Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

Caesar did consider another plan: hiding behind the row of lockers at the very back of the locker room, waiting for the bikers to rush in, then overturning the lockers to create a domino effect, crushing everyone underneath. However, this could cause casualties, and the commotion would attract even more people.

"Don't worry! They're not after me!" Zhen forcefully pushed Caesar's head back into the cabinet, then slammed the cabinet door shut.

Then, she began to take off her clothes.

Lu Mingfei was so startled that he quickly turned around, afraid that he would have a nosebleed if he faced a girl wearing only underwear, which would be too embarrassing. He obediently walked to a wardrobe, opened the door, and crawled inside.

Zhen quickly took off her shirt and jeans, revealing her conservative white underwear. Without hesitation, she took out a neatly folded uniform from the nearby wardrobe—one that other waiters had spared. She unfolded the garment; it was a dark blue, modified cheongsam, similar in style to the one she had worn during the day, but in a different color.

She quickly put it on and fastened the buttons.

Chu Zihang had already taken action during this time. He moved the rotten bench horizontally, blocking the path to the gap in the wall, so the bikers wouldn't wander over there and discover the hole Caesar had kicked in. He immediately understood the true meaning:

The sound coming from the women's changing room indicates that someone is there. This person can't be any of the three, nor can it be the monkey man, otherwise the thumping sound wouldn't explain it. The only plausible candidate is the real person—a female server changing clothes in the women's changing room; that's perfectly normal.

Therefore, it is truly necessary to change into a uniform to identify oneself.

But what if the biker gang insists on searching the closet?

Chu Zihang didn't ask that question. He grabbed a few pieces of clothing from the closet, the owner of which was unknown: a cotton T-shirt and a scarf. He quickly wiped away the urine the monkey-man had left on the floor. The urine was absorbed, and the stench lessened considerably.

When he looked up, Zhen had already put on her cheongsam and was fixing her hair. She had styled her long hair into a simple bun and secured it with a hairpin she had found in the closet.

This was the first time Chu Zihang had seen Zhen wearing this outfit. He was usually rather oblivious to women's beauty, but at this moment he had to admit that Zhen was indeed a beautiful girl.

It wasn't the flamboyant and sharp beauty of Nuonuo, nor the elfin and lively beauty of Xia Mi, but rather a quiet, gentle beauty, like cherry blossoms in early spring. Her tall figure appeared slender and graceful under the cheongsam, and her hair, styled in an updo, revealed her long, elegant neck.

She felt his gaze and her face flushed again. But she didn't look away; instead, she took a deep breath and nodded to Chu Zihang.

Chu Zihang understood her meaning. He quickly slipped into a wardrobe, pulled out a long service dress hanging inside, and used it to cover himself. The dress was deep red, made of thick fabric, enough to conceal his figure.

The cabinet door closed gently.

In the locker room, only Zhen remained standing.

And there's that unconscious monkey-man on the ground, his pants wet with urine.

Footsteps were already outside the door.

Zhen took another deep breath. Her heart was pounding wildly in her chest; her chronic arrhythmia was causing her to feel waves of palpitations. But she forced herself to calm down.

She walked to the mirror—a square mirror with rusted edges, embedded in the wall. She looked at herself in the mirror: pale face, purple lips, and eyes filled with fear.

No. This won't work.

Close your eyes and silently recite that name in your heart.

Caesar.

A tall, proud, seemingly omnipotent man. The man who appeared when she was most afraid, knocking down the thug with a single punch. The man who said, "Next time I come, I'll take you to school."

When Zhen opened her eyes, the girl in the mirror was still pale, but her eyes were different. The fear was still there, but it was suppressed by something stronger.

She turned and walked towards the monkey man.

The footsteps outside the door stopped. Someone was speaking, their voice low, but clearly audible.

Is this the place?

"The sound we just heard came from this side."

"Could it be a monkey? That guy just disappeared."

"Let's go in and take a look."

Zhen gritted her teeth. She bent down, grabbed the monkey man's arm, and dragged him with all her might towards a corner. The monkey man was thin, but the weight of an adult man was still too heavy for Zhen. She stumbled as she dragged him, sweat beading on her forehead.

Finally, she dragged the monkey man behind the wardrobe, where there was a pile of discarded junk: a broken broom, an old bucket, and a bunch of dirty rags. She stuffed the monkey man into the pile of junk and then covered his face with the rags.

She was completely out of breath after doing all that. She straightened up, quickly straightened her cheongsam, and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

Chapter 534 Aso Makoto's Courage (Part 2)

The door was pushed open.

Three biker gang members walked in. They were all carrying guns; two had short-barreled shotguns, and one had a revolver that looked quite old. Their faces were wary and fierce, but there was also a hint of tension deep in their eyes.

After all, the enemy they were hunting had already demonstrated formidable fighting power.

The three boys were stunned when they saw the scene in the locker room.

They considered many possibilities: the enemy was lying in ambush here, the monkey man was dead here, or there was no one at all. But they didn't expect to see a waitress standing alone in the middle of the changing room, fixing her hair.

She turned her head and looked at them. Her face showed just the right amount of surprise and fear—it didn't need to be an act; she was genuinely terrified.

"Who...who are you?" Zhen's voice trembled slightly, but her words were clear. "This is the women's changing room. You can't come in!"

She used polite language, but her tone carried an unyielding insistence. This was something she learned while working at an internet cafe: when faced with unreasonable customers, one must maintain politeness while upholding one's bottom line.

The boy with the revolver squinted, looking Zhen up and down. His gaze lingered on Zhen for a long time before finally settling on her face.

"There was a sound here just now," the boy said in rude Japanese. "Did you hear it?"

Zhen nodded naturally: "I heard it. It sounded like something hit the cabinet. I was startled too."

"Are you alone?" asked another boy with a hunting rifle. His eyes scanned the locker room, his gaze sweeping over the rows of metal lockers.

“Of course it’s just me,” Zhen said, stepping aside to let the other person see. “I was changing clothes to get ready to leave work, but then the power went out, which delayed me. Then I heard a commotion outside, and not knowing what was happening, I hid here and didn’t dare to go out.”

Her explanation was perfectly reasonable. It's perfectly normal for a waitress to hide here when there's a power outage and commotion while changing in the locker room.

But the boy with the revolver was clearly not so easily fooled. He winked at his companion, and the two began to search the locker room separately. One checked the lockers on the left, and the other checked the lockers on the right, roughly pulling at the locker doors.

My heart was in my throat.

Caesar hid in her wardrobe. Chu Zihang hid in the third wardrobe from the left. Lu Mingfei hid in the second wardrobe from the right. The monkey-man was stuffed into a pile of junk. If these teenagers insisted on opening each wardrobe to check...

"Hey," the boy with the revolver suddenly said, walking up to Zhen, very close. "You said you were changing clothes?"

Her body stiffened slightly. She nodded.

"Why are you wearing a uniform?" the boy asked, his eyes fixed on her. "Shouldn't changing clothes mean taking off the uniform and putting on your own clothes?"

Her brain was racing. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead.

"Me." She opened her mouth, then suddenly remembered something and pointed to a backpack on the ground. It was a backpack she had taken out of her locker, containing her clothes that she had changed out of. "I had already changed and was about to leave, but when I heard the noise, I was afraid it wouldn't be safe to go out, so I put my uniform back on. The uniform is more convenient for movement."

This explanation is somewhat far-fetched, but it's not entirely untenable.

The boy stared into her eyes, trying to determine if she was lying. His gaze was sharp as a knife, and her back was already soaked with cold sweat.

A few seconds later, the boy suddenly laughed, revealing a malicious smile.

"To facilitate action?" he repeated the word, taking a step forward, almost touching her body. "What action?"

Zhen instinctively stepped back, but there was a metal cabinet behind her, leaving her nowhere to retreat. The boy's breath wafted onto her face, carrying the smell of smoke and sweat.

"I... I just felt that wearing a uniform would make it easier to explain if customers asked me questions," Zhen's voice trailed off.

The boy reached out and ran his fingers across Zhen's cheek. Zhen trembled, but didn't flinch; she dared not. She could feel Caesar's breathing almost stopping inside the closet—a prelude to his rage.

"He's not bad looking," the young man said flippantly. "It's a shame he's working in a place like this."

His two companions chuckled knowingly upon hearing this. They stopped checking the cabinet and both looked at Zhen, their gazes lingering on her.

She felt nauseous. But she forced herself to stand still, even forcing herself to force a weak smile.

“Thank you for the compliment,” she said, her voice hoarse, “but this really is a women’s changing room, it’s not very convenient for you here.”

"What's inconvenient about it?" the boy interrupted her, his hand sliding down her cheek to her neck. "There's no one around right now."

Her body started to tremble. It wasn't an act; she was genuinely shaking. Fear overwhelmed her like a cold tide, and her irregular heartbeat made her feel suffocated.

But she remained standing, refusing to fall. She knew that if she fell, the three people inside the closet would rush out. Then would come gunfights, bloodshed, and death.

She cannot fall.

“Please, please don’t do this,” Zhen said, her voice trembling, but every word was clear, “I’m just working here, I want to go home.”

The boy stared at her for a few seconds. Then, he suddenly withdrew his hand.

“Never mind,” he turned and waved to his companion, “Let’s go. Looks like she really is all alone here. I wonder where that monkey has gone off to.”

His companion looked somewhat disappointed, but he also put away his gun. The three of them walked towards the door.

She breathed a sigh of relief. Her legs felt weak, and she almost couldn't stand up. But just then, the boy with the revolver suddenly turned around, his gaze falling on the bench lying across her back.

“Why is that stool lying there?” he pointed.

My heart almost stopped beating.

This was moved there by Chu Zihang to cover the gap in the wall. If these people went over to look, they would find the hole in the wall, they would find the drainpipe, they would find everything.

"Um," her mind went completely blank; she didn't know what to say.

The boy squinted and walked toward the bench.

She really stopped breathing. She could hear her own heartbeat, frantic and chaotic.

One step, two steps, three steps...

The boy walked to the bench. He looked down at the bench, then looked up at the truth.

"Who put the stool here?" he asked.

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

The boy bent down, preparing to move the bench.

At this very moment—

"boom!"

A loud bang came from outside the door, followed by the roar of a motorcycle engine and shouts from more people.

"They're over there!"

"We've found them!"

"Quick! Don't let them get away!"

The three boys simultaneously turned to look at the door. The boy with the revolver straightened up, frowning: "What's going on?"

"I don't know, but it seems like they've spotted those people!" one of his companions said.

The boy hesitated for a moment. He looked at the document, then at the bench, and finally at the door.