"You can call me Karma. She said.

"My name is Ashu, Karma. Ah Xiu replied.

"What do you think of your boss's plan, Mr. Ashu?"

He slowed down and let a big black truck behind him overtake him, the wheels of which were kicking up a pile of mud. "I don't ask, and he doesn't say. He replied.

"If you ask me, I think he wants to be the last high, to make our blood boil and fight for glory. That's what he wants. We are too old, or so stupid, that some people might agree with him. ”

"My job is not to ask questions, Kalmar. Ashu replied. Her crisp laughter immediately rang out in the carriage.

The man sitting in the back row—not the odd-looking one, but the other—said something, and Ashu answered him. But after a blink of an eye, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember what he said.

The peculiar-looking young man didn't say anything, and it wasn't long before he began to hum a tune. It was a low, melodic bass hum, and the inside of the car began to hum and vibrate to the beat.

The strange-looking young man was only of average height, but his body proportions were very strange: Ashu had heard of a man with a chest as broad as a wine barrel, but he had no practical experience of this analogy until now. This man had a chest as wide as a wine barrel, his legs as thick as tree trunks, and his palms as thick as hams—it was true. He wore a black leather coat with a hood, a sweater and cheesecloth shirt underneath. After wearing so many winter clothes, he actually wore a pair of white tennis shoes under his feet in an extremely incongruous way, the size and shape of the shoes were more like a shoe box. His fingers were as thick as sausages, and the tips were square.

"What are you humming?" asked Ashu from the driver's seat.

"I'm sorry. The peculiar-looking young man said that his voice was very, very deep and a little embarrassed. He immediately stopped humming.

"No, I love it. "Don't stop. ”

The strange-looking young man hesitated for a moment, then began to hum again. The voice was as low as before, echoing through the carriage. But this time the lyrics were also added, "Dang Dang Dang," he sang, his voice so low that the car windows trembled slightly, "Dang Dang Dang, Dang Dang, Dang Dang." ”

Every house and building along the roadside is decorated with Christmas lights under the eaves. Small golden bulbs are carefully hung from the eaves, glittering in a variety of motifs such as snowmen, teddy bears, and colorful stars.

Finally, Ashu stops his car in front of the restaurant, which is a huge, barn-like building. He asked his passengers to get off at the main entrance of the restaurant and drove the car to the parking lot at the back. He wanted to take a short walk alone and walk back to the dining room to let the cold air clear his mind a little.

He pulled up next to a black truck and wondered if it was the one that had just overtaken him on the road. He closed the car door and stood in the parking lot, breathing in the white mist condensed in the cold air.

Ah Xiu imagined what it would be like inside the restaurant. Drinkward and his guests sat around a large table in the private room, and the room was full of people. Ah Xiu didn't know if he had really just carried the Gari Witch in the front seat of his car, and he didn't know who was sitting in the back seat of the car......

"Hey, man, are there any matches?" a somewhat familiar voice sounded. Ah Xiu wanted to turn around and say sorry, but he couldn't move. The barrel slammed down on his left eyebrow, and he fell. He held out a hand and held it to the ground. Someone shoved something soft into his mouth to stop him from crying out. The man was very quick and apparently professionally trained, and dealt with him as easily as a butcher would with a chicken.

Ah Xiu wanted to shout loudly, to warn Drinkward, to warn all of them, but nothing came out of his mouth except for suppressed whimpering.

"It's all in there. The familiar voice said, "Are all of them in place?" There was a crackling of electronic signals, and a faint voice came from the walkie-talkie, "Let's rush in and arrest them." ”

"What about this big guy?" another voice asked.

"Tie it up and take it away. The first voice said.

They put a hood that looked like a pocket on Asho's head, tied his wrists and ankles with duct tape, threw him in the back of the van, and drove away.

The small room where they were holding Ah Xiu had no windows. There was only a plastic chair, a lightweight folding table, and a bucket with a lid, presumably for Ah Xiu to make a temporary toilet. There was also a six-foot-long yellow sponge latex mattress and a thin blanket with a crusty brown stain in the center of the blanket, possibly blood, feces, or food. Ah Xiu couldn't tell what it was, and he wasn't interested in figuring it out. There was an iron lattice vent on the roof, and underneath it was a bare light bulb, but Ah Xiu couldn't find where the light bulb's switch was. The lights were always on, and there was no doorknob on the door on his side.

He felt hungry.

The agents pushed him into the room, ripped off the tape that bound his ankles, wrists, and mouth, leaving him alone in the room. The first thing he did was walk around the room and take a closer look at everything. He banged on the wall, and it made a dull metallic sound. The roof has a small ventilation grid, and the door sounds like it's locked on the outside.

Blood was slowly oozing from the top of his left eyebrow, and his head hurt.

There is no carpet on the floor. He knocked on the floor, and found that the floor, like the walls, was metal.

He lifted the lid of the bucket, urinated inside, and put the lid back on. His watch shows that it has been four hours since he was attacked outside the restaurant.

His wallet was gone, but they didn't take his coins.

He sat in a chair next to a folding table covered with a green countertop with smoke holes. Ah Xiu prepares to practice the magic trick of getting a coin through the table. He pulled out two penny coins and began to play.

He hid a coin in his right hand and put another coin between his left index finger and thumb to show it. Then, he made a gesture to remove the coin from his left hand, but in fact let the coin fall back into the palm of his left hand. He opened his right hand, revealing the coin that had been hidden in his hand.

The coin trick allows Ah Xiu to concentrate, in other words, if he feels angry or upset, the coin trick will not be played. So, although he spent a lot of energy on the performance, which changed a coin from one hand to the other, the real performance didn't have to go through such a lot of effort, it was really just a façade that he could use to calm down, free his mind from confusion and fear, and sober up.

He began to conjure up a new trick, turning a fivepence coin into a penny with one hand. During the performance, the two coins of different denominations are sometimes revealed and sometimes hidden. The problem is that he only has two 1p coins, so the trick makes no sense at all. At first, he reveals one coin and hides another. He raised his hand to his lips and blew lightly on the exposed coin, then let it slide down the back of his paw as he used two fingers to pull out the originally hidden coin, leaving it exposed. But since he only has two coins of the same denomination, it looks like he's just blowing on the same one and showing the coin again.

He repeated the trick over and over again.

I wonder if they'll kill him. His hand trembled, though only slightly, as a penny coin fell from his finger and landed on the dirty green surface of the table.

He couldn't play any longer, so he simply put the coin aside and took out a penny given to him by Zoya with the Queen's head. He held the coin tightly in his palm and waited.

His watch showed that it was three o'clock in the morning when the agents returned to interrogate him. Both men, both wearing black suits and shiny black leather shoes, have black hair. One of them has a square chin, broad shoulders, thick hair, looks like he played football in high school, and the nails on his hands are gnawed and ugly. The other man had a slightly bald hairline, wore silver-rimmed square-rimmed glasses, and had cleanly groomed nails. The two of them didn't look like each other at all, but Ah Xiu suspected that at a certain level, maybe at the cellular level, the nature of these two people was exactly the same. They each stood on one side of the table, looking at him condescendingly.

"Sir, how long have you been working for the Dark Lord?" one of them asked him.

"I don't know who you're talking about. Ah Xiu replied.

He also called himself Getler Drinkward. You've been with him in the past, sir. ”

"I only worked for him for a few days. ”

"Don't lie to us, sir. Said the bespectacled agent.

"Okay," said Ashu, "I'm not going to lie. But I really only worked for him for a few days. ”

The square-jawed agent bent down suddenly, his fingers gripping Ashu's ears and squeezing them hard. A sharp pain came from his ears. "We warned you, don't lie, sir. He said kindly, then let go.

Each agent had a protruding silhouette of a pistol underneath their coats, and Ah Xiu didn't want to rush back back. He thought he was back in prison again. Take care of your own business, Ah Xiu said to himself, don't say a single thing they don't know yet. Never ask questions.

"With you is a group of very dangerous guys," said the bespectacled agent, "and you should do your duty as a citizen for the good of the country and confess your relationship with them." He smiled sympathetically, as if to say: I am singing red face.

"I see. Ah Xiu said.

"If you don't want to help us, sir," Agent Fangjaw continued, "you'll know what happens when we're upset. He generously punched Ah Xiu in the abdomen, making him unable to breathe in pain. This is not torture, Ah Xiu thought, but just pointed: I am singing with a white face. He retched.

"Of course I want to make you happy. When he was finally able to speak again, Ashu replied.

"All we ask for is your cooperation, sir. ”

"Can I ask...... Ah Xiu suddenly shut up, never asking questions, he thought, but unfortunately it was too late, and the words had already blurted out, "Can I ask, who am I working with?"

"Want us to tell you the name?" asked Agent Fangjaw, "Is there something wrong with your brain?"

"No, he had a point. "Knowing who we are is good for communicating with us." He looked at Ah Xiu and smiled as if he were advertising toothpaste. "I'm Mr. Shi, and my colleague is Mr. Mu. ”

"Actually," said Asho, "I mean, what agency do you belong to? MI6?

Mr. Shi shook his head. "Oh, that's hard, sir, to tell you that it's not appropriate. ”

"There is a secret department," Mr. Mu said, "and there is an open department." You know, the two influence each other. ”

"But I can assure you," said Mr. Shi, once again smiling brightly and charmingly, "that we are good people. Are you hungry, sir?" he reached into his pocket and pulled out a peanut chocolate bar. "A small gift for you. ”

"Thank you. Ah Xiu said, opening the candy package and eating.

"I guess you must want something to drink. Coffee, or beer?"

"Please give me water. Ah Xiu said.

Mr. Shi walked to the door, knocked on the door, and said something to the guard outside the door, who nodded. The guard returned a minute later, holding a plastic cup filled with cold water.

"Scotland Yard," said Mr. Wood, shaking his head sadly, "those brainless fellows. Hey, Stone, I've heard a new joke about Scotland Yard that goes something like this: How can we make sure Scotland Yard doesn't get involved in a scandal with a female prime minister?"

"I don't know," said Mr. Shi, "how can I be sure?"

"He's dead, isn't that sure?" Mr. Mu said.

Both men laughed.

"Are you feeling better, sir?" asked Mr. Shi.

"I think so. ”

"Tell us, then, what happened tonight, sir?"

"We went on a tour, we went to the cliff house, and then we came out to get ready for dinner, and you know the rest of it. ”

Mr. Shi sighed heavily. Mr. Mu shook his head, as if disappointed, and kicked Ah Xiu in the knee. It hurts so much. Then, Mr. Shi put his fist on Ah Xiu's back, which is about the right kidney, and slammed it with his knuckles. More unbearable than the pain in the knee.

I was taller than any of them, and he thought to himself, I can take them down. But they carried guns. Also, even if he used any means to kill or take them down, he was still locked in this small cell. But then he had a gun in his hand, he could have two pistols--- why don't you try it? No, no.....

Mr. Mu's hand never touched Ah Xiu's face. There were no scars and no permanent damage, only punches and kicks to his torso and knees. It hurt so badly that Ah Xiu clutched the silver coin of the queen's statue tightly in his palm, waiting for the torture to end.

It seemed that after a long time, the torture finally came to an end.

"We'll see you in an hour or two, sir. Mr. Shi said, "You know, Mr. Mu hates to torture people. We are all reasonable people. As I said, we're all good people. You're on the wrong side. During this free time, you take a little sleep. ”

"It's better not to take us seriously. Mr. Mu warned.

"Mr. Wood's words have a point, sir. Mr. Shi persuaded, "Think about it." ”

The door closed behind them. Ah Xiu thought they would turn off the lights in the room, but they didn't. The light bulb is like a cold eye, illuminating the whole room. Ashu struggled across the floor, climbed onto the yellow sponge latex mattress, pulled up the thin blanket over his body, and closed his eyes tiredly. Fall into the void, fall into dreams.