People finally came out to enjoy the pleasure of shopping, and shopkeepers were pulling out all sorts of promotions, making the most of the final days of the New Year sales rush to give their business a strong start in the new year.
However, Xu Mo wasn't there to shop, and he remained indifferent to the dazzling array of goods. Most of his attention was focused on the surrounding architectural features and the street signs, making sure he didn't wander too far and lose his way.
As Xu Mo passed a narrow alley between two storefronts, he noticed two girls, seemingly around seventeen or eighteen and dressed like students, peeking suspiciously around the corner of a wall.
Out of curiosity, Xu Mo took a glance inside the alley and saw that beneath the simple signboards of several "XX Inns," three or four "alternative" dressed girls were blocking a couple in front of one of the inns.
Hmm? Could this be the famous "caught in the act" scene?
Although Xu Mo wasn't particularly gossipy by nature, it was the first time he'd seen such a dramatic scene in real life. With nothing else to do at the moment, he leaned against a tree at the entrance of the alley, pretending to text while discreetly observing the situation unfolding not far ahead.
The two people being "caught" didn't appear to be very old. The girl seemed to be a high school student—her figure and looks weren't stunning, but she was still quite attractive, with a stylish haircut and outfit, easily qualifying as an 80-point beauty. The young man beside her appeared slightly older, with a face that could be described as handsome, and a tall, athletic build at about 1.85 meters. His large hands, with prominent knuckles, suggested he was someone who regularly participated in physical sports.
The four girls doing the "catching" varied in age. The eldest looked around eighteen or nineteen, while the youngest seemed no older than thirteen. They were all dressed in colorful "alternative" styles, resembling a group of brightly colored pheasants standing out in the otherwise gray and narrow alley.
Looking at their positions, it seemed that only one girl, around seventeen or eighteen, was the main force in this "catching," while the other three were standing behind her, seemingly just there to cheer her on.
Could this girl be the one who'd been wronged?
Xu Mo couldn't help but focus on the girl in front, and he soon noticed something interesting. If you ignored her thick foundation and dark eyeliner, the "alternative" girl with neatly cut black hair was actually a rather pretty girl. She was easily over 1.75 meters tall, standing out among the other girls like a crane among chickens. Her slightly thin figure was paired with a pair of extremely rare long legs, slender yet smooth, tapering down in a perfect inverted cone shape.
This kind of golden proportion, almost resembling the characters in a shoujo manga, made Xu Mo remember what He Shang had once said after watching a fashion show—"Her legs are so long, they practically split from her navel down."
However, the unfortunate part was that on the girl's left cheek, there was a red birthmark in the shape of an inverted teardrop, about the size of a thumb. It was like a drop of red ink on a perfect white silk, a flaw that, while ruining the perfection, still gave off an undeniable feeling of regret.
Still, even with the birthmark, the long-legged girl was noticeably more beautiful than the fashionable girl beside the tall man. Xu Mo couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy being "caught," whose taste in women seemed deeply questionable.
"What do you want to do to Cheng Cheng?" The tall man in a blue tracksuit stepped forward, blocking the fashionable girl and standing in front of her protectively.
"Kid, don't make trouble for our sister! We're after the bitch behind you, it has nothing to do with you, so scram!" A plump, yellow-haired girl stepped forward and began scolding the young man, completely undeterred by the fact that he was a head taller than her.
The long-legged girl casually lit a cigarette and held it between her lips. She was wearing a green knockoff pair of Converse shoes, and her small foot lightly kicked at the pebbles on the ground, arranging them into different patterns as if she were completely uninterested in the couple standing in front of her.
"I get it... Is Tao Xian'er the one who sent you?" The fashionable girl suddenly seemed to remember something and anxiously said, "She said she would give up, so why is she still forcing the issue now that Wen Qiang has chosen me?"
"Cheng Cheng, don't worry, I'm here!" The tall man stepped protectively in front of the fashionable girl and confidently responded, "Go tell Tao Xian'er that Wen Qiang loves Cheng Cheng now, and she should give up! I won't get back together with her!"
"Wen Qiang!" The fashionable girl's eyes brimmed with tears.
"Cheng Cheng!" The tall man embraced her passionately.
"Damn it! Is this a remake of Shanghai Bund?"
The yellow-haired, plump girl couldn't hold back a shiver and suddenly reached out to grab the fashionable girl's long hair, but the tall man caught her wrist and easily shoved her aside, sending her crashing into the wall with a shrill scream.
The long-legged girl, having just finished her cigarette, casually stubbed it out and looked up with a blank expression. She stared directly at the tall man before speaking in a flat tone: "Time's up... Get lost!"
"Hmph, do you think you can threaten me with just a few of you?" The tall man sneered, clenching his fists as a warning. "I'll let you go this time because you're all girls. But if you come after Cheng Cheng again, don't blame me for being ruthless! Get out of my way!"
Ignoring his threat, the long-legged girl slightly turned her head and spoke to the yellow-haired girl who was crouching and holding her head: "Stop screaming like you've been raped. Tell Tao Xian'er to add five hundred more."
"Sis, this price is far more than what we agreed on. She might not agree..." The yellow-haired girl looked hesitant.
"Tell her, if she doesn't give it, I'll go take it from her myself."
Without giving the yellow-haired girl any chance to argue, the long-legged girl moved toward the tall man, clearly dismissing her. The yellow-haired girl could only helplessly make the call.
"Damn it! Don't think just because you're a woman, I won't hit you!" Seeing that the long-legged girl completely ignored him, the tall man shoved his girlfriend aside and took a step forward, slapping her.
But just then, a sudden change occurred. The long-legged girl, who had been casually walking toward him, suddenly tilted her body backward at an almost impossible angle, narrowly avoiding his slap with her nose almost touching the palm of his hand. In the blink of an eye, her right leg spun in a perfect 360-degree roundhouse kick that slammed into his face, causing a few teeth to spray out of his mouth along with blood.
Before the tall man could even stagger, the long-legged girl leaped into the air. Her left knee collided with his chin, and as her legs landed, they traced a half-circle before wrapping around his back. With a firm grip on his collar, her right elbow jammed into his lower back, sending the man flying two meters away.
A perfect three-hit combo!
Xu Mo was completely stunned by the sudden turn of events. He had expected the tall man to teach the long-legged girl and her "alternative" friends a lesson, but he never anticipated that, in the blink of an eye, the seemingly strong and muscular man would be taken down with a flawless display of skill!
It wasn't that the tall man was weak. In fact, even if Xu Mo had been in his place, without any preparation, it would have been incredibly difficult to withstand that three-hit combo. It was like a trap set by a hunter, with each move of the long-legged girl meticulously designed to lead into the next, calculating the opponent's reactions and exploiting them to deliver maximum damage.
The long-legged girl's movements were obviously the result of years of practice, and the elegance and precision of her technique were worlds apart from Xu Mo's reliance on quick reflexes and sloppy improvisation. It was clear that her leg-based martial arts skills were extremely refined.
He couldn't believe that this long-legged girl was a Kung Fu master!