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Page 197
"Are you an idiot?" The leader was a small, skinny Asian man. "Walking around here at night, are you an 'unregistered resident' too? This is our home! Get out!"
"Are you the people from Area 11 that they always talk about?"
"Shut up! Call them Japanese!" The skinny guy grinned in Japanese and threw another stone. "Damn it, why are they acting like those Britannian idiots?!"
"Neon gold?"
"Japanese! Do you understand!"
Martina was stunned. She understood the word, but she didn't understand why there were Japanese people here.
"Hey, are you listening to me?! Get the hell away from me?!" The group of people from Area 11 rushed down, pushing Martina back the way they came while punching and kicking her. Unable to stand up, she could only tightly shield her daughter with her body.
Suddenly, a pair of lights came on in the street, and a truck, seemingly having spotted the fluorescent toy on the ground, turned around and drove over.
"What's going on?" One of the two men got off the car; he was also a German man. "Why did you hit her?"
"Tch! Another one?" The skinny guy abandoned Martina and walked over. "Heh, another undocumented resident? What, now that you've become Britannia's dog, you still want to cause trouble for us?"
"Get out of the way!" The middle-aged man shoved him aside and went straight to help Martina and her daughter up. "I don't care what nonsense you're spouting. How can you call yourself a man if you hit a woman?"
"Mind your own business if it's none of your concern, okay?" The skinny guy grabbed the older man by the collar. "She came to our Japanese territory and doesn't even know this place belongs to us. If we don't beat you up, who should we beat up?"
"You? Isn't this Area 11? Isn't this Britannia's territory?" The older man grabbed the skinny man's wrists and started hurling insults, but he clearly misunderstood the meaning of "Japanese." "Aren't you Japanese all here to work? What's so great about being just a grasshopper on the same level? Just because you peeed deeper in this puddles does it mean you can claim this place as yours?"
"You motherfucker, do you want to die?!"
At the young man's command, the skinny guy rallied his men to attack the older man. Seeing this, the older man first pushed Mattina and her daughter towards the truck, then dealt with the situation alone. Another German man in the truck quickly opened his door and prepared to start the truck to drive the rioters away.
"Do you know how to use a cell phone, ma'am? Call the police immediately." He alternated between the steering wheel and the accelerator and brake while trying to pull the man who was still fighting under the car up.
……
"He tried to pull me up, but I'm too fat. Then, somehow, the tire blew out, so I climbed into the car and sat on either side with my friend, protecting my wife and daughter in the middle to prevent them from getting up. I was trying to drag them like this until the police arrived..."
Back to the present, the portly German man wiped the wound on his head and continued to tell Davis about what had happened.
"Then, the helpers called by the people from District 11 planned to overturn the truck. At that moment, my phone rang. It was a friend from that neighborhood. He asked if I had arrived home. He said he heard a lot of noise on the street, so I told him I was in trouble... I told him to just wait for the police to arrive. I didn't expect him to spread the word so quickly that everyone in the German settlement knew that something big had happened here..."
"Oh my God……"
Davis was stunned, and what happened next was even more interesting.
The Germans, armed with sticks and tools, rushed over and started fighting with the people from Area 11. Some even rammed their tricycles or bicycles into the crowd, while others filled bags with garbage, urine, and feces and threw them at the people from Area 11.
Then, reinforcements from Area 11 arrived, including some throwing Molotov cocktails at the Germans, setting their clothes on fire and even setting the older man's truck ablaze. But these Germans, stranded in a foreign land, were not about to suffer in silence. Several older men and women even tackled the young men wielding Molotov cocktails.
What was originally a scene resembling a robbery has turned into a fire scene, with a main street resembling an African savanna engulfed in wildfire, filled with the fighting of living beings and the agonizing screams of those scorched by the flames.
……
Before the paramedics arrived, across from Davis and Taylor, Martina sat helplessly on the street, wiping the blood from her wailing daughter's face.
Despite her desperate attempt to protect her, a glass bottle still struck Sandra squarely, shards cutting her once-perfect lips and nose.
That glow stick had long been trampled into pieces by the crowd pushing and fighting on the street. The last few tubes flickered with their last glimmer of light, like weeping eyes, or like an angry, beating heart.
Chapter 250, Section 330: Crystal Night, Scorching Cherry Blossoms at Dusk
The streets where riots and fights broke out last night are now only covered with charcoal and bloodstains. The afternoon passed relatively peacefully as Davis and his team searched the Tokyo Concession with the police.
Their target was Germans, which was an order from the police department, and might seem rather unfair to outsiders.
From a psychological perspective, in areas beyond the reach of law enforcement, the native inhabitants of Area 11 are indeed more annoying than cockroaches on the stove. The conquerors, on the one hand, are careless in contributing their labor to the conquerors, and on the other hand, rarely dare to engage in direct conflict, let alone sabotage, except with the Liberation Front and the Black Knights. These inexplicably yellow-skinned people seem to revel in this: enclosing their own territory and looking after themselves.
In the ruins outside the concessions in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sendai, and other places, in small towns and villages far from the three major metropolitan areas, the people of Area 11 exclude all Britannian civilians who enter in a way that is not very public. As long as there are no police or soldiers, they have the audacity to do whatever they want.
If you encounter a traveler, they'll snatch your backpack and beat you up; if you encounter a student, they'll throw a rock and smash their camera; if you accidentally wander into a Japanese cemetery, you'll be smashed to the ground with a hoe and chopped in the face with a shovel.
[Author's note: This is not a joke; something similar actually happened in the original story.]
It was only natural that a large number of the people from District 11 who started the trouble were arrested and put in jail. However, the Germans, who had gone too far in their self-defense, also broke some rules. According to the police who participated in the suppression at the time, they heard a sound similar to a shotgun coming from the Germans' side, which was clearly different from Taylor's military pistol.
According to Britannia's firearms control laws, civilians can only apply for permits to possess these non-military firearms after becoming honorary Britannians. The Germans may have acted in self-defense, but they violated the rules, so they were bound to take action.
“We found firearms at your residence. I’m sorry, you have to come with us.” Garcia and another policeman escorted a German man from the store into a police car, arresting him while he was on duty.
“Can you feel it, sir?” Philip put the cross hanging on his chest in his mouth and played with it. “The expressions of the bystanders were different when the people from Area 11 were arrested and when the Germans were arrested.”
"Isn't that right? You're only just realizing it?"
"Wow, look at their faces. Handling the Japanese is like they're getting a freebie, while handcuffing the Germans is like they've been through a frost."
“The diligence and hard work of the Hans are not just talk; they are definitely much better than those lazy, slackers who are full of complaints.” Davis paused. “Also, today I saw that Nazi kid named Karlstadt seemed to have been promoted. From what I heard when he was talking to another high-ranking officer, it seemed like he was going to do a big clean-up.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of orderly footsteps came from the street in the distance. Citizens on both sides of the avenue looked curiously at the Aryan special forces approaching in front of them. Each of them was dressed in black uniforms, with a team member armband on their left arm that resembled the color of a swastika, and they carried assault rifles, short sticks and pistols at their waists. They moved slowly forward, accompanied by a cold, bloodthirsty wind.
Following closely behind them were several infantry fighting vehicles and military trucks, and in the distance, several policemen could be seen setting up roadblocks on the street. Perhaps the only difference from an SS parade was the absence of that gilded pole that copied the Roman eagle banner.
"You sensed it too, didn't you? The Japanese are in trouble now."
……
In the Tokyo concessions, citizens with legal status were allowed to set up shops and stalls, including people from Japan. A typical day here consisted of sitting properly behind a counter or pushing a cart around the square.
The sun was setting, and they were preparing to close up shop and return to their lodgings to wait for the sunrise the next day.
Until the night, with its Prussian goose-like steps, arrived first...
No one knew what had happened. Everyone was in a panic, as if facing a raging tsunami. The eyes on those dozens of black uniforms looked terrifying, as if they wanted to press everyone's heads into a sea of blood and drown them.
Karlstadt, with Gunther and Henrik, walked at the back of the procession in a triangle, each holding a PDA with a street map in their hands, while Schreiber took charge of leading the procession.
“Hmm…” Karlstadt, despite now holding the rank of lieutenant colonel, was having a headache over what he was about to do. “The higher-ups have repeatedly told us to ‘control our behavior and not create any overly abrupt news during this period,’ but I don’t understand what they mean.”
“I’ve heard that it was specially approved by the newly appointed governor’s daughter and the Seventh Knight of the Round Table,” Gunther reminded him.
"So, I'm very curious about the relationship between that disabled girl and the imperial envoy with Japanese ancestry." Henrik smiled as he wiped his monocle. "Could it be that the people from Area 11 gave their emperor a virus?"
“Then, I’m afraid we need to play our roles even better.” Karlstadt stopped the troops and called Schreiber over the radio, “Captain, let’s begin here.”
"Did you hear that, everyone?" Schreiber excitedly raised his right hand, clenching it into a fist. "Stand der Schlacht! (Battle stance!)"
……
In an instant, the team members transformed into vampire bats that flew out of the dark cave and wreaked havoc. They rushed towards anything marked "Operated by people from Area 11," pulled out short sticks, and smashed them indiscriminately on storefronts and counters.
"What are you doing?!"
The crowd that had been watching the commotion nearby was thrown into chaos. Some fled in panic, while others cowered inside the shop, covering their heads. The black-clad team members who kicked down the shop door and smashed the windows were clearly targeting specific individuals. They used lights or flashlights to identify faces inside, and once someone matched the description of an Asian, they would be brutally beaten.
The collapse of the scaffolding and the shattering of the glass, the cries of the civilians and the pounding of sticks, all seemed to be like a torrential downpour, completely obscuring the light from the street. Darkness and crimson became the main themes, and of course, there was also the bone-crunching sound of gunfire.
Karlstadt stood on the infantry fighting vehicle, watching with satisfaction as his men dragged District 11 people out of the houses one by one. They punched and kicked them, slammed them against lampposts, grabbed handfuls from trash cans and stuffed them into their mouths before throwing them in. Some even went so far as to grab several District 11 people who had been beaten unconscious and tore long ropes from the tarpaulins in front of the shops or the clothes inside the shops and put them around their necks.
Henrik wasn't idle either. He got a camera and slowly turned around to record the scenes on the street—his expression was one of contentment, as if he were watching his own cats, dogs, and rabbits playing happily on the lawn in his backyard.
Schreiber and several soldiers walked to the hatch at the rear of the infantry fighting vehicle, but when the others asked for a ladder, he asked for a flamethrower.
"Hmm, there are quite a few die-hards, Captain?" Karlstadt smiled slightly at him, then reached for his radio.
……
"To all members of the Aryan Special Forces, I am Lieutenant Colonel Karlstadt, and I would like to reiterate the 'clean-up' regulations."
"Anyone confirmed to be from District 11 and operating a business there must be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted. Furthermore, the property and personal safety of undocumented residents and those with a reputation for dishonesty must not be maliciously damaged."
"No looting is permitted during the 'cleaning' process."
"If someone from outside District 11 obstructs the 'cleaning' process, they will only be given a non-fatal punishment."
"If the people of District 11 resist with weapons, lethal measures such as shooting with firearms will be permitted, and the burning of shops will also be allowed!"
"Report immediately if you suspect the other party of possessing weapons. At the same time, keep an eye on non-Asian civilians. If you find a man with black curly hair, black pupils, a large beard, and a hooked nose, you may remove his pants for a circumcision examination!"
The special operations team didn't have many members to begin with, and it would take some time to handle one shop and one person at a time. Among the people they recruited, it didn't seem that all of them were true SS members.
For example, on the left, Karlsstadt found two idiots holding onto a strip of cloth, but they couldn't get it around the dying Japanese man.
"Scheisse!" He jumped off the infantry fighting vehicle in a panic, and slapped each of the two boys across the face. "You've been a scoundrel for half your life, and you can't even do this simple thing right? If you don't have a rope, can't you use something else?"
He had the soldiers pin the middle-aged man from District 11 against the wall, then grabbed a large parasol from the front of a nearby coffee shop, folded the ribs, aimed it at the man's throat, and thrust the tip of the parasol through his neck like a spear.
Karlstadt clapped his hands, signaling everyone to continue working, leaving the middle-aged man's body hanging in front of the store like a spatula on a hook.
……
As night fell, the Tokyo concessions seemed to have stepped into hell. Residents in the city center stood on their rooftops and could see the elevated light rail overpasses around the city glowing red and purple from the flames and thick smoke. These elevated bridges, located on the outermost edge of the concessions, also marked the boundary of the slums and were home to a large number of people from the 11th district.
The Aryan Special Forces roamed every street frequented by people from Area 11, smashing and looting half-dead civilians with weapons, setting fire to the ravaged storefronts, and even sending blindly loyalists rushing out of the streets with submachine guns, shouting "Long live Japan!" and "ZERO-sama!"
To the cold eyes and smile beneath the black uniform, this was nothing more than a snack for infantry fighting vehicles during their downtime while they were busy cleaning up shops, and the perfect choice to add to the streets and reduce their health.
The gunshots were merely a brief interlude; the clanging of spent shell casings was quickly drowned out by the sirens of the fire brigades waiting on the outskirts of the streets. They weren't there to carry out some selfless act of justice; they were waiting outside the roadblocks alongside the military and police who had blocked traffic, their purpose being to prevent the fire from spreading and harming innocent bystanders.
The civilians watching all this were in utter disbelief. They couldn't understand why the usually dutiful firefighters were so negligent today, nor could they understand why the once bustling and orderly Tokyo Concession had suddenly become an abandoned wasteland, with cries for help and the annihilation of lives turning into wisps of black smoke in the sea of fire, sinking into the abyss along with the collapsing buildings.
Schreiber was tired after a busy day. He took a walk with a few team members in the dilapidated streets engulfed in flames. He handed the flamethrower to someone else, took out a chocolate bar with its packaging stained red from his pocket, and chewed it with relish, mixing it with the blood.
"Hmm?" They walked to a flat stone path that led to a clearing surrounded by withered trees. By the firelight, they could vaguely see a mahogany frame that looked like a manor gate.
"What do people in Japan call this? Torii, right?" Schreiber asked the person next to him.
"Let me look at the map." The team member flipped through it. "Hmm, this is one of the more famous shrines near Tokyo. It was destroyed a long time ago, and now all that's left are things for people in Japan to make wishes on."
"Make a wish?" Schreiber was pondering when an infantry fighting vehicle with a cargo bed pulled up in front of them.
"How do we get out?" the soldier driving the car asked.
What are you transporting?
"The District 11 thugs who were killed, we had previously exchanged fire with a group that may have been members of the Black Knights."
"You want to dispose of the body? Leave that to me."
"Hey, what are you doing?" The driver watched as Schreiber climbed into the cargo bed, rummaged through the pile of dead bodies, and then watched incredulously as he raised his pistol and fired a few shots.
"You didn't finish off the body." He said casually before jumping down. "The car and its contents are yours. I know where to park it back for you."
……
This stone-paved path is what the people of District 11 call the approach to the temple. The team went full throttle, smashing each of the surviving statues of the divine messengers and stone lanterns along the way into pieces. If the torii gates hadn't been so big, they probably would have been cut in half.
The main buildings of the shrine have long since collapsed into piles of weeds. Only a lush cherry blossom tree and an ema (votive plaque) remain in the open space in front of the main hall, bearing the wishes made by countless people from Japan over the years. This is one of the few dozen cherry blossom trees left in the entire Tokyo slum.
Shinto shrines are somewhat similar to Christian churches, but there are no cemeteries nearby – the impurities of corpses are handled by Buddhist temples.
“Hmm.” Schreiber squatted down, looking at the stone lantern that had been knocked over, which still seemed to have been lit recently. “The people in District 11 can’t light their lanterns today, so let’s help them out.”
The corpses in the cargo container were thrown one by one at the foot of the cherry blossom trees and ema (votive plaques). The shrine, which should have been filled with the fragrance of cherry blossoms at night, was instead permeated with a heavy stench of desecration and decay.
"Okay, you guys drive the car back to them first." With his flamethrower slung over his shoulder, Schreiber stood alone under the cherry blossom tree for a long time. He couldn't understand the kanji and kana written by the Japanese, but who cares about the waving antennae on an ant before stepping on it?
The flamethrower valve clicked open, and he watched as flames burst forth from the corpse, sprouting and growing into plants, slowly climbing up the trunks of the ema (votive plaques) and cherry blossom trees beside him. This was a grand gift he enjoyed alone in the night, the best dryer for his blood-soaked hands.
Flames engulfed the branches and cherry blossoms, turning the lush cherry trees into a magnificent yet terrifying pink torch under the night sky. All the beautiful words and pure wishes entrusted to it, amidst the roar of the flames, the screams of the fierce wind, and the sound of ashes peeling away, pierced a huge and shining scar in the dark sky, shimmering with countless scalding cherry-colored tears, drifting and flying into the silent and cold sky, vanishing into nothingness.
……
Who set it on fire? It was the person whose actions disgraced their cherry blossom kingdom, and the person who didn't belong here and continued to make mistakes.
……
At that moment, a patrolling infantry fighting vehicle stopped in the desolate slum streets.
Stasevich and his two companions, three Soviet soldiers, spotted the shimmering lights in the night sky from afar.
Looking down at the ground, he noticed a small, bright spot that caught his eye. He picked it up and saw that it appeared to be a broken glow stick. The power source was still working, and the light bulb was flashing, echoing the distant, brightly lit cherry blossom trees.
"The Germans are really fighting tooth and nail with the people of Area 11, aren't they? Well then, perhaps it's time for us to step on the gas pedal on their road to conflict."
Chapter 251, Section 331: Among the Common People
"A day has passed since the series of tragic events, and the streets outside the Tokyo Concession are still being cleaned and repaired by relevant personnel. The following is a report on the casualty figures from the two clashes released by the government."
“在15日夜晚11区平民与无籍居民发生的大规模骚乱中，共计造成了约380名平民不同程度受伤，有3名无籍居民和4名11区人在抢救无效身亡，同时还有6部机动或非机动车辆在其间被焚毁。”
"From the evening of the 16th to the early morning of the 17th, the Aryan Special Forces launched a so-called cleanup operation in a block stretching 8 kilometers from southwest to northwest on the edge of the concession area. This operation resulted in the deaths of 465 people from the 11th ward, injuries to 1822 people, and the arrest of 231 people. More than 500 shops and stalls were damaged, and the cherry blossom tree 'Kimang' at the ruins of Sakara Shrine was also burned during the cremation operation."