In the evening at the Tulip Club, Carmen drank some wine.

He felt that it was a waste not to drink those high-end wines, so he left the club with a little dizziness. However, at this time, even the frightened back sweated, and the alcohol disappeared without a trace. This shouldn't be a gangster, and the gangster doesn't care if they have rebelled or not.

"Who are you?" asked Carmen calmly.

Before he could finish speaking, someone slapped him in the face, and the left side of his face swollen on the spot.

"Mr. Gable, you are a wise man, and it is safe to confess to your accomplices, which will save you from the pain of flesh and skin. If you have a good attitude of cooperation, you may be able to get out of here and return to your normal work and life. Eagle Hook Nose said coldly.

"What a joke, what accomplice? I don't understand. Carmen said, clutching his cheeks.

"It seems that our Mr. Gable will not admit his guilt, this is the secret police station, as long as we are targeted, you people with backbones, no matter how hard-mouthed, will open your mouth to confess sooner or later. "We've got a lot of items for you, so you can enjoy them all at once." Ha ha. ”

Several big men also let out a grim smile.

Carmen, the secret police, was terrified, but still did not lose his composure:

"Then I need to remind you that you cannot torture me without strong evidence. Moreover, confessions obtained by torture into confessions do not count. This is all written in the Imperial Secrets Act. ”

Eagle Hooknose obviously didn't expect Carmen's toughness, and he smiled and raised a cowhide cover book in his hand: "Mr. Gable, do you know this?"

Carmen recognized it as similar to his notebook, and he was a lover of reading and liked to take notes. If there is a regret pill, Carmen will definitely throw away this bad habit.

"Let's read Mr. Gable's mental words together. Hooknose opened the cover as he read, "Toby Salamane is my spiritual guide, even though I don't have the chance to know him. I fully agree with Mentor Salaman's view that the true state of the Empire's finances has become the Empire's greatest secret, and that the Cabinet Ministers always talk about financial difficulties, always try to raise taxes, but never make the income and expenditure reports public. This is the absolute embodiment of imperial power. This is in fact living in darkness and hoping that the people will always be in a state of ignorance and blind obedience, and that one day this absolute imperial power will come to an end. ”

"Since there are the First to Fifth Empires, then there will be the Sixth Empire. Privileged people are drunk and dreaming of death, they don't care about the lives of the little people, I guess they pretend not to know, and pretend that others don't know......"

Carmen broke out in a cold sweat, and although these intimate words were not too explicit compared to some liberal figures, they were still a handle.

Hooknose closed the notebook and asked, "Mr. Gable, what else do you have to say?"

"I have no comment. "If you want to be punished for your words, then come." ”

"Mr. Gable, you've been very active lately, publishing a series of interesting articles. I have to say, your article is very well written, but we studied your origin and background. Your uncle, LeBron Gable, is a member of the True God Party?"

"This is absolute nonsense. "Doesn't the empire allow citizens the freedom to believe in the true god?"

"Who is your uncle working for?" asked Hawknose, "a Genoese viscount?"

Carmen nodded, but she was even more nervous in her heart: "Don't you think that a nobleman is also treasonous?"

"Wouldn't the nobles be treasonous?" asked Eagle Hook Nose rhetorically, "May I conclude that your uncle and nephew are trying to challenge the existing order of the Empire at the instigation or suggestion of the viscount?"

Carmen said angrily: "This is absolutely slander. My uncle worked for the viscount, it was only a purely agency relationship, and his actions did not violate any of the edicts of the Empire. As for my publication of articles, it is only my personal work, not only me, but also the newspaper I work for has always cared about the voices of the bottom of society, and this is the purpose of this newspaper. ”

"But you can't deny that your article has set off a wave of public opinion and put pressure on certain people. This pressure is even more powerful than money. "After your uncle was wounded and several of his employees were detained, who guided you to write those articles and turn the tide of the situation?"

The anonymous letter, of course, but Carmen realized that it was a key point, and if he took the initiative to confess the anonymous letter, he would definitely be fine.

If you don't confess this, you will lose your job at best, or you will be charged with other crimes - but you will be on a par with some people, and the more serious the crime, the better your reputation will be - but not your life.

Luckily, the anonymous letter was burned by himself. So Carmen insisted:

"I thought of it myself, it was my professional instinct. ”

"Mr. Gable, it seems, is dishonest. ”

With a wave of his hand, several big men brought a large bucket and stuffed Carmen's head into the bucket.

Carmen struggled, trying to hold her breath. As a person who grew up by the sea, he has a good water nature, and when he was a teenager, he dived and fished, because he was more able to hold his breath and others were always more rewarding.

It's not a pleasant thing to be forced to press your head. Water entered his lungs through his nostrils, causing him to cough violently, but he was forced to press his head and his eardrums were poured into the water and made a gurgling sound, making him feel uncomfortable, and the danger of death was approaching him.

But Carmen still refuses to give up, and the severe lack of oxygen causes him to lose consciousness rapidly, and the world seems to be quiet.

In the confusion, the voice still echoed:

"Mr. Gable, don't you feel good, maybe you remember something?"

Carmen squirted the water from his mouth as hard as he could, only to be pressed into the water again.

He fell into a coma, and when he woke up, he found himself thrown at the door of his apartment.

This made him suspicious, when did the secret police release people so easily?

For the next few days, Carmen went to work with a suspicious mood, and he felt that everyone around him was suspicious.

Every day when he left work, he always felt that he was being followed.

He fantasized that the secret police would once again suddenly come to him, and then take him to prison and execute himself for treason.

This quickly made him fall ill.

However, the terrible things he imagined did not happen, which forced him to reflect on his last experience and become suspicious.

"Maybe some mysterious organization is carrying out some secret activity, and I just happen to get their attention, and when they think they have no value, they let themselves go?" said Carmen, reassuring himself, and this spiritual victory lifted his spirits a little.

But this terrible experience made Carmen even more cautious, and he did not talk to anyone about being asked to dive by the so-called secret police.

His pen is still sharp, but not as sharp and aggressive.

Seemingly overnight, Carmen matured.

At this time, Carmen received another invitation from the Tulip Club, and after a long hesitation, Carmen decided to go to the appointment.

This time it was not a masquerade, but an academic seminar, in the name of academic discussion, to discuss politics.

Mrs. Bloom invited Toby Salaman, a figure who had been used as a spiritual guide by Carmen in her reading notes.

Contrary to what Carmen had imagined, Salamane was a raunchy, middle-aged man, tall and muscular, with a beard that he always waved his right arm involuntarily when he spoke.

Salman was undoubtedly the star and center of the gathering, and most of them were his fans and admirers, including Madame Blonn, who was always next to him, pouring tea for him herself, her eyes full of admiration.

"His Majesty's only enemy is himself, not his subjects. If His Majesty is willing to take that step, such as the taxation of property should be apportioned equally among all subjects and members of the state of the empire, the clergy, the nobility and the lands of the third estate are taxed equally, without distinction...... It doesn't get much more justice than that. ”

"Every time I pass by the White House, I cannot help but feel inexplicably angry that we must submit to the arbitrary will of these court servants...... Those around His Majesty...... arrogant and ignorant, groveling in exchange for status, disdainful of the people who raised him......"

In the spirit of prudence, Carmen listened and did not speak, but every word Salaman said touched him and lifted him.

But Salamane is not a man of his word, he is undoubtedly the brightest star of the club, and there are always a few people who do not agree with him, such as the artist Fuchs.

Furks's views are even more extreme. If Salamane thinks that the emperor is good and the bad are the people around the emperor, then Fuchs devalues all privileged people as worthless:

"Dear Mr. Salaman, please put away your ridiculous principle of discrimination. What the people need is not the mercy of the superiors, they demand equality and free breathing. The privileged do not see it that way, believing that the right of the people to breathe freely can only and only be given by them. It is a selfish class, morally impossible for them to be saints, and therefore impossible to be inclined to the interests of the people, and as for the law, it is entirely the embodiment of their will......"

The collision of ideas benefited Carmen a lot, but it also made him feel frightened.

Without saying goodbye, he hurried out of Madame Blonn's club. Carmen refused to be greeted by a public carriage outside the club and chose to walk home.

It wasn't until he returned to the apartment safely that he calmed down his nervous and agitated mood a little.

When he lit the candle, he suddenly noticed a mysterious man sitting on the sofa in the living room.