This time, as soon as Verak pushed his wheelchair into the square for a walk, a crowd of other prisoners gathered around him. It seemed that after yesterday's eye-catching performance, the prisoners would get along better today.
"Why did you leave suddenly yesterday?"
"Didn't you say that you want to help everyone become equal? Can you help us improve our treatment?"
"Yes, you are so powerful, why not help us."
Before Verac could speak, the prisoners rushed forward, repeating the same words as yesterday. It was as if Verac was the prison warden and had the power to decide everything about them.
Listening to the noisy pleas for help and the prisoners squeezing their heads, Verak looked heavy.
He didn't know how to reply to this group of people who saw him as a life-saving straw. Before leaving yesterday, he told them to fight, but everyone knew that fighting was not easy.
Verak and Keating have special identities. Even if the prison does not accept their requests, they will not do anything. As for other prisoners, as long as they dare to make requests, dare to be passive and slack in work, and dare to resist the prison guards, they will be put in a solitary room at least.
If you don't eat or drink for a few days, you will be shot to death on the spot.
After all, the government outside really needs civilians, so when the voices of civilians are loud enough that they have to pay attention, and when they are loud enough to subvert them, they must compromise. It is different here. Being imprisoned here is equivalent to being abandoned.
The government would rather they seek death themselves and reduce spending.
This makes it impossible to organize huge demonstrations and protests to influence 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 shouted loudly, causing the almost crazy prisoners to quiet down.
"Let's go first," Keating said immediately.
Verak, who was about to make a reply, swallowed his words: "...Okay."
"What? Are you leaving now?"
"Can't you help us?"
"What's going on if I leave?"
Verak turned the direction of his wheelchair and started returning less than ten meters into the square: "Teacher, why?"
"Do you have a story that will convince them?" Keating asked.
"...No." Verak was about to speak just now, but he didn't have a good way to deal with it. 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 approach, so we have to face and solve the problems caused by this approach. We must first find a way to calm down their emotions and understand
Let’s find out what we can do for them and then move forward with the plan.”
Verak said "Yeah": "Then there is no progress today."
The time during which one can act "arbitrarily" within certain limits is very short. Every day wasted means that the foundation of the escape plan becomes weaker and the hope of escape becomes slimmer.
"There is still a chance." After Keating said this, the two of them arrived at the door in unison keeping silent.
Several prison guards guarding the entrance to the square came over and asked, "Why are you back?"
"As soon as we entered, they came up to us and surrounded us, so we had to leave," Verak explained.
The prison guards had all been instructed by Lecter to help and cooperate with Verak as much as possible, so they planned to go in and suppress the prisoners: "Let's go in and deal with it."
Verak grabbed him and said, "No, let's get here today and talk about it tomorrow."
"Then come with us to the interrogation room." The leading prison guard motioned to a subordinate, who took the wheelchair from Verak and pushed Keating back to cell 208.
"How many times have I told him that it is impossible for me to tell the information about the Equality Society." Verak pretended to be in conflict.
The reason why he mentioned the Equality Society was to make Lecter think that Verak had been acting in front of Keating that he was called to talk to him every day to talk about the Equality Society and had nothing to do with gold.
As for whether Lecter believes it or not, that is his own business.
Because Verak ended too early today, Lecter did not expect it, so when he arrived at the interrogation room, Lecter had not yet arrived. After about twenty minutes, Lecter entered the interrogation room and asked about the situation: "What's going on?"
What's going on?"
Verak, who was dozing in the interrogation chair, woke up and said, "It's nothing. Mr. Keating was a little uncomfortable today and couldn't stand the noisy environment in the square, so he suggested to me to go back."
"If he was too noisy, why didn't he refuse to be let out from the beginning?" Lecter didn't believe Verac's words so easily, "I heard from the prison guard that it was because the prisoners surrounded you?"
"Originally, there was no problem in casual communication, but it was too noisy because we were all gathered together." Verak had a strong ability to adapt to changes and immediately replied.
"Then why don't you let the prison guards take care of it? I've said hello to them, and they will try their best to cooperate with you." Lecter sat opposite Verak.
Verak had 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, and on the other hand, once the problem is solved violently, how will Mr. Keating contact and communicate with them in the future?"
"Okay." Lecter pushed back his hair, "What did you gain today?"
"No." Verak replied, and just when Lecter wanted to speak in annoyance, he made a new request in the name of asking for the whereabouts of the gold, "So I feel that just letting people know is not enough.
What does Mr. Ting need most now? He has been imprisoned for two years. What he needs most is to walk around more and interact with people more. His health is not good, and it is definitely unrealistic for him to work. At the very least,
Can we eat together?"
"You want me to allow you to go to the cafeteria to eat?" Lecter agreed very simply, "Yes, you can go to the cafeteria to eat from today on. As far as I know, your work and rest schedule is different from that of other prisoners.
Likewise, dinner should be earlier. Of course I can't change the meal time for thousands of people just for the two of you, you have to adapt to it yourself."
Verak pretended to think: "Mr. Keating should be fine."
"I am 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 little thoughts Verak has in his heart. The most urgent thing he needs to do now is to save himself.
Down.
"I will ask at all costs." Verak said in the same words, "I also hope that you can keep your promise and give me what I want."
"Is there anything else that needs to be reported?" Lecter asked.
"No more."
"See you tomorrow." After learning that there was no progress, Lecter got off the interrogation table and left the interrogation room ahead of Verac.
Verak could feel that Lecter was very dissatisfied with him, but because he could only use him now, he rarely suppressed it.
"Huh..." After exhaling, Verak also left the interrogation room. Now it seems that there is not much time left for Lecter on the surface, but secretly, the one who is really in danger is himself.
"Let's go." When he arrived at the door, Verak said to the prison guard and walked toward the infirmary alone. The two prison guards looked at each other without saying a word and followed him with their guns in hand.
After changing the medicine and returning to cell 208, Verak told Keating about his conversation with Lecter as usual.
"Have you won the right to eat in the cafeteria?"
This is the biggest thing Verak has done today.
"Yes." Verak adjusted the tightness of the bandage, "The situation at that time said that this could divert part of Lecter's attention and also expand the scope and time of our outing, so I made this decision on the spur of the moment."
"It's good." Keating had no objection. "We can't do work, so we only have to go out and eat. These two things can help us move around reasonably and interact with other prisoners."
"Well..." Verak frowned, looking worried, "How do you think we can solve the problems we faced today?"
Keating smiled as always: "You don't have any ideas?"
Verak shook his head in frustration: "No clue."
"When faced with 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 up the fog for Verak, "This matter is basically about the prisoners having a general understanding of the background of the Equality Society.
After discovering that you have certain abilities, I would like to ask you to improve their treatment. It is difficult for us to do this at present, and we cannot refuse directly. What we have to do is to change their view of us."
"Change it to what? How?" Verak asked subconsciously.
"This is what we have to consider." Keating said with a smile, "First think about what the changes will look like so that they will not conflict with our demands."
Verak closed his eyes and thought hard.
"Come out to eat." The prison guard who originally delivered the meal did not come again, and two unfamiliar prison guards opened the door of cell 208.
"Okay." After changing the medicine and chatting, it was already time for lunch. Verak, who had not figured out the result, sat up, moved the wheelchair from the vacant upper bunk, and helped Keating sit on it.
, was escorted to the canteen on the first floor.
Lecter specially arranged for them to go there later to relax and eat in order to avoid the peak period. Therefore, after Verak pushed Keating to the first floor, the corridor was still deserted, except for the noisy sounds from the cafeteria.
After passing through two doors, the two arrived at the cafeteria. The cafeteria was overcrowded, and the tables and chairs were crowded with people. Escorting Verak, Keating's prison guard came forward and used his gun to separate several prisoners and free up the dining table for them.
Verak didn't like the rough behavior of the prison guards. Over time, the prisoners would become more and more hostile to them. He pushed Keating to the front and back of the table. Instead of sitting down, he called the other prisoners over: "Let's all eat together."
The other prisoners noticed them, and the cafeteria suddenly became quiet. The prisoners who were driven away by the prison guards stood or squatted, holding lunch boxes and refusing to come over.
"Can you please stay away?" The atmosphere was tense. Verak turned his head and motioned to the two prison guards escorting them to stay away.
Due to Lecter's order, the prison guards could only retreat a lot.
After Verak greeted him several times, a short, bald prisoner came over with several prisoners and sat down. He quickly put food into his mouth and stared at Verak.
Seeing that everyone was very wary, Verak took the initiative to speak: "I will have dinner with everyone from now on, so there is no need to be so wary and reserved."
"Why?" The bald prisoner sitting opposite Keating looked at the two of them.
The cafeteria cook brought two portions of rice for Verak and Keating. Verak thanked him and helped Keating open the lunch box: "You mean why we came to eat with everyone?"
"What else?" The bald prisoner narrowed his eyes.
From their point of view, it was understandable that Verak and Keating would go for a break. After all, they would get sick if they were locked up all the time, but why should they eat together? They could obviously wait for the prison guards to deliver the meals in person, so why bother running all the way there?
Come up?
There must be some purpose behind doing thankless things.
"I want to chat with you." Verak had a good attitude and took a bite of his meal while standing.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Just chat casually, just like you usually chat with each other." Verak looked around, and almost all the prisoners who came to eat focused their eyes on him. "We are all prisoners, there is nothing to talk about."
"Heh." The bald prisoner said no more, ate the remaining food in the lunch box in several mouthfuls, stood up and left.
As soon as he stood up, most of the prisoners sitting in the canteen stood up. In the end, about two-thirds of the prisoners followed the bald prisoner out of the canteen regardless of whether they had finished eating, and were escorted back to the cell for a lunch break by the prison guards.
"They started to resist us." The cafeteria suddenly became empty, and Verak sat down and said with a wry smile.
"It still takes time." Keating ate his meal slowly.
Verak was helpless. The situation in the cafeteria was essentially the same as during the break. That is, the prisoners didn't know them well enough. Because they were treated differently, they 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 as Verak and the others even if they were standing. Verak made no further attempts and pushed Keating back to the cell after the meal.
"We have to blend in with them." After returning to the cell, Verak said something after a long silence.
Keating said nothing.
Verak knew that Keating wanted to wait for him to say his next thoughts. He hesitated for a while, but still expressed his immature thoughts: "If I want to integrate with them, I have to give up the privileges in their eyes."
"Some can give up, some can't," Keating said.
"I want to try to work like them." Verak continued, "Firstly, the treatment is basically the same as theirs, and secondly, there are more opportunities for contact."
"Lecter won't agree. If you go to work, how can you get the whereabouts of the gold out of my mouth." Keating reminded the flaws 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 was not as over-squeezed as here, he still had some experience: "Then how do you think we should integrate into them?"
Keating was speechless.
"...Think about it again, then." Verak didn't want to choose the last resort.
"Who is No. 8196, Thomas Chris?" Just as Verak and Keating were racking their brains to think of countermeasures, a prison guard came to the cell door.
"I am." Verak looked at the prison guard he had never seen before.
"Come out."
"Where are you going? The interrogation room?" This is lunch break time, and there are usually no plans. Verak doesn't know what else is going on, "Lecter wants to see me again?"
The prison guard called to the colleague on the ground floor who was in charge to open the door: "The warden wants to see you."