132: Chapter 132 The Eve of Trial

The night was like coagulated blood.

Chen Xi stood atop the ruins opposite Tani Hisao's residence, like a lifeless statue merging with the darkness.

This was one of the few areas within Nanjing that had not been completely destroyed by the flames of war.

A detached Western-style villa was enclosed by high courtyard walls; the interior was brightly lit, a stark contrast to the deathly silent hell outside the walls.

A guard every three steps, a sentry every five.

The moving beams of searchlights were like sharp razors, repeatedly scraping over every inch of ground inside and outside the courtyard walls.

Two wolves paced uneasily behind the iron gates, low growls emanating from their throats.

The bullet chat in the Livestream room fell into an eerie silence after a brief clamor.

Everyone was struck speechless by the impregnable defense before them.

【How... how do you get in? Fly in?】

【I did the math; from the main gate to the main building, there are at least seven interlocking fields of fire, and that's not even counting the two Heavy machine guns mounted on the roof.】

【The walls are at least four meters high, topped with Electric wire and Broken glass. How do you climb that?】

【Master Xi... give up. This really isn't a place a human can enter.】

Chen Xi did not look at the bullet chat.

His eyes, like a precision instrument, calmly scanned everything before him.

(Wall patrol, group of four, one lap every ninety-seven seconds.)

(Searchlights, crossing in pairs, sweep frequency of thirty seconds, with a four-second blind spot in the northeast corner.)

(Guards at the main building entrance change shifts every fifteen minutes, with a thirty-second gap during the handover.)

His brain worked at high speed, integrating all the data to construct a three-dimensional, dynamic defense model.

Time passed, minute by minute.

Chen Xi lay dormant in the darkness, motionless, like the most patient hunter waiting for that single opportunity that might only exist in theory.

Two hours later.

The opportunity came.

A mass of dark clouds obscured the already dim moonlight.

The two searchlight beams in the northeast corner happened to sweep to their furthest points at the exact same time.

Now!

Chen Xi's figure moved.

He leapt down from the ruins, landing soundlessly like a black leopard cat, instantly dashing across dozens of meters of open ground to reach the shadow of the courtyard wall.

He used no tools.

He simply looked up at the smooth wall, then stepped back two paces and suddenly lunged forward.

Using his toes to gain leverage against the wall, his body surged upward in an incredible posture.

At the very moment his upward momentum was about to be exhausted, his fingertips hooked onto the edge of the wall.

The muscles in his arms instantly tightened and exerted force.

With a clean, agile pull-up, his body flipped over the top of the wall.

The entire process was as fast as lightning, without making a single unnecessary sound.

He crawled along the top of the wall, avoiding the embedded glass shards, and slid into the courtyard as silently as a gecko.

【Holy crap...】

【What did I just see? Is that a move a human can actually do?】

【Bare-handed... he climbed up? And without a sound? Master Xi, are you actually Spider-Man?】

【Quiet! Everyone be quiet! Don't distract Master Xi's operation!】

The shadows on the courtyard lawn were sparse.

Chen Xi pressed his center of gravity as low as possible, moving slowly along the shadows of the bushes.

He could clearly hear the sound of the patrol's boots on the gravel nearby, and the increasingly close panting of the two wolves.

A beam from a searchlight swept toward him from behind.

Chen Xi lunged forward, his body rolling into the shadow of a Rockery, merging with the darkness.

The light beam swept past, right at his heels.

Cold sweat instantly drenched his back.

He did not linger, continuing to sneak toward the main building.

The side door of the main building led to the kitchen and utility rooms.

In the shadows by the door, a Japanese Army guard leaned against the wall, secretly smoking a cigarette.

This was a Hidden sentry not marked on the map.

Chen Xi's footsteps stopped.

He hid in the darkness dozens of meters away like a stone, quietly observing.

One minute.

Two minutes.

The guard finished his cigarette and yawned, appearing somewhat lax.

An opening.

Chen Xi's figure vanished from the spot again.

When he reappeared, he was already behind the guard.

The guard seemed to sense something and was just about to turn around.

A powerful hand clamped down firmly over his mouth from behind.

The other arm, like a steel vise, locked around his throat.

"Crack."

The faint, almost inaudible sound of a bone being dislocated.

The guard's body went limp and was silently dragged by Chen Xi into the deeper darkness.

Having dealt with the Hidden sentry, Chen Xi slipped into the main building.

The air inside the building was thick with the smell of alcohol and food, mixed with the faint scent of high-end cigars.

The corridor was covered with thick carpeting that absorbed all sound.

But Chen Xi still walked with extreme caution.

He was like a dancer on the edge of a blade, every step landing in the safest possible spot.

The further in he went, the clearer the sound of a man's heavy, drunken snoring became.

That sound was full of tyranny and satisfaction, like the roar of a beast after a full meal.

Chen Xi knew he had found him.

He stopped before the heavy, carved wooden door of the master bedroom on the second floor.

Dim light seeped through the crack under the door.

That nauseating snoring came from behind this door.

Chen Xi slowly raised his hand and gripped the cold, brass door handle.

He didn't turn it immediately.

He just stood there quietly, adjusting his breathing.

He restrained all his killing intent within his body.

In the Livestream room, the hearts of hundreds of millions of viewers were in their throats.

Time seemed to stand still at this moment.

The whole world seemed to consist only of that door and the devil's snoring coming from behind it.

Finally.

Chen Xi's hand moved.

With an extremely slow and steady force, he slowly turned the door handle.

"Click."

A faint crisp sound, almost inaudible.

The door lock was open.