Under the moonlight

Chapter 137 One Skull

Huang Meng looked at Jiang Ying, who was still operating the excavator. Indeed, she needed someone to help watch over the area. "Then be careful, and tell Xu Ao and Li Shuo to move slowly, as the bones are very sharp," Huang Meng instructed them worriedly.

The group worked together, and after a morning of digging, Jiang Ying dug several times until there was no more soil mixed with bones. Only then did they collect all the bones they had dug up and take them back to the embassy compound.

Old Huang had been waiting for a long time. He was also fully armed. After they had arranged all the bones, he immediately spotted a human skull at the very back.

"Oh dear, this is the most important thing. If you dig up this, nothing else matters. There is a clear difference between the skulls of Asians and those from S country."

As he spoke, Old Huang walked to the back. He picked up the skull, adjusted his glasses, and examined it carefully for a while. "Well, look, the skull is shaped like a gong, the eye sockets are roughly round, and the cheekbones are more prominent and wider in Asians. But just from these points, we can determine that at the very least, this skull doesn't belong to someone from country S."

After saying this, Old Huang solemnly put the skull back, and then a sigh drifted away with the wind.

Even if Lao Huang didn't directly and definitively state that these were the skulls of Chinese corpses, the majority of people in S country were from C country. After all, only C country was willing to recognize their independence, and only C country had established an embassy there. Other countries were just going through the motions, merely setting up offices, and they were still using S country people to work for them.

"Okay, I understand, Lao Huang, thanks for your hard work." Xu Ao remained silent for a long time. To be honest, when he pulled this skull out of the dust, he was genuinely shocked. Unlike ordinary broken bones, the skull's presence was more direct and stark, making him realize that a person's life had vanished silently. No one would know who he was. He didn't even dare to think about it. His family, his parents, his children—if all that remained were white bones, how heart-wrenching that would be.

Actually, when the skull was unearthed, Zhao Meng suggested that there was no need to dig any further. As long as Lao Huang could prove that it was an Asian skull, they could launch an attack on the mercenaries.

But he couldn't bear it. The broken bones buried in the mud at the bottom of the pit lay haphazardly in the mud, and the parts exposed from the foul-smelling mud looked like a pair of hands struggling in the mud, begging him to take them away from the dark and damp bottom of the pit.

How heartless must a person be to treat their fellow human beings so cruelly?

Xu Ao seemed not to hear Zhao Meng's suggestion, and simply told Jiang Ying to continue digging with a blank expression. Then, like a robot, he silently and expressionlessly dug the broken bones out of the soil and arranged them neatly.

Even Li Shuo, who had been reluctant, became solemn after repeatedly examining the broken bones. When he unearthed a bone that was even thinner than his forearm, his expression turned serious. Even though he wasn't a medical professional, he could tell that such a short and thin bone wouldn't appear on an adult's body; it belonged to a child, or even an infant.

Old Huang looked at the group of people who were lost in thought and had solemn expressions, sighed softly, shook his head, and left.

Even he, a doctor, was deeply shocked to see so many broken bones and such realistic skulls, some of which still had some skin and hair attached. Let alone the young people who did it themselves.

"Zhao Meng, Li Shuo, could you do me a favor?" Xu Ao looked up at Zhao Meng and Li Shuo beside him.

“Go ahead,” Li Shuo said decisively, his eyes firm, as if he had guessed what Xu Ao was going to say.

“Let’s dig another hole together and bury them, but…” Xu Ao said firmly, but before he could finish, he looked apologetically at the lonely skull beside him.

"We still need his help, please forgive us." Xu Ao bowed deeply to Gu. Huang Meng understood his meaning and stepped forward to stand next to Xu Ao, bowing deeply as well. Then came Li Shuo and Zhao Meng.

Then, the three men tacitly took the remaining broken bones with them, found a flat piece of land, dug a pit, and buried the broken bones together.

"Wow, I never thought I'd have the chance to do something like this in a foreign land. I really have to thank those mercenaries. This is something I never even dreamed of." Li Shuo leaned on his shovel, looking up at the distant sky. The sky was a deep blue, and even the white clouds had turned inky black.

After dealing with the aftermath with heavy hearts, it was already dark. Xu Ao stood in the courtyard, staring at the gate. Logically speaking, although they hadn't directly entered the mercenary's controlled area, the fact that they left this pit was a clear provocation. Even if it wasn't visible on the surface, he was certain that those bastards were keeping a close eye on their movements.

He no longer felt the initial caution and worry. Since they had provoked the incident and harmed the interests of the Chinese people, he had ample reason to question them, both publicly and privately.

At this moment, he wished they would come to him on their own, so he wouldn't have to go looking for them.

"Stop looking. I don't know how long your excavator has been sitting there. It's incredibly loud, like a broken gong. This city is like a dead city now. They definitely can't hide this kind of noise from us." Zhao Meng had been watching Xu Ao for a long time and thought for a long time before coming down to find him and talk to him.

"Hmph, I'd rather they come knocking on our door," Xu Ao said disdainfully, staring ahead.

"How about we have a chat?" Zhao Meng said, squinting at Xu Ao with his hands in his pockets.

"Us? What are we going to talk about?" Xu Ao turned to look at him, and as soon as he spoke, he understood. "Huang Meng?" Xu Ao continued to ask.

“Yes, she likes you. I can tell. When she insisted on coming with me, I was trying to comfort myself by thinking she was worried about her friends. But now that she’s here, I have to face reality. She’s more worried about you.” Zhao Meng said softly, his eyes fixed on the inky sky ahead.

Xu Ao remained silent for a moment, then murmured, "She told me that since she transferred schools, you often appear in her dreams. Although I didn't say anything at the time, I couldn't help feeling jealous. I always felt that she was obsessed with you, otherwise why would she keep dreaming about you? Heh, back then I even wondered if you were dead, which is why you kept bothering her." After Xu Ao finished speaking, she turned to look at Zhao Meng and smiled.

"You really have a sharp tongue, wishing me dead out of nowhere." Zhao Meng rolled his eyes at Xu Ao.

"But to be honest, I'm obsessed with her. I didn't express my feelings of love and joy when I was young, and I always feel like I owe her something."

"So you're saying that you don't actually like her that much?" Xu Ao tilted his head and asked Zhao Meng.

"Of course not. It's just that if such affection is mixed with losing money, it's unfair and impure, both to my own youth and to her."

"What do you mean 'not pure'? What have you two been doing behind my back?" Zhao Meng and Xu Ao heard the voice behind them and closed their eyes at the same time. Why was he everywhere?

"Nothing, what are you doing here?" Zhao Meng glanced at him and said irritably.

"I saw you standing in the yard, so I came to check. What did you find?" Li Shuo put one hand on Zhao Meng's shoulder and the other arm on Xu Ao's shoulder.

"Hey, what are you doing!" Xu Ao and Zhao Meng moved aside at the same time, and Li Shuo stumbled and almost fell face down.

"Xu Ao, what are your plans for dealing with this next?" Zhao Meng rolled his eyes at Li Shuo and asked Xu Ao beside him.

"What can we do? The fact that they killed our own people is undeniable. Even if they don't come, I will go and settle accounts with them tomorrow."

"What? Go find them? They're in the lockdown zone. Not only do they have guns, but they also have the plague!" Li Shuo's expression tightened upon hearing Xu Ao's words.

“If it were before, it wouldn’t have been so easy, but now, with irrefutable evidence, we can represent Country C to settle accounts with them. They might not be able to bear the consequences of harming the lives of Country C people.” Xu Ao’s eyes were firm and his words were resounding. It took Zhao Meng a while to look away from his face after he finished speaking, and Li Shuo was stunned by his words.

"As expected of someone representing the country, awesome!" Only now did Li Shuo truly understand how heavy the burden was on Xu Ao's shoulders. Being abroad, one cannot afford to make a single wrong step, because when we are abroad, we never represent ourselves personally.