OR1-EP1: Rainbow Nation (20)

Colonel Carl Duttmann stared indifferently at the building struggling in the raging fire. He seemed to hear other people's calls for help, but he turned a deaf ear. There is no need to worry about the life of those who have nothing to do with him, he now has enough troubles to pay attention to. In addition, Governor-general Herzog has stated that everyone only needs to do their own things. Of course, he does not have to play the role of a model citizen who is righteous and brave. It is the work for some people who have been promoted to divert attention out of special needs. When citizens take explosions, gun battles, fires, and various tragedies as part of their lives, they will completely lose the ability to complain. This adaptation process may be very long, and Colonel Duttmann believes they will always adapt. Humans are fickle animals, and no one can avoid being vulgar.

A black car parked not far from him, and Gene Smilas opened the door from the front driver's seat and walked to the officer.

" Les préparatifs sont terminés. Le major Herzog est allé en Rhodésie ce matin, et McNeil a dit qu'il devait attendre quelques jours. Cependant, nous n'avons plus besoin de le surveiller. Il vit avec le vieil homme qui vend des journaux, sa journée est bien remplie. Mais les choses sur lesquelles vous gardez un œil peuvent avoir différentes tendances."

Colonel Duttmann asked Smilas to sit on a nearby bench with him, and the two watched the distant building plunged into flames.

" Quand j'ai reçu la nouvelle de l'explosion ce matin, j'ai su qu'il se passait quelque chose." The colonel took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed it to Smilas. " Notre peuple n'est-il pas brisé ?"

" Le plus regrettable est que cette fois, la Guardian Corp était en avance sur nous. Les personnes qu'ils ont envoyées sont arrivées à 7h30 du matin." After searching all over his body, Smilas found that he didn't bring a lighter, so he had to ask the officer to borrow him one. Through the slowly rising smoke, the bearded officer continued to say in a frustrated tone: " D'après les informations dont je dispose à ce jour, ils ont envoyé plus de 30 personnes pour arrêter les ennemis, mais tous les pièges mis en place pour eux ont sauté. Il n'y a personne de vivant."

Colonel Duttmann quickly recovered from the blow denied by Governor-general Herzog. He still has many opportunities, not all of the possibilities are bet on Herzog alone. As long as he can show his value elsewhere, there will always be people who will appreciate his usefulness and negotiate with him, just as he thinks McNeil is valuable and the latter is happy to find opportunities to use his talents. The era of letting heroes be buried is shameful, Duttmann always thinks so. As for whether he is a hero or not, the process is not important, and the right to speak for the conclusion must be controlled by him.

"It's magnificent. I haven't seen the Guardian Corp suffer such a big loss in a long time." The colonel held a cigarette in his right hand. "What about the suspect?"

"It was blown to death at the time, and the photos are here." Smilas quickly took out a few photos and showed them to the officer. He pointed to a blurry black object in one of the photos and said: "This is the person the Guardian Corp is going to catch. Now it has been burned to coke. We can finally find his identity from the undamaged items on his body. "

Colonel Duttmann looked away in disgust. He had no interest in observing human remains, even though he seemed to have a better idea of how to effectively destroy humans. Using such brutal means to die with the enemy instead of fleeing or being caught by them… people who can do this are either crazy or unshakable.

The tracing must continue. South Africa has now become a sieve, and many unscrupulous spies want to steal intelligence. Governor-general Herzog tried to reverse the current chaotic situation, but unfortunately, he couldn't help it. He meticulously obtained resources from everywhere, and he could only alleviate rather than eliminate contradictions. For these careerists who dream of becoming heroes in troubled times, the more chaotic they are, the more stage they will be able to perform. Peaceful times are the poison.

"I don't care what he looks like after he burned himself. Since everyone is dead, it's useless to watch this ball of coke all day." Colonel Duttmann sighed, "How to say it to the outside world, it's a media problem... By the way, have you searched the places he frequented before the Guardian Corp?"

"Churches cannot be searched casually, and we don't dare to say that the church is related to foreign countries at this time." Smilas said cautiously, " But there is something wrong with the restaurant he usually goes to. Just now, we went in the name of searching the attacker and surrounded it. The owner of the restaurant was destroying some documents at the time, and he committed suicide when we rushed in. "

"...In other words, our actual gain is zero." Duttmann's expression suddenly became sinister, "Smilas, you can't handle this kind of thing, how can I trust you? Since last year, we have been busy with this matter, although a suspect case occurred in the middle and it was delayed for half a month, it would not fall to the point of nothing! I suspect that the funds have been embezzled by you personally—"

Having said that, Colonel Duttmann still broke out in a cold sweat. When he thought that besides the potential indigenous attackers in this city, there was another group of criminals who planned some kind of conspiracy and dared to fight unscrupulously. He only felt that his life was in extreme danger. This kind of struggle is usually kept secret, and neither side knows which group of people is targeting them. This is the premise that Duttmann can often cover himself with the enchanting Guardian Corp. If he becomes a target of public criticism, his opponent might come to the door to kill him as a major threat in the embryonic stage. Maybe he was amorous again, the other group never cared about a person of his level.

"Don't worry, we did catch a Kingfish." Smilas hurriedly announced his new discovery. "The man just returned from the field today, he didn't know what happened. We took actions before he fled, and he was caught on the way. The rest depends on your plan to handle it. If it is really tricky, it will be too late to transfer it to other departments."

Duttmann concealed his excitement, and he got another chance. He has lost credit in front of Governor-general Herzog, and if he destroys another operation or shirks responsibility, he is afraid it will ruin his own future. Whether in order to maximize profit or reduce risk, he must take a gamble, and he can't ignore it.

"I'll go and have a look. You will follow along, and tell them all the information that should be said at that time, and they will definitely start to doubt each other."

The two got into the car one after the other, left the vicinity of the fire scene, and drove towards the station. The chaotic functions of the Guardian Corp and the defense forces often make them have to take charge of some tasks that are not in their own right at all. This is due to the special historical reasons of South Africa and the chaotic management of the colonial institutions that have not been reorganized. Duttmann hopes that this chaos will continue, which provides him with an opportunity to intervene in other affairs and profit from it. No wonder so many people like to come to Africa and make a fortune. This lawless place is certainly more suitable than Europe to become an arena for the stronger ones.

The temporary resident of the interrogation room where Nito Mariam was once held is now a young man in his thirties with a touch of Asian characteristics. Mixed blood is common in the EU, especially in Asia and Africa, which has also led to the well-known discrimination in the EU. What's more terrible is that these discriminations are not legal provisions, but a set of traditional concepts that have been implemented from top to bottom. They are deeply ingrained and cannot be shaken.

The door opened, and Colonel Duttmann walked in with his hands on his back, behind him was Smilas panting. The surrounding guards hurriedly stepped forward to report the situation to the chief officer. They were fed up with this kind of nonsense.

"I see, bring out the person you caught the day before yesterday." The colonel pulled over a chair, "Now it's your turn. I advise you to confess and be lenient, and don't take a fluke. We have all the information we need to know. It's too early for you to spy on EU's territory."

"Since you said that, there is no need to ask me." The young man's attitude was very tough.

"Conjecture is only speculation after all, and we hope to get more accurate information." Smilas hoped that McNeil would still be here to help, but he knew that the colonel might not want to see McNeil disrupt the situation again. If this idea is spoken out, it's meaningless except to provoke a scolding.

"You have illegally detained EU citizens. I'm going to the court to sue you." The young man sneered. "I don't know when the military will also take care of these matters."

"When our country is threatened, we have the final solutions." Duttmann didn't want to continue guessing with him. "Smilas, tell him what we know now."

"Yes." Smilas looked through the file bag, took out a document, and read it in South African accent English: "Daniel Wei, whose real name is Wei Niecheng, was born in Sihua Prefecture of Chengtian Superior Prefecture of Nanting Protectorate, 36 years old, is a Battalion Commander affiliated to the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and was awarded the rank of Captain with 5th grade. He has been engaged in espionage activities in South Africa two years ago..."

The young man listened silently to Smilas reading the document from beginning to end, and then asked Smilas back:

"I don't know where you got the fictitious content."

"Half of it is because your subordinates have already surrounded, and the other half is because... the enemy's enemy is not necessarily a friend, but it will definitely be useful." Smilas looked at Daniel Wei with a smile, "Britannians are enemies for us, and the same for you. Unfortunately, your intelligence leaked from the Britannians seems to be a lot more dangerous. I bought them at a very cheap price through personal channels. It's enough important information to put you in jail."

Wei glared at the two officers in front of him. He had nothing to say with these Barbarians from EU. The relationship between their enemies was as strong as the bloody feud between EU and Britannia-Well, maybe EU sometimes compromises to a third country for some purpose, but they are different.

"Traitors are always despised."

"Indeed. But traitors are very useful. We all hope that the enemy will have more and more traitors, and our own traitors will be less and less." Colonel Duttmann lit another cigarette, "Your biological father is Dutch, and you should be a law-abiding EU citizen, why bother to work for our enemies? I think you have spent enough time to become a captain of the army, it is really pitiful. As long as you are willing to turn around and serve our EU, with your ability, you will be promoted right away."

As soon as the voice fell, a blood man was dragged into the interrogation room. After seeing the man, Wei was furious and was about to hit someone immediately, but he was pressed tightly on the seat by the guard next to him, and Smilas, who had already drawn his pistol, was watching his every move in front of him.

"...Sir, surrender." The wounded prisoner said tremblingly, "No one can hold it, this place is hell on earth..."

Seeing that the original chief did not change his face, the prisoner feared offending the colonel next to him, and quickly continued:

"They said that as long as we are willing to surrender... they will find a way out for us..."

"You are also worthy their bonus, do you?" Wei snorted, "Ask yourself, what else do you do besides run errands? What way out? Your way out is to provide them with useful confessions. After they can't dig new things, you can only be a useless traitor for them."

"...You are right." Smilas sneered. "Because, we will never sue someone who has no nails. However, the situation is different for you, because you can still show your talents instead of acting as carrier pigeons and watchdogs."

The scene reached a deadlock. This passage by Smilas undoubtedly shows that traitors who are worthless other than confessing can only go to death, except for those who have a skill. Over the years, the EU has captured countless foreign spies. Among them, it is relatively easy to persuade Britannians to rebel against the Britannia, but this method is useless when dealing with Chinese Federation. Not only that, but the news from Australia or the Nanting indicates that the other state is sending more and more people with similar identities to other countries, which makes the identification work more difficult.

"Ask you knowing." Wei stared at Smilas, "If you stand on my point of view, would you choose to surrender?"

"I still have some friends in the Britannian Empire. Whether the EU or the Britannian Empire collapses, we can choose to rely on each other." Smilas laughed, "You worry too much matters that have no use for you… You don't need to worry about our retreat, you should think more about how to save yourself."

"That's the problem." Wei sighed, "You can always find a way out at any time, but we can't...at least, I won't. For you or you all, the country of your allegiance is just a host. If the host dies, change another one, nothing more."

Smilas was annoyed, he was speechless by the opponent's rebuttal, and for a moment he couldn't think of how to fight back.

"We don't discuss the issue of allegiance. We just want to know what you did in secretly inciting the indigenous rebellion." Duttmann stopped the debate between the two.

"What? We just let more indigenous people know what you did to them, instead of letting them just watch news programs and junk newspapers."

"Sophistry." Duttmann lost his patience. He left the interrogation room and turned back to Smilas and said: "I can't waste any more time. I have to go to a combat meeting. You guys continue to interrogate... Make him perish, until the dead end."

OR1-EP1 END

Chapter Notes:

The description of Australia in this article is not an official setting. If the plot of Code Geass describes Australia in detail in the future, perhaps we will have a more straightforward understanding of the world view.

This article sets Australia as the territory of the Chinese Federation, which is derived from one of the plots of Code Geass: Mao intends to take C.C. to live in Australia.

Chinese words appearing in this article:

Sihua Prefecture(思華州, the Prefecture named after Commemorating Chinese Federation)

Chengtian Superior Prefecture(承天府, the Superior Prefecture named after Undertaking the Favor of Heaven)

Nanting Protectorate(南庭都護府, South Court Protectorate, IRL Oceania)

Battalion Commander(千戶, Commander of Thousand households, or Colonel)

Embroidered Uniform Guard(錦衣衛)

Captain with 5th grade(正五品正軍校)