Wilson's slender fingers pinched the edge of the Ta Kung Pao, his knuckles slightly tingling from the force. On the front page of the newspaper, the bold headline "Suspected Anti-epidemic Experiment Site Appeared in Southern Suburbs" was like a sharp sword, piercing his blue pupils and shrinking them suddenly.

"Oh my God..." Wilson muttered to himself. He slumped in the chair, his eyes still fixed on the photo. The innocent face of his daughter in London kept appearing in his mind. The miserable conditions of children in newspapers made him feel sick and angry.

This is not just a medical ethics issue, it is a war crime!

"Knock knock knock——"

"Enter."

The door was gently pushed open, and a faint smell of disinfectant wafted in. Doctor He Wei from Gospel Hospital walked into the office, his gray sideburns were meticulously combed, and he was wearing a dark gray three-piece suit with a medical gown over it. The pocket watch chain in his left breast pocket glowed with bronze.

Wilson was a little surprised: "Mr. He Wei?"

"Mr. Wilson." He Wei's Oxford accent was even colder than usual, and he put a brown paper file on the desk. "I think you should take a look at this."

Wilson untied the cotton string of the file bag, and a stack of photos slid out, including bacterial samples under a microscope, densely packed pinholes on a child's arm, and close-ups of experimental logs annotated in Japanese.

"Oh my God..." Wilson's fingertips lingered on the Japanese seal of "Greater East Asia Epidemic Prevention Experiment".

"My student vomited three times while cleaning the iron beds with alcohol!" He Wei's deep eye sockets were burning with anger. "I have been practicing medicine for decades and have never seen such a violation of the Hippocratic Oath!"

Outside the window, the whistle of a ship at the dock sounded, and for a moment the only sound in the room was the crackling of the wood in the fireplace. Wilson stared at a glass petri dish in the photo, with a label that read "Strain No. 7" on it.

"I will report to London immediately." Wilson finally spoke, his voice seemed to come from far away, "The League of Nations will hold a special meeting of the Health Committee next week..."

He Wei suddenly pulled out a brass key from his suit pocket: "In the freezer in the basement of Gospel Hospital, pathological samples of three children are kept." The key made a harsh friction sound when it was pushed across the table. "If Tokyo quibbles, this is the most direct evidence."

After the old man left, Wilson sat alone at the table and thought for a moment. Then he picked up the ink-filled pen and wrote quickly, the tip of the pen almost scratching the paper:

"To the Far East Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Conclusive evidence of Japanese military live experiments has been found in Tianjin. It is recommended that the United States, France and the League of Nations submit an emergency motion. Attached is a medical appraisal report and imaging evidence. There are also biological samples stored in the Gospel Hospital. Wilson, January 17, 1921"

"James!" He rang the bell to summon the telegraph operator, stuffed the message and the photo into the diplomatic pouch, and "sent it to London by secret telegram from the consulate, with a copy to the League of Nations headquarters in Geneva, through the special channel of the French mail ship Joffre."

The operator visibly shook when he touched the photo. Wilson held his shoulder and said, "Remember, everyone in these photos could be our child."

In the temporary command post in the southern suburbs, the flames in the charcoal basin swayed in the cold wind, casting a flickering shadow on Xie Yunshen's thin profile. He was wearing a military coat and staring at the epidemic report on the table with a frown.

"Report!"

Li Sheng pushed the door open, wrapped in cold air, and the snow and mud on his military boots left dark marks on the rough wooden floor. He took off his military cap and took out a telegram from his inner pocket, but his frozen fingers could hardly hold it.