Chapter 119: Whose Tire Blew Up
The tough guy hesitated for a moment. “I shouldn’t be distracted by anything else while protecting the target.”
Liang Zheng chuckled. “Flying Eagle, have you lost confidence in yourself since retiring?”
A bodyguard team made up of former special forces soldiers couldn’t spare one person to buy a Labubu?
It was an utterly blatant provocation, but it instantly struck a nerve with Flying Eagle. He switched channels and said to the people outside the shop, “Stay with them. I’ll buy something and be right back.”
“Yes, sir.”
Watching the man leave the shop, he quickly returned to the spot where the two of them had just been standing and reached out to take the Labubu from the shelf.
The moment his hand extended, an arm suddenly shot out from beside him, snatched up the Labubu, and walked away. It happened so quickly that he almost failed to react.
When he looked again, the only Hello Kitty Labubu on the shelf was gone!
He immediately turned to look. The man was over six feet tall, dressed in a black hoodie and sweatpants, with an earpiece in one ear as well.
He couldn’t help asking Liang Zheng, “Did you hire someone else?”
Liang Zheng was confused. “What do you mean?”
He swept his camera toward the man who was preparing to pay at the counter. “He bought the toy.”
Liang Zheng’s expression immediately darkened. “He wasn’t hired by me. Where’s the toy?”
The man paused. “He bought it.”
......
The voice in his earpiece instantly turned low and grim. “You can’t even handle something this simple? What have you been doing since you retired? Drinking yourself silly at home every day?”
The man didn’t answer. He hurried to the counter and pointed at the Labubu. “Do you have any more of these? I want one too.”
The cashier gave him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, sir. That was the last one in the store’s inventory. This gentleman just bought it.”
The man turned to look at the man in the black hoodie. Without changing expression, the other man tucked the Labubu into his arms and turned to leave.
“Wait.”
He reached out and grabbed him. “Sell it to me. I’ll pay double.”
The man in the black hoodie rolled his eyes. “Do I look like I’m short of money?”
With that, he shook off the man’s hand and walked out of the shop. He didn’t hear the familiar voice of Liang Zheng coming through his earpiece:
“Well done. I’ll reimburse you three times the price.”
The cold expression on the man in the black hoodie instantly melted into a foolish grin. “Thank you, boss!”
Inside the store, the man exchanged an awkward glance with the embarrassed cashier.
The cashier gave him an uncomfortable smile. “There really aren’t any more...”
The man pulled several bills from his wallet. “Could you check whether any of your other stores have one? If they do, please ask them to hold it for me. Thank you.”
The cashier’s eyes lit up at the sight of the four red banknotes.
“Of course! I’ll check right away!”
A minute later, she hung up with a beaming smile. “The Tianyue store has one in stock. I’ve already had them reserve it for you. You can go pick it up later!”
Money was the most efficient weapon.
After solving the problem, the man hurried out of the shop to chase after them.
By then, He Huanhuan and Qi Meili had already left the mall and were on their way to get malatang.
They still couldn’t stop thinking about the Labubu. Qi Meili counted on her fingers. “I work two shifts a day and only make a little over five thousand yuan a month. I work twelve hours a day for barely a hundred yuan. My God! Do you think we could make our own Labubu?”
She had no intention of buying one. She only wanted to sell the things and become a wealthy woman who had nothing but money.
He Huanhuan couldn’t help fantasizing. “What should we call it? Bulala? No, that sounds like a knockoff...”
Before she could finish, her expression suddenly changed, and she turned to look behind her.
“What is it?” Qi Meili asked, turning around as well.
There was nothing there.
He Huanhuan scratched her chin. “I don’t know. I just got this creepy feeling, like someone’s following us.”
Qi Meili tightened her hold on He Huanhuan’s arm. “Who would bother following us? It’s probably because that black guy from earlier was so ugly that he made you sick.”
Earlier, right after they had finished eating the three-pound yellow croaker in the private room, the door had been pushed open rudely.
A man as black as charcoal had stood in the doorway and glanced at them. “Ladies, long time no see.”
Qi Meili had glared at him. “Hey, ugly guy, who are you?”
Chen Jiarong had frozen at the question. “You don’t remember me?”
Back when He Huanhuan and Han Mo had returned after disappearing, he had attended the welcome-home dinner as Gu Chacha’s companion.
Qi Meili had frowned and thought hard, but she couldn’t recall him at all. “Hey, black guy, did you sneak into the country?”
......
Chen Jiarong’s face had darkened as he glanced at the two women. Then he raised his eyes toward Han Mo. “President Han, do you have a moment to talk?”
Han Mo had asked the two women to browse around the mall first. Once he finished talking with Chen Jiarong, he would take them home.
Even now, the two men still hadn’t finished talking, so the women decided to grab a bowl of malatang before heading back.
The mall was in a somewhat remote area, and the route to the malatang shop took them along a quiet, deserted lane. After walking for less than two minutes, He Huanhuan felt the prickling sensation on her back grow stronger.
She spun around. “Come out!”
In the shadows, three groups of people immediately ducked out of sight.
Qi Meili frowned. “You feel like someone’s following us again?”
He Huanhuan nodded. “Yes. I’ve got goosebumps all over.”
Qi Meili instantly flew into a rage. She grabbed He Huanhuan and started walking back. “Come on! Whoever’s following us, show yourself! Your sister here would love to have a little chat!”
There was no response from the empty lane. The two women looked at each other uneasily.
Could it be...
Good heavens! They had already experienced the extraordinary event of transmigrating into a book, so they were more than a little superstitious.
Without another word, they turned and ran!
They were living perfectly good lives here now. They did not want to go back to working two shifts a day!
Behind them, Xiao Qian and the other three men remained perfectly still by the roadside.
Sang Biao whispered, “Why didn’t we go out just now?”
Xiao Qian kept a stern face and pointed outside. “There are surveillance cameras over there.”
There were simply too many surveillance cameras in China. They made everything so inconvenient.
He pulled out his phone and looked at the map for the nearest malatang shop. They were still some distance away. He carefully studied every intersection.
“Here.”
He tapped a section of the route. “We should be able to avoid the cameras here. We’ll take a detour and run over.”
“Sounds good.”
The four men quickly backed away, then sprinted off.
They failed to notice the two silent tails following behind them.
Meanwhile, the two women followed the navigation and arrived at the malatang shop. Each ordered a huge bowl loaded with sesame sauce, extra numbing spice, and extra chili. They sat outside the shop and ate with great enthusiasm.
Qi Meili looked up at He Huanhuan. “Does your back still feel creepy?”
He Huanhuan shook her head vigorously. “It’s so strange. The creepy feeling disappeared as soon as I started eating malatang!”
Qi Meili reached out and tapped her on the forehead. “You were just hungry, weren’t you?”
The two women leaned together and giggled.
Then, from somewhere in the distance, came a sudden bang!
Another followed.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He Huanhuan jumped. “Who blew a tire? That was loud!”
Qi Meili looked around. “All four tires blew out? Whoever it was must be having a terrible day!”
Down the path to the left, Sang Biao, Xiao Zuo, and Xiao You were pinned firmly to the ground, unable to put up even the slightest struggle.
With a gun in each hand, Xiao Qian fired wildly at the two groups before turning and darting into an alley by the roadside, fleeing at full speed!