Ch. 22
Chapter 22: Robbery
Around 4 o’clock that afternoon, under the honest, old-fashioned bus stop sign, Zhang Wenda waited with a frown, backpack on his shoulders.
On the road beside him, one wobbly bus after another arrived, air sacs on top of their roofs bobbing, but Zhang Wenda didn’t get on.
From time to time, he sneaked glances toward the rooftop beside him.
The second time he saw that black cat, Zhang Wenda understood that he had been marked by that lunatic.
There’s a saying: only thieves worry for a thousand miles, no one defends for a thousand days.
He couldn’t let that person keep thinking about him—he needed to settle this once and for all.
He didn’t know how long had passed before a few figures appeared in the alley ahead, led by the Fat Deadbeat Pan Dongzi, followed by classmates who had gone to the Youth Center with him.
Perhaps it was because they had lived through life and death together, but compared to before, Zhang Wenda no longer felt estranged from them—he truly saw them as classmates now.
And since they were classmates, and he was in trouble, asking them to back him up didn’t burden his conscience one bit.
“Everyone here?” Zhang Wenda counted heads and saw seven or eight people.
“Yeah, Little Tiao is sick, the rest of us are here. Mouse, what do you want us to do?” Yang Shu pushed up his glasses and asked.
“Are we bros or not?” Zhang Wenda looked at them.
“Of course! You saved us back at the Youth Center!”
“Then come with me, help me settle a score—someone’s messing with me.” Zhang Wenda handed out bubble gum, one piece per person.
Since he was going to deal with Song Jianguo, he wasn’t stupid enough to go alone—he naturally had to find backup.
You can run, but your temple can’t.
Today, he was going to take people to ambush her beneath that treehouse and completely solve this headache.
“Mouse, what’s going on?” the Fatty asked while chewing noisily.
“The bus is here. Get on first, we’ll talk when we get there.” Zhang Wenda said, looking at the distant No. 3 bus.
When the wobbly bus arrived at the stop, the air sac on top looked a little deflated, sagging limply on the roof.
Then the ticket seller climbed up and tossed a few White Go Pieces into the air sac, which began to puff up again.
Seeing this, Zhang Wenda was stunned—he hadn’t expected that the White Go Pieces he had collected were used like this.
“So that means... those White Go Pieces are used by the Youth Center to produce gas for floating?” Zhang Wenda couldn’t help but speculate.
“Getting on or not? Hurry up if you’re going!” The ticket seller, with a ticket machine hanging on her chest, said impatiently.
“Getting on! Of course!” Zhang Wenda squeezed into the crowded bus with his classmates.
“Tickets! Three cents per person!”
Nine people in total, three cents each, that made 27 cents.
Zhang Wenda looked at his dwindling savings and sighed, but he understood—necessary costs had to be paid.
He couldn’t bring his crew to pick a fight and then make them walk while he took the bus, could he?
Though the bus was large, it was still very crowded.
Zhang Wenda felt like he was in a dense forest made of legs—when he looked up, all he could see were lower halves, not a single face in sight.
He wasn’t surprised at all by this anymore.
Like sitting on a stool, he perched on a leather shoe and looked at his classmates.
“Everyone brought your gear?”
Though the rules and punishments had returned, Zhang Wenda didn’t stop asking because of them.
Some questions had to be asked, no matter how painful.
“Brought it, brought it.” Glasses pulled out a wire from his chest, the Fatty took a pencil sharpener from his pocket, the others had similar tools.
“Eh, forget it. I heard from the Fatty—you all have special powers?”
Zhang Wenda scratched at a scar on his body, hoping to find someone among them who could deal with Song Jianguo.
“Yeah, we do. We all have them.”
“What kind?”
“I can boil eggs with my mind. I can bless water. I can eat with my nose! I can drink with my eyes!”
Listening to these nonsensical special abilities, Zhang Wenda felt a wave of exhaustion.
He regretted bringing this bunch of jokers along—he had no idea if they’d be any use.
“Mouse, don’t worry! With us dragons and phoenixes here, nobody’ll mess with you!” the Fatty boasted, showing off a newly learned idiom.
“Stop talking big. We’ll see how it goes.”
Zhang Wenda lowered his head and touched the red scar on his arm that had recovered a fifth, and muttered to himself, “All of them? Then does that mean mine is a kind of special power too?”
The wobbly bus stopped.
By the time Zhang Wenda and the others got off, ten minutes had passed.
Seeing the treehouse in the distance, Zhang Wenda stopped overthinking.
He clenched the flashlight in his hand and led his group with fierce momentum toward Song Jianguo.
Arriving under the treehouse, Zhang Wenda directly activated his red light ability and kicked the utility pole hard, making it tremble.
“Song Jianguo! Get down here! If you don’t, I swear I’ll tear your house down!”
“Try tearing one down.”
The voice came from behind.
Zhang Wenda turned around and saw Song Jianguo standing on the roof tiles with her pack of black cats.
Zhang Wenda took two steps forward, eyes locked on her.
“I don’t like arguing with others, especially not with kids. But if you’re going to be a brat, don’t think I’ll go easy on you.”
“Hmph.” Song Jianguo clearly didn’t appreciate Zhang Wenda’s condescending words.
“How old are you? Got a big mouth for your age.”
With that, she leaped from the roof like a leopard and slowly walked toward Zhang Wenda.
“No problem being your daddy.”
Not wanting to back down, Zhang Wenda also walked toward her with his group.
Despite his tough words, the real reason Zhang Wenda brought these people wasn’t to have an all-out brawl with Song Jianguo—it was to keep her from stalking him.
“I’m telling you, everything should have a reason.
You tried to steal from me for no reason, and even sent cats to secretly follow me.
No matter where you go, you’re in the wrong.”
Song Jianguo looked down at the kid before her from above.
“Reason? Who’s talking about reason with you?
I robbed you. What can you do about it?”
With that, she raised her left hand wrapped in a sleeve and beckoned with a finger.
The cat behind her let out a meow and pounced on Zhang Wenda’s group, making the Fatty and the others scream in panic.
Cat claws left bloody scratches across the back of Zhang Wenda’s hand.
Furious, he didn’t expect her to actually attack so directly.
He grabbed the cat on his face and flung it aside with force.
Just as he regained his vision, a flash of cold light appeared before him.
To his shock, a spear was thrust toward his eye.
Zhang Wenda instinctively reached out with his right hand and caught the sharp spearhead with his palm.
“Pfft!” Blood sprayed from his palm.
But Song Jianguo had planned this—she swung the spear upward, pinning Zhang Wenda’s hand to the concrete ground and severely restricting his movement.
She then stepped on his chest to prevent him from rising and reached for his pocket with her right hand.
With a sudden burst of strength, Zhang Wenda flipped her off of him and stood up, a footprint stamped on his chest.
He pulled the spear from his hand, swept it in a wide arc to drive away the surrounding black cats, and pointed the tip at her.
“You little brat! This weapon’s mine now!”
But Song Jianguo wasn’t angry—she laughed instead and shook a green ticket in her hand.
“Then this thing’s mine now too.”