From a small alley not far from Lincheng Diya High School came the dull thuds of fists landing on flesh, mixed with muffled groans and cheers.
The noise was chaotic and deafening.
Yet everyone passing by nearby avoided the place without exception. No one went into that alley.
A few female students from Diya High came out, holding milk tea.
“Shen Lian is fighting again, huh?”
“I heard he made a date with that bunch from No. 7 High today.”
“Tch, those poor trash from No. 7 High!”
“What do you think… can Shen Lian win?”
“I heard No. 7 High hired outside help—some guys from the streets. They even brought weapons. Hard to say.”
A timid girl gasped. “Weapons? Won’t something bad happen? Should we call the police?”
The others dragged her away. “Don’t meddle. Is Shen Lian’s business something we can interfere with?”
Led by Shen Lian, the group from Diya High had beaten every nearby school without losing once. Today, they had finally run into a real wall.
A flamboyant youth with blue-highlighted short hair, tall with long legs, stepped on someone’s back and ground his foot down hard. His gaze was vicious.
“Tsk, Yue Sheng, you’re really pathetic. You even had to invite these off-campus scum. If you’re scared, just say it—this daddy doesn’t even bother bullying cowards!”
The boy under his foot looked about the same age, around eighteen or nineteen, thin and flushed red. He let out a muffled groan and said, “Shen… Shen Lian, if you want to kill or cut me up, just say it. I’m not afraid of you!”
“Oh? If you weren’t afraid, would you have called this many people?”
The blue-clad boy swept his gaze around. Surrounding them were youths dressed in bizarre outfits, hair dyed in all kinds of colors, iron rods in their hands.
One guy in a leather jacket said impatiently, “Yue Sheng, are we fighting or not? If not, we’re leaving.”
Yue Sheng had originally planned to bring these people and take Shen Lian’s group down in one go, teaching them a brutal lesson. But from the very start, Shen Lian had caught him off guard and subdued him, leaving the hired outsiders unsure whether to step in. The situation froze.
Yue Sheng had taken several punches to the face and body from Shen Lian. The pain was intense. He shut his eyes and roared, “Do it!”
As soon as the words fell, he was kicked hard and slammed into the wall. Yue Sheng spat violently, blood and saliva mixed together, along with a tooth.
“Do it already! Fuck!” he shouted.
The scene instantly descended into chaos.
Shen Lian clenched his back molars and waved his hand. His people immediately closed in. Back to back, they formed a tight circle. Outnumbered and outgunned, this was their only option.
Shen Lian took two blows to the arm. His movements slowed slightly. One of his lackeys glanced over and shouted during a brief opening, “Brother Shen, let’s retreat! We can get revenge later!”
Shen Lian kicked out. “Coward my ass!”
The fight grew even more intense, both sides trading blows and threats, neither willing to back down.
Yinyin groggily opened her eyes and smelled a stench.
She looked around and realized she was inside a trash bin.
Blinking, the smell dulled her sense of smell, and she vaguely felt that Daddy was nearby.
She asked, “System Uncle, why is Yinyin here?”
“Where’s Daddy?”
The trash bin wasn’t tall. The system scanned the surroundings and said, “Little cub, climb out first.”
One minute later, Yinyin lay outside the trash bin at the corner of the alley.
She cautiously peeked out, her face full of anxiety. “System Uncle, Daddy is fighting. What should we do?”
The system felt a little awkward. He had just sent the little cub over and only then realized that the villain was… in the middle of a group brawl.
This was a scene that had happened countless times during the villain’s youth. The system hadn’t expected to be so “lucky” to run into it immediately.
He fell silent for a moment, looking at the villain’s ferocious expression and… those iron rods with no eyes. “J-just wait…”
“Wait for what?” Yinyin was about to cry.
“Wait until your… daddy finishes fighting, then go over.”
The system hesitated slightly when saying “daddy.” He’d accidentally sent the little cub to the villain’s teenage years—was there really such a young father in the human world?
He couldn’t help thinking… if the little cub rushed up and called him dad, would the rebellious teenage villain kick her flying?
The system felt it was necessary to protect the little cub’s safety. After all, he was a professional and intelligent top-tier system!
Yinyin was close to tears, her voice choking. “System Uncle, you’re bad. Daddy is fighting and getting hurt, and you won’t let Yinyin go.”
The system looked at Yinyin’s tiny frame—short and stubby, barely steady on her feet—and thought about her trying to save the villain.
She’d only get in the way.
The system couldn’t bear to see the little cub get hurt. Anyway, the villain would live until his thirties before dying—he was only eighteen now, a fresh young lad, not going to die yet.
He coaxed her, “Little cub, I promise you, your daddy will be fine, okay?”
Yinyin didn’t listen. Young as she was, she only believed what she saw. She had just come out to look for Daddy and immediately saw him fighting—so many people on the other side, even holding sticks. It was terrifying.
Just as another stick was about to fall on Daddy—
Yinyin, furious, let out a shout in her tender, milky voice. Her short little legs pumped as she rushed forward. From afar, she looked like a rapidly rolling dumpling charging ahead.
System: “……”
Shen Lian grabbed the stick with his bare hands. His gaze froze, then dropped to his feet.
A round little dumpling stood in front of him, arms spread wide. She looked up at the people opposite him and shouted fiercely in her milky voice, “Don’t hit my daddy!”
Shen Lian: “???”
The stick-wielding youth opposite: “……???”
Shen Lian’s lackeys were even more shocked. Hearing that crisp, milky “Daddy,” they all turned around in disbelief, forgetting they were in the middle of a fight.
The heated brawl abruptly cooled. Both sides stopped without realizing it, their eyes drawn to the very out-of-place little dumpling.
From Shen Lian’s angle, he couldn’t see Yinyin’s face. He had only seen a small figure rush over and block in front of him—a tiny, fluffy, round head.
The others had a clearer view. Yinyin looked two or three years old, tender and fresh. When she tried to look fierce, she resembled a kitten pretending to be scary—milky and fierce at the same time.
Her eyes were wide as she clenched her little fists and stood in front of Shen Lian.
After a few curious glances, someone asked, “Shen Lian, is this yours?”
“Tsk tsk, impressive. Already got one at such a young age?”
One of Shen Lian’s lackeys waved his hands. “Impossible! Boss didn’t even fancy the school belle, and he’s still a… uh… how could he have a kid?!”
Even so, the lackey grew curious. He stepped forward, squatted down, and examined Yinyin.
She wore ragged little clothes, her yellowish short hair thin and messy—clearly malnourished. But she was good-looking: delicate features, fair and cute, round cheeks puffed up with anger, baby fat filling her face. A truly round little dumpling.
His fingers itched, and he reached out to pinch her cheek.
Yinyin dodged, ran behind Daddy, hugged his leg, and peeked out. “D-don’t pinch Yinyin’s face.”
Xu Gao: “……”
Scratching his head, Xu Gao stood up and looked at his boss. “Brother Shen, this kid…?”
A group fight ended because of the sudden appearance of a dumpling. Both sides agreed to settle things next week with a basketball match.
Shen Lian turned and left.
He lived in a high-end apartment near the school.
Yinyin pouted, lifted her short legs, and followed him, pattering along. “Daddy, wait for me.”
Shen Lian walked even faster. His athletic long legs covered several of Yinyin’s steps in one stride.
Running anxiously, Yinyin tripped and fell, rolling several times on the ground.
Shen Lian stopped and looked back.
After a long moment, seeing Yinyin lying on the ground and not getting up, he walked over.
The system silently nodded. The teenage version of the villain was easier to deal with. If it were the grown man version later on, he probably wouldn’t even turn his head—just like in the second world, where the little cub chased him down an entire street without making him stop.
Thinking this, the system quietly put in some effort, creating injuries on Yinyin’s knees and hands that looked rather serious.
For the sake of letting the little cub successfully latch onto the villain, he’d really broken his heart.
Shen Lian squatted down and looked at her. “Get up?”
Yinyin held back a pool of tears, looking up at Daddy with watery eyes, stubbornly refusing to get up. She sniffled and cried in her milky voice, “Daddy is bad. Daddy didn’t wait for Yinyin!”
Shen Lian’s head was full of question marks. He admitted he wasn’t a good person—always fighting and causing trouble—but… where did he get such a big kid?
Did he sleepwalk one night and secretly have a child?
He pinched Yinyin’s chubby cheek and clicked his tongue. “Kid, who sent you?”
“The old man? Or some woman?”
Growing up, because of his identity, Shen Lian had been set up countless times, especially by women. Those little girls—so young, yet with no idea where they got such thoughts—were always throwing themselves at him. A few idiots even claimed publicly to be his girlfriends.
As for… the old man.
He’d been pushing him hard lately, urging him to return to the capital. That old fox would stop at nothing—who knew if this wasn’t another trick?
Facing Daddy’s suspicious gaze, Yinyin felt hurt. Tears rolled down, yet she clenched her face red, refusing to cry.
“Yinyin is just Yinyin. Yinyin wasn’t sent by anyone. Yinyin is Daddy’s little treasure!”
Shen Lian: “……”
On the way back, Shen Lian’s gaze kept drifting to the dumpling clinging tightly to his leg. He felt he’d made a mistake.
He, the undisputed tyrant of Diya High, had actually softened up and been tricked by a three-year-old playing pitiful—so much so that she’d even followed him home?
After entering, Shen Lian warned, “Behave. Don’t move. Don’t run anywhere.”
He flopped onto the sofa. Yinyin was placed beside him. Seeing her sit obediently, little hands placed neatly in front of her, so well-behaved it was unreal, Shen Lian nodded in satisfaction.
Ignoring the injuries on his hands, he picked up his phone to make a call. “You can’t explain who you are or where you’re from. I’ll call your police uncles and have them arrange things for you.”
Yinyin didn’t understand anything else—only that Daddy was going to give her to the police uncles. Her eyes reddened, and she was about to cry again.
Shen Lian hurriedly hung up and covered her mouth. “Alright, alright, don’t cry yet. Who are you, where did you come from—at least tell me clearly?”
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