After the restrained venting, Verak raised his head, still as determined as ever: "Let's continue talking about business, teacher, how long will it take for your funds, manpower, and channels to be ready?"
"About a week."
"One week..." Verak calculated the progress on his side. One week is enough time for the three gangs to meet again and finalize the details of the plan. "I don't care if I can change their plan within a week. Things
It will all be settled."
"Then we will take formal action in a week and go to Quinn's Tavern to talk to Xin and the others about the purchase," Keating said.
Verak had no objection. Everything they should prepare would be ready by then. There was no need to wait any longer: "Have you been keeping an eye on them during this time?"
Keating did not nod or shake his head: "I have been busy contacting the Richey Federation branch these days, so I didn't pay much attention to Quinn's Tavern. But at least during the time I stared at it, I didn't find anything about Xin.
action."
"Then did you encounter any trouble here?" After the important information was exchanged, Verak then bothered to ask about Keating's personal situation. He was worried that the elderly Keating would not be able to cope with so many things.
"No trouble, everything goes well, don't worry about me." Keating couldn't hide his tiredness in his eyes, but he still smiled to reassure Verak.
"I'm sorry, teacher." Verak then noticed Keating's bloodshot eyes and his exhaustion that could not be concealed, "I bother you so late. The matter is not particularly urgent. It would be perfectly fine tomorrow morning.
of……"
"What are you talking about? You are so polite to me." Keating filled the cup in front of Verak with hot water again, "I'm not happy that you have to wait until tomorrow for such an important matter."
Verak smiled and said apologetically: "But regardless of whether I disturb you or not, I still have to come to see you in a week, around February 78th, late at night."
"Any time is fine. You have to be careful and can't come here in broad daylight. I understand that." Keating said, "I think my side will be basically ready on February 78th. It's just the right time for you to come.
"
"Well." Verak drank up the hot water that Keating poured for him, "By the way, I said I wanted to find something about Equality, The Internationale, and Women's Manifesto. You might as well get one from us."
"I'll get it for you." Keating went to the side to open the suitcase and took out the "Equality", "Internationale" and "Women's Manifesto" they brought. "If Munro asks you where you found it,
, how do you answer?”
Verak put the book away: "Don't worry, just find any reason."
"There really is no one who can speak better than you in this regard."
"Haha..." Verak opened his mouth and smiled heartily.
"Be careful when you go back," Keating warned as he looked at Verak and smiled.
"Same for you." Verak told Keating after laughing.
——
When he returned to the hotel where he lived, it was already three o'clock in the morning. Verak put the book on the table, washed briefly, then went to bed, and slept until noon the next day.
A full day has passed since Monroe began to clean up the Sea Rat Gang.
Verak didn't know if he had solved all the miscellaneous things during this period. Anyway, he had solved them, so he didn't stay in the city for much longer. He had lunch and rushed back to Manchester City.
"Verak? Found it so quickly?" In Mink's Tavern, Monroe warmly greeted Verak, who had been away for the day, to sit down.
"Well, it's not as hard to find as you think. You can get it as long as you have enough money." Verak put "On Equality", "The Internationale", and "Women's Manifesto" on the wine table, "These are the three books."
"Where did you find it?" Monroe picked up "Equality" and flipped through it.
Verak observed the changes around him: "Bookstore."
"Bookstore? Bookstores don't dare to sell this, right?" Monroe knew more or less what was inside.
"But they have channels." Verak pointed to the book, "This cost two thousand pounds."
"So expensive?" Munro glanced at "Equality" casually, then picked up "Manifesto of Women" to read, and finally picked up the most frivolous and concise "Internationale".
After he looked around, Verak asked expectantly: "How is it?"
"This theory of equality is too complicated and I can't understand it. This women's manifesto is ridiculous and it mentions some irrelevant things... The Internationale is a bit interesting, full of emotions, and its meaning is very clear. It's the same as mine, we must be firm.
Struggle." Monroe commented one by one on these subversive works that are crucial to guiding the new world, "This... is of no use, I will definitely fight."
"Crack."
Monroe threw the book back on the table.
"Have you finished reading this?" Verak was stunned.
"Yeah." Monroe held a cigarette in his mouth and moved his neck while holding a wine glass.
Verak looked at the books on the table whose value had not been seen by Monroe at all: "You didn't look carefully."
"I've looked at it very carefully. If you hadn't said that this thing cost two thousand pounds, I wouldn't have taken it seriously at all."
"Didn't you say that you want equality? These things will give you the answer." Verak didn't understand the equality that Monroe said, what equality he was pursuing, how could people who truly pursue equality not see this?
The charm and value of something.
"I want equality. Isn't what we are suffering in Dunman now just inequality? Isn't it just oppression? So we have to fight and let the government stop oppressing us. The whole story is that simple, right?
"Monroe shrugged, "You're a little weird today. You're so focused on these books that you don't even ask about the situation in the gang. This doesn't fit with your style of doing things."
Verak, frustrated with Monroe, did not argue.
At first, he thought that Monroe was the same kind of person as them, and that books such as "On Equality" would help him awaken, deepen his understanding of equality, and then know how to change it.
But he was wrong. Monroe's so-called equality was one-sided, subjective, and closed-minded. He only asked others to treat him equally, and never thought about whether he also needed to treat others equally.
Rather than saying that he is fighting against the Tun Man government to pursue equality, it is better to say that he is safeguarding his own privileges.
This is just a battle between vested interests.
"Do you still need to ask? Seeing how you look so content and unhurried, everything must have been settled." Verak covered up his disappointment, "One day is enough for you to be clean and tidy."
"It's not bad. I got rid of a group of people and promoted a group of people." Monroe said.
Verak nodded and said: "I was observing when I came in, but I'm not very familiar with them either. Who likes to walk around and who likes to rise."
"The resentment is not small, haha." Monroe thought that Verak was dissatisfied with him for not promoting him, "I see your abilities, but I have to give you a chance to show off, so that you can convince the public."
"What do you want me to do?"
"When we start fighting with the government, you can do something good. When the time comes to show your ability, I will definitely promote you." Monroe patted the empty seat next to him, "The Sea Rat Gang will be in charge of me alone.
I can’t help it either.”
Seeing Monroe tempting him with the position of second-in-command of the Sea Rat Gang, Verak took the bait obediently and pretended that he was determined to win: "Just wait."
"Okay, I'll wait." After calming Verak down, Monroe started drinking wine leisurely.
"When will the second meeting be held?" Verak put the book away solemnly.
"The day after tomorrow."
"Do you still need me to go there?" Last time Verak went, it was mainly because Monroe wanted to use him to get rid of Fisher. Now that Fisher is dead, Monroe hinted that he is far from being the second-in-command of the Sea Rat Gang.
, then there seems to be no need for him to go.
As Verak expected, Monroe thought about it for a while and decided to keep him at Manchester City.
——
Two days later, on February 3rd.
Monroe found another driver to drive, and he set off at nine o'clock as usual and rushed to the territory of the gang.
After he came back, he did not disclose the specific content of the meeting to Verak. He only said that it was basically decided and he would only take action after all parties were ready and the time was more mature.
Faced with Monroe's vigilance, Verak was helpless. It would be abnormal for a boss like Monroe to unconditionally trust a newcomer and reveal something that affects the survival of the three parties.
In the following days, Verak did nothing but drink with the people in the Sea Rat Gang and build relationships with them, further lowering their defenses against him, integrating into the Sea Rat Gang as much as possible, and gaining more information.
Time passed by and it came to the night of February 7th.
That night, when Verak was drinking with a group of Sea Rat Gang members, he deliberately said that he was not feeling well. He went back to the hotel to rest without drinking much. After midnight, there were almost no pedestrians on the cold streets. He did what he had done before.
The secret way to meet Monroe was to climb out of the window and leave Manchester City. In a certain street, he met the coachman who paid a lot of money to make an appointment to wait for him here early this morning, and took the carriage back to the city.
Because he said hello this time, Keating stayed up that night, waiting for Verak to come over.
"Dong dong dong." Verak came to the hotel and knocked on the door, and the door opened.
"I heard your footsteps, come in quickly." Keating, who was waiting at the door, pulled Vera in and closed the door.
"These two..." After Verak entered, he found a man and a woman standing in the room who looked slightly familiar.
Keating walked to the middle of the living room and made an introduction: "This is Verak, you should all know something about him. These two are Sarah, Yves, the people sent by the Richey Federal Station to assist us, and they are also
The future person in charge of the Dunman branch.”
"Hello." Verak stepped forward and shook hands with the two of them.
Sarah and Yves are both gentle and gentle people, but Verac can feel their strength when shaking hands with them, which shows that they are not intellectual young people who only talk.
"Don't you recognize us?" Sarah, who was wearing a ponytail, asked with a smile.
Verak racked his brains and thought, while showing an apologetic smile: "I think you look familiar, I should have seen you somewhere..."
"The last time we met was a little over half a year ago." Sarah talked about their interaction. "At that time, we had thirty-eight backbone preparations, and we were going to establish branch stations in eleven cities at home and abroad. Please tell us before leaving.
A lesson learned.”
"That's when..." Verak finally remembered.
When he was still pretending to be Chris, he was entrusted by Boyn to lecture on "The Theory of Equality" to dozens of comrades who were going to establish a branch.
The two people in front of me were among the thirty-eight people at that time.
"I didn't expect it has been so long." The fair-skinned Yves next to Sarah followed.
"Yes, it seems that you are doing well at the Richey Federal Branch." Verak felt a little embarrassed. At first, he pretended to be Chris and gave a lecture in an attempt to make money and run away.
As a woman, Sarah was more observant. She noticed that Verak was a little unnatural. She guessed that it was probably because he had deceived them, so she took the initiative to help ease the embarrassment: "I'm happy for you. You finally did it."
I actually joined the Equality Society."
"Thank you, thank you." Verak was extremely grateful that everyone had no grudges and were willing to accept him.
"Let's all sit down and chat." Keating, who heard the two sides exchanging pleasantries, asked everyone to sit down and said, "Verak, let's talk about the situation on your side first."
"Okay." Verak immediately regained his composure when it came to business, "Monroe's side is not going well. He is not really pursuing equality, but just wants to protect his own privileges, so he doesn't think much of the equality argument I made.
In addition, he was still very wary of me. This time there was no suitable reason, so he didn't take me to the meeting. When he came back, he didn't reveal anything to me. He just said that everything was ready and he would wait until the time was more mature to start taking action.
."
Keating sighed regretfully: "To change the current situation of oppression of the Dunman people, we cannot hope to unite with them."
"Well, let's solve the gold issue first, and then we'll look at Dunman's matter." Verak was still a little disappointed when talking about it.
He thought this would be a good opportunity.
"We brought more than thirty people and sufficient funds in the name of a caravan this time." Sarah said, "As long as you take the Quinn's Tavern, we can immediately start transporting the gold and leave."
"Are they all Bresci?" Verak asked.
"Yes."
Verak smiled a little: "That's good. Our backup plan is to contact Boss Xin in the name of the Sea Rat Gang, so it's best not to make any omissions in terms of manpower."
"Is there anything else that needs to be done now?" Yves, who was in charge of manpower dispatch, looked at Verak.
"No more." Verak took a deep breath, "Everyone who needs to prepare is already ready. Tomorrow I will go to Quinn's Tavern to find Boss Xin to resolve the gold matter."
Keating said: "Then you just stay here tonight?"
Verak shook his head: "I'm afraid that we're not ready here, so I haven't found a reason to come out yet, and I'll have to rush back later."
"What time will you come over tomorrow?"
"After nine o'clock in the morning."
"Then we'll wait for you then."
"Yeah." Verak stood up, "Then I'll go back."
Keating poured hot water for Verak: "Drink some to warm yourself up."
Verak, who was neither thirsty nor very cold, waited patiently for Keating to pour the water, and then said goodbye to the three of them: "See you tomorrow."