Ever since this area had transformed into a commercial district, many merchants had sniffed out the opportunity and flocked here to open shops.
Most were honest shopkeepers, but there were plenty of bad apples among them as well.
That specialty shop in particular was notorious for playing word games.
For example, a specialty item priced at ten dollars seemed very cheap.
However, after a customer bought it, they would find themselves forced to pay several hundred.
As it turned out, a tiny line of text—visible only with a magnifying glass—had been added after the price: “ten dollars per gram”…
Many tourists knew they were being scammed, but being far from home, they didn’t dare cause trouble.
Since the price was usually within a bearable range, they could only grit their teeth and pay it.
Even if someone was unwilling, the shop would refuse a refund on the grounds that the packaging had been opened or the item was already damaged.
This trick worked nearly every time.
They only gave in when they encountered someone truly stubborn and pedantic, as they were also afraid of things escalating to the police station.
To put it bluntly, they made their money off people who just swallowed their grievances.
They never expected anyone to be a repeat customer.
Furthermore, this was a tourist area with no shortage of visitors, so that heartless shop truly made a killing.
The employees would even scout the neighborhood for tourists from out of town, sweet-talking them into the shop to earn commissions.
Black Tiger was one of those employees, and it looked like he had found a new target.
However, this behavior was even more than the local spiritual youths could stomach.
They had stepped in to stop it, which led to the current conflict.
“Dammit, those guys are really disgracing our Willow Street!”
Gu Chen couldn’t help but curse after learning the details.
The shanty town once had such honest and simple folk, but now the atmosphere had turned into this.
“This is the place.”
Long Fei passed through the last alley and stopped, gesturing inside.
This was the edge of Willow Street, which didn’t seem to have been developed yet.
The surroundings were all old-style buildings, and in front of them was an abandoned shanty house.
“Agh!! Argh!!”
The damaged iron door of the house had already been forced open, and screams of pain drifted out from within.
They were accompanied by angry shouting.
“What kind of trash are you? A few little chicks really think they’re hot stuff?”
“I usually can’t be bothered with you, but did you really think I, Black Tiger, don’t have a temper? I’m going to teach you a proper lesson today.”
Clearly, A Huang and Dou Zi were currently being beaten senseless.
“This is bad, hurry!”
Long Fei shouted.
The group rushed into the courtyard, with Gu Chen following closely behind.
Three burly men stood with their backs to the newcomers.
In front of them, several spiritual youths had fallen to the ground.
Every one of them was wearing joggers and shirts printed with the Wangzai logo.
Realizing someone had arrived behind them, Black Tiger put a cigarette in his mouth and turned around to look.
“Yo, if it isn’t Sister Long Fei. What wind blew you here?”
Black Tiger lit his cigarette, took a drag, and grinned.
“Black Tiger, we’ve always minded our own business. Why are you hitting my brothers?”
Long Fei’s eyes blazed with anger as she saw the bruised and swollen faces of A Huang and Dou Zi.
She clenched her fists tightly.
“It’s not that we’re looking for trouble, but they insisted on blocking someone’s path to wealth. I’ll let the past slide, but business is getting harder and harder these days. I finally get a customer and they try to snatch her away. Don’t you think I should’ve laid a hand on them?”
The man raised an eyebrow.
He wasn’t lying about that part.
Because their reputation was getting worse and worse, fewer outsiders were falling for their traps now.
Today, he had unexpectedly run into a Japanese girl who seemed quite generous.
He was thinking of bringing her back to the shop to fleece her for a good amount of money, which would have secured his commission for the month.
Who would have thought these two blind idiots would stop him?
From his perspective, blocking someone’s path to wealth was as bad as killing their parents.
“Bah!”
Long Fei spat in anger.
“That dirty business of yours should have gone bankrupt long ago! Let them go, or face the consequences!”
“Sure thing. Pay for the damages, and then you sisters spend two days playing with us. Then I’ll let them go.”
Black Tiger let out a lewd laugh.
One had to admit that Long Fei was indeed very attractive.
Even dressed as a spiritual little sister, she was quite beautiful.
Unfortunately, she would rather go and ‘extract gold’ from old men than pay him any attention, which had always annoyed him.
“Keep dreaming!!”
Long Fei answered bluntly.
Neither side was willing to back down, and the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife.
However, the situation at hand did not look good.
There were three burly men on the opposing side, while their side only had four spiritual little sisters.
If they started a fight, they would just be throwing their lives away.
‘Sigh, should I step in?’
Gu Chen calculated in her head.
To be honest, it wasn’t quite worth offending these people for a few spiritual little sisters she had just met.
She finally shifted her gaze to the only girl still standing behind the three men.
The girl looked very familiar.
She was wearing a “Shell” Lolita dress and a mask.
Her hair was in twin tails.
Her face was hidden, but she was likely a beauty.
“Sister Long, you’re finally here.”
A Huang finally managed to stand up.
Just like his name suggested, his hair was dyed yellow and styled like an adult’s, and he had a betel nut tattooed on his forehead.
Seeing Gu Chen and the others arrive, he scrambled to his feet with a tearful expression.
‘With the build of two little chicks, they actually dared to challenge three burly men. Where did they get that courage?’
Seeing A Huang’s miserable state, Gu Chen couldn’t help but sigh.
This further overturned her stereotypes.
These people were unconventional, but their moral compasses were still intact.
They even had a strong sense of justice.
Of course, there were plenty of troublemakers among them too; it seemed to depend on the individual.
It reminded her of the “Smart” tribe from more than ten years ago, who were also treated like aliens by the older generation.
But those people mostly kept to themselves within their own circle and never did anything too out of line.
There were even many people who felt nostalgic for them now.
‘Perhaps they just missed the era of full bangs, because they could never go back once they reached the “Mediterranean” stage of balding…’
The two men immediately stood by Long Fei’s side.
Counting them up, there were now seven of them, giving them the advantage in numbers.
“Are you okay?”
Long Fei asked, looking at the two of them.
“Sister Long, you have to get revenge for us!”
Dou Zi wiped away his tears, looking aggrieved.
“You two useless wastes! You have no skill, yet you still try to play the hero saving the beauty. How embarrassing.”
Seeing that they only had superficial injuries, Long Fei’s expression immediately soured.
She gave each of them a slap on the back of the head.
After all, they were embarrassing her as well.
“Gu Chen?”
At that moment, the girl in the Lolita dress across from them finally spoke.
She still looked a bit shaken.
As the voice reached her, Gu Chen suddenly looked over.
She finally remembered who this girl was.
Wasn’t she the Japanese girl she had picked up by mistake on Friday and taken to the hotel?
“Hoshino Airi?”
Gu Chen thought for a moment and remembered the other girl’s name.
“Yes, yes, it’s me.”
Seeing a familiar face, Airi’s tense heart finally felt much better.
After moving into the hotel on Friday, Hoshino Airi had spent an entire day investigating and finally confirmed the location of Willow Street.
She had come here early this morning to ask around, hoping to find some clues.
As a result, her unfamiliar behavior caught the attention of Black Tiger and his crew, who approached her under the guise of being helpful.
She didn’t think much of it and told them about her search for someone.
When Black Tiger learned she was Japanese, his eyes lit up.
He claimed his boss was the “Know-It-All” of this street and could find out anything, but it would require a fee.
In her desperation to find her relative, Hoshino Airi chose to believe him.
She transferred 500 dollars to him directly to have Black Tiger introduce her to his boss.
She was told there would be a further reward once the person was found, unaware that she had already fallen into a trap…