Chapter 774: European Storm

Nina asked, "Little He, what is our next step?"

He Yuzhu pulled a hand-drawn map from his pocket and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly: "Do you miss the days when we teamed up to rob banks in M Country?"

Nina gave a faint smile upon hearing this, a smile carrying a trace of warmth from the past: "That was the most exhilarating time of my life, full of danger, yet extremely thrilling. It's just a pity that Vasili is gone."

He Yuzhu sighed softly, his eyes darkening suddenly: "Although Vasili is gone, we can continue his legacy. This time, we aren't going to M Country; we're going to Europe."

He paused, his tone deepening: "The Eight-Nation Alliance invading Huaxia, the Korean War—which of those did they not meddle in? Why do they get to enjoy a prosperous age while our homeland is left scarred and struggling at every turn? This time, I must make them taste the cost as well."

"Good, I fully support you!" Nina's eyes lit up instantly, her tone filled with irrepressible excitement, "And the money we rob... can I have a share?"

"Naturally." He Yuzhu said indifferently, as if speaking of something perfectly ordinary, "After each operation, I will give you two million US dollars. I won't use cash; it will all be deposited into your exclusive account in Hong Kong, for you to use for your retirement later."

Nina curled her lips and hurriedly asked, "Then what do you intend for me to be responsible for?"

"You are responsible for gathering intelligence from all sources. When I make my move, you just need to keep watch and stay on alert on the perimeter. Breaking into the vaults and taking things—I'll handle that."

Nina smiled brightly and happily: "Good, then let's have another thrilling go at it and properly experience this excitement."

The next day, M Country CIA Bureau Chief Casey flew urgently to Armstein Air Force Base in West Germany.

He looked at General Donnelly before him, his face livid, his tone suppressing anger: "What are the losses here?"

Donnelly looked distressed and replied with a dejected expression: "16 F-16 Fighter Jets have mysteriously disappeared, 40 F-4 Phantom Fighter Jets, 20 A-10 Attack Aircraft, and 119 C-130 Transport Aircraft have all been destroyed, and almost all the storage warehouses in the area are finished. The direct economic loss exceeds ten billion US dollars. To fully rebuild, it will take at least ten years."

He paused, his voice tightening: "What is most worrying is that if the Soviet Union takes advantage of this opportunity to act, with our current defensive strength... we will undoubtedly be defeated."

The more Casey heard, the angrier he became, scolding sharply: "I'm afraid you were all too busy eating, drinking, and having fun during Christmas, neglecting your defenses, which is why someone was able to sneak in so easily!"

Donnelly said with a helpless expression: "The patrols all said everything was normal; from beginning to end, they didn't find any traces of outsiders breaking in..."

"Simply absurd!" Casey snorted coldly in annoyance, "Don't give me any nonsense about alien invasions or meteorites hitting the Earth!"

Although he cursed like this, Casey's heart sank, and he immediately thought of the Shadow Organization.

He suddenly realized that he might have been played. Previously, Elizabeth had been adamant that the people from the Shadow Organization came from Huaxia, so he had transferred all his core investigative forces to Hong Kong.

Now it seemed that the other party was clearly using a feint—attacking the Chip Factory was just a cover, and this air force base was the real target. There was no need to ask; this catastrophe must have been orchestrated by the Soviet Union behind the scenes.

Donnelly frowned, looking completely baffled: "Bureau Chief Casey, those newly equipped F-16 Fighter Jets disappeared into thin air overnight; this is too bizarre. You are experienced—do you know who is responsible? Are you sure it wasn't a UFO?"

Casey pondered for a moment and said slowly: "This reminds me of the fifties, when our country experienced a series of strange events: bank vaults being robbed, two large grain warehouses losing all their grain overnight, and the military base in Hawaii being attacked and bombed. The modus operandi of these cases is highly similar, and a comparison shows—the mastermind must be the Soviet Union's Shadow Organization."

Meanwhile, He Yuzhu had already quietly infiltrated the core financial heartland of West Germany.

In 1985, the three top banks in West Germany were: Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, and Commerzbank.

He first locked onto the Deutsche Bank headquarters located in Frankfurt.

This newly completed landmark building was a twin-tower skyscraper standing 155 meters tall.

Fifteen meters deep underground, a giant vault was hidden. The walls were made of reinforced concrete, indestructible, and the entrance was equipped with the most advanced steel blast-proof door of the time.

Earlier, He Yuzhu had disguised himself as a bank client, entered the private storage rooms, and taken the opportunity to figure out the situation of the vault inside.

There were dozens of people guarding the vault in shifts, with layers of defenses at the entrance, consisting of three full doors, each equipped with an independent combination lock.

To ordinary people, this level of protection was simply an impenetrable wall; there was no way to get near it.

But He Yuzhu never took the conventional path.

As late night arrived, He Yuzhu and Nina began their operation, with Nina responsible for keeping watch and staying on alert.

He Yuzhu quietly slipped into the sewer near the bank, sneaking along while hunched over, slowly approaching the bottom of the building.

At the end of the sewer, the passage entrance was tightly sealed with thick steel bars, incredibly sturdy.

He Yuzhu muttered in his heart: "System, open a passage to the inside of the bank vault; how much gold will it consume?"

The system responded immediately: "The building's defense level is extremely high, and the structure is unusually sturdy; opening a passage will require consuming one and a half tons of gold."

He Yuzhu felt a slight twinge in his heart, feeling a bit of pain. But thinking of the twenty tons of gold and one billion marks in cash stockpiled in the vault, he didn't hesitate for a moment and agreed immediately.

The next second, the system started the construction immediately.

In less than half an hour, a hole just large enough for one person to pass through slowly took shape.

Before entering the vault, He Yuzhu took special care to disguise himself, guarding against the possibility of surveillance cameras inside.

But upon stepping in, he discovered that there were no surveillance cameras in this vault at all, only infrared alarm devices.

By comparison, the other party's security system wasn't even as advanced as the one back home.

This minor obstacle couldn't stop him at all.

He used the Scanning System to precisely locate the infrared emitters, mobilized his Space Ability, moved in slowly, and collected the entire set of devices in one go.

Looking at the gold piled high on the shelves, He Yuzhu was overjoyed.

Over these years, the gold in his Storage Space had only gone out and not come in, dropping from an initial reserve of 85 tons to only 37 tons. This massive batch of gold was just enough to make up for the deficit.

After collecting all the gold, he also packed the 1.3 billion marks in cash from the vault into his space.

Over a billion marks was no small amount.

After ransacking Deutsche Bank, He Yuzhu didn't stop, and proceeded to sweep through another large local bank.

That bank's vault was smaller in scale, containing only three tons of gold and 400 million marks in cash.

After the operation, He Yuzhu and Nina returned to the hotel together.

Seeing him empty-handed, Nina's eyes dimmed: "Little He, did you fail to break in?"

"The underground vault of that newly built bank was built exceptionally sturdily; conventional methods couldn't get in," He Yuzhu said.

Upon hearing this, the look of disappointment on Nina's face deepened.