Chapter Fifty-Four: The Gate of Qian

The allied forces concentrated their firepower in a fierce assault on the northern shore. The ammunition depot at the Left Camp battery exploded and caught fire, sounding the horn for the final battle.

Lin Lei flew swiftly all the way, but by the time he arrived, the allied troops had already come ashore. Feng Desheng, the commander of the Left Camp, led by example, charging forward with his men to physically engage the enemy, hoping to drive them back into the sea once more.

Under Feng Desheng’s command were fewer than five hundred soldiers from the Huai Army, with only one-fifth equipped with new rifles. After the artillery duel the previous night, their numbers had dwindled by a further thirty percent.

Three hundred and fifty against a thousand—they were outmatched both in manpower and weaponry.

The soldiers could only shout the slogans of the Righteous Harmony Society, throwing themselves into the fray with nothing but flesh and blood.

“If the immortals won’t come, then I will!” Lin Lei’s gaze grew colder still.

Fewer than a hundred Qing soldiers on the battlefield could still fight, and most wielded only broadswords or spears.

“System, get to work. Release the Judicators. No quarter for any of the Eight-Nation Alliance troops who have landed! And set an automatic recovery marker for ordinary persons!” Lin Lei ordered.

Although he had awakened his divine sense and could collect materials by covering the area with it, Lin Lei felt that a death leaving “not even bones behind,” with their “souls scattered,” would serve as a more powerful deterrent.

Two black discs, each forty centimeters in diameter and resembling UFOs, rapidly flew over the battlefield, hovering above the clashing armies. They then split into numerous drones, each the size of a sparrow.

The drones, powered by high-energy crystals, were fast and agile, making no noise whatsoever. Both sides, locked in deadly combat, failed to notice the invisible killers above.

The main feature of laser weaponry was its silent lethality, and so it was with the Judicator Hive drones. Not until the forty drones had completed three volleys did both sides realize there was something in the sky.

Confronted with this bizarre scene, both armies instinctively ceased fighting...

A second before, a foreign devil nearly stabbed a Qing soldier to death; the next, a beam of light flashed, and the foreign devil vanished in a burst of white light.

Even the Qing soldiers who had performed spirit-invoking rituals were so terrified they dared not move.

Perhaps, Lin Lei mused, this was truly a case of “the man who loved dragons finally meeting a real one.”

With the Qing soldiers frozen, Lin Lei had no competition for the kill count. The drones continued their slaughter, targeting every allied soldier who had landed.

At first, the allied soldiers were merely curious and confused by the unknown threat. But as they saw their comrades vanish before their eyes, panic swept over them. Some threw down their weapons and fled toward the sea, screaming words like Satan and devil.

Another group of soldiers, more composed, noticed that the unknown objects above attacked only their own side. They quickly deduced these must be some sort of Qing weapon and decided to fight back.

By 1895, all the armies of the world had already adopted new model rifles. Even the newly reorganized Qing army had begun to replace their weapons with the Hanyang-made Mauser 1888 rifles.

These new rifles boasted great power, accuracy, long range, and fast rate of fire. With fixed magazines holding five or eight rounds, the firepower density of the allied soldiers was greatly enhanced. Hundreds of men firing at once posed a certain threat even to unarmored drones.

The drones, relying on speed and agility, constantly changed position to dodge bullets, making it difficult for their enemies to predict their movement and thus reducing the chance of being shot down.

Nevertheless, even the lowest probability is still a probability, especially when confronted with the random “pray and spray” shooting style. Sometimes, all you could do was accept fate.

Unfortunately for the allied soldiers, they were up against the System. With its powerful computational ability, the system could micro-manage all drones at once. No matter how random a soldier’s gunfire, the system could kill him before he even pulled the trigger.

If dozens of rifles fired simultaneously, the drones could simply abandon the target and retreat to safety, waiting until the ammunition was spent before resuming the massacre.

So, although the drones’ offensive weakened once the allies fought back, not a single drone was lost.

The allied soldiers who had stormed the shore fell into chaos. The Qing troops, recovering from their initial shock, rallied. It didn’t matter what those things in the sky were; one thing was certain—they were on their side.

The opportunity to strike at the enemy and earn merit was right there. Orders weren’t even necessary; everyone joined the counterattack.

Seeing others snatching his kills, Lin Lei was hardly pleased.

He seized an opportunity to dash onto the battlefield, shouting, “Who is Feng Desheng?”

With most allied guns aimed at the sky, Lin Lei had no desire to risk flying and getting shot, so he ran in on foot.

Luckily, he had approached from behind the battery and spoke fluent Chinese; otherwise, his strange attire would have made him a target for the emboldened Qing troops.

At that moment, a blood-soaked middle-aged man, surrounded by his men, approached and asked, “I am Feng Desheng. Who are you, and what do you want?”

“My surname is Lin. I’m here to take over the northern shore battery! The dispatch from Commander Luo will arrive soon. For now, order your men to cease the attack and regroup. Except for the Qian Sect members, everyone else is to reinforce the southern shore!” Lin Lei replied with calm authority.

Lin Lei had only revealed his “identity” in the central command tent, and the messenger from Luo Rongguang had likely only just set out. With no other choice, he invoked Luo Rongguang’s name to assert authority.

“You claim to be sent by Commander Luo. Do you have any credentials?” Feng Desheng inquired.

Feng Desheng found Lin Lei’s claim hard to believe. Were it not for Lin Lei’s strange attire and air of confidence, Feng would have already ordered his arrest.

“I act on my own accord—why should I need Luo Rongguang’s appointment?” Lin Lei, unable to resist showing off, pointed to the sky. Five drones descended, circling him. Only then did he slowly say, “As for proof of identity... would these magical instruments suffice?”

Eager to build his own power, Lin Lei found that playing the fool would not do; he could only continue his mystic charade.

“This... this is...” Feng Desheng was truly stunned, stammering as he spoke.

“I’ll say it again: disciples of the Qian Sect remain; all others, leave at once!” Lin Lei barked, feigning impatience.

Yet, after he finished, everyone still stared at him in shock. No one spoke, but no one moved either.

“What, are my words useless?” Lin Lei blustered, a little shaky inside—being stared at by nearly a hundred men was unnerving.

“Sir, to report, my men and I are all members of the Qian Sect,” Feng Desheng said cautiously.

Well, now things were awkward.

It turned out they were all officially recognized members of the Righteous Harmony Society, each unit belonging to a different “sect.” Feng Desheng’s entire force belonged to the “Qian Sect”—it was fate, really.

Of course, even with official recognition, the court took precautions. Among the three thousand defenders of the Dagu Forts, only a thousand were Righteous Harmony Society members, divided between the Qian and Xun Sects.

Feng Desheng, altar master of the Qian Sect, was stationed with his men at the Left Camp battery on the north shore.

Li Zhongcheng, altar master of the Xun Sect, held the South Gate battery.

No matter where the allied forces landed, these units were always the first to engage the enemy.

Put nicely, it was a heavy responsibility. Put bluntly, the members of the Righteous Harmony Society were nothing more than cannon fodder.