How could Xia Wenbin possibly be afraid of him? With his physique now approaching 50 points, his strength, agility, and physical condition were all five times those of an ordinary person. Furthermore, with 35 points in spirit, his reaction time was astonishing.
Therefore, without the slightest panic, he sidestepped and easily dodged the man's attack.
With a loud crash, the man's empty fist struck the window glass of a car, shattering it into pieces.
Instantly, shards of glass pierced his hand, and blood gushed out, causing the man to bare his teeth in agony and let out a howl of pain.
Xia Wenbin spun around behind the pale man and kicked him right in the back of his knee, striking his tendon dead on.
Letting out a miserable scream, the man's leg went completely numb and throbbed with pain, making him nearly collapse to his knees.
After finally steadying himself, he spun around and threw another punch straight at Xia Wenbin!
But one of Xia Wenbin's feet was already waiting. With what looked like a light kick to the man's face, the fellow sprayed a fountain of blood from his nose and crashed backward to the ground.
"Boss! Boss!"
The few subordinates in black suits were dumbfounded. Their boss had actually been beaten so thoroughly that he couldn't even fight back, ending up in such a pathetic state?
The crowd of onlookers burst into cheers one after another, wishing they could step up and give the thug leader a few kicks themselves.
Xia Wenbin turned back to look at the two big men still holding Liu Xiaoting hostage, a playful smile playing on his lips.
"Hey, aren't you guys going to take your boss to the hospital? What if he gets kicked so hard he turns into an idiot?"
The two thugs gave a start, hurriedly released Liu Xiaoting, and ran over to pick up their boss and several other fallen cronies.
Then the four or five of them scrambled back into their vehicle and quickly drove away.
Watching that gang retreat into the distance, Liu Xiaoting finally felt a genuine sense of relief. Completely drained as if she had been sapped of all her strength, drenched in fragrant sweat, she collapsed to the ground, panting softly.
Her heart was still pounding wildly, giving her the distinct sensation of having survived a catastrophe.
"Miss, are you alright?"
Liu Xiaoting looked up and saw Xia Wenbin's harmless, honest, and youthful face. It seemed completely different from the cold and ruthless man she had just witnessed.
For some reason, Liu Xiaoting felt as though the man in front of her was wearing a mask, leaving her somewhat foolishly unable to tell the real him apart.
"Just who... are you? And how do you know me?" Liu Xiaoting asked, her face full of curiosity.
Xia Wenbin scratched his head, gave a hearty laugh, and said, "My name is Xia Wenbin, and I'm also a student at Jiangzhou University! Given your fame, Senior Sister, I imagine there's probably no one at Jiangzhou University who doesn't know you!" As he spoke, he even pulled out his student ID and handed it to her.
Fortunately, he had heard plenty of rumors about Liu Xiaoting back on campus, the most famous of which was her title as the "Most Beautiful Ph.D.".Although Liu Xiaoting was already a Ph.D. student and rarely showed her face on campus, constantly shuttling between her office and the library, there were still plenty of male students and upperclassmen infatuated with this aloof and stunning doctoral beauty.
After taking a close look at Xia Wenbin's student ID, Liu Xiaoting realized that he truly was a student at Jiangzhou University.
An overwhelming sense of disbelief washed over her, mingled with a tiny trace of mortification—as a senior student, she had actually been rescued by a freshman.
Still, facts were facts. She offered Xia Wenbin a sincere expression of gratitude. "Thank you, student Xia! If it weren't for you, your senior here would have been in serious trouble today."
"It's nothing at all, Senior Liu! Just a minor matter."
Xia Wenbin smiled as he reached out a hand toward Liu Xiaoting.
"Let me help you up, Senior Liu! The ground is dirty, and we don't want to ruin your clothes."
With a blushing face and a moment of hesitation, Liu Xiaoting placed her fair, delicate hand into Xia Wenbin's.
Liu Xiaoting possessed a rather voluptuous figure, and her hand was exceptionally smooth and tender, feeling quite comfortable to hold.
Just as he was about to pull Liu Xiaoting to her feet, he saw her delicate eyebrows knit together, followed by a soft cry of "Ah."
"What's wrong?" Xia Wenbin asked with concern.
"My foot... I think I sprained it," Liu Xiaoting said, wearing a pained expression that was truly pitiable.
Xia Wenbin glanced at her left foot and saw that the heel of her high heel was snapped in half. He figured she must have accidentally broken it during her intense struggle earlier, causing her to twist her ankle when she tried to stand up without noticing.
"Well... Senior Liu, how about I carry you on my back? If you try to force yourself to walk back like this, the injury will only get worse."
Without another word, Xia Wenbin turned his back to Liu Xiaoting and bent down.
"This... this isn't very appropriate, is it?" Liu Xiaoting's face flushed a deep red. Aside from her father, she had never been carried on the back of any man, let alone one of her own students.
Xia Wenbin chuckled nonchalantly, "It's fine, Senior don't worry. My stamina is insanely good! I could carry five of you."
He wasn't lying this time. After all, the 49 points in physique from the System were no joke.
Yet upon hearing Xia Wenbin's words, Liu Xiaoting burst out laughing.
"What do you mean you could carry five of me? You make it sound like I'm terribly heavy... Bragging at such a young age!"
Although Liu Xiaoting felt that Xia Wenbin's proposal was a bit strange, she couldn't think of any other way out at the moment.
Furthermore, after what had just transpired, she felt a special sense of trust toward the young man before her.
So, after hesitating for a brief moment, Liu Xiaoting draped herself over Xia Wenbin's back and pointed him in the direction of her apartment.Along the way, however, Liu Xiaoting's cheeks remained flushed. She kept her head down, biting her red lips, too embarrassed to meet anyone's gaze.
She was terrified that someone might recognize her—the cold and aloof beauty and doctoral student of Jiangzhou University—being carried back to her apartment on the back of a young male student in the middle of the night. That would be utterly humiliating.
Riding the elevator up to the sixteenth floor, Xia Wenbin noticed that the higher the floor in this apartment building, the higher the status of the residents, and the more refined the rooms became.
Take Liu Xiaoting's single-person flat, for instance. Even though she lived alone, it spanned over ninety square meters, making it quite spacious and comfortable.
As soon as they unlocked the door and stepped inside, a faint, pleasant fragrance greeted them.
Xia Wenbin hurriedly carried Liu Xiaoting over and set her down on a dark blue fabric sofa.
Seeing Liu Xiaoting biting her lip with a wincing expression, tears welling up in her eyes, he asked with concern, "Senior Liu, does it hurt a lot?"
"Oh, I don't know why, but it's hurting more and more. I have several important seminar meetings scheduled over the next two days, this is going to be a real problem..."
Liu Xiaoting said with a face full of distress.
Seeing how uncomfortable Liu Xiaoting was, Xia Wenbin instinctively wondered if the System had any solutions.
No sooner had he opened the System interface than a flurry of notifications popped up.
"Obtained from passerby... Emotion +10×6", "Obtained from Master Liu... Emotion +10"
"Lin Yanran obtained from male... Emotion +10×99+, from female... Emotion +10×99+"
"Obtained from Black Bear Gang hoodlums, Aversion Emotion +10×4, Fear Emotion +10×4"
"Obtained from Black Bear Gang Li Si, Surprise Emotion +10, Fear Emotion +10"
"Obtained from onlookers, Pity Emotion +10×4, Shock Emotion +10×4"
"Obtained from Liu Xiaoting, Despair Emotion +10, Gratitude Emotion +10, Surprise Emotion +10, Joy Emotion +10"
"Liu Xiaoting's Favorability +10", "Liu Xiaoting's Favorability +5"
……
After a continuous stream of text flashed across his screen, Xia Wenbin finally finished reviewing his harvest for the day.
He couldn't help it! He used to keep the notification sounds on, but ever since he bound Lin Yanran, he had simply muted the System entirely.
The main reason was that it was just too noisy. Having notifications chime right next to his ear from morning till night—could anyone possibly endure that?
Judging by the data, his own Points for a single day didn't even amount to a fraction of Lin Yanran's. Xia Wenbin felt like a total failure. A campus belle truly is a campus belle!
Yet, it seemed that an increasing number of girls harbored jealousy toward Lin Yanran. It was probably because the news about him slapping Chen Haoxuan's face yesterday by transferring one hundred million had spread, making it quite normal for many wealth-resenting girls to feel envious.
Pushing aside distracting thoughts, Xia Wenbin checked Liu Xiaoting's attribute panel.
Name: Liu Xiaoting
Age: 30
Height: 170cm
Weight: 50kg
Appearance: 90
Physique: 9 (Severe foot sprain)
Favorability: 15
Sure enough, it showed that her foot was injured and quite seriously at that. But how did her favorability shoot up to 15 points all of a sudden?
Xia Wenbin figured it must be because he had just rescued her, coupled with the fact that he was a student at Jiangzhou University, which caused her favorability to jump so much.
Right now, though, he needed to check if the System had any recommended ways to cure or alleviate her condition!
Targeted remedies for Liu Xiaoting's injury currently recommended:
① 1 bottle of Premium Safflower Oil: For bruises and injuries. Apply for 3 days to recover completely. Costs 10 Points.
② Massage Masterpiece—Tang Family Eighteen Touches: A long-lost massage technique. Recovers in 2 days after use, costs 500 Points. If used in conjunction with Premium Safflower Oil, recovery time is reduced by 1 day.
③ Primary Recovery Pill: A pill favored by primary martial artists and Cultivators. Consuming it instantly heals injuries, and it has miraculous effects on ordinary persons, even cleansing the marrow and transforming the bones. Recovers within 5 seconds of consumption, costs 1000 Points.
④ Supernatural Spell—Healing Spell: A spell favored by priests in holy churches, possessing excellent therapeutic effects. Heals within 1 minute, costs 2000 Points.
Gazing at the four suggestions provided by the System, Xia Wenbin thought it over carefully and decided that the safflower oil was too cheap, and its effect was a bit too slow.
Liu Xiaoting was practically going to become his Bound Target anyway, and Xia Wenbin was always quite generous toward the tool person who would be farming points for him in the future.
Therefore, he directly spent 600 Points to exchange for a bottle of Premium Safflower Oil and the massage manual: Tang Family Eighteen Touches.
The very instant he mastered the skill, Xia Wenbin felt as though he suddenly understood many of the human body's mysteries, acupoint knowledge, and conditioning methods.
As it turned out, the Eighteen Touches consisted of 18 distinct techniques, namely: pushing, grasping, pointing, pressing, squeezing, kneading, rubbing, twisting, smearing, wiping, hammering, grinding, pinching, shaking, rocking, patting, nipping, and clawing.
What was even more magical was that after mastering this set of massage techniques, one could not only cure illnesses but also strengthen the body when healthy.
Ordinary minor ailments didn't require injections or medicine; a casual massage could clear them right up. Moreover, it was rumored that this technique could also promote marital harmony and preserve eternal youth.
After reading the introduction and description of the Tang Family Eighteen Touches, Xia Wenbin instantly felt that this massage technique was simply too powerful!
Yet such a fantastic item only cost 500 Points in the System—this was practically a daylight robbery in his favor!
If he were running the show, he would charge at least 1,000 Points as a base price.
So at this moment, a wave of inexplicable joy washed over Xia Wenbin's heart, as if he had just scored an absolute bargain.