Chapter 276 Betrayal
The fire fell on the man's body, and a black scar was immediately burned on the sheepskin coat with the leather facing outwards. The slave screamed in fear, staggered away with weak legs, and kept crying for mercy.
"It's burning! Your hair is burning!" Qingshan shouted. "Don't run! Lie down on the ground and roll in the sand! Quick!"
The frightened man could not hear what others said at all. He ran around with his hair burning, howling like a ghost. The scattered camels avoided him, and more and more ghost fires floated towards him.
Clusters of blue and white fire bloomed one after another in the desert. As the wind blew, the sparks floated up. Even without firewood or oil, they burned more and more vigorously. Two or three clusters gathered together and devoured each other like big fish eating small fish. The clusters of fire grew bigger and bigger, and then they chased after the swaying people and animals as if they had ghost eyes.
This scene was so beautiful that it was creepy. Everyone present, except Sui Yu, was terrified and broke out in cold sweats. Some even knelt down and kowtowed, begging for mercy from the gods and ghosts.
Sui Yu ran out with her sheepskin coat on. Song Xian reached out to grab her but failed. She screamed in panic, "Sui Yu, come back! Xiao Chunhong, Zhang Shun, your master has run away, go chase him!"
The ghost fires floating outside stared at the people hiding in the tent with eager eyes. They approached eagerly, and the people inside were so scared that their scalps tingled and they dared not take a step forward.
Zhang Shun wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Heavy breathing sounds echoed in the tent. He swallowed hard and hesitated for a long time. Before he could take a step, he heard someone lifting the curtain and going out.
"It's Qingshan." Aniu said crying.
"Let me out, please." Gan Da said in a hoarse voice.
"Brother, I'm going too." Gan Er slapped himself twice with all his strength to give himself courage. The pain woke him up, and he followed him out with shaking legs.
Zhang Shun followed him out and before leaving, he warned, "Be careful of the will-o'-the-wisp fire that will burn down your tent."
"I'll go out and guard the tent." Li Wu made a choice.
Hearing the screams outside, Ah Niu knelt on the ground and cried loudly. After crying twice, he lifted the curtain and crawled out, comforting himself as he crawled: "If it weren't for my master, I would have died long ago. If I die this time, it will be considered as repayment for my kindness. I, Ah Niu, am a loyal servant with a conscience."
"Let's fight!" Dashan shouted and rushed out.
The other three male servants in the tent also followed him out. Now all the remaining servants were from the Song family.
"Uncle Jiu, what should we do?" someone asked in a low voice.
When Song Jiu walked out of the tent, he found that it had become a sea of fire outside. The camels were burned into fireballs and rolled on the ground screaming. The camel herd had scattered. The people in the caravan were hiding. Those who did not have time to hide lay on the ground and dared not move.
Song Laodong brought seven people to guard the goods of the two families. He held a knife and looked vigilant, preventing anyone from approaching to kill and rob the goods. When he heard footsteps, he turned sideways to look over.
"Fourth brother, what's the situation?" Song Jiu asked.
"You go and look after the young lady and the little lady." Song Laodong arranged.
"This kind of fire is afraid of sand. If your body catches fire, just fall to the ground and roll around." Sui Yu shouted. She and Xiao Chunhong were already close to the slave who was burned into a fire man. When she smelled the smell, she felt something was wrong. She could only throw the sheepskin coat with phosphorous fire on the ground and rub it out with sand. Then she and Xiao Chunhong dug up the sand and threw it on the screaming slave.
"Master, let me do it." Qingshan arrived. He rolled on the ground twice to put out the fire on his body, then grabbed Ding Quan and buried him in the sand.
Sui Yu made room and shouted, "If your body is on fire, roll on the ground, or use a sheepskin to hold the fire and press it into the sand. Rub it a few times and it will go out. This is not a ghost or a god, don't be afraid."
Song Laodong was distracted and was kicked in the leg, and he fell to the ground.
"Uncle Jiu, what are you doing!" shouted the servant guarding the goods.
"Laojiu, do you want to rebel?" Song Laodong asked calmly.
"Yes." Song Jiu held the knife across Song Laodong's neck and said, "Fourth brother, I'm sorry, I don't want to kill you. Please be quiet. My brothers and I will take some silk and leave."
"You can't do this. The old master treats us well." Song Laodong tried to persuade.
"He treated us well, and we've worked for him for half our lives. We're even now." Song Jiu asked his brothers to move the silk and satin behind him, saying, "You're old, and we're still young. It's so hard to get this opportunity, so I have to fight for myself."
"The young lady told me a few days ago that anyone who goes out of the border with her to trade will receive 300 coins every year." Song Laodong tried to calm people down, fearing that others would be shaken. "After this incident, I will discuss with the young lady and give each person an additional 200 coins. Lao Jiu, life out there is not easy. You can't communicate with the people outside the border. They may team up to rob and kill you and throw you into the desert. No one will stand up for you. Stop it. I will pretend this never happened."
The servants who were moving the goods never stopped. Money was so attractive that only what they got was theirs.
"Erhei from Shopkeeper Yu's family... he..."
"That's because he's stupid." Song Jiu interrupted him, "I have money, brothers, and I know a few martial arts skills. Anyone who wants to harm us will have to think twice."
Song Laodong sighed. The incident with Erhei had planted the seeds of betrayal in the hearts of other servants.
"Uncle Jiu, it's time to go." The man with four pieces of silk wrapped around his front and back whispered. He looked around and said, "Good brothers, this is a rare opportunity. Why don't you run away?"
No one answered.
"Go and get the camels." Song Jiu glanced at the people in the sea of fire. Men and women were carrying sheepskin coats to put out the fire. If they delayed any longer, they might not be able to escape.
"Uncle Dong, the master asked me to ask if there is anything wrong with the goods?" A servant of the Song family shouted loudly while hiding from the ghost fire.
Before Song Laodong could say anything, he felt a pain in his neck and smelled blood.
Song Jiu was sweating nervously. He threatened, "If you dare to talk nonsense, I will kill you."
Song Laodong sighed secretly, held his breath, and shouted with all his strength: "There is a thief stealing the goods——"
"You are looking for death." Song Jiu drew his knife and killed the man. Then he put away the knife, picked up two bundles of silk and ran away.
Song Laodong fell to the ground, holding his neck. He wanted to speak, but before he could say anything, he could only hear the rough sound of bellows pulling in his throat.
Li Wu ran over to take a look. He hesitated for a moment and decided to stay here to guard the goods.
"Is there a thief?" Gan Er ran over wearing a sheepskin coat.
"There was a thief in the Song family. He stole the goods and ran away." Li Wu said, "Song Laodong was murdered. Go inform the head of the Song family."
When Song Xian heard the news, it was like a bolt from the blue. She was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly settled her daughter. She picked up a sheepskin, put it on her head and ran out.
"Song Jiu and six others stole the goods and ran away. Daqu and Zhang Shun of the Sui family led their men in pursuit," explained the Song family servant who was guarding the goods. "Song Jiu held Old Uncle Dong hostage. Old Uncle Dong didn't want them to escape with the goods, so he cried out, and Song Jiu slashed his throat."
Song Xian used her trembling hands to check Song Laodong's breath. He was still breathing. She cried and shouted, "Go find Anton, go find Anton, Uncle Laodong is not dead yet."
Anton is a veterinarian who treats camels. After the camel got frightened and ran away, he went to chase it. It took him most of the hour to find it.
At this time, the sky was slightly bright. Sui Yu and his men put out a lot of phosphorus fires, and the wind also blew away a lot of them. The remaining fire clusters were no longer scary, and the firepower was not enough to last until dawn.
Only then did Sui Yu realize what had happened in the caravan. When she dragged her heavy legs and walked out of the tent with a tired look on her face, Zhang Shun and the Song family's servants had caught four escaped slaves and brought them back.
"Three more escaped on camels, and we didn't catch up." Zhang Shun explained the situation. He sat down on the ground, exhausted, and asked, "How is Uncle Dong?"
"He's still breathing. Song Jiu didn't kill him. As for whether he can survive, it's hard to say." Sui Yu shook his head. "You take a rest. I'll go check on the Xu and Li caravans."
"I'll go with you." Zhang Shun stood up, holding his knees, and said hoarsely, "Last night, I don't know which caravan, Xu or Li, burned two tents. I don't know where this thing came from, but it was found in the resting places of the three caravans before and after."
"Many people or livestock must have died in this desert in the past, their bodies buried in the sand. A sandstorm hit half a month ago and blew away the buried sand, or perhaps it blew in from somewhere else. Last night, the night watchman lit a fire, and the flames ignited the corpse phosphorus under the sand, and then the so-called will-o'-the-wisp appeared." Sui Yu explained, "I've heard my father talk about this before."
Zhang Shun was confused. He didn't understand, but he believed it.
"We all suffered a lot of losses after this incident. The camel also ran away. We have to go look for it later." Zhang Shun sighed and reflected, "I should have come to guard the goods last night."
"If you were here last night, you would have been the one whose neck was cut." Sui Yu was tired and didn't want to hear this for the time being.
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