After transmigrating to Shanghai in 1936, Shen Yan is taken to the riverbank at Shiliupu by the Green Shark Gang from the start. His pursuers have guns, while he has only A Ce, a female robot he built himself: formidable in close combat, but with only enough battery to last three days. To stay alive, he uses a medicine chest to force the gang to reveal military film in public, then takes on an old ship that will be seized if he can't repay its debt within seven days. From securing a half-day unloading slot to uncovering the secret accounts behind the struggle between spies and Japanese trading companies for the Jiangnan shipping routes, he comes up with the plans, while A Ce protects him. Tang Manling, manager of the Paramount Ballroom, warns him, "In Shanghai, even winning comes at a price." Shen Yan is determined to sail his ship out of Shiliupu and onto a river they can't blockade.
