Chapter 24: A Staggering Secret—731

She looked at the man before her. He was overbearing, roguish, and at times even crude, yet he had shielded her time and time again, using his broad shoulders to hold up the sky for her.

He had pierced through all her pretenses, yet he had also offered her a choice. A choice regarding trust, and a choice regarding the future.

Conflict, hesitation, struggle—a surge of emotions churned within her. She knew that once she spoke the words, there would be no turning back. Their fates would be inextricably bound; they would either live together, or... die together.

The flame of the oil lamp flickered, stretching their shadows as they gazed at one another. Xu Feng watched her silently, offering no urging, only a quiet patience.

After a long while, Lin Xue seemed to reach a decision, and her tightly clenched fists slowly relaxed. She looked up, meeting Xu Feng’s gaze. For the first time, all cowardice and artifice faded from those clear eyes.

"All right." She took a deep breath, her voice trembling but remarkably clear. "I will tell you. I will tell you everything."

The air in the room seemed to solidify. A soft "pop" from the oil lamp drew Lin Xue’s scattered thoughts back. She looked at Xu Feng, who sat across the table with a focused expression, knowing that this confession was now unavoidable.

"I didn’t lie about my family background," Lin Xue said, her voice low yet steady. "But that is only a part of my past; it is not the true reason I am being hunted."

She paused, as if organizing her thoughts or summoning the courage to continue. "The real reason is not because of my father, but because of... myself."

Xu Feng’s eyebrows arched slightly. He did not interrupt, merely gesturing for her to continue.

"During the war, I worked at the Municipal Hospital in Harbin." Lin Xue’s gaze drifted toward the endless darkness outside the window, her expression becoming distant and complex. "Because of my medical background and credentials, the hospital... arranged for me to participate in several cooperative projects with the military."

"What kind of projects?" Xu Feng keenly grasped the keyword.

"Biological... research." When Lin Xue uttered these words, there was a tremor in her voice she hadn't even noticed.

Xu Feng’s heart sank sharply. Harbin, the military, biological research... combined, these terms brought a designation to mind—a name that existed only in his memories of the future, yet represented boundless evil and hell on earth, surfacing like a nightmare.

His expression changed instantly. The sense of ease and relaxation he had only just adopted vanished, replaced by an bone-chilling coldness.

He surged to his feet from the bench with such force that the table rocked.

"731?"

He squeezed the three digits through his teeth. His voice was not loud, but it was like three poisoned ice blades, stabbing deep into Lin Xue’s ears.

Lin Xue’s pupils contracted to the size of needlepoints in an instant. She jerked her head up, her face filled with a shock and terror even greater than when she had been surrounded by the entire village earlier.

"You... how could you possibly know... that name?!"

This designation was the Empire’s highest secret! Never mind ordinary citizens of the Dragon Nation—even many Japanese expatriates and most Kwantung Army soldiers had never heard of it! Yet this man, who appeared to be nothing more than a rustic villager, had spoken the code name without hesitation!

Who on earth was he?!

Xu Feng did not answer her question. He simply stared at her, his gaze no longer one of scrutiny or inquiry, but filled with an uncontrollable... disgust and killing intent. It was the hatred carved into his very bones, born from having witnessed mountains of corpses and the wretched state of his own people firsthand.

Lin Xue felt frozen by the murderous aura in his eyes. She opened her mouth to explain, but found her throat constricted by an invisible hand, unable to utter a single word.

Xu Feng’s chest heaved violently. He forced himself to calm down. He knew this was not the time to vent his emotions. He sat back down, his body as rigid as stone.

"Go on," he said, his voice raspy.

Completely terrified by his reaction, Lin Xue dared not hold back anything else. Like grain pouring from a bamboo tube, she let it all out.

"It... I... I participated in some peripheral projects," she said, her voice laced with tears. "The hospital I was at would periodically receive 'special' experimental subjects to collect and observe initial physical data. Those records would eventually be sent... to that place."

"I was very young then, and very... foolish. I thought it was just standard medical research meant to help the Empire overcome those terrible plagues... until one time, because of an anomaly in the data, I was ordered to accompany a senior colleague to the research facility to verify it in person."

At this point, her body began to shake uncontrollably, her beautiful eyes brimming with a terror that defied description.

"I only went that one time... just once..."

"It... it was not a research facility, it was hell! A living hell!" Her voice rose sharply. "Those people they called 'Maruta'... men, women, even children... they... they..."

She could no longer continue, burying her face in her hands and breaking into suppressed, painful sobs.

The images—the ones that would haunt her for a lifetime after just one glance—resurfaced clearly before her eyes.

Xu Feng listened in silence, his knuckles turning white as he clenched his fists. He could imagine the immense psychological trauma inflicted upon a young doctor, trained in modern medicine and dedicated to the sanctity of life, when she witnessed the inhumane human experimentation of Unit 731.

After a long while, Lin Xue’s sobbing gradually subsided. She lifted her tear-streaked face and continued.

"From that day on, I wanted to escape that place like a madwoman. I feigned illness, I feigned insanity... I tried everything. Perhaps it was because my teacher had connections within the military, or perhaps they felt someone in my unstable mental state was unsuited for core secrets. In the end, I was... 'weeded out' and transferred back to the hospital, forbidden from touching any related projects ever again."

"But they never truly let me go." She offered a bitter smile. "Occasionally, people from the facility would still come to the hospital to seek me out for 'purely academic' discussions. Because my mentor was an authority in the field of bacteriology within Japan, they needed my knowledge to solve certain technical difficulties."

"When news of the Emperor’s surrender arrived, everything fell into chaos. I knew the military would do anything to wipe out every trace of 731’s existence. Everyone who participated, everyone who knew the truth, would be silenced."

"Then why didn't you withdraw with the main force?" Xu Feng asked coldly.

"I didn't dare." Lin Xue shook her head, her face showing fear and lingering dread. "I knew too much. Going with them would have been a dead end. On the road of retreat, an 'accidental' death is the easiest way to silence someone."

"So you chose to run?"

"Yes." Lin Xue nodded. As if remembering something, she went to the bedside, fumbled beneath the pillow for a moment, and retrieved a small bundle tightly wrapped in oilcloth.

She returned to the table and carefully unwrapped it, revealing a black, hard-cover notebook.

"I took something with me when I ran." She pushed the notebook toward Xu Feng, her voice raspy with tension.

"This is... some clinical data and observational notes I recorded while participating in the project. There is no mention of 'Maruta' inside, nor of the cruel experiments. However, it records the detailed pathological reactions of various numbered subjects after being infected with different dosages and strains of bacteria... and there are also some key technical parameters for the weaponization of plague, cholera, and others that I secretly jotted down when they came to me for consultation."

She raised her head, looking at Xu Feng with a glimmer of resolve. "This notebook may not be able to nail all of them to the pillar of shame, but as long as it exists, as long as it falls into the right hands, it can prove that Unit 731 was not a legend—that the bacteriological war that lasted for years was a reality!"

"That is why they are hunting me at any cost, to retrieve this evidence."

The notebook lay quietly on the table like Pandora’s box. Xu Feng reached out, his fingertips brushing lightly over the rough cover; the cold texture seemed to carry the temperature of countless wronged souls.

He finally understood everything. He understood why this woman was so different, why she had fallen into such dire straits, and he understood the source of the lingering terror and sorrow that clung to her.

The room fell into a deathly silence once more. Lin Xue kept her head bowed, like a prisoner awaiting sentencing.