novelSusiti Chapter 45 The Angel of Death and the Piglet Boat
Chapter 45 The Angel of Death and the Piglet Boat
Noon, in Chinatown.
Zeng Mo was smoking cured meat with Jian Yuan in the backyard.
There are actually plenty of preserved meat shops in Chinatown, but they mostly sell Cantonese sausages and bacon, which are sweet.
It tastes good, but he still feels that there are some things he doesn't like to eat.
With nothing else to do, I simply asked Jianyuan to buy several dozen kilograms of pork belly so I could smoke it myself.
The method of making Hunan-style cured pork is quite simple. Spread a large amount of coarse salt, roasted and crushed Sichuan peppercorns and star anise powder evenly on strips of pork belly, stack them layer by layer in an earthenware jar, press them down with a blue stone, and let them sit and marinate for seven to nine days.
When the time is right, take it out, wash it with warm water, thread it with hemp rope, hang it on the roof beam of the kitchen, and burn pine or tea tree branches and leaves to smoke it for ten to fifteen days.
California doesn't have tea trees, but it has no shortage of pine and fir trees. Coastal redwoods, giant sequoias, fir trees, cedars, yellow pines—the variety is quite extensive.
"Okay, now we just have to wait."
He once put the last piece of pork belly, which had been rubbed with salt, into the jar and asked Jianyuan to seal the jar.
He washed the salt and grease off his hands, went back inside, and casually picked up the teapot on the table to pour himself a cup of tea.
Suddenly, a system interface popped up automatically before his eyes.
【Name: Life for Life System】
[Host: Formerly]
[Level: 9]
[Effect: Automatically generates 256 assassins daily, whose physical strength is 1.9 times that of a normal adult Homo sapiens male]
Current number of assassins: 1365
Number of summonable assassins: 256
[Upgrade Requirements: Kill 512 humans (109/512)]
[Currently Unlocked Sub-items]:
[Hive Consciousness]: ...
[The deceased feared death]: ...
[Subspace Teleportation]: ...
[Eagerness for knowledge]: ...
[Exquisite Craftsmanship]: ...
[Practicing medicine to save lives]: ...
[Strategic Planning]: ...
[Lord of Humanity]: You can share all the skills of any one of your assassins and permanently gain a matching physical attribute bonus, while also removing all negative status effects from yourself. The effect lasts until actively canceled or refreshed at midnight the following day.
[Angel of Death]: You may choose to summon a suicide soldier with this trait. Suicide soldiers with this trait will be proficient in all forms of combat and are natural-born tactical and strategic masters. The cost is that it occupies four summoning slots.
He once sprayed tea onto the table in front of him with a "pfft," choking and coughing repeatedly.
He wiped his mouth, stared at the last newly unlocked skill on the interface, and his eyelids twitched.
"Damn, is the next skill going to be Om Messiah?"
Despite the complaints, they didn't slow down.
With a slight thought, he skillfully made the allocation:
Of the 256 slots refreshed after the upgrade, a quarter were directly added to Chongyue, who was planning something big, via subspace teleportation.
One-quarter were summoned to Chinatown to bolster daily guard and manpower;
One-quarter of the summoned individuals possess the traits of "Thirst for Knowledge," "Exquisite Craftsmanship," or "Healing the World" and are deployed to the fields of scientific research, engineering, and medicine.
He thought about it and decided to keep the remaining quarter in his hand for now, just in case.
But...
Curiosity ultimately prevailed, and after reading the description of the "Angel of Death," he decided to summon one to see what it was like.
Locking in with mind, confirming the summons, consuming four slots.
The light in the room distorted slightly, and the air rippled almost imperceptibly. The next second, a figure solidified and appeared out of thin air.
He was a seven-foot-tall man with broad shoulders and a thick back, dressed in dark coarse cloth clothes and trousers. His hands were large and calloused. The moment he appeared, he bowed to Zeng and said, "Greetings, my lord."
[Death Squad No. 1626: Unnamed]
[Ethnicity: Sub-America, Mongoloid]
[Physical fitness: 19 (average for normal adult Homo sapiens males is 10)]
[Skills: Weapon Mastery (Lv.4), Vehicle Proficiency (Lv.3), Strategic Planning (Lv.4), Tactical Command (Lv.4)]
[Language: Chinese (Lv.3)]
Get up.
Zeng Mo raised his hand in a gesture of support, looking him over with interest. "From today onwards, you shall be called Hongwu."
"Hongwu, what do you mean by 'proficient in vehicles'? Horsemanship? Driving a horse-drawn carriage?"
The assassin named Hongwu stood up straight and respectfully replied, "My lord, I can skillfully operate any tool that mankind has ever used for transportation, warfare, or any other purpose, whether it relies on human power, animal power, wind power, water power, or even steam power, and whether it is used on land, water, or ice fields."
"Even vehicles that might appear in the sky or underground in the future, I can use them skillfully after I've explored them a bit."
I once slapped my thigh and exclaimed, "I get it! It's the rider's built-in riding skill!"
His mind raced, and he used the skill "Lord of Humanity," designating Hongwu as the shared target.
In an instant, countless new pieces of knowledge flowed into his mind and body, transforming into his instincts.
Techniques for using various cold weapons such as daggers, machetes, two-handed swords, and spears...
Hand-to-hand combat, silent movement, camouflage, explosives making...
Knowledge of combat operations in environments such as jungles, deserts, cities, and polar regions; tactical planning at the squad, company, and even platoon levels...
Horse handling skills, sailing warship handling skills, steam paddle steamer handling skills...
At the same time, his physical fitness improved further; he could clearly feel his bones, nerves, and muscles strengthening.
The fatigue from handling various tasks and staying up late over the past few days was instantly swept away, and I returned to a state of being full of energy and vitality.
Just then, Jianyuan hurriedly walked in.
He nodded to Hongwu as a greeting. Then he said, "My lord, a message has arrived from the docks; it's urgent."
"explain."
Jianyuan said, "Two boats have docked. They are the pig-shaped boat from Xieyi Hall and the pig-shaped boat from Yixing Hall."
She exclaimed in surprise, "So fast? Shouldn't it take about half a month?"
Hongwu, who was standing to the side, explained:
My lord, there are many variables in sea voyages. The changing monsoon season, the strength of ocean currents, and even the captain's decisions can all significantly affect the voyage; arriving half a month early is quite common.
He nodded and said, "Jianyuan, take a hundred of our men, bring the people back, and then take control of those two ships. If the white barbarians dare to cause trouble, kill them on the spot."
"Inform Li Shizhen to lead the entire medical team to prepare. The people on the ship have been at sea for several months, and their physical condition is probably not good. They need to do their best to treat them."
"Oh, and remember to call Hosea's men. If things get out of hand, have the uniformed ones step in and use legal means to quell the situation."
He paused, then turned to look at Hongwu: "Hongwu, why don't you go and take a look too? After all, those two ships might be your future vehicles."
Both Jianyuan and Hongwu bowed and said, "Yes, my lord."
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
How many days has it been since we boarded the ship?
The girl named Zhu Zhenyi huddled in a corner of the cabin, thinking somewhat blankly.
She was trafficked.
It was close to the New Year, and she begged her parents to take her out to buy New Year's goods. But after being separated from her by the crowd for only a moment, her mouth and nose were tightly covered by a dirty handkerchief, and she was put into a sack.
When she saw the sunlight again, it was on the deck of this foreign ship.
She was being herded like livestock by the rough shouts of the foreigners and locked in the hold of the large ship.
After that, she didn't see the sunlight for a long time.
The cabin was cramped and narrow, like a giant coffin, crammed with hundreds of women who had also been trafficked, including girls under the age of eight.
To prevent them from leaving the cabin and jumping overboard to commit suicide, everyone's ankles were locked with rough iron rings, which were connected to long iron chains fixed to the bottom of the cabin, limiting their movement to a very small area.
As for their daily food and drink, the water was murky and the food was moldy.
Some people vomited, and some had diarrhea.
Soon, the cabin turned into hell.
Fleas and lice scurried through the seams of clothes and hair, while rats brazenly gnawed at the toes or earlobes of the drowsy person.
Many people were covered in pus-filled scabies and bedsores, which gave off an even stronger stench in the hot and humid environment.
If someone accidentally falls ill and shows obvious symptoms of typhoid fever, dysentery, or smallpox, they will be dragged out by the foreign sailors while still alive and thrown into the vast ocean like garbage.
Over the course of several months, the number of people in the cabin has decreased by more than half.
Those who survived were mostly emaciated, with numb eyes, like walking corpses.
Zhu Zhenyi had already resolved to die.
She wasn't afraid of death; in fact, it was a kind of hidden longing. Her only regret was that she couldn't fulfill her filial duties to her parents.
"Jeong-yi, Jeong-yi, have something to eat."
The person next to him handed him a small piece of moldy bread and said gently, "Eat something. You haven't eaten or drunk anything for two days. You'll die if you keep going like this."
Her name was Ying Jie, a girl of about seventeen or eighteen years old. She was tricked onto the ship by a human trafficker under the pretense of recruiting female workers. These days, she has been taking care of the younger Zhu Zhenyi as much as possible, like an older sister.
Zhu Zhenyi shook her head very slowly, her voice barely audible: "Sister, you eat."
Looking into her lifeless eyes, Yingjie felt a pang of sorrow and said through tears, "Silly sister, what could be more important than living?"
"Death means never being able to go home again, and never having the chance to see your parents again."
Zhu Zhenyi lowered her eyes, her tone still firm: "Sister, I know where this ship is headed—to Jinshan. They're going to sell us to brothels there as prostitutes!"
I may die, but I will never tarnish my family's reputation!
Upon hearing this, Ying Jie felt as if her heart was being torn apart, but she didn't know how to persuade her any further.
As the two remained silent, a strange vibration suddenly came from the hull beneath their feet. Then, the nauseating shaking and roaring that had lasted for months gradually stopped.
After a while, the heavy cabin door was roughly pulled open from the outside, and the cold sea breeze rushed in, but it couldn't dispel the stench inside the cabin.
Several foreign sailors came down and removed the shackles from the feet of the remaining survivors.
"This damn journey is finally over!"
A red-haired sailor, covering his nose, said with obvious eagerness, "God help me, tonight I'm definitely going ashore to find a big-breasted woman, and then drink myself into a stupor for three days straight!"
A brown-haired sailor nearby scoffed, pointing with his short stick at the trembling women in the cabin: "Pay to find them? Bowie, aren't there plenty of women right in front of you?"
"they?"
Redhead Bowie frowned and said with disgust, "Look at them. They're filthy and smelly, covered in sores and fleas. And they're as skinny as ghosts, rough to the touch. They're nothing compared to those voluptuous and sultry whores on the docks."
The brown-haired foreigner scoffed, "Come on, Bowie. It's not like you weren't the one who stormed into the cabin and raped and killed several women a few months ago. You didn't complain about them being dirty back then."
Redhead Boy shrugged. "At first, those women didn't have sores or smell. Besides, the captain fined me a whole month's salary!"
"Boy, Jack, stop talking and bring those women up to the deck!" a loud shout came from outside the cabin.
"Go, go! You yellow-skinned monkeys, get up and go up!"
The two foreigners exchanged a glance, then brandished their sticks, kicking and punching the surviving women like sheep, driving them all onto the deck.
Zhu Zhenyi was pushed and shoved by the people behind her, and staggered up the steps.
Then, the long-awaited, dazzling sunlight instantly enveloped her, making her vision go completely white.
The sea breeze blew fiercely, and she greedily inhaled the odorless air.
The deck is spacious, with the azure sea and wooden dock not far away.
Hundreds of foreigners strolled along the pier, showcasing the scenery of this exotic land.
Her gaze fell on the ship's railing not far away. Beyond the railing lay the sea.
If I just jump, I can end this tragic fate, right?
She mustered the last of her strength and moved toward the edge of the deck.
"Hey! You! Damn it! Stop right there! Get away from the railing!"
A foreign sailor noticed her unusual behavior, dropped what he was doing, and strode over aggressively, carrying a short stick used to beat slaves.
Zhu Zhenyi ignored it and continued walking towards that direction, step by step.
Just a few steps from the railing, I heard the sound of a stick cutting through the air behind me.
She didn't flinch, she just closed her eyes.
It wouldn't be so bad to just get beaten to death like this.
The expected pain did not come.
Instead, a crisp gunshot rang out!
"Bang!"
Immediately following was the dull thud of a heavy object crashing onto the deck, followed by screams that erupted from all around.
Zhu Zhenyi opened her eyes blankly and subconsciously turned around.
The vicious sailor who had charged at her was now lying face up behind her, with a bloody hole in the center of his forehead, from which red and white fluid was gushing out. He was dead.
The rest of the people turned their horrified gazes toward the dock.
On the pier, a group of Asians dressed in dark shorts and with stern faces had gathered.
The leader was seven feet tall and held a long spear in his hand, the smoke from the gunpowder still lingering.
It was Hongwu.
"Board the ship to rescue people."
"Anyone who obstructs us, kill them!"
No sooner had she finished speaking than the girl on the deck jumped into the sea with a splash.
"Huh? No, why did that girl jump into the sea after being rescued?"
Jianyuan was stunned. "Send someone who is a good swimmer to the sea to rescue them. The rest of you, get on the boat."