Chapter 157: Treat each other honestly and look forward to the future
"Ahem!" Hearing Keating's question, Verak immediately choked on his rice. He put down his lunch box and quickly drank a few sips of water before he regained his composure, "What did you say?"
"Do you want to know the whereabouts of the gold?" Keating said with a gentle voice and a kind face.
Verak smiled and was a little confused about what Keating meant: "You took the initiative to ask this, and it sounds like you are willing to tell me the location. But why? Why do you want to tell me?"
He vaguely had some answers.
Keating did this based on what he did during his time in prison.
He created too many miracles and brought light and hope to the prisoners who were trapped in darkness. Today's key victory in the football match not only allowed the prisoners to wake up from oppression, but also completely moved Keating.
Keating looked directly at the overwhelmed Verak: "I think this period of getting along is a process of us learning from each other. You have learned a lot from me, and I have also learned things from you that I have never felt before.
.I have kept this secret for two years, and I think it is time for the second person to know it. You can regard it as a kind of trust, a reward for your willingness to take me away from here, or you can regard it as me alone.
I have been under pressure for too long, I hope someone can share some of it."
"Aren't you afraid that I will spend money?" Verak said with a smile.
"This money has no ownership since Ravel's death. If you can really leave here one day, then of course you can use it as you like." Keating knew that Verac was joking, but still replied seriously, "Otherwise,
What’s the use of having more money that you can’t spend?”
Verak kept a stiff smile. He never thought that one day Keating would take the initiative to tell him the location of the gold. He also had no intention of actually prying clues out of Keating, so he didn't know what to do now: "
I...I am honored, not because of the money, but because this should be a complete and heart-to-heart for you."
"Yes, apart from that, I have nothing to hide from you anymore," Keating said.
"Actually, I don't think you need to repay me. Without your cooperation, the escape plan would not have made any progress. So in the final analysis, it is me who should repay you. It's a pity that I don't have anything to offer. I can only
Try your best to try your best to escape from prison." Verak said sincerely, "In addition, I also hide something from you. I... have a big secret, but I think there is no point in bringing it up... More secrets may be because
I am inexplicably reluctant to mention it and very resistant."
After careful consideration, Verak decided to open his heart to Keating when he was willing to be unreserved with him.
"It seems we have something to talk about tonight." Keating glanced outside the cell, lowered his voice, and easily told the secret that countless people wanted to know, "The gold is indeed in Dunman's capital, Old South York."
, but not in a remote area, but placed in the cellar of Quinn’s Tavern on Mainline Street in the city center.”
"Would it be too conspicuous?" Verak thought it would not be a wise move to transport such a large amount of gold and hide it in a crowded place in the city center.
Keating understood Verak's thinking: "Everyone thought so, gold is safe. At that time, we secretly transported the gold to the wine cellar through wine barrels, because Quinn's Tavern openly communicated with me and Ravel.
It has nothing to do with it, and we were very careful when transporting it, so it was never discovered."
"You actually opened the Quinn's Tavern?" Verak asked.
"I opened it with Ravel decades ago. The purpose was to give him a place that felt like home when he came to Old South York as a guest, and also to use this tavern to earn money for my travels around the world when I was young.
"Later, I wanted to move to Lezein to assist Ravel in governing, so I handed the tavern to another friend." Keating told what happened when he was young, "I never expected that as soon as I went to Lezeine, I would be there again."
We never went back and gradually lost contact with that friend. It wasn’t until Ravel’s regime was about to be overthrown and we were considering where to safely transport the gold that we thought of him.”
"There has been no contact for decades. Is there any danger in entrusting gold to him?" Verak was worried that time and money would change Keating's friends just like they changed Dempsey.
Keating nodded: "Ravel is very worried about this. He only plans to use this tavern as a transit point and wait for him to be safe before taking the gold back to him, so he specially sent me to keep an eye on it to avoid any accidents. But.
Before I could get over, I was caught here."
"That is to say, you don't know what is happening to the gold now? It may still be in the wine cellar, or it may have been appropriated by your friend from decades ago," Verak said.
"Yes." Keating did not deny.
"I hope your friend keeps his promise." Verak looked at it from the perspective of Keating's friend. Keating was imprisoned in Dymans Prison with no hope of leaving in his life. He would undoubtedly be thinking about the gold in the cellar.
.
Keating pursed his lips and gave a helpless smile, and then said: "Don't you think it's ridiculous? Even I can't ensure that the gold is safe. This is one of the reasons why I have never redeemed my freedom by telling the whereabouts of the gold.
, if the gold had been misappropriated long ago, I would have nothing to rely on."
"What's so funny about this." Verak shook his head and said sincerely, "Whenever you have the opportunity, you can't just sit back and watch the situation evolve into this. Moreover, your friends may not necessarily be interested in gold, and they may not return it.
Waiting for your return."
"Well." Keating didn't think too much about this matter. He had thought about it too much in the past two years. "This is my business. Tell me your secret."
Verak couldn't help but take a deep breath, organize his words, and prepare to tell Keating his experience from beginning to end.
He only told two people about this unexplainable matter of being reborn. One was his close friend Nord, and the other was Boyin, who regarded him as a close friend. The final result of telling him twice was unpleasant, after all, it was for others.
Concealment and deception made Verac slightly worried that Keating would be as angry as Nord and Boyne.
"I...is actually not Thomas Chris. My real name is Most Verak. I come from the border town of Bressey and the slums of Tswold." He said the most difficult beginning,
Verak was relieved, "I used to be a steelworker, and then I became a photographer by chance. A few months ago, on July 15th, because of my appearance, the Thomas family from Lezein found me.
He took me and two friends who were drinking with me to Lezein overnight, and used them to pretend to be Thomas Chris who was brutally murdered while participating in the anti-government movement."
Verak spoke slowly.
Keating's eyes widened.
He had a feeling that Verak was hiding a huge secret, but he didn't expect it to be so big, so big that it would subvert his cognition.
"I know that I am just a tool of the Thomas family, a tool to prevent them from being suspected by the government and being affected. So I have not been willing to obey their orders. I am secretly saving money, and I am always ready to escape from Lezein and start a new life.
..." Verak spent two hours talking about the first time he deceived Colin.
At the end of the story, Colin died because of him. He was finally infected by the Equality Society and "The Theory of Equality". By sacrificing himself, he helped Boyin escape from the government security department building. "After Boyin left, the members of the Brexi Security Department
The person in charge of the intelligence organization 'Reef' quickly discovered something was wrong and sent me here the next day."
"Oh my God..." Keating shook his head slightly, unable to believe that such a tortuous thing happened to Verak before he was imprisoned in Dymans Prison.
"I don't want to mention this, I just don't want to face it." After speaking, Verak breathed a long sigh of relief and leaned against the wall, feeling a little depressed. "I don't know if it's too late for me to wake up now. I don't know.
If I leave here one day and return to Lezein, will they accept me?"
Keating was still speechless, digesting the huge amount of information bit by bit.
In his opinion, Verak has experienced more things in just over three months than an ordinary person would in a lifetime.
These things have honed the once confused photographer in the slums into an outstanding leader. From standing in Chris's shadow to profit, to becoming Chris with regrets, achieving his own success is simply a miracle.
"Like a story," Keating said of Verak's Secret.
"Indeed. Sometimes when I think about it, I feel like it was a dream. I don't understand how this kind of thing could happen to me, and how I managed to change so many people and so many things." Verak himself was not shocked at all.
No less than others.
"Are you worried that you won't be able to reintegrate into Equality with your true identity? After all, you deceived them, stole their money, and killed Boyin's good friend Colin." Verak's secret had too much impact.
Powerful, Keating's heart could not be calm for a long time.
Verak was silent for a few seconds and nodded to Keating: "They must hate me very much. I pretended to be the president of the Equality Society at that time, and I prioritized myself in every decision I made."
"I don't think so. You obviously had many opportunities to leave, but you didn't do it. You said you only woke up because of Colin's death, but I don't think this happened overnight. Your transformation has already begun. Since you advocated
The Equality Society should be armed, since you secured nearly 10 million gold grams for them.
Huge amounts of money, since equality will face a crisis, when you gave up the best opportunity to stabilize people's hearts and left Lezein, you have already integrated into them. The last step to complete the integration is for you to be honest with Boyin and explain your truth.
identity, and helped him regain his freedom at the expense of himself in order to express repentance.”
Verak has been troubled by this matter for a long time.
He was extremely looking forward to leaving here, working openly and openly with the people in the Pingding Association to open up a new world. But he was extremely afraid, afraid that he would not be recognized by them when he returned.
"They may be like you think, after you go back, they will resist everything about you and not allow you to become a member of the Equality Society." Keating said, "But you can't feel that your ideals are in vain because of this. They
Your recognition is very important, but it has nothing to do with your ideals. Even if they don’t treat you as one of their own, you can still fight side by side with them silently like you did in prison.”
"I really want to... become friends with them in the truest form." Verak smiled sadly, "I really want to think that equality will consider it and give them advice."
"Then leaving prison is just the first hardship you face. After you cross this mountain, there will be other troubles for you later." Keating wanted to pat Verak on the shoulder and give him some encouragement, but they were far away from each other.
A bit far, "The advice I can give you is to continue to be honest with each other. Everything about you will be seen by them. If they are really pursuing that world of equality, freedom, and tolerance, they will not give up on you."
"
Verak adjusted his mood. No matter what, he would leave the prison and face the people of the Equality Society again: "I will, teacher."
"Although I don't know what will happen after I leave, I have no doubt that you will do what you want to do." Keating pointed at Verak's heart, "With your belief and your persistence."
Verak, who felt his heart beating vigorously, smiled knowingly.
As long as he is alive, there is still hope for everything.
"It's getting late, let's rest." It was already late at night after sharing the secrets with each other. Keating urged Verak, who had spent a lot of energy today and had a lot of injuries, to rest. "We still don't know what will happen tomorrow. We have to
Keep your spirits up and be prepared.”
"Yeah." Verak lay down.
The lights in the cell had long been turned off, and the snoring sounds from other cells could be heard all around.
After Verak and Keating lay down, they tacitly agreed not to close their eyes. They looked at the ceiling in the darkness, as if they could see the brilliant starry sky through the ceiling.
"Teacher? Are you asleep?"
"No, what's wrong?"
"Have you ever thought about what it will be like the day we leave here?" Verak's eyes were bright and he looked forward to that day with a smile. "I think it will be a good day. We took over the prison from the prison guards."
The gun passed through one iron gate after another, getting farther and farther away from the prison and getting closer and closer to the outside..."
Keating followed: "I've seen enough of this ghost place. When the time comes, I will definitely escape from the island all the way without looking back. On the sea, we can choose where to go next, or go to Lezein first to meet with the Equality Society.
People. Either go to the Old South Testament and receive the gold."
Verak put his arms behind his head: "The Equality Association is still more important. The gold has been there for two years anyway, so it's not enough for a few days."
"Well, let's go to Lezein first," Keating said.
"When we leave, the gold is gone, and Lecter will definitely burst into tears." Verak couldn't help but chuckle when he thought of Lecter's funny appearance.
Keating laughed too.
A burst of laughter came from the two men in the prison cell.