Operation Red Book

"By the way, why didn't Joshua wake up with us in the first world?"

Thomas asked suddenly, which aroused the curiosity of others.

"Yes, yes, that witch suddenly went crazy, and then hundreds of black mists rushed towards me. I couldn't drive them away. My eyes were completely dark, and then I woke up in the world of consciousness."

Jacob echoed, and the others nodded, their experiences were exactly the same as Jacob's.

Then, four heads turned at the same time and looked at the flaxen curl in silence.

"Me, me?"

The four people's eyes were on Joshua at the same time, with silent waiting and eager anticipation.

Suddenly being looked at with such concern, Joshua began to stutter nervously again.

"The witch wanted to kill Ms. Bell, so I rushed forward and used my lightsaber to block the witch's magic..."

"And then...oh, Ms. Bell said a spell, and then, the witch screamed, and then I woke up here..."

"quiet--"

"Bam—"

There was another muffled and heavy sound, and several seagulls were startled and flew away to the distant low sky. Several loud cries were heard, which must have been unbearable to hear if translated into human language.

Joshua was also frightened. He felt a tingling sensation in his ears and his mind was wavering.

"So where is this place?"

Joshua's eyes rolled around, and he had been kneeling since he woke up.

From the corner of my eye, I could see that the other four people seemed to be in the same posture.

Joshua tried to raise his head, but as soon as he shrugged, Moriarty immediately sensed his movement.

The hand on the back of Joshua's neck exerted force again, and Moriarty ruthlessly pressed Joshua down hard.

"Don't get up. Listen to me."

Moriarty's serious warning blew toward Joshua along with the sea breeze.

"why?"

Joshua immediately replied in his mind. He was a little unconvinced, but then he understood why.

The burnt smell of protein lingered at the tip of my nose, driving away the damp, musty odor.

The man’s howl of pain followed, and along with the sound of waves, it poured into Joshua’s cochlea.

His mind went blank and he stood there in a daze like a frozen computer.

The wet wooden board was covered with tiny hairs. Joshua used up almost all his energy not to pay attention to the things outside, but to observe the patterns in the dark.

At this moment, he was extremely grateful to the big hand on the back of his neck.

But the human brain cannot be controlled. Everyone should have already made up their mind whether the scream came from the flames with billowing black smoke.

The raging fire burned the skin, making a sizzling sound. The screams did not last long. After a disturbing chaos, a "splash" sound of water ended all the noise.

The warmth on the back of his neck left him at some point, and two drops of sweat dripped down his nose one after another. Only then did Joshua finally come to his senses.

"It's our turn."

Alexander's deep voice sounded from behind, like Thor's hammer shaking the sky.

Before Joshua could swallow his saliva, the sound of footsteps coming from far away filled his ears.

"Them. Four of them. All of them."

If Joshua had to describe the man's voice, he could only think of a butcher from Shakespeare's time.

And it was indeed so. A pair of large hands grasped Joshua's upper arms like iron clamps, and with a slight pull he was lifted off the wet wooden board.

Joshua stared blankly at the burly man in front of him. The man had a full beard and was wearing hard soldier armor. He was twice as big as Alexander.

"His nostrils are as big as a cave... so smelly..."

Joshua complained silently in his heart, but his expression remained calm. He just held his breath.

The other four men suffered the same fate as Joshua. Their arms were grabbed by the soldiers in silver-red armor and they were lined up neatly behind the burly man.

The big man gave an order and led Joshua and others out of the cage - waist-thick wooden pillars were installed around the wooden board.

It was a cloudy day, with dark clouds floating in the sky closest to the sea, and it seemed that a sea storm was about to come.

They walked through a slippery wooden corridor and passed several wooden cages filled with prisoners.

After passing several execution grounds with a mixture of burnt and moldy smells, Joshua and his companions finally reached the largest and highest wooden board on the water.

There was a high platform on the wooden board, and behind the platform sat an extremely serious, fat woman.

She was wearing a retro medieval costume, with her brown curly hair piled up on top of her head, towering and frighteningly high.

Perhaps because the distance was too far, Joshua put on his glasses several times, but the outline of the woman's face was still blurry.

The woman's face was covered with something like flour, making her look whiter than a ghost.

The scary thing is that everyone else on the field is the same.

Two small-framed, white-faced women sat on the left side of the wooden board; their table was much lower than the high platform in the middle.

The table was covered with rolls of brown paper of various sizes. A woman was hiding behind a tall pile of paper, chewing tobacco with lifeless eyes.

The other woman was busy as hell, arranging the kraft paper on the table with one hand and quickly writing and drawing on the paper with a feather pen in the other hand.

There was a circle of white-faced gentlemen surrounding the platform. They had white curly hair and stood sparsely together, their eyes looking straight ahead without any movement.

Joshua still didn't quite understand the situation here. He stretched his neck to take a closer look, but he felt a strong pressure on the back of his neck again.

"Kneel down when you see the judge!"

The soldier escorting Joshua let out a deafening shout, and as the words fell, Joshua's forehead touched the wet wooden floor again.

There was a bunch of curled up green seaweed in front of him. The seaweed was flat in shape and a lot of dark green juice had seeped out. He simply closed his eyes.

"Bam—"

The familiar muffled sound resounded across the sea again. It turned out to be the sound of the gavel.

At this moment, Joshua finally realized that this was a medieval water court.

"Five weirdos." An old voice came from the platform. "What case?"

"Your Highness! These five paramecia are going to sue the great Antonio!"

A sharp voice came from the left side of the platform. Joshua guessed it was the voice of the busy woman. She spoke quickly without tobacco stirring on her tongue.

"You are guilty!"

"Bam—"

The gavel struck again, and before Joshua could react, the soldiers behind him lifted him up again.

"Guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty...guilty..."

The gentlemen surrounding the platform muttered in unison, swaying like white-painted swings in the park, swinging left and right in the breeze.

"The two younger ones were strangled and fed to the sharks, the two older ones were burned for today's lunch, and the extra-large one was tied up and sent to my room."

The woman chewing tobacco gave the orders lazily, not even raising her eyes.

“Ugh… it hurts…”

Joshua's arms were folded and he felt unbearable pain. He couldn't tell whether he was confused or scared.

"Your Highness, I don't think I have committed a crime!"

Moriarty's voice suddenly rang out, and the gentlemen who had been muttering stopped singing one after another. They widened their eyes and stared straight at Moriarty's figure.

"How dare you refute His Highness' wise judgment!" The sharp voice sounded again.

"I am a lawyer and have been through courts of all sizes, but I think it is not in line with the rules to convict us so easily based on a trivial statement."

"What is wrong with the rules! You are suing the great and merciful Antonio! You are committing a capital crime!"

"Can you tell me in detail how great Antonio is? In my heart, no one can compare to Peter the Great and Napoleon, not even Queen Elizabeth."

"You! Soldiers! Take them to the execution ground quickly!"

"Interesting! Very interesting!" exclaimed Moriarty.

"What are you saying?"

"When I said the name Antonio, someone shuddered... Look, it's you."

Moriarty was unable to break free from the soldiers' restraints. He pointed his chin at the group of gentlemen in front of him, his tone still calm as usual.