Chapter 163 - Fire in the Night
Chapter 163 - Fire in the Night
The casino can arrange a tour, but they don’t know when someone will write their name, so they can only run back to call people after getting the news, and then rush them to the scene.
So Ning Fei was called into a carriage by the casino staff at 2 a.m. late one night.
Of course Duan Yunhong was also called. He originally had a sullen face because his sleep was disturbed, but Ning Fei's face was even sulkier than his. As soon as he got on the carriage, he leaned directly on him. Duan Yunhong felt speechless and funny.
He said, "It's better to go back."
"No." Ning Fei replied without even opening his eyes, "I want to go."
Duan Yunhong didn't know what was so nice about writing a name, but Ning Fei seemed very persistent, so the man said no more. They leaned against each other in the darkness as the carriage passed through the dark streets, with only the sound of horses' hooves and wheels rolling over the cobblestones being noticeable.
Finally, Ning Fei and Duan Yunhong entered a small building. The small building is a short distance away from the square, but this is the best location the casino can get. It is the closest observation point where it is not likely to be "witch hunted" by the square patrol soldiers.
Before entering the door, Ning Fei glanced towards the square.
The surrounding buildings looked like tall, terrifying ghostly shadows in the night, sandwiched between the flames at the end of the street. Shouts, curses, whistles and horns could be heard along the streets, and in the silent night they could be heard far and wide.
Ning Fei turned around and followed the waiter's light up to the attic room.
The attic was relatively short and had a sloping roof, so Duan Yunhong and Ning Fei had to bend down and lower their heads when they walked to the window. Fortunately, there were chairs and a table in front of the window, on which were prepared some snacks, red wine, and a telescope, which could be considered the standard equipment for nobles to watch the execution scene. Because the space was small, the waiter led them here and then left, saying that he would wait for them downstairs.
Ning Fei looked out the window. Although the roof below was a bit of an obstruction, the view was still much clearer and he could basically see most of the central square. The light that was originally clamped became bright. No, to be precise, it was all torches, with flames shooting up into the sky.
Ning Fei took the telescope and immediately saw all the details.
“There are actually children rushing into the square?”
Ning Fei narrowed his eyes and observed more carefully: "...Shalai?"
Duan Yunhong, who was about to close his eyes to rest, said: "Hmm?"
***
Ten minutes ago.
Beep—beep—
A whistle sounded in the distance, and the teenagers hiding in the dark whispered, "The people over there have attracted the guards again! Get ready to throw kerosene and Molotov cocktails, and push the hay cart to the entrance of the alley! Once the hay cart has rushed past five meters, we will rush out right after it, and then throw the Molotov cocktails when we are sure of our position!"
"We have to rush over with the hay cart on fire this time!" Shalai couldn't help but remind him again, "Just now, the people on the hay cart were shot dead when it was still ten meters away from the square, so it will be too late to push it over and light it!"
"But we should light it first and then push it over here. Thirty meters is enough to set the whole hay cart on fire. And after the hay cart is on fire, the fire will blow towards people when it is pushed. The handle of the cart is less than one meter long, and the fire will burn people directly! People will be burned to death before the cart reaches the square!" Someone retorted, "We should push it out first and then light it on fire, at least we should light it at a closer distance. He was shot to death last time after running about ten meters, so we can light it after running halfway this time. Oil has been sprinkled on the hay, so it will be quick!"
"This plan has just failed! Do you think those archers are fools, that they would foolishly wait until the cart was ten meters away before shooting? Every time they kill the person pushing the cart, they will push the hay cart away and search the area. How many people can we sacrifice? How many hay carts can we give to them for free? Every time they come to search, we have to move to another place with our goods. What if someone doesn't run away and the goods are not taken away, we will suffer a lot of losses!" Shalai said dissatisfiedly, "Pushing the burning hay cart into the square is to scare off the guards and use the fire to block their aiming. If it's not lit, it's useless no matter how close we push it. We're just giving those guards heads for nothing!"
"I told you, people will be burned! If they are not shot to death, they will be burned to death first! Isn't this a meaningless sacrifice?" The boy's tone involuntarily became higher. "If the hay cart is lost and the supplies are gone, we will come back next time. One day I will write it down!"
"It failed last time, and it failed just now. It always fails. When will it succeed? How many people will be willing to come next time? How much supplies can it provide?" Shalai retorted, "And do you think Ning Fei will wait for others to write their names until the end of time? He is a 'devil', not a 'God'! Don't you remember how many civilians were burned to death in the church fire? He played this game not to vent his anger on the civilians, but because he wanted to kill the nobles! He killed the civilians as easily as he killed the two hooligans we buried that day!"
Then Shalai stood up and said, "If you don't want to push a burning hay cart, then I will do it! I will light it and push it myself!"
"Don't brag!" The boy also refuted her, "You are just a little girl, can you push a hay cart?"
"Then I'll go push it with her."
Another voice came from the darkness, and Shalai immediately realized who it was: "Kai!"
"I originally wanted to write Prince Finn's name myself. After all, I have a blood feud with him, and I am willing to sacrifice my life for it." Kai replied, "But now I can't even get close to the square. I can't stand my own incompetence. Rather than waiting for an opportunity in the back, I would rather be burned to death. At least I have tried my best, and I won't feel guilty facing my deceased family after I die."
Shalai said, "Okay, I'll go with you."
Kai said: "Shalai, you are still behind..."
"No, I want to go. I missed an opportunity when I was a servant in Ning Fei's house. I don't want to miss this opportunity again, otherwise I will never be able to sleep, and I will always live in his shadow. I had a dream in which Ning Fei laughed at me and said that he dared to kill any powerful person, but I didn't even have the courage to write my name, like a rat that only dared to move in the gutter." Shalai replied firmly, "I want to write the king's name. Will Ning Fei really kill the king? Even if I die, I want to see the answer in heaven."
"I believe he will kill Prince Finn. As long as I can write his name on it, I am willing to believe it until I die." Kai came over and said, "Let's go and change the person who pushes the cart."
"Okay," Shalai said, "Let's wrap our heads with cloth and soak our bodies, so that we can at least stay in the fire longer. I'm also going to hang a bunch of kerosene bottles on my body. If the guards dare to kill me, I'll set myself on fire and rush over to hug them!"
"Then I'll hang a kerosene bottle too!" Kai replied, "I'll also write Prince Finn's name with kerosene in the square. Once the fire starts, his name will remain on the cobblestone road forever. Even after the fire goes out, the name will still be there. Hahahaha..."
The latter sentence was obviously a joke, so Shalai did not refute him. The two of them went to the team responsible for pushing the cart together.
The members of the support and writing team who stayed behind were silent for a moment. Even the young men who had repeatedly refuted Shalai before stopped talking, and no one knew what they were thinking.
Unexpectedly, Shalai was sent back, but Kai stayed in the cart-pushing group. Shalai said that the cart-pushing team agreed to light the fire before rushing out, and Kai stayed there to serve as a replacement in case of emergency.
The boys became even more silent.
But time didn't give them time to think clearly. Just one minute after Shalai came back, the cart team started moving.
Kerosene was poured on the hay and it caught fire immediately. What was pushed out was more like a "train" than a hay cart. The raging fire directly illuminated the buildings along the way, and the flames drifted in the air along with the burnt hay. The guards who were still guarding in this direction were simply stunned. They looked at several "trains" rushing towards them in amazement and subconsciously retreated to avoid them. In the panic, the defensive formation was in chaos, and the "train" took advantage of this opportunity to run closer.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!!"
The horn sounded and the guards in the square began to gather again. But the front of the "train" was so terrifying that the guards could only shoot arrows and wait for the team to rush out of the alley and attack directly from the side. There were no archers on the upper floors of this alley, and the archers in the front could not see the people behind the fire clearly, so they could only shoot randomly.
“Ah…!”
The people pushing the cart had no way to avoid the arrows that were piercing through the fire, and finally one of them was stabbed and fell down. He was still struggling to get up, but Kai had quickly taken his place, grabbing the car and rushing up! The fire had already carried the wind and almost engulfed the entire car. Even though Kai was soaked all over, the flames burned his hands and eyebrows, making it so stinging that he couldn't open his eyes, and the heat made him want to let go immediately.
But he didn't let go, still holding the handle tightly and rushing forward.
Finally, the "train" was about to rush out of the alley and was only five meters away from reaching the square!
"Molotov cocktail! Throw it now!"
The people behind the cart team shouted, and lit Molotov cocktails were thrown with force, banging over the "train" and hitting the front. The bottle burst, kerosene spilled out, and flames instantly ignited along the oil trail. The guards were caught off guard by this sudden change and did not rush forward to stop it for a while. The man pushing the cart and the civilians behind him were not afraid of the flames at all. They walked straight through the wall of fire and rushed to the edge of the square very quickly!
"Catch them! Catch them!"
Someone among the guards shouted, and they tried to bypass the fire, attacking the crowd with spears and swords. More Molotov cocktails, torches, and kerosene cans were thrown out, black oil flowed everywhere, and flames burned everywhere. The guards dodged, were angry, and swung their swords at the crowd without hesitation, stabbing their spears at the people on the other side of the flames, killing with bloodshot eyes. Even though the people attacking the square used sticks, hoes, sickles and other weapons to resist, they were still no match for the longer and sharper weapons and began to fall one by one. Some people fell two or three meters away from the square, staring towards the square with wide eyes, as if they wanted to see their goal achieved before they died.
In the pupils illuminated by the firelight, the cart team really rushed into the square.
Among them was Kai, who was almost selfless. When he realized that he was really on the square and was about to feel ecstasy, a spear stabbed straight into his shoulder!
Bang!
The kerosene bottle hanging on his body was also broken, and kerosene instantly spilled all over his body. With just a lick of the hay cart's flames, his entire body quickly caught fire!
"Ah...!!!" Kai screamed in pain, but did not fall to the ground and struggle. Instead, he staggered towards the guard next to him. The guards were frightened by the fire man and retreated, trying to knock him down with their weapons.
Finally, whether it was due to the fire or the wound from the weapon, Kai fell to the ground.
The fire was still burning fiercely on him, and the guards would not put it out, and no one else had time to come and take care of it. Kai lay face down, his screams of pain drowned out by the noise around him. He used what strength he had left, and tried his best to use his palm, or any part of his hand, to draw difficult strokes on the stone floor, one stroke after another.
It was the letters of the name he most wanted to write.
But when he wrote the first stroke of the third letter, his hand stopped completely.
…
"Don't look at it."
Duan Yunhong took the telescope from Ning Fei's hand and covered the young man's eyes.
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