A group of men, all young, with the eldest being around twenty-two or twenty-three.
Each of them was dressed in cutting-edge fashions, sporting either yellow, green, red, or multicolored hair—none black.
The apparent leader was the oldest, with hair dyed in a myriad of colors. His ears adorned with a row of studs on each side, and a ring piercing his lip.
When he stopped in his tracks, the others followed suit, each one glaring fixedly at Liu Mang and the woman in his arms.
Liu Mang glanced over at the guys, whose looks seemed to want to tear him limb from limb.
It's not like he had messed with their moms, did they really need to overreact like this?
Looking down at the woman in his embrace, Liu Mang unexpectedly discovered that she was quite the beauty.
Her features were delicate and exquisite with a small face and mouth but, paradoxically, paired with large, luminous eyes.
Her skin radiated the unique luster of youth, and her eyes brimmed with helplessness and fear—she exuded the sweet fragrance characteristic of young women.
Looking at her figure, she wasn't tall, about 1.5 meters, with slender arms and legs—undoubtedly a petite and dainty girl.
She was young and had the appearance of cute, lively youth, extremely eye-catching.
In his breath, Liu Mang could not only smell a very pleasant girlish scent but also a strong odor of alcohol—it seemed the girl had been drinking.
The girl, too, seemed to have noticed Liu Mang's gaze. She shifted shyly, speaking in a soft voice, "Save me."
The scruffy-haired youth had waited a full ten seconds, carefully observing Liu Mang and his surroundings.
Once he saw that Liu Mang was even younger than himself and without any backup, the scruffy-haired youth let out a sly chuckle, addressing Liu Mang, "Brother, she's my girlfriend. We just had a small fight. Don't intervene, just hand her over to me."
"No, I don't know them, I have nothing to do with them, I'm definitely not his girlfriend!" The girl vehemently shook her head, denying the scruffy-haired guy's claim outright.
Scruffy-hair said, "Fangfang, come on, I just looked at another girl, didn't do anything else, and look how mad you got. How about this, to apologize, I'll buy you that designer bag you wanted a while back, okay? Stop being mad at me, it's embarrassing in front of strangers."
The girl retorted sharply, "Who's your girlfriend, you're making things up!"
Scruffy-hair sighed in a helpless manner, "What's with you? How are we suddenly not a couple? We've been together for over two months, almost living together for a month. We just had a little fight, do you really have to deny your own boyfriend?"
What, living together? Upon hearing this, the girl felt a mix of embarrassment and anger, "You're lying!"
The scruffy-haired youth approached Liu Mang, reaching out to grab the girl.
Frightened, the girl burrowed deeper into Liu Mang's embrace, pleading with her eyes, "Save me, if you save me, I'll give you the most precious thing I have."
Just as the girl was about to be snatched away, Liu Mang spoke up, "Hold on! Who said you could take her away?"
The hand of the scruffy-haired youth froze, as did his body. His eyes shifted to Liu Mang, and the pretense of a smile on his face quickly disappeared, replaced by a glint of cruelty, "Kid, ever heard the saying, 'Don't stick your nose in other people's business'?"
Liu Mang raised his voice by an octave, "What if I decide to meddle anyway?"
"Brave kid, judging by the accent, not from around here, right?"
"What if I'm from out of town?"
"I can't stand you outsiders. Today, if you dare to meddle in my affairs, don't blame us for being rough," the scruffy-haired youth warned. Upon his words, the other youths surrounded Liu Mang and the girl in a half-circle.
The scruffy-haired youth glanced at Liu Mang, then back at his own group. Excluding the girl, it was five against one—an advantage solidly in his favor.
Assuming a superiority stance, the scruffy-haired youth sneered at Liu Mang as if a cat about to pounce on a mouse, "I gave you a chance to butt out, but you had to act tough with me. Now, I want to see how tough you can be!"
Before Liu Mang could respond, a green-haired youth started to rant loudly, "Big bro, why waste time talking? Just deal with him, take the chick back, and let's have some fun."
He ran forward, screaming as he threw a punch in an ostentatious manner, imitating Brother Long's moves, aiming for Liu Mang's head.
Liu Mang, cradling the girl, quickly retreated a step, casually kicking a fist-sized brick on the ground slightly forward.
The green-haired youth thought his stylish and flashy punch was bound to hit Liu Mang's head, but to his surprise, he missed entirely.
Not hitting someone was not a big deal, but what mattered was that the foot stepping forward had trodden on a rock, instantly losing balance and stumbling headfirst.
In a moment of crisis, Green Hair instinctively put out his hands to brace himself, to avoid smacking his head on the ground.
In the blink of an eye, the green-haired youth was on his hands and knees, kneeling before Liu Mang.
All of a sudden, the surroundings fell silent, so quiet it couldn't get any quieter.
Liu Mang chuckled and said, "This doesn't look good at all, after all, it's not even Chinese New Year yet, and you're kneeling without me giving you any lucky money."
"Pfft..." The girl couldn't help but start laughing, finding him too funny and having never seen anyone quite like him.
The guy with the mixed hair on the other side turned green— he hadn't seen the kick that sent the stone flying at all.
He had only seen the green-haired youth charging out full of aggression, only to end up kneeling like a dog at Liu Mang's feet as he got close.
Thinking the guy must be drunk, the mixed-haired youth cursed and said, "How many bottles did you drink just now, to be this wasted?"
Liu Mang spoke with a smile, "Whether he's drunk or not, I don't know, but I can assure you, if you come over here, you'll have to kneel too."
"Brave boy, you've got guts, really won't cry until you see the coffin, huh!" the mixed-haired youth waved his hand, "Everyone, get him, give him a harsh lesson, to teach him a lifelong memory!"
At the mixed-haired youth's command, several of his lackeys rushed toward Liu Mang, including the green-haired youth who had just lost face, scrambling back up to join the charge.
Leading the charge was still the green-haired youth; having just embarrassingly lost face, he was now set on beating Liu Mang up to regain his pride.
The green-haired youth, swinging his fists, aimed a punch at Liu Mang's face.
A gleam flashed in Liu Mang's eyes as his left leg kicked out in an instant, his toes striking upwards against the green-haired youth's wrist, sending his hand pointing towards the sky.
With one kick landing, Liu Mang's leg was already high enough, striking straight at the green-haired youth's face, which was filled with extreme terror.
The big foot made solid, intimate contact with the green-haired youth's face, kicking him backward so he flew through the air.
Before he even hit the ground, the green-haired youth had passed out, sent flying five meters by the immense force, crashing into another thug behind him before tumbling down to the floor.
Having easily kicked one into the air, Liu Mang sprang forward like a fierce tiger, charging at the other thugs and throwing a series of rapid punches.
In almost an instant, among the remaining thugs, except for the mixed-haired one, all were sent flying, each of them with either a collapsed chest or a caved-in face.
Still clenching his fist, Liu Mang pointed it at the mixed-haired youth, "A punch is thrown like this, what do you say, right or not, Raggedy?"
"Right, right." Raggedy agreed bewilderedly, nodding his head and mumbling a response. Scanning his fallen lackeys, his legs turned to jelly with fright.
Liu Mang extended one hand, "That's more like it, now hand over the tuition."
"Tuition?" Raggedy was stupefied. What the hell was going on?
"Tch, not paying, huh? Then I'll find it myself!" Liu Mang stepped quickly to Raggedy, grabbed his collar with one hand, and fished a wallet out of his pocket with the other, stuffing whatever was inside into his own pocket without looking.
With the wallet in hand, Liu Mang then dealt Raggedy a punch, casually knocking him down.
After that, Liu Mang was busy "cleaning up the battlefield," rifling through the wallets of the other thugs, one by one.
Not far away, the girl was staring at Liu Mang with wide eyes, taken aback by his audacity.
In no time, Liu Mang had gathered all the thugs' wallets, smirking as he returned to the girl's side.
Looking at the girl's face head-on, Liu Mang liked what he saw more and more.
The village belle of Liu Family Village couldn't even hold a candle to her, an ugly duckling by comparison. He really had never seen such a pure, cute, and pretty little beauty before.
Eyeing the girl's super long and cute big eyes fringed with thick lashes, Liu Mang secretly swallowed his saliva and asked, "Sis, do you stand by what you said just now? I mean, about giving me your most precious thing."
"Of course, I mean it," the girl replied earnestly.
"Well, that's just perfect." Liu Mang already had his arms open wide.