old dream

Chapter 99 New Identity
Are you going to wear that burn mask?Colin thought.

This is not such a mature idea, but when he found that there was nothing in the room to prove his identity as a lieutenant except for masks and photos, the thought that slipped through Colin's mind for a moment.

If nothing else, the identity information "Horst" left with the landlord should also be false.

So, no one knew that Lieutenant Heinrich was dead.

In order to avoid the eyeliner of the five hands, Colin has gradually realized recently:
He needs a fake identity as cover.

The longer a fake identity has been around, the less likely it will be suspicious.If it is originally a real identity, but it is not too related to any specific person, then it is the best choice.

And because Colin didn't have much time to play this identity, it had better be a non-specific existence like a symbol.

"Horst" has been posing as lieutenant Heinrich to send money to the soldiers, at the same time, the real lieutenant has been bedridden for three years.

In the past three years, he must not have met anyone related.Because only in this way, the false "Heinrich" in the letter can be established in the impression of this crowd:
A man who stubbornly overcame trauma and after-effects, and has been working diligently in the logging field after recovery, insisting on subsidizing the weak for many years.

a true warrior.

The reality of Heinrich, I am afraid, has gradually been forgotten.He who had lost his face in the first place was bedridden and kept out of the house, and his sense of existence became thinner and thinner.It was replaced by a hallucination fabricated by "Horst" during these three years in order to atone for his sins.

It is precisely because he is fabricated that he can become close enough to the ideal.

The lieutenant wearing a burn mask has become an image that exists only in imagination, a complex and powerful symbol pinned on beliefs such as tenacity, mutual aid, and returning to life.

And all people's memories of this symbol exist only in that pile of letters.

"Horst" has been deliberately imitating the lieutenant's tone, and as a result, the tone in the letter does not belong to any specific person.

So who can get the letters, who can learn the trick of "Horst" imitating the lieutenant.

Or, who can continue to give those soldiers hope that life can go on.

Whoever can become the real "Heinrich".

Colin couldn't help thinking, how many soldiers came back from the battlefield of Senna in Stad?

Most of them have not been able to make ends meet so far.A humble, restrained, lawful life amidst a storm of condemnation.But under the surface of calm, there must be anger and unwillingness to burn forever.

For more than a decade, their sacrifices for the Confederacy have never been taken seriously.Capital has abandoned them for profit.

The gangsters and bootleggers who moved in with the immigrants had already lived a life of high spending when they didn't know how to fill their parents' and children's belly.

Perhaps it only takes a trivial opportunity to let their precious self-control burst.

Like someone who died because of chronic poverty.

Or someone like "Heinrich" said something someday.

At that time, if someone gave a little guidance, these soldiers who lost their moral hearts in the past would participate in the criminal feast of the bootleg war as revenge.

And this will be a whole new force.

……

……

Colin spent nearly an hour putting everything back in place, disguising as much detail as possible as no one had been there.

Maybe the lieutenant's suffocation will make the detectives suspicious, but they should not be too concerned about the life and death of a poor person in such a place.

The material left by Heinrich is all fake.A black household of unknown origin who died for unknown reasons.As dramatic as it sounds, it has nothing to do with the interests of any group.So it is destined to cause no trouble. In the eyes of the police detective, it is definitely not a case worthy of attention.

After putting away all the stationery and the "Wedding Ring" copy, Colin looked at the entire room, as if looking at the work he had just completed, which was basically the same as when he came.Even where there should be dust, there is still dust.

Then, he unconsciously looked down at the lieutenant's mask.The more I looked at it, the more I began to feel that it contained some very provocative and frightening power.

It is a reference to soldiers being severely maimed on the battlefield, and at the same time a product of perfunctory authorities.

And its original owner sprayed it with blood-red paint as if to trample on something.

The lieutenant with this mask was supposed to be the best symbol of anger and condemnation.

Perhaps, this is the real will of Lieutenant Heinrich himself.

……

……

When Colin passed the corner in front of Benedict's house again, his door suddenly opened.

"I still have the impression of your footsteps." Benedict explained that he knew that it was Colin who went downstairs:

"The sound of footsteps of all kinds, the most important clue of a jigsaw puzzle."

"What do you want to say?" Colin looked at him blankly.

I thought, you really shouldn't stop me at this time.

He never wanted to kill Benedict. Even if he knew that the other party was very smart and liked to make redundant guesses, he didn't want to kill people just to hide information.

Maybe he shouldn't have been.Always like a girl who can't be ruthless with laymen, leaving more and more clues along the way.

"It's inconvenient to speak here." Benedict looked around.At this time, there was no one else in the aisle, and the voices of the two seemed to be very loud.

"Come in and talk? I promise it won't take too much of your time," Benedict said cautiously.

Colin raised his hand and glanced at his watch, it was eleven forty.There are already no cars on the street, and it will make no difference if it is delayed.

He glanced behind the door where Benedict was, and could vaguely see the outlines of a mass of soles and leather.Although there is no danger, he will not listen to the other party's words and go inside foolishly.

"If you have something to say, go outside, or forget it." Colin said:

"I don't want to talk behind those thin walls anymore."

After all, even the snoring of neighbors can be heard, and nothing can be hidden.

And it is safest to talk on the move, compared to a room with a wall and ears.

Benedict hesitated for a while, but still agreed to Colin's request.

Temporary change of place is allowed, indicating that he has no intention of making a fool of himself.

Although this probability is inherently small.

……

……

The two left the apartment building, facing the cool evening breeze, which was quite refreshing, because it was no longer always mixed with the smell of unknown origin as in the daytime.

As summer wears on, the silhouette of the female moon is becoming less and less complete, but it still captures the details of the street shots.

There are no street lights in the nearby streets at all.There are dilapidated buildings on both sides of the narrow road, and only a few windows are dimly lit.Colin thought that if it was winter, this area would be completely dark at night, no different from the countryside.

"Is the other guy in that room still there?" Benedict asked nonchalantly, as if he was still just checking out the results of his boring game.

"It seems that you guessed the wrong answer. There is no second person in the room." Colin said:

"In a few days, there may be other people coming. Detectives, or more dangerous people, if you don't want to get involved..."

"It's better not to go to that room, is it?" Benedict said with a smile:
"Actually, the person in the room is already dead."

"..."

Colin suddenly felt that his kindness had been betrayed.

Originally, he didn't want him to be involved, but the other party insisted on showing off his cleverness.

As a result, I made myself look like an idiot who was exposed on the spot.

"I'm not going to talk about it," Benedict promised earnestly.

"Do you think this matter can be guaranteed by yourself?" Colin said, looking at the back alleys on both sides of the road, and began to consider whether it was necessary to deal with this person.

"I understand, it's better not to let you know that I know." Benedict said something like a tongue twister: "You were going to leave, that is, you didn't intend to silence me. But that's what made me go down. I've decided to stop you."

"To remind me not to miss you?"

"To show my sincerity, let me tell you that I know about it."

"You call that sincerity," Colin said. "It sounds like a threat to me."

"If you're worried about that, then I can always get myself dirty. Let anyone see that I've been in and out of that room, where I left my fingerprints or something."

Benedict was eager to explain the misunderstanding, and he hurriedly followed in Colin's footsteps and said:
"I can't threaten you and tell you this, I just want to say that I haven't kept anything from you so far, anything you should know.

And there won't be any more. "

"In the future?" Colin wondered, what later.

"...You said you were a bootlegger, right?" Benedict then stated his purpose for seeking this conversation:

"I heard people say it's quite profitable to do this, so do you still need a follower?"

"If you don't have it, take me with you!"

Maybe because he was a foreigner, Colin always felt that although Benedict was smart, he was always weak in his speech.

And I didn't expect that he was actually drawing this.

"It's quite profitable," said Colin, "but if it's a business that is sure to make money, why should I bring you?"

"I need money badly," Benedict said. "In my home country, I have a lot of relatives and friends who live on my remittances."

"That's all? Why don't you think about what that 'Horst' looks like?" Colin laughed at him.

It is not necessarily a good thing for relatives and friends to lose their lives in a foreign country without paying attention.

"Of course it's more than that." Benedict said through gritted teeth:

"The more important reason is that I also want to live the life of a classy person, like the ones I see on the train coming!"

"I don't want to let my family live in this pig-house-like apartment when I pick them up, and sew shoes with me in the dark. I want to drive to the station to pick them up from the train and make a special place in the suburbs. It is used to house them, and I want to live with my lover on the top floors of those buildings in the old city, and if something goes wrong, I have the money to change it!"

"Cough, cough, cough..."

To be honest, Colin was a little choked by Benedict's naked declaration of desire for a while, and he couldn't help turning his head and coughing.

Neither the Ankh nor the Nare people advocate showing off.So it is rare to hear such a straightforward expression in Stade.

"I know that I am in your eyes now, and I am not even worth using." Benedict said:
"So all I try to prove to you is my sincerity. I never lie, and if I think a friend should know something, I'll tell him...if there was a bar shooting a few days ago, Those unfortunate casualties, if you start short of manpower. Then I can say: You should totally consider me..."

When he was halfway through speaking, Colin had already looked up at Feiyue in a trance, thinking about related matters.

For himself, Benedict would probably be a useful person.He is very smart, as can be seen from the fact that he can always speculate and memorize the residents' rooms only through the flow of people outside his room.

But for a job like bootlegging, ability is secondary.The most important thing is to find reliable and trustworthy people.

It stands to reason that a person who repeatedly emphasizes that he can be trusted will make people feel that he has plans and is difficult to trust.But Benedict subtly didn't give Colin that feeling.

Maybe it's because he didn't hide anything from himself since the first meeting, and now he has bluntly stated his simple and childish desires.

For Colin, who had spent many years in five hands and was accustomed to being suspicious of each other in silence, this kind of demeanor from a foreign country made him feel a little fresh.

He was really short of people.Especially if you want to act under the sight of five hands, you need to remotely control a large number of unrelated people.

But what really moved him at this time was not Benedict's ability, or his temperament and the words in his mouth.It was Benedict's identity as an international student.He does a very humble job, which means that he is lonely in a foreign country and does not have too many connections with any existing forces.

The desire for money is not a big deal, but it shows that the person is easy to control.

At this time, Benedict was still talking, and Colin interrupted him directly.

"Stop, needless to say."

Benedict closed his mouth, and asked a little uneasily after a while:
"So, do I still have a play?"

"Not just anyone can join the team."

"...That's right," Benedict said with a forced smile.

"By tomorrow, select sixteen addresses."

"What, what?" Benny stopped where he was.

"Sixteen addresses where you can open a speakeasy without being easily checked. If you do well, I can consider letting you in."

After Colin said this, he gestured to Benny to leave without having to follow him.

"Don't know what to call you yet?" Benedict asked not far away.

Colin looked back and thought for a while, then replied:

"Just call me 'Heinrich'."

　A little cold and low fever, pharyngitis also committed, code is a little confused.

　　Definitely not the new crown, but can anyone teach me how to write a detailed outline?Although there is a general direction, the details are still difficult to achieve by temporary play.

　　Maybe the accident the day before yesterday made me develop a bad habit, so I'll update it in two chapters starting tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)