Shambala Sect

Sariyu"s heart began to pump faster and she pressed her lips hard hoping to control it.

"Were you looking to find a partner in this block?"

Sariyu paused a moment and then nodded in haste. (Whew...) Her heartbeat slowed down.

"C"mon, do you really think you can find a good partner on this deck?" Lirzod raised his eyebrows. "Let"s focus on climbing the decks first. If luck has it, we"ll meet suitable partners on the way. What do you say?"

"Y-Yeah," she gave a hesitant nod.

At that moment they both ended up meeting a familiar face at the street"s corner.

Burton initially saw Sariyu who was in the front and was about to walk in the other direction but just then he saw Lirzod behind her. Seeing them both, he frowned and looked at her. "You told me that you wouldn"t team up with him."

"And I didn"t," she was quick to reply.

"Oh, then why"s he with you?" Burton pointed his finger at Lirzod, irking him.

"Because he"s lost," she said in a flat tone.

"Hmph," Burton smirked as he glanced at Lirzod. "Can"t even get back to your room and yet you boasted about joining Shambala Sect during your coming off age ceremony! If anyone sees this," His chest tightened and breath hitched, "they would ridicule not just you but our entire clan."

"What ceremony?" Lirzod smiled in a bitter manner. "All that happened that morning was a casual meeting. No party was thrown afterward."

"No party?" Sariyu looked at him in a questioning manner. "What about the party that was thrown during that night?"

"That"s not really thrown for my sake, you know," he sighed heavily.

"Of course, that party happened both for the clan and for you as well," Sariyu tried to convince him.

Lirzod shook his head. "You didn"t even attend the party. You wouldn"t know how I got treated."

"Well," she didn"t know what to say.

Burton got irked by their conversation. "I"m worried about the clan but he"s more worried about the party." His brows furrowed as he turned to her, "And why are you even reasoning with him?"

Sariyu was startled. (That"s right, I forgot that he called me something bad.) She fumed at Lirzod, puzzling him.

"What did I do?" Lirzod exposed his palms to the skies.

Burton narrowed his eyes as he fixedly stared at Lirzod. (He wouldn"t leave her side unless I tell him the way.) He took out a small white cloth which upon unfolding became ten times larger. He wrote the letter M with his finger on the cloth and a map faded in on its surface. It was a partial map of the tenth deck. He showed it to Lirzod. "There"s no set pattern for the blocks which is why it confuses newcomers like us. That"s why I wrote it down here. Now all you all have to do is go straight like this." He joined the D Block and the K Block in a straight line. "You encounter six blocks in between. Just mug the order and you"ll reach your room with no problem."

While rubbing his chin, Lirzod paused a moment and then nodded. Burton folded the cloth and put it back in his pocket before walking away. Sariyu followed him from behind.

A few moments later, Lirzod began to follow them as well.

When Burton glanced back, he saw Lirzod walking behind her. "I told you the way," he scrubbed his hand over the face, "so why are you following me?"

"Who"s following you?" Lirzod replied in a loud voice. "I"m following Sariyu."

"You..." Burton clenched his fist. His stomach just hardened from hearing Lirzod"s words.

"Just ignore him," Sariyu told Burton.

He curbed all the frustration and continued to walk.

Because Lirzod was following, Burton changed the course and headed straight towards the K Block.

They went through streets neither Sariyu nor Lirzod had been to before. Some of the blocks they pa.s.sed through had tiny tree-like objects stuck at the top of either wall of the streets, and such streets were calmer. Some streets which didn"t have them were crawling with many men doing all sorts of things from exercising and having fun to scaring people.

If there weren"t three of them, Burton and his group would likely have been tested. Some of the men who previously messed with Burton and looted some of his money, now gave him ridiculing glances, but he ignored them wholly.

However, some still mocked them with their words, especially the men wearing turtle sh.e.l.ls as helmets. "Look at them three monkeys. I wonder where they are heading."

"Where else? To steal food from others of course."

"Haha, like most other monkeys."

"How despicable. Monkeys like these deserve to be put down or at least tied to a rope."

"Look at their line up. The male monkeys seem to be protecting the female one. How hilarious! These monkeys surely don"t know that the streets on this ship can be cold enough to freeze the b.a.l.l.s of a bra.s.s monkey. As for you lot, your future is too self-evident."

Like masters of mocking, different men used different words and voices to hurt those three. Though Burton and Lirzod weren"t bothered by their words, Sariyu"s blood boiled. New people getting picked at was common even in Helenia, and as a spectator, she always enjoyed such things when they happened. Only now, when she was on the receiving end of the jeers and laughs, she realized how uncomfortable it was. However, all she could do was act as if she never heard their words.

Lirzod coldly glanced at them.

"What are you looking at, huh?" One of them threw a stone at Lirzod. He moved his head and dodged the stone while continuing to walk. "Yeah, that"s right. Keep going like that." As they watched the three of them made more and more distance.

"Did you look at the kid in the back?" One of the guys angrily said.

"Yeah, he didn"t have a shred of fear in them," a gray-haired guy who seemed to the leader of that group said. "Either he"s faking it exceptionally well or he mean"s trouble. We can mess with them, but it will either be a hit or miss. What do you guys say?"

"We stole some money from the purple monkey, and he didn"t fight back at all," the guy standing beside the leader stated, "so, the three of them must be duds. You can tell by their formation itself. Instead of walking side by side, they are walking in a line. They are definitely noobs. My gut says we can bag some decent coins from them. What do you say, Boss Budgen?"

"There"s no need to hurry. Let"s wait and see how they do in the Deck Tests," Budgen said as he cracked his knuckles against his chin. He had the number forty-nine on the outer side of his palm.

Sometime later.

Burton and others reached the K Block.

Lirzod no longer followed them and simply marched past the two to reach the room earlier than the rest.

"Since when was this a race?" Burton scratched the back of his neck as he looked at her.

"Just ignore him," she replied in a not-so-relaxed posture. A second later, she slowly increased her pace and walked past Burton, startling her. He increased his pace as well and overtook her. She sped up again and crossed him. The process repeated until they reached their rooms. Sariyu reached her room first as Burton"s room was the one after her"s.

"I won," she said, puffing a little.

"Yeah, "cause I let you," Burton winked at her and beamed a satisfied smile.

"n.o.body would listen to a loser"s words," Sariyu opened the door and entered the room.

Burton, however, looked around before taking a walk down the corridor.

A few minutes later.

Two men were sauntering on the streets of the K Block, and they ended up grabbing the attention of most people even though they just casually strolled around.

"What are those two doing here?"

"I saw them coming and going in this direction before."

"This is bad news. They are definitely here to stir something."

"Let"s hope we are not involved in any of it."

"Why are they wearing gloves? I can"t see their hands!"

"That"s not what we should be worried about now!"

People were afraid to even ask the two men as to why they frequently roamed in and around the same block, for the two men were Darling Twins.

While masticating on corn they were immersed in a discussion. "We have wasted enough time here. We should get back," Younger Darling just made short work of all the corn seeds and tossed its cob away before rubbing his hands.

"If only someone had used a Rubberneck to take his picture, we wouldn"t have gone through all the stuff we did," Elder Darling said, "let"s hope he"ll at least be in his room."

"Mm," Younger Darling nodded, but his eyes fixedly stared at the corn cob in his brother"s hand. When he attempted to s.n.a.t.c.h it, his brother shifted the cob into his other hand.

"Hmph," Elder Darling snorted as he gnawed on the cob, "you are a hundred years too young to be s.n.a.t.c.hing my food!"

Younger Darling"s shoulders flailed, and all he could do was watch his brother finish stuffing his snack.

Before long, they reached the room 10-K43.

There was no footwear at the doorstep. The door was closed, but not locked from the outside. Seeing that, the Darling Twins exchanged grins that were beyond the pale. Younger Darling wasted no time and knocked on the door.

Lirzod who was stuffing his pockets with different kinds of nuts looked at the door, which got knocked twice again. "Is it her?" Lirzod shook his head. "Too bad, I won"t share my song with you anymore." The door was knocked again. "Um, may if she begs me enough times, I"ll reconsider."

The frequency of knocking increased gradually, but no response came from within the room.

"Hey, did you think n.o.body would come looking for you after what you did? We know that you"re in there!" Younger Darling called at the top of his voice. "Come on out, or I"ll be forced to come in."

Lirzod"s eyes broadened. It wasn"t hard for him to recognize the hoa.r.s.e voice of the Younger Darling. (These b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, how did they know that this is my room?)

"We know you can hear us," Younger Darling snorted. "Stop acting like you"re sleeping."

Despite his attempts, no reply came from the inside.

"Hmph, fine. If you want your door broken," Younger Darling clenched his fist and pulled it to the back of his head. As he was about to punch, Elder Darling intercepted in a sense which meant that he would handle things from there onward.

"You seriously think the door can stop us?" Elder Darling said in a loud voice. "You have ten seconds to open the door."

Lirzod deeply frowned. (So the two of them came here, those gluttonous b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. Just calm down and think of a solution, Lirzod. You can do this.) He took a deep breath and threw a couple of cashews into his mouth. At that moment, he looked at the cashews in his hand, and the corners of his mouth turned up.

"Hey, what are you two shouting for?" A feminine voice rang out from outside, startling Lirzod.

"Ah? Who are you to —" Elder Darling turned his head and spoke in a reckless manner, but his speech stopped in the middle after seeing the source of the feminine voice, which was a sparkling red-haired figure — a beauty of the sorts they often dared to dream about. "I, I... We, we," Elder Darling choked on his own words.

The red-haired girl glared at Younger Darling who was still knocking on the door. "Hey, you! Are you deaf or what?"

"Ah?" Younger Darling was about dart a threatening glance, but upon seeing the red-haired girl, his spine shivered.

"Stop causing a disturbance," The red-haired girl, Sariyu narrowed her eyes as she placed her hands on her waist. "Understood?"

"Y-Y-Yes, we did," Both the brothers nodded their heads repeatedly like dogs would at their owners.

"If you did, then knock the door lightly," Sariyu said as he entered her room and closed the door.

Darling Twins looked at each other.

"Did you see that?" Elder Darling hurriedly said, eyes widening.

"Yeah, she just talked with me," Younger Darling replied while standing in a slumped posture.

"She talked with me first!" Elder Darling spoke a bit aloud.

"Maybe, but she ended with me!" Younger Darling didn"t back down. "I"m going to propose first!"

"No, it should be me!" They both exchanged serious stares.

"Okay, let the toss decide," Younger Darling said to which his brother approved. He pulled out a coin from his shirt pocket.

As the coin got tossed into the air and Elder Darling said, "Tails," Lirzod"s room door opened, making the brothers look towards the door instead. They expected to see a person, but what they saw instead was a small packet at the doorstep. That see-through packet made it obvious for the brothers that it was filled with cashews. Highly excited, they both ran to fetch it for themselves.

Both grabbed the packet at the same time, and struggled to take it away, and moved around in the street until their pulls ended up ripping the packet in two halves. All the cashews danced on the floor and like dogs, they hurriedly began to pick them up. At that moment, Younger Darling saw the coin which got tails, so he sneakily flipped it around before resuming the job.

Meanwhile, Lirzod hid behind the door and whelped in silence. All he could hear was the sounds of his cashews getting crushed in between their teeth.

It took no longer than a minute for the brothers to gobble up all the cashews as they left a trail of not-so-tiny dents on the wooden floor.

"Look, it"s Head!" Younger Darling pointed his finger at the coin.

After checking it for himself, Elder Darling was a bit disappointed. "Fine. You can ask her out first." He turned towards the room and looking at the open doors, his frustration subsided a bit. "Where are you hiding, my dear Lirzod?"

Lirzod"s pressed his lips harder and c.o.c.ked his head forward. (Wait, how do they know my name?)

"Hehe," Younger Darling snickered. "The cashews were good, so we"ll treat you good as well. You can come out." The brothers exchanged glances and smiles, and it was too plain to see they didn"t mean what they said.