War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1011 Memories Worth Treasure

Wei Ran is busy going back to the izakaya for makeup and investigation. Sui Sui, who is far away in Paris, France, is also led by her rich woman friend Kou Kou and Kou Kou's new housekeeper, the Indian woman Tantu, in a jewelry store. There are all kinds of beautiful buildings to visit in the design school.

However, what the Katenka sisters who were following the two rich women did not expect was that they ran into the two landlords of the Guppyi pasta restaurant in Italy in this school!

"Why is their family here?"

While Anfeiya was asking, she also looked in astonishment at the cleanliness Tassie not far away, and Monica, who used to be socially phobic but still has a bad mouth, and one of the few friends of the two sisters—the one with natural curly hair. Little guy Matthew.

"how could I know"

While Anfeisa was speaking, she had already taken out two black masks from her pocket and distributed them to her younger sister, and then took out a pink baseball cap and a black fisherman hat, and put them on her sister and herself respectively. .Immediately afterwards, the two sisters each took out a pair of sunglasses and put them on their faces.

"Are you going or should I go?" Anfeiya asked in a low voice.

"You go" Anfeisa said without thinking.

Hearing this, Anfeiya immediately slowed down her pace silently, and after distanced herself from Suisui and the others, she immediately pretended to be on the phone and sat down next to the three weirdos holding her mobile phone. On another bench.

"Uncle Taci, your school is too boring. When are we going to see the Eiffel Tower?" Matthew, who is full of natural curly hair, did not forget to take a bite of the ice cream in his hand while speaking.

"How was lunch?"

Tassie, who had long hair and a beard on her chin, took a bite of the ice cream in Matthew's hand and said, "The restaurant in this school tastes really good, I swear."

"Even if it's like you said, it's definitely not as good as Aunt Monica's cooking skills."

Matthew said, and handed the ice cream in his hand to Tassie, who had long since lost her cleanliness, "Eat it, since you have no cleanliness, I have started to dislike you, Aunt Monica, I want to buy another one later Ice cream, I want to try vanilla this time."

"no problem"

Monica, who was pressing back and forth on the phone screen, replied happily, "Tasi, we have followed you to visit this dilapidated school, should we go to the Eiffel Tower to see it? My friends have been Urging me to post photos, they even wondered if I had come to France."

"Aren't you going to the culinary school you signed up for?" Tassie raised her legs while gnawing on the second-hand ice cream in her hand.

"Totally unnecessary"

Monica stood up as she spoke, "If I didn't want to add some new taste elements to the pasta restaurant, I wouldn't even want to come to Paris.

Also, I really don't understand why you suddenly decided to come here to study last year? "

"Of course because I want to add some new taste elements to my watchmaking technology, such as setting enough shiny stones."

Taci said proudly, "I hope that the watches I make can be included in the ranks of works of art, not just precise mechanical timing tools."

"Whatever you want, I'm going to the Eiffel Tower." Monica had already taken a step while speaking.

"Wait for me! And my vanilla ice cream!"

As Matthew said, he immediately stood up from the bench, swayed his two calves, and followed him with his natural curls dangling in the wind.

"He actually studied here?"

Anfeiya looked at Taci who was holding an ice cream in her hand and muttered, and then looked at Monica who had walked to the ice cream stand in the distance. She also didn't expect that this smelly girl was going to come French reading.

After a little hesitation, Anfeiya put down the cell phone that had been stuck to her ear just now, chose a random direction, avoided the three people, and met her sister who was still following the two rich women in a circle, and simplified the situation just now. described.

Not to mention the strange faces of the two sisters at this time, Wei Ran, who was far away in Palau, quietly left the Xiangtai Izakaya, which was almost full of diners, and returned slowly to the hotel where he lived in the night.

The reason why he went back and forth was naturally to be curious about the relationship between the two owners of the izakaya.By the way, it's also a bad taste, I want to take a few photos, and I look forward to comparing the changes in this small shop after the truth is announced.

In the blink of an eye, it was noon the next day, and under the leadership of Wan Qiu, Wei Ran walked into a well-decorated small shop, and while waiting for the food to be served, he took the food from the other party. tablet.

"The ones with green background in the table are some of the coral reefs that I have collected. The ones with gray background are the regular diving sea areas, and they will be introduced in detail later."

Wan Qiu, who was sitting opposite, paused and said, "We can go to the destinations on the two lists, and I've also prepared diving equipment and professional underwater shooting equipment for you."

"Where are Toby Island and Helen Island?"

After casually flipping through the pages, Wei Ran pointed to the two options next to each other at the end of the green list and asked, "What a coincidence, I have two American friends named Toby and Helen."

“They are at the southernmost tip of Palau”

Wan Qiu smiled and said, "There are about 20 people living on Toby Island. There is only one marine protection station on Helen Island, and there are only three people on it at most."

"So there are no tourists going there?" Wei Ran's eyes lit up immediately.

“Very few tourists go there”

Wan Qiu took a sip of the juice and explained, "It's about 600 kilometers away from our current location. For ordinary tourists, whether it's a sightseeing plane or a yacht, it's a lot of money."

"Hearing you say that, I'm already interested"

Wei Ran handed the tablet to the other party, "Can we go to Helen Reef? I want to go diving there. If possible, I hope to start today."

"Aren't we going to Peleliu Island?" Wan Qiu asked subconsciously.

"That island can't run away. If it doesn't cause you trouble, we can wait until we get back."

"No problem, I'll arrange it now!" Before Wan Qiu finished speaking, she had already pulled out her phone.

"I don't want anyone to know where I went." Wei Ran made a new request with a smile.

"Let me solve it" Before Wan Qiu finished speaking, he had already switched to a language that Wei Ran could not understand, and started communicating through the phone.

Before the food was ready, the beautiful girl put away her mobile phone and said, "It has been arranged. After we have lunch, we can go to the airport. There is already a helicopter waiting for us. It will take us directly to the airport." to Helen Island."

After a short pause, Wan Qiu continued, "You can even stay at the marine protection station on that island tonight. It's the rainy season, and there is only one person on duty on that island. My colleague has already talked to him. I’m just about to go back to my home on Toby Island to celebrate the children’s birthdays, and I won’t take our helicopter back to Helen Island until tomorrow evening.”

Speaking of this, Wan Qiu lowered her voice slightly, "Of course, if you plan to secretly collect some corals, you'd better let me make preparations in advance."

"I will not do things that damage the environment"

Wei Ran said while putting food in his mouth, "I didn't even bring sunscreen this time, just to have the opportunity to appreciate the corals in their most pristine state. How could I do anything to destroy them?"

"I was thinking too much," Wan Qiu said apologetically.

"Your boss seems to have a lot of energy?" Wei Ran changed the subject casually.

"I don't know that"

Wan Qiu unhurriedly put a piece of food into his mouth, "I'm just Manager Yang's assistant, and I just happen to be able to speak Japanese and English. As for what channel he found, I don't know."

"Let's eat"

Wei Ran smiled, and wisely ended the topic that required the other party to lie.

After a simple lunch, the two rushed to the airport by car, took a small sightseeing helicopter to circle and take off, and leapfrogged forward to resupply through several small islands along the way, and finally, before the sun set, they were in a stable state. landed on the delicate sandy beach of Helen Island.

"Mr. Wei, are you sure you don't need me to accompany you?" Wan Qiu asked loudly against Wei Ran's ear.

"No need!"

Wei Ran also stuck to the other person's ear, and jokingly responded loudly, "You are so beautiful that I can't concentrate on enjoying the equally beautiful scenery of this small island."

"Thank you for your compliment!"

Wan Qiu glanced back at the staff member of the protection station who was waiting to board the helicopter in the distance, and whispered into Wei Ran's ear again, "I will pick you up at this time tomorrow, and if you need help, you can give me anytime." Call! The helicopter and I are 70 kilometers away at Toby Island!"

"understand!"

Wei Ran gave an OK gesture, and jumped out of the cabin with the diving bag prepared for him by the other party.And the staff member who had been waiting for a long time also immediately got into the cabin to take his place.

It wasn't until watching the helicopter fly away that Wei Ran immediately threw away the diving bag in his hand and walked towards the marine protection station not far away.

This protection station is located at the waist of the east coast of this long and narrow island. Compared with the north and south ends, it is an excellent location for leeward without worrying about being hit by waves.

It's a pity that after some observations, the few rooms are all locked, and there are only two unlocked rooms. Although it can be seen that they have been cleaned, there is still cologne on the two single beds that cannot be covered up. body odor.

Glancing at the still working radio station through the glass, Wei Ran walked towards the southern tip of the island, and followed his memory to find the former camp and cemetery.

More than half a century has passed by, and the camp has long been covered with tropical plants. Even the jasmine flowers that were transplanted at the beginning have disappeared, and there are several coconut trees instead.And the cemetery where three U.S. Navy soldiers are buried is also covered with weeds and shrubs.

Without destroying these bushes, Wei Ran took out his engineering shovel and put on his gloves, scraped off the fine white sand layer by layer, and soon found a body armor with almost only outlines and inserts left.

Underneath this body armor, is a red rubber sea anchor bag.Carefully opened the severely cracked bag. In addition to a canned bottle that Wei Ran was extremely familiar with, there was also the long strip-shaped lunch box for the school officer of the devil and a glass bottle in the shape of a maple leaf. A thick liquid, apparently maple syrup that cannot be produced at this latitude.

After a little thought, he carefully unscrewed the canning bottle, took out a waterproof notepad from it, and sat on the floor to read the story Hawkes recorded on it.

His memories started from the strong wind on the day when the chief and Sterling were killed, but the end of the memories was recorded until he set off from home and decided to go to Helen Island again to fulfill Evans' last wish. a full stop.

But the memories recorded in this waterproof notepad are not over, because starting from the next page, almost every page has two plastic-enclosed photos fixed on it.On the pages below these photos, there is also a brief record of the time and place where the photos were taken.

"Warrior's photo album, and Wendigo's photo album, record the same era and even the same person, but they are two completely different stories"

While muttering to himself, Wei Ran also subconsciously thought of the wall covered with photos in Xiangtai's izakaya, and the ugly shrine where incense was worshipped at that moment.

Just at this moment, there was a flash of scorching heat from the tiger's mouth of his left hand.Recovering from this slight strangeness, Wei Ran hesitated for a while, but took out the food box first, and sent in the waterproof notepad together with the canning jar used to keep it.

Put away the food box, picked up the long lunch box and weighed it, but Wei Ran did not open it, but wrapped it and the glass bottle containing maple syrup in a rubber sea anchor bag, and buried it back.

Finally, he restored the cemetery and camp to their original state and cleaned up his footprints. After thinking for a while, he walked towards the camp on the north side of the island.

Perhaps it was because the burial was not deep enough by the wind, or maybe it was just because of the help of the tree that fixed the one-piece flight suit, Wei Ran easily found a pile of flying suits under the fine sand less than half a meter deep. Metal locks, and a skeleton still wearing the remains of the flying cap and goggles, plus some broken human bone fragments that can still be distinguished.

In addition to these, what surprised him even more was that when he dug out the intact pelvis and a leg bone with a shovel, he accidentally discovered that there was another lunch box buried under these bones!
It turned out to be hidden here!
Wei Ran raised his eyebrows, and dug out the devil school official's lunch box that still had shit green paint on it.

Gently opened the lid of the box. After such a long time, the towel used to wrap the statue inside had already decayed, but the statue of the woman in ancient costume was still golden without any change.

"Come on, we are destined. I guess you old man has had enough of being buried in such a ghostly place. I'll take you back and find you a good family to pay for."

Wei Ran muttered something nervous, took out the food box again, and gently put the golden statue, which he had almost forgotten, into it.

Also restore this place to its original state, and additionally bury those remaining human bones.Wei Ran slowly returned to the southern tip of the island, found a shade tree 20 meters away from the original camp, took out the latest sailor bag, chose two trees and tied a hammock, and then tied a sunshade white umbrella cloth canopy.

Taking out the British army kettle and the annoying oil barrel in the metal book, Wei Ran poured himself half a cup of hot cocoa from the USS Johnston destroyer in 1944, and lay comfortably on the hammock blowing in the wind, sipping A sip of fragrant and sweet cocoa, ecstatically looking at the coconuts floating in the lagoon in the distance.

After a long time, he breathed a sigh of satisfaction, drank the remaining cocoa in the cup in one gulp, sat up and filled the cup again, and then slowly poured it on the fine and soft white sand.

"Sorry, this cup of cocoa is too late." Wei Ran muttered to himself while looking in the direction of the cemetery, then lay down on the hammock again and took out the metal book.

Turn it to the last page. At this time, there is already a blue vortex that rotates slowly in the opposite direction. Under this vortex, there is a similar sentence that Wei Ran once heard from Hawkes himself:
"I often think of what happened on this island. In those good dreams, I think of fishing with you, building camps, collecting food, and talking about women.

My friend, I believe and always will.

This long and narrow island belongs to our unsinkable USS Johnston.

We are here to fight side by side, share food here, and weather the wind and rain and Wendigo together.

Finally, dear sailor, you are welcome once again aboard our destroyer USS Johnston,"

"It was a great honor"

Wei Ran murmured with a smile, gently stroked the handwriting that seemed to have warmth, and quietly put away the metal book.Immediately afterwards, a gas mask bag issued by the US Navy in World War II also appeared in his hand.

Opening this square light white canvas satchel, Wei Ran couldn't help showing a knowing smile on his face.

Compared with the original version, this bag has a lot of compartments inside, and the things in each compartment are particularly commemorative.

Captain Evans’ MK43 binoculars, Vice Captain Stirling’s silver sailor’s whistle, the roll of fishing tackle Hawkes often wears on his body, the green labor gloves he wears when working, and even the sailor’s moose An American-style lunch box stuffed in the body armor as a bulletproof insert.

In addition to these things, he also found the American toad mirror and the razor in a metal box that he "picked up" from the destroyer Johnston.And a glass bottle in the shape of a maple leaf, which contained exactly the maple syrup Hawkes had promised him as a gift.

Continuing to grope in the bag, he also found a small canning jar. Naturally, there was no Halsey, the pet hermit crab that Hawkes had briefly owned, in this canning jar, but it was filled with Round and plump jasmine seeds.

In addition to these, on the canvas strap of this bag, there is an additional small bag that acts as a shoulder pad. This long small bag contains an uninflated life buoy.

Gently shake off this orange-red rubber life buoy that can be blown up with your mouth. In addition to a white string wrapped around it, there is also a line of white writing on it - DD-557 Johnston!

(End of this chapter)