Chapter 59: How Could His Majesty the Heavenly Emperor Surrender?

That pure, fluent Japanese caused the three Japanese soldiers at the cave entrance, along with Wang Erhu kneeling on the ground, to freeze instantly.

Onoda’s pupils shrank violently, and the cruel look of certainty on his face was instantly replaced by astonishment and disbelief.

Tanaka’s arm, holding his rifle, also froze mid-air. His beard-covered face was filled with blank confusion.

Ito, the bespectacled soldier, even forgot his violent coughing. Adjusting his cracked glasses, he stared dead at that boulder, as if trying to pierce right through it.

Never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined that this mountain villager brought here by Wang Erhu could actually speak Japanese!

Furthermore, he spoke it with more standard pronunciation than they, native sons of the Island Nation, possessed!

Wang Erhu was completely dumbfounded.

Although he could not understand a single word Xu Feng was saying, he could tell that this gibberish sounded identical to what Onoda and the others spoke!

Xu Feng... could he speak the language of the devils?

A giant question mark smashed into his forehead like an iron hammer, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

The intoxicating thrill of revenge in his heart was instantly replaced by an inexplicable panic.

The way things were unfolding seemed rather different from what he had anticipated.

"Who the hell are you?!"

Onoda was the first to snap back to his senses. He barked the question sternly, gripping his Arisaka rifle even tighter, the muzzle aiming dead at the direction of the boulder.

A tumultuous storm raged within his heart. For a Chinaman to speak the imperial language with such fluency was by no means normal!

Could he... be an imperial civilian resident? No! Judging by his physical agility and split-second reaction earlier, he looked much more like a trained soldier!

"Who I am doesn't matter."

Xu Feng’s voice came from behind the boulder once again, still as calm as a millpond without the slightest ripple: "What matters is what I just said. The Island Nation has already surrendered, and Hirohito has issued the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War. Your war has come to an end."

"Bullshit!"

Before Onoda could speak, the short-tempered Tanaka nearby roared first: "The Great Imperial Nation is invincible! His Majesty the Emperor would never surrender! You bastard, are you trying to shake our resolve with rumors? I'll kill you!"

He roared and moved to pull the trigger.

"Tanaka, hold your horses!" Onoda barked to stop him once more.

Xu Feng’s words were like a poisonous thorn, piercing deeply into his heart.

Surrender?

His Majesty the Emperor had surrendered?

How could this possibly be?

He would rather believe that the sun would rise from the west than believe this absurd "fact."

They were soldiers of the Empire, warriors fighting for His Majesty the Emperor and the glory of the Empire! How could the Empire possibly fail?

Onoda’s voice was hoarse, laden with a suppressed madness: "Don't lie! I know the Empire is locked in a bitter struggle against the Soviet army, but that's only temporary! We will definitely counterattack and seize victory! I will not allow you to use such despicable lies to defile our martial spirit!"

Behind the boulder, listening to this hollow, bravado-filled roaring, Xu Feng couldn't help wanting to laugh.

Truly, a bunch of thoroughly brainwashed idiots.

They were literally about to starve to death in this mountain ravine, yet they were still dreaming sweet dreams of "Imperial victory."

He did not bother to argue with them any further, knowing that for fanatics of this sort, any verbal debate was pale and futile.

He needed to produce evidence.

Meanwhile, kneeling at Onoda’s feet and listening to them engage in a heated argument in a language he could not understand in the slightest, Wang Erhu felt his panic reach its absolute peak.

He was like a husky that had strayed into a pack of wolves, watching two factions of wolves communicate in a "wolf language" he could not comprehend, and judging by the looks of it, they seemed to be chatting quite "amiably."

He had no idea what Xu Feng had said that kept these cold-blooded butchers from firing a second shot.

He only knew that the situation had completely slipped out of his control.

What if... what if Xu Feng used sweet words to persuade these devils? Then what would become of Wang Erhu?

A traitor who had invited wolves into the house? Or a foolish pig despised by both sides?

No, I have to run!

Once this thought popped into his head, it could no longer be suppressed.

Taking advantage of the fact that Onoda and the three soldiers had their attention entirely focused on Xu Feng, he quietly shifted from a kneeling posture to a crawling one, bit by bit.

Then, like a mudfish, he used his hands and feet together, desperately wriggling toward a dense patch of bushes nearby.

Upon seeing this, Fatty and Skinny Monkey reacted instantly as well.

The two exchanged glances, seeing the raw desire to survive in each other's eyes.

Following his example, they scrambled and tumbled after Wang Erhu, diving straight into the brush.

Only Mute remained frozen in place.

He looked at the murderous Japanese soldiers at the cave entrance, then at the boulder where Xu Feng was hiding, and finally in the direction where Wang Erhu and the others had vanished, his eyes filled with blank confusion and terror.

He wanted to run, but his legs felt as though they had been poured with lead, completely unable to move.

Onoda’s attention was entirely captivated by Xu Feng, and he failed to notice that several "ants" at his feet had already slipped away.

The cave entrance fell into a stalemate once again.

Xu Feng knew he could not drag this out any longer.

There were three of them holding a favorable terrain; the longer time dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for him.

He had to break this deadlock.

"I have proof."

Xu Feng spoke up once more, and this sentence made the hearts of Onoda and the other two tighten simultaneously.

"Proof? What proof?" Onoda pressed.

"A newspaper," Xu Feng’s voice carried an unquestionable certainty. "A newspaper publishing a photograph of Hirohito and General MacArthur together. Once you look at that, whether I was lying or not will be crystal clear, won't it?"

That famous photograph of Hirohito and MacArthur!

Xu Feng was certain that for zealous militarists like Onoda, the psychological impact of this photograph would be greater than ten thousand declarations of "The Island Nation has surrendered!"

That was irrefutable ironclad proof of a god being dragged down from his altar!

Sure enough, as soon as Xu Feng said this, Onoda and the other two all fell silent.

His Majesty the Emperor... photographed alongside the general of the enemy nation?

In their understanding, this was an event far more humiliating and unimaginable than surrender itself.

Ito, wearing his glasses, swayed slightly. Leaning against the cave wall, he began to cough violently again. This time, the phlegm he coughed up was stained with clear streaks of blood.

In his eyes, for the very first time, doubt and... despair emerged.

Tanaka still wore a look of disbelief, but his grip on the rifle unconsciously loosened by half.

Inside Onoda’s mind, a fierce battle between reason and emotion was raging.

Reason told him this was impossible, that it must be a trick by the enemy. But emotionally, the other party’s resolute tone and the specific evidence of a "photograph" acted like a wedge, hammered fiercely into his beliefs, making it impossible for him to ignore.

He was afraid.

He was afraid that what Xu Feng said was the truth.

"Let me leave this place," Xu Feng pressed his advantage while the iron was hot. "Three days from now, I will bring that newspaper and return here. By then, you can witness the truth with your own eyes."