Chapter 19 Chapter Nineteen

Juliet was sitting on the floor of the detention room, leaning against the high iron railings, and the image of that cruel world was on the wall in front of her.For the past three days, she has been trying to find information and learn how to be a security officer.She looked at the landscape on the wall and wondered why everyone was so interested in the outside world. In her eyes, the outside is just a piece of desolate sand dunes, rolling up and down, connected to the dark clouds in the distance, and only a few rays of sunlight are faintly revealed in the gaps between the thick clouds, and the earth is still dark.The strong wind swept across the desolate land, rolled up the yellow sand in the sky, formed clusters of tornadoes, chasing each other, and swept across the wilderness.That piece of land seemed to exist only for the tornado.

To Juliet, that world was utterly uninteresting, saw no attraction.It was an uninhabitable abandoned world where nothing useful could be found.There are no resources to be found there, except for the dilapidated buildings behind the dunes.There is rusty steel in the building. However, it will cost more to recycle the steel and remelt it. It is better to dig the iron ore under the bunker to make steel. The outside world seemed to her a cursed dream, sad and empty.It was a dream of death.The people on the upper floors of the bunker are obsessed with this scene, and they really have the wrong direction-the future of the bunker is not "above", but "below".Their electricity comes from the oil in the ground, and everything they need in their daily lives, as well as the nutrients and raw materials used to moisten the soil in the cultivated areas, also come from oil.If you go to a chemistry laboratory or a steel mill, ask any little apprentice and he will tell you this.But the people above can't see the truth clearly.They read those fairy tale books since they were young, desperately trying to piece together the images of the past and uncover the mysterious veil of the past. The problem is that everything in the past has long been lost, and the truth will never be found.Therefore, they can only indulge in illusory imaginations forever.

Why are they so addicted?She just wanted to understand one reason, that is, the outside world is too wide.The huge and endless sight even made her feel intimidated.But then again, maybe she has something wrong with her, because she loves this bunker surrounded by walls, and loves the dark and closed deep underground.Could it be that everyone is crazy, with the idea of ​​escaping hidden in their hearts?Or, is there something inexplicable deep in her own heart? Juliet looked at the desolate dunes, at the sky full of yellow sand, and then looked at the folders scattered all around.That was the unfinished work of the previous security officer.On her lap was a shiny police badge.She hasn't put it on yet.Then she saw the shiny kettle.The jug was in an evidence bag on a file folder.That jug had killed a man, yet, it seemed so harmless.The evidence bag has been reused several times, and there are several sets of numbers written in black pen on it, but they have all been crossed out, which means that those previous cases are either closed or unsolved.Now, there is a new number on the side of the evidence bag, and that number represents a case number.The file folder for that case was not with her, but she had seen the documents inside, including pages of testimony and countless notes.The victim in that case was the chief who was deeply loved by everyone.Someone actually killed her.

Juliet read the pages of notes in the file, but only from a distance.It was written by Deputy Security Officer Manais himself, who had been refusing to hand her the folder.He was always clutching the file folder.She once peeked at the file folder across the desk, and saw dried tears on the paper, some words were blurred, and the paper was also crumpled.Also, the handwriting in that file was scribbled, not neatly written like the notes he had written in other files.Looking at those words, she seemed to be able to see the fire of anger burning on the paper, and every single stroke was venting violence.The anger and violence in the text are the same as those emanating from Deputy Security Officer Manais at the moment.There seemed to be anger boiling in the air.The aggressive anger in the office made Juliet afraid to stay in it.She had no choice but to hide in the detention room and go to work.She found that sitting across from a heartbroken man, she couldn't think at all.Looking at the appearance of Manais, she suddenly felt that the scene of the outside world in front of her was not as gloomy and depressing as his.

Occasionally someone would call her on the radio, and she would have to go down there to deal with some trouble, but whenever she could, she stayed in that cell to pass the time.Usually, she just sits there sorting through the files, sorting cases by severity.Now, she is the security officer of the bunker.Before, she had no chance to be an apprentice at all, but now she has gradually understood what kind of job it is.When the chief went down to the bottom last time, he had said something to her.She still remembers her last sentence: Human beings are no different from machines.Facts have proved that this sentence is absolutely true.People are just like machines, they can break, they can make noise, and if you're not careful, machines can burn you to pieces, or even rip you off.And her job is not only to find out why the accident happened, but also to find out who is responsible.More importantly, she must also observe carefully and pay attention to certain signs before the accident.Being a security officer, like being a mechanic, is also a delicate art. In addition to cleaning up the mess after an accident, you must also take care of it in advance to prevent it from happening.

The files scattered all over the floor belong to the type of cleaning up the mess.In some cases, there were disputes between neighbors or friends, and the emotions were out of control; in some cases, it was theft;Each case requires further investigation, more travel, and cross-examination to determine who is lying and who is telling the truth. When she was still at the bottom, in order to learn how to be a security officer, Juliet carefully read the legal part of the "Convention".During the day, she was exhausted from adjusting the generator, and at night she lay in bed and read.Later, she finally figured out how to build a file for the case and how to avoid destroying the evidence at the scene.She found that this kind of work is somewhat similar to her previous job as an electromechanical worker, and the reason is the same.When confronted with a crime scene or confronted with a physical confrontation, it feels a lot like walking into a factory building and confronting a malfunctioning oil pump.Whether it's a human or a machine, things often go wrong.She knows how to read people's words and listen to what others have to say.Once, when the pumping unit broke down, she went to all the people who were in charge of operating the machine, asked them how they operated it and what tools they used, and traced the interlocking clues in this way, and finally found out that it was the bedrock itself. .Moreover, when there is a problem with the machine, there are always many complicated variables. You can't just adjust a certain data, because it may affect the whole body and cause problems in other parts.But Juliet just has the gift of being able to see the big picture, knowing what is important and what should be skipped.

She guessed that it was probably because of her talent that Manais fell in love with her.She is always vigilant, does not easily believe in any superficial things, and always asks some seemingly stupid questions tirelessly, and then slowly finds out the answers.Helping them solve the case that time, virtually increased their confidence in her, but she didn't realize it at the time.At that time, she was very innocent, she was just sad, and she just wanted justice. Unexpectedly, they had already taken a fancy to her, and, in the process of investigating the case, they had already begun to evaluate her and use this case to train her.

She picked up the file folder from back then, and saw that there was a light red stamp stamped on it, and two big characters were written: "Case closed".She tore off the tape stuck to the edges, spread out the file folder, and rummaged through the notes inside, many of them in Halston's crisp handwriting, a type of italics.She knew the handwriting because it was on the desk, in the drawers, in all the folders.The desk she is using now used to be his.She was mentioned in several pages of notes, and as she read, old memories began to come back to her mind.It looked a lot like a murder, but in reality it was just the result of a series of seemingly unrelated incidents.For a long time, she has been avoiding, refusing to think about that incident, but now, looking through the files, the pain of the past came to her heart again.In retrospect, it was helpful for her to help investigate the case at the time, because it allowed her to divert her mind.When she follows the clues to find the truth, she forgets the pain.The deceased was her beloved.She still remembers the unspeakable emptiness in her heart when she lost her beloved one, but when she couldn't wait to solve the case, the satisfaction in her heart virtually filled her empty heart.Later, when she repaired the generator, the feeling was somewhat similar to that case back then.She was sore and exhausted, but when she saw that the generator stopped shaking and making earth-shattering noises, she would forget about the pain and exhaustion in her body.

She tossed the folder aside, not wanting to recall the past for now.She picked up another file folder and placed it on her lap, her other hand caressing the police badge on her lap. At this time, a shadow suddenly flashed across the scene on the wall, and Juliet immediately looked up instinctively, and found a wave of sand rolling down from the dune, tumbling with the wind, as if it was rushing towards the camera of the bunker Come.When she was a child, adults reminded her repeatedly that she should take that lens seriously, because through the lens, she could see the outside world.She was afraid of that world, but adults told her to learn to cherish that sight.

However, are those shots, and those images, really worth cherishing?She was skeptical.Now, she has grown up and has the ability to think independently, and now she even has the opportunity to see those images with her own eyes.The people on the upper level of the bunker are obsessed. They are eager for someone to clean the lens and see a clear image. However, the people in the lower level of the bunker are not infected with their fanaticism.The people below are also doing another kind of "cleaning" work, and that is the truly meaningful "cleaning", so that the bunker can continue to operate and everyone can live.However, even in the deep underground, her workers and friends have been warned by adults since they were young, not to mention the outside world.Since they live underground, they have never seen the outside world, so it is not difficult for them.But now, every day at work, she would pass by that scene, and even her desk was facing that scene.So, when she looked at the unimaginably vast world, she finally understood why everyone was so curious about that world.Now, she finally understood why adults should warn them, suppress them, and try not to let them have some strange thoughts.Because, that kind of thought is likely to form the urge to go out, so we must guard against it in advance.Too much word-of-mouth about the problem could drive everyone crazy like wildfire and lead to the destruction of the bunker.

She flipped through Holden's file.The first page is his biographical information, followed by a large stack of notes.It was a notebook he wrote during his last days as a security officer, and only one page mentioned his criminal history.In fact, more than half of that page was blank, and only a short paragraph, less than half a page, was written.The text simply described him locking himself in a top-floor holding cell and publicly declaring that he wanted to get out.that's it.In just a few lines, a person was sentenced to death.Juliet read it several times before turning to the next page. The next page is a statement from Chief Janss.She hopes that everyone will not forget Halston's contribution to the bunker, and don't just think of him as a camera cleaner.Juliet looked at the statement on that page, her mind was racing with thoughts.The person who wrote that paragraph also passed away recently.It's a weird feeling to think about someone you'll never see again.Over the years, she has been avoiding and refusing to meet her father for many reasons.One of the reasons is that he is still alive.She could visit him whenever she wanted.However, thinking of Halston and Jans at this moment felt very different.She will never see them again.From before to now, what Juliet is best at is repairing machines that others think are impossible to repair.As long as she pays attention, as long as the method is correct and the steps are correct, she will have a way to bring the machine back from the dead and make it look like a new one.She is used to this feeling.However, she knew she couldn't bring Halston and Jans back from the dead. She flipped through the Halston files, and couldn't help but ask herself the taboo questions.Some of these questions were ones she hadn't thought about before.When she was down there, those problems seemed insignificant to her because she faced really serious problems every day.For example, an exhaust leak would suffocate all her friends, and a burst drain would drown everyone in the M&M area.However, those seemingly insignificant problems in the past now enveloped her like a huge shadow.Why do you live in this coffin-like bunker?What's the point?Also, what else is hiding behind the dunes?Why do they live here?What is the intention?Who built those dilapidated buildings in the distance?Is it their ancestors?Why were those buildings built?And the most perplexing thing of all: why did Halston go out?Such a calm and rational person, what is he thinking?Is it because of his wife? These two file folders were stamped with the seal of "closed", and they should have been filed a long time ago. They were received in the filing cabinet of the chief's office, but she kept them with her all the time.For some reason, Juliet kept looking at those two files repeatedly, but put some more urgent cases aside.In one of the folders, the deceased was the man she loved deeply, and she had helped solve that case at the bottom.In another file, the deceased was a person she respected very much, and she even inherited his work.She didn't understand why she couldn't forget these two files.During this period of time, she watched Manes staring at Chief Janss' files all day long, rereading the testimonies inside, desperately trying to find clues.He knew that someone had killed her, and he desperately wanted to catch the murderer, but there was no evidence.She couldn't bear to see Manais's distraught appearance, so she really didn't understand why she was like him. At this time, someone suddenly knocked on the railing above her head, and she immediately turned her head to look, expecting to see Deputy Security Officer Manais, who was coming to tell her that it was time to get off work.Unexpectedly, what she saw was another person.The man was staring down at her. "Security officer?" he called out. Juliet immediately threw the file aside, grabbed the police badge on her lap, then stood up and turned to look at the man.The man was short and fat, with a big belly, and a pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose. The silver information area work clothes on his body were obviously tailor-made and fit well. "Is something wrong?" she asked. The man reached through the middle of the railing, and Juliet shifted the badge to her left hand, then raised her right hand to shake his hand. "I'm sorry it's taken me so long to come to you," he said. "There's been a lot going on right now. There's a ceremony to attend, a problem with the generator, and some legal disputes. Oh, yes. , my name is Bernard, Bernard Holland." At that moment, Juliet felt that the blood in her whole body seemed to freeze instantly.That human hand is so small, it seems that there are only four fingers, but even so, his hand is so strong, he is holding on to her hand tightly, she wants to retract her hand, but she finds that her hand seems to be clamped by pliers, unable to move . "Now that you have become a security officer, I believe you must have read the 'Convention' by heart, so you must know that I am now the acting chief. At least until the next general election." "I've heard of it," said Juliet coldly.She couldn't understand how he could come in like this.Isn't Manes in the outside office?If he saw this man, wouldn't the two fight?Jans's death, this man is the number one suspect.At this moment, he is the one who should really be standing behind the iron fence. "Are you sorting out the files?" He let go of her hand, and Juliet immediately retracted it.He looked down at the scattered files, and Juliet noticed that he seemed to be looking at the kettle in the evidence bag, but she couldn't be sure. "It's just some unfinished cases. I'll take a look at the files first to familiarize myself with them." She said, "It's more spacious here, so I can have a little more...uh, room for thinking." "Oh, I believe that the people who were imprisoned here in the past must have thought very thoroughly." Bernard sneered, and Juliet noticed that his two front teeth overlapped a bit.Seeing his appearance, Juliet suddenly thought of the mouse she caught in the pumping machine factory. "Well, yes, I find that staying here will make my mind clearer, so maybe there is something interesting about it. Besides..." At this point, she suddenly stared into his eyes, "I believe that soon Someone has been caught and locked up here. As soon as that person comes in, I can send him out to clean the lens, so that I can rest for a day or two, and I don’t have to stay inside and think too much—" "Someone will be locked in? I can't see it." Bernard sneered again, showing his twisted front teeth, "The people below us all said that the poor chief was too tired to climb the stairs and exhausted himself to death." .May she rest in peace. Besides, she seems to have ended up like this in order to find you, doesn't she?" Juliet suddenly felt a tingling pain in her hand.It turned out that she clenched her fist unknowingly, and the police badge on her hand hurt her.She immediately let go of her hand, looked down and found that her knuckles were all blue. Bernard pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose: "However, I heard that you have changed the direction of the investigation now and think that she did not die naturally, right?" Juliet glared at him.His glasses reflected the desolate sand dunes behind him.Juliet told herself not to be distracted by the image. "Since you are now the acting chief, I believe you should know that at present we can almost believe that the chief was murdered." She said. "Oh, my God." He smiled, his eyes narrowed into a line. "So, the rumors are true? Who would do such a thing?" He smiled more and more.At this time, Juliet suddenly understood that the person in front of her was really confident, she thought she was invulnerable, and no one could touch him.It was the first time in her life that this person was arrogant and evil.When I was an apprentice, I met many arrogant people, but no one like him. "Chief Janss is dead, who is in the best interest? That person is the murderer. I believe we will find that person soon." She said coldly, then paused, and added, "Isn't that right, Chief?" The evil smile on Bernard's face suddenly froze, he let go of the fence, took a step back, and put his hands in his pockets. "Well, it really lives up to its reputation. It's an honor to finally meet you. I heard that you have been staying at the bottom. As for me, to be honest, I have been locked in the office and isolated from the world. However, the situation is not the same now. It's the same. Since I am the acting chief and you are the security officer, then the two of us should cooperate closely. You and me." He looked down at the file at her feet, "Then, no matter what the progress of the case, I hope Don't you forget to inform me. Whatever it is." After speaking, Bernard turned around and left.After a while, Juliet realized that she was still clenching her fists.She quickly let go of the police badge in her hand.The palm of her hand had been pierced by the starburst of the police badge, and blood came out, even a few drops of blood were stained on the police badge, which looked like rust spots at first glance.Juliet wiped the clothes with the police badge a few times to dry the blood.She has lived in a world full of mud and oil since she was a child, and she has naturally developed this habit.The security officer's overalls were still new, she looked down and saw that the new clothes were stained with blood, she couldn't help cursing herself.She flipped the badge over to the front, looking at the inscription on it.It was a triangular bunker sign, and the words "Security Officer" circled above the sign in a circular arc.Then she flipped the badge over again, running her fingers over the pin.She let go of the pin and saw that there were multiple creases in the pin, obviously from years of use, the pin had been bent many times, and many people had tried to straighten it over the years.She pressed the needle, and found that the coil spring at the end was a little loose, and the needle was a little wobbly—as if she was hesitating at this moment, wondering whether she should wear the police badge. At this time, she heard Bernard's footsteps gradually going away, and she also heard what he seemed to have said to Manais. At that moment, her whole body tensed up.The feeling at this moment reminded her of encountering rusty bolts back then.The bolt was so badly bitten that it couldn't be turned open no matter how hard it was turned.She couldn't tolerate this situation, every time she would grit her teeth with hatred and fight hard.Later, she became more and more convinced that there was no bolt in the world that she could not turn, because she learned to add some lubricating oil, bake it with fire, and then turn it with all her strength.As long as there is a way, as long as you don't give in, no matter how strong the bolt is, you can turn it open.It must turn around in the end.It will always be like this. She threaded the pin through the front of the overalls and buttoned it.She looked down at the police badge, and suddenly felt that all this seemed like a dream.The file folders of more than a dozen cases were scattered at her feet, requiring her to continue to track down.At that moment, Juliet suddenly felt that this was her mission.This is the first time she has felt this way since she came to the top floor.Now, she had to put her work in the M&E department behind her.The place is in much better condition than it used to be, the generator has been repaired and is running fine with barely audible noise.After the shaft was precisely calibrated, it turned almost silently.Now, when she came to the top, she found that it was like another machine, shaking and making earth-shattering rumbles, and the gears were almost worn out.If the bunker is a gigantic machine, here is the real engine.Jans had warned her earlier that there was a broken part in the engine and the whole engine was on the verge of disintegration. She picked out Halston's files from the file folders all over the floor, and then pushed open the iron gate of the detention room.Logically speaking, she shouldn't need to read this file again, but she felt that she had to.After walking out of the detention room, she didn't go into the office, but walked towards the yellow gate in the opposite direction.There is a triple glazed window in the door.She looked in through the window.In the past few days, she has seen it several times.She seemed to see the former security officer standing inside, wearing that ridiculously bulky protective suit, waiting for the opposite door to open.The man was alone inside, waiting to be sent out. At that moment, how did he feel?It shouldn't be just fear.Juliet herself knows very well the fear of being alone.He must have felt something else, a feeling he had never felt before.Perhaps it is a kind of calm after transcending pain, or a daze after fear.At this moment, she suddenly understood that she couldn't rely on imagination to experience that unprecedented strange feeling.You have to have real experience before you can imagine.Like, you can't describe to someone what it's like to have sex, or what it's like to have an orgasm.Unless that person has personal experience, he can't understand it at all.And once he experienced it, he could imagine how strong that feeling could be. The same goes for color.You have to see certain colors before you can use those colors to describe a new color.You can mix known colors, but you can't describe a never-before-seen color out of thin air.So, unless you yourself are sent out to clean the lens, you can't understand what it's like to stand there shaking.Maybe it wasn't fear at all. Everyone is obsessed with asking "why".Up and down the bunker, everyone was quietly asking "why".Those people were sent out unwillingly, but why are they willing to wipe the lens clean so that the people inside can enjoy the benefits?Why?Why would they?Juliet, however, is completely uninterested in the question.She thinks they're like seeing new colors, or experiencing some kind of uncanny phenomenon, or maybe even a sense of otherworldliness in the face of death.Everyone knows they cleaned the lens in the end and the problem is solved, isn't that enough?She believes that this fact should be used as the basis for inference, and then continue to ask: What kind of "feeling" do those people have in their hearts?No one is allowed to yearn for the outside world, that's a taboo in the bunker.This taboo is not surprising in itself.What was really strange was that for the entire week after the lens was cleaned, no one was allowed to express condolences to those people, to thank them, to feel sorry, or even to imagine what they had suffered. Juliet lifted the file folder of Halston and knocked on the yellow gate. At this moment, she seemed to see him in it changing back to his former appearance.He still looks very happy, talking about his wife.He told her that he loved his wife dearly and that they had drawn a lot and were about to have a baby.Thinking of this, she unconsciously nodded to him, as if his ghost was really inside.Then she turned and walked away, away from the grim iron door, away from the thick glass window.At this moment, she was wearing the police badge he left behind and had been in his detention room, so she felt that she must shoulder the mission he left behind.She had loved a man herself, so she knew what it was like.Back then, she violated the "contract" and secretly fell in love with him, even though their love did not endanger the bunker.So, she experienced what it was like to lose a loved one.She could imagine that if she saw her lover die in agony on that sand dune, then she would say that she wanted to go out and see the colors of the outside world with her own eyes, and then she would be sent out to clean the lens. She opened Holden's file again, and walked slowly back to her desk as she read it.That used to be his desk.He knows about her secret love affair.After the case was solved that year, she told him everything.She assisted in the detection of that case, and the deceased in that case was her lover.Why is she willing to tell him her secret?Maybe that's because, in the past few days, he kept telling her about his wife.However, it may also be because his charming smile always breaks people's defenses and makes people want to confide in him.This is probably why he can be a very good security officer.Whatever the reason, the fact is that she confessed to a law enforcement officer that she broke the law.Their love broke the law, violated the "covenant," and logically, she would have gotten in trouble for it, since he was the one charged with defending the law.Instead, he just said to her, "I'm so sorry." She had lost the one she loved most, and he felt sorry for her, as if he could feel her deepest sorrow.The love that was originally hidden deep in her heart was lost now, turning into deep pain. Just because of that sentence, he won her respect. Now, she was sitting in front of his desk and on his chair, facing his old colleague, the Deputy Security Officer.At this moment, the deputy security officer held his head in his hands and stared blankly at the open folder on the table, which was full of tears.Juliet could tell at a glance that there was also some unknown love between him and the person in the file. "Five o'clock," Juliet whispered to him. Manas suddenly raised his head.His forehead was red because his hands had been resting on it for too long.His eyes were bloodshot, and there were crystal tears on his gray beard.A few days ago, this guy just went down to persuade her to take over as the security officer. She still remembered his appearance, but only a week later, he suddenly became very old.He sat on the chair and turned around. The movement was so sudden that the chair feet rubbed against the ground and made a "creak" sound.He looked at the clock on the wall.Time seems to be imprisoned in that old yellow plastic clock case.He stared at the hands of the clock, nodded silently, and stood up.His back was bent for too long, and he froze, and finally straightened his body, raised his hand to smooth the clothes, then gently closed the file folder, and picked it up in the crook of his arm. "See you tomorrow." He said softly, nodding to Juliet. "See you tomorrow." She watched him dragging his heavy steps towards the big dining room. Seeing his back gradually going away, Juliet felt deeply sorry for him.She knew very well the pain of losing a loved one.She suddenly thought, after he got home, did he just sit on that narrow bed, cry while looking at the files, and finally he was exhausted, collapsed on the bed, and fell into a deep sleep like this?She couldn't bear to imagine. Now, she is alone in the office.She put Halston's file on the desk and pulled the keyboard towards her.The letters on the keys had been worn away long ago, and someone had rewritten them in black ink a few years ago, but they are almost worn off by now.Juliet will probably have to rewrite the letters herself, since she doesn't have to look at the keys like those who deal with paperwork.She couldn't type without looking at the keys. She typed word by word slowly, wrote an email, and wanted to send it to the electromechanical area below.Another day passed, and she still made no progress.She kept thinking about why Halston made that decision at the time.Later, she finally understood one thing: Unless she could figure out why he would abandon his job and the bunker, she would have no way to replace him as security officer.This idea has been entangled in her mind, making it impossible for her to think about other issues.So, she decided to concentrate on facing this question.And that also meant that she had to find out more information that could not be found in the files. The problem is, she doesn't know where to start to find the information she needs, and how to get those materials.One person she knew might know, though.And this is the feature of the bottom layer of the bunker that makes her most nostalgic.those people.Underneath, they are like a family, everyone has certain special skills, can support each other, and can even represent others' work when necessary.As long as they can help others, they are willing to go through fire and water.And she knew they would do the same to her, even willing to fight for her.She missed all that, that feeling of peace of mind.But now, that reassuring place is far, far away from her. After sending the e-mail, she leaned back in her chair and continued to read Halston's file.He's a good guy, and he knows her deepest secrets.He is the only one in the whole world who knows.Juliet secretly prayed that she would find out his secret before long.