Chapter 3

Shen Yao Xing looked at the two women and one man not far ahead, clicked her tongue in annoyance, and leaped onto the roof tiles, intending to take a shortcut back to the inn.

She jumped lightly across the rooftops, and as she passed over the group, her gossipy gaze couldn’t help but glance down. A young man in an apricot-colored robe was confronting two large-bodied women, whose muscular arms stretched the fabric of their clothes.

If she hadn’t seen the female symbols on their chests, Shen Yao Xing wouldn’t have been able to tell their gender. At least from behind, those figures were exactly like the muscle men of the 21st century.

Shen Yao Xing, who had already passed them, suddenly stopped and stood on the roof with interest, looking down at this gender-reversed spectacle.

The three people on the street were unaware of the spectator above. The two women were lewdly teasing the small-framed man in front of them, their cloudy gazes shamelessly appraising him, their laughing words too vulgar to repeat.

The young man in the apricot robe bit his lower lip, his hand holding the whip trembling slightly with anger. Finally unable to endure it anymore, he suddenly lashed the whip at the two, as nimble as a living snake, but unfortunately lacking in power.

The two women were no pushovers either. One wielding a spiked club, the other a large cleaver, they easily dodged without even using their weapons, and rushed at the young man from left and right.

The young man in the apricot robe pushed off the ground forcefully, executing a beautiful backflip to avoid their sudden attack. His wrist flexed powerfully twice, the whip leaving a red mark on each woman’s face.

“Pft” Shen Yao Xing on the roof couldn’t help but chuckle.

The two women were caught off guard by the strikes and were both stunned for a moment. One of them licked the wound that extended to the corner of her mouth, suddenly smiling perversely, as if injected with chicken blood, extremely excited: “Well struck! I like them feisty like this!”

Shen Yao Xing on the roof also had a ‘what the fuck’ expression, not expecting this person to have such masochistic tendencies.

After that woman’s hideous smile, she exchanged a glance with the other woman. Suddenly, she charged at the young man. As he swung his whip at her, the woman on the other side sped up towards his other side. The young man’s pupils constricted slightly, and it was too late to change the direction of his whip. His slender frame was pressed to the ground.

The two women were like mountain wolves starved for days, not caring about their current location, they pounced directly, tearing the young man’s clothes, disregarding his struggles and screams.

There were a few passersby on both sides of the street who, seeing this situation, could only grit their teeth and avert their gaze. Even if they felt indignant, they didn’t have the ability to step forward and rescue him. Moreover, such things happened frequently in Tai Zhou City. They could only turn a blind eye, secretly shifting the blame onto those men – being out on the streets after sunset, they couldn’t be good men anyway.

Shen Yao Xing watched this scene coldly from the rooftop. Along the way, she had seen no shortage of such incidents, showing how brazen these people had become.

The young man’s screams gradually became desperate. His clothes had been torn to the last shred of modesty. A tear slid from his hollow eye corner. Just as he was about to bite his tongue to commit suicide, refusing to let the two villains have their way, suddenly the two women fell to the side without even a groan. There was a light sound of pebbles falling nearby.

The young man in the apricot robe couldn’t react for a moment, staring blankly through tear-filled eyes. It wasn’t until he felt the chill that he suddenly sat up, eyes wide open with tears, looking at the two unconscious women. He hurriedly tried to cover himself with the strips of cloth torn on the ground.

“Tch”

A impatient voice suddenly came from above. The young man in the apricot robe abruptly looked up. By now the full moon had risen, just behind the girl standing high on the roof. The silver moon was like a white paper, the girl’s beautiful curves outlined alluringly. Her face couldn’t be clearly seen, but her voice was exceptionally clear.

“Why are you so stupid? Your clothes are all torn to pieces and you’re still trying to cover yourself with them. Are you trying to cover three points? Aren’t there two ready-made ones right beside you? Just strip one off and be done with it.”

The young man in the apricot robe bit his lower lip without speaking, both hands still tightly clutching the torn cloth. He sniffled, looking up at that figure, and asked in a hoarse voice: “Just now… was it you who saved me?”

“No,” Shen Yao Xing answered quickly, raising her hand and pointing vaguely in a direction: “The person who saved you just went that way.”

The young man obviously didn’t believe her, lowering his head and softly saying a word of thanks.

“Tch” Seeing he didn’t believe her, Shen Yao Xing felt a bit annoyed. She didn’t bother with him anymore and left the spot with a few jumps.

The young man wanted to call out to stop her but it was too late. He stared blankly at the empty eaves for a while, feeling somewhat disappointed as he lowered his head. Using the torn cloth to cover his smooth chest, he glanced at the fallen women. Gritting his teeth, he began to strip the outer garment from one of them.

Back at the inn, Shen Yao Xing felt a bit hungry. She packed two chicken legs and, after inquiring with the innkeeper, went to look for the two rooms Meng Xin Yi had booked. However, knocking on both doors yielded no response. She didn’t care anymore and directly pushed the door open, dropped the chicken legs on the table, and began to eat.

Shen Yao Xing was truly a meat lover. For her, it didn’t matter if she couldn’t dress well or live well, as long as she had meat to eat.

Just as she was marveling at the beauty of life, Meng Xin Yi, dressed all in black, jumped in through the window, clutching her shoulder. With a pale face, she leaned back against the window, her hand unable to stop the blood flowing through her fingers despite covering the wound.

Shen Yao Xing was startled, not minding her oily hands, she quickly went to meet her: “What happened to you!?”

“Don’t…” Meng Xin Yi stopped her outstretched hand, even the slightest movement causing her forehead to break out in cold sweat from the pain.

“Don’t move, I’ll go find a doctor for you.”

Without asking more, Shen Yao Xing climbed onto the windowsill, about to go out to find someone, but her clothes were caught by the woman. A weak voice, seemingly with some resignation, said: “At this hour, where can you find a doctor? It’s just a small wound, no need to make a fuss. I have some wound medicine with me, just help me apply it.”

With blood gushing out like this, her entire hand dyed red, and she still calls it a small wound. However, it would indeed be difficult to find someone at this hour. Shen Yao Xing frowned deeply, crouched down to search her body and found a white medicine bottle. She helped the person to the bed, had someone prepare hot water, before slowly lifting the clothes at her shoulder.

The wound had pierced through the shoulder, bleeding profusely. A little lower and it would have been fatal. This person could actually endure this and call it a small wound. Besides “badass”, Shen Yao Xing couldn’t think of any other word to “praise” her.

After helping to treat the wound, Shen Yao Xing’s forehead was also covered in a layer of sweat. She threw the bloodied cloth into the water basin, moved a stool to sit by the bed, and glared at her, asking irritably: “Tell me, what were you doing just now?”

Meng Xin Yi shifted her body, using her uninjured side to support herself as she sat up. She took a breath and, not intending to hide anything from her, said truthfully: “I went to the Four Directions Association earlier.”

Shen Yao Xing frowned slightly: “What were you doing there so late at night?”

“I always felt that there was something fishy about the treasure hunting competition held by the Four Directions Association this time. Today I saw that Young Master Ming Yue was invited over by people from the Four Directions Association, so I decided to go and investigate at night.”

“So… what was your purpose?” This person wouldn’t have taken a fancy to that Ming Yue guy and followed him like a stalker, right?

Seeing her friend’s gaze becoming increasingly strange, Meng Xin Yi’s mouth twitched: “What are you imagining?”

Shen Yao Xing’s gaze was full of meaning.

Meng Xin Yi felt a sense of helplessness: “It’s not what you’re thinking… I just felt that there was something strange about this matter with the Four Directions Association, so I wanted to go investigate at night.”

“So you just had nothing better to do?” Shen Yao Xing concluded.

“……”

“Then you got injured like this by the people there?”

“No……”

But Shen Yao Xing didn’t listen to her: “Don’t you know your own capabilities? Why didn’t you wait for me to come back and go together?”

“……” Whether it was due to the wound or not, Meng Xin Yi felt a dull pain in her chest. She pursed her lips, her gaze slowly falling on the woman’s face. Her words were harsh, but the concern between her brows couldn’t be hidden.

Meng Xin Yi felt a warmth in her heart, the corners of her pale lips curling slightly: “I know you don’t like this kind of thing, that’s why I didn’t call you to come along.”

Shen Yao Xing didn’t speak. She indeed didn’t like things like sneaking around. Going to eavesdrop in the middle of the night, it was lucky not to get beaten to death. She crossed her arms and pouted: “I’m a good law-abiding citizen who respects the party and loves the country, of course I don’t like this kind of thing.”

“But……” Shen Yao Xing glanced at her and continued: “Going together is fine too. You do the work, I’ll just watch from the side. If I don’t listen or do anything, it doesn’t count.”

It wasn’t clear whether these words were meant for Meng Xin Yi to hear or to hypnotize herself. In any case, she was very satisfied with her own explanation. Isn’t that right? She would just go along, pretend not to hear anything, pretend not to see anything, then it wouldn’t count as sneaking around!

Shen Yao Xing was about to be impressed by her own cleverness. Engrossed in self-admiration, she didn’t notice Meng Xin Yi’s expression of mixed laughter and tears. Still savoring the moment, she smacked her lips: “Remember to bring me along next time, okay?”

“Alright…” Meng Xin Yi said helplessly.

Shen Yao Xing came back to her senses from her self-admiration, looked at her wound, and asked puzzled: “Your martial arts skills aren’t bad, how could you get injured so badly? Were there many of them?”

Meng Xin Yi shook her head lightly: “The one who injured me wasn’t from the Four Directions Association, but the man beside Young Master Ming Yue.”

What?

“The man in black we saw today?”

Meng Xin Yi nodded, feeling an itch in her throat. She covered her wound and coughed a few times. Shen Yao Xing stared at her for a good while, then got up to pour her a cup of tea: “We’ll go see a doctor first thing in the morning.”

“Thank you.” Meng Xin Yi took the tea, neither agreeing nor refusing at her words. She frowned and continued: “That man’s skills were incredibly strange. I couldn’t sense any martial aura from him at all, yet his every move left no room for retreat. If it hadn’t been for the darkness of night, I might not have made it back.”

Meng Xin Yi recalled the scene from earlier. When she was fighting with that man, the figure in white stood silently at the courtyard gate like a ghost, quietly watching, as if silently controlling the man in black. As the fight went on, the black-clad man’s attacks became increasingly vicious. When her shoulder was pierced, she thought she was going to die there. But for some unknown reason, the man in black suddenly stopped, as if the person pulling the strings had suddenly let go, his hands falling limply to his sides.

“Heh”

She would probably never forget, on the brink of death, the snake-like gaze of the man in white, and the faint, cold laugh that drifted in the night air.