Chapter 1098: Any Last Words?

From fabulous wealth to utter poverty, anyone else would have had a mental breakdown, right? To have a hundred thousand vanish overnight is enough to make one weep, but what if that hundred thousand was a million, ten million, or even a hundred million? Even the richest man in the world would probably agonize for a bit if he lost a hundred million in a single day, wouldn’t he?

What’s more, Linus hadn’t just lost a hundred million; he had lost tens of billions in assets! He was the financial crocodile of all Germany, the richest man in the world! But because of a single, casual word from the most powerful man in the world, he had become a pauper overnight.

He had calculated that Akado wouldn’t easily use the nation’s or the government’s credit to make trouble for him. And Akado had indeed, for a time, felt that making an example of these small-fry was making a mountain out of a molehill.

But Linus had miscalculated one thing. In the process of handling this whole affair, once Akado decided to “kill the chicken to scare the monkeys,” there would always be one poor soul who stuck his neck out to bear the brunt of the Empire’s towering rage. He stubbornly believed his capital was strong enough, that he would never be the unlucky one to take the fall. But in the end, his arrogance and greed cost him everything. He never, ever should have tried to make money by squeezing the throat of an Empire.

It’s a question worth pondering: How much cash would Bill Gates or Jack Ma carry in their pockets when they go out? The answer might be a thousand, maybe three thousand, but no one would think they’d have a hundred thousand in cash stuffed in their wallet. And so, at this very moment, Linus was facing a rather tragic difficulty—he was out of money.

If he were to walk into a bank’s teller counter at this moment with his bank card (what a joke), it’s estimated that in a dozen minutes, he’d be in a jail cell eating a cold, special-delivery meal. And at this time, he still had a dozen or so men with him. His expenses were not a small sum.

“This is truly a ridiculous situation, that I, Linus, would one day be troubled by a lack of money.” When he had fled his home, he had been in a great hurry. All he could take with him were some valuable property deeds and stock and futures certificates. Of course, there were also bank books and the accounts of his Linus family. But now, all these things seemed to be worthless. At least, he couldn’t exchange them for cash to bribe or spend.

Without money, you can’t make a single step in this world. This is an eternal truth. Wasn’t Confucius great? Wasn’t Chong’er (Duke Wen of Jin) formidable? When they had no money, weren’t they also destitute, squatting on the road, lamenting? What’s more, the SS were now everywhere outside, secretly searching for Linus, along with the terrifying secret police, the Gestapo.

Only now did Linus truly realize the seriousness of the problem. He had clearly recognized that the bigwigs in power in this country had already made up their minds to completely erase him, this greedy merchant. At this point, even if he wanted to turn back, it was impossible, because no one would tolerate this stray dog living in this world.

Those who had once taken his bribes were now, through clenched teeth, searching for his whereabouts. It was clear that if they were the first to find Linus, they would have a chance to use his head to claim credit and to offset the bribes they had once received. As for those who had never taken his benefits, they now had even less reason to let him go. Those people were the Führer’s die-hard loyalists. He hadn’t been able to handle them when he was at his zenith, and he certainly couldn’t handle them now.

“We must leave this place. You know, at a time like this, if they catch me, they won’t even hold a trial. They’ll just hang me directly,” Linus said, complaining to the master of the castle, his friend, as he leaned back on the sofa.

“Linus! Now is not a good time to leave. There are people looking for you everywhere. The patrols on the streets are much more numerous than before,” the Count said to Linus, his face full of worry. “If you leave my place now, where can you go?”

“North. If I can find a ship and escape to Finland, maybe I can rely on my friends there to smuggle me to the Far East or to America,” Linus said, taking it for granted. “But I need you to lend me a sum of money. When I get to America and make my comeback, I won’t forget the kindness you’ve shown me today.”

You’re going to America with a pile of worthless paper, and even if you make a comeback, you think you can recapture today’s glory? The old Count silently despised the man before him. He stroked the ring on his finger and said, “That is not a good idea.”

“Going north to Finland might be the easiest start to the journey, but what about after? Any ship leaving Finland, whether for Siberia or the Far East, which one doesn’t have to pass through the heavy blockade of the German U-boat force? This is wartime. You can’t just hop on any boat and have a smooth sailing all the way to the Far East.”

“The Imperial Navy’s U-boat force is formidable. They have already blockaded almost all of the sea, to prevent the Soviets from using their sea transport routes. To take this route at this time is no different from suicide.” The old Count paid far more attention to current events than Linus. At the very least, he didn’t think that soldiers were just low-class brutes who made money with their strength.

This was the first time Linus had heard that the German U-boat blockade was so formidable. After the old Count had given him a lesson on mine blockades and submarine patrols, he himself also felt that the northern route was too dangerous.

And so Linus stroked his chin and, in the end, gave up the plan to go north. Because after what the old Count had said, he himself had discovered that the direct route to America was too complicated and difficult. Although he had no “a son of a rich family does not sit under the eaves” (a wise man avoids needless risks) sort of saying in his mind, after weighing the pros and cons, to decide not to take the risk was in line with his character. “Then, how about going south to Italy?”

This route was, by comparison, much safer. All he had to do was to travel south under a false name, then find a chance to cross the border into Italy. The search there would be much more lax, and then he could just find any port and follow the flood of European Jews heading south, to Israel.

That was a neutral country. As long as he could get there, he would, in fact, be completely safe. To find any cargo ship, to go to South Africa or India, then he would truly be “high as the heavens and far as the emperor” (beyond reach). But this route, by comparison, would be very long. He might have to take a year for a chance to reach America by ship.

The reason he had rejected this route in his mind at first was because of the time. After Linus had finished speaking, the old Count nodded, which was his approval of this plan. “You certainly can’t go to the train station. The airport… you don’t need to consider that either. A car is perhaps your only choice.”

At a time like this, the train stations and the civilian airfields, which had just begun domestic operations, were clearly places that the SS and the Wehrmacht intelligence departments were heavily monitoring. These two agencies were supervising each other, and it would be very troublesome to try and pull any strings. So Linus also felt that to go to these places was no different from walking into a trap, and he was more inclined to use a car.

“A luxury car might be a way. Change the license plates, and then pretend to be a big shot. On the contrary, because of your ‘status,’ no one would dare to investigate,” the old Count said, after thinking for a moment, proposing an idea. “Think about it. Do you have any friends who are high-ranking officials, who are reliable? Maybe…”

“I wonder if an SS Field Marshal counts as a big shot? Or does Mr. Linus feel that Reinhard Heydrich counts as your friend?” Just at this moment, a cold voice came in from outside the door. The bodyguards in the room, Linus’s bodyguards, went to draw their pistols. But they had just made a move, when they were cut down by the bullets that had flown in, shattering the glass, and had fallen onto the expensive carpet.

Two SS soldiers, holding submachine guns, kicked open the door. The infamous SS commander, his hands behind his back, surrounded by a group of his men, walked into the castle’s reception room.

“Don’t shoot! We surrender!” a few of the bodyguards quickly raised their hands. But before they could even get an answer from these SS soldiers, they were gunned down and fell into a pool of blood. The faint smell of gunpowder in the room had not yet dissipated. Linus and the old Count, who had been scared stiff by the gunfire, couldn’t even say a complete sentence.

“Hey… Hey… drich,” the old Count swallowed hard, stammering out the name of the man before him. The infamous executioner of the SS, the butcher who had done all kinds of evil and had sent countless people to the concentration camps. His name made everyone’s blood run cold, and at this very moment, this man was standing there, less than ten meters from him, a Count.

He knew that tonight, he was completely finished. The SS was not in the habit of showing mercy. Everyone in this castle tonight would be drowned in blood. And so he stared at Heydrich, as if he wanted to forever remember the face of this man who would slaughter his entire family.

“To be honest, I really don’t have the heart to crush you. I don’t know if this news is good or bad for you,” Heydrich said with his hands behind his back, smiling like a gentleman. “Perhaps, even in death, you would never have imagined that it was your own wife who had betrayed you, her purpose being to protect your family and children. You see, sometimes the people you think are reliable are the ones who stab you in the back. How sad.”

“Bastard!” The old Count, it was unknown if he was cursing his wife, or Heydrich in front of him, suddenly leaped up from the sofa. But in just an instant, he was turned into a bloody mess by more than twenty bullets. He screamed as he rolled back onto the sofa, scaring Linus so much that he covered his ears and shouted endlessly.

“Alright, Mr. Linus, now it’s your turn. Any last words?” Heydrich asked with a smile.

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