Twenty Seven Years

  Chapter 209 Self-help escape

  The night at the factory became lively for the first time.

   Except for the absence of the workers in charge of the night shift, everyone else gathered in the corridor wearing overcoats, listening to the transferred members introduce themselves one by one.

   "I'm Andal Clever, I'm twenty-three years old, and I'm in charge of statistical work in the Equality Council."

   "I'm Leonard Moulton..."

   "My name is Harvey Duke..."

  Every transferred member will receive warm applause from the workers after introducing himself.

  The workers living here welcome the arrival of new members from the bottom of their hearts. They know that these young people whose average age is much younger than them will become the hope to lead them out of the haze and the quagmire.

  In the long, long days before, basically no one can count them, no one has ever told them that it is wrong for them to be oppressed, and that they should stand up and rebel, take back the fruits of labor, and let their thoughts break out of the cage.

   It was Francis who first appeared and set up a banner among the confused workers. It was Chris who betrayed the camp of vested interests and wrote "Theory of Equality" to awaken the world.

   More and more young people have joined this struggle one after another, pouring blood into the cornerstone of the new world.

  So, they choose to trust young people.

   After everyone finished their introductions, Keating called on everyone to try to listen, and let the workers talk about their affairs and their personal feelings in this society.

  Why do they want to change everything through violent revolution?

  Why are they on the side of justice?

   All these can be answered from the mouths of workers.

  They wore tattered clothes, and even lived barefoot because they had no shoes. Because they don't have much income, they can only buy rotten things. They use potato skins, vegetable sticks, and rotten fruits to satisfy their hunger. Their dwellings are small and crude, and their bodies are poisoned by polluted black water and thick smoke from chimneys.

  Verak spent two months in prison with almost no spiritual pursuit of life, and the workers, in the supposedly vast and free world outside, did the same.

   They live numbly, day by day, and their morality collapses, leading to alcoholism, lust, and crime.

  In the industrial revolution, the use of machines became more and more common. While a large number of workers were unemployed, child labor and female labor were more widely employed, and sedatives were abused in order to quiet unattended babies at home.

  There are more and more disabled people in the slums because of the lack of necessary safety equipment in the factories.

  Women live in dire straits, but they are subjected to blatant sexual exploitation in society and factories.

  The unsatisfied desire of the rich and powerful oppresses the whole society.

  Women are infertile, babies are deformed, and men have incomplete limbs.

  They are depriving the poor, and they are depriving entire generations of people.

  When these shocking things were spoken out by the workers, it shook the hearts of many transferred members.

   Some of these things are very clear to them, but they have not put themselves in the shoes of others before, nor have they sat with the victim and listened to the victim tearfully tell their story face to face.

  You heard someone tell you that some workers accidentally had their arms cut off by machines because the factory did not install safety facilities in order to reduce costs, and because they needed to work for 14 to 5 hours in a row, they were too sleepy.

  It is completely different from the feeling when the worker stands in front of you, raises half his arm, and asks you what he did wrong.

   Veraker, who had a wealth of experience, naturally knew this. He listened quietly and watched the reactions of the transferred members intently.

  In his opinion, starting from this night, the cohesion of the Equality Association will become stronger, and their direction will become more determined.

  —

  December 24th

  In the hotel in the southern part of Laizein, Diaz and Nord got up early and got dressed, planning to go out again, pretending to investigate the surrounding information, and revealing a strong signal to the intelligence agency who was spying on them.

   "You don't need to get up, take a good rest." Nord yawned, and called Murphy, who was about to get up, back to rest, "I have to rely on you to take over at night."

   "I'm not sleepy either." Murphy said, "Is there anything I can do?"

"There will be days for you to play in the future, don't worry." Diaz put on his clothes, and casually baked something by the stove, "What you have to do now is to calm down and stay here, so that the people in the government will not feel happy. Suspect."

  Murphy sat on the bed and didn't sleep or get off the ground.

  Nord washed his face with cold water, but still felt a little dazed, so he sat by the stove and closed his eyes to catch up on sleep while Diaz was eating.

   Upon seeing this, Diaz asked: "Don't you want to eat? Today I have to spend a day outside, which is considered physical work."

   "No, I just want to sleep more." Nord shook his head, he had no appetite to eat.

   "Eat something, here." Diaz handed Nord a few slices of bread.

   "Thanks." Nord opened his eyes and took it.

   "Work hard today." Diaz chewed the food, "The main reason is that we got up early and went out to investigate, so it seems that time is running out. We are very concerned. This may speed up the change of the government's layout."

  Nord waved his hand and smiled: "I don't mean to complain, just a little sleepy. I know these details are very important, and details determine success or failure. Don't worry about me, I still have this awareness."

   "That's good." Diaz actually knew that Nord would not be hypocritical, so he just calmed down casually.

   Quickly ate something to fill their stomachs, and the two of them didn't waste time. After saying goodbye to Murphy, it was the same as yesterday, except that each of them chose a direction in the hotel, and began to investigate in a decent manner.

  —

  At this time, the genius was slightly bright, and the room rented by the intelligence agency was full of snoring. Locke Shriver occupied the sofa alone and fell asleep under a thick blanket.

   "Director!"

   A call from the window woke everyone up.

   "Huh?" Locke Shrivel felt very light, and when he heard someone calling himself, he immediately opened his eyes, got up and walked to the window after a delay of less than two seconds, "What's wrong?"

   "Diaz and Nord came out again." The intelligence officer who was in charge of watching the hotel in shift replied.

   "What time is it?" Locke Shriver took a telescope to look over, and Diaz and Nord on the street were almost out of his surveillance range.

  The subordinate looked at the time: "Six thirty."

   "It's so early..." Locke Shriver was quite surprised, "Send someone to watch it, be careful, don't be discovered."

   "Yes." A subordinate left.

   Soon Diaz and Nord disappeared on the street. Rock Shriver put down the binoculars and sat back on the sofa without any sleepiness: "It can be seen that they are in a hurry."

   "The time advantage is on our side. If they can't get weapons, they won't be able to compete with us at all." The subordinate next to him graciously prepared coffee for Rock Shriver.

"According to their speed, they can figure out the surrounding situation within two days at most. After that, I am afraid that the Equality Society will send more forces here to prepare for the plundering of military warehouses." Locke Shriver took a drink. Take a sip of coffee, "Our preparation time will also be accelerated."

   "Then the application you wrote yesterday..."

  Rock Shriver pondered for a moment while holding the coffee: "Send it over."

"now?"

"if not?"

   "Understood." Another subordinate left.

   After Rock Shriver drank the coffee, he turned on the phonograph and listened to piano music.

  His behavior made the intelligence bureau personnel who had just woken up afraid to fall asleep again, and started working again.

  —

  Government building, Boyne under house arrest, Daniel's room

  Boin stood in front of the window, overlooking the morning scenery of Laizein.

  In the past few months, he has never stepped out of the government building, and he has never been in contact with the Peace and Equality Association.

   "Why did you get up so early?" Daniel asked, who had previously served as a driver for Veraker and now accompanied Boyne as a hostage for the peace talks.

  They were locked up here for a long time, and they couldn't do anything except read books and newspapers and listen to music every day.

  This kind of life is not bad, but they have more important things to do, so they don't want to pass the time.

   Over time, Daniel became more decadent. If Bo Yin insisted on teaching him every day, he would probably eat and sleep every day.

   "Can't sleep." Boyin put his hands in his pockets, looking worried.

   "Are you still worried about them?" Daniel also came to the window.

   "Yeah." Boyin sighed, his brows haven't eased for a long time, "The situation outside is very complicated now, they haven't acted for a long time, and they don't know what happened."

  Daniel also sighed: "You said before that Rock Shriver came to you to talk about the release of Veraker, to test you. Now he hasn't come for a while, what do you think is the reason?"

   "Because I have no value to him for the time being." Boyne replied, "He won't get anything from here, so naturally there is no need to spend time and energy on me."

   "What do you think... what's going on outside?" Daniel asked about things outside.

   This topic has become a taboo between them. Today Daniel also saw Boyin getting more serious and anxious, so he couldn't help but want to ask him what he was thinking.

  The Equality Association did not act according to the scheduled time, and there is still no news. This must indicate that something happened internally. Although they are trapped in the government building, they cannot be sure whether the situation is good or bad, but realistically, how could it be a good thing to make them go against the plan set by Boyne...

"I'm worried that there is an internal conflict." Boyne said, "I was a little worried about Chloe before I left, and now this feeling of worry has been magnified several times. When Chris was still alive, he He strongly advocates expressing demands with the government in a soft way to solve the problem. When we decided to make a move at the World Expo, he also opposed us. Now that he and Morais are co-chairing the overall situation in the Equality Council, he may take advantage of the This opportunity will influence the direction of the Equality Association."

"You mean, there was a conflict between Chloe and Morais, which caused the plan to be postponed or cancelled?" Daniel couldn't believe that this would happen, even though he knew Chloe a little bit, Knowing that Berne's analysis is not unreasonable.

   Boyin shook his head but said: "I don't want it to be like this, but I can only think of this reason."

"Comrade Morais has always been convinced of you. The action against the World Expo was also proposed by you and him. He will definitely not change suddenly. And Chloe, we had a disagreement with us a long time ago, and now you are not here , he is on an equal footing with Morais, it is possible..."

   "The reason is not important anymore, the important thing is, what should we do if it really happened." What really troubled Boyne was the countermeasure.

   "We... what can we do..." Daniel was eager to go out and do a big job, "We can't even get out of this door, so we can't be busy at all."

   Boyin tapped the glass lightly with his fist: "This is not the way to go, there is not much time left."

   "You want to escape?" Daniel asked.

   "You can't pin everything on others." Boyin looked at the place where the fist was in contact with the glass, his eyes were full of desire to break free, "We have to get out and change everything."

   "Let's not talk about whether we can go out, as long as we make a fuss, it means that the peace talks have broken down." Daniel reminded of the consequences.

  These things have been recurring in Boyin's mind recently, and he couldn't be more clear about what his actions would involve: "Of course I know, but the breakdown of the peace talks or the disintegration of equality will be more important?"

"This…"

   "The chance for them to miss this World Expo is small, internal division, and the government finds an opportunity to defeat them one by one is the greatest." Boin whispered, "I can't sit still and watch them become like this."

Of course Daniel was unwilling, but he was more worried than Boyne: "But this is just your guess, what if the situation on their side is good? For example, they thought of a better way temporarily and gave up according to your plan."

   "I dare not bet." Boyne turned to look at Daniel.

  His eyes were deep, his tone was decisive, mixed with unconfidence.

"They didn't follow the record at all." Boyne looked directly at Daniel, "We don't know anything, but we can't really do nothing. If something happens to them, we can save the situation by going out. If they It’s a good plan, then I will bear all the consequences.”

   On the one hand, the survival of the Equality Association is on the one hand, and on the other hand, the development of the Equality Association is hindered.

  As the third president of the Equality Association, Bo Yin didn't have the courage to gamble.

   "...I listen to you." Daniel chose to follow Boyin without hesitation.

   "We have to find a way to get out of here." Boyne walked back to the living room.

   "Do you have any ideas?" Daniel followed and walked over.

   Boyin let out a "hmm" and picked up the fruit knife on the table: "There is only one way to get out now."

   "You..." Daniel's eyes widened.

   "Only by leaving this room first, can we try to find a chance to escape the building." Boyin rolled up his sleeves and put the fruit knife on his arm.

  (end of this chapter)