“Lieutenant, these are your personal items delivered by the military police. If you require anything else, please contact the hotel reception!” The hotel manager, dressed in a black tailcoat, placed a small wooden box on the coffee table and bowed out of the room.
Qin Lun looked up, surveying the luxurious hotel suite. This hotel was just a five-minute walk from Marienplatz, making it one of Munich’s most upscale establishnts. The furniture inside, primarily made of rosewood and mahogany, was elegant and dignified, reflecting the classic aristocratic style of the Renaissance period.
Opening the wooden box delivered by the hotel manager, Qin Lun sifted through the personal belongings Gerthard had stored with the military police before his imprisonnt.
The box didn’t contain much: a Luger Pistol, a WEMPE German air force watch, and so miscellaneous notebooks and small items. The most eye-catching among them was an Iron Cross dal with a tiny Nazi swastika “卐” in the center.
A gleam appeared in Qin Lun’s eyes. He took out the Iron Cross dal, pinned it prominently in the center of his collar, and turned to admire himself delightedly in the mirror.
While reading history books in Handan Prison, he had grown quite fond of these dals representing bravery and devotion, especially the Iron Cross dal awarded by the historical Third Reich.
After admiring himself for a while, Qin Lun finally poured himself a glass of red wine. He reclined in the mahogany chair, thinking back to what Skorzeny had said to him that day.
The Second World War in this tiline wasn’t quite the sa as the history Qin Lun knew. The German Army had captured Stalingrad by the end of 1942. By the sumr of 1943, they had again besieged the Soviet capital, Moscow, forcing Stalin to decide by year’s end to move the capital to the Far East.
The Allied Forces’ Normandy landing happened nearly a year earlier than Qin Lun expected, starting in July 1943. It lasted a full three months. The Arican decision to enter the war, expecting an easy victory, turned into a major disaster.
By the end of 1944, ignoring the Asian front, Arican casualties on the European battlefield had reached three million. Over sixty percent of that number were deaths—more than ten tis the toll in Qin Lun’s original tiline.
However, perhaps influenced by the historical inertia of another tiline, although the Third Reich was stronger and more glorious here, it was still slowly marching towards its doom.
By 1945 in this tiline, the Third Reich had also bled itself dry under the onslaught of the world and uncontrollably entered its twilight.
Yet, the other Western powers were utterly weary of this prolonged war and desperately wanted to end it. At this crucial mont, the SS’s Foreign Intelligence Departnt obtained top-secret intelligence.
The leaders of the three main Allied nations—US President Roosevelt, Soviet leader Stalin, and British Pri Minister Churchill—were scheduled to hold a summit eting in one week, in Casablanca, the largest city in Morocco.
The intelligence didn’t ntion the eting’s specific content. But based on existing traces, the Intelligence Departnt analyzed that the three principal Allied powers at this eting intended to integrate their respective unconventional warfare capabilities. The combined Allied war effort might achieve a transformative leap, posing an extrely severe threat to the Third Reich’s future war situation.
Upon receiving this intelligence, the SS Foreign Intelligence Departnt imdiately reported to Reich Führer Hitler. Hitler ordered the recruitnt of Germany’s finest warriors and individuals with supernatural abilities to form a special operations team.
Once ford, this special operations team, led by Lieutenant Colonel Skorzeny, commander of the Oranienburg Special Forces, would imdiately head for Casablanca in Morocco. The primary objective was to assassinate the three Allied leaders. The secondary objective was to uncover the unconventional war power the three great powers were planning to integrate.
The operational plan for this special operations team was codenad “Heracles” — the Main Quest of the Apostles!
Heracles was one of the most famous heroes in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcne. Hated by Zeus’s wife Hera due to his birth, he later completed twelve tasks, deed “impossible,” set by King Eurystheus.
The German High Command naming the operation “Heracles” signified the imnse difficulties expected, much like Heracles’ twelve “impossible” tasks. Heracles’ ultimate success in completing these labors also embodied Reich Führer Hitler’s fervent hope for the special operations team.
Looking at the task details already displayed in his Death Notice, Qin Lun grinned, revealing a row of snow-white teeth. He liked this mission, challenging and filled with unknowns from the start.
No wonder the difficulty of this task spanned the rank range from Master Sergeant all the way to Warrant Officer. To participate in assassinating three Allied leaders, it really required a High-Rank Apostle from the third tier. Without the other powerful Plot Characters also in the special operations team, Qin Lun would have reluctantly declined. He loved challenges and mysterious adventures, but only if it wasn’t a guaranteed death.
He rested in the hotel for only half a day before the commander of the special detachnt, Skorzeny, arrived. Accompanying him were not just the Oranienburg Special Forces Soldiers, but also two n and a woman.
“Gerthard, this is Captain Bock from the Airborne Corps… This is Baron von Wurdenbeller, and Mada Monica!” Skorzeny introduced the two n and one woman.
Qin Lun looked up, examining the three from left to right. Captain Bock, like himself an officer holding the rank of lieutenant, wore a field gray officer’s uniform. Stern and straight-backed, he shook Qin Lun’s hand briefly and formally. His reserved smile held a hint of coolness, making him a typical German soldier.
Baron von Wurdenbeller had handso features and looked about thirty years old. He sported a slicked-back hairstyle and a neatly trimd moustache. He was dressed in a gray suit: a vest and white shirt underneath, topped with a black top hat.
Seeing Qin Lun look at him, the Baron doffed his hat, tucked his walking stick under his arm, and politely extended his hand.
“Delighted to et another German war hero!” Baron von Wurdenbeller’s gaze swept past Qin Lun’s Iron Cross dal as he nodded with a smile.
“I’m likewise pleased to et a genuine Junker!” Qin Lun adopted the cold deanor he rembered belonging to Gerthard, speaking impassively. “However, the Reich abolished aristocratic titles long ago. Calling yourself ‘Baron’ seems rather inappropriate!”
(Germany abolished the noble peerage system during the Weimar Republic period.)
“Ho ho! My title was bestowed by the German Emperor, not sothing I claid myself!” von Wurdenbeller chuckled easily, shrugging his shoulders without any offense. “I don’t personally care much for the title, but friends are accustod to it, and the na has simply stuck.”
“My apologies for my presumption!” Qin Lun offered the appropriate apology, though inwardly he was quite surprised.
After all, only three individuals could be called “German Emperor”: Wilhelm I, Frederick III, and Wilhelm II. Even if it was Wilhelm II who abdicated in 1918, that was a full twenty-seven years ago.
If von Wurdenbeller spoke the truth, that his barony was personally bestowed by the German Kaiser and friends had called him that habitually ever since, he must have received the title before 1918. Moreover, he would have had to be an adult at the ti, aning he couldn’t possibly be the thirty-sothing he appeared to be now.
It seed he was likely one of those extraordinary individuals Lieutenant Colonel Skorzeny had ntioned! Qin Lun’s mind raced, his eyes shifting to the last mber of the detachnt, the only woman.
Dressed even less appropriately for a combat mission than von Wurdenbeller was Mada Monica. This lady wore a small hat with flowers, resplendent court dress: a black princess gown over a shirt embroidered with ribbon lace, and surprisingly, a velvet shawl draped over her shoulders.
Besides her outfit clashing with the tense atmosphere, Mada Monica cut a cultured and refined figure, a mature woman of the cool beauty archetype. Her tall figure, accentuated by the princess dress, curved strikingly. She had slender eyebrows, a rounded chin, sharply defined cheekbones, and the uniquely Eastern European air of cold hauteur.
“It’s an honor to et you, Mada,” Qin Lun said, bowing deeply with perfect posture.
“Please, Lieutenant Gerthard, there’s no need for formalities!” Mada Monica replied. She took off her long gloves and extended a fair, jade-like hand toward Qin Lun.
The gesture montarily threw Qin Lun. He recovered quickly, hurriedly taking the woman’s small hand and clumsily kissing the back of her hand using his lips.
“Heh heh!” The young man’s awkward execution of the reverence drew light, instinctive chuckles from everyone present.
“Alright, apart from Herr Kluge, the interrogation expert the Intelligence Departnt hired, all of the Munich-based detachnt mbers are here!” Skorzeny clapped his hands, bringing everyone’s attention back to him. “Please bear with it and stay indoors! This afternoon, we’ll take a special military train to Hamburg. After eting additional detachnt mbers arriving from Berlin, we depart imdiately for Casablanca!”
Skorzeny then inquired about the weapons and equipnt everyone needed before leaving them alone. By late afternoon, the SS Lieutenant Colonel returned not only with the requested gear but also accompanied by the interrogation expert, Kluge.
Despite Kluge looking completely different physically, Qin Lun instantly recognized him: the familiar “interrogation expert” was, in fact, the other Serial Killer – Clown Grant.
Later, arriving at the military rail station on the outskirts of Munich, Qin Lun spotted Lin Feng, Little Lian, and Lady Feng among the accompanying Oranienburg Special Forces Soldiers. Lin Feng was assigned as the detachnt’s communications officer, Little Lian as a field dic.
However, when Qin Lun discerned Lili’s assud role, he couldn’t help but let a slight twitch pull at his mouth. Lili had indeed transford from transgender persona into a sultry Plot Character beauty, assigned the role of a secretary. If this wasn’t Shattered Starry Sky’s childish humor, it had certainly calculated the most fitting role for each Apostle’s personality when assigning these identities.
This train was an armored military train provided by the German military. The carriages and locomotive were clad in thick steel armor. The middle section mounted a 650mm Railway Gun. Apart from that, a whole company of Oranienburg Special Forces Soldiers was aboard – the core manpower of the detachnt.
If they reached Casablanca safely, this company would be responsible for creating diversions within the city and performing rear-guard actions as part of the Heracles Plan. Every single one of these German special soldiers—including the dics and comms personnel—had written their last letters. None of them planned on leaving Casablanca alive.
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