Chapter 150: Cowardly Weak Frenchman

Lin Yu stood by the window, watching the rain-soaked Zhou Special Envoy being led away, a cold smile on his lips. Just then, the familiar system prompt sounded in his mind.

【Ding! Detected host's consecutive aggressive behavior, evaluating...】

Lin Yu narrowed his eyes, anticipating the system's evaluation.

【Aggressive behavior evaluation as follows:】

【1. Mobilizing the Ghost Division to annihilate two brigades of the court allied forces: A-level aggressive behavior

Evaluation: Annihilating the main force of the regular army with absolute superiority, displaying a tough attitude

Reward: Toughness points】

【2. Besieging the French consulate: B-level aggressive behavior

Evaluation: Openly challenging the great powers' privileges in China, displaying a national tough stance

Reward: 3000 toughness points】

【3. Killing French consul Le Merel: B-level aggressive behavior

Evaluation: Forcefully disposing of foreign envoys, ignoring international conventions, displaying an extreme tough stance

Reward: 4500 toughness points】

【4. Publicly arresting the court envoy: B-level aggressive behavior

Evaluation: Openly opposing the central government, displaying a local tough stance

Reward: 3500 toughness points】

【Total reward: toughness points】

【Current toughness points balance: points】

【Special evaluation: The host's consecutive aggressive behavior has drawn international attention, national prestige greatly increased, system awards extra 5000 toughness points】

【Final toughness points balance: points】

Lin Yu looked at that number and nodded in satisfaction. Over forty thousand toughness points, an amount he had never possessed before.

"Now that's more like it." Lin Yu muttered, "It seems killing a French consul is worth more than killing an Oriental consul."

He turned and walked toward the door; Zhou Wei immediately followed.

"Chief, what should we do next?" Zhou Wei asked.

Lin Yu stopped, glanced at Le Merel's corpse, and said: "Make this public; let all of Shen City know that the French Concession is no longer French territory."

"This will provoke a strong reaction from the other great powers," Zhou Wei warned.

Lin Yu snorted: "Let them jump up and down. With the Ghost Division plus our original forces, no one in Shen City can move us."

He glanced at the toughness points balance on the system panel, a flicker of thought in his eyes: "No rush to draw lots; we'll wait for a chance at a higher-tier draw."

Zhou Wei nodded respectfully: "Chief, you are wise."

Lin Yu strode out of the reception room; behind him lay Le Merel's corpse and a mess. The rain outside continued, washing Shen City's streets, also washing away the old order as the city awaited a new one.

"Zhou Wei," Lin Yu suddenly stopped, "notify Feng An to send a company to take over the French Concession's police bureau. Also, have the Security Regiment garrison the main streets of the French Concession."

"Yes, Chief." Zhou Wei immediately replied.

"Also," Lin Yu's eyes flashed with a cold light, "lock the Zhou Special Envoy in the basement of the Fourth Bureau under strict guard. He is an important bargaining chip for us against the court."

Zhou Wei nodded: "I will arrange it personally."

Lin Yu gazed at the rain curtain outside, the corner of his mouth slightly rising: "The rain over Shen City will last a long time."

The rain eased; on the streets of the French Concession, a unit of about three hundred hurried toward the French consulate. This was the French Concession's gendarmerie, urgently mobilized by the Public Administration Bureau. They wore dark blue uniforms, French military caps, carried old Browning handguns at their waists, and held wooden batons, looking like a well-trained police force.

At the front of the unit, Gendarmerie Captain Pierre Dupont rode a brown military horse, occasionally using a telescope to observe ahead. He was a Frenchman in his forties, with a meticulously trimmed moustache, bearing the typical French arrogance. In Shen City's French Concession, he was accustomed to a lofty posture, ordering the Da Qian people around.

"Damn the Public Administration Bureau, notifying us only at the last minute." Dupont cursed, "If something really happened to the consul, can they bear that responsibility?"

His deputy, Captain Jacques, shrugged: "Sir, you know how it is—those office sitters always act this way. They only give orders from safe places."

Dupont snorted: "Hopefully it's just a false alarm. That so-called Lin Yu is merely a Da Qian policeman; he wouldn't be foolish enough to attack the French consulate."

Most of the unit were French, with a few Da Qian nationals serving the French as gendarmes. These Da Qian gendarmes wore the same uniforms as the French gendarmes but were clearly lower‑rank, usually assigned the dirtiest, toughest work. Their equipment was inferior—only batons, no firearms.

The gendarmerie's equipment was not advanced by contemporary standards, but sufficient for ordinary riots and small clashes. One in ten carried an old Lebel rifle; the rest had only handguns and batons. Their usual duty was patrolling the French Concession, maintaining order, and protecting French expatriates and property.

"The consulate is right ahead," Jacques said, pointing at the nearby building.

Dupont raised his telescope; his face instantly turned pale. Before the consulate stood fully armed soldiers wearing German‑style uniforms, holding Mosin‑Nagant rifles, and even machine‑gun emplacements. This was no ordinary police unit but a well‑trained army.

"Good God..." Dupont murmured, "Is that... a German army?"

Jacques also saw the unit, exclaiming: "No, those are Da Qian people, but they're equipped with German weapons. Look at those uniforms and helmets—purely German style."

Dupont immediately raised his hand to signal the unit to halt. The gendarmerie stopped about two hundred meters from the consulate; the soldiers looked at each other, at a loss.

Just then, the consulate's gates opened. A Da Qian man in a black overcoat stepped out slowly, followed by several fully armed soldiers. Even at a distance, Dupont could feel the menace and coldness emanating from him.

"Is that... Lin Yu?" Jacques whispered.

Dupont gave no reply, merely fixing his gaze on the approaching figure. Lin Yu walked to the front of the German Battalion's line, lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, then strode toward the gendarmerie.

"Sir, he's walking toward us," Jacques said nervously.

Dupont swallowed, but kept his spine straight. As the French Concession's gendarmerie captain, he could not show cowardice before his men.

Lin Yu stopped about fifty meters from the gendarmerie, with four armed soldiers behind him. He surveyed the unit, a faint sneer curling his lip.

"Are you the French Concession's gendarmerie?" Lin Yu asked in fluent French, voice laced with sarcasm, "You certainly took your time arriving."

Dupont steeled himself and stepped forward a few paces: "I am Gendarmerie Captain Pierre Dupont. We received a report that someone had surrounded the consulate. What happened?"

Lin Yu smiled, tossed his cigarette casually to the ground and snuffed it out with his toe. His motion was graceful and relaxed, as if he were in his own backyard.

"What happened?" Lin Yu repeated Dupont's question: "Quite simple—your consul, Mr. Le Merel, took part in a plot to murder me, so I killed him."

Dupont and the gendarmes behind him instantly turned ashen. Lin Yu's words struck like a heavy hammer, shattering their last hope.

"This... this is impossible!" Dupont stammered, "You can't... this is an open provocation against France!"

Lin Yu snorted: "Provocation? No, this is punishment. You French have run amok on Da Qian soil for too long."

He took a step forward, his eyes sharp as a blade: "Now, tell me, Captain DuPont, what are you preparing to do for your consul?"

DuPont instinctively stepped back, glancing at the poorly equipped gendarmerie behind him, then at the fully armed German-equipped troops behind Lin Yu. His Adam's apple rolled up and down, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

"I... I need to report this to the Public Administration Bureau." DuPont finally said, the confidence in his voice gone.

Lin Yu burst out laughing, his laughter full of sarcasm: "Report? And then what? Send more gendarmes like you to die?"

He looked around at those French gendarmes, each avoiding his gaze: "Look at you, so-called civilized French warriors, yet you lack even the courage to avenge your compatriots."