A loud bang. One sudden crack. And a series of piercing crashes.
That's all it took to turn the freshly cleaned room into a mess.
Lian bit the hand towel in frustration while hiding under the half covered kitchen counter. He wanted to scream. He wanted to curse so bad.
Two hours. He spent two hours cleaning the living room. Polished the tiles, rearranged the flower vases, wiped the windows, dusted the sofa. He poured his heart into it.
Only for it to end up as a battleground less than an hour later.
Hiding in plain sight he said. It's the safest spot, he said. Lian was the only one hiding right now. And it definitely wasn't safe.
"Search the rooms."
He could hear the sound of boots clicking on tiles, an image of the trail of dirt left by them conjuring up automatically in response. Lian peeked out to check, and surely, there was a dirt trail.
Couldn't they have at least wiped their shoes on the mat? Do the mafia have no manners?
What was he going to say when the boss returned?
Sorry sir, I'm not even capable of keeping the house clean? Forget earning trust, it would earn him a good beating instead.
No. He shouldn't have to apologize. It wasn't his fault that the security was trash. There wasn't even an alarm for god's sake!
"There's nothing in there."
Of course not. There was no way that the fearsome creature would leave anything important in this apartment. The cat was one thing. They had automatic survival enabled. Like how it was calmly sleeping next to him, under the counter. With no care as if already trained for such situations.
Lian cursed everyone and their ancestors in his mind. Sometimes even the neighbors. It was already bad enough he ended up a slave. Now people were even destroying his hard work!
"But the information is solid. He's definitely hiding something here. The documents must be here."
Lian would never understand the need to turn homes upside down looking for papers. In the very long week he spent at this so-called safe apartment, he hadn't even seen the master of the house with paper other than tissues.
"Let's go before the jammer stops. We don't want to get caught."
Yeah. Leave you mannerless people! May you have to clean floors dirtier than this.
As soon–
Weeewooo…wewooo..weee…ooo…
The fat cat ran with the instinct of an expert. But Lian didn't move an inch. He simply stared at his wrist, the small red screen with a triangle warning.
Your blood sugar is low.
With this thing in his arm, Lian simply felt lucky that he still had blood for sugar to swim in.
"Get out here this instant."
Why? Weren't these guys already done with their search?
"Don't make me say it twice you damn rat!"
The omelet still rested warm on the pan. Lian had managed to bring it along even in the fit of panic. Might as well eat before dying. Although he was half sure eggs didn't have much sugar content.
Lian had actually planned to cook some rice too. But this luxury apartment didn't have any. So he settled for a double omelet for lunch after the cleanup.
Even though there was a sinkhole of memory in his mind, he actually remembered how to cook.
He bit into the full sized omelet with tearful eyes and zero etiquette. The poor eggs probably felt bad for being rolled so mercilessly, screaming for their ruined aesthetic.
The unclean shoes clicked on the marble tiles once again. Getting louder with each step. "Where are you bastard?"
Lian would have made a run for it while they were busy ransacking through the place. If only this wasn't the 21st floor. The options were fainting on the stairs or getting caught before the lift arrived.
The long legs stopped beside the table. "You think you're so smart that you can hide from us?"
Yes. He definitely could have if not for the useless alarm.
Generally, thieves weren't this brazen to openly threaten residents of the place they were stealing from. It was probably because they had guns and knives.
But what else to call them when they clearly came when the owner wasn't present?
The tall man finally leaned down in a fell swoop. "Is this what the great mafia was hiding? A playth-"
*Slam*
Guns weren't the only weapons though. There were better things that didn't need assembling and could be used without learning how to. And if Lian had to give his personal opinion, anything could be a weapon as long as you hit hard enough.
*Slam*Slam*Slam*
With how Lian had hit the poor man on the most fundamental part of the body, there really wasn't any need for a second hit. But how was he supposed to know that?
The frying pan crashed onto the face until it was disfigured enough, the skull was broken and there was no chance of this guy waking up anytime soon.
By then, the rest of the thieves had already made their way to the kitchen too close to the living room. Launching at him with no regards for their fallen comrade.
It was one thing to hit an enemy at arms length. Lian knew he couldn't fight off this one with the frying pan.
So, like the smart laborer he was, he stepped away, far enough to not be in the way.
*Crash*
Fortunately, he had left the window open. Wasn't the first rule of cooking to make sure the room was well aired?
'Is the fall too high? Probably not. They have plenty of randomly placed roofs below.'
Lian peeked out like a responsible citizen to make sure the fall wasn't a hundred feet down. A sigh of relief escaped him after seeing it was only thirty feet.
*Click*
But the remaining enemy didn't make any foolish mistakes. He held the gun right at Lian.
The loud bang cut through the silence without any warnings given.
Lian ducked down to the floor instinctively. He wasn't willing to get shot because he was too shocked to move. The bigger concern was to find shelter before the next shot.
Yet, silence remained. Lian looked up to see the body fall over like a decoration, blood splattered on the floor.
Then he peeked over the kitchen counter, eyes meeting the questioning glare of the house owner who had just put the gun away.
And for once, Lian actually felt relieved to see that face. Because now he wouldn't have to explain the condition of the home.
"Mr Vase Lily! Thank God you're back!" The frown on the handsome face deepened further. "We need to buy cleaning solutions. A lot of it."