Twenty Seven Years

  Chapter 131 Repulsion and meeting

  The next day, October 6th

  This time, as soon as Verak pushed his wheelchair into the square to let the wind go, other prisoners surrounded him in a crowd. It seems that after yesterday's eye-catching performance, today the prisoners will get along better.

   "Why did you leave suddenly yesterday?"

   "Didn't you say that you want to help everyone be equal? ​​Can you help us raise the treatment?"

   "Yeah, you are so powerful, just help us."

   Before Verak could speak, the prisoners scrambled forward, repeating the same words as yesterday. It seems that Verak is the warden, who has the power to decide everything about them.

  Listening to the noisy calls for help, and the appearance of the prisoners squeezing their heads, Verak's face was heavy.

  He didn't know how to respond to this group of people who saw him as a lifeline. Before leaving yesterday, he told them to fight, but everyone knows that it is not easy to fight?

  Verak's status is special, and Keating's status is special. Even if their request is not accepted by the prison, they will not do anything. As for other prisoners, as long as they dare to make demands, dare to slow down their work, and dare to resist the prison guards, they will be locked up in a confinement room without eating or drinking for a few days, or they will be shot dead on the spot.

  After all, the outside government really needs the civilians, so when the voices of the civilians are so loud that they have to take them seriously, and when they are loud enough to subvert them, they must compromise. It's different here, being imprisoned here is equivalent to being abandoned, the government can't wait for them to rush to find their own death and reduce expenditures.

  This has led to the fact that it is absolutely impossible to organize huge demonstrations and protests that affect the government like Francis did a year ago in prison.

   "Everyone be quiet!" Just when the crowd was about to engulf the two of them, Verak yelled loudly, quieting the almost crazy prisoner.

   "Let's go first." Keating said decisively.

  Walak, who was about to make a reply, swallowed the words abruptly: "...Okay."

   "What? This is leaving?"

   "You can't help us!"

   "What's the matter if you leave?"

  Villac turned the direction of the wheelchair, and began to return after less than ten meters into the square: "Teacher, why?"

   "Do you have a convincing argument?" Keating asked.

   "...No." Verak was about to speak just now, and it wasn't because he had a good countermeasure, but he just felt that he shouldn't be silent.

"The situation is more complicated than we imagined." Keating looked solemn. "We have chosen a bolder method, so we have to face and solve the problems brought about by this method. Let's find a way to calm down their emotions first. Find out what we can do for them, and then move forward with the plan."

  Verak let out a "hmm": "Then there is no progress today."

  The time to 'act recklessly' within a certain limit is very short, and every day wasted equals to the weakening of the foundation of the jailbreak plan, and the hope of escaping from the sky is getting slimmer.

   "There is still a chance." After Keating finished speaking, the two remained silent and arrived at the door.

   Several prison guards guarding the entrance of the square came over and asked, "Why are you back?"

   "As soon as we entered, they came up and surrounded us, so they had to back out." Verak explained.

   The prison guards have all been ordered by Lecter to assist and cooperate with Verak as much as possible, so they plan to go in to suppress the prisoners: "Let's go in and solve it."

  Verak stopped him: "No, let's get here today, let's talk about it tomorrow."

   "Then come with us to the interrogation room." The lead prison guard signaled to a subordinate, who took the wheelchair from Veraker and pushed Keating back to Cell 208 first.

   "How many times have I told him that it is impossible for me to tell the information about the Equality Association." Verak pretended to be in conflict.

  The reason why he said equal society was to make Lecter think that Veraker had been acting in front of Keating that he was called to talk every day. It was about equal society and had nothing to do with gold.

   As for whether Lecter believes it or not, that is his own business.

Because Veraker ended too early today, Lecter didn't expect it, so when he arrived in the interrogation room, Lecter hadn't come yet. After about twenty minutes, Lecter entered the interrogation room and asked about the situation: "What's the matter?" What's going on?"

  Villac, who was dozing off on the interrogation chair, woke up: "It's nothing, Mr. Keating is a little uncomfortable today. He couldn't stand the noisy environment in the square, so he suggested to me to go back."

   "Why didn't he refuse to let the air out at the beginning if he thought it was noisy?" Lecter didn't believe Veraker's words so easily, "I heard from the prison guards that it was because the prisoners surrounded you?"

   "Originally, there must be no problem with casual communication, but it's too noisy because of being together." Verak has a strong ability to adapt to changes, and immediately replied.

   "Then why don't you let the prison guards deal with it? I've told them, and they will try their best to cooperate with you." Lecter sat opposite Veraker.

  Verak has already considered these routine questions, so he answered them quite quickly: "On the one hand, it is easy to expose me in front of Mr. Keating. On the other hand, once the problem is solved by violence, how will Mr. Keating communicate with them in the future?"

   "Okay." Lecter brushed his hair back, "So what did you gain today?"

"No." Verak replied, and just when Lecter was about to speak up, he made a new request in the name of asking about the whereabouts of the gold, "So I think it's not enough just to let the wind go. What does Mr. Ting need most now? He has been imprisoned for two years, and what he needs most is to walk around more and communicate with people more. His health is not in good condition, and it is definitely unrealistic for him to work. Can we eat together?"

"You want me to allow you to eat in the cafeteria?" Lecter agreed very simply, "Yes, you can go to the cafeteria to eat from today. As far as I know, your work and rest schedule in 208 is different from that of other prisoners. Similarly, the meal is a little earlier, of course I can't change the meal time of thousands of people for the two of you, you have to adapt yourself."

  Villac pretended to think: "Mr. Keating should be fine."

"I'm fully supporting you, and I also hope that you can give me what I want before noon on the twelfth." Lecter doesn't care what small thoughts Verac has in mind, the most urgent thing he needs to do now is to keep himself Down.

   "I will ask at all costs." Verak said in the same words, "I also hope that you will keep your promise and give me what I want."

   "Is there anything else that needs to be reported?" Lecter said.

"Gone."

   "See you tomorrow." After learning that there was no progress, Lecter got off the interrogation table and left the interrogation room before Veraker.

  Verak could feel that Lecter was very dissatisfied with him, but because he could only use him now, he kept restraining it.

   "Huh..." He let out a breath, and Verak also left the interrogation room. Now it seems that there is not much time left for Lecter on the surface, but secretly, it is himself who is really at stake.

   "Let's go." At the door, Verak said to the prison guard and walked towards the infirmary alone. The two prison guards who didn't say a word looked at each other and followed with guns in hand.

   After changing the medicine and returning to Cell 208, Verak told Keating about his conversation with Lecter as usual.

   "You won the right to eat in the cafeteria?"

   This matter is the biggest thing Verak has done today.

   "Yes." Verac adjusted the tightness of the bandage, "At that time, it was said that this could divert part of Lecter's attention, and it could also expand the scope and time of our going out, so I made this decision impromptu."

   "Very good." Keating had no objection, "We can't do the work, so we only have to go out and eat. These two things can help us move around reasonably and get in touch with other prisoners."

   "Hmm..." Verak frowned, with a worried expression on his face, "How do you think we can solve the problems we are facing today?"

   Keating smiled as always: "You don't have any ideas?"

  Verak shook his head boredly: "I have no idea."

"In the face of this kind of thing, the first thing we have to do is to clarify the problem, so that we can think about it in a targeted manner." Keating cleared the fog for Veraker, "This matter is basically about the prisoners getting a general understanding of the background of the Equality Society. After discovering that you have a certain ability, I want to ask you to improve their treatment. It is difficult for us to do this at present, and we cannot directly refuse, what we need to do is to change their perception of us."

   "Change to what? How to change?" Verak asked subconsciously.

   "This is what we have to consider." Keating smiled, "First think about what the change will look like, so as not to conflict with our demands."

  Verak closed his eyes and thought hard.

   "Come out to eat." The prison guard who delivered the food did not come again, and two prison guards who were unfamiliar opened the door of cell 208.

"Okay." After changing the medicine and chatting, it was already time for lunch. Verak, who hadn't figured out the result, sat up, moved the wheelchair from the vacant upper bunk, and helped Keating to sit on it. , was escorted to the cafeteria on the first floor.

  Break air, eat, in order to avoid the rush hour, Lecter specially arranged for them to go there later, so after Verak pushed Keating up to the first floor, the corridor was still deserted, only the noise from the cafeteria swayed back and forth.

   After passing through two doors, the two arrived in front of the cafeteria. The cafeteria was overcrowded, and the tables and chairs were full of people. The prison guards who escorted Veraker and Keating stepped forward and shot a few prisoners away, freeing up a dining table for them.

  Villac didn't like the rough behavior of the prison guards very much. After a long time, the prisoners would become more and more hostile to them. He pushed Keating to the front and back of the table, and instead of sitting down, he called the other prisoners over: "Let's eat together."

  Other prisoners noticed them, and the cafeteria suddenly fell silent. The few prisoners who were driven away by the prison guards either stood or squatted, holding lunch boxes and refused to come.

   "Can you stand a little further away?" The atmosphere was tense, and Verak turned his head to signal the two prison guards escorting them to stay away.

  Because of Lecter's order, the prison guard could only retreat a lot.

  After several frequent greetings to Veraker, a short, bald prisoner came and sat down with a few prisoners.

   Seeing that everyone was very vigilant, Verak took the initiative to speak: "I will have dinner with everyone in the future, so don't be so vigilant and cautious."

   "Why?" The bald prisoner sitting opposite Keating examined the two of them.

  The canteen cook brought two meals for Verak and Keating. After thanking Verak, he helped Keating open the lunch box: "Why do you mean we came to eat with everyone?"

   "What else?" The bald prisoner narrowed his eyes.

   From their point of view, it is understandable for Veraker and Keating to go out for a briefing. After all, they will get sick from being bored if they are locked up all the time, but why do they have to eat together? They can obviously wait for the prison guards to deliver the food in person, why bother to come all the way?

   There must be some purpose in doing thankless things.

   "I want to chat with everyone." Verak had a good attitude and took a bite of his meal standing up.

   "What do you want to talk about?"

   "Just chat casually, just like you usually chat with each other." Verak looked around, and the group of prisoners who came to eat almost all focused on him. "We are all prisoners, and there is nothing special about it."

   "Heh." The bald prisoner didn't say anything more, he ate the remaining rice in the lunch box, got up and left.

  He got up together, and more than half of the prisoners sitting in the cafeteria stood up. In the end, about two-thirds of the prisoners followed the bald prisoner out of the cafeteria regardless of whether they had finished their meal or not, and were escorted back to the cell for a lunch break by the prison guards.

   "They are starting to resist us." The cafeteria became empty in an instant, Verak sat down and smiled wryly.

   "It will take time." Keating ate his meal slowly.

  Villac had nothing to do, the situation in the cafeteria was essentially the same as during the release, that is, the prisoners did not know them well enough, because they were treated differently, and subconsciously regarded them as outsiders.

   Not long after, the prison guards brought a new batch of prisoners over for dinner.

  This time the prisoners were unwilling to sit at the same table with Veraker even if they were standing. Veraker didn't try anything, and pushed Keating back to the cell after eating.

   "We have to blend in with them." After returning to the cell, Verak uttered a sentence after a long silence.

   Keating didn't speak.

  Verak knew that Keating wanted to wait for him to say what he thought next. After hesitating for a while, he still expressed his immature thoughts: "If I want to blend in with them, I have to give up the privilege in their eyes."

   "Some can be given up, but some cannot." Keating said.

   "I want to try to work like them." Verak continued, "First, the treatment with them has basically become the same, and second, there are more opportunities for contact."

   "Lecter won't agree. If you go to work, how can you get the whereabouts of gold out of my mouth." Keating reminded the flaw of this idea, "And the work is very tiring, you will know it after you have done it."

  Verak worked in a steel mill in a slum area a few years ago. Although it is not as crushing as it is here, he can somewhat understand: "Then how do you think we integrate into them?"

   Keating is speechless.

   "...Think about it again." Verak didn't want to choose the wrong move.

   "Who is No. 8196, Thomas Chris." Just as Veraker and Keating were racking their brains to think of countermeasures, a prison guard came to the door of the cell.

   "I am." Verak looked at the prison guard whom he had never seen before.

   "Come out for a while."

   "Where are you going? The interrogation room?" This is lunch break time, usually there are no arrangements, and Verak doesn't know what else is going on. "Lecter wants to see me again?"

  The prison guard greeted the colleague in charge on the basement floor to open the door: "The warden wants to see you."

  (end of this chapter)