Courtyard House: Home Alone

Lin Yifan took one last look at the military map on the wall, using his mental power to memorize all the markings on it.

"Time to collect some interest," he muttered to himself, his gaze drifting towards the underground armory of Haiguang Temple.

Haiguang Temple is located in the south of Tianjin. It was originally the site of the Beiyang Naval Academy in the late Qing Dynasty. Now it has been transformed by the Japanese army into the largest ammunition distribution center of the army.

Lin Yifan's mental power enveloped the exit of the armory. The temple's gate had been demolished and replaced with a concrete bunker. The beams of searchlights swept across the courtyard wall every fifteen seconds.

"Even stricter than the headquarters next door."

He whispered, but his mental energy had already penetrated through layers of buildings and reached underground.

In his "field of vision," a massive underground fortification gradually came into view—a three-story concrete structure, more than fifteen meters deep, with a total area comparable to two football fields.

The first layer was piled with rifles, machine guns, and ammunition boxes;

The second layer contains artillery and armored vehicle components;

The bottom layer made his pupils shrink slightly: rows of poison gas bombs were sealed in lead containers, and next to them was a bacterial incubator labeled "Special Supply to the Ishii Unit".

"As expected, there's something from 731." Lin Yifan's voice was as cold as ice. He recalled Okamura Neiji's trembling confession, and those reports on "experimental progress and results," and his knuckles clenched unconsciously.

All of these things are now within his territory; he doesn't need to move at all, as the weapons are all within his reach.

His mental energy spread like a tide, enveloping the entire underground fortification. Lin Yifan closed his eyes, and countless points of light appeared in his mind—the coordinates of each piece of weaponry, as clear as the lines on his palm.

"receive."

There was no earth-shattering sound, only a faint hissing sound as the air suddenly collapsed. The 30,000 rifles and 2,000 machine guns on the first floor, along with the mountain of ammunition boxes, vanished in an instant, leaving only empty concrete frames and a few wisps of dust.

The second level was even more spectacular. Twelve Type 92 infantry guns, dismantled parts from six Type 95 light tanks, tons of tracks and armor plates—enough supplies to equip a mixed brigade—transformed into streams of light and disappeared into his personal space in his mind.

Wherever his mental energy swept, he didn't miss even the spare track pins and lubricating oil drums in the corner.

The collection at the lowest level made him deliberately slow down. The poison gas bombs in the lead containers were isolated in a corner of the space. Mustard gas, Lewisite, phosgene—he identified the Japanese markings on each bomb one by one.

By the time they finished collecting the underground armory, it was already 1 a.m. There was still the warehouse area at Pier 3 below; they needed to hurry.

He gave the empty underground fortifications one last look, making sure nothing was missed, before withdrawing his mental energy like a receding tide. He then turned and teleported towards the dock.

In less than three minutes, he arrived at the warehouse area of ​​Pier No. 3. His mental energy penetrated through three layers of concrete, and the scene inside made his pupils shrink slightly.

This was even larger than the underground fortifications of Haiguang Temple—a full 20,000 tons of supplies, from rifle bullets to mountain artillery shells, from military canned goods to clothing and tents, were neatly stacked in twelve giant storage areas.

Deep inside, there were even twenty boxes of gold bars and more than fifty boxes of various antique paintings, calligraphy and thread-bound books, which should be another harvest of the "Golden Lily" project.

"You've come at the perfect time."

He closed his eyes, and starting from Warehouse No. 1, his mental energy transformed into countless tentacles, enveloping the entire warehouse area.

Rows of wooden crates automatically disappeared into the depths of the space under an invisible force. He deliberately controlled the pace of collection, ensuring that each batch of supplies maintained its original classification order when entering his personal space—ammunition and firearms were stored separately, clothing and food were kept away from flammable and explosive materials, and the gold bars and antiques were gently wrapped by his mental energy and placed separately in a corner of the static warehouse.

Warehouse No. 2 was filled with piles of Type 94 mountain gun shells, the brass shell casings gleaming coldly in the mental energy field.

When his mental energy reached Warehouse No. 7, he sensed something amiss. The concrete walls were embedded with a layer of lead plates, a level of protection far exceeding the standards of ordinary armories.

After penetrating this barrier, his consciousness touched dozens of sealed chambers with constant temperature and humidity—neatly arranged inside hundreds of sniper rifles, more than a dozen of the latest Type 96 light machine guns, and even five prototype Type 41 mountain guns that had not yet been put into service.

This is a special equipment reserve directly under the army group, elite supplies that even the underground fortifications of Haiguang Temple were not equipped with.

"It was a pleasant surprise."

A slight smile played on his lips, but his speed in collecting the items became increasingly steady.

The last items seized were the antiques and paintings in Warehouse No. 12. Among the thread-bound books were a large number of local chronicles and clan genealogies, clearly looted from libraries and ancestral halls throughout North China.

He deliberately separated the books from the gold bars, creating a dedicated preservation area for these cultural relics within the space.

One of the fragments of the Yongle Encyclopedia made him pause for half a second—a copy from the Jiajing era, formerly in the Hanlin Academy collection, lost to the public in the early years of the Republic of China, and now appearing on the looting list of the Japanese invaders.

4:35 AM. The warehouse area at Pier No. 3 was completely emptied. Faint alarm sounds came from the direction of Haiguang Temple. The Army Headquarters should have discovered Matsui Iwane and his men's disappearance.

Without further hesitation, he scanned the entire dock area with his mental energy, and after confirming that no survivors or evidence had been missed, his figure vanished from the spot.

The next time he appeared, he was already standing on the banks of the Haihe River in the British concession. Then, he teleported twice more, and Lin Yifan was already far away from the city of Tianjin. He took out a small car from his spatial storage and sped towards Beiping.

Along the way, he encountered three checkpoints, but he made no attempt to conceal his movements and charged straight through. By 11:00 AM, he had arrived near Dongzhimen.

He parked his car on the side of the road, folded it up, and walked towards Dongzhimen. At the same time, he released his spiritual energy to survey the situation inside Beiping City.

His first stop was Old Master Tang's house, where he found that apart from two servants and the steward, no one else was there. Where had they gone? The pharmaceutical factory?

From Lin Yifan's current location, the pharmaceutical factory was already out of his sight. Oh well, he should go to the Tang residence first and ask the old steward. So, with a thought, he teleported to an alley next to the Tang residence and then walked towards the main gate of the Tang residence.

Reaching the door, he knocked on the brass ring. After a moment, the butler, Old Zhang, called out from inside, "Who is it?"

"It's me! Grandpa Zhang, it's Yifan."

"Oh! It's you, young master! You're finally back! The old man has been talking about you every day." The old butler said as he opened the door. "Young master, you've been gone for quite a while this time, more than two months, haven't you?"

"It's been some time."

Lin Yifan stepped inside, walked around the screen wall, and glanced across the courtyard. "Uncle Zhang, where are the old man and the others?"

"The old man and Shi Tou went to the pharmaceutical factory early this morning. The factory sent word that they would be starting trial production today, so they all went there."