Shiller furrowed his brows as he looked at running and then collapsed Andro, then he surveyed the room full of agents. He coughed twice and said, "I don't understand the purpose of this drama, but you're barking up the wrong tree. Even if you take back to Moscow, you won't get what you want."
"You've lost your mory, haven't you?" A man approached him, placing a gun beside Shiller, and said, "You don't rember anything now, especially the details of your work in the KGB, and the fact that you once served as the director of KGB Eleventh Bureau."
Shiller furrowed his brow, turning his head to look at him. The man saluted him and then said," Deputy Director of the KGB Eleventh Bureau, Petrov, salutes you."
Just as Shiller was about to speak, Petrov pulled out a badge from his coat pocket and handed it to Shiller, "I gather, you should be familiar with this badge."
Shiller looked at the badge held gently between his fingers. He was startled, eagerly taking the badge from Petrov's hands, as he was indeed acquainted with the badge. It was the one he had found in the Philby List file folder.
Shiller was quite familiar with this badge as he had used it several tis to fulfill his tasks. Eventually, through Kira, a KGB agent embedded in the tropolitan CIA station, the badge was successfully returned to Moscow.
Shiller's intention was simple. He used this badge rely as an expedient solution, but the badge was not his own. Even though Philby had died, this badge should still be returned to where it rightfully belonged.
However, the next mont Petrov said, "You once instructed us that once the Red Flag badge you received returned to Moscow, we should find you and return it to you again, and that it would clear all your doubts."
Shiller's pupils constricted in surprise, he turned to Petrov, asking, "The Red Flag badge... that I had received?"
"You probably don't rember anything, but that doesn't matter. Before you left, you had instructed us that you might suffer amnesia and forget every detail. But only you can comprehend the information carried by this badge. When the ti cos, you will know everything."
Shiller squinted his eyes, shifting his gaze back to the badge. All of a sudden, he froze there shocked as if he had rembered sothing. Then he said to Petrov, "Since you claim to be my subordinate, bring a phone now."
Petrov signaled the agents by the door without saying a word. Within two minutes, a phone was delivered to Shiller. Shiller picked it up and dialed a familiar number, then said,
"Hello, Alfred? I know. You transported the Philby List, and I was the contact person dispatched by Moscow to take over the Philby List. Now, I have a question for you, whose Red Flag badge was sent along with the Philby List?"
Upon hearing Shiller's words, Alfred on the other end of the line imdiately understood that Shiller can be in so sort of special state wanting to verify so information. He imdiately replied, "Professor Shearer, has your paper not been published yet?"
"Yes, Alfred, but it won't be long now. Maybe next week, you will find my work in the journal. At that ti, I would appreciate your feedback."
Realizing the call hadn't ended, Alfred recalled Shiller's question, furrowed and then said, "Red Flag badge? What Red Flag badge? The only thing I transported was the Philby List..."
"Didn't Philby put his Red Flag dal in the list?" Shiller refuted.
Alfred took a deep breath, recounting the state of affairs at the ti, then said with surprise, "Comrade Philby was indeed awarded the Red Flag dal after returning to Moscow and providing such a list. How could he have the Red Flag dal before returning to the Soviet Union?"
"Moreover, even if he had defended soone else's Red Flag dal, he would not have had the opportunity to put it on the list. The situation was critical at the ti. If he were to put other things inside, he would certainly have to deceive more eyes."
"And for such an important list, he wouldn't put anything in it that implies its importance. This is a basic quality of an intelligence officer. So, the list is just a list, just a few pieces of paper, with no dal."
Shiller hung up the phone, letting out a sigh. He indeed should bla himself for this. At the ti, he found the dal in Philby's list file, causing him to assu that it must be Philby's dal.
However, the tiline did indeed raise so issues, and the cause and effect were wrong too. It was only because Philby escaped successfully and revealed the list in his head that he could get the Red Flag dal. Therefore, there was no way for him to receive the dal awarded by the Soviets before he returned to the Soviet Union.
At the sa ti, Shiller had never participated in real espionage work, so he did not react. Philby would never put anything in it that's related to the Soviet Union when transporting such an important list.
At that ti, Philby wrote the list because he didn't know if he could escape. Although he eventually did escape and successfully transported the list, this made the handwritten Philby list less valuable.
Being at a point where he didn't know if he could escape or not, the importance of the list goes without saying. As a legendary agent, capable of playing around with all the British intelligence agencies, Philby could not possibly make such a rookie mistake.
Which ant, this dal was indeed not Philby's. So was it the original Shearer's?
Shiller gently stroked the surface of the badge. It was indeed an early Red Flag badge. This ant that the original Shearer must have achieved the sa as Philby to receive this dal. So, what exactly did he do?
At that mont, Petrov saluted once more, "Director, I believe, you probably need so ti alone with this badge. We'll be waiting downstairs."
After he said these words, the agents efficiently evacuated the room, leaving Shiller alone. After a mont, Shiller finally ca out of his reverie. What did it an to have a good talk with the badge?
Suddenly, Shiller looked up, eyes wide with realization, because he rembered that the Red Flag dal in his hands was quite similar to the key that Superego had used to open that heavily chained door.
Shiller took the elevator down into the abyss, found the Superego, and said, "Give so of the power you've acquired from the system, I need to verify sothing."
The Superego seed to know what Shiller had planned and imdiately bestowed so of the system's power upon him.
After Shiller returned to reality again, a glimr of light emitted from his fingertips. When he traced his fingers over the Red Flag dal once more, he discovered the badge lighting up faintly. The very next second, Shiller was subrged into a dreamlike state.
Faint wisps of dust brushed past the lens of an old cara, one photograph after another was printed and fell onto the table, within each scene was the figure of a busy man.
In an office where a red flag was hung up on the wall, in a production workshop filled with slogans, inside a grand assembly hall, everywhere was a stern-faced man.
He was dressed in various outfits; sotis a political worker's shirt, sotis the trench coat commonly worn by agents, sotis a gallant military uniform, but these figures all had the sa face - Shiller's.
However, due to differences in facial expression and musculature, he didn't look entirely like the present Shiller. More importantly, these scenes were veiled by a layer of dust from the passage of ti, rendering everything blurry.
At this point, a voice resounded in Shiller's ears:
"You must be very curious, about who I am, what I have done, why you are here, but do not rush, I will tell you everything, comrade."
"I am Shiller, or rather, I am called Shiller. But I was not originally Shiller. Before I was reborn, I was not Shiller."
"I am a Soviet citizen, of Russian descent, a common Bolshevik officer."
"Yes, I am a reborn being. When I died and was revived again, I realized, that I had returned to my childhood."
"Ti had reversed, everything was yet to happen. This is a precious opportunity for anyone, and it was the sa for ."
Shiller noticed that this voice was always filled with a stern and aloof tone unique to soldiers, completely unlike his own voice.
"As a result, I decided to do sothing to change the foreseeable future. I presu, you must have received my gift. It was the gift I left for you, for this world..."
"You must be very curious about how all this happened. Well, it all started in the winter of 1991."
As the deep voice reverberated, the old projector began to play once more.
The snow, fluffy as goose feathers, gently drifted from the sky. Upon landing on the birch tree branches, even a sparrow was not startled. Through yellowing window panes, a red flag could be seen hanging on a white wall.
Beneath the red flag was a radio antenna. From the radio, along with the static sound "zizz", a voice was broadcasted:
"The Supre Soviet of the USSR has confird that with the establishnt of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the USSR, as a national and international law entity, will cease to exist..."
"Click", a hand pressed down on the radio button.
Looking up along the sleeve, the neat military uniform was adorned with many shining badges. When the finger pressed the radio button again, the channel switched, and the pleasant music of "Farewell to Mrs. Slav" ca from the radio.
A hand bearing a gun callus stroked the gun body; the crisp sound of loading the Makarov pistol was drowned in the beat of the music.
When the muzzle rested on the lower jaw, the sparrow remained motionless on the tree branch.
"Bang!"
In the silence of the room, the echo of a gunshot rang out. Outside the window, as the little bird flew up, the compacted snow on the branch showered down.
In the winter of 1991, the red flag flying above the Kremlin said its goodbye to the world with a kiss of snow.
As the sparrow landed on the clean ground, a child full of hopes, an unwavering warrior, fell amidst the falling snow in Minsk.
The land, stained with fresh blood, was the sa red as the flag fluttering over Petrograd in 1917.
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