Lirzod was still sitting inside the bathroom, not knowing what to do. He kept hearing threatening words from the outside.
“I’ve been waiting for thirty minutes! If you don’t come out in the next minute, I swear on my beard, I will break the door!” a tall but sturdy guy roared as he banged the door with his cupped hand while the other hand clutched his belly firmly.
“This is the longest I’ve seen someone shed weight!” another guy standing beside him was shocked. “Maybe he’s suffering from serious constipation. Why don’t you let him—”
“Shut up!” the big guy neglected his roommate’s words and resumed his banging. His facial expressions changed for the worse with every passing second.
The other fellow could only control his laughter.
Lirzod yawned. “Geez, this guy doesn’t seem like he’ll stop. What’s his problem? Maybe his stomach is on the verge?” he frowned. “No, those Darling Twins must be forcing him to act.” He stood and came near to the door. “Ahem, can you hear me?”
The big guy waiting outside was startled and then ground his teeth. “Yeah, I can you hear you, you dumb shit! Come out this very instant, or I’ll beat the living crap out of you.”
“Why don’t you shut up and let the Darling Twins speak, huh?” an indiscreet voice came from the inside.
The big guy froze for a moment. Did he just say Darling Twins? Wait, now that I think about it, he was talking casually with the Darling Twins, which means… he knows them? His eyes enlarged. He may even be a member of Egg Diggers. Crap, I’m screwed! He looked at his stomach. This is bad.
“What’s wrong?” Lirzod spoke out. Hmph, the surprise explains their silence. So they are waiting outside after all. Tch, they are this persistent just for some stupid sandwiches.
“Uh, nothing,” the big guy replied in haste, and he no longer dared to knock the door. “The Darling Twins are not here. Only me and my roommate are here.”
Lirzod smiled while nodding his head. “Oh, is that so?”
“Yes, can you come out quick?” the big guy clutched his stomach tightly. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold on.”
“If your stomach is upset, why don’t you just go and use the bathroom of the neighboring room?”
“Of course, that’s not possible. You should know that as well. If one uses other people’s rooms without their permission, they will be forced to pay ten silver to the room owner as per the rules!”
“Hmm?” Lirzod was puzzled. “You can just take the permission of the neighbor. Then you won’t have a problem.”
“That’s the main problem!” the big guy raised his voice. “Nobody would give us permission for free. They will make use of this chance and at least ask five silver! Who would pay five silver for shitting?”
“Really?” Lirzod raised his eyebrows. “But, I’ve never heard of such poop rules.”
“What?” the big guy was on the verge of crying. He slowly collapsed to his knees. “Come out, please!”
As expected, he’s diverting the topic. Lirzod went back to his spot and sat on the toilet seat. “Mm?” Just then he noticed the plants beside him, grown in the flower pots. “These are…” he dug up the soil a bit and saw what he was expecting. “As I thought, sweet potatoes! And these are almost fully grown. They must’ve planted these slips sometime during Spring. Wait, do seasons even matter on a ship like this? Anyway, that’s not the main issue, but why are these guys growing sweet potatoes inside a bathroom? Geez, I shouldn’t care about such things.” Lirzod began to cover up the potatoes with the soil again.
The big guy, who ended up hearing some of Lirzod’s words, then roared, “Touch our potatoes, and we’ll kill you!”
“Oh, I get it now…” Lirzod mused to himself. “Bathroom must be the safest place in their room.”
Meanwhile, at someplace else on the tenth deck.
Burton was strolling in a corridor of the T Block. What his eyes noticed was that most people were significantly taller than the humans he used to see. He was yet to see a single person who was shorter than six feet in that block. Some people had bellies that were thrice as big than Allda had, which in itself could be called abnormal.
“Don’t get fooled by their misleading figures,” a raspy voice reached his ears, making him look to the side. He saw a seven-feet tall gray-skinned old man wielding an ax, which rested on his shoulder. Despite his appearance, his muscle definitions were abnormal, to say the least. “They are much quicker and agile than they look.”
The first thing Burton’s eyes laid on was the giant ax, and he coincidentally realized that the old man had seven fingers on his hand, with two of them being thumbs.
“You look older than forty. Are you not?” Burton said.
“Old, I am, but not forty yet,” the old man chortled. “Want to enter the block?” he pointed his thumb to his behind where there was a closed door, and at its top, the signboard read ‘M Block.’
“M Block, so this is the Muscle Block…” Burton said and paused a moment. It seemed like an ordinary room, like the rest, but the only difference was the details on the signboard. “What’s inside?”
“Why don’t you find out for yourself? The entrance is free.”
“But,” one of Burton’s brows lifted, “are there consequences that I may not like?”
The old man tilted his head sideways, just a little. “Smart kid, aren’t you? Just reverse everything you’ve read in the guidebook.”
Burton froze for a moment, and a source of distress appeared on his lips. “So, it’s like a slave contract, and for some with no guarantee of their future.”
“Somebody has to work for others to get free bread and booze. The day-to-day life of entries goes undisturbed because of us hollows who help you people in reaching the top of the ship,” the old man’s voice turned even hoarse. “If you can’t digest it, then walk away, kid.”
“You don’t have to tell me that,” Burton resumed his walk.
“Hmph, I can’t wait for the day when you will enter a Muscle Block. Remember my name, Karak! It might be of use, just in case.”
“Karkarak, yes. I will remember it,” Burton replied without even looking back.
“You cheeky brat,” the old man gripped the handle of his ax tightly and was about to lift it but then glanced down at his feet where there was a small cockroach that just happened to pass by. His hand swiftly grabbed it, and a second later, a couple of crunching sounds followed due to the exercising of jaws.
Meanwhile, Sariyu was strolling in the T Block.
She didn’t have a pleasant expression on her face. One after another, some men came and asked to let them be her offsider. “I was expecting to find a hollow girl to climb along with, but why can’t I find a single one?”
It irked her that at every turn, a new group of two to three men began to follow her and didn’t give up until she reached the end of their corridor or street, so to say. It made her pick up the pace just a bit.
However, during one of the turns, she almost ended up colliding with Burton.
“Oh, here you are,” Burton beamed a magnanimous smile and made an elegant gesture with his hand. “Want to tag along?”
She quickly glanced back at the other men stalking her before looking at Burton and later nodded. And then they both walked together.
Seeing the two of them, the men, who stalked her till then, were tremendously envied. “Who’s that crook? He snatched her easily by acting like a knight in shining armor.”
“Che, I can’t give up yet!” though some men gave up, one guy continued following. “I know how hard it is to join with an entry, much less a female entry.”
Burton glanced at Sariyu, still wearing a simple smile on his face. “Those goons think you will pity them if they follow you for hours.”
“What can I do? Time is of the essence on this ship. We can’t waste weeks forming relationships if we want to climb the whole thing. So finding a good offsider to tag along with seems necessary. However, it’s not easy to tell which man is good and which one’s not,” Sariyu sighed. “On the other hand, it’s a lot easier to team up with a girl. For now, though, I’ll try to find some guy who’s okay with the role.”
“You no longer have to worry about that.” His eyes gleamed as he watched her to see her reaction, “Since you’ve found one.”
“You are an entry, not a hollow.”
“Well, I can still tag along and act like a hollow.”
“No, thanks.”
“Why not? You don’t think I’m good enough?”
“Mm, if you successfully join the Shambala Sect, then maybe I’ll believe you are good enough.”
“Huh?” His slackened jaw displayed denial. “What sort of validation is this?”
“My sort,” she replied in a flat tone, her gaze wandering around.
Burton could only tuck his upper lip as he tagged along. “You won’t team up with that Dumblord, will you?”
Sariyu gently kicked one of the broken stones lying on the floor before smiling. “Even if I want to team up, my guess is... he would already be as busy as a bee.”
“Yeah, chasing after every skirt that comes around,” Burton snorted. “At this rate, things will only go one way between us. Our presence benefits him, but his presence doesn’t benefit us in the least.”
“You don’t have to go that far with him,” Sariyu took a breath and smiled. “We three are just getting started.”
“You may be right, but we have at best four months to reach the top deck. You think just these many days are sufficient? If he tries to join us, let’s use him to pick up our pace.” His eyes protruded, and his face reddened a bit. “We have to act fast, after all.”
“Then act fast,” Sariyu raised her voice, and her feet came to a halt as she gave an irked look at Burton. “You don’t want him to join with any of us, but you want him to be of use to us? Can you get any more selfish?”
“Selfish?” Burton frowned. “Yeah, I said it because I know that if he’s with us, he’ll only hinder us, and we make up a terrible team. So the least he can do is listen to us, his seniors.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Sariyu looked away.
Burton ground his teeth and let out a forced smile. “You know what, I knew something this would eventually happen, but I didn’t think it would happen with you. It looks like it will be good for the three of us if we just act on our opinions and move forward.” Saying that Burton began to walk away while Sariyu stood still, her hands folded.
She just watched Burton leave as she bit her lower lip and kept tapping the floor.
“E-Excuse me?” a voice came from her side, as the lone follower from before closed in on her like a fool rushing in where heavenzels feared to tread. “Can, can you please take me in as your offsider?” His temporizing voice contained great expectations.
Sariyu’s pulse elevated, and a twitchy feeling spread all over her body. She turned back and uttered a scream. “Get lost!”
The man shrieked like a pussy thrown into a panic by a pissed-off pooch and did a quick disappearing act like the feline would.
After a few heavy breaths, Sariyu clenched her fist. “Lirzod, you won’t even let me take a peaceful stroll. You better not fall in my eyes today.”
Meanwhile, inside a certain bathroom.
Lirzod shook his head. “Let the Darling Twins speak, and then I’ll come out!”
The big guy sitting on the floor right outside the door had a stream of tears decorating his cheeks.
His roommate persuaded. “There really are no Darling Twins here. They left long ago, almost at the same time you barged into our room!”
Lirzod nodded once but then shook his head again. “Let the Darling Twins speak, and then I’ll come out!”
The big guy hurriedly stood to run at full speed. As he was taking a step forward, his bladder blemished the front part of his pants that made him freeze again. He glanced at his roommate, who understood the meaning behind the look.
“Please come out!” he banged the door. “We will give you whatever you want.”
“It’s not like I enjoy staying here,” Lirzod said. “I just want the Darling Twins to speak, that’s all.”
“AHHH!” the big guy lost his nerves, and whether Lirzod knew Darling Twins or not, he didn’t care. “Screw you! And screw the Darling Twins!” he turned around and kicked the door at full strength thrice at the same spot, making it break in the third attempt, which surprised Lirzod as the door seemed to be made of quality wood. But the big guy’s leg got stuck in the hole of the door his kick had created.
Making use of the opportunity, Lirzod ducked down and slipped past the big guy, escaping his binding arms.
“Catch that bastard!” the big guy shouted.
The roommate stood, however, stood lifeless as Lirzod made a quick escape out of the room.
The big guy came to his roommate and directly grabbed his collar and barked, “Why didn’t you catch him?”
“Your pants,” a cold sweat dropped his chin, and his voice contained worry, “their color changed on the back.”
His voice transferred enough chills to freeze the balls of the big guy.
A fart then wafted a foul smell up his roommate’s nostrils, almost choking him to death's door.
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