Chapter 568 - 66: Guillotine (Part 2)
Staggering, Lisoben was forced onto the guillotine by the executioner, staring at the sun-bleached ground, he tightly closed his eyes, his body trembling involuntarily.
Not far away, those who had lost family members directly or indirectly because of Lisoben, including Sunday, Ruth, and Saturday, stood in a line.
Beside Ruth stood a child, who nervously watched the person on the guillotine from afar, his eyes filled with various emotions: disbelief, panic, and compassion, but lacking the sense of pleasure seen in his elders.
Because he wasn’t mature enough, hatred was not etched into his heart, which was exactly what Chen Zhou hoped to see.
He hoped the children on the island would remember the past and the suffering brought to them by tyrants and invaders.
Yet he didn’t want these people to live perpetually in hatred, trapped in the shadows of the past.
People must move forward, and so must the wheels of history.
The best way to overcome the past is not to dwell in pain all day, but to improve oneself, leaving those pains far behind, especially for the children whose lives are just beginning, with brighter and better futures ahead.
...
The triangular blade, hanging high, had never tasted blood since it was suspended, and Lisoben was destined to become its first victim.
As the blade cut through the air and fell, he heard only a vague whooshing sound before losing consciousness.
Heaven and earth blurred at that moment, spinning rapidly, with faint cheers resounding in his ears, followed by a peculiar sensation of pain that transcended pain itself.
Afterwards, there was only endless darkness, a darkness like the deepest seabed in a dream, which swallowed him completely with a single surge...
...
The islanders watched as Lisoben’s head fell cleanly to the ground, rolling a few times before stopping on the execution platform, leaving a trail of blood.
The headless body still spurted fresh blood, twitching slightly. The body, slightly pale from half a month without sunlight, twisted a few times before suddenly collapsing sideways on the ground, never to move again.
The brutal and bloody scene lasted only a few seconds. The guards responsible for the execution came forward to check, and after confirming death, someone stepped up to clean up the body.
Encouraged by some of the old hands, the islanders began to cheer in unison.
In truth, they didn’t even know what they were celebrating; perhaps it was the farewell of an era, or maybe the shedding of the shackles within their hearts.
...
When Lisoben was executed, the group of Spaniards who had been "neighbors" with him for half a month, separated by a concrete wall, also watched from not far away.
The new-style guillotine, improved by Louis XVI in the 18th century, made its deterrent debut in the 17th century with its clean and sharp triangular blade, shocking this group of Spanish sailors.
Even the boldest and most hot-tempered Havier felt a twinge of fear watching the native leader’s head roll on the execution platform—
Despite his usual fearlessness and bravado, deep down he was afraid of death.
Havier could afford to squabble with others because he knew no one would seriously risk their lives against him. As the saying goes, the reckless fear the ruthless, and the ruthless fear those with nothing to lose. Faced with the threat of death, even Havier had to behave cautiously.
Apart from fear, the Spanish sailors harbored another emotion — worry.
Since arriving on the island, they had been imprisoned.
The living conditions in the prison were not as bad as they imagined; meals were balanced and nutritious, with both meat and vegetables.
There were also people cleaning the cells, and the clay buckets for excrement were emptied every two days, so the rooms were not too smelly.
However, in terms of psychological torment, this prison far surpassed any Spanish prison.
Each of them had their own room, and apart from half an hour of exercise time each day, no one was allowed to make noise or communicate with their neighbors in their rooms.
Once imprisoned, they had to become the "Stone Man" from Hebrew legend.
It is said the Stone Man was forged by a Jewish scholar from Prague, with a small pill on its tongue that, when removed, destroyed the Stone Man, thus it always remained silent.
The Spanish sailors felt they were like the Stone Man, and upon returning to their cells, the entire prison would fall into a suffocating silence, making their days feel endless.
Especially those talkative sailors who went almost mad from the loss of their communication privileges.
This enforced silence was accompanied by the sailors’ anxiety about the future.
They were imprisoned, their lives entirely in the hands of the island’s ruler. Although the ruler showed no intention of executing them, the emperor’s temper was notoriously unpredictable; who could guarantee the ruler’s attitude would always remain so favorable?
Moreover, by their calculations, Kilian should be arriving at the archipelago soon. When this stingy, selfish man discovers his buried treasure missing, will he fly into a rage and launch an attack on that peculiar steel ship with his two sizable vessels, even pursuing them to this island?
Should this conflict break out, whether the ruler of the island or Kilian emerges victorious, their fate would not be promising.
Considering the worst-case scenario, perhaps the ruler winning would be somewhat more beneficial for them.
If Kilian finds out they betrayed the treasure’s location, even if he’s willing to spare them, the other sailors waiting to share the spoils wouldn’t agree, as this wealth was considered a shared asset.
Thinking of the strange power of that steel-boned ship, the strong and durable gray structures on the island, and the various peculiarities they had witnessed since landing, the sailors couldn’t even determine who would win the conflict.
Spending every day locked in their cells with these tangled thoughts in their minds, it’s no wonder that despite being well-fed, they appeared as if their souls had been sucked out, dispirited and lethargic.
...
Chen Zhou had yet to decide how to deal with these Spanish sailors.
Through interrogation, he had basically determined the sailors’ stances.
Some were loyal to Captain Kilian. Even when faced with the threat of execution, they would deceive him with half-truths, trying to conceal some of the treasure’s whereabouts while not disclosing Kilian’s fleet’s firepower, hoping to catch him off guard.
Others were concerned only for their own lives, willing to say anything to save themselves from suffering, and it was from such people that Chen Zhou obtained accurate information and managed to bring all the treasures back to the island.
Among these two types, the former were certainly loyal, but their loyalty was to the enemy and could not be trusted.
The latter, though they appeared "obedient and honest," were traitors and fence-sitters. Compared to enemies, the Chinese despised traitors even more—
Even if Chen Zhou wanted to use them, the thought that they could betray their captain today and potentially betray him tomorrow made him feel disgusted.
Besides these two types, there was an even more extreme one — the guiding party.
Juan was a typical example of this.
He not only completely betrayed the people he once served without reservation but even volunteered to offer his loyalty, a level of enthusiasm that left Chen Zhou at a loss.
Because Juan guided Sunday to all the buried treasures, Chen Zhou specifically instructed to elevate his treatment, giving him a more spacious cell.
That cell had larger windows, furniture, and a private bathroom to make Juan’s prison life more comfortable.
However, Juan’s special treatment was limited to this; until he truly proved his loyalty and usefulness, his situation was not much different from the other Spanish sailors’, all of whom were reflecting on their mistakes in their cells.
Chen Zhou planned to give these Spanish sailors a "six months or a year of fixed-term imprisonment," and after they realized their position, he would make other plans.
During the sailors’ imprisonment, he would personally participate in and lead skilled workers to begin constructing a second warship.
With Captain Kilian’s treasure confiscated, when he returned to the archipelago, he would certainly seek revenge on whoever stole it.
Chen Zhou had already decided to leave obvious clues on the archipelago to direct Kilian to come to the Big Island to find him; otherwise, the furious Kilian might vent his anger on the island’s natives, sparking a massacre.
Compared to the unarmed natives, he possessed formidable armed ships and had nothing to fear.
Besides, money, although plentiful, was also infinitely helpful.
Chen Zhou was considering the remaining treasures Kilian left in South America, while also hoping that Captain Kilian, with his vast connections, could help establish a shipping route, find a wife for Lai Fu, and transport mineral resources to the island.