quicksilver blood

Chapter 18 The Murder Game

"The fact that you can see the third note shows that you didn't take my words to heart."

"Warning, your father's patience is running out quickly! I almost don't want to play this (writing covered with blood) game with my dear children!"

"Yes! You heard it right! You will be relieved soon!"

"Listen to me: before I see this note, one of you is already in my hands! (The handwriting is covered with blood) There are still 30 seconds left. When the time is up, he will commit suicide out of fear. !"

"Dad's sword is already hungry and thirsty! Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up (the following writings are covered with blood)"

After reading the contents of the note softly, the surroundings were silent.

Oaklive was slightly startled, and despite the chills in his heart, he shouted loudly: "Now! Immediately repeat the numbers I reported earlier! In order!"

There was silence all around.

"I said! Immediately repeat the numbers I reported earlier in order!" He frowned and reiterated loudly again.

But there was still no sound coming from the surroundings.

After a few more seconds, a voice trembled and said: "...Two."

Then, after a pause for a few seconds, the next voice sounded vaguely: "Three."

"Four."

"five."

……

"21."

"...23."

"24."

"...Okay, no need to report."

Oak Clifford shouted softly to silence the increasingly shaky counting sound.At the first sound he almost realized who the missing one was.

22 should be the female Ember who was nailed to death by the scarlet canines.So the first one who didn’t respond…

Oakleigh closed his eyes in pain.

Now, it's almost 30 seconds.

2 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds...

15 seconds next?And then seven seconds?In the end, everyone was instantly killed?

Not knowing where to begin, Oak Clifford no longer doubted that man's ability.Now he just thought that man was a madman, a complete madman.

In addition, Oaklive couldn't help feeling a little bit of hatred for the Windtalker who provoked such a lunatic.

"...Okay, everyone, spread out. With me as the center, everyone spread out to find the missing No. [-]. There must be at least one person within everyone's visual range. If the target is lost, call immediately. What was found? If so, shout immediately."

Oakleford waved his hands weakly, and said in a hoarse voice, "Let's leave, everyone."

The other Ashes looked at him with complicated eyes, but they still obeyed Oak Clifford's order and slowly spread out to look for the next deceased.

Yes, the dead.When Oak Cliff chose the slow and safe search method, the other Ashes already knew the final fate of the missing person.

Although they already have the will to die in their hearts, they can still obey the orders of their superiors.This kind of quality is also extremely rare in the army of this era.

"...Damn, that lunatic..."

Oak Clifford rubbed his forehead in pain.

How on earth should one deal with such a lunatic?His... game, let's call it a game, is there really a way to crack it...

No, probably not.According to him, he did not say that he would let Oak Clifford and others go if they wanted to solve his problem, but just used a tone of notification.It was precisely because the other Ashes heard this that they did not complain against Oak Clifford, who seemed incompetent and stupid.

Not only did they understand that even if they went up, the same result would be the same, but once they deciphered the madman's words, maybe what would happen was not the end of the game, but the sudden death of everyone in anger.

After all, he is a lunatic, so it is not surprising that he has any way of thinking.

Unknowingly, the Embers' impression of the madman changed from a little person who only knew how to play tricks to a powerful and cruel madman.The thought of working against such a person—or even the organization in which such a person works—makes their future bleak.They even had some doubts about whether Master Marco's choice to join the South Wind Ring was correct.

Should... these pure god-abandoners, should stay away from those who worship evil gods?

The ultimate goal of the Ashes is to realize that the world has no gods, and human beings themselves can control the fate of human beings.So what if those high and mighty gods created human beings?Human beings now have their own civilization and their own ideas.The gods are not only not happy with the development of human beings, but are afraid of the growing strength of human beings, trying to curb the progress of human beings.

joke!The destiny of mankind is not bound by anything other than man!The Ashers firmly believe that with the development of mankind, we will step into a beautiful and happy future step by step.In that world, gods who could subvert society on their own were undoubtedly unnecessary beings and enemies of mankind.

In order to achieve the independence of mankind, the Embers will stop at nothing.Destroying temples and killing priests is just trivial.Some Ashmen have infiltrated the upper echelons of believers and corrupted the entire theocratic society from within, making people sincerely disappointed in the temple.

And those gods who can't even tell the true devout believers from the pretended fanatics of the Ashes make the Ashes more certain that the gods are by no means omnipotent.

Fighting for life for mankind, even to the point of abandoning their own gods - the Ashers believe that they are noble and pure, and cannot be put into the same category as ordinary cultists.

Windspeaker was indeed a great leader, but he worshiped an evil god.That kind of sacrifice based on people, villages, and cities makes the Ashes disgusted.Even if nothing happened today, they would have to exit the South Wind Ring sooner or later.

Not only were there different issues, but the South Wind Ring's behavior alone had provoked a large number of enemies.For example, the madman who is playing with them as toys right now.

The Embers were absentmindedly looking for the corpses of their comrades, while being wary of those around them.

They did not forget that in the second game before, one of their comrades was killed by someone around him.Even if someone is controlled by that madman, because of this, anyone around him has the possibility of suddenly losing consciousness and killing everyone.

In this situation where everyone had their own thoughts and were distracted, it took a full three or four minutes before someone shouted loudly: "The body...the body has been found!"

Oakley Forehead suddenly raised his head, took two steps in three steps, and rushed in that direction.Although it took three or four minutes before anyone found him, when Oaklive saw a large group of people gathered together in silence, he left for less than half a minute.

When he got into the crowd, Oak Cliff fell silent.

A middle-aged man wearing an Ember robe had a vine wrapped around his neck and hung high on a wing tree.

Finally, raging anger burned in Oaklifford's chest.

The discovery of the body outraged him.Although he joined the Ashes with his own mind, he has already regarded everyone as his family during the half a year of getting along.No, the people here are much gentler than those in his family.

When eating last night, the middle-aged man was still chanting to him the few words that the Ashes often said, and showed him the photos of the two daughters at home with great pride.He even bought Bantha's specialties for the children in Farajo, which are now in Oakleigh's parcel.

But now he will never see his children again.Even the way of death is so humiliating.

hanging.

In any country, this is the penalty that can only be used for the execution of serious crimes.Above it, there are only three punishments: burning, crucifixion, and silver pouring.

The latter three are respectively used for the execution of rebels, rebels and blasphemers.These three crimes are extremely serious crimes that are not forgiven in any country, and even amnesty orders will be bypassed.

Even if he died by injecting silver, Oak Cliff would not feel so angry.When they swore to become Ashes, they cut open the palm of their left hand with a silver table knife and dropped a drop of mercury into it, indicating that they would not be afraid of the crime of injecting silver in this life.

Oaklif's fists were clenched, and at this moment, the person beside him silently handed him a note.

"Picked it at his feet."

the man explained.

Oak Cliff opened the note with trembling hands, only to find that the handwriting this time was particularly sloppy: "How about this surprise? You bunch of bastards! Scum that deserves to be crushed by wheels!"

"Fifteen seconds to go—no! Ten seconds! Five seconds! Immediately!"

"I'm going to let you group of brainless trash see your own father's anger—"

Before he even finished reading, he felt someone behind him touch his shoulder lightly.Suddenly he trembled violently, and the anger in his heart was immediately extinguished and turned into a stronger fear.

His neck was almost stiff and he turned his head back. For some reason, he was glad that he didn't see the scene of blood flowing into a river.At this time, a young Embers tremblingly supported his shoulders, trembling desperately and almost vomited.

"Back...behind...just now...the body..."

He was shaking violently, and his whole body was like sieving chaff.

Oak Cliff immediately hugged him hard. Although he was also full of fear in his heart, he did not show it on the outside. He just patted the Ashes disciple, who was only about ten years old, on the back: "Tell me, Ake Ma, what happened next?"

"Smashed... Broken! Listen... I heard some movement here, the time I turned around just now... the time I turned back... Norton is broken! It's broken!"

The boy named Akema said incoherently: "In the blink of an eye, I swear in the blink of an eye, Norton was chopped into pieces by something! There was no sound or movement, and all the internal organs were intact. In front of him, his head was chopped into pieces... vomit..."

Having said that, he finally couldn't bear the nausea mixed with intense fear, bowed his head and vomited it out.

Oaklive stood there dumbfounded, feeling that the whole world was getting farther and farther away from him.

After finally coming back to his senses, he felt his teeth were numb.He patted Akma's shoulder gently, wanting to give him some strength but not wanting to shake himself even more.

In order to prevent the trembling of his voice from leaking out, he had to suppress his voice and ask, "Is there a note on the ground over there? It looks like this."

"Yes... I'm sorry, I didn't look..."

"Then you go back now and take a look at it for me. If there is any, bring it. Norton can no longer be buried. I will try to get Uncle Charlie down from the tree first. I can't bear the thought of our colleagues being hanged. die."

Saying so, Oaklifford walked under the tree.The moment he walked around behind the tree inadvertently, as if he felt something, Oaklive's eyes widened instantly.

The incredible feeling of joy paralyzed his brain.It took another two or three seconds before he was sure. He turned around and shouted loudly to his friends out of sight: "Everyone, come to me! The interference of the heart of nature has reached its limit here! Quick! Get out of here and go Find Lord Windspeaker!"

Everyone is still immersed in the shadow of their partners dying one after another, and many people are even ready to die.But then Oak Clifford's cry suddenly came.They were stunned for a few seconds, and after realizing the meaning of the words, they all ran as fast as they could in that direction.

"Really!"

"I feel it again!"

The Ashes who escaped from the border almost escaped death and wept with joy.

After standing there and enjoying their hard-earned safety, the Embers suddenly remembered that there was a madman behind them. Although their legs were still a little weak, they ran away on the road.

Even though their hearts are full of hatred for Windtalker, at this moment his strength will be their only reliance.

They ran in chaos, completely losing the orderliness in which they came.At this time, no one remembered Marco, and no one paid any attention to Oak Clifford, so Oak Clifford had no choice but to climb up the tree, put the middle-aged man down, and ran out in the direction of freedom with his body on his back.

As for how they will tell the remaining half of the Ashes after they go back, and what they will think of the Windtalkers and Howlers after they are safe, that is another matter.

At this time, if they look back, they will find black eyes on the branches of some winged tree watching them go.

There was no meaning in the eyes.

(End of this chapter)