Mr. Li strode to the front of the room, his presence commanding attention. With a smirk on his lips, he surveyed the newcomers with a critical eye.

“Hello to everyone,” he said, his voice ringing out clearly in the chilly room. “For all the newcomers: I am Li Julong, Julong Li, one of the administrators. And yes, I know, I have a cool name.”

He flashed a grin at the crowd, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

“It's my pleasure to welcome you all to our little community.”

He paused, letting his eyes wander, he stopped at me, Ayo Guh and Phee. 

“But enough about me,” he continued. “Let's talk about you. You're all here because you're looking for a way to survive in this… post-apocalyptic hellscape, am I right?”

Li Julong paused, waiting for a murmur of agreement from the crowd before continuing.

“Well, I'm here to tell you that you've come to the right place,” he said confidently. 

{Hypocrite.}

“For those of you who are new, feel free to warm up and get acquainted with your surroundings,” he continued. “And if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. We're all here to help each other out.” 

“Now, for those of you who are looking to get more involved,” he said, a wry smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, you can join any of the teams. Just be warned, some of them are more dangerous than others.”

He straightened up, his eyes flashing with authority.

“We are currently forming a new team of contractors who will search the proximity for food, clothes, and water,” he said, his voice firm and unwavering. “This team will keep half of the resources they find as a down payment. You will also get a certain level of authority, just below the administration.”

He leaned in, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

“And if you're really lucky, you might get to work with me,” he said, a mischievous glint in his eye. “But be warned, I'm a tough boss to please.”

Li Julong scanned the crowd, taking in their reactions.

“So, who's interested in joining my team?” he said, his voice teasing. “Don't be shy. I promise I won't bite… too hard.”

He winked at the crowd.

“That's all for now,” he said, his voice carrying the weight of his authority. “If you're interested in joining the team, you can apply with me or contact one of the four guards.”

With a final smile, he stepped back. Then he looked at me. 

“You brought up contractors. Are you a god employee too then?”

“…Is that not very personal information?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Oh! You are certainly right. I was just curious. Haha~”

He smiled brightly, shrinking his eyes to half-moon slits and revealing two dimples on the cheeks.

As soon as he turned around, the tension dropped. People swarmed the administrator, surrounding him. The previous heated debate was already forgotten, and more immediate problems needed to be voiced to the true power of this hideout.

Li Julong didn’t resist the onstorm and instead answered all questions diligently. Here and there he threw in jokes which made the people chuckle. In all that time he kept up a bright smile.

“Mr. Li… I’m really sorry, sir, is there anything I can make this up for?”

Li Julong was not tall, nor particularly handsome. He looked insignificant next to the man he called Hugo. But Hugo buckled and bowed to Li Julong and tried to win his favor. So how did he get to such a high position?

What exactly did administrators do here?

An image flashed in my memories. Li Julong in a fight. A beefy man had him slumping down. Ignoring the pain, the much smaller and thinner Li Julong suddenly recovered and hit the other man on the bone of the neck. With his flat hand. The beefy man rolled his eyes upward and fell over like a log.

I had seen Li Julong’s martial arts skills back in the tower, or rather, this weird vision-like thing after that. 

Now, he patted the back of the tall man and whispered something in his ear. Hugo nodded and erected himself back to his full size. Then he shoved himself to the entrance on the back.

But why was he an administrator and not security if his fighting ability was so high? Did he threaten the others, or did they just follow the strongest? Still that did not make sense either. I could not believe that the tall Hugo would lose to Li Julong in a serious fight.

Most of the people were gathered together like a bunch of grapes, while my side of the hall had emptied. The old man on the wall looked at the hole on the right with a hollow expression. The only other people left were Phee and Ayo Guh. And the girl that had leaked my food reserves. 

Come to think of it.

“Why are you still here? I see, you admire that administrator a lot.”

She shrugged together, and was that a hint of blush I saw on her face?

“It’s… He saved me.” A little proud and at the same time embarrassed, she looked at the Chinese man on the other side of the room. I could make out a shallow sense of longing.

“That twerp saved you?” Ayo Guh snorted. Disbelief flashed over her face. Ayo Guh herself was pretty tall. When she had carried me so high above the ground, I had been a nice change of air.

She, of course, didn’t know that Li Julong could do martial arts.

“He saved me too.” Phee jumped into the conversation. 

The girl took back the reins of the conversation. “He is contracted to a very strong god… and he looked so cool with all the blue sparks around. You can’t even imagine.”

The sour look on the girl’s face vanished as soon as she talked about Li Julong again. “And he even remembered my full name… ‘Emma Stolle, I am glad, you are safe.’ he said. But it was so deep and melodic with his voice.” 

To me, his voice sounded average, a bit raspy maybe, but that could be because of the cold.

“He was hurt though,” Phee said.

“Julong was whaaaat?!” The girl couldn’t close her mouth from the shock, “Oh no, no, no! Poor baby. My sweet Julong.”

Just a moment ago he was cool with a deep voice and now he was a poor baby? I couldn’t help but laugh a little. 

“Why don’t you go and comfort your poor Julong?” I asked, half-jokingly.

She, obviously upset, looked at me reproachfully but then she got up and really ran to the administrator.

I turned to the boy Phee. “Where did he get hurt?”

“His shoulder was scratched by a giant white monster.” He drew a long line on his own shoulder. “Maybe he was distracted? This is when he sealed his contract too.”

“You think, he would have overpowered the fanger if the god did not distract him?”

The boy shrugged his shoulders. “I am not sure, but it’s not impossible. He kept up with that monster, what did you call it? Fanger? Anyway, he kept up with it pretty well until he was like paralyzed for almost 15 seconds.”

“He is that good? 15 seconds is pretty long.” Ayo Guh’s voice revealed that she still was not fully convinced of the guy's strength.

“We shouldn’t measure strength with our traditional methods. After all, gods are part of this now. I’m sure that god contractors will become the new rulers.” I looked at Ayo Guh with a side-eye, waiting for her reaction. “Whatever this means for the future, it’s better to acknowledge that early.”

“Di-rring!”

[Dragon Anima: “Facts.”] 

My mouth twitched at the god wisp’s approval. But it hardened immediately after because it meant my theory held water.

“So Mr. Li is a future leader?” Ayo Guh looked at me in disbelief. Did she really contract with an evil god?

“He already is a leader right now, isn’t he?”

“…” 

It must be hard to accept that the world that is known will change and the power struggles could become more than some old men talking.

It would not affect me much, since I'm the bottom of the food chain, but people like Ayo Guh, who had a business-related job, would no doubt lose their existence.

Outside a heavy storm hurled, snowflakes blew through the hole and landed on an old man's sparse hair, giving him a crown of white sprinkles.

While I looked out, dazed by the ice’s dance, I heard a noise. I straightened. “Someone is screaming for help.”

The other two, Phee in particular looked at me with strange eyes, but I was sure. Raised, with my finger on my lips, we listened attentively.

Almost unrecognizable, a second time, a faint “help!” came from the hole.

Movement came into the crowd. Other people must have heard the scream as well.

The administrator was let through to the hole. A figure outside waved their hands around, a white hill following them. From the distance, it didn’t look like much, but based on the size difference between the human and the beast, it was at least 6 meters long.

The person did not wave at us, it waved somewhere higher up. Maybe the roof, where the fire came from?

The light of the evening had dimmed considerably since we had arrived here. The fire from the roof was illuminating the lightly dressed, panic-fuelled person in an orange light. Creepy shadows formed by the piles of snow on the ground. The shadow, projected by the fanger looked even more massive than the real beast. It covered the whole wall of the house on the other side.

The person, white billows of watery air coming from their mouth, tottered closer. They looked up. It was a man. Short dark hair fell in his face. Panting, he hid behind a pile of snow. 

As if he felt our presence, he looked up to the hole, sending a muted scream in our direction. Then he covered his mouth with his hands. He hoped dearly the monster wouldn’t discover him. Full of anticipation and panic, he watched as the monster shadow came closer. It was only one leap away.

Something hit its head. Confused, the monster arched its back and scuttled back. Then it let out a roar of fury. Looking upwards. 

As I withstood the urge to stick my head out to find out who threw the snowball, the wall shook, making a crushing sound. The hole, which suddenly was reflecting the indoor light with white fur, instantly became dark again. A second crushing sound and a shaking followed swiftly. Spiky, bent pieces poked out from the previously even, half-finished metal wall.

Someone screamed from above. The building shook for the third time, a big piece of debris fell down with a load of dust. The monster roared again, metal clashed, men shouted. From the side, I saw Li Julong vanishing to the door he came from.

Multiple clatters came from above, followed by stomping which loosened more debris, that rained on us. Fleeing from the dust and dangerously larger falling pieces, the people made themselves scarce next to the warm pipe and fled to the walls or even downstairs.

Ayo Guh stayed by my side. 

[Time till recovery 4 hours 40 minutes]

I still could not move freely. My body was not confined anymore but I still felt a force pulling on my body when I stood up, a subconscious urge to move back, warm up.

The screaming, which had become louder and more often, stopped abruptly. 

Were they all dead? I looked up.

But then, I heard a herd of footsteps. Two men appeared at the door.

Panic filled their faces. They grabbed the first thing they got their hands on, a wooden plank, and blocked the door.

Crashes on the roof returned. I heard the electricity humming. 

My burned hair flew up. The voltage in the air affected Phee even more. His curly hair looked almost like Ayo Guh’s Afro, but the boy ignored his hair and headed towards the hole.

“There is another monster coming. I don’t think this building is going to hold up for a long time… we have to find a safe place!” he warned.

On the roof, someone screamed. The two men, who earlier came, looked up guilty, but made no attempt to open the blockade. 

Nobody had tried to go through in the first place. We huddled together in the chilly room. Emma Stolle sat with her arms wrapped around her legs, making no move to rescue her beloved Li Julong either.

The man was likely fighting for his life out there, but none of us seemed to care. 

Suddenly, something crashed into the door. The blockage wobbled, but it held firm. 

“Don’t open the door!” Li Julong yelled from outside.

And really nobody was about to. 

Nobody cares if you leave your life out there. Sure, they all hope you will succeed, but they are only concerned about their own lives. 

Then Ayo Guh spoke up, breaking the uneasy silence. “I cannot let this man fight for us alone,” she said, biting her lip. Guiltily, she looked at the floor, hands clutched. 

“Is there really nothing we can do?” She turned to me, as if I had some magical solution to fight off the giant monster outside. Sadly, I had no ideas either.

Phee spoke what we all thought. “There is nothing.”

The noise from the door had disappeared and the fight had moved back onto the roof. 

“Don’t let it discourage you.” I said, to give myself more confidence.

The room had become dusty and the last light of the day shone through the hole, illuminating the room in a surreal club-like light. My nostrils tickled. 

I was fighting off a sneeze when a sudden movement caught my attention. A shadow rushed by the window, followed by a larger shadow. At first, I didn’t register what had happened, but then I gasped as the realization hit me.

I hurried to the hole in the wall and looked down to see Li Julong lying in the snow, his shoulder bent at an unnatural angle. The fanger lay next to him, its fur burnt and matted. It looked exhausted, and didn't resist as Li Julong placed his hand on its giant head. It was as if the creature had accepted its fate.

But then, out of nowhere, the other fanger Phee had spotted jumped forth, ready to protect its peer. 

The brown-haired man, who led the fanger here, was still hiding, unaware of our presence.

The new fanger spotted him. With the swiftness of a predator it ran towards him, when Li Julong met him in the air. He had rotated his arm back to a more normal position, god knows how, and reflected the attack.

Blue sparks flew in the air and my own hair flew up, electrocuted. The crashes that followed, illuminated the house wall with blue lights and let the shadows dance on it in all directions at once. 

Everyone gathered around the hole to watch the action, forming a semi-circle.