Twenty Seven Years

  Chapter 110 Musicians

   "Okay..." The pain gradually receded, and Verak waited quietly for the prison guard to come over, "How do you know that dinner is about to be served, there is no clock here."

   "What I have to do every day is nothing more than eating and bathing. If I stay long enough, I can still feel these key moments."

   A few minutes after Keating finished speaking, Verak heard footsteps. Soon, a prison guard carrying two lunch boxes came over and pushed the lunch boxes in on the small partition on the cell door.

   "Thank you." Verak took the two lunch boxes and walked towards Keating.

  The indifferent prison guard was a little moved when he heard the "thank you". He looked at Verak for a while, and then he gave an order and closed the partition: "I will come to pick up the lunch box in ten minutes."

   "I'll open it for you." Verac put down one of the lunch boxes, and freed his hand to open the lid of the other lunch box, revealing the cabbage soup and mashed potatoes inside.

   Keating took the lunch box with a smile and started eating with a spoon.

  Villac opened the remaining lunch box, which also contained cabbage soup and mashed potatoes. He took a spoonful of cabbage soup and drank it: "Mr. Keating, are the meals here the same every day?"

   "What? Are you used to eating?" Keating asked after chewing and swallowing a mouthful of food.

"No." Verac has lived in the slums for twenty-six years, and has eaten worse food than this during the most difficult time, "I'm just curious. It seems that your status is unusual, since they have arranged the best for you There are special personnel to take care of the cell, so why are you so stingy on food?"

   "Staying here and being taken care of by others is good in terms of the result, but the starting point is not to make me feel better, it's just that they don't want me to die." Keating didn't care, and ate slowly.

  Villac heard some information from this sentence again, confirming that Keating's identity is indeed unusual, and it sounds like the reason why the prison treats him specially is because he is still valuable.

   How much is it worth?

  As the president of the Equality Society, Veraker has a lot of secrets about the Equality Society hidden in his belly. No one cares about him now, and treats him as worthless.

  Where does Keating's identity become more powerful?

  Unexpectedly, he mechanically ate all the food in the lunch box while distracted.

"Your ability to adapt is not bad." Keating finished eating after a while. He thought that Verak, as a nobleman, would find it difficult to swallow these rough foods mixed with impurities, but he didn't expect Verak to eat more than that. He has to be smooth.

   "Maybe...you've been hungry for too long." Verak put away Keating's lunch box, and put it on the partition when the prison guards came over.

The work and rest schedule indicates that half an hour after dinner is bath time. It took them ten minutes to eat, and now there are only twenty minutes left before the bath. Verak was too lazy to go to bed and spread the prison uniform he used to replace on the bed. Sitting down on the ground, he chatted with Keating: "What book are you reading?"

   Keating never directly answered his biggest secret, so Veraker didn't pursue the question any further, and chatted about other trivial matters after dinner.

"Crafting." Keating picked up the book and showed Veraker the cover, "The author of this book is an explorer, and it records his experience and experiences of fourteen years of exploration. Being locked up here, he can pass This book is also a great blessing to know the strange and beautiful things that are unknown in the world."

   "It's really good." Verak said.

   Keating handed Verac his hand: "Do you want to read it? I have read this book dozens of times, and it should be more useful to you now."

  Verak leaned forward, took the book with his hand, and briefly flipped through it: "I hope I won't need it."

"There are only two situations that don't require it. The first is that you have successfully escaped from prison, and the second is that you can't bear the current life and commit suicide." Keating poured cold water on Verac, "The latter is more likely .”

"It's just that it's more likely, so the problem is so easy to solve." Verak closed the book, got up and put it on his bed, "You still said it too tactfully, I know that escaping from prison is almost impossible .”

"When you stay with me, you will never have the word almost. I think you have realized that if you only pursue stability and physical relaxation, then living with me will be the best choice. But once you Doing it means that you can't even achieve the minimum freedom and understanding the terrain. Therefore, if you don't want to lose the breakthrough of 'almost', you will have to leave this shelter one day." Keating put the entanglement in Verak's heart on On the bright side.

  After sitting down again, Verak looked up at Keating slightly: "You like to clear the fog for me and reveal the choice I am facing."

   "It's also kind of fun."

   "What do you think I will choose?" Verak has no idea about this, he only knows that he will leave sooner or later.

   "How do I know?" Keating shrugged and spread his hands.

"...It's still early." Verak didn't intend to make a decision so early, not to mention he couldn't leave yet, the deputy prison warden Lecter forbade him to apply for changing cells, "The troubles in front of me are one after another, I have to deal with them one by one."

   Twenty minutes soon passed, and the prison guard came to open the door and escorted the two to the bathroom.

  The other prisoners are probably still working. The huge and empty underground first floor prison seems to be specially opened for Veraker and Keating. It is extremely quiet, and there is no need to compete with other prisoners for bathing seats.

  Put Keating on his back, give him a bath in the same way as in the afternoon, and then Verak also washed himself. After washing the old clothes, he returned to Cell 208 wearing a replacement prison uniform.

It was not easy to serve people. Just after drying the clothes, Verak carried Keating to the toilet. After using the toilet, there was a whistle, and there were noisy sounds. Groups of prisoners were escorted back and locked in one by one. their respective cells.

   "Nine o'clock." Keating said.

   "What time do they work?" Verak glanced at the crowd, and was urged by the prison guard to walk back with Keating on his back.

   "Four to seven in the morning."

   "It is no different from the workers outside."

   "But it's very different from your life."

  Back to the cell, gently put Keating on the bed, Verak moved his body, and suddenly froze.

   "something has to be done..."

  Verak lay down on the ground and did push-ups.

   Keating just smiled, picked up other books from the pillow and began to flip through them.

   Having not exercised for a long time, Veraker's arms were sore and weak after not doing much. He sat down against the wall, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and panted evenly: "Huh..."

   "The one next door, where did it come from?"

  Interrogation came from the cell next door.

  Verak turned his head, he couldn't see the side, he could only ask at the iron railing: "Ask me?"

   "Yes." The other said.

   "Laizein." Veraker replied while looking at Keating.

   "A political prisoner, he used to be a musician." Keating also seemed to know the people in the next door very well, and told the identity of Virak.

  (end of this chapter)