On the winding and rugged yellow mud road in southwest Guizhou, the scorching sun heated the air to ripple in waves. A bus was bumping along the road, stirring up dense yellow sand. Unable to resist the fatigue of summer and the bumps on the way, passengers dozed off in the vehicle.
However, Chen Zihao was still wide awake, sitting upright in a seat at the rear corner of the bus. The bus was not crowded, with only about a dozen passengers. His gaze was fixed on a young man with a crew cut dressed in a blue polo shirt in a forward seat.
In fact, Chen Zihao had been watching him for quite a while. This man had been sneakily observing the surrounding passengers since he got on the bus. Based on his experience, Chen judged that he was some sort of habitual offender, likely a pickpocket.
Finally, the crew-cut man seemed to have found a target. He moved to sit beside a young girl who was holding a pink mini backpack, her head leaning against the window, eyes tightly closed, soundly asleep.
The crew-cut man looked left and right. Seeing that all the passengers were asleep and not paying him any attention, he slowly reached out and carefully unzipped the girl's backpack.
Just as he saw the zip being pulled open, the man carefully extracted a pink Hello Kitty wallet from the mini backpack. At this moment, the bus's tires hit a pothole. This sudden severe jolt woke up all the passengers in the vehicle. The girl, drowsy-eyed, happened to see a hand quickly pulling out of her bag. Suddenly, she gasped and quickly opened her backpack, only to find her wallet was gone.
The girl cried out, "Give me back my wallet!"
"What wallet? Which eye saw me take your wallet?" The man snapped back, fiercely shaking off the girl's hand, glaring threateningly.
The girl was probably in her early twenties, petite and frail. Stared down by the man, her heart fluttered with fear. Yet, she wouldn't give up and timidly said, "I saw you take my wallet from my bag, are you planning to rob me openly?"
Hearing the girl's words, the passengers immediately shifted their strange gazes to the crew-cut man.
Furious, he shot up and slapped the girl's face, yelling, "Damn, you can't talk nonsense like that! Do I know what your wallet looks like? I said I didn't take it, and I didn't. If you have no evidence, then don't make baseless accusations. Do you want to see how far I'll go?"
"Hey, you can't hit people!"
"She's just a little girl. If you didn't take it, you didn't take it. Why do you have to hit her?"
Some of the passengers couldn't stand by and started to criticize him.
The crew-cut man, however, seemed to have lost all reason. He shouted at the critical passengers, "What's it to you? If it's not your business, don't try and act smart. Be careful you don't get burnt!" Saying this, he took out his phone, dialed a number, and said into it, "I've run into some trouble. Gather some guys and wait for me at the station!"
Seeing this, the surrounding passengers all shut their mouths, making no further sound.
The young man with a buzz-cut ended his phone call, pointing and jabbing at the little girl's head, saying: "You damn disrespectful brat, you'll get what's coming to you."
At this point, the little girl had already been stunned by his slap, her eyes streaming with fear, daring not to make a sound, sitting there rigidly, shivering all over, causing heartfelt sympathy.
All this was witnessed by Chen Zihao, his fists clenching until they started to crackle. If it wasn't for the fact he was returning home on a secret mission from the organization and didn't want to stir up trouble, he would've punched the young man already, laying him up in bed for half a month.
Who was he kidding? Chen Zihao, as an elite of a special forces unit in the southwestern military region, could easily put a small thug like this in bed for half a month with a single punch.
It took all of Chen Zihao's effort to swallow his anger. He got up and walked towards the little girl's seat.
"Miss, come sit next to me," he said, casually ignoring the buzz-cut young man in the aisle seat, reaching out to help the little girl up.
The buzz-cut young man swiftly grabbed Chen Zihao's wrist, saying coldly: "Dude, minding other people's business?"
Chen Zihao simply stated: "You've taken the money, hit the girl; you've saved your face. To keep going like this is meaningless, isn't it? She's just a little girl!"
The buzz-cut young man retorted: "Do I need you to teach me? Get lost..." He tried to throw off Chen Zihao's wrist, only to find it was as immovable as a steel rod.
Chen Zihao managed to free his hand and helped the little girl up, guiding her to his seat.
Seeing Chen Zihao's well-built frame and muscular arms, the buzz-cut young man knew he might not necessarily be able to beat him. He menaced: "You fancy playing tough? Okay, when the bus stops, I'll be sure to give you a proper playtime!"
Chen Zihao didn't care at all, treating it just like hot air, and didn't even respond. He quietly said to the little girl, "Don't cry anymore, sit here. It's best to call your family to pick you up at the station."
The little girl gradually calmed down, nodding and saying "Thank you..."
A passenger nearby also softly suggested, "Call your family and let the police know too. That way, they can be at the station, just in case..."
"Mmm..." The little girl responded quietly, but didn't make a call.
"My name is Chen Zihao, what's yours?"
"Yue Yao... I'm afraid to call my parents, I don't want to get them in trouble..."
"Don't worry, where do you live? I'll take you home!"
Two hours later, they finally arrived in Hong Feng county town on the coach bus. When the bus entered the station, a bald-headed youth glanced fiercely at Chen Zihao and Yue Yao before getting off the bus.
Yue Yao was scared out of her wits, looking helplessly at Chen Zihao.
Chen Zihao said, "Trust me, it's alright. Let's get off the bus."
Who was Chen Zihao? He was someone who had survived through wars and gunfire. These street thugs were nothing to him.
The two emerged from the exit of the station, only to see that the bald-headed youth from the bus had gathered a group to approach them.
Yue Yao, her face pale with fright, instinctively clung onto Chen Zihao's arm.
Chen Zihao shielded Yue Yao behind him, looking coldly at the approaching group.
"Don't say I'm unreasonable. This girl slandered my reputation on the bus. A wise man would offer me five thousand as a compensation for my defamed prestige, or there will be trouble today," the bald-headed youth stated.
Chen Zihao coldly replied, "What kind of trouble?"
"You disrespect, you face retaliation, right?" another young lad blabbered, reaching out to push Chen Zihao.
Chen Zihao caught the lad's wrist, twisted it forcefully. The lad, screaming, collapsed onto the ground.
Chen Zihao's twist almost wrecked the lad's wrist completely.
These were thugs from the streets, none of them were good guys. Seeing Chen Zihao's action, they rushed towards him without a word.
Yue Yao screamed in fright, attracting the surrounding bystanders. However, no one dared to step forward to stop the situation.
