Cohen walked in the alley of the underground street with his head down, his eyes blank, turning a blind eye to the beggars and homeless people under the eaves on both sides, as well as their veiled eyes.
"Cohen."
The slovenly man in front of him on the left is covering up the bloodstains on his clothes, a gangster further away is secretly selling the contents of his pocket to others, and the beggar under the opposite eaves is fighting for an ownerless ring with another skinny colleague.
of ownership.
But Cohen just walked past them in a daze, ignoring and turning a deaf ear.
What does that have to do with him?
"Cohen?"
The brilliance of the stars allowed him to focus on his own world without any distractions. The hustle and bustle in the distance could not attract his attention, and the noise nearby could not disturb his thoughts. The underground streets and even the downtown area seemed to be just a place for him.
Place names on paper.
He seemed to be walking beyond the horizon, transcending everything and completely forgetting himself - just like many noble children he knew, who had their eyes on the kingdom and the world in mind, and were destined to achieve great things.
but……
"Cohen!"
Finally, Cohen, who was wandering in a daze, suddenly came back to his senses.
"What's wrong?"
Cohen looked around subconsciously:
Leyock was still ten steps away, full of disdain and repulsion towards them. Glover dutifully stayed by the prince's side, using his body shape and expression to block all ill-intentioned covetous glances.
Cohen lowered his head: the speaker, the second prince, looked at him deeply, his eyes full of inquiry.
"Cheer up."
Thales's words were unquestionable:
"You have been a vigilance officer for six years. What Morris said should not have such a big impact on you."
What Morris said…
Cohen's eyes were blank.
[What you are fighting is not gangs, crime, or even evil.]
[You represent the power of this country, stand in the position of the strong, and face the resistance of the weak.]
Cohen shook his head desperately.
"No, it has nothing to do with what that scumbag said, it won't affect me -"
"That's weird." Glover interrupted him coldly.
Cohen stared at the zombie blankly, his expression struggling.
Thales sighed:
"Look, Cohen, you have to know that Morris was a member of the Brotherhood, and everything he said—"
"No!"
Unexpectedly, Cohen suddenly spoke loudly, causing both Thales and Glover to jump.
Even Leyock in front frowned and turned back.
Thales frowned and looked at him: Cohen didn't often react like this.
"It's not his words...no, no..."
At this time, Cohen's expression changed and he murmured urgently.
"Hey," Glover patted Cohen carefully, while glaring back at the few idle men who were attracted from a distance:
"are you alright……"
Cohen suddenly looked up!
"When you reversed the situation in the Palace of Heroes and forced all parties to cease fighting and retreat, Your Highness."
The vigilance officer stared at Thales eagerly, as if he wanted to find some answer:
"Were they, the Exeters, moved by your words?"
Thales was startled.
Exeter people...
But Cohen shook his head, his expression bitter.
"My old man's reply said this, 'Words are only expressions, actions only reflect the heart.'"
"As for 'silly words can deceive people', this is just a beautiful fantasy of writers."
Thales' expression changed and he stopped talking.
"He said it was not your words that moved the people of Exeter, Your Highness," the vigilance officer lowered his head slumped:
"It's about what they really think, what they have experienced personally, and what their interests are - you are just the one who lifts the curtain and sees their true intentions."
Thales was silent for a while.
"Count Turami Karabiyan is worthy of being called the 'Wise Prime Minister'," the prince sighed:
"If I have the opportunity in the future, I will visit your father."
Cohen's eyes struggled, as if he was going through a cruel struggle.
"I was very unconvinced by the old man's words at that time, but..."
"Same, Your Highness," Cohen breathed out: "That fat man is very good at talking, but he can't sway me with just a few words."
"Unless it shakes me, there is something else."
He looked dimly at the narrow alley, as if he could never see the end.
Thales looked at him and sighed inwardly.
"I refuse to admit it, but," Cohen hesitated for a moment, and finally mustered up the courage to speak decisively:
"Yes, my 'Sword Heart' has been shaken,"
"My moves are becoming more and more proficient, and the edge of the sword is getting sharper every time," Cohen gritted his teeth: "But the person wielding the sword is stained with rust."
"This is the reason why I have stagnated and made no progress in the past six years."
Thales frowned.
"Maybe you should go back to the battlefield and roll in the blood again." Glover sneered slightly, looking a little uncomfortable with him:
"Instead of going out on the streets every day to catch thieves."
"Jialun!" Thales gave Glover a warning look, and the latter stopped talking.
"I was serious."
Cohen did not appear angry, but his eyes were slumped:
"But what shook me was not the nonsense said by that damn fat man."
"It's about me and my experience in this city during these six years."
Experience in this city.
Thales paused for these words, and the memory of the abandoned house wrapped around his feet again like a dream and mist.
"You know, Your Highness, the little girl who just stole your money."
Cohen walked behind the prince and said absentmindedly:
"Maybe she doesn't like stealing money or blackmailing. When she grows up, she doesn't like picking up customers like her mother or messing around like her father."
"But she had no choice."
Thales and Glover paused at the same time. The former thought of the abandoned house, and the latter thought of Red Square Street.
Cohen stumbled on an irregular stone, but he didn't notice it and continued:
"Under the example of her mother and father - or perhaps just her mother's best friend - she could only follow suit and become like most people on this street: shrewd, vicious, shameless and narrow-minded."
"When she grows up, she will just become another insensitive wandering prostitute like her mother, or an idle rogue like her father."
"There is no more way."
Thales and Glover fell silent together.
Cohen gritted his teeth and held the hilt of the sword at his waist:
"Because she was born here."
"Like everyone on this street."
Glover raised his head and interrupted Cohen with a cold face:
"Then do something."
"Do something." Cohen muttered and repeated:
"Do something?"
Glover snorted coldly:
"Send her scumbag parents to prison, or the gallows."
"Isn't it your responsibility to fight crime and maintain law and order, Qing——Vigilance Officer?"
But Thales secretly shook his head.
Cohen took a deep breath: "Yes, but..."
"I……"
His tone paused, his chest relaxed, and the words came to his lips but were unable to come out.
Cohen shook his head in frustration.
"What happened?" Thales said in a deep voice.
Cohen was silent for a long time, and when Glover was about to urge him, he finally spoke.
"Six years ago, Your Highness, when I first came here for a few months, I was full of confidence and wanted to make some achievements and make some changes,"
"At that time, I regarded this place as a battlefield, thinking that my opponents were only the Brotherhood and the Blood Bottle Gang, only their filth and sin, only darkness and evil."
"but……"
Cohen was speechless.
【What you are fighting...is not even evil.】
Cohen gritted his teeth and shook his head, returning to the present moment:
"So I worked hard overtime to fight crime, maintain order, put an end to injustice and illegality, and bring security and law back here,"
"but……"
The turning word appeared on his lips again.
"In Xiacheng District, after a group of criminals have been arrested, there will be another group, and after the nests are cleared, there will be another group." Cohen's breathing became more and more chaotic, and his speaking speed became faster and faster:
"The arrested people were released within a few days, the cleared streets were soon filled with illegal gangs, the sealed warehouses soon became a cover for crime, and the same number of corpses were transported and buried from here every year
,even more……"
Cohen's words were full of bitterness and even a hint of helplessness.
"Strict law enforcement, clear and fair punishment, all the things we learned in political textbooks have no effect here - I don't know, maybe I didn't study well in the political class, maybe my methods of preventing crime are too poor, maybe I
You have to be like Cousin Dele, get perfect marks every time in politics class, then you will know what to do."
Thales listened silently, feeling gloomy.
But Glover remained unmoved:
"It's no use just catching small shrimps."
Cohen raised his head and spoke quickly:
"I did!"
He stared at Glover intently.
"I did it. I followed what some of my colleagues did, raised my eyes, and started eyeing the big fish, like Morris just now."
"I brought down the leader of a brotherhood who was in charge of beggars and cut off all the chains under him. But within two days, a new man came up from below to fill the gap in his place - faster than the replacement of the security officer vacancy.
It’s fast.”
Glover snorted disdainfully:
"That means his level is not high enough. You have to find the source. Maybe you have to use the Black Sword of Laoshizi——"
"Source!" Cohen raised his voice again!
Glover frowned.
At this moment, the security officer looked at Glover blankly:
"You're right, zombies don't have enough levels. We need to find the source."
"source."
Cohen is like an ascetic pursuing his faith, looking into the distance in a daze.
"As a security officer in charge of Xiacheng District, the place I can reach is too shallow and too close. Treating the symptoms but not the root cause."
"So I thought, I'm going to do more, more, more."
"I have to work harder, go deeper, and be more transparent."
Cohen took a deep breath:
"So I chased it down to the source of those crimes."
But his determination suddenly fell, just like the ascetic who pursued his faith and finally fell on the road:
"Then I met them."
Glover and Thales were confused.
"them?"
Cohen nodded expressionlessly.
"The one you just met on the street, Your Highness, is just a little girl," the security officer said in a vague voice:
"But I met countless children like this here, there, and elsewhere."
child.
Thales opened his mouth subconsciously.
"The childhoods of criminals—is there any deeper source than this?"
Cohen swallowed a mouthful of saliva:
"Yes, zombie, just like you said, I took action, acted, intervened, like the most competent security officer."
"Including shutting down the gangs behind them, punishing their scumbag 'parents', cleaning up their living environment, and threatening those scumbags who want to take advantage of them - I hate to say this, but thanks to my surname, I have changed my origin.
The lower level security officers have long since disappeared without any clear explanation."
"Those children, I sent them to the orphanage under the jurisdiction of the Department of Spirits and Discipline, or to adoptive families, or even to the chapel of the Sunset Church. For this reason, I did not hesitate to face the hostility of the Brotherhood and the Blood Bottle Gang. Inside the Police Department The punishment, the disgust of colleagues in the Department of Ethics and Discipline..."
"I even lowered my dignity and promised the old man to attend the aristocratic blind date dance, so that I could get money out of his stingy hands to support some unaccompanied children and satisfy their lives to prevent them from falling into depravity again... "
Listening to Cohen's self-narration, Thales and Glover looked at him with increasingly different expressions.
The more Cohen talked, the more excited he became, but his feelings suddenly changed:
"but……"
The security officer seemed to be frozen in time. He paused for a few seconds before speaking again:
"A few years ago, I rescued an orphan."
"He was in his early ten years at that time, and I asked the Department of Discipline Inspection to send him to an almshouse..."
Cohen's eyes moved slightly, and the color inside gradually disappeared:
"But a few years later, I caught a bunch of fraternity scum collecting debts - they tortured the son of the debtor with red-hot pokers in front of his debtor, just for - God knows how many coppers."
Glover's face tightened.
Cohen took a deep breath:
"That child, the child I rescued."
"He's among those scum, fourteen or fifteen years old."
Cohen said blankly:
"He is too old, so I can only send him to prison."
"It's like sending him to the almshouse."
Thales closed his eyes and opened them again.
Cohen exhaled a painful breath:
"He wasn't the only one. I didn't know until a long time later that the children I thought I had rescued..."
"The vast majority of them will reappear on the streets."
"Children who originally had parents... haha, after their scumbag parents have been honest for a while, they will basically return to their old ways and continue to take care of them... just like the little girl just now."
"As for other people, they couldn't stand it anymore and ran away from the workhouse or the foster home."
Cohen lowered his head sadly.
"You idiot."
Glover suddenly interrupted and said a long series of rare words:
"Most almshouses are no different from prisons - except that the prison guards are worse - and letting them go there would be worse than letting them go back to the streets to steal bread."
Cohen shuddered slightly.
"As for adoption, huh, it's like making a blindfolded bet," Glover said in a cold tone:
"If you're lucky, you might be able to eat some leftovers in the stables, which can be used as a proof for your 'family' to receive orphan compensation from the Department of Moral Discipline. Are you not lucky..."
The zombie tightened his collar and said nothing.
Cohen frowned:
"How did you know-"
Glover interrupted him coldly:
"I heard that!"
Cohen frowned:
"Listen to who—"
"No one!"
Glover seemed to be extremely taboo on this topic. He raised his index finger and warned sternly:
"That's enough! That ends the problem."
Thales sighed softly.
Although Cohen was extremely confused, he didn't pay much attention to it and just sighed helplessly.
"Yes, I know about the conditions of almshouses and foster homes. I went to see them later - these good governance measures in the era of virtuous kings have long since deteriorated."
Cohen lowered his head:
"As for the charisma of Sunset Church..."
"More disgusting." Came a deep voice.
Both Cohen and Glover were shocked.
They turned their heads, and the silent killer Leyock who appeared next to them at some point snorted, with a vicious look:
"I had a friend go in there once."
Cohen and Glover looked at each other, but Lyock ignored them and said coldly:
"There was a good old priest in the Divine Grace House who patiently taught him to read and read, recite Sunset Classics, and learn etiquette and morality every day. My friend was young at the time and had never received such care. He was very grateful...
"
"until one day."
Layok snorted softly, half-smiling but not smiling, unable to tell the difference between love and hate:
"The kind-hearted priest told my friend that as a devout believer in the setting sun, the goddess's grace had come to him..."
"Hidden in his underwear under his thick robe."
Others frowned fiercely.
"The old priest untied his belt and encouraged the child with gentle words, asking him to break through all the obstacles and find the 'carrier of divine grace', and then try to grasp it, cherish it devoutly, think about it carefully, and never leave his mouth until he said, '
Let the mortal body produce miracles, eject pure white divine rain'..."
At this point, Leyock burst out laughing!
"Hahahahahahaha - pure white rain! Hahahahaha! Right on the altar of the Divine Grace House, in front of the goddess's sacred image! Hahahahaha!"
He smiled so exaggeratedly that he even bent over, but there was no smile in his eyes. Instead, there was a frightening morbidity in his eyes.
However, everyone else, including Thales, only felt a deep coldness and depression.
"That friend of yours," Glover replied warily and coldly:
"He relayed it very clearly."
Layok's smile faded and he glanced at him coldly:
"Because he's not the only one."
Everyone was silent for a while.
Until Cohen sighed:
"I didn't expect to say this, but, Leyock: I'm sorry."
"That's not necessary," Leyock rebuffed ruthlessly:
"Because the learned and holy priest master got the oracle wrong after all. Many years later, on the day of his retirement, my friend discovered it together with him."
Hearing this, Thales, who knew the Quiet Killer's character to some extent, his eyes moved.
"So it turns out, the so-called divine grace, the rain from God," Layok lowered his head and gently pulled out the blade hidden at his waist, with a fierce look in his eyes:
"It's bright red."
Cohen and Glover's expressions changed slightly, and they were silent for a while.
Until Leyock put the blade back into the scabbard, awakening the quiet air.
Cohen raised his head and said gloomily:
"In short, these children return to the streets, or go back to their old jobs: begging, stealing, cheating, or even following the scum to earn a living, imitating, assisting, and even yearning to become them, because at least the latter can eat well.
…”
"Either they live a worse life - without the organization and protection of the gang, they are like weeds, no one cares about them."
"I still remember that a kid spat at me. He said that after being rescued by the Police Department, he might as well go back to the Brotherhood. Even if he gets beaten a lot, at least he has an organization and companions and can survive. If he is lucky, he will be long-term.
You can still be as majestic as them and bully other bastards."
Thales clenched his back molars unconsciously.
"Because this is the only way to survive," Leyock, who unknowingly joined the conversation, said disdainfully:
"The only way they can find their own kind, find happiness, and find a reason to live."
"Not the so-called 'relief' from you superiors."
Cohen chuckled, feeling depressed.
"Almost every criminal - gambler, robber, liar, prostitute, thief, gangster and thug - has had a similar bad experience growing up: sometimes it is an irresponsible alcoholic father,
Sometimes it’s the unscrupulous playmates with no morals, sometimes it’s the reality of poverty where you can’t survive, sometimes it’s the indifferent social world, and sometimes it’s simply this dirty street.”
"Compared with these, even the Black Street Brotherhood and the Blood Bottle Gang seem less ferocious and hateful."
The warning officer's words made the others ponder.
"Poor, hateful, sad, ridiculous. In the end, I don't know whether they became what they are now, whether it was natural or a wrong way, whether they were free choices or had no way out, whether they were willing or forced, whether they deserved their crimes or were wronged.
."
"Yes," Leyock was the first to speak, and he spat on the ground with disdain:
"As if we care what you think, Qingpi."
But Cohen paid no attention to the offense.
"We just, over and over again, put their scumbag parents in jail or on the gallows, and then leave them in a bigger, messier, darker vortex, waiting for them to absorb the nutrients,
Accept the rules and grow up little by little.”
The vigilance officer looked gloomy:
"Becoming the new scum."
"Then we will arrest them after they become scum."
"Waiting for their new children to grow up in the same whirlpool and become newer scum..."
He raised his head again and looked into the distance of this dilapidated street, but still couldn't see the end.
"That's their choice."
Glover spoke, with a hint of dissatisfaction and anger in his words:
"You should bear the consequences."
"Choose, choose?" Leyock laughed morbidly again, gradually getting heavier and heavier, making people's scalp numb:
"Ha ha ha ha……"
Cohen didn't answer, he just looked at the zombie bitterly, making the latter even more unhappy.
"But they had no choice."
Thales, who had not spoken for a long time, slowly opened his mouth, attracting the attention of the three of them.
"They didn't stand a chance."
The prince walked up a few steps and headed towards the place he was most familiar with.
"In such a community, the socioeconomic status of the parents limits them - sorry, I mean, they cannot go to school since childhood, cannot acquire skills, cannot see the farther and wider world..."
Thales walked through a corner that he had passed countless times when he was a child.
"They are tied here, unable to find normal and stable jobs, and can only swing between idleness and committing crimes. They have no time to take into account morality and law, and can only prioritize those things that can support their survival. They
Unable to understand ideals and dreams, they can only reproduce in the mud of reality the selfishness, narrow-mindedness, viciousness, laziness, despicability, and anger that life has imposed on them..."
"They don't have the opportunity to feel morality, gratitude, selflessness, unity, and justice like us, people who claim to be healthy. They can only learn the true meaning of life from the ruthlessness of the streets and the cruelty and horror of their peers."
Thales sighed:
"Their poverty will only be passed down from generation to generation, as will crime."
Cohen's face became increasingly ugly.
Glover's expression remained unchanged, only his breathing quickened. Layok crossed his arms and walked unconsciously against the wall.
"And when well-meaning people out there ask: Why is that so?"
Thales said sadly:
"People will pinch their noses and answer with condescending disgust: because they are scum, their family education is poor, because they don't learn well, or even because they are born like this: selfish, narrow-minded, vicious, lazy, mean, angry, and unlearned
Whether they have no skills or commit crimes is their own choice."
The boy's sentences suddenly sped up:
"People will say: We didn't force them not to improve themselves, force them not to make progress, force them to be immoral, force them to commit crimes and become criminals, right?"
The prince's emotion shocked Glover, and the zombie hesitated and asked:
"Your Highness?"
"Some of the words are right," Thales said in a daze: "But it's more than that."
"more than."
"If we really want to change the status quo, instead of comforting ourselves."
Glover and Cohen looked at each other, but Leyock still crossed his arms and said nothing.
Thales slowly raised his head:
"And when their existence and behavior - all cultivated in this deviant environment - threaten the freedom and security of 'people'."
"People will be filled with indignation again and say with righteousness: Criminals must be hanged because they deserve it."
"People will say that as long as all these scumbags are killed, then they will not be able to harm other people, and then the future will be better."
Cohen bit his lip.
"Haha, if all the scum are dead," Leyock sneered:
"Then what else can people use to prove that they are good people?"
Thales shook his head and ignored the other party's extremeness:
"As you just said, in the desert, whether they are orcs or humans, they all believe that as long as they kill all the enemies, no one will be left alive."
"Peace will come."
Glover and Cohen were both startled.
"But the problem is," at that moment, Thales seemed to have returned to Crassus in the Prison of Bones and the Sword of Disaster, and Ricky's words floated in his ears.
"How do we kill those..."
Thales said in a daze:
"An unkillable enemy?"
Everyone was silent for a long time.
"So like the fat man said, brotherhood is everywhere and will never die."
Cohen brushed his hair randomly and said painfully:
"Even if I kill Black Sword, there will still be countless new Black Swords. They will pick up his weapons, speak his language, and even bear his appearance."
"This is our real enemy, the enemy that cannot be killed."
Leyock chuckled and tightened the black silk on his arm.
"Punishment doesn't work, prohibition doesn't work, help doesn't work, charity is even more useless..."
There was a deep sense of powerlessness in Cohen's tone:
"That was the first time I understood: my sword can kill people."