Courtyard House: A Veteran Returns Home and Becomes a Father

The old, black telephone receiver was being crushed into black powder inch by inch in Su Mo's hands.

Broken pieces of bakelite, mixed with a few broken copper wires, rustled through his fingers.

He didn't make a sound.

However, the entire police station compound fell into a silence more terrifying than death.

The air seemed to be completely drained and solidified by the invisible murderous aura emanating from him. Everyone, from the station chief Zhao Weiguo to the cook Zhang Baoguo, and even the young police officers watching the commotion in the courtyard, felt as if a cold hand was tightly gripping their necks, making even breathing a luxury.

They stared in horror at the man standing next to the telephone.

His handsome face was expressionless, as calm as a stagnant pool.

But those eyes were no longer human eyes.

Those were two bottomless wells of blood, churning with mountains of corpses and seas of blood, burning with fury powerful enough to incinerate the heavens.

Zhao Weiguo's teeth were chattering wildly, making a "clucking" sound. He wanted to say something, but found that his throat felt like it was blocked with cement, and he couldn't utter a single syllable.

Zhang Baoguo's honest face was now completely bloodless. He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his flesh, and used all his strength to restrain himself from kneeling down to accept the order.

He knew that this was the look a battalion commander would have on the battlefield when he was about to give the order for a general offensive.

That was the wrath of gods and demons.

Su Mo slowly, very slowly, raised his hand and threw the remaining fragments on the ground.

He turned around, his blood-red gaze landing on Zhao Weiguo's face.

"car."

His voice was soft and hoarse, like two rusty iron pieces rubbing together.

Zhao Weiguo shuddered and, almost reflexively, pulled a bunch of keys from his pocket, trembling as he handed them over. They were the keys to his own beat-up Jeep, which rattled everywhere except for the bell.

Su Mo grabbed the keys and turned to leave.

"Battalion Commander!" Zhang Baoguo finally found his voice. He rushed forward, blocking Su Mo's path, his eyes red-rimmed. "I'll go with you! Through fire and water, my life is yours!"

Su Mo stopped in his tracks.

---

He raised his hand and patted Zhang Baoguo's shoulder heavily. Finally, a trace of human warmth appeared in those bloodshot eyes.

"Guard this place."

After saying that, he didn't linger and strode out of the police station.

The beat-up jeep let out a defiant roar, like a green lightning bolt tearing through the afternoon street, and sped away towards South Tongluo Lane.

Only after the car disappeared around the street corner did the stagnant air in the police station seem to begin to flow again.

"Thump!"

Several young police officers' legs gave way, and they collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. Their clothes were already soaked with cold sweat.

"Chief...Chief..." a young policeman asked in a trembling voice, "Was that...was that Comrade Su Mo?"

Zhao Weiguo didn't answer. He just walked dejectedly to the door, staring in the direction the jeep had gone, muttering to himself:

"The sky... is falling..."

East Courtyard.

When Su Mo pushed open the door, his master Su Zhenbang and his advisor Su Hanlin were playing chess in the courtyard.

Hearing the noise, Su Zhenbang looked up, smiling as he was about to speak: "Why are you back so early today?"

But when he saw Su Mo's face clearly, the smile on his face froze instantly.

"Clatter".

The black jade chess piece in Su Hanlin's hand fell onto the stone chessboard with a crisp sound.

Both elderly people could smell an intense, unmistakable stench of blood on Su Mo's terrifyingly calm face.

"Something happened?" Su Hanlin's voice turned somber.

"Wanqing... has been taken away." Su Mo's voice was still hoarse. He walked to the stone table and recounted what had happened at the police station in the most concise language.

"You bastard!"

Su Hanlin flew into a rage and slammed his hand on the stone table. The sturdy stone table was pierced, leaving a clear crack!

"This is outrageous! What kind of 'special handling' is this? How dare they touch my people, Su Hanlin's people! Xiao Mo, you wait, I'm going to meet that bastard Lin Wanyuan right now. I want to see if his neck is tougher than my old fists!"

The old man was about to get up as he spoke, and the imposing aura he exuded, as if he had fought his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, made the temperature in the entire courtyard drop several degrees.

"Dad, calm down!" Although Su Zhenbang was also extremely anxious and his face was ashen, he had worked underground for many years and was more thorough in his considerations.

"This is no simple matter! They're using official channels and the guise of censorship. If we act rashly, we'll fall right into their trap! Then, they'll pin a charge of 'violent resistance to law enforcement' on us, and Wanqing will be in even greater danger!"

"Then what do you suggest we do? Just wait here?" Su Hanlin said angrily.

"I...I'll go find my old comrades right away, go to the Ministry of Health..." Su Zhenbang paced anxiously in the courtyard, but he also seemed somewhat lost.

"It's too late."

Su Mo's voice interrupted the argument between the two elders.

He walked into the main room and picked up the phone, which was also black but a hundred times newer than the one in the police station.

"Master, Grandmaster." Su Mo turned around and looked at them. The bloodlust in his eyes had faded, leaving only a calmness like that of ten thousand years of ice. "They use rules to deal with us, then we will use strength to break their rules."

"Since they dared to harm my family, they should be prepared to face my wrath."

He slowly dialed the number on the phone, a number he thought he would never dial again in his life.

The phone was answered after only one ring.

"Who is this?" came a dignified and powerful voice from the other end.

"Old boss, it's me, Su Mo."

There was a three-second silence on the other end of the phone.

Immediately, Jiang Chao, the commander of the 38th Army, rang out in his signature loud voice, filled with unbelievable joy.

"Su Mo? You brat! I thought you'd died somewhere in some brothel! Finally, you've deigned to call this old man?"

"Old boss, something's happened." Su Mo skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point.

Jiang Chao's voice immediately turned serious: "Speak."

"My beloved Xia Wanqing, a doctor at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, was forcibly taken away and placed under quarantine for investigation an hour ago by an organization that claimed to be 'specially handling' the case, on suspicion of being a 'spy'."

There was another deathly silence on the other end of the phone.

This time, Su Mo could clearly hear that Jiang Chao's breathing had become extremely heavy.

That was the suppressed rage of a seasoned general on the eve of a violent outburst.

"Special handling?" Jiang Chao's voice was as cold as a Siberian chill. "A fine 'special handling' indeed!"

"Su Mo, listen to me." Jiang Chao's tone was authoritative and left no room for argument. "You and your family, stay home now. Don't leave the house even for a moment. Leave everything else to me."

"I don't care what kind of 'special office' or 'ironclad office' he is, if he dares to touch the family of a first-class combat hero of my 38th Army, I'll turn this entire city upside down and drag him out!"

"Beep...beep...beep..."

Jiang Chao abruptly hung up the phone.

Su Mo could imagine that the army commander on the other end of the phone had probably already overturned the table by now.

A massive war machine, the sharpest blade of the nation, has begun to slowly turn.

Just as Su Mo hung up the phone, there was a knock at the back door – three long knocks followed by two short ones.

Wang Erniu has arrived.

He burst in like a gust of wind, his face filled with anxiety and murderous intent.

"Boss! We found it!"

"My sister-in-law was taken to an abandoned sanatorium in Xishan! It's a secret hideout of 'Special'! Our people saw from the outside that the Volga with license plate 京A00081 went in and never came out again!"

"There are at least thirty skilled individuals secretly on guard around the sanatorium, all armed. They're probably... from Lin Wanyuan's 'Purification' team!"

Su Mo walked to the wall and took down a painting hanging there.

Behind the painting is a hidden compartment.

He took out a long, rectangular object wrapped in a thick oilcloth.

He unwrapped the oilcloth layer by layer.

A Tang sword, entirely black with an ancient design, yet exuding a chilling murderous aura, appeared before everyone's eyes.

The sword's name is "No Edge".

True skill lies in simplicity, and a heavy sword has no edge.

He slowly drew his long sword, the gleaming blade reflecting his cold eyes in the lamplight.

"Erniu".

"exist!"

"Gather all brothers in Beijing. In twenty minutes, assemble at the abandoned factory outside Dongzhimen."

Su Mo's voice was calm and cold.

"Tonight, we will massacre the Western Hills."