The Gathering (Continued)

The singing was deafening, the lights dazzling and colorful. 

 Inside the room, Max and his people were making a racket, seemingly determined to turn the place into a mess.

 Ratchi shouted desperately at Max, "Get out, get out, you're not welcome here!"

 Max, however, didn't care. He just waved his hand, "Hey, you're not the owner here, you don't have the right to decide. Besides, it's impolite to kick out invited guests. Let's have some manners. But I forgive you, I won't hold it against you."

 With a wave, the big guy among Max's crew lifted Ratchi like a chicken and tossed him into the pool.

 As Ratchi surfaced, someone pushed him back down, laughing, "Don't mind, it's just a joke."

 Yes, a joke!

 Everything was happening under the guise of jokes.

 Eating, drinking, fighting, smashing, and grabbing, all in the name of partying and joking.

 Yet if you didn't look closely, you wouldn't see any problem.

 As they said, it was just a gathering.

 Everything happening here was common at parties.

 A smirk curved Reno's lips, "Interesting..."

 A second-year student who was watching him was puzzled, "What did you say?"

 Expecting Reno's anger, his outburst surprised him. He wasn't prepared, all his means were useless, and he felt powerless.

 Reno headed towards the swimming pool.

 The students thought he was going to rescue someone and were prepared to stop him.

 But Reno simply said, "Keep this up, and he'll drown because of you. Are you sure you want to do this?"

 Everyone froze.

 They looked at each other, releasing their grip.

 Ratchi emerged from the pool, coughing loudly, "R-Reno, I'm sorry."

 "I know, that's why I didn't stop them. You've learned your lesson, you can get up now."

 "Aren't you going to chase them away?" Ratchi was surprised.

 Reno helped him up, "You mean the two of us will drive them all away? Ratchi, don't be naive. They didn't come here to leave. Don't try to do the impossible."

 Ratchi was dumbfounded.

 The students burst into laughter together.

 "You're a smart guy, Reno, but you've done a foolish thing. You shouldn't have provoked Max," someone patted Reno's shoulder, showing regret.

 They had no enmity with Reno, but since they chose to follow Max, they had to obey him.

 That's why they didn't deliberately trouble Reno in private.

 "Thank you for the reminder," Reno replied politely, "Since they're here, why not have some fun?"

 "We'll certainly have fun, but I don't think you will," a student replied, then nodded towards Max inside the house, "His fun is built upon your misery."

 With that, everyone entered Reno's house. Some eyes were on Reno, but nobody paid him any attention. In terms of numbers, Reno was too few to make any difference. He could only watch as they wreaked havoc in his home.

 "Sorry, Reno," Ratchi regretted.

 "You've repented already. I say, when we make mistakes, what else can we do besides repent?" Reno replied with a hint of sarcasm.

 Ratchi was stunned.

 Seeing him dumbfounded, Reno said impatiently, "Remedy!"

 Ratchi suddenly realized, "But I've tried, and I can't drive them away."

 "If you can't drive them away, why not try a different approach?" Reno suggested.

 "A different approach?" Ratchi didn't understand.

 Reno mused, "Since we can't drive away unwelcome guests, why not invite some welcome ones? Ratchi, could you do me a favor? Go invite Pol, Sfild, Hanks, Yading, Zonghan, and Coflun... all our familiar friends."

 Ratchi was initially stunned but then his eyes lit up, "You're right. Since they came in the name of a party, let's throw a real one. I'll contact them right away!"

 He opened the communication device to contact those familiar friends.

 Soon, one after another, classmates from the Fleet Command department rushed to the King's apartment.

 Parlon Sfild was the first to arrive, swaggering down from his flying car to Reno's side, "I heard there's free beer here?"

 "And cakes and beauties," Reno pointed behind him. Behind the nanoglass wall, a group of young men and women were dancing, laughing, drinking, and singing loudly.

 The beer wasn't Reno's, Max footed the bill, determined to make a mess in Reno's house.

 Sfild's face lit up with joy at the sight, leaving Reno behind as he entered the house. He didn't know who Max was, and he didn't care. He came to Reno's for the free beer.

 As the group watched Sfild help himself to their drinks, they were dumbfounded.

 Someone asked, "Hey, buddy, who are you?"

 Parlon Sfild proudly looked at the students and replied, "Just like you, I'm a guest of Reno's."

 He finished one bottle and reached for another.

 "I say, don't push it too far," someone threatened, unable to bear.

 "Why, you want to fight?" Sfild replied nonchalantly, though he was already surrounded by people. He acted as if he didn't see, veins bulging on his bald head.

 The people who came out of the Devil's Triangle were the least afraid of fighting.

 Just as the students were about to erupt, more people came in, including Freckled Phili Pol and handsome Hanks with long legs.

 "Wow, there are so many beauties here," Phili Pol whistled.

 "Don't be so surprised, Pol," the seasoned Hanks did a cool hair flip, tossing his golden hair, eliciting screams from countless girls.

 So Max and his companions found that after the beer, their dance partners were also about to slip away.

 Following the two, foodie Coflun also arrived. This chubby guy, who once participated in the Big Eater Contest, ate twenty-six Big Macs in half an hour and won third place in the competition. He had the appetite to bankrupt a country. When he arrived here, he was attracted by the food on the table. Obviously, these things couldn't have come from Reno's fridge. Coflun didn't care about these. He went straight for the food, eating loudly, and said, "Hey, Reno, thanks for your hospitality."

 Max was thoroughly angry.

 But just as he was about to mobilize people to smash Reno's house regardless of consequences, more students came in. Some new girls were among them.

 When Claire appeared in the courtyard, everyone lost the desire to act.

 She was wearing a sky-blue dress, her golden hair piled up behind her head, and a string of gemstone necklace hung around her white neck, making her look noble and generous.

 "Claire, why are you here?" Reno was also surprised to see Claire.

 He didn't call her.

 "I heard you're having a grand party here, which I don't think fits your style, so I decided to come and see," Claire replied.

 Reno was surprised, "And what style do you think suits me? Burying myself in books and avoiding outsiders?"

 "That's not the point," Claire gave him an annoyed look, then pointed inside the house, "The point is over there."

 She was pointing at Max.

 Others might forget Max, but as the queen who voted for Reno and danced with the king at the Freshman Reception, she naturally knew who Max was.

 "Just some unwelcome guests," Reno explained Ratchi's deception, "Since they insist on using my floor, I don't mind inviting some friends to share their food."

 A charming smile appeared on Claire's face.

 She covered her mouth and said, "That's a good idea. I don't think they can cause any more trouble now."

 "At least they can still stomp on the floor," Reno looked at a student jumping wildly on his sofa and replied with some regret.

 Seeing this scene, Claire suddenly said, "Want to drive them away?"

 "Uh... do you have a way?" Reno asked curiously.

 "Of course," Claire replied, "Light a fire, burn down the house."

 Reno shook his head with a smile, "I don't intend to go that extreme. Turning my home into ruins just to drive out intruders. No, no, I won't do that."

 "If someone else pays the bill, you will," Claire said, "In the bars on Earth, there's a rule. Anyone can fight in the bar, as long as they compensate for any damages caused. It's noteworthy that the price is determined by the bar owner, which allows them to profit from it. They thus encourage brawls, and this rule is called the Pirate Bar Rule."

 Reno narrowed his eyes, "Are you suggesting..."

 "Don't worry about the consequences of the fire. There are automatic fire suppression systems in every dormitory of the academy. They will extinguish the flames in time, and nobody will die, only some furniture and appliances will be lost due to water and fire damage. Breaking things at a party is understandable, and nobody will help you bear that. But if a fire incident occurs, it will become a collective event, and everyone needs to take responsibility..." Claire said straightforwardly.

 Reno immediately understood.

 As Claire said, he set the price, and he decided the compensation. As long as it wasn't too excessive, Max and his crew had nothing to say. As for Pol and the others, it was even simpler. As long as he privately refunded their share of the money, it would be fine.

 Reno's eyes lit up, "Claire, you're the smartest girl I've ever met."

 "Just grew up here, familiar with the academy's system. My grandfather often said, all wisdom comes from the use of rules. If you don't understand the rules, there's no wisdom to speak of," Claire said.

 "That's brilliant," Reno applauded.

 "So, how do you plan to start the fire?" Claire asked, "Friendly reminder, there are monitors everywhere in the academy, they limit Max from acting recklessly, but they also limit you."

 "As you said, it's just a fire. Do you know there's a hobby in the world called smoking cigars?" Reno blinked.

 "You smoke cigars?"

 "I smoke Max," Reno replied.