Siheyuan (traditional courtyard house): Starting with the Korean War, returning home to take charge

The candlelight in the hall flickered a few times, some went out, and the remaining candlelight made the blood on the ground appear black.

He Yuzhu stood beside the pile of heads, a bag in his left hand and a dull knife in his right. A dozen M1 rifles were pointed at him, their dark muzzles resembling a row of wolf eyes in the flickering light. He could hear the soldiers' breathing—some rapid, some labored, some swallowing hard.

The leading U.S. military officer was in his thirties, blond, and had the arrogance of someone fresh out of military academy. He spoke in English, enunciating each word clearly.

"Put down your weapons and put your hands behind your head. You're surrounded. There's another company outside, and your photo has been distributed to every patrol."

He Yuzhu didn't move.

The officer took a step forward and raised the muzzle of his gun a few inches higher.

I'll say it again—

He Yuzhu answered in English, his voice not loud, but every word reached the man's ears.

"Do you know what those three hundred men's grandfathers did in Nanjing?"

The officer paused for a moment.

"You don't know." He Yuzhu pulled the thing out of his pocket—about the size of a palm, black, with a red button on it. "I don't expect you to know either."

The officer's face changed.

"Explosives—"

He Yuzhu finished speaking the last sentence in Japanese.

"I will not spare a single descendant of you war criminals."

Press.

The first explosion came from the direction of the main hall; it wasn't just one, but three in a row.

A pillar in the main hall split in the middle, sending splinters flying that struck He Yuzhu's face, leaving a bloody gash. He dodged a falling tile, which shattered into more than a dozen pieces on the ground. One of the pieces hit his calf, making him wince in pain.

The roof began to collapse, not all at once, but piece by piece. First the east corner, then the middle, then the west. The statue swayed, then fell forward, crashing onto the offering table and smashing the centuries-old table into pieces. Incense ash flew up, choking people and making it impossible to open their eyes.

The live stream chat exploded.

[Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap!]

[The streamer planted explosives beforehand!]

Is this even a movie?

[Run, streamer!]

Watch out behind you! An officer has stood up!

He Yuzhu didn't read the comments.

The second explosion came from the side hall, shaking the entire ground. A crack appeared in the floor beneath his feet, almost trapping him. He jumped forward, landing with his knee on a piece of broken tile, tearing his skin and drawing blood down his trouser leg.

Ignoring the pain.

He climbed out of the back window.

Outside the window was a dark alley. The moment he landed, a flashlight beam shone from the alley entrance. He stopped, pressed himself against the wall, and held his breath. The flashlight swayed a few times, then moved away. A voice was shouting in Japanese, but he couldn't make out what it was saying.

He crouched low and ran deeper into the alley.

Behind him, the shrine's main hall was collapsing. A rumbling sound chased after him, like the roar of a giant beast. He ran fifty meters, then stopped and looked back.

The main hall had completely collapsed. The main hall had collapsed too. The side hall had collapsed too. In the cemetery where he had been hiding, the tombstones were blown to pieces, some even uprooted. Smoke and dust rose up, obscuring the moon.

He leaned against the wall, panting heavily. Blood was still flowing from his knee, dripping onto the floor in a soft, pattering sound.

The live stream chat was still flooded with comments.

The public toilet is gone!

The sacred toilets of Yasukuni are gone!

[The streamer is awesome!]

[Is that officer buried inside?]

【…】

I'm a little speechless.

Three hundred heads, piled up like a mountain.

He Yuzhu didn't say anything.

He took the bag of heads out of his system space and carried it back. His knees ached with every step, but he didn't stop.

As dawn broke, the ruins were surrounded by people.

Police officers, American soldiers, journalists, and ordinary citizens standing at a distance. They stood outside the police cordon, looking at the still-smoking ruins, and no one spoke. Some people were taking pictures, the shutter clicking away. Some were on the phone, their voices low. A woman was squatting on the ground crying, supported by someone nearby, who seemed to be offering comfort.

He Yuzhu squatted behind the charred pine tree on the east side of the ruins, watching those people.

He opened the bag and took out the heads one by one, piling them on the ground.

The first one, the second one, the third one...

When he reached the hundredth stack, he stopped and glanced at it. The face looked familiar—it was the burly man with the gun. He stared at the face for two seconds, then continued stacking.

After piling up three hundred, he took out the one hundred and ninety-six he had killed earlier from the system space.

Four hundred and ninety-six.

He stacked them very carefully, layer by layer. The bottom ones were larger, and the top ones were smaller, stacking them neatly. When he got to the last one, he paused for a moment.

That head belonged to the young man. He said his grandmother was from Nanjing and that he had been waiting for this day since he was a child.

He Yuzhu stared at that face for three seconds.

Then put it on top.

The pile was almost as high as his chest.

He picked up a long strip of cloth from the ground next to him, unfolded it, and then picked up a piece of charcoal and wrote on it.

"This is what happens when you visit war criminals. If it happens again, your entire nation will be wiped out."

He hung the strip of cloth on the pillar that hadn't yet collapsed in front of the ruins.

I stepped back a few paces and took a look.

That pile, those heads, that strip of cloth, that pillar, that ruins.

A gust of wind blew by, and the strips of cloth swayed.

The live stream chat exploded.

[Investiture of the Gods!]

[Investiture of the Gods!]

[Investiture of the Gods!]

【salute!】

[Thanks to the host for standing up for us]

[Our ancestors have given us peace; today our great revenge has been achieved.]

Is that the last young man on top?

【…】

[Take care, anchor, and come back alive!]

Although we can't do it here right now, we should still learn from the experts if we have the chance.

The system sound went off.

Side Quest 3: Revenge Completed via Livestream

[Task Reward Points: 100,000,000]

[Livestream tipping points redemption: 140,000,000 points]

[Current total points: 45,330,000 + 240,000,000 = 285,330,000 points]

He Yuzhu stood there, watching the barrage of comments fly by one by one.

A breeze was blowing, and it was a bit chilly.

He remembered what the last young man had said.

"I've been waiting for this day since I was a child."

He looked up at the ruins, at the pile of debris, at the strip of cloth.

Then he turned around and walked into the alley behind the ruins.

The next day, He Yuzhu squatted in the abandoned warehouse, taking inventory of the items in the system space.

The wound on his knee had scabbed over, but it still hurt when he moved. He took out gauze from his first-aid kit, wrapped it around his knee several times, and tightened it.

[System notification: "The Rise of Yanhuang Plan" 2.0 has met the upgrade requirements. Upgrade now?]

He stared at the words and thought for a moment. Two hundred and eighty million points—enough to buy the entire city of Tokyo. But that wasn't what he wanted.

Not for now

The system did not ask any further questions.

He pulled up the redemption list and flipped to the "Historical Relics" section.

Map of the Tokyo Imperial Palace Underground Vaults (1958 Edition)

[Redeemable Points: 800,000]

He clicked "redeem".

A yellowed piece of paper appeared in his hand. It depicted the structure of the palace's underground, marking the location of the vault, the guard shift changes, and the layout of the alarm system. Three thousand tons of gold lay beneath that surface.

He flipped down again.

Map showing the distribution of Chinese cultural relics hidden throughout Japan (1958 edition)

[Redeemable Points: 800,000]

Another piece of paper.

The Osaka Warehouse houses 20,000 artifacts. Nagoya, Kyoto, Yokohama, and many more.

He folded the two pieces of paper together and tucked them into his pocket.

The sound of police cars came from outside the window, approaching and then receding again.

A citywide curfew will be imposed for 72 hours. After 72 hours, the US military will search every inch of the land.

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked outside.

The sky was overcast, and nothing could be seen clearly.

These things originally belonged to us.

I took it and went home.