Honesty

Inside the cookhouse, not a sound could be heard. The silence was so deep it was almost noisy.

Mysterious smiles appeared on Mo Hu and the veteran's faces. Clearly, they both knew what was about to happen.

The many recruits shook their heads in unison. They were either sons of respectable families or men of greater physical strength selected from other camps.

Fighting was certainly common enough, but as for killing, they had neither had the opportunity nor the nerve to do it.

Killing was not like drinking water or eating a meal, something one could simply decide to do. The first time still required a measure of courage.

Moreover, killing a living human being—one who might even beg for mercy—did indeed place a certain psychological burden on a person.

Flesh flying, brains splattering, intestines that had been coiled inside the belly spilling out in a steady stream, hearts and lungs still contracting when they were ripped from a living body.

Such scenes would bring immense shock and pressure to anyone seeing them for the first time.

They could slowly grow accustomed to such things now, but on the battlefield, one careless moment would cost them their lives.

Of course, some people would feel nothing at all in the face of such things, but most people ultimately needed time to adapt.

Therefore, before sending their personal guards onto the battlefield, they had to let them see blood and grow accustomed to such situations.

The many recruits shook their heads. Only Chen Mo gave it some thought before slowly nodding.

There was no way to conceal his past. He had fled the disaster all the way here. Though killing was uncommon among refugees, it was hardly unheard-of.

Especially among the refugees who had fled here—one did not need to think too hard to know that many of them had killed people. If they did not kill, they might be killed.

Rather than keep hiding it and have someone discover his identity later, realizing that he had deceived them about this matter, it would instead make him seem somewhat guilty.

He might as well admit it openly now. In any case, no one would punish him for it.

Those people had struck at him first. He had acted in self-defense.

Under the Great Qian Law, killing in self-defense was not a crime.

Besides, no one would investigate too deeply into what happened in a disaster zone.

On the contrary, if he kept concealing it, he could not guarantee that people would not start imagining things.

After all, not every refugee who had made it here had been forced to kill. Some might have killed willingly.

When he nodded, everyone turned their eyes toward him in unison.

General Sun was also somewhat baffled. Ever since he had discovered some time ago that Chen Mo could sense his killing intent, he had been puzzled, though he had not yet investigated him closely.

Now Chen Mo had taken the initiative to admit that he had killed people. Could he be a notorious bandit who had joined the army to escape punishment?

But that did not make sense. If that were truly the case, why would he admit to having killed anyone?

"When did you kill them? How many did you kill?" General Sun asked, narrowing his eyes.

"I'm not a local. I only came to our area recently while fleeing the disaster. Everyone I killed was someone who tried to kill me and steal my food along the way. Seventeen or eighteen, I suppose. I can't really remember!" Chen Mo spoke slowly and methodically, delivering the draft he had prepared in his heart.

In truth, he really could not remember exactly how many people he had killed. It might have been seventeen or eighteen, or it might have been more.

Every day during his flight, he had been desperately hungry, thinking only of finding something to eat. He had had no spare energy to remember such trivial matters.

Killing people was indeed somewhat difficult for these recruits, who had at least been able to eat their fill before this.

But to Chen Mo back then, it had simply not been worth much thought.

General Sun was stunned when he heard this. He had seen Chen Mo's household registration before and had always assumed he was a local.

When Chen Mo joined the army, his household registration had naturally been transferred to the previous military camp.

His place of origin before enlisting clearly stated that he was from Qingmu County. Now it seemed the recruiting soldiers had simply taken the easy way out and filled everything in with a single answer.

That was perfectly normal and not worth much surprise. He simply had not thought of it before.

Seen in that light, it was only natural that Chen Mo could sense his killing intent.

The disaster in Qing Province had been far too severe. If Chen Mo had not been perceptive enough to flee all the way here, he would have died on the road long ago.

Mo Hu, meanwhile, wore a look of astonishment and disbelief, staring fixedly at Chen Mo.

Killing people was truly no difficult matter for him. Seventeen or eighteen was not many in his eyes; he had hacked to death far more than that long ago.

Even Chen Mo calmly saying that he had killed seventeen or eighteen people as though he were drinking water or eating did not seem particularly remarkable to him.

Only the recruits who had never been to a battlefield would be shocked and shaken by it.

For veterans who had seen years of battle, discussing killing was merely an everyday triviality, hardly worth taking seriously.

What astonished and utterly surprised him was that he had never imagined Chen Mo, who usually looked honest and simple, with nothing in his head but food and concern only for the cookhouse's meals—

Even on leave, after taking a bath, he would neither go drinking at a tavern nor visit a half-veiled brothel, nor go gambling at a gaming house.

He devoted himself entirely to either braised-meat stalls or small eateries, thinking all day about eating a few more bites of meat. No matter how one looked at him, he seemed a thoroughly honest man.

Yet he had actually killed seventeen or eighteen people!

They had originally thought he was a harmless little kitten, only to discover that he was a fierce tiger that devoured men!

The contrast was simply too great!

For a moment, Mo Hu found it difficult to accept.

In truth, he was not the only one who could not accept it. The many recruits at the table were all astonished after learning the news.

Two recruits sitting beside Chen Mo swallowed nervously, then quietly edged away from him in unison.

Killing was no great matter to veterans in the army who had seen years of war, but those veterans rarely discussed such things in their daily lives.

Many recruits actually knew that the veterans had certainly killed people, and plenty of them at that.

But Chen Mo was different. They were all recruits, and they had interacted fairly often because they trained together.

Even without deliberately befriending him, after more than two months they had all grown somewhat familiar with one another.

The impression Chen Mo had always left on the many recruits was that of a plain, honest, and simple man. He always wore a smile when speaking with them. No matter how one looked at him, he seemed quite amiable.

Yet someone like that had actually killed seventeen or eighteen people. Judging by his tone and manner, it seemed that this had not been any more difficult than drinking water or eating.

The shock this brought to the recruits was indeed rather great.

"Mm. Since that's the case, just follow them over and take a look this time." Sun Shouren remained quite composed as he made his decision.

He did not particularly care that Chen Mo was not a local.

After all, the personal guards who would be added to the camp later could at most be considered fellow townsmen in a broad sense. They were all from Xingyuan Prefecture.

In truth, if one looked closely, the relationship between them and him was not much different from his relationship with Chen Mo.

If he cared about such things, he would never have expanded the scope of recruitment in the first place.

Besides, even among the hundred-odd veterans, some were not of the same clan as him, and some were not even from the same hometown.

Whether a person could be used ultimately depended on him.

"Understood." Chen Mo nodded in agreement.

The many personal guards formed ranks and jogged toward the camp's exit.

As the governor of a prefecture, Sun Shouren could, without a transfer order, take at most five hundred men out of the camp.

Moreover, they could not wear iron armor, and at most they could carry fifty bows.

As for leather armor and ordinary weapons such as swords and spears, there were not many restrictions.

But rules were rules. As long as he was not discovered, he had not broken the law.

Of course, General Sun would not casually take a large force of elite soldiers out of camp. Moving men and horses cost money and would also waste training time.

The many personal guards hurried several miles beyond the military camp, arriving near a mass grave. Dozens of condemned prisoners transported from various counties had already been brought there.

By now, even the dimmest of the personal guards could guess what would happen next. Most wore unconcealed nervousness on their faces.

Chen Mo, Mo Hu, and a small number of veterans, however, looked indifferent and did not care in the slightest.

"Do it," General Sun ordered. Steel swords were distributed to the many personal guards one after another.

The prisoners were beheaded one by one, and countless sprays of flesh and blood filled the air.

The recruits displayed every possible reaction. Some were nauseated and nervous; others were excited and fearful. Only a tiny handful remained utterly calm.

Chen Mo did not take part. He had killed plenty of people, and there was no need to waste another condemned prisoner on him now.

After the personal guards had finished steeling their nerves, Sun Shouren led them away. As for the corpses, someone else would take care of them.

The days that followed continued as usual. Chen Mo trained in the military camp every day, and before he knew it, more than another month had passed.