At ten o'clock in the morning, the sun was already scorching, swaying brightly, blurring the space between the sky and the ground, making all the qiē look hazy. Penetrating the vertical projection of the waterfall of sunlight and entering the main body of the prison, the cold through the heart invaded in an instant, and the transition from extremely high temperature to extremely low temperature made the heart paralyzed in an instant.

Not because there is air conditioning in the prison, on the contrary, this old and dilapidated Angolan prison has not been installed with air conditioning so far, but because the eerie rotten smell of the prison jumps up from the depths of the ground, and even the sunlight projected in has become thin and hazy, and the cold breath gently blows through the skin, goosebumps pop out in an instant, and then retract back stiffly, making people shiver a few times one after another.

Hugo has been here for three weeks and he is still not used to it.

"Hey, man." The guard standing at the door took the initiative to greet him, holding a baton in his hand and handing over a plastic box, "I'm sorry to trouble you today." ”

Hugo and Joseph skillfully handed over the backpack they were carrying, and Joseph smiled and said, "This is your job, and we naturally have to cooperate." Then he put the wallet, the keys and all the other things in his pocket in a plastic box.

Then Hugo and Joseph got through the metal detector, and the two of them went through the inspection very smoothly - they already knew the rules for three weeks, and after the guard checked everything in the plastic box, he returned the items to Joseph and said kindly, "I hope to work today." ”

This was only the first pass through Guò, and then Hugo and Joseph, led by another guard, walked along the barbed wire fence path, gradually towards the main body of the prison in the center. On both sides of the walk are barbed wire fences, four are basketball courts, and the rest are empty yellow earth, which is where the prisoners rest.

At this time, there was a small group of black people playing basketball on two different courts, and the barbed wire cut the crowd into different small pieces, and it was dazzling that there were only four or five people in the group. The presence of Hugo and Joseph in this penal colony, where almost no one usually puts it away, was obviously a big deal, and the blacks turned their heads and laughed loudly, "Yankee boy, are you back to work today?" There's no one here who can pay you. Then everyone burst into laughter.

The guards who were traveling with Hugo and Joseph waved their batons and shouted, "Shut up, if you feel that you have been exercising for too long, you can eat **** there." ”

Hugo was accustomed to this, and when he first came, he was still talking to them with great interest, either scolding back, teasing each other with words, or sincerely trying to communicate...... But after trying all kinds of methods, Hugo realized that they were just too boring.

The arrival of any person is the spice of their boring life step by step towards the end of life. That's all. Hugo knew that he couldn't detect anything from them, so he ignored them.

After walking through the sun-drenched passage for ten minutes and two levels, Hugo and Joseph entered the real body of the prison. In fact, the straight-line distance is not that far, mainly because the layers of separation walls erected by barbed wire in the middle form a labyrinthine passage, so the distance around it becomes far away.

After registering again at the door, each block will be accompanied by a prison guard, and only under the notice of the prison guard, the iron door will be opened for the next block, and Hugo and others can pass in the company of the prison guard.

After passing through four iron gates in less than fifty yards of the aisle, Hugo and Joseph reached their final destination: the interview waiting room.

The prison guard sitting behind the wire net had already been notified, stood up and said with a smile, "Clark said he received your gift, and it seems that the boys are going to be lively again today." ”

The Louisiana Penitentiary is the highest-level prison, and ordinary residents can only visit the prison once a month, and each time it may not exceed 60 minutes. It stands to reason that Hugo could not have stayed here every day for three weeks, and on many days Hugo stayed for more than six hours.

For this matter, Rick found many people through layers of connections, and later relied on Steven to hook up with the governor of Louisiana, and after obtaining the consent of the top justice of the Louisiana state court, the plan was able to come to fruition. Even so, Hugo had to follow many rules and regulations, and last Tuesday the prison was thrown into chaos because of a group brawl, and Hugo was forced to leave the prison after he had planned to stay and observe the situation, and he spent less than 15 minutes in prison that day.

However, the efforts of Joseph and Hugo in the past three weeks have not been unrewarded, and the originally cold prison guards have become friendly, especially Joseph. Because Hugo spent most of his time focusing on the prisoners who volunteered to talk to them, Joseph spent more of his time with the prison guards.

Hearing the prison guard's ridicule, Joseph replied directly with a smile, "Don't worry, Hank, I haven't forgotten tonight's poker night, on the way over just now, Brian was already gearing up, and he said that you will definitely lose ugly tonight." ”

The prison guard named Hank immediately laughed out loud, "Let him let the horse come, the money for the beer he lost last time is gone, and I was worried that I would be scolded by Hailey when I went back, so I ran away ahead of time, I didn't plan to let him go." After reading the joke, Hank looked at Hugo, his expression was slightly retracted, trying to remain serious and strict, "Hugo, the first person to come out to interview you today is Derek, are you okay?" ”

Derek Cruz (Derek. cruz）？ "Hugo, who has always been insensitive to names and even has memory impairment, spent three weeks in an Angolan prison and remembered the names of many criminals, which was not an easy task. But, is this really a good thing?

"Yes." Hank pursed his lips in embarrassment and nodded, and said hesitantly, "If it doesn't work, we can make adjustments and give us a little time......"

Hugo knew that all the formalities in the Angolan prison were cumbersome, and the high level of security meant being cautious, and the whole atmosphere seemed solemn and gloomy, so most of the prison guards here became rigid and strict, even a little cold.

There are a number of reasons why the prison guards are now friendly to Hugo, starting with the fact that both the governor and the supreme judge have spoken out that they must be careful; But then he felt Hugo's hardships, and the pain and suffering that Hugo endured during this time were well understood by the prison guards, and Hugo was not a priest or a priest, he was just an actor. This made many prison guards admire Hugo very much.

The prison guards all called Hugo a little white face at first, which was contempt; Later they began to call Hugo "Mr. Lancaster", which was respect; It was only recently that the name was called, which is intimacy.

"No, no, just Derek." Hugo took a deep breath, since the volunteers were temporarily arranged every day, the prison guards would look for suitable people after Hugo left that day, and carefully and strictly arrange the interview time for the next day, as much as possible to ensure the order of the prison and, of course, Hugo's safety. So, Hugo knew that adjusting the order or something was not good for the security of the prison.

Derek Cruz is a brutal murderer, and he's strong. Rape and murder of a family of five, including an eight-year-old girl. The methods are horrific and unrepentant.

At first, when Derek Mao offered to talk to Hugo, the warden was a little hesitant because he was worried that Hugo would not be able to bear it, but Hugo's nod still allowed the two to meet. Because Derek was sentenced to death ten years ago, but it has not been carried out, and it was not long ago confirmed that the death sentence will be carried out at the end of July, and Derek has less than a month left in his life. Hugo wants to communicate with Derek.

Hugo had two exchanges with Derek before and after, the first time Hugo was provoked to anger, because when Derek described how he tortured and forced. During the rape of the deceased, Hugo could not bear the part about the young girl, and beat Derek so hard that the situation was completely out of control; The second time, Derek was suddenly reluctant to cooperate, and during the interview, he didn't say a word, and Hugo couldn't calm down, so he could only break up unhappily in the end.

Today is the third time.

Hugo knew that this was a land abandoned by God, and he had no religion, so he didn't know if God would redeem everyone, even if this person was extremely sinful, even if this person had no remorse, but he knew that if God was willing to redeem people like Derek, he would be disappointed. Even if he knows that the death penalty is cruel because it is a mandatory deprivation of a person's life, behind what Derek did, did he really deserve forgiveness and sympathy?

Hugo came to prison for the role of Matthew, but he began to appreciate the mixed feelings of Sister Helen. It's just that he's not a priest or a priest, and he doesn't have faith, so he doesn't have the broad-mindedness of Helen to tolerate a qiē. Hugo wanted Derek to be executed.

"Hugo, are you sure?" Joseph came over worriedly and asked.

Hugo didn't speak, but raised his hand to stop Joseph, and then took a step towards the interview room. Hugo knew that there was no way for him to face Derek calmly, but it was his job, he had to face it, it was his own choice. He has seen the beauty of this world, and he has experienced the evils and disasters of this world, but he has never truly appreciated the darkness of this world.