Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Corpse-Dissolving Furnace and the Free-spirited Cave
The boy struggled desperately, his fingernails, covered in black mud, were incredibly sharp, scratching several cuts on Mu Lian's hand. If Mu Lian hadn't been wearing protective gloves, she would have bled immediately. But Mu Lian held on tightly, giving the boy no chance to escape. The older brother at the bottom of the pit was already dead; if this boy were taken away too, the entire family would likely be wiped out.
"Let me go, let me go..." The boy's eyes were bloodshot as he grabbed Mu Lian's hand and bit it hard.
Mu Lian winced in pain and had to release one hand, but as she did so, she took the opportunity to strike the boy on the back of the neck. The boy glared defiantly and fell to the ground. Handing the boy over to the old man who had pulled him away, Mu Lian followed the other soldiers to the bottom of the pit to carry the body away. The pit was dimly lit, and Mu Lian had smeared black mud on her face, so the soldiers couldn't immediately recognize her. The group carried the young man's body along the tracks of the cart, the old man's suppressed sighs and sobs faintly echoing behind them.
"What a tragedy, what a tragedy..."
As they ventured deeper, the temperature in the air gradually rose, and the black mud on Mu Lian's face turned into black water that slowly dripped down. Upon closer inspection, they discovered that it was a tall furnace, with raging flames burning inside, emitting a stench of smoke.
Yes, is that the smell of burning corpses?
Mu Lian's hands trembled slightly as she carried the stretcher. The towering furnace so close to her looked like a monster that devoured people. No wonder the boy had resisted having his brother carried away; it turned out the end result was that his body was never recovered.
Mu Lian's eyes were a little red, whether from sweat getting into them or something else, she didn't know. She could only grit her teeth and follow the soldiers in front to throw the young man's body into the furnace. Perhaps he had just died, or perhaps he wasn't quite dead yet, the young man's body suddenly sat up in the furnace, startling everyone.
"Close it quickly, close it quickly..." the foreman beside the stone furnace shouted, jumping up and down.
A flurry of activity ensued. As the opening on the side of the stone furnace was covered, the burning corpse of the young man finally collapsed slowly. This scene was so gruesome and unsettling that Mu Lian still remembered it vividly many years later.
Retreating into the shadows, Mu Lian discreetly surveyed the scene, drawing her conclusion. This furnace was likely originally used for smelting iron ore, but now it had conveniently become a corpse-dissolving furnace. The iron smelted within naturally acquired a bloody and violent aura, making it a truly deadly weapon when forged into sharp blades. How ruthless!
He tightened his grip on his fingers, sighed softly, and continued to observe from the shadows. Beyond the furnace, there should be a place where weapons were forged, and faint clanging sounds could be heard, interspersed with the harsh whipping of the overseers and the painful groans of women.
A woman's voice?
Mu Lian's eyes grew even colder. In this dark and desolate place, filled with men, the appearance of a woman was a sure sign of bad luck.
With a muffled cough, Mu Lian mimicked the tone of the previous soldier and greeted him in Luoyang dialect, "Um, brother, I need to relieve myself. I'll be right back..." After saying that, he made a move to leave.
"Hey, this kid's a sly one. Fine, you can have your fun for now, I'll be right there..." Behind him came the lewd, sarcastic laughter of the other guards.
Once they reached the shadows, Mu Lian grabbed a handful of ash from the ground and smeared it on her face. She had been drenched in sweat, and if she hadn't been wearing a man's skin mask, she probably would have been exposed. Passing by the blacksmith's gate, Mu Lian tilted her head slightly to peer inside. She saw that it was deep inside, with a continuous clanging sound, quite a magnificent sight.
However, one person can't clap their hands alone, so Mu Lian didn't approach. She continued to follow the intermittent moans of the woman, and after turning a corner, another doorway appeared before her. Unlike the previous one, this doorway was draped with a pink curtain, adding a touch of sensuality to the dark, sunless underground pit.
Through the pink curtain, Mu Lian listened to the man's forceful roars and the woman's painful groans coming from inside. She took a deep breath and lifted the curtain. Behind the curtain were several separate small doorways, each also covered with a pink curtain.
As she walked through the rows, the first five rows were completely full, filled with lewd moans and whispers. Mu Lian frowned. There were fifteen small doorways in each row, making seventy-five in total. Judging by their size, each doorway could only fit a bed, meaning that at this moment, there were seventy-five women suffering.
Is this... this a den of iniquity?
"Stop..." Just as Mu Lian was about to pass through another doorway to investigate, a guard who was hiding somewhere called out to her: "What are you doing?"
In a flash of inspiration, Mu Lian replied, "I have come to invite Vice General Liu. The master has sent someone to deliver a message..." If the secret report from the Judicial Office is correct, Liu Zhang has a habit of using his own people. In addition to his staff, many of his subordinate generals are also members of the Liu clan.
The guard looked Mu Lian up and down, and said with disdain, "Deputy General Liu is very particular about cleanliness. You'll probably be punished for looking like this. Why don't you go and clean yourself up before you come back?"
"Yes, yes, I'll go right away..." Mu Lian hurriedly turned around, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the guard walking towards the central doorway inside. She quickly hid to the side.
A short while later, a fair-skinned man with a refined air emerged. Unlike the rough and uncouth soldiers they had encountered before, this man spoke gently and behaved with propriety, making one feel as if bathed in a spring breeze. The guard accompanied the man around the doorway, but not seeing Mu Lian, he greeted him and went back inside.
"Damn it, where did they run off to..." the guard muttered softly behind him.
The man lifted the curtain and stepped inside. This place was larger than the previous one, and besides the bed, there were tables and chairs, with a screen separating the bed and the tables and chairs, making it somewhat like a normal room.
Upon entering, the man called out softly, "Miss Alan, Miss Alan..."
A rustling sound of dressing came from behind the screen. After a while, a beautiful woman with delicate features walked out gracefully. Perhaps because she had just been intimate, the woman's cheeks were flushed, and there were still many ambiguous red marks on her neck and chest.
The man took a jade ornament from his sleeve and handed it to the woman, his voice even softer: "My lord has sent a message, so I must leave now. I will come to see you another day..."
The woman adjusted her blouse with her slender, pale fingers, glanced indifferently at the jade ornament, and did not take it. The man, somewhat anxious, advised, "Alan, here, you can only protect yourself from harm by constantly letting others know you belong to me, otherwise..." He added at the end, "Think more about your two younger brothers..."
Upon hearing the word "brother," the woman's fingertips trembled. She glanced at the man, hesitated, but ultimately accepted the jade ornament. Indeed, in this hellish abyss, if she hadn't relied on the man before her, she would likely have been thrown into the corpse-eating furnace like those sisters who had been ruined.
"Thank you, Vice General Liu..." The woman bowed her head and gave a deep salute.
Deputy General Liu rushed forward to help the woman up, stroked her soft hands a few times, and then reluctantly left.
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