Courtyard House: Time Traveler Not Yet a Ghost

Late at night, in the east courtyard.

The moonlight, like quicksilver spilling onto the ground, spread a cool, frosty glow across the blue bricks through the window. He Damin sat cross-legged on the kang (a heated brick bed), his eyes slightly closed, his breathing as soft as a whisper, as if he had merged with the tranquil darkness.

But deep within his spiritual sea, turbulent waves were surging.

After absorbing and refining over 1,500 clusters of pure soul power, his soul strength had leaped to an unprecedented level. At this moment, he was carefully sensing every subtle change in the origin of his soul—that strange feeling of fullness, completeness, and the ability to split and regenerate at any moment was clearly transmitted to every corner of his consciousness.

"One hundred..." He Damin silently recited the number in his mind.

After careful introspection and deduction, he confirmed that, theoretically, with the current strength of his soul's origin, he could split into a maximum of one hundred soul clones capable of independent action. However, this was only the limit. The number and quality of clones were inversely proportional—if split to one hundred, the soul power of each clone would only be about five percent of the main soul's, capable of performing only the simplest tasks such as information gathering and basic monitoring, and would also have drawbacks such as being easily detected by powerful individuals and being slow to act.

However, if the number of clones is controlled to around fifty, the situation is quite different. Each clone will possess nearly half the soul power of the main soul—meaning they can carry out more complex commands, cast some soul techniques, and even have brief combat and self-defense capabilities. More importantly, these clones can more perfectly simulate the aura and characteristics of the main soul, making them harder to detect when parasitizing and lurking.

"Fifty is enough." He Damin opened his eyes, a cold golden light flashing in the darkness.

His targets were clear: the North China Area Army Headquarters, the Beiping Special Higher Police, the Tianjin Garrison Army Headquarters, and several key strongholds where Yoshiko Kawashima might be active. He wanted to implant his soul clones, like the smallest seeds, into the key nodes of these enemy nests—the high-ranking military officers with real power, the intelligence chiefs, and the core personnel directly involved in the investigation of the "paranormal events."

Through the core ability granted by the Yin-Yang space, namely [Memory Reading], these clones will become his eyes and ears as he penetrates deep into enemy territory, obtaining top-secret military intelligence, espionage operations deployments, and even the whereabouts of Yoshiko Kawashima in real time.

This is far more efficient and covert than simply relying on the soul to search everywhere. The clone's parasitism is long-term and latent, capable of continuously transmitting intelligence; while the main soul sits in the center, coordinating and analyzing, ready to strike with lightning speed at any time.

"Let's begin."

He Damin took a deep breath, and his soul quietly floated out from his Baihui acupoint. The pale golden soul light was more solid and dazzling than before, with a faint Tai Chi phantom flowing around his body. He hovered in the void, his hands slowly forming a seal—this was the "Soul Division Secret Method" that he had deduced on his own from the feedback information from the "Taoist Innate Alchemy" and the Soul Refining Banner.

"point!"

With a soft shout, the soul body trembled violently!

Fifty fist-sized, slightly paler in color but still shimmering with golden light, soul beams separated from the main soul like a mother giving birth. They hovered in mid-air, trembling slightly, emanating an aura of the same origin as the main soul but weaker. The separation process brought a tearing sensation at the soul level, but it was quickly soothed by the cool soul power fed back by [Soul Devouring Feedback].

The light of the main soul dimmed by about 30%, a necessary price to pay for splitting into fifty clones. However, He Damin could sense that this depletion would gradually recover with the passage of time and daily cultivation. And each of the fifty clones possessed nearly half of his soul power, enough to handle the tasks ahead.

Next comes the crucial "parasitic command" instruction.

He Damin's main soul acted as a command center, transmitting a series of clear mental instructions to his fifty clones:

First, find a suitable host. The target should be a mid- to high-ranking person in the Japanese military or puppet regime who holds real power and has access to core secrets, especially someone who is directly involved in investigating "paranormal events" or has direct contact with Yoshiko Kawashima.

Second, the method of parasitism. It employs a "soul thread infiltration" mode—the clone transforms into the finest soul energy threads, seeping into the target's seven orifices or the Baihui acupoint on the top of the head, attaching to the edge of their sea of ​​consciousness, and establishing a weak but stable connection with the host's soul. The entire process must be absolutely concealed to avoid triggering any discomfort or alertness in the host.

Third, code of conduct. Maintain deep lurking at all times, passively receiving what the host sees, hears, and thinks; activate briefly at midnight each day, using the [Memory Reading] ability to selectively extract recent key memories from the host; any proactive interference with the host's behavior or disclosure of one's own existence is strictly prohibited.

Fourth, intelligence feedback. The memory information acquired daily will be collected and sent to the main soul at midnight through the mysterious soul connection between the main soul and the clone. In the event of an extreme emergency (such as the host's sudden death, or the soul being examined by a master), the clone can self-destruct and annihilate itself, leaving no trace.

After the command was given, the fifty soul clones trembled slightly, indicating their understanding and obedience.

"Go."

He Damin's main soul waved his hand.

Fifty pale golden streaks of light, like a cluster of stars scattered across the night sky, silently pierced through the rooftops, shooting towards every corner of Beiping and even towards Tianjin. Like the most patient hunters, they would spend the next few nights lurking, observing, and selecting, until they found the most suitable host to complete their parasitism.

Watching his clones disappear into the distance, He Damin's soul returned to his physical body. His face was slightly pale—creating fifty high-quality clones at once had indeed taken a toll on his soul's essence. But his eyes were unusually bright, with the composure and anticipation of a chess player after placing a crucial piece.

For the next few days, He Damin's life seemed to proceed as usual.

During the day, he remained the quiet, efficient apprentice in the kitchen of Fengzeyuan Restaurant. He chopped vegetables, prepared ingredients, ran errands, and cleaned up, occasionally cooking a couple of simple dishes under Chef Wang's guidance. He maintained a perfect distance from everyone around him, neither overly enthusiastic to attract attention nor appearing aloof or eccentric.

Only in the dead of night, when all is quiet, would he sit cross-legged in meditation, and through the connection between his main soul and his clone, receive those fragmented but precious pieces of intelligence transmitted from the deepest part of the enemy camp.

On the first night, the seven clones successfully found hosts and completed their parasitism.

Three of them were parasitic on mid-level staff officers in the North China Area Army Headquarters—these staff officers were responsible for drafting operational plans and compiling military intelligence reports. Although they were not the highest decision-makers, they had access to a large amount of frontline intelligence.

A clone successfully infiltrated the consciousness of the captain of a special higher police unit in Beiping—this person directly commanded investigations targeting "anti-Japanese elements" and "abnormal events."

The other three were parasitized in the bodies of a major in the Japanese Concession Military Police in Tianjin, a confidential secretary in the puppet Tianjin Municipal Government, and a manager in the kitchen of Dongxinglou Restaurant—all three of them had overt or covert connections with Dongxinglou Restaurant, which was a possible base of operations for Yoshiko Kawashima.

On the second night, twelve more clones completed their parasitism.

The targets included: a communications officer from the North China Area Army Communications Section (who had access to coded telegrams), an officer from the Japanese Residents Association in Beiping (responsible for coordinating relations between Japanese residents and the military), an operations staff officer from the Tianjin Garrison Army Staff Department, and several managers of Japanese trading companies operating in Beiping and Tianjin—these trading companies often undertook tasks such as procuring supplies for the military and collecting economic intelligence.

Every night, He Damin felt like he was piecing together a huge, intricate jigsaw puzzle. Each fragment of memory transmitted back by his alter ego was a small piece of the puzzle. At first, these fragments were chaotic and disorganized:

"...I will inspect the expansion project of Nanyuan Airport tomorrow..."

"...Secret telegram: The mopping-up troops in central Hebei encountered a small guerrilla group's attack, suffering minor losses..."

"...Dongxinglou Restaurant, Room 3, 7 PM, banquet for the Kwantung Army Special Envoy..."

"...Search of three households with 'suspicious individuals' in Gulou East Alley yielded nothing..."

"...A batch of 'special medical equipment' arrived at Tianjin Port and needs to be secretly transferred to the Japanese Concession Army Hospital..."

He Damin remained calm and composed. Like a seasoned intelligence analyst, he categorized all these fragmented pieces of information and recorded them in a thick notebook that materialized out of thin air in the Yangzi Study within the Taiji Space. He marked the time, place, people, and events, searching for connections and patterns among them.