"Enough."
The hall fell into knee-deep silence.
Rudolf hadn't yelled. Yet, his voice carried an unquestionable authority that caused the nagging women to seal their lips.
Chris, Jenny, and the other streamers looked at him, feeling touched.
Leader! He was their leader.
They could see that each era of people had its leaders, who came together to have meetings, probably related to food finding, information gathering, and other missions.
Bassano was the leader of all remaining 15 from his ear, as well as 7 others from the 1910s.
There were 2 others: Jason and Vladimir, who led separate teams. Now, adding Rudolf to the mix, there should be 4 leaders.
It's been a little over 2 days since they arrived, and Rudolf immediately became their leader.
They were given a tour of the mansion and shown the significant places off limits to them.
In conclusion, though it was only 2 stories, it still had 400 incredible rooms, which included several storage rooms and so on.
Apparently, the first group of people ever sent in here met the place empty... All 400 rooms. But luckily, every century when a group arrives, they bring back items from that little shed with them.
The same was true for Rudulf's group.
All the items they brought into the shed to camp overnight with, as well as all the things placed in the shed over these years by passerbys and grave cleaners, were also transported over.
Even more shocking was that the tiny shed's wooden interior scattered and dropped into the mansion as wood. It was from this that they made beds from.
As for making fire, sorry. That was a luxury for them. Everything they ate was raw. There wasn't enough wood or raw materials to keep burning and wasting away.
Remember. A majority of the land in this space is rotten, meaning the trees were rotting. And in most cases, the trees themselves were alive! So do you know how valuable wood was?
Please! The only fortunate matter was that their mansion had a well at the back for water.
Their mansion and the immediate yard surrounding it were the only places that these monsters dared not go close to. They didn't know why, but it was enough to make them happy.
If they could, they would never want to leave this safe haven. But if they wanted to eat and get other raw materials on that hill, then they had to get out.
Of course, since that mysterious hill produced human food, it means its trees and any raw materials they found on it were safe for human use.
So transporting these resources back to the mansion was their top priority.
For these past 2 days, Rudolf and the others toured the mansion, knowing the restricted regions.
For example, the Food supply storage room was locked tightly and controlled by all leaders. Everyone ate at the same time to prevent discrepancies.
The North, South-East, and South-West wings were also restricted since those wings were the residential areas belonging to the various groups.
As for Rudolf, he chose the North-East wing, choosing to stay close to Bassano's group.
Each wing was akin to its own separate house, as entering the wing, one needed to pass through a long corridor before reaching a grand hall.
The hall had high ceilings as though one had just entered a cathedral. And on the other end of the hall, the space was divided into 2 floors, with various rooms and a stairway leading to the upper floor.
Some wings were grand, having 22 spacious rooms, while others had but 10.
The North-East Wing Rudolph chose for his group had 14 rooms, which meant all 12 of them would get their own separate sleeping spaces.
What's more, the wing was better furbished compared to the other available wings.
The previous group that lived here was all dead. But at least they left their beds and other furniture pieces behind.
As for light, there was no electricity. So they are sure that whatever they did, it had to be done during the day.
As an outdoor anchor, Rudolg had several lighters with him.
Others were shocked by the lighter, almost jumping like monkeys. You have to know that there was a large supply of wax candles available but no fire to light up the space.
Rudolf agreed with the other outdoor anchors to only show 4 lighters to these survivors. As for the rest, they would have to hide them until they could completely trust this group.
.
"Like I said, enough is enough. I won't let you talk to my group this way!" Rudolf warned. And Bassano, pretending to sleep, slowly opened his eyes with a raised brow.
'This kid is quite tough to be able to adjust himself from his initial shock barely 2 days after arriving.'
After living for hundreds of years, Bassano might have a 26-year-old face, but he was already an old man.
Over the years, he too has been annoyed by Jason's group who didn't seem to grow brains over the years.
These people from the 1910s were quite judgmental and annoying. But... What can he do? They must keep their human population alive to make it through this dump.
He also understood that with little to no entertainment here, these people who saw 'fresh meat' enter the space felt itchy, wanting to show their might.
Also, some were afraid the newcomers would take their lovers away. After all, some men/women also stole lovers from others when they initially got here too
Rudolf took deep breaths in hope of calming himself.
"Look! My group and I have no time to listen to your naggings... Let me be clear. If it does concern our overall well-being or the situation at hand, then keep your mouths shut!"
"You-you-you!... How rude! Don't you know how to respect your elders?" One of the men questioned after seeing Rudolf attack his girlfriend.
"Kid... I knew I never liked you from the start."
'The feeling is mutual.' Rudolf inwardly retorted as he crossed his arms on his chest and stood tall with his group behind him.
Yup.
Emily, Jenny, Chris, Bianca, and the others thought so too, allowing their new boss to take the stage.
Rudolf squinted his eyes deeply. "Let me be clear. As team leader, I have an obligation to protect and ensure that my team isn't being taken advantage of. Meaning that though we are new here, I will never allow anyone to force my team to do missions on our own. So don't even think about it!"
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on fre ew𝒆bnovel.com