red moscow

Chapter 2691: Baharov Disappears

Sokov quickly forgot about the incident at the Hovlin Hospital. After all, he could go on adventures with his friends, but he would never go to a place where horror stories were spread. If something really happened, it would be his own fault.

The next day at work, Xiao Ma across the street might have been bored and ran over to chat with him.

During the conversation, the other party asked him how to distinguish between mink fur and otter fur.

Hearing his question, Sokov thought, Lao Wu, as an uncle, was unwilling to teach his nephew the basic knowledge of fur, so why should an outsider like him bother to get involved? He could only say casually, "There are many varieties of fur. You will naturally understand it after you have been in this business for a long time."

Sokov was not talking nonsense. There are many varieties of fur. The most high-end is mink, which is divided into domestic and imported. Imported fur is divided into Danish black, American black, etc. The second-rate ones are rex rabbit and raccoon. The next-highest ones are rex, fox, civet cat and rabbit. The lowest is dog skin, but it is also the warmest material for making clothes and is usually sold to the Arctic Circle.

In novels, when talking about fur, the most popular thing to mention is fox fur. It is said that white fox fur has no stray hairs and is a rare treasure. But nowadays, it can only be regarded as a medium-to-low-quality fur material. Another one is the red fox. From the name, people think that the fur color of this fox is fiery red, but this is actually a misunderstanding. The color of the real red fox is mainly reddish brown, brown red, brown gray, and even variant black and silver.

If he really wanted to introduce the types of fur to the pony, he would probably spend a whole day talking about it. Although it was the off-season, Sokov was not idle all day, and if he really had to teach the pony about fur for a whole day, he would feel annoyed.

After chatting for a while, a customer came in, and Sokov took the opportunity to get rid of Xiao Ma while greeting the customer.

After the customers left, Sokov secretly looked across and saw Xiao Ma sitting at the door, looking at the passers-by on the street with an expressionless face.

"Misha," Lena came over and said to Sokov, "I heard from Anna that someone asked you to go to the Khovlin Hospital yesterday. You didn't go, did you?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and said, "There are a lot of rumors about the Hovlin Hospital on the Internet, especially that more than 1500 people have disappeared in it in the more than years since its construction. Although I don't know whether this statement is true or not, there is no smoke without fire. I still don't want to take the risk. If I really disappeared, wouldn't you be out of work?"

Sokov's last words were just a joke, but Lena nodded and said, "Misha, it's really too dangerous there. You may not know this, but the housing prices there are the lowest in Moscow, even lower than several small cities in the suburbs. I heard from a friend that her family used to live nearby, and there are several bus stops next to the hospital. Although they are separated by barbed wire, every time she stands there, she feels a chill down her spine. If she hears any noise, she will rush across the street without hesitation."

"Before I became your employee, I worked for more than a dozen bosses in the market, but none of them can compare to you." Lena looked at Sokov and said sincerely, "As long as you don't fire me, I am still willing to work with you. It's not easy to find a good boss like you. I don't want to lose this precious job because of something unexpected happening to you."

It was the first time that Sokov heard Lena confide in him. He nodded and said, "Don't worry, Lena, I won't risk my life."

Back in the inner room, Sokov took out his cell phone and called Khabarov to ask him about the expedition yesterday. Although the call was connected, no one answered until it was automatically hung up. He called several more times, but still couldn't get through.

He looked at the time. It was ten o'clock in the morning. If Baharov and his friends returned home too late after their expedition yesterday, they would probably not have gotten up yet. So he put down his phone and planned to call them when he had time in the afternoon.

At noon, Anna came to the store and brought a portion of barbecue to Sokov and Lena respectively.

When the three of them were sitting in the back room eating, Lena sat near the door, and while she was eating she was looking outside the store in case she missed any customers coming into the store.

"Misha." Anna suddenly asked Sokov, "Did you call Baharov and the others today to ask about yesterday's expedition?"

"I called." Sokov, who was eating, said incoherently, "But Baharov didn't answer. I guess he's still sleeping."

Anna raised her hand to check the time, then said to Sokov, "Call him now to see if he's awake."

Sokov took out his cell phone, put it on the table, unlocked it and pressed the dial button. But just like in the morning, the phone rang for a long time and no one answered until it hung up automatically.

"Look, no one answered." Sokov said, "I guess the kid is still sleeping at home."

Since the call to Baharov didn't go through, everyone naturally thought he was still sleeping, so they ignored him and continued chatting among themselves.

"Misha," Lena suddenly asked, "Didn't you say we were going to Sochi? When are we leaving?"

"Don't worry, just wait a few more days." Sokov explained to Lena, "After I pay the rent for next month, I'll let the company know. During the period of closing, I'll ask the security guards to take care of our store, so that we don't get splashed with gasoline or anything like that."

"So, we can't go to Sochi until around June?"

"Yes." Sokov nodded and continued, "I think June is the best time to go to Sochi. The temperature is neither too hot nor too cold, and the fountains in the city are reopened. If we get tired of staying at the beach, we can stay in the city for a while. By the way, last time Anna said she wanted to buy wine at the winery there, so we can go and take a look."

The three were chatting happily when Sokov's cell phone, which was placed on the table, rang.

Sokov picked up the phone and saw that it was Baharov. He answered the phone immediately and said with a smile, "Baharov, you finally woke up. I called you seven or eight times today, but you didn't answer. Were you sleeping?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a strange voice came from the phone: "I am a police officer. What is your relationship with the owner of this phone?"

Hearing that the person calling him was a policeman, Sokov's heart skipped a beat. What was going on? Why was Baharov's phone in the hands of the policeman? He took two deep breaths quickly, and when his emotions were a little calmer, he said carefully: "I am Baharov, Baharov is the owner of this phone, and I am his friend. Excuse me, Mr. Officer, can you tell me how my friend's phone came to be in your hands?"

"Your friend is missing." The policeman on the other end of the phone said impatiently: "When I checked his phone, I found that the last call he made was to you. And you called him many times today, so I called you specifically to find out the situation."

"Missing?" Hearing the word the police said, Sokov couldn't help but ask in panic: "Why did he disappear?"

"The city is planning to demolish the Hovlin Hospital in the near future, and we are here to clear the area under orders," the police officer said briefly. "We found three cars near the building, which should have been parked here yesterday. However, after searching the building, we did not find anyone, and only found this phone. I will give you one hour to rush to the Hovlin Hospital immediately. I have something to ask you in person."

When Sokov answered the phone, he was on speakerphone, so Anna and Lena both heard it.

After Sokov finished talking to the police, Anna said nervously, "Misha, it seems my guess is right. Something really happened. Baharov and his friends are missing. What happened?"

"Misha, the police asked you to get to Hovlin Hospital within an hour. Will you go?" Lena asked tentatively.

"I will definitely go." Sokov answered without hesitation: "Even if I don't go, the police will probably find me here. Also, Bakharov is my friend, he suddenly disappeared, I must go and check out the situation." "Misha, I will go with you." Anna offered.

But Sokov thought about it and rejected her kindness: "Anna, you should stay. I am worried about you going to a place full of horror legends."

"Are you going alone?"

"Of course not." Sokov shook his head: "I plan to find someone else to go with me."

"Who?" Anna asked, "Who do you plan to ask to go with you?"

"Officer Victoria," Sokov replied, "I want Victoria to accompany me to the Hovlin Hospital. With her by my side, I'm afraid we can avoid a lot of trouble."

After that, Sokov picked up the phone again, dialed Victoria's number from the address book, and called: "Vika, this is Misha."

"Misha, what's going on?"

"Are you free now?" Sokov asked tentatively, "I want to ask you for a favor."

"What help?" Victoria asked.

"It's like this." Sokov said, "Yesterday, a few of my friends went to the Hovlin Hospital for an adventure. Just now, a police officer called me and said that my friend was missing and asked me to rush over to assist in the investigation. As you know, the police are sometimes not very friendly to us Chinese, so I would like to ask you to accompany me to the Hovlin Hospital. Do you have time?"

Victoria thought about Sokov's request for a while, and then said, "Okay, then drive to the police station to pick me up, and I'll accompany you to Hovlin Hospital."

Sokov walked out of the shop and saw Xiao Ma still sitting at the door opposite, staring blankly at the passers-by. Lao Wu had not shown up yet, and no one knew what he was doing at home.

Just as he was about to leave, he saw a fat old lady walk into the store opposite. Xiao Ma stood up hurriedly and said to Sokov, "Brother, please help me and ask the old lady what she wants."

Since Xiao Ma had asked for his help, it was obviously inappropriate for Sokov to just walk away. He could only turn around and go into Xiao Ma's shop and ask the old lady who was looking at clothes: "What kind of clothes do you want to see?"

The old lady glanced at Sokov and gestured, "I want to buy a long mink coat that covers the instep, with a hood and a belt."

"What color do you want?"

"champagne."

"You want champagne color?" Sokov quickly scanned the store and didn't find the champagne color the old lady wanted. Although he lived next door to Lao Wu, he seldom visited the store and knew little about what clothes were in the store. He could only call Xiao Ma over and asked, "Do you have any champagne-colored clothes?"

"Champagne?" Xiao Ma asked in confusion, "What is champagne?"

"Have you seen champagne?" Sokov said, "Champagne color, as the name suggests, is the color of champagne, slightly lighter than orange."

"Oh, that's not it."

When Xiao Ma said no, Sokov turned to the old lady and said, "I'm sorry, old lady, we don't have the champagne color you need."

As soon as the old lady came out of the store, Sokov rushed to the parking lot, wanting to get to the police station as soon as possible to meet Victoria.

When Sokov drove to the police station, Victoria was already waiting at the door, talking to a uniformed policeman carrying a submachine gun.

Sokov parked the car near the two of them, rolled down the passenger side window, leaned out and called Victoria: "Vika, get in the car."

Seeing Victoria open the passenger door and get in, the uniformed police officer showed a look of astonishment on his face. It was probably the first time he saw someone coming to pick up Victoria, and it was a Chinese.

On the way to Hovlin Hospital, Victoria asked, "Misha, what's going on? Who are your friends? Why are they going to Hovlin Hospital?"

"Most of them are locals in Moscow. They have nothing to do every day, so they like to go exploring everywhere." Sokov said helplessly: "Places like Khovlin Hospital, which are full of legends, are naturally their first choice."

"Oh, that's true. This hospital, which was never completed, has been the subject of countless legends since its completion." Victoria said, "I heard that in two months, this place will be completely demolished and a new residential area will be built on the original site. If your adventurous friends don't act quickly, they will have no chance to explore in the future."

"I think they may have heard that the Hovlin Hospital was going to be demolished, so they rushed to explore, but unexpectedly they disappeared."

Victoria turned to Sokov and asked, "Misha, do you know how many of them there are?"

Sokov thought for a moment and replied, "I remember Bakharov told me that there were 12 of them in total."

After hearing what Sokov said, Victoria's facial muscles twitched twice, and then she said, "Fortunately you didn't go. If you had gone, there would have been exactly 13 people, and yesterday was Friday. Although you are not Russian, you should know what Friday and the number 13 mean together?"

"Yes, I know." Sokov nodded and said, "'13' is considered an unlucky number. It is said that the origin of this number is that among the 13 people at the Last Supper, there was a traitor named Judas. 'Friday' is the most unlucky day because the day of Jesus' crucifixion is Friday. If Friday happens to be the 13th, then this day will be a very unlucky day when 'everything goes wrong'."

(End of this chapter)