Chapter 225
Emily
The plaza in front of the Pittsburgh branch office.
The air was churned up by the propeller.
A police helicopter hovered at low altitude, its huge rotor cutting through the air with a deafening roar.
The dust, waste newspapers, and people's hair on the ground were all whipped up and swirled around by this man-made gale.
Outside the cordon was a sea of people.
Thousands of citizens who heard the news rushed to the scene, crowding the area.
At the front were Louis leading the workers. Luna stood behind Louis, standing on tiptoe, her gaze fixed on the closed door of the police station, past the workers' broad shoulders.
The atmosphere was extremely oppressive.
This repression is not due to fear, but rather to an excitement of witnessing history.
"They're here!"
Suddenly someone in the crowd shouted.
All the noise vanished eerily at that moment, leaving only the monotonous roar of the helicopter.
The police station doors were pushed open from the inside.
The first to emerge was a team of fully armed special police officers.
They were wearing black tactical vests, Kevlar helmets, and face masks, and carrying automatic rifles.
The black-clad procession quickly rushed down the steps and lined up on both sides of the gate, forming a narrow passage.
That was a passageway leading to the prison van.
Then, the figure appeared.
A striking orange hue.
Luigi Randall walked out the door.
He was wearing a standard orange prison uniform, with heavy shackles on his wrists and ankles.
He was not blindfolded.
This was a right that Leo fought for, and also Luigi's own demand.
He wanted to see the world with his own eyes, and to see those who were judging him.
Luigi was rather thin, and the oversized prison uniform hung loosely on his body.
Having been detained for so long in the dimly lit interrogation room, his eyes instinctively searched for light the moment he stepped out the door. He raised his head.
Right in this very second.
A crack appeared in the clouds in the sky.
A ray of sunlight pierced through the shadow cast by the helicopter rotor and through the smog over Pittsburgh, landing squarely on Luigi's face.
Emily's finger was on the shutter button.
She saw an oil painting in the viewfinder.
Luigi stood in the center of the steps.
The beam of light illuminated his pale face, his disheveled hair, and the almost martyr-like calm in his eyes. Around him stood a dense mass of special police officers.
Those black uniforms, symbols of violence and coercion, now became his backdrop, a dark shadow that accentuated the orange hue. And behind Luigi stood another person.
Leo Wallace.
Leo, dressed in a dark suit, stood with his hands in his pockets, two steps behind Luigi.
He lowered his head, looking at Luigi's shackles with a solemn and compassionate expression.
He used his body to shield Luigi from the view from behind, and also from some kind of invisible pressure.
And at the very bottom of the screen.
Outside the cordon.
Countless hands reached towards the sky.
Those were the hands of the workers, and the hands of the students.
Those hands were rough, strong, and full of longing.
They wanted to touch the young man descending the steps, to grasp that splash of orange, to draw strength from the so-called criminal. Luigi stood high above, facing the sunlight.
Leo lurks in the shadows, protecting those behind him.
Special police officers stood on both sides, armed with weapons.
The people below are reaching out their hands.
This is a perfect composition.
Luigi's posture of looking up at the sky, the beam of light shining on his face, and the outstretched hands and gun-wielding soldiers around him.
It looks just like El Greco's famous painting.
"Take off the clothes of Christ".
The only difference is that the red robes have been replaced by orange prison uniforms, the Roman soldiers have become special police, Leo has become Mary, and Jerusalem in the background has been replaced by the gray sky of Pittsburgh.
Tragedy, divinity, and the tension of defying fate are all vividly revealed in this photograph.
Emily held her breath.
Her heart was pounding, and she could even feel the vibrations of the camera's internal springs as they worked.
这是历史。
She knew she was recording history.
"Crack!"
The shutter is pressed.
Let this moment be captured forever.
Time seemed to stop flowing at that moment.
Luigi continued downhill.
The crowd erupted in shouts.
"Luigi!"
"hero!"
"Innocent!"
The sound waves drowned out the roar of the helicopter and crashed against the police station building.
Luigi heard these sounds.
He stopped and turned his head toward the crowd.
He did not speak because he could not speak.
But he smiled at the outstretched hands.
Leo stepped forward and gently took Luigi's arm.
"Let's go."
"Leo said in a low voice."
"Don't keep them waiting too long."
Luigi nodded and continued walking toward the riot control armored vehicle parked by the roadside.
The car door opened, and darkness swallowed the orange hue.
Leo stood outside the car door, which slammed shut, until the armored vehicle started and drove away from the scene.
In the media area, Emily Chan looked down at the display screen on the back of the camera.
That's a playback of the photo that was just taken.
She gasped.
This photo has fallen outside the scope of news photography.
This is a modern allegory about suffering, sacrifice, and redemption.
"My God..."
Emily's fingers were trembling.
She knew what the photo meant.
Without hesitation, Emily immediately took out a card reader from her bag and connected it to her phone.
After opening "Rust Voice", I uploaded a photo and added a simple title.
Pittsburgh Good Friday.
send.
Leo stood on the steps of the city hall, looking at the crowd of people holding up their phones.
He didn't look at his phone, but he knew what had happened.
He succeeded.
He placed Luigi on the altar, and he also placed him on the altar of gods.
Now, trials are no longer just a matter of law.
This is a war about faith.
"Are you ready, Luigi?"
Leo asked himself silently.
"Your dance is all set up."
"Now, the whole world is watching you."
Inside the departing armored vehicle, Luigi sat in the darkness, his eyes closed.
He had no idea what was happening outside.
But he could sense it.
The wave that will overturn the entire old world has arrived.