Chapter Thirty-Eight

  "Commander, I think this place is not suitable for a large troop to fight. I'd like to lead a small squad of several people to scout ahead in disguise. Requesting the commander to assign two people who are familiar with the local terrain to me." Yuan Shuai requested.

  "It's too dangerous like this."

  "There's an old Chinese saying that goes 'How can you catch a tiger cub without entering the tiger's lair?' I'd like to give it a try. Please, General, grant me permission." Yuan Shuai requested once again.

  "Alright, you guys be extremely careful, you're up against a group of demons who kill without batting an eye."

  "Thank you, sir. I will definitely pay attention."

  Yuan Shuai called up Li Nan, and the colonel also sent two captains who were more familiar with the local terrain to join them. Several other soldiers wanted to go with Yuan Shuai as well. However, Yuan Shuai considered that this time they would be going in disguise, without any weapons, relying solely on their martial arts skills. But he couldn't stop those two war correspondents, because they didn't belong under his command.

  They disguised themselves as local people and came to the residential area. In fact, it's not even a residential area, but rather a slum, where garbage was scattered all over the place and the stench filled the air. For Yuan Shuai and his team, who had received special training, this was nothing. But for the two war correspondents who were used to living in luxury in big cities, it was indeed a test. They would wave their hands to shoo away unknown flying insects one moment, and then cover their noses with their hands the next. Yuan Shuai warned them cautiously, "Don't cover your noses, or people will suspect you're not locals."

  But it was too late, their simple action had already been noticed by the people of "Piety Army".

  The sky slowly darkened, and more than a dozen "Devout Army" men had quietly followed. As they walked to a relatively remote place, they suddenly rushed out, and more than a dozen AK-47s surrounded them.

  "Don't move, what are you doing?" A big-bearded man who looked like a "leader" said.

  "Don't misunderstand, we are locals," said a Pakistani captain.

  "Local? Would a local cover their nose and shoo away flies?"

  "This Pakistani soldier looked at these two war correspondents and said: 'They are my friends from Nowshera, not adapted to the environment here.'"

  "Oh? From Nauslar? What's your name?" The big beard asked Zina.

  Zina couldn't speak Pakistani, "En, na" for half a day and still couldn't get it out. Seeing that she couldn't say it, the big beard leaned in close to her and looked at her carefully.

  "Your friend, he looks like a Chinese person," and then several people came over to tie them up with rope. Their heads were also covered with black hoods.

  After walking for about half an hour on the winding road, they lifted their hoods.

  What was presented before them looked like an abandoned warehouse, with dozens of heavily armed "Jihadist" terrorists standing beside it. In the middle sat a guy with a full beard, possibly their leader.

  "Are you Chinese?" he asked in English, leaning his head to one side.

  "We are, but those two aren't, they're local people we hired with our money." Yuan Shuai pointed at the two Pakistani soldiers.

  "Listen, I don't care if they're locals or not. My soldiers have already checked his fingerprints and I'm very satisfied. His index finger has the mark of pulling a trigger. I think you're here to rescue those Chinese people, right? Well, I'll give you the opportunity to see the person you want to see. And by the way, let's put on a show." He stood up and walked towards his rear, followed by several men with guns who hurried after him.

  They came into a dark and gloomy house, which was very large, with many people tied up inside, as well as all sorts of torture instruments.

  "Look, here are people from all over the world, they are all my invited guests."

  "Is this how you treat your guests?"

  "Oh, of course not. Today I will very politely invite you to watch a visual feast." He said to a big man holding a whip, "This is a guest from China, let's show them some Chinese opera."

  That big Han bowed to him and then left. After a while, three people came in, the other two holding up another person who was also likely caught by them. The person had been tortured to the brink of death.

  "See? This guy, his country abandoned him, so he will be in great pain. So I decided to send him to see Allah. Since you're here, my Chinese friend, let me show you a Chinese ancient torture method that can't be seen nowadays - 'Lingchi'."

  "Ling Chi"? Zina shouted out loud. (In ancient Chinese law, the most cruel punishment was to cut off a person's flesh piece by piece with a knife, requiring thousands of cuts, and during the execution, the "criminal" could not die.)

  "Oh, it seems that my Chinese friend is very unexpected. I remember a philosopher once said that the happiness of the future lies in the unexpected. It looks like you are very happy."

  "You're simply a devil!" Yuan Shuai cursed through gritted teeth.

  At this time they had already tied up the person who was just carried in on the cross.

  The big man who had just held the whip was no longer holding it, and beside him was an iron plate with all sorts of knives on it. It turned out that he was an executioner.

  The executioner first took a piece of red-hot iron and branded it onto his shoulder, followed by a blood-curdling scream. A pungent smell of burnt flesh wafted through the air. Next, he picked up a small curved knife with a pointed tip and carefully inserted it into the edge of the already-branded area, rotating it gently from bottom to top until the entire piece of flesh was cut off. Due to the previous branding, there wasn't much blood flowing out.

  Then, using the same method, he shaved off the second piece of meat, and the third. Each time, a hellish cry rang out. Yuan Shuai clenched his fists tightly, his eyes fixed on that head spewing out furious flames. He vowed to personally slaughter him. The two war correspondents had already closed their eyes in terror.

  Two war correspondents closed their eyes, not daring to look. The leader said: "Such a visual feast is not worth looking at, it's a pity that this is the method your ancestors came up with. Haha, your ancestors are simply geniuses, able to come up with such a classic punishment. It's really impressive. First scald a piece of meat, then cut it off, so there won't be too much blood, just pain, don't worry about dying from excessive bleeding. Cutting a thousand knives won't kill you, and this kind of struggling to survive is the most enjoyable experience. Haha."

  Zina let out a loud shriek.

  "You are a perverted devil, you must go to hell." Li Nan cursed in his poor English.

  "Oh, you're talking about hell? This is it, I've been in hell all along, haha."

  "The execution" is still in progress. At this time, the "devil" made another outrageous move. He slowly walked towards the executioner.