Chapter 86

As they spoke, Shefov naturally reached up to touch his ear, still maintaining his expressionless, deadpan look! Seeing Shefov's appearance, the veteran intelligence chief, General Sakhatovsky, did not detect any signs of trouble and directly pulled out a document from the drawer, handing it to Shefov, saying, "A list of high-achieving students from the mathematics departments of forty-six national universities, a total of five hundred people! The Second Chief Directorate has already conducted a special investigation; their backgrounds and conduct are all impeccable!"

"The important thing is whether they have an interest in the stock market! I'll meet with these people tomorrow!" Shefov glanced down at the document, speaking with a nonchalant air, "I've already arranged for the funds with Asazov, who is doing very well in the United States! He's really starting to make inroads into the film industry!"

This was the last thing Shefov resolved before his visit to the United States, concerning the financial issues of the KGB. He would not entrust this to anyone else; in this regard, Shefov trusted no one, as anyone could be a traitor!

"Working in our line of business for a long time, we all develop a feeling that no one can be trusted! Yuri, you're already turning into a veteran intelligence chief!" General Sakhatovsky had also gone through this phase; he believed he was cleaning up enemies for the state, and had a suspicious attitude toward everything he saw. Today, he saw this trait in a much younger Chief of the First Chief Directorate.

Once this attitude of doubting everything appears, the person is likely to become paranoid, especially for KGB operatives. If the entire department adopts this attitude, they will assume that any small mistake is widespread, and that it hasn't been discovered yet because the investigation isn't thorough enough, so they should continue to investigate.

"There won't be any problems. Besides, doubting everything is natural; it's our job!" Shefov said confidently. He could clearly sense whether the person in front of him was well-intentioned or malicious, and he knew that General Sakhatovsky was giving him a friendly warning, though he didn't think too deeply about it.

General Sakhatovsky sighed inwardly and did not continue. His intention was to warn Shefov about the dangers of this trait. The reason the KGB was under scrutiny by everyone was mainly due to the Great Purge. Why did the Great Purge result in so many wrongful cases? It was because the operatives in the NKVD had accumulated a great deal of suspicion over the years. They suspected there were traitors in the country and that officials were corrupt! If they couldn't find evidence, it was because the traitors were well-hidden, so they should investigate further. If there was no evidence, it was because it had been destroyed, so they should use torture! They only believed in what they extracted through torture and did not believe in the existence of good people.

So when Stalin gave the order, the NKVD swept through the entire Soviet Union like a flood. Now, Sakhatovsky saw this trend in Shefov, and he couldn't say whether it was good or bad. But he hoped that this young and powerful official wouldn't be too deeply influenced by this mindset.

This was a warning from a veteran of the purges, but no one could be sure if Shefov would understand the underlying advice. Tragically, Shefov didn't catch the implied warning; he was still thinking about how to deal with the students who were about to enter the stock market.

Shefov's first meeting with these students who were about to enter the stock market took place in the grand hall where the First Chief Directorate's agents gathered. When he arrived, the male and female students, newly dressed in KGB uniforms with blue-trimmed peaked caps and boat-shaped hats, had already been waiting on the folding chairs below for some time. There was no way around it; Shefov was the Chief of the First Chief Directorate.

Looking at the sea of young faces below, Shefov leaned into the microphone and greeted them, "Hello, new comrades joining the Committee for State Security. I welcome the expansion of the security personnel. You are all high-achieving students selected from various universities, and I hope you will dedicate all your energy to the cause of the Soviet Union..."

"As counterintelligence personnel, we must sniff out and eliminate traitors..." the over five hundred students answered in unison.

"You learn quickly, but I hope it's not just a phrase!" Shefov wanted to laugh but couldn't. He asked, "What is capitalism to you? You have five minutes to discuss and select a representative to present your views! Begin!"

The sudden noise in the hall didn't affect Shefov. After five minutes, he quieted the students and listened to the summarized answers, nodding from time to time. Finally, he said, "Capitalism, to us, is very simple: the enemy! The stock market, from the moment it was born, has been accompanied by endless bubbles and one economic crisis after another! The real culprits never suffer; it's always the ordinary people with naive dreams who die! To defeat them, we cannot develop separately, they play their game, and we play ours; that's absolutely unacceptable! We must take the initiative, do you understand?"

"Ura!" Shefov's tone resonated strongly with these newly graduated students. They were students, a more radical group ideologically, and Shefov's proactive stance resonated even more with them.

"You are high-achieving students from the mathematics departments of various universities. I believe in your abilities. The stock market is essentially a series of numbers, and you are the cream of the crop among all students. There's no reason for us to fail when we work together! But that's not the point I want to make!" Shefov smiled at the sea of faces below, "I want to remind you of one thing: you will control vast sums of money. Under the temptation of money, people can do anything. I'm warning you now, don't be tempted by money. The KGB is more powerful than you can imagine! If anyone can't resist the temptation and becomes a traitor, betraying the Soviet Union—"

At this point, Shefov stood up, his voice turning low, "Anyone could take your life! Don't think you can relax just because you're in a place that seems safe. As long as you don't leave the Earth, the pursuit will never end. Dismissed..." After saying this, Shefov left the hall first. If there were any traitors among these people in the future, they couldn't say he hadn't warned them.

The world is not short of people who think highly of themselves, and the more students who bask in the glory of being the best, the greater the chance of such people appearing! According to their mindset, they are the best in the world, and this is true in any environment. Now, they are just ordinary members of the people, so it must be a problem with the system, a system that limits their potential! Smash this system that restricts them, and their lives will get better and better!

This overconfident feeling is so strong that even if they face the collapse of the Soviet Union, they believe they are destined to be one of the seven oligarchs, not the ordinary people who can't even afford food.

I don't know if there are such people among this group, but if there are, they will have to get past Shefov. The United States has its conglomerates, and Shefov has his organization!