Chapter 234 The Approaching Storm
"Take back what you just said!" Marcus stared at Lucas, his expression hard to read.
We looked at Marcus in confusion.
Marcus crossed his arms and snorted lightly. "Such a bold, powerful statement—so let me be the one to say it. In Starstream City, we don't need to follow their rules!"
Brian rolled his eyes, speechless.
I smiled and turned to Gale. "Gale, what Lucas and Marcus think is exactly what I’m thinking too."
Brian frowned, concern clouding his face. "Even if we've established our power in Starstream City, we can't completely abandon our business in Dawnharbor. According to the invitation, joining the Rating Committee comes with quite a few benefits."
The higher a family's star rating, the greater the benefits they could enjoy in terms of port quotas, government projects, land approvals, and more.
If conflicts arose between families of the same star rating, they could ask the Rating Committee to mediate. Each representative held voting rights—one person, one vote—reasonable and fair on the surface.
Joining the Rating Committee also made information exchange and resource sharing easier. If small families encountered crises, they could apply for protection.
Marcus curled his lip in disdain, dismissing, "Nice words, one after another. Weak families seeking protection is nothing but a pipe dream. The source of the crisis is the big families themselves. Asking victims to seek help from their attackers—what's the difference between that and throwing lambs into a wolf's mouth?"
Gale nodded in satisfaction. "Marcus is right."
I tapped my index finger lightly against the table. "The committee’s benefits don't tempt us much, and its so-called fairness is just an illusion. Existing alliances won't break apart just because new rules are created."
After thinking it through, I continued, "For some weaker families, on top of depending on a major family already, joining the committee means paying another membership fee. That's like paying two sets of protection money."
Brian let out a sigh and nodded. "Exactly. These new rules sound sophisticated and profound, but at their core, it’s still the same thing—grabbing territory, hoarding resources, and collecting protection fees."
Marcus rested his chin on one hand. "When you put it that way, it suddenly sounds far more low-class."
Lucas looked at Gale. "I can simply refuse to join the committee. But you're in Dawnharbor—refusing probably won't be that easy for you."
Gale remained calm, nodding. "Let's wait and see. These new rules are meant to establish a strict hierarchy. Not every family will be willing to place itself beneath others."
Just as Gale predicted, families and organizations rated four stars or below all showed hesitation.
Most people didn't want to openly offend the four major families, so they resorted to delay tactics instead. In response, the four major families simply appeared at their doorsteps, using violence to make the consequences of resistance painfully clear.
Under the scorching sun, Dawnharbor felt unusually tense, as though anxiety itself had settled into the air.
Every time I received news from there, I could almost smell the thick stench of blood through the screen.
On August 20th, I held a selection exam at Platinum Haven Hotel and accepted twenty-one students.
They were between eight and twelve years old. The feuds between families had not deeply affected them, and as classmates, they could still form friendships. That would also make things easier for me to manage.
Among them, the Caudill family sent three children, the Woods family sent two, and Simeon came along as a supervising teacher.
Many mafia families specially trained a few loyal doctors. To reduce casualties, the Caudill family required even their children to master basic first-aid skills.
Although Simeon had no talent for medicine, he was more than qualified to supervise a group of children.
With no intention of wasting useful manpower, I arranged a counselor position for him.
When the children cried, he had to comfort them. When they fought, he still had to comfort them too. When they acted spoiled, he still had to comfort them again.
Simeon reluctantly became a babysitter, while secretly serving as a messenger between me, the Caudill family, and the Woods family.
Of the four major families, the Woods family kept the lowest profile. They stayed distant from everyone, carrying themselves like recluses. To them, ordinary people were just dust in their eyes.
Simeon told me that neither the Caudill family nor the Woods family had joined the Rating Committee willingly. By the time they learned about the new rules, they had already been turned into founding members.
The Marr family, which had always preyed women and children, showed a startling degree of ruthlessness in this matter. On the surface, they supported the Thornfield family, but in reality, they were taking the opportunity to aggressively expand their own power and absorb weaker forces.
On the first weekend of September, Simeon showed up early in the morning with a bad mood written all over his face. He carried two chairs in his hands and looked like he was about to pick a fight with someone.
Without a word, he arranged the chairs neatly on the field, then went back for more.
The medical school currently had only twenty-one official students. The curriculum wasn't heavy, and on weekends we held public classes, welcoming any citizens of Starstream City with free time to attend.
After the field was set up, I stood by the podium checking my courseware. Simeon walked up beside me, his eyes seeming to carry a thousand unspoken words.
I turned to look at him and raised a questioning brow. "What's wrong?"
"Congress has a new member with the Thornfield surname, and the Marr family absorbed another small family yesterday." Simeon suppressed his irritation and asked me, "What exactly are you and Lucas planning? Are you just going to let them develop and grow stronger without restraint?"
His tone became agitated as he continued, "When the day comes that the Thornfield family and the Marr family become the overlords of Dawnharbor, they'll turn their guns on Starstream City!"
I nodded calmly, my composure forming a sharp contrast to Simeon's agitation.
"The storm is coming. Battle is unavoidable. But life still goes on."
Simeon stared at me as if he couldn’t comprehend my answer. "At a time like this, you still have the leisure to do charity work?"
"Why not?" I shrugged and watched the residents from the Chaotic Zone in shabby clothes cautiously walking into the empty field.
They looked at their clothes—so dirty you couldn't tell their original color—then at the spotless chairs, and stood awkwardly off to the side of the field, not daring to sit down.
"Every good deed has meaning," I said.
As class time approached, the field gradually filled with people, with more still streaming through the gates.
Among them were reporters, dock workers, warehouse managers, sailors' families, small shop owners, middle school students, and parents with children.
Even more were unemployed residents from the Chaotic Zone, burdened with uncertain futures.
I sat on the stage, gave a brief and modest self-introduction, and then got to the point, "We never know which will come first—the future or an accident."
"There are two public classes each week. The curriculum covers hemostasis, bandaging, fracture stabilization, CPR, airway obstruction first aid, emergency treatment for severe bleeding, burn treatment, and emergency handling of common injuries. These are all very practical skills. Anyone interested is welcome to attend."
"Without further ado, I'll now start teaching how to stop bleeding. Many people probably think small wounds don't require hemostasis, while major wounds can't be stopped anyway. It's like illness too—minor illnesses don't seem to need a hospital treatment, while major illnesses feel hopeless even if you go to the hospital. But if there's a way to increase your chances of survival, who among you would refuse to try?"
My course had no profound or obscure content. The words were plain, and the sentences were simple and direct.
People listened quietly, drawn partly attracted by the lesson itself, and partly because the residents from the Chaotic Zone listened with such earnest focus that it affected everyone around them.
The first public class ended smoothly.
Even as people were leaving, many still seemed reluctant to go, but Simeon only looked more confused than before. "My intuition tells me you must have a special purpose for holding these public classes, but I can't figure it out at all."
I patted his shoulder. "If you can't figure it out, don't stress about it. You'll know eventually."