Changed local guards to foremen for better distinguishability from the catch-all guards (wardens, soldiers, and foremen), detention centre to concentration camp, and Black Chapter Army to Black Badge Army.
The chief warden looked into the cell from which a person had inexplicably vanished, then at the captain who asked to be locked in as well. He smiled darkly.
“I was still thinking that we should gather them all together and interrogate them by torture.” His fingers fiddled with the brass lock. It clanged against the bars. He said, “They must have dug a tunnel somewhere we don’t know; how else could a person disappear from the room for no good reason?”
Saying this, the chief warden squinted at the few people in the cell. “I promise that before this concentration camp is dissolved, the first one who can explain to me how that mongrel escaped will receive a more luxurious treatment than even our captain over here.”
There was a stir from all the cells. It was obvious that they were excited by the mention of the dissolution of the concentration camp.
Expecting this response, the chief warden gave a mocking smile, then used a fiercer gaze to closely inspect every person in the cell. “What do you think, big guy? And this mister in glasses. Where did you dig the tunnel? In the ceiling?”
None of them said anything.
In truth, no matter what was said, no good outcome would await them.
Was it possible to explain to the chief warden how this cell had entered a bizarre, deathly silent alternate universe?
Only two outcomes could come from this. Either the chief warden deemed that these Koroshans were using a laughably pathetic excuse to fob him off, then fly into a rage; or the chief warden believed them and switched them to a different cell, and they would lose their only opportunity to explore the concentration camp in the night.
If the chief warden found out that they had taken a stroll through half the concentration camp last night, even seeing the hypertoxic chemical reagents and the dissection tables on the second floor, one could well imagine their fates.
Of course, this didn’t eliminate the possibility of someone willingly snitching to receive that alleged luxurious treatment.
“That person will get butter to spread on his bread everyday, and they won’t be put to labour to absolve their sins…” The chief warden’s gaze slithered past each one of them. “Do you know how he escaped? Big-nosed guy, your nose is practically as big as a toad. And you, little guy, you’re so small you’re like a dwarf.”
Yu Feichen watched the small-statured man out of the corner of his eye. He was the only one who didn’t leave the cell with them, only hearing a simple explanation during their exchange of information when the two parties returned to the cell. He naturally wouldn’t know the specifics of how the friar had ‘disappeared’. Perhaps, he might even genuinely believe that the friar had successfully escaped.
The chief warden seemed to be able to sense something. His gaze honed in on the small-statured man. That short-statured man’s back wasn’t erect, and his gaze was also slightly skittish. Yu Feichen swiftly surveyed the military strength in this cell. If this small-statured man really intended to sell them out, he had to prepare for the worst. After all, from last night, it was easy to tell that this was a man with little courage.
At this time, he saw that the captain also seemed to make a minuscule action—his finger pressed against the handle of his gun.
Right then, the small-statured man’s lips trembled.
Yu Feichen’s brows drew together marginally.
The small-statured man coughed twice.
“I didn’t see anything,” he said in a breathy voice, “chief warden.”
The chief warden harrumphed from his nose. His gaze turned onto Yu Feichen.
“There’s no tunnel here,” Yu Feichen said. “You can check if you want.”
“Who knows what tricks you Koroshans played, or maybe even some demonic magic or other.” The chief warden paced outside the cell with his hands clasped behind his back. “Since it’s this cell that keeps acting up, I’ll have to switch all of you elsewhere—”
He stopped midway through, changing back to his usual dark smile. “Not until after tonight, of course. After all, our wise and powerful Captain Anfield will be personally looking into the cause of this disappearance himself.”
So, this senior officer turned out to be named Anfield. It wasn’t a hard name to remember.
The chief warden took out a key to unlock their door. The brass lock that had been forcibly broken last night was now perfectly intact. “Atone for your sins, god-traitors.”
When passing by Anfield, Yu Feichen smelled the same icy chill. Exactly like yesterday, only with an added whiff of fresh blood.
The prisoners began a day of labour, yet there were at least ten men in the barracks who couldn’t get up. Some were having difficulty standing from yesterday’s overwork, while others had inflammation and pus from their whip wounds, causing fevers to run high.
As they groaned in pain on the ground, Yu Feichen went out of the barracks door.
The chill of the early morning washed over him. He inclined his body slightly towards the back, his gaze cutting across the many cells to see the silhouette of Captain Anfield standing amidst a dusty gloom, with only the faintest light reflected off his long platinum blonde hair.
The chief warden, whip in hand, was about to drive one of the men to his feet. The next moment, he turned his head and caught a glimpse of Anfield. The corner of his mouth twitched. His whip paused mid-swing, and he ultimately didn’t follow through the motion.
“This is the punishment of the God of Truth for traitors. You will bleed pus until you reek.” He spat at the groaning Koroshan man on the ground.
Yu Feichen moved on.
Too often, God was used to excuse reality. This was also the main reason why he had never been able to get a real sense of the Primordial God in Paradise.
The work at the brick kiln was still as harsh as yesterday. The only change was perhaps those few local foreman.
Yesterday, they were only punishing those who didn’t work hard enough. Today, they had evolved into going after any Koroshan who irritated their eyes. The sound of lashing frequently sliced through the air. An animalistic sort of humiliation appeared on every Koroshan’s face, but this only invited even more brutal beatings.
During the short lunch break, Yu Feichen’s hand gently rested on a flaxen-haired man.
“If he turned his back to you,” he spoke in a volume that only the two of them could hear, “would you be able to knock him down with a brick?” His gaze looked towards a guard wielding a gun at the door of the brick kiln.
The man turned his head over and looked at him warily. “What are you going to do?”
“The foremen only have whips in their hands. My companions can take them down,” Yu Feichen said. “We’re still one man short to take care of one of those two soldiers.”
“Are you crazy?” That man spoke. “The army will avenge them.”
“By then, we would have disappeared into the oak hills,” said Yu Feichen.
“You’re going to escape?”
“Otherwise?”
That man hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. “They’ll kill us.”
This was the fourth time that Yu Feichen had heard this answer. He had spent the last half-day observing his fellow prisoners, seeking out the few that appeared to be robust and courageous. But without exception, all of them had turned him down.
Taking everyone out en masse wasn’t something that he could do single-handedly. However, it was difficult to control the hearts of others. This wasn’t something that Yu Feichen had aptitude in.
Previously, he could brute force his way through missions. But this time, he had to gain the trust of his companions.
In a louder voice, he told the man, “It’s fine.”
This voice startled the soldiers with guns. The stockily-built soldier turned over and shouted at them, “Mongrel, what are you doing?”
“Reporting to sir,” Yu Feichen said, using a type of tone picked up from years of mixing around with a motley assortment of militaries. “We’re making a wager, on whether you’d take me down or I’d take you down in a fair fight.”
The soldier grinned as if he had heard a joke. His bulging eyes looked him up and down, excitement and viciousness overflowing from his expression. He spoke in a rough voice, “I’ll make it impossible for you to step into the kilns again for the rest of your life, mongrel.”
“My wife will probably be very pleased then.”
“Your wife will be more pissed than your mistresses, boy.”
“I don’t want to keep dealing with bricks, sir.” Yu Feichen looked him in the eye. “You’ve also been standing here for four hours already.”
He changed to use the courteous and sincere tone characteristic of lawyers. “Standing here must be more boring than working the kilns.”
This comment visibly went down well with the soldier, who unbuckled his arms with a click and tossed it to the other soldier.
“Screw off, mongrels,” he said. “Boy, I’ll give you some time to daydream of your wife’s tits for the final time.”
The Koroshans around them watched this in frightful dread. Yu Feichen looked straight at the soldier and loosened his muscles, his joints clicking. Yu Feichen smiled. He didn’t think of much else, and he wasn’t fond of more couth words.
But now, he was having a showdown with this soldier, and his status was even changed from ‘mongrel’ to ‘boy’. In that case, he could just resolve the rest with his fists, which felt more at home to him than at the barracks and the brick kiln.
He picked up the conversation, saying, “I’m done daydreaming.”
“If you can strike me thrice,” said the soldier, untying the leather hip flask containing alcohol from his belt and dropping it to the ground. “Then you can get drunk tonight, you naughty boy.”
Yu Feichen didn’t speak. He loosened two buttons on his grey overalls, raising his left hand slightly in front of him.
He didn’t know what the style of barefisted fighting in this world was like. However…
A roar pressed in from afar. Extremely crude to the point of boorishness, without any feints whatsoever, a swinging fist smashed down from Yu Feichen’s left side.
In a split second, Yu Feichen swiftly darted to the side, raising his left elbow, dully colliding with the soldier’s iron-hard right wrist. The bones in his entire arm rattled violently. He gritted his teeth, forcibly withstanding that explosive burst of force. At the same time, his right leg immediately shot out, landing a powerful low side kick to his opponent’s calf.
The soldier’s stocky body almost stumbled. When a left leg was hurting, people would reflexively tend to swing their right fist…
Half a second later, a shadow came down from the right side over his head, blotting out the sky and covering the earth. If this blow landed, he’d be downed on the spot.
But this was the second strike that Yu Feichen was waiting for.
He wasn’t a southpaw; his right hand was stronger than his left. So from the very beginning, he put his left hand in front of him to draw his opponent’s right fist to attack. When his opponent swung his right fist, an opening was bound to be exposed on the left side. He seized hold of that momentary opening, without leaving any room for error, formed his right hand into a fist and smashed it into the soldier’s left temple.
In terms of strength, the young lawyer was certainly no match for the soldier’s iron-hard fist. However, the one using this hand was him—and that was enough.
As soon as the blow was struck, Yu Feichen used while the soldier was dazed to swiftly pull the distance. As expected, the aftershock of the force had also numbed his hand.
He gestured a ‘1’ with his right hand.
The soldier merely grinned hideously at him, charging straight over and whirling into a kick.
This soldier had large and dense bones. His muscles were extremely compact, and his weight was even more formidable. The size difference was almost insurmountable in a fight. The wind seemed to whistle from the force with which his leg cut over, the strength behind it enough to break the spine of a normal man. However, this also limited his speed—and the best way to defend from below, was to attack from above.
A punch was, fundamentally, quicker than a kick. In this exchange, Yu Feichen’s left fist hit him in the right temple.
Again, the pain dulled the movements of the other man. Yu Feichen darted three paces away, slowly making another gesture. ‘2’.
The soldier’s eyes were bloodshot. He no longer grinned. Instead, he slowly brought his right hand across his chest in a defensive posture; it read—come.
Hunched over slightly, the muscles bulged from his mountain-like, impenetrable figure.
Such a defence was almost impossible to breakthrough. But now, the situation had turned what Yu Feichen most excelled at. In a vast majority of cases, he was the one who took the initiative.
Coupled with the two punches that had landed squarely to his head earlier, this soldier was now greatly wary of him. And the first instinct of wariness would be to dodge.
He advanced, and his right leg and left hand simultaneously flashed out—
The soldier was ready for it. He shifted his feet and dodged away; right leg in front, left leg behind, his right fist hooked across—
Yu Feichen darted to the left, kicking sideways with his left leg, and at this point the soldier’s fist was only an inch away from his left chest.
And he suddenly twisted forward, eating the punch.
The dull thump of flesh on flesh was explosive. They could practically hear the cracking of bones. No one dared to make a sound, and the eyes of the Koroshans were filled with despair.
Just at this moment, Yu Feichen hadn’t drawn back his left leg. He leapt into the air, twisting his body so that his right calf, carrying the weight of his entire body, slammed straight into the side of his opponent’s right knee.
Yu Feichen landed on the ground. A sharp pain erupted from his shoulder on his left side.
But his landing was steady, whereas the soldier staggered sideways.
Yu Feichen smiled. He put his thumb and his little finger together. ‘3’.
This was what they had agreed on. Three strikes.
Yet, the soldier gave a low rumble from his chest.
“Again.”
Yu Feichen said, “Alright.”
Another three times.
When it ended, he received another blow to his left arm, and he wasn’t standing steady.
But his opponent stumbled a few steps to the side before stopping.
“Again.”
“Alright.”
A sob came from the onlooking crowd. Anyone could see that both men had a different ability to withstand blows. Even if Yu Feichen currently had the upper hand, it was impossible to keep going to the end.
Even though this lawyer’s body was adequately fit, next to soldiers who licked blood from blades, it was only just that. Adequate.
This time, the injury was to his right abdomen. The taste of blood rumbled in his throat and his vision went black. It was as if his fighting was entirely driven by willpower, each time pushing the limits of speed and strength, so it was only by willpower that he was able to stand.
—Whereas his opponent was lying on the ground. No matter how ragged the person standing looked, he was still victorious over the one downed.
After a long time, the soldier then got back to his feet. They were each panting heavily, staring straight at each other.
Sweat streamed down the sides of their cheeks. Yu Feichen controlled his breathing, readying himself to welcome the next ‘again’.
From panting like a beast, the soldier eventually caught his breath too. He opened his mouth, his voice incredibly hoarse.
“Boy, boy.” Sweat dripped from his forehead. As if pulling the words through gritted teeth, he heaved, “Boy.”
Then, he raised his leg, kicking the leather hip flask on the ground towards Yu Feichen.
Yu Feichen took a deep breath. His clenched fist slowly loosened.
He bent down and picked it up.
Everyone was watching this scene. The soldiers looked at the Koroshans, then at Yu Feichen. Their nostrils flared, excitement reappearing on their faces.
Yu Feichen’s face was calm as he pulled the cork off the flask.
Today, he had his fun fighting.
So, let’s do something even more enjoyable.
—he poured all the liquor the soldier had given him to the ground.
The liquor splashed.
He capped the cork and tossed it back to the soldier’s feet.
The soldier’s expression flickered several times. His facial muscles relaxed and pulled taut again. In the end, he viciously glared at him with wide eyes, gnashing his teeth in anger as he said, “Good lo… good boy!”
The voice was chock full of wrath and hatred, like he was going to shoot Yu Feichen’s head into pieces in the next second.
But he ultimately didn’t. Instead, the corners of his mouth twitched into a mirthless smile. He turned and left.
The reasoning was simple. It would be a great disservice to his reputation and dignity to shoot a man who had bested him.
At least, not today.
So, Yu Feichen also turned and met the eyes of the Koroshans towards him. All of them were looking at him. It was an atmosphere of utmost silence and solemnity.
Lowering his head, he gazed at the liquor forming trails on the ground. This was knowledge that Bai Song had given him an enrichment lesson on last night. The people of Korosha never drank. The soldier had used the hip flask as a grand prize at the start, precisely as an insult to Koroshans.
However, it didn’t matter even if he didn’t know. Whether or not he had known of this, he would still have poured the liquor to the ground anyway, and would even have added, “The liquor of the Black Badge Army is only worthy of wetting the ground.”
He continued to walk forward. Everyone silently opened a path for him. The way they looked at him had changed. They no longer looked at him the way they looked at another one of them. More notably, all afternoon, not a single foreman or soldier made trouble for Yu Feichen, even if his performance was visibly more slipshod. The labour of livestock from day to night couldn’t be exchanged for dignity, but standing up on both feet could.
In this manner, their second day at the brick kiln ended. When leaving, they had to line up to get on the truck. But no one went forward; they seemed to be reserving this for the man who had won the fight.
However, something was different today when they stopped work for the day.
There were still people in the vegetable farm next to the brick kiln. Around twenty women with headscarves were harvesting cabbages, keeping them in large baskets.
“Leanna!” Yu Feichen heard Gerold, the chemistry teacher, shout.
One of the women looked over in their direction. It was apparent that this loving married couple could instantly recognise each other from amidst a crowd.
But Leanna didn’t seem to only stop at a greeting. A cabbage rolled to the ground and she came running over this way.
A foreman immediately spotted this. Holding the whip in one hand, he shoved her roughly with the other hand. She seemed to be arguing and begging for something. However, due to the far distance, they could only see that after a scuffle, the foreman shoved her to the ground and raised the whip high in the air.
Gerold gave an agonised cry and tried to rush over too, but he was stopped by the brawny blonde.
The next moment, however, Leanna stuck her hand into her mouth.
With great effort, she dug something hard out of her mouth, wiped it on her skirt, and stuffed it into the guard’s hand.
Then, the guard stopped blocking her.
She picked up the folds of her skirt and came running over. When she neared, everyone could see the blood bubbling from her mouth. They could all guess—she had yanked out her gold dentures.
“Gerold.” Practically in tears, she flung herself into Gerold’s embrace.
The chemistry teacher hugged her tightly, crying and kissing her hair. “You didn’t have to come over, you didn’t have to come over, Leanna.”
“I had to.” She lifted a ghastly pale face, her eyes nervously wide, shivering as she held the chemistry teacher’s hands. “We may never see each other again, Gerold.”
“When the camp is dissolved—”
“That won’t happen, it won’t.” Her voice was shaking. “They’re picking people. Everyday, Gerold. Everyday we have people disappearing over there, and the foremen say that they’d never return.”
Anguished, Gerold firmly hugged her. “Maybe they were just sent away.”
She shook her head slowly. At this point, her chin was resting on Gerold’s shoulder. Everyone could see her face and see her mouth full of blood and hear her voice. “They’re in heaven. It’s my turn soon, all of us too. We can never return to Korosha again. I’ve come to say my goodbyes to you, Gerold.”
“I will always love you, Gerold. And I will always love our child.”
Gerold’s crying turned into animalistic wailing.
But no one would give them any more time in each other’s embrace. Within a minute, the guards from over there came to pull them roughly apart.
Gerold fell to his knees on the ground, choking out loudly, “Sir, please let me be with her, sir. I’ll do anything.”
The guard looked at him, then at Leanna who was covering her stomach in pain. He twirled his moustache with interest. “We do need men who can do heavy work here.”
At this moment, another guard came over as well. After a brief discussion, they turned towards this side. “Who else wants to come over?”
Almost immediately, four men stepped forward. Perhaps they too, had wives, children, or mothers that they loved more dearly than their lives.
Yu Feichen looked at the brawny blonde. His gaze hesitated several times between the vegetable farm and this side, before finally gritting his teeth and staying, motionless.
One of the two guards carried Leanna, who could barely stand, and the other led the five men away.
Had this happened before today, people might have looked at each other in fear and despair. But today, after looking at each other in fear and despair, they all turned to Yu Feichen in unison, especially the men whose cooperation Yu Feichen had sought earlier that morning. Some things were quick to change.
In the back of the truck, there were no guards or foremen; only prisoners.
But Yu Feichen wasn’t really in the mood to talk now, and he wasn’t quite able to talk.
“She’s right,” Bai Song said in his place. “This concentration camp won’t let us live. We have to escape, and we have to work together.”
“If there’s anyone who doesn’t dare to escape, at least, at least—” Bai Song paused. “At least don’t rat this secret out.”
The prolonged silence drew out. Then sobbing came.
“Tomorrow.” Yu Feichen’s voice was hoarse. He said faintly, “I’ll look for you again.”
With this, he stopped talking and listening. It wasn’t that he wasn’t quite clear-headed, merely that he was slightly disoriented. This slight disorientation lasted well into the night. He got Bai Song to help him straighten his arm then fold it.
For no other reason than that it hurt too much. His shoulder, his arm, as well as his abdomen—none were spared. The guard had the strength of a raging elephant. But if he didn’t get the joint moving, his range of movement would be restricted in the coming days.
Bai Song knew that this tug would hurt him, thus didn’t dare to pull too forcefully.
“Haven’t you eaten?” Yu Feichen’s voice came through gritted teeth.
“I—” Bai Song’s words had only just left his mouth, but it died down.
Died down into complete nothingness, strangely.
So Yu Feichen looked up from his corner.
It was clearly still quite some time before midnight, but their platinum blonde-haired senior officer was already standing in front of the iron bars with two personal guards. His face was blank.
And his gaze rested on his arm, which Bai Song was holding.
“What are you doing?” He looked at the arm, ice in his voice.
His tone was interrogative, as if even without torture devices, he could still bend people into submission.
An almost instinctual knee-jerk reaction instantly manifested in Yu Feichen. Like resisting under the brunt of an attack, the more he faces an interrogation, the more composed he would act; like a person holding top-secret information, holding steady, as if nothing had happened.
“When moving bricks.” In fact, he had already schooled his expression from as early on as when Bai Song fell silent. At this time, he calmly moved his arm out of Bai Song’s grip, speaking in the same calm tone, “I strained it slightly.”
Changed local guards to foremen for better distinguishability from the catch-all guards (wardens, soldiers, and foremen), detention centre to concentration camp, and Black Chapter Army to Black Badge Army.
The chief warden looked into the cell from which a person had inexplicably vanished, then at the captain who asked to be locked in as well. He smiled darkly.
“I was still thinking that we should gather them all together and interrogate them by torture.” His fingers fiddled with the brass lock. It clanged against the bars. He said, “They must have dug a tunnel somewhere we don’t know; how else could a person disappear from the room for no good reason?”
Saying this, the chief warden squinted at the few people in the cell. “I promise that before this concentration camp is dissolved, the first one who can explain to me how that mongrel escaped will receive a more luxurious treatment than even our captain over here.”
There was a stir from all the cells. It was obvious that they were excited by the mention of the dissolution of the concentration camp.
Expecting this response, the chief warden gave a mocking smile, then used a fiercer gaze to closely inspect every person in the cell. “What do you think, big guy? And this mister in glasses. Where did you dig the tunnel? In the ceiling?”
None of them said anything.
In truth, no matter what was said, no good outcome would await them.
Was it possible to explain to the chief warden how this cell had entered a bizarre, deathly silent alternate universe?
Only two outcomes could come from this. Either the chief warden deemed that these Koroshans were using a laughably pathetic excuse to fob him off, then fly into a rage; or the chief warden believed them and switched them to a different cell, and they would lose their only opportunity to explore the concentration camp in the night.
If the chief warden found out that they had taken a stroll through half the concentration camp last night, even seeing the hypertoxic chemical reagents and the dissection tables on the second floor, one could well imagine their fates.
Of course, this didn’t eliminate the possibility of someone willingly snitching to receive that alleged luxurious treatment.
“That person will get butter to spread on his bread everyday, and they won’t be put to labour to absolve their sins…” The chief warden’s gaze slithered past each one of them. “Do you know how he escaped? Big-nosed guy, your nose is practically as big as a toad. And you, little guy, you’re so small you’re like a dwarf.”
Yu Feichen watched the small-statured man out of the corner of his eye. He was the only one who didn’t leave the cell with them, only hearing a simple explanation during their exchange of information when the two parties returned to the cell. He naturally wouldn’t know the specifics of how the friar had ‘disappeared’. Perhaps, he might even genuinely believe that the friar had successfully escaped.
The chief warden seemed to be able to sense something. His gaze honed in on the small-statured man. That short-statured man’s back wasn’t erect, and his gaze was also slightly skittish. Yu Feichen swiftly surveyed the military strength in this cell. If this small-statured man really intended to sell them out, he had to prepare for the worst. After all, from last night, it was easy to tell that this was a man with little courage.
At this time, he saw that the captain also seemed to make a minuscule action—his finger pressed against the handle of his gun.
Right then, the small-statured man’s lips trembled.
Yu Feichen’s brows drew together marginally.
The small-statured man coughed twice.
“I didn’t see anything,” he said in a breathy voice, “chief warden.”
The chief warden harrumphed from his nose. His gaze turned onto Yu Feichen.
“There’s no tunnel here,” Yu Feichen said. “You can check if you want.”
“Who knows what tricks you Koroshans played, or maybe even some demonic magic or other.” The chief warden paced outside the cell with his hands clasped behind his back. “Since it’s this cell that keeps acting up, I’ll have to switch all of you elsewhere—”
He stopped midway through, changing back to his usual dark smile. “Not until after tonight, of course. After all, our wise and powerful Captain Anfield will be personally looking into the cause of this disappearance himself.”
So, this senior officer turned out to be named Anfield. It wasn’t a hard name to remember.
The chief warden took out a key to unlock their door. The brass lock that had been forcibly broken last night was now perfectly intact. “Atone for your sins, god-traitors.”
When passing by Anfield, Yu Feichen smelled the same icy chill. Exactly like yesterday, only with an added whiff of fresh blood.
The prisoners began a day of labour, yet there were at least ten men in the barracks who couldn’t get up. Some were having difficulty standing from yesterday’s overwork, while others had inflammation and pus from their whip wounds, causing fevers to run high.
As they groaned in pain on the ground, Yu Feichen went out of the barracks door.
The chill of the early morning washed over him. He inclined his body slightly towards the back, his gaze cutting across the many cells to see the silhouette of Captain Anfield standing amidst a dusty gloom, with only the faintest light reflected off his long platinum blonde hair.
The chief warden, whip in hand, was about to drive one of the men to his feet. The next moment, he turned his head and caught a glimpse of Anfield. The corner of his mouth twitched. His whip paused mid-swing, and he ultimately didn’t follow through the motion.
“This is the punishment of the God of Truth for traitors. You will bleed pus until you reek.” He spat at the groaning Koroshan man on the ground.
Yu Feichen moved on.
Too often, God was used to excuse reality. This was also the main reason why he had never been able to get a real sense of the Primordial God in Paradise.
The work at the brick kiln was still as harsh as yesterday. The only change was perhaps those few local foreman.
Yesterday, they were only punishing those who didn’t work hard enough. Today, they had evolved into going after any Koroshan who irritated their eyes. The sound of lashing frequently sliced through the air. An animalistic sort of humiliation appeared on every Koroshan’s face, but this only invited even more brutal beatings.
During the short lunch break, Yu Feichen’s hand gently rested on a flaxen-haired man.
“If he turned his back to you,” he spoke in a volume that only the two of them could hear, “would you be able to knock him down with a brick?” His gaze looked towards a guard wielding a gun at the door of the brick kiln.
The man turned his head over and looked at him warily. “What are you going to do?”
“The foremen only have whips in their hands. My companions can take them down,” Yu Feichen said. “We’re still one man short to take care of one of those two soldiers.”
“Are you crazy?” That man spoke. “The army will avenge them.”
“By then, we would have disappeared into the oak hills,” said Yu Feichen.
“You’re going to escape?”
“Otherwise?”
That man hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. “They’ll kill us.”
This was the fourth time that Yu Feichen had heard this answer. He had spent the last half-day observing his fellow prisoners, seeking out the few that appeared to be robust and courageous. But without exception, all of them had turned him down.
Taking everyone out en masse wasn’t something that he could do single-handedly. However, it was difficult to control the hearts of others. This wasn’t something that Yu Feichen had aptitude in.
Previously, he could brute force his way through missions. But this time, he had to gain the trust of his companions.
In a louder voice, he told the man, “It’s fine.”
This voice startled the soldiers with guns. The stockily-built soldier turned over and shouted at them, “Mongrel, what are you doing?”
“Reporting to sir,” Yu Feichen said, using a type of tone picked up from years of mixing around with a motley assortment of militaries. “We’re making a wager, on whether you’d take me down or I’d take you down in a fair fight.”
The soldier grinned as if he had heard a joke. His bulging eyes looked him up and down, excitement and viciousness overflowing from his expression. He spoke in a rough voice, “I’ll make it impossible for you to step into the kilns again for the rest of your life, mongrel.”
“My wife will probably be very pleased then.”
“Your wife will be more pissed than your mistresses, boy.”
“I don’t want to keep dealing with bricks, sir.” Yu Feichen looked him in the eye. “You’ve also been standing here for four hours already.”
He changed to use the courteous and sincere tone characteristic of lawyers. “Standing here must be more boring than working the kilns.”
This comment visibly went down well with the soldier, who unbuckled his arms with a click and tossed it to the other soldier.
“Screw off, mongrels,” he said. “Boy, I’ll give you some time to daydream of your wife’s tits for the final time.”
The Koroshans around them watched this in frightful dread. Yu Feichen looked straight at the soldier and loosened his muscles, his joints clicking. Yu Feichen smiled. He didn’t think of much else, and he wasn’t fond of more couth words.
But now, he was having a showdown with this soldier, and his status was even changed from ‘mongrel’ to ‘boy’. In that case, he could just resolve the rest with his fists, which felt more at home to him than at the barracks and the brick kiln.
He picked up the conversation, saying, “I’m done daydreaming.”
“If you can strike me thrice,” said the soldier, untying the leather hip flask containing alcohol from his belt and dropping it to the ground. “Then you can get drunk tonight, you naughty boy.”
Yu Feichen didn’t speak. He loosened two buttons on his grey overalls, raising his left hand slightly in front of him.
He didn’t know what the style of barefisted fighting in this world was like. However…
A roar pressed in from afar. Extremely crude to the point of boorishness, without any feints whatsoever, a swinging fist smashed down from Yu Feichen’s left side.
In a split second, Yu Feichen swiftly darted to the side, raising his left elbow, dully colliding with the soldier’s iron-hard right wrist. The bones in his entire arm rattled violently. He gritted his teeth, forcibly withstanding that explosive burst of force. At the same time, his right leg immediately shot out, landing a powerful low side kick to his opponent’s calf.
The soldier’s stocky body almost stumbled. When a left leg was hurting, people would reflexively tend to swing their right fist…
Half a second later, a shadow came down from the right side over his head, blotting out the sky and covering the earth. If this blow landed, he’d be downed on the spot.
But this was the second strike that Yu Feichen was waiting for.
He wasn’t a southpaw; his right hand was stronger than his left. So from the very beginning, he put his left hand in front of him to draw his opponent’s right fist to attack. When his opponent swung his right fist, an opening was bound to be exposed on the left side. He seized hold of that momentary opening, without leaving any room for error, formed his right hand into a fist and smashed it into the soldier’s left temple.
In terms of strength, the young lawyer was certainly no match for the soldier’s iron-hard fist. However, the one using this hand was him—and that was enough.
As soon as the blow was struck, Yu Feichen used while the soldier was dazed to swiftly pull the distance. As expected, the aftershock of the force had also numbed his hand.
He gestured a ‘1’ with his right hand.
The soldier merely grinned hideously at him, charging straight over and whirling into a kick.
This soldier had large and dense bones. His muscles were extremely compact, and his weight was even more formidable. The size difference was almost insurmountable in a fight. The wind seemed to whistle from the force with which his leg cut over, the strength behind it enough to break the spine of a normal man. However, this also limited his speed—and the best way to defend from below, was to attack from above.
A punch was, fundamentally, quicker than a kick. In this exchange, Yu Feichen’s left fist hit him in the right temple.
Again, the pain dulled the movements of the other man. Yu Feichen darted three paces away, slowly making another gesture. ‘2’.
The soldier’s eyes were bloodshot. He no longer grinned. Instead, he slowly brought his right hand across his chest in a defensive posture; it read—come.
Hunched over slightly, the muscles bulged from his mountain-like, impenetrable figure.
Such a defence was almost impossible to breakthrough. But now, the situation had turned what Yu Feichen most excelled at. In a vast majority of cases, he was the one who took the initiative.
Coupled with the two punches that had landed squarely to his head earlier, this soldier was now greatly wary of him. And the first instinct of wariness would be to dodge.
He advanced, and his right leg and left hand simultaneously flashed out—
The soldier was ready for it. He shifted his feet and dodged away; right leg in front, left leg behind, his right fist hooked across—
Yu Feichen darted to the left, kicking sideways with his left leg, and at this point the soldier’s fist was only an inch away from his left chest.
And he suddenly twisted forward, eating the punch.
The dull thump of flesh on flesh was explosive. They could practically hear the cracking of bones. No one dared to make a sound, and the eyes of the Koroshans were filled with despair.
Just at this moment, Yu Feichen hadn’t drawn back his left leg. He leapt into the air, twisting his body so that his right calf, carrying the weight of his entire body, slammed straight into the side of his opponent’s right knee.
Yu Feichen landed on the ground. A sharp pain erupted from his shoulder on his left side.
But his landing was steady, whereas the soldier staggered sideways.
Yu Feichen smiled. He put his thumb and his little finger together. ‘3’.
This was what they had agreed on. Three strikes.
Yet, the soldier gave a low rumble from his chest.
“Again.”
Yu Feichen said, “Alright.”
Another three times.
When it ended, he received another blow to his left arm, and he wasn’t standing steady.
But his opponent stumbled a few steps to the side before stopping.
“Again.”
“Alright.”
A sob came from the onlooking crowd. Anyone could see that both men had a different ability to withstand blows. Even if Yu Feichen currently had the upper hand, it was impossible to keep going to the end.
Even though this lawyer’s body was adequately fit, next to soldiers who licked blood from blades, it was only just that. Adequate.
This time, the injury was to his right abdomen. The taste of blood rumbled in his throat and his vision went black. It was as if his fighting was entirely driven by willpower, each time pushing the limits of speed and strength, so it was only by willpower that he was able to stand.
—Whereas his opponent was lying on the ground. No matter how ragged the person standing looked, he was still victorious over the one downed.
After a long time, the soldier then got back to his feet. They were each panting heavily, staring straight at each other.
Sweat streamed down the sides of their cheeks. Yu Feichen controlled his breathing, readying himself to welcome the next ‘again’.
From panting like a beast, the soldier eventually caught his breath too. He opened his mouth, his voice incredibly hoarse.
“Boy, boy.” Sweat dripped from his forehead. As if pulling the words through gritted teeth, he heaved, “Boy.”
Then, he raised his leg, kicking the leather hip flask on the ground towards Yu Feichen.
Yu Feichen took a deep breath. His clenched fist slowly loosened.
He bent down and picked it up.
Everyone was watching this scene. The soldiers looked at the Koroshans, then at Yu Feichen. Their nostrils flared, excitement reappearing on their faces.
Yu Feichen’s face was calm as he pulled the cork off the flask.
Today, he had his fun fighting.
So, let’s do something even more enjoyable.
—he poured all the liquor the soldier had given him to the ground.
The liquor splashed.
He capped the cork and tossed it back to the soldier’s feet.
The soldier’s expression flickered several times. His facial muscles relaxed and pulled taut again. In the end, he viciously glared at him with wide eyes, gnashing his teeth in anger as he said, “Good lo… good boy!”
The voice was chock full of wrath and hatred, like he was going to shoot Yu Feichen’s head into pieces in the next second.
But he ultimately didn’t. Instead, the corners of his mouth twitched into a mirthless smile. He turned and left.
The reasoning was simple. It would be a great disservice to his reputation and dignity to shoot a man who had bested him.
At least, not today.
So, Yu Feichen also turned and met the eyes of the Koroshans towards him. All of them were looking at him. It was an atmosphere of utmost silence and solemnity.
Lowering his head, he gazed at the liquor forming trails on the ground. This was knowledge that Bai Song had given him an enrichment lesson on last night. The people of Korosha never drank. The soldier had used the hip flask as a grand prize at the start, precisely as an insult to Koroshans.
However, it didn’t matter even if he didn’t know. Whether or not he had known of this, he would still have poured the liquor to the ground anyway, and would even have added, “The liquor of the Black Badge Army is only worthy of wetting the ground.”
He continued to walk forward. Everyone silently opened a path for him. The way they looked at him had changed. They no longer looked at him the way they looked at another one of them. More notably, all afternoon, not a single foreman or soldier made trouble for Yu Feichen, even if his performance was visibly more slipshod. The labour of livestock from day to night couldn’t be exchanged for dignity, but standing up on both feet could.
In this manner, their second day at the brick kiln ended. When leaving, they had to line up to get on the truck. But no one went forward; they seemed to be reserving this for the man who had won the fight.
However, something was different today when they stopped work for the day.
There were still people in the vegetable farm next to the brick kiln. Around twenty women with headscarves were harvesting cabbages, keeping them in large baskets.
“Leanna!” Yu Feichen heard Gerold, the chemistry teacher, shout.
One of the women looked over in their direction. It was apparent that this loving married couple could instantly recognise each other from amidst a crowd.
But Leanna didn’t seem to only stop at a greeting. A cabbage rolled to the ground and she came running over this way.
A foreman immediately spotted this. Holding the whip in one hand, he shoved her roughly with the other hand. She seemed to be arguing and begging for something. However, due to the far distance, they could only see that after a scuffle, the foreman shoved her to the ground and raised the whip high in the air.
Gerold gave an agonised cry and tried to rush over too, but he was stopped by the brawny blonde.
The next moment, however, Leanna stuck her hand into her mouth.
With great effort, she dug something hard out of her mouth, wiped it on her skirt, and stuffed it into the guard’s hand.
Then, the guard stopped blocking her.
She picked up the folds of her skirt and came running over. When she neared, everyone could see the blood bubbling from her mouth. They could all guess—she had yanked out her gold dentures.
“Gerold.” Practically in tears, she flung herself into Gerold’s embrace.
The chemistry teacher hugged her tightly, crying and kissing her hair. “You didn’t have to come over, you didn’t have to come over, Leanna.”
“I had to.” She lifted a ghastly pale face, her eyes nervously wide, shivering as she held the chemistry teacher’s hands. “We may never see each other again, Gerold.”
“When the camp is dissolved—”
“That won’t happen, it won’t.” Her voice was shaking. “They’re picking people. Everyday, Gerold. Everyday we have people disappearing over there, and the foremen say that they’d never return.”
Anguished, Gerold firmly hugged her. “Maybe they were just sent away.”
She shook her head slowly. At this point, her chin was resting on Gerold’s shoulder. Everyone could see her face and see her mouth full of blood and hear her voice. “They’re in heaven. It’s my turn soon, all of us too. We can never return to Korosha again. I’ve come to say my goodbyes to you, Gerold.”
“I will always love you, Gerold. And I will always love our child.”
Gerold’s crying turned into animalistic wailing.
But no one would give them any more time in each other’s embrace. Within a minute, the guards from over there came to pull them roughly apart.
Gerold fell to his knees on the ground, choking out loudly, “Sir, please let me be with her, sir. I’ll do anything.”
The guard looked at him, then at Leanna who was covering her stomach in pain. He twirled his moustache with interest. “We do need men who can do heavy work here.”
At this moment, another guard came over as well. After a brief discussion, they turned towards this side. “Who else wants to come over?”
Almost immediately, four men stepped forward. Perhaps they too, had wives, children, or mothers that they loved more dearly than their lives.
Yu Feichen looked at the brawny blonde. His gaze hesitated several times between the vegetable farm and this side, before finally gritting his teeth and staying, motionless.
One of the two guards carried Leanna, who could barely stand, and the other led the five men away.
Had this happened before today, people might have looked at each other in fear and despair. But today, after looking at each other in fear and despair, they all turned to Yu Feichen in unison, especially the men whose cooperation Yu Feichen had sought earlier that morning. Some things were quick to change.
In the back of the truck, there were no guards or foremen; only prisoners.
But Yu Feichen wasn’t really in the mood to talk now, and he wasn’t quite able to talk.
“She’s right,” Bai Song said in his place. “This concentration camp won’t let us live. We have to escape, and we have to work together.”
“If there’s anyone who doesn’t dare to escape, at least, at least—” Bai Song paused. “At least don’t rat this secret out.”
The prolonged silence drew out. Then sobbing came.
“Tomorrow.” Yu Feichen’s voice was hoarse. He said faintly, “I’ll look for you again.”
With this, he stopped talking and listening. It wasn’t that he wasn’t quite clear-headed, merely that he was slightly disoriented. This slight disorientation lasted well into the night. He got Bai Song to help him straighten his arm then fold it.
For no other reason than that it hurt too much. His shoulder, his arm, as well as his abdomen—none were spared. The guard had the strength of a raging elephant. But if he didn’t get the joint moving, his range of movement would be restricted in the coming days.
Bai Song knew that this tug would hurt him, thus didn’t dare to pull too forcefully.
“Haven’t you eaten?” Yu Feichen’s voice came through gritted teeth.
“I—” Bai Song’s words had only just left his mouth, but it died down.
Died down into complete nothingness, strangely.
So Yu Feichen looked up from his corner.
It was clearly still quite some time before midnight, but their platinum blonde-haired senior officer was already standing in front of the iron bars with two personal guards. His face was blank.
And his gaze rested on his arm, which Bai Song was holding.
“What are you doing?” He looked at the arm, ice in his voice.
His tone was interrogative, as if even without torture devices, he could still bend people into submission.
An almost instinctual knee-jerk reaction instantly manifested in Yu Feichen. Like resisting under the brunt of an attack, the more he faces an interrogation, the more composed he would act; like a person holding top-secret information, holding steady, as if nothing had happened.
“When moving bricks.” In fact, he had already schooled his expression from as early on as when Bai Song fell silent. At this time, he calmly moved his arm out of Bai Song’s grip, speaking in the same calm tone, “I strained it slightly.”
