Chapter Summaries

Xu Anbang reunited with Yue Qinhu, who had dementia but still remembered Yue Xiaofei, and brought the Xu Family to pay their respects. The reunion was interrupted when Lin Tiejun reported that Japanese invaders had arrived.

• Xu Anbang arrived at the sanatorium with members of the Xu Family to visit Yue Qinhu.
• Xu Anbang found Yue Qinhu confused in his wheelchair, and Yue Qinhu failed to recognize him.
• Yue Qinhu accepted candy from Xu Anbang and remembered to save some for Xiaofei.
• Xu Anbang ordered the Xu Family to kneel and greet Yue Qinhu as their benefactor.
• Lin Tiejun rushed into the courtyard and told Xu Anbang that Japanese invaders had arrived.

After Ito Yūgorō headed to Modu to accuse Xiaofei of kidnapping and abusing his great-grandson, the news awakened Yue Qinhu’s memories of the Jiangcheng Campaign and his hatred of Ito. Yue Qinhu recognized Xu Anbang and Lin Tiejun, learned that Ito was targeting his grandson, and ordered his battle uniform so he could confront him.

• Lin Tiejun told Xu Anbang that Ito Yūgorō was going to Modu with reporters to accuse Xiaofei and turn international opinion against him.
• Yue Qinhu heard Ito’s name, regained his memories, stood from his wheelchair, and relived commanding his regiment during the Jiangcheng Campaign.
• Lin Tiejun identified Ito Yūgorō as the Japanese general whose left eye Yue Qinhu had stabbed in Jiangcheng.
• Yue Qinhu recognized Xu Anbang and Lin Tiejun, then learned that Ito was seeking revenge after Xiaofei crippled Ito Makoto.
• Yue Qinhu ordered Lin Tiejun to bring his battle robe and declared that Ito would not leave alive.

Yue Qinhu revealed the patch-covered uniform and battle flag he had preserved in memory of the Tiger Regiment's fallen soldiers. After learning that Ito had returned to Modu, he decided to confront him, and Xu Anbang ordered the guard company to assemble at combat readiness.

• Yue Qinhu ordered Lin Tiejun to open the suitcases containing his old uniform and the Tiger Regiment's battle flag.
• Lin Tiejun explained that Yue Qinhu had sewn scraps of clothing from fallen comrades onto his uniform after the Defense of Jiangcheng, where only seven of the regiment's 1,326 men survived.
• Yue Qinhu put on the patchwork uniform and unfurled the flag, while Lin Tiejun reported its 709 bullet holes and said none had come from behind.
• Yue Qinhu announced that Ito had returned to Modu and ordered Lin Tiejun to take him there to confront him.
• Xu Anbang ordered the guard company to assemble at level-one combat readiness and escort Yue Qinhu to Modu.

Yue Xiaofei watched Ito Yūgorō’s allies turn public opinion against him and learned that Ito planned to stage a self-immolation using napalm to make himself a martyr. Yue Xiaofei resolved to thwart the plan and ordered Xu Wenqiang to collect the contents of public toilets’ septic tanks.

• Sister Chrysanthemum and Professor Sheep publicly condemned Yue Xiaofei while promoting Ito Yūgorō as a dying, wronged elder.
• Han Duoduo found records showing that the influencers had received large payments from the Eastern Japan Cultural Exchange Foundation.
• Yue Xiaofei told Han Duoduo to hold off on exposing the payments and vowed to destroy the opposing side’s public image.
• Han Duoduo discovered the Ito Family had bought ingredients for napalm, and Yue Xiaofei deduced that Ito Yūgorō planned to set himself on fire to become a martyr.
• Yue Xiaofei called Xu Wenqiang and ordered him to gather the contents of every public toilet septic tank in Modu.

Key plot points

• Yue Xiaofei orders Xu Wenqiang to prepare several truckloads of fermented human and animal waste as a “welcome gift” for General Ito. He intends to use it to smother Ito’s planned ritual self-immolation with napalm—and humiliate him publicly.
• Yue explains the plan to Han Duoduo, who laughs at its cruelty and agrees to accompany him to the Memorial Hall.
• At Modu International Airport, Ito arrives in a wheelchair, apparently frail and near death. He tells reporters he is merely a 103-year-old man who wants to see his injured great-grandson, and says he would even kneel to ease tensions and save the young man.
• Ito’s performance wins widespread sympathy. Foreign media and online commenters portray the Dragon Kingdom as cruel, and public opinion swings in his favor.
• Once inside his limousine and out of public view, Ito abruptly sheds the frail persona: he removes his IV, drinks sake, insults the crowd, and boasts that his sob story has achieved its purpose.

Character developments and interactions

• Yue Xiaofei reveals himself as a calculating, irreverent strategist, planning to counter Ito’s theatrical self-immolation with an equally theatrical humiliation.
• Han Duoduo is amused by Yue’s scheme and shares his contempt for Ito’s manipulation.
• Xu Wenqiang follows Yue’s bizarre instructions without hesitation, demonstrating his loyalty and obedience.
• Ito Yūgorō is exposed as a practiced actor: in public he plays a grieving, humble elder; in private he is ruthless, smug, and manipulative. His staged vulnerability is designed to sway reporters and viewers.
• Ito and the media interact through a carefully staged spectacle: his apparent weakness and conciliatory words prompt journalists and audiences to condemn the host country before they see his real character.

Significant themes

• Media manipulation and public opinion: A convincing performance can reshape international perceptions, at least temporarily.
• Appearance versus reality: Ito’s public image as a dying, peace-seeking elder sharply contradicts his private behavior.
• Humiliation as counter-strategy: Yue plans to turn Ito’s expected martyrdom into a grotesque public embarrassment.
• Propaganda and historical grievance: Ito invokes wartime scars and national reconciliation to make his personal appeal more persuasive.

Chapter summary

• Ito Yūgorō manipulates public opinion from his vehicle, pleased as online commentators and social-media users turn against Yue Xiaofei and demand an apology. He plans to exploit the cameras at the memorial by staging himself as a victim—even imagining his own death as a way to damage Dragon Kingdom’s reputation.
• A hostile crowd gathers outside the memorial in Modu. Protesters, paid agitators, livestreamers, and foreign “human rights observers” shout slogans, try to force their way inside, and throw rotten food at the entrance and the soldiers guarding it. The soldiers endure the abuse without retaliating.
• Xu Wenqiang warns Yue of pressure from officials. Calls from city, foreign-affairs, and national authorities urge Yue to cancel the livestream or kneeling and release Ito, promising compensation in return.
• Yue refuses to yield. He invokes the slaughter of the city and the sacrifice of its defenders, declaring that he will not let political pressure dishonor the dead. He vows that Ito family members responsible for bloodshed will kneel before him and brands anyone who obstructs him a traitor.
• Ito arrives at the memorial in a Japanese-flagged limousine, carried out in a wheelchair and performing frailty and gratitude for the crowd’s cameras.
• Yue prepares a counter-stunt. With Xu’s help, he has positioned five sewage trucks and a large supply of “special sauce” around the square. Wearing his Asura Mask, Yue orders the doors opened and goes out to confront Ito.

Character developments and interactions

• Yue Xiaofei demonstrates uncompromising resolve, placing historical memory and justice above political convenience. His anger is directed both at Ito and at anyone willing to sacrifice principle for international approval. He coordinates with Xu and turns Ito’s media spectacle into an opportunity for retaliation.
• Xu Wenqiang is initially frightened by the pressure from powerful authorities, but Yue’s stance settles his decision. He rejects the demands and carries out Yue’s plan, ending the scene with a grimly amused confidence.
• Ito Yūgorō is revealed as a cynical provocateur: he engineers public sympathy, treats the protests as a weapon, and intends to use a staged appearance—or even his own death—to undermine Dragon Kingdom.
• Han Duoduo alerts Yue that the convoy has arrived, helping move the confrontation into its next phase.

Significant themes

• Historical memory and national dignity: Yue refuses to let the memorial’s victims be forgotten or used as bargaining chips.
• Propaganda and spectacle: Ito and Yue both recognize the power of cameras and public narratives, though they intend to use them for opposite ends.
• Political pressure versus personal conviction: Officials prioritize international opinion and compromise; Yue insists that justice must not be traded away.
• Public manipulation: The crowd’s apparent outrage is shown to be fueled by paid actors, influencers, and coordinated messaging.

Key plot points and events

• Ito Yūgorō arrives at the War of Resistance Memorial Hall in a wheelchair, accompanied by doctors and a young woman. Reporters, livestreamers, and organized supporters turn his arrival into a public spectacle.
• Influencer Sister Chrysanthemum and self-proclaimed scholar Professor Sheep portray Ito as a frail, misunderstood “international friend” and condemn the masked man for supposedly mistreating him.
• Ito removes his oxygen tube and delivers a calculated speech: he claims his wartime invasion was meant to bring “shared prosperity” and help Asia, while describing civilian deaths as unavoidable wartime “misunderstandings.”
• He suggests he will atone for the past by sacrificing himself for his great-grandson. Sister Chrysanthemum and Professor Sheep seize on this, preparing to kneel and apologize to him on behalf of the Dragon Kingdom.
• Before they can touch the ground, the memorial hall’s doors burst open. Yue Xiaofei, wearing an Asura mask, appears and knocks both of them away, stopping the staged humiliation.
• Yue condemns them for considering a bow to Ito, whom he identifies as a Class-A war criminal, at a memorial honoring hundreds of thousands of the dead.

Character developments

• Ito Yūgorō presents himself as weak and remorseful, but his private thoughts reveal that he is manipulating the crowd and relishes the prospect of national humiliation.
• Sister Chrysanthemum and Professor Sheep display performative outrage and patriotic self-abasement, apparently serving Ito’s propaganda campaign. Their confidence collapses when Yue intervenes.
• Yue Xiaofei emerges as an uncompromising defender of the memorial and the fallen. He shifts the scene from Ito’s publicity spectacle to a forceful rebuke of those willing to kneel to him.

Significant themes

• Historical memory versus revisionism: Ito recasts invasion as benevolent assistance and atrocities as accidents.
• Propaganda and public manipulation: Cameras, livestream comments, staged supporters, and emotional performances are used to shape opinion.
• National dignity and resistance: Yue insists that the memorial’s dead—not a war criminal—deserve reverence.
• The danger of performative shame: The planned apology would turn individual posturing into apparent national admission of guilt.

Character interactions

• Ito plays the frail, conciliatory elder for the reporters while privately welcoming the prospect of public humiliation.
• Sister Chrysanthemum and Professor Sheep echo his narrative, defend him, and try to kneel in his honor.
• Yue confronts them physically and verbally, invoking the memorial and its dead to challenge their actions and Ito’s false account of history.

Key plot points

• Yue Xiaofei confronts the staged protest outside the Memorial Hall. After Professor Sheep and Sister Chrysanthemum accuse him of assault, Ito Yūgorō pretends to suffer a heart attack, hoping to make Yue look responsible.
• Yue stays calm and exposes both accusers: Professor Sheep (Yang Wei) received $500,000 from a Japanese foundation, while Sister Chrysanthemum (Zhu Cuihua) received the same amount and was promised residency in Japan. Bank records and private messages appear on the plaza’s giant screen.
• The crowd and livestream audience turn against the two influencers and the paid agitators. Yue kicks Professor Sheep toward Ito’s wheelchair and condemns them as sellouts.
• Ito abandons his fake collapse and reveals tubing filled with aviation kerosene beneath his mourning clothes. He threatens to set himself on fire to portray the Dragon Kingdom as having driven an elderly guest to suicide.
• As Ito lights his lighter, Yue signals someone in the darkness, calling for “the main course.” The chapter ends on this cliffhanger.

Character developments and interactions

• Yue Xiaofei remains composed under provocation and uses evidence rather than being drawn into the opponents’ performance. His controlled exposure of the conspiracy shifts public opinion, though his treatment of Professor Sheep is openly forceful.
• Professor Sheep and Sister Chrysanthemum go from smug accusers to exposed conspirators. Their attempts to deny the evidence collapse as the crowd turns on them.
• Ito Yūgorō is revealed as the strategist behind the spectacle. When his public-opinion attack fails, he resorts to a staged self-immolation threat to regain control of the narrative.
• The crowd and online audience shift rapidly from condemning Yue to condemning the paid commentators, then panic when Ito threatens to ignite himself.

Significant themes

• Manipulation and truth: The chapter contrasts staged emotional performances with verifiable evidence.
• Public opinion as a weapon: The conspirators try to use crowds and media to frame Yue, but the same channels expose them.
• Patriotism versus self-interest: The accusations of disloyalty are turned back on those who allegedly accepted foreign money.
• Escalation and spectacle: When one public stunt fails, Ito raises the stakes with an even more dangerous one.

Key plot points and events

• As Ito Yūgorō prepares to stage a self-immolation, Yue Xiaofei begins a countdown, appearing to let the crisis unfold.
• At the last moment, five tanker trucks surround the square. Xu Wenqiang orders them to blast the crowd with a foul slurry made from human and animal waste.
• The slurry extinguishes Ito’s lighter and coats him, Sister Chrysanthemum, Professor Sheep, the paid demonstrators, and others. It reacts with Ito’s special fuel, turning the mess sticky and difficult to remove.
• The protest collapses into chaos, while livestreams broadcast the humiliation worldwide. Online viewers respond first with shock and disgust, then laughter.

Character developments

• Yue Xiaofei remains controlled and deliberate. His countdown masks a plan to stop Ito and expose the protest through grotesque humiliation.
• Xu Wenqiang takes an exuberant, aggressive role, directing the tanker attack and presenting it as a fitting response to the protesters’ rhetoric.
• Ito Yūgorō’s carefully rehearsed martyrdom fails before he can ignite himself; he is left helpless and covered in filth.
• Sister Chrysanthemum and Professor Sheep, who had been performing outrage for the cameras, become targets of the attack and lose control of the scene.
• The paid demonstrators and media figures are reduced to scrambling for cover, while the livestream audience shifts from passive attention to ridicule.

Significant themes

• Public spectacle and propaganda: The protesters’ staged crisis is overturned by an even more shocking spectacle, captured and circulated online.
• Reversal and humiliation: Those who sought to frame their opponents as uncivilized are themselves drenched in filth.
• Symbolic retaliation: Yue’s remark—“So this is the ‘civilization’ you wanted”—turns the slurry into a blunt rebuttal to the protesters’ claims.
• Media’s double edge: Cameras meant to support the protest instead broadcast its collapse to the world.

Character interactions

• Yue’s calm countdown heightens the tension between him and Ito, whose self-immolation threat depends on controlling the crowd’s attention.
• Xu Wenqiang acts on Yue’s plan, directing the trucks and openly taunting Ito and the other targets.
• Sister Chrysanthemum and Professor Sheep try to appeal to the cameras and condemn the attack, but their performances are overwhelmed by the slurry.
• The livestream audience becomes a kind of global chorus, reacting with disgust, mockery, and amusement.

Key plot points and events

• Yue Xiaofei orders more sludge poured onto Ito Yūgorō, and Xu Wenqiang adds rapid-setting agent. The mixture hardens around Ito, trapping him and covering him in filth.
• Yue mocks Ito’s supposed arrival in Modu for a “free meal.” Humiliated and enraged, Ito tears the hardened muck from his face and reveals that his apparent frailty was an act.
• Ito kicks his high-tech wheelchair aside, then pulls a concealed flexible sword from beneath his disguise. He orders his followers to kill everyone and create enough chaos to help him escape.
• Dozens of disguised Amaterasu Group assassins reveal themselves and attack the crowd, including a livestreaming reporter.
• Xu Wenqiang stops the attack with a steel pipe and calls in the Azure Alliance fighters, who had been posing as security guards. Their greater numbers and street-fighting experience give them an edge over the slippery, sludge-covered assassins.
• Seeking to turn the fight around, Ito leaps at Yue Xiaofei with his flexible sword, aiming for his throat.

Character developments

• Yue Xiaofei remains composed and taunting, treating Ito’s attempted escape as a public spectacle.
• Xu Wenqiang shifts from operating the sludge truck to protecting civilians and leading the Azure Alliance into the fight.
• Ito Yūgorō is exposed as physically powerful and deliberately deceptive. His humiliation drives him into a murderous rage, though he still thinks strategically enough to target Yue as the opposing side’s leader.

Significant themes

• Humiliation and reputation: Ito’s public degradation wounds his pride and the prestige of his family and empire.
• Deception and exposure: Ito’s sickly appearance and his followers’ civilian disguises are revealed as tools of an assassination plot.
• Power through numbers and solidarity: The Azure Alliance counters trained assassins through collective action and local fighting experience.
• Public spectacle: The crowd and livestream turn the confrontation into a widely witnessed exposure of Ito’s deception.

Character interactions

• Yue taunts Ito after the sludge attack, while Ito answers with fury and violence.
• Ito’s assassins attack civilians to provoke panic and create an escape opportunity.
• Xu Wenqiang intervenes to protect the reporter, then rallies the Azure Alliance against the attackers.
• As his followers struggle, Ito shifts his focus to Yue, attacking him directly.

Yue Xiaofei exposed Ito Yūgorō’s lies about Yue Qinhu and the battle of Jiangcheng, then announced he would make Ito relive the war. The chapter ended as heavy engines roared and the song “March of the Big Sword” thundered across the square.

• Yue Xiaofei dodged Ito Yūgorō’s Flexible Sword and kicked him back, while the death squad attacked people around them.
• Ito Yūgorō claimed he had defeated Yue Qinhu, provoking Yue Xiaofei to catch and snap his sword before pinning him to a stone pillar with the broken blade.
• Yue Xiaofei revealed that Yue Qinhu had held off an entire division for three days and nights, and that Ito Yūgorō had used poison gas against Jiangcheng’s civilians to escape.
• Ito Yūgorō laughed that history favored the living victors, but Yue Xiaofei cut him off and vowed the Dragon Kingdom would never forgive his crimes.
• Heavy engines, searchlights, and military loudspeakers filled the square with the song “March of the Big Sword.”

Yue Xiaofei’s reinforcements arrived in the square, revealing themselves as hundreds of elderly veterans from China’s wartime armies. Their presence terrified Ito Yūgorō and challenged his claim that history could be rewritten once its witnesses were gone.

• Dusty buses arrived as Xu Wenqiang and the others waited, and elderly, battle-scarred veterans began stepping out.
• Ito Yūgorō mocked the veterans, but Yue Xiaofei saluted them, prompting Xu Wenqiang and the Azure Alliance to stand at attention.
• The veterans formed a square formation, and their battle-hardened presence made Ito tremble with fear as he recognized old enemies.
• Military bloggers identified veterans including Li Erniu and Zhang Mazi, and livestream viewers flooded the comments with salutes.
• Yue Xiaofei told Ito that the surviving veterans were living witnesses to his crimes and that those crimes would never be forgotten.

Veterans recounted the atrocities Ito Yūgorō had committed during the war, while Yue Xiaofei confronted him with their testimony. As Ito denied everything, an official black sedan arrived at the square.

• The veterans called out their former military units, and Ito Yūgorō recoiled as he recognized men he had tortured.
• Li Erniu and a one-eyed veteran described how Ito had killed Li Erniu’s baby sister and gouged out the other man’s eye.
• Yue Xiaofei presented the veterans’ scars as evidence and pulled his broken sword from the pillar, leaving Ito wounded on the ground.
• Ito Yūgorō claimed the veterans were paid actors, while Professor Sheep and Sister Chrysanthemum cowered nearby.
• A black sedan bearing a red-flag emblem and the license plate Hai A00001 entered the square.

Xu Anbang brought the long-missing Tiger Regiment flag and Yue Qinhu to confront Ito Yūgorō. When Ito mocked Yue Qinhu’s patched uniform, Lin Tiejun revealed that its patches belonged to the regiment’s 1,319 fallen soldiers, and declared that they had come to claim Ito’s life.

• Xu Anbang saluted the elderly Yue Qinhu as he stepped from the car carrying the Tiger Regiment’s battle flag.
• Ito Yūgorō recognized Yue Qinhu and panicked, while Yue Qinhu remembered him and demanded his Italian Cannon.
• Ito mocked Yue Qinhu’s patched uniform and claimed that he was only a scavenger.
• Lin Tiejun explained that the patches came from 1,319 fallen Tiger Regiment soldiers and said they had come with Yue Qinhu to claim Ito’s life.

Yue Qinhu and the veterans launched a final charge at Ito Yūgorō, confronting him with the scars and losses left by his crimes. The veterans surrounded him without striking, and Yue Qinhu faced him with accusations over the poison gas and dam that killed more than a thousand civilians.

• Yue Qinhu called the names of the fallen comrades represented by the patches on his uniform, while Ito Yūgorō imagined their spirits assembled behind him.
• Xu Anbang sounded the charge on his bugle, and Yue Qinhu raised the Battle Flag and ordered the veterans to charge.
• More than two hundred veterans advanced on Ito Yūgorō, who froze in terror as he saw them as the young soldiers he had once killed.
• Li Erniu and Zhang Mazi confronted Ito Yūgorō with their wounds and the comrades they had lost because of his orders.
• Yue Qinhu accused Ito Yūgorō of using poison gas and destroying a dam at Jiangcheng, killing more than a thousand people downstream, then condemned him as a coward.

Ito Yūgorō denied responsibility for his wartime crimes, but Yue Qinhu confronted him with atrocities he had committed and revealed how he had defeated and humiliated him. The square and livestream erupted in laughter after Yue Qinhu said Ito had fled into a dung pit.

• Ito Yūgorō called the veterans actors and insisted that history belonged to the victors.
• Yue Qinhu struck Ito Yūgorō with his cane and denounced him as a thief and a beast.
• Yue Qinhu accused Ito Yūgorō of using poison gas, flooding towns, and burning civilians alive.
• Yue Qinhu recalled holding off Ito Yūgorō's forces at Jiangcheng and stabbing his left eye during a fight.
• Yue Qinhu revealed that Ito Yūgorō had fled into a dung pit, prompting laughter from the crowd and livestream viewers.

• The veterans’ testimony exposes Ito Yūgorō’s past: Lin Tiejun confirms that Ito fled a battlefield by hiding in a dung pit, leaving behind his uniform and command sword, then changed his name. Ito’s claim that his flight was a tactical retreat cannot withstand the testimony.
• The crowd demands accountability: Lin declares that the veterans will never forget the blood debt. A chant of “Kneel!” spreads from the onlookers to thousands gathered in the square, turning public anger into a collective demand for Ito to kneel.
• Two collaborators are caught trying to flee: Professor Sheep and Sister Chrysanthemum are seized by students. Their earlier confidence collapses into panic, and the crowd’s contempt for them intensifies the charged atmosphere.
• Yue Xiaofei frames the confrontation as national remembrance: He tells Ito that the demand comes from the people and speaks for the thirty million dead. Yue Qinhu then plants the battered Tiger Braves Battle Flag before Ito and forces him to face the Memorial Hall and the names of the 1,319 comrades who never returned.
• Ito nearly kneels—but is interrupted: Under the pressure of Yue Qinhu’s ultimatum and the crowd’s fury, Ito’s resistance breaks and his knees begin to buckle. A siren abruptly interrupts the moment as several diplomatic limousines force their way into the square.
  Character developments and interactions: Lin Tiejun moves from silent witness to decisive accuser; Yue Xiaofei invokes popular will, while Yue Qinhu gives the demand personal weight through the flag and fallen comrades. Ito shifts from defiant denial to near submission. Professor Sheep and Sister Chrysanthemum go from attempting to influence events to being publicly restrained and humiliated. Students and veterans act together, their shared anger binding the crowd.
  Themes: Collective memory and resistance to historical revision; the power of public solidarity; the enduring cost of wartime violence; and the clash between personal pride and communal judgment. The approaching limousines leave the confrontation unresolved, suggesting an outside authority is about to intervene.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• A convoy of black limousines arrives at the square, interrupting the confrontation around Ito Yūgorō. Mei Liangxing, a Foreign Affairs Department director, steps out with bodyguards, accompanied by Eastern Japan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Tanaka.
• Mei declares that the crowd has broken the law and claims Ito has diplomatic immunity, ordering Yue Xiaofei to surrender. Tanaka reinforces the pressure, warning that Eastern Japan may suspend investments and impose sanctions unless Ito is protected.
• Revived by their support, Ito begs Tanaka for help and again demands that his opponents be arrested.
• Mei realizes the situation is far worse than he expected: Ito is humiliated and the crowd is large. Worried about his own career, Mei orders his bodyguards to protect Ito and seize Yue.
• The Azure Alliance members form a barrier to protect the veterans, bringing both groups close to a clash.
• Yue calmly asks Mei whether his knees have been bent so long that he can no longer stand straight—a public accusation that Mei is subservient to foreign interests. Humiliated and enraged, Mei orders his men to capture Yue.
• As the bodyguards move forward, a powerful elderly voice from behind the crowd demands to know who dares.

Character developments

• Yue Xiaofei remains composed under official threats and uses a pointed taunt to challenge Mei’s authority and expose his perceived subservience.
• Mei Liangxing shifts from self-assured official posturing to alarm when he sees Ito’s condition and the scale of the crowd. Concern for his position drives him to assert control, and Yue’s insult provokes him into ordering a forceful arrest.
• Ito Yūgorō goes from near despair to renewed arrogance when powerful allies arrive, pleading for rescue and demanding arrests.
• Tanaka maintains a condescending, coercive stance, using threats of economic retaliation to pressure the Dragon Kingdom.
• The Azure Alliance members show solidarity with the veterans by forming a protective human barrier.

Significant themes

• Political and economic pressure: Tanaka uses investment and sanctions as leverage, while Mei invokes law and diplomacy.
• Official corruption and subservience: Yue’s question challenges whether Mei is serving his own country or bowing to foreign interests.
• Public accountability: The crowd witnesses the officials’ actions and reacts to Yue’s confrontation.
• Escalation and resistance: The dispute shifts from verbal confrontation toward a possible clash, then is interrupted by the arrival of a powerful new voice.

Character interactions

• Mei and Tanaka coordinate their pressure on Yue and the crowd, each using a different kind of authority.
• Ito appeals to Tanaka and uses their backing to renew his demands.
• Mei orders his bodyguards against Yue; the Azure Alliance responds by shielding the veterans.
• Yue confronts Mei verbally, while the crowd laughs at the insult. The chapter ends as an unidentified elderly figure intervenes.

Xu Anbang confronted Mei Liangxing at the Modu Memorial Hall for shielding the war criminal Ito Yūgorō and obstructing law enforcement. He called the head of the Foreign Affairs Department, who ordered Mei dismissed and investigated, and Xu had him kept under guard.

• Xu Anbang stepped forward, and Mei Liangxing's bodyguards recognized him as a national military elder.
• Mei Liangxing tried to justify protecting Ito Yūgorō as a foreign-related duty, but Xu condemned him for defending a war criminal.
• Xu Anbang called the head of the Foreign Affairs Department and recommended Mei Liangxing be dismissed and investigated.
• The department head promised to act, and Xu ordered Mei kept at the scene while the investigation proceeded.
• Mei Liangxing fell to his knees and begged for mercy, while the bodyguards dragged him aside and the crowd cheered.

Plot points and events

• Elder Xu Anbang uses a phone call to strip Mei Liangxing of his position, leaving the Japanese delegation without its influential supporter.
• Foreign Minister Tanaka panics and threatens Yue Xiaofei with international condemnation and retaliation. Yue rejects the threats, dares Japan’s Female Chancellor to come to Modu, and demands an apology for past crimes.
• Tanaka tries to flee but slips in the filth left by Professor Sheep and Sister Chrysanthemum. His humiliating fall and vomiting provoke disgust and ridicule.
• Yue announces a “final course” for Ito Yūgorō. Xu Wenqiang’s men bring forward a bound, blindfolded, and gagged captive: Ito Makoto.
• Recognizing his great-grandfather, Makoto assumes he has been rescued. After Yue removes his gag, Makoto boasts that Ito Yūgorō will destroy Yue and everyone connected to him, then demands that Yue kneel and mutilate himself.

Character developments and interactions

• Yue Xiaofei remains confident and defiant, openly challenging Japan’s leadership and using theatrical humiliation to control the confrontation.
• Tanaka shifts from bluster to panic once his political leverage disappears, then becomes physically humiliated while attempting to escape.
• Ito Yūgorō is alarmed by Makoto’s appearance, suggesting the captive’s return is a serious blow to him.
• Ito Makoto, despite being bound and helpless, remains arrogant and convinced of his great-grandfather’s invincibility. He mistakes the situation for a rescue and taunts Yue.
• Xu Anbang demonstrates decisive political influence; Xu Wenqiang carries out Yue’s order by presenting Makoto.
• The crowd’s livestream comments and cheers amplify the public spectacle, celebrating the reversal of power over Mei and Tanaka.

Significant themes

• Power and intimidation: Political status and threats prove ineffective against Yue’s confidence and Xu Anbang’s influence.
• Public humiliation and reversal: Formerly powerful figures are reduced to helpless, ridiculed spectacles.
• Historical grievance and nationalism: Yue frames the confrontation around Japan’s past crimes and demands national repentance.
• Arrogance and misjudgment: Makoto’s boastful confidence clashes with his actual helplessness and the peril facing his family.