Peerless Bodyguard of a Stunning Beauty

Just as Zhao Rong was about to rush in, the assistant standing beside him voiced his skepticism. ”But what if the rabbit doll in the child’s hands isn’t Miss Lili’s? What if it’s just one her mother bought for her?”

Xue Lianmei immediately refuted him. ”That rabbit doll isn’t sold in this country. If you want one, you have to go to the Galeries Lafayette in Paris to buy it. Do you really think a fishmonger has the kind of money to fly to Paris and buy his kid a luxury doll just to make her happy? Besides, Miss Lili’s rabbit doll is a one-of-a-kind, custom-made edition. So, I’m certain Miss Lili was kidnapped here first, and her doll ended up in that child’s hands for some other reason.”

Hearing Xue Lianmei’s analysis, Zhao Rong nodded. ”Xue Lianmei is right. Let’s go in now and get to the bottom of this.”

With that, Zhao Rong went to a nearby hardware store, bought a pair of bolt cutters, and swiftly cut open the shop’s shutter door before leading the other two inside.

After the three of them crawled into the fishmonger’s shop, they found it to be very small and cluttered with miscellaneous items. Yet, in a shop barely ten square meters, the woman and child had vanished without a trace.

Zhao Rong carefully surveyed his surroundings. ”Let’s search. There must be a hidden door here that leads to a concealed room below.” With that, he, the assistant, and Xue Lianmei began to search. The space was small, so it didn’t take long for Zhao Rong to discover a hidden opening under a basket of fish fry.

Pointing to the opening, Zhao Rong exclaimed with excitement, ”Miss Lili and Yu Lan must have been taken down through here!”

Just as Zhao Rong made his discovery, the assistant found a hidden door behind a painting on the wall. As he pushed on it, he called out, ”Brother Zhao Rong, Xue Lianmei, come take a look! I’ve found a secret door!”

At the same time, Xue Lianmei shouted, ”Over here! I found a secret hatch in the ceiling!”

Suddenly, they had found three different secret passages. Zhao Rong walked over to examine the secret door the assistant had found, then glanced up at the secret hatch Xue Lianmei had spotted in the ceiling. Frustrated, he had no idea which one they should take first.

Seeing Zhao Rong’s hesitation, the assistant offered a suggestion. ”Brother Zhao Rong, I have an idea. Since there are three of us and we each found a passage, why don’t we split up? We might find Miss Lili and Yu Lan faster that way.”

Xue Lianmei, however, was convinced that the passage she had found was the correct one and that the other two were mere diversions. ”Brother Zhao Rong, help me up,” she insisted. ”I’m going through this hatch in the ceiling to find Miss Lili and Yu Lan and rescue them.”

Zhao Rong disagreed. ”If the enemy is this cunning, the path that seems correct is likely fake, and the ones that seem wrong are probably real.”

The assistant looked at Zhao Rong. ”Brother Zhao Rong, are you saying the secret door I found behind the painting is the most likely one?”

Zhao Rong shook his head. ”Possibly, but not necessarily.”

”Then what should we do?” Xue Lianmei pressed. ”Which passage should we take?”

Zhao Rong proposed the safest plan. ”We’re exposed while the enemy is hidden. You two stay put while I go down and check things out.”

Hearing that he intended to go alone, Xue Lianmei immediately protested. ”Brother Zhao Rong, that’s too dangerous! Instead of you risking it by yourself, it would be much safer for all three of us to go together. That way, we can watch each other’s backs.”

The assistant agreed. ”Brother Zhao Rong, we’re a team. Don’t take that risk; let’s listen to Xue Lianmei. If this team loses you, its lynchpin, we won’t be able to function.”

Though he wanted to go alone, Zhao Rong had no choice but to agree.

The three of them decided to enter the opening Zhao Rong had discovered first. The passage was narrow, forcing them to proceed in a crouch. Zhao Rong led the way, with Xue Lianmei in the middle and the assistant bringing up the rear. After a while, the tunnel widened enough for them to stand upright, but soon it became so low that they were forced to crawl on their bellies.

After a great deal of effort, they spotted a light ahead and scrambled toward it. Zhao Rong poked his head out of the opening and saw a young man carrying a bucket of swill, about to dump it into the very hole they were in. When the man saw a head pop out of his usual swill drain, he dropped the bucket in terror, screamed, ”GHOST!” and fled.

Zhao Rong climbed out and helped Xue Lianmei up. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he said with frustration, ”What the hell. It looks like the first passage was the wrong one. It’s a swill drain.”

The assistant, gagging from the smell of sour grease and refuse, retched twice. ”So damn unlucky, crawling out of a swill drain…”

And so, the three returned to the little fish shop.

Next, they decided to try the passage the assistant had found. Zhao Rong lifted the painting and kicked open the hidden door. ”Same formation as before. I’m first, Xue Lianmei is second, and the assistant brings up the rear.”

With that, Zhao Rong squeezed into the hole in the wall, and Xue Lianmei and the assistant followed him inside. Compared to the hole under the fish fry, this one was much more spacious, allowing them to walk upright from the start. The passage within the wall was long. They felt as though they were walking constantly downhill for about ten minutes, after which the path began to slope upward.

Suddenly, as they saw a light ahead, they were also hit by a horrible stench.

Zhao Rong pinched his nose. ”Don’t tell me we’ve walked into another drain pipe. Why else would it stink so bad?”

The assistant, also holding his nose, guessed, ”Did we walk into a restroom?”

When Zhao Rong pushed open a floor panel and climbed out, he immediately saw toilets all around him. A cold sweat broke out on his skin. ”What the hell,” he said in horror. ”This looks like a women’s restroom! There are no urinals…”

Before he could finish, a woman shrieked, ”Pervert! Somebody catch the pervert!”

Embarrassed, Zhao Rong dove back into the hole, leading Xue Lianmei and the assistant back to the fish shop.

After emerging from the passage in the wall, the three of them were so exhausted they collapsed onto the floor. Wiping the sweat from his brow, Zhao Rong sighed. ”If only I’d known, we should have just taken the passage Xue Lianmei found from the start.”

The assistant added ruefully, ”Yeah, Brother Zhao Rong. The two passages we found led to a swill drain and a public toilet. What rotten luck.”

By now, Xue Lianmei’s clothes were soaked with sweat. She tied up her hair and said, ”I hope this passage leads to the secret room. Otherwise, this is really going to kill us.” She stood up, stacked two large crates against the wall, and said, ”Alright, we can get up there now.”

Then, Xue Lianmei took the lead, climbing up toward the opening in the ceiling.

When Zhao Rong saw her enter the passage first, he immediately jumped in after her. ”You should get behind me,” he said with concern. ”It’ll be safer.”

The assistant jumped in as well, adding, ”Xue Lianmei, you should get between us. That way, Brother Zhao Rong and I can both protect you.”

But Xue Lianmei kept walking at the front. ”Stop arguing, both of you,” she said. ”Just let a woman take the lead for once. Maybe it’ll bring us some good luck.”

Saying so, she strode forward. Once inside, the passage from the ceiling seemed to be entirely downhill. The three of them—Zhao Rong, Xue Lianmei, and the assistant—walked downhill for about an hour before the path finally leveled out. At the same time, they could feel the dampness and smell the earthy scent of an underground room.

Zhao Rong looked at their surroundings and said with relief, ”Looks like we’ve finally reached the secret underground chamber this time.”

The assistant said excitedly, ”See? From now on, whenever we go exploring, we have to let Xue Lianmei lead. She’s definitely our good luck charm.”

While they were talking, Xue Lianmei suddenly spotted a lit room up ahead. She rushed forward, shouting, ”Look! That secret room! There are people inside!”

Zhao Rong peeked through a crack in the door and confirmed that someone was moving around within. He lowered his voice, warning her, ”Xuelian, quiet down. You’ll alert them.”

The assistant, tiptoeing behind them, whispered, ”It looks like after all that hardship, we’ve finally found Miss Lili and Yu Lan.”

Just then, Zhao Rong said suddenly, ”Don’t celebrate too soon. Look…”

Following his gaze, Xue Lianmei and the assistant saw something that made their jaws drop in astonishment.