The Protector

Shortly after the voice, Wallace, Calvin, Tyler and Wales emerged.
Escorted by a large entourage, Michael too appeared holding a walking stick decorated with a sculpture in the shape of a dragon
head.
Almost all direct descendants of the family were there.
Looking intimidating, they stood in front of Levi, who stared at them with a faint smile.
“Wait a minute. Levi, I can see that you’ve been trying very desperately to be here for quite some time already. Do you really
want this so badly?” Wales taunted.
“Finally you’re able to realize your dream after working hard for such a long time. Congratulations for officially becoming one of
us!” Tyler said sarcastically.
Every one of them assumed that Levi had single-handedly plotted against Michael to force him into acknowledging his identity.
“But, I have to warn you that it won’t be so easy to become one of us!” Michael growled all of a sudden.
“That’s right! You have to abide by our family rules if you want to become one of the family!” Wallace chimed in.
“Oh? What are the rules?” Levi was amused to hear that.
“There are three conditions that you must fulfill before you are approved to be one of us.” Michael stuck out three of his fingers
as he explained.
“Tell me all about it!” Levi was curious to know about the rules.
“First of all, you have to kneel down in front of the memorial tablets of our ancestors as well as the seniors of the family!”
“Secondly, you have to change your surname! In the future, you will go by the name of ‘Levi Jones’ instead of ‘Levi Garrison’!”
“Last but not least, you must train yourself to become resilient so that you are tough enough to endure all challenges that come
your way in the future. Therefore, you have to be slapped by all the direct descendants of the family!”
Looking cold and detached, Michael added, “You’ll only be allowed to enter the place and be recognized as my grandson after
fulfilling all three conditions!”

What?!
Mia was flustered the moment she heard about the three conditions.
She had never expected that her family would make such a rude demand which was clearly aimed at giving Levi a hard time.
The family had at least two to three hundreds direct descendants. If Levi were to be slapped by each and every one of them,
would he be able to survive after going through that?
Also, it was very humiliating for him to kneel down to the seniors in the family in front of so many people.
Lastly, demanding him to change his surname was the most degrading condition of all!
All eyes were on Levi at that moment. “What do you think? Are you scared or are the conditions too demanding for you?”
“You have to be very clear that we have to follow our family rules because we are a huge and distinguished family! Not every
Tom, Dick and Harry can be accepted as one of us!”
“If you would like to become one of us, you have to follow the rules!” said Wallace as well as some of the Joneses.
Noticing Levi’s hesitation, Michael fumed, “Answer me now! Either you complete the three conditions or you get out of here now!”
It was agreed beforehand that they would accept Levi as one of them but he needed to go through some torture before that.
They would never let him in too easily!
Tyler sneered, “Levi, you have to know that nothing is free in this world. You have to complete the three conditions if you want to
become one of us!”
“Hahaha...” Levi let loose a round of guffaw all of a sudden.