OR1-EP1: Rainbow Nation (12)
Europeans can't distinguish the differences between the various indigenous peoples in Africa, and the indigenous people probably can't distinguish the differences between the inhabitants of Europe. In the eyes of Europeans and immigrants who came to Africa, all indigenous people can be summed up in one word, that is, black. Some indigenous people are lucky to come to live in the city, take root in the city, and become part of the African colony system established by the EU. They are always much luckier than their compatriots who still maintain their original living conditions on the reservation. Usually, the indigenous people are engaged in manual labor positions in the society, and some indigenous people have turned to clergy. They live a life of poverty, earn enough money to barely support their family, and their children and grandchildren will repeat this endless desperate life. For most indigenous people, if they want to get a fundamental reversal of their destiny, there seems to be only one way left, and that is to seek the sympathy of the master.
Many immigrant families with relatively affluent lives will hire natives as servants or drivers. These jobs are much easier than being a miner-without risking death. Jorge Dias thinks differently. He will only give a job to those who can't survive, and his style is like a philanthropist. For Nito Mariam, Jorge Dias is his benefactor and also a friend of all the indigenous people. Lawyer Dias has always actively advocated the protection of indigenous rights. Because of this relationship, all investigators almost subconsciously ruled out Mariam's suspicion, and they always believed that the driver had no reason to harm lawyer Dias.
Nito Mariam is about forty years old, bald, slightly fat, wearing a striped shirt, sitting in a closed room for questioning. Behind the glass mirror in front of him was Gene Smilas staring at him. Through the one-way see-through glass, the officers observed Mariam's every move, trying to find clues that would convict him. According to the draft they jointly prepared, Smilas intends to lure Mariam into the trap they set step by step. As long as Mariam admits that he murdered Jorge Dias, Adalbert Herzog will probably not receive any serious punishment even if he did intentionally injure people.
"Why do you believe so stubbornly that this driver is the murderer?" Smilas asked McNeil, who was standing beside him nervously, "If he is innocent, all of us are suspected of discriminating the natives."
"I went to look around the place where the incident occurred, and then found a place with a similar environment, and asked a few friends to help me simulate the situation at the time." McNeil's inadvertent small movements betrayed his inner panic, he and Smilas were also under tremendous pressure. What really prompted McNeil to make this inference was a small matter that Colonel Duttmann had mentioned in a few days. It turned out that Father Palaskas recently visited Major Adalbert Herzog and talked to him about the past of the lawyer Dias. Adalbert accidentally mentioned a gift he gave to lawyer Dias after returning from his last jungle adventure. It was a gold badge made by the trustee of Governor-general Herzog. After that, Jorge Dias kept wearing the badge on his chest, even on the day of the incident. However, Palaskas said that when the police heard the news, they did not find the gift, which made Adalbert once again find a chance to argue for himself.
Due to the asymmetry of information and their different concerns, Adalbert Herzog has never told anyone about this before, neither the police, prosecutors nor the military knows it. After hearing this contrast, Father Palaskas quickly reported the situation to Governor-general Herzog himself and Colonel Duttmann who had been following the progress of the incident. Duttmann told McNeil this as a joke, and the latter soon planned to use the missing item as a breakthrough.
"According to the conclusion generally accepted by various groups, the first person to find the body of Lawyer Dias was Mariam, and the last person to meet with Diaz before his death was Major Herzog." McNeil drew a flow chart on the paper, "Major Herzog saw the lawyer wearing a badge, but the police did not find it on the body. They tried to search for the missing badge nearby but found nothing. Then we can only think that, the badge was taken by Nito Mariam. Regardless of whether he is suspected of murder, let's first find out about his suspected theft of belongings from the deceased."
"...No evidence, McNeil." Smilas spread his hands together, "Man, if he insists that he is not guilty, we have nothing to do."
"Then you should investigate his house. Oh, I almost forgot that, he doesn't have his own house." McNeil suddenly remembered something, "But his family lives in our poor local neighborhood. If you allow me to do this, you can give me half a day to find out."
Smilas admired McNeil's decisiveness, and he himself would never take such a reckless approach. The most advantageous strategy is to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks. To fight for disproportionate benefits while taking huge risks is simply a death. Smilas often lamented the deteriorating world and the unrest of the people. If a driver who is deeply favored by his employer really decides to murder his benefactor for some reason, the indirect consequences are far from being as simple as the loss of trust between the two parties in the employment relationship, but the African colonies from top to bottom will set off a frenzy of hostility towards the natives, and no one can be spared. However, he will not let Adalbert Herzog bear the charge. He also looks forward to making contributions with this colleague and returning to Europe to continue working hard for the future. No one wants to suffer in vain in an alienated place like Africa.
McNeil would rather the truth of the matter be another look. His own experience made him have an extra goodwill for African Americans and even African Natives. If James Solomon was not willing to adopt the two brothers, McNeil might have died long ago. Solomon led by example to convince McNeil that there is no person in the world whose fate is determined by nature. Everyone is shaped by the acquired environment and opportunities. It is meaningless to judge a person's value and future by family and blood. Therefore, McNeil is willing to defend all groups that are hostile in reality. He once disregarded his reputation to defend the rights of mutants, and he will certainly follow a similar path in the future. However, there is another cold hard fact that he always keeps in mind: not all Africans are respected like his adoptive father. James Solomon is a rare talent in this group. He has finally become the commander-in-chief of the GDI armed forces, and he has obtained the support of the demanding Mark Jamison Sheppard entirely by his own ability.
"All people are created equal...maybe it is true that some people are more equal than others."
Excluding these problems, they have to worry about another thing recently. Colonel Duttmann intends to establish a secret force to clean up the indigenous or Britannian mercenaries who may be lurking in the reserve and cause sabotage, and let McNeil be the commander of this unorganized force. In South Africa, the two opposing groups are on the verge of being intolerable. One cannot continue to endure the oppression of the indigenous people, and the other cannot continue to bear the cost of the indigenous people's destructive activities. Those great figures who spoke in public and called on all parties to exercise restraint secretly wished that all the indigenous people would die tomorrow. This work needs to be carried out in secret. As the officers of the Guardian Corp said privately, a trend of sympathy among EU citizens is showing a viral trend. In order to get rid of all charges and possible censures, Colonel Duttmann, who took over the difficult task, naturally passed all the risks to the unknown thugs he hired with public funds.
Through various secret channels, Colonel Duttmann relayed the news, hoping that many veterans or mercenaries would take over the job. McNeil told him that special forces should balance individual combat effectiveness and team cooperation, and it is best to find veterans who have experience in performing team tasks to participate. As a result, a few days passed, and they did not wait for half a warrior who dared to nominate himself, which made the colonel seriously consider whether to directly transfer personnel from the army.
"Major, someone is looking for you..."
McNeil and Smilas smiled at each other, left the basement together, entered the elevator along the promenade, and returned to the ground part of the facility. The people above don't know what's going on below, and they shouldn't know. It's not a good thing to have too much information-especially when the person involved lacks ability.
A young man wearing overalls with his hands in his trouser pockets, standing at the door of the office waiting for Smilas, behind him were three soldiers who had already waited impatiently. After seeing the iconic big beard, everyone felt relieved and stepped forward to explain the situation to the chief, then turned their heads and left the office. Smilas greeted the young man to enter the room for a detailed discussion. He shook the cold coffee at the table and asked casually:
"Do you know what kind of job you are looking for?" Smilas looked up and down the youth, "We don't accept people who lack combat effectiveness."
"I heard from old comrades that you need to recruit people to deal with the natives, and I also heard that there are Britannian mercenaries threatening the colony." The young man sat on the sofa, and he didn't realize that McNeil was still standing beside him, listening to the conversation between the two, "I want to see the colonel himself."
"Colonel is not here. I will be responsible for handling this matter for the time being." Smilas said with great dignity. "Tell me about your specific situation and I will put you in a suitable position."
The young man clutched his knees with both hands, looking a little nervous. McNeil quipped: "You don't have to be so detained, just talk about it. Look at me, I am a vagrant who dares to take over this job. Could it be true that you are worse than me?"
Perhaps this passage gave the youth a little confidence, and he began to talk about his own experience. This person is named David Roberts, 36 years old, and had previously participated in the military. Unexpectedly, he was involved in a vicious fight with several colleagues and was jealous, and was directly ordered to retreat by the angry superior at the time. Therefore, he became a worker who made a living by hard work, and later became a worker who overhauled communication base stations. His daily task was to climb on the tower to check the equipment. This was also due to the development of mobile communication services in recent years.
"With all due respect, you have been away from the army for almost ten years. I don't think you still maintain the combat skills when you receive frequent training." Smilas sneered.
"I have worked as a thug in a casino, and I am confident in my skill." Roberts explained confidently.
"Really?" Smilas came with interest. He stretched out his left hand and pointed at McNeil standing aside: "Take him down and I will believe that you are indeed a qualified fighter."
Roberts didn't answer, and supported his legs on the ground, bounced off the sofa, and rushed towards McNeil. McNeil quickly shook off his leather jacket, which happened to cover Roberts' face, and when he threw it aside, McNeil had retreated to the other side of the room.
"Why don't you do it?" David Roberts asked suspiciously.
"It's not necessary." McNeil smiled. "Your turn."
Roberts roared and rushed to McNeil again. He alternately fisted with both hands while observing McNeil's flaws, hoping to win without fighting. McNeil did not counterattack, but passively defended, which made Smilas on the side shook his head again and again. He had learned McNeil's skills when he asked McNeil to go to the training ground for excuses, and concluded that McNeil's physical fitness far exceeds that of ordinary people. McNeil has the same physical fitness as a mutant in some science fiction stories, and a dozen of heavily armed soldiers can't fight him alone. While Smilas was still dreaming about how to taunt McNeil with a rare failure, he only heard an exclamation. Roberts had been kicked over by McNeil, lying on the ground groaning.
"Sorry, I'm not sure if I can protect myself without hurting you." McNeil quickly helped his opponent up, "Are you okay?"
"It's okay, just a bruise."
Smilas stepped forward hesitantly and asked McNeil's opinion. He found that he had underestimated McNeil. This person had accidentally stated that he was born in a research institute. Perhaps he was born from a shady secret project. So, which country's army is secretly cultivating such a monster that is far beyond ordinary people? No, maybe it's a criminal organization.
"How is it?" The major grinned. "What kind of level is he?"
"...Let him stay, it's enough to deal with the natives. If he has been repairing signal stations all year round, maybe he still has some ability to survive in the wild." McNeil looked at the dusty shirt again with distress, "The ability to survive in the wild is very important."
Roberts seemed a little unconvinced, but he eventually admitted that McNeil was much better than him. After sending away the worker who volunteered to sign up, McNeil also left. He wanted to prove his speculation, and Nito Mariam's suspicion must be confirmed. If he draws the attention of Governor-general Herzog with this effort, his actions in the future will surely be much smoother.
TBC