Burning Judy Jun

[Modern Live Streaming Room]

Zhu Dijun cut off the studio signal. He ripped off the lapel microphone and tossed it onto the control panel. Hours of intense output had left his throat parched, as if he'd swallowed sand. He grabbed the half-empty bottle of mineral water and gulped it down. Water trickled down his jawline and into his collar, but he didn't care.

The live stream on the main screen ended, but the comment section on the secondary screen didn't quiet down. The servers were overloaded, and the comments were refreshing so fast they were almost blurry. This live stream about "Xu Guangqi's traitorous behavior" directly ignited the entire internet history community.

Those whose interests have been harmed are starting to feel uneasy.

Accounts with verified yellow V badges and descriptions of researchers at certain historical research institutes have been systematically emerging to stir up trouble. These individuals routinely earn research funding by praising "Sino-Western cultural exchange" and "late Ming enlightenment thought." Zhu Dijun's powerful rebuke is tantamount to smashing their academic livelihoods to pieces.

"This is utter nonsense! Xu Guangqi translated Euclid's Elements and introduced sweet potatoes, saving countless disaster victims! To use modern political terms like 'comprador' and 'traitor' to describe the ancients is utterly despicable historical nihilism!"

"Using a single piece of evidence from a missionary to deny the reputation of a great statesman is utterly shameless in its pursuit of views. I suggest banning this toxic account that damages the image of cultural exchange between China and other countries! Go look at Xu Guangqi's reputation in his hometown; there's still a memorial hall for him in Songjiang!"

These people are known for their sophisticated tactics: labeling people with grand accusations, using academic qualifications to intimidate them, and downplaying the important issues.

Netizens are no longer the naive and easily fooled people they once were. Once the logical loop was established, the awakened people spontaneously organized a counterattack. A massive online exposé that crossed national borders and delved into original foreign language archives was brutally staged in the comments section.

["That's hilarious. Still trying to defend it? Who told you you only have one piece of evidence?"]

A user with the ID "Roman Archives Excavator" posted a long, pinned link. The link contained more than a dozen high-resolution scans, all of which were original archives retrieved from overseas libraries.

"Open your eyes and look. In Macerata, Italy, there's a church dedicated to Matteo Ricci. Two statues stand at the entrance. On the left is Matteo Ricci, and on the right, who is he? Xu Baolu! The same Xu Guangqi you call the great minister! A high-ranking official of the Ming Dynasty, a second-rank Minister of Rites, dressed in Ming Dynasty robes, with a cross around his neck, enshrined in a European church. Westerners have long since concluded that he was the most successful Jesuit representative in the East!"

Another netizen with an international student background quickly followed up with solid evidence.

"Here's some hardcore information! Everyone, go look up Xu Guangqi's granddaughter, Candida Xu. What did this woman do in the early Qing Dynasty? The Jesuit Letters clearly state in black and white that she sold her family property to fund the construction of over a hundred churches in Jiangnan for missionaries! She also funded the printing of hundreds of thousands of Catholic scriptures. Not only that, she used the remaining connections the Xu family had in the Ming Dynasty bureaucracy to bribe local Qing officials and protect foreign spies who were illegally mapping maps. Is this what you call a scholarly family? This is called inheriting the family business and being compradors generation after generation!"

"Translating Euclid's Elements? They only translated half of it before abandoning the project, and the core artillery technology was entirely in the hands of foreigners. Is this what they call cultural exchange? This is called monopolizing technology to create a knowledge barrier, and fooling the Ming emperor into approving land for building a church!"

"Introducing sweet potatoes is even more absurd. Chen Zhenlong from Fujian risked his life to smuggle sweet potato vines back to China from Luzon; he's a civilian hero recorded in official history. How come all the credit is being given to Grand Secretary Xu in the capital? What a blatant attempt to steal the credit!"

As evidence rained down, the previously active verified accounts collectively fell silent. The truth was extremely cruel, showing no mercy. The facade of Ming Dynasty scholar-officials was brutally torn away, revealing the colonial fangs stained with the blood of their compatriots. Public opinion swept through the land, and the so-called great scholars of Western learning were cast into the pillar of shame as traitors to the nation.

Zhu Dijun stood in front of the secondary screen, watching the rapidly scrolling comments. This was just the tip of the iceberg. The atrocities committed by those traitors disguised as scholars were far more heinous than these records suggested.

He turned and walked towards the studio door. The door opened, and the hotel corridor was lit by warm yellow wall lamps.

The hotel where Zhu Dijun was currently staying had extremely high security. The entire floor was reserved by his team. Li Jiujiang, wearing a black tactical vest, was smoking at the elevator entrance. Seeing Zhu Dijun come out, he stubbed out his cigarette in the quartz sand on the trash can and strode forward to greet him.

"Brother Jun, the internet is in an uproar."

Li Jiujiang handed over a bottle of sugar-free oolong tea.

"Let them argue. The more the truth is debated, the clearer it becomes; false history cannot withstand the test of time."

Zhu Dijun took the drink and unscrewed the cap.

Li Jiujiang's gaze swept over the fire escape at the end of the corridor, his vigilance heightened.

"These old pedants of 'mite-related scum' are getting desperate. I just received calls from several platforms saying that someone hired trolls to flood the backend with complaints, trying to shut down your live stream. Several other calls came to my phone, immediately offering prices, asking how much it would cost to shut you up next time, and promising not to make any mistakes."

"Shut up? The Ming Dynasty's three-hundred-year reign was squandered by these people, leaving not a single hair behind. Now you want to buy peace with money?"

Zhu Dijun tossed the beverage bottle onto the coffee table.

"Tell them to save their money for coffins. In the next live stream, I'll dig up their ancestral graves."

Li Jiujiang nodded. Just as he was about to reply, his nostrils twitched twice.

A strange smell wafted through the air.

It's not fragrance. This scent is extremely penetrating, pungent, and has a strong chemical, synthetic character.

Li Jiujiang, having spent years training in special forces, was all too familiar with this smell. It was gasoline, mixed with some kind of aviation-grade combustion enhancer.

He pressed down on the earpiece, lowered his voice, and gave tactical instructions:

"Group A in the corridor reports an unusual odor coming from the fire escape."

There was only a crackling static noise coming from the headphones. There was no response.

Li Jiujiang drew the pistol from his waist.

"Jun-ge, step back. Go back to the studio and lock the door."

Before the words were even finished, a dark red tongue of fire suddenly shot out from the ventilation vent at the end of the corridor. The flames licked the carpet, accompanied by a muffled pop, and the fire, defying all the laws of physics, fanned out and surged wildly towards the elevator entrance.

This was not an accidental fire. It was a chain fire caused by a directional explosion following the spraying of a large area of ​​igniting material with high-pressure spray!

The hotel's fire alarm went silent. The automatic sprinkler heads on the ceiling were shriveled and rusty, not spraying a single drop of water.

"Hold!"

Li Jiujiang cursed loudly. This was too vicious. They cut off the fire alarm system, damaged the sprinkler pipes, and locked the personnel's callback signal.

Those interest groups sitting behind their mahogany desks, spouting academic ethics, saw that online methods couldn't silence Zhu Dijun, so they directly bypassed legal boundaries. They chose the oldest and most effective method used by Ming Dynasty civil officials against political enemies—physical elimination, covering it up with fire.

The fire engulfed the decorative paintings on both sides of the corridor. The intense heat baked the walls, causing them to crackle and crumble. Thick smoke billowed into the first floor through the ventilation ducts, filling the entire space with acrid, toxic fumes.

Li Jiujiang remained calm. He grabbed Zhu Dijun's arm and kicked open the emergency exit door opposite the studio. The heavy fire door made a screeching sound.

"The alarm system was shut down. They even infiltrated the fire control room on the ground floor."

Li Jiujiang moved swiftly, pulling a gas mask from his tactical vest and tossing it to Zhu Dijun.

"Put them on. The roads outside are definitely blocked. Let's take the stairs and rush down!"

Judy pulled on the mask and tightened the straps. He glanced at the corridor, reddened by the firelight, without the slightest fear.

"Killing people to cover their tracks. That's quite an improvement. For centuries, the only way to deal with people we can't handle is by setting fires."

Zhu Dijun's tone was chilling.

The Great Hall of the Ming Dynasty caught fire. The Hall of Imperial Sacrifices caught fire. The Western Garden fire during the Jiajing reign. The Three Great Halls were struck by lightning. These bookish sages never dare to actually fight in the open. They love to pull these unverifiable natural disaster charades.

This same trick has now been carried over to the modern era, intact.

Li Jiujiang pushed open the door to the fire escape staircase, and a wave of heat mixed with thick smoke rushed towards him. There were also fires on the floors below. This was a premeditated, pincer attack, a deadly trap.