6: Something happened

The afternoon sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, casting a lazy golden glow over the messy bedsheets.

A Zhen's limbs were still draped over Li Zhan,

her stray hairs clinging to his sweat-dampened chest, her breath carrying a faint scent of tobacco and the lingering smell of alcohol from the night before.

She woke up first, her fingertips tracing the bite mark on Li Zhan's collarbone, her eyes a bit dazed.

"Awake?"

Li Zhan's voice held a hint of weary raspiness.

A Zhen looked up at him and suddenly asked, "Will you... look down on me?"

Li Zhan didn't let her finish, leaning down to seal her insecurity with his lips,

"Silly girl, I'm still technically being kept by you, aren't I?"

"I'm just a kept man,"

"I should be glad you don't look down on me..."

A Zhen burst into a giggle and gave his chest a light punch with her fist. "Shameless..."

Li Zhan stared at her with a mischievous grin,

"Then do you want me to be... a bit more shameless?"

"No..."

...—

The following days passed peacefully and regularly.

Li Zhan still appeared at the side door of the Phoenix City Nightclub punctually every morning at dawn,

standing like a silent shadow in a corner untouched by the neon lights.

A Zhen's finish times became increasingly regular, usually pushing the door open around 3:30 AM.

Sometimes she was full of energy; other times, she was so drunk she needed support.

Li Zhan gradually could judge her state by the sound of her high heels—

a crisp "clack-clack" meant she was sober, while a dragging scuff meant she had been pressured into drinking again.

Occasionally, they would have a late-night snack with Lili and the others.

Feifei always loved pestering Li Zhan to tell stories about fighting, while Xiao Wen sat quietly to the side, watching everyone shouting and drinking.

Even Xiao Xue would come along; though she still kept a cold face, she would at least accept the skewers Li Zhan handed her.

The lady who ran the night snack stall had become very familiar with them and would always add extra meat to his stir-fried rice noodles.

Li Zhan liked these mundane days,

simple enough to make one almost forget what kind of place Dongguan was.

On this day,

as dusk deepened, the fresh aroma of steamed fish wafted through the rented apartment.

Wearing an apron, Li Zhan was drizzling the last spoonful of hot oil over the shredded scallions; the sizzling oil made the fish meat appear even whiter and more tender.

A Zhen finished her last stroke of eyeliner and padded to the dining table in her slippers, her nose twitching,

"Oh, Chef Li is cooking something so light today?"

She picked up her chopsticks and plucked a piece of fish belly, her red lips gently blowing away the steam.

The moment the fish entered her mouth, she narrowed her eyes,

"Mmm... your timing is much better than last week."

She suddenly smiled. "When we go back to our hometown and open a small restaurant, you'll be in charge of the kitchen, and I'll be the lady boss collecting the money."

Li Zhan was putting some greens into her bowl; hearing this, he looked down and smiled,

"Sure, whatever you say..."

Before A Zhen left, Li Zhan straightened the collar of her dress for her.

As his fingertips brushed her collarbone, she suddenly grabbed his collar and bit a lipstick mark onto his lips.

"Don't be late tonight."

She gently stroked his cheek, and the sound of her high heels gradually faded into the hallway.

—

It wasn't even midnight yet when Li Zhan's phone suddenly rang.

He was lying on the sofa in the rented apartment, flipping through an old magazine.

The two words "A Zhen" flashing on the phone screen made his heart skip a beat—

at this hour, she should still be in a private room accompanying guests; she would never call.

"Hello?"

But the voice on the other end was Lili's hurried gasping,

"Brother Zhan! Quick, come to Room 308! Something's happened!"

The background was a chaotic mix of breaking glass and women's screams.

Li Zhan sprang up instantly, pulled open the door, and rushed out.

The newly installed sensor lights in the hallway had just flickered on, but his footsteps had already vanished around the corner of the stairs.

Phoenix City Nightclub, third-floor corridor.

When Li Zhan pushed open the iron door of the fire escape, he came across two security guards slumped against the wall.

One of them was covered in blood, clutching his stomach and groaning.

"What's the situation?" Li Zhan grabbed him by the collar.

"People from Nancheng... they brought weapons..."

The guard coughed up a mouthful of bloody phlegm. "A Zhen... Room 308... go quickly... Brother Biao is... still on his way..."

The door to Room 308 was slightly ajar, and A Zhen's angry shouting could be heard from inside,

"Get lost! Don't touch me!"

Li Zhan kicked the door open.

Inside the room,

half of the crystal chandelier had been smashed, and glass shards glittered with a cold light on the crimson carpet.

Three of Phoenix City's security guards were already down on the floor,

a lackey from Chang'an Nancheng was grinding his foot into one of their fingers.

In the center of the sofa, a man with a buzz cut and an over-the-shoulder dragon tattoo was pinning A Zhen against the backrest.

Her lace shirt was torn open on one side, her miniskirt rolled up to the top of her thighs, and she was desperately shielding the edge of her underwear with one hand.

The buzz-cut man's other hand was gripping a half-bottle of Royal Salute, the amber liquid trickling down A Zhen's snow-white thighs.

"Oh, another one here to die?"

The lackey stepping on the guard's fingers snatched up a broken bottle.

Li Zhan said nothing.

He first took down the closest one with a low leg sweep;

just as the other man's knee gave a crisp "crack," the broken bottle flew past his ear.

The moment the second lackey lunged, Li Zhan's elbow smashed into his Adam's apple.

The buzz-cut man had just let go of A Zhen's hair when Li Zhan's boot kicked fiercely toward his face—

"Smack!"

The tattooed man reacted extremely fast, crossing his arms to take the kick head-on,

the force forced him back two steps, his lower back hitting the marble coffee table and knocking over a cluster of bottles with a crash,

but his eyes grew excited instead as he shook his numbed arms,

"Interesting."

Li Zhan didn't continue the attack; he first pulled A Zhen up and grabbed a coat from the sofa to wrap around her trembling body.

He whispered in her ear, "It's okay, I'm here."

A Zhen gripped the hem of his clothes tightly, her nails almost digging into the muscles of his arm.

Li Zhan gently pried her fingers loose and pushed her into a safe corner behind him.

The room suddenly fell terrifyingly silent.

The tattooed man ripped off his alcohol-soaked floral shirt, revealing a full-back Asura tattoo.

He cracked his neck, his joints making a sound like popping beans,

"Kid, do you know who I am?"

"I'm the Double Flower Red Pole of Chang'an Nancheng, 'Mad Dog Luo'. I'll give you a lesson you won't forget today—"

Li Zhan said nothing, merely lowering his center of gravity slightly.

His right hand hung at his waist in a loose claw, and his left hand extended forward—it was the "Path-Finding Hand," the opening stance of Fist Style.

Mad Dog Luo suddenly lunged!

A jab went straight for Li Zhan's throat, while his knee viciously drove toward his groin.

Li Zhan sidestepped the lethal knee strike, his right claw snapping onto the opponent's wrist like a striking viper, while his left elbow smashed toward the temple—

"Bang!"

Mad Dog Luo hastily raised his arm to block but was forced to one knee by the blow.

He roared, swinging a broken bottle toward Li Zhan's abdomen,

but his leg was swept by a "Shovel Stance," sending him crashing heavily onto the glass shards.

Just as Li Zhan was about to follow up with a kick, the room door was kicked open with a "boom"—

an exceptionally burly bald man rushed in with over a dozen lackeys,

the scar stretching from his brow to the corner of his mouth looked particularly hideous under the lights.