Numerous black and white photos appeared on the huge curved screen OLED HD TV mounted on the wall.
It was obvious that the black and white photos had undergone digital restoration in order to return the images back to their original states.
But photography and film technology from half a century ago was destined to be no competition with modern high definition photography technology, despite being restored.
Regardless of this, the slightly blurred black and white photos shocked the people in the study to their very cores.
Aside from Huo Shaoheng, who had already viewed the photos many times but still felt uncomfortable every time he saw them, the other three people kept their eyes glued to the screen.
Gu Nianzhi’s initial reaction upon seeing these photos was to shut her eyes. It was truly too horrific to look at.
But she instinctively knew that Huo Shaoheng would never play unrelated photos, so she forced herself to open her eyes and look.
The photos were all taken during World War II.
The numb faces appearing on the black and white photos seemed to no longer belong to people. Instead, they had already lost any human feelings and consciousness.
They were only a tree branch or blade of grass, so they couldn’t cry out like humans despite being destroyed, crushed, seized, or killed.
Or perhaps they did scream, but their cries were already wiped into oblivion under the extreme torture.
Most Huaxia citizens had tears in their eyes every time they looked at this part of history. They warned themselves and felt indignant once again.
Huo Shaoheng’s emotionless voice was like the narration to a documentary as he calmly began to speak in the study.
“…This was part of secret data gleaned in the Northeastern part of the Huaxia Empire after winning the war. These were all research photos taken by that infamous Japanese numerical unit.
“They used live humans to conduct countless, cruel experiments. They used data taken from experiments done on Huaxia citizens and published this in all sorts of scientific papers. For example, this unit was responsible for determining the percentage of water in the human body.”
Gu Nianzhi’s hand instinctively grabbed onto her T-shirt; she could scarcely catch her breath.
Reinitz watched the TV expressionlessly and also replied with calm, “…Japan has truly done many disgusting and horrible things. The atrocities they committed had exceeded the original purpose of the war. The destruction of humanity was purely the result of unbridled human evil. We are very sorry that we cooperated with a country like that.”
Huo Shaoheng laughed and looked down. “Isn’t it a bit too late for you to say this kind of thing now?”
“Regardless of whether it’s too late or not, this is my sincere sentiment,” Reinitz said as he cast his eyes towards Gu Nianzhi. He glanced at her typically pretty and lively face that was now frightened pale as a sheet and said, “…Sorry.”
Gu Nianzhi’s voice trembled as she said, “Those are not your sins, they belong to other people. You don’t need to apologize.”
“Not his sins? Ha…” Huo Shaoheng smiled slightly as he shook his head, his fingers gently clicking on the cursor to play another set of photos and data.
“The photos and data you saw just now are also mentioned in history books. I don’t need to explain their important connection to the situation we are investigating.
“Next, I will show you another set of secret data. This was the most confidential operation that the infamous Japanese numerical troop created. It was also their most horrible operation. It was so secretive that they still refuse to relinquish it even to this day and terrible enough that they didn’t dare to present it after they lost the war and use it to be pardoned of charges after the war.
“Earlier, I played the horrible experimental data created by those sick minded people. The leaders of the numerical unit dared to use this and gave it to the winning countries in exchange for the freedom of not being charged.
“As for these operations, they concealed it with their lives and didn’t reveal anything at all.
“But good prevails over evil after all. When Japan pulled out of their bases in the Northeastern part of the Huaxia Empire, they failed to completely destroy a set of data. In other words, our own Huaxia people didn’t want to see these Japanese people destroy evidence of their crimes. They sacrificed their own lives to preserve the data from the fire.
“Although this is just an extremely small portion of it, seeing one spot enables us to know it’s a leopard. From these tiny bits of top-secret data, combined with our country’s historical records, we are able to piece together Japan’s crazed and evil plan,” Huo Shaoheng said.
Gu Nianzhi instantly stopped breathing. She turned around to look at Huo Shaoheng in anticipation of him revealing the riddle.
Huo Shaoheng looked at her calmly before revealing a consoling smile. He then opened another folder.
The folder was titled “Operation Genetic Transfer.”
A sentence appeared on the TV screen.
“This came from a written record dating back to the Song dynasty, ‘Qingbo Notes.’ The Wakoku[1] ship sailed to the Song borders, carrying twenty or thirty people. The Wakoku women would meet Huaxia men and choose the best-looking ones to sleep with. This was called borrowed seed.”
Huo Shaoheng continued to explain calmly, saying, “This sentence means that beginning from the Song dynasty, Japan had been sending large groups of women to the Huaxia Empire to borrow our genes. Whenever they saw tall, strong, and handsome Huaxia men, they would offer to sleep with them until they were impregnated.
“These pregnant Japanese women would be sent back to Japan like they were treasures. They were treated extremely well by all sorts of noble families and taken as wives. As for the children born from these women, their sons became heirs of great families, and the daughters were considered even more terrible. The noble families would fight to have her marry into their families and improve their genes.
“So, the Japanese aristocrats were known as the Huaxia people.”
Reinitz’s lips trembled as he sighed emotionally. “…So, their ambitions began from ancient times,” he said.
“That’s right. We could only say they acted like thieves back then. But during the First and Second World Wars, their ambitions grew exponentially when they saw the weak and poverty-stricken Huaxia Empire.
“They were no longer satisfied with stealing like thieves, so they began to commit compulsive, large scale plunder.”
Huo Shaoheng opened the second to last file inside the folder, his expression growing even darker.
“Beginning in World War I, Japan had already set up concentration camps in the Northeastern region of the Huaxia Empire.
“By the time World War II began, the infamous numerical unit expanded the size of the concentration camp and especially tracked down tall and handsome men from all over the Huaxia Empire to be sent there.
“In this place, these men were literally stallions. Their only purpose was to copulate with Japanese women and impregnate them to birth countless babies.
“There was no modern artificial insemination at the time, so pregnancy required the most primitive method.
“This type of copulation did not allow for worldly pleasures but was daily and endless forced labor. This caused the men to age very quickly and die young.
“When the war ended, everyone there was killed off. But a few of them were smart and bold enough to use their lives to reserve part of the data. However, these people were also killed off as well. By the time our people took over the concentration camp, the conditions were as we saw in those horrific photos.”
If the concentration camp hadn’t been carefully combed through, this precious data would have never been discovered. The evidence of these crimes would probably be buried in the river of time.
This was indeed a very tragic part of history, but what did it have to do with Gu Xiangwen? What did it have to do with Gu Nianzhi?
Gu Nianzhi’s heart was about to leap out of her throat as she said anxiously, “…But I don’t have any Japanese genes or blood at all. This was already proven before.”
During her estate feud against Gu Yanran, Gu Nianzhi had used this information to defeat Gu Yanran in court.
“Right.” Huo Shaoheng nodded and said, “You don’t have any Japanese genes, but that doesn’t mean you have nothing to do with this.
“It’s worth pointing out that during World War II, the numerical unit discovered that the children born from decades of using Huaxia men to breed with Japanese women were not extraordinary in any way. There was very limited evidence of improved genes.
“So, the leader of the numerical troop changed his plan and decided to cease using Huaxia men to mate with Japanese women. Instead, he used Huaxia men to mate with Huaxia women and screened the offspring.”
[1]: The Wakoku are the Japanese.