Chapter 774 — Darling, Save Me

"Even the police wouldn't dare claim they could wipe out our entire gang — and your boyfriend can? Is he Superman? Or Ultraman?" one of Black Bird's underlings sneered.

"Ha, the little girl thinks her boyfriend's the hero of some fantasy novel! Is his name Liu Zheng or Yang Zhao?" another of Black Bird's men, a fan of web fiction, jeered — both names belonged to protagonists of a novel called *Faint Light of Old Dreams: The Prequel*.

Yu Xiaoke was nervous inside. Facing the mockery of Black Bird and his crew, she couldn't afford to look too guilty, so she managed a dry laugh. "My boyfriend... he... he... isn't he here already!"

Suddenly Yu Xiaoke cried out excitedly: "He's right behind you! Darling, come save me — help! Help!"

"Cut the act. You want to distract us so you can make a run for it? You think we'd believe you?" Black Bird gave a cold laugh, plainly unconvinced. To him, Yu Xiaoke had simply run out of options and invented a boyfriend on the spot to muddle them and seize a chance to escape.

"It's true!" Yu Xiaoke kept shouting at the top of her voice. "Save me, hubby — here, I'm right here! It's your Yu Xiaoke!"

Wei Zhao wasn't driving, so naturally he avoided the main roads. Following his memory of the school's direction, he took a shortcut through the backstreets. Of course, Wei Zhao wasn't worried about losing his way — as long as the sun's position held true, he would never get lost!

That was the most basic rule of survival in the wild: only by swiftly judging direction could one avoid getting lost, and only then could one stay alive.

Though Wei Zhao was at that moment cutting through a lane that looked sparse and deserted, he knew his general heading was correct, so he felt no concern.

He had walked only a short while when he saw, not far ahead, five burly men closing in on a young girl!

Wei Zhao was the sort who kept his distance from matters that didn't concern him. Unless the person involved was someone he knew, he would rarely lift a finger to meddle.

Yet the girl's voice sounded somewhat familiar? And her cries for help made Wei Zhao start!

Was there someone else in this lane besides himself? Wei Zhao was startled — how had he failed to sense anyone else approaching in the alley? Could the girl's husband be a master of the highest order, one whose tracks even he could not detect?

But Wei Zhao's guess was clearly wrong, for when Yu Xiaoke called "darling," she was shouting in Wei Zhao's direction — and apart from Wei Zhao, there was no one else here at all!

"You calling me?" Wei Zhao pointed at himself, rather baffled. He had already recognized who the girl was, but they had met only once — "darling" was surely going too far.

Wei Zhao's voice rang out, and Black Bird and the burly men were instantly taken aback! They had assumed Yu Xiaoke was crying out at random and that no one was actually there — but Wei Zhao's voice clearly changed their minds!

"Watch the girl! Don't let her get away!" Black Bird ordered his four underlings, then turned to look at Wei Zhao. Yet one look, and the anxiety that had gripped him a moment before instantly eased!

Because, in his eyes, Wei Zhao was nothing but a pale-faced pretty boy! With that slight, slender build, how could he be a match for himself? Even if Wei Zhao really was Yu Xiaoke's boyfriend, he was probably only a bit skilled at lightness technique — how could one man stand against the five of them?

So after a single glance, Black Bird dismissed Wei Zhao entirely.

"That's right, darling, come save me quick — these men are going to... going to have their way with your wife!" Yu Xiaoke waved at Wei Zhao.

"Huh?" Wei Zhao's eyes widened. These men were going to have their way with my wife? With Tang Zhi? But in the next instant Wei Zhao understood: Yu Xiaoke had surely been cornered by these men and, in desperation, wanted his help — yet fearing he wouldn't give it, she had first nailed down his identity as her man, thereby shifting the conflict onto him!

It seemed this female thief was no fool!

Wei Zhao's impression of Yu Xiaoke was neither good nor bad. At least she was pretty and rather alluring, which was easy on his eyes. So when Yu Xiaoke ran into trouble, Wei Zhao's attitude was entirely one of could-help-could-not — it all depended on his mood.

"You're Yu Xiaoke's man?" Black Bird's single bird-like eye sized Wei Zhao up and down, as though he had not taken him seriously in the least.

Wei Zhao ignored Black Bird and walked toward Yu Xiaoke, frowning as he went: "Didn't I tell you to go home and train a few more years before coming out again? Well? Stealing from people and getting caught red-handed, were you?"

Wei Zhao had assumed Yu Xiaoke was surrounded because she had stolen something from Blackbird Ge. In fact, Wei Zhao's guess was both right and wrong. Yu Xiaoke had indeed stolen plenty of money from these gangs of thieves, but it was nothing more than thieves robbing thieves. Though Blackbird Ge loathed Yu Xiaoke, if that were all there was to it, he would have done no more than catch her and extort a sum of money — he would never have wanted to bed her!

As things stood, though, Yu Xiaoke had kicked one of Blackbird Ge's balls to a pulp, and that had planted the notion in him of keeping her as his captive concubine. In his view, if he did not bed Yu Xiaoke, how could he ever make it up to his exploded ball?

"I'm talking to you — are you fucking deaf? Did I tell you to come over here?" Blackbird Ge reached out to block Wei Zhao, but failed to stop him. In the blink of an eye, Wei Zhao was somehow already at Yu Xiaoke's side!

"No, it's not that! They're all thieves — quick, help me chase them off!" Yu Xiaoke said to Wei Zhao in a low voice.

"Thieves? Aren't you one too?" Wei Zhao shot back.

"It's not the same! I'm a good thief, they're bad thieves!" Yu Xiaoke was on the verge of tears from sheer panic. "Please, just help me this once, would you? Otherwise I'm done for!"

"Thieves come in good and bad now?" Wei Zhao couldn't help but laugh at that. Yu Xiaoke's explanation was rather amusing. "Besides, what are you to me?"

"Of course thieves come in good and bad! I'm a good thief, while they act purely out of selfish greed — I'm not like them!" Yu Xiaoke explained. "Look, I've stolen so much money, yet what I'm wearing is nothing but a twenty-yuan bargain from a street stall!"

"Oh, so you're a little cheapskate — you steal money and still wear twenty-yuan clothes?" Wei Zhao glanced at what Yu Xiaoke was wearing. It really was shabby, a notch worse than even Tang Zhi's clothes. Clearly she hadn't been lying.

"Right? So hurry up and help me — I can't beat them!" Yu Xiaoke said, entirely without shame.