48 Hours a Day

The gangsters held sway over this area, relying on their large numbers. They had always been the ones doing the bullying, and this was the first time the tables turned against them.

Zhang Heng’s punch was too sudden, coming entirely without warning. The leather-jacketed boy had invited him to join their little party, and his friends were all grinning from ear-to-ear, excited by this new gameplay. Lo and behold, something even more stimulating happened. The leather-jacketed youth crashed onto the floor, head first. His vision went dark, and before he could scream in pain, he was already out cold.

His friends were all disconcerted. They simply stood there, forgetting to fight back for a split second. However, real-life was no turn-based game, and Zhang Heng wasn’t going to go easy on them. After taking one down, he immediately grabbed another by the collar and threw him down. This one was even unluckier. As he fell, his forehead hit the sink, and bright red blood gushed out. There was no fight left in him.

Having lived in the Caribbean for more than a decade, Zhang Heng didn’t just upgrade his knife skills to level 3; even without a weapon on him now, his melee skills were just as impressive. Anne was the one who taught him that shoulder throw, and he managed to learn everything from her when they sparred. Coupled with his extensive combat experience, it would be challenging to find a match for his skills.

In just five seconds, Zhang Heng had taken down two opponents.

After taking a moment to register what was happening, the remaining three thugs finally snapped out of their stupor. They set the girl down as they screamed a cheer for themselves, armed with switchblades and slicing the air as a gesture of intimidation.

This scare tactic usually worked on ordinary people. Unfortunately, they ran into Zhang Heng today. By simply observing their posture and gait, Zhang Heng could tell that these small-time thugs weren’t formally trained, and in fact, had already made all sorts of mistakes. They seemed formidable standing still, but once they moved, their weak points were glaring

But a sharp weapon like the switchblade still posed a degree of danger, especially in a scuffle. That was also why Zhang Heng opted to take down two thugs first, making it easier for him to tackle the other three.

The whole fight lasted less than a minute. Zhang Heng actually held himself back. Two out of the five thugs were out cold, and the other three were conscious but bruised. The most miserable one was the one who charged at Zhang Heng with the blade but missed and had his head pushed down the urinal. Zhang Heng even finished him off with a kick on his back.

Such petty street fights were no match for all the battles Zhang Heng had fought all throughout his pirate career. He did not even break a sweat. Upon their defeat, the other three thugs, having some life left in them, dragged their unconscious friends out of the toilet while shooting their mouths off, making empty threats as they made a hasty retreat.

Zhang Heng pretended to chase them. The thugs were so scared they tripped over the sidewalk and fell onto the tall grass. Having learned their lesson, they kept their mouths shut and ran desperately for their lives.

Zhang Heng had no interest in pursuing them. So, he returned to the toilet. Once inside, he couldn’t help but furrow his brows at the sorry sight.

There were traces of the fight everyone, with obvious trails of blood on the floor left by that unlucky bastard who hit his head on the sink, and vomit from the leather jacketed guy. There was even a random sneaker, three switchblades, and a small dent in the stainless-steel handrail of the urinal.

Everything else was the same as when he had left two minutes ago. The only difference was that the unconscious girl had disappeared.

Had she run off on her own?

Zhang Heng had been so focused on the group of thugs that he did not pay attention to what was happening behind him. The girl might have taken the opportunity to escape. The toilet had two exits, one at the front and the other at the back. Zhang Heng had chased the thugs out of the front entrance, but the one at the back led to a small, open park with lush vegetation. It would take less than two minutes to get from the toilet to the park.

Although the girl appeared to be unconscious when she was brought in by the group of thugs, Zhang Heng wasn’t sure how drunk the girl actually was. The fight was a messy and loud affair, and she could have woken up in the middle of it. Upon realizing that she recognized nobody around her, she might have pretended to be drunk until everyone left before escaping into the park.

Having made a satisfactory deduction of what happened, Zhang Heng left the matter as it was. He had no other intentions for the girl, and it wasn’t important if she thanked him or not.

His fight had nothing to do with the girl, but rather because he was stopped from leaving. Since the girl escaped on her own, it saved him the trouble of having to contact her family or friends to come for her.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Zhang Heng cleaned the blood on the floor and pocketed the switchblades before he left.

At this hour, the main door leading to the dormitory was already locked. Not wanting to trouble the caretaker, Zhang Heng checked himself into a single room at a hotel like he did the last time.

Since most modern hotels were equipped with face recognition equipment, Zhang Heng had to unsheath his hood to peer into the camera. Unsurprisingly, his appearance gave the receptionist a good scare. Unconvinced, the receptionist swiped his identity card twice. No match to any fugitive was found in the system, and although good news for her and the hotel, the receptionist seemed reluctant to believe it.

In the end, Zhang Heng had to show her his student ID and his campus card. The receptionist, in turn, was very surprised.

When she returned it to him and gave him the room card, she could not help but ask, “Are you really nineteen?”

Zhang Heng took the room card from her and answered, “Err, there’s still some time before the new year, so, yes. I’m still considered nineteen.”

Until he got on the elevator, the lady at the front desk downstairs still seemed to be in a daze. She had held her position for two years, and during the tenure, she had seen all kinds of people. To pass the time during her tedious, monotonous job, she had invented some games to entertain herself. One of her favorites was guessing her guest’s profession.

Whenever a guest walked into the hotel, the receptionist’s mind would begin conjuring theories of the occupation of the person. Then upon issuing an invoice or during checkout, she would ask them to confirm.

She had always enjoyed this game. After two years, she could now accurately guess eight out of ten professions, and she considered that a superpower of an ordinary person. But this time, the superpower she was so proud of proved completely ineffective.

Student? How’s that possible. That kind of temperament, to be frank, was more like a pirate from the movies, who killed their victims without remorse.

The receptionist was greatly amused.

It was the twenty-first century China. How could such inexplicable things even exist?