Durin's Diary

Chapter 720 Monologue
Noticing his captain of the guards pushing open the door, Sora looked up from the bowl of long wontons in front of him.

He's asking for an answer.

His chief guard pointed outside the gate and said, "Secretary, they are back."

"Let them in." Sora answered while speeding up his eating. Finally, before the first young man came in, he finished the remaining wontons.

The diet of the Changtang people is interesting. It is much more diverse than the fried and roasted food in the Western Continent. It tastes good too, and the seasonings used are also eclectic. The high elves always say that eating the food of the Changtang people will make you fat and reduce your life expectancy.

It is really amazing that a pointed-ear person can live for two or three hundred years. He even dares to say such words. He is not as good as a monkey without a tail. Sora himself has lived to ninety. In this land, the human life expectancy was not even forty years old when Sora was young. The civilians in big cities are even worse off. At this moment when the average number of child laborers is high, it is a big wonder to be able to live to thirty years old.

Because of this, everything Sora said to the long-eared elf was just bullshit.

What life expectancy? I'm already 90 years old. Can't I eat something good in the last period of my life?

"Secretary Sora, we are back." At this time, the eleven staff members of the Vienna Printing Office who had returned through the Church of the Original Creator bowed their heads and saluted together.

"You look so dirty. Tell me what's going on." Sora asked with a smile.

The leader explained the situation. When Sora heard the young man across the street confirm the problem with the printing factory by observing the bricks and stones on the road being crushed by a truck carrying ink materials, he raised his eyebrows. "Those guys across the street are just like the hippies. They're all students of Durin, right?"

"Yes, Mr. Secretary." The young man looked embarrassed.

"It's not unfair that you lost to them. Mr. Du Lin trained intelligence personnel. You didn't learn the same methods from Secretary Poole, especially you. You didn't learn from Mr. Du Lin, did you?"

"Yes, Mr. Secretary, I was judged to have failed the written test and failed to pass Mr. Du Lin's preliminary course." The young man said this and stopped talking.

"You didn't answer the seventh question, right?" Sora asked with a smile.

"Yes, Mr. Secretary, I couldn't answer the seventh question because I thought it was... too cruel," the young man replied.

"It's not your fault, but since you can't answer the seventh question, he doesn't allow you to enter Mr. Du Lin's class. It's for your own good." Sora nodded.

He remembered Du Lin's seventh question very clearly - if you led a team to kill traitors, and the target's family had a child, would you kill him?

Many young people couldn't bring themselves to do it, so they were kicked out by Du Lin.

Many people said that such a topic was too cruel, but how could he know that if he didn't do this, the entire team, or even the entire regional bureau, would be at risk of being exposed or even destroyed, and he had to be silenced.

Intelligence work cannot be too soft-hearted. Everyone says that Du Lin is kind, but who could have known that when it comes to killing someone, Du Lin won't even frown, or even droop his eyelids.

Any traitor who falls into his hands will have his entire family buried alive. Anyone who has helped the traitor, whether online or offline, will be executed as long as they know their true identity. Those who escape will be hunted down, and those in the Northernist-controlled areas will be thrown into labor camps. There will be no mercy or compassion.

This is the most ruthless and necessary virtue of intelligence work.

You can't let your kindness harm everyone on your line. Your target has families, and the comrades who followed you also have families! You've put your comrades and their families in danger for their children, and even caused the organization to sacrifice more people for your possible betrayal... This is unforgivable! Young man, your Mr. Du Lin is doing this for your own good, and even more so for the students who enter his class.

You don't deserve to work with them.

Sora smiled and gestured for them to relax a little - although you are not suitable, being able to graduate from Poole's class proves that they are qualified to work within Northernism.

When doing internal work, being kind to the people is not a bad thing.

Anyway, if we really encounter unruly people, it won’t be these young people who whip them.

"You are clearly a reciprocal response to Operation Milan. Secretary Poole should not be aware of this."

"Yes, Mr. Secretary. Secretary Poole tried very hard to appear knowledgeable, but we all know that his eyelids drooped uncontrollably when he lied."

"That proves Herr Dühring knew about this and was testing his students. The Viennese kids won't let their seniors take all the credit, so you unfortunate ones have become scapegoats." Sora shook his head. "You should rest for a week. I need to discuss your future arrangements with the comrades from the Southern Bureau."

"Aren't we going to the north?" The young man hesitated.

Sora nodded. "Alright, you guys go back and rest. Don't worry. I heard the one in charge of Vienna is one of Hippie's juniors. He also has a codename called Oliver Twist, which he chose himself. It's normal for you to fall into his hands. Hippie said that this little brat is the opponent he least wants to face. Luckily, we have a good relationship now, otherwise I wouldn't be surprised if he sent your heads back."

The young men were a little shocked, but it was obvious that what Sola said did not sound false - there seemed no need for the chief secretary to lie to them.

So after they left, Sora stood outside the balcony, watching them walk towards the gate, and couldn't help but sigh.

"Everything that young man Durin has done so far has made him very worried. The Northerners have always wanted to nominate a comrade to the throne of God. This plan has lasted for two centuries, but no comrade has ever succeeded. Now, the most likely candidate, Durin, seems to be thinking of destroying the entire pantheon."

This made it impossible for Sora to explain to the local secretaries. The local secretaries still believed that Durin wanted to use his noble status to create a more peaceful environment for Northernism - after all, if Durin also officially joined Northernism, the area currently controlled by Northernism would increase by more than two-thirds.

This will bring about a lot of unnecessary trouble, and all non-Northernist nobles in the entire Western Continent will immediately be alerted - they will feel that Northernism is preparing to replace them.

Many old comrades also think this is a good idea. Comrade Du Lin is concerned about Northernism. He is just like those who have fought on the secret battlefield all their lives.

But who could have known that what Sora feared was something else.

If the gods are all dead, then... can the people of Northernism really maintain their faith?

Regarding this question, Sora always remembered a monologue by Du Lin in his movie.

Sora remembered that monologue clearly.

The mean is the pass of the mean, and the noble is the epitaph of the noble.

(End of this chapter)