C3 (2/2)

The stranger said, ”Then you must call for a decision!”

”Please don't!” Jin Shi, spare me! ” The kneeling prisoner on the stage began to beg again.

I sternly and solemnly shouted, ”Dismissed!”

The masked man dressed as a martial arts practitioner with a saber on his shoulder was already standing aside and waiting for him. Hearing my shout, he grabbed the handle of the saber with both hands and raised it high into the air before fiercely slashing downwards. A crisp click. The prisoner's head had actually been chopped off. Blood spurted at me, and I couldn't dodge in time to be drenched in it. The blood was still warm and smelly.

The prisoner's head rolled off the table. The Non-head Body fell down.

I remained in a daze for a long time, slowly reacting and looking down at the prisoner's head at my feet. There was still a cloth bag over it. I looked up at the table again. The Non-head Body lay motionless on the ground, blood still gurgling from its severed neck. Several of the singers were staring at me with shining eyes.

The stranger next to him said, ”It's about to be a scene!”

I couldn't help but ask in a quavering voice, ”Did he really kill someone?”

No one answered me directly.

The stranger pointed at the people who were singing on the stage, ”They didn't come here today to sing for you, they still have something for you!”

Excluding the prisoners who had been beheaded, there were a total of five people on the platform. Three men and two women. Each of them handed me a pocket-sized bag made of silk. The five silk bags had different colors, and on them was written the number ”One, Two, Three, Four, Five”. Then, they put the Non-head Body and the big blade into the boxes, and two of them carried the boxes down the concrete platform, and left in a hurry through the alley.

There were exits at both ends of the alley, and it connected north and south. If you walk straight out of the alley, you will be in a puddle of water, and the north entrance leads to the main street. It was from the north end of the alley that strangers and I came in. However, the five singers followed the alley and headed south.

I think they forgot to pack up a ”prop”: the one in the cloth bag at my feet, the prisoner's head.

The stranger said to me: ”These five Silk Bag, you must open them one by one according to the serial number! Open one every other month! ” Without waiting for me to say anything else, he hurriedly headed south along the alley. I didn't want to chase, but looked down at the prisoner's head.

Silence returned to the long alley. Suddenly, the sound of insects chirping could be heard. Gradually, more and more bugs started shouting. It was a lively scene. This was what a summer night should be like. It was as if everything had returned to normal.

I finally mustered the courage to bend down and pick up the head from the ground. With trembling hands, he opened the wet cloth bag. He saw an old face with burn scars on it. It was very familiar. It was exactly the face of Grandmother Hu Shizhen. However, the thick scars on his face and eyes had been cut open, revealing a pair of extremely shrivelled eyes. Under the bright moonlight, his eyes were filled with fear and despair.

Somehow, I actually carried this head home. Passing by a big tree, there was a group of villagers gathered together in the shade. My parents were among them. Mother called out to me: ”Shier, what are you holding in your hands?” I said, ”Didn't you hear the singing just now?”

”Where's the singing?”

”It's in the alley to the east. It's under the wall of my Second Uncle's house!”

The crowd burst into laughter, saying that I was out of my mind. His mother said angrily, ”Stop bullshitting and go home!”

As I approached, I saw several people surrounding an old man. The old man was sitting in a rattan chair with a cane in his hand. My grandfather was nearby, fanning her. Who else could it be other than Gao Zu Grandmother Hu Shizhen. The two burn scars on her face covered her eyes like two large copper coins. He just turned his face in my direction, as if he were looking at me. In the moonlight, I could see the coldness in her face.

When I got home, I filled a basin with cold water and washed the blood off my head and body. He threw the head into an abandoned wooden bucket and added a lid to it. Then, he used a brick to hold it down. Then he went back to bed. After tossing and turning in bed for the night, he was unable to fall asleep. Under the pillow were the five Silk Bag s. He always felt like he was in a dream.

I was like a hundred claws scratching my heart. He suddenly stood up and reached under the pillow. He picked up a silk sachet. The serial number on the sachet was five. After a moment's hesitation, he switched to a piece of paper with the serial number ”1” written on it. He opened it and took out a piece of paper.

Borrowing the moonlight that shone through the window, I read the contents of the slip of paper word by word: 2006 Lunar New Year, 15th July. Jin Yuxia had lost her life in Jin Shi's hands.

I was surprised. Jin Yuxia is my eldest sister. My name is Jin Shi. As for me, how could I kill my own sister?