Chapter 226: Blood Splashes the Square as a Sacrifice for the Departed Souls

The square before City Hall lay under a pall of clouds. In its center, a makeshift wooden high platform rose starkly, surrounded by menacing heavy machine guns whose dark muzzles pointed at the square's heart. Soldiers stood gun in hand, forming a grim human wall.

Three hundred captured foreigners were escorted to the square's center, forced to kneel by the blows of rifle butts. Among them were well‑dressed merchants, ragged ronin, terrified women, and ashen‑faced elders. Now they all knelt on the cold stone, their faces etched with fear, despair, and numbness.

Some sobbed softly, some muttered to themselves, while many stared blankly ahead, as if already seeing their fate.

Around the square, ever more Shen City residents rushed upon hearing the news. They packed the square tight, and angry murmurs rippled through the crowd.

"Those foreign devils finally got what they deserved!"

"I think of my son killed by them..."

"Commander Lin is truly satisfying!"

A burly officer strode onto the platform, holding a metal loudspeaker. His booming voice carried to every corner of the square: "Shen City citizens!"

The square fell silent at once, all eyes fixed on the platform.

"These foreigners lurk in our Shen City, secretly colluding with foreign powers, gathering intelligence, sabotaging order, and even plotting to overthrow Shen City!" the officer's voice filled with anger, "They conspired with Yingjili and other nations to plot against Shen City! By the commander's order, to safeguard Shen City's stability and eliminate hidden threats, today we execute these three hundred suspects of espionage and endangering Shen City's security right here, to serve as a warning!"

Before his words finished, the square erupted in a thunderous roar: "Kill! Kill those foreign devils!"

"Blood for blood! Let them taste our pain!"

"Avenge our fallen compatriots!"

"Commander Lin is wise!"

The crowd's emotions ignited instantly. Many old men shed tears of hatred, having witnessed the foreigners' atrocities in Shen City. Some middle‑aged people clenched their fists, recalling relatives killed by the foreigners.

The foreigners kneeling on the ground heard these sounds; some began to tremble violently, some burst into loud sobs, while others lifted their heads, eyes flashing with vengeful light.

When the officer finished announcing the execution order, the three hundred foreigners kneeling in the square's center collapsed utterly. Shrill wails, desperate pleas, hysterical screams, and frantic Japanese curses intertwined above the square into a hair‑raising din.

"Spare me! I'm innocent!"

"My child is still waiting for me!"

"Bah! You Chinese will meet retribution!"

"His Majesty the Emperor will avenge us!"

A few young men suddenly sprang from their knees, trying to flee into the crowd, but before they could take a few steps they were slammed to the ground by waiting soldiers with rifle butts.

Some had lost all reason, lying limp on the ground, feces and urine flowing, emitting bestial howls.

Others, especially elderly merchants, simply knelt there, faces ashen, eyes hollow, as if their souls had left their bodies.

On the top floor of City Hall, Lin Yu stood silently at the window, his German‑made binoculars presenting everything on the square clearly before his eyes.

His expression was unusually calm, yet deep in his eyes surged a bone‑deep hatred. Memories of his past life rose like a tide—nation shattered, family slaughtered, rivers and mountains torn—those heart‑rending scenes intertwined with this life's foreign conspiracies, forging in his gaze a cold killing intent without a ripple.

He knew this was cruel; perhaps some among them were innocent. But dealing with these wolves, mercy would be cruelty to himself and irresponsibility toward the future.

Only the most bloody, direct method could make them understand that this land is no longer a place where they can act with impunity.

The firing squad was in position, twenty soldiers raising their rifles, dark muzzles aimed at the kneeling crowd. The machine guns set up around were loaded and ready to sweep.

The commander raised his arm high.

The clamor on the square suddenly waned, as if everyone held their breath at that moment.

"Fire!"

At the command, a volley of gunfire erupted like exploding thunder, instantly drowning out all wails and curses. Bullets poured down like rain, spraying the kneeling crowd with blood. Rows of bodies crashed down, blood quickly pooling into streams on the ground.

"Keep firing!"

A second round of volleys rang out, the machine guns joining the slaughter. Gunfire continued in rounds until no standing or struggling figure remained in the square's center. A thick stench of blood began to fill the air; three hundred corpses lay sprawled in pools of blood, their blood staining the stone slabs dark red.

Lin Yu lowered his binoculars and turned away from the window. This scene will be forever etched in Shen City's history, reminding all who covet this land: this is Lin Yu's territory; whoever dares to reach out must be ready to lose an arm.

After the gunfire ceased, the City Hall square fell into dead silence. The smell of blood drifted on the breeze, three hundred corpses lay sprawled in the square's center, blood staining the stone slabs dark red. Soldiers began to clear the scene in order, loading the bodies onto waiting trucks.

The onlookers, having recovered from the initial shock, began to murmur.

"This... this is too harsh, isn't it?" a young woman covered her mouth, her face paling.

"Harsh?" an elderly man beside her snorted, "You haven't seen what the foreigners are capable of! I once watched them burn my neighbor's family of five alive—that's truly harsh!"

"Exactly! Those foreign devils had it coming!"

"Commander Lin did the right thing; against such wolves, you have to use this method!"

"See if they dare to stir up trouble in Shen City again!"

At the same time, in the Former Anglo‑French Commercial Area, the operation directed by Yan Beichen continued. Stately Western‑style buildings had their doors sealed with notices, and proud foreigners were loaded onto trucks. On the street, the once bustling crowds of foreigners had virtually vanished; the few remaining kept their heads low and hurried past, fearful of attracting attention.

A few consuls from minor states hurried to the scene, attempting to negotiate.

"This is an outright violation of international treaties!"

"We demand the immediate release of the detained foreign citizens!"

"This will cause serious diplomatic repercussions!"

Yet, confronted with the dark muzzles of Intelligence Bureau agents and soldiers, these formerly haughty diplomats could only retreat resentfully.

On streets and alleys, the ordinary people's reaction was unusually fervent. In teahouses, taverns, and roadside stalls, everyone talked about today's major event.

"At last we've vented this spite! Those foreign devils have run roughshod over our turf for far too long!"

"Did you see? Those foreigners who usually held their noses high are now nothing but stray dogs!"

"Commander Lin truly carries out Heaven's will! He gives our Da Qian people pride!"

A teahouse owner exclaimed excitedly, "Just now a few regular foreign customers tried to come in for tea, I shut the door right away! Seeing their dejected looks is truly satisfying!"

"No kidding!" a nearby diner chimed in, "Before, those foreigners coming to eat had to bring their own Western utensils and put on airs. Now see if they dare to put on airs again!"

Lin Yu's iron‑blooded methods, though cruel, unexpectedly united the people's hearts. To ordinary Da Qian folk, today's events were the moment when decades of pent‑up humiliation were avenged. The executed foreigners and the sealed foreign firms became proof for them to hold their heads high.

Night fell, Shen City's streets remained extraordinarily lively. In the taverns, from time to time came the drunken cheers of "Commander Lin is mighty!" The citizens raised their cups in celebration, as if welcoming a new era. Yet beneath this bustling façade, everyone clearly realized: from today onward, the city's order would be rewritten, and the man who had reshaped everything with iron‑blood methods was now, with an unstoppable momentum, inscribing his will into every corner of the city.