Yu Xian sat on a stone bench in the backyard.
The dark-red vertical mark on his right palm continued to heat up. The sensation of an invisible thread pulling tightly became more and more intense. The other end of the line was firmly anchored deep beneath Wild Boar Ditch.
He picked up the metal rod on the stone table.
“Dafu.” Yu Xian stood up. “Get the car. We’re going to Wild Boar Ditch.”
Wang Dafu ran out of the house, sweating profusely. He had been cleaning the koi fish in the kitchen and hurried out after hearing the call.
Li Yao quickly stepped forward. She had changed out of her black combat outfit into plain gray sportswear. She lowered her head slightly, hands folded in front of her abdomen.
“Mr. Yu, I’ll drive.” Her voice was extremely low, filled with absolute obedience.
Yu Xian glanced at her and nodded.
The three of them walked to the garage. Li Yao opened the back door of the pickup truck, shielding the roof with her hand. Yu Xian sat in the back seat. Wang Dafu climbed into the passenger seat.
Li Yao started the engine. The pickup left Jinshui Bay and headed straight for the western suburbs of Jiangcheng.
Tokyo, 50 meters underground intelligence center.
The alarms had completely stopped. The main screen was filled with dead gray data streams.
Sō Takamarufu slumped in his command chair, staring at the empty console. All operatives in China had gone silent. The East Sea submarine fleet had surrendered control to the Chinese military.
The reinforced door was suddenly forced open.
A squad of armed Imperial Guards stormed in, guns aimed at everyone.
An elderly man in a black kimono stepped through—Prince Tokugawa Shin of the Japanese imperial family.
Sō Takamarufu looked up, hollow-eyed.
“Your Highness…” His voice was dry. “I have failed. That man’s dimensional level… we cannot comprehend it.”
Tokugawa Shin walked up to him and drew a pistol.
“You have offended a god.” His expression remained unchanged. “Because of your stupidity, the empire’s century-long fortune is collapsing. The Emperor has issued the highest order—full surrender to China.”
Sō Takamarufu closed his eyes.
Bang.
The gunshot echoed. His body collapsed onto the console.
Tokugawa Shin holstered his weapon and turned.
“The plane is ready?”
“At Haneda Airport, ready for immediate departure to Jiangcheng.”
“Bring the national treasury keys and unconditional surrender document.”
He walked out.
“The empire’s survival… depends on Mr. Yu’s mood.”
West suburbs of Jiangcheng, Wild Boar Ditch.
The pickup stopped at the edge of the abandoned quarry.
The place had completely changed—armed soldiers surrounded it in layers. Armored vehicles were stationed on high ground.
Chufeng stood at the barricade. He immediately signaled to let them pass.
Soldiers snapped to attention and saluted.
The pickup entered the restricted zone.
Yu Xian stepped out, holding the metal rod.
Chufeng marched forward.
“Mr. Yu!” he reported loudly. “Geological monitors detected an extreme energy collapse underground! Elder Li has ordered the entire military to standby for your suppression operation!”
Yu Xian said nothing and walked straight toward the dried mud pit.
At the bottom lay the wreckage of the “Yellow Springs” device he had crushed earlier—the bronze beast head still embedded in mud.
He stopped at the edge.
The mark in his palm burned intensely. He could clearly feel something massive and foul struggling deep underground, trying to escape along the earth veins toward the east.
“Trying to run?” Yu Xian sneered.
He raised the metal rod and pointed it at the center of the pit.
Spiritual power surged through the red mark in his palm and poured into the rod.
A deafening sonic boom erupted.
An invisible field pierced through more than ten meters of earth crust and slammed into the chaotic energy below.
BOOM!
The quarry shook violently. Vegetation around it turned to dust.
Chufeng planted his feet firmly.
“Field formation confirmed… high-dimensional penetration!” he shouted into his headset. “Mr. Yu is forcibly extracting foreign karmic structure from the earth veins!”
A deep, inhuman roar came from below.
Yu Xian tightened his grip.
“Come up.”
The ground exploded.
Black mud shot into the air.
A mass of dense black energy was forcibly dragged upward by an invisible force.
It twisted violently, gradually solidifying into form.
A massive black serpent with eight heads.
Covered in scale-like plates, reeking of decay. All eight heads roared silently at Yu Xian.
The temperature dropped sharply. Frost formed on soldiers’ weapons.
“What the hell is that!” Wang Dafu trembled behind the pickup truck.
Li Yao’s pupils shrank.
“Yamata no Orochi…” she whispered. “The national fortune totem of Japan… he actually pulled out their country’s destiny as a physical entity!”
Suddenly—
Screeching brakes echoed outside the perimeter.
Several black diplomatic cars forced their way in.
The door opened.
Tokugawa Shin stumbled out and ran toward the pit, ignoring the guns pointed at him.
He looked up.
And saw it.
The eight-headed serpent—Japan’s national belief system—struggling like a dying worm at the tip of Yu Xian’s rod.
Tokugawa Shin collapsed to his knees.
“Mr. Yu!” he screamed, smashing his forehead into the ground.
Blood streamed down.
He raised both hands, holding a golden scroll and a black box.
“I, Tokugawa Shin of the Imperial Family, on behalf of the Emperor and all citizens of Japan… hereby declare unconditional surrender to China!”
His voice echoed across the quarry.
“This is the highest authorization key to the Imperial Treasury! All heavy industry, semiconductor technology, and overseas assets are hereby transferred without condition!”
“Please… spare a trace of our nation’s lineage!”
Chufeng stood frozen.
Unconditional surrender.
A sovereign nation had completely abandoned all dignity.
Yu Xian glanced at the kneeling man, then at the struggling serpent in the air.
“Too ugly.”
He frowned.
His wrist snapped.
The metal rod hummed sharply.
The invisible field instantly contracted.
CRACK.
No explosion—just a suffocating pressure collapse.
The eight-headed serpent, symbol of Japan’s century-long national fortune, was instantly crushed into black mist.
Gone.
The sky cleared.
Sunlight returned.
Tokugawa Shin froze mid-kneel.
Everything was gone.
Their national destiny—crushed like garbage because it was “ugly.”
He didn’t even finish begging before the backbone of the empire shattered completely.
Tokugawa Shin collapsed and cried like a broken man.
Yu Xian lowered the rod.
The red mark on his palm returned to normal.
He walked over, took the scroll and black box, and casually threw them to Chufeng.
“Take it back.”
“Tell Elder Li I’ve cleaned up the area. Don’t let anyone bother my fishing again.”
Chufeng saluted fiercely.
“Sir, we will defend your results with our lives!”
Yu Xian ignored him and turned to leave.
Then he stopped.
In the center of the pit.
Something remained.
A fragment that had not dissipated with the black mist.
A scale—metallic, cold, embedded with complex electronic circuitry.
Yu Xian picked it up.
At its center was a symbol.
A bald eagle spreading its wings.
Below it, engraved in small letters:
DARPA – Project Olympus
Yu Xian stared at it.
Japan’s national destiny had contained something from the most advanced military research institution across the ocean.
This wasn’t mysticism.
It was engineered quantum surveillance embedded in a synthetic “national fortune system.”
Japan had been nothing more than a controlled asset.
A dog in a cage.
And now the leash collar had fallen off.
Yu Xian looked at the metal rod in his hand again.
“Fish beneath the water, hook in the heart.”
The old man’s words surfaced once more.
He slipped the scale into his pocket.
“Pull the small fish… and the big one shows up.”
He exhaled coldly.
“This fish pond is deeper than I thought.”
By the pickup truck, Li Yao’s pupils contracted violently.
She recognized the bald eagle emblem.
The world’s most terrifying military superpower…
had finally entered the game.
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