A little after 5:00 p.m., Zhou Cheng and the others finally had their fill of fun. The gathering came to an end, and everyone began heading home.
Since part of Zhou Cheng’s route home overlapped with Xu Ming’s, the two left together.
Wait… What’s going on?!
The second female lead is going the same way as Brother Zhou Cheng too???
This… Is this the will of the world?!
As they were leaving, Xu Ming saw Lin An riding on the back of Zhou Cheng’s electric scooter and suddenly felt puzzled.
Although he had disrupted part of the plotline between the second female lead and Zhou Cheng earlier, Lin An was still one of the major female characters in the early stages of the original novel. Judging by the current situation, she still seemed unable to escape the arrangement of fate and had somehow gotten involved with Brother Zhou Cheng again…
“Hey, Xu Ming, you’re turning off at the intersection ahead, right?” Zhou Cheng asked while Xu Ming was lost in thought.
“Mm, that’s right, Brother Zhou Cheng…”
“But I still need to buy something, so we’re actually going the same way for a little longer, heh…”
Although the gathering was over, Xu Ming was not entirely at ease.
The reason was simple. The System had yet to notify him that the mission was complete.
Therefore, to guard against any unexpected accidents, Xu Ming, who always lived as cautiously as if he were walking on thin ice, decided to personally escort Brother Zhou Cheng safely home.
“You brat, heh… All right…”
“Then why don’t you come over to my place for a while afterward?”
“No thanks, Brother Zhou Cheng. Definitely next time. I really do need to buy something.”
As they chatted and joked, the two soon reached the intersection.
Almost the instant Xu Ming and the others arrived, four modified Ninebot electric scooters suddenly surrounded them.
“Hey, you two. Stop, stop…”
With the road blocked, Zhou Cheng and Xu Ming had no choice but to stop.
Xu Ming recognized the blond-haired guy who had spoken. He was the basketball trainee they had encountered the day he and Brother Zhou Cheng went to the vocational high school.
Although Xu Ming did not know his name, that eye-catching hair color had certainly left a strong impression on him.
“What’s going on? What do you guys want?”
“Why are you blocking us?”
Zhou Cheng looked uncomfortably at the blond-haired young man leading the group.
“We’re not here for you, so don’t overthink it. We’re looking for the other person on your scooter.”
Pang Wen gave Zhou Cheng an indifferent glance before turning his gaze toward Lin An, who was sitting behind him.
“Hey, Sister-in-law. Brother Long is looking for you…”
As soon as Pang Wen finished speaking, Zhang Long, who was sitting on another scooter, chimed in, “Yo, Lin An, who’s this? Another sucker you found?”
“Didn’t expect you to already be riding on his scooter, heh…”
One had to admit that young people recovered quickly.
Just two and a half hours ago, Zhang Long had been hunched over inside the KTV restroom, checking his injuries.
Yet in the blink of an eye, he was already walking briskly again and could even straighten his back. As for whether everything else had recovered…
“Zhang Long, are you ever going to stop?! You even brought people to block me now? Have you no shame at all?!”
Seeing Zhang Long get off his scooter and approach, Lin An also climbed off Zhou Cheng’s scooter.
There was not the slightest trace of panic on her face. All she showed was overwhelming impatience and disgust.
She frowned and glared coldly at him.
“Fuck you, you filthy bitch…”
“You’re still putting on that attitude when you’re about to get screwed?! Fuck you!”
“What are you doing?!”
Zhang Long had just raised his hand to slap Lin An when Zhou Cheng suddenly stopped him from the side.
“Yo, kid, are you seriously another sucker? You’re actually trying to play the hero and save a bitch like her?!”
“Fine, I’ll grant your wish…”
He looked Zhou Cheng up and down with disdain, as if staring at an idiot, then waved his hand.
“Brothers, get him! Teach him a lesson!”
“Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing? There’s surveillance right over there. If you’re planning to start a fight, you’d better think carefully!”
Seeing them about to attack Zhou Cheng, Xu Ming could no longer sit still and immediately shouted a warning.
Seriously…
There really are delinquents who start fights at the slightest disagreement?!
“Hey, good thing you reminded me, kid. Hahaha…”
“Good brother, stay here and keep an eye on these two. The rest of you, come with me. Drag him into that alley over there!”
After giving Xu Ming a mocking glance, Zhang Long ordered two of his men to stay behind and watch Xu Ming and Lin An. Then he immediately called the others over to drag Zhou Cheng into the nearby alley.
Wait… That works too?!
Fuck! I made things worse…
System, exchange my Points for the Combat Mastery skill.
[Ding! 500 Points consumed. Combat Mastery successfully exchanged.]
Realizing that he had seemingly made the situation worse, Xu Ming raised an eyebrow and hurriedly exchanged for the skill before going to help.
The instant the System notification sounded, an enormous amount of knowledge and experience related to combat flooded Xu Ming’s mind.
It was almost as if he had been possessed. In an instant, Xu Ming suddenly knew how to fight.
I’ll take on ten of them! .jpg
“Hey, what are you doing?! Stop right there, or we won’t go easy on you!”
Thud! Thud!
Xu Ming did not hesitate.
His hands moved, and two men dropped.
He effortlessly knocked down the two punks trying to block his path.
???
What… What’s going on?!
He… He knows how to fight too?!!
That shouldn’t be possible…
He’s always been so timid and submissive…
So why is he suddenly so…
Before Lin An could even process what she had witnessed, Xu Ming rushed toward the alley where Zhou Cheng had been taken, leaving her staring after him in shock.
At that moment, Zhou Cheng was seconds away from getting beaten.
He had originally planned to trade blows with at least one of them, but his opponents gave him no such opportunity.
Zhang Long and the others had already forced Zhou Cheng to his knees.
Just as they were preparing to thoroughly humiliate him, Xu Ming arrived.
“Fuck! Have I been too damn nice to you? You really dared to lay your hands on him?!”
Seeing the blond-haired guy and the others already pinning Zhou Cheng to the ground, Xu Ming cursed once and wasted no more words.
He attacked!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Everything happened in an instant.
With a lightning-fast three-hit combo, Xu Ming dropped three men before suddenly charging forward.
Under Zhang Long’s stunned gaze, Xu Ming instantly closed the distance and threw another punch, knocking down the punk who had been gripping Zhou Cheng’s arm.
“Fuck yo…”
Seeing all his men knocked down, Zhang Long flew into a rage.
However, just as he tried to sneak-attack Xu Ming, Zhou Cheng suddenly punched him.
At the same time, Xu Ming knocked down the last blond-haired punk nearby.
With that, their entire group was temporarily wiped out.
“Fuck, what a bunch of idiots. You actually dared to start a fight?!”
“Cough… Ptui!”
Even after dealing with everyone, Xu Ming still seemed unsatisfied. He spat viciously at Zhang Long and Pang Wen, who were sprawled on the ground like dead dogs.
“Sorry, Brother Zhou Cheng. I almost made things worse. I didn’t think they’d actually dare to attack you.”
“Heh… It’s fine. Aren’t they all lying on the ground now?”
Zhou Cheng nodded and smiled unconcernedly.
Then his eyes widened slightly as he stared at Xu Ming in astonishment.
“But you brat… You really hid it well!”
“Since when were you this good at fighting? Have you trained before?!”
“No… I just do a lot of physical work normally, so I’ve gotten pretty strong.”
“Anyway, we should get out of here quickly. It’ll be troublesome if more people show up.”
Xu Ming casually offered an explanation before quickly walking out of the alley.
“Lin An, are you all right?!”
When Xu Ming and Zhou Cheng emerged from the alley, they immediately saw Lin An standing near the entrance.
The girl stood frozen in place, complicated emotions swirling within her beautiful fox-like eyes.
Out of concern, Zhou Cheng instinctively asked about her condition.
“Mm… I’m fine…”
“Thank you both.”
With a complicated expression, Lin An glanced at the figures lying inside the alley. After finally recovering from her daze, she asked the two of them, “Mm… What if they call the police after they wake up?”
“Heh, there’s no evidence. It won’t do them any good,” Xu Ming replied calmly.
Zhou Cheng also gave a disdainful laugh and said, “Call the police? Heh… If anyone gets arrested, it’ll be them…”
“Don’t worry. I’ve memorized every one of their faces…”
“If they dare bother us again, I guarantee they’ll be the ones going in.”
Oh, right. I almost forgot…
Brother Zhou Cheng seems to have some influence behind him!
Seeing the confidence on Zhou Cheng’s face, Xu Ming finally remembered how powerful Zhou Cheng’s family background was in the original novel.
In an instant, Xu Ming felt much more confident as well.
Looking at it this way…
This mission isn’t entirely about me cleaning up the protagonist’s mess…
Mm… We complement each other…
Not bad!
After getting back onto his electric scooter, Xu Ming traveled alongside Zhou Cheng for another stretch before the two soon went their separate ways.
At the same time, the System’s reward finally arrived.
[Ding! Side Mission completed. Points have been issued. Host, please check your balance.]
After all that effort, Xu Ming’s balance had only increased by 100 Points, leaving him somewhat disappointed.
In the end, after thinking it over, Xu Ming decided to cash out some of his Points as a reward for all his hard work.
System, exchange 1,000 Points for money…
…