Chapter 48 Vow to Avenge This!

Peng Liang walked briskly toward the exit of the television station.

His expression was rather grim; he had not expected that this money would be so difficult to earn.

He was a professional fraud-buster.

A few days ago, someone had approached him with an extremely tempting financial offer, hiring him to act as an audience member in a television program and take the opportunity to smear a veteran of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, ideally destroying the old hero's reputation completely.

Tempted by the money, he had agreed.

He had then spent the past few days studying Ye Yuan so that he could publicly challenge and expose Ye Yuan on today's show, never imagining that he would end up making a complete clown of himself and fleeing the scene in disgrace.

"It seems I will have to find another way to bring this old man down..."

Peng Liang muttered with a dark expression.

However.

Just as he stepped out of the television building, several soldiers blocked his path.

Two soldiers looked Peng Liang up and down repeatedly.

Peng Liang felt a prickle of panic, unsure of what these young soldiers intended to do.

"The commanding officer must have meant him."

One of the young soldiers remarked.

The other nodded, "Black leather jacket, black trousers, wearing glasses. There's no mistake."

Peng Liang's heart skipped a beat, and he tried to retreat back into the television station, only to be immediately pinned by the two young soldiers.

"What are you doing! On what grounds are you arresting me!"

Peng Liang struggled, his face contorted with anger, "What right do you have to do this!"

"You are suspected of defaming a hero of the War of Resistance, and you need to come with us to assist with the investigation."

With that, the two soldiers escorted Peng Liang away toward the distant police station.

Inside the broadcasting studio.

Everyone looked at Ye Yuan with deep emotion.

Throughout history, there has never been any shortage of generals capable of leading troops into battle.

However, to keep the names of every single subordinate soldier engraved in one's heart—even remembering their faces and native places—was truly extraordinary.

The War of Resistance had lasted fourteen years.

Countless passionate martyrs had left their bones in foreign soil, many of them perishing silently, with very few ever remembered by name.

Yet Ye Yuan had always kept those people in his memory.

Death is not the moment life ceases, but the moment one is forgotten by everyone.

Sun Ting returned to the side of the sofa, still unable to calm her churning emotions.

Yet the broadcast was still live, and Sun Ting could only force a strained smile. "Grandpa Ye... I see there are other things in this notebook besides those. What are those?"

"These... are the towering crimes committed by the Japanese devils in our country!"

As Ye Yuan spoke these words, his entire body trembled slightly.

Sun Ting started, picking up one of the sheets of paper.

It bore only a single sentence.

[The Pingdingshan Massacre, approximately 3,000 deaths, sworn revenge!]

The handwriting on this paper matched that in the notebook, also originating from Ye Yuan's hand.

Sun Ting had heard of this incident.

She had even been taken by Sun Weiguo specifically to visit the Pingdingshan ruins.

With both hands trembling, Sun Ting held the slip of paper and softly read the words aloud.

Then, Sun Ting picked up the second slip of paper.

[The Panyayu Massacre, approximately 1,200 deaths, sworn revenge!]

Sun Ting's eyes flickered.

The cold, hard numbers on the paper represented vibrant, living souls.

Those people had originally lived ordinary, happy lives, only to become ghosts under gunfire due to the brutality of the invaders.

Having read the content of the second slip, Sun Ting felt almost too terrified to continue looking further.

Down in the audience, Cong Gui clenched his fists tightly.

As a soldier,

he had always maintained a single conviction.

Defend the home and the country.

Listening to Sun Ting, he felt his blood boil with rage, bitterly regretting that he had not been born in that era to slaughter the Japanese invaders alongside Ye Yuan.

With a sense of numbness, Sun Ting picked up the third slip of paper, then the fourth...

[The Jinan Incident, approximately 6,100 military personnel and civilians killed, about 1,700 wounded, sworn revenge!]

[The Zhenjiang Massacre, death toll exceeding 10,000, sworn revenge!]

[The Changjiao Massacre, death toll exceeding 30,000, sworn revenge!]

[The Nanjing Massacre, death toll exceeding 300,000! Sworn revenge!]

[......]

Sun Ting's tears flowed without restraint.

By this point, she was sobbing uncontrollably.

In her hands, every single slip of paper weighed heavier than Mount Tai.

Casualties are inevitable in war.

However...

The deaths recorded on these slips of paper were all unarmed civilians!

And these were merely the ones Ye Yuan knew of and had recorded; the unrecorded ones were undoubtedly far more numerous!

Down in the audience, Ye Yan'an was also weeping bitterly.

Her grandfather bore far too much—burdens that ordinary people could never possibly comprehend!

In the live chat room.

The speed of the scrolling text had slowed down considerably, but every single comment was chilling to the bone!

"My family is from Harbin. Countless people died because of the bacterial research by Unit 731!"

"Have you ever heard of the Changde germ warfare? The direct death toll exceeded ten thousand, and the number of deaths caused by the resulting epidemic is simply immeasurable!"

"The village next to mine originally had a population of over ten thousand, but in less than seven days, it became a ghost village!"

"The Chongqing bombings resulted in at least one hundred thousand casualties! Those were ordinary citizens! What did they do wrong?!"

"This is the damn 'Three Alls' policy of the invaders; they are not even worthy of being called human!"

Sun Ting raised her head, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes. "So... did you get your revenge?"

Ye Yuan took a deep breath. "What is recorded in the notebook represents the Japanese soldiers my brothers and I killed on the soil of the Northeast, totaling over twenty thousand."

"Later, my unit was broken up, and I re-formed an independent regiment. The number of Japanese soldiers killed after that was never officially tallied, but taking all the battles large and small together, the direct and indirect total should reach about one hundred and fifty thousand."

Seventeen thousand in total.

A drop in the bucket compared to the atrocities the invaders committed across the land of Longguo!

Yet this number also made many people realize something else.

Ye Yuan must have been among the very earliest veterans of the War of Resistance.

He must have fought the invaders continuously ever since; otherwise, such a figure would have been utterly impossible to achieve!

"Well killed!!"

A young man in the audience wiped away his tears, stood up with intense emotion, roared out loud, and began to applaud.

Others stood up and joined in the applause, their eyes filled with boundless reverence.

The applause went on and on, refusing to fade.

A look of quiet gratification crossed Ye Yuan's face.

The fighting spirit of the younger generations had not been lost.

The resolve of the younger generations had not dissipated.

Witnessing such a scene made him feel that the blood shed, the tears wept, and the lives lost back then had all been truly worthwhile.

"Alright, young men and young women."

Ye Yuan also stood up and gently said, "Those matters have all passed into history. Hatred will only blind your eyes and rob you of proper judgment. What you must do is ensure that such tragedies are never allowed to happen again."

"I no longer have the strength to shoulder a rifle and return to the battlefield."

"The future of Longguo rests in your hands."