The Late-Night Food Stall Assault (3)

The commotion instantly drew everyone's attention. It was not just Lin Yuan's table; people at the other tables also turned to look at the barbecue stall next door.

The scream had come from a young woman. She was struggling desperately, but it was useless. She was like a little chick, easily held down by the man beside her.

The man was around forty, not tall, but powerfully built. His features were vicious, yet he kept a faint, cruel smile on his face the whole time, as if mocking the young woman's weakness.

One hand gripped the woman's hair as he dragged her step by step from inside the shop to the outside.

Beside him were three other men, slightly younger by the look of them. Judging from the delighted expressions on their faces, they were undoubtedly birds of a feather.

The uneven ground, combined with the friction from the woman's body weight, made her feel as if her scalp were about to be torn open.

Earlier, she had still been cursing the man in a tough tone, but now she began begging for mercy.

"Please, big brother, I won't dare do it again."

The man showed no intention of letting go. Instead, he took the cigarette butt, still about a third left, and pressed it straight against the woman's face. Then he spat on her as well.

"Stinking bitch. Weren't you pretty damn fierce just now?"

The burning pain on her face and the foul yellow phlegm nearly shattered the woman's mind completely.

"Big brother, please, I really won't dare anymore..."

The woman kept begging, her voice trembling and thick with tears. Anyone could hear that she was terrified right now.

Seeing that the man showed no sign of letting her go, the woman looked toward the surrounding onlookers.

Clearly, she was asking for help!

After the conflict broke out, all the customers at the barbecue stall had hidden off to the side to watch.

At first, a few people had spoken up, but after the man swept his vicious gaze over them, that urge to uphold justice immediately died out.

Seeing that no one was moved, the woman cried out, "Please, save—"

Before she could finish, the man slapped her hard across the face. Then he continued gripping her hair and dragging her across an open space in front of the barbecue stall.

This time, he dragged her even faster.

The pulling sensation on the woman's head grew stronger. She almost felt she was about to faint from the pain. Faint traces of blood seeped from the roots of her hair.

As the man dragged her back and forth across the open space, he laughed loudly, as if this was extremely amusing to him.

"Mad, how can there be scum like that?" Li Feng cursed from the table.

The others echoed him one after another and began cursing angrily.

Just then, Han Shuyu suddenly stood up.

"Shuyu, you..." Xiao Li, beside her, seemed to guess something.

Han Shuyu left her seat and walked straight toward the barbecue stall next door.

"Shuyu, don't go. We can just call the police," Xiao Li said hurriedly, following after her and grabbing her hand.

"There's no time."

Even the nearest police station would not be able to get here anytime soon, and at this hour, there would at most be one or two people on duty there.

Looking at her expression, Xiao Li knew she most likely could not stop her. This best friend of hers might look gentle and delicate on the outside, but deep down, she was very stubborn.

Even so, she could not let her walk over alone.

So Xiao Li turned to look at the others and snapped, "Are you men just going to sit there?"

The group looked at her awkwardly, but no one was the first to speak up.

Out of concern for appearances, Zhang Zhongjie opened his mouth to advise her. "Lili, it's not that we don't want to go. But look at those people. You can tell at a glance they're no good. If we go over, not only might we not help, we might even get ourselves dragged into it. If the other side loses their head and stops caring about the consequences, anything could happen."

After saying that, he looked at Shuyu again and said, "Shuyu, you absolutely mustn't go over there. I'll call my uncle in the Criminal Police team right now."

Zhang Zhongjie's words undoubtedly won the others' approval.

After all, they were people who sat in offices year-round. Some of them looked tall and strong, but they were actually weak as hell.

Besides, no one wanted to risk themselves.

Especially after seeing the man's vicious methods, they felt a faint fear in their hearts.

"Shuyu, don't be rash. Zhongjie's right."

"Yeah, yeah. There are all kinds of people these days. That group isn't something we can handle."

"Exactly. Calling the police is enough. Don't go over there. It's too dangerous."

Just as everyone was trying to persuade her, Lin Yuan suddenly grabbed a plastic chair beside him and hurled it straight toward the neighboring barbecue stall.

The sudden move undoubtedly startled everyone.

The chair traced an arc through the air, and the spot where it was falling happened to be where that man stood.

Smack!

The chair cracked on impact. Because it was plastic and had some elasticity, only two legs broke, and the instant it hit the ground, it bounced several meters forward.

The chair did not hit anyone, but it did make the man stop what he was doing.

Lin Yuan had never planned on hitting anyone in the first place, because the violent man and the girl were too close together, and he was not completely sure he would avoid hitting her.

So he had shifted the throw slightly to the side. It only needed to serve as a warning and make the violent man stop what he was doing.

After that move, everyone at the table stared at Lin Yuan, dumbfounded.

Lin Yuan smiled. "Missed."

"You're way too reckless," Zhang Zhongjie said at once. "What if those people... What if you hit someone else?"

"But I didn't, did I?"

"Is that the point?"

Beside them, Zhao Hanwen said in a trembling voice, "Stop talking, stop talking. They look like they're coming over."

After being startled by that chair flying out of nowhere, the violent man finally deigned to release his grip on the girl's hair, but his gaze grew even fiercer. His man-eating eyes fixed straight on Lin Yuan's direction.

"We're done for, we're done for. Hurry up and go. If we don't leave now, we won't be able to in a minute," Zhao Hanwen said, then immediately got up and slipped away.

"Lin Yuan, I told you to show off. Look what you've done." The calm Zhang Zhongjie had shown at the start was already gone from his face, replaced by panic.

Seeing the group of classmates flee one after another, Xiao Li did not dare linger here either.

"Shuyu, let's hurry and go too."

Han Shuyu was feeling a little nervous now too. She had dared to step in earlier because she had been standing from a bystander's perspective, and that was why she had been able to summon her courage.

But now, when that violent man aimed his attention at their side, fear rose in her heart as well. Especially when she met the man's eyes, that fear only grew stronger.

"Lin... Lin Yuan, you... you're not leaving?" Han Shuyu asked, looking at Lin Yuan, who was still sitting at the table.

"If you're scared, you go first. Don't worry, I can definitely run faster than you. I'll give you a hundred-meter head start."

"I'm n-not scared."

"Shuyu, don't bother with him. Let's go."

As she spoke, Xiao Li was about to drag Han Shuyu away.

Han Shuyu hesitated for a while, then suddenly said, "Lili, you go first. I'm staying here."

After saying that, she plopped down beside Lin Yuan.

Seeing those men about to walk over, Xiao Li was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

"I swear, I can't with you two. If you're not leaving, I am."

In the end, only Lin Yuan and Han Shuyu were left at the table, staring at each other.