One man's resistance against Japan, I mobilized a million people to aid Shanghai.

"They were all massacred; none of the Japanese were innocent."

Zhu Yong's voice was utterly cold.

In his eyes, those weren't 200,000 people, but 200,000 beasts.

Wang Lei took a deep breath and then nodded emphatically.

He did not hesitate at all.

Mercy to the enemy is a betrayal of the countless soldiers who sacrificed their lives and the countless civilians who perished.

Slaughtering 200,000 people was a massive undertaking.

Sending the clones to dig the pit would be a waste of energy, but Wang Lei already had a better solution.

.....

Dusk, the prisoner-of-war concentration area.

The dark mass of Japanese prisoners huddled in the hastily cleared wasteland, like a swarm of locusts wilted by the torrential rain.

The horrific executions during the day stripped them of their last shred of the integrity of "Imperial Warriors," leaving only numbness, fear, and uncertainty about their future.

Many people were still injured and shivering in the cold wind.

Surrounded by a group of elite guards, Wang Lei ascended a slightly elevated earthen platform.

His shadow stretched long in the afterglow of the setting sun, his face expressionless, only showing a rock-like coldness.

"Attention, everyone!"

The prisoners looked up blankly.

"Given the recent intense fighting, the bodies of those killed on both sides are being left exposed in the wilderness, which is inhumane and could easily lead to disease outbreaks."

Wang Lei's voice, delivered smoothly to each prisoner through the translator, was delivered steadily.

"I hereby order you to immediately proceed to the designated area and dig large trenches to bury the remains of the fallen, regardless of whether they are friend or foe."

"This act can be considered as a small repayment for your sins in your previous life, and an accumulation of some good karma."

These words caused a slight commotion among the prisoners.

A faint glimmer of hope rekindled in the eyes of many Japanese soldiers—not a mere wishful thinking that they might still survive.

Burying corpses? Although it's hard labor, at least you won't be shot immediately!

Could this be some kind of signal that the other party is sending out?

Does this imply that they still have value as a workforce?

Some junior officers and sergeants urged the soldiers in hushed tones:

"Get up! Do as they say! This is your chance!"

The instinct for survival overcame any doubts.

The prisoners began to help each other to their feet and, escorted by expeditionary soldiers, walked towards a wide-open riverbank to the northeast of the city.

Looking at the tan-colored crowd that had come back to life, Wang Lei's lips curled into a cold smile.

Night falls on the riverbank.

The area is low-lying with soft soil and is close to a riverbed that is almost dry in winter.

In the distance, the silhouette of Jinzhou city fell silent in the twilight.

A large number of engineers had already drawn several enormous white lines with lime, each hundreds of meters long, more than ten meters wide, and several meters deep. The standards were clearly communicated.

Shovels, picks, and makeshift baskets for carrying soil were distributed to the prisoners.

Torches and searchlights were lit, casting shadows over the area.

"Start digging! Everyone must meet their quota! Anyone who slacks off will be severely punished!"

The overseer soldiers were shouting at them in broken Japanese.

In order to "survive," or perhaps out of a lingering sense of discipline, the Japanese prisoners of war began digging frantically.

They wielded their tools, digging through the cold soil.

At first, there was hesitation and fear in their movements, but soon, the heavy physical labor took over everything.

Sweat mixed with dirt streamed down their filthy faces, and heavy breathing, the clanging of metal against sand, and the shouts of the overseer echoed in the night air.

They dug very hard, even excessively so.

It's as if as long as you dig fast enough and well enough, you can prove your "value" and gain that slim chance of survival.

Some people dug while secretly observing Wang Lei and the officers supervising the battle from afar, trying to glean more information from their cold faces.

Wang Lei stood on a small mound far from the excavation site, his hands behind his back, watching quietly.

His staff officers and division commanders stood behind him, equally silent.

Only the flickering light of the torches danced in their eyes, offering no warmth whatsoever.

"Commander, the depth of the trench is about right," the engineer regimental commander reported in a low voice.

Wang Lei looked up.

The first massive trench was already taking shape, like an ugly wound on the earth, bottomless and reeking of the stench of mud.

"Let the Japanese devils go down." Wang Lei's voice was completely calm.

The order was relayed.

The overseer soldiers began driving away hundreds of prisoners who were near the edge of the trench.

"Go down! Check if the bottom is level! Remove any loose soil!"

The prisoners were somewhat puzzled, but dared not disobey.

They looked at each other and carefully slid down the makeshift earthen slope to the bottom of the deep pit.

There were still traces of digging at the bottom of the pit, and it was somewhat slippery.

More people were driven to the edge of the pit to look down.

Just then, Wang Lei took a few steps forward, and his clear, cold voice once again resounded throughout the venue:

"Burial of the body requires sincerity."

"Your sins are grave, and ordinary labor is insufficient to atone for them."

His gaze swept over the faces around and inside the pit, faces covered in mud, filled with confusion and growing unease.

"Now, bury it on the spot."

"Use your deaths to atone for your sins!"

"Fill in the soil!!"

The moment the words were spoken, time seemed to freeze.

The prisoners at the bottom of the pit were the first to react, and their terrified screams suddenly erupted!

"What?!"

"No--!!"

"You're lying! You said you were burying corpses!"

The prisoners at the edge of the pit instantly erupted in chaos, and the commotion spread like a plague!

They finally understood the true purpose of that huge trench!

They're not burying others, they're burying themselves!

"Baka! Those Chinese are untrustworthy!"

"Run!"

Despair fueled frenzied resistance and chaotic fleeing.

Those at the bottom of the pit desperately tried to climb up, while those at the edge crowded backward in terror, attempting to escape the brink of death.

But everything was already destined.

"Fire."

Wang Lei's command was short and sharp, like an icicle shattering.

"Da da da da da—!!!"

Hundreds of light and heavy machine guns, positioned on the high ground around the trench, simultaneously spewed deadly flames!

Bullets rained down like a metallic storm, cascading down into the trench and sweeping across the crowd trying to escape from the edge of the pit!

"Thump thump thump thump—!!!"

The grenade launchers and mortars also made muffled sounds, and the shells landed accurately in the densest part of the crowd, exploding into clusters of flesh and blood.

Screams, cries, curses, the thud of bullets piercing flesh, the roar of explosions...

It instantly tore through the night sky, drowning out all other sounds.

The bottom of the pit became the most desperate purgatory.

There is nowhere to hide, nowhere to escape.

Bullets and shrapnel ricochet wildly within the confined space, tearing flesh apart.

Blood gushed from countless wounds like a fountain, quickly accumulating at the bottom of the pit, mixing with the soil to form a thick, dark red swamp.

People around the pit also collapsed in droves.

Some people were shot and fell directly into the deep pit, landing on the already mangled bodies below.

Many more were swept away as they ran, and their bodies piled up along the edge of the trench.

The massacre was efficient and ruthless.

The machine gunners had cold, hard expressions; they simply moved their guns mechanically, unleashing rounds as if they were completing a routine training mission.

The officers calmly observed the area covered by the fire, occasionally issuing adjustment orders.

Wang Lei remained standing there, staring at the bloody and horrific scene before him, his face showing no emotion.

In the firelight, his profile was sharply defined, only his eyes, unfathomable, reflected the flames of slaughter, yet were colder than ice.

This is revenge.

There is no tolerance, no trade, only the most thorough and cruel destruction.

Going back on one's word? Credibility?

Why should we trust these butchers, these demons who use poison gas and experiment on living people?

Do they deserve it?

What he wanted was this extreme despair that followed the betrayal of promises.

He wanted these Japanese soldiers to clearly experience, in their last moments, the immense fear and shame of being deceived, manipulated, and treated like trash.

This is more painful for their twisted "samurai" souls than simply shooting them.

The subsequent prisoners completely broke down.

They witnessed this hellish scene and their spirits completely collapsed.

Some people knelt on the ground and kowtowed frantically, their foreheads bleeding from the impact, but they didn't stop.

Some people collapsed to the ground, incontinent, with vacant eyes.

Some people burst into hysterical laughter or howling.

Many others stood frozen in place, letting the soldiers drive them like zombies toward the next huge grave that had just been dug and prepared for them.

Repeatedly.

The air became suffocating.

Zhu Yong's 400,000 clones were scattered around, maintaining order and carrying out orders.

Their eyes, like their real selves, were cold and indifferent.

To them, the massacre of 200,000 prisoners was no different from the extermination of 200,000 animals.

night, deep.

The killing continues.

One trench after another was filled and compacted.

The land seemed heavy with the weight of too many lives it had swallowed, exuding an ominous aura.

As the first pale, fish-belly white light appeared on the eastern horizon, the last gunshot fell silent.

The last batch of soil covered the last trench.

Two hundred thousand Japanese prisoners of war vanished from this land, leaving behind only twenty mass graves.

Later generations excavated this place and used it as evidence of the Japanese invasion of China, further confirming that the Japanese had brought about their own destruction of their country and their own people.

The riverbank seemed to have returned to its original level, with only the freshly turned, slightly darker soil and the lingering, heavy stench of blood in the air testifying to what had happened there.

A cold wind swept by, stirring up fine dust, but without causing a ripple.

Wang Lei finally moved his somewhat stiff body, shifting his gaze from the new soil to the direction of Fengtian.

There, Bai Qi had already made his move.