“Heh, did you see that? Do you still think anyone can save you?”
Dou Dou Xie advanced step by step towards the woman in the slip dress, who, her face drained of color, retreated repeatedly. Losing her footing, she slipped and fell to the ground.
Dou Dou Xie stepped forward and stomped on the woman, sneering, “Run, damn it, keep running! Fuck! You cheap bitch, you ungrateful dog! Spit!”
Dou Dou Xie spat on the woman, who began to sob, her body trembling like a sieve, her shoulders heaving.
The surrounding people, though angered, dared not speak.
Some clenched and unclenched their fists, but as soon as Dou Dou Xie’s sunglasses-clad eyes swept over them, their nascent courage quickly evaporated.
“Take her away!”
Dou Dou Xie waved his hand, and the thugs by the door immediately swarmed over, moving to apprehend the woman.
“Alas…”
Just then, a sigh suddenly rang out.
“Can’t even have a decent meal, what a buzzkill!”
Chen Xiao shook his head and sighed, a look of displeasure on his face.
For him now, eating was purely about satisfying his appetite, an enjoyable experience.
Being disturbed, he was naturally very unhappy.
While the other diners were frozen in fear, Chen Xiao’s displeased sigh naturally drew the attention of Dou Dou Xie.
“Hmm? Buzzkill?”
Dou Dou Xie, with his swaggering gait, slammed his hand on Chen Xiao’s table and said arrogantly, “Kid, you say I ruined your mood?”
Chen Xiao looked up at him and softly uttered a single word: “Scram!”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!”
Dou Dou Xie’s spirits immediately lifted. “Kid, you’ve got some nerve! Do you know who I am? Talking to me like that, are you tired of living?”
“Come here.”
Chen Xiao beckoned to Dou Dou Xie, as if to whisper a secret.
“What is it, what do you want to say?”
Dou Dou Xie leaned in, cupping his ear, still arrogant.
Chen Xiao said no more, but grabbed Dou Dou Xie’s head and smashed it violently onto the dining table!
*Bang—*
The table shattered, and so did Dou Dou Xie’s head!
Blood splattered everywhere, and brains flowed onto the floor.
Everyone was stunned. After a brief silence, screams erupted.
“Murder!”
“Someone’s dead!”
“Run!”
The diners scattered in all directions, some fleeing, others calling the authorities, the scene descending into chaos.
Seeing this, the other four thugs no longer cared about the woman in the slip dress. They pointed at Chen Xiao and cursed, “What the hell are you? Do you know who we’re with…”
Before the man could finish, Chen Xiao exploded with a kick, and another head shattered, brains splattering the ground.
Ah, it still felt good to beat people with fists and feet!
Chen Xiao felt a secret thrill, compensating for the pleasure of his interrupted meal.
In less than ten seconds, Chen Xiao had killed two people. The remaining three thugs exchanged glances, then turned and fled.
Chen Xiao naturally wouldn’t let them go. He grabbed three peanuts from a nearby table and casually tossed them.
*Bang—*
*Bang—*
*Bang—*
The heads of the last three thugs also exploded.
At this point, besides the five corpses, only Chen Xiao and the woman in the slip dress remained in the entire congee shop; everyone else had fled.
The woman in the slip dress seemed to have been scared senseless by the scene and forgotten to escape.
Even now, she sat on the ground, cowering, her small face etched with utter shock.
Besides that, her face was smeared with dark red blood and white brain matter.
“You’re alright now, you can go.”
Chen Xiao glanced at the dazed girl and said indifferently.
He couldn’t be bothered to care about whatever grudges the woman in the slip dress had with the thugs; saving her was merely a casual act.
Hearing Chen Xiao’s words, the woman in the slip dress seemed to awaken from a dream and finally came to her senses.
However, instead of screaming and running as Chen Xiao expected, she scrambled to her knees before him.
“Benefactor… Great hero, save me!”
The woman in the slip dress was so excited that her words became jumbled.
Chen Xiao frowned. “Didn’t I already save you? Why are you still calling for help? You can go, and I’m about to leave too.”
“Benefactor… Great hero, be a good Samaritan and help me. After this is done, I’ll be your ox or horse, I’ll do anything you want!”
The woman in the slip dress pleaded on her knees, though she hadn’t quite decided on a title for Chen Xiao.
Furthermore, she seemed confident in her posture, and as she spoke, she deliberately leaned forward, exposing her ample bosom even more brazenly to Chen Xiao.
Could there be a hidden story behind this?
Chen Xiao thought that since there were still a few hours until dawn and he had nothing else to do, he might as well ask her what was going on.
If it wasn’t too troublesome, he might as well resolve it. If it was too troublesome, then so be it. Chen Xiao’s time was limited, and he couldn’t waste it on chivalry.
“Tell me, what else do you want me to do?”
Chen Xiao asked.
“I beg Benefactor to help me rescue my sister!”
The woman in the slip dress had finally settled on a title for Chen Xiao.
“Your sister was captured too? Where is she? Also, my name is Chen Xiao, you don’t need to keep calling me Benefactor, by the way, what’s your name?”
Chen Xiao spoke in a rush.
“Benefactor Chen, my real name is Lin Qian, stage name Xiao Shishi.”
The woman said.
“Xiao Shishi? Stage name?”
Chen Xiao was full of questions. “Are you an actress?”
“No…”
Lin Qian shook her head, a look of embarrassment on her face. “I’m a technician at Yuquan Palace.”
“Yuquan Palace? What kind of place is that?”
Chen Xiao asked.
“Huh? Benefactor Chen, aren’t you from around here? Yuquan Palace is the biggest bathhouse in the area. Even if locals haven’t been there, they’ve definitely heard of it.”
Lin Qian said.
Chen Xiao suddenly understood. “So that’s how it is.”
It was self-evident what kind of technician she was.
“Benefactor Chen, Yuquan Palace isn’t a proper bathhouse!”
Lin Qian said.
Chen Xiao nodded, acting as if he understood perfectly.
How much money could a proper bathhouse make? Without some high-end services, how could it survive?
Seeing Chen Xiao’s expression, Lin Qian knew he had misunderstood and quickly explained, “Benefactor Chen, what I mean is, not what you’re thinking, not that kind of ‘improper,’ this place is suspicious!”
Chen Xiao gave her a look, signaling her to elaborate on what was suspicious.
“Benefactor Chen, I’m from out of town. I came to work at Yuquan Palace three months ago. At first, everything was normal, except for a high rate of colleagues leaving, almost every day. But new colleagues would quickly join, filling the previous vacancies.”
“In our line of work, job turnover is high, which was normal. But I made a good friend at Yuquan Palace, her stage name was Xiao Diandian. She told me that those colleagues weren’t leaving normally, but were captured by the boss. She also told me to run quickly.”
“Naturally, I didn’t believe her words. I thought she was jealous of me because I’d become quite popular at Yuquan Palace recently…”
Lin Qian looked a bit embarrassed as she spoke, but noticing no unusual expression on Benefactor Chen’s face, she continued, “Who knew that the day after Xiao Diandian told me this, she disappeared. I asked the manager, and the manager said Xiao Diandian had resigned.”
“I realized something was wrong, so I used the excuse of family matters back home to ask for a few days off. But they not only refused my leave but also beat me, and then strictly monitored me.”
“Today, while I was with a client, I escaped through the window…”
Hearing this, Chen Xiao finally understood why she was dressed so revealingly when she was out on the street; she had escaped.
“And then? You ran here, and they chased you all the way?”
Chen Xiao asked.
“No.”
Lin Qian shook her head with a bitter smile. “After I escaped, the first thing I did was report it to the police. Because when I ran, I didn’t bring anything with me, not a penny. Where could I go?”
“But I didn’t expect that after taking my statement, the officers just kicked me out. I explained the situation to them, but they were indifferent…”
Although Lin Qian didn’t explicitly say it, Chen Xiao understood.
It was clear that the local constabulary was colluding with Yuquan Palace, working hand in hand.
“Those people just now were all thugs hired by Yuquan Palace. After the police kicked me out, they targeted me. I ran desperately and ended up here. You know the rest.”
After finishing, Lin Qian sighed, her face dimming. “I’m sorry, Benefactor Chen. I got a bit emotional earlier and lost my composure. You’ve already saved my life, so I won’t trouble you with what happens next.”
After recounting her ordeal, Lin Qian had calmed down.
And having calmed down, she realized what a wrong decision she had made.
This Mr. Chen was an outsider, possibly only in Xuzhou on business, or perhaps just passing through Xuzhou… What ability did he have to rescue people at Yuquan Palace?
Even if Benefactor Chen was very capable, as evidenced by his methods of killing, why would he risk his life for her few words?
After all, the boss of Yuquan Palace was an all-powerful figure in the area, not only employing a group of vicious thugs but also colluding with the authorities. It wasn’t something an outsider could easily deal with.
Chen Xiao silently calculated the time. A mere bathhouse wouldn’t take much time to rescue someone.
The boss had some background, but the problems weren’t significant. It could all be resolved before dawn.
Seeing that Chen Xiao remained silent, Lin Qian assumed she had guessed correctly. She kowtowed to Chen Xiao three times and then slowly stood up.
“Benefactor Chen, thank you for saving my life. I hope I still have the chance to repay your life-saving kindness.”
Lin Qian said with a look of sorrow, then turned to leave.
At this moment, Chen Xiao suddenly looked up and said indifferently, “You can lead the way for me!”