Chapter 56: I held back my tears, but I didn't cry.

Just when the An Reform was gradually getting on the right track, the Soviet leader who had led the reform suddenly had a stroke and was hospitalized. There is a common problem in totalitarian systems, and that is that when the leader is gone, so is the reform. The Soviet Union was naturally no exception. With the hospitalization of this leader, his An Reform came to a halt.

Of course, if that was all that happened, it would have been fine, because as the head of a superpower, as long as the situation was not particularly bad, there would always be a day when he could be discharged from hospital and the reforms could continue. However, at this time, another event happened that completely ruined the An reform of the Soviet Union.

It was on the day that the leader had a stroke. The chairman of the KGB took a few people with him and went to find Yevgeny, who was then the Minister of Internal Affairs. Their purpose was simple: they wanted Yevgeny to join them in opposing the perestroika.

'I was young at the time, and the meeting was also top secret, because I saw that there were many KGB agents guarding the outside. My grandfather didn't talk to them for long, but from then on, he began to oppose the reform,' said Katerina.

Zhou Ming nodded, not surprised by the situation. In the final analysis, reform was a newly formed interest group going up against another interest group. The two interest groups constantly engaged in a war of attrition until one side overwhelmed the other. If the side that followed the trend of development prevailed, then reform was a success; otherwise, it was a failure. The situation in the Soviet Union was obviously the latter.

'At first, my grandfather would just question all the reform proposals at meetings, but later, he began attacking the officials who supported the reforms. Of course, at first, only insignificant officials were removed, but as the leader's condition grew worse, my grandfather's actions became more and more extreme. He even openly demanded at the Party Congress that a deputy prime minister who led the reforms step down.'

When Kalelina said this, her tone was one of indignation and shame, as if she strongly disagreed with her grandfather's actions.

Zhou Ming didn't say anything, and Katerina continued, 'That's it. With the death of that leader, the An Reform was quickly cut short. All reform officials were purged from the central government, and even the families of those officials were threatened in various ways. My grandfather always said that everything he did was for the good of the country, but I don't think he was worthy of being the leader of the people of Northern Russia!'

'If I remember correctly, that leader died of kidney disease, didn't he?' Zhou Ming suddenly asked at this time.

Zhou Ming's question took Kalelina by surprise. She obviously didn't expect Zhou Ming to ask such a question at this time, and she stammered and stuttered in reply, 'The leader was originally in poor health, with myocardial infarction and hypertension. It is possible that he died of any disease.'

Kalelina's answer seemed to be no answer, but in fact it made Zhou Ming understand that it was obvious that the death of the leader was related to her grandfather.

This does not mean that he was directly poisoned to death or something, because there was no need for that at all, and the risk was too great. Anyway, the leader was already in poor health, and Western medicine is also very harmful to the kidneys. As long as someone meddles with it a little, the leader will go to meet God early.

But Zhou Ming did not ask this because he was interested in the central struggle of this superpower. It was just that these things made him think of something else.

'So what happened next?' Zhou Ming asked.

'The leader was only a transitional figure, and he died without accomplishing anything in his struggle with my grandfather. It's not worth mentioning. Then Bagrov came to power and carried out reforms,' said Katerina. 'Bagrov was a very radical figure. As soon as he came to power, he began to carry out sweeping reforms, and naturally he clashed most directly with my grandfather.'

'This time, Bagrov won,' said Katerina. 'At that time, Bagrov somehow won the support of the KGB. With the support of KGB agents, he obtained evidence that my grandfather had opposed the reform and caused the death of the former leader, and then made all the evidence public. Later, my grandfather was imprisoned because of this.'

'Mr Zhou Ming, the time my grandfather was imprisoned was a nightmare that I would never like to recall in my life.'

Katerina said, her face full of pain: 'My grandfather was arrested directly in the Kremlin. He did not go home. That day, a group of police came back. They searched everywhere in the house and turned it upside down, saying that they were looking for evidence of my grandfather's crimes.'

'After the police left, a lot of people came from Krisko, but they turned into a mob that day,' said Katerina. 'They kept shouting outside our house, and they not only wrote insults on the wall, but also threw stones and bottles at our house.

'That was horrible!' Karolina clenched her fists. 'At the time, only my mother and I were at home. All the servants and guards either ran away or hid in the corner, trembling. My father, I heard, was stopped by the angry mob outside. Later, I learned that he was beaten to death. What kind of crime was that in the street!'

'Mr. Zhou Ming, in fact, the villa No. 8 that we went to together last time was my former home.'

After saying this last sentence, Katerina raised her neck high, closed her eyes, and clenched her silver teeth. One could tell without having to think that she was remembering those painful times.

Zhou Ming's expression did not change at all, because in fact, he had suspected something from the last time they went to Villa 8. After all, Katerina's behaviour was different from the norm, and the fact that Project Dota valued her so highly. It was just that at that time, Zhou Ming had not directly thought that Villa 8 was her original home. But now that he thought about it, it really should be the case.

After a long silence, Katerina continued, 'Later, the mob broke into my house. They beat everyone they saw, no matter who it was, as if everyone here was the devil. I hid in the closet and witnessed my mother being beaten until her head bled.'

'That day, all I could see was blood, and the whole sky was bleeding. I was in tears, but I didn't cry,'

Kaleena said, 'After those people left, my mother struggled to use her last breath to send me out of the room and into the care of a relative.'

'This relative was very close to our family, and my mother had hoped that I would have a good life. Unfortunately, that bureaucrat was not a human being at all. The night he took me from my mother to his home, he tried to rape me.'

Kaleena said with clenched teeth, with an expression of hatred as if she wanted to devour him alive. However, it is normal for her to behave like this. Just imagine, she was a young girl in her teens, and her family suffered such a major change in one day. Now her mother used the last of her life to give her away to the person she trusted the most, but that person was so beastly as to rape her the same day. How could she not hate him?

'Everything is in the past, isn't it?' Zhou Ming held Karelina's little hand and said to her tenderly.

'Yes, thank you very much, Mr. Zhou Ming, everything is in the past,'

Katerina said to Zhou Ming, and then continued, 'But I didn't let him succeed. I was very scared that day, and even when I got to his house, I still couldn't sleep. I heard him push the door in and jump onto my bed. I don't know where I got the courage from, but I took the table lamp by the bed and broke his head with it. Then I jumped out of the window and escaped from his house.'

'Then I wandered the streets.'

At this, Katerina gave a self-deprecating wry smile and said, 'It's kind of funny to talk about it. At the time, I was so scared that I just wanted to escape, but I forgot that if I left there, where else could I go.'

'At that time, I wandered the streets for two days. I was very hungry, and when I saw someone barbecuing meat at home, I asked for some. This time, I was very lucky. The family welcomed me in warmly and even gave me some meat to eat. But their kindness only lasted for a while.

'Later, they asked me who I was and where I came from,' said Katerina. 'I told them I was Yevgeny's granddaughter, and they immediately turned on me, kicked me out of the house, and called me a traitor to the people of Northern Russia and an unpardonable bureaucrat!

'During that time, I went to many places with a sad face and received the same treatment everywhere. At that time, I wanted to commit suicide because I was really suffering. I could hardly hold on, but fortunately, I met some really good people at that time. They didn't despise me for my status and were just enthusiastic towards me.'

Kaleena finally smiled as she continued: 'But this good man's family was not wealthy. To what extent? To put it simply, if it rained and his clothes were wet, he didn't even have any clothes to change into. But actually, this was not the case in his family originally, because I saw that their house was still quite nice, which at least proves that their family was once not poor.'

'At the beginning of the reform, they left the company and went into business for themselves. Although it was only for a few months, they made a lot of money, and that's when they bought their house. But the good times didn't last long. Soon after the leader had a stroke and was hospitalised, my grandfather began to oppose the reform, and their business could no longer continue.'

'Since they resigned from their positions at the unit to go into business, they couldn't return to the unit, and doing business was against the policy, which caused their family to suddenly become poor,' said Katerina.

'It wasn't until then that I understood the purpose of reforms like this, and I also understood the kind of disaster my grandfather had brought to the country and how much effort had been destroyed,' Katerina said with emotion in the end.

'So that's why you decided to join the Dota Project, with the aim of using external forces to help transform the Soviet Union?' Zhou Ming asked.

Kaleena nodded and said, 'Yes, since I can't do it myself, I have to rely on external forces. This is also the last thing I can do for this country, and it is also a way for me to atone for the crimes my grandfather committed against all Northern Russians.'

'Stupid!' Zhou Ming said.