Twenty Seven Years

  Chapter 120 A Kind of Future

  September 23rd, afternoon.

  Usually, Keating took advantage of the silence and rested for a few hours in the afternoon. He couldn't fall asleep this time. He felt sad for the inmate Verak who had been with him the longest, even though he had only been together for a little over ten days.

   Keating, who has remained stable for nearly two years, rarely experienced mood swings, and his rhythm of life was completely disrupted by Veraker. He doesn't know how long it will take to regain his composure in the future.

  Up to now, it seems that I can only rejoice that I have not had much dealings with Verak. If it lasted a little longer, he might not be able to bear to live, and then he would fly to the flame and die for the freedom he couldn't get at all.

   Keating closed his eyes and had a dream while he was half asleep.

   "Okay, go to the infirmary every afternoon to change the dressing."

   is Verak's voice.

   "Mr. Keating and I will call you if you need anything."

   Appears to be talking to prison guards.

   "It's nothing, you can leave."

  The sound of the cell door being locked.

After a long while, there was a painful groan, and Verak stretched himself and lay down: "Mr. Keating, I really didn't expect such a thing to happen. I thought I was going to die, and I even had the idea of ​​suicide last night. But the development of things today is completely beyond my imagination."

   Keating didn't expect that he would actually have a dream about Veraker, he remained half awake and listened to the voice quietly and continued.

"I'm really happy, I've never been so happy, and it's not as good as when I made hundreds of thousands of gold grams. I survived, and they are halfway there. It turns out that we were right, comrades The sacrifice was not without meaning."

   “I firmly believe that their future is bright, and I have countless ideas that I want to implement.”

  “I still don’t know what the future will be like, but they have already set an example for me. As long as you do your best and have enthusiasm, even if there is no miracle, you will definitely not regret it at the end of your life.”

   "I know that you are also very tired. Last night I was worried that something might happen to me and I stayed up all night. When you wake up, I will talk to you about my current plans for the future and my thoughts on the follow-up of the theory of equality."

   Keating noticed that something was wrong, all this was too real, too real to be like a dream. He opened his eyes and slowly turned his head to look at the bed on the floor. Lying there, wrapped in bandages, the eyes that were clear and bright again were looking at him.

   "K..." Keating was stunned, unable to believe what he saw.

   "Mr. Keating." Verak pursed his lips and smiled, his eyes sparkling with crystal light, "Thank you for your encouragement last night."

   Keating sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked at Verak with his mouth slightly open: "Why... what happened? You, this is not a dream..."

Seeing Keating's incoherent speech, Verak sat up with difficulty, leaning against the wall, with a pale smile on his pale face: "It's the Equality Society. They have been stubbornly fighting against the government in Laizein, and have gone through countless sacrifices. An important victory has been achieved, forcing the government to choose only peace talks."

   "Peace talks?" Keating was stunned.

   This news is the same as Verak being alive, it is the result that almost everyone dare not think about. It is undoubtedly a miracle that an organization that is not favored by anyone has come to today step by step, and managed to make the government bow its head.

   "This is inevitable." Verak said, "What they insist on is the correct future. The correct future will definitely be accepted by those who do not want to sleep, and will eventually come true."

   "I see light in your eyes again." Keating received the shocking message, "Then you next?"

  Verak thought of that lunatic Lecter, and his smiling face was a little cold: "Because the Equality Association and the government have reached a peace negotiation, they can't touch me now, and I'm not in danger for the time being."

   "Your injury needs to be healed for a while. It would be best if he doesn't trouble you." Keating was sincerely happy for Veraker.

"Lecter originally planned to vacate cell 209 next door, let me share a room to myself like you, and arrange an extra prisoner to take care of the daily life." Verak glanced outside the cell to make sure there was no one around Finally, he lowered his voice, "I lied to Lecter that the whereabouts of the gold was about to be revealed, so he didn't transfer me away, but let the prison guards take care of us."

   "What do you think?" Keating heard from Veraker's words that he would make a big move next.

Virak's expression immediately became serious: "I can't pin my life on the Equality Council and do nothing by myself. Although they have forced the government to carry out peace talks, it does not mean that they have won a complete victory. I have It is necessary to prepare for the worst, that is, they will suffer heavy losses at the next important node and lose their status and ability to talk with the government on an equal footing."

   Keating appreciated Veraker's performance very much.

  Verak firmly claimed that the future that the Equality Society is striving for is the inevitable development of the world, but he was not dazzled by the temporary victory on the back foot, and rationally and clearly considered the possible failures in the process of fighting.

  This kind of ideal and reality parallel, in his opinion, is the quality that a leader must possess.

"If something like this happens, there is no need for me to be protected, and Lecter is likely to focus on me again. At that time, it will still have nothing to do with willpower. I can't last long in his hands and can only be tortured death." Verak was worried about this possible life trend, "I have to fight side by side with them and try to get out as soon as possible."

   "You still..." Keating was quite surprised that Verak still insisted on breaking out of prison.

   "Of course, this is the most hopeful way to survive." Verak asked, "If we are imprisoned here for the rest of our lives, unable to do anything, are we still alive, or are we already dead?"

   Keating swallowed.

"I believe you also want to go out, more than anyone else here." Veraker was impressed by Keating's performance of keeping time, "I also believe what you said, telling the whereabouts of gold does not guarantee freedom. Because our status is not equal to that of Lecter, it is not safe to bet our lives on a single promise from them."

   "You want to join forces with me?"

   "Yes, not only you, everyone in this prison who wants to get out of prison is my companion and ally."

   "Tell me what you want to do." Keating asked the most critical question.

  Since Verak wants to do something that no one has ever done, he must first understand whether Verak is talking big and making unrealistic fantasies, or if he really has a careful plan.

"The first step is undoubtedly to understand the terrain. Only by familiarizing ourselves with the terrain can we formulate the most critical basis for escape, that is, the escape route. The second step is to meet enough allies. What we have to face is hundreds of prison guards. The strength of a few people is still too weak." Verak talked about his own thoughts, "If I understand the terrain, I have to leave here. If I want to contact other prisoners, I must also be able to go out."

"That's the problem." Keating shook his head slightly. They have talked about the issue of being imprisoned in a cell, and even the basement floor is inseparable. "If you want to go out, you can only work like other prisoners, but you Now that you have a special status and are injured, they won’t agree. If it’s time to work, I think the Equality Council and the government have already decided the outcome. Is there any point for you to do all this by then? The Society of Equality wins, and you can leave without breaking a sweat. The Society of Equality loses, and you are immediately taken to the interrogation room by Lecter."

  Verak agreed deeply: "You are right, taking the conventional route is still a dead end, so I didn't consider this method from the beginning."

   Keating is a little interested.

"We have to give full play to our strengths, which is the whereabouts of the gold that you never disclosed." Verak looked outside again vigilantly, "I used this reason to persuade Lecter to let me stay here, which means that the gold The secret of his whereabouts still has a lot of room for utilization.”

   "You want to..." Keating almost understood what Verak meant.

"I can tell Lecter that your mental defenses have been loosened. As long as I help you get the chance to go out every day, I can get closer to you and have more hope of asking about the whereabouts of gold." Veraker State your initial thoughts.

   "Do you think he will agree?"

Verak nodded: "He won't agree until the peace talks between the Equal Council and the government. Because in his opinion, if your spiritual defense is about to collapse, then anyone else can bring you closer and ask for clues. My greater value is still being tortured by him. It's different now, he can't touch me, and I can't fill in new prisoners if I stay here. He can only trust me, because at least on the surface, even if he doesn't ask about his whereabouts , he has nothing to lose."

   "And then?" Keating was satisfied with Veraker's thinking, and asked about further plans.

   "No." Verak said, "The future plan can only be formulated after we know more."

   "So when do you plan to start?"

"I'll start when my body recovers a bit and I can walk more or less." Verak sighed. His current physical condition is very poor. "I strive to stand up by myself in these few days."

   "Stop dreaming." Keating shook his head, suppressing the rising hope. "This is not something you can fight for or not. Your body will have to wait at least half a month before it can get up and move around."

How could Verak not know his physical condition, he knew better than anyone how absurd what he said: "But time waits for no one... It's not long before the next point of resistance between the Equality Association and the government arrives ..."

   "Be more specific." Keating doesn't know what the node of the Equality Society is. Since he wants to escape from prison with Verak, he must understand this point in time.

"It has something to do with the World Expo. If they realize the truth and know that peace talks with the government are meaningless, they will definitely make big moves during the World Expo, so the node will appear on any day during the months of the Expo. Veraker analyzed, "If they don't recognize the truth and wait for the government to improve the system, then the latest node will be after the World Expo. When the missions from various countries leave, the government will immediately take action against the Equality Association and complete the The final extermination."

   "That is, the shortest is a few days, and the longest we have is a few months." Keating eliminated Verac's analysis logic and asked about the final result.

"Um."

   Keating took a deep breath: "It depends on God's will. If the weather changes within a few days, there is nothing we can do."

   "Then we can only pray that we will win the final victory." Verak smiled, lay down again, and stretched his body, "All we can do now is to heal our injuries and get better as soon as possible."

   "Don't rush, emotional stability is very important." Keating urged.

"Well, I'm not in a hurry, I just do what I can, and I don't worry about things I can't control." Verak knew that a happy mood is also helpful for the body's recovery, so he relaxed as much as possible, "By the way, listen You said last night that you had rewritten the theory of equality?"

Keating took out his brand new "On Equality" with added content, and threw it to Veraker: "After listening to you every day, I will retell what you said in my notebook while I have nothing to do during the day. In addition, I think Some of the content is not comprehensive enough, not deep enough, so I added it myself.”

   "Do you have anything to add?" Verac sat up again with difficulty, flipping through Keating's "On Equality".

"This book is really good." Keating commented, "Every time I read the content, I can't help feeling a little excited when I look at the summarized points of view and the vision for the future. So during this period, I can also have I feel the same way. No wonder so many of you are willing to die for it and give your all for it."

Verac flipped through the pages, carefully examining the differences: "Actually, I was also belatedly aware of the charm and true value of this book. After I realized it, it almost completely changed me. Now I think back to my former self, and I feel very emotional. Although if I stick to the previous self, maybe I will live well now, but I prefer the present."

   "Then take a good look, I think based on this book, we still have a lot to discuss." Keating said.

"Of course." Verak looked up at Keating, "I told you that this book is not yet finished. Its first nine chapters only explain the problem and the status quo, but they haven't talked about how we should change. In fact, everyone is still in the process of groping, but now I feel that I have found a way, and this tenth chapter can be written."

   "I am looking forward to the following content."

"Everyone has the right to write the tenth chapter, because the tenth chapter represents the correct future. The correct future is not determined by one person. If everyone can write the tenth chapter in their own minds, then there will always be There will be a correct answer." Verak said his own opinion, "This is also something I realized later, and I only realized it today."

   Keating stared at the serious Veraker.

  Villac was full of thoughts, holding the "Equality" that Keating had transcribed again: "I think I might be able to write Chapter 10 for them, a future in my mind."

  (end of this chapter)