Long-term salvation

Chapter 303 Meeting at Kherson Port (2/20)

The Soviet Union has collapsed, but Ukraine's independence dates back to earlier than that.

In the cold fog of late December, the port of Kherson was still handling slightly rusty cargo ships, and the cranes were working hard with their booms hanging down like broken steel giraffes - the deck of a small merchant ship from the Antioch area was piled with cargo boxes with the Atlas company logo on it.

The sailors, wrapped in leather jackets, leaned against the side of the ship and looked at this country without history, and watched the customs officials slowly count the cargo... This was far from being an inventory, they were just bargaining with the captain for the amount of bribe.

After the lengthy negotiation with the hyena in the dirty uniform ended, the captain of the Atlas Company was able to withdraw. He took out the intercom and shouted angrily:

"Get ready to sail!"

Rhodes had no idea what the Atlas employees had encountered here. He was standing on the shore slightly closer to the city, watching the sea water outside the breakwater shimmer with an oily rainbow. Rotten oranges and flyers printed with a hammer and sickle slowly floated on the sea, becoming garbage that no one cared about.

Rhode took a long breath and watched his breath and smoke condense into white mist in the cold sea breeze. Then, he turned around and looked at the girls who were slowly walking towards him.

"I thought you would be late."

"It's not too late. The scheduled meeting time hasn't arrived yet."

Nikki D shook her head. Bai Zi was next to her, and the two seemed to be walking around the harbor - D was connecting with the Perseus Intelligence Network, while Bai Zi was going to use her perception of "death" to find the traces of the Ibris organization.

Rhode actually wanted to bring the girls from Trinity Comprehensive Academy here, but he hadn't figured out how to deal with the Orthodox Church. After all—

Heretics are worse than pagans.

The Pope and the Patriarch only needed to think about how to excommunicate each other, but Rhodes had much more to consider:

Will knights and soldiers of different faiths clash? Will they encounter "demons" of opposing religions in the battle against the other world? Moreover, there may not be warriors from non-Abrahamic religions in the future.

For the sake of stability among his religious warriors and to prevent bigger problems from arising later, Rhodes planned to wait two years until Russia stabilized before trying to slowly engage with it. He couldn't just send away a few respected old men at this precarious time, could he?

While he was daydreaming, he suddenly felt his arm being pulled by the wolf girl. Her ears twitched a few times, and she pointed at the inland passenger ship that had just docked at the passenger port and said softly:

"arrive."

Hearing this, Rhode raised his eyebrows slightly and then looked at Nikki. After receiving the latter's affirmation, he patted the girls' waists and said with a smile:

"Let's go and find Perseus's intelligence agent. I hope he can bring us some good news."

Rod led the girls through the crowds of people in twos and threes, and heard people with thick northern Ukrainian accents complaining - at this time, not many people would take inland passenger ships. Needless to say, the upper reaches were often frozen, and even the middle reaches would freeze from early January to the end of February - only those who had nothing to do or had ulterior motives would choose this mode of travel, starting from a certain section of the middle reaches and following the unfrozen lower reaches of the river to Kherson.

Walking into the small restaurant next to the passenger port, Rhodes had just sat down when he saw a bald middle-aged man hurriedly walking in from outside.

The man in the passenger ship crew uniform looked around, wiped his hands on his coat twice, and shouted in Russian with a slight Eastern Ukrainian accent:

"Give me some grilled herring, pickled olives, borscht, bread, and half a bottle of vodka!"

The vulgar shouting caused the few diners in the restaurant to make obscene gestures, which made the bald man shrink his neck and smile awkwardly. He wiped his hands on his coat again, took off his hat, and bowed apologetically.

This made the rude diners feel a little embarrassed. They grumbled a few times and then continued to fight with the food in front of them.

Rhodes looked at the bald man walking towards him. He frowned, turned his head to look at Nikki, and leaned over to ask in a low voice:

"Why do I feel like we always meet people in restaurants or cafes?"

"It's too cold, Commander... Rhodes, we'll freeze to death outside," Nikki replied in an equally small voice, her beautiful figure tightly wrapped in her coat. "Besides, you and Baizi have to eat anyway, right?"

"It makes sense."

Rhode nodded and watched the bald man walk over and sit behind him. Soon, a roll of newspaper was stuffed in. Reaching out to take it, Rhode saw that several news items on the newspaper had been marked with black marks.

After quickly reading it, Rhodes leaned back with a frown and asked as if talking to himself:

"What does it mean that people in the Kyiv region are missing?"

"Hiding, injured, dead, or something like that—the last message he sent was, 'Ibris members have been found,' which came from the city of Kiev. After the incident, several permanent agents were urgently evacuated to nearby satellite cities."

The bald man's soft words were filled with helplessness. He reached out to take the bottle of wine that had been placed on the table, poured some into the glass, and continued:

"Even rebellion is possible... Perseus and the KGB are urgently evacuating Kiev. I don't know what kind of drug those capitalist dogs have drugged Kravchuk into. He is now frantically hunting down key Soviet figures in Ukraine, and even the intelligence system is being frantically purged."

“Not surprising.”

"But it has affected our work, the work of Perseus and the Army Without Borders, to the point that the main assembly points had to be moved to Kharkiv and Odessa."

The bald man spoke incoherently as he dipped the bread cut with a saw into the borscht, softened it and put it into his mouth - this thing was actually not that hard, but in this small restaurant, the chef obviously did not have so much time to ensure that every piece of bread was warm and soft - it’s okay as long as the grilled fish and black tea soup are hot, don’t ask for too much!

After finishing the grilled herring, the bald man wiped the oil off his mouth with bread, stuffed it into his mouth, and drank a full glass of vodka, letting out a long sigh. Using the sound as cover, the elite agent of Perseus continued in a low voice:

"Starting from Kiev and extending north to Belarus, there are no Perseus agents operating in that entire area. Boss, you must be careful."

Hearing this, Rhode frowned. He thought for a moment and asked:

"And I can't get a little help?"

"No... The 24th Mechanized Rifle Regiment of the former Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs' Internal Guard, stationed near the Belarusian border, has not been relocated or disbanded. Their officers and soldiers have sworn allegiance to their unit, even to the 'Ukrainians' within it—unless Ukraine and Russia reach a complete partition agreement—because of this, Lieutenant Colonel Yaroslaw, who commands the regiment, is willing to respond to our request, as long as it does not exceed his authority."

"...How are their armaments?"

"My leader, how good do you think the equipment of the Internal Security Forces is at this time? Moreover, they have suffered a large number of personnel losses in the past few months. Now they are just a mechanized infantry regiment of 1,500 people and two battalions. Their only equipment is obsolete BTR-70 armored personnel carriers and BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles. The rest are trucks and cars."

"Forget it," Rhodes covered his eyes with his hands, his words full of helplessness, "I'll go to Kiev to check first."

"I will notify Agent Perseus who was evacuated to the cities around Kiev to return. This way, you will have some help in that city, and I will follow you closely."

Just as the bald man finished speaking, he heard the young man behind him laugh and ask:

"Aren't you afraid of death?"

"Now that I'm in this line of work, there's no point in saying this... Everything is for the revival of great ideals, for human civilization."

"Ah yes, cheers to human civilization."

Hearing these words and the clinking of glasses behind him, the bald man smiled. He raised his empty glass and said silently in his heart:

cheers.

Chapter 304: Heading North (3/20)

On December 26, 1991, the Kherson Railway Station looked like an abandoned cast iron toy. Gray-black ice spikes condensed between the rails, and the snow on the edge of the platform was stained with dirt and black smoke into a mottled, dirty flame color. The whistle sounded, and the train slowly started, trembling as it drove out of the platform.

This journey of nearly 13 hours was so long that it made people drowsy.

As the northbound train cut through the frozen soil of the Ukrainian plains in the twilight, and the searchlight on the front of the train pierced the blue-purple sky, a flock of unknown birds living in the wilderness took off into the sky and turned into twisting shadows.

"...We'll arrive in Kiev at nine in the morning," Rhodes said calmly. He looked away from the window and, under the dim light, picked up a pickled olive and put it in his mouth. "Even though I paid several times the fare and a few US dollars as a bribe, the service is still acceptable. And we're in a separate small compartment."

"This isn't a good place, and neither are the people."

Bai Zi, who was sitting opposite Rhodes, spoke slowly. She was wrapped in a thick brown coat, curled up her petite body inside, with only her small head exposed, like some small animal poking its head out of a tree hole.

Nikki, who was sitting next to him, seemed more normal and didn't seem to care much about the slightly cold carriage.

"Sensei, if you're looking for a dead person, I can help," Baizi said softly. She reached out from the slit of her coat and quickly took the syrniky (a pancake made with cottage cheese, a traditional Slavic dessert) from Rhodes's lap. "I can 'smell' death, but I need a picture. I need to know the person's face. A video would be even better."

"Are you really a canine?"

Hearing this, Rhode reached out and touched the girl's wolf ears, watching the girl's face blush slightly. The wolf girl didn't dodge, but just let the man touch her. But after only half a minute, Rhode withdrew his hand.

The jackal on the opposite side is ready to pounce on me and eat me alive, so it’s better not to tease it anymore.

After stuffing another pancake into Bai Zi's hand, Rhodes took out the [Box of Shiting], reached out and tapped the screen, and Alona's figure popped out.

The blue-haired girl yawned and asked with sleepy eyes:

"Sensei, what's going on?"

"Alona, ​​pull up the files on the Perseus agents, keywords 'Kiev', 'resident agent'."

Rhodes had just finished speaking when he saw Alona running away. Then, there was a clanging sound from the screen, as if the girl was looking for something. After obtaining the [Box of Shiting], Rhodes copied and stored a considerable amount of important data in it, so that it could be easily accessed at any time... Well, it couldn't be said to be at any time, as it depended on Alona's work efficiency and whether she had forgotten where she put it.

But for now, Rhodes was not in a hurry. He reached out and tugged at the coat on his body, admiring the Ukrainian plains outside the car window.

At this moment, the late December snowfall had already caught up with the train. Snowflakes slammed against the windows at a 45-degree angle, forming a wriggling white film on the double-glazed glass. The outside world seemed to degenerate into a blurry gray-white film negative:

There is no beauty here, only the mess left after the hysterical carnival.

But even in a mess, those with a keen eye could find treasures within it. Many scientists and senior workers had already been hired or persuaded to leave Atlas, and now, they were not going to let go of even those steel behemoths:

For example, the Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier of the Soviet Navy, and the An-225 transport aircraft, their design drawings and personnel involved in the design had been reserved early, and only needed to be taken away at the right time. On the former, the Aurora Republic seemed more enthusiastic, but the specific negotiation matters were agreed upon by Ains and Dr. Peng Jiamu.

In fact, Rod came to Ukraine at this time with the idea of ​​escorting these things... If those guys are not careful, then their place of residence at night is likely to be razed to the ground by things like "M1A1 tanks", "AH-64 Apache attack helicopters", and "F15C fighter jets".

Whenever he thought of the horror of those behind the scenes when they saw their subordinates' investigation reports, or the quarrels among the intelligence systems of NATO countries, Rhodes could hardly hold back his smile.

Thinking about those random things, Rhodes poured two cups of warm milk tea from the thermos and handed them to Bai Zi and D. Both of them were in good spirits and did not seem tired from the long journey.

After Rhodes finished his second cup of milk tea, Alona's embarrassed voice came from the [Shiting Box]:

"Ahem... ahem, Sensei, I found it!"

"Let me see." Rhodes picked up the tablet and saw Alona holding a photo of a person. She came closer with great effort.

The photo shows a thin young man, no more than 30 years old. He is not good-looking, the type that you can't find if you throw him into a crowd - such a person is just suitable to be an agent - if every agent is as handsome and ruthless as James Bond, they would have been targeted and killed long ago... The fact that this guy can still survive until now, in addition to his excellent professional skills, is that he is really lucky enough.

After carefully studying the young man's appearance and memorizing it, Rhodes handed the tablet to Bai Zi. Bai Zi took it with his right hand, while his left hand still clutched his coat, seemingly not quite accustomed to the cold Ukrainian plains.

The wolf girl stared at the photo quietly until Alona's face showed an expression of "I can't hold on any longer". Then she raised her head and said blankly:

"This person is dead."

"...This isn't good news," Rhodes sighed. "This agent is one of the most core agents in the Kiev region. He has the contact information of many informants. It looks like our investigation in Kiev will be difficult."

For a moment, the entire car fell into silence, until Nikki broke the silence:

"Commander, we can split up."

"Hmm?" Rhodes raised his eyebrows slightly.

Nikki, with her wine-red eyes, reached out and touched Baizi's head. Seeing Baizi's somewhat enlightened expression, she continued:

"I'll contact the agents. I remember the special contact information for Agent Perseus. After all, I came to Ukraine to connect with the person in charge here. Now is the perfect time. I just need to be more secretive."

"As for you and Baizi, you can go to the hospital to look for a doctor," Nikki said, a hint of trepidation crossing her face, "but this method is a bit dangerous."

Hospital? Morgue!

A flash of understanding flashed through Rhode's mind - as long as he could find the agent's body, perhaps he could find some clues. As for Nikki's unnatural expression, he could also guess it:

"Don't worry about Baizi and me. If there are any pursuers or attackers, that's even better. Catching them would give us more intelligence. Besides, we're in downtown Kiev... Tanks and helicopters can't do anything to us. So, could they possibly use some kind of super-bomb to send us flying?"

"Putting you in danger is a dereliction of duty on our part, and using you as bait is an unforgivable sin."

Hearing this, Rhode smiled. He propped up his chin with his palm and asked with interest:

"Then how does D intend to atone for this sin?"

"Hmm, this..."

"H is prohibited!" Bai Zi suddenly said, and his two wolf ears suddenly popped up as if he had discovered something, standing straight up like antennas, "H is prohibited!"

"Are you qualified to say that?!"

"I'll go to the hospital morgue with Sensei," Bai Zi continued speaking, ignoring Rhode's empty gaze, but his tone was more helpless, "But if the body can't be found, there's nothing I can do."

"Then we can put out a missing person notice and put it on the front page of newspapers and on TV news channels, and we can't miss the radio either."

"……good idea."

Chapter 305: Kyiv in Winter (4/20)

The floating ice on the Dnieper River hit the concrete embankment, making a hollow echo, but the next second it was drowned out by the harsh sound of the train's brakes as it entered the station - Kiev, arriving - and the tired crowd was then released by the train, walking outside wrapped in the noisy cold wind.

Exiting Kiev Central Station, Rhodes adjusted his scarf and then helped Bai Zi adjust it. Then, he put his arm around her shoulders and walked towards the Kiev City Hospital. As for D... she would leave through another exit and meet up with the Perseus agents who had returned to Kiev in the next day or two.

"It's so cold here," the wolf girl muttered, stuffing her right hand into Rhodes' pocket. "Should we go straight to the hospital?"

"Go straight to the hospital."

Rhodes replied calmly. When he reached the small square in front of the train station, he stopped and looked back:

The blue and yellow national flag had already been raised on the top of the train station building. The flag that symbolized Ukraine was swaying in the cold December wind, and finally it was folded up on the flagpole, and there was no possibility of it swaying anymore. This obviously needed help from others, but their actions were obviously not very gentle.

People always have to pay the price for their choices.

In just three years, not thirty, Ukrainians will be angry and push over the politicians who led the so-called independence.

Retracting his gaze, Rhode sighed softly in his heart. He gently grasped the girl's slender hand with his left hand, feeling the warmth from her palm. He asked in a gentle voice:

"Shall we go get some breakfast first? Or maybe buy something to eat while walking? According to what you said, it should be the Kyiv City Clinical Hospital, which is four or five kilometers away. It's considered the largest comprehensive hospital there."

"it is good."

The wolf girl nodded slightly, a bright smile spreading across her face.