Martial Arts Livestreaming
Chapter 215 - 193: The Strange Task

Chapter 215: Chapter 193: The Strange Task

"Uh."

Wu Li looked at the unconscious woman, somewhat helpless.

He continued to dress her knee wound, and then the wound on her forehead.

Up close, her skin was delicate, her nose was pronounced, and her eyelashes trembled slightly, indeed possessing a captivating beauty.

As Wu Li tore open the band-aid and leaned forward to apply it to the wound on her forehead, her body shook, and she suddenly opened her eyes.

Their eyes met, and Wu Li realized that her pupils were blue, radiant like sapphires.

She had fallen into a brief sleep from the shock, pain, and fatigue, but the unease and fear in her heart soon woke her, and upon opening her eyes, she saw another pair of eyes and instinctively pushed Wu Li away.

"Uh."

"Ah, sorry..."

Wu Li waved his hand, "The wound is dressed now."

"Thank you." She lowered her head to look at the bandage on her knee, then raised her head to look at Wu Li.

"My name is Tina, thank you for saving me tonight."

Wu Li sat down on another sofa, "Can you tell me now, why were those people chasing you?"

The system task had required Wu Li to help her escape danger, but now that she was safe, the system still had not shown the task as complete, so he could only try to gather more clues.

Tina looked miserable, "My stepfather sold me to them, I ran away secretly."

"Your stepfather sold you to someone?"

Wu Li was surprised, this still happens nowadays?

"My mother is from Hua Country, she married an American, and after my biological father died in an accident, she remarried." Tina explained.

"My stepfather is the owner of a company, he had financial issues, borrowed high-interest loans; the people who were chasing me were loan sharks, my stepfather sold me to them to cover part of his loans."

Wu Li nodded, "Then why didn’t you call the police earlier?"

"I was held in a place with several other girls. Those people seem to do more than just lend money at high interest, they also traffic in humans. One of the girls told me she had escaped once before, and she went directly to the police station after escaping. The police immediately went to raid the place she was held, but they didn’t catch anyone. Shortly after leaving the police station, she was directly picked up off the street and locked up again. Those people told her that they had connections all over New York and could quickly catch her if she escaped."

Tina’s expression was filled with fear.

Wu Li suddenly understood, "So you were afraid to go to the police station, fearing you’d be targeted as soon as you left?"

Tina nodded with teary eyes, hugging her legs and curling up on the sofa, "I dare not go home and alert my stepfather nor those men; I have nothing on me. This place was told to me by that girl; it’s her mother’s house she left to her. She was in New York to deal with this property, but she was attacked. She was injured in the leg by those people and couldn’t escape. I helped her once inside, so she gave me a key she had hidden telling me to come here to hide after I escaped... She created the chance for me to run away..."

With that, Tina once again covered her mouth, sobbing.

[TASK CHANGE]

[REVEAL THE MASTERMIND]

Wu Li received another task notice from the system, startled.

This temporary task was peculiar; previously, every task had a reward listed, but this time it was just a task with nothing else; the previous task "rescue" didn’t show as completed, instead showing as changed.

"Is it a sequential task again? Or is it, the reward from the previous任务, the clue to unlock the next? What’s the system’s purpose in giving me this task?"

Wu Li frowned and pondered. He had noticed before that the system tasks were tied to his actions; when he publicly vowed to redeem the name of Traditional Martial Arts during a livestream, the system immediately issued related tasks, and later, the Extreme Martial Arts tournament task helped further his goal to redeem Traditional Martial Arts.

Then came the Master’s Name series of tasks, where his fame grew in the process of completing them.

So Wu Li felt that the tasks from the system served as guidance, helping him better achieve his goals.

"My current goal is to complete the Master’s Name series of tasks, so the system must think that getting involved in this matter will help me complete the Master’s Name?"

For the moment, that was his only guess.

"Can I use your phone?"

Seeing Wu Li deep in thought, Tina, who had stopped crying, took the initiative to ask.

Having just escaped, the immense fear and unease had made her only want to find a place to hide. Now feeling temporarily safe, she wanted to seek help.

Wu Li snapped back to reality and looked at Tina, "Are you planning to seek help?"

Tina hesitated, then said, "Yes, to contact my friend."

Wu Li, "Why not contact your mother... uh."

Tina’s expression changed, and Wu Li knew he had said the wrong thing. If her mother could have helped, she wouldn’t have been sold by her stepfather to traffickers.

"Sorry." Wu Li stood up and handed her the phone he carried, a new phone given to him by Chen Gang, specialized for use in the United States, with internet access and the capability to make calls.

"Thank you." Tina took the phone, operated it for a moment, and started downloading a popular American social media app.

The room fell silent for a while. Soon, the social media app was downloaded, and Tina logged into her account proficiently, then found someone and selected video call.

A few seconds later, the video connected.

"Hi, Tina."

A short-haired woman appeared in the video, wearing pajamas and speaking Chinese.

"Lily." Seeing her friend, Tina’s tears flowed again.

"Tina, what’s wrong?"

"Lily, help me!"

"Tina, don’t panic, tell me slowly, no matter what, I’ll definitely help you!"

So, Tina briefly described her ordeal.

"OH my god!" Lily covered her mouth in the video and immediately said, "Where are you? I’m coming to pick you up right now!"

"I’m at..." Tina told her friend her location.

After the video call ended, Tina turned to Wu Li, "My friend is coming to pick me up in her car, and I will be staying at her place for a while."

Wu Li nodded, "Do you know who your stepfather borrowed the high-interest loans from?"

Tina shook her head.

Wu Li hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Then, can you tell me about your stepfather’s information?"

Tina looked at Wu Li curiously, "You want to investigate those people?"

Wu Li nodded, "Yes."

Tina widened her eyes, "Why? Are you a police officer?"

Wu Li smiled, "No, I am from Hua Country, I came to the United States to fight in the UFC."

Tina suddenly realized, "Fighting in UFC, no wonder you are so skilled."

Then she asked confusedly, "But why do you want to investigate those people?"

"You might not believe it, but I occasionally like to play Batman," Wu Li said with a laugh.

At the same time, he thought to himself, "The system couldn’t possibly think that just because I took the initiative to play the hero twice and fought criminals, that my current goal is to uphold justice, thus giving me such a temporary mission, could it?"

That would be a huge misunderstanding...

"Batman?" Tina froze for a moment, then couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Tears were still on her face, but her laughter after crying made Wu Li instantly think of the phrase ’pear blossoms bring rain.’

This was the first time Wu Li saw her smile tonight, like stars that adorned the night sky; Tina’s smile also brought a bright feeling to Wu Li.

Such a woman, her stepfather must have used her to secure quite a few loans...

A strange thought suddenly popped into Wu Li’s mind, making him burst into laughter as well.

Tina looked at Wu Li uncertainly, "Are you really going to investigate those people?"

Wu Li nodded, "Yes."

Tina said, "But those people seem very powerful and vicious."

Wu Li replied, "I’ll be careful, I won’t act recklessly."

Seeing Wu Li’s determination, Tina disclosed all her stepfather’s information, his name, his occupation, where his company was located, his usual hangouts, and his friends...

Wu Li took note of all this information.

"By the way, I still don’t know your name?" Tina asked after mentioning her stepfather.

"Wu Li, Wealth in Mouth Wu, Li as in convince by reasoning."

"Wu Li," Tina repeated, then bit her lip and looked at Wu Li.

"I also have WeChat, can I add you as a friend?"

Wu Li nodded, "Sure."

After adding each other on WeChat using Wu Li’s phone, they started chatting casually.

"Why is your Chinese so good?"

"My mom taught me Chinese since I was young. She told me a lot about Hua Country, and I made many friends from Hua Country at school and among the Chinese diaspora. The friend who’s coming to pick me up is also of Chinese descent; we usually speak Chinese when we meet. Over time, my Chinese has gotten pretty good. What did you do in Hua Country?"

"Hmm, I ran a Martial Arts Hall, did livestreams, participated in variety shows."

"Then came to the United States to fight in UFC, and occasionally be Batman on the side?"

"Haha."

...

The two chatted, and after about fifteen minutes, Tina received a message from Lily.

"My friend is downstairs now."

"Okay."

Wu Li stood up and approached Tina, then hesitated, "Uh, I..."

He had been carrying Tina in a rush earlier, and in the urgency of the situation, neither had cared about it, but now that they were more familiar with each other, carrying her downstairs felt a bit awkward.

"Or, could you carry me on your back instead?" Tina offered.

Wu Li nodded, "Okay."

He walked in front of Tina and crouched down for her to climb on.

In the stairwell, Wu Li carried Tina downstairs with ease, a faint scent wafting into his nostrils; Tina rested her hands on Wu Li’s back and, under the stairwell lights, watched the back of Wu Li’s head, her cheeks flushing a bit as she seemed to think of something.