Chapter 55

While Wilhelm wholeheartedly played the role of pimp, in distant Moscow, inside the heart of the Red Empire, in the Kremlin, Joseph Stalin, the big mustache whom Natasha wanted to tear apart, held his almost inseparable pipe as he read the contents of the telegram sent by Tukhachevsky from Germany.

"So, Germany needs to increase employment opportunities to overcome their economic crisis. That's why the Germans are willing to export advanced weapons and even help us design and build a 40,000-ton battleship?" Stalin muttered to himself. "And what we need to provide is a large quantity of minerals and raw materials, without the need for monetary payment?"

"Yes, General Tukhachevsky has made progress in negotiations," the secretary respectfully replied. "General Tukhachevsky asked if we should proceed with the next phase of cooperation with the Germans. The decision is up to you."

Drawing from his beloved pipe, Stalin fell into contemplation upon examining the data of the "super battleship."

When all the tobacco in the pipe was consumed, Stalin finally made a decision. "We can initiate preliminary cooperation with the Germans, constructing the Deschensky-class frigates and Tashkent-class destroyers. Simultaneously, we will demand that the Germans submit the design plans and blueprints for the 40,000-ton battleship for our review. If everything progresses smoothly, then we can proceed with the Soviet-class battleship plan."

Blueprints! He wanted the blueprints first, so that even if the Soviet Union decided to build it themselves later, they would have something to emulate. Stalin naturally desired prudence!

The next morning, as Wilhelm entered the dining hall, Monica, wearing a strange expression, hurriedly rushed in and whispered, "Your Highness, two of those four prisoners are already dead, and the other two are barely clinging to life. Should we send them to the hospital for treatment?"

"Huh?" Wilhelm couldn't help but be surprised. "Is Natasha alright?" His immediate thought was that those condemned prisoners were playing tricks, trying to escape or take Natasha hostage. After all, they had all been sentenced to death, so what couldn't they do?

Natasha was an important undercover agent for the future German-Soviet war. If something happened to her here, it would be a bit of a pity. Moreover, Natasha was one of the Soviet members on this mission, so any incident here would undoubtedly bring trouble.

However, what Monica said next left him speechless. "Miss Natasha is fine. Those prisoners are covered in injuries, as if they were tortured to death."

"...Damn," he had heard of sadists, but he had never heard of someone shaking someone to death. Fortunately, he had arranged for them to be executed prisoners.

As for treatment? Wilhelm shook his head decisively. "They were already sentenced to death. Why do they need treatment? Isn't that a waste of resources? Just take them straight to the crematorium. Invite Miss Natasha to join us for breakfast."

After a while, Natasha, now wearing a fresh set of clothes, entered the dining hall with an apologetic smile. "I apologize for the trouble. I heard those individuals were condemned prisoners. I hope they didn't cause you any inconvenience..."

Inconvenience, of course not. But what intrigued Wilhelm was the grudge those people held against Natasha. "No trouble at all. But why did you torture them like that? Do you know those people?" He couldn't believe that these individuals could have any connection to the Soviet Union. They should have been complete strangers.

To randomly inflict such harm on people they had never met—could she be mentally deranged? Thankfully, he hadn't thought of sleeping with her. If he had, and she had decided to snap his manhood, just the thought of it sent shivers down his spine!

Natasha explained, "I didn't target them specifically. Ever since my family was persecuted, there has been a burning rage inside me. I need to vent it out periodically; otherwise, I feel like I'm going insane."

"...I understand," it was understandable. After all, her whole family was brutally murdered, and she had to pretend to be loyal to those executioners. "So, how do you vent your anger in the Soviet Union?" He even somewhat admired this girl. She had managed to pass through all these years unscathed in such an environment, without anyone noticing anything abnormal.

Natasha smiled faintly. "There are plenty of prisoners in the intelligence department who need to be interrogated. Whenever it's dogs biting dogs, most of the time, it's me conducting the interrogations. I'm the number one interrogation expert in the intelligence department, and I've earned the nickname 'Black Widow'."

"...You need to see a therapist," Wilhelm said.

Speaking of therapists, Wilhelm couldn't help but think of "post-war psychological syndrome."

According to common sense, every person who survives the battlefield should thank God for their favor and cherish their current life. However, that's not always the case. Many individuals who come down from the battlefield experience significant psychological changes that prevent them from living a normal life. The reason lies in their diagnosis of "post-war psychological syndrome," or simply put, the trauma left by the war. The brutality of war exposes them to the injuries and even deaths of their comrades, and they themselves face constant threats of injury or death. This leaves them in a state of high anxiety, tension, and even fear, which can last for a long time and eventually lead to permanent trauma, influencing their personality and character.

Even if they manage to survive the battlefield unscathed, their inner selves are still haunted by the shadow of war, an influence that can last a lifetime and prove difficult to change. Due to the trauma they carry, many of them isolate themselves, develop alcoholism, become irritable, or abuse drugs. In short, their lives become a mess. Although surviving the war is a stroke of tremendous luck, in some ways, their state of existence is even worse than dying on the battlefield. In their pain and despair, they are easily driven to extremes by the harsh realities of life.

There are plenty of examples from future times. Since the United States deployed troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the rate of soldier suicides and incidents of domestic violence has significantly increased, with post-war syndrome becoming a major hidden threat for American soldiers. Every 100,000 soldiers, there are 30 suicides. The harshness of war prevents some soldiers from escaping the things they saw or did on the battlefield, and this trauma doesn't cease with the end of their service.

Even the rates of domestic violence among veterans have increased by 33%, violent crimes by 64%, and child abuse cases have grown by 43%.

The wife of a veteran conducted research on this topic and wrote in her book, "Male veterans suffering from PTSD are 2 to 3 times more likely to commit domestic violence compared to healthy veterans. Surveys have found that the majority of mentally stressed veterans perpetrate at least one act of domestic violence against their spouse within a year after their service."

In the future, the number of German soldiers will surely exceed five million. How many of them will develop mental illnesses after the war ends? While there are military chaplains in the army, there are also many atheists. In the future, countries like Northern Europe, Germany, the Netherlands, England, France, and others will have a majority of atheists. Those who believe in Christianity in these countries are generally older individuals with lower levels of education.

Why is that? In fact, the decline of Christianity has been a long-term trend, possibly starting with the emergence of Protestantism.

As culture and science develop, more and more people criticize Christianity. According to Christianity, the Bible is the voice of God, but the Bible has many logical problems that seem ridiculous from a scientific perspective. Many people think that if God truly exists, then he must be a fool!

It seems that Wilhelm needs to pay attention to this issue and start training a large number of therapists. In the future, there should be at least one therapist assigned to each company. He doesn't want the imperial soldiers who fought for the country for several years to become a social menace due to psychological issues.

"Your Highness?" Natasha saw Wilhelm holding his fork and knife, lost in thought, and softly called out.

"Huh?" Wilhelm snapped back to reality and shook his head. "It's nothing. After all, those are condemned prisoners who will be executed sooner or later. We just saved a few bullets for now."