At three o'clock in the morning, the town of Howe was silent. The streets paved with bluestone and broken bricks were littered with bottles and cans of garbage, sex industry advertisements and magazines with naked bodies dancing in the wind. The two moons in the sky were small. The town's shale roofs were paved with a mercury-like silver.
Augustus had no time to put on his shirt and was only wearing a coat. He walked through the silent streets, turned several corners in a row, and went around in the depths of the town, before he found the art gallery Josephine mentioned at a corner that was not easy to find.
In the eyes of Augustus, this art gallery was quite decent. Gold-framed landscape oil paintings and abstract art paintings were hung on the walls of the labyrinth-like winding corridors. The corners of each corridor were decorated with There are glass cabinets and high stools with last-century-style phonographs and artifacts carved from alien specialties.
After looking at the paintings at the entrance of the art gallery, Augustus did not go into the maze-like gallery, but looked up at several well-hidden surveillance cameras. Augustus knew that he did not need to venture deep into it, as someone would soon come looking for him.
After Augustus raised his hand to look at his watch for the second time, a woman with a short black ponytail walked out on high heels.
It can be seen that this woman is not a local. She has wheat-colored skin and sexy plump lips. She wears a brown waistcoat that exposes her waist. She has high breasts and tight leather pants that wrap her round thighs. There was a musky smell on the woman's body, but it wasn't pleasant.
"This is the Chelsea Gallery. Do you... want to visit or do you need some serpents from the Garden of Eden?" The woman spoke in argot that Augustus couldn't understand.
"I don't want anything, ma'am." Augustus took out an ID card from Fortress Hawe and a certificate with a gold-plated eagle logo on the leather cover from his pocket: "I am Sergeant Mengsk. Make sure my men are inside."
"Find her out and bring her to me...The Marine Corps has reason to suspect that you are engaged in illegal business. Don't let me find an excuse to uproot this place. You can question my identity and choose to ignore it, but No one is going to risk their business.”
Augustus took out his personal terminal, which was only three feet wide and projected a holographic projection of Lisa Cassidy's head. It was an old photo. When she was a student, Lisa was wearing a light-colored dress and a lacy sunhat.
The woman in leather pants didn't say anything and just left expressionlessly. While waiting, Augustus straightened his coat. He stood upright, staring at the end of the corridor with cold gray eyes.
In less than half a minute, Lisa Cassidy walked out through the corridor, still muttering something in her mouth: "Damn, damn, damn..."
At this time, Lisa was a little impatient and her pace became faster and faster. Although it was just a disguise, she always had a sweet smile on Augustus' face when she saw him, and he acted gentle and docile. He was completely unlike someone who would beat other people's faces to pieces or use a scalpel. A medic who cuts off the enemy's hands.
Lisa held her head and tried to walk quickly past Augustus, but the latter pulled her back by her hood. Lisa Cassidy was not a tall woman; she was half a head shorter than Augustus.
"Good evening, sir." Lisa raised her head and looked at Augustus with a bright smile: "Did the tattoo go well? Did they hurt you?"
"It couldn't go any smoother. You wish I could die there." Augustus put his hand under Lisa's hood, grabbed her clothes at the back of her neck and carried her out of the gallery.
"I know that a small metal box containing drugs is hidden in your underwear." He looked at Lisa and said: "You think I will definitely not take off your clothes and search them. This is your confidence. But I will let the army doctor test the dose of drugs in your body. The worst result is just to go to jail again. You have a bad record, so you don't care."
"Don't think about getting away with it. I can't watch you degenerate into a slave of desire and a puddle of mud. Just because you are a medic in this platoon and a soldier under me."
"You are responsible." Lisa bit her lip: "You are kind and full of justice..."
"Go on." Augustus looked at her: "Is this your new trick? Do you think that if you praise me a few times, I will soften my heart."
"Last time you said that your father was dying and wanted me to allow you to transfer some money back home. However, Anthony Cassidy not only received a good salary, but also received two retirement pay and military family allowance at the same time. .....He also told me that he could kill a bull with one punch, and he even went to a ball game last week."
Lisa curled her lips and said nothing.
"You go ahead." Augustus said with a firm expression: "It's useless to pretend to be pitiful, to beg, or to be coquettish."
So Lisa stopped talking, put her hands in her pockets, and walked honestly along the street towards the tattoo shop.
Augustus drove Lisa back to the tattoo shop like a prisoner. However, when he walked in, there was a group of naked men with tattoos on their shoulders and chests sitting at the door with stools.
They didn't know Lisa had a history of drug abuse, was addicted, and only wanted to gossip.
"Augustus, we bet on what time you will come back tonight." Reno was already awake. He had a tattoo of the Demon of Heaven on his right arm, and he was waving the flag of the Demon of Heaven in his hand.
"You lost everything." After entering the tattoo shop, Augustus took off his coat and put on his shirt without hesitation, while Lisa squatted in the corner, away from everyone, and buried her head in her knees. .
"Didn't go well?" Among these people, only Lundstein wore a coat and was always meticulously dressed.
"Elaborate."
"That's not the case." A black line appeared on Augustus' forehead.
"In Steelling, one out of every four girls is willing to die for you, and you only care about mechas and motorcycles. The Mengsk family may not agree to this marriage. Your mother is not a traditional person. You're a backward woman, but your father will definitely interfere with your marriage... Of course, if you just want to have fun, then treat it as if I didn't say anything." Josephine pushed up his non-existent glasses, and Eyes shine.
"I understand!"
"What?" Augustus patted his coat and smoothed the wrinkles on it.
"I watched Kesidi walk out. She was in a panic at that time." Josephine was still analyzing: "The boss acted very nervous after discovering that she was missing...Why is this? ?”
"Why?" Amy Brandon asked cooperatively.
"Based on my years of failed attempts to pick up girls, this means that the boss failed in his courtship." Josephine said confidently.
"How did you come to this conclusion? I remember that the logic you took was F." Augustus said.
"Well, I like that course very much. My dream is to be a detective." Josephine said.
"No wonder it didn't work out," said Augustus.
"Boys, it's time for us to return to the fortress." Warfield came over and clapped his hands: "We still have a battle to fight next month."
"Put on your clothes. It's cold outside. Be careful of catching a cold. I won't be like your mother, standing by your bed begging you to take medicine." Augustus said as he walked towards Lisa Cassidy who was squatting in the corner. .
When Lisa raised her head, Augustus was surprised to find that her cheeks were flushed, her light blue eyes were wide open, and her pupils had lost focus. She smiled unnaturally, delighted in the fantasy and pleasure.
...
It's near noon in Warfield's office, Fortress Howe.
"When Lisa Cassidy was in prison, someone must have been secretly supplying her with drugs, or facilitating the delivery of drugs for others." Augustus was sitting on Warfield's chair, holding the He was copying documents at his desk, while the other person was taking coffee under an automatic integrated sonic coffee machine.
"Otherwise, in her current state, she would be inseparable from adrenergic drugs all day long."
"While Vanderspu was still in control of the fortress, many of his subordinates took advantage of their position to sell drugs and take drugs," Warfield said.
"It's not a secret. They all know what makes money the fastest. Most of the drugs come from the Port of the Dead. That emerging colony is becoming the back garden of the big drug lords. Their customers come from all over the Tyranid Federation. Sometimes they We will also do business with the interstellar pirates of the Kaimorian Consortium.”
"What are you going to do?" He took a sip of hot, bitter coffee. The beans of this coffee are produced from the agricultural planet Agria and can provide a large amount of caffeine.
"Send her to another prison or a soldier's detention center, or let her pack her things and go to a labor camp." Augustus signed the report.
"The labor camps have death indicators, and if you go in now, you will be resocialized soldiers when you come out." Warfield shook his head and said.
"..." After hearing this, Augustus looked at the document and picked up another piece of manuscript paper.
"You changed your mind?" Warfield asked.
"I just thought Lisa might be able to be saved." Augustus said, "I haven't tried it yet, so how do I know she can't quit. If it doesn't work, then I'll try my best."
"Medication treatment will have little effect on her." Warfield said: "The most suitable method for her would be natural withdrawal-assisted psychotherapy, but this may take several months or even longer. In the process, she It will also be very painful.”
"So, I want to apply for a double officer's dormitory." Augustus picked up the pen and continued writing: "I want Lisa to stay under my nose at all times."
"Do you think I will approve this ridiculous application?" Warfield's hand holding the coffee cup trembled.
"But it's not you who I approve." Augustus said.
"Lisa is also a Heavenly Demon. I don't want to give up on her. My army really needs an experienced medic. No one can stop me... I want to save a person's soul."
One week later, August 15th.
The independent officers' dormitory was far away from the soldiers' barracks. Augustus had to get up at five o'clock every day and rush to the third row of dormitories before 5:30, rain or shine, and was never late. But today, Augustus took a leave of absence.
Lisa Cassidy was being tied to the bed with restraints by Augustus. Her hands and feet were tightly bound and she was crying.
"Please...please..." she cried.
"What?" Augustus moved a stool and sat next to him, holding a hardcover paper book in his hand: "I'm listening."
Augustus and Lisa had been living in the same apartment for some time. There were two separate bedrooms, a small living room and a separate bathroom.
At the beginning, Renault and others were reluctant to leave Augustus and were puzzled by his departure. Augustus clearly told them the reason and told them that he would go back in two or three months at most.
Josephine, Tychus and Harnak prepared many condoms and sexual products for their boss, and Augustus was very moved and told them to get out.
As for Lisa, she was extremely shocked at first and was angry at Augustus's overly explicit sexual harassment. She bluntly said, "Why don't you lick your own balls!" But Lisa soon gave in because Augustus really wanted to send her to prison.
"Give me...Turk, morphine, I'm willing to do anything for you." Lisa's eyes were red and swollen, and her plump lips were still twitching: "I'm in so much pain."
In Augustus' eyes, Lisa's body was convulsing, and her exposed skin was covered in goosebumps. She struggled to break free from the restraints that restrained her, scratching herself with her nails. Or someone else’s face.
Lisa wailed and burst into tears, but Augustus remained silent until she calmed down.
"When you inject or swallow drugs, the pleasure centers in your brain will be immersed in waves of dopamine, and once you don't get them, the pain will multiply." Augustus said: "As your drug addiction gets better, Gradually, the initial dose is no longer enough to make you happy again, so you have to get more. The pain gradually breaks your will and makes you pray to a stone."
"I understand, I can't bear it, and I regret my weakness." Lisa said, "I feel better now, please let me go."
"No, I don't know if you are lying." Augustus shook his head: "You admit your mistakes every time, but you never reflect on it."
"You have to get some sleep."
"But I have to listen to stories to fall asleep." Lisa lay on the bed, staring at the white ceiling.
"Still a child?" Augustus put the book aside and picked up another book, which was a Bible.
In the era when the ancestors of humans in Koprulu still lived on the earth, it was forbidden to practice religion on the earth, all faiths were outlawed, and only one language remained in the whole world. Therefore, the ancestors of the Terran humans could only recall religious texts through oral memory, and much knowledge and culture were lost forever.
"I saw and heard the voices of many angels, thousands and thousands of them. The angels said with a loud voice, The Lamb who was slain is worthy of power, wisdom, power, honor, glory and praise... ..."
"Hey, hey...that's enough, I've heard enough, let's change to a fairy tale." Lisa begged and said softly: "I don't want the story of the old monk and the young monk."
"Why don't I just give you sleeping pills?" Augustus put down the book and picked up another one.
"It was getting darker and darker, and in the cold darkness, a barefoot little girl walked down the street. In her old apron, there was a pile of matches..."
