Chapter 742: Chapter 742: Joining Forces
The loudness of this slap was not any less than the first one, with a red mark appearing on the other side of the girl’s unscathed face, creating a symmetrical pattern with the previous slap, which looked excessively ridiculous on her face.
The girl’s eyes visibly reddened, and she looked at Alice with the gaze of someone staring at a father’s murderer. Her breathing became extremely unstable, like a bull seeing a floating red cloth in front of it.
Alice, intimidated by the look in the girl’s eyes, involuntarily took a step back, bumping into Xu Ke. "Why are you looking at me like that? Although I slapped you, you used to slap me a lot too. Today we are even." Alice swallowed nervously and said softly, looking into the girl’s eyes.
The girl snorted with an ambiguous laugh, a cold raspiness that sent chills down the spine. "You think saying we’re even makes it so? Who do you think you are?" After saying this, she turned to her two followers behind her and said discontentedly, "What are you two doing standing there? Go get them!"
The two who’d been standing behind the girl seemed to snap out of a daze and nodded, advancing towards Xu Ke and Alice. The girl was the first to act, directly kicking at Alice’s stomach.
Alice was swiftly pulled behind Xu Ke by his quick reflexes, managing to avoid the girl’s kick. However, Xu Ke wasn’t so lucky; he couldn’t dodge in time, and the sharp heel of a high-heeled shoe struck his thigh, causing a pain that made Xu Ke frown, grateful that the heel wasn’t sharper.
With one strike and after Xu Ke released his grip, the girl retreated a step, putting distance between them, while her two followers reached Xu Ke. One swung a fist at Xu Ke’s face, and the other aimed a kick at Xu Ke’s lower body—with the intention clearly malicious.
Alice watched from behind Xu Ke, her heart pounding with worry for him, but she saw Xu Ke raise one arm to block an attacker’s arm while stepping forward to intercept another kick. Simultaneously, Xu Ke counterattacked, landing a punch on one attacker and a kick on the other. Though the actions seemed numerous, they were executed in an instant.
Due to the opponent’s gender, and because the level of hostility hadn’t been very high from the start, Xu Ke held back a little. Even so, the two girls were knocked back by Xu Ke, feeling as if they had been shocked by electricity, their bodies tingling.
As both groups were about to start a brawl in the store, the three store clerks who had been watching from the side couldn’t sit by any longer. They came forward with exaggerated smiles and said, "If there’s a conflict, please resolve it outside. Our store has many items on display, and they aren’t cheap. It would be unfortunate if anything got damaged."
People already furious couldn’t take the clerks’ words to heart, let alone the fact that the words didn’t sound well-meaning. The girl who just got kicked couldn’t handle such treatment. With an impatient expression, she pushed a clerk, sending him stumbling backward, unprepared, and falling onto a toy car.
The female clerk couldn’t help but cry out in pain but didn’t reach for her injury; instead, she reached out to save the toy car, almost falling to the floor. But she was a step too slow, and the toy car fell, immediately getting scratched. Although it wasn’t completely shattered, damage was done, turning a perfectly good display toy into scrap.
The female clerk’s expression froze, and her whole body seemed to rust, unable to move.
"Oh my god, the toy car is broken, and it costs a thousand dollars. You have to compensate for the damaged toy car," another female clerk exclaimed with exaggerated expression, wearing red gloves.
The girl who pushed the clerk didn’t expect this result, and she didn’t have a thousand dollars on her, making her face turn ugly. Instinctively, she looked at her Boss for some comfort.
"Why are you looking at me? I didn’t break anything. Didn’t she fall herself and knock over the toy? How is it our fault? Instead of blaming us, why don’t you blame them? They have more money than us. We can’t afford this compensation. If you’re looking for someone to blame, go blame them instead." The girl’s eyes shifted, and she shamelessly tried to pass the blame onto Xu Ke, her impudence truly outrageous.
Alice, hiding behind Xu Ke, widened her eyes at the girl’s words. "How can you say that? This has nothing to do with us. You are the ones who pushed people, which caused the toy car to fall. We had nothing to do with it from the beginning," Alice said with dissatisfaction and anger.
But just as Alice turned to seek agreement from the clerks, she saw their contemplative gaze fixed on her and Xu Ke. Alice was stunned, her mind momentarily blank, mouth open but unable to vocalize.
"You’re not really going to blame this on us, are you?" Alice asked, her voice dry, looking at the female clerk’s face.
The female clerk instinctively avoided Alice’s gaze but didn’t voice a denial, clearly indicating their intentions.
Their behavior was unfathomable to Alice. "How can you do this? We’ve done nothing to wrong you. How can you harbor such thoughts and do something so wicked?" Alice asked loudly, but no one answered her question.
"Don’t ask anymore; it’s meaningless. In the face of profit, some morals can be abandoned." Xu Ke said softly, looking at the opponent lowering their head, not showing any emotion.
The female clerk couldn’t lift her head against Xu Ke’s words but didn’t rebuff them either. After all, compared to the three girls who might not have any money, Xu Ke—who had just spent a large sum—was a better scapegoat for the incident. Among these people, Xu Ke was the only one who might realistically provide the compensation.
Alice looked at the female clerk’s response, and she saw everything clearly. But precisely because she understood, she felt endless disappointment.