Chapter Twelve Complete: Hirohito Perishes

Previously, the battalion tasked with guarding the Imperial Palace had escorted a certain group away. Now, outside the palace, only a handful of military police stood watch at the entrances. Li Wensheng observed for quite some time, but saw no one emerge.

“Could I have guessed wrong?” he muttered inwardly. But just as the thought crossed his mind, three vehicles rolled out from the battalion encampment stationed outside the palace.

At this, Li Wensheng’s face lit up with joy, and he whispered under his breath, “Damn, I really nailed it.”

The three vehicles soon pulled up to an entrance of the palace. Seeing this, Li Wensheng quickly put away his binoculars and dashed down the mountain.

At the base was a stretch of grass and young trees. Had the battalion still been present, Li Wensheng would never have dared to charge out—he’d be spotted immediately. But now, with so few military police outside the palace, all their attention was on the vehicles, and none noticed Li Wensheng.

He sprinted across the grassy terrain, covering nearly a thousand meters. As he ran, five men in civilian clothes exited the palace. At that moment, someone in the military police finally spotted him.

“There’s an intruder!” the man shouted in terror.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Li Wensheng stopped in his tracks. He raised both hands, and in the next instant, an AWM sniper rifle appeared in his grasp.

Just as the guards rushed forward to shield one of the men, a gunshot rang out—bang!—and the terrified Emperor Shōwa took a bullet to the forehead.

With a dull thud, the Emperor fell to the ground, eyes wide open in death.

For a moment, everyone around was stunned. Then, with a furious roar, they chased after Li Wensheng.

Having fired at the man whose position among the five clearly marked him as Hirohito, Li Wensheng didn’t bother to check his handiwork. He simply packed away his rifle and turned to flee.

That year, Li Wensheng had arrived to carry out a system mission, and had been rewarded several times with Master Gunslinger proficiency. The system had not specified levels for these skills, but with the stack of Gunslinger proficiencies, Li Wensheng felt he was now a veritable master.

He had tested himself before—drawing a sniper rifle mid-run, taking aim in a single glance, firing without adjustment, and striking a target a thousand meters away dead on. He trusted his marksmanship implicitly, so he had no need to look back.

Soon, Li Wensheng entered the forest and abruptly halted. He crouched down, retrieved a shovel from the system space, and quickly dug a hole.

Once the pit was ready, he placed a landmine inside, covered it swiftly, and resumed his flight.

After running another five hundred meters, about thirty furious military policemen arrived at the site. The death of Hirohito had ignited a blaze of rage in them; all they saw was the pursuit, paying no heed to the ground beneath their feet.

The dense trees obscured their vision, so none had seen Li Wensheng crouching to bury the mine, nor did they suspect he’d laid a trap.

The first man missed the mine, the second too… but the fifth triggered it!

Li Wensheng’s mine was not a delayed detonation type—it exploded instantly upon being stepped on.

With a thunderous boom, the unlucky soldier was blown to pieces, and those nearby were hurled aside by the blast.

Cries of pain and horror erupted—“Ah!” “Help me, Ryosuke!”—while the rest of the soldiers were momentarily stunned.

Fujiwara Ohta, leading the pursuit, glanced at the mangled bodies on the ground, then looked ahead and shouted angrily, “Keep chasing!”

With that, he sped forward, and the others hastened after him.

Those left behind gazed with despair in their eyes. They knew, with the wounds they bore, without rescue they were doomed.

Hearing the explosion behind him, a faint smile flickered at the corner of Li Wensheng’s eye, and he quickened his pace.

With the trees blocking sight lines, Fujiwara Ohta lost track of Li Wensheng, who looped through the woods, causing his pursuers to head off in the wrong direction.

Soon, Li Wensheng reached the edge of the forest, removed his scarf, and strode toward the nearby town.

Just as he entered the town, the group who had acted as bait immediately turned and marched at speed toward the palace.

The hidden spies from various factions were momentarily puzzled, then realized this was a decoy—the real Hirohito would secretly head to Tokyo University.

But the enemy’s plan had been seen through, Hirohito was dead, and so the soldiers were now rushing back.

Wang Tianfeng, after a brief pause, burst out laughing in a low voice, “Ha ha!”

Zheng Yaoxian and Xu Baichuan, too, were wild with joy.

Though they had not seen the man, nor had any information about him, and Dai Yunong’s task had made no progress, Hirohito’s demise was a momentous triumph for any Chinese.

After his mirth, Wang Tianfeng whispered, “Hirohito is definitely done for, though whether he’s dead I can’t say. Either way, the enemy will go mad—we should lay low.”

“Director Chen, is there a safe house in Yamanashi Prefecture?” he asked.

“There is!” Chen Zhipeng replied quickly.

“Good, let’s head there immediately. We can’t stay in Tokyo.”

As Wang Tianfeng’s group headed for Yamanashi, Li Wensheng had already arrived at Tokyo Station.

Hirohito was dead, but Fumimaro Konoe dared not announce it immediately.

Unprepared, a hasty public statement would only cause panic, so he ordered nationwide heightened security.

Heightened security meant stricter inspections, but travel remained possible. Using the identity of Fujiwara Yasumitsu, Li Wensheng easily boarded a train bound for Chiba Prefecture.

On the train, Li Wensheng opened the system interface.

Host: Li Wensheng

Age: 21

Skills: Master Gunslinger, Master Demolitionist, Fluent Japanese, etc.

Inventory: AWM sniper rifle, 80mm mortar, etc.

Mission: Hell-level task—assassinate Hirohito (completed), ready to submit.

Li Wensheng mentally clicked on “submit,” and immediately his face twisted in agony.

Neck, forehead, arms—his veins bulged, his features contorted like a sign of impending transformation, frightening those around him.

Just as the passengers were about to call for the conductor, Li Wensheng suddenly recovered.

Noticing their wary gazes, he quickly smiled, “Sorry, it’s just an old ailment—I’m fine now.”

Seeing that he was indeed alright, the others abandoned the idea of alerting the staff.

Li Wensheng breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t expected the reward for the hell-level mission to be a boost in physical attributes.

The enhancement brought intense pain throughout his body—had it lasted any longer, he would have cried out.

The reward was simple—a dramatic improvement in physical condition.

As to how much, Li Wensheng wasn’t sure, but his eyesight was noticeably sharper, his hearing and sense of smell were heightened. He could now detect the sour stench, sweat, and soap lingering on those nearby.

As for strength, he felt his body brimming with power—he could punch a bull to death.

Of course, Li Wensheng recognized this as an illusion brought on by the surge in strength.

“Whew, worth it—the last weakness has finally been patched,” he murmured, feeling the explosive power in his fists, a slight smile on his lips.

Previously, his mediocre skills forced him to use a firearm for close-range assassinations, rather than a knife, for fear his lack of agility might botch things.

This had made even simple missions unnecessarily complicated.

Now, with his physical abilities vastly improved, Li Wensheng need no longer worry.

Once in Chiba Prefecture, he went straight to Narita Airport and purchased the soonest ticket available—a flight to Hong Kong in four days.

With Hirohito dead, Japan was dangerous, and he couldn’t return to Shanghai either. After bombing the Yamanashi Prefecture household registry office, he hadn’t gone back to clarify matters, which in the Revival Society amounted to betrayal.