Chapter 28

"Director, are you still looking at the blueprints? Don't you want to take a break!" Luka Ni twisted her slender waist and walked step by step to Xie Luofu's side, gently placing the coffee she had prepared on the table. On the large map of Berlin, Xie Luofu had marked many nodes, which on this 1:5000 scale map, seemed to tightly envelop West Berlin like an octopus.

"Luka Ni, what are a person's basic needs?" Xie Luofu, who had been staring at the map for a long time, held Luka Ni in his arms, closed his eyes, and asked, inhaling the scent of her hair, "Or, what would make a person feel fear if they lacked it?"

"Basic needs? Of course, they are food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. As for what people fear, it might be loneliness, right?" Luka Ni, like a contented kitten, said with great enjoyment, "But sometimes people also need their own personal space. Being controlled all the time can also be terrifying. Perhaps this is why people hate being monitored so much..."

Xie Luofu's body suddenly tensed, his eyes opening with a flash of unprecedented brilliance. This reaction was naturally felt by Luka Ni in his arms, who anxiously explained, "Director, I have never doubted our work..."

"You shouldn't doubt it at all!" Xie Luofu said to Luka Ni and to himself, drinking the coffee on the table in one gulp and rubbing his somewhat stiff neck, "You are right. Humans are contradictory creatures. They fear loneliness deep down, yet they also hope to retain some personal space. They fear that everything about them is known by others. I think I know what to do now..."

The ideal model is Gaza in the Middle East, surrounded on all sides by Israeli forces. Gaza can be considered a place of despair. Given the land around Gaza and the local population density, unless the people there eat sand, they would only starve to death. In fact, the Gazans did not starve to death; their tragic situation, reported, aroused sympathy worldwide. There are all kinds of people in this world, and there are no shortage of those who fear these people starving to death.

"A mere wall won't do much! Since the United States, the United Kingdom, and France insist on keeping West Berlin to irritate the Soviet Union, I can only expand the Kazan prison by twenty times to confine the 1.2 million people in West Berlin!" After trimming the last nail, Xie Luofu muttered to himself, having already made his decision to make the people of West Berlin feel like they were in a refugee camp.

The next morning, Xie Luofu visited General Matvey Vasilyevich Zakharov, the commander of the Soviet Western Group of Forces, who led the most elite and fully equipped Western Group of Forces in the Soviet Union. The Western Group of Forces was the largest and best-equipped force among the four Soviet groups in Eastern Europe, tasked with launching the first strike against Western Europe at the outbreak of war, playing a crucial role in the Soviet Red Army's European deployment.

After a casual chat with General Zakharov, Xie Luofu began his trip to West Berlin, which was part of the plan.

The Berlin Wall had not yet been built, and even ordinary people could evade patrol teams to enter West Berlin. For Xie Luofu, who was stationed in Berlin by the KGB, this was even less of a problem. After a symbolic inspection, Xie Luofu, dressed in his major general's uniform, entered West Berlin with two beautiful secretaries, the process surprisingly smooth, which is why the population of East Germany was so severely drained. This was just through the inspection; those who sneaked in were even harder to count.

"This inspection procedure is almost as good as the Maginot Line!" Xie Luofu's words were full of sarcasm. In comparison, East Germany at least had some inspections, while the three occupation zones were even more vulnerable, akin to "eye defense" in modern basketball terms.

"Can the secret police corps occupy West Berlin?" Xie Luofu mocked without reservation.

"Probably not, the secret police corps doesn't have heavy weapons!" Isayevna, holding Xie Luofu's hand, echoed, not as a compliment but as a straightforward mockery. The secret police corps were not even internal troops; if categorized, they were merely a type of internal police.

A few meters away, a British soldier and an American soldier, while practicing "eye defense," were quite surprised to see a Soviet person here. This Soviet officer was clearly a high-ranking officer, and even the two women beside him had higher ranks than the two of them, a situation that was quite unbalanced.

"Hey, I heard Soviet female officers have to sleep with their superiors to get promoted fast!" The American soldier, more open-minded than the stiff British soldier, had guessed quite accurately. At least this statement was true for Isayevna and Luka Ni.

Their voices were loud enough for Xie Luofu to hear. Normally, this would lead to a confrontation, but Xie Luofu didn't want to waste his energy on such trivial matters. It wasn't that he was afraid; he just had more important things to do.

"Hey, American, which street in West Berlin is the most bustling?" Isayevna walked over with a condescending attitude, which showed no respect at all, naturally upsetting the proud American soldier. "Hey, bear, this is West Berlin, not a place where your country can do whatever it wants..."

Ha! Isayevna finally took a good look at the American soldier, a man in his twenties, neither handsome nor ugly, just average. He didn't seem to be doing well in the military, or he wouldn't be on guard duty here. He was probably just waiting to retire. Without any courtesy, she pointed to Xie Luofu and said, "He is a military officer, you are a military officer, and your ages are not that different. Why is my superior already a major general, while you're not even a lieutenant? American, now my superior and I are going to tour West Berlin, and you can continue standing guard here!"

"Your high rank only serves a dictatorial country, a tool of oppression with no sense of justice. What's there to say!" The American soldier, standing on the moral high ground, looked down on the Soviet female agent, finding some comfort here.

This debate drew the attention of many people, including residents of both East and West Berlin. Xie Luofu couldn't ignore it; he disliked being the center of attention. He had to step in and walk up to the American soldier, saying, "According to the agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, and basic military etiquette, I entered West Berlin through official channels. As an American soldier, you should salute me. So, Sergeant, please begin..."

Xie Luofu, speaking in a Soviet-accented English, asked the American soldier to salute him, using his rank to pressure the other. This method was very effective; despite their reluctance, both men saluted Xie Luofu in public. Xie Luofu stood straight and accepted their salute.

"Wishing everyone a healthy and successful 2016!"

[Page Flip AD Start]

[Page Flip AD End]