The young man's words earned a cold snort from the other man, who said resentfully, "What, are you saying I'm trying to rip you off on purpose? Who's the blind one here, you or me?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant at all, sir," the young man in sunglasses said helplessly. He had no choice but to pull out another hundred-yuan bill and hand it over. "Sir, this should be enough, right?"

The burly middle-aged man took it, his eyes burning into the RMB in the young man's hand. "This one's a ten, too."

"That's impossible," the young man said firmly. He might be blind, but his mind was clear.

The middle-aged man grabbed the young man by the collar, snarling viciously, "What do you mean, 'impossible'? Every bill in your hand is a ten! You might as well just give them all to me."

"No way, no way." The young man shook his head repeatedly. 'How could I not understand? I've run into a thug trying to extort me.'

The burly middle-aged man said viciously, "Believe it or not, I'll beat your ass. You bumped into someone, shouldn't you pay up?"

"I just bumped you lightly, and I've already given you two hundred. Isn't that enough?"

"Two hundred? That was twenty! If you don't believe me, then open your eyes and see for yourself, if you can."

This was a blatant case of bullying a blind man.

The young man began to tremble slightly, overcome with rage and anger. He clenched one hand into a tight fist.

"What, you wanna try and hit me? You fucking blind man, when you bump into someone, you pay the price. Got it?" The burly middle-aged man patted his face, his own expression full of contempt.

The moment his words fell, WHOOSH... A sudden gust of wind howled behind him. A claw shot out, swift as lightning, and bizarrely clamped onto the middle-aged man's shoulder from behind.

The five fingers were like steel bars, sharp and pointed, digging straight into the burly man's flesh, right down to the bone.

The man's shoulder immediately became soaked in blood, a gruesome sight.

"AHH..."

He let out a wretched scream right there on the street.

"Hurts, doesn't it?"

A cold voice quietly cut through his miserable cries.

"Who... who are you? What do you want?" The burly middle-aged man's face was contorted in pain. He felt as if his shoulder had been completely ruined.

Tu Xiao'an couldn't watch any longer. This scum of the earth even bullied a blind man. He was no different from an animal.

"Someone who can't see bumps into you lightly, and you try to extort them. So now that I've dug my fingers into your flesh and bone, tell me, how much should I pay you?"

Tu Xiao'an's eyes were like those of a vicious viper, staring at him intently.

In an instant, the burly middle-aged man shuddered, feeling as if he'd been targeted by a malevolent spirit, enveloped by the aura of death.

"Tell me, how much should I pay you?"

As he spoke, Tu Xiao'an squeezed harder, his grip tightening on the man's bone.

THUD...

The burly middle-aged man was in so much pain that he fell to his knees. Cold sweat poured down his face as blood streamed from the wound.

"Murder! He's a murderer! Help!"

The middle-aged man screamed in terror. This was a pedestrian street, full of people. His shout immediately drew a crowd, which quickly surrounded them.

A buzz of whispered conversations rose from the onlookers.

Tu Xiao'an didn't want to make a huge scene, but he wasn't about to let this scoundrel off easy. He viciously lifted his hand, his forearm suddenly tensing. In an instant, the burly middle-aged man was thrown through the air as if he were a sack of goods.

'Thrown? He was thrown?'

The shocking, unbelievable scene was simply staggering to behold. The crowd that had just gathered was completely dumbfounded.

After all, this burly middle-aged man had to weigh around 220 pounds.

Forget throwing him, most people would have a hard time just pushing him.

Yet a slender-looking young man had lifted him with one hand and tossed him aside, leaving the crowd completely stunned.

'Damn, is this some kind of acrobatics show?'

THUD...

After being thrown, the burly middle-aged man landed heavily, crashing down on both knees.

Instantly, blood began to gush from both of his knees. The man's face was ashen, like a corpse's, and contorted in so much agony it looked as if his facial bones would shatter.

"What happened?"

The young man in sunglasses was completely lost. Being blind, he had no idea what had just happened around him.

He could only hear a series of wretched screams.

"Come with me."

Tu Xiao'an grabbed the young man and dashed out of the crowd as if his feet had wings, not caring about the consequences.

In their wake, a large group of people stood staring at each other, surrounding the pitiful figure of the burly middle-aged man kneeling on the ground. For a moment, none of them could process what they had seen.

"Am... bu... lance..."

The burly middle-aged man managed to force out the words. Only then did the scene erupt into chaos.

「A dozen or so minutes later, in an alley off another street.」

The young man in sunglasses was panting heavily. After catching his breath for a long moment, he asked in a panic, "Who are you? Why did you bring me here? If you want money, I'll just give it all to you."

He even thought the middle-aged thug who had been extorting him had dragged him here.

"Don't be afraid. It's me, the one who helped you put your sunglasses on earlier."

Hearing this, the young man remembered, and his tension eased considerably. "Oh, it's you. What happened back there?"

Tu Xiao'an said lightly, "It was nothing. That guy was trying to extort you, so I just taught him a little lesson so he'll think twice next time."

"Thank you. You've helped me again." The young man immediately bowed to Tu Xiao'an, his voice full of emotion.

Tu Xiao'an smiled and looked at him. "What's your name? Are you a local?"

He replied, "My name is Chen Gao Yang. I'm from Wencheng; I grew up here."

"I'm Tu Xiao'an, from Bai Town."

After their simple introductions, Tu Xiao'an couldn't contain his curiosity. "Can you tell me... what happened to your eyes?"

Chen Gao Yang heard this and gave a bitter smile. "I've been blind since birth."

"Oh..."

'So he was born with a disability,' Tu Xiao'an thought sympathetically. Then another question came to mind.

He had said his girlfriend was missing.

'What kind of kind and beautiful girl would be willing to be the girlfriend of someone born blind?'

"You said your girlfriend is missing. What's the story there?"

Chen Gao Yang seemed to freeze for a moment, then his face filled with sorrow. "I don't even know how to explain it. About half a month ago, my girlfriend disappeared from my world without any warning. She hasn't been seen since. I'm worried something happened to her."

At the mention of trouble, he was clearly plunged into a state of fear.

It was clear he and his girlfriend had a very strong relationship.

"Have you called the police?"

"I did, but the police said I couldn't provide any clues. They can't open a case based on just a name."

Tu Xiao'an was puzzled. "You don't have her home address or any way to contact her family? How could you only know her name?"

"She's an orphan. She has no family. She lived with me; we only had each other."

Tu Xiao'an frowned. "So you really don't even have a single photo of her?"

"No." Chen Gao Yang's voice was self-deprecating. "It's laughable, really. After all these years, I'm only just now realizing that all I ever knew was her name, Haitang. I knew nothing else about her."

Tu Xiao'an was utterly speechless. 'What the hell? What a bizarre relationship.'