Brute Force

A million! To Yizhe, that was practically an astronomical figure, weighing heavily on his heart.

He did not even know how he had left the Miyamoto residence.

"Forget it, forget it! At least I should find the person Miyamoto wants first. As for the million, I'll worry about that later!" Yizhe let out a long sigh and began his search.

He still needed to assess Miyamoto's medical skills and had not decided to let Miyamoto treat his injuries. Therefore, there was no need to worry about the million-yuan consultation fee just yet.

Moreover, Miyamoto's intentions in capturing that woman were impure. Yizhe had not wanted to get involved in the first place. But for the sake of treating his injuries, he had no choice. He did not want to hurt that innocent woman.

Therefore, he planned to capture the woman but not hand her over to Miyamoto right away. Instead, he would use her as leverage to first see what Miyamoto's medical skills were truly capable of.

However, whether Miyamoto could heal Yizhe's injuries or not, Yizhe had no intention of handing that woman over to him.

He was capturing her only to negotiate with Miyamoto.

According to Miyamoto, the woman had golden hair, a diamond-shaped purple mark between her brows, and wore a green coat with a large gambling character printed on the back. Most importantly, she was extremely well-endowed.

When he mentioned that, Yizhe clearly saw Miyamoto swallow several times.

It seemed that woman really was no ordinary beauty! Yizhe silently guessed.

Miyamoto had also said that the woman was an extreme gambler. His men found her in casinos every time. However, the woman was far too strong, and all the guards were helpless against her, which was why they had failed to capture her for so long.

Fortunately, according to the guards hidden at the city gates, they had not seen the woman enter or leave through the gates. She was presumably still in the city.

"Then... I'll start with the casinos!" After giving it some thought, he made his decision.

"Not here!" "Not here!" "Still not here!"

After searching four or five casinos in a row, Yizhe had not seen any sign of the woman.

"This is the last one. If she's still not here, I'll have to check the inns!" Yizhe shook his head and wearily entered the city's last casino.

"Flush! I won!" "Three of a kind takes all!"...

The casino was packed with people and incredibly noisy. Some were ecstatic over winning, while others were utterly dejected after losing... Every kind of expression could be seen.

"Big, damn it!" Suddenly, a loud female voice drowned out the entire hall.

"So she's here!" Following the sound, Yizhe spotted a striking head of golden hair amid the crowd, along with the faint gambling character on her back.

"After all that effort, at least it wasn't wasted!"

"However, this isn't a suitable place to make a move. I'll wait until she comes out and test her first!"

With that thought, Yizhe gave up on acting immediately. He waited by the casino entrance, keeping a distant eye on the woman as he waited for her to leave.

"I'm so damn pissed off! I'm done playing!" The woman's furious curses rang out clearly from inside.

It seemed Miyamoto had been right. This woman's gambling luck was truly terrible. She had probably lost everything again!

Soon after, Yizhe saw her storming toward the entrance.

But when she passed Yizhe, she gave him a surprised glance. She said nothing, merely huffed and left the casino.

Yizhe quietly followed after her.

"Kid, why are you following me?" The woman walking ahead suddenly turned around and looked at Yizhe with disdain.

She had turned so abruptly that she actually startled Yizhe.

"Her senses aren't bad," Yizhe assessed inwardly.

The lighting inside the casino had been poor, so Yizhe had not clearly seen the woman's face. Now, under the light outside, he finally got a good look at her.

Willow-like brows, brown eyes, skin as white as snow, and a head full of golden hair—she was a stunning beauty.

Yizhe felt as though he had seen her somewhere before, yet he could not recall where.

"Hey, kid! I'm talking to you!" the woman shouted.

The roar jolted Yizhe out of his thoughts. Smiling, he replied, "My apologies, miss. I was entrusted by someone to ask that you come with me."

"Hmph! And what if I say no?" The woman laughed in fury.

"Then forgive me!"

Before his words had even faded, Yizhe used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind the woman.

"What?!" He was greatly shocked.

The woman had spun around at astonishing speed. He had moved behind her at high speed, only to find himself facing her disdainful smile.

Then, his vision darkened as a powerful blast of force rushed toward his face. What entered his sight was a long leg descending from above his head!

The instant that long leg came down, Yizhe felt the scene was strangely familiar!

Bang!

It felt as though he had been struck by a raging bull!

A tremendous force blasted him away. Its remaining force dragged him nearly ten meters across the snow before he crashed into a house and finally came to a stop.

When he looked up again, the woman had already vanished.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

"How was that merely 'very strong'?"

"That was completely inhuman strength!" Yizhe climbed to his feet, spat out the snow in his mouth, and gave a helplessly bitter smile.

Even though he considered himself accomplished in taijutsu and dared to contend with Chunin as a Genin, he did not possess such overwhelming strength.

That woman's strength had reached an utterly unbelievable level.

By Yizhe's own estimate, strength that overwhelming meant that the wind pressure created by a single punch or kick alone would be enough to shatter most Genin-level ninjutsu attacks.

That was under the assumption that she had gone all out just now.

As the saying went, overwhelming force could break through all techniques.

If both of Yizhe's hands had been intact, he might have considered using the Gentle Fist to strike her chakra points first, cutting off the flow of chakra throughout her body, numbing her nerves, restricting her movements, and then seizing her when the opportunity arose.

But now, his hands were practically crippled. He did not dare use fist techniques at all, let alone ninjutsu.

If he wanted to capture her, he would have to put in some more effort.

"Ugh! What a hassle!" Yizhe got to his feet, brushed the snow off himself, and spoke helplessly.

The target had disappeared, so he had to start searching all over again while also thinking of a way to deal with her.

Growl, growl, growl!

His stomach rumbled like thunder. It was hungry!

Yizhe walked slowly along the street, searching for a restaurant. Before long, he spotted a small ramen shop.

"Boss, one large bowl of ramen!" Yizhe found a seat, plopped down, and shouted.

"Coming right up!" the owner answered loudly.

He was a young man in his thirties wearing a tall chef's hat.

Before long, the owner brought over a large, steaming bowl of ramen.

"Enjoy your meal, sir!"

The owner greeted him politely before leaving.

"That woman lost all her money. She probably won't be going back to the casino today!"

Yizhe ate his ramen while silently making plans.

"She'll have to go out to eat for her three meals. But it'll probably be hard to find her during the time it takes to eat one meal! The only other place I can check is the inns where she might be staying!"

"There don't seem to be many inns in the city. Hopefully, I can find her before nightfall!" Yizhe let out a helpless sigh.

Before long, he had finished the entire large bowl of ramen.

"Boss, the bill!"

After paying, Yizhe wandered through the snow-covered streets.

He was going to inspect the inns one by one for traces of that woman.

A sad song for myself. The book city's favorites count refuses to rise at all, and I'm so scared T_T. I feel like the book city is full of hostility toward me →_→

I should have gone to Qidian...