The coastal street district of Jianghai City is the busiest district in the entire city.
At the moment, it's a sweltering evening, and both sides of the road are crowded with people.
Suddenly, a hand stretches out from the shore, startling passersby who hastily detour around it.
Next, they see a drenched man climb up, wearing only military trousers, lying on the ground and gasping for air.
"I've made it, finally made it!"
His muscular physique makes him a focal point, but the military trousers deter any women who were initially interested, promptly making their way around him.
One could tell he was broke at a glance.
However, Tang Zhong paid no mind to the gazes of others; at the moment, a raging fury filled his heart, a fury that made him itch to punch somebody.
"Damn it, those damn things, I'll never trust those bastards again. They lied to me, saying Liga Continent was only a few thousand kilometers away from the country—bullshit! It's tens of thousands of kilometers! If I weren't so tough, I would've been shark food by now!"
Tang Zhong was young, with eyebrows like sharp blades giving him a dashing appearance.
He sat on the ground and fumbled in his pocket, soon pulling out an old-fashioned Nokia phone with a grayscale screen!
He checked the time: "Only thirteen hours have passed?"
Then, he dialed a number with practiced ease.
The phone began to buzz.
It connected quickly!
Tang Zhong immediately burst into a tirade, "You bunch of assholes, you lied to me! Just you wait, when I get back, I'll make you pay!"
Laughter came from the other side of the phone, "Bro Tang, you're too awesome. A thirteen-hour swim across the entire Lita Sea—you're... you're simply my idol. No, I have to call the international record company and get you recognized as number one!"
"What I'm asking is why you lied to me!" Tang Zhong roared.
The person on the other end responded, "Hello... hello, Bro Tang, what did you say? I can't hear you, man, the signal's bad. Got to go!"
Immediately after, the line went dead.
Fuming, Tang Zhong slammed the Nokia phone down on the ground and stomped on it several times.
Once his anger subsided, he picked the phone back up from the ground.
He dusted it off and expertly tucked it back into his pocket.
As for the phone, it wasn't damaged at all. After all, that phone was specially made for Tang Zhong; there's only one of its kind in the world, and even rocks weren't as hard as this Nokia phone.
"Forget it, let's deal with the important matters!" Tang Zhong said.
As he spoke, he took out a half of a Dragon-engraved Jade Pendant from his pocket. On it was a lifelike dragon, but the pendant was only half-completed. Nonetheless, it betrayed the extraordinary quality of the Jade Pendant, emitting a faint green glow!
Looking at the Jade Pendant, Tang Zhong thought of the past.
This half of the Jade Pendant was left to him by his grandfather, who told Tang Zhong:
If in the future you encounter someone with the other half of the Jade Pendant, if it's a man, become sworn brothers with him; if it's a woman, then she is your wife!
The young Tang Zhong asked why it had to be this way.
But each time, his grandfather only mentioned that it was an agreement between two families and said nothing more!
Though Tang Zhong was puzzled, his inquiries elsewhere were met with ignorance, so eventually, he stopped asking.
And so he continued to search for the person with the other half of the Jade Pendant.
Until three days ago when he finally found her.
The woman with the other half of the Dragon-engraved Jade Pendant was named Jiang Weiwei—a beauty and chairwoman in this very Jianghai City!
That's why Tang Zhong, who hadn't returned to his homeland in many years, finally set foot on the soil of his motherland!
Thus, his mission on this return was to find Jiang Weiwei and to call off their engagement!
For Tang Zhong didn't have much time left.
He would die by the age of eighteen.
At the age of ten, he embarked on a mission alone, with a single target in mind, but was betrayed by a mole within the organization. As he breached the enemy's stronghold, he found himself surrounded, riddled with countless bullets.
He thought he was going to die, but that time, the Jade Pendant saved him.
As his blood soaked the Jade Pendant, a mysterious Cultivation Technique appeared in his mind.
No name was given, and it was only half-complete. It stated that learning it would allow one to survive.
Tang Zhong learned it, and he lived, single-handedly taking down the enemy stronghold and rooting out the mole!
But survival came at a price—if he didn't learn the other half of the Cultivation Technique before turning eighteen, he would die.
As for the other half of the technique, no matter what he tried, he couldn't find it, and he was already seventeen years old with his next birthday alarmingly close.
Recalling the past made Tang Zhong somewhat melancholic. He put away the Jade Pendant and then searched for Jiang Weiwei's address.
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Before he left, he remembered writing a note and putting it in his pocket, but now, no matter how much he searched, it wasn't there.
Suddenly, Tang Zhong found it, but his face turned ugly as he saw a lump of mushy paper pulled from his pocket, totally disintegrated from being soaked in water.
"Damn it, could my luck be any worse!"
Originally, this was supposed to be a very easy task: get a divorce, then immediately return to Liga Continent!
Now, without Jiang Weiwei's address, where could he find her?
Tang Zhong only remembered that Jiang Weiwei's company was called Jiangdong Group.
Forget it, better ask someone else!
Tang Zhong stood up, looked at the neon lights behind him, and cracked a smile—back in Jianghai, surrounded by people from Xuan Country. It felt good!
His gaze swept over the women nearby, and Tang Zhong couldn't help but sigh.
"The girls here are really beautiful indeed."
But almost no one paid any attention to him.
Tang Zhong didn't mind.
Gurgle!
His stomach suddenly growled.
Only then did Tang Zhong remember he had been traveling for over ten hours and hadn't even had a meal.
He searched his pockets, not a penny in them.
"Crap, I left in such a hurry, I forgot to bring money!"
Tang Zhong rubbed his stomach, feeling famished, and decided to find something to eat first!
Even though it was midnight, the streets were still bustling with people.
The shops adorned with shiny red and green lights!
Tang Zhong knew that these must be the nightclubs he had heard about!
All around, men and women were huddled together, kissing and cuddling.
Tang Zhong thought about borrowing some money, but after some consideration, he decided against it, not wanting to bother anyone.
He continued walking forward.
However, at that moment, Tang Zhong witnessed a discordant scene.
He saw several sketchy-looking men hovering repeatedly around a woman who was clearly drunk.
From a distance, Tang Zhong's eyes nearly popped out at the sight of the woman—she was definitely a beauty, with a round oval face, dark eyes, blushed cheeks, exuding a youthful and lively aura, and wearing a long dress!
Tang Zhong had never seen such a beauty before!
These men clearly had nefarious designs on her, and Tang Zhong, with his righteous and unyielding nature as the captain of the Wolf Fang team, stepped forward to stand up for her.
He quickly moved over, positioning himself in front of the woman.
The lecherous men had been smirking smugly, but their expressions changed abruptly when they saw Tang Zhong appear.
"What do you think you're doing?" Tang Zhong demanded.
Just then, Weiwei glanced back at the beautiful woman.
The woman, squinting her eyes, wrapped her arms around Tang Zhong's arm and rubbed against it while calling out, "Hubby, hubby!"
Tang Zhong sighed, thinking to himself how such a fine woman could turn into this state after a few drinks!
"What else would I be doing here at night, kid? You're cutting in line!" The leader of the sketchy men spoke coldly.
"Cutting in line? What line?" Tang Zhong didn't understand.
"Everyone's out here picking up 'corpses,' you should know the drill. We four had our eyes on this lady. Go find someone else, so get lost!" The leader continued to berate.
Picking up 'corpses'!
Tang Zhong got it. He had heard that in nightclubs at midnight, many drunk women would be preyed upon by unscrupulous people who would take the opportunity to "pick up" these intoxicated girls and take them away for illicit activities. This action was known as picking up 'corpses'!
It was simply beastly, taking advantage of someone's vulnerability!
This was none of Tang Zhong's business, but he had decided to intervene.
And why? Ha, simply because the woman was a beauty!
"This woman is my wife!" Tang Zhong declared. "So, you lot can scram!"
Upon hearing that, the leader's face showed a sneer, "You say she's your wife, and she is? Even if she is your wife, I'm claiming her today. Just look at your poor ass, still wearing army pants. Such a fine wife should go with me instead!"
After he finished speaking, the others laughed loudly, not taking Tang Zhong seriously at all!
"Oh, that's perfect!" Tang Zhong said with a smile, then slapped one of them right across the face!
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