After the five Oscars left, Verak enjoyed a period of peace and quiet. He used this time to write letters to Boyne, Keating, Nord, Winston and others, and gave them to Comrade Dai Qian, waiting for conditions to permit.
I sent a telegram back when I arrived.
At night, the webmaster Cozmo came to the billiard hall again alone.
"Have they all settled down?" Verak's first sentence was still concerned about the situation of the five young comrades.
"Well, they have all found their own places to stay." Cozmo sat down to rest. "The more they are new here, the more popular they are with the old immigrants. Because they are helpless and have no right to resist. They just have to casually
Give them a place to live and two meals to take care of, and they can compete to do the work of two people."
"Expression can be seen everywhere..." Verak sighed.
Dai Qian doesn't have a very good impression of the immigrants: "So they have nothing to be pitied for. They are being oppressed and exploited, so they draw knives on the weaker ones."
"Maybe this is human nature." Verak remembered what Teacher Keating said. "Teacher Keating once told me that the people are also our enemies. This sentence shocked me at the time. I
I still can’t figure it out, how can the people be our enemy? Aren’t we fighting for the people? Later he explained that everyone has selfish tendencies to a greater or lesser extent.
On the one hand, the powerful are taking advantage of this to dissolve the unity of the people and achieve eternal exploitation and oppression. Therefore, in a sense, selfishness is the fundamental reason why the powerful oppress us and we cannot change the status quo. So listen
If you go up there, your thinking will be very clear. As long as we eliminate selfishness, no one will oppress and no one will be oppressed."
"It can't be that easy..." Is it possible to create a world where everyone is selfless? Cosmo didn't really believe it.
"Yes, it is very difficult. I don't think this road will be successful. The same is true for Chairman Boyne and Teacher Keating." Verak lit a cigarette. "What we have to do is not to eliminate selfishness, but to eliminate selfishness."
It is to establish a system where there is no need to be selfish and everyone can live well and with dignity."
"Well..." Dai Qian seemed to understand.
After smoking a cigarette, Verak stood up: "Shall we go?"
"Okay." Cozmo had almost rested and went to the door of the billiard hall to look outside.
Verak and Daisy each carried a suitcase and left the billiard hall with Cozmo who confirmed that there was no danger. They walked slowly forward hidden in the darkness. It took nearly an hour to arrive at the hiding place where the cadres of the adjacent patrol area station were hiding.
The secret site - a seemingly long-abandoned basement.
"Here?" Verak was slightly surprised.
"Well, it's safer." Cosmo led the two of them down the stairs.
"Why don't we let everyone go to the billiard hall?" Verak asked.
Obviously, the comrades at the sub-station gave the billiard hall with a better environment to Verak and his family, but now that the billiard hall is empty, they can go there without having to live in a worse environment.
"We know that you are more adaptable to a difficult environment. The reason why we arranged to live in the billiard hall before was actually to consider the situation of those young comrades. Now that they are gone, the living conditions do not matter to us, so the billiard hall might as well open for business
, to earn some funds for the sub-station for various activities." Cozmo explained the reason for his arrangement.
They came to Zein to provide a large amount of support to the Bashi branch. However, after encountering the rebellion of a large number of comrades, this support also suffered huge losses. Now what is left is only enough for them to barely survive, which makes them prefer
Even if you live in the basement, you should also make room for the billiard hall for business.
Verak felt puzzled: "I contacted Chairman Boyne and the others to apply for another batch of assistance."
"No need." Cozmo refused simply. "The main station has a lot of troubles right now, so we won't add to it. The problem this time is ours. The sub-station hasn't even solved the undercover problem, so there's nothing we need to spend money on."
, let’s talk about it later.”
"Then just wait." Verak could feel that part of the reason why Cozmo refused to assist was because he couldn't save his face. As the sub-station director, he was unwilling to make a mess of things.
Next, shamelessly go to the main station to ask for support.
If it were Verak, Verak would definitely not hold on for the sake of face, because he would not be able to let everyone follow him and work hard in order not to embarrass himself.
Now there is some truth in what Cozmo said. The current batch of aid has little use, and Comrade Stuart came over to help solve the funding problem.
If he needs money after a while, if Cozmo remains like this, Verak will step over him and go directly to Boin to ask for money.
"Dongdong—dongdongdong—dongdong——"
The three of them came to the basement door, and Cozmo knocked on the rusty iron door gently and regularly.
"throat."
The door was opened a crack.
Comrade Arseny poked his head out and saw that Cozmo, Verak, and Daisy were coming. He quickly opened the door and invited the three of them to enter.
The basement space is much smaller than the billiard hall. In a space of more than ten square meters, there are several beds piled up, and a large number of books and documents have no suitable place to store them. They are placed in open suitcases one by one.
"Sit down, sit down." Arseny and Vladislav in the basement struggled to make room, allowing Verak and Daisy to put their suitcases in the corner.
Verak followed the example of the others, opened the suitcase, and placed the things in the suitcase for ready use.
"This place is definitely not as good as the billiard hall. I will have to work hard for you next." Vladislav always felt that he had neglected Verak, who had come all the way.
"It's not like I've never been in a more difficult environment than this, don't worry about me." Verak sat casually on a bed, asked everyone to sit down, and then joked, "Who came up with the idea of putting the suitcases like this?
It’s really smart. It makes it easy to put things in and out. In case of emergency, you can just close the suitcase, pick it up and leave..."
"The sub-stations are all like this, I don't know who thought of it." Arseny said.
"It's getting late, let's all go to bed early and discuss the follow-up plans of the sub-station together tomorrow." Verak could see the embarrassment of the comrades at the sub-station, and could only use practical actions to prove that he did not care about the living conditions.
"Let's all rest." Cosmo settled.
There are only four beds in the basement, one is reserved for the lesbian Daisy, one is for the strong Arseny, one is for the skinny Kozmo and Vladislav, and one is specially for Victoria.
Lark is ready.
Freeing up a bed is the best treatment that the sub-station cadres can provide themselves at the moment.
Verak did not refuse the kindness and took off his clothes and lay on the bed.
Cozmo opened a small partition next to the door for ventilation: "There is a public toilet nearby. If you want to use the toilet, call me anytime and I will escort you there."
"Thank you." Verak has no need for this at the moment.
After everyone lay down to rest, Cozmo turned off the lights and huddled together with Vladislav.
"Good night, everyone." Verak closed his eyes.
"Good night."
"Good night."
——
July 18, seven o'clock in the morning
The five of them got up, had breakfast, and then sat together to analyze the current situation and plan for subsequent development.
After several days of investigation by comrades, the relevant information from the government has been sorted out.
The most conspicuous among them is Maxim, the new department minister jointly established by the Bash Empire Security Agency and the Winterhold Guard Corps to specifically target the International Equality Alliance.
Maxim's resume is impressive.
He once served as deputy minister of the Bash Intelligence Department and also held important positions in the military.
It is perfect for him to serve as the bridge between the Bash Intelligence Department and the Guard Corps, and to mobilize the backbones of both sides to form a 'scavenger' to eliminate those in the International Equality Alliance.
"Scavengers..." Verak silently recited the name of this organization, "They clearly treat us like trash."
"Yes, this is a provocation and contempt for us." Arseny disliked this name very much and hated Maxim.
"The strategy of instigating rebellion against our comrades and planting a large number of undercover agents was proposed by Maxim. The scavenger organization he led had a higher operational level in Winterfort than the Intelligence Department and the Guard, and it also received support from all parties.
It is the first enemy we face directly." Cozmo's expression was stern, and he was particularly afraid of Maxim and the Scavenger.
"When we were in Bressy, we had a similar department called the Reef. This organization was ruthless and killed Francis and Chris, the first and second presidents of the Equality Society one after another. It forced the Equality Society to force many times.
We were in a desperate situation and almost disbanded." Verak couldn't help but think of the past, "I had many confrontations with the leader of the reef, and suffered a lot at his hands. Later, under the general trend, we destroyed the reef in turn.
The leader of the Reef, Locke Shriver, is still in our custody."
Cozmo unexpectedly heard of Rock Shriver, the famous name of the reef: "I have heard of that organization, and it does feel a bit similar to the scavengers. How did you deal with them at that time?"
"At that time, the situation in Zeinli was not optimistic. Our people basically could only hide in the dark. Rock Shriver often used bait to lure us out and catch us all. We were made very passive and finally decided to use the same method.
To deal with them, I also spread out bait, always exposed to their sight, attracting their attention, and causing them to make wrong judgments..." Verakzai carefully told the sub-station how the reef was destroyed.
of four cadres.
"The situation in Lai Zeyin is different from here. It feels quite difficult to replicate." Dai Qian shook her head slightly. They have not yet developed the ability to organize a large-scale counterattack, let alone under the cover of a large-scale counterattack.
He took down the 'Scavengers' in one go, "But it's a pity to use the same method to deal with them."
"Besides placing undercover agents and inciting people to rebel against us, what else has Maxim done?" Verak asked.
Maxim is the 'coach' introduced by the Bash government to fight against the International Equality League. He wants to know this person as much as possible and find out his weaknesses.
Cosmo said: "He formulated the current patrol system for the guards in Winterfort, as well as the rewards... it can be said that everything came from him."
"There must be many guards around him, right?" Verak wanted to try the old method of assassination first.
"Of course. He probably heard about the frequent assassinations in Laize Yinli, and he has a deep understanding of our methods, so he takes his own safety very seriously. He rarely shows up in public. He often lives in the area and his office is also guarded by layers of guards.
Guard them at all levels. Look at the situation, let alone go in, or get close, you may be regarded as a suspicious person and be killed on the spot." Vladislav had the same idea and actually tried it, but unfortunately the feasibility was too low.
The assassination was forced to be suspended before it got underway.
"What is the specific composition of the scavengers?" Verak changed to the second path.
Cozmo replied: "The number of scavengers is not too large, probably no more than a hundred, but the composition is very complex, with people from all walks of life. The most important thing is that they do not actually participate in the operation, they are basically responsible
Liaise and coordinate with various departments, and then come forward to preside over the joint cleanup of each department."
"If we want to find out the list of traitors within the sub-station, we must break into the Scavenger." Verak knew without asking that members of the Scavenger were not so easy to infiltrate. "The top priority is to create a hole in their organization."
An opening."
"We have thought about this from the beginning. We tried to use money to induce and use leverage to intimidate, but they all failed. Because the benefits and deterrents we can give are nothing compared to Maxim's. But
If we spend too much money and cannot guarantee the people who can definitely instigate rebellion against them, we will suffer huge losses if we are not careful..." In Cozmo's eyes, the scavenger is a barbed iron shell. He wants to use his bare hands.
Taking it apart is incredibly difficult.
"To put it simply, even a little bit of coercion and inducement cannot sway them, and increasing the benefits cannot guarantee that they will really compromise with us. Once the other party is fake, not only will the investment be lost, but there may also be counterattacks by the other party.
Use it as bait and fall into a trap." Verak figured out what Cosmo meant and sighed.
The situation is trickier than imagined.
The scavenger cannot break in, but if you want to eliminate the traitors, you must break in and steal the traitor list.
"Let's think about whether there is any way to get the list without breaking into it." Verak did not remain in a stalemate, but took a step back and tried to explore other routes.
"There is one." Cozmo and Verak looked at each other, "The door of the Scavenger is very strong, but the other doors are not."
Other doors.
Verak paused for a moment and immediately understood what Cozmo meant: "You want to start with other departments that work with scavengers?"
"Yes." Cozmo nodded, "But there are still some problems. The list of traitors must be firmly controlled by the Scavengers. Even if they want to join forces with other departments, they are unlikely to share the list.