Beauty and the Bodyguard

Chapter 161 - Division Classes

The cause for Lin Yi's certainty was actually quite simple.

It didn't matter whether or not the pretty boy was a coward, or if he didn't wish to cross this exquisite customer's path- at the end of the day, he was an employee at the establishment!

The exquisite man, regardless of how much power or authority he had, wouldn't go as far as to kick the pretty boy out of the table, without, at the very least, some sort of tip as compensation for the simple sake of not humiliating him!

Yet the pretty boy left after one look at the man, leaving without even a single word- this only meant that the exquisite man himself was part of the establishment as well.

Having made that confirmation, Lin Yi didn't bother playing games with the exquisite man. It was a simple thing to beat him up, but he'd really rather not have to employ violent methods for the sake of solving a problem, especially not when he was inside the enemy's bar.

It was true that he could destroy an entire group of attackers, let alone a single man… That scenario, however, would expose his capabilities for quite a number of people to see, even if what he revealed wasn't the full extent of what he was capable of. That development would certainly yield high-stakes consequences, and it was why Lin Yi held himself back.

The people he was dealing with were not operating on the same level kids like Zhong Pinliang or Zou Ruoming were playing on, and Lin Yi felt that the people after Chu Mengyao concerned even Chu Pengzhan himself! After all, it wasn't just one man they were dealing with here- it was an entire organization, and a powerful one. What was shown here was but the mere tip of an iceberg.

With all that in mind, Lin Yi decided that he'd expose the exquisite man from the start, and have the guy calling the shots reveal himself to Lin Yi so that they could converse directly. He wouldn't have to reveal his capabilities prematurely, and he'd be able to investigate who or what exactly the enemy was, too.

Everything Lin Yi had shown to the public, up until this point, was but mere speed, including the gunshot at the bank and the gun he'd stolen in the SUV… He'd never went as far as to reveal anything else beyond that.

His grip on the exquisite man's arm was also a controlled pressure- he'd made sure to use only a little more strength than what the man was capable of, so as to misdirect his interpretation of Lin Yi's skill level.

The modern person divided martial arts into four levels, classes. They were 'Sky', 'Earth', 'Mystic', and 'Golden', with each class split into phases of 'early', 'middle', and 'late'.

It was, in actuality, just a generalized division to evaluate those involved in the world of martial arts. Every house trained in different variants of these arts. Two people in the early phase of the golden class, for example, may have a slight difference in their capabilities, even if it wasn't too significant.

It was information Lin Yi had learned from his time in the special ops team; both his old man and shifu never used the division classes.

The old man focused on the betterment of the physical body, known as physical kungfu: he made improvements to the physical body through his own Eastern medicine. Lin Yi's shifu, on the other hand, focused on the art of assassination- there was a certain level of physical kungfu required at the start, but the focus was mainly around surprise attacks and speed training.

Old Lin's efforts of bettering Lin Yi's body placed his ability in somewhere around the late phase of the golden class, although he could very well take down a master in the mystic class if he coupled his physical capabilities with the skillset he'd learned from his assassin training…

Masters of that level were already very rare in urban settings… At least in the war zones Lin Yi had encountered someone of that level, who was a foreigner, too…

The Art of Dragon Mastery Lin Yi practiced, on the other hand, was similar to some of the spiritual kungfu of some houses… Although, the powerup Lin Yi had gotten from the first stage of that art was yet to have a prominent effect- it wasn't very noticeable as of yet.

After all, his training in that art only provided strengthening and improvement effects, while Old Lin's Eastern medicine messed with his bones and flesh, without really touching the organs at all, whereas the Art of Dragon Mastery made changes to the entire body as a whole…

From what he'd seen, the Art of Dragon Mastery provided an absolute advantage in removing fatigue, along with the ability that allowed Lin Yi to send energy into diseased people…

There wasn't much other than that- after all, as powerful as the art seemed, he was still at the first stage.

Yet the most prominent improvement to his body, much to Lin Yi's pleasant surprise, was the ability to sense the energy flow inside the exquisite man's body!

It was something he'd never experienced before! He'd battled with golden class and even mystic class fighters in the battlefields before, but needed to actively combat the particular opponent before he could make an assessment of how strong he or she was. He wasn't expecting to sense the absorbed energy flowing inside another practitioner after completing just the first stage of the Art of Dragon Mastery!

The exquisite man was probably a spiritual kungfu practitioner, but Lin Yi didn't know the specific type of art he practiced. The energy flow within him was weaker than his- most likely on the early phase of the golden class.

Naturally, there were exceptions.

Taking Wu Chentian, for example- the guy was a physical practitioner, who focused primarily on his hands… It was something Lin Yi had managed to sense, but there was no energy flow whatsoever within the practitioner's body, and Lin Yi had no means of telling what level he was on… It was, however, a possibility that the energy flow within him was so weak that it didn't even register on Lin Yi's senses…

"Ah……" The exquisite man wasn't expecting Lin Yi to be so spot on- he'd ruined his plan entirely!

He'd planned to do something to Chu Mengyao, piss her off to the point where Lin Yi would attack him… He'd be able to assess what level Lin Yi was at then, punishing him a little if the guy was beneath him in terms of combative ability, and wait for his boss to make an appearance…

From what he'd seen, Lin Yi was by no means weaker than him, probably even stronger! There was no point in making any assessments by that point, but calling his boss out wasn't something the exquisite man could decide.

He was in the middle of hesitating when his phone rang.

Fuck, now? The exquisite man was getting pissed- who was calling him at a time like this? He had an arm in Lin Yi's hands, the two of them with their swords out already!

He'd be finished if Lin Yi wasn't the honorable type, attacking him when he answered his phone! There was no guarantee that he'd win against an opponent of Lin Yi's level, and the exquisite man made sure to be careful because of that- one slip up and it could very well be the end for him.

"Pick it up- it's gotta be your boss if it's ringing right now." Lin Yi said with a smile as he let go of the man's arm, evidently unafraid that he'd try retaliating.

The exquisite man didn't expect Lin Yi to have just let him go like that- he looked deeply at him before pulling the phone out, making sure to keep his eyes on the opponent the whole time. He could tell from his gut that Lin Yi wasn't as honorable a man as he'd set himself up to be.

He glanced at his phone- it was Cihua Bro calling.

Chapter 162 - Sorry

"Hello, boss……" The exquisite man made sure to keep the name 'Cihua Bro' secret- he didn't know if Cihua Bro wanted his identity revealed, after all.

"Give the phone to Lin Yi- I'll talk to him." Cihua said.

"Oh… Yes!" The man said after a pause. He turned to Lin Yi. "It's my boss- you wanna talk to him?"

"Ah……" Lin Yi took the phone with a smile on his lips. "Sure."

"Lin Yi, is it?" Li Cihua wasn't expecting Lin Yi to be this big a threat, but he did manage to see everything from the security cameras. Lin Yi's speed was definitely high, and from how cautious the exquisite man was being, Cihua understood Lin Yi to be a master as well. He was, however, uncertain of the extent to Lin Yi's ability. "I'm Li Cihua. I'm sure you've heard of me?"

"Ah, yeah, during the new years. There's double kicks, and sky monkey too." Lin Yi said. "Right, and mother lightnings."

(cihua shares a name with a firework type i think..)

"......" Cihua was speechless- did this guy think he was a fucking firework? There were really only a handful of people who didn't know his name in Songshan! He felt like laughing, finding it amusing that Lin Yi was still in the mood for joking around after hearing his name. Newborn calves weren't afraid of tigers, it seemed.

"Haha, I appreciate the joke, Mister Lin." Cihua said with a faint chuckle. "Come in, we'll talk- I believe you're interested in meeting me too, are you not?"

"I'm not, sorry." Lin Yi said. "You can come out if you wanna meet me, stop hiding around."

"Hahaha." Cihua started laughing again. "I understand your concerns, Mister Lin, you don't have to deny it. You're worried for Chu Mengyao and her friend's safeties, am I right?"

Lin Yi didn't reply, but it was true- he'd walk into flaming forests for Cihua if he were alone, but circumstances made that impossible. He couldn't just leave these two girls to fend for themselves.

"Rest assured, Mister Lin. Your suspicions or certainties regarding some things don't matter, as long as that stays away from the table… but let me tell you this: as of yet, there's no one in Songshan capable of crossing me!" Cihua boasted. "But, should something happen to Chu Mengyao in my bar… Ha. I'm afraid even the person behind me wouldn't be able to protect me. That other girl with her, too… it'll just be a ton of trouble. I don't want her brother leveling my bar with an army, now do I?"

This Cihua character was quite eloquent, and Lin Yi couldn't help but acknowledge that- he'd made things clear enough. Lin Yi, naturally, knew about the name 'Li Cihua'... He also linked that name to the 'Cihua Bro' he'd heard the baldy say back in the SUV, too- the two should be the same person.

Cihua was practically taking credit for the kidnapping earlier, and he didn't seem the least bit afraid, either, unworried of revealing that information to Lin Yi. It was solid evidence of how powerful the person supporting him was, and Lin Yi guessed that that person had to be on the same level as Chu Pengzhan himself.

People who had reached a certain level did things with extra caution- everything changed with the presence or absence of evidence. Anything went when things were kept in the dark, but put that stuff out in public…

Yet Lin Yi couldn't just take Cihua's word for it. "Alright, I'll get someone to take the Miss home. We'll talk after that."

"Haha… You still don't believe me after all, Mister Lin? I'm disappointed." Cihua said, evidently understanding his concerns. "As far as I can tell, you're an intellectual man- I can't say the same if you do something like that."

"Whatever you say." Lin Yi hung up immediately, not bothering to bullshit with the guy any longer.

"Hello? Hello? Hello?! Fuck!!" Cihua was speechless- the guy had hung up on him! Any other young man would've listened to him after a couple prods… After all, young men were prideful. On the other hand, it was also true that he wasn't planning on doing anything to Mengyao- anything that happened to her could cause major consequences for him later on.

Yet Lin Yi didn't care about all that, hanging up on him with a sentence like that! It was a large blow to Cihua's pride.

Young men these days were too ignorant of the world… Cihua pitied him. Heh… Lin Yi, huh? Things would've been a lot nicer for you if you'd chosen to cooperate with me… I'm afraid I'll have to apologize if you don't… Cihua wasn't daring enough to do anything to Chu Mengyao, but killing a little bodyguard like Lin Yi… He was sure no one would avenge a character like him.

Lin Yi hung up before tossing the phone to the exquisite man. "Tell your boss I'll be there later."

The man had heard the conversation, and took the phone without saying anything else. He got up and walked away.

Mengyao and Yushu, on the other hand, knew they'd fucked up, and Mengyao didn't even dare look Lin Yi in the face. She didn't know what was going on in her head as she looked down at the table- she hated Lin Yi, but also…… didn't.

"I'll call Uncle Fu- he'll pick you two up." Lin Yi said as he pulled his phone out.

"Lin Yi, can you not tell Uncle Fu? We can get back ourselves, we didn't drink." Mengyao said, feeling guilty when she heard Lin Yi bring Uncle Fu up.

"Ah……" Lin Yi smiled faintly- this wasn't something he could just cover up for Mengyao anymore, and it wasn't something he could just hide from Chu Pengzhan. He had to talk to Pengzhan about his meeting with Cihua, too, and Mengyao's request simply wasn't something he could fulfill.

"I'm sorry Lin Yi…… I was wrong…… Please don't call Uncle Fu……" Mengyao said as she curled her lips- it was the first time she had lowered her head to Lin Yi... Everything that happened today had been all her fault, after all.