Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

The city was in chaos. Soldiers in uniform could be seen frequently dragging citizens out of bed and escorting them to the city's police station. Their relatives wailed and cried, but were met only with impatient driving and beatings from the soldiers. Although no guns were used, the level of violence was indistinguishable from a violent crackdown.

"What are they doing..." Silver Frost tightened her hood to avoid being seen, her signature silver hair exposed, and stared in astonishment at the scene before her. "Isn't this a northern city? Why are they suppressing their own people?"

“In the eyes of these soldiers, Morocco’s surrender of the train station to us is tantamount to surrendering to the enemy.” Zhang Wusheng’s voice lowered. “Now, they are carrying out a massive purge of this city full of traitors.”

"Really...?" Silver Frost was increasingly confused. "There's no need for this. Back then, Mr. Red Center had annihilated the entire Federation army. Given the city's military strength, they had no choice but to surrender."

“Generally speaking, that’s correct.” Zhang Wusheng looked at the crowd on the street in the distance, their panicked expressions etched into his emerald eyes. “...The leader of this army is a man who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals.”

“Besides a few of us, there are no more Southern troops left in this city. Those who were once on the fence will surely turn around and return to the embrace of the Union army.”

"However, they launched a massive purge of the city from top to bottom, leaving no one with even the slightest threat unpunished."

Silverfrost took a deep breath, trying to banish those pitiful sounds from her mind as much as possible. "Do we still need to go to the city hall?"

"To be more precise, we had no other choice but to use that." Zhang Wusheng's tone became incredibly heavy. "Given the current level of patrol, there's only a sliver of hope after dark. Once it's light, they'll begin a city-wide search, and then..."

Halfway through his sentence, Zhang Wusheng's pupils dilated with shock, and he froze on the spot, at a loss for what to do.

----

……

"What's wrong?" Yinshuang noticed his sudden silence and followed his gaze, only to see a house that had been burned down to its shell.

Total darkness.

A wooden house can be burned to ashes with a single fire. Apart from a few charred fragments of pillars, there is only a pile of ruins, from which nothing can be identified. They have sneaked in from outside the city and have seen many similar man-made ruins. Presumably, after identifying the homeowner as a traitor, they set fire to his house and burned it down.

The night wasn't even over yet, and from a time perspective, there was simply no room for verification, and even evidence wasn't really needed.

Whether someone is a traitor or not depends entirely on the thoughts of the soldier carrying out the order.

"Lady Silverfrost, have you forgotten?" Zhang Wusheng stared blankly at the ruins, his voice trembling slightly, "Here..."

"This is the place where I received medical treatment."

Lucas's house.

The smile of that boy waving goodbye is still vivid in my mind.

The remaining ruins before him had been burned and had no external features to support his hypothesis.

Zhang Wusheng said this entirely because he confirmed it geographically by comparing the buildings on both sides with his memory.

A lifeless ruin.

A rather bad feeling crept into his heart.

"Maybe... I don't remember very clearly." Silver Frost tugged at his sleeve and warned, "Don't stare for too long, someone will notice... Huh?"

She suddenly realized that she couldn't pull Zhang Wusheng away. His legs were like nails, firmly wedged into the ground, and his mouth was slightly open as he stared straight at her.

"We don't have the extra energy to deal with others right now; we must get the intelligence out first, right?!"

"..."

Zhang Wusheng stared at her expressionlessly for a long time, and then, for reasons unknown, finally nodded.

Chapter 1021: Who dares to raise their head?

Looking at the pairs of stiff feet hanging in front of him, swaying in the night wind, Mans' expression was very indifferent, showing no fear whatsoever.

"Huh...? Looks like you're braver than I thought."

Seeing his reaction, Rudy looked at him with interest, scanning him from head to toe, and smiled, "This is the Colonel's special seat prepared just for you, isn't that thoughtful?"

"Is he expecting to see me so scared that I wet my pants?" Mans raised his head defiantly and laughed instead. "He'll probably be disappointed."

"You just said I'm brave, but quite the opposite, I'm actually very timid."

“I am an elected mayor. In this city, I have no powerful backers. If I am not careful, I will be impeached. Therefore, I can only treat everyone and everything with extreme caution and dare not make any mistakes. In the past, I have also let go of several opportunities that could have created huge commercial profits simply by investing money.”

"However, what you all have done..."

"It doesn't scare me."

Mans laughed and said, "It just disgusts me."

“…You’d better watch your mouth, old man.” Rudy’s face darkened. “Get this straight, in wartime, there are plenty of people with higher positions and more power than you who die from a rope or a bullet. You big talkers are worthless, not even worth as much as dog shit on the street.”

"A traitor like you should be grateful to have been allowed to live one more night! The colonel is far too patient with parasites like you. If it were me, I could kill you anytime and hang your corpse up as a warning to others!"

"Ha... So, even things like this require a subordinate like you to handle." Mans' eyes revealed utter contempt. "And him?"

"Why don't they have the courage to step forward and confront the twisted farce he created?"

……

The square in front of the city hall.

Several corpses were suspended on a huge gallows, like gourds on vines, their feet colliding with each other when the wind blew.

These people weren't executed by traditional hanging, where the force of the fall crushed their spines, causing them to die instantly. Instead, they were literally tied around the neck with a rope and slowly pulled up until they suffocated. This method of death was no different from hanging, and extremely laborious, but these soldiers carried it out as if it were second nature, as if they had done it countless times before.

The federal army had taken complete control of the local police system, and at their request, all citizens, regardless of age or gender, were required to go to the square to witness this scene in person.

Before being hung up, these people had already endured a round of beatings, leaving them bruised and swollen. And given the agonizing method of "hanging," they would have undoubtedly struggled desperately before dying; their faces were nothing short of horrific. Even so, they used every available light source to ensure the scene was clearly visible to everyone.

A distorted face.

Deformed limbs.

There were also visible bruises and bloodstains on the body.

"ah----!!"

The relatives of the executed man, witnessing this scene, suffered a complete physical and psychological breakdown. They immediately knelt on the ground, letting out heart-wrenching wails and screams.

Their voices echoed across the square, drowning out everything else.

fear.

The scent of fear has visibly permeated every single person.

The so-called "special seat" was where Mans, who had previously sided with the Southern army, sat behind the execution platform. He was so close to the hanged corpses that he could even smell the stench of excrement mixed with blood on them.

A soldier dressed as an executioner slowly walked onto the gallows, his thick-soled military boots creaking under the weight of the wooden platform.

Once upon a time, Mans often addressed the citizens in this square. Now, however, it had become a horrifying execution platform, where the corpses of traitors hung. The thought that perhaps after tonight, his own body would also be hanging in this place filled him with immense irony, and he let out a bitter laugh, which he couldn't quite call self-mockery.

"I believe you all already know the identities of these people who were hanged."

The executioner held a large, electrically powered megaphone. His voice, amplified and carrying a slight electrical noise, quickly spread throughout the entire square.

"That's right, they are traitors! Shameful, despicable, unforgivable traitors! They formed a secret relationship with the rebels from the south and provided them with assistance. During the war, our soldiers are fighting bloody battles on the front lines. Nothing is more hateful than aiding the enemy!"

"If any of your relatives or friends are among these hanged ghosts, then congratulations. We have rid you of a scourge whose soul has been corrupted. You should sincerely express your gratitude to Colonel Sisley."

"After investigation, we found that the city's corruption was far deeper than we had imagined. We, representing the federal army, captured the rebel camp, but failed to capture the rebel leader. Someone must have received advance notice and hidden him away."

"At this very moment, this hateful southern barbarian, a mixed-blood bastard born of the Red Calamity, is still hiding in the shadows, watching all of this happen!"

"I'm here to announce something: Following Major Siswell's orders, our army will continue the cleanup operation in this city. Cleanups of this intensity will become the norm, so please be prepared!"

"Of course, we still welcome everyone to actively expose the traitors around you, just like tonight! Colonel Sisley will consider giving material rewards to those who provide valuable whistleblowers. The sooner we find the hiding rebel leader, the sooner this work will be completed."

"All of this is for the victory of the Union Army, for the victory of the United States of America!"

----

"see it?"

"There's no need for the major to show up. The guy on the stage is just one of our lowly frontmen, who's just good at talking. He stood there for so long, and those people below didn't dare utter a single word."

Rudy scoffed dismissively, "Citizens without weapons or organization are nothing but insects in front of the army. One stomp and countless would be crushed. If you don't believe me, stand up and take a closer look."

"Which of these people below dares to raise their head?"

----

……

"..."

Zhang Wusheng, squeezed in the crowd, had his mouth slightly open. After the excessive shock, the expression on his face seemed numb.

He looked up and gazed at the corpses hanging on the gallows in the distance.

One of them had a particularly thin and small silhouette, and...

Deja vu.

Chapter 1022: The Crimson Dragon Floats

"Wu Sheng..."

Yinshuang's eyes also allowed her to see very far in the dark. Because of her night vision, she could see even more clearly than Zhang Wusheng, which was why her voice trembled slightly when she spoke.

It's so miserable.

These suspended corpses were not bound with ropes, their hands tied behind their backs. This was because they had been beaten so badly during the execution that they were too weak to struggle. Their bodies were covered in countless bruises and swellings, and some strange limb contortions were due to blunt force trauma, which had ravaged their internal organs; only their outward appearance barely resembled that of a human.

Even so, after the actual torture was administered, death still resulted from suffocation, combining almost every painful way to die into one.

She sensed a malice.

There was no particular purpose; if one had to describe it, it was similar to a mound of corpses, a form of torture performed simply to intimidate the crowd. However, in the eyes of the Federal Army, "beheading" was something only barbarians would do, but in reality, the atrocities they committed against these people were not far off.

With her powerful night vision and by recognizing the outlines of their bodies, she could roughly identify who these people were.

The butcher shop owner was someone I had bought meat from when the Southern Army was stationed there.

The grocer sold seasonings such as pepper to the Southern Army.

According to Silverfrost, one of the bar's waiters was a soldier stationed at the train station who frequented the place occasionally, and they got along quite well.

The tavern owner was arrested for roughly the same reason as above.

A female waitress at the hotel, some soldiers had spent money on her and spent the night with her.

And there is...

Looking at that thin figure, Yinshuang's eyes trembled slightly.

It was so light that when the wind blew, it swayed more than the corpse beside it. Terror, pain, despair... his already deformed face, beaten so badly that only a few teeth remained, still held these expressions frozen in time.

Its hands were covered with bluish-purple bruises, fixed in a hideous, chicken-claw-like shape, hanging limply at its sides.

Until the very end, he was desperately clinging to the noose around his neck, trying to survive.

"Lucas?"

Although he desperately wanted to deceive himself, he couldn't. Deep down, he knew he couldn't possibly admit his mistake. That barely recognizable "thing" hanging on the gallows was the boy who had helped Koreya and treated his illness just days before. He was also one of the few people in this city that Zhang Wusheng felt he wouldn't feel uncomfortable around.

Although he's a little sly, he's a good friend.

It should be so.

The memories related to him are still very fresh.

But he himself is on the verge of decay.

"you……"

"Why are you there?"

Its pupils were unfocused, and its cracked lips parted, fluttering in the wind, as if responding to Zhang Wusheng's question from afar.

What else could it be?

Because of you.

Think about it carefully and it makes sense. Even selling a few bottles of wine to the Confederate army got him arrested and hanged. How could Lucas, who took photos of the Lamon raiders and documented the Union army's defeat, possibly be spared? He would undoubtedly be considered a traitor and hanged along with them.

……

"Dong dong!"

"Dong dong!"

"Dong dong!"

……