Molotov did not open the telegram from Moscow immediately upon receiving it. Sitting behind his desk, agitated, Molotov stared at the envelope containing the telegram for a long time before opening it with a sense of self-abandonment. The content was not unexpected; the Central Committee of the CPSU informed Molotov, "We agree to China's request, but China must first issue a commitment recognizing the activities of the Communist Party."

Though disappointed, the fact that there were no unexpected changes in the Central Committee's orders made Molotov feel considerably better. If this telegram had contained other orders, Molotov would not have known how to respond.

Two days later, at the Southeast Asia Political Consultative Conference in Jakarta, representatives from various countries passed the "Basic Program of the Constitution of Independent Nations of Southeast Asia." The document explicitly stipulated that the people had the right to form parties and associations. After passing this document, the representatives of various Southeast Asian regions specifically passed a document opposing extremist ideologies. This document stipulated that extremist ideologies such as fascism and racism were thoughts that hindered the healthy development of society. Therefore, party-building actions holding these ideologies would not be recognized by the state as legal behavior. The Communist Party, however, was a completely legal political organization.

As soon as the news came out, it shook the upper echelons of the industrial nations. The experts meeting in Singapore were particularly astute; merely by looking at the content of the documents, the legal experts understood that under China's coordination, the Southeast Asian region had agreed that the Communist Party would be completely legal within the various Southeast Asian countries.

By this time, the phase of declarative statements had ended. In the sub-venues that were supposed to be preparing for various debates, the topics of the experts' discussions turned to the legalization of the Communist Party in various countries. These experts were well aware of the organizational structure of the Third International. In their view, the attitude of the Southeast Asian countries was clearly a manifestation of a compromise between China and the Soviet Union.

Many experts opposed to war were worried about this. The Soviet Union had not entered the war, and the world war was currently limited to the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Even if China really intended to practice the ideal of eliminating colonialism and liberating all of Africa, the battles would not necessarily erupt within the territories of the major industrial nations.

Once the Soviet Union joined the Chinese camp, it would mean that all of Europe would be swept into the flames of war. If war broke out in Europe, the United States would likely be unable to stay out of it this time. If the currently stalemated Pacific War produced a result favorable to China, and China crossed the Pacific to attack the US mainland, then all the industrial nations of the world would fall into an even more tragic war.

This anxiety lasted for two days until the news of the dissolution of the Third International shocked the world, delivering another blow to the experts attending the Singapore conference.

Reichenau, attending the conference as an expert, immediately informed the equally worried Professor Karl, "Professor, I must return to Germany first."

"Is it an order from the General Staff?" Professor Karl felt he could understand why Reichenau was leaving in such a hurry. Up to now, Chinese officials had refused Reichenau's requests to visit China or meet with the Chinese upper echelon. There was clearly no possibility of improvement in Sino-German relations.

Meanwhile, at the Singapore conference deciding the fate of the colonial system, experts from various countries expressed their opinions. Overall, no experts claimed that the massacres by colonial powers in the colonies were just acts. Even those experts who were very willing to defend colonialism only claimed that "these bloodshed events were legal."

From Karl's geopolitical perspective, the United States was backing down, and Britain and France were attempting to compromise with China. If China only wanted India, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific islands, France would certainly agree, and Britain would have no choice even if it disagreed. A Sino-Soviet compromise was even worse news for Germany. Back then, Russia had taken advantage of China's successive defeats to extract quite a few benefits from China. Now that a similar environment existed, Professor Karl did not believe for a second that the Soviet Union would change its ways.

Reichenau slowly shook his head and answered calmly, "It is I who wish to return to Germany."

Professor Karl wanted to know why Reichenau wanted to leave, but looking at Reichenau's calm face, as a former elite officer of the General Staff, Professor Karl sensed the killing intent in Reichenau's heart. Although officers of the General Staff did not intentionally mimic others' expressions, through constant association, when officers of the General Staff looked calm, they were likely about to do something that was by no means gentle.

Reichenau himself did not notice his own expression; he was currently considering how to solve the Eastern threat facing Germany. The Soviet Union's dissolution of the Third International was a signal of goodwill, but to whom was this goodwill directed? Reichenau did not think it was aimed at Germany. There were no longer any Communist Party organizations within Germany, and the Communist parties in Central and Eastern Europe were all underground. Only Hungary, that descendant of the Eastern Huns, allowed the limited existence of a domestic Communist Party. Regardless of whether the Third International was dissolved, the influence of that limited Communist Party in Hungary on the fascist bloc was negligible.

The signal released by the Soviet Union through dissolving the Third International was likely directed at only two countries: one was China, and the other was the United States. From the perspective of continental European strategy, both China and the US were the greatest threats to Europe. Currently, China and the US were contending for control of the Pacific. Before the war broke out, the US only held Hawaii and the Philippines in the Pacific. Even if they lost these two key locations, it would have an impact on the US, but it would not be fatal. In other words, there was a distinct possibility of peace between China and the US.

Once China, the US, and the Soviet Union joined forces, plus Britain—that European shit-stirrer—the strategic situation for Europe's most powerful fascist bloc would become extremely dangerous.

Reichenau rose to take his leave. Walking out of Professor Karl's office, the sky outside was extremely bright and warm. This office was very close to the sea; at a glance, one could see the line where the sky met the sea. The two shades of blue merged into a hazy color at the horizon. Reichenau actually could not distinguish where the sky ended and the sea began. The warm, humid sea breeze blew against his face; Reichenau felt that in a place beyond his vision, a storm was gathering.

The next day, heading to the airport to take a plane back to Germany, Reichenau saw a large group of Europeans and Americans walking out of the exit as soon as he arrived. The people welcoming them outside the exit raised national flags or school flags. Judging by the emblems, Oxford and Cambridge from Britain, Harvard and Yale from the US, École Normale Supérieure from France, the University of Marseille—all these famous European and American schools were picking people up.

In addition to these renowned universities, people had also come from universities in Hungary, Romania, and Italy. Reichenau also noticed that some German schools had sent people.

Because Reichenau was wearing civilian clothes, no one noticed him. It seemed that even the departure of Reichenau, a German Field Marshal attending the Singapore conference as a civilian scholar, had no impact on the conference. Regardless of whether Reichenau participated, the Singapore conference's trials would certainly proceed. Up to now, the Asian Allied Forces led by China had captured hundreds of thousands of Europeans and Americans in Southeast Asia, the majority of whom were military personnel and colonial government staff.

Since China had the full capacity to try these people, the Singapore conference, which originally had only a few hundred European and American scholars attending, saw more and more scholars casting aside their scruples and coming in person to participate in this increasingly substantive conference as the Asian Allied Forces led by China demonstrated powerful combat capabilities.

Boarding the plane with the officer delegation, the first thing Reichenau did was change into the military uniform he hadn't worn for months in the small compartment of the first-class cabin. Once dressed, Reichenau felt relaxed all over. Previously, wearing a uniform every day, Reichenau hadn't noticed that the uniform was already a part of him. Apart from the attribute of being a soldier, Reichenau did not acknowledge any other identity.

The Chinese Secret Service personnel responsible for monitoring Reichenau breathed a sigh of relief as they watched his plane take off. Besides monitoring Reichenau, a large part of their job was to protect this Nazi German Field Marshal from any personal safety issues. Since this Nazi Field Marshal had arrived in Chinese-controlled territory, China had an obligation to protect him. Even if they were to meet on the battlefield in the future in a life-or-death struggle, a country had an obligation to protect foreign personnel who came in peace. With Reichenau gone, everyone truly laid down a heavy burden.

Zhao Tianlin also learned of Reichenau's departure at this time. He didn't care about it at all because his teacher from his days at Harvard University had come to Singapore in person. The old gentleman was over seventy this year; since he had come such a long way at such an advanced age, Zhao Tianlin naturally had to entertain him well.

However, the thing Zhao Tianlin worried about most happened. His teacher looked in poor health as soon as he got off the plane, and that very night, the old gentleman fell ill. This frightened Zhao Tianlin; if anything untoward happened to his teacher, Zhao Tianlin would have no way to explain it to his teacher's family.

He hurriedly sent his teacher to the hospital and asked domestic doctors for treatment. Zhao Tianlin called every day to ask about the condition. Fortunately, the old gentleman's constitution was still tough; although he had fallen ill, there were no major problems for the time being. Zhao Tianlin had no choice but to send a telegram to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asking them to help coordinate the best doctors in China to come to Singapore to treat the old gentleman.

Even though Zhao Tianlin was very influential domestically, top-tier doctors were a scarce resource. Foreign Minister Li Shiguang could not make the decision on his own, so he asked Premier Wu Youping for instructions. Wu Youping approved it immediately. Later, when he met He Rui to discuss work, he mentioned the matter to He Rui during a break.

He Rui felt this might be a signal released by the United States, but he didn't dare to be certain. Because at this stage, there was absolutely no mutual trust between China and the US. If China achieved the objectives of the Pacific campaign, the US would be directly facing the Hawaiian Islands, 4,000 kilometers from the US.

Wu Youping was too familiar with He Rui. Seeing He Rui's thoughtful expression, Wu Youping asked, "Chairman, are we really going to attack the US mainland?"

He Rui wanted to shake his head, but also wanted to nod. If the US really backed down, China would naturally be unwilling to expend enormous capacity to fight its way onto North America and slaughter the 110 million people of the United States. But news from the US indicated that even though Oppenheimer had not gone to the US, the US had still set up a nuclear test center at Oak Ridge to research and develop nuclear weapons.

China had completed six nuclear tests so far, and research was entering the stage of nuclear weapon miniaturization. The development of plutonium-based nuclear bombs was progressing rapidly. Based on these nuclear tests, China had already determined the data of seismic waves triggered by nuclear bombs. If the US also developed nuclear weapons before a truce was reached between China and the US, China would have to strike the US weapons research centers.

Moreover, He Rui was also considering whether to launch a preemptive bombing of US nuclear weapons research centers like Oak Ridge to ensure the US could not develop nuclear weapons. To achieve such a goal, landing in the US would be unavoidable. Without landing in the US, China's current technology simply could not allow bombers to fly from the US West Coast to the East Coast, not even for a suicide mission.

Seeing He Rui's expression involuntarily turn cold, Wu Youping knew that He Rui definitely had a major plan targeting the United States. Although Wu Youping knew about nuclear weapons, he really hadn't expected that He Rui had basically decided to use this terrifying weapon.

Just as Wu Youping was considering whether to interrupt He Rui's thoughts, it became lively outside. The commotion was quite loud, definitely not a government leader arriving. As Wu Youping was thinking this, he heard the voice of a child. This noise pulled He Rui back from the thoughts that were putting so much pressure on Wu Youping.

Not long after, the door was slowly pushed open. He Rui's daughter ran in, wearing a smile as she entered. But the moment she threw herself into He Rui's arms, the little girl's mouth puckered, and she began to cry. "Dad, I never want to go to Japan again!"