Qi Ziyu sighed softly and laid down the chopsticks. The stink of sweat that had wafted over from the man had utterly destroyed her appetite.
Xia Yan looked up and discovered a muscular, bald man donned in a tight-fitting black tank top standing beside the table. His entire skin was covered in a hideous mess of tattoos, and he also wore a large gold chain on his neck.
With the absurd way he had dressed, the only thing lacking was the words ‘I am a gangster’ on his forehead. Although it was possible that he wasn’t from a gang and was a mere thug, their natures differed little.
This bald man even had a few lackeys standing behind him, so their numbers had scared a vast majority of the noodle restaurant’s customers away. Although the restaurant owner’s expression turned unsightly, he could only bear the anger in silence. These people mingled in the streets adjacent to his restaurant, so he really couldn’t afford to offend them.
Xia Yan found two of the followers of the bald man a little familiar, so he gave them another look or two and recognized them immediately. [Aren’t these two fellows the pickpockets I ran into on the bus a few days ago?]
Xia Yan had taught these two pickpockets a small lesson back then and thought that the matter had ended with that. Still, he wasn’t expecting to run into these two again in the massive city of Chengdu. Hence, Xia Yan suspected that these two pickpockets might have incited the bald man to approach Qi Ziyu.
And Xia Yan’s suspicion was right on the mark. Fatty Wang and the punk worked under Brother Bao previously. However, Brother Bao and a few others had gotten possessed when they had gone out to do a job for Wen Yipin. Since he had suffered multiple fractures of getting beat up by his possessed underlings, Brother Bao was still lying in the hospital.
The other wandering outlaws obviously didn’t waste this chance and began to fight over Brother Bao’s territory. As such, his domain changed hands almost instantaneously, and following the tides, Fatty Wang and the punk became the underlings of the new boss.
Fatty Wang and the punk who were following behind their new boss to collect the protection fee from the storefronts had discovered Xia Yan and Qi Ziyu just a few minutes after they had entered this street. As Xia Yan had left a deep impression on them, they immediately thought of getting revenge on him.
The new boss was fond of young female students and had already harmed two girls from Sihe University just a few days after he had assumed his position. Hence, when they noticed a girl with peerless looks accompanying Xia Yan, they pointed her to their new boss decisively, which led to the current scene.
Fatty Wang and the punk faced Xia Yan with proud looks on their faces, unable to hold back a smile at the thought of finally being able to get revenge on him.
Xia Yan shook his head as he got up and stood in between the bald man and Qi Ziyu. He sighed ruefully as Qi Ziyu had stood between him and Xie Zheng in the morning, so it was his turn to protect her behind him now.
There weren’t people around them early in the morning, so the outcome hadn’t been that grave, but they were currently situated in a pretty crowded street, so even he couldn’t anticipate what the online news portals would write if someone recognized Qi Ziyu.
Qi Ziyu’s lips curled up into a beautiful smile when she saw Xia Yan stand before her. She took out a sun hat and oversized sunglasses from her backpack and wore them on immediately to conceal some of her pretty looks, which made it hard for people to recognize her.
“Step aside, Kid. You have no business here!” A fierce glimmer flashed through the bald man’s eyes as he reached out to push Xia Yan aside. Although he had a muscular build, his height was shorter than Xia Yan by a notch, so the feeling of raising his head to look at Xia Yan placed him in a really bad mood.
The bald man, however, failed to even budge Xia Yan a little with his push. Although this had stunned him, he sneered immediately and showed no hesitation in punching Xia Yan’s stomach in the next instant.
The bald man had dealt with his share of students, so he was well aware that a vast majority of the students were timid and feared getting hit. No matter how much of a brave front they showed in the beginning, it only required him to deliver a few punches and reveal his knife to make them cower and submit in fear.
However, this time, the bald man’s punch had been intercepted before it could even land on Xia Yan’s stomach. Xia Yan shook his head towards him and said coldly, “You shouldn’t have dared to mess with me at this time!”
Xia Yan was teeming with anger right now as the pleasant mood between him and Qi Ziyu had gotten utterly destroyed because of them. [Did you think it was easy for me to have a meal with Qi Ziyu? Out of all the boys in the university, only I was lucky enough to get this opportunity! And you bastards actually dared to destroy it! I’ve had enough of it now!]
Qi Ziyu’s gaze flickered with an unusual glimmer as she had naturally figured out the meaning of his words. This caused her face to blush slightly, and her eyes also seemed to smile as she looked at his back.
“Heh! You seem to have quite the spunk, kid!” The bald man replied in a fit of fury and turned around to shout, “What are you asses waiting for? Get…”
His words got stuck in his throat before he could finish saying them as the bald man felt a sharp pain from his stomach in the next instant. Xia Yan had kneed him in the stomach when he had turned around. As Xia Yan’s current strength had far transcended the power of an ordinary human, the bald man naturally wasn’t able to bear the pain brought to him by the attack. His body curled up in pain immediately, and his eyes almost popped out of his sockets. Although his mouth was wide open, he wasn’t able to utter a single word.
“It’s a fight!” Someone cried out, and this caused the few remaining customers of the noodle restaurant to dash out without paying for the food as well. Although the restaurant’s owner felt distressed about the situation, he didn’t have the guts to tell them to go and fight outside. The incident had also gathered a crowd outside the noodle restaurant as there were always people who liked to watch an exciting event like a fight.
“Ziyu. Return to the university first,” Xia Yan grabbed the bald man then turned around to speak to her in a low voice.
“Let’s return together,” Qi Ziyu stood up and shook her head.
“But what if you get recognized…” As Qi Ziyu was a public figure, Xia Yan felt worried that her reputation would suffer harm if she were to appear in the news because of the fight. He absolutely couldn’t allow this to happen.
“You just have to settle it sooner then,” Qi Ziyu picked her backpack up then helped Xia Yan pick his backpack up as well. She then stepped on the bald man’s face without the slightest hesitation, and followed by a soft cracking sound, the bald man screamed in pain and fell on his back. His broken nose bled severely, and his face also gained the print of a size 6 sports shoe.
As Qi Ziyu was in disguise, she hadn’t held back at all as there was no risk of exposing herself.
“Whew——” The few onlookers watching the scene drew in cold breaths. Although they had seen a fair share of fights, it was their first time seeing a girl leave behind such a squeaky-clean shoe print. It was a pretty ruthless move!
A blue spark flashed across Xia Yan’s fingers before he released the bald man’s hand. He then gave Qi Ziyu a thumbs-up and praised her, “Awesome!”
Saying so, he stepped on the fat bald man’s stomach and leaped forward to kick the punk that was blocking their way and sent him flying outside the restaurant. He crashed onto the sidewalk and tumbled a few times before stopping and was unable to even stand up.
Qi Ziyu followed up behind him with a pair of chopsticks in hand and thrashed the face of Fatty Wang, who was blocking their path seven to eight times in passing. As a result, Fatty Wang’s cheeks became so large that even his father would find it difficult to recognize him later on.
The other thugs finally recovered their senses at this moment and yelled as they charged at Xia Yan to attack him with punches and kicks. They seemed to have some sense of decorum as they hadn’t attacked Qi Ziyu on account of her being a woman.
Xia Yan guarded his head with his hands and blocked the consecutive attacks from the thugs. As his muscle-packed physique had significantly strengthened, he felt no pain at all. Qi Ziyu also hadn’t remained stationary while he acted as the meat shield. Just because the thugs had spared her on account of her being a woman, it didn’t mean that she would stay still and do nothing. She held onto the chopsticks firmly and thrashed two of the thugs down fiercely.
Xia Yan seized this gap that had opened up in their attacks to deliver a flurry of punches to the thug closest to him, which caused that thug to also curl up just like his boss.
As the burden on him had lessened, Xia Yan managed to take down the rest of the thugs swiftly. Although they had attacked him a lot, their attacks didn’t pack a lethal force behind them, while his strength far surpassed the endurance limit of the thugs. This was also the reason endurance was considered the most essential aspect of a fight.