“When are you going to pay us, Mr. Smith? No pay, no work!”“Come on, Boss, you told us you’d pay us every month. It’s been three months since the last time.”“Mine has been dragged on for more than half a year! If you drag any longer, we won’t be able to work…”The Rheasians started ranting in droves. Being people of the poverty classes, they had only decided to work for these foreigners because they offered higher pay. But now, the only things they had gone through were their bosses’ tempestuous temperament, the mountainous load of work, and the fact that their salary never came.Thump!Kenneth smacked the table so hard it broke apart, though the worst of the commotion came in the form of an abrasive, offensive censure directed to every Rheasian in the room, with even a few Rheasian profanities thrown in. It was terrible enough that two of the bolder Rheasians had enough of the abuse and threw their floor-cleaning rags to the floor.“You goddamned foreigners! I’m done with this
The two men’s sudden appearance was not appreciated, particularly because it shattered the fun and serenity the group was enjoying.It was jarring enough that it rubbed Smith and Kenneth the wrong way. But most importantly, knowing that these Rheasians were looking at their compatriots and the abject fear and anxiety on their faces enraged them. A noble, superior race like their own should not show any sign of fear now, could they, lest they wanted the Rheasians to laugh at them.“What’s the meaning of this? Marx, Angus! What’s with this fear, huh? Have the Martians invaded Earth?!” Smith snapped.Kenneth wore his own scowl as he waited for a proper answer in silence.The two men had been rushing upstairs to bring Smith and Kenneth the news. Combined that with the fear of watching Zayn’s harrowing retribution, the two could only catch their breaths now, thus adding a few pauses before they announced loudly, “That Rheasian man’s here! He’s here for a fight!”“W-Wait, what?!” Smith
As soon as they noticed Zayn being alone, the Rheasians lost hope. They had seen these foreigners in action. They knew how good they were at fighting. That specific man, Kenneth, was a monster who could puncture a punching bag with a haphazard punch. They could already see in their mind—how badly beaten Zayn would have become after the foreigners’ nightmarish retribution. It only existed in their imagination for now, but still, it saddened the Rheasians. One of them even had reddened eyes.“Run!” One of them cried. He was warning Zayn.The other Rheasians froze for a second, then another one broke out of his trance and shouted, “Run for your life! These foreigners are sadists—they will rip you apart for beating their kin!”Another Rheasian quickly chimed in, too. “Run, man! Run before it’s too late!”Their desperate warnings shocked Zayn. He did not expect things to turn out this way. And yet, as his shocked eyes swept through a dozen of Rheasian faces, he saw concern, humiliation,
Jake Lewis was a university graduate hailed from a rural backwater. Ten years ago, he was a wide-eyed idealist with a big ambition nestled in his bosom. He went to Waltz City and believed that he would build something grand from hard work and intellect.But reality was a cruel mistress, and she was especially harsh to the quixotic. Jake suffered nothing but failures and setbacks since joining the big city until every ounce of his passion had been snuffed out. He gave up—two years ago, he suffered from an investment catastrophe that landed him in a bed of thorny debt. There had been many moments when he wanted to give up and just let the current of life take him, but he could not when he had a wife and children waiting for him. He had to soldier on. Problem was, at this age, he had nothing special to him anymore. All he had was hard labor. It was not the sort that could generate fast income.Then, four months ago, he saw an advertisement, searching for a cleaner. He was to be paid $20
Receiving their hero’s compliment made the men feel even prouder of themselves, and they puffed their chests even higher.Kenneth managed to shatter the feel-good moment, though. With an icy sneer, he scowled at Zayn and the Rheasians with the snarling ferocity of a monster and cocked his head to the side. “You think… That a bunch of Rheasina weaklings like yourselves would have anything to stand up against us? You really want to die so badly?”All twenty-odd foreigners had begun to surround Zayn, Jake, and the rest, their eyes brimming with hostility.Jake and his coworkers showed fear. Admittedly, the foreigners dwarfed them so much that the Rheasians and the foreigners belonged to two separate classes altogether.They gulped, clearly in fear. Smith and Kenneth took a few steps toward them and scanned the Rheasians with scorn until they finally rested on Zayn. “Rheasian weaklings. You’re of an inferior race! And you think you can fight against our noble race?”“You Rheasians sho
Smith, Kenneth, and his ilk took in the fear and anxiety in these people’s faces in delight. The jeers grew as much as their contempt ballooned.Zayn sighed quietly to himself, realizing that most of his compatriots still held deep-seated fear toward these foreigners. How could they not when the latter was so much larger than them? But he was not going to give up, oh no. To him, it meant that the responsibilities on his shoulders had multiplied. He would have to change this!He turned to his people with fire and edge in his eyes. “Don’t be afraid, all of you. With me around, these foreigners won’t be able to lay a finger on you at all. I want all of you to be brave; we’re not the same race they beat up a hundred years ago now. We have arisen! We don’t need to be afraid of them anymore!”Zayn’s impassioned speech managed to assuage many of their fears, but their faith in Zayn was still lacking. “Um, Boss, tell me you summoned some help before you came here?”The others’ eyes shone w
The Rheasians standing behind Zayn could feel the pressure before Kenneth’s attack even arrived. Blood had escaped their faces as they stumbled backward, their hearts threatening to stop as fear tightened its grip around their chests.Zayn did not move despite the attack. He remained still, as though he was so shocked, he could not move anymore. No dodging, no side-stepping. Kenneth smirked, confident that a punch drawing two thousands pounds of force—nearly ninety-percent of his strength—could snap Zayn’s neck like a twig.Smith and the rest were excited too. They were sure Zayn was going down.Thump!The punch had connected—and Kenneth was stunned. The last time he fought with Zayn, he remembered his opponent being fast enough to evade him. So why did he not? What was going on?Jake and the rest watched Zayn’s face bracing the full brunt of the attack, their hearts sinking. There was no hope.Of course that was not the case; in fact, it was even more bizarre. Zayn remained in h
No one would have thought Zayn could defeat Kenneth before this played out. It would have been ludicrous to suggest that when one compared their size—Kenneth was like a lion while Zayn had the imposing stature of a rabbit. And yet, it turned out that Zayn not only could take a ceaseless fusillade of punches from the lion-like Kenneth without any injury, but also threw a punch at the latter so hard that the poor man flew backward and out of consciousness.When the room trained their eyes on the evident dent on Kenneth’s chest, the same question leaped to everyone’s mind: how the hell was he supposed to survive that?Zayn did not pull his punches this time. Even if Kenneth managed to survive, he would have to live his life crippled and defective.Jake and the rest of his compatriots gulped in disbelief. It was happening. This was all real. And it completely, utterly, flew at the face of what they knew about the world.Zayn, meanwhile, espied the intensifying fear on the foreigners’ f