Chapter 2

And behind him followed four or five other dads.

At this moment, their faces were dark and grim, all staring intently at me without saying a word.

The air in the alley seemed to solidify.

4

After a long silence, Dad 1 crouched down, his rough fingers wiping away the bloodstains on my face.

"Who did this?"

I turned my face away, not daring to meet the anger in his eyes, and whispered,

"No... I just fell."

"Fell?"

Dad 5 snatched the mud-stained math textbook from the ground, pointing at the dirty shoe prints on it, and roared:

"This is 'fell'? This is being stomped to death!"

Dad 3 adjusted his glasses, his gaze behind the lenses as sharp as a knife.

"Stella, speak. Just tell us to blow up Ravenwood City and kill those people, and it's done?"

But I bit my lip hard.

I couldn't say anything.

Mr. Albright was rich and powerful—Tiffany even said the Ravenwood City police listened to her family.

My dads were all wanted criminals. I couldn't risk putting them in jail.

I stubbornly shook my head, but tears welled up in my eyes against my will.

Time ticked by. Finally, Dad 1 sighed, gently holding my cold hand with an undeniable strength.

"Stella, do you remember that year when you were five, the chubby kid from the next street stole your candy, and you cried all night when you came home?"

"The next day, that chubby kid's whole family moved out of Ravenwood City."

"We dads aren't good people, but our family rule is: whoever touches you, dies!"

The wind in the alley instantly stilled.

Seeing my dads silently surrounding me, their eyes filled with suppressed rage and heartache.

All the grievances, fear, and humiliation of these past days instantly broke through my taut nerves.

"Dad—"

I flung myself into Dad 1's arms, sobbing uncontrollably, stammering out everything that had happened:

"It was Tiffany... her dad is Mr. Albright, he owns mines... she said Ravenwood City was all her family's territory... she bullies me every day... today she even took a video..."

Dad 5's brand new phone was crushed in his hand with a "snap," the screen shattering!

"A mine owner, how dare he!"

"Damn that Mr. Albright! When I helped him get started back in the day, he was licking my boots!"

"He's lost his mind! How dare he touch our Stella!"

My dads' angry curses rose and fell, but I listened, stunned.

Dad 1 simply patted my back gently, then pulled out his phone and dialed a number, his voice cold as ice.

"Send out the word. All brothers, drop what you're doing."

"One hour. Everyone to Ravenwood City."

"Our daughter was bullied!"

The next morning, Dad 1 told me to go to school as usual.

I nodded, and went alone.

Sure enough, at the school gate, Tiffany was waiting beside that flashy luxury car.

Seeing me, she deliberately raised her voice, her face full of sarcasm: "Oh, isn't this the one who was on her knees bowing to me yesterday..."

But before she finished, I walked straight past her, my eyes calm, as if she were just thin air.

Tiffany froze instantly.

"Stella!" She rushed forward in a fit of rage, grabbing my backpack tightly.

"Did I tell you to leave? Didn't learn your lesson yesterday, did you? You worthless piece of trash!"

She raised her hand, ready to slap me.

"I gave you a chance—"

But remembering Dad 1's words, I felt an unprecedented confidence inside me.

The next second, her wrist was caught firmly in mid-air by my hand.

Looking into her astonished eyes, I said each word coldly: "I said, let go."

"You little brat! You've lost your mind!"

But Mr. Albright angrily got out of his car and shoved me hard!

Staggering back a few steps, my back hit the school wall with a painful thud.

"You pathetic pauper! Still refusing to learn, are you?"

Mr. Albright grabbed my collar, spitting saliva on my face: "If I don't finish you off today, I'll take your damn name—"

However, the next second.

"Rumble rumble—" A tremendous roar filled the sky.

One, two, dozens of helicopters instantly darkened the sky, circling above the school.

Following that, came the heavy, dull thud of tracks grinding on asphalt.

One, two, three olive-green tanks, their cannons aimed squarely at the school entrance.

And countless media reporters, carrying long and short lenses, swarmed in, their camera flashes lighting up the scene.

Mr. Albright was frozen in place. Then, countless armored vehicles appeared, and figures descended from the helicopters.

One, two, ten, fifty...

Exactly one hundred and eight men emerged from various corners, forming an impenetrable human wall that completely surrounded him.

Then, in Mr. Albright's terrified eyes, one hundred and eight voices, like thunder, boomed across Ravenwood City:

"Dare to touch our daughter again—just try it!!!"