Twenty Seven Years

  Chapter 155 Turning the situation around

   "If anyone else said this, I would laugh it off." Dawn also looked at the cloudless sky, his prison uniform was soaked in sweat, he didn't care.

  Verak just chuckled after hearing this.

  The prisoners in the substitute area rushed to the arena, some shouted the names of Verac and Dawn, and some covered their faces and cried bitterly at the thought of being able to contact their families.

   "They recognized you." Dawn turned his head sideways and said.

  He has always been in contact with Verak in the name of the prisoner's representative, and now that the prisoners have recognized Verak from his mouth, it means that he himself has recognized Verak.

   "...Thank you." Verak didn't know what to say, and finally only two words came out of his mouth.

   "Can we... really go out?" Dawn hesitated and asked.

  Verak's voice could be heard clearly under the noise of the prisoners: "Yes."

   "You are indeed different from those people. I can't find a reason to refuse to cooperate with you." Dawn said as he stood up, "I hope we can get out of here."

   Dawn who stood up stretched out his hand to Verak who was lying down.

  Verak looked at Dawn, held hands with him, and stood up directly under Dawn's pull.

   The two stood side by side, looking around at the prisoners who gathered around to celebrate. The prisoners gradually quieted down, waiting for Verack and Dawn to say something.

   "Say something?" Dawn said.

   "Say what?" Veraker couldn't organize his words for a while, and he was satisfied just seeing the smiles and vitality that everyone had never had before.

   "Say something." Dawn patted Veraker, his eyes full of expectation.

"...This is the first time I feel that you are alive." Verak pursed his lips. After a long time, he looked at the prisoners and said frankly, "I may give you a feeling that you are not afraid of anything and can do anything, but In fact, I was very scared. When I first came here, I saw you lying numbly in the cell, and I was so scared to death that one day I would become a living dead like you.”

  Dawn looked aside with his hands on his hips.

"At that time, in addition to persevering under Lecter's abuse, I thought all night, how not to be changed, how not to assimilate like you." Verak felt that all the efforts were worthwhile, "Later I thought of it, before I am changed by you, let me change you first."

   While the prisoners were excited to get in touch with their families, they began to think about the things that had disappeared unknowingly following Veraker's words.

"I don't know what to say. In short, I hope that everyone will always be like today, fighting for family, friends, yourself, dignity, and equality." Verak wiped the corner of his eyes with his hand, "I'm done talking." .”

  The prisoners were silent, followed by a burst of applause.

"Thank you!"

  The prisoners are sincerely grateful.

   "Thank you too." Verak smiled back.

  —

  It was already afternoon when the participating prisoners and prison guards had all treated their injuries. Adel specially arranged for the cafeteria to be open all day, so that those who have received treatment can go back to rest after eating.

  Verak and Dawn finished bandaging their wounds in the infirmary, went to the cafeteria to eat together, and returned to their respective cells.

  Before they went back, many prisoners who participated in the competition had already returned, spreading the details of the competition carefully through the door and iron bars. Hearing the description of the situation on the field by those who participated in the competition, most of the prisoners who have not been able to witness it with their own eyes, and the prisoners who have been locked in the cell all the time, couldn't help but feel excited.

   Beat up guards who don't treat them as human beings, win unfair contests, write letters to their families.

   Nothing they thought would happen.

   But today, all of these are realized.

   Therefore, after Veraker and Dawn returned, the prisoners in the cell near the stairs saw them and immediately shouted: "Boss Dawn, Chris is back!"

  The sound came out, and the door of the cell that heard the sound was instantly crowded with prisoners. They looked up and down Verak and Dawn as they passed by, as if they had never seen the two before.

"thank you all!"

   "Good job!"

   "Just hearing what they say makes me so happy!"

  In front of every cell Verak passed by, there were prisoners who greeted him enthusiastically, thanked him for his dedication, and affirmed his efforts. He waved and nodded in response to each of them.

   "Dawn! Chris! Dawn! Chris!"

   The cheers intensified, and soon the prisoners on the entire basement level reached a tacit understanding, rhythmically slapping the iron railings, calling their names.

   "Quiet! Quiet!" The prison guards maintained order, but it was useless, and the warning was easily swallowed by cheers.

   It wasn't until Dawn and Veraker returned to their cells that the cheers gradually subsided.

   "Chris! Tell me what the **** happened! It's not enough to hear them talk, I want to hear you!"

  Verak, who had just returned to Cell 208 and sat down, hadn't bothered to say hello to Keating when Rose next door yelled at him to tell him about the situation on the field.

  After Rose’s prompting, several cells next to cell 208 all excitedly agreed.

   "Let's talk about it, I'm curious too." Keating, who was sitting on the bed patiently waiting for Veraker to come back, laughed.

"Well, teacher." Verac nodded slightly, came to the iron railing, and told everyone about the situation on the field, because at the same time, Keating wanted to understand. He specifically explained the whole process in detail. Minutes to finish.

  In the end, he did not forget to repeat the last words he said on the field to the other prisoners who failed to go to the field.

  After finishing everything that needed to be done, the prisoners stopped holding Veraker, and Veraker was able to chat with Keating.

   "Teacher." Verak sat across from Keating, grinning.

   "How's the injury?" Keating was most concerned about Verak's physical condition.

  Verak moved his body specially: "It's nothing serious. Compared with Lecter's abuse, their attack is nothing painful."

   "That's good." Keating looked at Verak kindly, "You once again made the impossible possible."

  Verak doesn’t feel that he owes it to himself. There are many reasons for this. Only by chance and coincidence did the prisoners win the final victory: “Everyone made the impossible possible together.”

   "Why would Adel help us?" Keating asked an important question.

  When Verac told everyone just now, he only mentioned that the warden acted as a referee, temporarily changing the rules to allow the prisoners to fight back, but he did not elaborate on the reasons.

"I made a deal with him." Verak talked about his and Adel's affairs with doubts, "The content of the deal is that he helps us win the game, and I will report the gold clues to Lecter later, Give him some time."

   "He agreed? Nothing else?"

"He agreed without any other request, so I was a little surprised myself. I just delayed him for a while, and I haven't agreed on how long the delay is. I just said it verbally. How could he be willing to help so much? Verak racked his brains to think, "I have been busy with the game before, and now I have time to talk to you about the doubts about this matter."

Keating said "hmm": "It's really weird. He agreed with you to fight back, which directly caused dozens of prison guards to be injured during the game. This may seriously affect his rule in the prison. Then, you only verbally promised to delay A little time, is it worth it for him to do this?"

"It's definitely not worth it, unless he can find some hole cards to reverse the situation during the little time I procrastinate. But if he really bet his hope on time, how could he not specify how long it will take when negotiating? It seems It's as if he didn't care what benefits I offered." Verak said his analysis.

"Could it be that you are worried that if you tell the time, you will reveal it to Lecter?" Keating quickly denied it by himself as soon as he made a guess, "That's not true... If that's the case, he wouldn't even dare to reveal the time to you. How about cooperation."

"There is only one possibility. Adel doesn't care what I can give him at all. He does not hesitate to stand on the opposite side of the prison guards to help us win. It is not for us, but for other purposes." Verak followed the only remaining Possibilities explored.

   Keating pondered, and thought of the answer before Veraker: "...Oops."

   "What?" Veraker looked at Keating.

   "Lecter told you himself that he didn't think the prisoner would win at all, so he proposed the reward for writing the letter?" Keating asked.

"Yes, he also told me that he has no ability to exchange—" Veraker paused in the middle of speaking, then opened his eyes wide and looked at Keating in disbelief, "Adel just wants Lake Lecter is in a dilemma? If Lecter fails to fulfill his promise, the prisoners will definitely explode into unprecedented anger, and if he fulfills his promise, he will be directly caught by Adel and kicked out of prison."

   Keating's face became serious: "Apart from this, Adel has no reason to help the prisoner win."

   "That is to say, the twelfth of next month, the day when the promise will be fulfilled, will be the key to their competition for the position of warden..." Verak clenched his fists.

   If Adel really helps them with such a purpose, the originally good situation will become complicated.

  Their frontal escape plan is difficult to advance, so they can only hope to reach an in-depth cooperation with Dawn and gather the strength of all prisoners to find the prison's loopholes.

  If no good solution can be found even if everyone is united, they must start to fully promote the alternative, that is, the plan centered on the competition between Adel and Lecter for the position of warden, and wait for an opportunity to find a chance to break the situation.

   But after Adel helped the prisoner win the victory, the battle over the warden will be settled by the twelfth of next month at the latest.

  They must determine whether a frontal prison escape is feasible before then. If it is not feasible, they must immediately start a backup plan and complete the prison escape before the twelfth of next month.

   More than 20 days, very urgent.

   "Do you think it's too late?" Verak was a little uncertain, even though he had set himself the goal of escaping from prison within a month.

   "Think about the possibility of delaying the time." Keating thought calmly.

  Verak sighed. Crisis followed one after another, which prevented him from getting a moment's rest: "Adel will definitely try to get Lecter to make a choice on the twelfth, either to help the prisoner write the letter, or to repent."

"Repentance will not only cause great dissatisfaction among the prisoners, but also greatly reduce your trust in Lecter. I think, of these two consequences, Adel is focusing on the latter." Keating frowned, " After all, even if the prisoners are dissatisfied, the suppression can still be suppressed, and it is impossible to threaten Lecter's position. And now Adel and Lecter can give you almost the same things, if he can beat Lecter in character It’s a good idea to let you give up cooperating with Lecter, who is often dishonest, and turn around to join him, which can also resolve Lecter’s threat to him.”

"Then if Lecter chooses to repent at that time, I will continue to cooperate with him. The time should be extended, and there is still a lot of room for us to maneuver." Verac was relieved, and Adel's plan included his choice However, as long as he doesn't do what Adel thinks, Adel's plan will only come to naught.

   "Well, it seems that at least Adel didn't have too much suspicion of you, and didn't associate you with other prisoners, thinking that you only wanted to get out of prison as soon as possible through gold." Keating concluded another piece of good news.

After the crisis was resolved, Verak lay on the bed with peace of mind: "Since this is the case, let's go all out to promote the positive escape plan first. After winning the game, Dawn will reach an in-depth cooperation with us as agreed, and we have gathered everyone's strength In the end, we may not be able to find the break. If we can’t find it, we can stabilize the situation of Lecter and Adel, and find a way out through the backup plan.”

  —

   Infirmary

  Lecter was in a coma for about six or seven hours before waking up faintly: "Where are people..."

   "Deputy Warden." The doctor who had just treated the injuries of more than 300 prison guards and prisoners in total heard Lecter's weak call, and hurriedly pulled himself together and approached.

   Lecter's head was still hurting, he endured the pain and turned a little bit, looking at the doctor: "Who won..."

   "Are you talking about the football match? They said that the prisoners won seven to four." The doctor truthfully reported what he had heard.

   Knowing that the prison guard lost the game, and anticipating the difficult situation ahead, Lecter closed his eyes to suppress his anger: "Where is Adel?"

   "I don't know, the warden should be in the office?" the doctor said.

   "Call him here, I want to see him." Lecter couldn't move yet, so he had to drag the doctor to call Adel.

   Now that the situation is turning around, he must have a good talk with Adel.

   "Okay, I'll inform the prison guards outside and let them pass your words on to the warden." The doctor immediately walked out the door.

   "Wait." Lecter stopped the doctor who was about to go out, "Forget it, don't call me Adel."

"That…"

  Lecter thought for a while, and said: "Ask the prison guards to bring prisoner No. 8196, Thomas Chris."

   "Is that the one who comes to apply medicine at noon every day?"

"right."

"clear."

  (end of this chapter)