Verak and Keating walked until late at night before moving from the small pier of Oral Bay to another town twenty kilometers away. They also passed some other escaped prisoners one after another, but because basically all of them had already figured out a way
After changing their clothes, and the news of the escape from Damans Prison had not yet spread, the residents of the town did not have any doubts about them.
But even so, the two of them did not dare to completely relax. After buying some food and asking for water, they endured their fatigue and walked two kilometers. When they arrived at a secluded place, they picked a piece that could withstand a lot of wind and cold.
He took turns sleeping in the low-lying area for a few hours before continuing towards Lezein.
Rushing to Lezein from their location, if you take a train, you can get there in two days. However, trains and passenger ships can help prisoners spread to all parts of the country and even the world in the most convenient and fastest way. The government
We will definitely arrange for personnel to focus on inspections.
In addition, Verak did not dare to easily determine what impact his escape would have on the peace talks between the Equality Association and the government. He and Keating speculated that the most likely possibility for the government was to block the news of the escape of all prisoners from Damans Prison in order to stabilize the Equality Association.
Promote peace talks. A small number of people may flee, accelerating the collapse of government peace talks.
In order to avoid the danger of traveling and the collapse of the peace talks of the Equality Society, Verak and Keating adopted the safest and foolproof method, which was to try their best to avoid contact with the government and use other less noticeable traveling methods to reach Lezein as soon as possible, and
Escape on your own to minimize the negative impact on the Equality Society.
November 15th
After three days of driving, Verak and his companions walked and hitchhiked, completing almost one-fifth of the distance and arriving in Jose County, Republic of Brescia. Verak once worked in Tswold City, Jose County.
He had lived there for almost twenty years, and now that he had reached his territory, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and decided to take a good rest before rushing the last mile to Lezein to find people from the Equality Association.
That night, they checked into a hotel for the first time in three days. Although this was an extremely cheap hotel with poor environment and facilities that could be called a qualified hotel, the living conditions were in no way better than a prison or better than theirs.
It’s better to sleep in the open air when traveling these days.
"There are still nine silver grams, which is enough." In order to save money, Verak lived in a house with Keating. When Keating lay down to rest, he counted the remaining money.
"I remember you said that the place you used to live was near here?" Keating, who was lying on the bed, massaging his legs, knew that this was Joseph County and asked about Verak's plan.
Verak put Jiu Yinke away and went to the dirty bathroom to wash up: "Yes."
"Wouldn't you like to go back and have a look?" Keating asked.
"No, going to Tswold City is not a side trip with us. The detour will delay us for at least a day or two. Moreover, my friend is either dead or has gone to live in Monrego. There is nothing to go back to there.
That's it." Turning on the faucet, Verak flushed his face and explained the situation, "In a sense, I have no home, no destination, and the only place I should go to is Lezein."
"Okay... let's go to bed early and continue our journey tomorrow morning." After learning about Verak's feelings for Tswold City, Keating said nothing more and closed his eyes to rest.
Verak felt a little sorry for Keating. Now his feet were blistered and his legs were weak. Not to mention that the intensity of traveling was a great test for the elderly Keating.
What touched him even more was that Keating and he had compressed their rest time and traveled frantically for three days, but never once took a break.
This behavior of not wanting to hold him back became a spur to him.
"You have a good rest, it won't be too late for us to set off again at noon tomorrow." After entering Joseph County, on the one hand, he was far away from Dymans Prison, and on the other hand, he was close to the capital Lezein. Verak's uneasiness eased a lot, and he decided to proceed appropriately.
Have a good rest, "Now we are basically out of the danger zone. We can take the train in a few days' journey. If we arrive early, we will arrive in Lezein in five or six days, and if we arrive later, we will arrive in seven or eight days. Anyway, there is no problem in catching up with their meeting."
of."
Keating didn't reply, and Verak went to bed after washing.
Early the next morning, Keating took the initiative to wake up Verak.
"What's wrong, teacher..." Verak thought someone from the government was chasing him, so he sat up on the ground and tried to put on his shoes.
"On our way." Keating had prepared a simple breakfast at some point and sat there eating it quickly.
"You scared me." Verak breathed a sigh of relief, threw his shoes aside and lay down again, "I told you last night, but you probably didn't hear it. There is basically no danger now, let's rush together
We have been on the road for three days, so we can rest for a while and start again at 12 noon."
Keating rejected Verak's enthusiastic invitation: "Let's go quickly."
"teacher……"
"Come over for dinner."
Verak thought about how to persuade Keating not to work so hard: "You..."
"I know you are worried about my health." Keating swallowed the food in his mouth and said, "It doesn't matter, my body can handle it. The most important thing right now is that you return to Lezein as soon as possible and contact the Equality Association.
Keep them safe."
Keating once again set an example, so Verak had no choice but to put on his shoes, have breakfast with Keating, and set off on the road to Lezein early in the morning.
Without daring to relax at all and avoiding possible government surveillance, Verak and Keating traveled for another five days, then took a train to Kip City, where they finally spent another day.
We arrived in Lezein in the early morning of November 23rd.
Because the World Expo is being held, Leize has tightened access control, and everyone entering and exiting the city needs to register and verify their identity.
Verak and Keating, who finally returned, were unable to enter through the main roads controlled by the government, so they had to re-disguise themselves before arriving and sneak into the northern district of Lezein City.
When entering the North District, Verak was too sensitive and always felt that someone was following them. Fortunately, there was no accident.
"I'm back." Verak looked at the buildings and streets. He didn't feel excited, but felt a little different.
After just being away for more than two months, he felt that the city had changed. He couldn't tell exactly where it had changed. It felt strange everywhere, and was full of invisible thorns that would repel people thousands of miles away.
"Are you sure?" Keating asked as they walked on the deserted street.
While taking Keating's impression and rushing to the nearest Equality site, Verak was worried that the Equality people would transfer all the personnel because they were worried that he would reveal all his secrets in prison: "No, but I wish I had done it before.
They haven't deprecated the sites they know about."
He had considered the issue of the Ping An Association's site transfer early on. Unfortunately, if the Ping An Association really didn't trust him that much, he had no choice but to find other ways to contact them.
In the northern district of Lezein City, Verak and Keating walked for more than an hour on a cold winter night, and finally arrived at a site that he had prepared when he was the president of the Equality Society. Unfortunately, the Equality Society no longer exists here.
There was no trace of them. They really moved the location as Verak guessed the worst possibility.
"Hmm..." Verak was a little at a loss. He searched repeatedly in the abandoned warehouse for a while, but couldn't find anything valuable.
"We have no money, right?" Keating sat on an empty wooden box in the warehouse.
Verak nodded shamefully. Their money had just been spent at noon yesterday. It was Laizein who came all the way from Kip City hungry.
"It's too cold outside, let's rest here for the night." Keating didn't complain, shuddered, and piled several wooden boxes together to form a simple, bone-breaking 'bed'.
In order to avoid getting dirty clothes, he also spread a large number of newspapers on the wooden box that they bought to learn about Lezein, the international situation, and fill in the gaps lost in the prison.
"I have to think about how to find them." Verak had no intention of resting. He stood in front of the abandoned warehouse door, listening to the cold wind outside, racking his brains to think of any other ways to contact the Pingding Association.
.
Although the Equality Association and the government have reached a peace negotiation, in fact, their positions are far from equal. Except for the personnel who were dispatched to negotiate specifically, other Equality Association members are still hiding in the dark.
In such an international metropolis, it was not easy for the two of them to find people who could not even find government officials under many constraints.
"Don't worry, you will find it eventually." Keating comforted.
"Hmm..." Verak responded with difficulty, holding one hand on the door frame, feeling slightly uncomfortable.
Turns out this is what it feels like to be abandoned.
He once abandoned the Equality Society for one million gold grams, and now the Equality Society treats him the same way.
"Huh..." Verak had no complaints about this, he just hoped that he could see them again and make up for everything.
"Let's rest." Keating could see from Verak's figure that he was a little disappointed, which was not difficult to understand. After all, Verak had been worried about whether Equality would accept him before, and now he learned that Equality would abandon him.
The fear became stronger.
Verak symbolically closed the broken door of the warehouse, turned to look at Keating, who had prepared two beds for him to sleep on when he was feeling uncomfortable: "I will find a way to find them again tomorrow.
"
"We'll talk tomorrow, there's no rush." Keating didn't rush Verak.
Verak has had this concern for a long time, but he never thought that he would go there to find them after Equality moved to another location. Keating didn't think he would be able to find them tomorrow, so it would be better not to put pressure on him.
"This matter can't be delayed. We are now penniless. If we don't join the Equality Society, there are only three possibilities: we will be arrested by the government, or we will freeze to death or starve to death." The weather is too cold, and the dilapidated warehouse cannot be repaired.
To withstand too much cold wind, Verak was just about to wrap up his clothes, but suddenly thought of something, so he took off his coat and put it on Keating's hand.
"What are you doing..." Keating sat up and was about to return the clothes to Verak.
Verak lay back on his simple bed and stretched out pretending to be relaxed: "I don't like to sleep wrapped in clothes, so you can wrap them up."
Keating wanted to say something, but no sound came out. He sighed and lay down again.
Where should we go tomorrow?
Not knowing what to do when he woke up, Verak curled up, his body trembling slightly.
After more than two months, he returned here after going through many hardships and hardships, but it seems that everything has just begun.
How to find the Equality Society, how to break their stereotypes about themselves, how to break away from Chris's shadow, break away from the despicable past self and integrate into it?
Verak had ten thousand questions in his mind, but not ten thousand answers.
"You actually know what to do next, you're just too shy to face them." When Verak was sleepless and troubled by complicated thoughts, Keating on the side said, "It's nothing, you have to face it.
Since it is something that cannot be avoided, rather than cowering and wasting time, it is better to face it swiftly and swiftly."
"...No matter what, this matter needs a result." Verak turned his back to Keating and shrank into a ball, "Don't worry, I won't worry too much."
"That's good, go to sleep." Keating seemed to have really fallen asleep this time.
Verak still kept his eyes open in the dark, dark warehouse.
Early morning of November 23rd
After running around for a day, Verak, who was extremely tired, heard some noises and turned from a sound sleep into a half-asleep and half-awake state. He was not sure whether the sound came from Keating, because he was too tired to open his heavy eyes.
It was just after I became more awake that I found some thoughts and kept paying attention.
Gradually, the sound came closer and closer, seeming to be mixed with footsteps and whispered conversations, approaching the warehouse.
Verak frowned, and opened his eyes suddenly the next second. He stood up and patted Keating awake, then crept down to the warehouse door and looked out.
Just when he looked outside, several figures came over to block the light in the hole in the warehouse, and one of them said: "They are right here."
"Teacher! Run!" Upon hearing this, Verak immediately confirmed that they had been discovered. He blocked the broken door with his body and told Keating to leave quickly.
Keating reacted very quickly. When Verak got off the ground, he started to look around. After he was sure that something was wrong, he also set his sights on the broken window on the other side of the warehouse.
Several people outside the warehouse began to knock on the door, holding it against the door and waiting for Verak to urge: "Quick!"
"Follow me!" Keating ran to the window.
Verak knew that he could not withstand a few people at all. When Keating ran towards the window, he found the right opportunity and ran over.
"Verak!"
Just as the two of them climbed over the window one after another and tried to escape from the warehouse, a familiar call came from behind Verak.