Chapter 745: Chapter 745: Relying on a Backing
Alice’s eyes slightly widened as she looked at the scene before her, her expression filled with horror.
The girl thought she was about to succeed, but she couldn’t see the slight upward curve on Xu Ke’s lips, with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
Alice opened her mouth wide, wanting to say something, but before she could make a sound, everything had already reached a conclusion in the blink of an eye. Xu Ke’s fist was still paused in mid-air, yet the girl had already retreated three steps back to steady herself. The place where she was struck by Xu Ke felt as if the bones were complaining about the pain, causing her hand holding the leg of the table to tremble slightly.
However, her gaze at Xu Ke grew even fiercer, "Are you sure you still want to stand there and watch the show? Only with the four of us attacking together can we have a chance of winning, otherwise, once he walks out, you’ll get nothing." The girl said to the three female shop assistants, her face expressing frustration.
The three staff exchanged a glance, the smile they had painted on their faces seemed somewhat melancholic. They hesitated and chose a representative to speak with some embarrassment, "The three of us have never done anything bad in our lives, nor have we fought. Today’s decision is already the most out-of-line thing we’ve done. So we really can’t help you; the only thing we can do is guard this door, not let them leave."
The girl felt a sting at their meaning and instinctively wanted to curse, but realizing she couldn’t take down Xu Ke alone and still needed their help, she forcefully swallowed back her words. Yet, thinking about how they weren’t planning to help, the swallowed curses surged up again.
The girl, looking unfriendly, threatened the three women, "If you don’t help, I’ll deal with you. Between you and them, someone will be dealt with by me today. The choice is in your hands."
The girl noticed the three of them casting pleading looks at Xu Ke and Alice after her words, eyes inadvertently filled with sarcasm, and even her words were barbed, "Have you forgotten what you just did? And yet you have the nerve to seek their help? I think I underestimated how thick-skinned you are; it’s truly shocking." The girl finished with a laugh that carried an unspoken meaning.
Even though the girl’s words made their faces hot, it wasn’t unreasonable. Depending on Xu Ke to escape from the girl was clearly unrealistic. Not to mention how excessive their decision was towards Xu Ke, even if Xu Ke intended to help them, they couldn’t possibly really let Xu Ke take down the girl.
They planned to have Xu Ke pay before leaving; among the four girls standing, only this girl had the fighting ability. If she were to fall here, how could they keep Xu Ke? How could they make Xu Ke pay for the damage to the store? So their choice from beginning to end was only one: to side with the girl and join forces to take down Xu Ke.
At this moment, the three parties stood their ground, but soon the three female shop assistants leaned towards the girl’s side, clearly having made their choice. The girl’s face bore a smile of ’just as expected’, while Alice, seeing this unfavorable turn of events, nervously clutched Xu Ke’s sleeve.
Even facing a four-to-one situation, Xu Ke still had energy to pay attention to Alice’s condition. Sensing her nervousness, Xu Ke gently patted Alice’s hand and said softly, "Don’t be afraid, I’ll protect you."
Alice swallowed hard and shook her head nervously, "I’m not afraid, just be careful yourself." Alice said she wasn’t afraid, but her hand tightly grasping Xu Ke’s sleeve betrayed her anxiety.
"Actually, we didn’t need to come to this point. As long as you’re willing to pay, we can let you leave now."
The matter had reached this stage, yet the female assistant still didn’t give up on persuading Xu Ke, attempting to resolve this issue in a relatively peaceful manner.
"We could have settled this peacefully; there was no need for a fight. Isn’t that right?" The female assistant questioned Xu Ke, making a final attempt to struggle.
"What you call peace is only in consideration for yourself. To me, your proposal is neither reasonable nor peaceful." Xu Ke replied in a calm voice.
"Haha, with things as they are, who’s dreaming unrealistic dreams now? I see, out of everyone here, your plans are the smartest: I fight him, and in the end, you take the money. Even the slickest merchants aren’t as shrewd as you."
Although the girl needed their help to deal with Xu Ke, she couldn’t help but retort at their shamelessness.
"Miss, mind your language. Such severely phrased accusations might hurt our feelings." The red-lipped shop assistant spoke harshly.
"Enough with the nonsense, let’s act quickly, otherwise you won’t have the chance later." Xu Ke raised his wrist to check the time before speaking.
"Stop bluffing. Taking care of you, we have all the time in the world. You might have a chance to escape, but do you think your companion can?" The girl raised an eyebrow and said to Xu Ke arrogantly.
"Why should we run? Clearly, you’re the ones who should be running. You made the wrong decisions, not us. It has nothing to do with us."
As if on cue with Xu Ke’s words, four or five black cars suddenly arrived outside the small toy store, stopping one after another, the row of black shining cold and mysterious under the sunlight.
"Who’s this?" Seeing such a spectacle, everyone except Xu Ke craned their necks to see.
The people inside the cars didn’t leave them guessing for long. As soon as the cars stopped, the doors opened.
Claude, dressed in a black suit, stepped out of the car. Although the outside wasn’t much different from inside, the people who followed Claude exaggeratedly held a black umbrella over him, keeping the glaring sunlight out.
The exaggerated gestures made the other women feel a bit embarrassed, as if in comparison, they were nothing but brutes.
While feeling criticized by the girl, Claude stood at the toy store entrance. Seeing the chaotic scene inside, Claude hesitated but eventually decided to open the door and step inside.
"Am I late?" Claude asked, looking at the scene inside.
"Not at all, you came just in time." Xu Ke took Alice’s hand and stepped towards Claude.