Although the blockade in Lezein is tight, it cannot cover every area. Therefore, it is not difficult for Verak and Keating to leave Lezein. What really causes trouble for them is the large and small roads outside the city.
Government troops conducted investigations, which forced them to deviate from the main road and take remote, rugged, unnoticed paths away from the investigation circle.
In mid-January, it was a day when the temperature in the northern part of the Republic of Brescia dropped significantly. In a forest, both of them were covered in thick coats. Verak was carrying a box in each hand, and Keating was leading the way.
"It's much better to go to the Old South. The winter there is not as cold as Lezein." Keating said with a white breath.
"This is my first time to go to another country." Verak followed behind, a little out of breath.
"How are you doing with Dunman?" Keating asked.
Verak never relaxed in prison. After he was released, he had to put his studies on hold because he was too busy. The more widely used Dunman language was also taught unexpectedly this week: "I think it's okay. Do you want to test me?"
"Okay, let's chat in Dunman next." Keating immediately switched to Dunman.
"Okay." A smile broke out on Verak's frozen face.
…
On the afternoon of January 12, the two arrived near the city of Kip, a day's drive from Lezein.
On the surface, there were no government inspectors here, and everything was as before, but Verak and Keating both felt uneasy. To be on the safe side, they chose to bypass Kip City and spent two days heading to Tuang, which is further away.
city, took the train all the way south, and after several transfers, arrived at Oral Bay, the port of the coastal city of Puxiga, on the 17th.
The port is crowded with people boarding ships to travel to various parts of the world, and there is an endless stream of people disembarking and returning to their hometowns. Large or small passenger ships, cargo ships, and fishing boats cover the sea surface, which is very spectacular.
"Teacher, vote."
After Verak bought the boat ticket, he returned to Keating who was waiting for him.
Keating took a ticket, faced the sea breeze, smiled and said: "The last time I saw this sea was when we escaped from death."
"Yes." Verak lifted the suitcase on the ground and looked at the sea as well, "I heard that the government spent more than two months and captured three to four hundred people..."
"That's quite a lot." Keating also learned about Dawn's sacrifice in the interrogation room and sighed slowly, "In such a big place, there is almost no chance of seeing more than two thousand people once they leave.
The government was able to capture one-sixth of the total in two months, which was beyond my expectation."
"Well... the boat won't leave until five o'clock. It's still early. Let's find a place to rest for a while." The weather is already cold, and the sea breeze blows, making people feel like a knife has been scratched on their face. Verak himself
They all couldn't stand it anymore.
Keating had no objection: "Let's go."
There are many pubs, hotels and other places near the pier that mainly serve crew members. Verak and Keating didn't want to drink, so they chose a hotel to rest temporarily.
After waiting for the boarding time, the two successfully boarded the ship using their false identities.
The ship they were on was called the Virginia, and it only went to the area between Bressey and Dunman. Then they had to take another ship to get to the Old South.
The total journey takes about eight days.
Verak had never been on a ship for such a long time. He was so tired that he vomited after being on the ship for so long. In the last few days, he got used to it and recovered a lot of energy.
January 25th, morning.
The transferred Mauretania slowly sailed into the port of the Old South.
Many ship passengers gathered on the deck, looking at the city where it had just snowed, and looking at a city of snow-white buildings of different heights in the distance, they burst into cheers.
The cheers were, firstly, to celebrate their safe arrival, and secondly, they meant that they were about to start a new life.
After all, the civil war in Dunman has just ended, and it is much worse than other stable countries. Most of the people who are willing to come all the way here are forced to do so.
Verak and Keating were also among the cheering crowd working overtime.
Seeing a huge city gradually filling his sight, Verak couldn't help but feel a little excited amidst the cheers: "Teacher, that is the Old South Testament."
In the past twenty years, Keating, who had only returned once when he was transporting gold two years ago, nodded. His hometown was reflected in his deep eyes and long memory: "Yes, the Old South Testament."
"We are finally here." After spending half a month traveling through mountains and rivers, we finally arrived in the capital of another country. Verak was in a happy mood and couldn't wait.
"Don't think too much about this place. If it was really good, I wouldn't have not been back for decades." Keating noticed that Verak was excited about new things and reminded him in particular.
"But your memories of this city are from decades ago, and decades are enough for a city to undergo earth-shaking changes."
"When I came back two years ago, it was still the same."
"But things are different now. It has ended a civil war that resolved huge contradictions. The energy should be shifted from internal friction to common development."
"perhaps."
During the conversation, the Mauretania docked, the gangway was lowered, and the passengers who had been drifting at sea for many days began to disembark.
"Welcome to Dunman, the long and arduous journey is over!"
At the port, the Dunman people shouted loudly to the people on the ship.
"Quite enthusiastic." Verak wanted to wave to the Dunman man wearing a black coat and a tall hat.
"Illusion." Keating shook his head slightly, and squeezed into the gangway with Verak, and followed the flow of people into the noisy and chaotic land. "This place is very complicated, ten thousand times more complicated than Lezein. We met a long time ago.
Neighboring Mongolia, Sider has begun to continuously influx refugees here, occupying too many public resources and job opportunities that should be enjoyed by local people, which makes them very xenophobic."
"Then will we be in trouble?" Verak looked around and found that, as Keating said, there were everyone.
Keating laughed: "But there are thousands of accents among the locals alone, and we are all confused."
"The more chaos, the better for us, otherwise the order here is too good and we won't have any suitable opportunities." After getting off the gangway, Verak followed Keating, switching back and forth between Brexi and Dunman.
"Not necessarily." Keating couldn't go to this place in a nutshell. "There are a bunch of gangs here, big and small. Local, foreign, and countless. When I was young, this place was
Fights between gangs often break out, and their decisive battles are very simple and simple. Hundreds of people fight with swords, guns and sticks, and it will not end until one party falls first and everyone is dead."
"This..." Verak felt a little different.
When he lived in the slums, he had never seen such a chaotic and bloody scene, and listening to Keating's tone, he seemed not to be surprised.
"At that time, large areas of the street were covered with bloodstains, and the speed of cleaning up could not even match the speed of fresh blood being sprinkled on it. And there was no fear of death here. A group of people were dragged away today, and new ones would arrive tomorrow.
He tried to gain a foothold and compete with other gangs for meat." Keating's decision to leave his hometown and travel around the world was not just because he liked to move around. This decision also had something to do with the chaos and disorder in the Old South.
"It should be better now." Verak could hardly imagine that the capital of a country would look like this. It was far different from Lezein.
"Who knows?" Keating laughed, "Even if the result is not very good, accepting Ravel's invitation to go to Lezein without hesitation was still the wisest choice I made."
For a place that makes Keating so annoying and wants to leave all the time, there must be many unbearable places.
Verak's gaze on the Old South Testament changed again and again: "Then let's go there first and have a look? And then live near there?"
"Um."
Two years ago, Keating hid the gold in the cellar of Quinn's Tavern on Mainline Street in downtown Old South York.
This is a dangerous and safe place.
Keating and Ravel only used this place as a transit station at the time, but they never imagined that the gold would last for two years.
"I hope your friend will keep his promise." Verak braced himself to be alert to pedestrians around him to avoid inadvertently having something stolen.
"It's been two years, and I don't know how he's doing... I hope he will keep his things." Keating originally had some confidence in his old friend, but he became lost after he was arrested two years ago.
There is no news. If my old friend thinks that he is dead and there is no need to save the things and opens it, then I am afraid that there will be a bloody storm in the Old South and they will return empty-handed."
Quinn's Tavern was opened by him and Ravel together. The earliest purpose was for Ravel to have a secret place to stay when he came to Old South York, and for Keating to earn funds for traveling around the world. Later he went to Buenos Aires.
After Lisi assisted Ravel in power, he entrusted the tavern to an old friend to take care of it for more than 20 years.
When he came back with the gold secret two years ago, he was not sure whether his old friend would have any evil thoughts after seeing the gold, so he wrapped the barrel with iron sheets, sealed the gold tightly, and claimed that it was something important.
, only for one week.
Although those who were interested in this move knew that there must be something important hidden in it at a glance, the time was tight and the situation was serious, and they had no other way to make the plan more secure.
Fortunately, the old friend was grateful that Keating had not asked him for a penny of the income of Quinn's Tavern in the past decades, which saved his family from dire straits, so at least on the surface he had no objection at all, nor did he express any objection to the barrel.
The things inside aroused undue curiosity. Late at night, both parties stored the things in the wine cellar without anyone noticing.
"Let's go, the result will eventually be revealed." Keating patted Verak on the shoulder and took a suitcase from his hand to reduce his burden.
That's gold worth 200 million gold grams.
If there had never been any contact, Verak's heart would naturally not have any fluctuations, but everything seemed to be close at hand and within easy reach, enough to allow equality to develop to unimaginable heights.
It was a little hard for him to let go.
I don't even know how I would explain the situation to those who believed in him in Lezeinli if the gold was gone, monopolized by Keating's old friends, or discovered and divided up by other forces.
"Relax." It could be seen that Verak was deeply worried about the whereabouts of the gold, and Keating patted him on the shoulder again.
Verak knew that the most important thing about gold now was fortune-telling, so he tried hard to adjust his mentality: "I believe in your judgment of people."
After leaving the port, the two of them took a carriage and headed straight to Mantelin Street.
Verak sat in the carriage and looked around, taking in the layout of the city in the Old South.
Compared with Lezeine, this place is too dirty and messy, and the buildings are not as grand and tall as Lezeine. Rather than being a capital, it is better to describe this place that accommodates many nationalities and has a complicated internal situation as a huge
furnace.
"It hasn't changed much from before." Keating sighed.
In the past few decades, Tun Man has been slowed down by internal conflicts. He sincerely hopes that his country can enter a period of rapid development after this civil war.
This country has huge potential.
He believes that as long as this country is given another ten or twenty years, it will grow into a great country that can compete with any powerful country today.
Half an hour later, they arrived at Mainline Street.
To be on the safe side, we did not go directly to Quinn's Tavern, but booked a room at a nearby hotel where we could observe the entrance. Through observation, we first confirmed that Quinn's Tavern was still in operation.
This is hazy good news.
This at least shows that Quinn's Tavern has not been renovated in the past two years. Without renovation, the contents of the wine cellar should not be easily discovered.
If it were renovated and Quinn's Tavern turned into another restaurant, there would be a 99% chance that the gold would have been divided up long ago.
"What if your friends siphoned off the gold and pretended to be running the tavern in order not to be coveted by others? Then your visit will definitely alarm them. You haven't been back for so long, and I am new here. If they want to use
I'm afraid we can use some means to solve our problem.
We can't resist it." Verak and Keating stood at the window, looking at the door of Quinn's Tavern across the street where people came and went from time to time. "So you stay here for now while I go over to inquire about the situation. Once I have a preliminary understanding,
Let’s make plans again.”
"Be careful." Keating was more cautious than Verak, and he was prepared to make arrangements like this without Verak's mention.
"Don't worry." Verak prepared a pistol and a magazine full of bullets. "If there is an emergency, you should leave first. I will find a way to get out of danger."
Keating nodded slowly: "Be sure to pay attention to safety and don't cause unnecessary trouble. All you need to do this time is to quietly check whether the pub is opened by my old friend. Knowing this result, many things will be solved.
It’s clear.”
"Understood, I'm going." Verak put the gun in his waist, covered it with his coat, grabbed a hat and put it on his head, left the hotel and walked straight towards Quinn's Tavern diagonally opposite.