Courtyard House: Home Alone

"Enough for an entire Japanese division to live on for several years." He sneered, his mental energy continuing to extend upwards.

The second layer contained flour and grains, while the top layer held canned goods, compressed biscuits, and other military rations. To his surprise, in a corner of the second layer, in a restricted area, there were dozens of boxes of opium and tobacco, sealed with "military supplies" labels.

"These Japanese devils are quite cunning, using the guise of military supplies to traffic drugs. But if we take these drugs back to Dr. Chen, he'll be very happy; they're all raw materials for anesthetics."

Lin Yifan withdrew his mental energy and scanned the underground space. The walls and ceiling were made of poured concrete, with a dim light every ten meters, and a low hum emanated from the ventilation ducts. The entire warehouse was designed to be extremely sturdy; ordinary bombing would be completely ineffective.

Unfortunately, they were guarding against the "ghosts" outside, but they didn't expect that the ghosts were already standing in the deepest part of the warehouse.

He didn't rush to act, but instead teleported again, retracing his steps to thoroughly investigate every corner of the three-story warehouse. He knew the distribution of the grain, the layout of the ventilation system, the location of the electrical equipment, and even the spot where several Japanese soldiers were dozing.

"Cut off their escape route first."

Lin Yifan arrived at the lowest corner, the entrance to the main ventilation duct. With a thought, he retrieved several bundles of TNT from his spatial storage and skillfully secured them to supports on the inner wall of the duct. He deliberately left the fuses long enough for him to complete all the setup before detonating them all at once.

Next was the power distribution room on the second floor. When he teleported in, two Japanese soldiers on duty were dozing off at their desks, muttering in their native dialect. Lin Yifan didn't disturb them; he simply attached the explosives to the junction of the generator base and the main cable and set the time-delay fuse.

Finally, he returned to the lowest level of the staple food area.

His mental energy swept across the area, confirming that there were no Japanese patrols on this floor at the moment. Lin Yifan took a deep breath, placed his hands on the "mountain of rice" in front of him, and his thoughts surged forth like a tidal wave—

The entire warehouse of grain, along with the sacks, was frantically devoured by his spatial power. Three thousand tons, two thousand tons, one thousand tons… Miyama collapsed at a visible speed, revealing the empty concrete floor behind it. His space was like a bottomless abyss, with no amount of supplies pouring in without any hindrance.

Ten minutes later, the bottom layer was completely empty.

Fine beads of sweat appeared on Lin Yifan's forehead; his mental energy was being depleted more than he had anticipated. But he didn't stop. He teleported to the second level and continued his silent plunder. Flour dust rose in the air, then was swept up by spatial forces. His figure appeared and disappeared in the gray-white mist, like a ghost.

He also swept up all the military supplies on the third floor.

When he finally returned to the opium warehouse and stored the dozens of boxes of harmful materials into his spatial storage, the entire underground warehouse was completely empty. All that remained were the Japanese soldiers still fast asleep in their barracks, and the collapsing world they were about to face.

Lin Yifan arrived at the designated detonation point and connected several fuses together. He took one last look at the hollowed-out underground maze, scanned it with his mental energy to make sure nothing was missed, and then teleported to the surface—a corner of the Zhengyangmen Railway Station freight yard, behind a few piles of abandoned sleepers.

"I have a big gift for you."

He pressed the detonator.

A muffled rumble came from underground, like the roar of a giant beast. The ground trembled violently, the freight yard rails creaked and twisted, and several streetlights went out instantly.

Immediately afterwards, a second and third explosion rang out in succession, and flames and smoke spewed out from several hidden ventilation openings, drawing ferocious totems in the night sky.

Lin Yifan had already teleported away. When he looked back one last time, he saw thick smoke billowing from the entrance of the underground passage.

"1076 people," he counted silently in his mind. "Don't even think about getting one out."

After four teleportations, he returned to the alley outside the east courtyard. Lin Yifan straightened his clothes and took out two roast chickens wrapped in oil paper from his spatial storage—he had casually picked them up when he "passed by" an old-established shop earlier, leaving the money on the counter, of course.

He originally intended to quietly return to the house, but he discovered with his spiritual power that Chunxing was not asleep, but was holding the Browning rifle, trembling as she stood guard at the entrance of the main room.

"That silly girl!" he muttered, then gently knocked twice on the door. "Chunxing, open the door!"

"Young master? I'm coming right away!"

With a clang, the latch slammed open, and Chunxing frantically pulled it open a crack. Upon seeing Lin Yifan, she went limp as if all her bones had been removed, her back pressed against the doorframe, panting heavily. She was still clutching the Browning pistol, but the safety was off—Lin Yifan noticed it immediately.

"That's not how you hold a gun." He reached out and took the gun, flicked the safety with his thumb, and it clicked open and closed again. "Don't keep your finger on the trigger; an accidental discharge could shoot you."

Chunxing's face flushed red as she stared down at the tips of her shoes. "I... I was afraid you wouldn't come back... Xiahe and Qiuju are both asleep, I don't dare let them know..."

"What do you know?" Lin Yifan placed the roast chicken on the table, and the aroma of oil immediately filled the air.

"I know you've gone off to do something important."

Chunxing's voice was extremely low, but her eyes shone with an astonishing light, "Not long after you left, Fengtai exploded; the whole of Beiping could hear it."

Lin Yifan raised an eyebrow. He handed the oil-paper package to Chunxing: "The roast chicken is still warm. Call Xiahe and Qiuju to eat. After you eat, go to bed early with them."

"Thank you, young master. You should get some rest too." Chunxing took the roast chicken, bowed, and ran towards the side room.

Lin Yifan smiled, got up, closed the door, and slipped into the space. He took a good shower in the space and then went to sleep.

The next morning, Lin Yifan was woken up by his biological clock. He got dressed, left his spatial dimension, and found Xia He already waiting at his door. He walked to the door and opened it. Seeing Lin Yifan come out, Xia He quickly greeted him, "Good morning, young master! I'll get you some hot water right away."

"No rush." ​​Lin Yifan stepped aside to let her in, "Come in, I have something to ask you."

Xia He timidly took half a step forward, not daring to go too far, and stood in the center of the main room twisting the hem of her clothes. This girl was two years younger than Chun Xing, and also thin, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz: "Young master...you, you ask."

"Didn't Chunxing sleep last night?"

Xia He paused for a moment, then understood, lowering her head even further: "Sister Chunxing said... said that young master is doing something important, and she has to guard the door. I... I wanted to stay with her, but she wouldn't let me, saying that in case... in case something happens, someone has to be there to send a message."

"Go and call Chunxing here."

Xia He felt as if she had been granted a pardon and turned to run, almost tripping over the threshold. A little while later, Chun Xing arrived, her hair still loose, clearly having just gotten up as well.

"Young master, you were looking for me?"

"Sit down." Lin Yifan gestured to the chair opposite him and sat down first. "Do Xia He and Qiu Ju know about what happened last night?"

"No!" Chunxing hurriedly shook her head. "I only said you went out on errands, I didn't mention anything else. They're young, and they can't keep their mouths shut..."

"Are you very old?"