At that time, after a terrible night, by the time I finally woke up in my makeshift hospital tent in Cherkar, it was already five days after the tragedy.

I don't know if it was luck or fate, but at the last moment, I ran with all my might, and I was lucky to escape with my life. However, the terrible experience of that night left Yan Zòng's mental trauma and neurological sequelae, and I spent half a year in a nursing home in Sochi on the Black Sea before gradually recovering, but to this day, I still suffer from migraines and neurosis from time to time.

Of course, compared with my colleagues and comrades-in-arms who died inexplicably that night, I can say that I am very lucky.

After the initial period of danger, and like all those who survived the tragedy, I and other colleagues who survived the tragedy were eager to participate in the investigation and try to find out the truth about the night of terror in 'Rome', not only because I was deeply shocked by the tragic death of my comrades, but also because of my duty - the research project in charge of such a serious accident that no matter how reasonable it is, it cannot be relieved until the cause is found.

Yes, no one can let it go, especially someone like me who survived death at the last minute. What's more, if I hadn't given the order for the soldiers to set off in helicopters and trucks, maybe they wouldn't have lost their lives for no apparent reason.

Although reason repeatedly reminded me that my reaction at the time was completely blameless, the mental stimulation of witnessing my comrade die in front of my eyes still kept me awake for a long time. So I applied to participate in the investigation in the hospital in Cherkar, but the response from the organization was completely unexpected by any of us. ”

As Zakaev narrates, the perspective shifts. Long Yun, who sat on the sofa and listened attentively. gradually realized that the old man's personal memories came to an end for the time being; Next he heard. It should be the investigation of the "Rome" tragedy.

Or is it about the cause of this tragedy and why there is no explanation for the truth?

"With the tragedy of 'Rome', the KGB soon received the news.

Because the shocking incident occurred in the extremely important top-secret base of 'Rome', and the situation at the scene was particularly tragic and strange, the KGB immediately began to conduct a large-scale investigation while strictly sealing the news and organizing personnel to rescue it, at least trying to find out what the current situation of 'Rome' was.

However, it was beyond everyone's expectations. The KGB's initial investigative operation not only yielded nothing, but also resulted in new casualties.

After the night of the shock, 'Rome' completely lost contact with the outside world, so the KGB quickly coordinated with various departments and dispatched reconnaissance planes and helicopter gunships to the 0353 area to observe the situation of 'Rome' from the air; at the same time, the ground reconnaissance team also set off from nearby Cherkar and Baikonur, and the vanguard vehicles were escorted by tanks and armored vehicles in order to deal with any possible contingencies.

Although I made such thorough preparations, I ......

Just the day after the tragedy, the reconnaissance plane sent by the Territorial Defense Force and the helicopters of the local garrison entered the 0353 area. Without exception, they disappeared into this area out of thin air; The same was true for the search team on the ground, as did the reconnaissance vehicle sent to 'Rome'. It was as if the world had evaporated.

In hindsight, there is no doubt that the scouts had befallen an accident as soon as they approached 'Rome'.

But at that time, there were very few survivors who had experienced the tragedy, just like I had just been found by the search and rescuers and was still in a deep coma; Therefore, the KGB had no way of knowing the specific situation that night, and it could only be helpless in the face of this situation.

Although the disappearance of the plane and ground vehicle at that time did not leave any obvious clues, and the contact with the personnel dispatched for reconnaissance was abruptly interrupted, the communication equipment faithfully recorded the terrible roars and screams that occurred before and after the disappearance of the scouts. It wasn't until I woke up and listened to the recordings that I was convinced that these people were probably the same people who died on the night of the tragedy, who were mysteriously wounded and killed after approaching 'Rome'.

Faced with such a strange and terrible situation, the KGB was naturally shocked.

After the initial confusion, on the one hand, the organization immediately began to raise the alert level of Area 0353 from the original "Level 1 Top Secret" to "Level 0 Top Secret", and for the sake of strict secrecy, all archived materials about the area were sealed and transferred, even the materials inside the KGB; So, Comrade Rezenov, the empty file box you saw earlier at 11 Lubyanka Avenue should have been emptied and transferred here shortly after the tragedy.

On the other hand, realizing that the situation in Rome was by no means unusual, and at the same time revealing a terrible and extremely strange feeling, the KGB reorganized the department that had been in charge of the research of the base and special functions of "Rome", and formed a secret general bureau under the name of "Rome" to conduct a thorough investigation into the tragedy of "Rome".

Comrade Rezenov, where you are now, the 'General Directorate of Rome', has been there since then.

The original intention and purpose of the establishment of the 'General Directorate of Rome' can be said to be very clear, that is, to try to investigate the causes of the tragedy at the 'Rome' base and the situation at the base after the tragedy. The sheer importance of this work, needless to say, you are surely perfectly able to understand; However, due to various reasons, after the establishment of the General Administration, it has never stopped its efforts to investigate for more than ten years, but the results are insignificant.

I've just told you that there's very little information about 'Rome' and '0353', right? ”

"-Uh, yes."

had been listening to Zakaev talking, and Long Yun, who was suddenly asked, was stunned for a moment before he started talking.

Yes, more than ten years have passed since the terrible upheaval of such a strict zhòng, and the KGB, which is almost omnipotent, has never investigated the truth of the incident; Of course, there is no doubt about the strength of the KGB, so could it be that all the relevant materials were destroyed on the night of the tragedy?

"Well, now I'll get to the point. The lack of investigative data was the first serious difficulty encountered by the General Directorate of Rome. If we want to say that the reason for this phenomenon is entirely due to the KGB's principle of secrecy.

Comrade Rezenov, although you are a new member of the organization, you must also know a thing or two about the KGB's secrecy. In line with the principle of proximity and centralized management, most of the top-secret materials under the control of the KGB are under the responsibility of the 10th General Directorate, which is dedicated to the preservation and management of archives, that is, the underground database stored at 11 Lubyanka Street.

But what you don't necessarily know is that this principle is not without exceptions in practice. In fact, for an extremely secretive project such as 'Rome', all the drawings, archival documents and technical materials involved in the project, whether they are handwritten records on paper or tapes that are kept on several jù, can be said to be the most secret of secrets, and if leaked out, the consequences are unimaginable.

Speaking of which, if you don't understand what 'the consequences are', then what I can tell you, as a member of the 'General Directorate of Rome', is that for many years, the intelligence front has reported that the Americans, or even the Germans, are also conducting secret research on special functions. Of course, since they have not yet grasped the role of the 'energy medium' - or we are not aware of any signs that they have discovered the "energy medium", then it can be assumed that the research progress of the Americans is extremely limited and there is no entry at all.

But you can think about it, what would happen if they knew about the 'Noh medium' and the existence of 'Rome'?

There are no impermeable walls in the world, and there are no invulnerable security precautions; Rather than letting the Americans get up like sharks smelling blood, it is better to keep it a secret from the beginning and let no one know anything about 'Rome'.

It is precisely because of this consideration that the KGB adopted the strategy of 'centralized secrecy' used by very few of the most secret projects in the matter of 'Rome'. Specifically, all the materials and related materials on the '0353' area, about 'Rome', and about the study of special functions are stored in the 'Rome' base. As you can see, the box in the '0353' area of the KGB headquarters archives contains only a few pieces of paper and maps in front of you, and all of them are new records added after the tragedy, because the previous files have been transferred to the database of the 'Rome' base.

It is precisely because of this strategy that in the years after the establishment and operation of 'Rome', the general public and Western intelligence agencies not only did not know the function and purpose of this base, but also did not even know the fact that there was a mysterious area of '0353' in the hinterland of Central Asia.

But who would have thought that the records management strategy, which was originally based on confidentiality, would become a stumbling block in the investigation after the tragedy.

When the General Directorate of Rome began to study this terrible incident, we were first surprised to find that the huge KGB organization could not find even a map of the 'Rome' base in the pile of materials; when we actually started planning the investigation plan, the only reference material we had at hand was a few photographs taken by a high-altitude reconnaissance plane after the tragedy, risking the destruction of the plane and the loss of life. ”

Speaking of this, Zakaev reached out and picked up the information bag on the table, and found a few slightly yellowed aerial photos from it, and he carefully handed the photos to Long Yun:

"Comrade Rezenov, you might as well take a look, this is all the visual information about 'Rome' that we have now." (To be continued......)