Awakening Day Collection

Chapter 3 Preface (3)
I don't know whether he was hit to death or was scared to death, Li Mutou murmured in his heart, and at the same time he was more worried about his own safety.But Zhuo Zhending didn't seem to care about his existence, he just bent down and searched Lan Zhenshu's body carefully, then left his body and walked into Li Muju's room. Voice.

What is he looking for!Li Mutou suddenly realized.It seems that when the two went together to find the old monk, something very complicated and thrilling must have happened.Lan Zhenshu not only left the dying Zhuo Zhending and left alone, but also took something, and now, Zhuo Zhending who came back from the dead came back to look for that thing.

A strange guy whose life and death are unknown is turning his home upside down, but Li Mutou dare not stop him at all.Anyway, he didn't have any valuables at home, so he comforted himself, while Zhuo Zhending didn't notice him, he dragged his injured leg and fled quietly, hiding in a bush outside the village, hoping that Zhuo Zhending would find him sooner. Find something and leave early.

In this way, until the evening, Li Mutou began to feel hungry in his stomach.He couldn't help but think that at this time of the day, he should have already made dinner and wait for his son to come home to eat together... Son!He suddenly realized that he had been hiding here all along, only thinking about his own safety, but he forgot about his son who was farming in the field.Right now, it was time for my son to go home.

He stood up abruptly, ignoring the pain in his injured leg, and ran home with a limp. Just two steps away, he saw the flames in front of him.Amidst the clamor of the villagers, his heart sank.

It was his home that burned.Those simple huts were being swallowed by the soaring flames, and the son was lying outside the door, side by side with the dead Taoist Lan Zhenshu.Li Muju's eyes went dark, and he stretched out his hand to check his son's breath with a ten thousandth hope, and then he sat down on the ground, crying desperately.

A few days later, after finishing his son's funeral, Li Mutou did not return to the temporary shack built by the villagers for him. Instead, he came to the ruined old house alone, and came to the location of his son's room by memory.He sat on the scorched land in a daze, recalling his son's life journey from the time he fell to the ground to growing into a thick and simple mountain man with tears, recalling the life of father and son, and recalling the several times he tried to say goodbye to his son. They all failed because of their poor family. Thinking of the sad place, he couldn't help but raised his fist and beat the ground hard.

Li Mutou was already old, this punch was unintentional, and the strength was not strong at first, but he didn't expect that when he punched down, he punched a big hole in the ground.He was taken aback, never believing that he could have such strength, he quickly lowered his head to look, only to find a small square hole on the ground.After thinking about it, he finally realized that the ground here must have been hollowed out beforehand, so his punch was only to break the external camouflage.

How could the always honest and honest son dig holes and hide things in his room?Li Mutou was puzzled, but quickly realized that this room had been given to Lan Zhenshu for the past ten days or so.In other words, this pit should have been dug by Lan Zhenshu.And what would Lan Zhenshu hide in this pit?Could it be what the revived Zhuo Zhending was trying to find, and what the two of them found during the treasure hunt?
Li Mutou stretched out his trembling hands and touched into the pit.He vaguely felt that his fate might be changed because of this unexpected discovery.What he didn't expect was that it was not only his personal destiny that changed, but also the history of this world that was distorted along with it.

three

The executioner lit the pyre with a torch, and the rising flames quickly engulfed the thin body.Soon, the strong stench of burnt flesh spread in the air.

"May the fire wash away your filthy soul, and may God forgive your sins from now on." The priest put his left hand on the Bible and prayed solemnly.

Hannah looked past the priest to the burning fire.Miriam on the execution pole has been completely curled into coke, but she didn't really suffer from the pain of being burned.After hearing and witnessing so many cruel interrogations that were terrifying enough to make people have nightmares, Miriam lost all courage to fight, and almost immediately admitted her identity as a witch after being arrested.The court therefore granted her lenient mercy, hanged her first, and then burned her.

For those witches recognized by the church, this is almost the best ending.If they insist on not admitting that they are witches, the prisoners will be subjected to all kinds of appalling tortures: whipping, watering, nail piercing, clamps, vices, burning their feet with a red iron, stretching the limbs of the limbs, and putting them on the scalp. Poured with brandy and set on fire... just hearing the description is enough to make people tremble all over.Hannah had also witnessed the tragic situation of Sandra in the neighboring village before. After being arrested, she insisted on refusing to admit that she was a witch. After only one week, she almost lost her human form and turned into a mess. Meat.

What's even more tragic is that despite stubbornly refusing to plead guilty all the time, the court still ruled that she was a witch who was tempted by the devil and betrayed God, and was finally sentenced to be burned at the stake.Hannah didn't dare to watch the burning, but people who watched the execution process said that even at the moment of being engulfed by the flames, Sandra still shouted with all her strength: "I'm not a witch! God will definitely punish you!"

But right now, Miriam, who had been hanged, was unable to make a sound, and the wordless silence was even more disturbing.Hannah couldn't help but have the thought she tried to suppress but couldn't suppress again: When will it be my turn?

In this era, the sanction of the church against witches has reached an almost crazy level.It is hard for people to imagine that there are so many devil lovers lurking around them, but the court's verdict is unquestionable.One woman after another, who usually seemed harmless, was discovered to be a witch, tortured, tried, and eventually executed.The shadow of the devil hangs over the whole of Europe.

The village where Hannah lives is located in the south of Brandenburg, Prussia. It was originally a quiet and peaceful place, but everything changed after the "see-through" came to the Brandenburg area.This young man, who is less than 30 years old, claims to have the heavenly eye bestowed by God, and can recognize the evil light that only belongs to the devil from people's eyeballs. People with this light are naturally wizards and witches.He claimed that he traveled all over Europe in ten years and uncovered more than 500 wizards and more than 4000 witches.This time, at the invitation of the church, he came to Brandenburg and brought a storm of blood.

There are many ways to identify witches, as long as they meet any of the characteristics, they can be identified as witches.This kind of refereeing standard is like casting a big net to catch fish in the fish season. There are countless people caught in the net. die.

According to the records of "The Witch's Hammer", the great book for catching witches, witches have all kinds of evil powers. They can fly, drive animals, kill people with curses, and spread plagues in the fields. God kills babies as sacrifices to Satan, etc.When Hannah first heard these claims, she also had a deep fear and hatred of witches, but when villagers, acquaintances and even friends who did not look like witches were exposed as witches, she began to have doubts.What's even more frightening is that, according to those speculative standards, she feels that she may also meet the definition of a witch: there are three black moles arranged in an approximately equilateral triangle on her shoulder, which may be considered a mark bestowed by the devil; One spring, her cow gave birth to a deformed calf with only three legs, which would also be considered witchcraft.

The most terrible thing is that Hannah is a widow.In the last 200 years of suppression of witches, widows have always been the first to bear the brunt. It is said that because there are no men around them, it is easy for the devil to have sex at night.In the nearby villages, several widows had been sentenced to be burned as witches, and the villagers looked at her more and more strangely, but she had no choice but to resign herself to fate.She knew she had nowhere to hide, no way to escape except to pray to God.

After Miriam's burning was over, Hannah returned home, recalling the smell of the charred corpse. She didn't even have an appetite for dinner. She just curled up on the bed and imagined what would happen if she was caught. What, I didn't fall asleep until late at night.In the dream, she was tied up in the execution room, with a red-hot brazier under her feet, and a man wrapped in a black robe held a sharp iron hook in his hand, and cut open her stomach, causing her intestines to flow out. out.

Hannah screamed and sat up from the bed, feeling drenched in cold sweat.She was panting with lingering fear, and suddenly her heartbeat almost stopped: she found that there was a person standing in front of her bed, and he couldn't see his clothes and appearance in the dark, and could only vaguely judge from his figure that this was a thin man.

"You, who are you?" Hannah asked as she quietly reached out and fumbled by the bedside, but apart from a candlestick, there was nothing else that could be used as a weapon.She could only hold the candlestick in the palm of her hand.

"Please put it down, I didn't come here with any malice," said the man in the dark, "not to mention such a small candlestick, it can't hurt me at all."

The man spoke German quite purely and fluently.But because it was so pure, without any accent or dialect vocabulary, Hannah realized that this was a foreigner.She collected herself and asked softly, "Can I light the lamp?"

"Please." The other party replied.

Hannah got dressed and lit the candles. By the candlelight, she saw the man's face clearly, and she couldn't help being very surprised.She thought it was a Frenchman or an Englishman, but she didn't expect to see an oriental face with yellow skin.This turned out to be an oriental man. Although he was wearing European-style clothes, he wore a bun on his head strangely.Hannah vaguely remembered that someone once mentioned that in the far east, there was a group of people who did not believe in God but only believed in Eastern gods, and they would wear such buns on their heads.

"Who the hell are you? What are you looking for?" Hannah asked.

"Your grandfather's name was Moritz Sebastian Frings. He was imprisoned for assault and wounding, and then died of the plague in the prison, right?" The Easterner did not answer, but asked She asked the question.

Hannah was taken aback: "How do you know?"

The Oriental didn't answer, but asked a second question: "Your grandfather's body was directly burned to ashes after his death, and he was not handed over to you for the funeral at all, right?"

Hannah nodded silently, before opening her mouth, the Oriental had already asked the third question: "There is a silver heart pendant among your grandfather's belongings, can you show me?"

This strange oriental man seems to know everything.Hannah hesitated for a while, then took out a wooden box from the cabinet and handed it to him.The Oriental opened the wooden box, took out the pendant, watched it carefully for a minute, put it back, then turned to Hannah and said, "I came here to tell you that you are already on the list of witches, about four or five After a few days, when the batch in hand is processed, they will come to arrest you."

Hannah staggered back a few steps, sat on the bed in a daze, covered her face with her hands and began to cry.But soon, she stopped crying and said with a sob: "Thank you for telling me. But what should I do?"

"I would like to take you away, but the timing is not right," said the Easterner. "To be honest, I am also a fugitive now, and I am being hunted by people who are more powerful than the Church. Before I get rid of those people, take me with you." You'll only die together, so I'm actually just here to send you a message."

"Send a message?" Hannah was at a loss for a while.

The Oriental reached out and took out a note from his pocket and handed it to Hannah, with a sentence written on it.Seeing this sentence, Hannah suddenly trembled: this is grandfather's handwriting!I have been used to seeing my grandfather's handwriting from letters since I was a child!
"My grandfather... is he still alive?" Hannah was surprised.

"All in all, you can judge whether this line is true or not, and it's up to you whether you want to believe it or not." The Easterner didn't answer directly, "I have to go, and may your God bless you from disaster, beautiful lady."

Like a gust of wind, the Oriental appeared suddenly and then left quickly. If it wasn't for the note with her grandfather's handwriting on it, she would have almost thought that what happened just now was a dream.But this is not a dream, the note is real, and the grandfather's handwriting is completely flawless.

She forced herself to calm down and think about her situation: the Oriental has no reason to make up lies to deceive herself—because he didn't ask for anything, not to mention that she had a premonition that it was inevitable to be arrested and tortured as a witch .But witches can also suffer less pain, that is, to admit their status as witches, and beg the court to directly grant merciful hangings, which can avoid all kinds of torture during the trial process, and can also be burned after being hanged, without having to experience the flames body pain.Miriam chose this ending.

But what about myself?What should I do?What did my grandfather mean by this sentence?Why did he leave this sentence for himself?Hannah couldn't figure it out at all.But the grandfather's words were clearly in front of his eyes. Could it be that there is... some kind of vitality in these words?However, Hannah really didn't know if she had the courage to fight for such a life, because it was simply a purgatory where life was worse than death.

Her mind was in a mess, and she unknowingly let go of her hand, and the note fell to the ground.Under the candlelight, that line of scribbled and forceful words is very clear:

"Don't plead guilty, no matter how many punishments you suffer, you must survive to the stake!"

The Eastman's prediction was right, and five days later armed soldiers arrived at Hannah's door.Hannah took a deep breath, crossed herself reverently, and walked out of the house.Her face was pale, and her body was trembling slightly, but she tried to make every step she took be smooth and graceful.

"Let's go, gentlemen," said Hannah softly.

four

Late night phone calls are always frightening.Zhan Ying buried her head in the pillow, hoping that it was just some drunk guy who dialed the wrong number, but the ring continued to ring persistently, over and over again. Finally, she could only admit defeat and answered the phone impatiently: "Hey?"

"Jenny, it's me." The person on the phone called out her English name, and the voice was very familiar to her.

"Professor Hadley? Is that you?" Zhan Ying immediately fell asleep, "I saw in the news that you are wanted..."

"That was framed! I didn't kill anyone!" The person on the phone shouted in a low voice, "Do you believe what I said?"

"Professor, I have no way to say whether I believe it or not," Zhan Ying said after a moment of silence, "This is what you taught me before, to use evidence to speak for everything, not subjective speculation."

"You are indeed my good student," Professor Hadley smiled wryly. "Well, it doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. I have one thing to ask you."

"If it violates the federal law, then I'm afraid..." Zhan Ying said hesitantly.

"Don't worry, I don't want you to help me escape or anything," Professor Hadley said hastily, "I just want to pass on some information to you, some academic information that absolutely does not violate federal laws."

Zhan Ying thought for a while: "It's okay, but can you tell me why first? We haven't seen each other for seven or eight years since you went to China, and now you suddenly came back and became a murder suspect , must let me know what you have done these years, right?"

(End of this chapter)