Courtyard House: Home Alone

"boom!"

A muffled explosion rang out. Although it wasn't as earth-shattering as he had imagined, it still kicked up a cloud of dust and gravel, and the shockwave, mixed with the stench of earth, hit him in the face.

"It's done!" Lin Yifan was overjoyed. He waited a few seconds to make sure there was no danger of a second explosion before sticking his head out to check.

A small crater had been blasted into the open ground, with rubble and charred soil scattered around it.

"The power is decent, it's enough for my needs." Lin Yifan nodded in satisfaction.

He then tried another one and stored it in the static warehouse after a three-second delay. After waiting for five minutes, he used his mind to enter the warehouse and saw that the grenade was still inside.

Then, with a thought, the grenade appeared 200 meters away from him and exploded with a "boom" two seconds later.

"We did it!" Lin Yifan jumped up with joy.

He then tested two more grenades to familiarize himself with the explosion delay and the feel of collecting and deploying them.

After confirming that the grenade was working properly, he began to take out his pistol, rifle, and bullets, and started collecting the fired bullets into the space until he felt his head throbbing.

After drinking some of the spiritual spring water, he began his journey back. This time, he took the main road first and estimated the distance to the city; he was now about fifteen kilometers from Beiping. He knew there were checkpoints about ten kilometers from Beiping, so he ran towards the city.

Soon, he made a discovery. About three miles ahead, he "saw" a small wooden watchtower surrounded by several simple barbed wire fences. Inside, four Japanese soldiers and about a dozen puppet troops were gathered around a fire, with some wooden boxes and sacks piled up nearby.

"Good luck!" A hint of joy flashed in Lin Yifan's eyes. He immediately crept towards the guard tower.

Using the terrain and sparse bushes as cover, he approached silently. When he was about fifty meters away from the guard tower, he stopped.

The Japanese soldiers inside the guard tower seemed to be having a good time, with occasional rude laughter and curses escaping their lips.

Lin Yifan concentrated his mental energy, first targeting the four Japanese soldiers, and fired bullets from the stationary warehouse. The barely perceptible sound of bullets flying through his ears rang out, and he saw a flower of blood bloom on the heads of the four Japanese soldiers, who then collapsed to the ground.

The other dozen or so puppet soldiers were startled. Before they could react, blood blossomed on their heads. Only two of them reacted quickly and rolled behind cover, clutching their heads.

This is absolutely terrifying! There wasn't a sound, and more than ten people were blown to the head. One of them, mustering his courage, shouted tremblingly, "Out...outside...who are those heroes outside?"

"We're just here on orders, please spare our lives, sir!" another cried out, "Yes, yes, we're just trying to make a living, we wouldn't dare offend you, sir!"

Lin Yifan sneered. These puppet soldiers were typical bullies who preyed on the weak. He didn't reveal himself, but instead used his mental energy to lock onto the two puppet soldiers hiding behind cover.

Since we've already started, there's no reason to leave any survivors. Besides, these puppet troops are even more despicable than the Japanese soldiers because they are familiar with the situation, so they've done even more bad things than the Japanese.

"Pfft! Pfft!" Two more soft whooshing sounds rang out, and the screams of the two puppet soldiers came to an abrupt halt.

Having dealt with all the enemies, Lin Yifan emerged from his hiding place and swaggered toward the guard tower. He first carefully checked the area to make sure no one was left alive before he began to count his "spoils of war."

The wooden crates were mostly filled with canned goods and biscuits, with two crates containing rifle bullets and four crates containing hand grenades, the models of which were the same as those in his spatial storage. The burlap sacks contained some potatoes and flour.

"A good haul!" Lin Yifan nodded in satisfaction. These supplies would be very helpful for his upcoming plans. With a thought, he stored all the canned goods, biscuits, bullets, grenades, potatoes, and flour into his spatial storage.

As for the corpses of the puppet soldiers and Japanese soldiers, he was too lazy to deal with them. After taking their valuables, he just left them lying there, which would only cause some trouble for the Japanese soldiers behind them.

Then he began to retrieve the grenades from the space, the pins already pulled and the delay timer set to three seconds.

Having dealt with these matters, Lin Yifan did not linger and continued towards Beiping City. He needed to return to the city as soon as possible to make final preparations for Saturday night's operation.

Along the way, he encountered two more small checkpoints, but he dealt with them easily. When he was almost at the city gate, he found a secluded place, changed back into his own clothes, washed his face, and returned to his usual appearance.

The checks upon entering the city seemed even stricter than in the morning. Lin Yifan waited in line for a long time before it was his turn. Fortunately, he was prepared, and after explaining his situation, the puppet soldier who was questioning him didn't think much of it and waved him in.

Back at the courtyard house, it was already dusk. As usual, Lin Yifan carried a few steamed buns he'd taken from his spatial storage and walked into the courtyard with his head down. The courtyard remained quiet, save for the occasional cough.

He hurried back to his hut, closed the door, and let out a long sigh of relief. Today had been quite fruitful; he had not only successfully tested the special use of the grenade but also replenished his supplies. Now, everything was ready except for the final push.

No! There's another crucial issue we can't forget. After dinner, Lin Yifan converted the contribution points he earned from killing Japanese soldiers and puppet troops today into skill points. He added all 8 skill points he received to his mental strength, instantly causing his mental strength to soar from 18 to 26.

A cool sensation spread from the depths of my mind, and my head, which had been throbbing from the intense use of mental energy, instantly became crystal clear, and everything around me seemed to become clearer.

He didn't even need to look carefully to "see" that Jia Zhangshi from the Central Court had turned over, still muttering and complaining about how cold the weather was.

Lin Yifan clenched his fist, feeling the surging mental energy within him, a confident smile playing on his lips. 26 points of mental energy were more than enough to support him in completing a series of complex operations at the consulate's banquet.

Now, all he needs to do is scout out the area around the consulate, patiently wait for Saturday night, and deliver an unforgettable "gift" to those high-ranking Japanese officers.

He walked to the table, picked up a steamed bun he had brought back during the day, and slowly chewed it along with some pickled vegetables he had taken out of his spatial storage.

Outside the window, the night grew darker and darker. The city of Beiping lay silent like a lurking beast, and Lin Yifan was the hunter hidden in the shadows of that beast, about to bare his fangs.