Engaging Hope

"Oh, sorry, I forgot. Compared to the name Clark, you prefer people to call you by your Chinese name, Li, Cong, Xin... Uh, my pronunciation probably still isn't quite standard. Don't take offense." As she spoke, the legendary girl jogged up beside Li Congxin. "Actually, I came to apologize to you."

Apologize?

The person you should be apologizing to is already dead!

If apologies were useful, why would we need the Avengers?

Li Congxin had absolutely no favorable impression of this woman, who never considered other people's feelings when she acted. He shrugged and said indifferently, "You don't need to take it to heart. I didn't take you to heart, either."

With that, Li Congxin turned and started to leave.

"Wait, Clark." Crawford quickly caught up, then revealed a charming smile. "First, congratulations on successfully losing weight and getting fit. I wonder, aside from your physique, did that area improve as well?"

She really was like a lingering ghost!

Li Congxin frowned and said coldly, "Want to find out?"

Following the usual script, after Li Congxin said that, the other party should have left him some Impression Points, then stormed off, never interacting with him again.

But the Impression Points Li Congxin expected did not appear. Instead, Crawford's eyes lit up, and she even spoke with a hint of excitement. "Sure!"

Li Congxin: ...

Were American girls all this uninhibited?

And what was the meaning of that gaze in her eyes—devoid of the slightest emotion, yet filled with an intense fervor for the truth?

Was that boring test really so important to her?

Li Congxin truly could not understand this legendary girl before him, so he could only tell her honestly, "Sorry, I'm not in the mood right now."

Only then did the girl come back to her senses from her fervor. Seeing Li Congxin's indifferent attitude, she finally realized something, and her expression dimmed. "Are we still friends?"

Li Congxin replied calmly, "No. We're classmates." His meaning of keeping her at arm's length was perfectly clear.

Received 2 Impression Points from Crawford Hingirl!

Crawford spoke again, looking at Li Congxin with pleading eyes. "Then, as a classmate, if you saw me being bullied by four bad men outside school, would you help me?"

Li Congxin pondered for two seconds, then gently shook his head. "No. I think four people should be enough."

Received 9 Impression Points from Crawford Hingirl!

After happily farming a wave of Impression Points, Li Congxin immediately felt extremely refreshed. However, the next moment, she noticed Crawford's expression turn somewhat unpleasant. At the same time, four men who clearly looked like troublemakers were walking toward them from the mouth of the alley with lecherous grins.

There really were thugs, and there were exactly four of them!

Li Congxin finally understood why Crawford had asked him such a strange question earlier.

Originally, running into thugs was something worth celebrating. But if he stepped in now, he would inevitably become entangled with Crawford again, which was rather irritating.

As Li Congxin struggled with the decision, the four thugs closed in on them with malicious smiles. The oldest-looking one did not even glance at Li Congxin, his eyes fixed straight on Crawford as he said, "Beautiful, young men don't have much stamina. Why don't you come out and have some fun with us?"

Seeing how brazen these guys were, Li Congxin could not help frowning inwardly.

What should he do with these four idiots—punch them, kick them, or beat them up?

Just as Li Congxin was struggling with the decision, a figure suddenly shot out from the side and charged straight into the middle of the four thugs. A fluid display of close-quarters combat followed. Before Crawford, standing nearby, could react, all four thugs had already been knocked to the ground.

After brushing off nonexistent dust from her hands, the figure turned around. It was Hope!

Hope, who had dealt with the four thugs in an instant, showed no pride at all. It was as though she had merely done something insignificant. Her gaze swept over the four thugs one by one before she coldly spat out a single word: "Scram!"

The four thugs reacted as though they had received imperial mercy. They hurriedly scrambled to their feet and fled, disappearing without a trace.

At that moment, a gentle smile appeared on Hope's face again. She smiled at Crawford and said, "Crawford, I have something to discuss with Clark privately, so..."

The four thugs had frightened Crawford badly, so she quickly said, "I won't disturb you. I'll leave right now!" With that, she jogged away from the secluded alley.

Watching Crawford's graceful figure disappear at the end of the alley, Hope turned back and blinked at Li Congxin. "Aren't you going to thank me for helping you?"

Li Congxin was stunned at first, then immediately smiled. "Thank you for saving me."

"No!" Hope said seriously. "Not only do you practice martial arts at Nalan Martial Arts School in Chinatown, but because of your outstanding talent—and because you're Chinese—you've also received some of Old Mr. Nalan Long's true teachings. Those four punks just now naturally wouldn't have caught your attention."

"I was actually talking about Crawford." Without waiting for Li Congxin to reply, Hope continued, "She hurt you before, so you must have been conflicted when faced with that situation."

"You couldn't just stand by and watch a classmate get bullied by thugs. But if you stepped in, you would feel that you were betraying yourself. By stepping in for you, I helped solve a problem. Shouldn't you show some gratitude?"

Li Congxin's gaze turned cold. "You investigated me?"

Hope countered, "Did I really need to deliberately investigate the things I mentioned?"

Li Congxin thought about it and realized she was right. Neither the nine-point-five-eight-second incident nor the fact that he practiced martial arts was a secret. A little asking around would have been enough; there was no need for a deliberate investigation. He looked at Hope suspiciously. "What exactly do you want?"

Hope cracked her knuckles with a series of pops. "Fight me."

"I don't hit women."

"You don't get a choice!" Without another word, Hope attacked Li Congxin first.

Hope was agile, and her attacks were fierce. Li Congxin had already witnessed that when she taught the four punks a lesson earlier, so he naturally did not dare hold anything back.

Although he did not want to compete with a woman over victory or defeat, if he did not want to get beaten up, he could only take the fight seriously.

What could he do? He was helpless too!

The two exchanged blows at high speed, and in the blink of an eye, they had already traded more than twenty moves.

Bang! Li Congxin lashed out with another whip kick. Hope could not dodge in time and could only cross her arms before her chest to block it.

The facts proved that although Hope had decent skills, how could she possibly match Li Congxin in strength? When their force collided head-on, Li Congxin's kick sent her flying out of the alley. After landing, she staggered back several steps before finally steadying herself.

"What happened?"

By sheer coincidence, two police officers happened to be patrolling past the mouth of the alley. Seeing Hope fly out of it, they immediately grew tense and rushed forward, shielding Hope behind them. Then they drew their guns and pointed them at Li Congxin. "Put your hands up!"

Seeing this, Hope hurriedly explained, "Don't misunderstand. We're friends."

Li Congxin obediently raised both hands. "Yeah, we were just playing."

The two police officers looked at Hope, then turned to look at Li Congxin. As one of them holstered his gun, he could not help complaining, "Young people these days, honestly. In broad daylight, tossing your girlfriend around..."