The nurses took out black wooden sticks and started to knock. The running children stopped and stood in the snow like puppets. The ball they were chasing was still rolling forward, but their eyes gradually turned white and lost their luster.
The dark iron door in the corner opened. The nurse who knocked on the clack walked in front, and the children followed her. They walked stiffly with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them, forming a long line. Another nurse was counting the numbers on their sleeves by the door and checking the list to make sure that these precious " samples " were not lost.
When Renata passed by the door, the nurse grabbed the yellow butterfly from her braid and looked coldly through her glasses."If you wet the bed again, you have to wear this!”
The yellow bowknot did not represent the warmth of spring, but it meant that the child had made a mistake and would be grounded. Renata was grounded again last night because she wet the bed again.
……
At three o'clock in the morning, the entire Black Swan Harbor was asleep.
The beam of the searchlight cast a circular spot of light on the black clouds. Beneath the clouds stood a bronze statue of Lenin.In front of the statue stood a man who had come to pay his respects. The wind blew his woolen coat.
Major Bundarev did not rest in the warm guest room, but he was interested in admiring the bronze statue of Vladimir Lenin-in the dark night.
The bronze statue was ten meters tall. It was originally standing on a black marble pedestal, pointing forward as if it was guiding the revolution. The snow was more than two meters thick, and the marble pedestal could no longer be seen. The feet of the bronze statue were also covered by the snow.
The position of the bronze statue was a little strange. It was neither in the center of Black Swan Harbor nor standing in front of the door, but behind the port. Although statues of Vladimir could be seen everywhere from research institutes to universities, it was still a little exaggerated to erect such a tall bronze statue in a place where resources were extremely scarce.
"You once said that forgetting the past means betrayal. Now, even the country you created is about to become a thing of the past. I wonder if there will be people like me who will come to admire your statue in the future.”Bondarev looked up at the statue." So it's better to blow it up now.”
He pressed the detonator in his hand, and after a short, dull explosion, the marble pedestal in the snow was blown up, and the bronze statue of Lenin was inserted diagonally in the snow.
The sound of this soft thunder was very small, and it was covered by the wind within a few steps. Black Swan Harbor's security was tight, but the most important part was the extreme cold. Standing outside for more than ten minutes at night would cause serious frostbite. Because of the blizzard, visibility was less than five meters. The soldiers did not expect anyone to dare to move outside. They ignored Bondarev's extraordinary tolerance to the cold.
Bondarev looked into the snow cave after the explosion and saw the black pig iron foundation. Hundreds of tons of pig iron were filled into the ground as the foundation of the statue of Lenin.
Bundarev jumped into the snow cave, turned on his tactical flashlight, and found a seamless iron door on the pig iron foundation. It was like an iron block embedded in the foundation, with red stars and the number of troops on the edge.
Bondarev inserted the two poles of the electric balance instrument into the gap between the top and bottom of the iron door. The needle did not jump at all, which meant that the iron door had reached absolute electric balance. There were no wires or electronic devices behind the door.
" It's indeed a mechanical password lock." Bondarev mumbled.
The lack of electronic devices did not mean that the door was safe. On the contrary, it was fatal. It used an ancient mechanical password lock. The structure of this lock was similar to a clock. It was purely mechanical. It would not alarm but would explode. The door was filled with hundreds of kilograms of refined gunpowder. This gunpowder would not deteriorate for hundreds of years.
This kind of door was used in the Tsar's tomb, which could blow up the tomb robbers and the tomb passage. Because it was not prepared to be opened again when it was closed.
Bondarev took out the duplicate key that he had prepared beforehand, took a deep breath, and moved his wrist. The duplicate key was somewhat different from the original. If it failed, he would fly up into the sky with the bronze statue of Vladimir Leninsky.
He inserted the key and turned the combination plate on the door accurately. He had practiced this set of movements thousands of times, and now he could complete it in his sleep.
The key turned, and there seemed to be a " bang " in the password plate. Bondarev pushed the iron door hard. The door didn't open, and Bondarev didn't fly into the sky. The iron door seemed to have rusted into the frame.
Bundarev scratched his head in confusion, took out a miniature welding gun from his tool bag, and burned the key handle with a flame. Using fire on a door filled with hundreds of kilograms of gunpowder was no less dangerous than sitting on an oil well and smoking a cigar.
However, Bondarev hummed a song in a low voice and did not care at all. A slight sound of a spring came from the keyhole. The complicated mechanical system began to turn. The twelve bolts slowly retracted, and the iron door made a muffled bang and bounced open.
Bondarev smiled proudly. As he had expected, the unlocking procedure was correct. The problem was the oil in the lock. This traditional craft used butter as the grease, which was as easy to freeze as the kerosene in a Sentinel lighter.
Cold air gushed out from the crack of the door, and the air blew a loud whistle. Bondarev tested the temperature of the air with his hand, and even he shivered.
"It really feels like the wind from the deepest part of hell.”He pulled out his Makarov pistol and jumped into the black space under the iron gate.
Beneath the iron gate was a dark tunnel. The walls of the tunnel were all hard frozen soil. Bondarev tried to knock it with the handle of the gun, and sparks actually came out.
Black Swan Harbor was located on the permafrost. The water in the soil had not melted for millions of years. Finally, the soil was harder than concrete. One could imagine how difficult it was to dig this tunnel back then.
The tunnel led to the depths of the permafrost. When the flashlight shone over, they only saw iron ladders extending down. Bondarev found the chiseled words on the top wall: "Arrived here on June 12, 1923.”
He searched along the tunnel for less than 100 meters and found new handwriting: "Arrived here on June 30, 1936.”
The history of digging this passage could be traced back to 1923. With the technological strength at that time, the diggers spent a full 13 years to advance less than 100 meters.
Bondarev continued to explore. The tunnel was extremely winding, and there were countless forks, but Bondarev had an engineering map in his hand, which guided him to the right path.
The tunnel was like a forked vine, and its length was astonishing. Sometimes, after digging dozens of meters to the east, they realized that something was wrong and returned to the middle to dig in another direction. Sometimes they had to go around the rocks, and it would take years to go around a boulder.
In that era, there was no heavy machinery. The tools of the diggers could only be mechanical pickaxes and iron chisels that burned oil. With these primitive tools, they advanced year after year, burying their lives in the frozen soil.
What were they looking for?
The tunnel walls behind them gradually became smooth. It was obvious that the diggers had changed to a new type of tool, which should be an electric diamond drill. Bondarev found new handwriting." Arrived here on September 19th, 1951. 13th Infantry Guards Division, Engineer Regiment.”
The 13th Guards Infantry Division was the elite of the garrison in Moscow, and its engineering regiment was naturally the most elite. Such a trump card unit was actually transferred from Moscow to this desolate place to continue the excavation project that had lasted for decades.
"April 27th, 1953. Arrived here. Vice-Commander Viheri died here. 13th Infantry Guards Division, Engineer Regiment.”Next to these words was Vice-Captain Viheri's red five-star badge.
"May 9th, 1956. Arrived here. He did not know where this path would lead to. Perhaps it would lead to a grave, or perhaps it would lead to hell, but it would not be a beautiful thing.”
" Arrived here on April 13, 1961. God bless us, don't let our hands open that door, it must be cursed.”
Apparently, the engineers had a premonition that some kind of crisis was ahead, so they turned to God for help. In that era, if this kind of thought was known by the party branch secretary, it would probably be recorded as a stain in the file.
Bondarev understood the soldiers 'fear because of the patterns on the walls of the tunnel. Those patterns were not carved on the ground, but were cut from the bones of animals in the frozen soil. There were snakes, lizards, cats, sea lions, and even white bears. Most of them should not have appeared in this cold place.
These bones were cut apart by the diamond drill together with the frozen soil layer, and were exposed to the eyes of the engineers. Although they were dry bones, they still had a lively and ferocious aura. It was easy to see the fear of these animals at the moment of death. It was as if a huge disaster had suddenly arrived. They had nowhere to escape and could only cry in pain and bite each other to vent.
Layers of bones stacked on top of each other, and the closer they went, the denser they became. Finally, Bondarev saw the snake bones wrapped around the bear bones. The snake was at least 20 meters long when it was alive, and its bones were suffused with an ancient dark gold color. The bear bones that were entangled by it were even more terrifying. It split from the lumbar spine and actually had two thick vertebrae, which meant that the giant bear had two heads.
No wonder the engineers were so anxious. They were digging a mysterious tunnel that led to a door. They knew that there was something terrible behind the door, but they had no choice but to do so under the pressure of the organization. That door was like Pandora's box that could not be opened. But if Pandora's box fell into the hands of the world, who could resist not opening it to take a look?
Bondarev was very calm. He even used a miniature camera to take pictures of the bones in the frozen soil. Obviously, the disturbing scene in front of him had long been expected.
They were already close to the door, just like what the engineering map said.
Bondarev took out a metal box from his backpack, which contained several laser mines. This type of spy mine was like a thick pen that was inserted into the soil. It could emit a laser beam that was invisible to the naked eye. If someone touched the laser beam, it would cause an explosion. Bondarev inserted the laser mine into a small hole in the wall of the passage, which was left behind during excavation. This way, he would not have any worries.
He had already seen the last mark: " On November 21st, 1963, we opened the door. We should forget what we've seen here, we'll be back in Moscow soon, and everything will be fine when we get back. The secretary said that this place would be closed again. It was no longer the era of gods and demons. The Iron Fist of the Soviets would crush them all.”
In front of them was no longer the frozen soil, but a hard granite wall. This sentence was carved on the wall, and next to it were hundreds of names, followed by their military ranks. It was obvious that these young soldiers had left their lives here. Over the decades, thousands of people had participated in this arduous excavation work, and hundreds of people had left their lives in the ice and snow of northern Siberia. However, when they finally found that thing, they only wanted to leave and forget as soon as possible. Bondarev took a selfie next to the message and made a " V " gesture.
The door was right next to him. Strictly speaking, it could not be called a door, but a blocked exit. It was originally a crack in the rock stratum, but someone had sealed it with several tons of molten iron.
The white bones of a human could be seen in the molten iron. When the crack was sealed, a living person was actually burned to death in the red-hot molten iron. The skeleton seemed to be struggling to escape from the molten iron, but in the end, only the top of its skull was exposed. Someone wrote holy words on the top of the white skull:
"Today, I sealed this place as a servant of God. Evil will never be able to defeat justice. This door will never open until the day God judges the world.”
There was also an autograph at the bottom: " Mum mum mum mum ”
" Grigory Efimovich Raspujin, that wizard really came here..." Bondarev stroked the skull.
As the most famous saint, heretic, pervert, and mystic in Russian history, Raspugen was originally famous. However, during the Soviet era, such a person's name would not be mentioned in public, so it was gradually forgotten a century later.
He was originally an ordinary Russian farmer, but as he showed amazing prophetic abilities and mysterious hypnotism, Laspugen was gradually regarded as a saint by the people.
Later, he became a good friend of the Tsar family and received unparalleled favor. He had used his prophecy to save the crown prince's life and accurately predicted his own death.
At the end of 1916, he suddenly wrote a letter to the Tsar, saying that he would be killed before January 1917. He also said that if he was killed by the people, the emperor would have a few years to live. If he died at the hands of the nobles, the entire royal family would not live for more than two years.
The facts proved his prediction. On December 29, 1916, Prince Yusupov murdered Raspujin. At a banquet, Prince Yusupov invited Laspujin to eat eight cakes containing potassium cyanide and a whole bottle of Madeira wine mixed with potassium cyanide. The poison was enough to kill five people, but Laspujin did not react.
Prince Yusupov had no choice but to shoot through his lungs. After a brief coma, Raspugem woke up again and attacked Prince Yusupov, trying to escape across the lawn. This time, he was shot three more times, one of which penetrated his head. After being dragged into the room as a corpse, he woke up again. Prince Yusupov had to hit him in the head with an iron dumbbell, and Raspujin did not die. In the end, he was thrown into an ice cave in the Imoka River. The next day, the forensic autopsy results showed that Laspugen had survived for eight minutes under the ice. He died at the hands of the nobles, and in less than two years, the Tsar's family died under the guns of the Red Army.
As an unprecedented pervert, it was said that he slept with all the noble girls in Russia. Any girl who was looked at by his blue eyes would involuntarily take off their clothes and offer themselves to him. If he had sex with a virgin, Laspugen would collect a strand of her hair. In 1977, when the Leningradsky city government demolished the house he had lived in, they found boxes of hair in the garden. In the end, he also died of this weakness. He went to Prince Yusupov's banquet because he coveted the enchanting and beautiful princess.
The engineers didn't open the 'door' of the seal on the Lascope crystal. Instead, they dug a new hole in the rock wall. Bondarev used the key he had prepared to open the door on the gap. Just like the door on the ground, this door was filled with explosives and a mechanical password lock. It seemed that it was not going to be opened again. The iron ladder behind the door was rusted. The ladder passed through a crack in the rock and at the end was an old-fashioned engineering elevator.
Everything matched the engineering map in Bondarev's hand, but that was all. The last mark on the map was this engineering elevator, and the passage down was indicated by a dotted line. The person who drew this map didn't know what was below. Was it a treasure cave or hell?
He would only know if he gambled. Bondarev got into the elevator and pulled the switch. The motor started to spin, and the elevator slowly descended. The old equipment had not lost power yet. The steel cable rubbed against the shaft, making a hair-raising sound.
Bondarev put out his flashlight and put on his infrared night vision goggles. He had been trained by the KGB and knew that a person with a flashlight was an easy target. The elevator finally stopped in absolute darkness. The sound of the folding door opening echoed in the huge space.
Bondarev was shocked and realized that he had been sent into a huge cave. He did not expect there to be such a big hole under the frozen soil. Without thinking, he rolled away from the elevator to prevent anyone from hiding in the dark and attacking him head-on.
He slid along the ground and couldn't stand up at all. The ground here was actually as smooth as a mirror! This huge underground space seemed to be…an ice-skating rink!
"Welcome, welcome. All these years, I've been thinking that there would be new visitors to this hell. I've been waiting until today!”
Bondarev was pointed between his eyebrows by the cold muzzle. With the fighting skills he had learned in the KGB, he could not dodge or counterattack at all, because he had slid into the other party's muzzle. The other party did not hide in the darkness. He guessed that he would roll sideways out of the elevator and slide on the ice, so he squatted about ten meters outside the elevator and waited for him.
"You're still up so late, Dr. Herzog.”said Bondarev.
He could tell through his sense of smell that there was a faint fragrance of alcohol on the other party's body. It was the fragrance of red brand vodka.
"Sometimes I think that people who like to drink can't be bad. That's why I like you. You know vodka.”Dr. Herzog removed the Markolov and handed him a cold cup.
A beam of light shot down from above, enveloping the doctor and Bondarev. The cup reflected the light and was as clear as the most expensive crystal glassware. However, it was carved from a piece of solid ice. The ice was pure and had no bubbles. The outer wall was carved with cornflower patterns. The two of them clinked their glasses and drank the wine in one gulp.
Bondarev played with the ice cup."This is great. The strong wine wrapped in ice is like a beautiful young woman under the surface of an iceberg. I thought my hands would be frozen.”
"Most people wear leather gloves when drinking from such an ice cup. Only people like you who are not afraid of the cold can hold it with your hands. It was carved out of old ice in the-30 degrees Celsius layer and was also preserved in an environment of-30 degrees Celsius. It was the coldest wine set and was used to match the warmest wine.”the doctor said. Even though he said that, he was still holding the cup empty-handed. His slender hands were very stable and did not tremble at all because of the low temperature.
The doctor was wearing a well-dressed black suit, a starched white shirt, and a rose-red bow tie.
"You don't look like you're going to kill someone in this outfit, but you're holding a gun.”said Bondarev.
"It depends on what your purpose is. I put on my formal attire because I might be the host to welcome guests, but I don't mind being an executioner.”The doctor stared into Bondarev's eyes." Who are you? Why are you here?"
"Bondarev, a KGB major, from Moscow. I only hid my great-grandmother's name from you. Her name was Nastasia Nikolaevna Romanova.”Bondarev slowly read out the long and awkward name, like a magician reading out a forbidden spell.
"The last princess of the Romanov dynasty?"”
Nastasia was the last princess of the Romanov Dynasty, and the Romanov Dynasty was the last dynasty to rule Russia until it was overthrown by the October Revolution in 1917. In 1918, the last Tsar Nicholas II and his entire family were secretly executed by the Red Army. Nastasia was the youngest daughter of Nicholas II. Although she was young, she had the title of " Archduchess," which made her more respected than the princesses of other European royal families at that time. When the princesses met her, they had to curtsy and address her as " Her Royal Highness." It was rumored that she was the only one who escaped execution, and her name Nastasia had the meaning of " resurrection."
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