Peerless Bodyguard of a Stunning Beauty

The club president saw Zhao Rong fall and immediately came forward, politely helping him up. ”Hello there,” he said with concern. ”How did you fall? Was it my powerful physique and commanding presence that startled you?” After speaking, the president thought to himself, It must be because I’m too handsome that this person fell to the ground.

Zhao Rong nodded awkwardly. Looking at the president before him, he said, ”You’re right. You are indeed tall, with an imposing look and a robust build...”

The club president laughed. ”I know, I’m a handsome man. But being too handsome isn’t my fault. My parents are very good-looking, so it’s all hereditary, determined by genetics...”

When Zhao Rong heard the exceptionally ugly man in front of him confidently proclaim his own handsomeness, he was so shocked that he fell to the ground again.

Seeing Zhao Rong fall again in surprise, the club president chuckled. ”Actually, I don’t want to be this handsome either, but there’s nothing I can do. My body, down to my skin and hair, is a gift from my parents...”

With that, the club president immediately pulled a hundred yuan from his pocket and handed it to Teacher Li. ”Teacher Li, thank you so much,” he said gratefully. ”You’ve brought five more members to our martial arts club! In the future, our Sports College’s Martial Arts Club will have an edge over the Wild Wolf Sect...”

Hearing the name Wild Wolf Sect, Zhao Rong asked in surprise, ”Your Sports College and the Wild Wolf Sect have always kept to themselves. How did you get involved with them? And why the fighting?”

The club president heaved a long sigh. ”Back when the True Martial Sect was strong, it could keep the arrogant Wild Wolf Sect in check. But now, the True Martial Sect has become too low-key. So, our college’s largest club, the Martial Arts Club, must stand up and curb the Wild Wolf Sect’s misdeeds. Otherwise, they’ll truly be lawless in Xijing City.”

Hearing that the Martial Arts Club was apparently quite righteous, Zhao Rong immediately expressed his desire to join. ”Since your club is such a just and positive group, I’ve decided to join and help you defeat the Wild Wolf Sect!”

Hearing Zhao Rong wanted to join his club, the president said happily, ”Actually, you have to join whether you want to or not. You have to join, period. Because Teacher Li, who brought you here, has already taken a kickback from me.”

Zhao Rong watched as Teacher Li stuffed the one-hundred-yuan kickback into his pocket. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he thought to himself, I originally thought Teacher Li was an impressive person. But I never expected he could be so obsequious for just one hundred yuan. He’s truly a slave to money.

The assistant looked at the club president, unconvinced. ”It’s just 100 yuan. I’ll give you 100 yuan right now, and you can forget about me joining your Martial Arts Club.”

The club president explained awkwardly, ”It’s not about the 100 yuan. Our Martial Arts Club has a rule: if you can bring someone from the outside to join our club, you get a 100-yuan kickback.”

Hearing the word ”kickback,” the assistant’s eyes lit up. Damn, isn’t this a business opportunity? If I bring one person in, my daily income will be 100 yuan. If I bring ten people in, my daily income will be 1,000 yuan. If I bring a hundred people in, my daily income will be 10,000 yuan. If I bring a thousand people in, my income for today alone will be 100,000 yuan!

Just as the assistant was busy with his mental calculations, the club president suddenly snapped his fingers. ”I know you all want to join my club. But everyone who wants to join must first pass our club’s initial test.”

Hearing there were conditions to join the Martial Arts Club, Zhao Rong asked curiously, ”What’s the first test?”

The club president laughed heartily, revealing a mouthful of gold teeth, and then bellowed, ”The Eighteen Bronze Men Formation!”

Instantly, eighteen men appeared behind the club president, their bodies slathered in gold paint.

When Zhao Rong’s group saw the eighteen strange-looking men covered in shimmering gold paint, they were all stunned speechless. Smelling the paint fumes, Zhao Rong pinched his nose and said, ”President, your eighteen men have really made a huge sacrifice. Aren’t they uncomfortable being covered in all that gold paint?”

The club president pointed to one of the bronze men who was allergic to the paint. ”Of course it’s uncomfortable. Look at that fat guy. He’s actually bone-thin, but because of his paint allergy, he swelled up into a fat man.”

Hearing this, Zhao Rong couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.

The assistant standing next to him also spoke up incredulously. ”President, does simply covering eighteen men in gold paint qualify as the ’Eighteen Bronze Men Formation’?”

The president nodded solemnly. ”Yes. This is the Eighteen Bronze Men Formation as created by our Sports College Martial Arts Club. Furthermore, I must formally and seriously inform you that we have patented this formation.”

Hearing that this ridiculous lineup of eighteen paint-covered men had actually been patented, the assistant involuntarily gasped.

Meanwhile, Lili stepped forward to examine the eighteen bronze men more closely. She was surprised to find there was even a woman among them. ”President,” she asked, ”the Eighteen Bronze Men are supposed to be from Shaolin Temple, right? Why is there a woman in the formation?”

Seeing that the beautiful woman before him had spotted the female in his ranks, the president explained awkwardly, ”Miss, you may not know this, but I couldn’t find enough people to make eighteen. I was desperate, so I had to let a woman stand in to fill out the ranks. I just didn’t expect you to notice.”

Lili then turned to the woman in the formation and asked with concern, ”Miss, may I interview you? What does it feel like to be one of the Eighteen Bronze Men?”

The woman spat on the ground and cursed angrily, ”I was ready to quit this damned gig a long time ago! I only stayed because the president got on his knees and begged me.”

Hearing this, Lili was so shocked she almost fell over. She hadn’t expected that to assemble his Eighteen Bronze Men, the president had swallowed his pride, humbled himself, and even knelt to plead with people.

Next, the beautiful Yu Lan looked at the men before her. She suddenly discovered that hidden among them was an elderly man who looked to be over fifty. Although the old man wore makeup and was dressed to look younger, he was still spotted by the beautiful Yu Lan with her Eyes of Golden Flame.

Yu Lan stepped forward and asked the old man, ”Sir, are you over fifty?”

The old man spoke, his voice full of misery, ”To tell you the truth, I’m almost seventy...”

Hearing that the gentleman was nearly seventy, Yu Lan asked in bewilderment, ”Sir, you’re almost seventy and you’re here at the martial arts club acting as one of the Eighteen Bronze Men? Can your body handle it?”

The old man looked as if he was about to cry. ”Sigh, what choice do I have? I used to be a janitor at our school. One day, the president came asking for a favor, and I agreed. I just never imagined the favor was to be one of the Eighteen Bronze Men.”

Yu Lan could see in the old man’s eyes that he deeply regretted agreeing to help the president.

The president, standing nearby, was extremely embarrassed. He immediately took two thousand yuan out of his pocket, stepped forward, and handed it to the old man. ”Old Wang, you... you only make 1,800 a month as a janitor. I’m paying you an extra two hundred to be a bronze man, so what do you have to complain about?”

At that, the old man fell silent.

The beautiful Xuelian was the last to step forward. Although she was last, she noticed something that everyone else had missed: there were only seventeen people in the so-called Eighteen Bronze Men Formation. One was missing.

So, Xuelian pointed it out to the president. ”President, didn’t you say your Eighteen Bronze Men had eighteen people? I counted carefully, and it looks like you’re one short.”

The president replied in disbelief, ”How could that be? I’ve set very strict rules for them. For every minute one of the Eighteen Bronze Men is late, they’re docked one hundred yuan. Ten minutes late, they’re docked one thousand...”

Before the president could finish, a bronze man with small eyes and thick lips rushed out of the restroom. As he ran, he explained, ”President, please don’t dock my pay! I couldn’t resist and snuck some of that watermelon you had in the fridge. But right after two slices, my stomach started churning...”

Seeing that a bronze man was indeed missing, the president cursed angrily, ”A trip to the restroom takes five minutes, tops! That shouldn’t have made you late!”

The man with small eyes and thick lips clutched his stomach and hopped on the spot. ”President, you don’t understand! That watermelon in your fridge is too powerful! I went into the restroom, came out, went back in, came out again... I’ve been in and out eighteen times already!”

Xuelian looked at the man, who was clearly drained from his bout of diarrhea, and said sympathetically, ”President, just let it go. Don’t dock his pay. He has diarrhea; it’s beyond his control.”

The president pointed at the man and barked, ”Get the hell back to your position and prepare for battle!”

Hearing the word ”battle,” the man, weak from diarrhea, said painfully, ”I’ve been to the toilet eighteen times. I don’t have the strength to fight. I don’t even have the strength to stand...”

The president rushed forward and landed two resounding slaps on his face. ”I’ll ask you one more time. Do you fight, or do I dock your pay?”

Hearing this, the man immediately snapped to attention. ”Preparing for battle!”

When the president saw that his Eighteen Bronze Men were ready for the fight, he turned to Zhao Rong and his group. ”If the five of you can defeat my Eighteen Bronze Men, I’ll invite you to join our club for free. But if my Eighteen Bronze Men defeat you, each of you will have to pay a one-hundred-yuan joining fee to get in.”