Chapter Eighty-Seven: Husum

The old man stared at the grotesque crowd, his teeth clenched hard. They meant to defile his granddaughter. His cloudy old eyes widened at once, turning bloodshot, and he drew the sickle he used for gathering herbs from his waist, shouting, “Stop, you beasts! I’ll fight you to the death!” With that, he lunged forward.

In a flash, his body lurched downward, and searing pain shot up from his thigh. Then came a hollow, dreadful sensation. He turned in disbelief and saw that his right leg had been cleanly severed.

The bald woman held a sharp knife in her hand, blood still clinging to the blade. She stuck out her crimson tongue and licked the edge before saying, “Old man, no need to rush. This is only the beginning. Who told you to be so unlucky as to know our enemy? This is your fate.”

She then slowly walked to the old man, who had already collapsed yet was still desperately writhing and crawling toward his granddaughter. Raising her foot, she kicked him onto his back. As he lay there, she drove the pointed heel of her shoe into his face.

The narrow, needle-sharp heel immediately pierced the old man’s eye, bursting the globe.

A shrill, miserable cry tore from his throat. His muscles spasmed all over his body as he desperately tried to twist away from the pain, but the more he struggled, the more agony he felt. Within seconds, he could do nothing but lie on the ground, gasping raggedly.

“Old man, I hate it most when people don’t listen carefully when I speak. Let me introduce myself first. My name is Six-Winged Queen. See the flying serpent on my head? It is the most venomous snake in legend, with six pairs of wings, so they call me Six-Winged Queen, because I’m poisonous too!” After speaking, Six-Winged Queen touched the tattoo on her bald head and pointed to the androgynous man who stood there smiling at the old man. “His name is Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord!” Her finger shifted again, pointing to the man who was carrying out filthy acts upon the naked Meimei. “This one is called Child-Torturing Fiend. Do you understand? Remember us well. We will be your nightmare after you descend into hell!”

“You... you...” The old man’s withered fingers crackled as they clenched. His remaining eye was fixed, dead and unblinking, on the Child-Torturing Fiend, whose hairy body was still jerking as he committed his shameful act. His eyes were shot through with blood and, in so short a time, he had already ground his teeth to pieces.

“All right, Six-Winged Queen, remember to leave him alive!” Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord brushed back the messy hair at his forehead and said to the Child-Torturing Fiend, who had already let out a long breath, “Enough. We should head to Hulum now. The task given to us by Number One is to strip one thing off him every ten days. That’s a real craft.”

The Child-Torturing Fiend wore a look of satisfaction. Looking down at Meimei, who had already fainted beneath him, he stood up and tightened his belt, revealing a grin of yellow teeth. “Not bad. Hulum is a fine place. We must keep this little beauty alive. Just now was truly not enough, heh heh.”

“Hmph, you shameless fool. She is bait. She has already been left with half her life. We can’t do any more to her. Once that special forces man is dealt with, she’s yours to do with as you please!” Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord said with a smile that was not quite a smile.

Whoosh—Six-Winged Queen pulled the heel of her shoe free from the old man’s face, lifted the sharp knife in her hand, took the old man’s wrist, now in a state of unconsciousness from the extreme pain, and made a light cut at his pulse point. Blood slowly seeped from the wound.

Six-Winged Queen licked the blood from the blade, then wiped it clean on the old man’s clothes and said in a cold voice, “He can still live for three hours. I hope he can bring this good news to that special forces man.”

The Child-Torturing Fiend hoisted the naked Meimei onto his shoulder and gave a lewd laugh. “The game has begun. How exciting!”

“We need to deal with this one quickly, otherwise we’ll still have to go...” Phoenix-Eyed Evil Lord had not yet finished, his mouth already opened wide, when Six-Winged Queen shot him a fierce glare and shut him up.

...

Chen Cao lay in a bamboo lounge chair. The midday sun blazed fiercely overhead, yet a smile still lit his face. By his younger sister Chen Xinyou’s standards of efficiency, it likely wouldn’t be long before Meimei was sitting in class again, and the old man would be spending his later years in the city, finally eased of all burdens. A great weight had at last been lifted from his heart, and he could devote himself in peace to his own affairs.

The fierce sun beat down upon him, sweat streamed from his body, and Chen Cao could feel the nourishment within him being drained away. Back in the mountain village, there had never been much in the way of nourishing food to eat, and that morning he had only had rice gruel, so now his stomach was empty. Wait—why had the old man and Meimei still not returned?

Had something gone wrong? That thought suddenly rose in Chen Cao’s mind, and it grew more and more intense. He put away the two daggers given to him by Duan Tianya, tightened his grip on the hilts, and cold sweat broke out across him as he muttered, “Damn it, I should have thought of this sooner. I’m already trapped in this abyss, already the enemy of that mysterious man. Since I was already in danger, how could that old monster’s power fail to discover where I am?”

As Chen Cao thought this, the feeling in his heart grew ever stronger. He sprang up from the lounge chair and hurried toward the hillside where the old man and Meimei had gone to gather food.

But after walking only a few dozen paces, he heard a faint voice.

“Cao, Cao-er!”

Chen Cao looked up. The old man—no, a blood-soaked figure covered all over in blood—was leaning against a tree, panting hard. On his face remained only one eye, rolling with effort as he called softly toward Chen Cao, who was about to rush into the forest.

“Old man!” Chen Cao ran over at once. Now he no longer doubted that the enemy had begun their revenge.

“Cao-er, listen to me... I’m done for. Meimei, Meimei she...” The old man coughed up a mouthful of filthy blood at the corner of his lips.

“Old man, don’t move. I’ll carry you to the hospital right away, and then I’ll go save Meimei!” Everything had happened too fast. Though he had been mentally prepared, Chen Cao still found it hard to accept reality. He quickly supported the old man upright. At this moment, the most important thing was to save his life.

“Don’t move, don’t move...” With all the strength he had left, the old man extended his hand, the wound at his wrist already pale and white, and seized Chen Cao’s clothes, clutching them tightly until Chen Cao could hardly breathe.

“Old man, speak. Speak... I’m listening!” Chen Cao fought back tears with all his strength. Looking at the old man who was no longer even human in appearance, he knew, from his own familiarity with interrogation methods, just how terrifying the methods of those people must have been.

“I don’t have much time left to live, Cao-er. Remember this: you’re still young, you still have a great future ahead of you. Meimei has already been ruined.” When the old man said this, a faint smile suddenly appeared on the face missing one eye. On that shattered, mangled face, the expression was indescribably distorted, yet somehow sincere. “In my heart I know very well that what they’ve done is aimed at you—to lure you out. If you go, it’s certain death. Meimei’s life is already beyond hope, so listen to the old man—do not... do not go to rescue her...”

Cough, cough, cough...

His voice had reached its end. Even in death, the old man was still trying to protect Chen Cao’s safety.

Sunset. Again sunset. Was it the beginning of darkness, or the end of darkness’s waiting? No matter which, this road was still very long.

Chen Cao stood by the bed. The old man lay quietly on his plain, crude bed. In the short span of a small room, Chen Cao had done only one thing: he had cleaned this little wooden house according to military housekeeping standards.

After a simple washing, the old man’s corpse no longer looked quite so dreadful, though the curled fingers still spoke of the unwillingness in his heart.

“Old man, old man...” Looking at the old man’s body, Chen Cao said softly, “I cannot fulfill your final wish. I must go save Meimei. Whatever their purpose, I will destroy them, because my main goal is to eliminate these people. I will give you an explanation. Rest assured, I will not let you die in vain.”

Chen Cao left the room. The daylight was still bright, though the evening wind had turned slightly cool. He tightened his collar, shut the door, and took out a match. With a sharp strike, he lit it. In the darkness, the flame illuminated his expressionless face.

Sori, a border town of Hulum. The people here were no different in complexion from the citizens of Great Chen. Or rather, a little more than a century ago, during the feudal era, this place had been part of Great Chen. In today’s rapidly developing Great Chen, it remained only an ordinary town, yet militarily it held an important position for Hulum.

Chen Cao carried a bamboo basket and wore a conical hat, dressed like a peasant doing business. He was not unfamiliar with this place; on the contrary, he knew it very well, for he had carried out many missions here. Hulum’s misguided rule had brought the common people little convenience. Thus, in this seemingly prosperous town, among the bustling crowds in the streets, refugees were mixed in. The goods traded here were surprisingly mostly children. Of course, the greatest number were soldiers. This was an important military stronghold of Hulum, and the force they guarded against was none other than the army of Great Chen. The self-defense war decades ago, which had left their nation in ruins and their families destroyed, had carved itself too deeply into their memory.

Chen Cao merely made a simple alteration to his appearance and did not bother with much concealment. He knew that the other side had been watching every move he made, so there was no need for him to hide; they would certainly leave him a clue.

He strode through the street. Unlike the hawkers and vendors urgently seeking a way to survive, his boldness had only one purpose: to make the other side come to him.

A ragged little girl with a yellow, gaunt face ran over, extending a skinny little hand as thin as lotus roots, holding a slip of paper in her palm, and in her awkward Great Chen speech she said, “Hey, one yuan. Give it to me!”

The Fire Flame Sovereign 87_The Full Text of the Fire Flame Sovereign Free Reading_Chapter Eighty-Seven, Hulum, update complete!