So Who's the Blondie Here?

Hearing the other party's question, Su Moqian still didn't reply.

He merely glanced at them expressionlessly, as if he didn't take them seriously at all.

Then he lowered his body slightly and assumed a fighting stance. His intentions were obvious.

Su Moqian's stance was called Single Whip. Its movements flowed seamlessly into one another, its techniques were varied, and it had a distinctive style.

The fact that Su Moqian had gone straight to the Tai Chi he specialized in showed just how much these thugs had angered him.

Seeing that the boy not only refused to leave but had also taken up a fighting stance to provoke them,

"This kid's got guts."

The three thugs exchanged glances. They saw the same burning fury in one another's eyes, then closed in on him.

The first to attack was a man in black. He wore a confident smile, assumed a karate stance, and charged forward at once.

He was fast. In just a few strides, he reached Su Moqian and launched into a jumping spinning hook kick.

"Pathetic."

Su Moqian turned slightly to dodge, lightly guiding the man's ankle with one hand and deflecting the attack.

His other hand followed up with a swift punch to the man's abdomen, sending him flying.

The alley was narrow, and the man in black slammed headfirst into the wall and passed out.

"You bastard, you're dead!"

Another man, a heavyset thug, ran straight at him with a dagger in hand and raised it to slash down.

Faced with the knife attack, Su Moqian remained calm and raised a hand to meet it.

With cut-resistant gloves and Tai Chi's force-redirection technique, the dagger was no threat to him.

The heavyset thug not only failed to land a sneak attack but also had his wrist twisted by Su Moqian.

"Ah!"

A sharp crack rang out, and the heavyset thug cried out in pain. The dagger fell to the ground, and Su Moqian kicked it away.

That wasn't all. Taking advantage of the opening, Su Moqian gave a forceful shake with both arms, dislocating the man's elbow as well.

"Useless." Su Moqian showed no mercy.

When outnumbered, his attacks had to be decisive. Every strike had to be aimed at taking an enemy out of the fight.

Another scream like a slaughtered pig rang out. Clutching his right arm, the heavyset thug crumpled to the ground and writhed in pain.

Having dealt with two enemies in a row, Su Moqian wasn't even breathing hard. He simply shifted smoothly into a different stance.

"Baka!"

The furious Blondie yelled and charged at him, raising a leg to kick.

Su Moqian seemed to have anticipated the attack. He lifted both arms and trapped the incoming leg.

"Boring."

Su Moqian stepped in, positioning his foot against Blondie's planted leg, then swept out with his right arm, easily sending him flying.

"Thud!"

Blondie hit the concrete path hard. It felt as if his whole body had fallen apart, and for a moment he couldn't get back up.

Su Moqian took the chance to rush forward. This time, he didn't use any special techniques.

He simply clenched his fist and slammed it down at Blondie's groin.

With a sickening crunch and a muffled groan, Blondie was left unable to rise, writhing on the ground like his companions.

Looking at the results of the fight, Su Moqian felt nothing.

For ordinary people, no matter how skilled they were at martial arts, facing several opponents at once was extremely dangerous.

But he used his footwork to dodge and retreat, keeping his distance from each attacker. That let him turn a one-on-three into three separate one-on-ones.

That way, Tai Chi could make the most of its strengths, buying him time and space to take out his opponents one by one.

When the fight went exactly as he'd expected, there was no reason for the outcome to be any different.

Chapter 6: So Who's the Blondie Here?

After the fight ended, Su Moqian brushed off his clothes.

Then he glanced at Asakura Miyuki, deeper in the alley, and tried to make his voice sound as cold as possible.

"Hey, what are you standing around for? Get out of here while you can, then figure out a way to call the police."

With that, he turned to leave.

After all, he really didn't want to get too involved with this yandere girl.

He'd only saved her because he couldn't stand watching these thugs bully someone.

Just then, a woman's voice suddenly rang out from outside the alley.

"Give yourselves up!"

As the voice rang out, a graceful figure rushed toward Su Moqian.

Then she leaped lightly into the air and swung a fist at him.

Faced with the sudden attack, Su Moqian's eyes showed disdain. He wasn't the least bit flustered.

Launching an attack in midair was a major taboo when facing Tai Chi!

Su Moqian easily tilted his head aside and dodged.

At the same time, he clamped his left hand around the attacker's wrist, pressed his right hand hard against her abdomen, and turned with her momentum, flipping her onto the ground.

The attacker reacted quickly, though.

As she hit the ground, she shielded herself with both arms and successfully lessened the impact.

Then she rolled to her feet and quickly put some distance between herself and Su Moqian.

Only when she stood up did Su Moqian finally get a good look at her.

She wore the uniform of Senba Academy and had striking, attractive features.

Her smooth white hair was tied into two braids. It was immediately obvious she had an extraordinary air about her.

At the same time, the white-haired girl was sizing up Su Moqian.

All this time, she'd been confident in her fighting ability.

But she hadn't expected her sneak attack to be so easily foiled.

She couldn't help but think more highly of the boy.

Besides, the boy was handsome, kind-looking, and had a uniquely friendly air about him. He didn't look like a bad person at all.

The white-haired girl couldn't help thinking, Had I misunderstood him?

After examining Su Moqian, she frowned and looked at the three thugs lying on the ground, then at Asakura Miyuki, whose clothes were disheveled behind them.

"What happened here?"

Her name was Kiana Kaslana. She had been passing by when she heard a girl's shriek and a man's cries of pain coming from the alley.

So she'd instinctively assumed a girl was being assaulted.

As a member of the Kaslana family, how could Kiana stand by and do nothing?

So she'd rushed over without hesitation.

When she saw someone calmly walking out of the alley, she'd instinctively assumed he was the assailant and attacked him.

But after taking a closer look at what was happening inside, she realized things might not be as they seemed.

After staring at each other for a while, Kiana spoke.

"Who are you?" ×2

Su Moqian asked at the exact same time.

They fell silent for a moment, then spoke again.

"Are you with them?" ×2

Once again, their words overlapped. A hint of awkwardness appeared on both Su Moqian's and Kiana's faces.

Just as the atmosphere was beginning to grow tense, Asakura Miyuki, who had already gotten to her feet, spoke up first.

"Don't misunderstand, classmate. He came to help me."

"These thugs were trying to assault me. He stepped in and saved me!"

"Is that so?" Kiana raised an eyebrow, a note of surprise in her voice.

After beating three people barehanded, the boy in front of her wasn't even out of breath. There wasn't a speck of dust on his clothes, either.

Even Kiana Kaslana couldn't have done that so effortlessly.

"That's exactly what happened."

Now that the misunderstanding was cleared up, Su Moqian let out a sigh of relief and spread his hands as he explained.

"I was just trying to help this girl, but these thugs tried to rip my arm off without a word."

"I was terrified at the time. I had no choice but to fight back to save my own skin."

Having been through this sort of thing so many times, Su Moqian had long since become so practiced at it that the words came easily.

Then he pointed to the backpack on the ground and added,

"My phone's in there, and I recorded everything. If you don't believe me, miss, you can check it yourself."

Watching Su Moqian clear himself so smoothly, Kiana couldn't help feeling impressed.

How is this guy so good at this?

At that moment, Kiana couldn't help thinking back to what had happened before.

On her way to find her dad, she'd also done plenty of good deeds. More than once, misunderstandings had gotten her into trouble.

And besides trying to explain herself, she'd never thought of any other solution.

Thinking of that, Kiana couldn't help thinking to herself,

I'm obviously so clever, so why didn't I think of something like this?

Now that the misunderstanding had been completely cleared up, Kiana apologized right away.

"Um, I misunderstood you just now and even attacked you. I'm glad I didn't hurt you."

"It's no big deal." Su Moqian waved a hand.

"As a girl, you still stood up against injustice. I really respect that."

"I'm Su Moqian. How about we be friends?"

Hearing him praise her like that, Kiana's lips curled up. She grinned and thumped her chest.

"Sure! I'm Kiana Kaslana."

At that, Su Moqian was startled. "You're Kiana Kaslana?"

Seeing his reaction, Kiana immediately perked up. "Oh? Have you heard of my great name?"

"Yeah, I have..." Su Moqian's expression was hard to describe.

Remembering what the system had said about Su Moqian, he couldn't help grumbling inwardly,

So this girl is the one who'll steal my Mei in the future?

Kiana didn't notice the change in Su Moqian's expression and continued cheerfully,

"I can't believe you've heard of me! Don't worry. I may not like men, but I still admire someone like you. From now on, I'll protect you!"

"...I asked you to be my friend, not my boss." Su Moqian's mouth twitched.

"Hehe, close enough," Kiana said, unbothered.

Looking at the not-so-bright white-haired girl in front of him, Su Moqian fell into thought.