.

With no one to deliver, Ed and Old Duroc walked out of the underground passage on their own. In fact, Ed still doesn't know what kind of place the place below should be, what the little palace of fools who think of themselves as wanderer kings should be. I didn't tell Old Duroc, but Ed actually had a small idea, because the entrance to that place was under a flyover that looked like a theater, and this location basically didn't require special facilities such as underground tunnels, so it was easy to guess that this place should have been dug by Dandong himself.

A king who lives in a hole he dug himself - I have to say, this is really suitable for the position of a nomadic leader. If each character in the city has a place in the biosphere relative to him, then the opposite of the homeless is undoubtedly the rat. Weak, tenacious, meager in strength, but invincible...... Endless mice.

If someone who can see clearly can really use it properly, they are likely to shine on the big stage of Stuttgard.

Ed thought so, tilting his head to look at Old Duroc. This guy has been wearing a straight face since he left the ground, and his eyes are twisted as if someone just owed a million bills from his hand, and then went out and was knocked into the dolphin park by the funeral home owner in a big cart, and was used as a toothpick by penguins to pick his teeth. He was in a very bad mood, and he didn't try to hide it.

"I hate this place." He said, his gaze sweeping around him like drifting gray smoke, "I hate the people here." ”

"I can see it." Ed said with little interest.

"To be clear, clever ghost!"

"It's all a coincidence, my dear old detective. You don't like them, and they don't like you – from start to finish. ”

“……”

"If I had to say anything, I think you're overreacting."

"It's this place that's overreacting to me!"

"Yes, yes, of course – like I said, it's not a coincidence. Everything is mutual. Ed shrugged his shoulders, an unpredictable smile on his lips. Old Duroc hates this.

"Seriously, Duroc." Ed said, calling the old Duroc's name for the first time, "Why are you having trouble with these poor people?" ”

"It's ...... them"

"I know, I know—it's as if there's some kind of mutually repelling force field between you, so that you can't exist around each other. It's not normal, but it's funny. Even when you deal with criminals in the true sense of the dark world, you don't say that you are out of shape like this...... Why the hell do you hate each other so much? ”

The two men walked as they spoke, and finally walked back to the bottom of the viaduct, back to the place where the elder Duroc had fought with the big brother Cole, who no longer knew where he had gone. But for Ed, the two of them were not so much fighting as simply fighting, and they didn't play at the same level.

There is still a slight difference between a real fight and a simple fight, and it is not just a matter of leaving a little blood to be done. Real battles are about life and death, especially on the battlefield.

Then the two stopped next to Old Duoc's car. Old Duroc's car is certainly not a good kind of car - high-speed, bulletproof, zero noise, smooth curves like a licked ice cream - it can't occupy anything, it's just an ordinary private car that can't be ordinary anymore, and even the chassis is not particularly bottom, not even a little high-end. Overall, it's about the same level as Ed's old car that was smashed into scrap metal by himself and his two-seater bookshelf. But Ed could see that the old Duroc liked his old car, maybe there was a story between them that he didn't know, or maybe it was just because they had been together for a long, long time, so long that this man without a wife had a different kind of emotion for it that ordinary people couldn't understand, and even got goosebumps.

Then now Ed unconsciously became careful, and secretly slanted at the old Duroc beside him out of the corner of his eye, and at the same time quietly moved a few steps outward, as if he was afraid that the old guy would suddenly burst out and beat him - all the windows of this car were smashed.

I have to say that the scene is so bad that it looks like it even feels a little inexplicably refreshing. Old Duroc's old car, an old car with four wheels and six windows, all the window glass, including the front and rear windows, was broken and shattered, only a few pieces remained embedded in the frame, and the rest partly fell on the outside of the car, and partly on the inside.

The murder weapon was a stone, no doubt a number of stones of different sizes. Ask why they know, because they are still in the car, in the saddle, and there are gaps in the feet. Whoever does it is, there is no doubt that he or they are outright laymen. Because as long as these stones are there, with the experience and ability of old Duroc, with a little use of his mind and means, he can pull them out of the corner of this street, and it is useless wherever they hide.

But contrary to Ed's expectations, Old Duroc did not get angry or go crazy when he saw this scene. On the contrary, he seemed rather calm—or rather not at all, but now calm.

"At least they spared the tires," he said, shrugging slightly, "at least we can still drive." ”

“……”

"Come and help me."

Beckoning Eddard to him, Duroc Sr. stepped forward and began to clean the inside of the car and the shards of glass that remained in the window frames. Ed glanced at him and stepped forward to help without a word.

It didn't take much effort for the two to remove all the broken glass and stones from the car, as well as the remaining window fragments. Then the two of them got into this natural windowless - absolutely illegal old car, and the old Duroc kicked the accelerator, turned the steering wheel sharply, and drove away without looking back on Parry Street.

Ed turned his head back and saw the wanderers under the viaduct gathered together like bushes and flowers in a field, watching their backs and their carts from afar. They may be talking to each other, they may not be showing it in their hands, but their hearts have been pointing at them, and those guys who have done good things to their cars may still be covering their mouths and stealing fun, who knows? None of this is known.

"It doesn't seem to be incomprehensible." Ed said.

"What."

"Maybe it's the little ones who don't have that much control over themselves."

"Uh-huh. Maybe so. ”

"After all, the police have a really bad impression of them, and it's normal for them to feel a little resentful."

“…… You still think so, don't you? Old Duroc drove the car and tilted his head to glance at Ed. Then he found that Ed was looking at him, as if he had been watching for a long time.

"Are you finally ready to say something?" His tone was casual, but there was a lump of lead in his voice.

“……”

"It's not the first time I've heard a complaint from the police, even though I told it was. Believe me, I have experience. ”

"Do you have experience?"

Old Duroc smiled—Ed looked at the smile in silence. It seemed that it was the first time he had seen this old man smile like this, or the first time he had seen this old man show an expression that could really be called "laughing". It feels fresh.

"You have experience — then tell me, what do you think about what the police call 'violent law enforcement'?"

"Are you serious?"

"What?"

"I think you've revised it back and forth in your own mind countless times, and you should be better able to answer it than I am. But since you asked, I'll give you a standard answer you've probably heard countless times – no one likes police brutality. Ed said seriously, "It's an obvious fact that no matter what the reason is, what the actual situation is, in the eyes of a simple outsider, violent law enforcement is not something that they can like." The reason is very simple, because they themselves may not be the target of violent law enforcement at any time, and they don't want onlookers to just stand there pointing and laughing at them. ”

“…… Full marks, detective. Old Duroc was silent for a while, holding the steering wheel with both hands, staring at the road ahead, and then opened his mouth expressionlessly, "This is the answer, a very simple and easy to understand answer - if you do the right thing, others will praise and appreciate you, and if you do something wrong, others will slander and blame you." But the detectives...... Is there a truly absolute measure of what is right and wrong in this world? ”

“……”

"Look at the homeless people, the detectives, the homeless homeless people — what do you think people like them, their people, what do they live on in this city? I mean, of course, their numbers are insignificant, but they're real, and they're just like us, they're living people, they need to eat, they need to be clothed, they need to get hungry, they can get sick...... And then what do you think they are doing to solve these problems? ”

"I guess I can guess."

"If we, the people, treated them all equally, without exceptions, without any suspicions, they might not be so many, and they would have disappeared from the city long ago. Of course, I don't mean that they are all caught in cold storage, in fact, the lucky ones will only be a very small number, and more of them will quietly close their eyes in some invisible shadow corner in the cold winter like now, and never open them again...... And whether we want to or not, whether we admit it or not, every drop of blood that has dried up in their bodies and no longer flows, will be partially soaked in our hands, and we will not be able to scrub it off in this life. ”

“……”

"But then there's another problem." Old Duroc laughed again, "As I just said, if you do the right thing, others will praise and appreciate you, and if you do something wrong, others will slander and blame you—if you are merciful to these inferior vagrants, then guess whose interests will be lost?" And then do you think they're going to think we're doing it right or wrong? And then who do you think their frustration will vent to? To whose ears will they shout? ”

“……”

"Is there a truly absolute measure of what is right and wrong in this world?" The old detective laughed and spat out the window, the corners of his mouth twitching viciously, "Fuck it—fuck it!" ”