DDT - Chapter 96

Chapter 96: Tycoon's Daughter (4)

The tavern's staircase was made of old wooden floorboards that creaked with every step. Yi Shuhan went up half a flight and, at the landing, glanced through a small window to see that the sky outside had completely darkened. One by one, the warm yellow streetlights had come on. The lamps next to the signs in front of the street-side shops were all lit. This area seemed to be some distance from the city center; the colorful lights on the signs of the luxurious restaurants and dance halls in downtown Huaping City at night were beyond comparison to the small taverns and bun shops here. The city center at night was a world of indulgence and excess, utterly prosperous. The Dragon Kingdom's high society lived in a drunken stupor amidst the neon lights and fine wine, showing no sense of tension from the Japanese army besieging the city.

Yi Shuhan despised feigning civility with those so-called high-society families. It seemed that because they had money, power, and a way to flee "calmly" with their wealth and private armies when danger arrived, they could completely disregard the nation's safety and the lives of the Dragon Kingdom's tens of millions of citizens. They could survive anywhere, even willing to pay to attach themselves to the enemy nation and become running dogs for the Japanese. The backbone passed down through the Dragon Kingdom for thousands of years had been fed to the dogs by them!

Looking at the slightly sparse street now and hearing the cheerful clamor of people drinking in the tavern hall below, Yi Shuhan felt a momentary daze. A few months ago, before the protest march, the student council president at the academy had given a resounding speech. The phrase, "The rise and fall of the nation is the responsibility of every citizen," had become deeply rooted in her mind.

Faced with a great enemy, the Dragon Kingdom's New Government retreated again and again, handing over vast swathes of territory to the Japanese. The people of several cities were likely displaced and homeless. But the New Government never cared. All newspapers were ordered not to report on matters outside the city, so most of Huaping City's citizens had no sense of crisis. They just assumed it was an ordinary change of dynasties, as had happened for thousands of years. It didn't matter to the common people who sat on the dragon throne. Only the young students, who had learned more new ideas at the academy, vaguely foresaw a future where the Dragon Kingdom would perish if the New Government continued its inaction.

Yi Shuhan thought of the mysterious Senior Sister Chi, then of the newspaper she had bought when leaving Wanxing Restaurant earlier. By the dim yellow light filtering in from the streetlamp outside the window, she unfolded the paper in her hands.

Yi Shuhan had a habit of reading the newspaper at home. Huaping City only had a few press agencies in total. The Huaping Monthly she held in her hands was from the city's largest agency, Youwei Press. But Yi Shuhan found it strange. Two years ago, the Huaping Monthly had been ordered by the New Government to cease publication for reporting false news that caused panic among the city's residents. For several months after, the New Government had even arrested many "traitors" who secretly printed the Huaping Monthly, sending them all to military tribunals on charges of treason. The Huaping Monthly had since become a taboo in the city, and Youwei Press could only produce the new Huaping Daily under the supervision of the New Government.

To Yi Shuhan, the Huaping Daily was rather bland. Trivial matters between Zhang San and Li Si in the city's alleys occupied most of the pages. The rest was filled with poems and couplets by sour scholars, scandalous stories about the competition between top courtesans at the major dance halls, or the love-hate sagas of young masters and misses from high-society families.

None of this had any substance. Compared to the previous publication, Yi Shuhan wanted to know more about the raging fires of war outside Huaping City, to understand why the New Government kept retreating, and to reclaim the picturesque lands that belonged to the Dragon Kingdom.

The young girl was full of righteous passion, but almost all the friends and relatives she knew showed disapproval when they learned of her thoughts. Her father and mother were focused on their small family. In the eyes of the Yi family patriarch, whose lineage stretched back hundreds of years, the dynastic change of the Dragon Kingdom was merely an inevitable historical trend. Whether the Dragon Kingdom fell or not, he had enough accumulated experience from his ancestors to protect the tiny Yi family, which was insignificant compared to the nation. He only needed to protect the Yi family members and carry on their lineage in a war-torn, chaotic world. The country was never within the scope of the Yi family patriarch's considerations.

Upon learning that his most beloved daughter harbored such an "ideal," which he saw as impossible, Yi Ming could not understand, nor would he yield on this matter. After the protest incident, he had told Yi Shuhan that her father could give her anything she wanted, but he would absolutely never agree to her getting involved in the tangled mess of the Dragon Kingdom's survival.

Yi Ming gave Yi Shuhan two choices: drop out of school and be confined to the Yi residence until the entire family moved away from Huaping City, or forget her unrealistic ideas of saving the country, obediently return to the academy to study, and wait for the family to move.

Yi Shuhan knew she had no standing to challenge her father and was unwilling to be locked up in the boring Yi residence. She could only pretend to be dejected and give up her "dream of a strong nation," obediently returning to the academy to study quietly while waiting for the Yi family to make its next move.

After having his daughter watched for over half a month, Yi Ming saw that Yi Shuhan was indeed no longer contacting the radicals at the academy. He gradually relaxed, withdrew his men, and stopped keeping an eye on her.

It was during this period of good behavior that Yi Shuhan discovered the strangeness of Senior Sister Chi Junluo.

Chi Junluo's disguise was flawless. No matter where she was, she could lower her presence to an extreme degree and never attract attention. Yet, Yi Shuhan had noticed this quiet senior sister.

It was as if this taciturn girl naturally held an attraction for her, and strangely, this magical attraction only worked on her. Yi Shuhan had once asked Chi Junluo's classmates about her, only to find that most of them had no impression of this Senior Sister Chi. They even thought Yi Shuhan had made someone up to trick them. It wasn't until they saw the girl in the corner of the classroom, head down and quietly taking notes, that their hostility toward Yi Shuhan dissipated. Normally, such an incident would spark speculation among young people, but before long, the classmates had once again forgotten about Chi Junluo, because she truly had no presence at all…

From that moment on, the young miss of the Yi family began secretly following Senior Sister Chi. Unknowingly, she had been doing so for several months…

Yi Shuhan unfolded the banned newspaper in her hands. The first page of the Huaping Monthly was much like the Huaping Daily, full of trivial family matters. But when she turned to the second-to-last page, a bold, large-print headline made Yi Shuhan freeze. Her eyes widened in utter shock.

Yi Shuhan didn't know what state of mind she was in as she finished the last two pages. Her hands trembled as she closed the newspaper. A strange, sharp pain emanated from the depths of her heart. The monthly issue was for the current month, and the news inside had happened just over ten days ago. Or rather, ever since the Japanese army began its large-scale invasion of the Dragon Kingdom, such horrific crimes had been visited upon the innocent people of the nation.

As she read the report, Yi Shuhan's mind grew muddled. A memory from the deepest recesses of her mind, its origin unknown, seemed to surface. It felt as if such a hellish violation had happened before. Both that distant, unknown memory and the clearly printed photographs and the reporter's eyewitness account in this article sent a chill down the young girl's spine.

This rage and pain, intertwined with her very soul, along with a sense of powerlessness, gripped Yi Shuhan's heart. She had no time to stand on this dark staircase landing and ponder this inexplicable memory. Right now, she wanted to see Senior Sister Chi immediately and ask her what this report was all about!

Yi Shuhan clenched the newspaper, her knuckles turning white. She took a deep breath and headed upstairs.

The second floor of the tavern seemed to be empty. It was pitch-black and completely silent. Yi Shuhan found it strange. She had clearly seen Senior Sister Chi go up to the second floor. This tavern had three floors, but she could only find the stairs to the second. Perhaps the stairs to the third floor were at the end of the corridor?

On both sides of the dark corridor were private rooms with their doors wide open, revealing dark interiors. It was so quiet she could only hear the sound of her own breathing.

Previously, focused solely on following Senior Sister Chi, Yi Shuhan hadn't felt afraid climbing the dark stairs. But she had just read that report. Although the black-and-white photos in the newspaper lacked the color of blood, the severed limbs were just as terrifying. Moreover, Yi Shuhan was just a young lady who had been pampered and raised in a wealthy family. When had she ever seen such a scene?

Now, the corridor was so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. The gaping black rooms on either side looked like monsters with their mouths wide open, as if they could swallow her whole in the next moment.

Darkness lay both before and behind her. Yi Shuhan was caught in a dilemma.

Just as she was about to summon her courage and walk forward, she suddenly froze, her entire body stiffening as she stopped dead in her tracks.

A cold, metallic object had been silently pressed against the back of her head. Yi Shuhan's eyes shot open in the darkness. Her body tensed, but it felt as if all her strength had vanished, and she couldn't move a single step.

Her family was a centuries-old financial powerhouse, not lacking in firearms. She had once played with her father's gun. The cold, heavy body of the gun had left a deep impression on her. It might not be the same model, but that no longer mattered. Because at this moment, this thing that could take her life at any second was pressed mercilessly against the back of her head.

Hit by one shock after another, Yi Shuhan's heart was now racing. Her head was filled with the roaring sound of her blood rushing wildly. She saw flashes of black and white before her eyes. If this continued, she felt she might embarrassingly faint right here.

Only a few seconds had passed, but to Yi Shuhan, it felt like centuries. Finally, a somewhat familiar but bone-chillingly cold female voice came from behind her. "Don't move."

Yi Shuhan's muddled brain took two or three seconds to process it. That was Senior Sister Chi's voice!

Before she could feel any sense of relief, the person behind her grabbed her by the collar and pulled her into a private room. Yi Shuhan didn't react at all; she only felt her heart, which had been suspended high in the air, plummet into her stomach. Her muscles went slack, her hands and feet turned to jelly, and she could no longer hold the newspaper she had been clutching. It fell to the floor with a soft rustle.

The slightly taller girl behind her pulled her in and simultaneously kicked the door shut. Chi Junluo executed this series of actions coolly, but she hadn't expected the heroine to suddenly fall into her arms.

Chi: ???

Although she didn't understand what was wrong with Yi Shuhan, the act had to be completed.

Chi Junluo's voice was cold, and to make it more realistic, she added a hint of hostility, which was more than enough to intimidate a young girl who had yet to see the world.

In the darkness, Chi Junluo pinned the person in her arms against the wall. She pressed the weapon in her right hand against the young girl's temple while her left hand patted her down from top to bottom. After confirming that this person following her posed no "threat," Chi Junluo tilted her head slightly and pulled a small flashlight from her pocket with her left hand, flicking it on with a click.

Looking at the young miss of the wealthy family, who was right in front of her with tears welling in her eyes and a wronged expression on her face, Chi Junluo froze.

Did she take it too far????

The Heavenly Dao watched all this from the sea of consciousness, feeling its whole body turn cold on this warm winter night, tears streaming down its face… The malice in this world was so deep!!!! Could things get any better! Its poor heroine!!!

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