126: Chapter 126 The Last "Spark"

No rest.

No respite.

Encrypted messages from the "Great Wall" Command Center, like icy raindrops, were constantly injected into Chen Xi's retinal map.

One by one, bright red skull markers lit up on the map of Nanjing's ruins, with blood-colored countdowns pulsing beside them.

Those were the "scheduled processing times" for every person on the list, as designated by the Japanese Military Police.

It was a death schedule.

And Chen Xi was the only person who could race against the Grim Reaper.

The first name lit up.

[Liu Guowei, Fluid Mechanics Expert, Scheduled Processing Time: Seventeen minutes from now.]

Chen Xi's figure leapt down from the Bell Tower where he had been hiding. His optical camouflage activated instantly, turning him into a blurred shadow that merged with the darkness as he sped toward Central University.

The footage in the Livestream room switched to Chen Xi's first-person perspective, overlaid with a cold tactical map.

The viewers' hearts instantly tightened.

["It's starting! Racing against the Grim Reaper!"]

["Seventeen minutes! Damn! From the south of the city to Central University, it would take half an hour just to drive normally!"]

["Run, Master Xi! Don't worry about us!"]

Chen Xi ignored the bullet chat.

His brain, at this moment, was a highly efficient biological computer.

Evading patrols, jumping over obstacles, choosing the shortest path.

Every movement was so precise it felt inhuman.

Thirteen minutes later.

He arrived at Central University's abandoned library.

A scorched smell of burning paper, mixed with the scent of despair, wafted toward him.

He vaulted through a broken window, landing soundlessly.

In the hall, a thin old man wearing glasses was trembling as he threw thick stacks of research manuscripts into a burning iron drum.

The firelight reflected off his tear-stained face.

"Boom!"

A loud bang came from the library's main door, the sound of a heavy object crashing against it.

The old man shuddered, and his hands moved even faster.

"Professor Liu."

A voice like a whisper sounded behind him.

The old man turned back in terror, only to see an empty shadow.

"The fire can wait a moment."

Chen Xi's figure slowly emerged, his voice devoid of emotion.

"The gates of hell cannot."

He grabbed the old man's arm.

Almost at the same time, the already precarious library door was completely smashed open.

Several Japanese Soldiers holding rifles rushed in with cruel grins.

However, all that greeted them was a drum of nearly burnt-out ashes and a broken back window through which the cold wind blew.

In the shadows of the ruins.

Chen Xi half-dragged and half-carried the terrified Professor Liu, moving swiftly through the complex buildings.

On his retinal map, the first red skull turned into a green one, representing safety.

The mission continued.

Next target.

[Wang Zhenhai, Architect of Ancient Buildings, Scheduled Processing Time: One hour from now. Location: Temporary Detention Center.]

The Detention Center.

A dragon's pool and a tiger's den.

After placing Professor Liu in an absolutely safe cellar for the time being, Chen Xi disappeared into the night once more.

Half an hour later.

A Japanese Army motorcycle with a sidecar stopped at the entrance of the detention center.

A "Major" wearing a Japanese Military Police uniform stepped off the vehicle.

His face was cold, his gaze arrogant, and the officer's sword at his waist swayed slightly with his steps.

It was Chen Xi.

This set of clothes came from a member of an unlucky "Hound" squad.

And his current temperament was entirely simulated by the system based on countless video records, creating the most standard and terrifying Tokkō elite.

"Open the gate!"

He barked at the guards at the gate in a fluent and cold Tokyo accent.

Seeing his rank and uniform, the guards didn't dare to be negligent and hurriedly saluted and opened the gate.

Chen Xi walked straight to the interrogation room.

He took a forged transfer order (generated by the system) and slapped it down in front of the Japanese Sergeant in charge.

"By order of Section Chief Matsui of the Tokkō, I am here to interrogate the prisoner, Wang Zhenhai."

Looking at the transfer order with the bright red seal and then at the menacing "Major" before him, the Sergeant shuddered and hurriedly bowed and scraped to fetch the prisoner.

Soon, the bruised and battered Wang Zhenhai was brought out.

"Come with us."

Chen Xi's "adjutant" (another Japanese Soldier he had knocked out and swapped clothes with) propped up Wang Zhenhai and started walking out.

"Your Excellency Major..."

The Sergeant seemed to want to ask something.

Chen Xi whipped his head around, his gaze cutting across the man's face like a knife.

"You... have a question?"

"No! None!"

The Sergeant's legs went weak with fear, nearly collapsing to the ground.

Chen Xi snorted coldly, looked away, and led his charge grandly out of the detention center.

The heavy iron gate slowly closed behind them.

Only after the sound of the motorcycle's engine faded into the distance did the Sergeant dare to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

He didn't know that he had just brushed past the Grim Reaper.

On the map, the second skull turned green.

The night deepened.

By the banks of the Qinhuai River, the sounds of oars and the shadows of lanterns of the past had long since been replaced by blood and fire.

Inside a black-awning boat by the river hid Chen Xi's next target.

Several famous Kunqu Opera performers who were renowned throughout Jiangnan before the war.

At this moment, seven or eight Japanese secret agents in plain clothes were grinning as they closed in on the trembling little boat.

The order they received was to "sweep away" these performers who represented "enemy culture."

"Teachers, don't be afraid."

A leader of the secret agents teased in broken Chinese.

"Come with us and sing a few segments to entertain the Imperial Army."

The old people on the boat were pale with fright, huddling together.

Just as the leader reached out to board the boat.

*Pfft.*

A faint, almost inaudible sound.

A small bloody hole appeared between his eyebrows, and the lewd grin on his face was frozen forever.

The secret agents behind him hadn't even reacted yet.

*Pfft. Pfft. Pfft.*

A few more faint sounds.

Like the Grim Reaper calling names.

In just two seconds, all the standing secret agents were shot through the forehead and fell straight down, without even having time to let out a scream.

On a deserted tea house in the distance.

Chen Xi slowly lowered the slingshot in his hand.

He jumped down from the tea house and came to the boat.

Looking at the artists in the boat who were scared out of their wits, he didn't say much.

He simply placed some clean food and water gently at the bow.

Then, he turned and merged into the darkness once more.

On the map, three more skulls turned green.

Overnight.

Chen Xi transformed into the most efficient Grim Reaper and the most reliable guardian of this city of hell.

Using optical camouflage, one minute before the Japanese broke down the door, he rescued a chemist from a back window who was burning research manuscripts.

Using a forged identity, he "transferred" a dying future surgical expert from a Japanese temporary hospital.

Before dawn, he intercepted and killed the last squad of Military Police preparing to execute a "cleanup" mission, saving a family of Chinese painting masters hiding in a double wall.

In the east, a sliver of pale light had appeared on the horizon.

Chen Xi leaned against a ruined wall, gasping for breath.

The high-intensity action of an entire night without sleep caused even his iron-like body to feel waves of weakness.

He opened his retinal map.

The death list that was originally covered in red skulls had now turned into a reassuring green, representing life.

[Rescue mission for the "Nanjing Cultural Elite Liquidation List" completed.]

The system's cold notification sounded.

It was finished.

He had done it.

He had snatched back this final batch of "embers" from the Japanese Army's butcher knife.

A massive sense of fatigue and exhaustion instantly swept over him.

He even wanted to just lie down and have a good sleep.

However.

The encrypted communication from the "Great Wall" Command Center rang out abruptly.

It was Elder Qian's voice, filled with excitement and a hint of trembling.

"Ghost! Those rolls of film and documents you brought back... we've made an even more shocking discovery!"

"According to one of the Military Police documents, we've confirmed that the diaries of John Rabe and Minnie Vautrin have also been listed as top-priority destruction targets by the Japanese high command!"

"Their value is no less than any of the people you saved! They are living evidence! They are the final rivets that will pin evil to the pillar of shame in the future court of history!"

Chen Xi's pupils contracted sharply.

He looked toward the two locations on the map he had marked as safe zones.

Rabe's Siemens House.

Vautrin's Jinling Womens College of Arts and Sciences.

A new mission had appeared.