Chapter 52: The Wind Rises (5)

It was dead silent and pitch dark, exactly midnight.
After repeating those primitive yet exquisite encounters with Lumbana, Abdullah lay contentedly on the bed, eyes tightly closed, reliving those wonderful moments in his mind.
Indeed, this little bitch had firm flesh, and her moans and cries were utterly intoxicating, driving him wild. He was used to so-called beautiful women who threw themselves at him, but he truly preferred this kind of thing.
The more she resisted, the more excited he became, finding it more satisfying.
Scream all you want—no one will come to save you. In this remote valley, aside from wild beasts hunting for food, there were soldiers who hadn’t seen a woman in half a year. If those soldiers really came because of her screams, he might even give her away out of sheer pleasure. After all, this little bitch had already been “opened” by him, so there was no longer any novelty.
Having perfectly conquered Lumbana, Abdullah felt as if he had regained the dignity of a mature man. At this moment, he seemed to be back in his twenties, full of youth and vigor. Back then, he had fought in battles, won battles with his sword, and seduced countless women…
“Achoo!”
The curtain was suddenly blown open, allowing a gust of cold wind in that made Abdullah’s teeth chatter.
With such harsh weather in this remote place, where the temperature difference between day and night was so extreme, it wasn’t surprising that Hu Jiahe complained. Even he wouldn’t feel comfortable! It seemed he needed to have a serious talk with Governor Abu Muslim—after all, he couldn’t just exile a brave general because of a single word from the Lord of Baishui City!
Abdullah pulled a patterned Persian blanket from the head of the bed and wrapped it around himself. Rubbing his hands together, he finally warmed up a bit. After finishing, he had covered himself only with a thin sheer cloth for freshness, which explained why he got cold!
Glancing back at the sleeping Lumbana, Abdullah snorted coldly. These so-called virtuous women were actually wolves in sheep’s clothing. On the surface, they valued chastity above everything, but in reality, they longed for men to overpower them and train them thoroughly. Though it was just a short two inches between a woman’s legs, it was the hardest part to satisfy.
Take this little bitch, for example. She had cried and pleaded for death earlier, but after being properly trained by him, she ended up obeying anyway.
Worthless bitch—just being pretentious!

Drawn by the faint smile on Lumbana’s lips, Abdullah couldn’t help but reach for her lower body again. Lifting the thin cloth covering her chest, he saw once more her enchanting figure that had captivated him. At this moment, Lumbana exuded the allure of a mature woman, her breasts like two cherries about to bloom, teasing Abdullah’s senses. Provoked by her, he felt his lower body instinctively stir, longing to engage in that frenzied act of love once more.

Just as Abdullah was about to press himself onto Lumbana, he suddenly heard hurried footsteps outside the tent, followed by flickers of light. “Help! There’s a fire! The camp is on fire!” “Help! Stop sleeping—quickly, put out the fire!” Hearing this, Abdullah’s enthusiasm vanished instantly. He sprang up from the bed, quickly pulled on his undergarments from the bedside, and threw on a robe from the hook.

Grabbing the dagger from the table, he strode toward the entrance of the tent. His plans for intimacy had been ruined, and he was seething with anger. He wanted to see who dared to wreak havoc in the camp!

As he ripped back the curtain, Abdullah was hit by a thick wave of smoke. “Cough, cough!” Waving his hand to disperse the smoke from his face, he frowned and looked around. The Abbasid camp was in chaos, with soldiers running everywhere. Some carried basins, others held leather wine bags, all trying desperately to fetch water to put out the fire. But the fire was too fierce—several buckets of water wouldn’t be enough. The flames spreading from the west side grew more intense, gradually getting out of control.

“Don’t panic! Don’t panic! I am the preacher Abdullah. Come to me, gather around me! Allah is with you!” Abdullah waved his arms vigorously and shouted loudly, hoping to use his authority to calm the panicked recruits. In his experience, such a sudden fire must have been caused by someone with ulterior motives. The priority now was to stabilize the troops before organizing them to fight the fire.

It seemed as though Allah had lost his power of appeal at this moment; those brats who usually worshipped him like a god were running around in chaos, completely ignoring his presence. This filled Abdullah with extreme anger. He drew his curved sword and raised it high: “Blessed children of Allah, do not panic, do not fear. Come to me, and let us together resist evil and temptation, and let us face Allah’s trials together!”
This seemed to work—some of the recruits who had been running around in panic now approached Abdullah, while a few experienced junior officers waved nearly burned square military flags, organizing the soldiers into formation.
“That’s right, stay calm, stay calm!”
Abdullah was very pleased. He had managed to stabilize the situation in just a short time through his personal charisma, something no ordinary person could achieve.
“What on earth is going on? Who could have caused this fire to break out suddenly?”
Seeing an officer who appeared to be a platoon leader approaching him, Abdullah cleared his throat and reverted to his majestic, solemn demeanor from the day before.
“Sir.”
The platoon leader stepped up to Abdullah and said, “The fire broke out suddenly because the Persian camp is full of idiots as stupid as you!”
Suddenly, the platoon leader raised his head, pulled out a crossbow from his sleeve, quickly pulled the trigger, and fired a volley of silver-tipped arrows.
Abdullah was shocked. The light had been too dim earlier, so he hadn’t been able to see the man’s face clearly. Only when the man got closer did he realize he wasn’t a Persian soldier at all.
Instinctively, he tried to dodge, but the speed of the crossbow made it impossible for him to avoid the arrows.
With a dull thud as the arrows pierced his flesh, Abdullah’s eyes widened in horror as his hands clutched his throat tightly. He tried to pull out the silver-tipped arrows but couldn’t exert any force.
He collapsed to the ground, kicking frantically, emitting strange whining sounds like those of a young wolf pup.
“Heaven’s misdeeds can be forgiven; one’s own misdeeds lead to death!”
The platoon leader drew a steel knife from his waist and thrust it into Abdullah’s chest with a sharp sound.