Bloody Heart

Nightmares are a common manifestation of people who are ill.Paul is about the same, if not fully "human," in this regard.After he fell asleep that night, he was soon wrapped up in layers of nightmares, but he didn't remember what he dreamed of, only the two forces in the darkness that were trying to pull him apart were deeply impressed.The two forces, one to the east and the other to the west, refused to give in to each other, and sometimes turned, pulling him dizzy, and his head hurt like it was about to burst.He woke up briefly once or twice, and when he woke up he knew he was sick, and then the high fever soon dragged him back into the deep nightmare.

After going back and forth many times, he opened his eyes suddenly with sweat profusely, and his clear vision made him vaguely understand that he seemed to have finally broken free.He stared at the ceiling for a while, trying to guess what day it was, but his mind just wandered in absurd places and didn't listen.He felt that he hadn't fully recovered, his body was awake, but his mind was still outside the dimension.

Gradually, he finally remembered some problems.Where is Ivan?How did Nikita's report end?Do other countries know?After thinking about it, I couldn't deduce a result, but it seemed to make me more awake, and the sweat fell down.

At this moment, the door opened, and Paul saw a girl with long platinum hair come in. He recognized Natalia, and tried to find answers to all his questions in her: "Good morning, Natasha— —” He said as he got up, “Where did Ivan go—uh—” The sudden onset of dizziness caused him to fall back on the bed.

When the shady scenes and Venus in front of him dissipated, Natalia had already come to him. "It's already noon, and it's the fourth day." She said, "If you must get up, I advise you to slow down." As she spoke, she helped Paul sit up slowly and leaned against the head of the bed, "You Wait a minute, I'll get a glass of water."

The water was placed on the writing desk in the bedroom, and Paul watched Natalia's busy figure, with black shadows still flashing in front of him. "Thank you." He tried his best to smile as he took the water.

"You're welcome," Natalia maintained her usual indifferent expression, "It's just entrusted by others."

Of course Paul guessed who she was entrusted by, which just led to his question: "How is the situation now, what is he busy with these days?"

"It's not that good," said Natalia's beautiful face with a gloomy look, "—it's bad. The secret report spread to all parts of the country, causing great confusion, and Ivan became very busy because of it. The diplomatic picture is also grim - Felix has made it public that he no longer trusts you, but hasn't taken the next step - but I'm afraid it won't be far."

Paul nodded while holding the cup. "Can you ask him for me, if he has time to see me?" He raised his head and asked Natalia.

Ivan came to Paul's house that night. After fully expressing his thanks to Natalia, he learned that she was going to leave for Ming/S/K the next day.Going up to the second floor and opening the door, Ivan unexpectedly saw that the bed had been tidied up. Mr. Soviet was sitting behind the desk, and greeted him with a smile: "It feels like the last time I saw you was just now, no?" I think it's been four days."

Ivan looked at him suspiciously. "Are you alright? Listen to Natasha's description, you didn't have a good day a few days ago."

Paul smiled perfunctorily: "I don't know what happened to me a few days ago. In short-I am in front of you now, so you can start to tell me what happened these days." He felt Realizing that there was some impatience in his own words, he quickly stopped the car.The black shadow floating in front of his eyes and the cold sweat oozing from his forehead and back made him a little nervous, for fear of revealing his flaws.

Fortunately, Ivan didn't pursue it too much, and narrated it according to his meaning.Paul leaned back in his chair and listened to him, digesting every piece of information as best he could, but just thinking about it at this level made his brain ache.It seems that his brain is burned out, he thought bitterly.

After Ivan's brief statement, Paul found that he didn't mention his concerns, so he asked: "It is said that Felix's side is not peaceful? What's going on?"

Ivan frowned and said, "He spoke very harshly, but he hasn't done anything out of the ordinary."

Paul thought for a while and said, "If, I mean, if, Felix wants to make/problem in the future, then I will deal with him personally—and the same goes for everyone else."

"... It seems to me that you are much more interested in this question than in other questions," said Ivan.

"Isn't there other questions about you?" Ivan was stunned by the overly bright smile on Paul's face, but then the smile evaporated like dew in the sun, "I'm just kidding. I just think, compared to Other questions, this matter is more important; no, much more important."

Paul took a deep breath: "I told you, Lucia, my ideal is a world revolution, and let the flag of communism spread all over the world. But, after Nikita's incident, I found that My path of execution was wrong before; I fell into the trap of idealism. I now realize that only by controlling the world can I live out my highest ideals. For this reason I cannot let anyone leave me - no one , whether it is Felix, Wang Yao, or others—and I have to let more people come to me—these are the things that can make my ideal finally come true. Therefore,” he said word by word, “I No one is allowed to leave me, whoever wants to stand out first, I will take him to the knife."

Having said so many words in one breath, his brain seemed to be a little short of oxygen, and the pain in his brain became more severe, and the black shadows in front of him also appeared layer upon layer.But his heart is extremely relaxed, because he finally got rid of the difficult problem that has restrained him for a long time-whether he wants the immediate real benefits, or continue to pursue the lofty revolutionary ideal.Now this is no longer a problem, the two are perfectly integrated, and doing everything possible to grab the real benefits is the way to realize the ideal.For this reason, I am afraid that his comrades will have to suffer temporarily - including being restrained, suppressed, and controlled - but these are all temporary sacrifices, as long as everyone is closely united around him, the final result It will be what everyone wants to see.At this time, Su Wei felt that not only was his brain not burned out, but he suddenly became enlightened.

But Ivan didn't seem to think so.When he spoke, his voice was a little weird, as if he was choked by something: "No one has really realized that ideal, and no one knows how to achieve it, so how do you know that everything you did before was wrong? Maybe not would be more wrong than the path you're about to take—"

Paul interrupted him mercilessly: "No, I have thought about it carefully, and this decision is entirely based on practical needs: Nikita's report has largely destroyed my prestige, and the centrifugal force in the socialist camp The trend is stronger than ever, and in order to keep this camp, I have to use any means to kill all ideas that try to get rid of me. Only in this way can the socialist camp continue to exist, and all my ideals can be realized.”

Hearing these words at this time, Ivan didn't know what to say for a while.If he refuted it directly, he might fall into another dispute, and he doesn't have the mental strength now; but if he let it go, this kind of thinking seems a little dangerous.He knew the young man well, and the Soviets didn't seem to be very moderate.

But even if you are worried at this time, there is probably nothing you can do.So Ivan said very calmly: "Then everything will be done according to your wishes, I will go back first." He stood up.

Paul responded, and did not get up to see him off as usual, but sat on the spot with some disrespect and waved his hands to watch him leave.

■

A few months later, there was a bit of turmoil in Felix's house.The reason was that the workers of the locomotive factory were dissatisfied with the current treatment and demanded an increase in wages and a reduction in taxes. Those who were not approved organized and went to the capital to petition.Unexpectedly, the original 6000-person team continued to grow and grow on the way to the capital. By the end of the month, the scale of the parade had reached as many as [-] people.A vocal movement of workers fighting for their own interests, on the surface.

But what Soviet, who was extremely sensitive to this, heard something else in the sound wave, which was dissonant and extremely harsh, and the sound tended to become louder and louder.These voices made him pay more attention to the situation in Poland/Land. Finally, after confirming that it was not a simple incident about labor rights, he asked for a dialogue with Felix in his own name.This matter was not difficult, and soon, War/Sha's voice reached his ears through the telephone line.

"What's the matter, Soviet." Felix spoke first, sounding contemptuous and arrogant across the line.

Paul felt displeased for a while, Eastern/European countries never dared to speak to him like this, and Felix really didn't take him seriously more and more.He asked in a tone of superficial amiability but with a hint of arrogance: "Comrade Felix, is everything all right in your house?"

Felix replied: "As you can see, it is a labor movement on a slightly larger scale." Just as Paul was about to speak, he added, "It also has a little bit of political meaning."

"Ha, it seems that you know it very well." Felix's negligent and cynical attitude made Paul very unhappy, and his tone became ugly. "If this is the case, why don't you see you take action? The so-called political It means, we all know what it is, why, are you waiting for me to do it myself?"

Felix on the other end of the phone took a breath, and his tone suddenly changed: "Soviet, do you know where I am now?"

"Embassy." Paul replied blankly.Felix heard it, and the next second, the microphone left his mouth, and Paul heard a faint commotion on the other end.Felix put the phone on the table, walked to the window under the astonished eyes of the embassy staff, pulled aside the thick curtains that blocked the view, and opened the window with a bang.Accompanied by the warm summer wind pouring into the room, there was also a loud cry.Felix looked at the phone lying quietly on the table, and twitched the corner of his mouth ironically.

Paul was holding the phone over there, and without warning, he heard a sudden loud sound, and the content of the sound was instantly clear in his ears.He listened, expressionless, but slowly clenched the handle of the phone.There were raging voices over there, and it was not difficult to hear the excitement in the high-pitched voices. Outside the Soviet/Union embassy, ​​the Polish people shouted excitedly over and over again, "B/R/SW/K get out! ".Suddenly, a shrill shout stood out: "Soviet Union, go back—!"

"Felix!" Paul's voice startled the people around him, and seeing Paul's performance afterwards made them even more uneasy.They never heard the follow-up conversation, only saw the platinum-haired young man remove the receiver with a gloomy expression, and hung up the phone heavily.Felix hung up so crisply, after that scream, with perfect timing and no delay.What is this, a demonstration? !Until the black figure disappeared, the ice cellar-like room showed no signs of warming up.

In War/Saw, the people of the Soviet/Union embassy have been dumbfounded by Felix's surprise actions one after another. "Comrade Lukasevich, you will definitely offend the Soviet if you do this." A staff member said this.

Facing his displeased accusation, Felix of course heard the implication, he shrugged nonchalantly: "When will my family affairs be his turn to be happy? A while ago, the party/internal affairs were so busy, it was easy to rest Come down, it's really hard for him to meddle in other people's business." Felixton felt relieved after Paul was stunned, and left refreshed.

Starting from 1/9/3/9, the successive painful lessons made him wake up from his own small world, and gradually see the essence of people around him—except maybe Torres—that no one can trust .Arthur, Alfred, Francis, Ludwig, Gilbert, none of these could be trusted.Including the current Paul Braginski.

So what if he was liberated from the Berschmidt brothers?So what if you lead him on the road to socialism?It's just that Paul needs them in East/Europe to compete with Alfred, and he, Felix, needs a backer to cover him.What a big socialist family, only fools believe that kind of nonsense.Sooner or later, he will break away from the influence of the East. Now that Paul's prestige has dropped significantly due to the secret report, Ivan is too busy cleaning up the mess in the country to take care of him. Maybe this is an opportunity to do something.Felix's figure disappeared into the shadow cast by the Bell/Van der/Palace.

But despite provoking Paul on the phone, Felix still had to face the reality of domestic chaos.In the end, this excessively large-scale "labor movement" was quelled by armed forces, and it also caused a large number of casualties.As soon as he stabilized, Felix was notified that a special plane landed at the airport in War/Saw.Sure enough—the unwelcome guest came.Felix smiled sarcastically.

Paul hung up the phone that day and made up his mind to fly to Hua/Sha. Before that, he went to find Ivan first.

"Remember what I said before, Lucia? It seems that some guys really don't know how to judge the situation and need me to do it myself."

Ivan stopped what he was doing: "Are you really planning to 'clean up' Felix?"

Paul nodded bluntly: "That's right. At the same time, I still need you to cooperate with me." He leaned against the door frame, his expression a little secretive in the dim light, "——Do you still remember the Korean War, Lucia?"

Ivan's expression changed. "You'd better think carefully, don't be so reckless..."

Paul interrupted him with gestures rather than words. "Get the tank/tank columns ready and ready to march on War/Saw. Nobody but you and me should know about this—"

"Listen to me..."

"—even Irina and Natalia." His smile was exquisite and polite, like the most standard etiquette for asking someone for help.However, the coldness in his eyes was as inorganic as steel: "Can you help me, Lucia?"

Ivan and him looked at each other for a while, then lowered their heads a little dejectedly.

"I unconditionally support all your decisions. Alliance first."

■

After arriving in Warsaw, the negotiations fell into a stalemate for a while, and the differences between the two sides seemed to be irreconcilable.When he was at a loss, Felix asked Paul to meet outside the Palace of Bell.He felt that some problems could not be solved by all kinds of people playing Tai Chi at the negotiating table, and he had to make it clear to Paul—about them, about his own fate.

On the morning of the appointment, it started to rain, and it quickly picked up.That's okay, Felix thought to himself when he went out with an umbrella, a gloomy weather is needed to meet that kind of person.When he arrived at the meeting place, Paul hadn't come yet, so he found a place with slightly higher ground and stood there, holding an umbrella and poking there like a street lamp, waiting for someone.The hand that was not holding the umbrella was inserted into the pocket of the coat, but it was not immune to the cold. The sweat in the palm of the hand and the rain outside quickly became one.The raindrops slid poetically down the edge of the umbrella, and Felix looked at them indifferently, and suddenly the face of the man by the sea appeared in his empty mind.The man smiled at him gently, and Felix thought ecstatically, you are now under the pressure of the Red Empire like me, so, Torres, have you ever thought about escaping?You have never played with Ivan since you were a child.

Felix, who realized what he was thinking, immediately smiled, put away his wanton thoughts, and began to rehearse what he would say when he met Paul again in his heart.The shadow cast by the red sickle flag was too heavy, and Felix could only think about the past and others as he did just now when he was doing nothing.But those times are too few after all.

Paul actually didn't keep Felix waiting too long.The tall and straight figure in black clothes and umbrella appeared behind the poetic rain curtain, and Felix couldn't help thinking that if it wasn't for such a delicate position, Paul would definitely be someone he liked—his eyes have always liked beautiful things , the premise is that it cannot be poisonous.

"I kept you waiting." Stepping up the steps, Paul nodded slightly as a greeting, even omitting the signature smile.

"No, I just arrived too. How are you, are you satisfied with the measures I have taken?" After the politeness, Felix directly cut to the point.

Obviously Paul didn't like this topic: "Actually, I'm very disappointed in you—" He took a breath, and finally pierced the window paper, "Felix, do you want to get rid of me?"

Do you want to get rid of the USSR?Felix pulled himself together, he had to answer this question cautiously, if he made a wrong answer, an unknown ending awaited him.After calming down, he said: "After World War II, you gave me a lot of help, which played a vital role in my recovery in various fields. My family and I are very grateful..."

The prepared set of rhetoric that can make people stunned has just spit out the beginning, but it was cut off mercilessly by Paul: "You are not suitable to learn from those poor orators-simply tell me yes or no." Felix felt habitually oppressed by the sight from the strange-colored eyes, and he swallowed his saliva to get rid of the suffocation that seemed to be strangled by his throat.

"No."

Hearing his answer, the oppressive feeling on Paul's body subsided immediately: "It's fine if not." Hearing his seemingly relieved tone, Felix was really relieved.

However, Paul's next words made his stomach tighten into a ball: "Since it's not, don't make specious provocations. I'm not good at joking. It's okay to play with you once or twice. If there are more times, I will do it." It is not impossible to come up with a once-and-for-all 'final plan'." Looking at the corner of his mouth with a sneer, the four deliberately emphasized words of "final plan" undoubtedly stabbed Felix severely and turned him A most unbearable nightmare.

"Soviet," Felix called out his name when he stopped, "what is East/Europe in your eyes?"

Hearing that Paul stopped, he turned around calmly: "Of course they are brothers and sisters in the big socialist family."

Hearing the answer that he knew was false, Felix showed a sad smile: "If you really treat us as family members, then let us go."

Paul froze.

Felix lowered his head, looking a little overwhelmed: "We all know that, don't we? There is no big socialist family at all. We only control, use and fawn on us. It is the relationship between master and servant, not equality, unity and closeness." Allies. In your eyes, East/Europe is not a group with self-awareness, but a group of weights in your hands, a pile of chess pieces on your chessboard. Perhaps, in this world, you have nothing but Alfred Everyone outside of , right? Only he is strong enough to deserve your attention.

"It's just...we are also an independent country! We have our own people, history, and culture. Some things cannot exist simply by ignoring them, and some things cannot be blocked by blindfolding and not facing them. Now, can you lower yourself a little bit to see 'human' eyes and see what Eastern/Europe really looks like..."

His words fell into the sound of rain, and he was beaten as if crying.Paul didn't speak for a long time, and Felix didn't look at him. They were surrounded by endless heavy rain, and it was already torrential.

After a long time, Paul's words came to his ears through the rain, as if they came from the sky: "Felix, I know what you are looking forward to. One day I will give it to you, but not now. Now You need me, and I need Eastern/European. You are right that I need a large socialist camp to back me up against Alfred, but can you deny that you need my help now? Since we all get what we need, there's no need for you to look unfair."

Listening to his words, Felix's heart cooled down bit by bit. "Even out of your control, I will support you in the face of the West." He tried to die.

Paul laughed.He stretched out his hand to wipe away the raindrops that were blown under the umbrella and fell on Felix's face: "How can it be the same?"

——What I want to bring to you is a world that no one else can bring.

Feeling the coolness coming from his cheeks, Felix's heart finally turned into a pile of ashes.He has been constantly disappointed since the [-]th Congress of the Soviet Union/Communist Party, and now he has finally reached the peak of disappointment, complete despair.

Then, the person he was waiting for should come now.Raising his hand to remove Paul's hand, Felix took another step, a little hurriedly: "Come with me, I'll show you something." He said and walked forward along the palace wall.

Paul followed behind him, and the two gradually circled to the front of the palace.Looking at the scene in front of him, Paul opened his eyes wide.

Thousands of young Polish/Poland youths gathered in the open space in front of the palace. It seemed to be an organized gathering/gathering. At this moment, they had just assembled, and they were still a little chaotic.Several leaders shuttled through the crowd, and under their arrangement, several banners were soon erected, and the noisy voices gradually became consistent.

"Maintain Polish/Lanish sovereignty, stop interfering in/internal/political affairs!" Someone shouted.

"Soviet Union withdrawal!" shouted another.

"Soviet Union, go back..." The man was robbed of the trumpet halfway through shouting.

Standing in an inconspicuous place, Paul suddenly felt as if he had been in another world.At the residence of the Wang Yaojia delegation, on the phone at the Polish embassy, ​​and now, outside the Bell/Van der/Palace where the negotiations are held.The impressions overlapped several times, and he couldn't help asking himself, since when did the conversation about him have to be carried out in this way?

Felix's voice suddenly rang in his ears: "Look, many of them didn't have umbrellas."

"... You called them?" Pavel asked.

"I just gave them a chance," Felix said quietly.He put away the umbrella, and the rain immediately soaked his hair, and the water droplets flowed down his cheeks, and the outline was like a knife.He said:

"Soviet, these are my young people, they are all college students, about to enter society. Their voices are about to become important, merge and dominate mine. You don't have to listen to what I just said, you don't have to believe it , but I'll tell you anyway: If you lock up all of Eastern/Europe as you've always done, one day you'll lose us completely and forever. All of us."

But Pavel raised his chin. "I will absolutely, absolutely not, let any of you go."

——I still want to strengthen the socialist camp, control more regions, and contend with Alfred's West; I also want to bring the future to this world, and I also want to realize the ideals entrusted to me by the guides , I also want to unveil a new dawn with my own hands.For this reason I will not give up anything I have already obtained.

——Because I am no longer just a national ideal, but also a national will to do whatever it takes to achieve my goal.