14. Shopping Trip

Widespread pupils stared at Bao and his sister, the thug in front of them had multiple piercings in ears, lips and nose while tattoos twined around his muscular arm. His gaze checked Bao from head to toe until it fell upon his sister standing right next to him with a close grip around his arm.

"I... I'm sorry, I me...meant no harm to you or anyone else here."

"As if I would care about a simple apology like that, give me some cash as compensation or else lent me your cute little girlfriend, who's clinging on your arm there for a walk, hehehe." His tongue ran over his lips exposing another piercing.

Cuifen's grip around his arm strengthened as her fingernails drilled deeper into his flesh.

"I'm not his girlfriend and I definitely won't go with you, who even would when you are saying such gross things. You demanded an apology and my brother gave it to you can we go now?!"

Other people on the street, which's attention has been caught by the loud voices, halted to see what the commotion was about. Their ominous looks immediately fell upon the thug who stood before them and harassed them. Feeling observed and threatened by all the eyes pointed towards him he clicked with his tongue.

"No point in staying here with you losers, there are far more beautiful girls waiting for me anyway." He turned around and walked away.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Cuifun showed her middle finger in his direction.

"Cuifun! Why did you need to provoke him, what if he attacked us?"

"He insulted my big brother, there was no way I would let him go just like that, besides my brother is with me, so there was nothing to fear."

"Well, the signs in my arm speak otherwise, furthermore I wouldn't be so sure that I can do anything with my weak body against guys like that."

"Geez you need to have more confidence in yourself and your abilities otherwise you'll never be able to talk back to father."

Bao, worried about what just happened, stayed close to his sister during the whole shopping tour, not to mention that he was the reason they went in the first place. Being dragged into every clothing store on the street by his sister, he was forced to try on countless shirts selected for him but none of them really fitted on his scrawny body. In the end, the decision fell upon a plain black shirt that was just a bit wider in contrary to others which let him look like an air bubble. Happy with their purchase and to have spent a fun time together they treated themselves to some crepes filled with fruits, ice cream and some chocolate sauce on top of it all, before going home. Most shops were either closed or about to be closed resulting in an empty street with nothing but the faint yellow light, coming from the street lamps filling it. A single human-shaped silhouette walked out from a nearby ally and halted right in between two lights, blocking their way home and making it impossible to recognize the person in the darkness.

"So you thought that you could humiliate me like that and simply go home as nothing ever happened?"

The silhouette stepped closer, right under the shine of the nearest street lamp, it was the same guy who harassed them before. The thug let his fingers crack while the rest of his body stood still, waiting for a response or a reason to immediately unleash his fists upon the siblings.

"The... the bag Cuifen, take it and run when I say so," Bao whispered.

The weight on his left arm disappeared as his sister took the bag from him and unlocked their arms.

"Hah, so you decided to fight against ME?! That will be fun, I'll make sure to beat you to a little pulp until nothing but a small pile of misery remains on the floor. But don't worry, I'll make sure to take good care of your sister in your stead."

With the last word being said the thug rushed towards them at full speed. Bao immediately reacted by catapulting himself forward as fast as he could and at the same time screaming to his sister: "Run!"

Bao's heartbeat became so fast that everything seemed to run in slow motion: His sister who ran past them, the guy with the piercings who ran towards him and vice versa. Every cell in his brain tried to find a solution on how to win until he remembered something that was said in the tutorial of Nelenia.

"Scuffle!" He thought

Cold hands ran over his body and locked him in a tight grip but he didn't stop, rather his movements became more fluent than ever, just that he had no control over it. Right before they could reach each other the hands let him jump forward and wrap his arms around the thug's body, dragging them both down to the ground.

The concrete under the delinquent pressed out every single ounce of breath in his lungs, while his head seemed to have hit the ground. Two consecutive punches landed on Bao's right cheek before he could stand up and stumble in the direction where his sister ran away, hearing behind him the guy lying on the floor, casting curses in his direction.