Twenty Seven Years

  Chapter 499 Public Opinion War (Twenty)

  Back to the newspaper office, Capa hid some of the films that implied the truth, and handed over the others to the colleagues in charge of the corresponding work.

   Then, after reporting the progress to the editor-in-chief Byron, he sat alone in the corner of the staff cafeteria and ate lunch in silence.

The food in the cafeteria has always been good, which may have something to do with them being the government's key protection personnel, but in the clean and bright cafeteria, while eating a sumptuous lunch, in the rancid prison, the desperate faces still hit his brain .

  For the first time, he felt what it means to be chewy.

   It took a long time before he finished his lunch, which he hadn't packed much, and returned to his room. Finally, he couldn't help covering his face and weeping bitterly.

  Kappa has lived for more than 30 years. After nearly ten days of experience, he found that he is not as fragile as he imagined. What happened today made him realize that he is not as strong as he imagined.

  Seeing so many people sinking into a sea of ​​misery, his heart is suffering to the extreme.

   But such negative emotions did not last forever.

  Because there is one thing more important than grief, and that is rescuing the thousands of people locked up in prison.

  The only one with the ability to rescue is the action team left by the International Equality League in Laizein!

  He has the complete evidence of the newspaper's falsification, and the evidence that the prisons are all ordinary people. What he lacks now is the opportunity and channel to announce these.

   Time to proactively create opportunities to engage with action teams.

  Kappa decided to launch the 'Infected' plan in the afternoon.

afternoon

  Finishly finished writing a false report with photos of the prison, Capa impatiently left the newspaper in the name of collecting materials, and under the **** of two soldiers, he went to the slums formed by the spontaneous gathering of people without housing or work.

  Without dedicated cleaning personnel, the people in the slums can hardly guarantee food and clothing, and they don’t even care about being decent and clean. As a result, garbage is piled up everywhere in the streets of the slums, and the stench is suffocating.

  In such an environment, the growth of bacteria and the spread of diseases must be easy.

"Mr. Capa, I suggest not to stay here too much. Look over there, a bunch of people are coughing, and there are several corpses on the other side who don't know how long they have been left. Plague is easy to occur here. If we get infected, we will die." Trouble." Sensing the danger, the cautious soldiers dissuaded Capa from leaving as soon as possible.

  When he saw the horrific corpse, Capa also had the idea of ​​leaving quickly.

  He instinctively doubted whether his plan was feasible.

   What if he contracted a severe infectious disease and died before the International Equality League found him?

   "Mr. Capa, hurry up and collect materials in another place." Another soldier covered his mouth and nose with a square scarf, and looked around fearfully.

   "...Allow me to take a few photos, and I will leave after taking a few photos." Capa briefly struggled in his heart, choosing to stay here for a while.

  If you are really infected, just follow the trend. If everything is fine, then pretending to have an infectious disease should not be a big problem. Anyway, whether the plan is successful or not is a matter of these few days, and there will be no problem if you don't reveal your secrets within a few days.

  Even if it is found that he is not infected with an infectious disease, it makes sense to justify that he came to a slum and mistakenly thought that he was infected.

   "Click."

   "Click."

  Come close to a group of people huddled together to keep warm and took a photo. Capa put away his camera and returned to the newspaper office with soldiers who didn't even want to be as close to the people as he was.

  That night, I don’t know whether it was a psychological hint, or it was just such a coincidence that he got sick. Capa went home and couldn’t afford a high fever. The next morning, he was taken to the hospital by soldiers who came to check the situation.

  —

  November 30, morning

  Lizein Wartime Action Team General Liaison Office

"According to reports from comrades lurking near reporter Capa's residence, reporter Capa seemed to be sick, and was rushed to the hospital by several soldiers wearing masks at dawn." Murphy, who received the new telegram, immediately Report to Verak.

  "Infectious disease?" Verac judged Capa's situation from the abnormal behavior of the soldiers wearing masks, "Why did you suddenly get sick?"

"This is not clear. The government forces divided Lezein into small areas and restricted the movement of people in each area. This made it difficult for us to fully grasp Capa's whereabouts. But what is known is that Many reporters went back to the slums to collect materials. I suspect that Capa may have contracted some kind of disease during the process of collecting materials. After all, our comrades met him the day before and he was still fine. It was only one night, just..." Mo Fei analyzed based on the information currently available.

  Verak nodded thoughtfully: "It's probably not a coincidence that I got sick and went to the hospital at this juncture."

  Sheryl, who sat on the side and listened to the whole process, agreed: "I think so too, but whether this is Capa's sincere intention to create an opportunity to contact us spontaneously, or another trap, is still unknown."

"It's all come to this point, we still have to try to get in touch?" Cyril, the leader of the combat team, came over, "At worst, we just send a comrade to meet him and judge the authenticity, so that even if something goes wrong , the loss is also controllable. Otherwise, it will be delayed and the opportunity will be delayed. At that time, it will not be a matter of sacrifice or not, but a question of how much to sacrifice."

  Verak nodded slightly.

  He felt that what Cyril said was quite right.

  Under the circumstances that the ability is limited and it is impossible to completely and safely investigate whether Kappa is a bait set by the provisional government, it is an inevitable choice to make a risky decision.

   And the sooner the decision is made the better for them.

   Knowing that the other party is the bait now will be a completely different situation than knowing it three or five days later.

  More importantly, if Capa had nothing to do with the provisional government, but he sincerely voted for the International Equality League, and did not hesitate to rely on illness to win the chance to join, then their current stagnation is the greatest blasphemy against Capa's efforts.

   "Do you have the information about the hospital?" Verak asked.

   "It's not clear which hospital Kappa was sent to, but our comrades have already launched an investigation into the most likely hospital, and I believe there will be results today." Murphy said.

"Which hospital is Kappa, we will arrange for the comrades in the area of ​​the hospital to contact." Verak made a decision, "If it is true, it is best, if it is false, we will immediately contact comrades in other departments to stop targeting The operation of the plan. Try to complete our task satisfactorily within the two-day time limit given by Chairman Keating."

   "If it's fake, I'm afraid it will deal a heavy blow to morale." Cyril sighed, worried about the worst result.

  At present, the action team has tried many ways to break into the newspaper office, but they all ended in failure.

  The appearance of Capa made their confidence, which was gradually slipping into a trough, suddenly rise to an unprecedented high.

  If it is finally confirmed that Capa is the bait of the provisional government, their hard-fought high morale will definitely drop to the bottom.

"...Let's surrender." Verak was helpless and straightforward, "If this hope is also lost, we must admit that it is basically impossible for us to obtain key evidence. At that time, the best way is to terminate this in time. In terms of input, directly based on the worst-case scenario, regroup and fight."

   "It should have been like this a long time ago." Veteran Spencer echoed loudly with a cigarette in his mouth.

   "Connie, what's going on with Hall?" In the morning, Verac handed over Hall's affairs to Connie to train her.

  Connie walked over quickly and said: "Hall agreed to your proposal, and is hurrying up to find a new hiding place for us and plan our transfer route."

Verak is very satisfied with the result: "The transfer should be carried out as soon as possible. If we have time later, we can choose a suitable location on the map and discuss the feasibility with Hall. Cyril, over there at the Martyrs Cemetery Any questions?"

   "There is no problem with the cemetery of the martyrs. The government army has not stationed more troops there for a while." Cyril said.

   "Very well, the combat team continues to plan operations, attract the attention of the government forces, and continue to cause harassment and damage to them." Verak sat firmly on the sofa, "Now, each perform their duties and wait for the good news."

   As the evening approached, good news came.

  Murphy received the latest telegram, which confirmed that Comrade Evans hiding in the South District confirmed that reporter Capa was undergoing treatment in a hospital near the apartment where he lived.

  Comrade Evans was one of the second batch of comrades who obtained the camera and were responsible for collecting evidence.

Because the smuggling of cameras has been discovered by the provisional government, in order to ensure the safety of comrades holding cameras, Verak had to issue an order on the same day, requiring both groups of comrades to move places in the shortest possible time. They changed their names and surnames to prevent the provisional government from following the clues to find them.

   Originally planned to leave the apartment tonight, Evans, who went to hide in other blocks, became an exception.

  As the closest comrade to reporter Capa, he must take the risk to stay and try to contact him.

   Doing so means that once the provisional government fully grasps the clues about smuggling cameras, he will be in danger of being found out at any time.

  But without the slightest hesitation, he resolutely acted as the hub of hope.

  Villac, Shirley and others personally sent various instructions to Evans through telegrams, and tried their best to carry out this contact in a stable manner.

  Evans’ last telegram was extremely brief:

   Guaranteed to complete the task.

  —

  Night of November 30th, South District of Laizein, a certain apartment

  Evans patiently destroyed all confidential materials in the room.

  He knows that no one in the International Equality League can confirm the background of reporter Kappa.

   This reporter with confusing information may be sincere, or he may be bait.

   If the latter is confirmed, he will undoubtedly be the first comrade to be exposed and sacrificed.

   Therefore, he needs to be fully prepared for the possibility of his exposure.

  Destroying data is the first step.

   After finishing all these tasks, the proprietress' hoarse shouts came from the corridor.

  It’s time for dinner, and it’s time for these lonely tenants to go downstairs to have dinner with the landlady’s family who have been crying all day long.

   Evans adjusted his clothes a little, opened the door with a limp on purpose, and walked downstairs with the other lifeless tenants.

  In the old days, the relationship between the tenants was pretty good, at least when they met, they couldn’t do without a warm conversation. But in just a few days, the owner of the apartment and several tenants were reported anonymously, and were taken to prison by government forces as comrades of the International Equality League. Dare to talk nonsense, dare not get involved with others.

   In this regard, Evans, who is truly a comrade of the International Equality League, cannot describe his feelings.

  He only made it clear that he hated this atmosphere, and felt sad that six or seven people walked out of the corridor, but there was no sound other than footsteps.

   A little bit of power is being handed out and abused at will.

  The originally bustling apartment fell apart, and the citizens of Laizeinli fell into suspicion and cannibalism.

  Evans can't wait to reveal the truth.

  After finally moving to the stairs, he slipped on purpose and rolled down screaming in pain.

  Although the slipping is a fake, the fall is real.

   Hitting the wall at the corner of the stairs, barely stopping, he was in so much pain that he could only open his mouth dryly, gasping for air.

  The rest of the tenants who came downstairs were dumbfounded when they saw this, and looked at a loss.

   After four or five seconds, one of the indifferent tenants finally stood up.

   This person had a good relationship with Evans before, and he would enthusiastically support him when they met downstairs, but after the revelation, he never spoke to Evans again.

  Witnessing this scene today, he mustered up the courage to go up to check the situation: "How are you? Are you okay?"

   "Hiss... Huh..." Evans calmed down for more than a minute, and then he recovered a little bit, and grinned, "I feel...a broken leg..."

   "Which leg?"

   "Right leg."

   "Help, get him to the hospital." The tenant tried to pick up Evans on his back while calling for help from others.

  The rest of the tenants gathered on the stairs looked at each other in blank dismay, not daring to take any chances.

  Now, if the relationship between the two seems a little close, it may be secretly revealed that members of the International Equality League are meeting.

  And the provisional government doesn't care whether this statement is true or not, as long as it doesn't look too outrageous, it will arrest and put it in prison.

   As of now, only a small number of those who have been locked in prison have come out.

  Of these few people, the vast majority were dragged to execution, and a very small number of them managed to get their lives back after bribing a large sum of money.

  They have no power and power, and they dare not take this risk at all.

"Are you all scared crazy?! How can there be so many people from the International Equality League, so what if there are?! Is the people from the International Equality League hurting us, or the people from the government?!" The tenant Glaring at the onlookers, he spoke out what he was holding back in his heart.

  When the people around heard this, they backed away in fright, and drew a clear line with them with practical actions.

   "Crazy, all crazy..." The tenant murmured in disappointment, passing by them, walked out of the apartment alone with Evans on his back, and went straight to the nearest hospital.

  (end of this chapter)