Chapter 16

The keyword “car accident” had already moved Zhong Mingxue.

She looked at the old woman’s haggard face.

She did not know how much pain losing a loved one had brought her.

The old woman’s face was pale, and her purplish lips were cracked and peeling. She looked not only as if she had not eaten in a long time, but even as if she had not drunk water for a long time.

Zhong Mingxue lifted her eyes and looked. The old woman was pointing at a small shop in an alley. It had no signboard, only an open door to attract customers. At a glance, it looked like a small business.

Zhong Mingxue originally wanted to say that she had money and could invite the old woman to eat somewhere a little better.

But after thinking about it, the old woman was not even willing to take cash and would only accept a bowl of noodles. She should leave her that little bit of dignity.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhong Mingxue gripped her phone in her hand and followed the old woman toward the small shop.

From outside, the shop did not seem to have many customers. After walking in, she discovered that the lights inside were not even turned on.

“Is anyone here?”

In the dimness, there was no response.

Menus were pasted on the surrounding walls, which were covered in mold spots. The floor was not very clean either.

What greeted her head-on was the smell of dust.

That smell was very strange.

Even if this shop was just a small business and not very hygienic, it should have smelled of cooking oil and smoke. Even a sour, rotten smell would have been normal.

Why was it the smell of dust, of all things?

Her vigilance awakened once more, making Zhong Mingxue stop in her tracks.

Sensing Zhong Mingxue’s hesitation, the old woman reached out and directly grabbed Zhong Mingxue’s wrist. “Girl, don’t leave.”

There was not even the slightest trace of weakness left on the old woman’s face.

A chill ran down Zhong Mingxue’s back, and she finally realized something was wrong.

But it was too late to react.

The old woman clutched her wrist ​read the original at bailiantales.com​tightly with one hand. With the other, she took out a spray bottle and sprayed it into the air.

From the back kitchen of the little shop, a burly man more than 1.8 meters tall walked out. His whole body was thick with muscle and fat, and his face carried a strange smile.

“This girl really does look tender and pretty.” His accent did not sound local, just like the old woman’s.

A pungent chili scent filled the air.

It was the aggressive pheromone of an Alpha.

Stimulated by that invasive pheromone, the gland at the back of Zhong Mingxue’s neck suddenly throbbed violently.

This awful feeling!

The instincts of an S-rank Omega rejected this shameless assault from such inferior pheromones.

But Zhong Mingxue’s heart lurched.

Oh no.

Her legs went weak, and the cry for help in her mouth became stuck in her throat, unable to come out.

The tiny sounds inside the shop were covered by the laughter and noise on the street outside.

The old woman raised a hand and shut the door. The cheerful noise, along with the warm setting sun, was cut off.

Zhong Mingxue did not know what the spray in the old woman’s hand was, but it definitely had an anesthetic effect.

Under the double effect of the anesthetic and the pheromones, Zhong Mingxue’s limbs went weak, and she leaned against the old woman.

With a sinister, hoarse voice, the old woman let out a cackling laugh. “You don’t need to be afraid. We don’t want to hurt you. We just want to invite you somewhere else as a guest.”

What a novel way to describe kidnapping.

Zhong Mingxue bit the tip of her tongue and forced herself to stay alert. Her mind spun quickly, trying to find a way to escape.

But surrounded by the burly man and the old woman, how could she possibly have any chance of winning?

Zhong Mingxue’s body was weak, but the stubbornness in her heart refused to give up.

Even more so, she could not just sit there and wait for death!

The phone in her hand vibrated once.

Jing Qingxia’s name flashed through her mind.

But the old woman smiled and cut off that thought the instant it had just appeared. She snatched the phone away, giving Zhong Mingxue no chance to contact anyone outside. Then she reached out and pressed the power button.

The moment the old woman lowered her head to look at the phone instead gave Zhong Mingxue an opportunity.

This small shop had indeed originally been a noodle shop.

In the corner of the room, there were still beer bottles left behind by the previous owner.

Using the last of her strength, Zhong Mingxue shoved the old woman away. Taking advantage of the momentum, she fell into the corner. Grabbing a beer bottle, she smashed it against the ground.

Holding the jagged remains of the broken bottle, she raised it shakily and pointed it at the old woman. She could not say a word, but the look in her eyes was full of one message: perish together.

The glass shards cut into her palm, and it hurt terribly. But what did that bit of pain count for?

Thick, red blood dripped down, buying her a moment of clarity.

The old woman only laughed. “The girl’s quite stubborn. But you’re already out of strength now. Once the drug really kicks in, even if you’re S-rank, you won’t be able to withstand it. In the end, you’re still an Omega.”

The old woman was clearly a Beta, yet she showed contempt toward an Omega.

“Auntie, this girl is an S-rank Omega. Why don’t you let me…”

The chili-scented pheromones darted wildly through the air, and the greasy burly man’s intentions were already very obvious.

The S-rank Omega’s pheromones were also stimulated into escaping from beneath the blocking patch on the back of Zhong Mingxue’s neck.

Under the effect of the drug, even S-rank Omega pheromones ultimately could not resist an Alpha’s pheromones.

The cold, chilled lemon wine carried a murderous chill, but before the Alpha, it seemed as though it were half refusing and half inviting.

Zhong Mingxue hated this feeling.

She hated this feeling of becoming bait. She wanted to control everything in her own hands, not collapse helplessly on the ground like this.

The man smiled and walked toward the wall.

Zhong Mingxue furrowed her brows and turned her hand, aiming the sharp edge of the glass at her own neck.

She had a little bit of hemophobia, but at this moment, the pain drove away the dizziness.

“Girl!” The old woman was badly startled. No matter what, she had never expected this spoiled young miss to pull something like this, and she immediately grew anxious.

The buyer wanted a living person.

In a flash.

Bang—!

A tremendous noise rang out.

Before the old woman could react, the door of the small shop was kicked open.

The wooden door, already long neglected and in disrepair, was not only kicked open, but sent flying. A strong gust of wind lifted the dust, and the wooden door slammed straight into the old woman and the burly man.

“Zhong Mingxue, are you in here?”

The light from outside shone in again, carving out a figure within its glow.

Zhong Mingxue’s hand trembled. The sharp edge of the beer bottle left a cut on her neck, and blood flowed out.

She could feel it. It was still warm.

“Jing Qingxia.”

Her weak voice came out so faintly it was almost impossible to hear.

But Jing Qingxia still noticed Zhong Mingxue in the corner.

The school uniform she wore was already wrinkled and stained with dust from the shop and mold spots from the wall. Her hair was also disheveled and stuck together with sweat.

The bright red blood on her neck and palm pierced into Jing Qingxia’s eyes at once.

Zhong Mingxue bit her lip, her gaze unfocused, yet she still stared fixedly ahead.

The little girl whose eyes had once reddened from being casually bullied, as if she could cry at any moment, had now been forced to learn strength.

“Zhong Mingxue!” Jing Qingxia stepped forward in two strides.

Her left arm wrapped around Zhong Mingxue’s shoulders while her right hand checked the bleeding wounds.

The one on her neck was not deep. It was only an ordinary scratch.

But the glass in her palm seemed to be embedded in it, making Jing Qingxia frown.

“Zhong Mingxue, I’m here. You…”

How did you end up running into something like this?

We were only apart for a little while. How did you become so miserable?

If I hadn’t noticed something was wrong and run over, what would you have done?

You’re the female lead of the novel!

What happened to the promised protagonist halo?!

Jing Qingxia had many things she wanted to say, but she could only suppress the ache in her heart and soothe the fragile girl in front of her.

“You… don’t need to be afraid. I’m here.”

“Mm.”

Smelling the bookish scent on Jing Qingxia, Zhong Mingxue suddenly felt a little more at ease and leaned against Jing Qingxia’s shoulder, answering softly.

Zhong Mingxue did not consider whether Jing Qingxia, who was not even 1.7 meters tall, had any chance of winning against a grown man who was 1.8 meters tall.

She only instinctively believed that as long as Jing Qingxia had come, everything could be solved.

Looking at Zhong Mingxue’s current half-unconscious, weakened state, Jing Qingxia could not clearly describe what she was feeling. It was all mixed together. She ​stolen content​only felt a ball of anger gathering in her chest, and very soon, that anger would set the two people in this shop on fire.

At this moment, the atmosphere inside the small shop was extremely strange.

The old woman and the greasy burly man were dizzy and disoriented after being hit by the wooden door Jing Qingxia had kicked flying.

A grown man of 1.8 meters, and an Alpha on top of that—how could he possibly be afraid of a thin, weak little girl?

Yet in this “vast difference in strength,” the burly man was somehow intimidated by Jing Qingxia at a single glance.

“Now that you’re here, don’t even think about running! This girl isn’t an Omega, but she’s also very pretty. Maybe she’ll sell for a good price too.” The old woman was the first to react. She shook her arm, shaking off the pain from being hit by the wooden door.

The burly man calmed down because of the old woman’s words.

That’s right. There was nothing to be afraid of. She was only an undifferentiated high school girl!

The burly man tried to bolster his courage and walked toward the corner.

Jing Qingxia’s face was cold. She gently let go of Zhong Mingxue.

She put down her schoolbag, took off her jacket, then used one to cushion Zhong Mingxue’s back and the other to cover her body.

“Wait for me a moment. I’ll take you to the hospital soon.”

Zhong Mingxue’s head was heavy and muddled. She had no way to think about why, in such a dangerous environment, Jing Qingxia would choose to attack head-on instead of playing it safe and running away directly.

She could only remember to tell her one thing. “Be careful.”

Jing Qingxia could not help stroking the top of Zhong Mingxue’s head, then helped tuck the hair stuck to her face behind her ear.

Such a beautiful, obedient girl should not have been treated like this.

Jing Qingxia stood up and twisted her neck.

Her neck did not make the two crisp cracks she had expected.

A young body really was nice.

Jing Qingxia looked at the burly man.

The burly man stopped in his tracks and could not help shivering.

Before the old woman could even remind the burly man to attack first, Jing Qingxia’s steps blurred.

The burly man’s breathing stopped outright.

He did not even see clearly what had happened before Jing Qingxia’s fist had already arrived in front of him.

What Jing Qingxia had learned, practiced, and used in the army were all killing moves.

Although the burly man had committed many bad deeds, most of them had relied on brute force. When had he ever seen such a scene? His heart had long since panicked.

Jing Qingxia had many ways to land a single strike on a vital point. She was even confident that one knife-hand strike would directly bring down this useless trash.

But she did not.

The rage surging in her chest made her unwilling to use the optimal solution to handle this matter.

She wanted the people who bullied Zhong Mingxue to pay tenfold, a hundredfold, the price!

Her fist smashed straight into the burly man’s face.

The burly man’s hands flailed in the air, but he failed to do anything at all. Under the old woman’s horrified gaze, he fell straight to the ground.

Smack!

Jing Qingxia lifted her foot and mercilessly stepped on the burly man’s knee joint.

“Ahhh—!!!”

“Ah! Give back the snacks I just bought!”

The burly man’s scream mixed together with the happy shouts of students outside.

Human joys and sorrows were always like this—not quite the same.

……

“We received a report. Here—what happened here?”

When the three officers arrived at the entrance of the noodle shop, they were stunned by the scene before their eyes.

The shop’s door panel had been thrown at the entrance, and the tables and chairs inside were in disorder. At a glance, there were clear signs of a fight.

But the four people in the shop occupied two clearly divided sides.

On one side were two high school girls, sitting properly on chairs.

Although there were bloodstains on them, it did not seem too serious.

One had her eyes half-lowered, making her expression difficult to read. The other was limp and boneless, collapsed in the first girl’s arms.

Both of them had their hair loose, and their breathing was steady.

“I was the one who called the police.” The half-lowered eyes opened completely. Her voice was cold, but it was clearly the same voice from the emergency call recording.

The three officers exchanged glances.

What had the call said again?

That there was a kidnapping incident here?

Then they looked at the other side.

Among a pile of tables and chairs were two people trembling in fear. Their faces were bruised and swollen to the point of almost being disfigured, and one could only roughly judge from their hairstyles that they were a man and a woman, one young and one old.

The old one was helping the man cover his leg and did not dare move. The man did not dare look at the two girls at all and was curled up in the corner.

“Officers, hurry and take us away. We were the ones who had evil intentions and kidnapped her.”

The large, burly man cried and sobbed. Tears mixed with ​stolen content​blood streamed down his face, and when his mouth opened and closed, one could see that several teeth were missing.

The old woman beside him could no longer speak. She was barely breathing, and everything bad she had done in her life flashed through her mind. Was this retribution?

The oldest of the three officers was silent for three seconds before finally saying, “Take everyone to the station first.”

“Can we go to the hospital first?” Jing Qingxia held Zhong Mingxue.

Although during the punishment just now, the old woman had confessed that it was only an anesthetic and that Zhong Mingxue would be fine after sleeping it off, with no harm to her body.

But Zhong Mingxue just now… cough.

Jing Qingxia blushed, suppressing the images that flashed through her mind.

She was a little worried and still felt they should go to the hospital to have a look.

When the officer heard this, he felt it made sense. The two people in the corner also looked very much in need of treatment.

The moment he heard “hospital,” the burly man struggled. “Don’t go to the hospital. Let’s go to the police station, the police station!”

The officer muttered inwardly. Just what kind of terrifying thing had they encountered? They were bruised and swollen like this, yet they still did not want to go to the hospital?

In contrast, the two girls.

One had blood on her neck and palm, which should be her own.

The other girl had blood on her too, but it was not hers. Her actual injury was only some scraped skin on her fist.

“…Xiao Liu, you take the two students to the hospital.”

Xiao Liu unconsciously shivered and looked at Jing Qingxia. “Then… shall we go?”

Jing Qingxia nodded. Then she gently exerted force with her hands and woke the weak girl. “Zhong Mingxue, the police are here. Let’s go to the hospital to have you checked.”

“Mm…” The weak girl was like a tiny milk cat. She slowly opened her eyes, but she still seemed a little unclear-headed. Her arms circled Jing Qingxia, and her head even unconsciously rubbed against Jing Qingxia’s shoulder.

Jing Qingxia’s face flushed. She lifted her eyes and said to the officer, “Could I trouble you to call a car first? My friend was sprayed with an anesthetic by them and was also affected by pheromones. She’s still a little unclear-headed right now.”

So that was what happened!

The officer quickly observed the situation inside the small shop and immediately understood.

Wasn’t this exactly the kidnapping method that had been appearing often recently?

The officer furrowed his brows. His attitude toward the injured old woman and man completely changed. The pity from earlier disappeared, replaced [bailiantales.com]by sternness. “Xiao Liu, go call a car and take the two students away. Xiao Zhang, come with me and escort these two out.”

Escort them out?

Xiao Zhang immediately understood the attitude they ought to have. He straightened the body camera on his chest and strode toward the two people, grabbing their wrists without mercy and hauling them up.

Author’s Note:

Yesterday, some reader friends already left reminders in the comment section, and they were absolutely right!

The kidnapping method used here appeared in the news several years ago. I don’t know if it has still happened in recent years. But no matter what, everyone must never follow strangers into unfamiliar little shops!

If you really run into someone who can’t afford a meal, just help them call the police directly. The police uncles might even send them home! In every sense of the phrase, send them home!