"Lady Na-Lan! Lady!"

"What!?"

Zheng-Fu's voice shook De-Na-Lan out of her daydream. When she got back to herself, she rushed to put her hand back while tilting her face to avoid Zheng-Fu's stare. She was extremely shy, and it showed up in her red face. She could feel the heat on her face…

"Are you alright, lady Na-Lan? Your face is all red. Do you want to go back to the tavern? I can be by myself here. Besides, it's almost dark. Your father would be worried about you by now.

You should head back to the tavern." Zheng-Fu knew that De-Na-Lan was fine. He just wanted her to go back to the tavern because he felt like something wrong was going to happen…

"N-No… I'm fine. Even though it's dark, it's alright. I want to take a walk in the market too." De-Na-Lan refused to go back to the tavern because she wanted to check out things at the market too…

"Alright then. If you wish to stay, that's fine. But can I ask you a favor?"

"Of course, what is it?"

"I want you to stay close to me. Don't be far away from me," Zheng-Fu said while moving closer to De-Na-Lan…

"You want me to stay close to you!?" De-Na-Lan repeated Zheng-Fu's request with a loose voice when she heard what Zheng-Fu wanted her to do for him. She started to imagine things beyond her control. Her face turned redder and redder…

*Does he want me to…? No way!* De-Na-Lan acted strangely at this point. She moved back and forth, reluctantly…

Grab!

"Alright! Let's go! I see something interesting at that shop right there!" Zheng-Fu grabbed De-Na-Lan's hand and led her to the shop that was not far from where they were…

"My hand…!?" De-Na-Lan cried out of awkwardness. She tried to pull her hand back, but her body did not want her to do so. Her legs moved along with Zheng-Fu's without her commanding them…

In the small alley that was not far from the city market, a group of men with mean faces stared at Zheng-Fu and De-Na-Lan with thirst in an ugly way…

"That's the girl I told you, boss!" a tiny man with a big scar on his forehead said while pointing his finger at De-Na-Lan…

"I see. Not bad at all. Our master would be pleased to see this beautiful girl. We'll get a great reward from this. Take her!" a big man with horrifying armor said and ordered his men to kidnap De-Na-Lan

"Hahaha!"

"Yes, boss!"

This group of mercenaries worked for the son of the city's owner. These people always got away with everything that they did wrong. No one dared to do anything to them. They recently kidnapped a woman in broad daylight…

They killed the woman's husband and took her in front of the witnesses. No one dared to do anything because they did not want to mess with the owner of the city. These mercenaries used to be savage bandits before working for the city. Everybody knew how savage they were. However, the group made the utmost wrong decision by aiming to kidnap De-Na-Lan from Zheng-Fu…

Back at the market in the city center…

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Get out of the way, trash!" The sound of chaos occurred from a little distance behind Zheng-Fu. Things were scattered all over the place by a group of men who wore the city's soldiers' uniforms. They did not behave like noble soldiers at all…

"They're the personal soldiers of the son of the city owner. What are they doing here?" The villagers and merchants wondered about seeing the men who worked for the son of the city owner at the market…

"These bad guys always give us a hard time. They're as bad as the son of the owner of the city. They just kidnapped a woman in broad daylight last week. Whom are they going to kidnap today?"

"Yo! Watch your mouth! You might die if they hear you."

"Tsk!"

Everybody cursed the group of mercenaries out of hatred at once. No one liked them, but they also did not dare to do anything to stop their bad behavior. The people in the city just had to pretend that they did not see the bad things those people had done. They did not want to mess with the owner of the city's son. Even the owner of the city did not do anything to stop him…

Zheng-Fu turned around to look at what was happening behind him. He also heard what the merchants and villagers said, which prompted him to believe that a bad thing was about to happen. However, he tried not to pay attention to the noise and prepared to get back to the market. But then…

"Yo! You two! Stop!"

……….

"I told you to stop! Don't you understand human language!?" The tiny man with a big scar on his forehead commanded Zheng-Fu and De-Na-Lan to stop when he saw that the two did not do accordingly…

……….

"Darn it!"

The tiny man with a big scar on his forehead developed bulging veins on his face out of fury. Now he looked even more ugly. He was tremendously angry when his words did not get across…

"Surround them! Don't let them get away!"

"Yes, sir!"

Clomp! Clomp! Clomp!

The group of soldiers, who did not look like real soldiers, scattered themselves to surround Zheng-Fu and De-Na-Lan instantly. Zheng-Fu, at this point, realized that the command was for him and De-Na-Lan. The villagers and merchants in the area started to falter…

"Here they go again! They're taking a woman away from her husband again," one of the merchants in the market said while taking a long exhale. He felt bad for Zheng-Fu and De-Na-Lan. Everyone felt the same way…

"Did you want us to stop walking?" Zheng-Fu said calmly…

"You're darn right! Who do you think I talked to!?" The tiny man with a big scar on his forehead shouted back at Zheng-Fu out of fury…

"And what exactly do you want from us?" Zheng-Fu continued to reply with a calm voice…

"Give me that woman and your life will be spared!" The same man rushed to state what he wanted…

"Me!?" De-Na-Lan, who was in a state of confusion, said while pointing the finger at herself…

"And where are you taking her?" Zheng-Fu asked back instantly…

"It's none of your business. Quick! Give her to us!"

"What if I don't give her to you?"

"Tsk! Then I'll kill you! Hahaha!" the tiny man with a scar on his forehead said while laughing violently out of grandiosity. He was not afraid of anyone. The reason why he acted like a champ in front of Zheng-Fu was that he did not know Zheng-Fu's real energy level because Zheng-Fu hid it. He showed them that he was only at the mid-level of the Golden Core stage…

"Sigh! I think you should leave because she doesn't want to go with you." Zheng-Fu continued to refuse to give De-Na-Lan to the group in a calm voice…

The people in the area started to shake their heads out of pity for Zheng-Fu when they heard him speak to the mercenaries. They could see Zheng-Fu's unfortunate future because they were well aware of how savage this group of mercenaries was…

"I don't care if she wants to come with us or not, because she must come with us, no matter what. Yo! Take her! Now!" The same tiny man ordered his men to take De-Na-Lan immediately. He had a cunning smile on his face all the while…

As soon as the rest of the group heard the order, they started to walk toward De-Na-Lan instantly. And all of a sudden, Zheng-Fu moved closer to De-Na-Lan and said to her…

"Close your eyes."

"What…?"

De-Na-Lan thought about Zheng-Fu's words for a second and did accordingly. The people in the area thought that Zheng-Fu did not see what was going to come. The mercenaries continued to walk toward De-Na-Lan. Then they were about two steps away from Zheng-Fu and the woman…

Stab!

All of a sudden, the mercenaries stopped walking. They froze like they were stopped in time. Everybody who was witnessing the scene started to feel confused about the actions of the mercenaries. The tiny man with a big scar on his forehead was stunned to see his men acting strangely, so he shouted…

"Yo! Why did you stop? Why don't you take her now!?"

……….

No response whatsoever from the mercenaries…

The ten mercenaries who walked toward De-Na-Lan did not give any response to the tiny, scarred-forehead man. They just remained unmoved. Their actions prompted everyone to wonder what was happening. But then they all saw what happened when the ten mercenaries' bodies started to fall apart and fell on the ground, piece by piece…

Thud! Thud! Thud!

"No!"

"Ew!"

The people in the area started to cry when they saw the pieces of flesh falling onto the ground. Blood and innards were spilled all over the place. It was not an exceptional sight for anyone. Some of the people started to vomit…

"Dead!"

'Dead' was the only word that was let out from the crowd. Then the crowd turned to look at Zheng-Fu and De-Na-Lan and wondered how those men died like that. They did not see Zheng-Fu and the woman moved a bit…

The tiny man with a scar on his forehead stood frozen when he saw that his ten men died at the same time without realizing it too. Not only that, how they died was so horrendous for him that he could not even utter a word…

Another person, who hid in the small alley next to the market, saw the whole thing and felt shocked like everyone else at the scene. He could feel for a second something that cut through something at the time his men stopped walking…

"What happened? Who did that?" As the tiny man with a big scar on his forehead got back to himself, he shouted the question. Then he looked around to see who did that to his men, but no one appeared to answer his question. The crowd started to back away and look down at the ground. When no one answered him, he turned to look at Zheng-Fu and had a feeling that it might be him…

"What did you do to my men? How dare you mess with the owner of the city? Do you know who we work for!?" The same tiny man rushed to mention his relationship with the owner of the city. He actually did not know who exactly killed his men, but he just had to make a bluff…

"Did you see me do it?" Zheng-Fu said, shrugging his shoulders as if he was not responsible for the kills…

"You!"

"Well, since there's nothing else that we can do for you, we'll have to excuse ourselves." Zheng-Fu turned away from the tiny bad man and said to De-Na-Lan, "You can open your eyes now." Then he prepared to walk away with De-Na-Lan's hand in his…

"Stop!"

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