"Hey! What the fuck are you doing?!!"
A group of men storm in the direction of Xu Long and the woman. One of the men shouts as he recognizes the woman, but not the latter.
This man was clothed in the finest tailor suit. Anyone who sees him will know that he is from a wealthy family. Not only him but the same for the other men he was walking with.
As the group approach Xu Long and the woman, the man sees someone laying on the ground and his eyes narrow to see better.
"Eh, isn't that Hongyi?"
Observing the unconscious man more clearly, his eyes wide and he gasp. His eyes quickly burn with rage and roars.
"That is Hongyi! Who did this to him?!"
"I think it was me…. Hic*…"
Xu Long drunkenly answers with a hiccup and one hand raise like a student in class. He smiles at the group with his shiny white teeth, but his eyes barely able to stay open.
"…"
The group of men stares at Xu Long in disbelief. The man looked like a good for nothing pretty boy who is experiencing his first night life. Not only that, Hongyi is a black belt in karate, so how did he get knocked out by a pretty boy?
However, seeing one of their brothers knocked out on the floor, anger rose inside them and they glare at Xu Long. If eyes could kill someone, Xu Long would have died a painful death.
"You son of a bitch!!"
"You're gonna die for what you did!!"
Angry shouts roared in the hall as the men did not waste any time. Each person charging towards Xu Long to give the pretty boy a good beating. They are from prominent families, so any time they get into trouble, their family will take of it. Beating up a good for nothing is easy.
As the men charge in his direction, Xu Long did not run away. Instead, he stood unmoving and blink his eyes like someone who was going to watch a good show. However, his eyes slowly blink and the space between his brows crease into three lines.
Staring at the men, he drunkenly mumbles to himself with a confused expression.
"Die? Why do I have to die?"
He scratches the back of his head with watery eyes. He pout his bottom lip and mumbles again.
"I don't want to die… and I'm not the son of a bitch..."
The moment he spoke his last word, a glint of danger flash in his tearful eyes. He tackles the first man he could grab and drops the man with a loud thud. The man lands on the ground and his mouth open to yell, but before he could utter a sound, Xu Long's fists came to his view. He punch the man and roar in anger.
"You're the son of a bitch!!"
The man groans in pain with a now bleeding nose. His body ached so much that he could only continue to lay on the ground and cover his nose.
Xu Long paid no more attention to the man. He rolls over to the side and kicks the next man closest to him in the crotch. It was the place he, himself knows that pains a man the most.
"Arghh—"
Seeing where the man was kicked, the other men froze in place and cover their family's treasure. They felt sorry for the brother who had to experience the painful kick.
However, when they saw that Xu Long did not get up from the floor, they quickly use it as an advantage. Punches and kicks are quickly thrown down at the man.
"You're gonna die now!"
"Do you know who we are?! One word from us and you're a dead man in Imperial!"
"Ah! Stop hitting me! Ah! It's hurts! My head! Ah! My back! Ah!"
Xu Long yells as he tosses and turns on the floor while the men continue to punch and kick him.
Standing at the side, the woman was shocked to the core. Her hands cover her mouth as she stares at the scene. She wanted to go help the man who saved her, but she couldn't help but frown. The man is half drunk and screaming, but how is he able to swiftly dodge each punch and kick thrown at him?
BAM—!
Suddenly, one of the men stumbles as he is hit on the head with a hard object. He looks down at his feet and he was dumbfounded.
He was hit on the head by a pair of men's boots!!
"What the fuck?!"
He stroke the pain on his head and turn in the direction the shoe came from.
"Ack—"
Just when his head turn, he meets the bottom of a foot wearing only sock. His head title back, and he ends up taking a bite of fabric. His entire being falls onto the floor with a loud thud.
"Dude, did you have to eat my sock too?"
A voice sounds from the direction the shoe had come from and the group of men turn to looks at the person.
Seeing that the men were distracted, Xu Long took the opportunity to roll away until he reached the person. His body touch the person's legs and he swiftly flip himself up. However, he staggers in his landing before properly steadying himself.
He looks at the person and drunkenly grin.
"Heh Heh… New family Lin Hui hic*… you're here hic* too?"
"…."
Lin Hui stares at the drunken man in frustration, then the group of men. He pout his lip and asks in a low voice.
"Xu Long, what in the world did you get yourself into?"
He had finished three cigarettes while waiting for the man. When another ten minutes passed and he did not see Xu Long, he thought the man might have passed out in the restroom, so he came to check. However, he did not expect to see a fight break out and the man being the victim dodging every fists and feet thrown his way!
Thinking of Lin Hui's question, Xu Long giggles and points to the woman. He gives the man a puppy eye look and slouch his shoulders.
"I wanted to be the hero who saves the beauty…"
"…."
Lin Hui felt his brain was going to burst from all the dumbfounded emotions Xu Long has been giving him in one night. He looks down at his feet and sighs inside. Why did he throw one of his shoes at the man? Now he's only left with one and the other bare.
"Hey! You two better prepare yourselves!"
The man Lin Hui kicked stood from the ground and toss the sock in his mouth away. He is annoyed that Lin Hui and Xu Long acted like they were not here at all. Not only that, he recieved such humiliation in front of his friends!
However, given their situation, both men were doomed the moment they cross paths with each other. He had more peoople while the other side only had two of them.
Lin Hui looks at the man and he frown. All the men were indeed sons of prominent families. He recognized their faces because of Liu Shan. Before moving to Imperial, the man had sent him a list of people in Imperial and these men were on that list.
He shift his gaze to the woman, and he pinch the space between his forehead. God dammit! She was also on that list!
Taking a deep breath, he murmur to Xu Long while keeping his eyes on the men.
"Xu Long, there's five men total. I'll handle the 3 on the right. You take care of the other 2."
Hearing this, Xu Long gives his comrade a grin and thumbs up.
"Two? Hic* Piece of cake!"
Lin Hui stares at the man next to him and he didn't whether to laugh or cry. With the way Xu Long is at this moment, he can see that the man can barely stand straight.
Remembering Xu Long's landing earlier, Lin Hui wanted to cry, but lacked the tears to shed.
He quickly brush the thought away and looks back to the men. It's not the time to worry about Xu Long's landing. They are in a more difficult situation right now.
Both men takes a deep breath at the same time and charge towards the five men. Their mouth open and they yell with all their might as they face their enemy head on. The expression on both their faces was nothing but confidence. Like they were ancient heroes in the battlefield ready to defend their country.
Lin Hui: "Arhhhh—!!"
Xu Long: "Arhhh—!!"
In that very moment, just when they were 3 feet away from the five men, their eyes widens in terror. Their steps quickly slows down to a screeching stop.
Watching the two men charge at them, none of the five men made a move. Each person sneering as they already know what was coming.
Behind them, a vast crowd of men suddenly appear out of nowhere. Each person charging towards Lin Hui and Xu Long with their own weapons.
Lin Hui's heroic expression was now replaced with panic and fear. At his side, Xu Long was no different.
Like time had suddenly slow down, the sound of opera music plays in the background. Lin Hui stretch his arm out in slow motion and grabs the back of Xu Long's collar. He pulls the drunk man as he turns them around.
Lin Hui: "Ahhh—"
Xu Long: "Ahhh—"
Unlike their crouching tiger roar earlier, they are now roaring for their lives in the opposite direction. Both their expression's scrunch in terror.
As time returned for them, Lin Hui drags Xu Long and head for the nightclub's exit. Both individuals jumps and hops over obstacles and the crowd entering. Their movements were like professional free runners as they forgot they had just taken down gangsters sent after their boss/lady boss.
Quickly as it came, the loud footsteps and yelling subdues, no one was in sight except for the woman and the unconscious Hongyi.
The woman Xu Long saved was at a loss for all words. She could not believe what just happened. Everything felt like a dream for her.
"There you are! I've been looking all over for you!"
Suddenly a blonde hair woman calls out as the sound of her clacking heels follows. She runs over to her friend and gasp midway when she saw the unconscious man on the floor.
"W-What happened?"
The woman looks at her blonde hair friend and she finally returns to her consciousness.
"I….I…"
"You what? What is it?"
The blond hair stares at her friend with worry and panic. Her friend is a beautiful woman and from a powerful family, but after meeting the sweet and romantic Hongyi, it wasn't until later that the abuse started happening. Afraid the man will ruin her and her family with ill intentions, she stayed in the abusive relationship for years. She even chopped her hair into a pixi hairstyle so Hongyi won't be able to pull her hair.
However… after years of being in the abusive relationship, she finally found the strength to leave the man.
The blonde hair woman looks at her friend then the unconscious man. Did she kill Hongyi in self-defense?
The woman does not say a word. She looks at her friend, then stares in the direction Xu Long and Lin Hui had left.
After a long minute in silence, she finally answers her blond hair friend's question.
"I… I think I just feel in love…"