Long-term salvation

"Don't think so," Rhodes consoled him. "More than thirty years later, there will be even more stupid coups on the East Asian peninsula."

"..."

Looking at the old men who were almost fainting, Rhode poured them water one by one with an apologetic look on his face, and took the silent accusations from Perseus. When everyone's mentality had calmed down a little, Rhode continued:

"As for Sablin... I can't guarantee that he will become the savior, and I can't guarantee that he won't be assassinated after he escapes from prison alive."

"This is something we need to prepare for. Although we are old, we can still put pressure on the surface."

Marshal Akhromeyev exhaled slowly, took a few deep breaths, took a sip of warm water, and then slowly said:

"I told that despicable Map Head that Sablin is a hero who stands against a rigid system and would make a suitable propaganda fodder. Of course, there are certainly those who don't want him to be a force for reform and would most likely want to kill him before he appears in any media campaign... but that's not certain. After all, I haven't told this to any senior officials other than Map Head."

The old man struggled to his feet, aided by the Soviet veterans on either side. He straightened his clothes and looked at Rhodes solemnly. At that moment, standing against the backlight, the body of this old man, gnawed by illness and old age, was no longer frail, but as massive and towering as the peaks of the Ural Mountains.

He walked towards Rhodes, extended his right hand to shake his, and placed his left palm on the back of Rhodes's hand, instantly conveying warmth.

"So, I ask you to make sure he reaches this city alive, and I will protect him. I will stay nearby for two weeks under the pretext of inspection. Hurry up."

"I will," Rhodes responded calmly, "Even if it's for my own selfish interests, I hope Sablin can be rescued."

"In that case... can I ask you a question? No, no, no, I don't doubt the existence of the other world, nor do I doubt your power and achievements. I just want to ask - why - why do you want to save the Soviet Union, even if it is only reborn as Soviet Russia in the future? Of course, wanting a staunch ally is one reason, but what about the others?"

The old marshal looked at Rhodes with a burning gaze. He was a veteran of World War II and the mastermind behind the all-out attack on Afghanistan! The marshal, with his keen military and political acumen, asked:

"You are not a superficial person, nor a despicable politician. Please tell me your other reasons."

"Because of pity, not only for the miserable Soviet people, soldiers, and scholars after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but also for the people of another superpower across the ocean. You can't imagine, old Marshal, how horrible they have degenerated into in just ten, twenty, or thirty years!"

"...it would seem, then, that all the paths of social development in human history have failed."

"There's still hope," Rhodes nodded slowly, his eyes showing an unprecedented seriousness. "The spark of hope hasn't gone out yet."

"That's a good thing," Marshal Akhromeyev smiled. He hadn't laughed out loud since learning about the future from Perseus. "That's a good thing! As long as we continue to develop and move forward, one day, all mankind will be liberated!"

[Side Quest: Twelve Trials - Dyatlov Incident]

Mission Description: Go to Mount Horachli on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains, resolve the events in the other world, and seal the gap in the other world.

"Ok?"

Chapter 249: Prison in the Ural Mountains (3K)

Ural Mountains, Khoratshakhly Mountains, summer.

The steel springs of the UAZ-469 military off-road vehicle vibrated violently. The driver's palms, gripping the steering wheel tightly, were sweaty. His expression was solemn as he stared wide-eyed at the rugged mountain road ahead. The entire vehicle was filled with an unpleasant, strange smell of diesel and pine resin. Even opening the windows didn't help. But even more worrying was the frantic trembling of the dial on the dashboard.

The team led by Rhodes and Perseus was moving along a road that had been in disrepair for a long time but looked more like it had been abandoned on purpose. In addition to the two off-road vehicles in front, there were also two ZIL-131 trucks, which contained more than a dozen armed soldiers from the Perseus organization.

"The mountain roads here are really—ah damn!"

Perseus, who was sitting in the passenger seat, bumped into the top of the car door, forcing him to tighten his seatbelt again. Seeing him like this, Rhodes, who was sitting in the back, smiled and said,

"You remind me of a joke that came from Aurora."

"If it can ease my anger... please tell me, Rhodes."

"The vegetables will be spoiled by the shaking, the piglets will get carsick, but you, my comrade, are the iron warriors of the Republic."

The whole car was suddenly filled with a cheerful atmosphere, but soon, Rhodes restrained his smile and asked:

"Could you please listen to our conversation, young man?"

"..." The smile on Perseus' face gradually faded. He coughed lightly and said, "The warriors I brought with me this time are the most elite and loyal. Besides, don't you have a memory eraser? Just delete his memory after listening to it."

"Just erase my memory. This memory eraser really saves a lot of trouble and reduces the possibility of leaks."

The driver also nodded, appearing quite open-minded, but to be honest, he didn't have time to focus on anything other than driving.

In this case, Rhode no longer hesitated and spoke directly:

"You're hiding something from me."

"...I asked Ling to gather the Soviet veterans we had recruited and send them here. Since this happened right before our eyes, I'm worried someone might ambush them on the way back."

"Do you think I would ask aloud about something like this?"

Rod's fingers traced across the Soviet KGB uniform he was wearing. He was now a KGB lieutenant, an entourage of Colonel Andrei (Perseus), and had come specifically to rehabilitate Sablin. He reached out and flicked the buttons on his uniform. He asked calmly:

"What's in the Ural Mountains, in the Khoratshakhli Mountains where we're heading? Didn't the Dyatlov Incident happen here during the winter?"

"You've clearly already guessed it, so why are you asking me to explain... Wait," the old man's expression changed slightly as he thought of something. He asked seriously, "Is the rift in the other world on the mountain out of control?"

"..."

"Alright, alright, don't look at me so angrily. I didn't mean to hide it from you. I will personally read the self-criticism at the board meeting after the incident is over and announce the corresponding punishment for myself!"

Perseus scratched his white hair at the temples with a look of annoyance and helplessness, trying to clear away the mud and tiny pine needles that had splashed onto it from the car window. After a silence of nearly half a minute, he slowly said:

"That was during Andropov's reign. I served as his supernatural advisor. Although the administrative framework fell under the KGB, I was essentially solely responsible to him, and only Chernenko knew about it. It was after their deaths that I immediately transferred all the information within the KGB and eliminated all those involved who knew of the existence of the other world but refused to cooperate. As a result, the organization's personnel and intelligence were essentially no longer under the KGB's jurisdiction."

"So... while you were looking through the Dyatlov Incident documents, you stumbled upon the secret political prison in the mountains and saw Sablin's name imprisoned there?"

Rhodes was choosing his words carefully when he heard Perseus sigh. The old man seemed to be regretting that he had not released Sablin earlier.

"Yes, that's right," Perseus said, but he added, "But I didn't participate in the experiment. At the time, I was gathering information about possible paranormal phenomena throughout Eastern Europe... The phenomenon of the otherworldly tides wasn't yet apparent, so it was basically a company-funded trip."

Not only that, there are more secrets in the Ural Mountains.

Rhodes sensed it instinctively, but he didn't force Perseus to speak immediately. Instead, he turned his head and looked out the window, at the rolling hills of the Ural Mountains - the dense forest was like the belly of some ancient giant beast, swallowing up everything that entered it, causing steel to rot and cement to sprout - on both sides of the forcibly opened and abandoned road, several-meter-high Siberian firs cut the sunlight into pieces, and fallen larch trees lay across the muddy roadbed, their bark a dark brown like rust.

He couldn't imagine what kind of icy hell this place would become when the cold winter came... Could anyone really live here for a long time?

It must be said that the cruel mountains are indeed suitable for hiding dark secrets.

"We... took a machine from Berlin when we captured it during World War II," Perseus said slowly, as if recounting a distant memory. "Due to a lack of blueprints and schematics, we were never able to successfully analyze the machine's function. It wasn't until a breakthrough in nuclear energy research that the military decided to power it with the electricity from an entire nuclear power plant, supplemented by Tesla magnetic coils..."

"The first experiment took place on February 2, 1959."

"You succeeded," Rhodes whispered, "You successfully opened Pandora's Box."

"Yes—after discovering the incident, hundreds of elite soldiers were mobilized, and then nearly a thousand more. The commander and soldiers at the experimental base pushed the monsters back forcefully, ultimately sealing the machines, cracks, and the bodies of the martyrs behind a concrete gate."

"You're lucky. Only a small crack opened. Perhaps the other side of the crack is less... chaotic."

"Yes."

Perseus felt a bit embarrassed to talk about these things. After he joined the Cogito Foundation, and especially after getting along with Rhodes, he realized how lucky the Soviet Union was at that time - if the crack was a little bigger, if it couldn't be successfully sealed, if...

Perseus, who was a little confused, looked at the road in front of the car windshield. The road was bumpy and even the best off-road vehicle had difficulty driving smoothly on it.

"After joining the foundation and coming into contact with Tesla's manuscripts in recent years, I have had some guesses."

Perseus slowly recalled the files he had read. He had not participated in the experiment at the time, but now thinking about it, it was a blessing in disguise.

"I suspect that the research data on the 'Death Ray Prototype' fell into Hitler's hands. More likely, they killed Tesla himself. These bastards supported Hitler during World War II and parasitized the body of the United States after the war. Now, the flesh and blood under that giant's skin is turning into wriggling maggots."

[Organization]? This speculation is reasonable, but it is not enough.

Rhodes frowned and thought carefully - if the prototype of the Death Ray was lost, even if the research data existed, he should have been able to successfully manufacture the machine. Why did it take more than 40 years before continuing the research on the other world by supporting cults, extremist organizations and STEM?

It seemed that something was missing, and we had to change methods and paths to continue our research.

"Black Stone."

Rhode whispered, his voice and worry merging into the roar of the engines, making him want to completely blow the place up with a nuclear weapon. But the thought only flashed through his mind for a moment before sinking into oblivion.

The main reason is that he can't get nuclear weapons now.

After thinking for a moment, Rhode put these thoughts aside and asked about the more important matter:

"Do you know what kind of monsters have emerged from that rift? Just a rough description of their type would be great."

"This... all the information has been destroyed," Perseus' voice was filled with self-blame. He slapped the car door in frustration. "Some people who knew about this refused to cooperate with me back then, so I also eliminated them... How could I have imagined so much would happen later?!"

"Are all Russians so clumsy in their work?! You're clumsy in diplomacy, clumsy in coups, and how can you be so clumsy even in something as big as this?!"

"I, this, this I...ah..."

Perseus covered his face in shame. If this old man could travel back in time, the first thing he would do would probably be to slap his old self.

"Forget it, forget it. The Soviet soldiers were able to push the monsters back, establish a blockade, and maintain it until now. This proves that these things and disasters can be eliminated by physical means." Rhodes waved his hand, no longer insisting on this issue. "For now, let's finish the things at hand. Prison, are we almost there?"

"...Ah, yes, very close."

Just ahead, surrounded by mountains and dense forests, a human creation that looked out of place suddenly burst into everyone's sight—

The midday sun, perched high above the jagged ridgelines of the Ural Mountains, bleached the prison's gray-brown concrete walls. The humid heat of the summer forest twisted the air above the barbed wire, the spirals of barbed wire drooping from each fence like dead pythons, a rusty red that no one wanted to touch.

This behemoth, built during the last years of Khrushchev's rule, lies dormant in a valley surrounded by coniferous forests. Its twelve watchtowers are like rusty iron nails, nailing everything to this small world cast out of cement.

This place is a prison for prisoners and also a prison for prison guards.

Now, the uninvited guest has arrived, bringing hope with him.

Chapter 250 Sablin, Wake Up (4K)

The convoy slowly stopped outside a prison with only a string of numbers.

"It seems we can't all go in." Rhode saw the guards on the wall had gathered together, weapons in their hands lowered. "The level of secrecy and defense here are even higher than I imagined."

"After all, we no longer send people to Siberia," Perseus said with a dry laugh. "Perhaps they're worried that a new Ilyich, Stalin, or Trotsky might return... Oh, the last one doesn't matter; he'll turn himself into an independent."

"You Russians are as good at telling jokes as the Germans."

Rhodes said with dead eyes, he got out of the car and walked towards the slowly opening prison gate with Perseus.

At the prison gate, the sentry checked Perseus and Rhodes's IDs. He carefully identified the photos and pass documents on them, and after gazing at Rhodes' face for a few seconds, he saluted and said seriously:

"Come in, Comrade Colonel, but only you and this Comrade Lieutenant can enter. Everyone else must wait outside."

"Okay, I'll have them wait outside the cordon."

Perseus took back his ID and saluted the sentry, then walked into the prison with Rhodes who had gotten off the car.

But as they walked side by side through the checkpoints, Perseus said without thinking:

"This Soviet military uniform suits you very well."

"...Then I think sitting in the Kremlin would suit me better."

"It's not impossible. In fact, this is better... But I guess many people will attack you like they attacked Marshal Rokossovsky. Should I respond to them as Comrade Stalin said?"

Perseus smiled. He was holding a black leather bag containing the documents for Sablin's release. He had carefully kept it with him, not even when he was driving on the mountain road.

"Forget it, I'm fine now."

Rhodes muttered and turned his head to look around the entire prison environment - there were not many buildings here, but the design style looked like a coffin cast out of cement. However, to his surprise, every wall here was carefully and repeatedly painted with white paint, without any signs of peeling.

The playground, used for running and taking a few breaks, was completely stone-free. Even right along the edge, a variety of green plants and flowers appeared to have come from the forest outside the prison. Further out, vegetables like beets and carrots were planted, and these vegetable plots occupied almost one-fifth of the prison's area.

It looked like some large nursing home for the elderly, if you ignored the prison walls.

The thick walls were wide enough for the sentries to move around. As they paced back and forth, the heels of their boots would make a hollow echo against the concrete floor, gradually wasting their time and their youth in this meaningless guarding.

After withdrawing his gaze from the tense-looking sentry, Rhodes whispered to Perseus:

“They didn’t welcome us.”

"Maybe it's because we're KGB, but no matter what, let's meet the prison warden first."

Perseus also responded in a low voice, but just as he finished speaking, the two saw the warden, who had hurriedly put on formal attire, standing in front of the main building's gate. The metal insignia on the warden's shoulder and the two open steel doors all reflected bright light under the sunlight.

After meeting Rhodes and Perseus, the warden briefly introduced himself. His name was Kolevatov, and he had been working here for fifteen years after replacing the retired former warden.

"Two comrades from the KGB, what brings you here? New prisoners?"

"No... Valery Mikhailovich Sablin, we're taking him away."

"Sa-Sabulin?"

The warden's smile vanished. He stood in front of the main gate of the prison building, and together with the sentries on either side, he firmly blocked Rhodes and the others' path in. After carefully examining the two KGB uniforms, the middle-aged man slowly asked, as if the mere act of speaking had exhausted his courage:

"Where is he being taken?"

"That's not for you to know, Warden."

"...I knew it! I knew this day would come!"

The warden roared fiercely, his spit spraying into Perseus's face, causing the latter's facial muscles to twitch slightly. Even though he saw the anger on the other's face, the warden still did not stop roaring, his voice almost echoing throughout the prison: