Now, the Cas faction had decided to go to a restaurant quoted by Tobias for lunch before looking for a new hiding place to stay, in order to escape a possible threat from one of the subordinate factions or from Hidana himself, since he was the one who dominated virtually all of Hollen's black market, with its Drug Empire. However, before going directly to the restaurant for lunch, the faction met with a former member who had not seen him for a long time called Rascal Balder. At White's invitation, Rascal had gone out to lunch with the faction to help them find a new place to stay. Although he was there in passing, the former member was willing to help his former companions voluntarily. He participated in many fights in remote times when he was part of the faction and even outside the faction, he still enjoyed the respect and trust of criminals.
The members of the Cas were anxious and hungry to know what awaited them as they walked and talked. When they were very close to the restaurant, facing the entrance, they immediately went through a door where it will lead to a frayed purple red curtain. A group of rough, hungry men cast shadow in contrast to the candlelight over people who were having lunch as they walked over to an available table. Interestingly, the interior of the restaurant had a purposeful low-light environment.
All the clients looked at him with eyes as the criminals passed one by one, in single file, while talking loudly. Then, they finally sit down and occupy some chairs at an available table.
— Do you know what I like most about this restaurant? — asked Tobias.
— No — said Rascal, sitting on a chair.
— They always serve a glass of water and a glass of wine when someone sits at a table — replied Tobias excitedly with his fists on the table.
— But is the person obliged to pay for this? — asked Hermano.
Branco looked at Hermano after the nosy question was asked.
— No, I don't think so — replied Tobias faltering.
Rascal looked to Tobias.
— At least not included in the bill — Tobias completed his answer.
— And what guarantees that they don't charge you for this? — asked Branco.
— How so? — asked Tobias.
White, who had just put on his reading glasses to read the newspaper in his hands, to read it instantly and slowly moves his face towards Tobias, with his reading glasses on the tip of his nose.
— That they can include the value of water and wine in the bill without you even knowing — replied Branco.
— Why would they do this? — asked Tobias.
— Why would they do this? Why wouldn't they do this? — replied Branco.
— Look to him... — said Hermano sagaciously in a tone of irony.
— I would probably do it if I owned a restaurant. It's a very quiet marketing technique — said Rascal.
— Well, actually I never stopped to think about it — replied Tobias reflecting on the matter.
— It's a cunning way to make money, isn't it? — asked Rascal.
— I think I would do this too if I had a restaurant — said Hermano.
— Haha! — laugh Rascal.
Still with his glasses on the tip of his nose and with his newspaper open in his hands, Branco also laughs lightly, generating a moment of relaxation among the members of the faction.
However, while talking, one of Hidana's subordinates, called Valmor Flaminco, enters the restaurant with some of his cronies. Valmor was the man who had taken Cas hostage in the gambling house incident. Valmor was part of one of the subordinate gangs exclusive to Hidana's faction in which they did the dirty work, Iuhda. Valmor's mood was as explosive as Hidana was temperamental.
This when entering the house, some customers recognized him, a notorious person in that place, and were concerned by his notoriety in causing confusion. However, before Cas arrived at the restaurant, Valmor had already returned to his faction's hideout, and already enjoyed a new sword, clean clothes, an icy bath and with his crime partners went to lunch, coincidentally at the same restaurant where the criminals of old took him hostage in an unexpected episode.
The factions that worked for Hidana were very prosperous and systematic at that time.
When faced with a long line at the entrance and after a very short delay, Valmor begins to get irritated by the large flow of movement inside the restaurant and pulls out his sword, beginning to utter threatening to the employees. In addition to being very hungry, Valmor had used some chemicals to try to relax and at this point he was already very upset. As his nervousness prompted him to use such substances, in order to use them as an escape valve as a way to escape the stress he had when he was stolen, this did not work very well.
— Somebody call the police! — whispered someone scared.
A chubby cook with a chef's hat brings a giant white bowl of steaming steam, filled with pasta with various types of vegetables and seafood. As he walks, customers and employees around him watch him go by. A girl had her mouth open when she saw the scene. A man stopped for a moment to suck his pasta halfway and remains wide-eyed wondering how much food someone could eat. And then the chief put it on Hermano's table. A small crash echoes around the table from the weight of the bowl.
— Here's your noodles — said the chef.
The table shook.
— And here's your soup bowl. And here your bowls of rice and meat — completed the cook delivering the meals to the others.
Hermano began to devour the endless, deep bowl of pasta like an animal.
— Hey man! You shouldn't be eating this way! — said Tobias.
— Really? — replied Hermano with mouth full.
— Yeah!
— Ok.
— Once I saw a rice competition in Kurke, a guy who ate so much that they had to stop the competition because he was sick.
Hermano continued to eat and everyone was already eating while Tobias continued to speak.
Anyway, Valmor was still arguing with some employees about overcrowding in the restaurant and that time was a regular lunch break in that region. However, one of his gang members started a conversation with a partner of his when he noticed something in the restaurant.
— Hey, aren't those the guys Valmor was telling us about that he was robbed of? — asked one of the henchmen.
— Yes, they match exactly what he described us — said another.
Valmor noticed the conversation between the gang and immediately, when he realized what it was about, seeing Cas inside the same restaurant, stressed by the long line, directed his words of insult to the faction.
— Hey, you pig heads! — said Valmor pointing his sword at Cas's table — I know you! You robbed us!
The faction, attentive to its lunch, had not heard its harmful scream.
— Hey! I'm talkin' to you! — said approaching his gang at the table.
The faction noticed that someone was shouting in the middle of the chatter among the people in the restaurant.
Valmor and his cronies walked over to Cas's table and surrounded them, trying to intimidate them. The faction realized that they were participating in some way in trouble. However, they did not call and continued to eat, but they were already exchanging glances, as a silent warning signal.
— You pig heads, you are the ones who can't generate your own profit and want to steal others — shouted Valmor.
The faction did not, at first, care about Valmor's insult once again and they continued to eat their meals.
Seeing that he had not received due attention, Valmor walks confidently step by step and stops beside Hermano, seeing him as that huge fat man ate, as if nothing in the world mattered, the criminal pushes Hermano's bowl on the floor. When the bowl hit the ground it shattered into several pieces and all that pasta spread out on the floor.
Hermano, after stopping chewing, looks up to his right and sees from the bottom up, a man standing facing him with a face of human evil, as if he were waiting for an attitude of his.
Hermano then gets up. And the fat guy, who was still hungry, as his size rises grew from so much fat and in size before the criminal. Hermano takes Valmor with both hands and lifts him high, throwing him headlong against one of the restaurant's windows that faced the street, breaking all his glass.
At the same moment, a violent fight stops between the two factions. The members of the Cas drew their swords, to the point where they heard the sharp draw of their blades and soon jumped on top of the rival faction. A huge breakdown starts inside the restaurant. Customers and employees are desperately running around to protect themselves.
In the middle of two members of the rival faction, Hermano takes a cut of a sword blade in his chest, and he immediately jumps on whoever attacked him and starts punching his face with his heavy fists, cornering him on the ground.
Tobias was beaten like a convict. After being punched in the stomach, he was thrown behind a counter.
Rascal, who was chasing a henchman who was very fast, took a blow from Branco, which appeared like lightning behind a pillar cutting his neck causing him to fall in agony on the ground. The cut on his neck caused a lot of blood to flow, and the man felt suffocated in hellish pain. Soon the man fell ill over a pool of blood.
In the midst of all the fighting and arguing, people passing by on the street saw an enormous confusion spreading throughout the restaurant. In addition to the fight, Cas deliberately broke all the furniture, walls and porcelain pieces in the house by euphoria. The confusion, however, immediately stops with a loud whistle blowing to the point of earaches. In the strange pause, everyone realized that the breath of the fit had been delivered by a policeman among many others. Someone had called them and the request had apparently been granted very briefly. However, after the police gave a voice of arrest to everyone involved in the fight, the uproar returned immediately, and with even more intensity, causing the police to also join the fight, trying to control the situation.
Amid all that destruction and confusion, Tobias had realized that one of the cops' cars had gotten free outside, where he got into one and was driving the vehicle at high speed with his black eye and blood running down his face towards to the restaurant where the fight was taking place. Two members of the rival faction were standing near the restaurant window fighting Hermano inside and saw that a speeding vehicle was coming, one of them shouted.
— Run everyone! A crazy guy is coming!
— Run! Run! Run! — someone screamed.
The sound of the vehicle grew more and more towards the restaurant, and soon everyone started to run desperately, each one to a different side. The car rushed through one of the wooden walls of the establishment where it had a window, making a huge leak and throwing a man from the enemy faction into the air.
The members of the Cas faction went out through the hole in which the car had broken into the restaurant. Each member ran to one side to escape the police. Just like the members of the rival faction who were alive, they started running away too. It was like an anthill dissipating, between customers of the establishment and frightened people fleeing among the police.
A policeman grabs Rascal's arm, but he pushes him, throwing him on the floor. Staggering, he ran away.
A policeman jumps on Valmor, throwing him to the ground. Soon after, another police officer arrives to reinforce him and throws himself on him too.
— No! — he screams when he sees the members of the fight manage to escape.
Valmor manages to get up anyway, but in sequence, another policeman jumps on Valmor. When caught, he is handcuffed and arrested by Hollen's military police. Anyway, the bag from the gambling house theft had been left by Cas at the restaurant. All of them, astonished and afraid of being arrested, ran away desperately, as if there was no tomorrow.
...
For almost two weeks, Ian had been trying to recall the events of his previous days, where fragments of what had happened came to him little by little in his memory. He was a farreiro, as he used to be and he couldn't live without drinking or smoking even a single cigarette during his day.
On a sunny morning, upon meeting two old friends on the street who had not seen them for a long time, in the joy of the moment, they decided to have a few sake drinks. They talked about what happened in their lives during the time they had separated. Along with drinking, conversations started in the morning. Therefore, when night came, it was clear that much more time had been spent than had been estimated as necessary. Everyone had drunk a lot and going home on that occasion was as unfair as it was depressing for them. Continuing to celebrate the reunion, they drove through several bars in the city and continued to drink until the end of the night. After dawn arrived, the party continued and the reunion went on for more hours and hours, without even for a second stopping at their homes. They ate what they saw ahead, in any fast-food stall, took their spins in well-known bars and continued laughing at their own jokes and having fun, while the drinks boosted the joy.
When finally all the money was gone, and the credit speculation with the bars too. However, still motivated to have fun and continue to drink more sake, the boys thought about how to get more money. Ian had a supposed idea that he would help them at least for the moment. The farreiro had gone to his faction, the Cas and returning, had taken a sum of money saying that he would go to a supplier, who resides in a well-known mansion, however, he did not say what the money would be for. He first thought of buying opium. However, Ian and his two friends walked and proceeded to the supplier's house. For this reason, after Ian's long delay, Branco asked Zenir and Korusao to try to find him.
The mansion of Sidarta Fogariano, the drug dealer, was in Carsas. A place where many people enter and leave constantly at any time. A place full of plants surrounded by plants belonged to Siddhartha itself. The unusual had a lot of money and kept his mansion on purpose to encourage people to buy more drugs, as well as attract new potential customers. This was a very astute habit made by some suppliers and people from Hollen, in order to expand their business and increase their amount. For this reason, the doors were always open at any time.
Ian had already gone to that mansion on other occasions, however this was the first time that he had met in person with the owner of the establishment, who, ironically, just when there was a big party at the house. As a member of Cas, Ian was the expert on scams. He passed by several people to be able to apply his thefts, which in most cases, he spent with himself what he profited from drinks, cigarettes and food. Probably a great mind from Hollen's fraud. Ian had already gone through several false identities with perfect naturalness, such as: Fight teacher, postman, bodyguard, even for a brief period of time.
After arriving at the mansion and having by chance managed to speak directly to Siddhartha, at first, unintentionally, in order to find out if it was worth buying opium, Ian exposed his questions as if he were talking to anyone else. Their conversations with the owner of the establishment daydream and both ended up getting along very well. They laughed and told similar stories and adventures, which they shared with each other. Ian was then invited to stay, by the owner of the house, at the party. That in turn, decided to stay and authorized himself without asking, to also call his two friends to stay. Among the noise of random conversations, music, the consumption of drugs, tobacco, alcohol and the most varied types of drugs, girls and women of easy life, the party lasted for five interrupted days, non-stop and many people were having euphoric fun during the sleepless days.
The days became nights that became days that in turn became nights in which the days emerged within them. There was no longer a sense of time in that place. Life went by without any trace of temporality, like a merry-go-round full of happy lights that spun delightfully and laughing endlessly. The Siddhartha home was infested with people, in every room, people passed out from alcohol and other substance abuse, as well as unconscious, overcome by fatigue. In that house there were incessant days of a hallucinogenic party without a single pause of stillness. Few people stopped to sleep, the entry and exit of strangers was constant, where, in fact, was the scenario. Food and bottles scattered on the furniture of the mansion, in which many of them were overturned and out of place.
Hours later, the party finally appeared to be over. The house was full of people sleeping on the floor, windows and doors open, furniture turned upside down, holes in the ceiling, dirty people with nails and long hair. For some unknown reason, even dirt was on the wooden floor of the room between a few broken bottles.
Among the sleeping and passed out bodies, a young man wakes up and opens his eyes heavily red, as if he were returning from a trip, coming from another dimension. The young man did not believe that all that euphoria was finally over and how he had managed to stay for days eating badly and without washing himself. Her throat ached as if it were tight. Lying on the puddle of his own sweat, his vision swirls in a blur while looking at the ceiling. An involuntary urge to vomit feels like coming from inside your body.
Even as his memory returns to consciousness, Ian saw images, where the edges and sides of his field of vision emanated a kind of aura that seemed to be absorbed beyond his peripheral vision. He remembered laughing a lot, throwing up, throwing various pieces of furniture from the windows of the house. When they hit the ground, in his memory, in proportion to the speed of their weight, he remembered seeing them explode in debris, such an impact, when they collided with the ground, with the help of strangers with whom he had made friends.
He had the help he needed at the height of his joy to destroy things that were not his. Like the various girls he had kissed, little by little he remembered each scene as a remote sort of figure.
However, Ian began to feel sorry for himself for failing again and began to reflect on himself, still lying down, looking at the ceiling of the huge room in which he found himself, in the middle of several unknown bodies.
At the moment when sadness cruelly invaded his body, he felt remorse for having drunk and used drugs for so many days. As soon as regret and withdrawal came, a deep disgust for him felt when he was taken by surprise once again by his addiction. It was then that he began to ponder his thoughts and consider his earlier days, which he hardly remembered.
— Once you're addicted, nothing else makes sense if you don't have it. Unfortunately, once you fall into its clutches, it is difficult to get out of it. At the same time that addiction destroys you by one hand, on the other hand it also gives you pleasure — said Ian to himself in thought.
Then he remembered the strong drink he drank from a bottle ...
— And nothing...
To embrace Sidarta, the drug dealer. Both talking and laughing a lot.
— Nothing in the world has the capacity to give that potency of happiness.
He remembered laughing a lot...
— Even if you know that it will hurt you, it is when you reach the high point...
Of the many girls he had kissed...
— In Paradise...
To meet three guys when they caught you when you were trying to write on the forehead of a stranger who was sleeping...
— At the moment when the cheap happens, nothing in the world is more important. Nothing is more interesting than that. And then you can do everything...
To have thrown a huge wardrobe out the window on the third floor of the mansion with the help of the guys he had just met...
— You go beyond the planet. Your happiness goes out of orbit. It is like achieving something unattainable.
To jump from the third floor window to the nearby pool where the huge wardrobe fell...
— But after arriving very high, one hour, pleasure goes away and that is where most is consumed.
To see a guy arguing with someone who was sleeping...
— I don't want to let you go.
Having drunk again...
— And then that happiness comes back again.
Of more diverse girls who had kissed again...
— But at some point, when it's time to leave, sadness finally comes.
Having vomited...
— It takes you to a high point, beyond the planet and when it leaves... That's where you fall.
And to have fallen out of balance on top of people who were trying to hold him.
It was then when everything was erased and the memories of the experiences he had lived, finally lost their totality.
The scent of his body from not having washed for more than a week was starting to bother him. Her skin and body exhaled alcohol and her breathing was labored and labored, as if she had been censored by the excess of cigarettes that she smoked as a risk of phosphorus. His belly rumbled like a package, identical to a bad-tempered man who, sharing a bed with someone, pulls the sheet just for you in a grouchy way when feeling cold.
— The moment it happens, nothing else matters. You feel good and it takes you to paradise. But when you finally fall, it's like being trapped in hell. Abstinence is just that: Hell! — reflected the young man lying on the floor as his heart pumped frantically together with his shortness of breath.
Outside, footsteps of someone coming close to the house were walking along the land. It was a quiet late afternoon, before six o'clock, where a bird could be heard singing in the background in the distance.
— You will always want more, everything revolves around this. How I hate displeasure and how mediocre I am. Will I ever be able to get rid of this? Ah, how I wish someone would save me! — Ian finished his reflective thoughts for himself.
The steps that previously walked the land, now start to sound different when stepping on the wood of the mansion's entrance. Zenir and Korusao arrived at the door to the mansion's living room, which led directly to the room where Ian was. Both stopped for a moment and did not enter the room. Completely astonished, they watched what had happened there, a lot of bodies on the floor passed out, practically all that luxurious room with pictures and pompous lamps with destroyed candles, holes and graffiti in the walls in absolute silence. It looked like a tornado had passed through the house.
— Wow! What happened here? — asked Zenir.
— I've never seen anything like this in my life — said Korusao.
A hungry cat was walking on some bodies passed out. The pussy sniffs its muzzle over a girl whose face is disfigured in smeared makeup, to see if she can smell something nice.
...
Along with Laura, his right hand, Hidana Fiuza was very powerful at that time and held a hegemony of trafficking and criminal territorial control with many other subordinate factions who served him. His name was well known in the northern part of the territorial division, Hollen.
However, Hidana migrated with a considerable number of criminals, along with Laura, as she had always gone side by side, to the south of Hollen, and remained in Entral.
At the Cas faction, Ian said he knew a supplier, who could help them initially raise money, where they were going. Rascal had talked to Branco about where they could install their faction until they raised a good amount of money. And then, with the walk starting at dawn, once the bag of money had been abandoned inside the restaurant, due to the violent fight, on foot they reached the neighborhood Kamara, in the city of Lages and from there, after resting, they went to Entral city.
Ironically, the Cas faction, of all those who had a feud with Hidana's, coincidentally, had also migrated the faction to Entral, to escape conflicts with the Hidana faction. Deciding to go to the southern part of Hollen, close to the border that bordered Hollen and the Empire of Benevur.
...
At Franco Del'Mor school, within so many teachers, there was a somewhat unusual teacher. This one walked and dictated his class with a loud voice that echoed through the corridors near the school.
His presence exuded a rage that seemed to be purposely discounted from students. Now yes, now no, a mixture of discipline with something personal of the teacher himself to be expressed. For this reason, students often whispered to each other — Is he really like that or is he angry with us?
In his classes, the teacher, through shouts and orders, made a movement with a sword and the students, so often frightened, repeated the same movement with their swords.
The school had important subjects of mathematics, geography and the native language of the country in the apprenticeship and a major part was dedicated to the art of the sword, like all conventional academy.
Among them, there was a young man, wearing glasses, thin, with clothes that fit him very broadly, with very thin forearms showing without showing his elbows. Therefore, a long hair with a slightly embarrassed ponytail that was tied with an extensive white ribbon of a luxurious texture, especially, visibly badly tied, repeating everything that the class teacher said. Esa was seventeen years old and it had been sixteen years since the time when he had crossed the border of the country, between the North and South. By this time, he was a very dedicated student and had stood out as one of the best school students.
However, it occurred in the middle of a class, while his teacher fervently explained some philosophical concepts and self-defense in relation to the art of the sword, young Esa was distracted, looking at the sky at the window, remembering the rain and the girl he had seen through his bedroom window. Delighted in his thoughts, in the depths of that memory, he had totally lost his attention in class. That was when, suddenly, he got a big scare.
— Hey! — raged his teacher.
— What?! — Esa awakens from her startled, frightened dream.
— Where were you? — asked the teacher.
— As well? I didn't leave here.
At this point, all the other young men had found the scene funny, so they started laughing at him and a giggle broke out across the room.— Where your mind is is where you are — replied the teacher.
The professor turned his face and while his body had not turned completely, his gaze for a moment intimidated him when he looked directly into Esa's eyes, who did not hesitate to show the fear he had felt for the scolding.
...
After Hidana, Laura and some criminals arrived in Entral, they settled in a huge house, which appeared to be abandoned for a long time. The mansion was located a few kilometers from the Franco Del'Mor school, which was also in Entral.
At the end of the afternoon, after entering the house, soon the members of the gang started to allocate themselves in the rooms of the house.
It was flashing outside, the sky was overcast and the door to the main room of the huge house where they were allocated is opened from the outside by a guard when some criminals arrived. Some members arrived at the new hideout with bags full of things people asked for and with the thefts made so that they could be confiscated daily by Hidana.
When placing bags on a table in a huge room, taking out food, drinks, drugs, jewelry, cigarette packs, among other things, they were surrounded in circles by all members of that criminal organization.
A subordinate of Hidana, while dispatching the objects on the table, told him that Valmor had been stolen and the theft at the gambling house had not been successful. Some other faction had taken their theft.
Hidana, just turning her face away, stood looking at him seriously, as if waiting for an answer after what had just been heard. Hidana was a complex creation. A typical bad character, however, pleasant, persuasive and at the same time inconsequential. He didn't greet newbies, he was sulking, he had a presence that naturally threatened people and was violent and sometimes pointed his sword at people when he talked to them.
After all the items were placed on the table and the bags emptied, they lit the fireplace in the living room, where it lit up while they started to eat their meals.
In any case, a very perceptive man named Nohaw did not wear swords. However, he had a very good knowledge of police and military action points, what is happening to new factions and he used to hang out with Hidana's cousin, Gaspar. When Hidana learned of the great profit, which Gaspar had informed him of, Nohaw and his cousin already knew each other. So, from an early age, it had its prestige and was consulted in many situations.
Nohaw was standing, looking at the trees and the neighborhood outside through the window, while eating a pasta with fresh vegetables in a bowl. Distracted, he watched the houses, trying to capture some movement or any type of information to keep his mind active in relation to this new stage of the expansion of Hidana's business.
Laura, who was sitting in a box, smoking a cigarette and drinking a cup of coffee, looked at Nohaw when she saw that he was looking focused outside.
When looking at the sky, Nohaw sees that it was already dark. When he leaves the window, he continues to eat his noodles and steps out of the room. Coming out of it, he reflected as he walked and looked at the ground, away from the rest of the criminals.
After passing through a long silent corridor, where the sound of his footsteps cracked on the wooden floor, he turns left and enters the mansion's kitchen. To his surprise, there was the shadow of someone on the other side of the kitchen, at her front door, staring at him. It was not possible to see who it was, however, Nohaw had been terrified, because from what he thought, the house was unoccupied before they arrived.
The mysterious guy staring at him pulls out a knife and remains standing where he was. Nohaw, however, just moved his gaze to the knife in the mysterious man's hands. When looking at the subject again, he is still and immobile in the place where he was.
An awkward silence hangs over the two of them in that environment. Something was sure to happen, Nohaw thought. Anticipating, Nohaw throws his bowl of pasta directly at the guy in front of him. The guy dodges the shot and advances on Nohaw. Frightened, when walking backwards he tries unsuccessfully to support himself on the end of a small round table.
Falling with him, the table splits when it collides with the floor and Nohaw is caught by the neck, being hanged with one hand of the subject while with the other he tries to penetrate the knife in his chest. Nohaw tries to contain the stab with both hands, but the guy had a lot of strength in his arms.
— Get out of our country. Hidana and her damn drugs now invading our region! — the mysterious fellow shouted with hatred.
Seeing that he was not going to be able to pierce his chest, the guy then pulls his arm back with the knife and in the sides stabs each leg of Nohaw. The sensation of pain was intense and after Nohaw screamed, a blade noise is heard coming from behind the guy who was trying to kill him.
When the eyes are wide, the man is immobile and looks at Nohaw as if he were petrified. Soon the guy disagrees and falls on his breasts, causing the kitchen floor to be soaked in blood, both from the guy and Nohaw.
When Nohaw looked behind the guy who had almost killed him, Laura pulls out her sword, saving the life of her partner.
However, a boulder flew in from outside and broke the glass in the kitchen window, causing small pieces of glass to fly towards Laura's face. Laura, however, quickly averted her face, protecting with her hands and turning her body.
When he got to the window, he saw four men running away. However, turning his gaze to the stone, there was a note tied there. Taking the ticket, Laura read the following words: "We don't want your faction around here. Leave Entral! Leave Hollen."
Nohaw was bleeding heavily and agonizing in pain on the floor.
— I can't move my legs! — screamed.
Laura, as she turned from her body accompanied by the swaying of her hair and her attention to Nohaw, was breathless looking at him in perplexity at first. Nohaw was taken shortly afterwards to the room by her and some criminals. Being placed on a sofa infested with white pillows and cloths, Hidana gave some orders to provide medication and possibly the possibility of taking the wounded to a nearby hospital, even though it was risky.
While Nohaw fell ill, many people hurried back and forth. Lying on the couch, he saw the movement of criminal cronies. Hidana, however, was standing up lighting a cigarette. However, Nohaw, looking at a painting that had been placed on top of a piano, saw a photograph of an ocean. Now looking to his right, he saw a large red linen cloth, shiny and fine, placed on top of the piano. Then turning his attention to Hidana desperately, she called out to him, as if she were pleading.
— Hidana! — shouted Nohaw.
— Yes? — said Hidana approaching him.
— We must go. It's not worth staying in this place — said sounding and swallowing.
— Because? — asked.
— This place is hell. Not worth it. I know Hollen. I know very well who we're getting into — said agonizing in pain from the cut in his legs.
— We can't go back at this point — said Hidana taking a strong drag on her cigarette.
— There's nothing here. We shouldn't stay. Do not stay. Please! Not worth it! This country is gone. All that remains are ruins and problems.
— We will stay. Stay calm. Everything will be resolved and you will recover. Hold tight!
— The corrupt military here may try to scold you and cooperate with Hollen so that you cannot expand this plan of yours. These soldiers are as cruel and corrupt as members of any other faction.
— Yes. I know you know that. Somehow they already know that we are here.
— This is a place of drunks, drug addicts, thieves, lust, the unemployed and a totally fat and corrupt government. Many people are leaving here to go abroad to try a better life. Some are even trying to Benevur. There's nothing else here.
— Yes, I know it.
— Words are just words, Hidana. Let's go back yes ...! — exclaimed Nohaw, grabbing Hidana's robe with both hands.
His eyes were that of a person completely sworn in by a spirit of excessive indignation, and his eyes were staring at him pointedly in a paranoid way. As he spoke, he sweated and his sweat ran down his body and mixed with the bleeding in his legs. Nohaw had not liked the fact that his life was put by destiny to reside in that country at that moment in history.
The criminals had decided under Hidana's influence and guidance not to take Nohaw to any nearby hospital or doctor, so as not to increase the chance of being caught by an authority. Luckily, they managed to stop the bleeding that came from his legs and gave him some medication, along with morphine to ease his pain.
However, unfortunately, due to the deep cuts he had taken, Nohaw lost the movement of his legs, later using a wheelchair. And so the day went by.
However, in the late afternoon of the following day, the lamp on a street lamp where Hidana's new house was located had just switched on automatically when it arrived at night. Then all the lights on the other streetlights in the neighborhood also turn on, ornamenting the street in a growing row of lights.
As night passed, and the dawn came, the sky was still cloudy. On the balcony of the house, Hidana appears quietly and quietly, lights a cigarette. A light from a house in the distance shone brighter than the street lamps, which curiously seemed to be dim, making the street dim.
The criminal exuded a damned presence in the darkness on that balcony, panting, he felt a strong pain in his chest that still hurt after his fight against Belter. It was then that when he took his cigarette case out of his pocket, he felt two men walking slowly.
— Hey, rusty nail! — someone exclaimed to Hidana.
Hidana looks out at the muddy streets in the neighborhood, and sees a dark man appear in the dark, poorly lit by the street lights, in uniform followed by a much younger boy.
— Are you talking to me? — replied Hidana.
— This attitude of yours... — not finishing his speech, he was close to the balcony of the house where Hidana was, on the ground floor, walking looking at the somewhat dark dirt floor.
Hidana looked back as if the man had to speak to someone else. When he stopped his steps, the guy finally warned him.
— If you get off the line, we'll get you. Here in Entral, the laws are not the same as where you come from — as he said his words, the man came a little closer.
— Right... — replied Hidana.
They both knew each other. The man was called Guilhermo Maxwell. He was a Lieutenant of Hollen, a corrupt military member who had connections with some factions. This man facilitated the entry and exit of drugs in Hollen in some cases in exchange for bribes.
He was accompanied by an alleged criminal at his side who had warned him that Hidana was in Entral.
— Now imagine a dog — spat on the floor and left the bottom of his balcony, started walking towards the men and stopped at the balcony railing — A dog that is trapped inside a cage, in the sun — she pointed up and looked at him quickly.
The lieutenant and his companion also looked at copying their attitude.
— And the dog belongs to someone, who left it there. The dog is frying. It is almost dying. Desperate because he can't get out of the cage. The question that remains is: Do I have the right to intervene in something that belongs to someone else?
— Don't come with these puzzles, Hidana.
— We are always putting things off, no? — replied Hidana.
— Your imagination that is fertile, clergy, very fertile — said taking a first drag on his cigarette that he had just lit.
— We've been watching you since you arrived in this city and the number of people in there — said the lieutenant.
— My money. My house — replied Hidana.
— We are just doing our job to find out if everything is in good shape here in this city. We have full legitimacy to intervene, if necessary, for the well-being of the population — said in a tone of debauchery, raising his eyebrows suggesting that for him it was something obvious — We know you very well. We will not let you cause trouble.
— Ah understood. You are the state official who lives much better than the people, right? Creating difficulties for later... — a subtle smile appears in the left corner of his face and soon disappears — ... Sell facilities. And you value the well-being of the people. Understand.
After that, Hidana brings her cigarette deeply, which she immediately continued to talk about.
— Well... The simulation of kindness can be more harmful than assumed evil, clergy. Or is what you want a bribe?
The lieutenant replied nothing and neither did his companion next door, in which, both were looking at Hidana seriously.
— Do you know the difference between you and me, clergy?
— You tell me.
— The difference between you and me is that, I am corrupt. In your face... And I admit... I live this... You don't.
— Hum... — murmured internally, the lieutenant.
— You hide behind the State.
— You defying an authority, Hidana. Don't play with what you can't give it.
When the clergy had finished uttering their words, out of the darkness behind Hidana, countless criminals armed with their swords and sharp objects in imminent threat, emerged from the shadows, ready to stop a violent fight right there.
�� We'll see each other soon. You will not last long here - replied the lieutenant calmly and started on his way with the companion accompanying him.
— Time will tell — she replied, following him only with her eyes and with her tongue leaning out on the left of her open mouth.
Entering her home, Hidana throws out her cigarette, still burning with a very strong flick. However, the criminals who appeared on the balcony remained there.
Inside the house, there was a room, anteroom, with some red curtains, however, there was no one there. However, a door inside this room was softly almost open and a beam of light comes out from inside.
Inside this room, Laura was facing a statue with a transparent veil draped over her face. The statue's face had the face of a sad woman.
Laura, who was facing the window, turned around and saw Hidana entering the room, where there were other members of her faction.
...
Once with the faction all assembled in Entral and at White's invitation, Rascal, the former member, returned to the faction, also wishing with the thugs to raise money from the southern part of Hollen.
In order to escape any possible threat from Hidana or any subordinate faction to his criminal conglomerate, the idea was first to restructure the faction, as they were broke.
When they arrived early in the morning, after much searching, they found an old and abandoned garage to stay. After checking to see if anyone was at the scene, Branco informed the rest that the faction would be staying at that location by the hour.
Minutes later, as Cas started to fix the old and abandoned garage, while through the window of one of the houses in the neighborhood, only one eye peered through the cracks in a curtain watching them put out rubbish and move some boxes. An old eavesdropper was looking out the window, peering through the breach in the curtain, seeing the members of the Cas, the faction, working in their new hiding place.
A neighbor named Ibrahim, an old man, was watching them. Ibrahim was an old man addicted to gambling. You always think you would win or buy a winning ticket. Although he never won, his faith and desire to win a millionaire prize contained him in that quest.
In the afternoon, while having lunch, Tobias the squint approached Zenir about a curious question.
— Hey, Zenir! — said Tobias.
Zenir just looked at his criminal companion while chewing.
— Have you noticed how hot this city is? — asked the squint, with his mouth full.
— A little — replied Zenir.
— There's something about her... — choking, stopped for a moment and chewed the food in his mouth — Looks like... — chewed some more — it's kind of cursed.
Zenir continued to look at Tobias with an expression of nothing, also chewing.
— Do not you think? — asked Tobias.
— Well, you said hot, right? I believe there is sun all over the place.
— I heard a fisherman comment to a person on the beach that here in this city it hasn't rained for more than six months. The morning sun is stunning. As soon as I arrived, I went to take a nap while you were working, and when I woke up, I lay in a huge puddle of sweat. The first thing I thought of when I opened my eyes is how hot this city is. It should rain someday. Do not you think?
Eating and still chewing, Zenir reflected absently on what he had just heard. And then said to Tobias and says after a long pause — Yes ... It would be nice.
When night fell, the faction waited until 3:00 am to take a walk around the city to see the streets and places while everyone slept and to know if any type of policing was going around the city at that time.
Rascal and Ian walked through the deserted streets together while smoking some cigarettes and talking. The subject at the moment was about the drugs that were circulating in Hollen and the possibility of profit to understand what was the trend of the market in that place. They both knew that country well, but very little in relation to that city.
That is, they still needed time to set up their networks, things that the two used to do, especially Ian, to always get their stock filled with the right products - a habit that he struggled to get rid of, however, recurrently to no avail.
Ian commented on when he met Sidarta Fogariano and some stories of when he used scams posing as other people. Rascal, excited, listened to him for a long time.
— When I was with you years ago I didn't see much of these exploits being applied — commented Rascal.
After visiting several streets late into the night, they stopped for a moment at the city's central square. The square was indeed very large, and in its midst was a statue of Hollen's military general, more than five meters wide, mounted on a horse.
— Look at this! — said Zenir.
— I didn't know that in Hollen there was a public patrimony of this magnitude — said Tobias.
— Maybe they are more patriotic than us — asked Korusao.
— How is anyone proud of a person who sank an entire country in war? — asked Tobias.
— Well, there is nothing we can do about it — said Branco.
— Should we actually do something? — asked Rascal.
— War is war — replied Hermano, the fat and grumpy giant who almost never said anything.
Ian takes his hands out of the pockets of his robe and approaches Rascal and gives him another cigarette, forming a side row of criminals talking to each other in the square that morning. They were leaning against a kind of marble handrail, which directly below them was a beautiful fountain. It was an elevated part of the Central Square of Entral, a coastal region.
— I heard that Hollen Central Bank is changing its route to supply the bank's treasury vault. They are using an iron ore and coal transport ship to transport hidden gold to the bank, due to the number of factions and violence that has grown in Hollen. — said Rascal.
— Can there be a successful assault there? We did it at the games house, even though there was a small problem on the way back — said Korusao.
At the same time, everyone turned against the general's monument and stood in that deserted square to discuss the possibilities they would have to carry out a theft about what Rascal had just said.
Although the suggested initial idea was to locate the correct ship first, and then follow the ship until an opportune moment arose, the same tactic used in the game house, while they were arguing, Tobias, back there, took two cans of jet, peeled the near the statue, he climbed on it and began to make an enormous graffiti on the general, the public monument, alone, while the other members of the faction argued among themselves.
And so, that dawn passed, between discussions, conversations and a dark tourism through the streets of Entral that by the fajuta faction, which now tried to rebuild itself, while Hidana's tried to broaden its profits and horizons, despite having dominated much of movement of the black and drug market in Hollen.
In spite of all this, when it was morning, many people were around the main monument in the Central Square of Entral, the statue of the general. A sign and ribbons kept people away from the monument where it said: Get away!
— How absurd! Who did this? — shouted an indignant person.
— This must be a prank from someone who is not from Entral! — shouted a man.
In the monument there was a graffiti with an expletive in which it said: "House of Bald Doctors and Prostitutes Always Survive!".
— Only a marginal would do this! — another person also indignant said in a scream.
— Let's kill whoever did this! — shouted a person.
— Easy people! We will solve this and we will catch the madman who made such an atrocity — said a Hollen military soldier.
A woman was shaking her head in disapproval while gently and quickly moving a child on her lap with her hand on the back of her neck, protecting him, trying to get her to sleep.