The Adopted Cannon Fodder Made a Comeback

Three large Vietnamese men had surrounded Gu’er and the other two. Qu Shui was hiding in a corner, his heart pounding with anxiety and fear. He didn’t run, but he didn’t dare step forward either; he knew he was no match for them.

The Vietnamese men spat out a few sentences. Dingzi understood them. Not only were they not afraid, but the confrontation seemed to have ignited a wildness within them. They wanted to beat him and Li Zhi down, stomp them into the ground, and watch them lie there wailing in agony. Only then would they feel satisfied, a sense of accomplishment.

But Dingzi wouldn’t translate those words for Li Zhi or Gu’er.

He wasn’t afraid of these three Vietnamese men. In an open space, he could have handled all three by himself. The problem was that the shop was small, and Gu’er was right behind him. She was a young woman with no way to defend herself, and if anything happened to her during the fight, his conscience would never be clear.

Under these circumstances, no matter how skilled he was, it would be impossible to take down all three of them quickly. A single moment of carelessness could get him injured. The ferocity of these Vietnamese men was beyond what one normally encountered.

Gu’er saw the Vietnamese men approaching with knives. She watched as Dingzi and Li Zhi engaged them in a fight, but neither of them ever moved from their position in front of her. She knew they were protecting her, but fighting like this put them at a serious disadvantage.

"Don’t worry about me! Taking them down is what’s important!"

Gu’er shouted. As long as Dingzi and Li Zhi stayed in front of her, it would be difficult for them to deal with their opponents. The three Vietnamese men had no such restraints and could fight freely.

Hearing Gu’er’s words, Dingzi kicked one of the men, forcing him back a step. The man nearly crashed into a shelf at the back of the shop.

In that brief opening, Dingzi spun around and handed his dagger to Gu’er.

Gu’er took it without a moment’s hesitation. She understood; Dingzi wanted her to use it to protect herself.

Dingzi saw her take the dagger, her expression betraying no fear. A flash of admiration crossed his eyes before he turned and landed another kick on the Vietnamese man rushing toward him.

Li Zhi was fighting one of the men. They were about evenly matched, and for the moment, neither could gain the upper hand.

Meanwhile, Dingzi was handling two opponents on his own, both of whom were also armed with daggers. Yet he wasn’t at a disadvantage at all. In fact, he seemed to be holding back.

’We should be able to win this fight,’ Gu’er thought.

All three Vietnamese men were now bruised and bleeding. The injuries only seemed to arouse their ferocity, and they began to strike even more viciously. One of them barked out a couple of words.

At his call, two more Vietnamese men entered the shop from outside.

Gu’er’s heart sank. They could handle three, but could they handle five?

The two newcomers were about to join the fray, but the man fighting Li Zhi shouted a couple of sentences at them.

Gu’er didn’t know what he said, but she understood a moment later. The two new arrivals were charging straight for her. They were obviously trying to capture her.

Li Zhi grew desperate. He had promised to protect Gu’er and get her back safely; he couldn’t let anything happen to her. He ignored a punch from his opponent and moved to intercept the men heading for Gu’er.

But as soon as he moved, one of the men originally fighting Dingzi broke off and blocked his path.

Dingzi understood Li Zhi’s intention. He wouldn’t let anyone harm Gu’er either. Though they had only known each other for a few days, he had grown to admire this clever, righteous girl who wasn’t afraid of hardship or exhaustion. He reached out to block the two men rushing toward her.

But he could only stop one. His other original opponent, plus the one who had just intercepted Li Zhi, now both turned on him. The three men attacked Dingzi with reckless abandon, trying to create an opening for the last man to grab Gu’er. As long as they captured her, they would win this fight. They would make these Chinese people hand over all their money, and then they’d break their bones to show them how formidable the Vietnamese could be.

Gu’er knew Li Zhi and Dingzi couldn’t stop them. They had already done their best, but their opponents were too ferocious and fought with a suicidal intensity. For the moment, her friends were completely pinned down.

She didn’t panic. She forced herself to remain calm. ’I can’t compare to this Vietnamese man,’ she thought. ’He’s not some thug like Zhang Da. I might not even be able to land a hit with this dagger.’

Gu’er slipped a hand into her pocket and gripped something inside, pulling it out into her palm. As the Vietnamese man approached with a savage grin, she waited until he was close enough, then flung the substance in her hand straight at him.

The Vietnamese man paid it no mind. ’A weak young woman? She’ll be an easy catch. Even with a dagger, she won’t be able to hurt me.’

The substance from Gu’er’s hand sprayed right into the man’s face, covering his eyes, nose, and mouth.

"AARGH!"

The Vietnamese man screamed, clapping his hands over his face and shouting incessantly, as if cursing her.

Seeing her chance, Gu’er lunged forward with the dagger without a second thought. Because the man was hopping around blindly, clutching his face, her blade didn’t hit a vital spot. It stabbed into his arm. Gu’er yanked it out forcefully, and the man let out another howl of pain. A tremor went through Gu’er. She could imagine how much it hurt—the dagger was barbed. But she didn’t dare show mercy. If she hesitated now, that dagger might end up in her, Li Zhi, or Dingzi.

The Vietnamese man was injured, but he couldn’t fight back because he couldn’t see. All he could do was stumble about blindly. The reason he was blinded was that the substance Gu’er had thrown was no ordinary thing—it was chili powder.

This chili powder wasn’t from Russia; Gu’er had prepared it herself back home. She hadn’t intended to sell it here. She had specifically packed a large bag of it in her pocket. No matter what she wore, she always carried it with her. With no proper self-defense weapons available, she had to carry something that could incapacitate an attacker. Otherwise, a young woman like her would be in constant danger.

She had been carrying this chili powder for a long time without telling anyone, not even Li Zhi. Gu’er had never had a reason to use it before, but today, she finally had.

When the other four Vietnamese men saw that their comrade was injured, blind, and out of the fight, one of them started to charge at Gu’er. But Dingzi wasn’t about to let that happen. He already felt he had failed by letting the first one get to her. He couldn’t allow anyone else to get near her.

The room was small, and the fight was chaotic. Many items had been knocked off the shelves and onto the floor.

Dingzi had already knocked his opponents down several times, but each time they just scrambled back to their feet and charged at him again like madmen.

Gu’er didn’t attack again. She just needed to protect herself. If she tried to join the fight, she would only get in the way.

Qu Shui had been in the corner the whole time. When he saw the man charge at Gu’er, he had wanted to rush out, but he was too afraid. But then he saw Gu’er blind the man and stab him with the dagger. A surge of heroic courage rose within him. ’A young woman isn’t afraid to draw blood with a knife, so what does a grown man like me have to be scared of?’

Qu Shui spotted a case of Russian beer. Seeing his chance, he grabbed a bottle and charged toward one of the Vietnamese men.

The Vietnamese man tried to dodge, but Dingzi’s hand held him in a vise-like grip. He couldn’t move. Another man who tried to help was kicked to the ground by Dingzi, while a third was sent stumbling aside by a sharp elbow strike.

Qu Shui smashed the bottle of beer squarely on the trapped man’s head. The bottle shattered with a CRACK, spraying beer over several people and the floor. Blood began to stream down the man’s head from where he’d been hit.

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