Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 533 Returning to Jiankang
After leaving Changxing County, the three flew to Jiankang City. Along the way, the area was densely populated with countless towns, and the scenery was no different from that of Changxing.

The entire Jiangnan region resembles a faded painting, with all its vibrant colors stripped away.

It's like a dream sealed in the amber of time; people exist in reality, yet they are like phantoms in the wind, letting everything pass through them without leaving a trace.

Although people are walking and talking, each going about their own business, they seem like puppets being pulled by invisible threads, mechanically completing their daily tasks.

Ren Yuan even suspected that, in their current state, they could survive by doing nothing. The reason they had to repeatedly play various roles was actually because Wu Yang forced them to move in order to prevent His utopia from collapsing.

In addition, the most common sight along the way was Buddhist temples. Every county and even every township had several magnificent temples.

There were so many monks in Jiangnan that even from the sky, Ren Yuan and his companions could see an absurd number of bald heads. It seemed as if half the men of the Great Liang had already shaved their heads and become monks…

"With so many monks, who will provide for them?" Chen Baxian asked speechlessly.

"It's not like you're going to raise it, why worry about all that?" Yang Zhong said indifferently.

“These monks must be there to maintain Huaxu Realm,” Ren Yuan guessed, looking at the large banner with the character “Hou” alongside the banner with the character “Liang” on the city wall of Jiankang in the distance. “But the people are all invulnerable to swords and spears, and can fly through the clouds. They should be invincible. How could Hou Jing have captured Jiankang?”

"We'll definitely find the answer here," Yang Zhong said, descending from the clouds. Ren Yuan and the other man quickly followed him into the city.

~~
Upon entering the city, however, they encountered a completely different scene...

If the previous city was a lifeless, false paradise, then Jiankang City was a truly lifeless hell.

On Zhuque Street, besides the serene citizens of Jiankang, there were also some soldiers who were aggressive and undisciplined. They were probably Hou Jing's men, and they didn't seem to have been brainwashed by Huaxu Realm; their faces were still full of ruthlessness and arrogance.

They strolled leisurely down the street, their blood-stained broadswords slung across their shoulders, as if they were at a temple fair. If they saw a commoner they disliked, they would slice off their head without a word and use it as a football.

The surrounding people, however, remained indifferent and went about their business. Even when their faces were splattered with the blood of those nearby, they continued with their own affairs.

As for crimes such as street robbery, shopjacking, and rape, they are completely ignored.

Ren Yuan and his two companions killed over a hundred soldiers who were committing crimes in broad daylight along the way.

And so, Jiankang City remained orderly, with no one caring that people were being murdered, robbed, or raped around them... until the victims themselves were the victims.

But by then, no one could save him...

When Ren Yuan and his two companions passed by Zhuque Ferry, they saw the boatmen rowing as usual. Even though the soldiers had tied heavy stones to their bodies, they still mechanically rowed the boats, letting the river water overflow the gunwales.

The Qinhuai River was littered with the bloated corpses of men and women, yet women were still washing clothes, vegetables, and drawing water along the riverbank; everything seemed so natural.

On the shore, the marauding soldiers set up an iron pot, stripped the clothes off the kidnapped women, threw them into the pot, and laughed wildly as they watched them writhe in the boiling water. The women inside the pot simply stared at them quietly, seemingly unable to understand what they were laughing at.
Hou Jing's mutinous soldiers treated Jiankang City like a playground, inflicting violence and amusement in various ways. What's even more absurd is that the victims, who outnumbered the mutinous soldiers by hundreds or thousands, showed no will to resist, carrying out every command with perfect precision, as docile as sheep.

The entire city resembled an absurd silent play, with perpetrators and victims alike enacting this emotionless game. All the violence proceeded methodically, yet with a chillingly eerie quality!
Yang Zhong, however, had no time to spare and rushed to Ping'anli... Ren Yuan and Chen Baxian followed closely behind.

Then they saw Old Ding, who was guarding the gate, lying in a pool of blood, while the strange laughter of the soldiers could be heard from inside the ward.

Yang Zhong was furious. He kicked open the half-closed gate and saw that all the food stalls at the street corner had been smashed to pieces. The rioting soldiers then surrounded the stall owner, Alan, and her daughter…

With a tearing sound, the mother and daughter's clothes were ripped to shreds. The soldiers clicked their tongues and commented, "They're quite fair-skinned..." "I'll go first!" The squad leader unbuckled his belt, pulled out his weapon, and was about to commit the crime.

Alan and her daughter showed no reaction, letting him do as he pleased. The head of the household, Abao, continued rolling out flatbread on the cutting board, completely oblivious to the violence against his wife and daughter…

Fortunately, before the team could succeed, they let out a scream and their efforts were in vain!
"Ouch, ouch, it hurts like hell!" He screamed and rolled on the ground, clutching his crotch.

The mutinous soldiers were also stunned. They had followed Hou Jing all the way to Jiankang, raping, humiliating, and looting, and had never encountered any resistance before.

"Who the hell did this?" they all drew their knives, shouting menacingly but inwardly weakly!
"Your grandpa is me!" Yang Zhong roared, swinging his iron-hammer-like fists and smashing their heads off with a series of blows.

Brain matter splattered into A Bao's pot, but it didn't stop him from cooking noodles...

“Alan, Abao.” Ren Yuan finally connected the two of them with the two innocent children from back then.

He remembered that Abao used to often pee at Uncle Bing's stall. In the blink of an eye, the two of them had grown up, started a family, and had such a big daughter.

He should have been happy, but instead, he felt a tightness in his chest. With a snap of his fingers, he conjured two blankets and wrapped them around the mother and daughter.

"This world is even more terrifying than before..." Chen Baxian sighed.

"Bitter Peach!" Yang Zhong had no time to lament. He transformed into lightning and rushed home, forcefully pushing open the door!

Then they saw a middle-aged woman, blind in both eyes, sitting listlessly on the porch, holding her memorial tablet, singing a mournful 'Taishan Ballad' in a hoarse voice:
"Mount Tai is lush and verdant, the streams flow swiftly and powerfully. I met my lover and poured out a piece of green stone to heal the wound from an arrow."

The smoke of war obscures the wild geese's calls, a lonely woman guards her empty room on a cold night. She wears down the stone she waits for her husband, her temples now frosted with age…

A worn pearl hairpin adorned her graying temples; it was the one I had personally placed in her hair a few days before our reunion. Who would have thought that upon our next meeting, her black hair would have turned white, and the once-new pearl hairpin would be faded and worn?

Tears streaming down Yang Zhong's face, he rushed forward and embraced the woman, sobbing loudly, "Ku Tao, I'm so sorry, you've suffered so much..."

The woman remained unmoved, simply tilting her head back and singing the "Mount Tai Ballad".

"Bitter Peach, wake up! It's me, Ah Zhong!" Yang Zhong cried, tears streaming down his face, heartbroken.

"Are you Ah Zhong?" The woman finally stopped singing.

"Yes! I am Ah Zhong!" Yang Zhong was overjoyed, but then he heard the woman ask in confusion:

"What does it have to do with me?"

"I am the husband you have waited for for twenty years!" Yang Zhong cried.

"I can't remember who I was waiting for..." A single, cloudy tear rolled down the woman's cheek.

"But I don't want to leave your embrace at all."

Even Ren Yuan and Chen Baxian couldn't help but tear up, and Yang Zhong cried so hard he was practically a fool...

(End of this chapter)