. Wu Shen will come out and block the road with his lackeys. The officers probably won't shoot at you. You'd be in uniform, showing that you're not from the slums. They wouldn't want to kill you."

Wu Shen wanted to comment on this but ultimately decided that it was best to remain silent.

"As the officers lower their guards to shout at you, the boys on the trucks will attack them and hopefully don't get shot whilst doing this. Anything after will be improvisation."

"l want chicken for my last meal." Several pairs of eyes glared at him. Wu Shen couldn't help himself. To be fair, the plan wasn't the best. It would be best to prepare for the worst.

Tingting ignored this comment and stretched. "Meeting's over! Let's all sleep to prepare for tomorrow." With that, she left.

Having nothing better to do, the rest followed her out and headed for their respective rooms.

Sleep was important.

They needed enough rest to deal with tomorrow's events.