War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1092 The Secret of the Album

Darwin City, the southwestern end of Mindil Beach is far away from the hustle and bustle of the evening market and the aroma of various delicacies, but at the same time it also has an extra piece of tranquility that is not disturbed by people.

Under the sea breeze and sunshine, Wei Ran, wearing sun protection clothing, a fisherman hat, a large brown polarizer and a mask, and gloves on his hands, stood on a reef, skillfully swinging the fishing rod in his hand, and easily hooked the The baited hook was thrown into the rippling sea water.

After fixing the fishing rod, Wei Ran sat on the second-hand fishing box he bought, put his hand into his waist pocket as a cover, took out the binoculars in the metal book, and glanced at the building not far away with A single-family mansion with a touch of Japanese style.

This is already the fourth day he has come to Darwin Port, and it is also the fourth day he has come here to fish and observe the house by the way.

Of course, it might be more accurate to say that it was the fourth day when I observed that house and came here to fish by the way.

In the past four days, he has figured out the situation in that house.

Every morning, after breakfast, the Japanese wine trader who hired Chiba would personally push an old man in a wheelchair for about an hour along the landscape road by the beach. He would return to that house, take a chauffeured car and go out to work in an office building near the pier, which was about a half-hour drive away.

From this time until five o'clock in the afternoon, there was only the old man in a wheelchair, two nannies and a woman around 60 years old in that mansion.

This woman has also had a very regular schedule for the past three days. Every morning, she will prepare breakfast in the big kitchen where she can see the sea at a glance, with the help of a nanny.

When her husband leaves for work, she will first chat with the old man in the wheelchair for half an hour, and then massage the old man's body for half an hour.

After all this work, the old man will be accompanied by a full-time nanny to look at the scenery under the flower pavilion in the courtyard, and the woman will sleep for half an hour before going out, or shopping, or going for a beauty treatment, or Go to a coffee shop not far away to sit with friends.

By four o'clock in the afternoon, the woman would be home in time to prepare dinner.

From 05:30 to [-] o'clock, the wine trader will go home on time. After the family has dinner under the service of two nannies, the couple will habitually go for a walk on the beach, and before [-] o'clock in the evening Be home on time.

Every day at 09:30, the lights of the mansion's sea-facing bedrooms are turned off.By ten o'clock, those nannies or drivers basically turned off their lights to rest.

From this time to seven o'clock the next morning, most of the people in this mansion and the stomach will enter the dreamland, but on the first floor of the room, there is a room that is always lit, and every half hour, there will be The two of them walked around the front and back of the house together and briefly inspected it.Not surprisingly, the courtyard door of this house is equipped with surveillance cameras with no dead ends.

Undoubtedly, for Wei Ran. Ah no, for Chiba Genan's "best time and place to commit crimes", the first choice is undoubtedly to sneak into the big house after ten o'clock in the evening.

However, on the premise of not killing people, the troubles faced by this time period and the crime site are undoubtedly the tricky monitoring and security members patrolling all night.

Because of this, when the couple took a walk every evening, it became Wei Ran's only choice.

Considering that the cargo ship will set sail before dawn tomorrow, tonight is the only time he has left to commit crimes.

During these four days, Wei Ran made a lot of preparations for this night.In other words, no matter whether he achieves his goal tonight, he must leave by boat before dawn.

Glancing at the family who had already started to eat dinner in the French windows of the mansion, Wei Ran silently collected the fishing rod, and walked towards the evening market not far away with a fairly good catch.

The small fish he caught were sold to an Indonesian peddler at a low price. He bought some snacks at a small Japanese food stall, and chatted with the boss in proficient Japanese. Then he walked to the car parked in the distance.

After putting away the second-hand fishing gear bought at a low price, Wei Ran, who was hiding in the back compartment of the off-road vehicle, changed his clothes, but raised his binoculars again and waited patiently.

After a meal, the old Japanese couple, who were nearly sixty years old, walked slowly on the beach, under Wei Ran's peeping, as usual.

Glancing at the time on the watch, Wei Ran put away the binoculars, groped in the dark and took out the food box, and then took out the P22 pistol and spare magazine seized from Chiba Genan from the food box, as well as the Razor-style jackknife.

During the past few days, he has been busy on his side, and Anfeiya, who is "repairing the malfunctioning server" at the abandoned military base in Inta, has not been idle. During her repeated tortures, Chiba Katoo It also described the process and methods of his previous murders time and time again.And all these information were fed back to Wei Ran via email one by one.

Recalling the behavior habits of the "genuine Chiba Genan", Wei Ran took out a small bottle of Gillette high-pressure shaving foam from his pocket and sprayed it into the muffler, then tore off a small piece from the steering wheel The badminton racket sticks to the muzzle of the silencer.

The purpose of doing this is actually just to increase the humidity inside the pistol silencer and reduce the problem of "first round pop".

Of course, this is also one of Chiba Katoo's "habits".As for Wei Ran, as a historian, he doesn't have such a troublesome habit, and the weapons he can take out at any time are also quieter, so there is no need to worry about such things.

After preparing the weapon, he didn't leave in a hurry, instead he took out an envelope from the food box.

There was nothing else in the envelope, just a handful of hair pulled from Chiba Katoo's head.

Looking at the remaining hair follicles at the root of the hair, Wei Ran pulled out a hair from the middle, and carefully poked it on the back of the driver's seat.

After putting away the envelope, he then took out a small bag folded with paper from his pocket and opened it, picked up a cigarette butt from the trash can in the evening market at noon, and threw it into the co-pilot in the cracks of the floor.

Putting the tissue into his pocket, he pushed the car door to the neutral position, pushed it forward less than one meter, and then took out a wad of cash that Ninel helped prepare from his bag, and the goddess scattered flowers Generally sprinkled in every corner of the car, and then took out a bottle of rum from the glove box, unscrewed the lid and threw it into the back row.

Before leaving, he took out a spray bottle full of rum and sprayed the car a few times.

Smelling the smell of alcohol in the compartment, he threw the last few cash in his hand and the wallet that was taken from a drunken man's pocket last night near the front of the car.

Finally, he glanced at the half-covered car door, Wei Ran wrapped the P22 pistol with the silencer screwed on in a large dark towel, pulled up the mask, and walked straight to the couple in the night. the only way.

The location he chose was located on the edge of the beach, with palm trees on one side of the road. This arc of palm trees not only blocked the Japanese-style mansion, but also blocked the vision of some tourists in the distance.

On the other side of this path, there is a small piece of lawn. On the edge of this lawn, there is a bench, and next to it is a street lamp that Wei Ran pried open the electric box and cut the power line in the afternoon.

Deliberately controlling his pace, he successfully caught up with the couple holding hands and walking while chatting in Japanese at the edge of the shadow of the unlit street lamp.

At the same time that the old guy turned his head, Wei Ran pulled out the P22 pistol with the silencer twisted in his right hand and held it against the back of the old man. At the same time, the OTS38 micro-sound revolver held in the other hand also Withstood the heart of the old woman.

"How about we go sit on that bench and talk?"

Wei Ran, who deliberately suppressed his voice, asked gently in Japanese that he rarely used, "Of course, if you want to end your life now, you can call for help."

As soon as he finished speaking, the old man on the right held the hand of the old woman on the left, "Young man, don't be impulsive, we listen to you and sit on the chair."

"You hold each other's hands and don't let go, put the other hand on your neck." Wei Ran pushed forward with the muzzle of the gun while talking.

Upon receiving the signal, the two old men quickly clasped each other's hands, put the other hand on their necks, and then walked to the bench in unison and sat down.

Standing behind the bench, Wei Ran took out a handcuff from his waist bag, and handcuffed the two handcuffs around the necks of the two old men together, then took out another handcuff, and handcuffed their holding hands together with The armrests in the middle of the bench were handcuffed together.

Finally, he put the large towel he brought on the shoulders of the two old men, and covered the handcuffed hands by the way. Then he put away the revolver, and then put the P22 pistol with the silencer on Inserted back into the armpit holster.

After a rough search on the two old people, all he found were two mobile phones and a small medicine bottle.

"Young man, what are you looking for?"

The manacled old man asked calmly, "Do you need money? If you are short of money, I can send you some money."

"Boss, don't you know me?"

Wei Ran stood back behind the bench again, leaned between the heads of the two old men and continued to speak in Japanese with a smile on his throat, "Didn't you hire me to help find that photo album? Now I have found the photo album."

"It's you?"

The old man subconsciously turned his head to look at Wei Ran who was almost touching his cheek, "What do you want to do now?"

"When you hired me, you didn't mention that it would cause so much trouble."

Wei Ran said deliberately ambiguously, "I was almost caught by the forces that were looking for those children, but my partner was killed by them, so boss, shouldn't you give me some compensation?"

After a moment of silence, the old man actually nodded, "Your request is very reasonable, and I didn't expect that robber to be interested in this photo album, so let's put a price on your partner's life."

"Ma'am, how much do you think my partner is worth?" Wei Ran said with a smile on the face of the shivering old lady, "How about you come and make a price for my partner?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," the old lady repeated tremblingly, but she closed her eyes.

"In this case, use your children's lives as compensation." Wei Ran straightened up, "Is he a member of parliament now?"

As soon as these words were said, the two old men shivered in unison.

"20, no, 450 million! How about A$50?"

The old man sitting on the right asked in panic, "50 Australian dollars! Please let my child go."

"How about I give you 50 Australian dollars, let me feed your son to the crocodile as food?" Wei Ran asked pretending to be greedy.

"I"

The old lady on the left said tremblingly, "I still have a deposit of 20 Australian dollars, please take it all, just to spare my son."

"70, this price barely satisfies me."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he paused intentionally, and waited until the two old people breathed a sigh of relief, then leaned down again and asked in a low voice, "Now is the next question."

"What's the problem?" the old man on the right asked in fear.

"The two white men who were first sent to arrest those children were also sent by you?"

"It's me," the old man replied resignedly.

"You better tell the truth"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he pinched the old woman's mouth, and thrust the silencer of the P22 pistol wrapped in hand glue into her mouth, "Shhh, I'm here to check your answers, not to look for answers. Answer. So boss, here's your last chance to either tell the truth or"

"It's my child." The old man finally gave a different answer, "It's someone he hired, after those two idiots missed."

"There is no need to talk about the following things"

Wei Ran paused and continued to ask, "So the murderer who killed the trekking guide first was also the one your idiot son asked for?"

"That's right," the old man responded with difficulty.

"new problem"

Wei Ran hooked the old guy's neck with his hand, patted his cheek lightly and asked, "Who else are you going to do to, and who are you already doing to? I want to see, what work is there for me?" Can it be done?"

"No more," the old man stammered back.

"So I'm going to lose my job?" Wei Ran muttered in Japanese pretending to be regretful.

"Kill the little kids who used to hold photo albums"

The old lady on the left ignored the hint from the old man beside her, and said in a trembling voice, "And all the potential buyers before that album, and, also, that historian."

"How much money can you give?" Wei Ran's tone became more and more greedy.

"Is [-] Australian dollars per person okay?" The old lady carefully offered a new price.

"too low"

Wei Ran said disappointedly, "And it also includes a public figure, this amount of money is not enough."

"That historian, I'm willing to put up an extra $50."

"I guess you can open higher chips"

"80"

The old lady gritted her teeth and said, "If you kill that historian, you can get an extra 80 Australian dollars, which is already a high enough price."

"Can you afford so much money?" Wei Ran reminded with a smile, "Just now you said that you only have a deposit of 20 Australian dollars."

Glancing at the old lady, the old man who had been silent just now said, "We will sell part of the company's equity, and we will raise enough money."

"You know our rules" Wei Ran hinted ambiguously.

"If you find us once, you will find us a second time." The old man sighed, "We can't escape."

"Okay, I'll take the deal."

Wei Ran patted his pocket happily, "Now it's time to talk about this photo album. Compared with whether you can escape, I think it's better to use the secrets in this photo album as a guarantee of your credibility."

"There's nothing in there"

"In that case, I'll donate it to the War Memorial in Canberra."

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran straightened up, turned around and walked away while saying, "When I finish my work, I will come to you to settle the commission."

"Wait! Please wait a moment!" The old man turned around in a panic, but was almost tripped because of the handcuffs that had not been released.

Unfortunately, Wei Ran did not stop.At this moment, the old man panicked completely, and hurriedly said helplessly, "Please come back, I will tell you the reason why we must get this photo album."

Hearing this, Wei Ran, who had already walked five or six meters away, stopped slowly, turned around with a smile and walked to the back of the bench again.

Holding the heads of the two old people to make them sit upright, Wei Ran put his head between the two of them again, urging like a crazy pervert, "Tell me, what's the secret in this photo album?"

"There is a photo of my father there," the old man on the right said helplessly.

"What did you say?" Wei Ran asked again.

"I said, there are photos of my father in that album."

The old man subconsciously glanced at the mansion blocked by palm trees, "There are more than half of the photos in it, which were taken when he massacred Australian and British prisoners of war."

"So you're worried that these photos will affect your son's career?" Wei Ran asked back with a sudden realization.

"More than that"

The old man explained helplessly, "My business, as well as several Australian politicians who have maintained close relations with me, will be affected by those photo albums, especially one of the buyers is my business competitor."

"Your business competitor?"

"The Malaysian Chinese businessman who was killed by you at the beginning of the month," the old man said reluctantly, "he was the first to discover the secret in the photo album."

"It needs more money." Wei Ran still said with a smile on his face, but in fact, his heart was already murderous.

"We'll give you a satisfactory price." The old lady joined the topic again, "As long as."

"Don't waste my time"

Wei Ran interrupted the old lady's reminder, "According to your pace, it will take 10 minutes to walk home from here, so in order not to affect your rest, we'd better discuss all the issues before [-]:[-].

So ma'am, if you join the conversation again without my permission, I'll have to find another way to quiet you down. "

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran tore off the hand glue attached to the muzzle of the muffler, sprayed some shaving foam into it again, and after sticking it again, pinched the old lady's chin and stuffed the muffler in, " Bite it, it will help you keep your mouth shut, and it will help you save your own life."

Hearing this, the targeted old lady immediately bit the muffler wrapped in hand glue.

"Let's continue"

Wei Ran smiled and asked the old man next to him in Japanese, "I'm curious, in which battle did your father take those photos? That way, when you go back on your word, I'll always have to tell you." .”

"Sandakan"

The old man glanced at his wife and explained helplessly, "Sandakan Death March, my father was a Chief Cao who was in charge of escorting prisoners of war. He...he killed some prisoners of war."

"Some?" Wei Ran smiled, "How much is some?"

"More than a hundred people," the old man said vaguely.

"Be more specific," Wei Ran urged with some inquisitiveness.

"More than 160 people"

After the old man finished speaking, he quickly added, "Maybe less, he...he can't remember clearly."

"The old man you push out for a walk every morning is your father?"

"That's right. It's him"

"So in order to cover up the fact that your father was an executioner, you decided to spend more than 200 million Australian dollars and kill everyone who saw that photo album?"

"Aren't you a murderer too?" The old man asked angrily.

"certainly"

Wei Ran nodded with a smile, then took out a remote control from his pocket and pressed it.

"Tom!"

Accompanied by a muffled sound, a firework ignited by electronic remote control flew into the night sky under the watchful eyes of all the tourists on the reef where Wei Ran used to fish 50 meters away, which was almost submerged by the high tide seawater.

"Wow—!"

When the firework bloomed in the night sky, the old man sitting on the bench subconsciously looked over.

However, at the same moment when the firework exploded, Wei Ran also decisively pulled the trigger.

In the weak gunshots covered by the sound of fireworks exploding, the reduced charge bullet in the gun chamber was fired smoothly, and the . A little bit of evaporated shaving foam broke through the hand glue blocking the muzzle, and then easily pierced through the old woman's upper teeth, and turned her brain into a ball of paste while tumbling at extreme speed .

At the same time, Wei Ran also pulled out his pistol, and under the horrified gaze of the old guy who subconsciously turned his head away after being hit by a bullet casing in the cheek, he pinched his chin and stabbed the silencer who was wet with saliva.

"Apologize to those slaughtered prisoners of war on behalf of your father." After Wei Ran finished speaking, he pulled the trigger again when the second firework exploded.

After the second slightly weak gunshot, he immediately pulled out the pistol and put it back into the holster, then took out a box of Vaseline, dug out a lump from it, and stuck it into the old woman's mouth, easily blocking the wound. Burnt bullet holes.

Amid the ever-rising gorgeous fireworks, Wei Ran did the same to block the bullet hole deep in the old man's mouth. Wei Ran unhurriedly removed the two pairs of handcuffs that imprisoned them, and then let the two of their bodies lean against each other. And a big towel was draped over their shoulders again, so that they kept snuggling together as if they were watching fireworks.

After everything was busy, he took a few steps far away, pushed out a stolen road bike from the palm grove, and rode the bike to the pier in a leisurely way amidst the fireworks that still didn't stop. direction.

(End of this chapter)