A tall, powerfully built man came sprinting over like a leopard, the paving stones cracking beneath his feet!
When he neared the ruined courtyard,
his pace slowed noticeably, and immense grief showed on his face.
The collapsed courtyard walls, broken bricks and uneven ground, mangled bodies, blood splattered everywhere, flesh hanging all around—the familiar faces, one after another, wore the look of the unavenged dead.
Ning Da's heart bled. His face twisted, and the veins bulged on his forehead and neck.
His heavy breathing echoed like that of a ferocious beast.
He didn't attack the man right away. Instead, he silently gathered the bodies of his fellow soldiers, piecing them together in the open space and placing each head back with its body.
"Taian Year Fifteen—that's when you enlisted, Gou Dan. When you first came in, you were stubborn as hell. I singled you out to beat you, and I even broke your leg back then. But you were stubborn to the end, too. You'd rather die than submit!"
"Quan, you were the cleverest one. How come you didn't come warn me this time?"
"Wang San, you said that once we'd made enough money together, we'd find some peaceful county, marry eight or ten wives, and raise a whole flock of brats. How come you couldn't wait for me?"
Ning Da's mouth rumbled with a low, heavy voice.
He knew every body by name, and told the stories they shared.
When he'd laid all the bodies out in the open space,
the grief in his eyes deepened. Beneath his increasingly calm expression, murderous intent surged like a raging sea!
He didn't shrink from the mangled bodies or the organs scattered across the ground.
He carefully put each of his fellow soldiers in order for the last time.
Ning Da sat beside the bodies, chatting with them one by one. Whenever he reached an exciting part of a story, his voice grew loud and fierce!
Shi Wen hadn't left either.
He picked up a jar of wine and washed the blood from his hands.
Once they were clean,
he sat on the ground, took out some Grey Meat jerky he'd brought with him, and chewed on it casually. He ate five pounds of Grey Meat, washed it down with wine from the jar, then tipped every last pill from the porcelain bottle into his mouth.
He chewed the pills in great mouthfuls, as if they were sugar candies.
His abundant qi and blood surged through his body with a rushing sound. The effects of Taibao Hard Qigong restored him, and scabs formed across his skin.
The gash at his waist
sprouted a dense tangle of tiny buds of flesh, soon forming a hideous scar like a centipede.
The bleeding stopped.
Though he was only at the "Half-Step Blood-Coagulation Realm," his recovery was more than a notch above that of someone in the Blood-Tempering Realm!
Ning Da didn't attack. He seemed more like a despairing soldier, his fighting spirit gone.
He grabbed the wine jar and took a long swig.
The liquor ran down his chin and soaked his clothes, but he didn't care.
Holding his wine jar, Xiao Se recalled the past. "We Border Army soldiers guard the frontier year after year. We have to fend off the Gray Mist beyond the high walls and those monsters—that much we can put up with. But the court withholds our pay year after year. We're often stationed in bitterly cold places, short on supplies and rations. The people above shout about the emperor's boundless authority, then use us like dogs!"
"We don't have enough clothes to cover ourselves. Sometimes, just to get food and clothing, we have to fight those things in the Gray Mist and hunt down Alien Sources to trade for a meal!"
"Those bastards are greedy as hell. Alien Sources can fetch thousands of taels of silver, and all they give us brothers is a little food and meat. Hahahahahaha, those sons of bitches are greedy as hell!"
When his grief and outrage rose, Xiao Se's voice caught in his throat.
Ning Da crushed the wine jar in his hand, his eyes blazing with fury. "We've fought day in and day out for ten years, shedding blood! Brothers have lived and died together in great numbers, holding back the Gray Mist and bleeding for our country for over a decade. Even if we got no credit, we earned our keep!!!"
"What did we do wrong?"
"We protect our homes and defend our country. Without us, could you lot sit here eating and drinking, living peaceful, comfortable lives?"
"Without us, would you even have the chance to investigate this and that?"
"Why won't you leave us alone? Did we want to desert?"
"Why do you keep hounding us?"
"We won't report it anymore! We won't report the higher-ups for withholding our rations and selling off our military supplies—isn't that enough? Why won't you leave us alone?"
Bang!
Ning Da slammed a fist into the ground, his face full of sorrow and helplessness.
Shi Wen kept quietly eating Grey Meat, saying nothing.
Ning Da gave a bitter, ragged laugh. "Those higher-ups are vicious! When they heard the frontier was in danger, they ordered us to stay behind as bait. Every last one of them had already fled to the prosperous lands to enjoy themselves more than half a year ago!"
"Half a year!!"
"More than half a year!"
"If they'd ordered us to evacuate sooner, who knows how many people could've survived."
"But they were afraid a mass evacuation would cause trouble. They were afraid the court would hold them responsible. So they fled alone, leaving us behind to fight those things. Are those things even humanly possible to fight!!!"
"We spent our youth on the frontier. We guarded the high walls day and night, resisting the monsters in the Gray Mist. What did we do wrong?"
"Just because we wanted to live?"
"What's wrong with wanting to live? Why do you insist on hounding us?"
Ning Da tore open his robe in anguish.
He stroked the four characters on his chest: "Defend Home, Protect Country."
"Mother, is this the country you told me to defend? You probably don't even know that the very officials you told me to protect abandoned us and ran off!"
"We were all men of conviction, but the court never treated us like human beings!!"
"Did we want to desert? This world forced us to. We barely made it out of that place alive. That was hard enough."
"Sir, why won't you give us a way to live!!!"
"We really don't want to oppose the court!"
Ning Da's face was full of sorrow.
He stared at the boy sitting on the ground eating meat, his face revealing confusion and unease.
The anger he'd shown earlier turned into a cautious, almost timid expression. "Sir, give me a way to live. I'll do anything you ask!"
Shi Wen chewed his Grey Meat and replied calmly, "I'm not with the court."
"Don't joke with me. If you're not with the court, how did you know exactly when I'd leave to kill my brothers? And you just happened to take advantage of my absence to corner me, then meet me like this? Isn't that how the Sinan Guard toys with prey trapped in a jar?"
Ning Da took a swig of wine and said bitterly, "You're a blade the Sinan Guard raised, aren't you?"
"Blood-Coagulation Realm, and you killed so many of my brothers. Impressive. My men made good whetstones for your blade, didn't they?"
"I'm not with the Sinan Guard."
Shi Wen answered and continued eating, though his muscles remained taut, ready to explode into action at any moment.
He sensed a hint of danger.
"Heh. Since your people have already found all my brothers, why keep toying with me? Sir, if you won't let me go, then call them out. We're just deserters who were lucky enough to flee to Black Cloud County. We have no accomplices. We came here to scrape together a meal."
Ning Da silently took a few more steps toward Shi Wen, his voice sorrowful. "Sir, you've killed so many of my brothers. Can't you really give me a way to live?"
When Shi Wen didn't reply,
Ning Da tensed even more.
He surveyed the surroundings from the corner of his eye. The silent houses made him feel surrounded on all sides!
"If you won't let me go, then let's settle this with our hands!"
"You've got men lying in ambush all around, don't you? Call them out. You're still wet behind the ears—you're no match for me. Bigwigs of the Sinan Guard, are you going to use the death of this blade as an excuse to step in yourselves?"
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