The tenth has been caught.

A little after nine in the morning, on a barren hillside stripped of leaves, Li Wensheng was observing the distant Yasukuni Shrine through his binoculars, a kilometer away.

The Second World War was still raging, and the Yasukuni Shrine did not yet hold its later exalted status in the island nation; it had been established simply to commemorate soldiers who fell in the Boshin War. Ordinarily, there were no soldiers guarding the Yasukuni Shrine, and now, with the Imperial Palace bombed, the soldiers of Chiyoda District had either been dispatched to guard the palace or were patrolling the towns, leaving the shrine even more neglected.

After observing for a moment, Li Wensheng took out his 80mm mortar and its last shell.

“Yasukuni Shrine, I’ll spend my final shell on you—consider yourself honored,” he muttered, loading the shell into the mortar.

With a thunderous boom, Li Wensheng raised his binoculars to check the result. When he saw one of the shrine’s buildings collapse, a smile crept across his face.

He packed away his binoculars and mortar and immediately dashed toward town.

Once back in town, unlike before, Li Wensheng didn’t move to a new location right away. Since Wang Tianfeng wanted to use the explosions to disrupt the enemy's thinking, there was no need for him to relocate—he only had to wait for Wang Tianfeng to act.

Wang Tianfeng moved swiftly; by the next day, he had bombed a national high school in Tokyo.

News of the incident quickly reached Chiyoda District, and while Li Wensheng was eating lunch, he overheard diners at nearby tables discussing it.

“Sigh, who knows when they’ll catch that demon?”

“I doubt they ever will. That demon has bombed all the way from here to Yamanashi Prefecture and back again. It’s been half a month, and the government hasn't caught him—they let him run rampant. Catching him seems unlikely. All we can do now is pray for Amaterasu’s protection.”

...

At noon, the island nation’s citizens were still gripped by fear and discussing the matter anxiously, but by afternoon, a wave of jubilation swept through the populace.

Because at around one, a voice came over the radio: “The demon who bombed Mount Fuji and the Yasukuni Shrine, killing hundreds of citizens, was apprehended by the military police at three o’clock this morning.”

Moreover, the Prime Minister, Fumimaro Konoe, addressed the nation via radio, declaring, “Our country is invincible. We will guarantee the safety of our people...”

With these assurances and the news of the demon’s capture, the people were greatly encouraged, and their worries eased at last.

Upon hearing the broadcast, Li Wensheng immediately realized that the person who bombed the national high school had been caught.

Since the authorities believed the demon was in custody, Li Wensheng had a sudden idea. His mortar shells were spent, and using other explosives would be far more dangerous. Better to let them believe the demon had been caught and wait for the Emperor to show himself.

From then on, Li Wensheng no longer sought out iconic buildings; he simply wandered around Chiyoda District.

The next morning, newsboys in the French Concession of Shanghai were hawking the papers again.

“Extra! Extra! The island nation announces the capture of the demon who threatened the Emperor!”

“Extra! Extra! The nameless hero who declared war on the Emperor is at death’s door...”

As always, the newspapers sold out in no time.

Those who managed to buy a paper glanced at it, froze in shock, sighed, tossed it aside, and walked away. Those who hadn’t bought a paper picked it up, glanced at it, were equally stunned, and threw it away as well.

In the restaurants, many gathered at the doors and windows. Seeing what was happening outside, they sighed inwardly, returned to their seats, and resumed their meals, murmuring among themselves.

“Alas, to think he still died in the end.”

“Such a pity, such sorrow. The country so rarely produces a hero, only for him to perish like this.”

Someone nearby turned angrily, shouting, “A hero? What kind of hero is he? He’s a criminal! Because of him, how many of our people have been slaughtered by the islanders these past days?”

A sudden hush fell over the restaurant’s upper floor as all eyes turned to the man who had shouted.

The man who had spoken earlier flushed with anger, but when he saw the other’s bloodshot eyes, he paused, his anger instantly dissipating. With a sigh, he resumed eating and said no more.

Over the past days, Li Wensheng’s bombings across the island nation had driven their occupiers in the Chinese territories into a furious frenzy, leading to widespread massacres of civilians.

Many of the island nation’s commanders publicly declared that for every day the demon did not surrender, they would execute a thousand Chinese. In half a month, countless villages had been wiped out, and in Shanghai, except for the French Concession, the rest of the city saw rampant massacres.

When faced with an unstoppable killer, people do not blame the killer—they blame the one who provoked him.

Many relatives of those slain by the occupiers nursed a deep hatred for Li Wensheng, wishing they could devour his flesh and drink his blood.

While the newspapers in Shanghai reported this, a group from the Shanghai station arrived in the island nation to join Wang Tianfeng and his team.

In a basement room, Qiu Dinghan, the action team leader from the Shanghai station, saluted Wang Tianfeng and the others.

As Qiu Dinghan was about to address the group, Wang Tianfeng spoke first, “How many people did you bring?”

“Twelve, including myself,” Qiu Dinghan replied quickly.

Wang Tianfeng immediately frowned.

The bombing of the national high school had led to one of their men being captured.

Electric torture, iron rods under the nails, nails torn out... Aside from those with exceptional resolve, no one could withstand such tortures.

This one couldn’t either; he soon revealed the details of the Revival Society’s island station to the enemy.

Although Wang Tianfeng always relocated their base after each mission, the men at the island station had grown complacent from long inactivity. Their vigilance had lapsed, leaving traces everywhere.

Following these leads, the enemy managed to kill over a dozen of their people and capture six in less than four hours. The island station was almost entirely wiped out. Thankfully, the five who had gone with Li Wensheng to bomb the Yamanashi Prefecture registry had all perished, otherwise Li Wensheng’s identity would have been exposed as well.

The enemy pursued them relentlessly. If not for Wang Tianfeng’s caution—always having Chen Zhiming take only two trusted aides when relocating—they too would have been caught long ago.

Now, with so few hands remaining—and Qiu Dinghan bringing only twelve more—they were desperately short-staffed.

After a moment’s grim thought, a ruthless glint flashed in Wang Tianfeng’s eyes. He turned to Zheng Yaoxian and said, “Now that the island nation claims to have caught the culprit, the bombings must not stop, or it will badly affect morale on the Chinese front.”

Zheng Yaoxian smiled, “When we set out, we were all prepared to die here. Tell me what you need from me.”

“Take the twelve men and bomb Tokyo University!” Wang Tianfeng’s eyes were steely.

“It will be done,” Zheng Yaoxian replied solemnly.

“We can’t delay—the enemy must not be allowed to celebrate. We act tonight.”

Zheng Yaoxian nodded, “I’ll start preparing now.”

As Zheng Yaoxian, Chen Zhipeng’s trusted aide, and Qiu Dinghan left the basement, Wang Tianfeng turned to Chen Zhipeng, “Go find a machine and print a stack of notices. The notices must read: ‘Every Chinese is a demon to the island nation—you can never catch us all.’ Make sure they’re printed before nightfall!”

Chen Zhipeng’s heart raced. Searching for a printing press at such a time was extremely dangerous; many of those who had been captured had seen his face, and were surely now describing him to the enemy.

Chen Zhipeng wanted to refuse, but Dai Yunong’s orders demanded he obey Wang Tianfeng. Disobey, and his entire family would suffer.

No matter how reluctant, Chen Zhipeng could only nod.

With Chen Zhipeng and his aide gone, Wang Tianfeng turned to Xu Baichuan, “Tonight, you and I will distribute the notices on the streets.”

Xu Baichuan immediately frowned, “Why not let Station Chief Chen go with me?”

Tokyo was now under martial law, with several patrols of military police each night. Distributing notices was almost certain death. As the mission’s leader, Wang Tianfeng couldn’t risk himself now.

Wang Tianfeng shook his head, “The enemy must already know what Station Chief Chen looks like. Since we arrived, we haven’t met with the station’s men, so our faces are still a secret. We have a sliver of hope; if Chen goes, the mission will fail.”

“But—”

“I’m in charge of this operation. Listen to me,” Wang Tianfeng interrupted.

Xu Baichuan could only nod in agreement.