Having spent some time relaxing and unwinding from their long day of work, Lin Songmei, Yan Mingqing, Han Youhong, Wang Taigang, and Zhao Liying had a short planning session before beginning their work once more as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Calling up every single direct disciple they knew was in the city, the apartment was filled with chatter as all five of them worked to form a hasty coalition against the people targeting them. Having contacted Lu Qiang while Mingqing contacted Cai Yufei, Songmei hung up after getting their confirmation.

Sighing, Songmei slumped back onto the couch. What was the point? Why did these... actually she didn’t know how old they were. Why did these middle-aged, probably younger than Liu Xueli, greasy weirdos have to target them?

They were only seventeen... or sixteen, or eighteen! According to Xueli, they were still pipsqueaks! According to Xueli, she still couldn’t distinguish them from toddlers!

Songmei, of course, held some doubt towards the veracity of Xueli’s second claim, chalking it up to exaggeration. But... she still didn’t know Xueli’s age. So maybe it was true...

With the calls coming to a stop, everyone reconvened in the living room, taking various seats on the couches. Taigang, defaulting to his leadership role, waited for Mingqing to adjust the lights and sit down before talking. “Any updates? Did everyone agree? Let’s just go in a circle.”

“Well, on my end, I didn’t really have people to recruit. I did send a message to Sloth, but... considering it's Sloth, I’d have some patience.” Liying shrugged, kicking her legs up onto the table. “I did call my sect though, and told them to piss off... well I said it in a much nicer way. But the gist of it was that I’m staying.”

Doing some mock bows and laughing, Liying pushed her hands out with a sarcastic laugh as she imitated politicians. “No need to thank me. It was only natural. I just truly believe in this cause. It’s what I’m here for. I’ll work my hardest.”

“Alright, my turn?” Youhong asked, getting a few nods before continuing. “Okay. So... we kinda got Liu Liping’s consent or affirmation, whatever you want to call it. I just got it for real after being blunt about the situation and what we saw so far. It was a real pain though, but yeah, everything is set on her side. She said she’s willing to work with us and would contact Lust to try and get her in contact with us.”

Motioning towards Songmei, Youhong prompted her with a shrug. “I’m done now. I’m really dry over calls so I don’t have any other updates to share. All of our inner disciples have all been captured anyway.”

“Hmm... okay, I did a lot of calling...” Songmei started off, trying to remember everything she was told. Drawing a blank, Songmei pulled out a stack of sticky notes where her scrawled notes sat. “Okay, I got Lu Qiang’s affirmation, he’s totally on board. He’ll be useful since he’s a tank like you Taigang. I then tried to reach out to the inner disciples in our year. They gave a hesitant yes.”

Putting her notes away, Songmei shook her head. “I have a theory, and if true, I think it’d be pretty foolish on their part. However, I think they’re going to try and work independently from us because there’s some... animosity between us direct disciples and them. I thought they might’ve overcome it, but there might still be an urge to prove something... I don’t know.”

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

“That’s... annoying,” Taigang shook his head, sighing as he pursed his lips. “We could, honestly, really use their help. Every hand, every set of eyes, and every mind will be useful in the upcoming few days... or even weeks.”

“Yeah, the inner disciples are really annoying. I still want to beat them up. I already did! But I want to again.” Mingqing groaned, massaging her eyebrows. “I don’t have much to add. I talked to Cai Yufei, the last inner disciple from our year. He’s like... on board. I don’t know, he said he still wanted official permission to collaborate from his master, but he’s kinda got a stick up his behind like that.”

With Liying having a laughing attack and everyone else snorting, Mingqing waited for them to stop before shrugging. “Starlight Lake’s direct disciples from this year were captured, but I got in contact with the inner disciples. I was just blunt with them. They’re not going to be helpful combat wise. But I said they should cooperate with us to stay safe. Pretty much that means they’re not going to go outside.”

“And... ending off with me.” Taigang tapped his chin. “I don’t have much to say either, so I’ll keep it brief. I talked with the direct disciples who are staying with Liu Liping right now. They expressed that they really, really want to help. But I don’t think they’ll actually be of much use since they’re not very powerful yet. Maybe we could have them do some scouting? I also sent messages to Envy and Gluttony. I kept the one to Envy really vague though on purpose because we’re still not sure about which side Envy’s on. Pretty much what we discussed earlier.”

With the discussion falling into a lull as everyone calmed down and reoriented themselves, Youhong tossed a lychee jelly into the air. Catching in his mouth with a practiced neck stretch, Youhong nodded. “Coool... great to hear guys.”

Silence.

Shaking her head, Songmei tried her best to suppress a laugh as Youhong sat up, spreading his arms in disbelief as to how everyone left him hanging. Taking a moment to just sit in the silence, Songmei rested her head against Mingqing’s shoulder as Liying gave her the stink eye.

One stuck out tongue later, Songmei was faced with a snort and a playful middle finger from Liying.

Expected. It wasn’t Songmei’s fault Liying was single.

Well, Songmei couldn’t deny it was her fault Liying felt single in the moment, but who was she to resist the comfort of Mingqing’s shoulder and arm? Mingqing’s arm had become just a touch more muscular so having it wrapped around her was just that bit nicer.

“Well, we still have to watch the mayor’s speech, right?” Mingqing broke the silence in a rare occurrence of social outreach. “It’s not for another several hours though... Soo... dinner? We can have a fun dinner, then play some games? Someone’s just gotta set an alarm.”

With everyone nodding along and murmuring their own version of “Yeah, that’d be great!” Songmei squeezed Mingqing’s hand. “Look at you being social.”

Getting a hand squeeze back from Mingqing, Songmei raised an eyebrow at the eyebrow wiggle Mingqing replied with. Shaking her head and looking away, Songmei raised her voice just a touch. “I’ll set an alarm, but someone’s gotta figure out the dinner plan. I already cooked lunch so it's not my job this time.”

“Just look forward to a gourmet meal from the GODLY cooking duo!” Youhong smirked with a loud laugh, slinging his arm over Taigang’s shoulder. “No need to worry at all! We gotchu covered. We gotchu.”

...

Raising her finger, Songmei sighed, “On second thought, maybe I'll pitch in to help... or at least supervise.”