After changing the medicine, Verak returned to cell 208.
Keating had finished his meal and was reading "Equality" repeatedly: "Lecter has seen you?"
"Yeah." Verak stretched his body and lay on his side on the bed. "After dinner, I met him in the infirmary while changing dressings. He asked us what we talked about during the break. I just fooled him."
"Didn't ask how his conversation with Adel went?" Keating asked.
"I asked, and he said that he has dealt with Adel. After all, his father is the minister of justice. Adel has no background, and he will definitely not want to provoke him." Verak said, "Of course, if we don't tell him before the 12th,
With the golden clue, the situation would be completely different."
Keating put "Equality" aside: "Okay, have you made any progress this morning?"
"Yes, there is." Verak was worried about this matter and sat up directly, "Do you know there is a prisoner named Dawn? He is the bald guy who sat at the same table with us when we were eating in the cafeteria at noon yesterday."
Keating had an impression of yesterday's bald head, but didn't know where he came from: "I don't know. My previous roommates came in just to ask for clues about the gold, so they had no other exchanges and had no knowledge of the outside situation.
Just a little understanding."
Verak told Keating some of Dawn's deeds: "I went to talk to him during a walk. He was desperate and had no interest in escaping from prison. Unless we work out a practical plan, there is no way we can impress him.
his."
"This is very contradictory." Keating pointed out the key point. "The plan must first understand their situation and achieve some cooperation before it can be formulated. This person is indeed a very suitable partner. To convince him is almost equivalent to convincing other people. We
We have to change our approach."
"This is my only headache, what else can I do?" Verak couldn't think of anything. "I'm thinking about having an in-depth talk with him the next time we meet, explaining the situation to him, and seeing if he's willing.
Try it with us first.”
"This is the only choice for now." Keating didn't have a clue.
Verak sighed and lay down again: "Teacher, I will take a rest first."
"Tired, right?"
"Mainly because I'm injured, I can't bear to stand all the time." Verak closed his heavy eyes, "But it's still far behind them. They have worked for so long and are used to it, and they are numb."
"Well...it's completely different from the torture you suffered before. The pain of torture stimulated you, but they didn't face the threat of death. They were like boiling frogs in warm water, and their will was worn away bit by bit..." Keating said
Stopping halfway, he found that Verak's chest was rising and falling gently, and he had fallen asleep.
Two o'clock in the afternoon.
The whistle sounded and Verak woke up from his sleep.
"Get up quickly! Get ready to work!" The prison guard whistled in the corridor, urging the prisoners.
"Why did I sleep until two o'clock..." Verak looked at Keating who was reading a book, "I forgot to tell you that you would wake me up after I slept for half an hour to continue discussing the plan."
"Let's rest more, we won't miss an hour or two." Keating said.
Verak stood up and walked to the door of the cell: "Then let's talk about it in the evening. Goodbye, teacher."
"goodbye."
The prison guards opened the door of cell 208 and escorted Verak away, all the way to the work area.
Verak and Ross, who were traveling together, arrived at the workstation together and started working.
The workload in the afternoon is much greater than that in the morning, mainly because there is no time to relax in the afternoon. Except for the fact that they can go out in batches at seven o'clock and get a total of ten minutes to eat, they need to stand and operate the machine for the other seven hours.
.
Verak was already injured, and he had never stood for such a long time before. He needed to concentrate on the machine to avoid making any mistakes, so by nine o'clock, his mental and physical condition had become very poor.
He made several mistakes due to negligence throughout the afternoon, but Ross, who was next to him with quick eyesight and quick hands, helped solve the problem and saved his dinner and tomorrow's breakfast.
When Keating returned to the cell after taking a shower with the help of the prison guards, he happened to bump into Verak who was being helped back by Rose. Verak's calf was stiff and painful, and it was very difficult just to stand.
"How are you?" After returning to the cell, Keating asked about Verak's physical condition.
"...A different kind of torture." Verak sat on the bed and massaged his legs.
"Either-"
"It's okay, you can hold on." Verak knew that Keating was trying to persuade him to give up again, so he interrupted Keating and smiled at Keating despite the pain, "Where is this?"
Keating hesitated and said, "Reduce the workload."
"Lecter said exactly the same thing to you at noon today, but I rejected him." Verak rubbed his calf, "I rejected what he said because I was afraid that you would see it. In fact, you also know that the reason why I couldn't integrate before was
Among the prisoners, just because I have privileges, they feel that I am not the same type of person as them. If I lighten my workload now, wouldn’t I be taking advantage of my privileges? It will be a big loss if I have to work and be resisted again."
"Then just keep insisting. Once you convince Dawn to cooperate with us, you won't have to go to work." Keating gradually understood Verak's character and knew that Verak was a very stubborn person on certain things.
Advise him again.
"He and I don't work in the same area, so we have to wait until tomorrow when we have a break before we can talk." Verak regrets that he can't come into contact with more prisoners at work. He really wants to work in the leather shoe area, but the work there
It was estimated that he could not bear it anymore and would fall down in less than a day. "The workload in the afternoon was much greater than that in the morning. I can kind of feel how they feel."
"Tell me about it."
"They don't have the energy to think so much. When they come back, they just want to fall asleep. How to complete the workload and save three meals are filled in their minds, and there is no room to think about other things... Only those who have been hungry know that in this prison
, which one is cheaper, a meal or some thoughts... The mind and the body are closely connected. If the body is always exhausted, the brain cannot stay awake independently..." Verak expressed his feelings in a mixed manner.
Keating summarized Verak's words: "Life is forcing everyone to focus on the present. If we talk about equality and rights at this time, it will only make them feel that it is not painful to stand and talk, and it will not move them in any way."
"That's what I mean..." Verak finished massaging his legs and moved his waist and hips.
"Then we can only start by fighting for their immediate interests." Keating mused, "But even if Lecter asks us to allow the prisoners to rest for a day or something, he probably won't agree, and this
Treating the symptoms rather than the root cause.”
"It's difficult to get Lecter to agree without only solving a short-term problem." Verak groaned, and the pain in his waist made him frown.
Seeing that Verak was in poor condition, Keating said, "You should rest first and save your energy for contact with Dawn tomorrow. I'll think about what to do."
Verak wanted to discuss it with Keating, but he was so sleepy that he could hardly lift his eyelids, and his mind was blank. It was difficult to concentrate and think of useful things: "Then I will rest first and see if there can be any progress tomorrow."
.”
"Well, good night." Keating said.
Verak lay down.
Although it was still very noisy outside, it didn't affect him at all. Within half a minute of lying down, he fell into a deep sleep.
——
October 8
Early in the morning, the whistle sounded. Verak got up and found that the pain in his legs and waist was stronger than last night. He tried not to show it in front of Keating. After going out to wash up, he was taken to breakfast.
"How's it going? I was so tired yesterday." Ross asked with concern during the meal.
"It's not bad... you have to get used to it." He usually doesn't move much, and standing suddenly for a whole day was unbearable for anyone, not even Verak. "You'll be fine after a week."
"It would be much more comfortable if I could take a hot shower, but unfortunately we only have cold water here, and you haven't recovered from your injury, so you can't take a shower." Ross said nonsense.
After starting work, he consumed a lot of physical energy. It didn't take long for Verak to finish his breakfast. After Ross and several others had eaten, he was taken to work by the prison guards. On the way to the work area, Verak met the batch
Daun came to eat, and he said hello to Daun.
Dawn didn't say anything, just nodded slightly and passed by him.
"By the way, I haven't asked you yet, what did you talk about with Dawn yesterday?" Ross saw Verak greeting Dawn, and then he remembered that Verak went to find Dawn yesterday when they were out for fun.
"I admire him quite a lot, so I just had a casual chat." Verak couldn't elaborate on the specific content with Rose now. After a brief explanation, he arrived at the work area and started working.
Although his body has not yet adapted, Verak has become more and more comfortable with the work he is doing. Ross saw that he did not make many mistakes when operating the machine, so he did not stare at him much. The two of them chatted until nine o'clock.
.
At nine o'clock, Verak was called out by the prison guards for a walk.
The daily rounds were divided into two batches, and the candidates for these two batches were random with no rules at all. Verak was very unlucky and was not assigned to the same group as Ross and Dawn.
Not long after Verak arrived in the square, the prison guard pushed Keating over. He came forward and briefly chatted with Keating for a while, pretending to be Lecter in the dark or his eyeliner, and then went to get to know many people.
Prisoner.
Originally, Verak had been looking forward to contacting Dawn again all morning, but now that he was not assigned to Dawn, he became a little absent-minded, and finally returned to Keating.
"Teacher, what do you think?" Verak asked about the question he put aside yesterday.
"I haven't thought of the specific method yet, but I have some ideas." Keating said, "If we want to fight for their rights, it's best not to fight for the things they clearly need, such as food, such as vacation, these will not work.
.We have to tap into their deepest needs.”
"It makes sense. If we work hard, we might be able to let them have a good meal and take a day off, but no matter what, we can't keep them like this forever. Short-term pleasure can't save them." Verak fell into thinking.
Keating reminded Verak that he had entered into a misunderstanding: "Don't think about the problem with the idea of saving them. If so, it will be meaningless for you to integrate into them and experience them. Turn yourself into them and think about how to save yourself.
, is the real solution.”
"Alas..." Verak put his hands on the handle of the wheelchair and did not push it. He just used the wheelchair to support his tired body, "How can I save myself..."
"This takes time. You've only been working for less than two days, so it's not easy to come up with the answer." Keating knew that Verak was tired and anxious, so he comforted him.
"But we don't have much time..." Verak shook his head slightly.
When the whistle sounded, Verak let go of the handle of his wheelchair and walked towards the exit of the square: "Let's go, teacher."
After finishing his morning work and eating, Verak unexpectedly didn't meet Lecter when he went to the infirmary to change dressings. He returned to the cell for a lunch break. Lecter didn't go to him for routine questioning until before going to bed at night.
.
——
August 9th
Unfortunately, Verak and Ross were together when they were having fun, but Dawn was separated from him.
He couldn't move around at will while working, and his meals were divided into random batches. The time of day when he was most likely to see Dawn was when he was out for a walk, but as if he was being deliberately teased, he never saw Dawn.
The time was decreasing day by day, and Verak felt that he could not delay it any longer. He planned to go out and see Dawn tomorrow, so he asked Lecter to transfer him to the leather shoe production area. He must reach cooperation with Dawn as soon as possible. Only in this way can the escape plan be completed.
Keep pushing forward.
After the outing, Verak went back to work and went to the infirmary after lunch. Lecter was finally here today.
Lecter's questions were very annoying. He actually had a headache on how to report the progress to Lecter every day. He could not tell Lecter anything valuable, but also had to make Lecter feel that he was getting closer to the clues little by little. He was wasting all his time every day.
He didn't have much energy left, but being able to see Lecter every day made him feel relieved, which meant that Adel was not taking any action.
"Why didn't I see you yesterday?" As soon as he walked in, Verak asked about Lecter's situation yesterday.
"Taking care of some personal matters."
"I thought something happened." Verak took off his clothes skillfully and lay on the hospital bed.
"It will be okay. We have met in the infirmary in the past few days." Lecter sat next to Verak and watched the doctor remove the bandages and change Verak's dressing. He felt that he had almost learned it. "Tell me, one day
I haven’t seen any progress.”
"Hmm... not bad, he is very worried about my health." Verak felt sleepy as soon as he lay down and replied casually.
"Is it gone?" Lecter was still not satisfied. He didn't come here specifically to hear Verak say such a simple and vague sentence.
"Don't worry. Looking at Mr. Keating's appearance, I feel more confident." Verak dealt with Lecter roughly.
Lecter was a little dissatisfied with Verak's attitude and stared at the doctor as he finished applying the medicine: "The 12th is getting closer and closer. I hope you can keep your word, otherwise you will know the consequences."
"Don't worry." After taking the medicine, Verak sat on the bed and froze for a while before he woke up from his fatigue.
"Let's go." Lecter left helplessly.
Verak put on his prison uniform and walked towards cell 208 under the escort of the prison guards. When he passed by other prisoners who had just finished eating and were walking back, he suddenly heard several prisoners humming a pleasant song.