Zhao Yunlan was a nervous wreck, every morning he prayed that no woman was attacked while every night he prayed that this woman will be and that they’ll be able to catch him in time.

Zhu Hong was getting used to this new life quickly, she liked Wang very much and she was now a little more comfortable around Da Qing and Lin Jin; a little less around Yunlan, but that might be because she would really like to impress him at least a little bit.

Wang helped her buy some low-heeled shoes, insisting that she couldn’t go from no heels at all to high heels just like that, she might hurt her ankle and what would be of her if that happened when the guy appeared?

So she reluctantly agreed, it was better than nothing, but she really wanted to learn to walk on those things that Yunlan seemed to like so much.

She also had to admit that having to walk a long way these shoes were enough of a challenge at the moment.

She found herself walking more slowly, it wasn’t really difficult but she had never worn anything other than comfortable boots, good for walking on fields and streets alike, so it was another new experience.

Her nights were always the same, night after night it was the same thing. She took her bag and prepared herself for another try.

She went out, knowing that even if she couldn’t see them Yunlan and Da Qing were somewhere near ready to run to her rescue, and every time that knowledge came to her mind she always thought: “Or to his rescue, if I get my hands on him”.

She stopped to look at a shop window, walked to the end of the street, went down a dark alley, across the town square and into the coffee shop, she went to the bar and said, “Can I have my coffee please?” then she went to her usual table, sat down and drank it black.

She had tried adding sugar the second night, the third she accepted some milk, from the fourth night on she had declined everything being added to it.

After a few minutes she stood up, said “Thank you, goodnight” and walked out.
“How polite, we might make a lady out of you after all,” came Yunlan’s voice in her ear, followed by Da Qing’s: “We need all the politeness we can get to balance your crude attitude.” She smiled but she didn’t answer.

They warned her not to, nobody had to know that there was someone listening to her and she couldn’t appear as if she was talking to herself, so she said nothing and kept going. She reached the vending machine, took the packet and put it in her bag, then turned around to go back, thinking that another night was almost over, when she heard, “Don’t you know that smoking is bad for your health?”

Yunlan heard a male voice and reacted immediately. He didn’t ask Hong what was happening because she couldn’t answer him, so she reached Lin Jin instead, covering the microphone with his hand and using his phone instead, hoping not to distract her. "What’s going on, can you see him?”

Lin Jin replied immediately. "A man in his fourties, maybe fifty, he’s just standing there, smiling at her.”

“Keep watching, and record everything!”

He was aching to run forward, but what if he wasn’t the murderer? It might just be a normal guy trying to hit on the pretty girl. Yunlan would never do that on an empty street at night, but that didn’t mean that other guys wouldn’t.

Zhu Hong looked at the man, inside her head she told herself ‘I can talk to this man, I’m authorised to defend myself against this man’.
She said, “Yes, I know.” Then took a step forward, intending to move past him.

“Where are you going?” He asked her.

‘I can say whatever I want’, she reminded herself again, so she said, “I go where I want to go,” and took another step. Suddenly he grabbed her arm, strongly, and she yelled at him. “Don't touch me, you’re hurting me, stop it!”

Hearing that, both Yunlan and Da Qing moved closer from their opposite directions, still keeping in the shadows though. If the guy was just a simple jerk, she would be able to handle it, but they kept themselves ready.

“You think you can just leave me? Am I not good enough for a bitch like you?” The guy said and he pushed her down.

She fell but reacted quickly, rolling on the ground and getting back on her feet again.

He took out a knife thinking that it would scare her but she only smirked; she wasn't at all afraid, on the contrary she felt good, something was finally happening, she had trained herself for this and she was ready.

He felt uneasy, that wasn’t right, she should be begging him not to hurt her now, instead her attitude was challenging him.

He launched at her but she quickly moved aside avoiding the blade.

As soon as Lin Jin saw the knife, he called out in the microphone. “Knife! He has a knife!” and both Yunlan and Da Qing darted forward.

Despite his desire to catch him, his instinct to protect was stronger so Yunlan yelled hoping to get the guy away from Hong.

The man heard someone yelling “Police!” and he turned towards the voice to see a man running towards him. Neither Lin's yelling or Yunlan's voice distracted Hong from the man in front of her, taking advantage of his surprise she grabbed the arm with the blade and turned it making him yell and drop the knife.

He turned around and pushed her again, his intent was to run away, but she wouldn’t let him.

She didn’t even turn to see how far were the two officers, she took out her dagger and went for him again. She tried to hit him but he moved backwards and she only ruined his jacket.

Yunlan was now very close, too close for comfort, so the guy ran. Hong tried to grab him again but he was fast, he was moving away from her and she worried he might get away, she thought of the last girl and Guo’s crying face, and she did it.

She threw her dagger.