The night was pitch black. Pyongyang's night was very quiet; there were no barking dogs, and it was impossible for a stray cat to suddenly dart out from anywhere. Watchdogs also needed to eat, and in Korea where humans found it hard enough to get their fill, keeping such animals was simply too extravagant. Aside from the footsteps of Japanese soldiers and the gibberish pleading of those bound Koreans, the streets were as silent as death.

After waiting with great difficulty for the Japanese patrol to pass, Jin Liuling waited a while longer. Seeing that indeed no one else was appearing on the street, he secretly slipped out from his hiding place. Pyongyang's main roads at least had some streetlights, although the places with lights were often where the Japanese had police stations or patrol points, making the pitch-black Pyongyang feel a bit brighter. However, these lights were nothing compared to Wuhan. In Jin Liuling's eyes, outside the residential districts composed of magnificent four-story buildings newly built by the People's Party in Wuhan, there were broad avenues. The streetlights weren't very dense, but every night the lights would always turn on. The areas near the lights were also places where the masses loved to gather; even if it didn't reach the level of a city that never sleeps, Wuhan's nights were always lively. Leaving prosperous Wuhan and returning to familiar Pyongyang, Jin Liuling felt an unspeakable discomfort.

The Jin family were wealthy people in the Pyongyang area. Their house, in terms of area, was definitely much larger than the sixty or seventy square meter apartments that housed five or six people. However, the tap water and electric lights that every household in the People's Party residential areas had, the rail transport available right out the door, and even the newly appearing gas-powered cars and electric trams—such an atmosphere gave a completely different feeling. Compared to Pyongyang, it was two different worlds.

Walking on the bumpy, uneven ground, Jin Liuling missed Wuhan's flat asphalt and cement roads. That was the power of industry; the People's Party, possessing industrial power, had suddenly created a brand new world. This world was so smooth, so magnificent.

"We must drive the Japanese out of Korea, and then make Korea into a country like China. At least make Pyongyang as prosperous as Wuhan!" Jin Liuling once again confirmed his resolve.

He walked through the dark streets and made it all the way home. After knocking on the door according to the secret signal, it wasn't long before the gate gently opened a crack. "It's me! Liuling!" Jin Liuling whispered.

The person opening the door didn't say much, just opened the door wider, and Jin Liuling quickly slipped in. Entering the main house, his family members had already woken up one after another. Seeing that Jin Liuling, who had been away for more than a year, had finally returned home safely, they were naturally overjoyed. They first arranged for Jin Liuling to eat. The ice-cold wowotou (steamed corn bread) and kimchi couldn't be heated immediately, and even the water was cold. If it were in Wuhan, even if the honeycomb briquettes couldn't immediately reach stir-frying temperature, there would at least be hot water in the kettle to drink. But this was his own home; the slight unhappiness brought by the inconvenience of life was completely overwhelmed by the happiness of returning home.

The family surrounded Jin Liuling, watching him wolf down the food. His mother's eyes flashed with tears, while his father and older brother wore looks of gratification.

In the late Qing Dynasty, the Manchus were defeated repeatedly. Korea didn't like the Manchus to begin with, and seeing that China was no longer the hegemon of East Asia, they very much wanted to break away from Manchu control. After successively making eyes at Russia and Japan, Korea finally colluded with Japan. But what the Korean upper class never expected was that while the Manchus were hateful and incompetent, it didn't mean that choosing the Manchus was wrong. Korea's act of inviting the wolf into the house directly led to the result of being completely annexed by Japan fifteen years after the First Sino-Japanese War.

As a scholar, Jin Liuling was highly expected by his family, who hoped he could pass the imperial examinations and fulfill the mission of bringing glory to his ancestors. Japan naturally wouldn't recognize Korea's imperial examinations, and old-style families like Jin Liuling's couldn't immediately integrate into the credentials of the new education system. After his future was cut off, the Jin family went directly from an ordinary wealthy Korean class to a radical anti-Japanese faction. Jin Liuling and his brother Jin Sanshun went out to seek a path to liberate Korea. The Jin family clan remained in Pyongyang to secretly contact local personnel seeking Korea's restoration.

Although the Japanese tried their best to blockade intelligence, the Jin family knew a little about the news of the People's Party inflicting heavy losses on the Japanese army in the Northeast. Jin Liuling, with a mouth full of wowotou, kimchi, and cold water, still managed to spare his tongue to excitedly tell his family all the recent news he knew. Hearing that Jin Liuling, who had been away for a long time, had already defected to the People's Party, the Jin family was very happy up and down.

After talking about his own affairs, Jin Liuling asked about the situation at home, especially the Japanese arresting people in Korea that he had just seen.

The biggest feeling of the Jin family in recent years was that Japan's exploitation of the locality was getting more and more ruthless, and the Jin family also felt that the arrests were quite strange. The Japanese first arrested all the beggars and vagrants in Pyongyang, and those petty thieves were also arrested clean. After these people were gone, although life in Pyongyang was still hard, it felt a lot better when going out.

"Where did the Japanese take those people?" Jin Liuling was quite puzzled.

"This... we only heard they were taken to the north. What exactly they are making these people do has not been found out yet," Jin Liuling's father said. After saying this, the father couldn't help but ask again: "The People's Party has already seized China?"

Jin Liuling answered with full confidence: "The People's Party has now captured Beijing, and it won't be long before they can seize the entire China."

Afraid his family wouldn't believe it, Jin Liuling recounted his observations of taking the train from Wuhan by the Yangtze River all the way to the China-Korea border. For things like travel, if one hadn't truly seen it, it would be hard to make up lies. Seeing Jin Liuling speaking with such beaming enthusiasm, the Jin family truly believed it. With such a great power backing them, the Jin family was full of confidence in restoring Korea.

However, this excitement was temporary. After chatting late into the night, everyone was sleepy. Jin Liuling slept until the sun was three poles high before getting up. After getting up, he found that everyone in the family was actually still at home. The Jin family had their own medicine business; usually, the family operated everywhere and didn't have much free time. Jin Liuling felt very embarrassed that he had delayed the family business.

"These days the Japanese are inspecting severely; it's better not to open the door," the old father of the Jin family explained to his son.

As soon as the old father's voice fell, Jin Liuling's eldest brother, Jin Sanshun, said angrily: "It's not just Pyongyang; the whole of Korea is like this. The Japanese are issuing some military scrip in Korea, using a few pieces of torn paper as money. Buying things with this military scrip is restricted; you have to buy things at places specially opened by the Japanese. But the Japanese use this military scrip to buy things everywhere in Korea. Anyone who refuses to accept the military scrip gets arrested by the Japanese. Our family has already suffered a big loss. If we don't hurry up and drive the Japanese out of Korea, this life will soon be unlivable."

Jin Liuling knew that his eldest brother Jin Sanshun mainly operated in Hanseong (Seoul). He asked: "Is it like this in the south too?"

Jin Sanshun gnashed his teeth and said: "It's even worse over in Hanseong. In these past few months, the Japanese used military scrip to buy up all the grain. I heard there have been many cases of people starving to death over there."

Jin Liuling didn't expect that after being away from Korea for a period of time, Korea would have undergone such changes. National hatred and family grievances intertwined; the anger in Jin Liuling's heart had nowhere to vent, and with a "thud", he punched the innocent table fiercely.

Getting angry was naturally useless; anger made Jin Liuling and his family quickly reach a consensus. To change the current situation, the only way was for the People's Party to fight into Korea as soon as possible and drive all the Japanese away.

The job Jin Liuling received this time was to establish a transportation line. Japan was increasing its troops in Korea on a large scale; a division of Japanese troops was stationed in Pyongyang. Jin Liuling strolled around the streets and understood that relying on the dozen or twenty Korean patriots who came back with him to plan attacks on the Japanese was simply moths flying into a flame. After meeting with Jin Chengri, Jin Chengri's anger was even greater than Jin Liuling's. Japan had increased its exploitation of Korea, especially the frantic exploitation using military scrip, which was extremely terrifying.

Banknotes were also common currency in the People's Party's liberated areas, but holding those thin paper notes, one could indeed buy many commodities. The purchasing power of the Renminbi was very high. But Japan's military scrip was completely different. Jin Chengri's family was originally in the livestock business and suffered even greater losses. The Japanese army forcibly "purchased" all the large livestock from Jin Chengri's family at the price of one hundred military scrip per head. At the designated military scrip usage points of the Japanese, the price of a large animal was 120 military scrip. The price difference wasn't particularly large. However, for Koreans, these usage points had prices but no goods. The few products that could be bought were sky-high in price, and the relatively fairly priced commodities were all out of stock.

"This is open robbery!" Jin Chengri said, staring with bloodshot eyes.

"Let's hurry up and establish the transportation station and complete the mission as soon as possible." Jin Liuling already knew that there was no need to harbor any illusions about the Japanese; there was no choice but to drive them out.

Jin Liuling and Jin Chengri split up to contact Korean patriots in Pyongyang and soon contacted quite a number of people. The Japanese military scrip was a catalyst; it caused the wealthy locals in Korea to differentiate rapidly. All the wealthy people whose interests were damaged stood on the side opposing Japan. Even the timid ones only dared to be angry but not speak out.

After contacting people, intelligence also increased. The whereabouts of those Koreans arrested by the Japanese began to become clearer. Pyongyang was the most important city in northern Korea. After Japan occupied Korea, it began to build railways on a large scale in Korea. Pyongyang was an important junction for many railways. According to news provided by Piao Lanzheng, who newly joined the anti-Japanese organization, the Japanese sent the arrested Koreans to railway construction sites. These railways were not only to connect various parts of Korea but also to lead to several important mining areas.

Regardless, the Japanese still needed the assistance of some Koreans for now. Jin Liuling and the others managed to find jobs transporting goods for the construction sites. This was not only to see what the Japanese were doing, but having such a collaborator identity could also provide cover for many future actions. Under the strict surveillance of the Japanese army, the transport team participated by several Korean patriots, including Jin Liuling, took on the job of moving supplies to the north.

Northern Korea is mountainous. Pyongyang was named "Pyongyang" (Flat Land) because of its flat terrain and quiet environment. The northwest of the city is low hills, and the east is rolling hills and fertile fields. The Taedong River flowing through the city center and its tributary, the Pothong River, added a bit of charm to Pyongyang. Since ancient times, Pyongyang has had the beautiful name of "Ryugyong" (Willow Capital) because it is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and many willows were planted in Pyongyang city. But now, the willows were basically gone. The transport team Jin Liuling participated in moved many wooden stakes made of willow trees onto the train. To save trouble, the Japanese left tree trunks at least one foot high above the ground when cutting trees. The result was that it was very difficult to dig out the tree roots. Fortunately, Pyongyang lacked fuel, so many citizens secretly collected branches and such to take home, and would also find ways to utilize the tree trunks as much as possible.

But the latest change was that the Japanese side suddenly arrested citizens holding axes and saws in the name of "sabotaging urban construction". In addition to fines, they also confiscated the "tools of the crime". Jin Liuling saw that among the supplies transported this time, there were many axes and saws of local Korean style. Jin Liuling really couldn't imagine that the looting had reached such a frenzied level.

Back when Korea tried to deal with Asian changes on its own, the later Empress Myeongseong was still "Queen Min" at that time. She encouraged Gojong to adopt an enlightenment policy and introduce Japanese influence, planted confidants in the court and the public, recommended relatives to hold important positions, and excluded the Daewongun's forces. The two factions fought constantly, leading to fierce partisan strife in Korea and turbulent regime changes. In the process, Queen Min and the pro-Japanese reformist faction drifted apart. She leaned towards being pro-China and repeatedly used Qing army forces to sweep away political enemies to seek power. After Japan defeated China in the First Sino-Japanese War, Queen Min, who had lost power due to the seizure of power by the pro-Japanese enlightenment faction, wanted to turn to cooperate with Russia to counter Japan. This triggered the "Eulmi Incident" on October 8, 1895. Japanese Minister Miura Goro led Japanese ronin and rebel troops to invade Gyeongbokgung Palace, murdered Queen Min at Okho-ru, and burned her body. They also coerced Gojong to depose her to a commoner. It was not until two years later in 1897, when Gojong changed the country's name to the Korean Empire and proclaimed himself emperor, that Queen Min was reinstated and posthumously titled Empress Myeongseong, and was buried with honors at Hongneung in Geumgok-dong, Namyangju.

Among the group of Korean patriots convened by Jin Liuling now, there was actually no lack of descendants of those families who had supported Japan. The Japanese were now looting and oppressing all Koreans equally; the richer the people, the more they suffered. The Korean bureaucrats who took refuge with the Japanese were not all wealthy; many middle and lower-layer families suffered huge losses, so they turned to seek to drive out the Japanese again.

"If you knew it would be like this, what were you doing back then?" Jin Liuling didn't have any good feelings towards the Manchus, but he still couldn't help muttering in his heart.

The supplies were finally transported to the place. Jin Liuling also knew a little Japanese. He heard the Japanese soldiers responsible for the handover say: "We have transported this month's rations to you."

The unloading place was very close to the construction site. Jin Liuling saw that on the winding mountainous land, a large number of Korean laborers were burying their heads in work under the Japanese soldiers and overseers. It was already April, and the weather wasn't too cold, but the mountain wind still felt quite chilly. Those large numbers of thinly clad Koreans were grey-faced and their clothes were tattered because of moving stones, smashing gravel for railway paving, carrying sleepers, and carrying wooden stakes. As long as they worked a little slowly, the overseers would wave whips and go up to scold or even beat them.

These Korean laborers dared not resist. Moreover, compared to the seemingly quite sturdy Japanese overseers and Japanese soldiers, the Korean laborers looked very thin and weak one by one. But such a large group of sturdy guys holding weapons forcing a group of thin and weak Koreans to work—this scene made Jin Liuling feel extremely pained.

The Japanese army's attitude towards Koreans was quite bad. Jin Liuling just looked around and was immediately scolded by the Japanese army. His companions quickly echoed with a few curses and made Jin Liuling return to the team.

The transport team was not only responsible for unloading but also for loading goods to go back. There weren't many things transported this time, but there were a dozen or so large boxes like coffins that felt very wrong. However, once the train door closed, Jin Liuling hadn't learned how to hop trains, and had no way of knowing what was actually inside.

Taking the train back to Pyongyang, there were several people wearing white coats over their military uniforms who came to pick up the train. Jin Liuling only vaguely heard the Japanese speaking a bunch of words with serious expressions. Jin Liuling was really curious about what was loaded in the car. There were also people working at the train station among this group of Korean patriots, so Jin Liuling asked them to be responsible for inquiring.

Three days later, Jin Liuling went to find the train station personnel who were changing shifts. The patriot working at the train station looked extremely ugly. He paid extreme attention to those "coffins" and finally accidentally overheard the Japanese conversation. Those things that looked quite like coffins turned out to really be coffins, and inside were actually the corpses of Korean laborers. It was said that they were to be sent to Japan for some "medical research specimens".

Hearing this, Jin Liuling's legs went soft and he almost slumped to the ground. Jin Liuling had also accepted a lot of modern knowledge from the People's Party, and he was extremely disgusted with matters of human dissection and specimens in modern medicine. East Asia had the tradition of burial for peace, and dissecting corpses was considered great disrespect. Therefore, the Korean patriot working at the train station didn't know what was going on, but Jin Liuling had already guessed that various medical schools in Japan lacked materials for dissection. Many Koreans died during this railway construction by Japan, and the corpses of these Koreans were transported to Japan to serve as dissection materials and organ specimens for Japanese medical schools.

Based on the weight Jin Liuling felt when participating in the transport and the feeling when they shook, those coffins didn't contain just one corpse, but were stuffed full of corpses. The Japanese side was not only exploiting and bullying Koreans, but even after Koreans died, they were used by the Japanese as specimens. Jin Liuling didn't know when tears began streaming down his face, and he started wailing loudly.

Because he misunderstood the reason for Jin Liuling's bitter crying, the Korean patriot at the train station said with a face full of grief and indignation: "I also found out one thing. The Japanese give the workers on the construction site four liang of rice every day. They are doing heavy work, yet they only eat four liang a day. Isn't this taking people's lives?"