Twenty Seven Years

  Chapter 281 Don't be immersed in sadness, don't forget sadness

  Verak felt that such an emergency had never happened before the Equality Association. Could it be that the government discovered the location of their main station? But if they found out, they should not go to the meeting room now, but mobilize all the staff to evacuate.

  Since it’s not an attack by government troops, what else could it be?

   The more he couldn't imagine it, the more uneasy Verak felt. He immediately woke up Keating, and the two hurried to the meeting room together.

When they went, many people had already arrived in the meeting room. Without exception, these people stood silently. Boyne and Morais also turned their backs to the crowd. Although they couldn't see their faces, they could feel the crowd. to their grief.

   "What's the matter?" Verac saw Nord, Diaz, Murphy, Piaf and others who came over before them, so he stepped forward and asked the situation in a low voice.

   "I don't know, we are just here too..." Nord and others were also puzzled by the current situation.

   "Boin and Morais didn't say it?"

   Piaf shook her head: "They are waiting for all the nearby cadres to come."

   "Okay." Verak understood the situation, and Boyin and Morais would explain the situation only when everyone was present, "Teacher, let's wait too."

   "Hmm." Keating looked at the backs of Boyne and Morais, thinking deeply.

   After a while, some cadres came one after another, bringing the number of comrades present today to more than 50, which exceeded the number of participants in the meeting held by Verak and the others when they first came back.

   "President, everyone is here." A young comrade closed the door of the conference room and left after finishing his report.

  Byne and Morais turned around slowly, and looked at the more than fifty cadres who were all standing with a heavy expression.

  Verak's eyes were sharp, and he could vaguely see the redness of Boyin's eye sockets, which seemed to be shed tears.

   What happened? !

  Verak has never seen Boyin cry. No matter what major events will happen to equality, he is the most calm one. What can make him cry?

   "Comrades..." Boyin was silent for a long time after saying these three words.

  Dozens of people looked at him, and the conference room was extremely quiet.

Morais snorted heavily, stretched out his hand and patted Boyne on the shoulder, and told him the news: "The latest news we just got is that the substation we established in the old South Treaty, the capital of Dunman... was blocked by its government. Raid. Comrades at the outstation . . . none survived."

  Boom!

   This news instantly stunned everyone present.

  Verak frowned, his eyes were full of disbelief, he strongly suspected that he had misheard: "What did you say?"

"The comrades in the Old South Treaty were sacrificed, and some affiliated local gangs and fellow countrymen were also hit hard." Morais knew that Verac had a deep connection with the Old South Treaty branch, and it can be said that he established the branch alone. I got up, so I said to him as softly as possible.

"Sacrificed? How did you sacrifice? Aren't they all good? Aren't they all secretly placed in the territory of the Montrego people?" Countless figures flashed before Verak's eyes, and he walked up to Morais excitedly asked.

"At 8:17 tonight, President Jordan of Dunman was assassinated and killed. At the same time, the Dunman government united with the gang forces secretly bribed to confirm the location of the branch station, and moved the comrades who worked together, The protesters wiped out all of them, and declared that the conflict broke out between the Equality Society and the settlers... This was obviously a premeditated action, and it was a unified revenge by the local government against the Equality Society, the settlers, and the people who resisted the new conscription law. Morais illustrates what happened as far back as the Old South.

  Verak didn't believe it at all: "Who told you this? Is there a casualty list? Is there an exact report?"

"Verak." Morais understood Veraker's mood, "This is the biggest blow to our Society of Equality since the sacrifice of Chris and the others. I am as sad as you, unbelievable, and have repeatedly confirmed the information. , refuses to admit it all, but ... it really happened."

  Verak's brain was in a daze, but there was only confusion on his face.

   "Comrade Sarah, Comrade Eve, Comrade Willow, Comrade Monroe, Xin... all?" Even Keating couldn't accept this blow, and asked those people one by one about their whereabouts.

   "As far as I know, they all died." Morais answered the bad news sullenly.

"...how come..." Verak was a little out of breath, he didn't expect to get such news that made him feel broken, "didn't those gangs reach a cooperation with us? Didn't they work well together at that time? Didn't everyone Unanimously decided to fight the government, fight for equality?! Isn’t it?! Wrong?! How?! I, I don’t understand, how can they collude with the government, how can they kill comrades? ?!"

"It's my problem." Boin finally said, but he didn't look directly at Verak, but stared at the ground with self-blame, "I was the person in charge at the scene at the time, and I believed in the loyalty of the gangs, thinking that we were at the same time. A front caused the comrades at the substation to not be on guard against them, and it has evolved into today's situation."

  Other cadres who did not participate in the construction of the old South Treaty Station took a breath and looked at each other in blank dismay.

  Equality has been smooth sailing for far too long, and while there have been occasional sacrifices in the struggle, no major damage on this scale has occurred.

Especially the sub-station of the Old South Treaty, it is the most dazzling one among the sub-stations of the Equality Association. It was established in the shortest time, but it burst out with amazing power, pushing the Old South to fire the first shot of equality. It is considered It is a perfect replica of Laizein's model and is a strong proof that it can be emulated all over the world.

Everyone firmly believes that the old South Treaty will be the second place to fly the flag of freedom after Laizein, and Dunman will become the first place where the people are the masters of the country and everyone enjoys equality after Bresci. A beautiful country of freedom, respect and unity.

   But this good expectation was completely shattered today.

  The lives of hundreds of people were annihilated in an instant.

  The promotion and replication of the Laizein model also failed.

  Villac didn't care what other people were like. He leaned on the table with one hand and sat down with difficulty.

  He didn't feel great sadness, or any other intense emotion, just a trance.

  Full of longing for the future, Willow, who wanted to become a doctor after the arrival of the new world and treat the poor for free, just died like this?

  Before they parted, they agreed that Willow would come to Laizein for further studies after he had learned Bresci, just in time for the sweep of new ideas.

   There is also Monroe, who is infected by himself bit by bit, and wants to restart his life in the Equality Association and do something truly meaningful. Did he start it? Did he do it?

   Lao Jin, who wants to win the living space for the Montrego people, but Ruffalo, who is tactful but still on the side of the Equality Society, have they completely changed the living plight of the immigrants?

   Putting all his effort into cultivating Willow, boss Xin who is willing to take him to create a new world with Willow, is he on the right path?

   Are they just dead?

   It’s just that Morais said ‘sacrificed’, did they all die so lightly?

  Verak's mind was in a mess, and all kinds of emotions mixed together, which even made him feel nauseous and vomiting.

   What if I didn't meddle in my own business at the time?

  I didn’t bother with the settlers who had increasingly fierce conflicts with the locals, and I didn’t paint a white future for Willow. I just did what was within my mission and brought the gold back safely. Would all of this not happen?

  If I had heard Winston say that their success in the Old South Treaty was just a coincidence, and immediately began to review the whole process, sort out omissions, and correct those hidden dangers in a timely manner, would all this not have happened?

  If after returning to Laizein, I cared more about the comrades far away in the Old South Treaty, learned more about their situation, paid more attention to the situation there, and noticed dangerous trends, would all this not happen?

  Verak thought a lot.

  Before he had time to be sad, he fell into a huge self-blame and shame.

   "Verak? Verak?"

  Verak came back to his senses and saw Keating patting himself on the shoulder: "...Huh?"

   Keating looked at Veraker with a dazed face, tears streaming down his eyes, and he couldn't control his emotions for a while. Thinking of the old friends who had let go, and thinking of so many people who looked at them as their direction, his nose was sore: "Is it okay?"

   "I..." Verak wiped his face with his hands before realizing that tears were streaming down his face.

   "Villac." Nord, Diaz, Murphy, and Piaf surrounded him, looking sadly at the helpless Verac.

  Verak pursed his lips and shook his head.

   Resisting not to be in front of the cadres, Boyin, who was out of control, covered his face with one hand when he saw Verak and Keating, turned around and took a deep breath trembling.

  These people have dealt with those people, and they were born and died together in the struggle of the Old South Treaty.

  The pressure and shock they endured are far from what other cadres can empathize with.

   Morais was also in pain, but he knew that Boyne, Verac, and Keating would only suffer hundreds of times more than himself. Now only he can stand up and help everyone get out of the slump: "Comrades."

   Grief filled the chamber.

   Comrades with heavy complexions, moist eyes, or low sobs looked at Morais who was speaking.

"I know that no one can accept this matter, because it is hundreds of thousands of fresh lives." Morais stared at the crowd, "I really want everyone to let go and mourn, so that they can feel better. I also want everyone to take a good rest and slowly get out of the trough. But what I want to say is that we had better adapt to all this and learn to keep these in our hearts. Because this is not the first time, nor will it be One last time. Revolutions often come with sacrifices, and sacrifices are often with us."

   "This cannot be controlled." It is difficult for a cadre who is a close friend of the comrades who died in the old South Treaty to come out as Morais said.

   "But we have to control it." Morais said.

Boyin calmed down again, turned around, glanced at Veraker and Keating, who were out of state, and then turned to all the cadres: "I bear the greatest responsibility for this matter. I can’t imagine how I can make up for all this, but at least I am not worthy to be the president anymore.”

"What are you talking about!" Morais said in a more serious tone, "What do you mean you bear the greatest responsibility? At that time, the matter of the old South Treaty station was decided by all of us in a meeting and a show of hands. How can we count all the responsibilities on On yourself?"

   "As the president, I didn't recognize the situation clearly, and ignored major hidden dangers. Of course, I should bear the responsibility." Boyin hoped that this would make him feel better, and it was also an explanation for everyone.

"Is it possible that the Equality Association is a place where you alone have the final say? We all agree that you alone can decide things in the Equality Association? I am also responsible for this matter! But I can step down as the vice president, you can't Now the Equality Association is still struggling to contend with the government, you are the backbone of everyone, you can’t make any changes at this time!” Morais resolutely prevented Boyin from taking responsibility and stepping down as president.

   "I am also responsible."

  "I didn't find any problems at the time, so I agreed to the plan."

"And I."

  The cadres have expressed their willingness to share responsibility.

  Equality will respect everyone's opinion and adopt a voting system. Even the chairman Boyne does not have the right to make decisions against everyone. This means that such a decision must be made with the consent of at least half of the cadres.

  Now these cadres have all stood up, hoping to take responsibility together.

  Mistakes have already occurred. If they dare not even admit and bear the mistakes, then they will have no face to face the sacrificed comrades.

"All of us can bear it." Morais said at first that he was responsible and did not involve other comrades. Now that everyone else has spoken, he has gathered everyone's voice against Boyne's responsibility alone, "You If you want to resign, then we should all resign."

   "Stop making trouble with Morais." Boyne shook his head seriously.

"enough."

   The two arguing looked at Verak who was speaking.

Verak stood up: "No one needs to take responsibility, and you can't change the fact that they have already sacrificed. Instead of wasting time here arguing about this, it's better for everyone to calm down and sit down to review the whole story. process, learn from experience, and avoid the same thing from happening in the future, causing the same tragic and unbearable casualties."

"Yes, Comrade Veraker is right. Now is not the time to pursue responsibility. Our first priority is to study where we are wrong. Compared with being responsible for the sacrificed comrades, it is more important to protect the remaining comrades." Morais quickly answered and eased the atmosphere, "Everyone sit down first, Boyin, you sit too, don't stand around stupidly."

   After dragging Boyne to sit down, Morais presided over the meeting and helped everyone cheer up: "Now we have more important things to do, I hope everyone will not be immersed in sadness, and don't forget sadness."

  (end of this chapter)