Stacy was so scared that she was trembling all over. Her face was bright red, and tears were pouring down her cheeks.
"Mr. Ambrose, help us," the three girls sobbed.
"Mr. Ambrose? Did you call a teacher?" Devon exclaimed. He laughed when he saw Alex striding toward him.
Alex looked like a raging bull. He had rarely lost his temper since working at the school, but that moment was an exception.
Certain things made him see red, and hurting young girls was top of the list.
"You scum," Alex hissed between his bared teeth.
"How dare you confront me? You're just a schoolteacher," Devon laughed, and then clapped his hands. He knew that there were a dozen of his men outside in the corridor with machetes in their hands just waiting for his command.
Eric and the three girls had never felt so scared. Their legs were weak and their faces were tense. Mr Ambrose was confronting a dozen hard men with machetes. There was no way that he could win.
Eric felt desperate with regret. Not only were his three friends going to be hurt, but now Mr Ambrose was going to suffer too.
"Ha. I admire your dedication, teacher boy, but today it's misguided. But first, I'll let you watch me deal with your students in front of you," Devon laughed.
When he said this, Eric and the three girls turned pale. They had given up all hope of being saved.
Although they knew that Mr Ambrose was powerful, there was just no way that he could save them from so many men.
"Kill him," Devon told his men and he waved his hand in Alex's direction.
A machete came down toward Alex's head. Fortunately, he sensed it coming. He grabbed his attacker's collar with one hand and threw him to the ground. Then, he did the same to a man who rushed at him with a sword.
Another man tried to attack, and Alex grabbed his knife off him and used it to inflict a deep wound to the man's chest. The man howled in agony.
Within a few minutes, several of Devon's men were lying on the ground with serious injuries.
"You're tough for a teacher," said a sinister voice. Alex turned to see the muzzle of a gun pointing in his face.
"Let's see. You're a good fighter, but can you stop a bullet?" Devon said as he flicked off the safety trigger and aimed directly at Alex.
"Do you still want to fight?" he asked with a grin.
Eric's heart pounded. He had felt a glimmer of hope when he saw Mr Ambrose fighting the men so courageously, but even he couldn't stop a bullet.
However, Alex didn't seem to be afraid of the pistol at all. Instead, he slowly approached Devon.
Without hesitating, Devon fired the gun.
Two more shots and Devon started laughing, then suddenly froze in disbelief.
Alex hadn't fallen to the ground or even stopped. He was still moving toward him.
Devon rubbed his eyes in confusion. Did the bullet miss? What on earth had happened?
Alex grabbed Devon's neck and was about to throw him to the ground when suddenly, they all heard a loud noise from outside the room. Then everything became quiet.
"What's going on?" someone shouted from outside the door.
They all looked up to see Art, still in his robe, rushing into the room followed closely by Julian.
When Devon saw Art and Julian rushing in, he looked relieved and grateful. He felt smug that they had come to rescue him in person. They must value him. He gloated, "Ha, my boss is here to save me. If you kill me now, you'll be buried with me."
There were hundreds of people behind Art and Julian. They were dressed differently from Devon, in some kind of uniform. They looked strong and ferocious.
"What's going on?" Art demanded again. His voice was shaking with rage.
"Art, are these your soldiers?" Alex asked, thinking that if Art's people had also come to fight, it would be a bloody battle and many people would get hurt.
But when he looked at Art's face, he detected a trace of panic that he had never seen there before.
Art looked at Alex and quickly walked over to him. He said, "Mr. Alex, everything has been a big misunderstanding. When I heard what was happening, I came as quickly as I could. I didn't even stop to dress. Alex, believe me, this club is not run by my family directly, but I'm here to help sort out this mess."
Everyone was silent. Eric and the girls again became hopeful and excited. Watching Alex fight had made them suspicious, but seeing how respectfully Mr Steadman spoke to Alex finally made them see the full picture. When they realized that their teacher, Mr Ambrose, was Master Alex, the famous martial arts fighter, they felt overjoyed. Eric shed tears of happiness.
They had heard so much about Master Alex's heroic victories and his brilliant fighting skills that they were filled with confidence. They felt sure that he would save them.
When Devon's men saw that Art behaved so humbly toward the teacher, and even flattered him, they were surprised. But their boss, Devon, also treated Art with a great deal of respect. So whose side was Art Steadman on? They were very confused.
Then they remembered hearing about an infamous martial arts hero called Master Alex. Could this teacher be him? With a clatter, a machete fell to the ground. Then all the thugs followed suit and dropped their weapons. They were well aware of Master Alex's reputation and were terrified of him.
"Boss, boss, help me," Devon cried out in despair.
Julian was disgusted when he heard Devon's cry for help. You useless bastard, he thought. Not everyone's afraid of you.
Devon staggered to his feet and said, "It's okay, we'll surrender." He was very afraid of Alex. He didn't want Alex to feel there was any reason to continue the fight. He was furious with Julian and Art for not helping him, but that would have to wait.
He tried to beg forgiveness from Alex. "Mr. Ambrose, I'm really sorry, I was wrong, Please, forgive me," he implored.
Eric and the three girls were shocked by the power that their teacher seemed to hold.
Alex released Devon and threw him to the ground.
"These four are my students," he stated in a cold voice.
Art looked at the four students in horror.
"Master Alex, I—" Julian stammered as he tried to explain.
But Alex didn't wait for him to finish. He walked over and slapped Julian in the face.
Julian covered his face and breathed a sigh of relief. Art also let go of the breath that he had been holding. He lowered his head and told himself that he was lucky. As Alex had only hit Julian, it was unlikely that he was going to kill either of them.