Yu Yi looked at Qiang Zi’s bloody, mangled wound, feeling a sourness in her nose: “Okay, it’s all off now. Let’s go find a doctor to treat your injury.”
It was already noon when they left the hospital. Yu Yi had rented a small room on the top floor of a three-story building and opened her client to examine the scanned documents. After reading, Yu Yi finally understood what Gong Shi meant by “he’s finished,” and her disgust for Tu Fei Bai increased further.
Tu Fei Bai, as the governor-general of several provinces in the Northeast, was essentially the high commander of these provinces. However, he was secretly in frequent contact with a foreign envoy.
Not only did he agree to allow certain troops to station in the province, but he also provided locations for them to build military factories, open mines, and construct transportation railways, plundering local resources and money. This way, he could obtain weapons and financial support to help his private army compete with other regional warlords.
Yu Yi copied these telegrams and letters exactly using her client and sent them to various newspapers.
Local newspapers, intimidated by Tu Fei Bai’s power, did not dare to publish, but a few days later, the first newspaper brave enough to challenge him printed the full text of Tu Fei Bai’s communications with the foreign envoy on its front page, making the information public. Although the newspaper was sealed by the military that same noon, the newspaper had prepared for this and had already evacuated, leaving no one behind.
Tu Fei Bai was furious but powerless.
Subsequently, surrounding provinces followed up with reports, and radical student organizations organized street protests. Public sentiment against Tu Fei Bai grew wave after wave. The military units that had previously united with him began to declare their withdrawal from his fake anti-war alliance. The other two warlord factions, who had long been eyeing his fertile territory, now had a reason to attack him.
Watching the situation develop, Yu Yi noticed the divine being had not sent her back, suggesting her mission was not yet complete.
In her rented small room, she asked the divine being: “Under these circumstances, would assassinating Tu Fei Bai complete the mission?” She did not want to kill unless absolutely necessary, but Tu Fei Bai had committed so many crimes and was arguably deserving of death.
The divine being responded: “Tu Fei Bai has a brother named Tu Fei Ying. If Tu Fei Bai dies, Tu Fei Ying would replace him as army commander and continue communicating with the foreign envoy. You must consider whether you can successfully assassinate repeatedly. Your mission is to completely disperse this Northeast faction, and under current circumstances, assassination is not the best method.”
Yu Yi fell into deep thought.
Seeing her silence, the divine being added: “Perhaps you should find someone to help you. This mission is too difficult to complete alone.”
Yu Yi shook her head. She had already spent many additional performance points on this mission, and while some things might be useful later, she was unwilling to have someone share the remaining meager reward after investing so much effort. How could she ever repay her performance points and save enough to redeem her family?
“Alright, since you insist on completing the mission independently…” the divine being said helplessly, “just remember to seek help if you’re in danger.”
Yu Yi smiled: “Okay.”
Tu Fei Bai’s influence in the Northeast provinces had been significantly weakened, with unstable military morale. He was overwhelmed and had not been home for many days.
One day, Tu Fei Bai received a phone call from a certain country’s side. The other party criticized him for not being cautious enough and letting things be exposed. They warned that if he continued to be careless, they would consider abandoning cooperation with him and seek connections with other regional forces.
Tu Fei Bai listened with a dark face and slammed down the phone. The other party was right – the newspaper had published the documents in a foreign language with a translation. But since that night, his study had always been guarded, and documents were well-preserved. Tu Fei Bai believed that Gong Shi might have found another way to send out the information before being killed by him.
There was another possibility that on that night, A Ju might have learned about the contents of the documents obtained by Gong Shi through some unknown channel.
Tu Feibai drove home, kicked the door open, and dragged Ding Jingman off the bed: “Get up!” Before she could fully wake up, he shook her several times, “What exactly did A Ju say to you when she left?”
Ding Jingman was shaken dizzy, could only tightly grip his arm, trying to steady herself, while softly saying, “Feibai, I’ve already told you everything!”
“Say it again, don’t miss a single word. Tell me everything she has done and said usually!”
Ding Jingman felt Tu Feibai was like a madman; she stared at him blankly: “Do you love her that much?”
Tu Feibai felt irritated; was she jealous at a time like this? He darkened his face, roughly and briefly commanding: “Speak!”
—
Yu Yi eventually returned, unable to enter Tu Feibai’s home, but Gong Shi’s residence had been thoroughly searched, now empty and unoccupied. Yu Yi decided to stay there, waiting for an opportunity.
Searching the client with “see through walls”, Yu Yi found infrared glasses that looked like spectacles of that period. Wearing them allowed her to see through walls, observing people’s movements, as well as fire, light bulbs, and all heat-generating objects. Through these glasses, cold objects appeared black or blue, while hotter objects became increasingly red, though hot fires were white.
This was also due to her familiarity with the house’s structure.
These days, Tu Feibai rarely returned home; Yu Taoer went out daily, and Ding Jingman mostly stayed home, occasionally going out to play cards in the afternoon.
Yu Yi would download and browse some free materials during her idle time. She originally thought she would need to spend her own points on mission items and skills, but after asking Tianshen, she learned that necessary skills or items for completing the mission could be “reimbursed” within certain limits, without her bearing the cost.
That afternoon, Ding Jingman was napping, and Yu Yi felt somewhat tired. She removed her glasses, leaned against the wall by the windowsill, and closed her eyes to rest.
A car sound came from the opposite courtyard, and Yu Yi suddenly opened her eyes. Tu Feibai had returned. She put on her glasses, watching Tu Feibai stride into the house, kick open the door, and burst into Ding Jingman’s room, dragging the sleeping Ding Jingman up. They seemed to be talking, and after a while, Tu Feibai pulled something from his waist and pointed it at Ding Jingman.
Yu Yi’s heart sank; his posture suggested he was drawing a gun. Then she saw him fire.
A white thin line suddenly appeared from Tu Feibai’s hand, piercing through Ding Jingman’s body. She seemed to be struck and fell backward. The line thickened and turned red, dispersing in the air, and Ding Jingman collapsed to the ground.
Only then did she hear the not-so-obvious gunshot.
Yu Yi gritted her teeth. Why would Tu Feibai kill Ding Jingman?!
Chapter 28: Warlords of the Republic (10)
Seeing Tu Feibai shoot Ding Jingman, Yu Yi was both shocked and angry.
She couldn’t understand why Tu Feibai would kill Ding Jingman. Then she saw Ding Jingman on the ground slowly moving, seemingly trying to prop herself up, with a large pool of warm liquid quickly forming beneath her.
Ding Jingman was still alive!
