Chapter 105: Clause 404 of the Red House (Eighth Update—Seeking Votes)

15 points of fate shift! Damn! So many! This was the richest haul Mei Jiecao had ever gained since crossing over into the Marvel world.

“Hmm, how should I best use these?”

A student from the Celestial Empire, running off to World War II to serve as a henchman for the Soviets, fighting and dying—what was the purpose? Could it really be some sort of red-tinged idealism?

Don’t be ridiculous; the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of the last century.

At the end of the day, it was all about the fate shift points.

With fate shift points, Stalin? Hmph! Whatever!

But why was the system so generous this time? I haven’t even started yet, and it’s already giving me 15 points?

Does the system know I’m going to stir things up early on?

This was truly a windfall.

Besides the 15 points, each rescued general brought an additional point, plus a bunch of miscellaneous mid-level officers and relatives of top Soviet diplomats. Mei Mumu received a total of 18 fate shift points, along with 81 fragments of destiny.

Just as Mei Mumu was basking in this joy, two more fate shift points suddenly arrived.

“Huh?”

“Detected Baron Strucker’s forced defection. The Strucker faction within Hydra has been severely weakened. Awarding an additional 2 fate shift points.”

What? That’s even possible?

For the first time, Mei Jiecao realized that besides strengthening superheroes, weakening Marvel villains ahead of time could also yield fate shift points.

After a short while, a sudden rush of 32 fragments of destiny poured in.

That feeling of a pie falling from the sky—delightful!

“Could it be... the Little Mustache is furious?” Mei Jiecao struggled to suppress a laugh.

This time, he guessed right.

Deep inside Hitler’s lair, the Little Mustache had completely erupted in rage.

The Eastern Front had collapsed. Over a month ago, hundreds of thousands of German troops had been trapped in a frozen hell.

Air Force Marshal Göring had assured Hitler that he could deliver over 700 tons of supplies daily to the front lines in Stalingrad.

In reality, Göring, unaware of just how brutal the Soviet winter was, couldn’t even guarantee 300 tons per day.

The frontline soldiers were crushed by cold and starvation, losing all will to fight.

The situation was spiraling into hell; the hundreds of thousands of German troops were unlikely to survive until spring. Because of Mei’s interference, the German offensive was worse than in history. The Soviets had already gathered over two million troops, preparing to bring the Battle of Stalingrad to a close.

At this point, no matter how furious the Little Mustache was, he could not rescue the encircled German troops. Field Marshal Paulus was ready to surrender.

In such an environment, a figure like Yakov would have been extremely valuable. By late December, the Little Mustache had already considered exchanging Yakov to retrieve one of his marshals if the worst happened.

Sadly, Yakov was gone.

Even Stalin’s famous phrase, “I will not exchange a single soldier for a marshal,” never had a chance to be uttered.

Thus, the Little Mustache’s misplaced anger was understandable.

“Useless! All useless! The enemy escaped right under our noses! And none of the important ones were caught. What about the Ghost of Stalingrad? Are you all blind? Dozens of vehicles passed by his car in the opposite direction, and nobody checked?” The Little Mustache’s roars echoed in the wolf’s den for a full day and night.

A thorough investigation revealed that the trigger was undoubtedly Colonel Ludwilla Etgar’s insane, sudden declaration to annihilate Hydra, striking first and killing two of Hydra’s top leaders.

But it was also an undeniable fact that Hydra soldiers fired on the SS troops.

Given the Little Mustache’s ruthless nature, Hydra should have been wiped out. Yet, who knows what kind of poison the Red Skull fed to Hitler.

Hitler shifted his focus to exterminating Baron Strucker’s faction instead. The Red Skull even acted as the vanguard, leading a bloodbath.

Someone lounged in their new office, legs crossed, lighting a ruble earned as a bonus, and gazed out at the picturesque scenery.

The only minor irritation was why the so-called “Red House” wasn’t in a truly red building, but rather a simple, plain white schoolhouse.

“Sunset over the western hills, red clouds flying, soldiers shooting targets, returning to camp...” Mei Mumu hummed the tune learned during university military training, while images of Hydra members being cornered and executed, blood flowing like a river, flashed in his mind.

That dark satisfaction shone plainly on his face!

Just as he was watching the lottery wheel on his retina display, clutching his fate shift points like a miser unwilling to spend, there was a knock at the door.

“Commander, Lieutenant Romanova is here.”

Mei Mumu replied, “Send her in.”

The intelligence department had assigned him a secretary—an archetypal Soviet girl, with a fiery figure of 36D-26-38, a round face, and both beauty and physique top-tier. Clearly, she didn’t mind a relationship beyond mere friendship.

Unfortunately, Mei Mumu didn’t dare make a move on the intelligence department’s girl.

Otherwise, it would truly be a close investigation.

Sigh! In other places, this would definitely mark the beginning of a happy, lazy secretary life—busy when there’s work, carefree when there isn’t.

What a pity!

Natalia, the young Soviet girl, seemed a bit displeased with Mei Mumu’s new secretary. However, upon seeing Mei Mumu carrying sunglasses even in the dead of winter and holding his right hand low, she suddenly lost her temper.

Closing the door, Natalia snapped to attention.

“Commander, Lieutenant Natalia Arianovna Romanova reporting! Per orders from higher-ups, from today onward, I am a reserve trainee at the Red House.”

“Welcome, Lieutenant! Please have a seat!”

Since it was an office, there had to be bugs. The intelligence department never trusted anyone, and Mei Mumu, who had just been promoted in the heat of battle and parachuted in as a brigadier general, was no exception.

A quick scan with the balance system detected no fewer than ten listening devices.

Each was well hidden, but given the technology level of early 1943... Heh!

Not to brag, but aside from some truly advanced black tech on the American side and from the Red Skull, the rest were rubbish.

Natalia was still a 14-year-old girl; the hatred of her parents and family had been avenged swiftly, and her mindset was far less dark than in another parallel world.

She knew this was a place for business, so she spoke plainly.

“Commander, I have no objection to most of the terms for joining the Red House, except for the last one... I find it a bit—”

Mei Mumu glanced at the last clause and smirked inwardly. “You’re quite opposed to it?”

“Yes. If the new Red House insists on that clause, I might choose to quit.”

In the original Red House, things were extremely grim. Besides the brutal, dehumanizing training, the final graduation test was a trial of intimate relations.

But now that Mei Mumu was in charge, many of those elements had been removed.

“Hmm, thanks to General Secretary Stalin’s trust, with me leading the Red House, its function will change. It will be focused on cultivating super soldiers. This is the new revised Clause 404. Take a look.”