Chapter 38: It's Hard to Be Loyal
What day is this?
Shen Zijie had been putting out fires, and his hands had blisters on them, which had broken. His hands were covered with smoke and dust, but the pain was the only thing that kept him awake.
No matter how the people around him tried to persuade him, he wouldn't stop, as if he didn't know how to get tired, and he kept on putting out the fire and saving people.
"Shen Zijie..."
"Shen Zijie..."
It seems like someone is calling him, but he is very busy, so how could he have time to call him?
"Chen Zijie!" Cui Junji rushed to Shen Zijie, pressed his violently trembling shoulders with both hands, and his eyes were like lightning, piercing into Shen Zijie's numb eyes: "Look at me! Shen Zijie! The granary is saved, you need to rest!" His voice was not loud, but every word was like a hammer, hitting Shen Zijie's confused mind.
Shen Zijie was shocked by his roar. His bloodshot eyes stared at Cui Junji, and his chest heaved violently like a dying beast.
Cui Junji stared back at him without retreating, his grip tightening as if to infuse his will into him. "My men have already gone to investigate the government office! Rushing in would have done nothing but burn yourself to death! Hold on here! Hold this line! This is your only way to save more people! It's also your only hope... for their survival! You did it, you did it."
Cui Junji's words were like a basin of ice water mixed with a hot iron, pouring heavily on Shen Zijie's frantic heart.
He panted heavily, his gaze torn between the glaring bloodstain on Cui Junji's face, the unmistakable eagerness in his eyes, and the all-consuming sea of fire behind him. Ultimately, the weight of responsibility as the governor of Xunyang and the burden of tens of thousands of lives acted like an invisible anchor, holding him back from running towards his wife and children.
He suddenly closed his eyes and let out a beast-like growl from his throat. When he opened his eyes again, the madness in his eyes faded slightly, replaced by a deeper, almost desperate determination.
"Go back and see them. They won't blame you."
Seeing Shen Zijie regain his composure, Cui Junji's tense jawline relaxed slightly. He said no more and quickly scanned the scene. His eyes fell on a gap at the back of the granary where a small ember of fire still remained. He remembered that there was oil in it!
As soon as Cui Junji raised his hand, the team of elite guards he brought with him immediately gathered around him tacitly.
"You, take a few people, go around to the back, and find a way to divert water from the north, even if it means digging a ditch!" Cui Junji spoke very quickly, pointing at the leader of the guards, "Others, follow me to explore that gap! The granary can be burned, but if the kerosene depot inside explodes, half of the city will be destroyed! We must confirm the situation!" His voice was firm, with an iron-blooded aura that can only be found on the battlefield.
"Yes!" The guards responded in unison, moving as fast as the wind.
Cui Junji took a last look at Shen Zijie. His broad but hunched back looked extremely heavy in the ruins.
Thinking of Wen Youqing's almost collapsed look, his eyes dimmed. Why did he rush thousands of miles for this? But now the only one who can comfort that person is Shen Zijie.
Cui Junji suddenly waved his hand, and with several of his most elite guards, like sharp arrows piercing the shadows, they silently yet swiftly rushed towards the gap in the granary where the remaining fire was! Their figures were quickly swallowed up by the billowing smoke and dust.
Deep within the granary, flames licked at everything combustible, the air scorching and twisting. Cui Junji, accompanied by two guards, felt like he was walking in the heart of a furnace.
They covered their mouths and noses with water-soaked cloths, but the thick smoke still seeped in, irritating them to the point of tears and tears streaming down their cheeks. Every breath was filled with burning pain. Underfoot were scorching ashes and red-hot rubble, and every step felt like treading on knife-edge.
"Sir, ahead... the kerosene depot!" A guard pointed at the heavy iron gate engulfed in flames, his voice distorted with nervousness. The kerosene depot was of paramount importance; an explosion would have disastrous consequences.
As he got close, Cui Junji shouted, "Be careful!" and pushed away a guard beside him.
laugh!
A poisoned crossbow arrow made a chilling sound as it brushed past the guard's ribs and shot into the burning wooden pillar, the tail of the arrow still vibrating with a humming sound.
"There's an ambush!" Another guard was shocked and angry, and instantly drew his sword to protect Cui Junji.
From the shadows, several ghostly figures clad in black jackets suddenly pounced! Their movements were swift and brutal, each strike deadly. They were clearly well-trained assassins, their target directly targeting Cui Junji! The flashes of swords and sabers instantly clashed fiercely in the still-hot smoke and dust, the clanging of metal drowned out by the sound of collapse.
Cui Junji's eyes were icy. He drew his sword from his waist and blocked a blow, his wrist numb from the shock. These killers were definitely not ordinary arsonists! If it weren't him who came, but Shen Zijie discovered it, then...
While fending off the violent storm of attacks, he demanded sharply, "Who sent you? Wang Dingan?!"
The assassin's face was covered with a black scarf, revealing only a pair of emotionless eyes. Upon hearing this, his attack intensified, not responding at all. It was obvious he was trying to silence the witness!
He cheated right!
Although the guards brought by Cui Junji were elite, the other side had the advantage in numbers and were fearless. In this narrow and chaotic fire scene, the guards were quickly divided and entangled, and were in danger.
Cui Junji, facing two men alone, narrowly avoided a blade aimed at his throat, only to be slashed across his back by the other assassin's blade. His brocade robe ripped, flesh tumbled, and blood instantly stained the deep purple fabric. He groaned in pain, his movements slowing slightly.
At this critical moment, the massive grain stack, deliberately set ablaze to the side, groaned under the weight of the flames. The thick wooden pillars supporting it snapped with a crack! The entire burning grain stack, like a collapsing mountain, toppled down upon the fiercely fighting men with a mighty force that would incinerate everything! The scorching flames and scalding grains poured down upon them like a cascade of lava!
"Sir, get out of here!" The guard's eyes were bloodshot and he shouted hoarsely.
Cui Junji's pupils shrank, the shadow of death looming over him. With all his might, he kicked away a harasser, using the momentum to roll sideways. Burning trees and scorching grains brushed past his body, crashing down. The flames seared his skin, excruciating pain, and the smoke and dust nearly choked him.
However, just when he thought he had escaped, a broken beam as thick as a bowl and blazing with flames, like a burning python, suddenly shot out from the collapsed grain pile and hit his back with a tremendous force!
“Ugh—!”
A suppressed roar of pain erupted from Cui Junji's throat. The flaming log crashed hard into his back, the terrifying force sending him flying forward like a kite with its string cut, landing heavily in the scorching embers. A teeth-grinding sound of bone cracking and a horrific sizzling sound of scorched flesh echoed from his back. The excruciating pain, like a tsunami, instantly overwhelmed his consciousness. His vision went black, and the fishy, sweet smell of blood rushed to his throat.
"Sir!" the guards screamed in despair.
The assassins had clearly not anticipated this sudden collapse, and their attack slowed slightly. In this moment of chaos, Cui Junji summoned his last remaining willpower and bit down hard on his tongue. The sharp pain instantly sobered him up.
He took out the hidden weapon from his waist and shot the killers who had no time to react one by one. He didn't need to leave any survivors. He already knew the truth, and the killers had heard his suspicions.
Cui Junji didn't plan to speak frankly for the time being. His good teacher might not know what he was doing now. This was just a test. He couldn't act rashly before he became more mature.
However, this temptation really touched his sore spot.
"Sir, watch your back!"
There was so much smoke and dust that a fish actually slipped through the net.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com