“Fire!”
Jin Shu spun around, his ears ringing, trying to make sense of the chaos around him. Soldiers were hunkered down behind sandbags and a crumbling wall, exgiless guh an unseen enemy.
“RPG!”
His head snapped up just in time to see the rocket streak through the air, sailing over his position.
BOOM!
The impact shook the ground as the projectile obliterated a brick building in the distance. A soldier stumbled out of the smoke, coughing and clutg his helmet as bullets zipped dangerously close to his head.
“Get over here!” Jin Shu yelled, waving the man toward cover. The seds stretched unbearably long as the soldier zigzagged through the open. Finally, with a desperate lunge, he dove behind the wall, nding hard o Jin Shu.
“You good?” Jin Shu asked, eyes sing for injuries.
The soldier bli him, dazed. “My... my fug head hurts.”
“Well, you just took a rocket. I’d be shocked if it didn’t.” Jin Shu couldn’t help a bitter ugh.
The soldier shook his head, motioning weakly toward the ground. “Hahat.”
Jin Shu gnced down and spotted an M320 Grenade Lau his feet. He tossed it over, along with a belt of 40mm rounds.
Thunk!
The soldier didn’t hesitate, firing greer gre the enemy's position. Explosions peppered the battlefield as Jin Shu peeked over the wall, gripping his M4 tightly. Through the haze, he could make out enemy batants about 100 meters away, their silhouettes dartiween another crumbled wall, bursts of gunfire ing from their position.
Bullets screamed past him, some hitting dangerously close, but Jin Shu gritted his teeth and aimed de. He squeezed the trigger, the recoil jolting through his arms. He wasn’t even sure if he was hitting anything—just p lead into the chaos.
“This thing got ammo?”
Jin Shu jerked his head to the side, startled. Another soldier had slid io him, motioning toward an M4 propped against the wall.
“Yeah, I just loaded it,” Jin Shu replied quickly, barely sparing him a gnce before returning his focus to the enemy.
The soldier grabbed the rifle, and together they tio unleash hell into the battlefield, the relentless cacophony of explosions and gunfire surrounding them like a violent symphony.
The fighting stretched on and on, as they kept exging guhe relentless exge of bullets and grenades drowning out any sense of calm. Jin Shu’s hands were slick with sweat as he adjusted his grip on the M4, the weight of the on grounding him in the madness.
“RPG ining!” someone shouted, the voice cutting through the cacophony.
Jin Shu barely had time to look up before the rocket spiraled toward their position. His stomach dropped.
“Down!” he yelled, throwing himself against the crumbling wall as the world erupted around him.
BOOM!
The explosion was deafening, sending a wave of heat and debris over their position. Dust filled the air, thid choking, turning the already chaotic battlefield into an eerie haze. Jin Shu coughed, his lungs burning, as ks of crete and shards of brick rain down on him. He pressed himself ft against the ground, heart pounding, ears ringing.
“Everyoill breathing?” he shouted hoarsely, trying to peer through the dust.
A voiswered, faint and panicked, but before he could pinpoint who it was, a shadow moved through the haze.
“Shit,” Jin Shu muttered.
The enemy was rushing their position. Silhouettes emerge like ghosts, their shouts muffled but their i clear. Jin Shu raised his M4, firing blind into the fog. He heard the dull thuds of bodies dropping, but they kept ing.
A sharp crack rings out, closer than expected. Jin Shu flinched as paihrough his stomach. The impact sending him stumbling backward, his on slipping from his grip.
He fell against the rubble, clutg his abdomen as blood seeped through his fingers. His breaths e fast and shallow, panic threatening to overwhelm him.
Through the dust, he saw one of the soldiers advang, rifle raised. Jin Shu gred at him, defiance bzing in his eyes despite the agony.
In a desperate move, Jin Shu’s hand fumbled for the pistol strapped to his thigh. His fingers curl around the grip, slick with blood but steady.
The enemy soldier loomed over him now, gun aimed at his head.
“Not today,” Jin Shu growled through gritted teeth.
Bang!
Thump!
The recoil jolted his arm as the enemy soldier colpsed, his on cttering to the ground. Jin Shu let out a shuddering breath, but the respite was brief. More shadows moved in the distance.
“Hold the line!” Someone shouted, Jin Shu’s breaths grew ragged as he pressed harder against his stomach, trying to stem the relentless flow of blood. The pain was unbearable, threatening to drown him in darkness.
His grip on the pistol sed, and his vision began to blur. He could hear the muffled sounds of battle tinuing around him, distant and hollow, as if he were being pulled into a deep void.
“Not dying here…” he whispered, but the words felt distant, almost meaningless now.
The world around him started to fade—dust, guhe enemy’s footsteps—all dissolving into an oppressive silence.
But then, faint and far away, he heard it.
“Jin Shu… Jin Shu!”
A young girl’s voice, high and frantic, pierced through the haze.
“Daddy!!”
Another voice, smaller and more panicked, echoed the first. His heart lurched, a jolt of warmth breaking through the cold numbness.
“Li Xue… Yin’er?” He murmured weakly.
The battlefield shifted, crumbled, and colpsed into darkness. The dust and debris dissolved like smoke, and suddenly, he was weightless. The moment, he snapped awake, eyes flying open, chest heaving.
The st of blood and gunpowder was gone, repced by the damp earth and faint aroma of trees. He was ba the forest. Li Xue hovered over him, her face pale with worry, while Yin’er g to his chest, her tiny form trembling.
“Jin Shu, you’re alive! Please don't scare me like that again!” Li Xue’s voice wavered, her eyes filled with fear.
“Daddy…” Yin’er whimpered, her tear-soaked face pressed against him.
Jin Shu blinked slowly, trying to ground himself. The pain in his stomach was still sharp, but this was no battlefield—no grenades, no enemy soldiers. Just the forest.
He managed a weak smirk, his voice rough but steady. “You two sure know how to wake a guy up.”
Li Xue gred, brushing away tears as she scolded him. “If you joke like that again, I’ll—”
Jin Shu cut her off with a strained ugh. “I’m fine… Just… give me a minute.”
As they fussed over him, Jin Shu let his head fall back, staring at the opy above. His chest rose and fell as he tried to calm his rag thoughts. The memory lingered, vivid and jarring, but he forced it to the back of his mind. Just a dream, he told himself, though the weight of it felt all too real.
When he looked down, his gaze fell oorn fabric of his robes, the hole where the sword had pierced through. The skin underh was whole—fresh and pristine. Yet, the phantom ache remained, a sharp reminder of what had happened.
“You have a strange body, young man,” Dr. Chi remarked, his voice calm yet tinged with curiosity. He rested against a nearby tree, his brow furrowed in thought. “Your wound healed itself before I could even attempt treatment. Most would’ve been dead, or at least incapacitated.”
Jin Shu managed a weak chuckle. “That’s why I told you to take the sword out. I k’d close up.” He shifted, groaning as the residual ache fred. “Still, I’ll need a mio rest. Then we should get moving before it gets dark.”
As he leaned back against the tree, Jin Shu let his thoughts drift to the fight. His guns had proven invaluable, giving him an edge no one in this world could anticipate. Yet, they were tools—powerful but limited. This was a world of martial arts and cultivators, and if he was going to survive, he’d o adapt. A gun wouldn’t always be enough, especially against enemies far strohan the men they had just faced.
“Those ons of yours,” Dr. Chi’s voiterrupted his musings. “What are they called?”
“Guns,” Jin Shu replied, gng over at the old man.
“Guns.” The doctor repeated the word thoughtfully, as if rolling it over in his mind. “Did you know that the men you fought were at least at the 7th stage of the Qi Realm? Some were even at the 9th stage. It’s no small feat for someo the 4th stage to take down all twenty-one of them.”
Jin Shu frowned. “Did any of them survive?”
The doctor shook his head, his expression dark. “No. Those who were iook their own lives with poison. A rather grim but effit way to ensure no loose ends.”
“Figures,” Jin Shu muttered, closing his eyes for a moment.
Dr. Chi tinued, his tone more curious now. “However, I did find something of i among them.” He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a small metal emblem. The faint light filtering through the trees glinted off its surface.
Jin Shu’s eyes narrowed as he took in the insigched into the emblem. It was unmistakable: the mark of the Prince. His stomach tightened as he recalled the letter he’d received not long ago.
