Chương 106: Led by the Nose

Viktor Volkov had just settled on the terminal floor of Berlin-Schönefeld Airport when the world erupted. The first gun appeared in Leo's peripheral vision. A man in a rumpled business suit drew a pistol from beneath his jacket and leveled it at Morimoto's head. Two more civilians followed suit. Then a dozen. Uniformed KGB officers carrying swords poured from side corridors, boots thundering against the concrete.

The blades caught the fluorescent light as the officers formed a perimeter, boxing Leo's group against the boarding gate. Leo had already drawn Moonrider and activated its defensive formation. He stepped in front of Vivian, placing himself between her and the growing cordon. Beside him, Thad had done the same for Ella, his own blade drawn and defensive formation shimmering to life. Leo's mind raced through possibilities and discarded each one. Morimoto had been eccentric. Unpredictable. But never reckless.

This was the greatest danger of his life. The semicircle of weapons tightened. Leo counted thirty agents, many of them Gold Core. His divine sense stretched outward, cataloging threats, calculating escape routes, finding none. Morimoto stood at the center of their group, facing away from the guns. His posture remained loose while he watched the boarding gate doors with mild interest, as if the unconscious KGB agent had nothing to do with him.

"Mr. Morimoto." Leo kept his voice low.

"What did you do?" For some reason he felt the need to remind everyone this wasn't his fault.

"Patience, Mr. Chen." Seconds stretched into eternities. If the officers opened fire, he would need to move immediately. Shield Vivian first. Trust Thad to protect Ella. Break through the windows and fly over the tarmac. Not a great plan. But the only one he had. The boarding gate doors opened. A man stepped through. Unremarkable at first glance. Middle-aged, gray hair cropped short. A simple wool coat over a nondescript suit. Then he stopped hiding his cultivation. Nascent Soul.

"Stand down," the Nascent Soul Lord said in English, and again in Russian.

"Stand down, all of you." The agents holstered their weapons. The KGB officers sheathed their swords. Leo lowered Moonrider but kept his defensive formation active. He glanced at Morimoto, searching for some sign of surprise or relief. He found neither. The old counterfeiter simply adjusted his spectacles and offered the Nascent Soul lord a shallow bow.

"Comrade Director. A pleasure, as always."

"Morimoto." The Lord was annoyed.

"You are testing the limits of our hospitality."

"I would never dream of it. I merely found my friend Viktor wandering the streets two nights ago. His memory of the last few days seems to have vanished entirely. As any compassionate soul would, I was simply attempting to bring him back to America for treatment. Our medical facilities are quite advanced. I was performing a humanitarian service. You should be the ones thanking me." The Nascent Soul lord stared at Morimoto for a long moment. His expression remained unreadable.

"Save your excuses." Morimoto spread his hands.

"I have many more, if you'd like to hear them."

"I do not." The Lord turned his attention to the students. His gaze swept over Leo, lingered on Vivian, and settled on Thad and Ella. His expression softened slightly.

"The Nyxalis heirs. The Soviet Union welcomes friends from the Catacombs. I hope your visit has been pleasant, despite the circumstances." Thad blinked, caught off guard by the shift in tone. Ella inclined her head gracefully.

"Your hospitality has been most generous, my lord."

"A word of advice." The lord's voice carried no warmth.

"Be careful who you trust. You can only count on Americans to do the right thing after they have tried everything else." He stepped aside, clearing the path to the boarding gate.

"Go." They went. Leo slipped Moonrider back into his dantian and moved toward the gate, keeping Vivian close. Thad grabbed the empty diplomatic bag and slung it over his shoulder, abandoning Viktor's unconscious form without a backward glance. Ella followed, her pace measured and dignified. Morimoto brought up the rear, whistling softly. The boarding tunnel stretched before them, too long, too exposed. Leo's shoulders itched with phantom crosshairs.

He expected the order to halt, the crack of gunfire, the cold bite of spiritual weapons. None came. The tunnel ended at their jet's cabin door. Leo stepped through and only breathed properly when his feet touched the cabin floor. The others followed in quick succession. Thad dumped the diplomatic bag in an overhead compartment. Ella settled into a window seat and closed her eyes. Vivian claimed the seat beside Leo, her notebook already open, her pen moving across the page in quick, nervous strokes.

Morimoto boarded last. He pulled the cabin door closed himself, locked it, and settled into a seat near the front.

"That went well," he announced.

"As I always say, a formation master plans for every contingency." Nobody responded. The jet taxied toward the runway. Leo watched through his window as the terminal receded, as the armed agents became specks, as Soviet territory shrank beneath them. The wheels left the ground, and something tight in his chest began to unwind. He had questions. Dozens of them. Why had Viktor been in the bag? What was Morimoto's real relationship with the KGB?

How had a convicted counterfeiter orchestrated what appeared to be an international kidnapping? But first he wanted distance. Every mile between himself and East Germany felt like a weight lifting. The jet climbed through layers of cloud and leveled off above them. Blue sky stretched in all directions. The engine hum settled into a steady drone. Morimoto rose from his seat and approached Vivian.

"Miss Xin, I'm afraid Leo and his friends have a meeting with a special guest. We'll need to give them some privacy." Vivian closed her notebook and stood without argument. The two of them disappeared through a door toward the rear of the cabin. A door at the front of the cabin opened. A Gold Core cultivator emerged from the cockpit area wearing an unremarkable charcoal suit. He was broad through the chest, thickening at the waist, with Mediterranean features and silver-white hair combed back from a lined forehead.

"Good afternoon, everyone." He settled into the jump seat facing the students and crossed one leg over the other.

"I'm Nikolaos Androutsos. CIA Deputy Director of Operations for Soviet Affairs, but that's just a fancy way of saying I spend too much time worrying about what happens east of the Iron Curtain. You can call me Nick." Leo straightened in his seat. Thad spoke first.

"So the CIA stuffed Viktor into my duffel bag. Why did you have me lugging him around the whole time?" Nick's smile widened.

"Didn't Helga mention it? Stick your nose where it doesn't belong, and sometimes you end up in a duffel bag. Viktor's fine, by the way. Just missing a few days from his calendar."

"Viktor saw things he shouldn't have. These things happen at black market gatherings." Nick leaned back in his seat.

"Helga, for her part, has voluntarily scrubbed herself clean. By the time anyone goes looking for answers in her memory, there won't be anything to find." Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Leo connected the dots.

"Something happened at the meeting with Helga. Something we didn't realize." Leo, Thad, and Ella all looked at Nick, waiting for him to explain.

"Let me start by saying I owe all of you an apology. And I mean that sincerely." Nick held up a hand before anyone could respond.

"We used you without giving you the full picture. That wasn't fair to any of you." He let the apology sit for exactly one second before moving on.

"What's happening at the ZIE has profound implications for the balance of power in both our world and the Catacombs. When an opportunity to get eyes inside presented itself, well." He spread his hands.

"The IMO brought a group of talented young cultivators to Berlin. The Soviets themselves arranged the tour." Leo's mind jumped to the contacts.

"There's something special about the ortho-k lenses, right?" Nick smiled.

"Exactly. Getting access to a short tour inside that building wasn't enough. We needed to bring in specialized detection equipment. The Soviets would have spotted any of that during security screening." He leaned back.

"So we found an alternative. We arranged for the purchase of very special contact lenses. Lenses that would reshape your eyes and allow you to perceive spiritual energies that typically require specialized formation microscopes to detect. The whole purpose of the trip to the black market was to deliver those lenses into your hands without the Soviets noticing." Nick gestured toward the overhead compartment where Thad had stowed the diplomatic bag.

"That's why Morimoto asked you to hide the lenses in Thad's duffel bag before you set off to the ZIE." He tapped a finger beside his own eye.

"The Soviets had no way of knowing that the students on their tour were actually inspectors equipped with state-of-the-art detection equipment." Leo felt a chill settle in his stomach. They had been tools. Instruments calibrated and deployed without their knowledge. Every moment of wonder he'd experienced in those laboratories, every detail his enhanced vision had captured, had been part of someone else's operation. Ella spoke up, her voice carrying an edge.

"The Obsidian Cult does not appreciate being used as unwitting instruments in foreign intelligence operations." Nick turned his attention to her. His expression remained pleasant, but his eyes were calculating.

"You saw a lot, didn't you? Aren't you curious about the Soviet progress? About what you observed?" The question hung in the air between them.

"You're wondering how close the Soviets are to a pure fusion bomb," Nick continued.

"Whether what you saw in that third chamber was months from deployment or centuries." Ella's jaw tightened. After a long moment, she nodded.

"Why don't you all tell me what you saw?" Nick spread his hands, palms up.

"And I'll share my thoughts." They went through it quickly. The tokamak reactor. The spiritual qi fusion laboratory. The eleven seconds of sustained Tier One to Tier Two conversion. The pure fusion weapon research. The strange energy emanating from the Chernobyl Well. Nick listened without interrupting, nodding at key points.

"The government is well aware of the Soviet fusion program," he said when they finished.

"Energy generation. Spiritual qi elevation. The pure fusion bomb. These aren't exactly secret. The United States has our own versions. From what we can tell, both sides are in roughly the same place." He folded his hands.

"What you noticed about the Chernobyl Well was very important. That special energy you detected tells us something interesting about where Taras's priorities actually lie. It's the only area where he appears to have made real progress." He paused, as if considering how much to share.

"Let me tell you a story about Taras Shevchuk." Nick painted a picture of a man shaped by two centuries of survival. A cultivator who had watched his country, Ukraine disappear, into the Soviet system. Who had stood in the shadow of Reactor Four at Chernobyl as it burned and spewed poisonous radiation. A man who had lost a son under circumstances he refused to examine too closely.

"Many Ukrainians carry bitter regrets about what the Soviet system has cost them," Nick said.

"The talented ones especially. When a brilliant man hands over his life's work to a state that treats him as a replaceable part..." He trailed off and shrugged.

"Well. People find ways to cope."

"This all circles back to the Chernobyl Well." Nick paused.

"Now, I want to be careful here. What I'm about to share comes from a colleague of Taras' who left the Soviet Union after the Chernobyl incident. People leave for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes their information is perfect. Sometimes it's colored by personal grievances. You understand." Nick glanced toward the cabin door, as if confirming they were alone.

"According to this source, the Well has nothing to do with fusion energy. The energy you detected, that quality of absence, our source describes it as consistent with Netherworld resonance." Ella gasped. Thad leaned forward.

"The Soviets have made progress on opening a channel to the Netherworld?"

"Have the Soviets made progress?" Nick repeated the question back.

"Ask yourself this. Why is a machine that opens a channel to the Netherworld sitting in the middle of a fusion energy research center?"

"Taras told us the Well creates a negative pressure zone to contain the fusion reaction," Leo said slowly.

"But if the Well actually accesses the Netherworld, then he lied to the Soviets about what it does."

"The Soviet state has poured billions into fusion energy at the ZIE," Nick said.

"Taras has been their lead researcher for decades. He decides where the money goes. Which projects get funded. Which equipment gets purchased." The picture snapped into focus.

"He's been funneling fusion research funds into his own project," Leo said.

"His colleagues think they're building a fusion reactor. Taras just... never corrected them." Nick examined his fingernails.

"That's one interpretation."

"The fusion research brings in funding," Ella added, her mind clearly racing.

"International collaboration. Access to equipment. And none of his superiors would question a decades-long timeline because fusion is always decades away."

"You're all very sharp." Nick's tone carried warmth that Leo didn't trust for a second.

"I can see why Morimoto enjoys teaching you." He turned to the siblings.

"I'll add one more thing that might put your minds at ease. Our technical advisors believe a pure fusion bomb requires a room-temperature fusion process. That's completely unimaginable with today's technology. The Well's negative energy yield makes it a dead end for weapons applications." Thad relaxed visibly. Ella did not. Leo was still chewing on the bigger picture.

"So if Taras fails, the Soviets have a useless machine and a very expensive lesson. If he succeeds..."

"If he succeeds, he has something every major power and every cultivation sect in both worlds would kill for," Nick said simply.

"And he's sitting behind the Iron Curtain, surrounded by people who don't even know what he's built." The implication was clear. Leo said it anyway.

"He'd defect."

"People in difficult circumstances often seek better opportunities." Nick's voice was carefully neutral.

"Especially when those opportunities involve advancing their own cultivation. A Gold Core cultivator with sixty years of stagnation might find certain offers very compelling." Ella smirked.

"If Taras succeeds in opening a channel to the Netherworld, he would find the Obsidian Cult far more accommodating than America. We could offer him opportunities to advance to Void Refining." Nick's expression cooled. Leo looked between them.

"Really? How can you promise that?"

"The Netherworld is the source of life extension spiritual medicine and divine sense increasing spiritual medicine," Ella said.

"Both fundamentally change the rules of cultivation. They affect everything, even at the highest levels." Thad grinned.

"Dangle life extension medicine in front of Void Refining Eternals, and they'd happily take out whoever you pointed at. Simple as that." Leo's mind raced through the implications. Medicine that Void Refining Eternals would go crazy for. Taras must be taking a wild gamble, but one that would pay off handsomely if he won. Nick's glare lingered on Ella for a moment before he smoothed his expression back to professional neutrality.

"Any more questions? I'd be happy to answer." Leo hesitated. A thought had been nagging at him since the conversation began.

"Was the IMO and the Grand Formation Summit all just a cover story for this inspection? Does any of it actually matter?" Nick laughed.

"Don't be so cynical, Leo. Cynicism is my job, not yours. The Summit matters. The IMO matters. Your training matters." He waved a hand.

"Sometimes opportunities overlap. A group of students travels to Berlin for a legitimate competition. While they're there, they happen to receive some very nice gifts. They happen to tour a facility. Afterward, someone asks them about their experience. That's all." He shrugged.

"If Viktor had stayed home that day, you might have gone through the whole process without ever knowing anyone was paying attention. Your only clue would have been an essay you submitted to your trainers back home in Pittsburgh." Ella's voice went cold.

"You intended to conceal this from us indefinitely." Nick smiled.

"The lenses are yours to keep regardless. They'll reshape your perception permanently. That's a gift worth having, wouldn't you say? No strings attached." Leo heard the unspoken exchange. The ortho-k lenses that would permanently enhance their perception. He had accepted them as gifts. Now he understood they had been payment for services rendered without consent.

"Why would the forces behind Helga help with any of this?" Leo asked.

"Shouldn't they be Soviet? Why expose their own intelligence?" A worse thought occurred to him.

"Did they expose Taras? Is he in danger?"

"Here's something I learned after fifty years in this business." Nick straightened his charcoal suit.

"Countries are just collections of individuals. People who want things for themselves. People who protect what's theirs and take advantage of what they can." He met Leo's eyes.

"Helga operates under someone's protection. That someone wanted a look at the ZIE just as much as we did. Maybe more. As for Taras..." Nick glanced toward the rear of the cabin, where Morimoto had disappeared.

"Special geniuses tend to be remarkably safe. Nobody wants to break a tool they might need later." Leo let the words settle. The world wasn't as simple as it seemed. He had always thought of America as a safe place. A country where he could freely grow, live, and cultivate. Where the rules were clear and the threats came from foreign enemies. But sitting here, listening to a CIA Deputy Director explain how the world actually worked, how alliances were temporary and loyalty was transactional, it complicated things.

The silence stretched. Thad stared out the window at the clouds below. Ella had closed her eyes, her expression unreadable. Nobody seemed to have more questions. Or maybe they had too many to know where to start. Nick waited a moment longer, then nodded toward the rear cabin.

"Mr. and Miss Nyxalis. Why don't you join Morimoto? I'd like to speak with Leo alone." Thad exchanged a glance with his sister. Then they both rose. Thad grabbed his duffel bag from the overhead compartment and slung it over his shoulder before following Ella toward the rear cabin. The cabin door clicked shut behind them. Leo turned to face Nick.

"You wanted to speak privately. I'm listening."

"The CIA has been following your progress in the Azure Profound Continent. We've been impressed."