That’s the whole idea behind striking first: I say you’re wrong, so you’re wrong. It’s practically the founding principle of Mingxue.

The other hoodlums started chiming in, adding to the atmosphere.

“Your girl’s pretty fierce.”

“You scared me sick. You’re paying my medical bills.”

“She just shoved me. It really hurt.”

One look at the disgust on their faces, and I got the picture. If I still couldn’t figure it out, I might as well change my surname to Liu.

“Sigh.” I walked over, pulled a few hundred yuan from my pocket—the money I’d brought to buy groceries—and held it out with both hands. “Brothers, my girlfriend doesn’t know any better. She’s young. This is just a little something from me, so please don’t be mad.” At a time like this, it was better to find a way to smooth things over.

“Who the hell are you calling ‘brother’? You think this little bit of money is enough to apologize?” One of the thugs took the grocery money I was carrying, counted it with a cursory glance, and stuffed it in his pocket. Then he smacked me on the head.

He said, “It’s easy enough to settle this. Let your girlfriend spend a few days with us.”

“We’ll take good care of her.” One of the thugs was clearly saying it on purpose. As he spoke, his eyes roamed over Liu Su, and she instinctively tugged at her clothes.

“Let go of me!” Taking advantage of Liu Su being distracted, one of the thugs grabbed her hand and tried to pull her into his arms. But she struggled hard enough that he couldn’t manage it.

I narrowed my eyes slightly, but still forced down my anger. Bowing and scraping, I said, “Gentlemen, my girlfriend doesn’t know any better. Please be the bigger men and let her go, all right?”

Liu Su gave me a look of contempt. I pretended not to notice.

“Oh, that girl’s in for a rough time.”

“Those lowlifes hang around here all day. They’ve really made the neighborhood uneasy.”

“What can you do? They’ve got nothing to lose. Last time they hurt someone, they only spent a few months inside before they got out.”

“Sigh. Looks like those two girls are in trouble.”

“That young man knows how to handle things, but they don’t want his money.”

The onlookers all murmured among themselves, but no one was willing to step in and help. I glanced at them enviously. If I’d just dragged Liu Su away earlier, I could be standing with them watching instead of being the one watched.

Just as one thug’s hand touched Liu Su’s face and I clenched my fist, the champion of justice made his entrance!

“Let go of that girl!” A handsome young man finally couldn’t take it anymore. He shouted and strode over.

“Picking on a girl is all you’ve got?” the young man yelled, charging in with his fists swinging. His voice was pretty high and sounded a little girly, but you had to admire his courage.

That handsome stance and that shout gave the onlookers someone to rally behind. They all started yelling at the thugs.

The situation seemed to improve for a moment. With the young man leading the way, the thugs looked a little uneasy and began glancing at their leader.

Unfortunately, the crowd’s righteous outrage lasted all of ten seconds.

The slightly effeminate young man got accidentally stabbed in the arm with a small knife by the gang leader. Soon he was drenched in sweat, rolling on the ground. Maybe he was scared—the screams he let out were even higher-pitched than before.

The gang leader had probably never drawn blood before, and he looked a little panicked. But after glancing around, he realized he couldn’t afford to lose his nerve. He stood up, kicked the young man hard, and said, “That’ll teach you to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong! Mind your own damn business!”

The onlookers, who’d been so fired up just moments ago, fell completely silent. I looked around and realized that, out of all these people, not one seemed to have thought of calling the police.

I wanted to call the police myself, but I’d already noticed that I didn’t have my phone on me.

Then it hit me: I’d brought some cash along today, but I hadn’t brought my phone. I’d only come out to buy groceries, so I’d left it charging at home!

I looked at Liu Su. She was glaring angrily at the thugs, but it hadn’t even occurred to her to use the crowd as cover to call the police.

“This naive little sweetheart has no real-world experience…” I complained inwardly, helplessly.

“…” I stared speechlessly at the useless guy sprawled on the ground, screaming. He’d only gotten a shallow nick in the arm, and he was already this scared. How had he even worked up the nerve to charge in?

Honestly, I think he’d listened to too many of Liang Jingru’s songs.

“Big brother, I’ve got money at home too. Let’s go talk in that alley over there. This isn’t a good place.” Looking at the useless guy crawling around on the ground and Liu Su, the sweet little fool, glaring furiously, I suddenly made up my mind and spoke to the gang leader in a timid, obsequious voice.

“Fine. At least you know what’s good for you.” The leader didn’t want to make a scene either, so he shouted at the onlookers, “Get lost!”

The crowd of righteous onlookers scattered at once. The brave young man also left, clutching his arm.

Liu Su took the little girl by the hand and followed behind me. The gang leader led us, along with a dozen or so others, into an alley.

“I’ll get straight to the point. Fifty thousand, and we’ll call your trouble settled. Then let these two women spend a night with my brothers, and we’ll call it even.” The leader turned to look at me and laid out his terms.

Hearing their leader say that, several of the watching thugs fixed Liu Su and the girl with leering looks.

Under their gazes, Liu Su couldn’t help feeling a little afraid.

I looked helplessly at the leader, who was already pushing his luck. Come on, what had I even done to you? And now you wanted fifty thousand? Did you have any idea that was half a year’s living expenses for me?

I sighed inwardly. It looked like there was no way to settle this peacefully after all. Still, I tried one last time.

“Big brother, I’ll give you the money. Just don’t touch my girlfriend, okay?” I was at my wits’ end. Liu Su had really gotten me into a huge mess. Why couldn’t she just watch the commotion? Why rush in and play the hero? Come on, even Batman had to call the cops to clean up after he beat the bad guys!

You barged right in. What are you, Batman’s mom?

“I’m taking your money to do you a favor. Don’t push your luck!” As he spoke, one of the thugs beside him swung another slap at me. It landed squarely, and a red mark rose on my cheek. Liu Su cried out, but the gang leader was blocking her, so she couldn’t get over to me. Seeing her reaction softened my heart a little.

“Big brother, then how about I take them home to get the money?” I acted as if I was giving in.

“Are you crazy? They’re going to hurt me! They hit you too, and you’re still giving them money?” Liu Su shouted at me.

I looked at Liu Su as if she were an idiot. Come on, these people were obviously thugs. But since she’d been worried about me just now, I decided not to call her an idiot in my head again.

The girl was clearly too shocked to think straight. She just lowered her head, hugged her cat, and apologized, without even knowing who she was apologizing to.

“All right, enough talking. Go get the money. I’ve got some business to take care of here.” The gang leader was clearly worked up and, despite it still being dusk, grabbed Liu Su by the sleeve without a second thought.

“Let go of me! I’m calling the police!” Liu Su struggled free of the thug’s grip, pulled out her phone, and threatened him with it.

“What an idiot.” The word I’d been trying not to say slipped out anyway.

She only remembered to call the police now?

Just as I’d expected, a few seconds later the phone I’d just bought her was tossed onto the ground. One vicious stomp from Thug A, and the whole screen shattered into a field of white cracks.

Liu Su had never been treated so roughly before. Her eyes immediately filled with tears and regret. I guessed she finally understood why I hadn’t stepped in earlier.

The well-endowed girl beside her was already too scared to do anything but watch as things unfolded.

"It's about time." Looking at Liu Su's regretful expression over her involvement, I knew she had finally learned the lesson of not meddling in affairs beyond her control.

So I made my move.

Actually, I’d been practicing all kinds of fighting techniques too. They were just different from the various grappling techniques Ji Ruoyan practiced.

I hadn’t learned many techniques, but every one of them was highly lethal. I’d gone down the wrong path from the very beginning, and no matter how many tricks I had up my sleeve, I couldn’t use them on people I knew.

This was my first time putting my training to the test after mastering it. The results were immediate—the kind that left you flat on the ground, guaranteed!

I didn’t hit Ji Ruoyan because I’d promised Dad I’d help her. But you bunch of thugs? You’re dead. You thought you’d dragged a lone Darius into this, huh? Thought you could gang up on him?

Sorry. You dragged a fully built Darius into this, and now he’s taking on all of you at once.