Skorzny could clearly see that there were people running out of the fire, several of them still carrying fire, and they let out heart-rending roars as they ran.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen...... "we are the gendarmerie, and we have come to your rescue...... Run here, don't touch those who have fire on them, that thing can't be extinguished......"

Running in the fire was originally panicked and disorderly, but now someone shouted, and the crowd naturally heard it, and all of them ran involuntarily, and those with fire could not be extinguished at all, as the gendarmerie said, and they fell to the ground and could not get up as they ran.

"Hurry over and put out the fire...... "An older scholar said in dismay, dissatisfied, "what are you waiting here?" ”

Ranke laughed: "Sir, the fire is too big, we have tried many times and failed to rush in." ”

"You can't wait." The other party also seems to know that the situation is not good, and does not want to be reluctant.

"Let's move to a safe place as soon as possible." "There's a pond not far behind, and it's safe there. ”

He motioned for his men to move, and the team understood his intentions, and each of them helped one of the scholars to the back, and as they reached the edge of the pond, they suddenly burst into attack at the same time, killing the survivors with their daggers, and then throwing their bodies into the pond. One after another, people came and were "helped" to the pond by the team members one after another, and then became unjustly killed.

After three waves in a row, at last another man staggered out, looking very embarrassed.

"Is there anyone else in there?" Someone stopped him and asked.

"No ......," the man replied hesitantly. In a crying voice, he recalled, "Many people were burned alive...... It was hellfire, and it couldn't be extinguished. Can't extinguish...... It doesn't matter if we splash it with water, hit it with clothes, or even spray it with a fire extinguisher...... I could only watch them burn into a ball of black charcoal in the screams, and finally struggled to escape...... My glasses fell off, I couldn't see the road clearly, and finally ran out, why didn't you rush in and rescue, not rescue? ”

"We just arrived, and we can't rush into such a big fire......"

"I don't know if there are any survivors. It's miserable, it's miserable......"

Skorzny didn't have the heart to talk nonsense, patted the other person on the shoulder and said, "This gentleman." It's still dangerous, so let me take you to safety. ”

"Thank you, thank you."

Skorzny glanced at his men, and immediately someone came up to help the embarrassed-looking man. He had just taken two steps out of his legs. Suddenly, Ranke whispered from behind, "MacDonald." Is that you? ”

"It's me......" The man heard and turned around in confusion, "You know me?" ”

Ranke nodded slightly: "Yes!" I know you, you are from the Department of Mathematics at Cambridge and you have a PhD. ”

"That's right." MacDonald was delighted, "Sir, you're also a Cambridge alumnus?" Have we known or met before? ”

"I know, and I've seen it."

"Yes. I didn't even know that the gendarmerie had an old friend I knew......" MacDonald moved closer, embarrassed to ask the other man's name directly, which seemed too rude. He wanted to see who the other party was by the light of the fire, but when he came to see Rank's face clearly, he was startled, and said in a stammering tone, "Rank, why are you?" ”

"It's me."

"Didn't you go back to Germany? Didn't you say you would never go back to England when you left? MacDonald asked a few questions suspiciously, subconsciously, and suddenly reacted and exclaimed, "Why did you become a lieutenant colonel of the gendarmerie?" No, you're a spy, a spy ......"

Ranke nodded: "You're right, I play for the Wehrmacht. ”

"Ah......h......h

No one paid attention to him, and all that answered him was laughter. Only then did this highly myopic intellectual see clearly that this group of gendarmes had a strange smile on their faces, and there was no one he knew or was familiar with, although he couldn't name many gendarmes here, his faces were still very familiar, but there was no face he could distinguish at the moment.

He pointed to the person next to him with trembling fingers: "You ...... You guys...... It's all in one group...... You're all spies......" He turned to run, but found that his legs were so weak that he didn't have any strength at all, plus Ranke shouted orders behind his back: "Don't run, or I'll shoot." He was even more frightened.

MacDonald threw up his hands and turned around with difficulty, and watched Ranke raise the muzzle of the black hole, trembling like chaff. He struggled to take two steps forward, hugging Rank's thigh and almost collapsing, but it was Rank's hand that kept him from falling to the ground, and he cried bitterly, "Please, please...... Rank, let me go, let me go. I'm not a soldier...... I'm just a government employee...... I've never been on the battlefield, and I've never killed anyone...... For the sake of our past friendships, will you let me go? …… My wife and my baby are still waiting for me to go back...... Her name is Lily...... You know her, right...... It's the girl from the Faculty of Letters...... We got married. ”

MacDonald's words were staccato and incoherent, but Ranke understood, and he kept nodding his head as the other man kept talking. MacDonald begged for a while, and Ranke thought about it for a while, and finally seemed to have made up his mind and said softly, "Okay, I'll let you go, you can go......"

"Thank you, thank you, I'll resign tomorrow...... I'm not going to do it again...... You'll be my best friend. McDonald couldn't believe it at first, but after reacting to it, he thanked him again and again and prepared to leave.

"Sir......" Randolph next to him was anxious, "Can't let him go, he will expose our whereabouts ......"

He wanted to say more, but Skorzny stopped him with a shake of his head. MacDonald apparently heard the soldier's shouting, and although he didn't know what the other man was saying, he thought it should be something like "I can't let myself go", and he turned his head to Rank's face full of pleading.

Ranke waved his hand and motioned, "Let's go, don't look back, never do this!" ”

MacDonald nodded mechanically, turned around and took another step forward, and with a "snap" Rank's gun went off, only to see a bloody hole appear in the back of the opponent's head, and the brains were splashed, red and white scattered. His eyes were full of despair, and as if he didn't believe it, he tried to turn his head to look at Rank, but in the end he didn't succeed, and he struggled to fall down.

Ranke threw away the much-heavy Wilberly-Scott revolver in his hand, turned around and vomited heavily—he had been working in the back office since he joined the army, and had little time to touch weapons in the field, let alone kill people himself. Skorzny patted him on the shoulder, comforting him, and he could see that Ranke was killing for the first time—he could understand the discomfort of the first killing.

Ranke vomited for a while, then rushed over like crazy and hugged Macdonald's body, turning him over slightly, the other party's eyes were prominent, and the face was dead, Ranke shouted loudly: "Macdonald, MacDonald......" The tone was full of despair.

"Sir, stop screaming, he's dead."

Ranke gently covered his eyelids, and then wept bitterly, tears quickly filling his eyes, and then he convulsed and couldn't help himself.

Skorzny asked, "Sir, do you really know him?" ”

"Yes, not only do I know him, but I ......," said Ranke in a sobbing voice, "he is the most brilliant mathematical genius I have ever seen at Cambridge, and my best friend, even my only friend." ”

"What?" Everyone was stunned.

Randolph lowered his head: "Sir, I didn't know about your relationship, I knew I shouldn't have said that. ”

Ranke shook his head: "It has nothing to do with you, he is destined to die today, either at your hands or at my hands - you don't know how powerful he is, even without those professors, he can reconstruct the decipherment system with his ability alone." ”

Skorzny asked him softly: "Will you regret all this in the future?" ”

"Me?" Ranke paused for a moment, then showed a relieved look, and said resolutely, "Never, that cowardly and confused Ranke after returning from England is dead, and I have been reborn with this shot." ”

"Sir." The team member who was on guard duty in the distance ran over and reported, "The British army is coming, do you need us to stop it?" ”

Skorzny was about to say that it would be appropriate to stop them for a while, but Ranke shook his head: "Don't shoot, we can't go." ”

"It is impossible for so many people to retreat at the same time."

"I'm going to lure them away." Ranke stepped forward and began to take off his British military uniform, and no one, including Skorzny, understood what he was going to do.

"Come on, what are you doing in a daze, why don't you take off his clothes and give it to me."

Everyone woke up like a dream, took off MacDonald's clothes, and fumbled for the relevant documents and work cards.

"Sir, this is too dangerous, I'd better go." Randolph said.

"No one but me knows anything about MacDonald, let alone the British......" Ranke pushed him back into the group, "I'll lead them away, and you guys retreat and wait for me to join us." ”

"Alright, sir, take care."

Ranke played as MacDonald and prepared to walk in the direction of the British reinforcements, Skorzny hurriedly commanded his men to evacuate, and when he said goodbye, he hugged Ranke tightly, Ranke whispered a few words in his ear, he nodded hesitantly, unwilling to let go for a long time.

After running for a long time, Randolph innocently asked Skorzny: "Sir, I still can't rest assured that Chief Ranke, he has no special operations capabilities, and his physical fitness is very average, he can't get rid of the British, why don't I go and pick him up?" ”

Skorzny shook his head, looking at the sky that had been half red by fire, and the usually tough man shed sad tears: "No need. ”

"Why?"

"When he left, he knew he wasn't going back." (To be continued.) )