Chapter 645: Do You Want to Disobey?

The townsfolk were lively and chatty, speaking all at once:

"What was I saying? Those strange incidents not long ago—there was no ancestral apparition, it was all the work of Da Xia people!"

"Exactly! Our fierce nation is fine, why are there so many evil happenings!"

"Da Xia people just can't stand our prosperity! Damn them for being immoral!"

"Step aside, please!" Xiao Ningyuan hunched his body, slipped through a gap in the crowd and wedged himself in a spot neither forward nor back.

Xiao Er cradled Tuan Tuan, and together with Lu Qi followed closely, stopping beside him.

Xiao Ningyuan glanced around; this spot was perfect—clear view of the stage yet not conspicuous.

Boom— Boom— Boom—

Three muffled drum beats sounded, suppressing the crowd's clamor.

"Here it comes, here it comes!"

The townsfolk stretched their necks and rose onto tiptoes.

A convoy of horsemen slowly drove a prison cart forward.

Soldiers and constables surrounding the cart brandished weapons, their blades glinting coldly.

Inside the cart sat ten people, each in tattered clothes, disheveled and filthy, their bodies marked with mottled bloodstains and whip scars.

Tuan Tuan frowned; they were truly pitiful!

The townsfolk, filled with righteous fury, spat wildly:

"Whoa! That was brutally harsh!"

"Well done! Should've beaten them half to death before the chopping!"

When the cart reached the foot of the stage, the soldiers opened it and dragged the ten out like small chicks, shoving them up onto the high platform.

The ten, bound in a tangled mess, staggered; several could not keep their footing, fell to the ground, and were roughly hauled back up by the soldiers.

"Kneel!" the escort officer barked.

The ten were pressed by the shoulders and knelt in a line.

Their knees struck the stone slabs, producing a dull "thud‑thud".

Constables, wielding fire‑water staffs, lined up on the stage with cold, hard faces.

"Silence—!" another sharp shout.

The crowd fell completely silent.

The execution overseer wore black gauze on his head and a scarlet official robe, walked to the bench and sat down.

He scanned the sea of dark faces below the stage, his voice booming:

"By the order of the Regent King, today we shall publicly execute ten Da Xia spies, applying the proper law to uphold the nation's statutes!"

Finishing, he lifted his hand, took a thick stack of accusation documents from the bench, raised them high so everyone could see them clearly.

"These are the accusation documents personally signed by the ten! The evidence is solid and indisputable!"

"These ten acted brazenly in Jingcheng, sowing chaos among the people; their crimes are heinous! By law, they shall be beheaded!"

"Fine—!"

The audience below erupted in thunderous cheers, emotions soaring; some elders were moved to tears.

"If the Imperial Court hadn't uncovered it, we would still be in the dark!"

"Truly they deserve death!"

Tuan Tuan clenched her small hands tightly, and Xiao Er brushed her back.

Xiao Ningyuan leaned in, whispering in her ear, "Don't rush, wait until I say it's okay before acting."

Tuan Tuan nodded, bent down, and retrieved from the Embroidered pouch at her waist a tiny bone that Xiao Feifei had gnawed clean, gripping it, eyes fixed unblinking on the stage.

An official in a teal official robe with a stern countenance stepped forward; he was the chief clerk of the Ministry of Justice.

He held a register in his hand and approached the first prisoner.

"Wang Xu!"

A constable rushed forward, grabbed the man's hair, and lifted his face.

His face was bruised purple, swollen, unrecognizable, with dried blood at the corners of his mouth, his features all distorted.

The chief clerk glanced briefly and marked a tick on the register.

"Da Xia person, twenty‑five years old."

Second.

"Zhou Song!"

The constable raised his hand again.

"Da Xia person, thirty‑two years old."

Each time a name was called, the constable lifted a man's face.

That chief clerk gave a cursory glance, expressionless, and ticked another box.

All ten wore vacant expressions, their eyes cloudy, like corpses that had not yet ceased moving.

The crowd below watched intently; each verification drew a burst of loud cheers.

"Look, all of them are Da Xia people!"

"They came here to wreak havoc, they deserve death!"

The ten were quickly verified.

The chief clerk closed the register, turned to the execution overseer, and bowed, saying, "Sir, the ten criminals have all been identified, confirmation complete."

The execution overseer nodded slightly, drew a vermilion order seal from the sign tube on the bench, and held it aloft.

Everyone's gaze converged on that order seal.

Xiao Ningyuan patted his sister's hand: "All right."

Tuan Tuan snuggled into Xiao Er's embrace, muttering softly: "Make those ten kneeling people loudly say their names, hometowns, and what they do!"

She thought, then added: "The more they say, the better! We must make people believe it!"

After speaking, she loosened her little hand, and the bone fell down.

A faint light flashed, and the bone vanished.

The next moment.

The ten people suddenly lifted their heads, their faces suddenly gaining vigor, no longer dull.

Their eyeballs were dark, no longer lacking luster; they lowered their heads to look at themselves, then at the crowd below.

As if suddenly awakened from a dream, the ten people frantically struggled to their feet.

The bailiffs beside them used force, firmly pressing them down.

The first man, called Wang Xu, shouted hoarsely: "My name is Liu Erniu!"

"I live in Liu Family Village outside Jingcheng! My parents died when I was young; I'm the only one left in my family!"

"The village head of Liu Family Village is Liu Zhengping! He's always looked after me! I'm not a person of Da Xia!"

The onlookers sneered: "Don't lie!"

"Even at death's door, you dare to spout nonsense!"

Liu Erniu grew anxious: "I was peacefully sunbathing at the village entrance when they seized me! I truly am not a person of Da Xia!"

The execution supervisor and chief clerk's faces changed drastically; they glanced at each other.

These ten people clearly took the drug given by their superiors, their minds already addled, like idiots who don't feel pain when beaten—how did they suddenly become lucid?

The execution supervisor bellowed: "Heretical lies! Unrepentant! Behead!"

After speaking, he flung the order slip from his hand with force; it landed with a patter.

The bare-chested executioner stepped forward, picked up the wine bowl nearby, drained it in one gulp, then immediately held a mouthful of wine and spat it onto the blade with a puff.

He raised the large blade in his hand, suspending it above Liu Erniu's head.

The second, Zhou Song, had already shouted: "I'm not a person of Da Xia either! My name is Zhang Nong! I live in the Derelict Daoist Temple east of the city!"

"I came to Jingcheng to look for relatives! My uncle is Zhang Zhongzhong! I couldn't find him, and my travel money ran out, so I ended up staying in the Daoist temple!"

"If you don't believe me, go check! I truly am not a person of Da Xia!"

Immediately afterward, the remaining few also shouted in turn.

The executioner froze, standing blankly, the blade in his hand lowering.

The crowd, which had just been filled with righteous indignation, began to be half-believing, half-doubting:

"This, so detailed and plausible, couldn't be true, could it?"

"Could it be that the Imperial Court made a mistake?"

"One mistake might be forgivable, but surely not ten!"

The execution supervisor's face turned the color of pig liver.

He roared: "Chop! Executioner, do you want to defy orders?"