Peerless Bodyguard of a Stunning Beauty

Zhao Rong saw that the ground where the assistant and the building manager had been fighting was now littered with the assistant’s T-shirt, shorts, shoes, socks, and even his underwear.

Zhao Rong walked over and picked up the T-shirt. Looking at the ”Abidas” brand name, he nodded and said, ”This T-shirt checks out. It’s the assistant’s...”

Following behind him, Yu Lan picked up the assistant’s underwear. ”This underwear is definitely his, too,” she said. ”In this day and age, only someone like the assistant would wear underwear with pockets.”

Hearing this, Zhao Rong whipped his head around to look at Yu Lan and said in surprise, ”Yu Lan, I never expected you to pay such close attention to the assistant’s underwear.”

Yu Lan blushed and said awkwardly, ”Zhao Rong, don’t misunderstand. It’s not like I have strange tastes or anything. I only recognize his underwear because it’s so distinctive. One time, when he was hanging it out to dry, it caught my eye. I even went over and touched it, zipping and unzipping the little fly...”

Zhao Rong pictured Yu Lan playing with the assistant’s underwear and found the image horrifying. ”Yu Lan,” he said, ”I can only say this: be careful, or your curiosity will be your downfall.”

With that, Zhao Rong looked at the scattered clothes on the ground, a sense of wonder washing over him. ”When I went upstairs earlier, I clearly saw the assistant fighting the building manager. How is it that in the short time I was gone, not only have they both disappeared, but all of his clothes are just left here on the ground?”

Yu Lan, noticing the bloodstains on the floor, offered a guess. ”Zhao Rong, do you think the building manager... forced himself on the assistant?”

Zhao Rong shook his head. ”It’s strange, but the manager of Girls’ Dormitory Building No. 3 is a man, a middle-aged uncle at that.”

Hearing this, Yu Lan immediately pointed to a photograph inside the manager’s office. ”Zhao Rong, I’ve been to Girls’ Dormitory No. 3 before. The manager is an older woman, not an uncle. Look, that’s her in the photo.”

Zhao Rong looked up and saw a large photo hanging inside the office. Below it were the words: Building Manager. He was stunned. ”What the hell? That can’t be right. Then why did the assistant and I run into a male manager when we tried to enter your dorm, and why did he block us from going inside?”

After a moment’s thought, Zhao Rong added, ”Yu Lan, do you think it’s possible this male manager is the husband of the female manager?”

As Yu Lan walked into the manager’s office, she shook her head. ”I know the building manager. Her surname is Cui; we all call her Auntie Cui. She’s single and doesn’t have a husband.”

Before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly pointed under the bed and screamed in terror, ”Zhao Rong, come look! Quick!”

Hearing her scream, Zhao Rong leaped into the room. When he saw a woman stuffed under the bed, he immediately crouched down and pulled her out. She was hog-tied, with a white towel stuffed in her mouth. Zhao Rong untied her and removed the towel.

Before he could even ask a question, the woman cried out in fear, ”Kidnappers! There are kidnappers!”

Zhao Rong comforted her. ”Auntie, don’t be afraid. We’re not kidnappers. We’re students at this school.”

The building manager, Auntie Cui, pointed toward the door. ”Young man, I’m not saying you’re kidnappers! I’m saying some people came in earlier! They dragged a hog-tied girl upstairs, then knocked me out and stuffed me under the bed.”

At her words, it all clicked for Zhao Rong. He turned to Yu Lan and said, ”I get it now. That male manager the assistant and I ran into wasn’t a manager at all. He was an accomplice to the kidnappers. The reason he stopped us from going upstairs was to buy time for his partners to escape.”

Auntie Cui nodded. ”Young man, your analysis is spot on. After I came to, I heard two men fighting in the hallway. But the fight stopped after just a little while. Then... I heard the sound of someone taking off their clothes.”

Zhao Rong pointed to the pile of clothes on the ground, looking perplexed. ”I just don’t get it. If the kidnappers defeated the assistant, they could have just taken him away. Why did they strip off all his clothes?”

Pinching her nose, Yu Lan stared at the underwear on the floor. ”Exactly! Why would the kidnapper strip the assistant naked before taking him?”

Zhao Rong gritted his teeth and frowned. ”Don’t tell me the kidnapper has some bizarre fetish... stripped the assistant, violated him on the spot, and then abducted him?”

Yu Lan nodded, then shook her head. ”Could there really be a man with such warped taste in this world? To not even let someone like the assistant off the hook?”

Seeing that Auntie Cui was unharmed, Zhao Rong told her to call the police. Then, he hoisted Yu Lan onto his back and gave chase.

As he rushed outside, Zhao Rong scanned the area, but there were no cars speeding away. Just as he was about to continue the pursuit, Yu Lan cried out in pain. ”Zhao Rong, I feel so dizzy... I feel like I’m about to die.”

Zhao Rong immediately set her down, gave her a sip of water, and asked with concern, ”Yu Lan, are you alright? Did they hurt you after they kidnapped you?”

Yu Lan shook her head. ”After they kidnapped Lili and me, they didn’t hurt us. Instead, they forced each of us to drink a very strange potion.”

Hearing that Yu Lan and Lili had been forced to drink a potion, Zhao Rong became worried. ”Damn it! Don’t tell me those bastards poisoned you two!”

With that, he opened a shopping app on his phone and typed ”poison detector” into the search bar. Hundreds of similar products appeared instantly. Zhao Rong sorted by sales volume, selected the top-selling model, and completed the group-buy purchase.

By this point, Yu Lan was on the verge of collapsing. Her eyes half-open, she managed to say one last thing. ”Zhao Rong, we have to hurry back to the dorm. Save Lili first... she drank the poison before I did.”

Anxiously, Zhao Rong carried Yu Lan on his back and rushed toward their dorm, messaging the seller to ship the order as fast as possible. He listed the dorm shared by Lili, Yu Lan, and Xuelian as the delivery address.

As soon as Zhao Rong got back to the dorm, Xuelian walked over, holding a package. ”Zhao Rong,” she said, tearing open the package, ”what new tech gadget did you buy this time?”

Zhao Rong placed Yu Lan gently on a bed. ”It’s nothing special, just a regular poison detector.”

Before he could finish, Xuelian saw Yu Lan. She rushed over excitedly and hugged her, sobbing, ”Yu Lan, you’re finally back!” Then, she turned to Lili, who was standing behind her. ”Lili, Zhao Rong finally rescued you and Yu Lan!”

Leaning on a table for support, Lili made her way to Yu Lan’s bedside. She held Yu Lan’s head and shook her gently. ”Yu Lan, we were kidnapped together. Now, Zhao Rong has rescued me, and he’s rescued you... But why am I awake while you’re unconscious?”

Seeing that Lili was alright despite also being poisoned, Zhao Rong said excitedly, ”That’s great, Lili! I’m so glad you’re okay. Yu Lan told me you took the poison first, and a larger dose, so I was worried you’d be in worse shape and pass out before her. Seeing you’re fine, I’m so relieved.”

But before Zhao Rong could finish his sentence, Lili’s vision went dark. With stars spinning in front of her eyes, she collapsed, losing consciousness.

Xuelian, who was beside Yu Lan’s bed, saw Lili faint and quickly caught her, laying her flat on another bed. She pinched the philtrum below Lili’s nose and called her name. ”Lili, what’s wrong? Why did you faint right after Yu Lan did?”

Looking at the two unconscious women, Zhao Rong immediately tore open the package. ”Xuelian, don’t worry. I bought a poison detector online. We’ll first check what kind of poison they have, then I’ll formulate an antidote. I’ll save them and cure them completely, with no lingering effects.”

Xuelian, however, was staring intently at the object Zhao Rong was unboxing. She asked in surprise, ”Zhao Rong, are you sure that thing you bought is a poison detector, and not a... vibrating... massager?”

Hearing this, Zhao Rong looked down at the device in his hand, his mind conjuring an image of a vibrating massager. He swallowed hard and said awkwardly, ”Xuelian, now that you mention it, this gadget does look a bit like a... vibrating massager.”

Curious, Xuelian took the device from his hand and said shyly, ”Zhao Rong, I recently bought a... vibrator designed for women... and I’ve noticed that this ’poison detector’ you bought is identical to mine in shape, color, and style.”

Zhao Rong sucked in a sharp breath, opened the app on his phone, and checked his order details. These merchants are a bunch of scoundrels. Did they scam me?

While Zhao Rong was looking up the merchant to confront them, Xuelian suddenly placed the device on Lili’s wrist. Before Zhao Rong could even contact the seller, the ”poison detector” announced in a synthesized voice: ”The world’s deadliest poison: Datura flower poison.”

Next, Xuelian placed the device on Yu Lan’s wrist. But when she and Zhao Rong heard what poison Yu Lan had been given, they were so shocked they nearly fell to the floor.

”No way,” Zhao Rong said in disbelief. ”How could Yu Lan have been dosed with *that* poison?”

Xuelian looked as if she were about to cry. ”Only playboys and promiscuous women get that kind of poison. How could a good person like Yu Lan end up with it?”