Villain? No, I'll catch up with the protagonist after passing the civil service exam.

The morning mist had not yet dissipated, and the magnificent building of the Provincial Public Security Bureau was already shrouded in an eerie and chilling atmosphere.

The usually bustling Zhengwu Street was eerily silent today. No car dared to honk, and commuters passing by didn't even have the courage to watch the commotion, rushing around in circles, afraid that a moment's delay would mean certain death.

Because outside the electric retractable gate of the provincial hall, which symbolizes solemnity and reverence, there was a dense crowd of hundreds of people blocking the way.

They were all wearing identical front-opening martial arts uniforms. The left-hand formation was black, while the right-hand formation was white.

They weren't holding banners or using megaphones to cry out their grievances. What this group carried were sharpened red-tasseled broadswords, nine-ringed tin staffs, and even gleaming triangular military daggers!

Hundreds of burly men who practiced martial arts year-round gathered together, and their bloodthirsty and fierce aura, mixed with the smell of sweat and menacing energy, made the air at the entrance of the provincial government building seem to drop several degrees.

"Get that brat named Lu Jingyan out here!"

At the forefront of the crowd stood Lin Zhentian, dressed in a black Tang suit, leaning on a dragon-headed cane, his voice booming like a bell. He didn't use any amplification equipment, but his roar, imbued with profound inner strength, made the glass windows of the provincial hall's first-floor lobby vibrate.

"You broke my son's legs! If you don't give me an explanation today, I'll raze this door to the ground!"

Beside him, Xiao Wanli's face was equally grim, his eyes as sinister as a coiled, hissing serpent.

The two martial arts grandmasters, who wielded considerable influence in the provincial capital's underworld, have completely broken off all pretense of civility today, bringing out all the most elite inner disciples from their respective families.

The atmosphere inside the provincial government building had become extremely tense.

"Are these martial arts practitioners out of their minds? They dare to bring controlled knives and block the provincial government building!"

Zhao Tiezhu peered through the blinds at the scene outside, his grip on the riot shield cracking, but beads of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

If they were drug dealers or gangsters, he would have already led his men out. But these people outside, any one of them could easily take on five people; if a large-scale bloodshed broke out, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"Lu Jingyan! Look what you've done!"

The office door was suddenly pushed open, and Deputy Director Zheng of the Provincial Department rushed in, furious, pointing his finger at Lu Jingyan and cursing loudly.

"Why did you have to use guns to arrest people last night? Now look what's happened, the Lin and Xiao families have blocked the door! Provincial leaders have even called me, asking how I'm going to handle this mass incident!"

Deputy Director Zheng is a typical old-fashioned bureaucrat who has always believed in the philosophy of "playing it safe" to maintain stability.

Wiping his sweat, he roared in a commanding tone, "You, right now, go out and apologize to the two family heads! Release those two brats and calm this down! If someone dies, you won't be able to afford the compensation even if you lose your life!"

Faced with his boss's furious rage, Lu Jingyan didn't even lift an eyelid.

He was sitting at his desk, holding a freshly brewed cup of black coffee, taking a slow, deliberate sip.

"Release them?"

Lu Jingyan put down his coffee cup, took out a brand-new high-powered tactical megaphone from the drawer, and clicked in the battery.

He raised his head, and his eyes, hidden behind his gold-rimmed glasses, were cold and devoid of any human warmth.

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 202ᴋᴋs.ᴄᴏᴍ]

"Deputy Director Zheng, you're letting me go, a serious criminal suspected of assaulting police officers and endangering public safety?"

Lu Jingyan stood up, his tall figure instantly creating a strong sense of oppression, forcing Deputy Director Zheng to involuntarily take a step back.

"Faced with a group of armed rioters storming state institutions, is your first reaction not to enforce the law, but to compromise? To allow them to be above the law?"

"You..." Deputy Director Zheng's face turned ashen from the rebuke. "Those are ancient martial arts families! Their influence in the provincial capital is deeply entrenched! Don't you even know what a sense of the big picture is!"

"My overall view is that the dignity of the law must never be trampled upon."

Lu Jingyan ignored the spineless deputy director. He picked up the megaphone, turned to Su Xiaoxiao who was typing on the keyboard, and issued a completely new instruction.

"Xiaoxiao, turn on our provincial department's official live stream. Take off the drone and give us a panoramic view."

Su Xiaoxiao was stunned for a moment, then her eyes lit up with astonishing brightness: "Captain Lu, are you going to broadcast this live all over the internet? This is airing our dirty laundry in public!"

"This isn't a family scandal. It's an excellent public lesson for the entire internet on legal education."

Lu Jingyan straightened his police tie, a cold and cruel smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"I want everyone to see how these 'martial arts masters' who are still living in the old society are courting their own demise under the watchful eyes of 1.4 billion people."

After saying that, he pushed open the office door and strode towards the gate of the provincial government building.

"Splash—"

The glass doors on the first floor of the provincial hall slid open slowly to both sides.

Lu Jingyan, carrying a megaphone in one hand, walked steadily to the steps in the center of the gate, defying the overwhelming murderous aura of the hundreds of people.

Behind him stood the solemn national emblem.

Above his head, police drones buzzed and hovered, transmitting high-definition images to the entire network in real time.

The noise outside instantly subsided when the young man in police uniform walked out. Lin Zhentian and Xiao Wanli's gazes, sharp as swords, were fixed on Lu Jingyan.

"You're Lu Jingyan?"

Lin Zhentian stepped forward, slamming his dragon-headed cane heavily on the ground, shattering a paving stone. "You little rascal, you've got some nerve! I thought you were going to be a coward for life!"

"Enough with the nonsense!" Xiao Wanli's eyes were sinister, his inner strength surging. "Hand over my son immediately! Then cut off your own arms, kneel down, and kowtow to admit your mistake! Otherwise, this provincial government building will become your morgue today!"

The two grandmasters unleashed their full power, making the surrounding air seem thick and sticky.

Any ordinary person would probably be so scared that their legs would go weak by now.

But Lu Jingyan just watched them quietly, as if he were looking at two severely delusional patients who had escaped from an asylum.

He slowly raised the megaphone in his hand and pressed the switch.

"Sizzle—"

A sharp crackling sound ripped through the quiet morning, startling several inner disciples in the front row who covered their ears.

"The Lin family of the provincial capital, the Xiao family of the provincial capital, right?"

Lu Jingyan's voice, amplified by high-powered loudspeakers, echoed like rolling thunder throughout the entire government affairs street.

"I don't care how famous you are in the underworld, or what kind of unparalleled martial arts you practice."

He stretched out his free left hand and pointed to the national emblem above his head, which shone brightly in the morning light.

"Before you threaten me, I suggest you look up and see what the place you're standing in is called."

Lin Zhentian sneered, "It's just the Public Security Bureau, isn't it? Back in my days roaming the martial world, what kind of government office haven't I been to!"

"It seems that your decades of martial arts training have made you lose your brains."

Lu Jingyan's eyes suddenly turned sharp as knives.

Instead of responding to the provocation in the manner of martial arts practitioners, he directly unleashed his most lethal weapon.

"Several hundred people gathered, armed with controlled knives, and blocked the city's main roads."

Lu Jingyan's voice suddenly rose, each word carrying an undeniable legal authority.

"They even openly surrounded the provincial public security bureau building, clamoring to raze law enforcement units to the ground and threatening to kill active-duty police officers!"

He stared at the two arrogant family heads and immediately defined this farce as the most terrifying one.

"Do you think this is just a feud between martial arts sects? Do you think this is about demanding an explanation?"

Lu Jingyan chuckled and uttered a sentence that instantly caused the entire online live stream to explode and sent chills down the spines of every martial artist present:

"No."

"This isn't revenge; this is launching an armed rebellion!"

"What you're doing is rebellion!"

boom!

The word "rebellion" was like a nuclear bomb with a yield of 10,000 tons, exploding directly in the minds of Lin Zhentian and Xiao Wanli.

The expressions of these two martial arts masters, who had been so imposing just moments before, changed instantly.

Although they are arrogant and consider themselves superior, they are not stupid enough to confront the state apparatus head-on!

In ancient times, this was a heinous crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family! In modern times, this is called subversion of state power!

"Stop making baseless accusations! Don't throw labels around like that!"

Lin Zhentian's hand gripping his cane trembled uncontrollably, and his usually deep voice cracked, "We are just people from the martial arts world! We've come to seek justice! This is the rule of the martial arts world!"

"The rules of the underworld?"

Lu Jingyan looked at his old face, which was slightly distorted with fear, his eyes filled with condescending mockery and contempt.

"On the land of China, there is only one set of rules."

"That is the constitution and the criminal law."

Lu Jingyan put down the megaphone, his gaze sharp as he stared intently at the hundreds of ancient martial arts disciples who were beginning to stir.

"Are you martial arts practitioners, unbound by conventional laws?"

"OK."

Lu Jingyan sneered, pulled out a walkie-talkie from his waist, and pressed the red all-out attack button.

"Since you don't want to be law-abiding citizens, then I'll grant your wish."