0127 Burn Sergeant Kun to Death (Part II)

My God! Is this even human? He’s taken so many punches and still doesn’t seem affected at all!

Somewhat panicked, Hou Rui was just about to look for a weapon, hoping to increase his killing power with a proper tool, when Sergeant Kun charged forward with his long hunting knife already in hand. He brought it down savagely toward Hou Rui’s left shoulder.

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The knife moved incredibly fast, and Hou Rui’s stamina had already declined drastically. He used every ounce of strength he had just to evade the blow. But Sergeant Kun immediately stepped forward, drew the long hunting knife back along its original path, and viciously slammed the spine of the blade into the space between Hou Rui’s chest and abdomen. The impact sent Hou Rui flying, and he tumbled down beside the bonfire.

“Pfft—cough, cough, cough!”

The moment he hit the ground, Hou Rui spat out a mouthful of blood. Even so, the agonizing pain in his chest and abdomen did not ease in the slightest. It nearly made him feel as though he could no longer breathe. With that single blow, the hard back of Sergeant Kun’s hunting knife had not only broken Hou Rui’s ribs; it had very likely injured his internal organs as well.

“Heh heh heh. Second Lieutenant Douglas, are you ready to go to hell? I’m here to send you there.”

Sergeant Kun’s face was streaked with wounds and blood, making him look utterly ferocious. When he caught up with Hou Rui once again, he raised his hunting knife high—but at that very moment, Hou Rui suddenly went berserk. He thrust his hand straight into the burning bonfire.

Even Lieutenant Colonel Timo, Captain Mulu, and the other spectators were stunned. Just as they thought Hou Rui had lost his mind, he seized a thick, burning log and dragged it out of the fire. Then he turned and smashed it viciously into Sergeant Kun’s arm.

With a sharp crack, the flaming log struck the forearm gripping the knife. The flames scorched his palm with excruciating pain, and Hou Rui’s blow erupted with all the strength he could muster. The single strike directly fractured the bones in Sergeant Kun’s arm, leaving even the murderous hunting knife dangling limply from his hand.

“Drop dead!”

Having landed one successful blow, Hou Rui swung the burning log up again. The agony shooting through his hands sent his adrenaline surging, and with strength that seemed to exceed his limits, he brought the log crashing toward Sergeant Kun’s face.

But just as the log was about to strike Sergeant Kun’s nose, his other, uninjured hand suddenly shot out and caught it halfway through its arc.

“Ah!”

As they struggled over the log, Hou Rui felt the skin on both his hands melting in the flames. Apart from screaming in agony, he had no time to do anything else before Sergeant Kun drove a brutal kick into his stomach.

At the same time as Hou Rui was knocked down, however, he scraped backward with his heel and caught Sergeant Kun behind the knee. As a result, the two men fell to the ground almost simultaneously.

Hou Rui understood that whoever got up first would seize the initiative. Against an opponent like Sergeant Kun—physically powerful and seemingly possessed of limitless stamina—allowing him to gain the upper hand would leave Hou Rui in genuine danger.

So the instant he hit the ground, Hou Rui acted. He rolled violently toward Sergeant Kun. When he reached him, he slightly raised his upper body, then used the force of his falling weight to drive his right elbow viciously into Sergeant Kun’s abdomen.

“Bang! Oof!”

Taking advantage of the confusion as Sergeant Kun fell, the elbow struck directly against his liver. Sergeant Kun let out an involuntary groan of pain.

Then, when the enraged Sergeant Kun reached for Hou Rui’s hair, Hou Rui—having already gained the advantage—rolled back along the path he had come from. When he saw Sergeant Kun’s grasping right hand miss, Hou Rui boldly attacked again.

This time, Hou Rui rolled his body in such a way that he cleverly pinned Sergeant Kun’s right arm beneath himself. Then, while enduring a kick from Sergeant Kun, he slipped his elbow beneath the man’s right arm. Finally, Hou Rui tightened his elbow, locking Sergeant Kun’s arm firmly in place, and twisted his entire body sharply toward him.

“Crack! Ah!”

After the sound of twisting bone, the elbow of Sergeant Kun’s right arm, trapped tightly in the crook of Hou Rui’s arm, was forcibly bent backward and broken.

Sergeant Kun, who had suffered badly in the close-quarters struggle, finally let out a scream. Hou Rui seized the opportunity to rise and stomped viciously down on Sergeant Kun’s face.

Although his arm was broken, Sergeant Kun still refused to submit. He copied Hou Rui’s earlier maneuver and rolled in place, turning from lying on his back to facing the ground. This not only allowed him to evade Hou Rui’s stomp, but also gave him the chance to brace himself with his remaining left hand. He intended to push himself up in a position resembling a push-up, regain his footing, and resume the fight.

But Hou Rui’s foot had missed only once, and he gave Sergeant Kun no further opportunity. He stepped across with his other leg, trapping the face-down man between his own legs.

Yet instead of mounting Sergeant Kun’s back, Hou Rui reached down and seized him beneath both armpits. He lifted him, then shoved him forward with ruthless decisiveness, hurling the upper half of Sergeant Kun’s body into the bonfire.

“Aaaah! Aaaah!”

Sergeant Kun was doomed. Nearly his entire bare upper body had been pushed into the flames. Within a second, the merciless fire had licked across his face, and he released an agonized scream.

His head and face, shoulders and neck, chest, and both arms were engulfed simultaneously. The inhuman pain drove every muscle in Sergeant Kun’s body to its limit. His powerful frame tensed completely, releasing all the strength it contained. Holding his breath, he tried to brace himself with one hand and retreat, hoping first to escape the fire.

Unfortunately, Hou Rui had already anticipated his plan. The moment he pushed Sergeant Kun into the bonfire, Hou Rui sprang upward. Thus, precisely when Sergeant Kun, unable to endure the pain, tried to drag himself out of the flames, Hou Rui came crashing down.

He planted one foot heavily on Sergeant Kun’s back. Using the added force of his entire body weight, he drove the man—who had barely managed to support himself on one hand—back down into the fire.

“Uuugh!”

Sergeant Kun finally lost the breath he had been holding. The hair on his head had already become a blazing ball of fire. With his face immersed in the flames, he instantly lost his sight. The pain and terror drove him mad. Even his broken right arm joined in as he clawed and shoved frantically at the fire before him, scooping up great handfuls of ash as he tried to drag his body backward and escape.

But how could Hou Rui, whose foot was pressed brutally against his back, give him that chance?

When Hou Rui thought of how long Sergeant Kun had overseen the child soldiers, of the countless children who had died at his hands and the thousands upon thousands of families he had shattered; when he remembered how Sergeant Kun had fed children opium broth, forcing them to eat human flesh and kill one another at an age when they should still have been innocent—Hou Rui’s heart became more resolute than ever.

Today, he would kill the man here.

Sergeant Kun struggled desperately again and again, repeatedly lifting his upper body, only to be stamped back down by Hou Rui. After roughly a minute, his screams vanished. Whenever he opened his mouth to cry out, the flames rushed down his throat and burned his mouth, leaving him unable to make a sound.

At last, Sergeant Kun stopped moving. From his upper body came the clear sizzling sound of human fat burning.

Covered in mud and sweat, Hou Rui finally lifted his foot. Standing before the bonfire for that entire minute had left him suffering from the heat as well, but it had also shown everyone exactly how much agony Sergeant Kun must have endured before his death.

The nearby members of the alliance understood this perfectly. Thus, when Hou Rui turned and faced Lieutenant Colonel Timo, the entire scene fell silent.

Within the Liberation Alliance, the strong and the insane had always been respected. After this battle, Hou Rui had undoubtedly become the clearest embodiment of both.

“Colonel, Sergeant Kun opposed reconciliation, so I gave him a little lesson.”

Hou Rui’s words were polished, but his body trembled slightly. Suppressing the frenzied Sergeant Kun had consumed nearly all of his strength.

Even Lieutenant Colonel Timo, an old veteran who had witnessed countless deaths, could not help looking at Hou Rui with newfound respect.

At the beginning of their confrontation, Sergeant Kun had almost completely suppressed Hou Rui. But after the two men fell at the same time, Hou Rui had managed to seize the opportunity and neutralize his opponent’s advantages in strength and weaponry.

As for the final execution by fire, it had exposed Hou Rui’s madness, brutality, and cold-bloodedness completely. To push a man into a bonfire and then keep one’s foot on him until he burned to death was not something an ordinary person could do.

“Clap, clap, clap.”

Lieutenant Colonel Timo remained true to form. He chose applause instead of words. The alliance officers and child soldiers at the scene soon joined in.

Only then did Hou Rui, having lost a great deal of blood and exhausted every last reserve of strength, feel safe enough to collapse unconscious.

Hou Rui slept until noon the following day. In his dreams, he saw many people, but this time he felt none of his former anxiety or guilt. Even when he dreamed of the Doraemon T-shirt, he experienced only a faint sadness. He no longer woke in terror as he had before.

It seemed that after personally burning Sergeant Kun to death, and after witnessing the Liberation Alliance’s slaughter and arson throughout the areas under its control, Hou Rui’s heart had begun to adapt. It was gradually becoming harder.

“Second Lieutenant Douglas, Lieutenant Colonel Timo wants to see you as soon as you wake up.”

Standing beside the bed, Judy handed Hou Rui a cup of camel’s milk and spoke softly. Judy had also been among those watching the battle the previous night. In Judy’s mind, Hou Rui had always been rather introverted and weak. Seeing him kill Sergeant Kun in a single confrontation had clearly exceeded all expectations. As a result, Judy had unconsciously developed a trace of fear toward him.