Blowing up the Shrine

Bai Yaoyao looked down at the man pinned beneath her foot and asked, "Can you speak English?"

"No! No! No! Please don't kill me!" the man pleaded in Japanese, trembling. This woman killed without batting an eye. She hadn't even asked why they had come before going straight for the kill, so he hurriedly begged for mercy.

Bai Yaoyao rolled her eyes in exasperation, took out her phone, and opened the translator.

After a lengthy interrogation, she finally figured it out. He had followed her from the black market after seeing her buy so much sugar. Then he had learned about all the other supplies she had bought. Since she was just a young foreign girl, he had decided to rob her and kill her.

Bai Yaoyao forced the man to drive her to their base, which turned out to be a car rental business.

Tsk, tsk. You knew I was short on cash, so you came to hand me everything on a platter.

Bai Yaoyao showed no mercy. Seventeen people in total, and she killed them all.

Every last one of them should have been prepared to lose their head the moment they entered this line of work. Besides, they had bad intentions and knew too much.

Bai Yaoyao inspected the cars at the rental business and discovered three modified Paramount Marauders. Her mood instantly brightened. These were the kinds of vehicles that would actually be useful in the apocalypse.

She also stored away several Wrangler Rubicons, Land Rover Defenders, and Toyota Prados.

Bai Yaoyao hadn't planned to take the other junk cars, but then she reconsidered. Monkey was great with cars and knew how to modify and repair them. If a vehicle broke down on the road later and needed parts, these might come in handy.

So she put the remaining fifteen cars into her storage space too, along with all the repair and modification equipment in the business.

Finally, she carried off the two remaining cases of instant noodles.

There was nothing left in the entire car rental business except trash.

Wherever Yaoyao went, she picked it clean!

Bai Yaoyao was in an exceptionally good mood. She felt as though she had saved a fortune. She had taken one vehicle from Shinichi Sato yesterday and picked up another six usable ones here today. All she still needed were RVs.

With so much to do, she was bound to forget something, so she acted on every thought as soon as it occurred to her.

She immediately called Monkey.

"Sister Yao, help!"

Bai Yaoyao paused. She had forgotten how restless Monkey had been before the apocalypse. If he wasn't getting into trouble every day, it was every other day.

"Monkey, what is it this time?"

"Sister Yao, you actually didn't start by chewing me out! Hahaha! It's nothing much. I'm just running for my life right now.

"What did you call me for?" Monkey's voice came through the phone. Along with the sounds of him sprinting, she could faintly hear a few gunshots.

"Get me a few RVs. I need them. Give them some badass modifications. Never mind making them fireproof and waterproof; just make them bulletproof, bladeproof, and capable of crossing mountains." Since Monkey still had time to joke with her, Bai Yaoyao knew he was fine and got straight to the point.

"Come on, sis! You think an RV can do all that? I'll do my best!" Monkey said helplessly.

"Stock up on tools for repairing and modifying vehicles, too. And stop wasting money. Once you've finished with the RVs and bought the tools, transfer all your money to my account, then go find Peiqi," Bai Yaoyao said.

"Can I keep some money for picking up girls?" Monkey asked.

"Got a death wish?"

"Understood, Sister Yao. Mission guaranteed!" Monkey immediately turned serious again.

Thinking about vehicles reminded her of fuel, another vital resource that would be incredibly hard to come by in the apocalypse. She opened her contacts, looked at the twelve people in the family list on her phone, and considered where everyone was.

Who could she give this job to? Stockpiling large quantities within Huaguo wasn't realistic. The controls were too strict.

In the end, she called Stone. He liked staying in South America, but she wasn't sure where he was now.

"Stone, where are you?"

"Iraq."

"Can you get some oil?"

Knowing Stone's style well, Bai Yaoyao kept her question brief.

"I don't have money. Can I rob some criminals?"

Bai Yaoyao: ≡￣﹏￣≡

"Sure. Just get it for me. The more, the better!" Bai Yaoyao replied.

"One week!"

Stone hung up as soon as he finished speaking. Their organization was never short of assignments. It was considered a benchmark in the assassination business, renowned for its high success rate and solid reputation, so its fees were high too.

They all had plenty of money, but no matter how much Stone had in his account, it never stayed there overnight.

Stone had grown up in an orphanage and endured a difficult childhood before their master brought him back. Still, he remained deeply attached to the orphanage, so whenever he had money, he donated it.

After one donation, he discovered that local officials had embezzled the money instead of spending it on the children. In a single day, he killed all seven people involved.

He could no longer stay in China after that, so he spent most of his time in South America and only returned home to make donations.

One investigator seemed determined to clash with Stone. He insisted on finding out why Stone had killed them, quit his job, and pursued him for three years.

He simply couldn't understand why Stone would donate money and then kill people. The two were polar opposites.

He had to have an answer.

"I kill because I want to kill. There's no reason." Stone refused to explain.

The investigator returned to China and continued searching for the truth. Only after uncovering how the seven had worked together to embezzle Stone's donation did he finally let the matter rest.

Still, Stone had killed people. That was a fact, and he remained a wanted fugitive back home.

But Bai Yaoyao knew Stone was in a very good mood. When he learned that the stubborn investigator had suffered retaliation, he made a special trip back to China and killed three more people.

Violence couldn't solve the root problem, but it could solve the problem right in front of you.

That was Brother Stone's pearl of wisdom.

Once everything was arranged, Bai Yaoyao let out a long breath. Having her brothers around saved her so much work. If she had to handle everything alone, she could work herself mad and still miss things.

Bai Yaoyao ran through the arrangements in her head. Fat Brother was responsible for weapons and medicine, Peiqi for the house, Monkey for vehicles, and Stone for oil and diesel.

She considered what else she needed. None of it would be easy to buy in R Country.

She decided to blow up the Yasukuni Shrine that afternoon, then hurry back home. There were two important things she needed to do after returning, and she couldn't afford any delays.

Bai Yaoyao familiarized herself with the bomb beforehand. She hadn't touched one in years and was a little rusty. She bought a Japanese-style outfit for young women, put it on, and entered the Yasukuni Shrine with the tourists.

With the bomb stored in her space, she passed through security without a hitch. She didn't act right away, instead following the tourists and taking in the sights along the designated route.

Along the way, she found two middle-aged women from H Country and spent ages chatting with them, despite barely understanding one another. They took photos together, and Bai Yaoyao even gave them rice balls and crispy seaweed snacks she liked.

In no time, the three had become best friends despite their age gap.

When she felt the moment was right, Bai Yaoyao said she needed to use the restroom. Her two new best friends insisted on accompanying her, and it took a good deal of persuasion before she could leave alone.

Bai Yaoyao went to a restroom two hundred meters from the main hall, placed the bomb in the center of the main hall, then hurried back to her friends in the few seconds before it detonated.

The instant the explosion went off, she grabbed her two older friends and ran for the entrance. It wasn't kindness or a desire to save them. She just wanted to clear herself of suspicion.

The two women nearly wet themselves in fright at the blast and temporarily lost their hearing. Seeing their newly befriended Huaguo girl dragging them along as they ran for their lives moved them to tears.

When they reached the entrance, they found it had already been sealed off. Bai Yaoyao hadn't expected the two women from H Country to have some standing, but they were among the first people allowed out.

Fortunately, her older friends hadn't forgotten her. They desperately insisted that she was with them and even produced their photos as proof.

The R Country officials looked at Bai Yaoyao's big, tear-reddened eyes and her slight frame, which looked incapable of carrying anything heavy, and let her out too. Her older friends immediately wrapped her in a hug.

The three went to the airport together, still sniffling and crying.