Chapter 3

"In the midst of cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there."

"In the house on Tai'anhou Alley in the Fourth District of Beiping, Shen Jian finished speaking these words and took a deep drag on his cigarette. The house where the Chen family lived was known within the organization as 'Ghost House,' and privately, a few people, using Bai Liusu's code name, preferred to call it 'Phoenix House.' A year ago, they killed several enemies there, and Bai Liusu took the opportunity to successfully pretend to be a ghost, thereby turning 'Ghost House' into a base of operations, effectively erasing all traces of outsiders.

"But today—

"Bai Liusu had the chance to kill Ouyang Yun. The lingering fragrance in his room was not something ordinary; it was a sedative known as 'One Night Dream' in the underworld.

"She did not do it, however. Instead, she dressed up as a ghost and doused him with red ink to wake him up, hoping to scare him away. Unexpectedly, she encountered a freak, who not only had an unusually large胆量 but also had impressive skills. As a result, the ghost was the one who got scared and ran away—

"Bai Liusu did not want to kill, but this kindness was terrifying and had serious consequences. Imagine if the person had not been someone like Ouyang Yun, with his thick skin; they would likely have been scared out of their wits, and someone with a heart condition might have died on the spot!

"Neither party knew about the 'One Night Dream.' Ouyang Yun had no idea he had been drugged; Bai Liusu thought the 'One Night Fragrance' had no effect on him. Normally, someone who had been drugged, even if they were startled awake, would be weak and unable to exert themselves for the duration of the incense. This was why she felt confident enough to dress up as a ghost. She did not know that Ouyang Yun's unusual constitution, which had been modified with no less than two kilograms of pills during his special training, gave him a good immunity to sedatives. In that situation, even without the red ink, he would have woken up 'slowly.'

"'I was wrong,' she said timidly. 'What should we do now?'

"Shen Jian gave a cold laugh, made a gesture of cutting his throat with his left hand, and said, 'Start the operation at one o'clock!'

"Phoenix House was their treasure trove, hiding too many secrets. It could not afford the slightest mistake!

"Ouyang Yun, having scared away the female ghost, became intensely interested in the room opposite. As a special forces soldier, he had a unique ability to analyze situations and intelligence. The room opposite was clearly the ghost's lair. She seemed to only want to scare him away, so what secrets did it hold?

"After eating half a compressed biscuit, he sneaked into the opposite room. After a thorough search, he discovered secrets under the bed and in the wardrobe. There was another bed under the main bed, set up comfortably, with a lingering scent of a woman, indicating that this was the ghost's true lair. Below the wardrobe was a cellar containing four burlap bags and a wooden box.

"Opening the burlap bags, Ouyang Yun was immediately dazzled by the golden glow inside and exclaimed, 'My God!'

"The four burlap bags contained two bags full of gold, each weighing no less than a hundred pounds; the other two bags contained silver ingots, bronze artifacts, and one-third jewelry and gems; the wooden box was filled with paintings and porcelain.

"How much would this be worth?! Seeing so much gold and silver, as well as antiques and paintings for the first time, Ouyang Yun felt as if he were walking on air, as if he had found a gold ingot in a dream, no, as if he had discovered Alibaba's treasure trove!

"Coming to his senses, Ouyang Yun pinched his thigh hard, yelped in pain, and confirmed it was not a dream. He muttered, 'Damn, I finally hit the jackpot! No, the grand prize!'

"To be honest, Ouyang Yun was also a lottery enthusiast. Since he understood the importance of money, he had bought no less than ten thousand lottery tickets, always dreaming of becoming rich overnight and living an ideal life. He never imagined that a dream unfulfilled in the 21st century would come true in the 20th century, though the price of this lottery ticket was quite high—according to internal information, the cost of a single time travel was 320 million, but since it was public money, it seemed like a free lottery ticket.

"Confronted with this grand prize from the sky, the inferiority in his nature was fully exposed. He danced around, saying, 'Damn, my luck has finally turned, hahaha!'

"Sports cars, apartments, mistresses, the most advanced laptops—these symbols of decadence and enjoyment sprang up in his mind like bamboo shoots after the rain—

"Then, the cheongsam hanging in front of the bed caught his eye, pulling him back from his endless fantasies. In reality, Ouyang Yun was actually a decent young man; otherwise, he would not have had the opportunity to be here—was the special training group open to just anyone? What was the elimination rate of one in ten thousand? Gradually, human nature began to suppress the brilliance of the gold and silver—'Damn! Am I getting too cocky? No matter what, I'm still a soldier. That saying goes: poverty cannot change a man's integrity, and wealth cannot corrupt him. How can I be so base?' This thought was noble, though somewhat hypocritical.

"Maybe I should donate a million or two and build two Hope Schools, called 'Ouyang Yun Hope Schools,' hahaha!" This thought was very vain, but it was a real vanity.

"..."

"The brilliance of the gold and silver was still very powerful, opening a window in his mind. Thus, the A-Q thoughts that used to relax him after training sprang up, forming a very colorful picture.

"Finally, a huge computer was placed in front of him, and he threw himself into it, playing CS and Warcraft with great enthusiasm—once, Ouyang Yun had indeed thought that after he was discharged, he would earn a lot of money, buy the best computer, install the widest broadband, and then play CS and Warcraft for a whole year!

"Although this thought was decadent, it was absolutely real. If it weren't for this damn time travel, he might have lived like that for a year a few years later—

"After a long time, the blood slowly cooled, and the young man gradually understood his true situation. The money was indeed a lot, but the computer was impossible to buy. He restored everything in the room to its original state, turned off the lights, lay down in the ghost's lair, and thought about the nunchucks that made him laugh and cry.

"Without these nunchucks, he would definitely not have had the chance to win this grand prize—

"He had seen the 'spatial coordinates' device, a black stick with a gap in the middle. When used, it would become completely transparent by sliding it up and down.

"According to the rumors, the purpose of this time travel experiment was to accurately measure the spatial and temporal scale, in simpler terms, to determine how much energy the time travel mechanism needed to travel through time. Before him, the experiment had been conducted seven times, one of which failed directly, and the other six, according to official statements, failed because the target person could not be recovered.

"But was this the truth? That strange isolation zone, once uninhabited, began to see people coming and going after the experiment started. Moreover, at the preparation meeting the day before his time travel, those old men looked at him with strange eyes, and Old Chen had a bizarre conversation with him:

"'Ouyang Yun!'

"'Here!'

"'I heard your idol is Li Xiangyang?'

"'Yes!'

"'Very good!'

"Then, Old Chen said something incomprehensible: 'Brat, if I were forty years younger, this good thing wouldn't be your turn!'

"Was time travel a good thing? Thinking of Zhang Jiahui, he shuddered, feeling lucky.

"'Ouyang, have you heard the story of a butterfly and a hurricane?... Don't be afraid to change history. If you can appear in the past, history has already been changed. Do you understand what I mean?' This was said by Huang Huaming, an old man and the chief designer of the time travel project, known for his shocking statements.

"This made him feel a bit silly. He had read a few time travel novels, and the romantic encounters of Xiang Shaolong in 'Seeking the Qin' had given him romantic dreams for half a year. Changing history seemed to be a taboo for time travelers, but this old man?

"Huang Huaming laughed. He liked this young soldier, not only for his youth and martial skills but also for his solid cultural foundation in both arts and sciences. Moreover, he had heard that he was a bit of a patriot! If such a young man appeared in China in the 1920s and 1930s, the world's history would change. However, it was a pity that that history had already passed. Even if he could really return to the 1920s and 1930s in China, the future of that world would only diverge into a parallel timeline, not reflecting in the modern world. It was like adding a drop of water to a vast ocean; no matter how insignificant the drop, as long as it existed, the ocean would no longer be the same—this was the theory of parallel timelines. He now hoped that the parallel China would have a brighter future, which was a kind of A-Q spirit.

"A very noble A-Q spirit.

"These events that happened a few days ago were already decades-old memories for Ouyang Yun.

"He sighed, thinking: Perhaps the spatial and temporal scale has already been measured, otherwise, the old men's words would not make sense. It seems they sent me here to fight the Japanese. The two old men really have high hopes for me! He smiled bitterly, but his eyes gradually became sharp. The September 18th Incident, the July 7th Incident, the Nanjing Massacre... too many historical events, too much blood debt, too much heavy pressure. As a soldier whose mission was to protect the country, since he had the luck to come to this era, there was no reason to stand idly by! Now, he finally understood the meaning of Old Chen's words—this was indeed a 'good thing.' His contemporaries could only kill the 'Japanese devils' in games, but he could face them with real guns and bullets. Even if he sacrificed himself, it would be worth it!

"Suddenly, there was a 'bang bang' knocking on the door, interrupting his thoughts.

"'Big Brother Ouyang! Open the door!' Chen Jiayao's voice.

"He did not move, but his right ear perked up—

"'Not here?' a strange male voice.

"'The door is locked from the inside.'

"'Is he sleeping?'

"The knocking continued for a while, and the male voice said, 'What a pity, I wanted to spar with him!'

"'All you think about is fighting!' Chen Jiayao scolded, sounding very affectionate.

"The male voice chuckled, sounding very honest. He was probably her boyfriend, and a bit of a troublemaker.

"Ouyang Yun's right ear twitched. After they left, he adjusted his breathing and entered a meditative state. Since he was here, he had to make the best of it. No matter how he thought about it, it was futile. This world was too unfamiliar to him, and he did not know what the old men expected of him—could he change the country with his own strength? Too unrealistic! Perhaps, surviving was the most practical thing—this was his only thought now.

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