There are more than 1,300 large and small churches on Poseidon Island, and basically four people can get one equally, some of which are unusually tall and majestic, or delicate and ornate, such as the Cathedral of Palermo and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Miracles; Some are smaller and have only one room—not so much a church as a stone house built around a niche dedicated to Jesus or the Virgin, and perhaps one or two rooms next to and behind it, which are for the priest to live in and perform his duties, and generally there is a marble tray in the open space in front of the church, on which the washed holy shells are fixed with cement, so that his or her relatives may have the privilege of being a watcher when the baby is baptized.

Chegalle's chosen temporary shelter is just such a small church.

Here is Peter, one of Chegalle's old buddies, he was also a childhood friend of "Don", and he followed him for a long time, but when Chegalle was twenty years old, a bomb planted by an enemy blew off the former's right foot, and he could no longer stay with Chegalle, at that time Don arranged for him to go to the warehouse, which was also a beautiful mistake, but Chegalle knew that he was not here, and after Chegalle inherited the rights and status of "Don", he invited the bishop of Poseidon Island to taste new wine in his vineyard, The next day Peter declared that he had felt his calling, and that he had been sent to a seminary for further study—it is worth mentioning that he was a real "genius", and that he had graduated from a course that would take him ten years to complete, and returned to Poseidon Island after only half a year, and became a deacon in the small village where he was born, where the old priest was already old enough, and in reward for his decades of service, he was transferred to another warm and quiet parish - Peter became a priest in the name of the word- A nail that Chegalle planted deep into Poseidon's body.

When the embarrassed "Don" and his new friend suddenly appeared in Peter's bedroom, the priest, with a floppy nightcap on his head, received them without surprise, and he limped out of the pantry with his weapons and clothes—Chegalle was even naked—and brought bread, wine, and cheese, and eggs from the kitchen, and the two men who had apparently taken great effort to eat it merrily, and at last he brought a basin of steaming water, and a freshly opened bar of soap and towels, A razor knife for them to wash.

"There's one more thing I want you to do," Chegalle said, "and make a few phone calls for me." ”

There were less than a dozen of the men Chegalle summoned, and although they were about to go to sleep according to the custom of the people of Poseidon Island, everyone came quickly, and was in good spirits and well-dressed—not very luxurious, and some of them were even as dark-skinned and wrinkled as ordinary people, and when they bent down to kiss Chegalle's hand, Dr. Hopkins saw bulging joints and cracked nails, most likely hours before, working in their olive groves or vineyards.

Chegalle gave a very simple but clear account of what had happened before, including the betrayal of his most trusted thugs, but he did not say anything about Mayare, as if he had not included the most suspicious figure in the list of traitors.

"Do you know who did it? Is that right? A middle-aged man asked, his coat smelling of olive oil, "Chegalle, there is only one person who can mobilize so many people besides you." ”

Chegalle closed his mouth and turned his gaze in the other direction like a child with a question he didn't want to answer.

"It's a big deal," said the other, "you have to say that name, Don," he added, "in fact you should have confessed to us last time, but you insisted on keeping quiet, well, we accommodated you, but we also accommodated the traitor and murderer, so he could seize another chance, and this time, he almost succeeded." ”

Chegalle looked up, and Hopkins, standing in the shadows, straightened up, he had never seen such a sincere and deep sadness, anger and dazed look on a person's face.

"Mayare." Don said this, tears streaming down his eyes, his lips trembling, his palms pressed against his chest, as if someone had just stabbed him in the chest—no one was surprised, and many more had a sympathetic look in their eyes—Chegalle hung his head again, as if he had been overwhelmed: "...... Of course," he added weakly, "it could have been a complete misunderstanding...... We must verify, dear friends...... We have to find ......"

"The Lord is in our midst." Peter stood up and said, "What more can we prove?" Chegar, our good man, our chief, our dearest friend and father, where do you stand now? It's not the Eastern Federation, it's not the Western Federation, it's not some island full of enemies and police, so who is chasing you to your death? The wounds on your body are the best proof that someone is murdering you, with the authority and power you have given him," he said with a serious expression, "Everyone can see that you are only one ray of death, and it is not that he is merciful, he is not just cutting off your clothes, [note 1], he is deliberately harming you, to take life and laurels from you, this is already a clear and obvious thing. He has committed the murder of his blood relatives, and look, look, if we remain silent and indulge deliberately, the open mouth of hell will swallow us and that sinner! ”

(Note 1: This allusion comes from the book of Samuel, where David was the son-in-law and general of Saul, the king of Israel, and Saul suspected that David was disobedient and led an army to hunt him down. ）

"Peter is right, Don. Chegalle," the man who spoke first confirmed, "This is already the second time, Don, you should have made the decision the first time, Mayare violated the 'law of silence' and he betrayed you to the police. ”

"No," Chegalle retorted, "those people are not police. ”

"Worse than the police," the man said, "no courts, no judges, no lawyers, no clues we can trace back to the people who took bribes, we don't know anything about that hell place, in fact, many people think you're dead." ”

"Well," Chegalle said magnanimously, "those guys may have something to do with the government, but they are definitely not the ones that are forbidden to contact in the 'Silence Law.'" ”

"That's why we accepted your opinion." Peter said, "We forgave the traitor, and he gave him a second bite. ”

"What's the solution?" Chegalle said sadly: "He is my brother's son, my nephew, my heir. ”

"Not anymore." The man grinned, "The one who kills his relatives will not be redeemed even if he reaches the end of the world, and he can't become 'Don'." ”

He bowed to Chegalle, as if to make a resolute note to his words.

The first group of summoned people left, except for Peter, and then within an hour or two more came, and they showed their loyalty and condolences to Chegalle, accepted his orders and acted immediately.

Dr. Hopkins noticed an interesting thing—he never left the room during the whole process, but neither Peter, nor the people who came in later, ever questioned him, no inquiry, no explanation, no evasion, and they trusted and obeyed "Don" and accepted the "friends of friends" (alluding to gangsters) whom he thought he could trust. It's a far cry from the people who came before him, he said, Meare and Toto, who are Chegalle's real arms and ears.

These people are much more plain and simple than Toto, some of them even seem a little dull, most of them are expressionless and small, but as the proverb goes, "The softness of indifference is harder than everything." "In the first forty years of his life, Dr. Hopkins had encountered these dark, thin men more than once—he had killed one, and the other two had succeeded in sending the doctor into the hands of his enemies, and if it had not been for Catherine, Sasha's mother, Anthony the Ghoul. Hopkins may have become a fat pig food for a long time ago—he had never underestimated these fishermen and farmers, and it was well known that for 10,000 or tens of thousands, these little people, who looked like sheep on a hillside, could be turned into a sharp bayonet or a fiery bullet in an instant.

After the thirty-fifth man had left the not very spacious house, a man with a slight smell of gunpowder on his body and a face covered with sweat and blood entered the room.

He said, "I'm sorry, Don, that I couldn't bring Beelzebub out. ”

"He's missing."

***

"I want to take a break." Hopkins said.

He walked to the back of the house, and on the terrace at the back of the house was a very wide and comfortable rattan chaise longue placed by the indulgent priest, and every place was so smooth, snow-white, and elastic, that Hopkins estimated that it would never be worth less than a thousand, which was not something that an ordinary village priest could afford to buy, but it should be noted that this is Poseidon Island, the birthplace of "Masoyeh" - such as Anthony. Hopkins, a place where almost every nation's violent apparatus is on the list, can be a guest of honor.

Hopkins lay down in his chair and rested his legs comfortably on the railing of the patio, his slender spider-legged fingers crossed and placed on his abdomen, closing his eyes.

In just a dozen seconds, he entered his brain, and the palace of memory, hidden in the winter mist, quietly opened the door for his master, and Hopkins walked up the frankincense-scented dark brown staircase into the most intimate space on the third floor.

At the end of the room, the glossy embossed wooden double doors are closed, and the gilded and eroded doorknobs take on a gritty-like texture in the dim light.

Hopkins opened the door and, unsurprisingly, he saw Sasha. Hopkins.

(To be continued)

Well...... There was originally a half-day vacation on Women's Day, and I was dragged by the boss to investigate, and I didn't get home until 10 o'clock in the middle of the night, and I had to work overtime on weekends off...... So...... I still have to say I'm really sorry......