Eternal Night

force with which his leg cut over, the strength behind it enough to break the spine of a normal man.
However, this also limited his speed—and the best way to defend from below, was to attack from above.

A punch was, fundamentally, quicker than a kick.
In this exchange, Yu Feichen’s left fist hit him in the right temple.

Again, the pain dulled the movements of the other man.
Yu Feichen darted three paces away, slowly making another gesture.
‘2’.

The soldier’s eyes were bloodshot.
He no longer grinned.
Instead, he slowly brought his right hand across his chest in a defensive posture; it read—come.

Hunched over slightly, the muscles bulged from his mountain-like, impenetrable figure.

Such a defence was almost impossible to breakthrough.
But now, the situation had turned what Yu Feichen most excelled at.
In a vast majority of cases, he was the one who took the initiative.

Coupled with the two punches that had landed squarely to his head earlier, this soldier was now greatly wary of him.
And the first instinct of wariness would be to dodge.

He advanced, and his right leg and left hand simultaneously flashed out—

The soldier was ready for it.
He shifted his feet and dodged away; right leg in front, left leg behind, his right fist hooked across—

Yu Feichen darted to the left, kicking sideways with his left leg, and at this point the soldier’s fist was only an inch away from his left chest.

And he suddenly twisted forward, eating the punch.

The dull thump of flesh on flesh was explosive.
They could practically hear the cracking of bones.
No one dared to make a sound, and the eyes of the Koroshans were filled with despair.

Just at this moment, Yu Feichen hadn’t drawn back his left leg.
He leapt into the air, twisting his body so that his right calf, carrying the weight of his entire body, slammed straight into the side of his opponent’s right knee.

Yu Feichen landed on the ground.
A sharp pain erupted from his shoulder on his left side.

But his landing was steady, whereas the soldier staggered sideways.

Yu Feichen smiled.
He put his thumb and his little finger together.
‘3’.

This was what they had agreed on.
Three strikes.

Yet, the soldier gave a low rumble from his chest.

“Again.”

Yu Feichen said, “Alright.”

Another three times.

When it ended, he received another blow to his left arm, and he wasn’t standing steady.

But his opponent stumbled a few steps to the side before stopping.

“Again.”

“Alright.”

A sob came from the onlooking crowd.
Anyone could see that both men had a different ability to withstand blows.
Even if Yu Feichen currently had the upper hand, it was impossible to keep going to the end.

Even though this lawyer’s body was adequately fit, next to soldiers who licked blood from blades, it was only just that.
Adequate.

This time, the injury was to his right abdomen.
The taste of blood rumbled in his throat and his vision went black.
It was as if his fighting was entirely driven by willpower, each time pushing the limits of speed and strength, so it was only by willpower that he was able to stand.

—Whereas his opponent was lying on the ground.
No matter how ragged the person standing looked, he was still victorious over the one downed.

After a long time, the soldier then got back to his feet.
They were each panting heavily, staring straight at each other.

Sweat streamed down the sides of their cheeks.
Yu Feichen controlled his breathing, readying himself to welcome the next ‘again’.

From panting like a beast, the soldier eventually caught his breath too.
He opened his mouth, his voice incredibly hoarse.

“Boy, boy.” Sweat dripped from his forehead.
As if pulling the words through gritted teeth, he heaved, “Boy.”

Then, he raised his leg, kicking the leather hip flask on the ground towards Yu Feichen.

Yu Feichen took a deep breath.
His clenched fist slowly loosened.

He bent down and picked it up.

Everyone was watching this scene.
The soldiers looked at the Koroshans, then at Yu Feichen.
Their nostrils flared, excitement reappearing on their faces.

Yu Feichen’s face was calm as he pulled the cork off the flask.

Today, he had his fun fighting.

So, let’s do something even more enjoyable.

—he poured all the liquor the soldier had given him to the ground.

The liquor splashed.

He capped the cork and tossed it back to the soldier’s feet.

The soldier’s expression flickered several times.
His facial muscles relaxed and pulled taut again.
In the end, he viciously glared at him with wide eyes, gnashing his teeth in anger as he said, “Good lo… good boy!”

The voice was chock full of wrath and hatred, like he was going to shoot Yu Feichen’s head into pieces in the next second.

But he ultimately didn’t.
Instead, the corners of his mouth twitched into a mirthless smile.
He turned and left.

The reasoning was simple.
It would be a great disservice to his reputation and dignity to shoot a man who had bested him.

At least, not today.

So, Yu Feichen also turned and met the eyes of the Koroshans towards him.
All of them were looking at him.
It was an atmosphere of utmost silence and solemnity.

Lowering his head, he gazed at the liquor forming trails on the ground.
This was knowledge that Bai Song had given him an enrichment lesson on last night.
The people of Korosha never drank.
The soldier had used the hip flask as a grand prize at the start, precisely as an insult to Koroshans.

However, it didn’t matter even if he didn’t know.
Whether or not he had known of this, he would still have poured the liquor to the ground anyway, and would even have added, “The liquor of the Black Badge Army is only worthy of wetting the ground.”

He continued to walk forward.
Everyone silently opened a path for him.
The way they looked at him had changed.
They no longer looked at him the way they looked at another one of them.
More notably, all afternoon, not a single foreman or soldier made trouble for Yu Feichen, even if his performance was visibly more slipshod.
The labour of livestock from day to night couldn’t be exchanged for dignity, but standing up on both feet could.

In this manner, their second day at the brick kiln ended.
When leaving, they had to line up to get on the truck.
But no one went forward; they seemed to be reserving this for the man who had won the fight.

However, something was different today when they stopped work for the day.

There were still people in the vegetable farm next to the brick kiln.
Around twenty women with headscarves were harvesting cabbages, keeping them in large baskets.

“Leanna!” Yu Feichen heard Gerold, the chemistry teacher, shout.

One of the women looked over in their direction.
It was apparent that this loving married couple could instantly recognise each other from amidst a crowd.

But Leanna didn’t seem to only stop at a greeting.
A cabbage rolled to the ground and she came running over this way.

A foreman immediately spotted this.
Holding the whip in one hand, he shoved her roughly with the other hand.
She seemed to be arguing and begging for something.
However, due to the far distance, they could only see that after a scuffle, the foreman shoved her to the ground and raised the whip high in the air.

Gerold gave an agonised cry and tried to rush over too, but he was stopped by the brawny blonde.

The next moment, however, Leanna stuck her hand into her mouth.

With great effort, she dug something hard out of her mouth, wiped it on her skirt, and stuffed it into the guard’s hand.

Then, the guard stopped blocking her.

She picked up the folds of her skirt and came running over.
When she neared, everyone could see the blood bubbling from her mouth.
They could all guess—she had yanked out her gold dentures.

“Gerold.” Practically in tears, she flung herself into Gerold’s embrace.

The chemistry teacher hugged her tightly, crying and kissing her hair.
“You didn’t have to come over, you didn’t have to come over, Leanna.”

“I had to.” She lifted a ghastly pale face, her eyes nervously wide, shivering as she held the chemistry teacher’s hands.
“We may never see each other again, Gerold.”

“When the camp is dissolved—”

“That won’t happen, it won’t.” Her voice was shaking.
“They’re picking people.
Everyday, Gerold.
Everyday we have people disappearing over there, and the foremen say that they’d never return.”

Anguished, Gerold firmly hugged her.
“Maybe they were just sent away.”

She shook her head slowly.
At this point, her chin was resting on Gerold’s shoulder.
Everyone could see her face and see her mouth full of blood and hear her voice.
“They’re in heaven.
It’s my turn soon, all of us too.
We can never return to Korosha again.
I’ve come to say my goodbyes to you, Gerold.”

“I will always love you, Gerold.
And I will always love our child.”

Gerold’s crying turned into animalistic wailing.

But no one would give them any more time in each other’s embrace.
Within a minute, the guards from over there came to pull them roughly apart.

Gerold fell to his knees on the ground, choking out loudly, “Sir, please let me be with her, sir.
I’ll do anything.”

The guard looked at him, then at Leanna who was covering her stomach in pain.
He twirled his moustache with interest.
“We do need men who can do heavy work here.”

At this moment, another guard came over as well.
After a brief discussion, they turned towards this side.
“Who else wants to come over?”

Almost immediately, four men stepped forward.
Perhaps they too, had wives, children, or mothers that they loved more dearly than their lives.

Yu Feichen looked at the brawny blonde.
His gaze hesitated several times between the vegetable farm and this side, before finally gritting his teeth and staying, motionless.

One of the two guards carried Leanna, who could barely stand, and the other led the five men away.

Had this happened before today, people might have looked at each other in fear and despair.
But today, after looking at each other in fear and despair, they all turned to Yu Feichen in unison, especially the men whose cooperation Yu Feichen had sought earlier that morning.
Some things were quick to change.

In the back of the truck, there were no guards or foremen; only prisoners.

But Yu Feichen wasn’t really in the mood to talk now, and he wasn’t quite able to talk.

“She’s right,” Bai Song said in his place.
“This concentration camp won’t let us live.
We have to escape, and we have to work together.”

“If there’s anyone who doesn’t dare to escape, at least, at least—” Bai Song paused.
“At least don’t rat this secret out.”

The prolonged silence drew out.
Then sobbing came.

“Tomorrow.” Yu Feichen’s voice was hoarse.
He said faintly, “I’ll look for you again.”

With this, he stopped talking and listening.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t quite clear-headed, merely that he was slightly disoriented.
This slight disorientation lasted well into the night.
He got Bai Song to help him straighten his arm then fold it.

For no other reason than that it hurt too much.
His shoulder, his arm, as well as his abdomen—none were spared.
The guard had the strength of a raging elephant.
But if he didn’t get the joint moving, his range of movement would be restricted in the coming days.

Bai Song knew that this tug would hurt him, thus didn’t dare to pull too forcefully.

“Haven’t you eaten?” Yu Feichen’s voice came through gritted teeth.

“I—” Bai Song’s words had only just left his mouth, but it died down.

Died down into complete nothingness, strangely.

So Yu Feichen looked up from his corner.

It was clearly still quite some time before midnight, but their platinum blonde-haired senior officer was already standing in front of the iron bars with two personal guards.
His face was blank.

And his gaze rested on his arm, which Bai Song was holding.

“What are you doing?” He looked at the arm, ice in his voice.

His tone was interrogative, as if even without torture devices, he could still bend people into submission.

An almost instinctual knee-jerk reaction instantly manifested in Yu Feichen.
Like resisting under the brunt of an attack, the more he faces an interrogation, the more composed he would act; like a person holding top-secret information, holding steady, as if nothing had happened.

“When moving bricks.” In fact, he had already schooled his expression from as early on as when Bai Song fell silent.
At this time, he calmly moved his arm out of Bai Song’s grip, speaking in the same calm tone, “I strained it slightly.”