Courtyard House: Home Alone

Qi Jizhong closed the door tightly, walked to the soft couch and sat down, then reached out and pinched Wanyi's leg.

Wanyi put down the half-eaten osmanthus cake in her hand, and raised her eyes indifferently: "With such a commotion outside, why aren't you following the Emperor? What are you doing here?"

Qi Jizhong's hand slowly moved up: "There's been a huge mess outside. A group of generals from the Kwantung Army have all disappeared. The Emperor has lost all the treasures in the palace and is now completely terrified. He's hiding alone in his study."

"That's why I came here to keep you company, Your Majesty, because I was afraid you might be frightened."

Wanrong turned her body away from his hand, her fingertips lightly dusting off the hem of her dress with a handkerchief, her tone casual and languid: "After such a huge mess, you still have the mood for this?"

Qi Jizhong wasn't annoyed by the sight. He leaned forward, lowered his voice, and chuckled, "Anyway, the palace gates are sealed now, and outsiders can't come over. The Emperor won't be able to come here for the time being, so it's a good opportunity for the two of us to have a proper talk."

My heart has been constantly with Your Majesty. With such a terrible incident, and Your Majesty all alone here, how can I possibly be at ease?"

Wanrong glanced at him, a cool smile playing on her lips. She didn't push his hand away again, but slowly said, "Aren't you afraid of being caught by the Emperor one day? You'd better watch your head."

Qi Jizhong's hand was already on Wanrong's waist, and his voice became increasingly cloying: "In the current situation, how can the Emperor have time to care about us? Even if things really go wrong one day, I will accept it. I would be willing to die to be with Your Majesty."

Wanrong gave a soft hum, turned her head away and closed her eyes, letting him do as he pleased. The lights in the palace cast long shadows, making the alarm sounds outside the window seem farther away.

Meanwhile, Lin Yifan was still swaying on the train, which wouldn't arrive in Fengtian until 5 a.m.

News of the collective disappearance of a group of high-ranking officers of the Kwantung Army quickly reached Japan. Upon receiving the telegram, the Chief of the General Staff, Prince Kan'in, was so enraged that he smashed the tea set beside him and pointed in the direction of Xinjing (Beijing) while cursing loudly.

He immediately took the telegram to the palace. With such a big incident happening on the Kwantung Army side, even as a prince, he dared not make a decision on his own.

After being informed by the palace attendant, he soon met Emperor Gujin. After hearing the report from Prince Kan'in, Gujin's face immediately darkened, and the atmosphere in the entire palace seemed to drop significantly.

He remained silent for a long time before speaking in a deep voice: "Yoshijiro Umezu is a veteran general who has experienced many battles. How could he have disappeared without a trace, leading an entire command? And in the heavily guarded Kwantung Army headquarters, could there really be ghosts involved?"

Xianyuan Gong Zai Ren bowed deeply, keeping his head down and not daring to utter a sound: "No traces were left at the scene. The doors and windows were all locked properly, and not even a trace of a struggle could be found. The entire city of Xinjing was searched three times, but no suspicious persons were found. Now the General Staff is also unsure what happened."

Hirohito walked around the throne twice, his fingers gripping the hilt of the sword at his waist so tightly that his knuckles turned white: "Whoever did it, find them out!"

Immediately dispatch two divisions from the vicinity of Xinjing to search the entire city, house to house. Even if you have to turn Xinjing upside down, you must find this murderer!

Furthermore, immediately appoint temporary command teams for the Kwantung Army and its divisions and independent brigades; the situation in Northeast China must not be allowed to deteriorate.

Prince Kan'in immediately bowed and accepted the Emperor's decree, then withdrew and sent a telegram to Xinjing that very night. The entire Japanese mainland was mobilized because of this incident.

Meanwhile, Lin Yifan, lying on the train sleeper berth, was oblivious to all of this. He was leaning against the berth with his eyes closed, resting and sorting through the treasures he had collected on this trip, planning how to take over the largest arsenal in all of Asia once he arrived in Fengtian.

The train pulled into Fengtian Station at around 5 a.m. Lin Yifan followed the flow of people out of the station and saw that the station square was already filled with Kwantung Army soldiers with bayonets, each carrying a bullet box slung across their shoulder. They were checking the documents of the passengers exiting the station one by one. Anyone without a proper good citizen certificate was dragged aside, tied up, and taken away.

Lin Yifan lowered his student cap, clutched the student ID he had swiped, and calmly moved towards the exit while blending into the crowd. He was secretly laughing to himself; the Japanese obviously hadn't connected the disappearance case in Xinjing with him yet, and the security here was much laxer than at Xinjing Station.

When it was his turn to be inspected, the Japanese military police looked at his student ID card over and over again, and then stared at him for several seconds. Seeing that he was wearing a school uniform and did not find any flaws, they waved him over.

Lin Yifan took the student ID and put it in his pocket. He walked out of the station at a leisurely pace, found a rickshaw, and headed towards the arsenal.

The arsenal was located in the southern suburbs of Fengtian. The area within a two-kilometer radius was designated as a military restricted zone by the Japanese, and a special checkpoint was set up there.

The rickshaw driver stopped about a mile from the checkpoint, turned around and said to Lin Yifan, "Young master, this is a Japanese restricted area. If we go any further, the Japanese will open fire. I can only take you this far."

Lin Yifan nodded, paid the fare and told the driver to go back first. He then went to the woods by the roadside, used his mental energy to scan the direction of the arsenal.

The arsenal was indeed heavily guarded. There was a watchtower every hundred meters along the wall, and barbed wire was strung on top of the wall. Two heavy machine guns were mounted at the factory gate, and vehicles and personnel entering and leaving were searched three times inside and out.

Fengtian Arsenal truly lives up to its reputation as the largest arsenal in Asia, covering an enormous area. Even Lin Yifan, who was hiding in the woods, couldn't bring it all under his control.

He carefully examined the layout and security of the arsenal. He found that the security was tight on the outside but loose on the inside, with layers of sentry posts on the outer perimeter, while the patrol density decreased as one went in.

Outside the core ammunition depot and production workshop, there was only a small squad of Japanese soldiers stationed. Clearly, these Japanese soldiers believed that this place was deep in the rear and that no one would dare to provoke them.

Lin Yifan chuckled inwardly, which saved him a lot of trouble. He found a secluded and deserted corner, and with a thought, he teleported in, landing behind a shed piled with steel.

Now that he was here, he could finally get a glimpse of the entire arsenal. He carefully recorded the layout and security arrangements of the entire factory area.

It's still morning, and every workshop in the arsenal is full of workers; it's not a good time to take action. Let's go back to the city first and come back in the evening.

He turned and hid in a blind spot where the timber was piled up. When no one was paying attention, he silently teleported out of the wall, returned to the roadside by the same route, walked along the path to the main street, found an inconspicuous little hotel, booked a room, and went to sleep to get enough rest for his operation that night.

When it got completely dark and the streets were nearly deserted, Lin Yifan changed into a dark-colored outfit, put on a mask, and followed the path he had scouted during the day back to the outskirts of the arsenal.