48 Hours a Day

Chapter 935: Stalker

Once Xu Qian got down from the car, she headed directly to the luxury stores on the mall’s first floor. Not long after that, she spent roughly ten thousand credits on the clothes. Although this was the city’s third level, very few people made purchases in these luxury shops. Hence, there were way fewer people in this kind of store.

Zhang Heng could see that Xu Qian was a regular here. The store assistant lady greeted her enthusiastically as soon as she walked in. She proceeded to recommend her the new arrivals in the store. Xu Qian then picked a few of them and went to the fitting room at the back for a try.

Zhang Heng, like the other men in the store, found a corner and stood there. One of the men beside him was playing with his bracelet, and the other eyed the gorgeous ladies that passed the store while his girlfriend was away.

However, the latter’s eyes were quickly attracted by the figure that had just walked out of the fitting room. Xu Qian had just changed into a new set of clothes, which looked like Scarlett Johanson’s outfit in the movie Ghost in the Shell. It was simple in design yet looked technologically advanced. Besides, the outfit also highlighted Xu Qian’s curvaceous figure. Coupled with her sweet appearance, the force of the powerful juxtaposition immediately attracted the stares of a large group of men. Thus, the store assistant couldn’t help but compliment her.

“I want this set,” Xu Qian said after taking a picture in the mirror.

And right after she finished this sentence, a boy, influenced by his friend, finally mustered enough courage and walked towards her. Blushing, he muttered, “That... Hello. Have we met before?”

Unfortunately for him, Xu Qian did not answer his question.

Instead, she looked at Zhang Heng. And Zhang Heng knew that he had to carry out his bodyguard’s duty. Hence, he walked over, stood in front of the two, and said kindly to the boys, “Hello, what can I do for you?”

The boy then glanced at Zhang Heng’s figure and appearance and chose to give up on talking to Xu Qian.

After the boy’s bold advances, Xu Qian wanted to stay in this store no longer. She returned to the changing room to change back her clothes and asked the assistant to pack the new clothes quickly. After that, she put on her sunglasses, paid for the clothes, and left in a hurry.

Right after she walked out of the store, Xu Qian said to Zhang Heng, “You did a good job just now.”

Zhang Heng knew what Xu Qian meant. It was inevitable that she would encounter such a thing whenever she headed out. Since she was a public figure and was supposed to behave like a sweet girl in front of everyone, she could never resort to any violent means to deal with such trouble. If the incident were to be recorded and posted on the internet, she would lose many followers indefinitely. If the person made a big deal out of it and if it wasn’t handled well, it could trigger a series of serious consequences.

This was why Xu Qian was remarkably satisfied with Zhang Heng’s gentle and polite approach. Later, she headed to several other stores, eventually spending a total of 60,000 to 70,000 credits before she finally decided to call it a day. It was almost noon now. To express her gratitude, she invited Zhang Heng for some Huaiyang cuisine.

As the two rode the escalator, Zhang Heng suddenly whispered into Xu Qian’s ear, “It seems someone is following us.”

Xu Qian instantly became nervous. “Then what should we do?!”

“It’s okay. Pretend you don’t know anything and just keep walking. I will take care of the rest,” Zhang Heng said as he reached his hands into his backpack.

Since he wanted to draw the stalker out, he did not bring his Pestilence Bone Bow and Shrouded Sheath with him. However, that did not mean he would let down his guard, especially when he did not know the opponent’s strength. The Infinite Building Block and the pile of Lego parts that he carried in his backpack were used to deal with a situation like this.

Besides, Zhang Heng had been observing the stalker for some time now. The stalker thought that he was extremely cautious. With the crowds in the mall and the distance between the two parties, the stalker assumed that Zhang Heng would not be able to spot him. He did not know that Zhang Heng’s observational ability had become extremely good after completing the Deduction Reasoning quest. Other than that, he was now the master of stealth. It would be an epic failure if he did not manage to detect that someone was following them.

On the contrary, after Zhang Heng observed the stalker for a while, he found that the stalker had amateurish abilities. Apart from the good job covering his face, he didn’t make any extraordinary moves.

Thus, Zhang Heng did not bother to make any more wild assumptions. He decided to confront the stalker directly. Xu Qian, on the other side, did what Zhang Heng told her to do. She tried her best to control her walking, neither too fast nor slow. She pretended that she did not notice anything and continued to walk normally.

On the other hand, Zhang Heng put his hand into his backpack, pretending to be looking for something. At the same time, he quickly assembled a stun gun with the Lego blocks. After that, he inserted the Infinite Building Block into the stun gun to materialize it.

Based on Zhang Heng’s initial observation, the stalker looked extremely weak. Technically speaking, he could easily bring him down with his bare hands. However, he remembered that this was a proxy war dungeon, and being cautious was always advantageous.

At this time, they arrived at a corridor on their right. It connected the second floor of this mall with the second floor of another smaller mall opposite them. It allowed patrons to head to the other mall without going downstairs and crossing the road.

Xu Qian pretended that she wanted to go to the other shopping mall. So, she turned and walked towards the corridor. And Zhang Heng made sure that he stayed by her side. Soon, the two disappeared behind the corner store. Once they saw that they were in a blind spot, they stopped moving forward, and they learned their backs against the wall.

Zhang Heng believed that with the stalker’s vigilance and anti-reconnaissance capabilities, he would never have thought that someone would ambush him here.

And when he walked to the point where he could see Zhang Heng and Xu Qian, the distance between them would be around three to four meters at most. By that time, it would be impossible for him to run away from Zhang Heng.

Xu Qian was a little nervous because they were still in public, and many people were walking around them. She didn’t look afraid of what would happen next, but she saw Zhang Heng frowning the next second. Before she could say anything, Zhang Heng had already gone after the stalker.

After calculating the time, Zhang Heng figured that the stalker should be approaching them really soon. He waited for another two seconds, but he still could not spot the stalker. So, he immediately realized that the situation might have changed. When he rushed out of the store, he saw the target running away from him in the crowd, and the distance between the two was starting to grow.

Zhang Heng then took out the stun gun. Compared to a pistol, however, the stun gun had a closer ranger. In other words, Zhang Heng would not be able to shoot him from where he stood. Xu Qian was still by his side, too, and he could not leave her alone. After Zhang Heng chased him over a short distance, he stopped and watched the stalker disappear into the crowd.

“What’s the matter?” Xu Qian looked confused.

“He managed to get away,” Zhang Heng said as he put away the stun gun.

“Didn’t you say that he wouldn’t spot us?” Xu Qian asked.

“That was what I thought as well.” Zhang Heng said.

“Then why did he run?”

Zhang Heng did not answer her question. He looked up at the surveillance camera above his head.

“We will find out.”