58: Hero saves the beauty

Deep in the alley, at a corner.

The light was even dimmer than outside, and the overhead wires hung so low they almost brushed against one's face.

The walls were covered in moss, emitting a stale, musty smell of age.

Behind that corner stood seven people.

Five thuggish young men had cornered two girls against the wall.

Those five men each had multi-colored hair and dragon and tiger tattoos on their arms; they clearly weren't good news.

Of the two girls being surrounded, one had her arms spread out like a hen protecting her chicks, firmly shielding her companion behind her.

Her companion hid behind her, shoulders twitching, sobbing incessantly.

Lin Chao leaned silently against the corner wall, only poking half his head out.

What a classic scene of a hero rescuing a beauty.

Pity, he wasn't a hero.

He was just a spectator.

The leader, a blonde-haired punk with a cigarette in his mouth, tilted his head and spoke with an impatient expression.

"I say, sister, what exactly do you want?"

"You were the one who personally promised to help Zhong Xiaoru pay back this money."

"Now you want to back out?"

The girl shielding the other had a neat ponytail, her face flushed with anger.

"I said it already!"

"I'm only helping her pay back twenty thousand!"

"That's what she personally told me; she only borrowed twenty thousand!"

"But now you're demanding a hundred and twenty thousand! If this isn't extortion, what is?!"

The blonde punk spat his cigarette butt onto the ground with a "ptui" and crushed it with his toe.

He gave a cold laugh.

"Extortion?"

"Little sister, you can't just throw words around like that."

"That twenty thousand of hers was borrowed three years ago."

"With interest compounding over these three years, it's reached a hundred and twenty thousand. Is that a lot?"

"I reckon it's quite reasonable!"

The punks behind him followed up with a burst of laughter.

The girl hiding behind cried even harder, her body shaking like a leaf in the autumn wind.

Lin Chao watched from behind the corner with an expressionless face.

Usury.

A typical predatory lending scam.

He had seen plenty of this sort of thing.

To put it plainly, it was a case of one party being willing to strike and the other willing to suffer.

That one named Zhong Xiaoru should have expected this day when she first borrowed the money.

He shook his head, preparing to turn and leave.

Getting involved in this kind of mess would only leave him smelling foul.

No need.

But just as he was about to pull away, another tall, thin punk rubbed his hands together and spoke with a lewd grin.

"Boss, why waste your breath on her?"

"I see it now, they can't pay back this money."

"If they can't pay, there's another way!"

His shifty eyes scanned the two girls back and forth.

"Use your bodies to pay the debt!"

"How about this, spend two nights with our boss."

"And this hundred and twenty thousand will be wiped clean!"

"How's that? A good deal, right?"

Lin Chao's foot, which he had just lifted, instantly froze.

He furrowed his brows.

The nature of the situation seemed to have changed.

What surprised him even more was Zhong Xiaoru, who had been hiding and weeping.

Hearing this, her crying actually stopped.

She slowly raised her head and looked at the punks through her friend's arms.

In those eyes, red and swollen from crying, there actually... actually flashed a glimmer of hope!

She shot a quick glance at the girl protecting her; that look was so complex it was chilling.

The girl with the ponytail had her back to her and didn't see her companion's expression at all.

All her attention was on the punks.

She was trembling with rage, her voice carrying a quiver.

"You... if you dare to do anything reckless, I'll call the police!"

She spoke with a fierce look but was weak inside.

The blonde punk heard this and acted as if he'd heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Call the police?"

"Sure, go ahead and call them!"

A punk beside him added in a sarcastic tone.

"If you call the police today, us brothers will stay in the station for a couple of days at most."

"But after we get out..."

"We'll be visiting your good friend's house every single day."

"The police can't lock us all up forever, can they?"

The girl with the ponytail was so choked up by these words she couldn't say a thing.

Her face turned the color of pig liver, and her chest heaved violently.

After a long while, she squeezed a few words through her teeth.

"You... you're just a bunch of shameless bastards!"

The phrase "shameless bastards" echoed in the dark alley, carrying a hint of trembling despair.

The blonde punk just picked his ear, his face full of mockery.

"Curse all you want."

"A few more insults won't hurt me."

The punks behind him also burst into laughter, a sound both harsh and unrestrained.

Just then, a tearful, mosquito-faint voice came from behind the girl with the ponytail.

"Qingyu..."

Zhong Xiaoru, who had been hiding and crying, gently tugged at the girl's sleeve.

The ponytail girl called "Qingyu" stiffened.

She didn't look back.

She only heard Zhong Xiaoru continue between sobs.

"Qingyu, I... I really have no other way..."

"My family is in this state, my parents' health... I really can't get the money..."

"I can only... only ask you to help me..."

Seeing this, the tall, thin punk immediately spoke up sarcastically.

"Oh, did you hear that?"

"Your friend has spoken!"

"Anyway, there are only two paths: either produce a hundred and twenty thousand right now."

"Or do as our boss said."

He rubbed his hands with a sleazy grin.

"Don't waste everyone's time!"

The blonde leader laughed triumphantly and took a step forward, closing in on the now-stunned Qingyu.

"How about it, beauty?"

"See, your friend is more sensible than you."

He reached out his hand, his tobacco-stained fingers flirtatiously reaching to touch Qingyu's face.

"As for money, I'm not short on it."

"How about you spend two nights with me..."

Smack!

A crisp sound!

Qingyu was like ignited gunpowder, suddenly raising her hand and forcefully slapping the blonde punk's hand away.

Her eyes burned with the flames of anger and humiliation.

"So what if it's a hundred and twenty thousand!"

She gritted her teeth, every word squeezed out from between them.

"I..."

Just then, a lazy, somewhat mocking voice drifted over from the corner of the alley.

"Turning twenty thousand into a hundred and twenty thousand."

"That interest is quite interesting."

"This doesn't even fall under the category of usury anymore."

"You could go to any court and sue for contractual fraud."

Swish!

In an instant, everyone's gaze in the alley shot toward the direction of the voice.

They saw a young man in casual clothes leaning lazily against the wall, a toothpick in his mouth.

Who else could it be but Lin Chao?

Huang Mao's eyes narrowed as he sized up this intruder who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Dressed in cheap street clothes, he didn't look like anyone wealthy or powerful.

His face darkened.

"Kid, I advise you not to meddle in things that don't concern you."

"Rescuing a beauty requires the ability to back it up."

"Otherwise, you'll end up on the ground before the beauty is saved, and that wouldn't be a pretty sight."