The Republic of China: I, Xiangzi, a Hero in a Chaotic Era

She spoke in a tone that was as steady as possible but still trembled, her voice sounding unusually abrupt and weak in the empty, dilapidated room.

"Gentlemen...heroes..."

She paused, trying to make her voice sound more sincere.

"We have no grudges against each other in the past or present. I... I am just a weak woman seeking refuge with relatives. If you gentlemen find my meager travel expenses acceptable, please take them. I only beg... I only beg you to be merciful and not make things difficult for me."

"I promise that once I get out, I will not dare to make a sound, I will leave the capital immediately, and I will never come back."

After she finished speaking, she held her breath, her eyes darting nervously across the faces of the dark figures, hoping to catch a glimpse of relaxation or greed.

The man at the head of the group hadn't moved until now, when he seemed to tilt his head slightly.

He stood at the very front. He wasn't particularly tall, but he was exceptionally lean and muscular, giving off a taut, leopard-like aura even in the dim light.

Upon hearing Tiger Girl's words, he let out a very soft sneer, a laugh devoid of any warmth, only icy mockery.

"Alright,"

He spoke, his voice hoarse, carrying an undeniable sense of control, and a faint hint of Tianjin accent.

"Don't play dumb with me. We're here for you."

He took half a step forward, and more light shone on his face.

Tiger Girl finally saw his face clearly.

He was in his early thirties, with a thin face, slightly high cheekbones, and thin, tightly pursed lips. What was most striking about him were his eyes—not large, but astonishingly bright, like two cold stars, devoid of any emotion, only a chilling indifference that seemed to see through everything.

He was wearing a navy blue tight-fitting short-sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing his muscular forearms.

"Let me introduce myself."

He looked at Tiger Girl's suddenly contracting pupils and spoke slowly, each word like an ice bead hitting the ground.

"My name is Sea Dog."

Sea lions.

These three words were like three red-hot branding irons, fiercely searing into Tiger Girl's heart and mind.

Her blood seemed to freeze for a moment, then rush to her head, her ears were ringing, and her vision went black.

Sea lions.

Isn't this the culprit who got his own father imprisoned?

The information that Director Liu had gathered was the name that his father had been muttering through gritted teeth in the visiting room: that hoodlum who colluded with the police chief, instructed Zhao San to submit a complaint, and demanded three thousand silver dollars.

How could he be here?

Why would he target me?

Could it be... could it be that they know where Father hid the money, and that they know he took it?

Yes, that must be it.

The eyes that were always staring at her... Tiger Girl felt a chill creep from the bottom of her heart to her limbs, a chill a hundred times worse than the cold in this dilapidated house.

She thought she was the mantis stalking the cicada, but little did she know that the oriole was always behind her.

No, perhaps even the cicada that her father was caught was deliberately disturbed by the oriole to lure out her, the praying mantis.

The immense fear nearly rendered her speechless; her lips trembled for a long time before she managed to squeeze out broken words:

"Hai...Master Hai..."

She tried to force a smile, but the muscles in her face were too stiff to obey her commands; the smile must have looked worse than a grimace.

"You...you're standing up for Zhao San, you're clearly...you're a hero from the outlaws, loyal and righteous. But...but my father's case is still at the police station, you...you're making things difficult for a woman like me, this...this will damage your reputation if word gets out."

She invoked the "reputation" that she could think of that might still have some binding force on these江湖人 (jianghu people), even though she herself knew how weak and ineffective it was.

The cold smile on the sea lion's face vanished completely, replaced by obvious impatience.

He waved his hand, the movement crisp and clean, like brushing away an annoying fly.

"Don't give me that nonsense."

His voice deepened, filled with blatant contempt.

"What do you think I'm after by helping that poor bastard Zhao San with his lawsuit? Is it a penny of tribute from him, or his worthless life? It's all about the money."

He took a step closer, his shadow completely enveloping Tiger Girl, his cold, star-like eyes fixed on her.

"A pile of gleaming silver. Master Liu's silver."

He paused, looking at Tiger Girl's deathly pale face, and continued, his tone carrying a hint of cat-and-mouse mockery and icy anger:

"You little wench, you've got some clever ideas. Your father's still in jail, desperately waiting for money to save his life, and you're trying to run away with the money."

"Tsk tsk, what a touching father-daughter bond."

His sarcasm was undisguised.

"If I hadn't been careful and had people watching you and the car factory day and night, especially you, Miss Liu, you would have really managed to slip away like a cicada shedding its skin."

"So all that work of mine has been for nothing? Hmm?"

Upon hearing this, Tiger Girl's heart was filled with turbulent emotions, and her last shred of hope was completely shattered.

Sure enough, from the moment she left the car factory, or perhaps even earlier, from the moment she first visited her father at the police station, she was already under surveillance.

After racking her brains for a while, her will to survive, like a dying flame, suddenly surged up and burned wildly beneath the ice of despair.

She couldn't die here, couldn't be crushed like an ant in this dirty, dilapidated corner; she still dreamed of that bright shop in the Tianjin Concession.

Fear made her thoughts race like never before: her father's face, the car factory's accounts, the bits and pieces of rumors she had heard about her father's past, and the memory of that fleeting glimpse in her father's room, followed by a stern rebuke and being chased away...

The fragments collided and pieced together in a flash. A daring idea, which might temporarily save their lives, suddenly flashed out like a crack in the darkness.

Tiger Girl suddenly raised her head. Although her face was still as pale as paper and her teeth were chattering, she forced a hint of almost fawning, desperate eagerness into her eyes.

She licked her chapped lips, her voice trembling with nervousness, yet she tried her best to speak clearly.

"Master Hai...Master Hai, please calm down. It was...it was my fault for being ignorant and short-sighted. I only thought about running away and ruined your...your important plans."

She took a breath, observing the cold and impatient expression on the sea lion's face, her heart leaped into her throat, and she spoke faster.

"But Master Hai, in the end, you...you're just after money. Silver, pure silver, who doesn't love that?"

She paused, then threw out the bait that had instantly formed in her mind.

"Please, Master Hai, have mercy and spare my life."

"Then...then from my five thousand silver dollars, you...you leave me one thousand, just one thousand, so that I can fly far away and disappear from your sight forever, never to return to the capital again, and never to be an eyesore to you again."