—In war, human lives are always extinguished without meaning.
To the southwest of Sixty-One Workers City lay a gently rolling highland, upon which stood a walled compound, its buildings crowned with the fluttering banner of Xuanji Star.
Though the structures themselves were not imposing, their position on the elevated terrain made them strikingly conspicuous.
According to the withdrawal maps, this site currently served as the Xuanji Star army’s command post in Sixty-One Workers City. During the Great War, it had functioned as an artillery observation post, earning the ironic nickname ‘Pigeon Coop’.
Yet, before the war erupted, it bore no such moniker. Instead, it was known by another name, one familiar to all locals: Yunhua Middle School of Sixty-One Workers City.
Ke Yiyi and Liana gazed up at Yunhua Middle School. From a military standpoint, it was indeed an advantageous location, but precisely because of this, it had become a prime target for heavy shelling during the Great War, a fate meted out by both Xuanji Star and Vega alike.
“Do you know about Yunhua Middle School?”
Liana, her gaze fixed on the Xuanji Star ‘Dragon Blade Banner’ fluttering high above, thoughtfully asked Ke Yiyi.
“I do. I’ve heard about the Youth Combat Teams, and I’ve even met survivors.”
“That’s not what I’m asking about,”
Liana corrected her.
“I’m asking about the school itself.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know much about it.”
“I came here before the war and saw what the school used to look like. It had green trees and red walls, but it wasn’t as dilapidated as it is now.”
“Yunhua Middle School boasted abundant educational resources. Before the war, it had 9,527 students and 1,185 teachers, operating on a twelve-year system. Although named a ‘middle school,’ it actually integrated primary to high school education. It had been a standalone middle school before its reorganization into a twelve-year institution, but its name remained unchanged, honoring tradition.”
“The students primarily came from the working-class families of Sixty-One Workers City. Its educational facilities were comprehensive, and its teachers were highly skilled. Don’t let its current ruined state deceive you; its music department once offered professional piano courses. I even audited some myself.”
As she spoke, Liana produced a stack of photographs for Ke Yiyi. Ke Yiyi noticed they had been specially resized and compressed for easy portability.
The photos mainly depicted scenes from the school’s past, including classrooms and group shots of students.
One photograph, in particular, struck Ke Yiyi as peculiar. It was a group photo of several hundred girls, yet on its reverse, a red circle had been drawn. Flipping it over, she realized the circle precisely aligned with the head of one girl in the front, though her specific features were indiscernible due to the distance at which the photo was taken.
All the girls wore neat, attractive school uniforms: white blouses, red skirts, and white knee-high socks. On their heads sat uniform, distinctive red berets.
Unlike standard berets, these were clearly modified. The right side tilted forward, the left bulged slightly, making it impossible to wear straight; it had to be worn askew. The cap badge was positioned on the forward-tilted side, beneath which hung two long black streamers. From the front, despite the badge being on the right, it was remarkably clear.
Each girl wore a badge on her chest: some displayed ‘VI,’ others ‘VIII,’ and still others ‘X’—likely indicating their respective grades, just like the ones Ke Yiyi had seen before.
“Why does this girl have a red circle around her?”
Ke Yiyi returned the stack of photos to Liana, who then singled out that particular image.
“That’s Li Xiangling, a ninth-grade student from Yunhua Middle School. During the Great War, she killed 123 Xuanji Star soldiers using a sniper rifle.”
“123? Li Xiangling?”
Ke Yiyi’s heart lurched. By her estimation, when Sixty-One Workers City fell, she had still been a temporary police officer in Yuantong Town.
Truly remarkable… As a player, she had achieved nothing of note during the war, while an ordinary student, a former citizen, had already found herself caught in the maelstrom of battle. The term ‘hero,’ when applied to her earlier, now felt utterly shallow.
And the name Li Xiangling… she had heard it before… back at the police academy…
“Yes, that number has always been contentious, with figures ranging from 34 to 123. However, for propaganda purposes, the number provided by her comrades-in-arms was adopted: 123.”
“And… what happened afterward?”
Ke Yiyi nodded thoughtfully. She knew the answer, yet still harbored a faint hope for some miracle… perhaps…
She shook her head slightly, waiting for Liana to continue.
‘She knew, deep down, there was no “perhaps”…’
“She died. In June of the new calendar year 215.”
“Had she not been captured, she could have been brought out a month later, when Vega launched its fierce assault on the outskirts of Sixty-One Workers City.”
“What about her family…?”
“She had no family. Her entire family was murdered by Xuanji Star. Her father’s worker commando unit was betrayed by a traitor, and they were all executed on Yunhua Hill, right before our eyes.”
Ke Yiyi fell silent. She knew, with chilling certainty, that every person in those photographs represented a living human tragedy, and Li Xiangling was merely one among them.
It seemed everything she had once heard was true; the authorities had ultimately acknowledged all of Li Xiangling’s deeds.
“According to survivor accounts, when Xuanji Star invaded Sixty-One Workers City, a large number of students couldn’t evacuate in time. They had to hide within the city, awaiting an opportunity to break out. Over six hundred students were trapped in the school at the time. They used the school as a stronghold, resisting Xuanji Star’s advances step by step, until every last one of them perished. Perhaps we might still find traces of their struggle within the school.”
The two began walking towards the school on the hillside, Liana speaking continuously as they ascended.
“At that time, Sixty-One Workers City was completely encircled, and any hope of a breakout was futile. Many students took up arms, initiating guerrilla warfare and intermittently attempting to return to Vega-controlled territory through various means. While many had the chance to escape the encirclement, they ultimately ceded their opportunities to those unable to fight, such as elementary students below the fifth grade and the wounded. The vast majority of those who remained to fight died under Xuanji Star’s guns.”
“Since Sixty-One Workers City was a vital industrial hub, Xuanji Star did not conduct a massacre here. Instead, they exploited local workers and factories for military production. Apart from a very few cities that suffered organized massacres at the war’s outset, most Xuanji Star-occupied cities followed a similar ‘war to sustain war’ principle as Sixty-One Workers City. However, as Vega’s counter-offensives intensified in the late stages of the war, and the costs of Xuanji Star’s rule surged due to guerrilla resistance, Xuanji Star began systematically eradicating local populations during occupation or retreat to quell guerrilla warfare and undermine Vega’s recruitment of eligible individuals after reclaiming lost territories.”
“How do you know all this so clearly?”
Ke Yiyi inquired, glancing sideways, but Liana merely offered a desolate smile.
“Because these are all things I’m supposed to know.”
Standing on the hillside, she gazed down at the city below, which appeared a dreary gray, as if nothing but concrete and steel remained. The city’s prosperous facade had vanished, leaving behind only a cold shell scoured by blood and fire.
“I participated in the Great Promontory Battle in July of the new calendar year 215. Although the battle ultimately ended in defeat, I came into contact with the ‘Youth Combat Teams’ who eventually broke through the encirclement. My post-war work in intelligence also focused on this: the lives of Vega citizens under Xuanji Star’s occupation policies, the plunder of resources and industries in occupied territories, and even related matters like massacres and sexual crimes.”
Ke Yiyi nodded. No wonder Liana was so concerned about the Changming Nü; this was the nature of her work in intelligence.
“Xuanji Star organized over a dozen massacres in Sixty-One Workers City, in places like the forest south of the city and the factories to the east. These were specifically targeting ethnic groups other than the Blaze Clan, captured guerrilla fighters, and the Changming Nü, among other groups.”
“Changming Nü?”
Ke Yiyi struggled to comprehend. Wasn’t Xuanji Star’s coercion of Vega women into becoming Changming Nü fundamentally about satisfying their desires? Logically, they should have kept as many Changming Nü alive as possible. Why would they kill them?
“Yes, you seem to find it hard to believe?”
Ke Yiyi’s thoughts were sometimes remarkably transparent; anyone who understood her character even slightly through conversation could easily guess what was on her mind.
Ke Yiyi remained silent, waiting for Liana to continue.
“In the eyes of Xuanji Star, the Changming Nü were not people at all—no different from stray cats or dogs. They would beat them if they wished, kill them if they wished. If one group died, they would simply seize another.”
“Right here, on this very hillside beneath our feet, lie the buried bodies of at least two hundred women who suffered violent abuse at the hands of Xuanji Star.”
“What?”
A chill swept through Ke Yiyi. She quickly scanned her surroundings, finding her feet rooted to the spot, unable to move.
“According to the confessions of captured Xuanji Star soldiers, after they seized Yunhua Middle School, they assaulted a dozen captured girls. Over the next two months, they continuously brought many more women here to serve as Changming Nü. The buildings in the northwest corner of this school were then used as their ‘Hall of Longevity.’ Those Changming Nü deemed ‘medicinal dregs’ were dragged here, beaten to death, and buried on the spot. The southwest corner of the school was also used as an execution ground for locals, where many captured guerrilla fighters were shot.”
“They categorized the Changming Nü into several types. Among them, virgins under the age of fourteen were specifically reserved for Xuanji Star officers, and there were even many younger than that. Current records show some as young as eight years old…”
Upon hearing this, Ke Yiyi felt her entire being revolt, on the verge of vomiting. She clutched a nearby tree, retching several times, then leaned against it, gasping for breath, unable to stop herself from cursing.
“These beasts… are they even human?”
During her time as a detective, she had encountered countless cases of extreme cruelty: dismembering a person into hundreds of pieces and boiling them, encasing bodies in cement within empty barrels, even chopping up corpses to hide them in refrigerators or dissolving them with sulfuric acid.
Yet, none of those cases could compare to the utter depravity she was hearing today. Xuanji Star was so vile and shameless, and Man Huai Zhi could still stand tall in broad daylight, pontificating about his empire’s so-called glorious achievements… The audacity was beyond despicable.
Liana gazed at Yunhua Middle School, now so close, observing what was once Sixty-One Workers City’s finest ivory tower, now fallen into a den of depravity where Xuanji Star unleashed its violence and desires.
She fixed her gaze on the Xuanji Star guards at the entrance and strode purposefully towards them.
“Of course they’re human. Ordinary animals aren’t capable of such organized sexual violence and genocide. Only humans, the apex of primates, can commit such atrocities.”
Though she had held no hope from the start, it was only upon actual refusal that she could temporarily resign herself. The Xuanji Star guards forbade their entry into the school, stating that today was not the day for withdrawal. They were instructed to return tomorrow, once the withdrawal commenced.
Their demeanor was impeccably polite, but the more courteous they were, the more Ke Yiyi felt that they were permeated, from head to toe, with an insidious hypocrisy and evil.