Nightfall
chapter-219

Being fast or slow each had its own pros and cons. This was not an argument, nor a philosophy question, but a very simple theory. The Horse Gang came charging down from the meadow, and because they were too fast, their momentum was messed up and caused them to fall horribly. Yet because the Big Black Horse was too fast, based on Ning Que’s archery skill, he could only shoot three arrows during that short period of time before ending up at the border of the Horse Gang.

He carried the boxwood bow on his shoulder as he stretched out his hands and held on to the podao that was placed horizontally on the saddle. He raised his arm up, pulling out a blade and chopping off one of the Horse Gang’s shoulder. Immediately, he sat upright and before the enemy’s curved blade could touch him, he used his knife to dig out another’s eyeball.

With the three people crossing each other’s path in a split second, the blood and liquid from the broken Horse Gang’s arm and dug-out eye ball started to spill out, splashing all over Ning Que’s body and face. The fishy smell of blood and the odd smell from elsewhere were mixed together, creating a strange smell.

People often said that the blood was warm while the wind was cold, yet Ning Que felt that the wind blown onto his face was warm and the blood splashed onto his face was cold. It was because he was very calm that even till now, he could still vividly remember the principles of battle which he had held onto for many years.

Killing a Horse Gang was never better than injuring one. If a Horse Gang died, he would simply be dead. However, if he was seriously injured but not dead, he would be a burden to his Horse Gang mates. This meticulous thinking was indeed cruel, but useful.

Seeing more than ten Horse Gang riding on their horses and charging towards him, Ning Que took a deep breath and clipped himself tightly onto the Big Black Horse with his legs. He held out the podao and dashed towards the enemies with the sharp blade. Behind him, two hundred Yan cavalries had finally arrived. They formed a line of defense before they fiercely charged towards the messy-looking Horse Gang.

…

…

The winter wind in the Wilderness blew again but this time, it failed to flicker Ning Que’s fringe, for they were already soaked with Horse Gang’s blood and entangled together in a lump on his forehead. This was exactly how entangled he was feeling within.

The camp was a mess and gaps were already appearing from the laager. The Horse Gang had temporarily retreated but it was only after they had decided to abandon their horses and attacked on foot. This caused great damages to the camp. Dying soldiers and bloody bodies were found lying all over the camp. If not for the help from the ladies of Great River Kingdom, the camp would have been conquered by the Horse Gang.

The situation was not pleasant within the Horse Gang as well. Not far away from the camp was a low-lying border areas, where numerous bodies of horses with broken hoofs were found lying on the icy cold ground, struggling with their last breaths as they shook their heavy heads from time to time. Beside and underneath these horses were lifeless heads of the Horse Gang thieves.

All the injured Horse Gang thieves were eventually brought back to their hives by their mates. And from this, one could observe that though the Horse Gang had suffered severe damage, they were still united as one. They could still get together to launch an attack again.

Ning Que lifted his hand to wipe away the blood that was slowly flowing down his forehead. He looked back in the north-west direction where the camp was situated. There, the scene of the Yan cavalries busily slaughtering the Horse Gang had gradually drifted further. He could not help shaking his head.

In the eyes of the commoners from the Central Plains, the Central Plains Horse Gangs were the most ferocious existence in the world. However, because he had interacted with these Horse Gangs for many years, he felt that they were the most useless existence. Their ferocious looks were actually used to conceal the weaknesses within their hearts.

At this moment, the surrounding 600 thieves of the Horse Gang looked ferocious on the meadow. They could even have the courage to directly capture the men in the palace. However, if they were timid, they could be chased by a troop of Tang soldiers. Strength was the key for these Horse Gangs. Because of their high sensitivity towards strength, they were easily confused by it as well.

Ning Que thought that he was clear of these Horse Gangs’ characteristics and thus, he chose the right location to camp and the right time to launch an attack. He thought with the 200 Yan cavalries fiercely charging towards the 500 thieves from the Horse Gangs, they could easily win. However, he forgot that those soldiers that he was leading were not the experienced warriors from City of Wei, neither were they the West Road Tang cavalries from the Southern Blue Water Battalion. They were just Yan cavalries who were weak in battle.

The battling skills of these Yan cavalries were worst than what Ning Que had thought.

The 200 Yan cavalries, with the geographical and time advantages, they launched an attack towards the Horse Gangs but failed to take them down. They could not even penetrate and attack their enemies once. On the other hand, the Horse Gangs who was suddenly caught by surprise by the attack, after a round of killing, could at least took down more than ten Yan cavalries. If not for the confusion in the Horse Gang arrangement, this surprise launch of attack from the Yan cavalries could end up be digging their own graves.

The battle between the Yan cavalries and Horse Gangs lasted for a while before both parties could not take it and decided to stop battling temporarily. Seizing this opportunity, Ning Que rode his Big Black Horse back to the camp. On one hand, he did not have hopes with the remaining 100 Yan cavalries, yet on the other hand, he felt that he needed to be on guard, an unexplainable feeling that he needed to watch out for something.

…

…

Suddenly, a sharp whistle whizzed through the icy cold air. Ning Que quickly dodged one side and an arrow brushed against his sleeve, flew past him and penetrated into the wheel of a carriage filled with grains. The tail of the arrow vibrated due to the impact.

Ignoring the fact that his black mask was soaked with the blood from the Horse Gang, which caused the smell of it to be rather unbearable, he put on the mask again. He then took off the boxwood bow on his back, pulled the string with his finger and shot a Horse Gang, who was in front of his camp, to death.

He felt a sting, followed by soreness at his shoulder. He knew he had pulled too many arrows today. If he neglected the pain and continued to do so, his right arm might be destroyed by himself.

Obviously, the Horse Gangs were not willing to give the soldiers in the camp too much resting time. After a short while, they launched a second attack, ignoring the fact that they were still injured themselves. This unreasonable and risky move was already out of Ning Que’s expectation from the Horse Gang. He felt more and more suspicious.

200 thieves from the Horse Gangs came charging towards the camp in all directions.

Those civilian soldiers in the camp were already feeling numb towards life and death. At this important juncture of life and death, they mustered all their courage, grabbed the thick wooden spears and passed through the gaps left between the laagers. Then, without any hesitation, they pierced the spears outwards.

As every wooden spear pierced through every Horse Gang thief’s abdomen, fresh blood flowed profusely from the wound.

In a split second, three thieves of the Horse Gangs climbed over the laager. With the curved knives in their hands, they waved them towards the civilian soldiers with the wooden spears. Blood splattered everywhere.

A shiny reflection of the sword was seen.

The long and elegant sword slaughtered the three thieves from the Horse Gangs.

One of them was instantly killed where his body flew off from the scene. The other two had their limbs chopped off as they helplessly fell backwards.

Those civilian soldiers, who were covered with blood, charged towards the Horse gangs like ferocious beasts. They grabbed wooden sticks and picked up stones from the ground as they surrounded the two limbless thieves of the Horse Gang and started attacking them. Without thinking, they crazily smashed and beat them up, repeating the same actions over and over again. Till there were no more noises from the enemies did they stop their attacks.

After the Cat Girl swung her sword like a breeze, she would make a cute clear yelp out of habit. Yet shortly after, she was stunned by the bloody scene in front of her. Her red little face was covered in dirt, but they could not conceal the fear and panic on her face. After all, she was still young. Where else could she have seen such scary scene?

Ning Que grabbed her by her neck, like a kitten, and threw her behind him. He then dodged an arrow and single-handedly pulled out his knife to block another arrow. Next, taking the opportunity, he chopped off the right arm of a Horse Gang member, who was trying to assassinate him.

The Horse Gang member covered the wound on his right shoulder that was continuously spurting blood and groaned painfully, half-kneeling on the ground. Ning Que did not throw him another glance as he held onto his podao and walked past the Horse Gang member. He knew that shortly after, this injured Horse Gang member would be surrounded by the civilian soldiers and there was no need for him to waste any more energy on him.

Once the laager was broken, the people in the camp would all die. Based on this simple understanding, no matter they were civilian soldiers or Yan Kingdom soldiers, they had all became fearless. They started to grab whatever weapon they could find in the camp and as though their lives were betting on it, they attacked any Horse Gang thieves they saw climbing over the carriage.

However, what truly enabled the camp to stand firm for so long was actually the disciples of Black Ink Garden from the Great River Kingdom. Though they did not have much experience with battles and had depended largely on their arrogance, perseverance as well as excellent swordsmanship, they had managed to wave their swords in the Wilderness on the meadow, causing the troublesome Horse Gang thieves to fall off one by one.

Even so, there were too many Horse Gang thieves and too few disciples of Black Ink Garden. Though the civilian soldiers were doing their best, their strength was too weak to make any significant differences. Looking at the surrounding situation, it seemed like the camp could be infiltrated any moment and they were in a hopeless situation.

Just then, in the middle of the camp, a clear crisp sound of the flute was heard from the carriage.

Upon hearing the sound of the flute, Zhuo Zhihua, Cat Girl and the rest of the Black Ink Garden disciples became alert. Without much hesitation, they used maximum Psyche Power to force the Horse Gang to retreat before gathering in front of the grain sack.

Hearing the sound of flute and seeing what happened, Ning Que felt that the situation was suspicious and weird. In fact, from his eyes which were not covered by the black mask, one could see a slight sense of displeasure in them.

…

…

This was the troop that was sent to deliver grains towards the Left-Tent palace. There were cavalries from Yan Kingdom guarding it as well as donkeys and horses carrying the grain sacks. Hence, other than those grains, there were also a lot of dry grass provided for the donkeys and horses.

The carriages carrying the grains formed a round laager. All the sacks that were filled with dry grasses were gathered below the wooden carriages. One reason was to stabilize the carriage, and another reason was to reduce the damage caused by arrows.

Upon hearing the sound of the flute, the Black Ink Garden disciples gathered in front of the sacks as they placed their swords in the air outside the laager. Just then, the Horse Gang launched their third wave of attack.

Not sure if it was due to the energy gathered in the Black Ink Garden disciples’ swords, or due to other reasons, more than ten sacks of dry grass flew into the air and burst open. The sacks were torn into many shattered pieces. The dry grass in the sacks looked as though they had been punched violently as the grass was dispersed all over the area in a split second, like a grass rain.

The moment when the dry grass sack shattered into a piece, a smell of extreme dryness filled the whole camp. The moment when every sack of dry grass formed the grass rain, a faint spark was seen in the air. And in an instance… the whole sky started to burn.

The grass rain turned into the fire rain and fell from the sky, clothed the brightness of the sun. In an instant, the border of the camp became a sea of blazing fire. This bizarre scene frightened the Horse Gangs and before they could react, they were swallowed by the sea of fire, causing them to be drowned and burnt to death.

The civilian soldiers in the camp were also shocked by this bizarre scene. With various kinds of weapons in their hands, they noticed that though they were near the fire within the laager, none was swallowed by it. It was as if Haotian was on their side helping them.

It was only Ning Que who realized that when the dry grass collided together to create the spark and fire. There was a sudden change in the primordial Qi of Heaven and Earth. He could feel the power of the talisman within each sack of dry grass, and even saw the split second when the talisman started to burn.

The talisman fire, with the help of the dry grass, started to burn, rapidly spread out and landed onto the Horse Gangs. They were hard to put out. Many Horse Gang thieves who charged to the front of the laager were caught by the fire and were groaning in pain. They ran around, rolled on the ground, yet it was useless. Some went to look for water, but it was a challenge to find water in the Wilderness in winter. Other Horse Gang thieves tried to neglect the fire on their bodies and attempted to dash through the laager. But before they could raise their curved knives, they were already howling in pain on the ground.

Finally, the Horse Gangs had no choice but to retreat. There were more than ten charred bodies left outside the camp. Some of the bodies were hugging each other tightly. Perhaps it was due to the fear they had before death, which made them unclear as to who were their friends or foes.

There was a stinky burning smell lingering in the air.

There were cheers of victory echoing from the camp.

…

…

Ning Que stared at the lady in white, who was sitting in the horse carriage, and said, “I’ve reminded you. You are the strongest here. Your Psyche Power is our most precious weapon. It should only be used at the right time, not whenever you like.”

Mo Shanshan raised her head and looked at him. Not sure if it was because she had seen too many bloody scenes, or due to other special reasons, her face was as white as a paper at that moment, even whiter than the clothes she was wearing.

“Many people are dead. If I don’t help out, more people will die.”

Ning Que looked at her and commented, “You are really a kind woman.”

Mo Shanshan slightly raised her brows and answered, “I am a woman.”

Ning Que suppressed his anger as he mocked and continued, “You aren’t married yet.”

Mo Shanshan replied calmly, “Even if I am, it won’t be with you.”

Ning Que kept silent for a while before he added, “If you still have Psyche Power, then leave the last one for me.”

He was a talisman practitioner and he knew how much Psyche Power the Talisman Taoism would drain out. Seeing how pale the lady was, she must had used up too much Psyche Power these days. Yet he had to admit that out of the whole team, this lady in white was the strongest among all. Hence, under such circumstance, he could not help but felt slightly mad.

Under this terrifying Fire Talisman, the Horse Gang suffered a great damage. However, on the meadow, there were another 200 Horse Gang thieves that were ready for battle. Mo Shanshan’s Psyche Power was already running dry, and his true state was only at No Doubts State, there was no way for them to go against another wave of attack.

Of course, Ning Que still had some cards under the table for him to survive the attack. However, if he were to use items such as Primordial Thirteen Arrows or things found in the emergency bag given by his Teacher on these Horse Gangs, it would be such a waste. Unless his life was in great danger, else for someone like him, who was just slightly less stingy than Sangsang, he would definitely not use them.

The key was the relief troop. The troop that was in charge of grains had fought the battle for so long, yet there was still no sight of the relief troop. Should he know that there wasn’t any relief troop in the first place, he would have escaped with the Big Black Horse.

“Is there any relief troop in the first place?” He stared at Mo Shanshan and questioned.

Mo Shanshan looked at him coldly and said, “Only the relief troops themselves will know.”

Ning Que gave up attempting to interact with her. He said directly, “Prepare to launch a sudden attack. My horse can only take another one with me, and I’m taking Cat Girl. You shall settle your own men.”

Mo Shanshan asked, “How about those Yan and civilian soldiers who had battled with you for so long?”

Ning Que answered, “They are just my acquaintances, not friends.”

Mo Shanshan gently shook her head and said, “I’ll not leave.”

Ning Que gazed at her and said suddenly, “Didn’t you realize that the ultimate target for those Horse Gangs on the meadow is to kill you? Besides you, who else deserve them to risk their lives in this lousy troop?”

Mo Shanshan looked at him and said calmly, “If their target is me, those people died is because of me. That’s why I shouldn’t leave them alone here.”

Ning Que raised his brows and added, “Idiot. If you’re gone, those Horse Gangs would follow you. Why would they attack those defenseless Yan and civilian soldiers?”

Mo Shanshan smiled and replied, “Don’t you try to trick me. I already have a taste of how cruel these Horse Gangs can be.”

All of a sudden, Ning Que felt that her usual restless eyes became extraordinarily clear and determined, as though they could easily see through his thoughts. He looked at her for a long time before he turned and left.

The Horse Gangs on the meadow were now gathering for discussion. Perhaps they would have another wave of attack again.

He used his palm to roughly wipe off the coagulated blood on his face and changed a new mask for himself, as he walked past the camp filled with lying bodies and broken limbs. Whether it was the Yan soldiers or the civilian soldiers, when they saw him covered in blood, they automatically shrank away to one side. Even for Zhuo Zhihua and the ladies from Great River Kingdom, they could only look at him with respect, and with fear.

The battle with the Horse Gang till today, other than the Fire Talisman that helped to protect the camp with the grain supplies, the main credit should go to Ning Que, for numerous Horse Gang thieves were slaughtered under his podao.

Many people had seen how he had killed the Horse Gang thieves and knew how silently and quickly he could slaughter them. However, what really made people trembled with fear was the calmness he displayed when he killed those Horse Gangs. That calmness in him seemed to bring out the cold attitude he had towards life.

Though he could feel that weird stares all around him, especially with the terrifying look on the Cat Girl’s face, Ning Que did not explain. Instead, he softly instructed the men to amend the laager, while at the same time, observed the meadow and his surroundings. He was brainstorming the route to escape.

The Horse Gang was afraid of death, so was him, but he was much clearer about a fact than most of the Horse Gang thieves — the braver you were when faced with death, the more difficult it was for one to die. This was a precious lesson he learned after numerous years of experiencing life and death since young.

As for his cold attitude towards life…he was always cold towards the life of the Horse Gang.

The reason why those Horse Gang by the Shubi Lake were afraid of him even though he was just an average soldier in City of Wei at that time, was that when he left City of Wei and entered into the Wilderness, the moment he got onto a horse, he became a thief.

After all, Ning Que and his partners in City of Wei were born as thieves of the Horse Gang, and they belonged to the most ferocious kind.

In those years, he had killed numerous Horse Gang thieves. If at that time he had a famous female Talisman Master with him like now, perhaps he would stay longer to play with those thieves.

But not today.

Because he was feeling rather uneasy. Not due to the large number of Horse Gang thieves, not due to the horrifying scenes in front of him, but the fact that he felt someone was watching him. He felt that the person had watched him for a long time.

Not just a day or two, but for many days.

…

…

At the east of the meadow was the highest peak. On the peak, there were more than ten Horse Gang thieves stood quietly, observing the chaos below them.

Most of these Horse Gang thieves had only arrived on this land last night, and it was their presence that caught Ning Que’s attention. Unlike the average Horse Gang thieves, they had their faces covered with cloth, as though they were unwilling to let anyone see their true appearances.

Obviously, these thieves were the leaders of the 600 Horse Gang thieves. However, for whatever reason, even if those Horse Gang thieves died at the gorge, or killed by Yan cavalries, or stomped to death by falling horses, they remained calm and quiet.

When the Fire Talisman started to burn in the camp, shocking expressions were finally revealed on the faces of these Horse Gang thieves. All but one leader in the front row, who maintained his composure.

The gaze of this Horse Gang thief looked old, and he was clearly in his middle age.

“Indeed, there was a powerful Talisman Master in the troop that was delivering the grains. Perhaps it was that lady Talisman Master. Those Black Ink Garden disciples’ swordsmanships were excellent, no doubt they were taught by the Master of Calligrapher.”

The Horse Gang leader said coldly, “It has already been so many days. Even if that person was the legendary Calligraphy Addict, her Psyche Power should be running dry soon. Let the men below be prepared for another wave of attack.”

The main purpose of the continuous attacks during the day and night was to drain out the Psyche Power of the lady Talisman Master hidden in the troop. It was vivid that this leader was very patient in his planning. Now that he was non-hesitant to send his subordinates to drain off the last bit of Psyche Power of the lady Talisman Master, which also showed how heartless he was.

Sensing the hesitation from his subordinates who were beside him, the leader slightly frowned and said in a cold voice, “The Central Plains are now planning to cooperate with the palace. Besides the Desolate Man, the next most unlucky party would certainly be the Horse Gangs that are under your lead. Kill those who deserved to be killed and stop the cooperation. To accomplish this goal, it is worth sacrificing some lives.”

One of his subordinates did not understand and commented, “I doubt Chanyu and the Divine Hall would be deceived by such an obvious trick.”

The leader continued coldly, “What I want is the truth. The truth is more convincing than any sayings. Kill these people below and the cooperation would not be able to continue.”

Suddenly, the people on the meadow thought of that bigwig and instantly understood what the leader meant.

The leader gazed at a point in the camp and said, “Continue with the attack. If the person with the big black horse attempted to escape, it’s time for us to attack him ourselves. Remember, the goal of this operation is to make sure that person dies.”

The thieves only knew that the person whom the leader was referring to was the male disciple from Black Ink Garden. Prior to that, though he had revealed his strong capabilities, no one knew about his true identity. As such, many were confused upon hearing the leader’s words. They thought that in order to create a big commotion in the Wilderness, their target should be the lady Talisman Master in the carriage instead.

A thief who stood behind the leader hesitated for a moment, before he mustered his courage and said, “Sir, too many subordinates were killed in this operation. There is no way for us to battle further. I’m afraid that if we push them too hard, these thieves may break down.”

It was a strange way of addressing, for it didn’t sound like how Horse Gang thieves should address one another. It was more like how officers addressed one another.

The leader of the Horse Gang took a glance at him and said, “If you guys have been leading these thieves for nearly the past ten years yet failed to command them, that what’s the purpose of letting you guys stay alive?”

That Horse Gang thief was taken aback by his look. He shivered, kept silent and dared not speak of another word.

The Horse Gang leader looked down at the camp and said without any emotion, “These thieves do not know where they stand and thought that they were the real Horse Gang thieves. However, you guys must not forget your own identity.”

“Up the horse as a thief, and down the horse as soldiers. As for all of you, all of you are the General’s soldiers.”

Upon listening to this, there was a moment of silence on the meadow. After a long time, someone questioned.

“Sir, how do we deal with the lady Talisman Master in the carriage?”

“No matter how strong a Calligraphy Addict is, as long as she’s not into Knowing Destiny State, it will be useless. Once she runs out of Psyche Power, she’s like an average person. Let’s say even if she has the ability to battle further, do you think she can stop us from killing that young lad?”

…

…

Since the beginning of the battle till today, the thieves that were quietly standing on top of the meadow had finally left separately and returned to their own troops. They were beginning to prepare for their final, and also the strongest wave of attack. Only the Horse Gang leader was left alone on the meadow.

The Horse Gang Leader lifted his right hand and pressed the bamboo hat on his head lower as he quietly gazed down at the young lad who had knives and arrows on his back, covered in blood and was wearing the Black Ink Garden uniform. He remained silent for a long time and suddenly let out a complex smile.

From last year in Chang’an till now, he had been observing this lad named Ning Que for a long time. Though he had yet to find evidence that pointed Ning Que towards the death of the censor Zhang Yuqi, nor had he discovered anything that proved that he was in bad terms with the General, for whatever reason, he just felt that this young lad was indeed a trouble.

Because Ning Que was suspicious. Moreover, the fact that he entered the Second floor of the Academy, became the only successor for the Divine Talisman Master, Yan Se, and being adored by his Majesty, even if he was just 1/10 suspicious, there was still a need to be alert for remaining 9/10.

It was especially when Ning Que came to the frontier fortress in the North of Yan Kingdom. No one knew if his arrival was due to secret order from the Emperor, and no one knew what this would mean to the Academy. Hence, a trouble turned into a stress. There was no point suspecting the suspect, no need to investigate whether this person was involved in the sensor case, and no need to find out if this person was against the General in the dark. They could only, and should only do one thing, which was to help the General to wipe off any threat.

With such a thought, the complex smile on the Horse Gang leader’s face was gradually gone.

Should it be a different time or location, no one in this world would dare to have the intention to kill a disciple from the Second floor of the Academy in a bright daylight. However, now they were in the Wilderness, and no one knew the relationship between the Horse Gang and the General.

The imperial court was already suspicious of the General and those Horse Gang must be cleared off no matter what. Today, they planned to kill Ning Que and stop the cooperation. In the process, they had cleared off most of the Horse Gang thieves. This was indeed a great plan to use one stone to kill several birds.

Hence, when Ning Que pretended to leave Blue Water Battalion and when the news of Black Ink Garden disciples guarding the grain troops to the wilderness was spread to General’s Mansion, he immediately, without much rest, rushed to Tuyang City to lead the matter himself.

This was a great opportunity given by Haotian. If he missed it, he would certainly be punished.

…

…

Just as the Horse Gang decided to launch another wave of attack, Ning Que was prepared to escape with his horse. When the Horse Gang leader was about to take advantage of the opportunity to slaughter him, galloping noises were heard once again from far away by the meadow in the Wilderness.

Everyone, including the Black Ink Garden disciples and the civilians from Yan Kingdom who were below the meadow and was ready to defend themselves for any waves of attack, as well as the Horse Gang thieves who were preparing to charge down from the meadow, had the same reaction. All of them slowed down on what they were doing and gazed in the direction of the galloping noises.

In the west of the meadow, a troop of cavalries came charging towards them.

There were not many cavalries in the troop, about a hundred. However, both the soldiers and the horses were equipped with gorgeous black armors rimmed with gold. They appeared magnificent and strong, as though there were a million of them.

They were the strongest cavalries in the world, the Papal Cavalryman Troop from the Divine Hall.

Cheers were heard echoing below the meadow.

On the other hand, the Horse Gang rapidly gathered their troops and were ready to retreat.

Yet, what happened next were out of anyone’s expectation.

A frail-looking hand was stretched out from the horse carriage situated in the middle of the cavalryman troop of Divine Hall. The hundred cavalryman of Divine Hall slowed down their pace. Keeping the distance of more than a thousand feet apart, they stared coldly at the meadow without launching an attack towards the Horse Gang.

The people within the Grain Troop camp were shocked and cheers gradually subsided. It became a dead silence. Some had guessed the intention of these cavalrymen of Divine Hall and revealed a disappointed and unbelievable look on their faces.