Ran into a Tough Customer

Perhaps influenced by all sorts of film and television, reporters often left people with a very poor impression.

When people thought of reporters, a few labels always seemed to pop into their minds first—relentless pests, root diggers, shit-stirrers, and people with a particular love for courting death.

Those impressions might not be wrong, but many people also easily overlooked something important.

Sometimes, the world needed people like them. Their existence was like a mirror of society, reflecting every aspect of human civilization—both the good and the bad.

Some matters simply required someone to get to the bottom of them. For example, a group of girls locked inside shipping containers, unable to see daylight, forgotten by the entire world.

As a rookie who had not even obtained her official license yet, Cathy clearly still had many shortcomings. She had already begun reflecting on where she needed to improve... if she still had the chance.

At this moment, three burly men had blocked her path. Each looked more vicious than the last, all muscle, with the words "not to be messed with" written all over their faces. Cathy had once signed up for a women's self-defense class and had barely learned a couple of moves. She steadied her breathing, calmly assessed the situation, analyzed the fighting ability of all three men across from her, and came to a conclusion...

...She could not beat a single one of them.

"Who are you?" the man in the gold chain at the front asked viciously. "How did you know about this place?"

C'mon, man, would you believe me if I said I was just passing by?

"I... uh... I'm just a bystander." She gave an awkward smile. "I didn't see anything. Why don't you guys just get back to whatever you were doing? Haha..."

One of the lackeys behind him pointed at the badge pinned to her jacket. "She's a reporter from the Daily Planet!"

Cathy casually tore off her badge and began looking around. "Reporter? Who? Where?"

"You think you can screw with me?" The boss looked incredibly full of himself. He straightened his jacket, seemingly hoping the gesture would reinforce his intimidating aura. He stepped forward and looked down at Cathy, using his half-head height advantage over her, then snorted. "You're quite pretty. What a pity."

It was obvious from his words that he had no intention of letting Cathy go. In Hell's Kitchen, someone dying was practically an everyday occurrence. Kill someone, toss the body into the Hudson River, and the cops could not even be bothered to fish it out.

The situation clearly looked terrible, but Cathy did not panic in the slightest. "Really? I think we still have other options."

"Oh?" The boss pulled out a thick cigar and stuck it between his lips, asking with interest, "Let's hear them."

Cathy took a deep breath, her expression turning stern. In an instant, her gaze became sharp as a blade. Her right foot shot up, her movement like a soccer player unleashing a powerful strike...

Groin Crusher Kick!

Splat!

Direct hit!

The boss's face instantly turned liver-colored, and he nearly bit his cigar in half. The two lackeys were stunned for a moment—was this girl really that fierce?

It had not even hit them, yet there was a kind of pain called pain just from watching!

Having landed her blow, Cathy did not stop moving. She turned and ran.

Why would she not run? Was she supposed to wait around for someone to collect her corpse?

The two dimwitted lackeys did not even chase after her right away. They stared stupidly at their boss. "Boss, does it hurt?"

What kind of stupid question was that? Let me kick you once and see if it hurt!

Overcome with rage, the boss clutched his groin between his legs and slapped each of them across the face. "What are you standing around for? Chase her! Chase that bitch for me... It hurts like hell..."

The two big oafs hurriedly went after her with loud shouts, but how could they possibly catch up now? Fortunately, they had opened the main door when the three of them came in. Cathy ran out of the warehouse without obstruction, pulled out her phone, and hurriedly called the police. "Hello? Police? Someone's trying to kill me! My current location is..."

Before she could finish, she ran headfirst into something and was knocked flat onto the ground. Her phone flew from her hand and landed off to the side. Cathy was a little dazed from the collision. She shook her head and looked up, only to see a shirtless, musclebound giant standing before her like a mountain, glaring at her as though he wanted to swallow her whole.

Oh, wonderful. There had been a guard at the entrance too. A setback made one wiser, and Cathy felt that the setbacks she had suffered tonight were almost enough to turn her into a great sage—if she survived, that was.

The other two lackeys caught up shortly afterward. This time, she truly had nowhere left to run. A moment later, the boss limped over. Though he still wore a vicious expression, his ridiculous gait made him seem completely unthreatening.

"You bitch." Furious, the boss did not waste another word. He pulled a gun from his jacket and aimed it at Cathy's head. "That was the stupidest decision you've ever made in your life. Any last words?"

Cathy stared straight at the dark muzzle. She wanted to act as though she was not afraid at all, but that would have been lying to herself. The truth was that she was terrified. She could hear her heart pounding like a war drum, and her hands and feet were so cold they had nearly gone numb.

She was about to die.

So Cathy really had made tomorrow's headline—Daily Planet Intern Reporter Dies Tragically in Hell's Kitchen! Unfortunately, she would not have the chance to write the story herself. Otherwise, she definitely would have added a line after the headline—Died of Being Too Stupid!

One of the lackeys reminded him quietly, "Boss, you forgot to take off the safety..."

The boss slapped him across the face again.

"Bullshit! Of course I know! Do you need to tell me something like that?"

As he spoke, the boss casually disengaged the pistol's safety and aimed it at Cathy's head again.

"This time, it's for real," he said resentfully. "I'll give you one more chance. Go on, any last words?"

"Did you think the first version wasn't good enough, so you wanted to do it again?" Cathy dryly quipped.

She knew it was extremely unwise to keep provoking him in a situation like this, but... she just could not control her mouth...

The boss felt that his dignity had been challenged again and again, and he grew even angrier.

"Fine, little bitch. You brought this on yourself..."

Cathy heard the trigger being pulled.

Within a fraction of a second, the firing pin struck the primer, and the gunpowder exploded inside the chamber. A brilliant flash propelled the bullet from the barrel, its silver trail spinning toward Cathy's pretty face...

Clang!

A crisp sound like metal striking a steel plate rang out. A blur seemed to arrive suddenly on a gust of wind, and a body as hard as steel appeared in front of Cathy as if by teleportation. The bullet threw off sparks against his chest, and the severely deformed slug dropped onto the ground with a clatter, like a shriveled soybean.

Time seemed to freeze. Everyone stood there, stunned.