Twenty Seven Years

  Scavenger leader, meeting hall of Maxim's mansion

  Cosmo waited for the soldiers to go out with ease, then took off his hood: "Mr. Maxim."

  Maxim was wearing pajamas today. Obviously, Cosmo's visit today caught him off guard: "I meet with me so frequently, so be careful about any omissions that may arouse their suspicion."

   "Don't worry, they are all staying on Heping Street and unable to walk around, and they trust me quite a lot."

   "Tell me, what's the matter." Maxim crossed his legs and yawned.

"They have determined the new development direction of the substation. After they plan to evacuate Winterhold, they will complete the revolution in the surrounding cities first, and then concentrate their efforts to take down Winterhold. But before they left, they obtained some information. Fort in its final struggle."

   "What information?"

  Kozmo sat upright: "The scavengers go out and don't need to be interrogated by the patrol team. They want to find out the identity verification methods inside the scavengers, and pretend to be scavengers to carry out revolutionary work."

   "Oh, that's it?" Maxim was full of disdain.

"Yes, you..." Cosmo came here with the idea of ​​asking for credit and showing off in front of Maxim before the value of the sub-station was drained. The information is not of interest at all.

"In their plan, there is no need to tell me about the development after evacuating Winterhold. What if they want to destroy the world? They will all die in a few days, and it doesn't matter if they break the sky." Maxim cheered up and gave At a loss, Cosmo explained why he didn't care, "As for the person pretending to be me, this idea is good, but it's a pity that even you, the dog-like station master, is mine. God? Can they make substantial progress in the last few days?"

   To put it bluntly, the war between Bash and Wellland is about to end, and Maxim believes that no matter how much Verac and the others want to change, it is already too late.

   So he doesn't care about their new ideas.

   "Understood." Cosmo couldn't refute.

   "Is there nothing else?" Maxim said impatiently.

"…Gone."

   "Steady them, don't let any of them leave Winterhold, you will be free in a few days." After finishing speaking, Maxim called the soldiers in loudly.

  Kozmo put on the headgear in a hurry, and escorted him out of the mansion as if driven away, heading towards the secret site in the basement.

  Scavenger's men pushed him on silently.

   Cosmo, who was covered by a hood and couldn't see anything, had mixed emotions.

  He knew very well that when he was resolutely leading the sub-station struggle, Maxim still regarded him as an opponent, but now he surrendered and leaned towards the opponent, but he was not taken seriously.

   Once he came here because there was no turning back after betrayal, Maxim naturally wouldn't worry about what he would do. The second reason is that my compromise was due to timidity. If there is no shining point in myself, no one will appreciate it.

  But, did I go wrong?

   Cosmo thinks not.

  It is better to be alive than anything, and to live a rich life with a lot of money is better than anything.

  Giving one's life for an illusory thing, and nothing good comes out in the end, that is no longer what he admires.

  Even in the eyes of Maxim, so what if he is a dog?

  Whether this choice is correct or not, won't it be clear in a few days?

  The depression in Cosmo's heart disappeared, and his steps became brisk. When escorted away by the scavengers, it seemed that he really became a docile and embarrassed dog.

Quentin, who stayed in the hotel near the secret site in the basement, hadn't rested yet. He stood sideways in front of the window and watched the scavenger **** Cosmo back. After the scavenger returned to the hotel, Cosmo took off his hood. Go back to the basement.

  He, who has always been calm and stable, couldn't help but feel a little confused at this moment.

   Substation chief Cosmo has rebelled, so what about the rest? Did Vladislav betray? Has Arseni rebelled? Did Victor betray?

   There is no way to be sure.

  The branch station became a dark vortex at this time, and sooner or later they would be swallowed up.

  —

  July 26, early morning

Worried that Cosmo would go back to Heping Street first, and also worried that the scavengers who were also in the hotel would notice him. As soon as the curfew was lifted, Quentin left the hotel and rushed back to the tavern on Heping Street as fast as possible. .

   Probably worked late yesterday. When Quentin returned, he only saw Verac and the bartender Victor sitting in front of the bar.

   "Are you back? How did you drink with the captain of the inspection team?" Verac came up with a question, and calmly conveyed the reason he made for Quentin to go out.

   "...not very good." Quentin used this reason to report the situation to Verak in turn.

  Verak's expression changed, he patted Victor on the shoulder, and walked towards the cubicle: "Come on, tell me."

   After Quentin nodded to Victor, he followed Veraker.

   "What's the situation?" After Quentin entered the cubicle, Veraker closed the door with his own hands, turned his head and asked eagerly.

"I..." Quentin didn't know where to start, "I was squatting near the basement yesterday. At night, I saw Cosmo come out of the basement and put on a hood. After a while, the scavenger The people from the city appeared and took him away... Then, after about an hour, he was escorted back by the scavenger people..."

  Verak was in a trance, feeling that the current scene was like a dream.

  When he came back and saw Quentin's ugly expression, he had a bad feeling, and the final result fell into the place he was least willing to accept.

  The pillar of all comrades in the sub-station, in the position of Bash, Cosmo, like Bresili Boyne, really betrayed the revolution and defected to the government.

  Why there are so many undercover traitors in the sub-station, why the sub-station has done nothing in Winterhold for several months, why Comrade Dai Qian sacrificed so easily...all make sense.

  The webmasters are all members of the government, so it is not difficult to play with them.

"The worst thing now is not that our support for Winterhold, our location, and all our plans are known to the government, but that we don't even know how many people like Cosmo are still in the substation. Vladimir Slavs, Arseni... we don't know who to trust now..." Quentin was troubled by this question all night.

  No one in the sub-station is absolutely reliable, so how can they change the status quo with just a few of their new comrades who just came from Brexi?

  Verak sighed wearily: "During this time, the sub-station has sacrificed hundreds of comrades. It is impossible for these comrades to think that their most trusted station master is also the murderer who killed them..."

   "We..." Quentin didn't know what to do next, this question was beyond his ability.

   "Do you think, since the Bash government is very clear about our movements, why don't they just catch us all?"

   "Because Bash is working with us?" Quentin guessed.

"I think so too. In addition, the flames of revolution will never go out. After they wiped us out, there will still be new revolutionary forces. Instead of spending time and effort to track down and eliminate us, it is better to let us It saves them a lot of work." From Maxim's point of view, Verak thought of two possibilities for keeping the sub-station untouched.

   "Then do you think we will be safe in the short term?"

   It is about the life and death of all the comrades who are kept in the dark. Verak said the most secure and conservative answer: "The war is not over, and our cooperation with Bash is not terminated. There should be no danger."

   "I feel that the battle will come to an end soon." Quentin paid much attention to the huge naval battle on the Sea of ​​Signe Velen.

   "Then we don't have much time." Verak leaned against the doorway.

   "Our top priority is to find out whether Vladislav, Arseni and others have betrayed the organization, and gather reliable comrades to evacuate behind the traitors." The water in Winterhold is too deep, and Quentin advocated leaving first.

   "How to check in such a short time..." Verak had no idea.

  Even if they can confirm the situation of Vladislav and Arseni, the innocence of the comrades in the other sub-stations is still powerless, and it is impossible to check them one by one.

  Quentin looked at Verac: "Then..."

"The only thing we have now is the fact of Cosmo's rebellion." Verak tried to calm himself down and came up with a solution with the clearest mind. Pry all the information out of your mouth. But doing so also means tearing the government's disguise, and our conflict with them will be on the verge of breaking out."

"Do we want to be safe and take Stuart and them out of Winterhold first?" Now staying in Winterhold may wipe out the whole army at any time, Quentin is more inclined to keep their strength, otherwise there is no room for reversal. there is none left.

"What if Vladislav, Arseni, and Victor are all traitors? They are staring at us, how can we withdraw? Even if we can withdraw, what about the rest of the true comrades who don't know the truth? Wait for the government's opportunity. So, don’t you even know how you died?” In Verak’s heart, he was thinking about the true comrades who must still exist in the substation.

  They still trusted Cosmo unconditionally, and foolishly waited for Cosmo to lead them to eliminate undercover agents and start the revolution in Winterhold.

  Verak could not leave so easily.

   "The current situation is not conducive to us, and it may not make much sense for us to keep it." Quentin persuaded.

"No matter what, we still have a few days." Veraker is not that kind of person, so even if he dies, he will not choose to leave first, "These few days are the last time for our comrades in the rescue station." Chance."

   "...Should I tell Stuart and them?" Quentin asked.

   "Don't wait. After they know this, it's hard to pretend they don't know anything." Verak said.

   "Only the two of us?"

"We have to come up with a solution first, and if we need more people to help, it's not too late to tell them the truth." Verak closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "The problem is that it's very risky to start with Cosmo. But other than that, I can't think of a second way to go."

"I feel that Vladislav and the others are more likely to be deceived by Cosmo just like us." Quentin provided his own thinking logic, "It stands to reason that Comrade Daisy was the first person to work with Cosmo, if Cosmo There is a second cadre who rebelled besides Zimo, and she is the most suspected one. But she died, which means that she did not rebel. Since she didn’t have any, she just merged with the sub-station and met Cosmo for only a few months Vladislav and Arseni should also be our comrades."

  Verak nodded slightly: "It makes sense, but even Cosmo can betray the revolution, and the others don't have any evidence. It's hard for me to let go of my guard."

"Our every move is exposed to the eyes of the government, and there is no credible person to help investigate... The only way left is Cosmo." Quentin was also helpless, and put the focus back on Cosmo. Zimo's body.

  Now, the only thing they have the initiative in is knowing about Cosmo's betrayal.

  With no power to rely on, if you want to find out the government's plan and the list of traitors in the sub-station, you can only check Cosmo.

   "Let's start with Cosmo." Verak made a decision in a deep voice.

   "Boom boom boom."

  Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, which made the two of them break out in cold sweat.

  Villac, who has rich experience in acting, was the first to regain his composure, turned around and opened the door to look at Victor who brought two glasses of water outside the door.

   "Drink some water." Victor came in and put the water on the table.

   "Are they still awake?" Quentin looked a little unnatural, and Verac quickly attracted Victor's attention by asking questions, giving Quentin time to adjust.

   "Not yet, but it should be soon, I'm going to prepare breakfast." Victor turned to Verak.

   "Need help? Anyway, we're sitting here just chatting."

   "No, I can do it alone, you are busy." Victor went out.

   It wasn't until Victor disappeared at the corner of the corridor that Veraker closed the door: "You can't do this, even facing Victor is so unnatural. When you see Cosmo again, he may be aware of something."

   Quentin thought that he had worked in the intelligence department for so long, and there was nothing wrong with pretending, but after seeing Veraker's performance just now, he felt ashamed: "Give me some more time."

Veraker's acting skills have long been honed to perfection: "When you deal with them, don't always think about these things, you have to try to keep them in your heart, or even forget them. You can only deceive yourself if you have deceived yourself first." pass them."

   "I'll try." Quentin adjusted his state according to Verac's method.

   "Cosmo should be back today. We'd better not break up with him when we come up. If we can make a routine, we can use a series of reactions to make inferences." Verak still stood in front of the door.

   "I cooperate with you." After Quentin adjusted, his state changed visible to the naked eye.

   "Okay." Verak opened the door.