Courtyard House: Time Traveler Not Yet a Ghost

The Zhengzhou-Taiyuan Railway, this steel artery traversing the Taihang Mountains and connecting Hebei and Shanxi, lay like a lifeless python in the dead of winter in 1942, sprawling between desolate mountains and valleys. The rails were rusted and rotten, most of the sleepers were decayed, and most sections were no longer passable by train. Only the rows of bunkers, pillboxes, and patrol trails along the railway embankment remained, testifying to the Japanese invaders' morbid desire for control over this vital transportation artery. The biting wind howled along the railway line, whipping up sand and snow, lashing against the cold concrete fortifications and barbed wire, producing a mournful, ghostly wail.

Several miles from the railway line, an even more secluded, long-abandoned mule and horse trail gleamed eerily in the moonlight. A dark green Type 95 military truck, like a shark lurking in the night, moved silently along it. The headlights were off, relying entirely on the driver's exceptional eyesight and keen sense of direction. The wheels rolled over frozen clods of earth and gravel, the sound masked by the deliberately suppressed roar of the engine and the wind.

He Damin sat in the driver's seat, still wearing his crisp major's uniform, only now draped with an inconspicuous gray cotton overcoat. His face was calm and expressionless in the dim light of the instrument panel, but his eyes were sharp as a hawk's, piercing through the windshield to the distant lights dotting the railway line like malignant tumors—those were the Japanese checkpoints, bunkers, and small military camps along the route.

Seven or eight days had passed since he left the perilous Yanshan Mountains. He traveled by night and hid by day, following a secluded path that was relatively loosely controlled by the Japanese but roughly parallel to the Zhengtai Railway, heading west and already deep into the edge of northwestern Shanxi. Along the way, he didn't simply avoid danger. The giant, dark green python he had captured in the perilous area, half-starved and imprisoned in a special area of ​​the Taiji Space, had become an extremely unique and terrifying "weapon" in his hands.

The initial "experiment" took place late one night three days ago.

It was a small Japanese checkpoint located at a mountain pass, guarding a side road. A wooden watchtower, surrounded by sandbag fortifications, housed about a platoon of Japanese soldiers and seven or eight puppet troops. It was midnight, a time when people were most tired and least vigilant. He Damin hid the truck in a mountain hollow several miles away, while his spirit, carrying the Soul-Refining Banner, silently approached.

He didn't take action himself, nor did he even use the Soul Refining Banner for a direct attack. Instead, he communicated with the Taiji Space through his thoughts from behind a shady rock about a hundred meters away from the checkpoint.

"put!"

The giant python, starving for months and already brimming with ferocity yet dazed and confused by the suppression of its soul power, suddenly appeared on the cold mountainside! Its dark green body, five zhang long and as thick as a bucket, gleamed with the cold light unique to its scales under the moonlight. Its triangular head was raised, its scarlet forked tongue flickering rapidly, and its lantern-sized, eerie green eyes were filled with the dread of being preyed upon and the rage and murderous intent born of long imprisonment. It instinctively sensed the large amount of "warm," appetizing "food" not far ahead!

"Hiss—Roar!" With a deep and threatening hiss, the giant python's thick body suddenly sprang forward, like a green arrow released from a bow, carrying a foul stench as it charged wildly toward the checkpoint! Its speed was extremely fast, and its scales screeched against the ground and rocks, making a teeth-grinding rustling sound.

The sentry at the checkpoint was the first to notice the anomaly. The enormous, dark shadow, rapidly approaching in the moonlight and reflecting an eerie glow, along with the inhuman roar, caused the sentry's mind to go blank for a moment. He forgot to sound the alarm and only instinctively screamed, "Monster...monster!"

The screams startled the soldiers dozing in the fortifications. But it was too late. The python, like a runaway train, brutally smashed through the fragile wooden barricades and parts of the sandbag wall. Its massive head swung from side to side, its fangs snapped, spraying foul-smelling venom, and its thick tail swept across like a steel whip! In an instant, chaos reigned inside the checkpoint. Terrified screams, frantic gunfire (mostly blind shots aimed at the sky or their comrades), the muffled thuds of breaking bones, and the terrifying writhing sounds of the python swallowing its prey... all intertwined to create a hellish symphony.

He Damin's soul hovered in mid-air, coldly observing the massacre below. The phantom of the Soul Refining Banner flickered behind him, and the invisible [Soul Banner Domain - Underworld Illusion] quietly covered the edge of the battlefield, further amplifying the fear and chaos within the Japanese soldiers, making it difficult for them to organize effective resistance, and even causing mental breakdowns and infighting. Under He Damin's covert guidance and the stimulation of his soul power, the giant python unleashed its full ferocity, attacking and devouring every living creature within its sight with near-madness.

In less than fifteen minutes, the checkpoint returned to deathly silence. Only the heavy stench of blood, the pervasive dust, and the few remaining embers of fire remained. The giant python lay coiled in the center of the ruins, its belly bulging high, burping contentedly with a bloody odor. Its eerie green eyes were half-closed, the fierce glint lessened, but it exuded a more languid and intimidating aura of someone who had just finished a meal.

He Damin then gracefully landed. While his soul form couldn't directly collect supplies, he was prepared. With a thought, his physical body vanished from the truck cab several miles away, and the next second, he appeared at the edge of this bloody battlefield via [spatial teleportation]. He walked expressionlessly past the dilapidated fortifications and the haphazardly laid, gruesome corpses, not even glancing at the scattered rifles, light and heavy machine guns, mortars, grenade launchers, ammunition boxes, or even the soldiers' belongings and the canned food in the warehouses. These ordinary supplies were piled up like mountains in his small world.

His target was clear: the relatively intact brick hut in the corner of the checkpoint—the radio room and document storage area. He broke down the door; the interior was a mess, but the radio was mostly intact. Next to it, in a metal cabinet, were neatly stacked registers of recently passing troops, password change records, and several briefings on nearby guerrilla activities. With a wave of his hand, He Damin took the radio, all the documents, along with several potentially useful codebooks and maps from the cabinet, and stored them all in his Taiji Space.

After doing all this, he glanced at the coiled giant python. Sensing his presence, the python warily raised its head, but the suppression of its soul power imprint prevented it from making any rash moves. He Damin scanned the area with his spiritual sense, confirming that there were no more survivors or potential witnesses, and then activated [Spatial Transfer] again, returning his physical body to the truck cab. At the same time, he communicated with the space through his thoughts.

"receive!"

In the center of the ruins, the enormous python, having just finished its meal and whose ferocity had subsided, along with the corpses and blood-stained mud beneath it, vanished instantly, returning to the specially designed confinement area of ​​the Taiji Space. Only terrifying marks remained on the ground, as if ravaged and crushed by a giant beast, and the pervasive stench of blood.

The first "snake release" was initially verified as successful: the soul body scouts and suppresses the snake, releases the hungry giant python to create chaos and physical damage, the physical body teleports in to scavenge key information and special materials, and finally recalls the giant python, leaving no survivors and no obvious supernatural traces (the giant python itself can be interpreted as a "mountain beast" or an "unknown monster").

In the following days, this ruthless and efficient "process" began to quietly "spread" among the Japanese and puppet strongholds along the Zhengtai Railway and in the outskirts of northwestern Shanxi.

The second target was a cluster of bunkers built on the site of an abandoned coal mine, garrisoned by a small squad of Japanese soldiers and a platoon of puppet troops, with relatively strong firepower. He Damin chose to strike in the darkest hour before dawn. This time, he used the Soul-Refining Banner's [Hundred Ghosts Parade - Ghost General Command] technique, summoning two ghost general phantoms that mingled with the bloody storm stirred up by the giant python, specifically targeting the Japanese soldiers attempting to operate the heavy machine guns and mortars. The battle lasted slightly longer, but the result was equally thorough. Confidential documents, communication equipment, and a small box of gold bars and several antiques hidden by the Japanese squad leader became He Damin's spoils of war.

The third location was a small military camp situated at a river valley ferry crossing, serving as a transit point for supplies. The camp was relatively well-stocked, containing not only weapons and ammunition but also a considerable amount of brand-new military overcoats, leather shoes, canned goods, and medicine. After the giant python had created enough panic and most of the garrison had been drawn away or eliminated, He Damin personally entered the camp. He not only emptied the confidential room and officers' quarters but also swept away most of the medicines and winter clothing in the warehouse—items that would have been extremely valuable to the Independent Regiment—leaving only a small amount of miscellaneous ordinary rations.

With each attack, he meticulously chose the timing, location, and method to maximize the python's impact while minimizing his own exposure. After each attack, only a horrific scene remained, as if ravaged by a prehistoric beast, and the bizarre outcome that all the Japanese soldiers and puppet troops had vanished completely (either swallowed or absorbed into the python's spatial dimension). The radio station fell silent, utterly silent.

The news couldn't be kept secret.

First came the nearby Japanese and puppet regime strongholds. After three strongholds inexplicably and completely lost contact, panic began to spread. Radio calls went unanswered, and scouts sent out to investigate often returned with horrifying reports: "The scene resembled an attack by a giant beast; all the garrison was missing, bloodstains were everywhere, and some supplies were missing." What kind of beast could breach a bunker? What kind of beast could wipe out an entire organized armed squad? And what kind of beast specifically targeted Imperial Army strongholds?

Rumors spread like wildfire in winter among the Japanese and puppet troops along the Zhengtai Railway. Some said a giant python, a powerful spirit that had cultivated itself into a demon, had appeared in the mountains and was devouring Japanese soldiers; others said it was a "secret weapon" obtained by the Eighth Route Army, a form of "sorcery"; still others connected it to the rumors circulating in the North China Area Army about the "supernatural incident in Fengtai," believing that the same "misfortune" had spread to northwestern Shanxi. The Japanese high command initially dismissed these as nonsense, strictly ordering a news blackout and dispatching more experienced officers and Special Higher Police personnel to form investigation teams. However, after arriving at the attacked strongholds, the investigation teams themselves often fell into deeper fear and confusion, finding nothing except that the attackers were definitely not human or a regular army, and that the missing items were mostly classified documents and a small amount of "valuable" supplies.

Meanwhile, rumors of a "snake demon haunting the railway line, specifically targeting Japanese devils" were quietly circulating among the people of northwestern Shanxi and the anti-Japanese armed forces active in the surrounding areas. The people, with a mixture of awe and secret glee, embellished the stories; guerrillas and Eighth Route Army intelligence agents, on the other hand, cautiously collected and verified these bizarre reports, attempting to glean information favorable to their side. They discovered that the attacked strongholds were mostly nodes that posed a significant threat to anti-Japanese armed activities or controlled key supply lines. This inevitably raised suspicions: did the "snake demon" possess some incomprehensible "stance"?

He Damin was fully aware of all this. Although his network of alter egos wasn't primarily focused on northwestern Shanxi, his clones, infiltrating the Japanese communications and intelligence departments in Beijing and Taiyuan, had intercepted numerous urgent reports and internal discussions about the "strange attack on the Zhengtai Railway." He had also "heard" the increasingly fantastical versions circulating among the people. This was precisely one of the effects he desired—while substantially weakening the Japanese forces along the line and acquiring intelligence and supplies, he also cast a thick, supernatural fog of mystery on both sides' psychological levels. This would effectively disrupt the Japanese army's judgment and deployment, and also provide a strange "camouflage" for his own potential subsequent actions.

The truck continued its bumpy journey along the abandoned ancient road. Ahead, the lights of the railway line gradually thinned out, and the terrain became more complex and rugged, indicating that he was leaving the "security zone" tightly controlled by the Japanese and entering a guerrilla zone where the two sides' forces intersected, and even approaching the edge of the Eighth Route Army's base area.

He Damin glanced at the gradually emerging dawn outside the window. Another night was drawing to a close. He skillfully steered the truck into a more secluded, dry ditch, stopping behind a thicket of withered bushes. He turned off the engine, got out, and carefully concealed the vehicle with dry branches and camouflage netting.

After doing all this, he returned to the driver's seat, leaned back in his seat, and closed his eyes. His consciousness remained at a minimum level of alertness, but his main consciousness had begun to review the "process" of the past few days.

The python's "use" was more effective than expected, but its ferocity, after being satiated and having killed multiple times, seemed to have increased, leading to excessive and unconventional retaliation and investigations by the Japanese. Regarding the collection of "supplies," a more targeted approach could be taken, such as paying close attention to codebooks, technical manuals, officers' diaries, maps (especially those marked with underground warehouses or secret routes), and any items marked "special," "experimental," or "high-value."

The solitary journey seemed to be filled by this bloody yet efficient "process." Thinking, planning, executing, reaping... a never-ending cycle. He was like a ruthless chess player, placing one eerie piece after another, each carrying a chilling, bloody edge, on the vast chessboard of northwestern Shanxi. No one knew who the player was, and many didn't even believe such a player existed.

But the effect was real. Along the Zhengtai Railway, the Japanese soldiers' nerves were being repeatedly tightened by an invisible, blood-stained whip. In He Damin's little world, besides mountains of conventional munitions, there were also some document boxes marked with Japanese security classifications, several well-maintained radios, several boxes of penicillin and sulfonamides, and... a giant dark green python in a specially made confinement area, whose scales were becoming increasingly shiny and whose aura increasingly ferocious due to repeated overeating.

As dawn broke, the first faint rays of sunlight struggled to pierce the clouds, illuminating the camouflage netting on the truck in the ditch, and also the calm yet slightly weary profile of the driver's seat. He Damin hadn't slept; he was simply quietly adjusting his breathing, trying to recover the energy and spirit depleted over the past few days.