Chapter 940: A Cake for a Life

"Everyone gets a share! Those who can grab one, stand to one side. Those who can't, stand on the other and wait. If anyone doesn't listen, don't blame my blade for being unfriendly!" The fierce, murderous shout rang out, and with blood still dripping from that blade, no one dared to move recklessly.

After that, no one rushed forward to snatch anymore, but it couldn't exactly be called orderly either. The strong and able-bodied could always muscle their way to the front, while the old and weak were simply out of luck.

Ge Tianfeng had never eaten a full meal growing up. He was small and scrawny; at sixteen or seventeen, his build was more like that of a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old. Even if he had a bit of strength, it was hard to compete with others. After taking a few punches and kicks, he couldn't get anywhere near the front.

They were actually coarse-grain flatcakes. Those who got them were wolfing them down in huge bites. Smelling that aroma—this was real, solid food, probably even mixed with a little oil and salt. What Western Paradise, what Land of Immortals? If you could eat this, then this was the Land of Immortals.

Once the strong and able-bodied had taken their share, the men with blades and clubs didn't let them take any more and made them wait off to the side. This time, Ge Tianfeng counted as one of the stronger ones and fought desperately to squeeze to the front. But when he got there, there was nothing left.

One of the men distributing the flatcakes jumped onto a cart, casually flipped open the cloth covering a bamboo basket, and tilted it. The crowd around the cart let out a collective "Whoa—" Everyone could see it was full of flatcakes inside, their surfaces still glistening with oil.

Many couldn't help but swallow their saliva. Many instinctively surged forward, but were driven back by curses and wild blows.

"You want to eat? Then follow along!" the man hollered. At these words, the strong, able-bodied group who'd already gotten their flatcakes tried to come forward too, but the man shouted them back: "Those who got flatcakes, don't follow! There's no more share for you! Anyone who doesn't listen, we'll take your life!"

Over these past days, everyone had come to understand these people's ways. When they said they'd take your life, they really would kill. Those words immediately cowed the crowd into submission.

When would he get to eat a flatcake? Smelling that scent, Ge Tianfeng followed the cart in a daze. Everyone else looked much the same. A few women, pitching their voices high, called out: "Kind sir, have mercy, I'll sleep with you!"

These words were simply cursed back at them. The few women were barely clothed, a great deal exposed, and the sight made Ge Tianfeng's breathing grow heavy. But Ge Tianfeng also knew that among the refugees, the young, pretty women and girls had long since been picked clean. Any of the remaining ones with a bit of looks who wanted to survive had to let others do as they pleased with them. The ones left were all those truly too unsightly to present, or too old.

The sky was already growing faintly light. The terrain east of Jining City was utterly flat, allowing one to see far into the distance. Following the cart, Ge Tianfeng could see similar crowds everywhere else—carts with masses of people trailing behind them, all heading toward the base of Jining's city walls.

The refugee camp was simply too huge. By the time they reached their destination, the eastern sky was fully bright. Ge Tianfeng could see bundles of earth and sandbags placed at the edge of the encampment, a few dozen paces from the moat.

At the camp's edge, armed, able-bodied young refugees had long been waiting. Ge Tianfeng even spotted a few familiar faces—fellow villagers and kinsmen who'd been chosen for their piety and sturdy build. Few held iron weapons; quite a number held bamboo poles and sharpened wooden staves. Their tips were visibly scorched black, clearly fire-hardened. From what Ge Tianfeng had learned along this journey, they'd likely also been soaked in night-soil water. If one of those pierced you and drew blood, you were as good as dead.

But these young men holding weapons showed no regard for ties of village or kin. The cart stopped and before anyone even said whether flatcakes would be handed out, they viciously drove the old and weak refugees following the cart forward, out of the camp. Anyone who took a few steps too slowly was immediately lashed viciously. A few who talked back were skewered straight through with wooden spears and bamboo spears. When the weapons were pulled out, the person collapsed to the ground, fresh blood splattering the bodies and faces of those around them, frightening them into a chorus of screams as they scrambled to walk out.

A dense, dark mass of people—this wave alone had to number in the thousands. Looking back, more columns were being led this way by other carts. This looked to be tens of thousands of people...

"Throw the earth bundles into the moat! Throw one bundle, get one flatcake to eat! Throw two bundles, get two! However many bundles you can fill in, that's how many you'll eat! If you're not afraid of bursting your gut, go right ahead!" From every cart, someone was shouting and hollering.

Fires had already been lit atop the city wall. The smell of boiling water, scalding oil, and boiling filth drifted down below the wall—foul or pleasant, everyone understood that going over there likely meant a road straight to death.

"Go, and you can eat your fill! Don't go, and you die!" The men on the carts didn't bother with talk of karma or retribution, just naked threats and the lure of gain.

The cloths covering the bamboo baskets were all flipped open. The tantalizing aroma spread everywhere. Everyone's stomachs growled wildly, they swallowed their saliva, and then immediately, wails, curses, and shouts erupted as those wielding bamboo spears and wooden spears began driving everyone forward.

"Pick up the earth bundles, quick, or it's a dead end!"

"Hurry! Run forward! Fill it in! Or it's a dead end!"

Suddenly, someone wailed and dropped to their knees, kowtowing desperately. But before their pleas for mercy were even finished, four or five bamboo spears had pierced them through. Dead beyond dead.

Under these circumstances, everyone tremblingly picked up the earth bundles. Screams of agony rang out without cease. Those who walked slowly, or deliberately stalled, were mercilessly stabbed to death. Human life was worthless. At this moment, human life was merely a tool to terrorize others.

When the people behind screamed and collapsed, those in front quickened their pace a few steps. But there were still people ahead blocking the way. If they didn't move faster, they themselves would be stabbed. So they could only push and shove forward. When someone in front walked too slowly, pushed by those behind, they'd stumble a couple of steps and fall to the ground, immediately trampled over by the people coming after. Those carrying earth bundles were even heavier; trampled by several people, they simply couldn't survive.

Under such coercion, with everyone urging each other on from front and back, their steps grew faster and faster. By this point, they could no longer care about much else. The thought in many people's minds wasn't fear of death, but that they could go back and eat a flatcake.

"Fill the moat!" someone shouted. Both atop the wall and below it, people were howling with heart-rending desperation.

"Fill the moat and eat flatcakes!"

The moat beneath Jining's city walls wasn't wide. This moat was a rare luxury among the cities of Shandong—elsewhere, they couldn't even channel water in. Here in Jining, they could at least make use of Weishan Lake and the canal waterways, but it was still only a token effort.

Because it wasn't wide, the bows and arrows from the city wall, firing from a height, could reach the moat's far bank. The first wave of people carrying earth bundles reached it just as the gongs atop the wall sounded, and arrows came whistling down.

How could barely clothed bodies block arrows? How could those starved and sluggish dodge them? The front few rows of refugees screamed and fell, but the human tide did not stop. Everyone knew that stopping now only meant being trampled to mush by those charging from behind. And the arrows from the wall couldn't possibly hit every single person.

Ge Tianfeng had been in the middle of the group from the start. When snatching flatcakes, he couldn't compete with the strong and able-bodied, but compared to these people now, he stood out. Ge Tianfeng could clearly have run at the very front, yet he ran in the crowd carrying his earth bundle, constantly dodging those ahead and behind him.

With so many people charging toward the moat, the arrows shot from the wall, aside from kicking up a few splashes, simply couldn't stop this surging human tide. The arrows from the wall soon ceased. When you calculated it, a single arrow up on the wall was worth far, far more than a human life down below...

At the start, the human tide surged forward very fast, but once everyone was running, the speed naturally slowed, since the driving threat behind them was now farther away.

The arrows stopped. Some people had already reached the moat's edge. They hurled their earth bundles straight in, turned around, and ran back, their faces already alight with excitement. Go back and they could eat flatcakes!

Ge Tianfeng also quickened his pace at this moment. But just then, he suddenly saw over a dozen blackish objects hurled out from inside the city, arcing over the wall and smashing directly into the crowd.

They seemed to be round balls molded from earth and stone. They came whistling down, smashing into people. Those struck had their heads and upper bodies pulverized instantly. The balls molded from earth and stone didn't seem all that solid; upon impact, they burst apart into fragments. Clods of earth and shards of stone sprayed outward. Anyone caught in the blast radius suffered broken bones and snapped sinews. Ge Tianfeng ducked his head sharply. Only a fragment the size of a fingernail grazed his cheek, slicing open a gash from which blood streamed uncontrollably.

These dozen-plus earth balls immediately halted the crowd's momentum. Many people panicked and tried to flee. But right at this juncture, even more people surged forward from the refugee encampment. These people had probably all been brought here too—fill the moat with one bundle of earth and earn one flatcake.

The devastating earth balls from inside the city came whistling out and crashing down, but after only about three volleys, they too stopped. The refugees' momentum was simply too overwhelming, endless and inexhaustible. Even these earth balls hurled out couldn't stop such momentum.

Bundle after bundle of sand and earth was thrown into the moat. Before their eyes, the not-very-wide channel was being filled in, soon about to become a stretch of flat ground.

Knowing full well they couldn't stop it, yet unable to just watch the enemy advance step by step right up to the base of the wall, the earth balls still came whistling out from inside the city, and arrows were still loosed sporadically.

People kept falling. Some even dodged the arrows and earth balls from inside the city, but couldn't evade the shoves and collisions of the comrades behind them, and tumbled straight into the moat just like that. They basically had no chance to climb back out, directly crushed down by the earth bundles behind them or by others pushed in as well, becoming part of the moat's fill.

Ge Tianfeng summoned every ounce of his spirit. After dropping his earth bundle, he turned right around and searched for gaps in the oncoming human tide. When he absolutely couldn't dodge, he knocked the person opposite him down. Running for his life like this, watching corpse after corpse fall before and behind him, he finally made it back in front of the cart.

Right at the spot where they'd set out, huge batches of people were again being pushed forward. Seeing Ge Tianfeng run back, someone was already raising a bamboo spear to stab him. Ge Tianfeng waved his arms frantically and shouted: "I threw my earth bundle into the river! Give me flatcakes to eat! Give me flatcakes to eat!"

But it didn't look at all like they were going to give him any flatcakes. Men with blades and clubs were already coming over. Just then, someone on the cart hollered: "Good brother, come over and get a flatcake to eat!"

Thanks to old friends "User Cold Night" and "Free-Spirited Self 0" for the tips. Asking for more subscriptions, monthly tickets, and tips. Thank you, everyone.