“Out of money?”
Huang Mao threw his cigarette butt on the ground and ground it under his heel.
“Let’s just search him and find out,” he said, giving Hong Mao a look. “Or what? You think those skinny arms and legs of yours can rebel?”
Hong Mao chuckled and reached out to grab White Li’s shoulder.
White Li suddenly shoved her bicycle forward, smashing it into the approaching Hong Mao.
“Fuck!” Hong Mao staggered from the impact.
At the same time, White Li used the momentum to push herself backward, trying to create distance.
But Huang Mao and Lü Mao had already pounced simultaneously. Huang Mao threw a punch straight at White Li’s face, while Lü Mao grabbed for her arm from the side.
“Tch, what rotten luck.”
White Li tilted her head to avoid Huang Mao’s heavy punch, while bending her arm and driving her elbow hard into Lü Mao’s incoming wrist.
“Ugh!” Lü Mao winced in pain and pulled his hand back.
But Huang Mao’s second punch was already on its way, aimed at her abdomen.
White Li barely managed to suck in her stomach to dodge it. However, the violent movement caused the loose hem of her tracksuit to lift, and that strange sensation transmitted clearly once more, making her body involuntarily stiffen.
“Mmm…” She hunched her shoulders, trying to let the feeling pass as quickly as possible.
“Not bad,” Huang Mao sneered, waving to his two companions. “Get her together! Hold her down!”
Watching the three thugs pounce at her together, White Li gritted her teeth.
‘No good. If this keeps up, I’m definitely going to get hurt.’
Two fists can’t fight four hands, let alone six.
She took a deep breath, lowered her voice, and ancient syllables flowed from between her teeth.
“Awaken from the eternal slumber, flow from the veins of the glacier—heed my call.”
“Frost.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, a wave of cold spread out from her.
While using magic might make the bracelet lose its effect, as long as she controlled the magic output within the bracelet’s tolerance limit, she could cast spells without dispelling the disguise.
And coincidentally, the Fox Clan excelled at precise manipulation of magic.
“Hisss…” The movements of the three thugs all stalled.
“H-how did it suddenly get cold?” Hong Mao hunched his neck.
“Who cares? It’s just windy in the alley! Grab that kid!” Huang Mao gritted his teeth and lunged again.
“My mood’s been bad enough lately. You asked for this!”
White Li suddenly crouched low, sweeping her leg out in a low arc across the ground.
This time, she held nothing back. The agility of the Fox Clan far surpassed ordinary humans, and with White Li venting all the pent-up frustration from the past few days, the leg whistled through the air and directly swept through all three of them.
“Ah—!”
Huang Mao and Hong Mao screamed and fell almost simultaneously. Lü Mao reacted slightly faster, trying to dodge, but was still kicked in the ankle, landing face-first on the ground with a thud.
The three thugs lay scattered in the alley, groaning and moaning.
White Li steadied herself, brushed the dust off her hands, and looked down at the three on the ground.
“That’s it?” She snorted lightly. “You’re trying to rob people? You’re twenty thousand years too early!”
Hong Mao was rolling on the ground clutching his shin. Lü Mao was rubbing his ankle with a pained expression. Only Huang Mao was gritting his teeth, his face alternating between pale and flushed.
A proper street thug, taken down in one move by a high school student whose gender was unclear? If this got out, how could he keep operating in this area?
“You little brat…!” Huang Mao struggled to get up, pulling a folding knife from his pocket and flicking it open with a snap. “I’m gonna cripple you today!”
White Li’s eyes sharpened.
A knife?
She instinctively took half a step back but then stopped.
“You’ll go to jail for this.”
“Who cares? The emperor is far away.” Huang Mao waved the knife in his hand. “Those cops are all busy guarding against monsters. They don’t have time for small fry like us.”
“I advise you not to do this…”
“What, scared?” Huang Mao charged, the knife tip aiming straight for her abdomen. “Too late!”
White Li sidestepped, the blade grazing past her school uniform.
She was about to counterattack, but Huang Mao smoothly changed his grip, the knife slashing toward her neck.
This move was fast and vicious, completely a life-threatening strike.
‘This thug is serious!’
White Li threw herself backward, using the momentum to perform a backflip to create distance.
“Running away? Weren’t you so tough?”
Huang Mao, eyes bloodshot, gave chase but suddenly slipped, as if stepping on ice.
He looked down in surprise and found that the ground from where he had been standing to where White Li had landed was now covered in a thin layer of frost, shimmering faintly in the setting sun.
“Don’t get distracted.”
White Li pushed off the ground, taking two quick steps up the side wall, using the momentum to leap into the air.
By the time Huang Mao snapped back to attention, he only saw a dark shadow descending from above.
White Li twisted her body mid-air, a spinning kick landing squarely on Huang Mao’s cheek.
“Thump!”
Huang Mao was sent flying sideways, crashing into Hong Mao, who had just gotten up, knocking him back to the ground.
White Li landed lightly, glanced down at Huang Mao twitching on the ground, then looked at the foot she’d used to kick off the wall, unable to suppress a smirk at the corner of her mouth.
‘The physical prowess of the Fox Clan really is no joke. If it were my old fragile college student body, I’d have been knocked down ages ago.’
“Who’s next?” She lifted her chin, sweeping her gaze over the two on the ground.
‘Wait, where’s the other one?’
White Li’s heart skipped a beat. She turned her head, trying to locate Lü Mao’s position.
But she was too late. Lü Mao had already circled behind her.
Two thick arms reached out from behind, clamping onto her arms like iron tongs and lifting her up violently.
“Mmph—!”
White Li’s feet left the ground as her whole body was hoisted up.
“L-let go of me!”
She struggled desperately, kicking her legs wildly in the air.
But Lü Mao’s strength was terrifyingly strong; his arms didn’t budge an inch.
Worse, because of the way she was being held, her clothes were pulled up completely. The sensation of the rough fabric rubbing against her returned, making her whole body stiffen, and half her strength instantly drained away.
“Mmm…”
White Li bit her lower lip, her cheeks flushing bright red.
“Cough, cough.”
Huang Mao covered his face, shakily getting to his feet. He looked at White Li, who was being held aloft, and smirked maliciously.
“Heh, so tough, huh?” he said, his voice muffled.
White Li didn’t speak, just kept biting her lip hard.
“What? Out of tricks?” Huang Mao raised an eyebrow, accidentally tugging at his wound and grimacing as he clutched his cheek again. “Sss… Where’s all that arrogance from before? Hahaha!”
White Li’s anger flared up instantly.
‘Ever since I came to this world, I haven’t had a single good day.’
First, she became a monster everyone wanted to hunt. Then she joined a monster organization and became the lowest-level laborer. Now, finally out of school, she had to be humiliated by thugs like this?!
Her anger condensed into magic power. A force even stronger than before began circulating within her body, distorting the air around her.
Huang Mao’s laughter cut off abruptly because he saw frost visibly spreading up his arm at a rapid pace.
A piercing cold assaulted him, making his eyes widen in terror.
“W-what is this?!” His voice changed pitch. “W-what the hell are you?!”