Republic of China era: A hundred-year-old still practicing martial arts? Is that right?

"boom!"

The sound of cannons boomed.

The vibrations caused the beams of the dilapidated temple to creak and groan.

Liang Yanqing's high spirits instantly faded.

The moment the cannon fired, his perfectly logical plan vanished into thin air.

The people behind him also wore expressions of dejection.

Li Shuwen looked up at the distant firelight, crossed his arms, and frowned.

"These sons of warlords... they're inhuman."

Lin Ji's gaze swept over the young patriots, then he raised his hand and pressed down on Li Wen, who was carrying a large gun: "The situation is critical, we must go to the city to rescue them!"

He glanced at the map on the altar, and just as he was about to lay out the next steps, he saw a sharp glint in Liang Yanqing's eyes, and he stopped himself from speaking, saying:

"You will organize this yourself, but please be extremely careful!"

"You too, sir!" Liang Yanqing nodded.

Entering the city to rescue people is a good opportunity for an organization to win over people's hearts.

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Ji rushed out of the dilapidated temple. He was choked by the heat wave that hit him as soon as he reached the street corner.

In an instant, flames shot into the sky from the west side of the city, turning half of the night sky a fiery red.

The sounds of crying, screaming, and the rumbling of collapsing houses filled Lin Ji's ears.

The streets were full of people carrying bundles and leading their children around.

The crowd was dense, and people stumbled and fell as they fled.

Someone accidentally fell to the ground, and the people behind couldn't stop themselves and stepped on them.

……

"Make way! Let me through! The child is still inside!"

A woman with disheveled hair rushed frantically into the burning alley, only to have her hair singed by the flames and forced back by the heat. She sat on the ground and wailed loudly.

Lin Ji's figure blurred, and he had already darted over.

The roof beams at the alley entrance were charred black, and sparks were falling from them. Half of the crossbeam was loose and about to collapse.

He slipped inside and heard a child crying through the thick smoke, behind a cabinet in the corner.

"Click—"

The crossbeam broke and crashed down, still burning.

Lin Ji lifted the heavy fire beam with one hand, his arm muscles tensed, and his internal energy, at the Transcendent Realm, surged out from his arm, causing the crackling wood to stop abruptly in mid-air.

"Go!" He grabbed the terrified child with his other hand, turned and rushed out. Just as he rushed out of the alley, there was a loud "boom" behind him. The beam crashed to the ground, and sparks flew high into the air.

The woman rushed forward and took the child, then knelt on the ground with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly: "Thank you, sir! Thank you, living Buddha!"

Lin Ji didn't help her up; he simply waved his hand and glanced at the street.

Several thugs were smashing the door of the cloth shop, carrying stolen cloth in their hands. They weren't afraid when they saw people coming and even threatened them with knives.

Lin Ji snorted coldly, flicking out a few strands of energy from his fingertips. Several men's wrists went numb, their knives clattered to the ground, and they clutched their wrists, screaming in pain.

Just then, a faint sound came from my left ear.

It was Shen Jinluan's voice, tinged with suppressed urgency: "Old man? Where are you? Are you alright?"

Lin Ji ducked into the shadows of the broken wall and whispered, "I'm fine. I was rescuing people in the west of the city. How are you guys?"

Several new sounds suddenly appeared in my earbuds.

Liu Qingzhu's voice was cold, yet tinged with urgency: "Sisters, how are you? Should I go help you? What about you, old man...?"

"The situation at home is alright. The place where the shell landed is still some distance from the stronghold. We are organizing the brothers to evacuate... Qingzhu, why don't you go and check on the house first?" Although Shen Jinluan's voice was urgent, she did not lose her composure.

Lin Ji leaned against the wall, his gaze sweeping over the running crowd: "Be careful... I'm going to the dock to see what's going on."

"Okay! You too, remember to come back alive." Shen Jinluan earnestly instructed.

Lin Ji ended the telepathic communication and got up to walk towards the dock.

Another cannon shot rang out in the distance, deeper and more muffled than before, like a blow to the heart.

Lin Ji frowned.

This cannon sound is wrong; it's different from before!

The cannon fire from Heze's old ships was nowhere near as loud.

They don't seem to be on the same scale.

Lin Ji's heart tightened, and he looked towards the dock.

Without further delay, he spread out his body and swept along the roof ridge toward the dock.

Beneath the rows of rooftops, flames flickered, and below the houses, people wailed incessantly.

In times of chaos, it is always the ordinary people who suffer the most.

He Ze wanted to seize power, and the government wanted to quell the rebellion. In the end, it was always these unarmed people who suffered.

By the time they were almost at the dock, Lin Ji's gray cloth robe was covered in cigarette ash, and there was a hole burned in the cuff by a spark.

The adjutant from the governor's mansion, who had met Lin Ji a few times, was maintaining order at the street corner with several soldiers. Upon seeing Lin Ji, he ran over as if he had seen a savior.

"Mr. Lin! You've arrived? The National Salvation Association is about to land! You should go and see them!"

Lin Ji nodded and continued walking towards the dock.

The smell of gunpowder in the wind grew stronger, but the sound of gunfire stopped.

Not right.

It's too quiet.

His heart skipped a beat, and he quickened his pace.

When Lin Ji arrived at the dock, it was eerily quiet.

The city's garrison soldiers lay prone behind sandbag fortifications, peering into the river, forgetting to even raise their guns.

Chen Tianze squatted behind the sandbag at the front, his military uniform askew, his face smeared with dust, his mouth agape, staring blankly at the river, as if he had been frozen in place.

Hearing footsteps, he turned around abruptly, saw Lin Ji, and grabbed his arm, his fingers trembling:

"Mr. Lin...look...what's that?"

Lin Ji followed his gaze and his pupils contracted slightly.

The three old British gunboats of the National Salvation Association that were originally lying across the river have now shrunk to one side, like three ducks with their necks tucked in.

Downstream, three dark gray warships were slowly approaching, their hulls long and their lines sharp, like three drawn swords.

The blue dragon and white sun flag was flying on the mast; it belonged to the Yangtze River Navy of the Executive Government.

The flagship at the very front had eight new rapid-fire cannons neatly arranged on both sides of its hull, their gleaming barrels gleaming coldly in the firelight.

The bridge rises high, equipped with high-powered searchlights. Two beams of white light sweep across the river, so bright that it's blinding.

The ship had a deep draft and a thickened ram at the bow, making it look solid and heavy. Compared to the three thin, old patrol ships next to it, it looked like a strong man standing in front of a child.

"Holy shit..." Chen Tianze cursed under his breath, his voice trembling, "This...this is a warship of the Executive Government? When did they get such a nice ship?"

Not only was he stunned, but everyone on the dock was stunned.

I thought Heze's three gunboats were intimidating enough, but when the government's warships came out, they completely overwhelmed us.

The gunboats of the National Salvation Association, which had been so arrogant just moments before, were now completely silent, clearly stunned by the sudden appearance of the official ships.

Footsteps sounded behind them, and Li Shuwen rushed over, gun in hand. He stood beside Lin Ji, gazing at the river with a serious expression, and slowly began to speak:

"This is the 'Jing'-class shallow-draft gunboat of the Yangtze River Navy."