cicada

Chapter 1283: A Loner Overseas

"Big Ivan! Big Ivan! Wake up."

"Damn it, you were drunk again last night! I don't pay you to drink!"

In the gatehouse of the Hof Glass Factory, the factory owner Hof was yelling at a drunk elderly white man, spitting angry saliva in his face, waking him up from his sleep.

Big Ivan rubbed his eyes and his head that was swollen from the hangover, and said nonchalantly: "Mr. Hof, everything was normal last night. Please believe in the professionalism of the Romanov Dynasty Guards. No one can sneak into the factory in front of me."

A strong smell of alcohol and bad breath quickly spread in the room. Hof quickly held his breath and took a few steps back. Then he pinched his nose, showed a look of disgust, and replied viciously.

"The Romanov dynasty is gone. I'm the one paying you now. If you don't want to get out, you'd better not drink in the factory."

After being scolded, Big Ivan shrugged: "Okay, as you wish, sir."

"That'd better be the case, otherwise I don't mind finding a new janitor." Hof said and walked into the factory angrily.

As Hof's back disappeared at the factory gate, Big Ivan, who was pretending to wash his face, threw the towel aside, sat back in his chair, took out a bottle of vodka, and took a big gulp.

It is impossible not to drink. For a Russian, a day without vodka is incomplete, and Hof would never fire a janitor who has caught thieves several times.

"Drip~"

Big Ivan's thoughts were interrupted by several car horns. He looked outside and saw a half-old Volkswagen car parked by the side of the road, and two people got out of the car.

"Two men, one about 30 years old, the other under , tall, blond, blue-eyed, probably of Scandinavian or Lombard origin."

In just a few seconds, Big Ivan guessed the height, weight and even race of the two visitors, but as the other party approached, he suddenly sniffed, and his originally turbid eyes flashed with a gleam.

At this time, the older visitor took off his hat, stopped in front of Big Ivan, said good day in a standard London accent, and nodded slightly.

This man has a tall stature and a gentle voice. He is neither too enthusiastic nor too cold. He always keeps a proper distance when speaking, and behaves like a gentleman of British upper society.

"Good day, sir, hiccup~"

Big Ivan burped, mumbled something unclear, staggered forward, and subconsciously grabbed the corner of the person's clothes with his hands.

Faced with the sudden change, the man remained very calm. He gently took half a step to avoid Big Ivan's hand, and the smile on his face did not diminish at all.

On the other side, the stumbling Big Ivan reached out to hold on to the table and quickly steadied himself, his lowered eyes full of mockery.

Seeing that he had stood firm, the visitor stated his purpose. He claimed to be from Britain and that he came here to purchase a batch of goods and needed to meet Hof, the owner of the factory.

Big Ivan nodded slightly, picked up the internal phone and said a few words after the call was connected. He then pointed out the location of Hof's office to the visitor and watched the two men walk away.

When the visitor disappeared completely, Big Ivan sneered and whispered: "British businessman? German, you can't fool Big Ivan."

As a veteran of the last European war, he was willing to bet his life that the two men were definitely not British. Although their words and actions were no different from those of the British, he could smell the Hans scent on their bodies a mile away.

The man imitated the accent so well, his movements were agile, and his reactions were extremely quick. He was definitely not an ordinary German businessman.

Thinking of this, Big Ivan analyzed the purpose of the Germans coming here. Hof's factory mainly produces glass products. Could it be that the other party wanted to purchase glass cups for Mr. Yuan?

He quickly shook his head. The Germans had the best glass industry themselves and did not need to import from Australia. The visitors must have other purposes.

An hour later, Hof, with a smile on his face, sent the visitor to the factory gate and shook hands with the "British guest" enthusiastically. Big Ivan pricked up his ears.

"Mr. Hof, I will contact you as soon as possible to confirm the quantity of the goods."

"Okay, bye."

"Goodbye."

The older visitor finished his words and got into the car with his entourage and left. Hof stood on the side of the road and waved continuously, with a smile on his face that never stopped and his nose red like a clown.

Big Ivan quietly came behind Hof and whispered, "Boss, there is something wrong with these two guys."

Hof was startled and jumped out to create some distance between the two of them. Looking at the drunken Ivan, he became furious again.

"You're the problem, bastard. If you scare my guests away, you'll just have to go back to Siberia and dig potatoes!"

Big Ivan wiped the spit from his face, but he was not angry. Instead, he asked Hof seriously what the two guests had said and done in the factory. Hof frowned immediately after he asked this. Although he did not like this Russian drunkard, Hof had to admit that he had an extraordinary sense of smell.

In recent years, thanks to Big Ivan's sense of smell, no thief or bad guy has ever entered the factory, which is why Hof tolerates Big Ivan.

After thinking for a moment, Hof said that the visitor visited the production process and the factory's transport vehicles, and also looked at some common information. Apart from that, there was no abnormal behavior.

"Information?" Big Ivan felt that the answer to the question was in the information.

"Yes, such as the time, quantity and method of delivering goods to other customers." Hof spread his hands and said nonchalantly.

Big Ivan scratched his messy hair. He really couldn't understand why two Germans disguised as British people would be interested in a piece of business information. It was not an Australian military secret.

The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. He simply picked up his coat and ran out, shouting to Hof, "I need to go out for a while, boss."

"Damn it, wait, if you leave, who will come?" Hof stretched out his hand to try to stop the other person, but Big Ivan ran away in a blink of an eye.

In the building across the street, Wu Chunyang put down the binoculars, turned around and gave a few instructions to the young spy beside him. The seemingly sloppy gatekeeper successfully caught his attention.

The British businessman just now was Muh. As a senior intelligence officer of the Abwehr, Muh's performance was very professional. Wu Chunyang was very curious about how the gatekeeper found the flaw.

He had received news from the front that the Germans had taken action, so he immediately brought people here to monitor the area. Unexpectedly, he made such an "interesting" discovery.

As for why the Germans were interested in the glass factory, Wu Chunyang had some guesses. He could only say that the Abwehr agents underestimated the Military Control Commission and overestimated themselves.

Before the end of get off work at the Hof Glass Factory, a small spy hurried into the room and reported several pieces of information to Wu Chunyang, which were related to Big Ivan.

"Director, the gatekeeper's name is Ivan. He is a White Russian exile. According to information provided by a waiter in a nearby tavern, he was originally a member of the Tsar's Guards and came to Australia after the fall of the White Russians."

"The Tsar's Guards?" Wu Chunyang repeated this old name.

During the Tsarist period, the Tsar's Guards were essentially an elite military force to protect the Tsar and the royal family. Their main duties were to defend the emperor, the royal palace, and to serve as an elite combat force in wartime.

But in some cases, the Guards also undertook some intelligence work and had close relations with the two intelligence agencies, the Third Department of the Tsarist Police and the Security Bureau.

Therefore, this Belarusian named Ivan was most likely a professional intelligence officer. No wonder the other party could see that there was something wrong with Muh. After all, Belarus and Germany had fought for many years and were very familiar with each other.

Wu Chunyang put the matter aside for the time being, left the surveillance point and found Zuo Chong. He reported everything that had happened today truthfully and also told him his speculation about the Germans going to the Hof Glass Factory.

Zuo Zhong nodded after listening, and gave an order with a smile: "Secretly control that Big Ivan, lest this guy ruin our plans. Be careful not to hurt him, he is quite interesting."

Tsarist Russia has been gone for many years, but Ivan the Great is still targeting the Germans. What does this mean? Is there only one loyal person overseas?

"Okay, Vice President." Wu Chunyang bowed slightly, turned and left.

Late at night, in the Krampton area.

In the dark and damp alley, Big Ivan huddled in the corner, his eyes fixed on the car and the lighted villa, and from time to time he raised the bottle of wine and took a big gulp.

Having lived in Melbourne for many years, he knew very well that only Germans would buy Volkswagen cars, and the two "British businessmen" were not difficult to find.

Alcohol gradually numbed his nerves, and in a daze, Big Ivan seemed to have returned to more than 20 years ago, when he was still a young Guards officer in his prime with a bright future and had participated in many battles.

On the battlefield, he lost many comrades and friends. The German artillery fire destroyed everything, including the Romanov dynasty he loved and was loyal to.

In the final stages of the war, Big Ivan returned to Moscow from the front to learn how to fight the Germans on an invisible battlefield, but it was too late.

The retreating Germans released that man, and the "ghost" began to hover over Europe. The imperialists and capitalists panicked, and the first to fall was Tsarist Russia.

The memory came to an abrupt end, and Big Ivan raised the bottle again. Suddenly, he heard a slight noise behind him. He wanted to turn around to check, but the alcohol made his movements slow.

"Bang~"

A palm hit Big Ivan's neck hard, and he collapsed to the ground without a sound. At the last moment before his vision went black, he vaguely saw a dark shadow.

Are they the Germans? Am I finally going to die? This thought came to Big Ivan’s mind, and he slowly closed his eyes.

Wu Chunyang caught the wine bottle that was about to fall to the ground and waved to the side. The two little agents immediately poured some wine on Big Ivan and helped him evacuate the scene. The alley was as quiet as usual.

① A branch of the Germanic