Chapter 779 — The Real Side of Yu Xiaoke

"Well? Scared now, aren't you? Your pathetic little Flying Swallow Sect is no match for our pickpocket gang!" Seeing Wei Zhao's frightened look, Black Bird Bro was instantly delighted. "You'd better start thinking about what you're going to do in a minute. Once our Big Boss gets here, a piddling million or two won't be enough to settle this!"

"Ugh!" Wei Zhao sighed in frustration and dialed Qiu Lingshan's number once more.

"Good man, what is it? I'm on my way!" Seeing Wei Zhao calling again, Qiu Lingshan picked up at once.

She was driving the Cheetah herself, with no one else in the car.

"Senior Sister Sect Master, it's bad, really bad! The pickpocket gang's Big Boss, Giant Deer Bro, is coming at us with his whole crew, and they're going to hack us to death! What are we supposed to do? You've got to bring plenty of people!" Wei Zhao said pitifully.

"Don't worry, I've brought every single person from my squadrons who wasn't on assignment, and the public security brigade is coming along to back us up!" Qiu Lingshan said.

"Ah, you can't be serious, Senior Sister Sect Master — only a dozen or so of us? How can we possibly stand against them?" Wei Zhao went on with a long face. "You've got to figure out a way to find some more backup, or we're done for!"

"..." Qiu Lingshan almost laughed out loud. So Wei Zhao had a silly side too? She knew perfectly well he was putting it on, just toying with the other side, but she couldn't help finding it terribly amusing!

"All right, I'll do my best to find a few more people." Qiu Lingshan couldn't hold back a laugh.

Wei Zhao hung up and said to Yu Xiaoke with a sour face, "Wifey, this is bad. The most Senior Sister Sect Master can scrounge up is a dozen or so people. What are we going to do?"

"Haha! No need to do anything — you'd better start thinking about how you're going to compensate us!" Watching Wei Zhao's helpless look, Black Bird Bro burst out laughing. "You're killing me! Still trying to find backup? Your own people aren't enough, so you want outside help? Look at the time — even if they come, it'll be too late!"

"Yeah, what are we going to do?" Wei Zhao sighed.

"Don't worry, maybe Senior Sister Sect Master has a plan!" Yu Xiaoke knew Wei Zhao was putting on an act. If he really couldn't find anyone, would he just stand there like an idiot waiting for Black Bird Bro's men to cut him down? Clearly Wei Zhao had a plan — otherwise, knocking out Black Bird Bro and making a run for it would be child's play for him right now.

"That's all we can do!" Wei Zhao nodded.

Admittedly, the pickpocket gang was efficient — or rather, their headquarters was close by. Before long, a dark mass of men brandishing machetes and iron rods surged in from both ends of Old Tao Alley and surrounded Wei Zhao and Yu Xiaoke in the middle.

Black Bird Bro was overjoyed at the sight of his own people, and when he spotted Giant Deer Bro among them, he scurried over eagerly. "Giant Deer Bro, it's these two — one's Yu Xiaoke, and the other's her man!"

"Oh? What's the story with those four brothers on the ground?" Giant Deer Bro glanced at his four henchmen howling on the ground and couldn't help frowning.

"That kid's trained in some kind of technique called Iron Armor Body Protection. The boys went at him with their fists, and this is what happened to them!" Black Bird Bro hurried to explain.

"That tough?" Giant Deer Bro was taken aback. He hadn't expected such a technique to exist — didn't that mean whoever hit him was the one who got the worse end of it?

"Yes, it really is formidable. But according to what he let slip by accident, he's not afraid of being hit — what he's afraid of is a machete cutting him!" Black Bird Bro said smugly. "I figure he's immune to blunt force, but sharp blades cutting and stabbing are another matter!"

"Mm, that makes sense!" Giant Deer Bro nodded.

While the two were talking, Yu Xiaoke seized the chance to ask Wei Zhao quietly, "Hey, did you actually call anyone? There are so many of them — will it be enough?"

"If not, we run." Wei Zhao smiled.

"I'm not joking with you. I can't die — if I die, there'll be no one to look after the orphans, and they'll starve!" Feng Xiaoxiao was getting anxious.

"You really steal for the sake of the orphans at the orphanage?" Wei Zhao looked at Yu Xiaoke. From the look of her, she didn't seem like someone given to extravagance; with her daily income, she shouldn't have to dress the way she did.

"Of course. You want to donate to me? I'll take that too," Yu Xiaoke said.

"Ha, you could find another way to make money. Always stealing isn't good." Wei Zhao had no particular fondness for the thief's trade, though neither did he loathe it—his own martial uncle was, after all, a master thief. It was just that Wei Zhao thought Yu Xiaoke's skills were too poor. Coming out to steal money at that level, she was bound to come to grief sooner or later.

"What line of work makes money that fast?" Yu Xiaoke rolled her eyes. "Every day I've got over a hundred mouths to feed! Do you have any idea how expensive things are now? Have you ever bought firewood, rice, oil, or salt? Even at a food budget of ten yuan per person per day, that's over a thousand yuan, and then there's buying study materials, shots and medicine when the little ones get sick, clothes and bedsheets and cups and daily necessities for them, plus water, electricity, broadband, gas, and cable TV. Without fifty thousand yuan a month, how could I possibly manage? I'm a young woman—where am I supposed to earn fifty thousand a month? If I went out selling myself, only the first time would be worth anything; after that I might not even make that much! You really don't know how hard others have it until you've had to run a household yourself!"

Wei Zhao hadn't expected his words to set off such a torrent of complaints from Yu Xiaoke. But then again, these words had probably been pent up in her heart for a long time—only there was usually no one to pour them out to. Now that she finally had a listener, she had dumped out everything, relevant or not, in one go.

Still, put that way, Yu Xiaoke really did have it hard! Fifty thousand a month—there truly wasn't any profession that brought in that kind of income! And Yu Xiaoke had no particular skill to speak of, so no wonder she had no choice but to go out stealing!

"Doesn't the orphanage get donations from anyone else?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Sure it does, but three thousand here, five thousand there—what's that enough for?" Yu Xiaoke shook her head and sighed. "Ai!"

Wei Zhao felt a stir of emotion. If everything Yu Xiaoke had said was true, then he really had to admire this girl. One person, holding up an entire orphanage—whatever trade she plied to make her money, it was something great.

"Oh, right—what was that protective iron-armor skill you mentioned earlier? Is there really such a technique? Could you teach it to me?" Yu Xiaoke thought of how Wei Zhao had dealt with those four big men a moment ago, and envy welled up in her at once.

"Do you think that's possible? Even the Golden Bell Shield doesn't have that effect." Wei Zhao shook his head. He had only made up a name on the spot earlier; in reality, that was not how it was at all!