Morning light pierced through the clouds, dyeing the ruins of Hecheng in a rust-red hue.
The fractured city walls stood like the jagged spine of a giant beast, and charred roof beams jutted diagonally out of the piles of rubble. Sparks occasionally burst from deep within the ruins, resembling the final, dying gasp of a drowning man.
One hundred thousand survivors were packed tightly around the execution grounds.
Chapter 152