Atrocities

At this moment, the skies above Lincheng were shrouded in thick black smoke.

The once-bustling streets were now deathly silent, the air thick with the choking stench of scorched flesh, blood, and decay --- an odor that turned the stomach.

In the mass graveyard in the city’s southwest, raging flames still crackled, devouring the last traces of life. Charred corpses twisted grotesquely in the fire, and occasionally, half-burned limbs tumbled out from the pyre, exposing pale, white bones.

Li Guanglong stood atop a slope, clad in a protective suit, gazing emotionlessly over the hellish scene below.

There wasn’t the slightest ripple in his sharply defined face, as if what burned beneath him weren’t thousands of human lives, but a pile of worthless dried grass.

The dark red bloodstains on his protective suit had long dried, and now glimmered eerily under the sun.

“Your Highness, we’ve just found another thirty-seven plague-infected commoners in the western district. They’ve all been brought in,” the deputy general reported, kneeling on one knee, his voice barely hiding a faint tremor.

Li Guanglong gave a slight nod, his gaze still fixed on the mass grave. His tone was flat, as if discussing the weather: “Throw them in.”

“Yes, sir!”

The deputy general rose and gestured to the soldiers behind him.

Thirty-seven ragged commoners were shoved forward roughly. Some were burning with fever, stumbling on unsteady legs; others stared blankly, too weak to even resist.

As they neared the fire, the searing heat jolted them into awareness. They let out desperate, blood-curdling screams and tried to retreat, but were forced one by one into the inferno by the soldiers.

Their screams pierced the air --- only to be drowned quickly by the crackling blaze.

“Your Highness, since the incineration began, over eight thousand people have been processed,” the deputy general reported again, sweat beading across his forehead.

Li Guanglong didn’t turn around. He merely said coldly, “Keep searching. Don’t let a single infected slip through.”

“Your Highness!”

A nearby general, Wan Chong, finally stepped forward, unable to stay silent. He looked at the graveyard belching black smoke, his brows tightly knit. “This… this isn't the way. To execute so many at once --- if the Imperial Court finds out, the consequences will be unimaginable!”

Though battle-hardened, the scene before him churned his stomach.

He knew how terrifying the plague could be. But such indiscriminate slaughter --- it was far too cruel.

Li Guanglong finally turned his head and shot Wan Chong a cold glance. “Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. The plague is rampant. If we don’t act decisively, the entire city will fall. Then it won’t just be a few thousand dead --- it’ll be tens of thousands!

As for Father, as long as the information is sealed tight, who’s going to know what happened here? When the plague ends, it’ll all be over.”

Wan Chong still wanted to argue, but seeing the frigid look in Li Guanglong’s eyes, the words stuck in his throat.

He let out a long sigh and silently stepped back.

He knew Li Guanglong’s nature --- once he made up his mind, no one could change it.

Saying more was pointless.

The soldiers continued dragging the infected toward the fire. The blaze on the mass grave grew fiercer, the black smoke rising straight into the sky as if to darken all of Lincheng.

……

Elsewhere, the situation in Liyang City was just as harrowing.

Li Juntang stood atop the city wall, overlooking a cleared space surrounded by soldiers.

A massive pit had been dug in the ground, with stacks of dry firewood piled around its edges.

“Bring the infected over,” Li Juntang ordered, his voice devoid of compassion or pity.

Soon, a crowd of commoners was herded in. Most were dressed in tatters, their skin marked with dark bluish spots. Many coughed violently, flecks of blood visible in their sputum.

One woman clutched a feverish child to her chest --- the child’s face was flushed red, breathing shallow and faint.

“Please, I beg you! Spare my child! He’s just a little boy!” the woman cried, dropping to her knees and kowtowing over and over. Her forehead soon bled from the force of it.

Li Juntang stared at her without emotion, as if deaf to her cries. “Throw them in.”

The soldiers stepped forward, tore the child from her arms, and tossed both mother and child into the pit.

More commoners were pushed in next. The pit filled with desperate wailing and pleas for mercy.

“Set it on fire,” Li Juntang commanded, his tone as flat as ever.

Torches were hurled into the pit. The dry wood caught quickly, and flames spread in an instant.

The cries from the pit stopped abruptly --- replaced by the sharp crackle of burning flesh.

Thick smoke billowed into the sky above Liyang, the acrid stench worse than that of Lincheng.

An old man tried to rush forward from the crowd to save someone in the flames, but a soldier struck him down with a blade, blood spilling across the ground.

“Anyone who resists --- kill without mercy!” Li Juntang bellowed, his eyes gleaming with ruthless light.

Below the city wall, a boy of about seven or eight peeked out from a pile of firewood. He stared at the roaring fire in the pit, then looked up at the cold, distant figure on the wall. His eyes were filled with terror and confusion.

His parents had just been thrown into that fire. He had only survived by hiding in the woodpile.

The flames raged on, devouring life after life.

In Liyang City, the people huddled in corners, trembling with fear. No one dared to make a sound.

The entire city had become a massive grave, and the burning pit was the only voice left, silently screaming the tragedy that had unfolded there. - Ton

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