The two cautiously left the house and saw from a distance that the village was becoming lively. Many pickup trucks had already driven into the village, with the black soldiers howling as they jumped off, brandishing their Type 56 rifles and AK automatic rifles, and yelling as they dragged a bunch of people with bags over their heads and hands tied behind their backs down from two large trucks.
"Captives?"
Jiang Feng seed to guess the identity of those people.
Song Heping said, "It looks like it. Let's not get involved in their business, let's head back."
Not long after the two returned to their room, Dunbar ca looking for them.
"Boss Song, our Colonel has requested your presence."
"To where?"
Song Heping initially thought that Aisade wanted him to co over to instruct their n on using the SA-9 missile-launch system.
But unexpectedly, Dunbar gave a completely unforeseen answer, "No, our Colonel says he invites you to enjoy our ceremony with him."
"Ceremony?"
Song Heping seed to sense that sothing was not right.
However, since the other party had called for him, he couldn't exactly refuse.
"Okay, we'll be there imdiately."
"The Colonel says he's inviting all of you to co."
"All of us?"
"Yes."
Left with no choice, Song Heping could only ask Jiang Feng to go next door to wake Mohamd and Hazi, and then they followed Dunbar to a clearing in the village.
"My friends!"
Aisade still appeared as enthusiastic as ever, inviting Song Heping to sit next to him.
Tables and chairs had already been set up on one side of the clearing, just like the night before, and fruits were quickly served, along with other food such as mutton and cornbread.
Song Heping ca over to Aisade, wished him good morning, and then sat down in the arranged seat.
He kept guessing what kind of "ceremony" it might be, but his intuition told him this was not going to be a pleasant affair.
Indeed, those blindfolded captives were brought to the clearing, where the escorting soldiers had them line up and kneel down before removing their hoods one by one.
The captives, about twenty in number, kneeled neatly on the ground in two rows.
Song Heping slled the scent of killing in the air and couldn't help turning to Aisade to say, "Colonel, what are you doing?"
Aisade answered, "It's our victory celebration ceremony."
"Victory celebration?" Song Heping skeptically glanced at the captives.
Aisade continued, "My army attacked the governnt army's base last night, successfully drove them away, and took over a new territory, my domain has expanded!"
He lifted his hand, pointing at the dejected and terrified captives, "These are the governnt forces, puppets supported by the French!"
He grew more and more agitated, then stood up, clenched his fist and bellowed to his surrounding subordinates, "These lapdogs of the French are traitors who betray our true God and people. Do they not deserve to die?!"
"They deserve death! They deserve death!"
"They deserve death! They deserve death!"
"For hundreds of years, those infidels and colonizers have been killing our people and taking our resources on our land, and they —"
Aisade was furious, his eyes bulging more than a brass bell, pointed with his hand at the captives who had started to tremble.
"are helping those puppet governnts to suppress our people, to kill our friends and relatives. Today, I represent Allah to judge these sinners and let them cleanse their sins with the price of blood!"
With that, he swiftly drew his dagger from his waist and raised it towards the sky.
"Those who desecrate the sacred Allah must die without a place to lay their bodies!"
"Die without a place to lay their bodies!"
"Die without a place to lay their bodies!"
"Die without a place to lay their bodies!"
The surrounding crowd boiled over like heated water under Aisade's few words.
Song Heping watched the distorted faces amidst the roaring noises and felt an inner chill.
Humans are complex higher animals; they have aspects of both angels and demons.
War, chaos, and poverty stir up the killer genes that lurk deep in their blood, revealing the demonic side unabashedly in such scenes, as if witnessing the gates of hell opening and demons dancing wildly.
Jiang Feng and Mohamd and Aziz next to him all remained silently speechless, their faces devoid of any expression.
Although Mohamd and Aziz were also part of MSL, they were likewise horrified by what Aisade was doing in the na of the Lord.
In Song Heping's view, Aisade indeed possessed an unusual ability to incite, and although he didn't know how the man managed to rally a large group of people to follow his command, just observing this incitent made it clear that not becoming a leader in a place like Africa would have been difficult.
However, to him, the man seed to have the qualities of a sowhat deranged cult leader.
Indeed, after whipping themselves up, Aisade took up a bowl of wine, took a swig, sprayed it on his knife, and then began to shout like he was possessed, "Begin the judgnt!"
A soldier drew his dagger and walked behind a prisoner, kicking him to the ground before stepping on his back and stabbing the blade into the man's throat…
Blood hissed out, shooting more than a ter away and splattering the ground…
Mohamd and Aziz quickly turned their heads away, unable to watch any longer.
Song Heping remained calm, watching quietly.
The purpose of this ritual was to establish authority.
To establish the notoriety of Salafi Ard and Aisade personally.
Even if it was a bloody, perverse notoriety, it was still a reputation.
Aisade needed this.
Before coming to Africa, Song Heping had already done his howork on the background of Aisade and was very clear about the character of the buyer he was dealing with.
The rise of Salafi Ard in this region was built on the reputation forged in battle; hence, after each victorious fight, the battleground was cleared, and the enemy's survivors were gathered, made to kneel in lines, and then beheaded one by one.
This created a terrifying reputation for Salafi Ard, such that no one wished to do battle with the Demon King.
In Africa, many people are still quite ignorant, there is no doubt about that, and people with little education have a certain primal fear of gods, ghosts, and natural brutality.
Witnessing their comrades in front of them being beheaded one by one, anyone kneeling further back in the line could only imagine the imnse pressure and fear weighing on their hearts…
It wasn't just about killing; there was also ntal tornt before the death.
The beheading wasn't a swift chop, but a slicing through the arteries until the blood had drained substantially, followed by cutting around the wound and fully separating the head from the body.
The process lasted long enough for one to even hear the sounds of flesh being sliced and sinews being severed, no different from the chopping of pork and beef in the market. To those without strong ntal fortitude, just witnessing it once was torture, feeling a chill and weakness at the pit of their stomach, an uncontrollable urge to flee.
This, was fear.
Soon, a pile of headless corpses lay on the ground, and the stench of blood in the air thickened.
The surrounding Salafi Ard Soldiers grew increasingly excited, howling like a pack of wild apes.
"Ugh—"
Mohamd was the first who could not suppress the urge to retch.
Then ca Aziz.
Aisade seed to notice this and laughed scornfully, as if he found the situation highly amusing.
Jiang Feng whispered to Song Heping, "What does this guy want us to see all this for?!"
Song Heping replied coldly, "A warning."
Jiang Feng instantly understood.
It was a warning.
Anyone who dared to oppose Aisade or was disloyal to him, this would be their fate.
Song Heping was now not worried about himself and Jiang Feng.
They were both trained for such events.
But he was concerned for Mohamd and Aziz.
The two had always worked on technical tasks and hadn't seen such cruel scenes before.
The SA-9 missiles had been tampered with, and he feared what the shock might provoke in them.
"Colonel, my two subordinates are technical engineers, they don't appreciate such rituals. Could you let them go first?"
Aisade scoffed, "Boss Song, I'm sharing in the spoils of victory. Aren't you my friend?"
Sharing in the spoils?
To hell with that!
Even Song Heping, who was usually composed, felt a surge of anger within himself.
He really wanted to kill this psychopath in front of him.
Last night he wanted to share won, today he wanted to share the "spoils"; he had such a love for sharing, he might as well share his life and see!
Although that's what he thought, on the surface, Song Heping still pretended as if everything was normal, "Colonel, I can stay, but if my engineers are traumatized, and sothing happens to them, they won't be able to instruct your people today."
"Are you threatening ?!"
No sooner had Song Heping finished speaking than Aisade's knife was already swung over, resting on Song Heping's neck.
"You are so afraid to watch this, are you hiding sothing?!"
Aisade's face was sullen, his eyes dark and fixed on Song Heping, as if he might slice through Song Heping's neck at any second.
Jiang Feng, unable to hold back any longer, stood up, ready to act.
Silence fell suddenly over the scene.
The disturbance here drew the attention of all the Salafi Ard Soldiers around, who turned to look in their direction.
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