A massive anti-bandit campaign ended hastily. When the victory news reached Hezhou City, the Military Control Commissioner, who had been detained in the Japanese consulate, finally returned home.
The Yuan family was in a mess. Yuan Sen beat his subordinate and roared, “What do you mean by victory? How did that kid surname Duan win? Where are the bandits? That group of bandits… were completely wiped out?! What are you guys doing for a living?”
The subordinate who was beaten black and blue dared not speak and finally could only obey: “Military Control Commissioner… you, you haven’t given any orders, we dare not act on our own…”
“You!” Yuan Sen covered his chest, his internal organs aching with anger.
Talking about grievances, Yuan Sen was the first to bear the brunt.
He wracked his brain but couldn’t understand why Kuromiya Keiko suspected him of orchestrating the assassination, even going so far as to invoke the name of a Japanese general to detain him in the consulate for three whole days! If it was a coincidence, then it was also too much of a coincidence!
Is it really that God will not let Duan Yelin go?
Now that Duan Yelin is back alive, the trouble is even greater. Yuan Sen pounded the table: “Forget it, forget it. Let me ask you, have you wiped your butt clean?”
The subordinates were terrified: “This… the bandits are all detained by Commander Duan. I heard that he has already submitted a report. Those mountain village folks will definitely confess in no time. Military Control Commissioner, we have to quickly get ourselves out before the special commissioner comes to inspect!”
“Do you even need to tell me that?” Yuan Sen stood up, walked around the room with his hands behind his back, and frowned. After a long while, he stopped and pointed at the man and asked, “Hey, is the mute named Cong Lin still alive?”
“He’s still alive. I heard he was tied up and imprisoned by Duan Zhanzhou.”
Yuan Sen suddenly became excited: “Alright, alright, alright—go take care of a few tasks for me while they’re still too distracted to reorganize the troops after coming down the mountain!” He whispered in his subordinate’s ears with a beaming face. The subordinate nodded repeatedly with serious expressions.
At this time, Duan Yelin and Duan Zhanzhou, who had placed the wounded soldiers and bandits in the warehouse of Heming Medical Hall, were discussing what to do next.
The bandit suppression campaign had resulted in minimal casualties. Realizing he had no way to turn the tide, the bandit leader confessed everything he knew about the events. In exchange for sparing his life, Duan Yelin offered him protection—and in return, the leader agreed to personally identify the Military Control Commissioner.
Duan Zhanzhou thought for a long time before speaking: “Brother, can you not hand over… Cong Lin?”
Duan Yelin glanced over and paused slightly as he wrapped the bandage. “He’s the key messenger—do you really think that’s possible? What’s wrong? Didn’t you always want him dead? Now you suddenly can’t go through with it?”
“That’s not it!” Duan Zhanzhou raised his voice in agitation. “I… anyway, I just want to handle him myself, that’s all. If we hand him over, who knows if the Chief of Staff will step in to shield him again!”
Duan Yelin chuckled, bit the bandage with his teeth, tied a knot, stood up, and patted his shoulder: “If you believe what you said, then I won’t say anything. Now that things have come to this, you should do your best to protect me.”
As they were talking, Xu Hang walked in with a bag of clean gauze and said, “All the wounded soldiers and bandits have been treated. You should find another place to detain them—cramming so many people into my small medical hall isn’t exactly ideal.”
Upon hearing that the bandits were being held nearby, the local shopkeepers shut their doors and stopped doing business. A sense of unease spread through the neighborhood. It was clearly a problem. Duan Yelin instructed Qiao Song to prepare the prison at Xiaotong Guan and arrange for the prisoners to be transferred there after a while.
In order not to disturb Duan Yelin and Xu Hang from reminiscing about the past, Duan Zhanzhou followed them out. As soon as the door was closed, Duan Yelin hugged Xu Hang into his arms, and his slightly bearded chin rubbed against his neck, making Xu Hang so itchy that he wanted to dodge.
He never felt at ease for a single moment on Jiuhuang Mountain—constantly worried that the Military Control Commissioner might resort to extreme measures, or that Xu Hang might act impulsively. In the end, all his pent-up tension and frustration found release on the battlefield during the bandit suppression campaign.
The longer it took for reinforcements to arrive, the more relieved he felt. It was not until Duan Zhanzhou came up the mountain and told him everything that he knew what it felt like to be free of worries.
Holding Xu Hang in his arms and touching the back of his head, Duan Yelin sniffed the medicinal fragrance on him and sighed, “Our Shaotang has grown up. When I first met you, you were only eighteen, small like a child. But I forgot that you have long been an adult in charge and are very capable.”
Xu Hang did not move. He waited until Duan Yelin finished speaking before patting him on the back: “If you really think I’m a child, you wouldn’t have brought me into Xiaotong Guan.”
Duan Yelin moved away and locked his eyes on Xu Hang’s face: “I’m overbearing,” He admitted. “But when I see something I like, I can’t help myself—I have to take it, lock it away, not let anyone else see it, and make sure it doesn’t escape.”
Whenever this topic comes up, the atmosphere always becomes tense.
“So, you are no different from those bandits next door besides having an extra set of military uniforms.” Xu Hang pushed him away and pretended to walk out. Duan Yelin hugged him from behind again, put his hands across the front, pinched his chin, turned his face back, and kissed his lips.
The gauze in Xu Hang’s hand fell to the ground and rolled away.
A kiss begins with their tongues briefly touching, then moving along the teeth one by one, before gently teasing the upper palate. It continues with a soft taste, pulling away to nibble on the lower lip, then returning, going deeper to the root of the tongue.
This method made Xu Hang feel so flustered that he didn’t have time to swallow his saliva. He grabbed the back of Duan Yelin’s hand unconsciously and frowned slightly.
Duan Yelin finally let go after a while, panting slightly as he said, “I am only a bandit here, but… I believe that one day you will be willing to be taken away by me.”
Xu Hang lowered his head. The body temperature of the other party coming up from behind was very hot and warmed his entire body.
He looked at the scattered gauze on the ground, his eyes wandering around without settling on anything, then gradually moved outside the door, looking at a spider web on the beam, and said, “Duan Yelin, you are always so confident. I hope you can always be so confident.”
Duan Yelin suddenly remembered something, took out something from his pocket, and stuffed it into Xu Hang’s hand. Xu Hang looked down, his pupils dilated.
It was the sachet that was thrown away by Cong Lin.
“Don’t lose it again this time.” Duan Yelin kissed his hair, as if he was talking about the sachet but also about himself.
The two of them were in a peaceful and harmonious state at this time, but they were interrupted by a pungent smell of smoke.
The smoke didn’t smell like the medicinal fumes from the medical hall’s stove, nor like the scent of an overheated kitchen stove. Instead, it had a strong odor of kerosene, which grew increasingly intense and eventually became suffocating.
Xu Hang frowned and couldn’t help coughing twice, then he heard a loud howling sound outside.
“Get the water! Hurry! Put out the fire!”
In an instant, there were cries, shouts, and splashing sounds. Duan Yelin and Xu Hang could no longer sit still and rushed to the outside of Heming Medical Hall to take a look and were immediately dumbfounded.
The door of the warehouse where the wounded soldiers and bandits were imprisoned was locked. The sky was lit up by flames, and the heat was boiling. It was like a burning field with all four walls burned. There was no way to escape!
This fire was like a punishment from heaven, spreading endlessly towards the sky. It was entangled with the wind, like a monster that had been practicing for thousands of years, entrenched above the warehouse, terrifying and cruel.
It opened its big mouth and licked with a tongue of fire. Wherever it went, there was black air and thick smoke and ruins everywhere. Its claws were so sharp that it ambitiously wanted to tear apart every living thing trapped inside.
The constant flow of people was paralyzed with fear. Hezhou City, with its humid climate, hadn’t seen such a fierce fire in years. People hurriedly carried buckets, pots, and pans of all sizes to fight the flames and rescue others. Their faces were darkened by smoke, drenched in sweat.
“Help!!!!”
“Ahhh! Open the door! I don’t want to die!”
“Someone save me?! It hurts!”
In the warehouse, there were horrifying cries.
Have you ever heard the horrifying and blood-curdling wails of the evil spirits in the eighteen levels of hell, reaching out from the boiling oil pans?
Surely, everyone at the scene heard it. Even if the underworld knew anything, it would be nothing more than this as well.
Duan Yelin grabbed Qiao Song, whose face was covered in dirt, and shouted, “What’s going on!”
Qiao Song’s body seemed to be scalded by the heat of the fire, and he was panting heavily. “Just now I went to get medicine, and when I came back I saw a group of masked people. They locked the door, set a fire and… and robbed Cong Lin!”
“Damn it!” Duan Yelin spat angrily at the person beside him. It was clear who was responsible. “It reeks of kerosene! This fire can’t be extinguished. Go fetch some wood and break the door down!”
Crying, shouting, splashing water, cursing… when disaster strikes, all life is left at its mercy. Amid the chaos, only Xu Hang stood still, blankly staring at the farce unfolding before him, his expression distant and vacant.
His eyes were like broken glass beads, a little sluggish, and his lips were slightly open, showing his great surprise. It was not until a firefighter bumped into him that he suddenly woke up. His body shook, his eyes were a little red, and he suddenly grabbed a basin of water and poured it over his head. After getting wet, he actually rushed into the fire!
“Head of the Household! You can’t do that…” Physician Hu became anxious when he saw it and shouted at the top of his voice.
Duan Yelin looked back and saw Xu Hang desperately banging his body against the door. The iron door was burning hot, and the crossbeam on top looked shaky and could take someone’s life at any time.
“Xu Shaotang! Are you crazy?” Duan Yelin rushed forward, grabbed Xu Hang’s shoulders, and pulled him back. “You are f*cking going to die!”
However, Xu Hang seemed not to hear him and shook his hands fiercely, trying to fight with his body again. Duan Yelin was furious, grabbed his neck and hooked it, then squatted down, carried him on his shoulders, and strode to an open area.
“Put me down!”
Xu Hang angrily twisted on his shoulders and beat Duan Yelin’s back hard, but there was no response, as if he was hitting a statue, until he was thrown to the ground by Duan Yelin, with Duan Yelin’s finger almost poking his forehead.
“If you take another step forward, I’ll break your legs!” There was no joking at all. Duan Yelin’s face was stern and full of warning.
The fire was still burning, and although Duan Yelin was anxious, he still noticed Xu Hang’s abnormality. Xu Hang had never lost his composure like this before. Calmness was his protective color, and rationality was his intelligence. But today, he was so stupid as to risk his life, which was really inappropriate.
After being yelled at, Xu Hang slightly raised his eyelids and looked at Duan Yelin with bloodshot eyes. There was a sudden fierceness in his eyes. Although it was only a flash, it made Duan Yelin panic.
Everything today was strange and weird, even Xu Hang became strange and weird.
“Bang!”
A loud noise erupted from the back. Qiao Song and his men used wooden stakes to knock open the iron door. The warehouse was already on the verge of collapse after being burned. After receiving this final fatal blow, it sighed in pain, and a wall collapsed.
For a moment, dust mixed with a bloody smell rolled up and flew up to several meters high. It did not dissipate for a long time and seemed to cover the sky and the sun.
“Cough, cough, cough!!”
“It’s so choking!”
People stared with frowns.
As the wall collapsed, the fire gradually began to die down, like a monster that had exhausted its magic, unwillingly moving its hands and feet before it was reduced to ashes and finally died down.
Duan Yelin and Xu Hang’s pupils shrank, and they hurriedly ran inside, but after running a few steps, they braked suddenly as if struck by lightning and stood still.
Because what was presented before them was simply a picture of thousands of corpses crying!
Hundreds of charred bodies lay twisted together in contorted positions, their forms beyond what any human could imagine. Some were in balls, some in blocks, piled up in black piles, like inhuman monsters, or even more like deformed people with three heads and six arms.
The ferocious postures were all facing the door without exception, and even the blue veins on the corpses were still bulging there, tightly digging into the door panels.
They were piled up like a pyramid, one on top of the other, all eager to get out of the fire, but none of them got a chance to survive.
Among the corpses, some were lying on their backs crying to the sky, some were banging their heads on the ground, some were unrecognizable, some were left with only half a head, and there were countless broken limbs… many people vomited as soon as they turned their heads after seeing the ruins. Even those who were braver could only take a glance at most before they could not help but close their eyes and sigh.
There were not only bandits, but also many of their families and wounded soldiers.
Only Xu Hang and Duan Yelin remained stiff, not moving at all, but their jaws were tightly clenched and their hands were also tightly clenched into fists.
There was a deathly silence. The residual heat of the blazing fire had not yet dissipated, burning people’s hearts, burning away their faith and hope, and burning away their expectations for life.
Qiao Song watched as many of his brothers, with whom he had fought through life and death, met an untimely end. Overcome with sorrow, he squatted on the ground, covering his mouth as tears flowed. He punched the ground in frustration, filled with regret over his helplessness.
There was only one person crying, but why did Xu Hang seem to hear the cries of hundreds of people? He closed his eyes, the sound was overwhelming, almost drowning his spirit.
Slowly exiting the ruins, Xu Hang’s voice seemed to be a little hoarse from the smoke, and he said with a hint of sarcasm, “… Duan Yelin, does this scene look familiar to you?”
Duan Yelin raised his bloodshot and feverish eyes and looked at Xu Hang.
“More than a decade ago, the Japanese invaded China and broke into the central part of Sichuan. In order to prevent the Japanese invaders from succeeding, the government ordered a fire that burned for three days and three nights, and the ancient city that had existed for thousands of years was destroyed. Countless streets and houses were burned, hundreds of thousands of stones of grain were devoured by the flames, millions of dollars worth of silk were burned to ashes, cultural relics and treasures were completely destroyed, and more than 10,000 people were buried in the sea of fire.” Although Xu Hang’s voice did not fluctuate, his tone was extremely sad, as if he was reading a mourning article. “Later, this policy was called the ‘scorched earth policy’.”
Many people are familiar with this story, one that has been chronicled in the annals of war history.
How could the common people have imagined that the officers they trusted and respected would be the ones to betray them, using their positions to harm them? How could they have known that when danger struck, those officers would abandon the city and flee, or even sacrifice their lives? Whether they were bandits or good citizens, to those in power, they were nothing more than expendable.
Xu Hang couldn’t help but curl his lips as he watched. He pointed at the tragic scene with a trembling finger: “Did you see that? The so-called warlords are stepping on the corpses of the people. It has never changed from the past to the present.”
Duan Yelin did not answer. He could hear the deep disappointment in Xu Hang’s tone.
Until this moment, he was extremely annoyed that he was not a god and could not bring the dead back to life. All he could do was squat down, drag out the bodies one by one, put them on the ground, and arrange them.
This matter was a bit creepy, and only the people from Heming Medical Hall dared to go up and help. From dusk to late at night, all the bodies were cleared out.
After counting them, there were 395 bodies in total, the youngest of which was only twelve years old. It was a really spectacular sight to see them laid out on the street.
When Duan Yelin cleaned up the child’s body, his hands trembled. When he found the child, he was protected by another body. He was not burned too badly but was choked to death.
Obviously, he had promised the bearded bandit that after the matter was settled, he would take all of them to live as decent citizens in Hezhou City so that these innocent women and children would not have to sleep in the open air and could live in peace and health.
Now, it’s no longer possible.
Xu Hang knelt down and gently wiped the child’s face with his handkerchief, wanting him to leave this world clean, just as he had arrived. After wiping, he covered his face with a white cloth to show respect for the deceased. He spoke to Duan Yelin sternly, “These people died because of your negligence.”
The sky was dotted with stars, the night was cool, and the breeze was blowing. Duan Yelin stood up, dusted himself off, lowered his head, and said in a low but powerful voice, “…I understand.”
These are not just three simple words.
The last time he heard Duan Yelin say “I understand” in this tone was before the bloodbath at the Jinjia Tang.
Three hundred and ninety-five lives, loyal subordinates, friendship, and the people—this account really needs to be settled.
