As soon as Zhao Xiaohai got out of the carriage and looked ahead in the bright moonlight, his heart, which had just calmed down, suddenly turned cold. He knew that he and Vasily were completely finished today.
The convoy stopped at an intersection. Standing outside the car, one could even see the lights of Irkutsk in the distance. According to calculations, their smuggling convoy would reach the military base in just ten minutes. However, it now seemed that such a short distance had become an insurmountable chasm.
In the bright moonlight, Zhao Xiaohai, standing under the car, discovered that the two fork roads leading to the city and the northern suburbs were both blocked. What blocked the roads were four Soviet BMP1 armored vehicles. As for both sides of the road, they were filled with Soviet soldiers wearing military coats and armed with live ammunition.
Zhao Xiaohai also discovered that Vasily, who had been so aggressive just now, had now become someone else's prisoner. Less than ten steps away, the self-righteous major was being escorted into an armored vehicle by two soldiers, and the one who was issuing orders to the troops at this moment was a tall female officer.
Just as Zhao Xiaohai was trying to see the female officer's face in the moonlight, she had apparently noticed him. Without a moment's hesitation, the female officer quickly walked towards him with two soldiers.
"You are the...what's your name...oh, the Chinese guy named Zhao Xiaohai, right?" Standing in front of Zhao Xiaohai, the female officer took off her military cap, played with it in her hand, and said in a cold tone.
"Yes, yes." Zhao Xiaohai's heart was dead, and he answered absentmindedly.
"Very good," the female officer nodded. "I'm Major Sophia of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. I'm honored to inform you: Comrade Zhao Xiaohai, you've been arrested on suspicion of smuggling contraband, bribing our soldiers, illegal profiteering, and espionage."
"What did you say?!" Zhao Xiaohai was shocked. He shouted, "I was engaged in espionage?! You are slandering me! Let me tell you, Comrade Major, you said I smuggled contraband, bribed soldiers, and made illegal profits. I admit it all, but your army has no right to arrest me for these crimes! According to your country's laws..."
"Shut up!" Without waiting for the other party to finish his words, the woman named Sophia kicked Zhao Xiaohai hard in the lower abdomen, knocking him to the ground and making him unconscious on the spot.
"Who cares about your laws?" Sophia snorted, glancing coldly at the unconscious Zhao Xiaohai. She then said to the followers behind her, "Go, take him and all these contraband away."
A tiny, dog-kennel-like cell, barely 1.5 square meters in area and less than 1.2 meters high, where an adult couldn't stretch their legs while lying down or straighten their back while standing. It was completely sealed, with not a single ray of light entering. For a living, thinking person with a sense of fear, being alone in such an environment for seven days would be a complete, physical and mental torture. Without a strong will, they would undoubtedly go mad within seven days.
Because of his past life experiences, Zhao Xiaohai was considered a man of relatively strong willpower compared to ordinary people. Seven days in the dark prison didn't drive him crazy. Although he looked two times thinner and walked crookedly, his back was not straight, he looked very energetic. When the Soviet soldiers opened the cell door and dragged him out of the small prison that looked like a doghouse, this guy who looked only one step away from death actually smiled at Sophia who came to pick him up. Then he said something that made everyone dumbfounded and secretly gave a thumbs up: "It's a pity that I didn't see your face clearly that night, Colonel, otherwise my short time in the dark prison wouldn't have been so hard."
As an officer who grew up in the army and received rigorous training, Sophia didn't know what she was feeling at the time. At least she knew one thing, that is, this Chinese man who seemed to love money like his life and dared to do anything to make money was a hundred times better than Vasily, the brigade commander. This guy who had disgraced Soviet soldiers confessed everything he had done in the past few years after being locked up in a black cell for only fourteen hours. He even admitted to a "false" charge of treason.
"He is greedy for money and lustful, but has a strong will. He is a piece of granite severely corroded by the decadent bourgeois outlook on life." In the report submitted to the headquarters, Sophia made such an almost self-contradictory evaluation of Zhao Xiaohai.
Soon, Sophia received a secret order, the content of which was equally simple: "Give him the best conditions to recuperate. I want to see him in person in three days."
After seven days of living in a dark cell without seeing the sun, Zhao Xiaohai, who had no idea what his future would be like, was transferred from the cell to the military hospital and admitted to the highest-end ward.
At that moment, Zhao Xiaohai had no idea that his arrest would be the true turning point in his fortunes. Of course, it could also be considered a sign of fate. During his seven days in the black prison, a series of major events unfolded in Moscow, creating a sense of uncertainty among the Soviet military leaders in the Far East. Undoubtedly, these high-ranking generals, more aware of the changing world than ordinary citizens back home, were acutely aware of the precarious situation facing the Soviet regime. The repeated concessions made by the so-called "mainstream" and "traditional" factions to the "democratic platform" within the government heightened these generals' sense of crisis, and they gradually became obsessed with self-preservation and the pursuit of wealth for their future.
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