Chapter 121 - 121: The Expedition of the Red Dirt

Oskar did not stay long in Southern Bauxi Town.

A few days—no more.

Long enough for the worst of the shock to fade: the heat that pressed against the lungs like a wet hand, the insects that treated human skin as a public buffet, the way sweat never truly dried no matter how long you stood in the rain. Long enough for his men to stop flinching at every unfamiliar sound, and for the town to learn his shape—barefoot, bare-chested more often than not, always where the work was hardest.

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