Peerless Bodyguard of a Stunning Beauty

The WeChat message the assistant sent to Zhao Rong read:

”Brother Zhao Rong, just before I ran away, I managed to swipe Li Jiang’s wallet. Inside, there was a photo of the corporate spy, Lu Xiaoqiang.”

Then, Zhao Rong received a second message from his assistant:

”I have a strong suspicion that this Li Jiang is actually Lu Xiaoqiang. If he wasn’t, why would he be carrying a photo of Lu Xiaoqiang in his wallet?”

After reading the messages, Zhao Rong immediately replied, ”You’ve got a point. Now that we have this lead, let’s continue monitoring Lu Xiaoqiang. Get up, stop playing dead. To reward you for discovering this huge secret, I’m treating you to beer and barbecue tonight.”

The assistant had an uncanny ability to send flawless WeChat messages without even looking at his phone. Sure enough, just a moment after Zhao Rong sent his reply, another message came in from the assistant:

”Brother Zhao Rong, don’t think I’m playing dead just to take advantage of a few pretty girls. I’m doing it to fool Li Jiang so he doesn’t realize I looked inside his wallet. The moment he lifts me onto the ambulance, I’ll slip the wallet back into his pocket.”

Reading this, Zhao Rong understood completely. At the same time, he had to give his assistant credit for his incredible cleverness.

Just as Zhao Rong was admiring his assistant’s ingenuity, Li Jiang came rushing back inside. He helped the assistant up from the floor, comforting him, ”I called a taxi, it’ll be here any second. I’ll carry you to the cab and get you to the hospital.”

The moment Li Jiang lifted him, the assistant deftly and discreetly slipped the wallet back into his pocket.

As Zhao Rong watched Li Jiang carry the assistant into the taxi, he stood there and thought to himself.

There are two possibilities now. One is that Li Jiang himself is the corporate spy, Lu Xiaoqiang. The other is that even if he isn’t Lu Xiaoqiang, he must be very close to him.

Mulling this over, Zhao Rong started walking toward the dormitory. Before he could reach the entrance, however, the assistant suddenly ran up behind him, gave him a light push, and said, ”Brother Zhao Rong, you have to keep your word! You promised to treat me to barbecue and beer tonight!”

Seeing the very same person he had just watched Li Jiang carry into a taxi suddenly appear before him, Zhao Rong asked in disbelief, ”I swear I just saw Li Jiang put you in a cab. How did you suddenly show up here? Do you have Special Abilities like me? Can you use Instant Teleportation?”

”Brother Zhao Rong, you have no idea,” the assistant said, clearly thirsty. ”When the taxi was speeding down the ring road, I waited for Li Jiang to get distracted, squeezed into the trunk, popped the lid, and jumped out. Then I just hailed another cab back to the school.”

Hearing about the assistant’s incredible feat—not only crawling from the back seat of a sedan into the trunk but also jumping out on a highway—Zhao Rong was completely in awe. ”Assistant, I had no idea you had superpowers like that. That’s freaking awesome!”

In contrast to Zhao Rong’s relaxed expression, the assistant spoke with lingering fear. ”Brother Zhao Rong, you don’t get it. As soon as Li Jiang and I got in that taxi, I had a bad feeling. The driver wasn’t taking me to the hospital; he was taking me somewhere else, somewhere unknown.”

With that, the assistant bought a bottle of ice-cold coke from a nearby shop and drank it to calm his nerves.

When Zhao Rong heard this, he exclaimed in surprise, ”No way! You think the corporate spy, Lu Xiaoqiang, already knows we’re here at the sports academy looking for him? So he decided to strike first? He pulled a bait-and-switch, trying to trick us, get you kidnapped to some unknown location, and then pick off Lili, Yu Lan, and Xuelian one by one before finally coming for me?”

Hearing Zhao Rong’s deduction, it all clicked for the assistant. He nodded. ”Brother Zhao Rong, you’re absolutely right. It’s not that we’re smart; it’s that the corporate spy, Lu Xiaoqiang, is *too* smart.”

A wave of fear washed over Zhao Rong. ”Assistant, thank goodness you were so quick-witted and had the presence of mind to jump out of that car. If they had taken you to some unknown place, you would have died a horrible death.”

The assistant looked at Zhao Rong and asked, ”Brother Zhao Rong, what should we do now?”

At that moment, Zhao Rong thought of Lili, Yu Lan, and Xuelian. ”Assistant, if I’m not mistaken, while Lu Xiaoqiang was making a move on you, he must have been targeting Lili, Yu Lan, and Xuelian at the same time.”

Hearing this, the assistant panicked. ”Then what do we do?”

”What else can we do?” Zhao Rong said, rushing toward their dorm. ”We have to go now and protect the three of them 24/7.”

Hearing ”protect the ladies 24/7,” the assistant paused for a second, a thought flashing through his mind.

This is great. Maybe we’ll even get to stay in the same dorm room at night...

When Zhao Rong and the assistant arrived at the women’s dormitory, the assistant immediately knocked on the door. ”Miss Lili! Yu Lan! Xuelian! Open up! Let us in so we can protect you!”

Xuelian opened the door and looked at them. ”Brother Zhao Rong, what took you so long? A really handsome guy was just here looking for you.”

Hearing about a handsome guy, Zhao Rong froze. He peered into the room. ”That stranger, what did he do when he came in?”

”He came looking for you, but I said you weren’t here,” Xuelian explained. ”Then he said he was a teacher at the school and wanted to take the three of us to get our meal cards.”

As Xuelian was speaking, Zhao Rong was suddenly shocked to realize she was the only one left in the room. He asked urgently, ”Where are Miss Lili and Yu Lan? Don’t tell me they went with that stranger to get meal cards!”

Xuelian nodded, inviting them into the dorm. ”Yeah. He originally invited all three of us, but I don’t really like the school’s food, so I didn’t go. But Miss Lili and Sister Yu Lan went with him.”

Hearing this, Zhao Rong asked in a panic, ”How long have they been gone?”

Xuelian glanced at her watch. ”Over an hour, I think.”

Zhao Rong couldn’t help but press, ”The cafeteria where you get the cards is right next to this building. It should take ten minutes at most. How could they be gone for an hour and still not be back?”

Xuelian also felt something was wrong. ”You’re right. If it were me, I’d have come straight back after getting the card. Do you think maybe Miss Lili and Yu Lan went shopping at the nearby supermarket?”

Zhao Rong immediately pulled out his phone and dialed Lili’s number. The assistant, standing beside him, quickly called Yu Lan. But no matter how many times they called, their phones were both switched off.

When the calls failed to connect, Zhao Rong’s heart sank. He turned to Xuelian. ”This is bad. It must be Lu Xiaoqiang’s people. They struck first and have abducted Yu Lan and Miss Lili!”

The assistant frowned, adding his own theory, ”They must have tricked them, then knocked them out or drugged them, thrown them into a car, and driven them to some unknown location.”

When Xuelian heard this, she burst into tears. ”No way! We came to the Sports College to catch the corporate spy, Lu Xiaoqiang! How could we let him, the bad guy, get the jump on us and take our people?”

The assistant added helplessly, ”Xijing City is huge. Trying to find Miss Lili and Yu Lan in this sea of people is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The odds are impossible.”

”If I had known that guy was a villain, I would have stopped Miss Lili and Yu Lan from going with him,” Xuelian said in despair.

Just as the assistant and Xuelian were losing hope, Zhao Rong suddenly thought of an advanced piece of scientific equipment: a DNA Location Detector. He immediately connected to the internet on his phone and opened the Taobao app. He searched for ”DNA Location Detector,” selected the most expensive model, clicked ”buy,” and chose drone delivery.

When the assistant saw Zhao Rong shopping on his phone at a time like this, he exploded with anger. ”Brother Zhao Rong! We’re in a crisis! Miss Lili and Yu Lan have been kidnapped, and instead of trying to find them, you’re selfishly shopping on your phone? Are you even human?”

When Xuelian heard that her Brother Zhao Rong was shopping instead of worrying about Lili and Yu Lan, she also started crying and pointing an accusing finger. ”Brother Zhao Rong, we always thought of you as our unrivaled hero, our ultimate bodyguard! How can you ignore their safety just to play around on your phone? Is Taobao really that interesting? Is shopping really that important?”

Realizing they had completely misunderstood him, Zhao Rong quickly explained, ”You’ve got me all wrong. I bought a DNA Location Detector on Taobao. With this device, all we need is a sample of Miss Lili’s or Yu Lan’s DNA. We input it into the detector, and it will give us their exact location instantly!”

Hearing that such a miraculous device existed on Taobao, the assistant and Xuelian were left speechless and wide-eyed.

Just as they were standing there in astonishment, the distinct BUZZ of a drone sounded from the window.

Zhao Rong turned to look at the drone hovering outside. ”Oh man,” he said, surprised. ”I can’t believe it. Taobao’s delivery speed is actually faster than JD.com’s now.”

With that, he ran over to the drone to retrieve his package.