After Salah shared his plan with the high-ranking Mysore officials and made some adjustments based on their input, he quickly returned to his residence to report the operation to Lafayette. As he left, Sheikh Khan watched his carriage disappear in the distance and then turned to the others beside him. “If everything goes smoothly, we’ll be able to bring Jahan Zeb down for good.”

The gaunt officer hesitated before responding, “But just kidnapping those who are about to be released might not be enough to ensure success…”

Sheikh Khan’s eyes gleamed with a cold smile. “These Europeans are indeed clever, but they lack decisiveness. We need to handle this our way, making sure Jahan Zeb has no chance to recover!”

“What do you mean?” someone asked.

“We’ll do it like this…” Sheikh Khan explained his idea, and the others nodded in agreement.

…

The next day, in the southeastern outskirts of Mysore City, a crowd of four to five thousand people had gathered on the open ground outside the city’s largest prison, all eagerly waiting for the prison gates to open. Today, the government had promised to release 370 of those who had been arrested for spreading rumors, bringing a slight sense of relief to the people of Mysore, who had been living under the weight of fear and anxiety. Among the crowd were not only the families of those to be released but also many others who had come to witness the process firsthand.

After being reprimanded by Tipu Sultan, Jahan Zeb had ordered a halt to the arrests of those spreading rumors. He believed that after such a severe crackdown, no one would dare to discuss anything related to the British anymore. However, the efficiency of the administration had been lacking, and his orders were strictly enforced only in Mysore City and Seringapatam, while in other areas, the military continued to arrest people on a large scale.

Jahan Zeb hoped that this public release of detainees would send a clear message across the country that the “rumor incident” was over, allowing the situation to calm down.

As the sun reached its zenith, the gates of the prison remained closed, despite the growing anticipation of the crowd. Instead, more guards were seen gathering at the entrance.

“I knew it! They’re just fooling everyone!” A man planted in the crowd by Sheikh Khan shouted. “The arrests haven’t stopped, and we’re still in danger!”

Another accomplice chimed in, “I heard it’s the ‘Devil’ who’s forcing the officials to do this. Without the ‘Devil’s’ approval, they won’t release anyone!”

Since the term “British” had become taboo, people had started using “Devil” as a code word for the British.

The crowd grew restless, with voices rising in protest. “Open the gates! They’re innocent!”

“My husband’s been in there for half a month. If he doesn’t come back soon, our family will fall apart!”

“Please, let them go… Didn’t the officials promise to release them?”

At that moment, a young man suddenly slipped out of a side door of the prison and rushed to the front of the crowd, shouting hoarsely, “They’re not going to release anyone! They’re all dead, every one of them!”

This young man was another of Sheikh Khan’s plants.

Another person in the crowd responded loudly, “What do you mean they’re dead?”

The young man, his face filled with terror, pointed towards the prison. “The ones who were supposed to be released—they’ve all been killed! I saw it with my own eyes!”

His words hit the crowd like a spark in a powder keg. The thousands of people erupted in chaos, especially the families of those who were supposed to be released. Many women collapsed, wailing in grief.

A middle-aged man of high caste stepped forward, pointing at the young man. “If you’re lying, I’ll see you thrown in prison!”

“I’m not lying! The bodies are lying on the prison grounds…”

The middle-aged man frowned and waved to the crowd behind him. “Let’s go! We’ll see for ourselves!”

Thousands of people responded with a roar, surging toward the prison like a flood.

The prison guards made a token effort to threaten the crowd but quickly stepped aside as the people pushed forward.

Some nimble individuals quickly scaled the walls, using nearby trees to leap into the prison compound.

They looked down into the courtyard within the prison buildings and began to scream in horror. “They’re really dead!”

“There are hundreds of bodies! The ‘Devil’ killed them all!”

“The cursed ones, they’ve killed hundreds!”

The scene outside the prison erupted into chaos. The first batch of people to be released included those of some standing, and their relatives were not to be trifled with. They quickly broke open the prison gates, and thousands of people poured into the prison grounds.

What they saw inside was a scene of horror—over 300 bodies lay scattered across the ground like slaughtered animals. The heat had already caused the air to fill with the stench of decay, and swarms of flies buzzed over the corpses. A few guards were desperately trying to cover the bodies with straw, but there were too many to manage.

Women pulled their children into the yard, searching the piles of bodies for their loved ones, their screams and sobs echoing through the air, with some fainting on the spot. A thunderous wave of curses soon followed.

Some of the high-caste men dragged a few prison officials out. Under intense questioning from thousands of people, one trembling official finally spoke, “Yesterday, they were fine… But this morning, they suddenly started vomiting and bleeding from their eyes and noses. Before I could get a doctor, they were all dead…”

The high-caste man demanded, “Were they all the people who were supposed to be released today?”

The official nodded.

“Was anyone else killed?”

“No… no one else…”

From somewhere in the crowd, someone shouted, “It was the ‘Devil’ who ordered the Sultan’s secretary to kill them!”

“Yes! It must have been him!” others immediately agreed.

“He wanted to use their deaths to threaten us.”

“The ‘Devil’ killed hundreds to silence us about their crimes!”

“The Sultan’s secretary is the ‘Devil’s’ accomplice!”

“We must seek justice for the dead!”

“Let’s go! We’ll take our case to the Sultan!”

“We’ll demand justice from the Maharaja!”

Led by a group of high-caste individuals, the enraged crowd dragged several prison officials along as they marched towards Ambavilas Palace.

News spread rapidly, and more people joined the procession on their way to the Sultan. Of course, this was all orchestrated by Sheikh Khan’s men, who went door-to-door spreading the word about the “massacre of the released prisoners.”

When Tipu Sultan saw the massive crowd gathering around the palace, he almost thought a rebellion was brewing, until an official from Sheikh Khan’s faction arrived to explain the situation. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

(End of Chapter)

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Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep