Chapter 26: Qin Xu Kills Someone (Part 2)

  Under the night sky at the end of the Han Dynasty.

  The scarlet flames danced joyfully in the night, not making a crackling sound.

  In the flames' envelopment, one by one, the sleeping souls of sin are taken away without emotion; the dancing tongues of fire seem like the joyful twists and turns of those innocent villagers who were killed.

  "Beware of fire and candles when the weather is dry!" Qin Xu's mind was clear and he muttered to himself.

  The flames grew larger and soon spread throughout the village, with either cries of surprise or wails of despair filling the air. Qin Xu's eyes revealed a hint of reluctance, but more so a sense of resignation.

  The slaughter on the battlefield, each side fighting for their own master, may only make people's blood boil. But this one-sided massacre, with unarmed villagers as its target, is something that only beasts would do.

  The smell of meat wafting in the night wind made Qin Xu's stomach churn.

  "I'll never eat barbecue again!" Qin Xu said with a self-mocking smile, looking at Cai Yan, whose face had turned pale, apparently thinking the same thing.

  "It's flooding! It's flooding!"

  "What's all the commotion about? Hurry up and put out the fire! The house is going to collapse, oh no, save me first!"

  Those who were lucky enough to have escaped the disaster no longer had the arrogance of daytime, only panic and helplessness. One by one, they struggled to shake off the living branches on their bodies, without even noticing the cries for help from their companions, like a group of headless flies rushing around in all directions.

  The wind assisted the fire's momentum, and the fire borrowed the wind's power. All the houses in the village were surrounded by flames.

  A group of executioners were in a state of panic, rushing out of the blazing house, not even bothering to look back at their companions who were still trapped inside and crying out in despair. By the time the leader of the group managed to gather everyone together, only one-third of them remained.

  "What a damn nuisance! I knew I shouldn't have camped here! Whoever it was who wasn't careful at night, I'll skin him alive when I find out!" The man spat viciously, his whiskers singed by the flames, his face illuminated by the firelight, revealing a sinister grin on his normally stern and rugged features.

  "General, it seems that the hidden fire in this village has been blown by the wind and ignited again, so we had to retreat." A small-headed person spoke to the leader, his words filled with fear and trepidation, as if he was extremely afraid of this evil general.

  "Hum! These Qian heads, dead or alive, are not at peace! How much money can their heads be exchanged for? All TND was ruined by this fire. I came here with great difficulty, and it seems like a wasted trip!? What a loss! You're also useless, didn't you know to look ahead of time?" The leader scolded the young man, grabbing his collar. It seemed that what pained him wasn't the loss of many soldiers, but rather that many heads were charred, reducing his chances of gaining military merit and rewards.

  These executioners and evil people could never have imagined that in this godforsaken place, where there are no villages ahead or shops behind, someone actually witnessed their evil deeds.

  "Hiss... rustling"

  Just as they were about to take their revenge, a loud neighing sound from the war horses made these evil people look at each other in dismay.

  "Ah! My war horse! Quick, go and take a look!" The evil man heard the neighing of the horse, his face suddenly changed, his expression even more distorted, he shouted: "If we lose even the horses, when I return, my elder brother will scold me, none of you will be able to escape!"

  The entire village was on fire, and the only place where this group of people stood was a small empty space in the village, which was now surrounded by heavy flames. It wasn't just that they couldn't go outside the village, even taking one step felt like the flames were scorching their faces.

  Upon hearing this cruel rebuke, the soldiers under him looked embarrassed. The surroundings were all ablaze, and the horses were outside the village. If they wanted to go and untie the horses, they would have to cross through the wall of fire.

  "Trash! All of you are trash!" The evil one seemed to have also discovered that its orders were temporarily unable to be executed, and it cursed non-stop.

  "General! The voice is wrong!" The little head just shouted, pointing to a corner of the village.

  "Shā... wēi ruò"

  "Ah! The horse is startled! General, quickly dismount!"

  In the flames, a horse frightened by the fire, regardless of the wall of fire, rushed towards the empty space with its body on fire!

  "Block it! Block it for me!"

  Although they had shed their armor, it was clear that this group of bandits were formally trained soldiers! Under the command of the leader, they quickly formed a defensive formation. The bodies of the innocent villagers scattered on the ground were used as shields, surrounding the leader in the middle.

  "Ah!"

  "Ah!"

  A war horse weighs over a thousand catties; how could the impact generated by its fright at seeing fire be withstood by just these dozen or so people?

  Barely holding off one, two, three, but the war horses seemed to dislike these people's behavior as well, and actually charged straight at the small open space where they were.

  Human strength is ultimately limited, and soon the three people at the forefront were knocked flying by the impact of the startled war horses, falling into the raging flames behind this group of people. Only a human-shaped fireball was seen after several miserable cries, and this sinful body turned into a pile of charcoal.

  "End... end it... now!" The evil man, at this moment, no longer had the complacency of killing villagers before. His face turned pale under the firelight, and in his incoherent words, he still remembered to order his subordinates to be scapegoats.

  Ferocious people are actually the most afraid of death, their cruel means are just to cover up the unease and fear in their hearts. The evil thief who had just beheaded innocent villagers with a smile on his face was now standing on shaky legs, not knowing where the next surprise attack would come from.

  "Something's off about this...!" The small leader, who was closest to the evil one, looked around and saw that there were only four or five bandits left beside him, as if he had discovered something amiss.

  The houses in the village were very simple, mostly made of grass and reeds bundled together with some mud, at most topped with a wooden beam. The fires that broke out quickly were mostly from the dried corn stalks harvested by the villagers. So the fire started quickly and was extinguished quickly.

  Soon, the fire around gradually weakened, and also made this little head discover that something was wrong.

  "What's wrong? You little brat, quickly find a reason for me to report the loss!" Hearing the small head's words, this ringleader didn't think much and only thought about how to shift the loss.

  "General, look! There's someone there!" The fire had actually only burned for about a quarter of an hour before gradually dying out due to the lack of flammable materials, and Qin Xu and the others' figures were exposed.

  Actually, Qin Xu was a bit regretful. If he had chosen to set the fire at the time of Yin, that is, around 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning, when this group of scoundrels were half asleep and half awake, their actions would have been even more chaotic, which would have been even more perfect.

  Some of you are too impatient! But it doesn't matter anymore. Burned by the flames, and frightened by the startled horse, two of them were paralyzed. Now, in the central small square, except for the main culprit and that little ringleader, only two villains who can barely stand are left.

  As for Qin Xu's side, Xu Huan doesn't need to be mentioned, Lao Xun was originally a vanguard warrior, let alone Xu Huan who also brought ten light cavalry...

  What a complete defeat!

  "Go! Go interview this inhumane thing!" Qin Xu didn't care if the people behind him understood what an interview meant, seeing the miserable state of these people, Qin Xu only felt his mood was extremely relieved, and his stomach seemed to be not as uncomfortable as before.

  "Who are you waiting for? Why are you here?" The little head saw that Qin Xu, who was walking in front of him, was wearing a scholar's uniform and had his wife and "family general" by his side. He didn't think that the person in front of him was the one who almost made them lose their entire army, but instead shouted with a fierce expression.

  "Oh? Us?" Qin Xu's eyes rolled, with a hint of sarcasm, and he smiled faintly: "We travelers happened to see the flames soaring into the sky, suspected that heaven was punishing evil people, so we came to pay our respects!"

  "Travelers? That's perfect, I've been ambushed by a strong enemy. Since you're traveling, it's perfect to escort me back, and I'll reward you heavily!" The big man said with a loud laugh, not suspecting Qin Xu at all. The small leader initially flashed a hint of doubt after hearing Qin Xu's words, but after seeing Qin Xu's young face, he also showed a domineering attitude.

  "When you're out and about, who hasn't encountered something? What do you call it?" Qin Xu asked directly, suppressing the disgust in his heart.

  "How dare you!" The little general's eyes gleamed with ferocity, saying: "Do you dare to speak to me like that? I think you're tired of living!"

  "Hmm!" The man, known as the general, put on a majestic appearance, feigning anger as he glared at the little head for a moment. His gaze was fixed on Cai Yan behind Qin Xu, and his eyes revealed a hint of lustful light. He cleared his throat and said: "This general is the Taishou of Dongjun... under my command, Ying Yang Xiaowei is also here. Young man, are these people your family members?"

  "But he's just a school lieutenant, daring to call himself a general!" Lü Lingxue let out a soft snort of laughter, her face full of disdain.

  "You don't know the weight of your words, my general is the younger brother of the Taishou of Dongjun, let alone a general, even if he becomes a Da Jiangjun in the future, it's not impossible!" The little head saw that the evil face was unchanged and hurriedly pleaded for his master.

  "Governor of Dong County?"

  "Who is Eagle General?"

  Qin Xu's face was no longer calm as before, his young-looking face was twisted with excitement, and his questioning tone became colder sentence by sentence.

  The poor little head didn't notice Qin Xue's face, and proudly said: "Yes! If you can escort us back to Chenliu, my general will definitely reward you! My master has always been generous, and the rewards must be rich. It's only 500 miles away, you've made a big profit!"

  "Are you a general under Cao Gong's command?" Xu Huan, who had been waiting for an opportunity to appear without wavering, suddenly spoke in a low voice: "Are you sent by Cao Gong?"

  "It doesn't seem like you have any sense of propriety! To be honest with you, I came this time because the master himself personally approved and allowed our general to come here for revenge..."

  "Shut up!" The evil-looking man seemed to have noticed something off about Qin Xue and the others, and hastily stopped Xiaotou's boasting. With a defensive expression, he asked in a low voice: "No, you're not just travelers. No, no, what are you people?"

  "We..." Lü Linggui was about to speak, but was stopped by Qin Xu's hand, which happened to be pressed on her small mouth. Lü Linggui was about to get angry, but felt Cai Yan pulling her from behind. When Lü Linggui turned around, Cai Yan gently shook his head at her.

  "Come to avenge? Well, the governor of Yanzhou allows you to avenge! If I'm not mistaken, you're Cao Hong?" Qin Xu didn't know what he was thinking at this moment.

  Qin Xu, who had been thinking of joining Cao Cao's camp, would never have imagined that his first meeting with the most trusted general under Cao's command would be in such a situation.

  This is a gang of people who regard human life as worthless and kill the good to achieve their own merits.

  This is the current Dongjun Taishou Cao Cao's most trusted clan relative, Cao Cao's lifesaver!

  Just now, the little head said that Cao Hong and others did not suspect that the fire was man-made. As long as it is sent back to Chenliu, Lü Bu may still fall from the White Gate Tower like before, and Xu Huan will eventually surrender to Cao Cao. Then this matter can be covered up. With this "incense fire relationship" with Cao Hong, he will definitely be reused by Cao Cao.

  But what about these innocent villagers? Are they going to die in vain? Have they become the stepping stone for Qin Xu's advancement?

  How should we respond?

  Prospects?

  Or

  Conscience!!