Chapter 1706: Chapter 1685: Rebirth of the Black Demon

As it was nearing the end of the afternoon work hours, Baskov finally returned to his office.

Working in the Russian Federal Security Service is always busy, and recently, Russia has been facing too many problems, both internal and external, keeping Baskov, a senior executive at the Federal Security Service, constantly on his toes.

Having just finished a very important meeting, Baskov felt both physically and mentally exhausted, but he was far from his rest time, with many more matters to attend to.

An assistant brought in a cup of coffee and placed it on Baskov’s desk, whispering, “Your coffee.”

Baskov nodded and said in a deep voice, “Bring me today’s report.”

The assistant brought over a stack of documents, placing a newspaper atop the thick pile of files. After doing all this, he quietly left the office of the Minister of the Border Security Guard Department.

When Baskov was very tired, he would start work only after having a cup of coffee, and while drinking coffee, he would customarily read the newspaper.

Although reading the newspaper was usually something done in the morning, Baskov had been summoned to an important meeting at dawn, so he postponed this process to the afternoon.

Opening the newspaper, Baskov took a sip of coffee, then began to carefully browse the advertisements. After glancing through them for a while, just as he was about to take up his coffee cup again, his gaze froze, and then the coffee cup slipped from his hands, spilling all over his desk.

Without paying attention to the coffee spreading over the desk, Baskov stood up in horror. After carefully rereading the newspaper, he exclaimed, “Oh no, this is impossible!”

The assistant, hearing the sound, ran in and saw Baskov’s shocked and fearful expression but didn’t dare to speak. Instead, he quickly approached Baskov’s side.

“Get out!”

Baskov’s words seemed squeezed out between clenched teeth. After speaking, his assistant immediately left the office.

Ignoring the spilled coffee and the wet documents on the desk, Baskov just stared at the advertisement.

Even though he was considered a traitor to the Black Demon, and despite being one of the few who chose to continue serving Russia, Baskov knew he was never a traitor. He simply didn’t want to retire into a normal life at the height of his career like other teammates—nothing more.

Baskov didn’t think of himself as a traitor, but he knew what that advertisement signified.

The appearance of this ad meant the Black Demon was about to be resurrected.

The terrifying, formidable, omnipotent Black Demon.

Most importantly, Baskov knew that once the people of the Black Demon regrouped, it meant they were going to try to resurrect the Soviet Union; and when the Black Demon was forced to disband, establishing this assembly order was their sole objective.

Although he firmly believed the Soviet Union was nothing more than a name now, Baskov also knew how strong his former teammates were—they couldn’t bring back the Soviet Union, but they could certainly disrupt Russia.

Baskov had remained with the KGB and still held a high position now. He didn’t want to betray those former teammates, but he also didn’t want them to destroy Russia.

Baskov was really conflicted, very conflicted.

“A big thing is about to happen, a big thing is about to happen!”

Baskov was somewhat panicked; given Russia’s current difficulties, he was very worried that certain people within the Black Demon would fall under the sway of some hostile Russian forces. Therefore, when the Black Demon was about to be resurrected, his first reaction was to nip the reborn Black Demon in the bud.

Baskov put down the newspaper, one hand picking up the phone receiver on his desk, the other hand poised over the keypad, but at the moment of dialing, he hesitated.

If he made the call, he would truly become a traitor to the Black Demon, never able to turn back, a real traitor.

From his official position, Baskov absolutely couldn’t allow the Black Demon to be resurrected.

But thinking of the Black Demon, Baskov was unusually hesitant. He just didn’t want to end up swept into the dust of history along with the Black Demon, yet he truly didn’t want to be a traitor.

Looking at the newspaper again, Baskov, who read the newspaper daily, once held on to hope, hoping to see the call for the Black Demon’s resurrection in its pages. But now, reading the paper had become a habit, yet he no longer wished to rejoin the Black Demon, because time could change a person.

Baskov clenched his teeth, dialed a number, but quickly hung up the receiver heavily, then, with arms wrapped around his head, he stared at the newspaper in anguish.

After much internal struggle, Baskov finally picked up the newspaper again and took out his phone from his pocket, dialing the number from the paper.

The call connected quickly, and when he heard a voice from the other side say hello, Baskov recognized it as Pavlovich’s voice, a teammate he wasn’t very close with.

Finally, Baskov spoke. In a low voice, he said, “Are you Pavlovich? This is Baskov.”

“Baskov? Are you also still reading that newspaper? I thought you only had time to look at work reports. Well, you’ve discovered it, as expected. Now, let me ask you, do you plan to arrest us all or kill us, or do you want to join us? Let me guess, it won’t be the latter, right? You’re a big shot now in a high position.”

Listening to the somewhat hostile and sarcastic words, Baskov’s emotions didn’t waver at all. He’d grown accustomed to being misunderstood by former teammates; more importantly, his heart remained steadfast as stone.

“What do you plan to do?”

Baskov finally asked the question weighing most heavily on his mind. If Pavlovich had said that they planned to overthrow Russia, he would not hesitate to act, using all the power at his disposal to capture all those former teammates.

Pavlovich sighed, then said in a low voice, “It’s not the original goal. The Black Demon assembly order was issued by me. I wanted to find some help to accomplish something big. I’m not targeting Russia, and the Soviet Union isn’t coming back—I’m clear on that. So, you don’t need to worry too much.”

Baskov said in a low voice, “How can you prove that?”

Pavlovich chuckled, “I can prove nothing. I just want to seize the chance to accomplish something big together before we’re too old to move. Reviving the Soviet Union is not our goal. We just want to die on the battlefield. Also, I wanted to tell you, Yakov has returned. He called me, and he will continue to lead us.”

Baskov stood up again, exclaiming, “The captain has returned?”

Pavlovich replied solemnly, “Yes, our captain has returned. Still on the way, just set out, but he will surely come!”

Baskov exhaled deeply, then said in a low voice, “I won’t join you, but I won’t set up any obstacles either. Let the Black Demon resurrect. Also, please tell the captain I miss him. Pavlovich, no matter what you plan to do, don’t taint the name of the Black Demon. If anything comes up, call me at this number. I won’t join you, but I’ll always be a member of the Black Demon. Hooray! Black Demon!”

After hanging up the call, Baskov sat back down, tears streaming down his face.

Baskov had always known where Yakov was; he always knew but never thought of visiting Yakov, the captain he respected.

The Yakov in the nursing home was just an old man, an ordinary old man. Baskov didn’t want to see an old man waiting for death in a nursing home and then link him to the omnipotent captain he held in his heart.

Moreover, Baskov knew his captain, whom he’d always respected, would not wish to see him either.

But now, things were different. Yakov, the captain of the Black Demon, the true Black Demon, had stepped out of the nursing home.

The Yakov who left the nursing home was the real Yakov; the Black Demon leaving the nursing home was the genuine Black Demon.

Having left the nursing home, Yakov was that Black Demon captain who made peers worldwide tremble, no matter if he was eighty-four or forty-eight years old.

Baskov had always thought his most admired captain would die in a nursing home. Now, knowing his former captain had stepped out of the nursing home, Baskov suddenly felt like laughing.

Although there was some regret in not being able to join the Black Demon, Baskov was truly happy to see that Black Demon reborn, especially with the soul of the Black Demon returning. Therefore, he suddenly shouted, “Bring me a cigar! A glass of alcohol! Not wine, give me vodka! And meanwhile, clean my desk!”