I chose one of four options at the start, and I chose the number one clan in Lingnan.

Lin Ting stood still, looking at the thugs who were swaggering around halfway up the mountain.

A mechanical voice echoed in my mind.

"【The First Clan System of All Ages】Binding complete."

"A major survival crisis has been detected in the clan. New player gift packs will be distributed."

"Item obtained: [Level 1 Clan Rally Order]".

"Function Description: Once activated, it ignores spatial distance and transmits the highest-level summons signal to the 100,000 clansmen registered in the system."

Increases the base physical fitness and movement speed of participating tribesmen by 30%, and forcibly locks their loyalty.

Lin Ting glanced at the system panel.

This call to action came at just the right time.

Seeing that Lin Ting remained silent for a long time, Zhao Laosi laughed so hard he almost fell over.

"Kid, scared out of your wits? Weren't you just bragging a moment ago?" Old Zhao pointed his thumb at the excavator behind him.

"These eight big machines of mine can scoop up a ton of dirt with a single shovel. Your skinny arms and legs, are they even enough to fill a gap in my machines' teeth?"

Lin Ting ignored Zhao Laosi and turned to look at Lin Fei.

"Fei-zai, you're fast. Is that big bronze bell in the backyard of the ancestral hall still there?"

Lin Fei wiped the blood from his chin with the back of his hand: "It's there! Hanging on the old locust tree! It hasn't been knocked on for three years!"

Lin Ting pointed down the mountain: "Go, ring the bell. Ring it nine times."

Upon hearing this, the second uncle slapped his thigh in frustration.

"Grandpa! You mustn't!" Second Uncle's voice trembled.

"According to the Lin family's ancestral precepts, the bell in the ancestral hall is struck three times for ancestor worship, six times for discussions, and nine times... that's an alarm for the clan's impending doom! Only when facing the threat of annihilation can it be struck nine times!"

Lin Ting pointed to the tombstone in front of him that had been crushed by the tracks.

"They've driven excavators right up to our ancestors' graves, they're even going to dig up their urns and feed them to the dogs. Isn't that genocide?"

Lin Ting looked at his second great-uncle. "Rules are rules, but people are flexible. Today, this bell must be struck nine times."

Lin Fei gritted his teeth: "Grandpa is right! I'll go right now!"

Lin Fei dropped the iron rod in his hand, turned around, and ran wildly down the mountain path.

Zhao Laosi sneered as he watched Lin Fei's retreating figure.

"Ring the bell? Call for help?" Zhao Laosi took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket, lit one, and took out a cigarette.

"Do you think this is a gangster movie? Using smashing a cup as a signal? I'm standing right here waiting for you to call for help."

"I'd like to see how many worthless scoundrels your run-down village can summon."

Zhao Laosi exhaled a smoke ring and waved to his men behind him.

"Go, drag those old bastards away. Don't get in my way. I'm getting started."

A dozen or so burly men wearing black vests and with tiger tattoos on their arms walked forward carrying baseball bats.

They walked up to their second uncle and reached out to grab his collar.

"Get out of here, you old bastard!" a burly man cursed.

Lin Ting took a step forward.

He raised his right leg and kicked the burly man in the stomach.

The burly man screamed, clutched his stomach, and fell to the ground, rolling twice in the mud.

The other burly men stopped in their tracks, raised their baseball bats, and glared menacingly at Lin Ting.

Zhao Laosi's face darkened.

"You dare hit my man? You've got some nerve, kid." Zhao Laosi threw away his cigarette butt and crushed it with his leather shoe. "Get him! Break his legs!"

The strong men were about to charge forward.

"clang--"

A long, deep sound of a bronze bell came from the direction of the ancestral hall at the foot of the mountain.

The bell rang loudly, piercing through the roar of the excavator engine and echoing throughout the entire back mountain.

Zhao Laosi was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"They've actually started tolling the death knell? This is your own death knell!" Old Zhao clutched his stomach.

"clang."

The second bell rang.

Streets of Tazhai Town.

In a dilapidated billiards hall, several young men with dyed yellow hair were playing billiards around the table.

Upon hearing the bell, a blond-haired man stopped what he was doing.

"Did you hear that? That's the bell from the ancestral hall."

"clang."

The third bell rang.

The blond-haired man threw away the billiard cue he was holding.

The old teahouse at the entrance of the town.

A group of elderly men in their sixties and seventies were sitting on bamboo chairs, drinking tea and chatting.

Upon hearing the third chime, an old man dropped his purple clay teacup, which shattered into pieces.

"clang."

Fourth tone.

"clang."

Fifth tone.

The sixth, seventh, and eighth tones.

The bells tolled incessantly, each one more urgent and louder than the last.

As the ninth bell tolled.

The entire town of Tazhai, along with the eighteen surrounding villages, was in complete uproar.

Inside the billiards room.

The blond-haired guy kicked over the pool table.

"Nine strikes! This is a calamity for the clan! Someone has threatened the very lifeblood of the Lin family!" the blond-haired man shouted at the top of his lungs. "Stop playing around! Grab your weapons!"

Several young men rushed into the kitchen and took out pig-slaughtering knives and rusty cleavers.

In the old teahouse.

The old men all stood up.

"Nine knocks! The Lin family line is about to end!" The old man, his eyes bloodshot, shattered the teacup. "These old bones of ours can still move! Let's go!"

The old men picked up carrying poles and brooms from behind the door and rushed out of the teahouse.

In the farmland.

A man in his fifties threw down the rice seedlings in his hand and pulled out the shovel stuck in the ridge of the field.

The son beside him asked, "Dad, the bell rang, where are we going?"

The man slapped his son on the back of the head: "Go to the back mountain! Someone's digging up your great-grandfather's grave! If you're too late, there won't even be a speck of ashes left!"

The son's eyes reddened, and he pulled a crank handle from the tractor and ran up the mountain with the man.

Slaughterhouse.

The butcher, shirtless and covered in blood, heard the bell and, carrying two cleavers, kicked open the slaughterhouse door.

A small clinic in town.

Several men from the Lin family who were receiving intravenous drips immediately pulled out the IV needles from the back of their hands upon hearing the ninth chime.

Fresh blood flowed down the back of his hand.

The nurse yelled, "What are you doing! The IV drip isn't finished yet!"

The men didn't even turn their heads: "Loss my ass! Our ancestors are being ridden on our necks! Get your weapons!"

At the entrance of a hardware store.

The boss pulled down the roller shutter and opened the large iron box next to it.

"Get your tools! Grab everything!" The boss distributed wrenches, steel pipes, and chains to his employees and the Lin family members who were passing by.

The loudspeakers in all eighteen villages blared out.

The village chiefs stood in the broadcasting room, shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Listen up, men of the Lin family! The ancestral hall has been struck nine times! Someone has disturbed our ancestors' graves! It's someone who's urinating standing up. Grab your weapons and head to the back mountain!"

The streets and alleys were packed with people.

Crowds poured out of houses, fields and shops.

With the system's support, everyone's eyes turned red and their breathing became labored.

The crowd formed a long line and rushed along the dirt road toward the back of the mountain.

They were tireless and moved at an extremely fast speed.

The back mountain.

After finishing his cigarette, Zhao Laosi grew impatient.

He glanced at his watch: "Alright, I don't have time for your childish games. Time's up. Let's get started!"

Two excavators started working and dug down into a burial mound in front of them.

One shovelful down.

As the dust swirled, a broken bluestone tombstone was dug up.

A black earthenware jar rolled out of the soil. The jar fell to the ground and shattered into pieces, scattering white ashes all over the ground.

When the second uncle saw this, he rushed over like a madman.

"My father!" The second uncle knelt beside the ashes, cupping the soil and ash in his hands. "You beasts! I'll fight you to the death!"

A burly man in a black vest walked over and kicked the second uncle in the shoulder.

"Get out of here! You old geezer, don't get our boss's shoes dirty," the burly man cursed.

Lin Ting's gaze darkened slightly.

Lin Ting bent down and picked up a blood-stained brick from the ground.

He walked up to the burly man, who raised his baseball bat to smash him.

Lin Ting raised his hand and smashed the brick hard into the burly man's face.

The burly man's nose bridge fractured, blood gushed out, and he collapsed to the ground howling in pain.

Zhao Laosi was completely enraged: "Kill him!"

Three hundred thugs raised their weapons, ready to charge forward.

The excavator driver stuck his head out and shouted, "Boss, I'll level him!"

The excavator driver maneuvered the bucket, aiming it at Lin Ting and bringing it down.

Zhao Laosi roared, "You ignorant fool, I'll bury you first!"