Chapter 106: Freeloading off Thieves Robbing Thieves

Chapter 106: Chapter 106: Freeloading off Thieves Robbing Thieves

To make matters worse, Deng Yuyuan had already been targeted.

She could clearly feel several sticky gazes clinging to her back like spiderwebs. She hadn’t bothered with any disguise today. Standing in this shady, mixed-bag of a place, she was practically a soft sheep exposing herself to a pack of wolves. The scrutinizing looks coming from all directions sent chills down the back of her neck.

Should she quickly shake them off, or use this as a chance to bulk up her increasingly emaciated wallet?

Deng Yuyuan narrowed her eyes slightly and changed direction, taking an increasingly desolate path. The stalkers behind her revealed the same determined, inevitable smile that she wore. Eventually, she managed to shake off a few, but two men were still tailing her closely.

The footsteps were getting closer. Even an ordinary person would have realized they were being followed by now. Deng Yuyuan’s footsteps deliberately grew chaotic and hurried. In her feigned panic, she blindly dashed into a secluded alleyway.

The two men behind her stopped hiding. They revealed themselves, standing face-to-face with Deng Yuyuan.

"Well, aren’t we lucky today? We run into a little lamb, and she’s being trailed by two dogs," a burly man’s teasing voice rang out from behind Deng Yuyuan.

Customer Service chimed in, "Crap, we’re the filling in an Oreo."

The two men in front of Deng Yuyuan furrowed their brows into stiff knots. Their mouths pulled down heavily, tensing their facial muscles as they glared fiercely at the people opposite them.

"Player, the men in front of you have pocket knives, but the ones behind you are holding machetes," Customer Service continued. "Who do you think they’ll take out first? You, or each other? Never mind, Player. The guys behind you also brought ropes, so it looks like they plan to tie you up first."

Deng Yuyuan silently shuffled a few steps to the right until her entire back was pressed firmly against the cold wall. From this angle, she could keep an eye on both groups at the same time. The men on both sides were like taut bowstrings. Their gazes were hammered into each other like nails, and a faint, lingering scent of blood drifted through the air.

Deng Yuyuan sniffed the air. It seemed she had accidentally stumbled into someone else’s crime scene. Well, that was unfortunate.

The men who had tailed Deng Yuyuan realized this too. Cursing the pretty woman under their breath, one of them spoke up to break the stalemate. "Brothers, we have no intention of interrupting your business. We’ll just tie this woman up and leave."

"Sorry about that." The man opposite them cracked his neck; the tip of his knife still bore traces of blood. "We want this woman too. You two can leave, sure, but you’ll have to leave behind all your valuables."

That was an obvious refusal to cooperate.

"S-Shouldn’t we... shouldn’t we call the police?" Deng Yuyuan asked in a tiny, trembling voice, her whole body shaking.

Hearing this, the men all laughed.

"In our line of work, even if it costs us our lives, we’d never go to the cops. Hell, whoever kills us might even get an award for it." The thug still had the leisure to joke around with Deng Yuyuan. He couldn’t help it; this woman was simply too stunning. Even he hoped that a little banter might win him a few points of favor with her.

"R-Really?" Deng Yuyuan’s gaze darted around like a frightened little rabbit. No matter how cold and hard a man was, he would be willing to answer her.

The men nodded. None of them could withstand a background check. Going to the police station would be like shooting themselves in the foot.

Deng Yuyuan pulled a pair of gloves from her pocket and slipped them on. "Then congratulations. You’ve just encountered a predator who preys on predators."

Customer Service corrected, "Actually, it’s a civilian robbing thieves who are robbing thieves."

The men looked at her in utter confusion.

It didn’t take long for Deng Yuyuan to successfully beat them all into the ground. She threatened them, saying that if they didn’t obediently hand over their money and leave, she would call the police. The men still wanted to bet that she wouldn’t actually call the cops, but Deng Yuyuan was blunt.

"Do you really think an ordinary woman would have skills like mine? I’m in a good mood on my day off today, so I’m letting you off the hook. Otherwise, I wouldn’t mind taking a trip to the station to rack up some extra merits for myself."

The men supported each other as they scrambled away. Deng Yuyuan lifted her foot to leave, but after a moment of thought, she walked toward the spot where the scent of blood had been the heaviest. A severely injured man was hiding there, though he was still capable of moving. The man’s face was bruised purple and blue, though his handsome features were still faintly visible.

According to the first law of the novel world, attractive people were never just background NPCs. Deng Yuyuan showed rare patience as she asked him, "I’ll give you a chance. Tell me why you were beaten up, and I might just be willing to help you."

"I know you, Mr. Deng. I’m from the Department of Economic Management Engineering. During registration, I was at the desk right next to yours." The man supported his body with his elbow, slowly leaning against the wall. His other hand was clamped over a bleeding wound on his abdomen.

Deng Yuyuan dropped the careless expression from her face. Her gaze landed calmly on him, sweeping over his bloodstained, disheveled features inch by inch like a searchlight, trying to dig up a matching fragment from her memory.

"Oh?" A cryptic syllable rolled from her throat, the end note rising slightly with cautious probing. "Department of Economic Management Engineering..."

"Customer Service, do you recognize him?" she asked.

"I have no obligation to know him," Customer Service replied.

"I think you should know that in a situation like this, you shouldn’t call out people’s real names." Deng Yuyuan’s eyes practically froze over.

"My name is Jiang Hua," the man proactively introduced himself. "Don’t worry, I can’t call the cops either. I was dabbling in the black market and got robbed by my own kind."

Jiang Hua slowly recounted his experience, still having the strength to chuckle softly. "Mr. Deng, every word I’ve said is true."

Hearing what he had been through, Deng Yuyuan’s heart tightened before heavily sinking. Zhang Ci Hao claimed to be running long-haul freight, but that line of work was bound to get tangled up in the black market as well. His skills were good enough for running away, but he was lacking when it came to a real fight. She couldn’t help but wonder if he would encounter something like this. She decided to send a letter back tomorrow to ask him about it.

The details Jiang Hua described were impossible for anyone to fabricate without having experienced them firsthand. Deng Yuyuan used her body to block his line of sight as she retrieved bandages and hemostatic medicine from her inventory, handing them to Jiang Hua. "Patch yourself up and hurry to the hospital."

The wounds the burly man had inflicted weren’t fatal. Most likely, they were afraid of catching a murder charge that they wouldn’t be able to easily smooth over.

"Thank you. I’ll repay you in the future," Jiang Hua said in a low voice as he took the supplies.

"No need." Deng Yuyuan rejected him outright. "Given what you do, it’s best if we pretend we don’t know each other. I don’t want to be implicated when your crimes come to light."

"Alright, whatever you say." Jiang Hua twitched the corners of his mouth. There wasn’t the slightest hint of embarrassment from being rejected on his face, as if he were forcefully swallowing down the rare interaction they had just shared.

Deng Yuyuan looked up at the sky. It was about time for the limping girl to close up her stall. She figured she would conveniently drop by to help her pack up and head back. She wondered if Tuantuan would be angry and crying today. Yes, she was a guilty mother.

The limping girl’s large bowl tea was completely sold out for the day. The empty barrel reflected her exhausted yet satisfied face. Seeing Deng Yuyuan approach, her eyes lit up for a second before she pursed her lips. She subconsciously used her body to block the cluttered stall, one hand hurriedly pressing down on a stack of stools.

"I... I can do it myself," she said, her voice as faint as a mosquito. "You should leave quickly. It’s not safe here."