C16 A Hero Saving the Beauty

Before Yang Shuozheng could conclude his meeting, Zhang Luo left the villa, uncertain of Yang Yuan's whereabouts. His only option was to attempt a call to Liu Xiao.

Three years prior, Yang Yuan had struggled to accept Zhang Luo. When Lin Kai departed Zruhpus for overseas, she found solace alone in a bar. Zhang Luo spent the entire night searching for her throughout Zruhpus to no avail. It was Wang Yan who provided him with Liu Xiao's phone number.

Liu Xiao had never been fond of him. Despite being the only friend to attend Yang Yuan's wedding three years ago, Liu Xiao had since viewed Zhang Luo through a critical lens.

Zhang Luo retrieved his phone and dialed the number from three years earlier.

"Hello, who's this?" Liu Xiao's voice boomed over the din, indicating she was likely at a bar.

"Hi, I'm Zhang Luo."

"Zhang Luo who?"

Introducing himself as Yang Yuan's husband seemed more likely to jog Liu Xiao's memory than his own name.

"Are you going to speak or not? I'm about to hang up!"

Liu Xiao's impatience was palpable with Zhang Luo's silence.

"Wait, don't hang up! I'm Yang Yuan's husband."

"Oh, the Yang family's good-for-nothing! What do you want?"

"Yang Yuan is missing. Could she have gone to you?"

Given Yang Yuan's evident distress upon leaving her grandfather's, and her limited circle of friends in Zruhpus, it was plausible she would seek out Liu Xiao.

"No!"

With that, Liu Xiao ended the call abruptly. Zhang Luo, faced with her dismissive attitude, could only shake his head in frustration on the street.

Meanwhile, in the Salty Dog bar, Liu Xiao, after hanging up, was embraced by a man.

"What took you so long?"

"Mr. Hai, a friend of mine has gone missing. I need to search for her."

Despite her brusque manner on the phone, Liu Xiao was genuinely concerned for Yang Yuan, her closest confidante in Zruhpus. Mr. Hai regarded Liu Xiao with a menacing glare.

"Do you think you'll be able to leave today?"

Mr. Hai was introduced to Liu Xiao through a friend. They had only met a few times, having shared a meal once. Later, Liu Xiao learned from her friend that Mr. Hai was an executive in a company, earning a hefty monthly salary.

Reflecting on Yang Yuan's wedding, Liu Xiao had come to the conclusion that if she couldn't marry for love, why not marry for wealth?

Even if he couldn't make her laugh with a bicycle ride, having a BMW and money was enough!

From that point, Liu Xiao leveraged her connections to get acquainted with Zruhpus's wealthy elite.

"Mr. Hai, I'll go look for him first. Once I find him, I'll come back to keep you company!"

Liu Xiao said as she headed for the door. Meanwhile, Zhang Luo approached Ocean Garden Plaza and caught sight of the big screen announcing the owner of the Sunshine Hotel in Zruhpus.

"Liu Bingsheng is truly formidable; he's even acquired the Ocean Hotel."

"He originally owned the Sunshine Hotel, and now, after acquiring Ocean Hotel, he's renamed it Fairweather Hotel," remarked a passerby, observing the Fairweather Hotel's advertisement on the big screen.

"How quickly time passes!"

Zhang Luo mused, standing to the side. The Sea Hotel, where he and Yang Yuan had celebrated their wedding three years ago, was now a memory.

He continued his walk through Ocean Garden Plaza.

"Oh no!"

Zhang Luo smacked his forehead, remembering the phone his father had given him.

Could there be someone in there who could help him find Yang Yuan?

He pulled out his phone and scrolled through the contacts, calling Di San first to enlist his help in the search.

As he browsed through the unfamiliar names, he wondered what to do next.

Suddenly, a name in the contact list caught his eye!

Liu Bingsheng!

Wasn't this the same Liu Bingsheng who had just purchased the Sea Hotel?

Could he also be a disciple of his father? What exactly had his father taught them?

Lost in thought, Zhang Luo momentarily forgot his quest to find Yang Yuan.

Across the street at the Salty Dog bar, a commotion erupted as a girl was thrown out the door by several men, her voice carrying loudly. The noise snapped Zhang Luo out of his reverie.

Zhang Luo squinted into the distance, but the girl's face was a blur. He worried about his wife, Yang Yuan, who had a low tolerance for alcohol. The thought of her being harassed after a few drinks was unsettling.

Without hesitation, Zhang Luo sprinted forward, leaping over the roadside barrier to the opposite side of the street.

"What's going on here?!" he yelled, spotting a group of men at the entrance making inappropriate advances on a woman sprawled on the ground.

"Why am I getting involved?" Zhang Luo questioned himself internally. For three years, he'd steered clear of such situations. These were thugs—where was this sudden burst of bravery coming from?

"Smart move would be to scram, kid!" barked a towering bald man, eyeing Zhang Luo menacingly.

The woman was dressed in a black miniskirt, her stockings torn from the struggle, exposing patches of her pale skin. Her black high heels accentuated the red welts on her legs—a clear sign she'd been roughed up.

Should he flee? Why meddle in the first place? It was clear this wasn't Yang Yuan.

Zhang Luo was ready to walk away, preferring to mind his own business.

"What a coward. Are you really going to let these guys scare you off?" The woman's voice was muffled, her head still down, but Zhang Luo recognized it. He turned back, adopting a practiced stance.

"Get him!" she commanded.

Zhang Luo had already shown weakness, and now he was posturing like a martial artist. Who was he kidding?

The bulky man saw right through Zhang Luo's act. At his command, his henchmen redirected their aggression towards Zhang Luo, charging with a raucous battle cry.

Zhang Luo almost laughed at his own charade. To play the hero, he needed them to strike first, triggering his defense system. That would render these thugs harmless.

As expected, they took the bait. The lead hooligan swung at Zhang Luo, who remained still, leaning back just enough to let the attacker whiff through the air.

Zhang Luo swiftly lifted his leg and delivered a powerful kick to the hooligan's abdomen, sending him flipping backward to lie motionless on the ground.

Realizing Zhang Luo was not to be underestimated, the others hesitated before one of them, emboldened, retrieved a baseball bat from an Audi's trunk and took a vicious swing at Zhang Luo.

With quick reflexes, Zhang Luo raised his arm, blocking the bat. The force was so great that it sent vibrations through the hooligan's grip, causing him to lose hold of the bat.

"This can't be happening!" exclaimed the assailant, dumbfounded. He had put enough power behind his swing to break an arm, yet Zhang Luo had blocked it effortlessly, without a scratch.

In the moment of the attacker's shock, Zhang Luo seized the baseball bat and swung it with precision at the hooligan's waist. The man was sent flying, crashing into a roadside tree before coming to a halt.

With a broken waist, immobilized and in agony, he let out a piercing scream.

"You'll pay for this!" the burly figure warned, eyeing his two companions—one clutching his abdomen and writhing on the ground, the other incapacitated against the tree with a shattered waist. Recognizing that Zhang Luo was a formidable opponent, he decided to flee.

The large man helped his injured comrades into the Audi and they sped off in a cloud of dust.

Approaching the woman, Zhang Luo extended a helping hand. "You're safe now," he assured her.

Reeking of alcohol, the woman was assisted by Zhang Luo to a nearby bench. Only then did she look up at her rescuer.

"It's you!" they both exclaimed in surprise.

Indeed, the woman was none other than Liu Xiao, the close friend of Yang Yuan.