War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1161 The Immortal Enemy

On the upper deck of Nagatsuka Maru's stern, in the center of the brightly lit crowd, the devil's first mate easily overturned Valoro, who was a head taller than him, to the ground amidst the cheers of many devil sailors.

Before Waloro got up, the smug devil's first mate arrogantly made a thumbs down insulting gesture, and the devils around erupted into even more enthusiastic cheers.

"let me try"

Karan, who was still a bit bruised and swollen, jumped into the center of the circle before Wei Ran took a step, stretched out his hand and picked up Valoro, helped him remove the protective gear from his body, and put it on himself involuntarily .

"I'm afraid he will be beaten again." Wei Ran couldn't help but said.

"It's ok"

Hugo, who was also preparing to play just now, said indifferently, "Karan is a bastard who is more resistant to beating."

"Oh!"

Before he could finish his sentence, Karan, who had just joined hands with the first officer, was thrown to the ground by a beautiful over-the-shoulder.

"Let me try first"

Hugo also rushed ahead of Wei Ran who was about to say something. After entering the field, he first pulled up the grinning Karan who was thrown, and then took off the protective gear on the opponent and put it on himself.

Unsurprisingly, although Hugo persisted longer than Karan, he was also thrown to the ground hard within a few rounds.

Overturning three opponents who were taller than him in a row, the cheers of the devils around him became louder, and the first officer became more and more complacent. Pull up Hugo's Wei Ran.

"Don't be caught by it's arms and waist." Hugo reminded in a low voice, "It's weird, I was thrown out before I could react."

"Let me try." Wei Ran said and took a step towards the center of the field.

"Victor, you are not wearing protective gear." Hugo reminded.

"No need." Wei Ran waved his hands indifferently, but looked at the first officer opposite him with smiling eyes.

"You will get hurt if you don't wear protective gear," the first officer reminded.

"It hurts to fall"

While speaking, Wei Ran took out a stack of banknotes from his pocket and shook them, "If you win, it's yours. If you lose, how about giving me the necklace around your neck?"

"You want this?" the first mate pinched the necklace around his neck and asked.

Seeing that Wei Ran nodded, the first officer refused, "I don't take this as a bet."

"Or tell me where you got it?" Wei Ran shook the banknote in his hand again, "Of course, you can still win the money."

"I'll talk after I win first." The first mate said arrogantly.

Smiling casually, Wei Ran handed the money in his hand to Hugo behind him to help hold it, took another step forward, and accepted the other party's hypocritical bow with peace of mind.

Seeing that Wei Ran, who was not wearing protective gear, did not return the salute at all, the first mate made up his mind to teach him a lesson.

With this in mind, it seized the opportunity, stretched its hand forward, grabbed Wei Ran who was in a boxing pose, and accurately grasped the collar of the latter's shirt with his left hand.

However, before it grabbed Wei Ran's left arm and was about to punch him in the face, a numbness came from the left elbow that had already grabbed Wei Ran's neckline.

At the same time, Wei Ran kicked his left foot inward with his right foot and made a crisp sound of "pop" on the calf before he had just raised his left foot to trip Wei Ran.

The consequences of the momentary distraction caused by this small movement were disastrous. Wei Ran's hand that had just squeezed its left elbow had already pushed the numb left elbow to the right from the outside, and the Along with his calf kicked sideways, his body turned slightly to the right involuntarily.

In the same instant, Wei Ran's right hand, which had not yet been grasped, also changed from a fist to a half-clench that opened a set of joints, revealing a taut palm and an inwardly clasped thumb.

"Snapped!"

In the second crisp sound, the thenar in the palm of Wei Ran's right hand accurately drew a diagonal line and hit the right side of the first officer's chin, coordinating with the opponent's slightly right-turning body, a force far greater than it appeared .

With one blow, the chief mate couldn't help looking up at the sky, but Wei Ran grabbed the elbow and upper arm pushed by his right hand with this hand, and continued to yank violently to the left, forcing the opponent's body to continue to turn until it was almost facing away from him. While looking at himself, he raised his right foot again and kicked the first mate's right leg knee socket where the center of gravity was.

"Pfft!"

After this kick, the first mate, who bit his tongue a little bit because his jaw was smashed, knelt down on one knee uncontrollably, and his arm, which was still numb at the elbow, was twisted behind by Wei Ran. .Immediately afterwards, Wei Ran stepped on the ankle of its left leg with the foot that just kicked the socket of its knee.

All of this is slow to say, but it happened in less than two seconds. At this time, some people who responded slowly were still applauding, and even those who responded quickly subconsciously let out an exclamation.And those sailors who raised their beer glasses before the fight didn't even take their lips off the glass.

After deliberately stopping for a second, Wei Ran pulled the first officer up.However, almost when the opponent stood firm, he grabbed the hand he was holding with his backhand and prepared to exert strength.

But Wei Ran, who had already guessed that there would be a baby, took advantage of the situation and rushed forward, raised his knee and slapped it hard on its stomach.

Knocking down the chief mate who was about to attack again, Wei Ran didn't care about the severe pain in the opponent's abdomen, and stretched out his hand towards the opponent pretending to be candid, and twitched the big mate who was covering his stomach pain and almost vomited The deputy pulled it up.

"Do you want to continue?" Wei Ran took a step back, took the cash handed by Hugo and casually put it into his pocket and asked.

"You fouled," the first mate said rather disconvinced, clutching his stomach.

"We didn't agree on the rules." Wei Ran spread his hands innocently, "And there should be no sneak attack in your rules, right?"

Hearing this, the first officer snorted, pinched the necklace around his neck and said, "I bought the necklace from a native."

"Bought it?" Wei Ran raised his eyebrows, "Where did you buy it?"

"Why are you so curious about this?" the first officer asked with a little vigilance.

"That's the beak of the bird of paradise." Wei Ran explained in a natural way, "Now this kind of bird is very difficult to buy."

"How do you know this is the Bird of Paradise?" the first mate asked curiously.

"Can you show me?" Wei Ran stretched out his hand towards the other party.

After a moment of hesitation, the first officer finally took off the necklace and handed it to Wei Ran.

"Waloruo, you are blocking the light, stand behind me." Wei Ran said deliberately while taking the necklace.

Obtaining a hint, Valoro also stood beside Wei Ran, getting closer to the necklace in his hand without a trace.

"I'm an Australian sailor, and all the birds of paradise in the world come from Papua territory, so of course I know them."

While observing the necklace, Wei Ran nonsense said in a natural tone, "That's right, it really is a bird of paradise, this blue and white beak is as valuable as their gorgeous feathers.

But it is really very rare to have a necklace like yours. It seems to be a tribal aboriginal style. You must have spent a lot of money buying it at the time, right?It's really enviable. "

Sure enough, Wei Ran's last small compliment immediately made the first officer's face proud, and he reached out and took the necklace from Wei Ran's hand.

Seeing this, Wei Ran secretly grabbed Valoro's tight wrist, and deliberately said in an envious tone, "Keep it well, it is said that the beak of the bird of paradise can bring good luck, especially this blue bliss The beak of a bird."

"It did bring me a lot of good luck"

The first officer, who was complimented again, touched the necklace that was hung around his neck again, changed the subject and asked, "Victor, how did you do it just now? I haven't been felled for a long time."

"The few of us often fight with others on the street, so there must be some way to save our lives."

Wei Ran pretended to be proud and pointed to the wound on Karan's face, "To tell you the truth, we had a fight with someone before we got on the boat."

Taking advantage of this topic, the two sides chatted for a while before they separated, and the four of Wei Ran also walked to the edge of the deck again.

"See clearly?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

Valoro nodded, "That's the necklace of the bravest hunter in our tribe, I can't see it wrong. Hugo, I even know whose necklace it is, we all saw it on the Kokoda trail back then His mutilated body."

"Calm down first." Hugo glanced at the crowd who were still having dinner in the distance, "Let's go back and think of a solution."

"Let's go." While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already pushed Valoro's shoulders, and followed Hugo and the young Karan to the distant cabin.

On this extraordinarily long night, it was rare for the four of Wei Ran to hear the previous snoring sounds in the cabin of the four of them. The three of Hugo, who were lying in the hammock, tossed and turned, thinking of a solution, and finally decided to wait for the ship to dock. , trying to trick the first officer off the ship.

This is obviously not a good strategy, but Wei Ran did not join the discussion because he knew that the necklace might be returned to Valoro soon.

However, to his disappointment, the sailors on the deck outside the cabin did not celebrate for long before returning to the cabin.The whaler, which was returning home, also gradually quieted down, and Hugo didn't send the drunk captain to the room—the captain Fernando wasn't even drunk.

In the blink of an eye, the next day, the three of Wei Ran were called to help in the kitchen early on, and Hugo was called to help guard the radar.After dinner, the four of them got busy with the work of rust removal and painting with the ghost sailors. After the whole day, it can be said that there is no idle time at all.

At dusk on the third day, when it seemed that Brisbane would arrive at the port in another five or six hours, the Japanese shouts of the sailors on duty in the watchtower came again from the speakers that had been silent for two days!
This time, Wei Ran, who was taking pictures of the three of Hugo on the bow deck, even clearly saw a huge body jumping out of the sea not far away reddened by the setting sun!

Wei Ran and Captain Fernando, who was taking pictures of the sunset not far away, pointed their cameras at the huge figure flying into the sky and pressed the shutter in no particular order!
"Wow—!"

When the figure smashed into the sea again, everyone at the bow also heard the clear splash of water.

"It's a fin whale!"

While shouting, Captain Fernando ran to the whaling cannon not far away, aimed at the whale that was gradually floating in the center of the spray, and pulled the trigger!

At the same time, Wei Ran also turned the camera lens, aimed at Fernando who was manipulating the whaling cannon, adjusted the focus at the fastest speed, and pressed the shutter again.

"Tom!"

Amidst the muffled gunfire sounding almost simultaneously with the sound of the shutter, the javelin carrying the long rope flew out at high speed under the astonished gaze of Wei Ran and others, and accurately hit the whale that had just raised its back out of the water, and followed closely behind. The next moment there was an explosion!
"Oh!"

In the sound of the explosion, there was not much splash on the sea surface, but it was dyed blood red in the blink of an eye!

"Captain, we will be targeted by Australian patrols for whaling here!" A sailor who was maintaining equipment on the deck reminded slightly nervously.

"Hurry up! Drag it to the deck!" Captain Fernando ignored it, and ran into the cabin quickly after giving an order.

Soon, the whaling ship slowed down, and then, with the cooperation of many sailors, dragged the fin whale that should not have appeared to the upper deck of the stern.

Immediately afterwards, the whaling ship also reduced its speed, and the sailors were all summoned to the stern deck.

I personally photographed the moment when the whale jumped out of the sea, hit the prey with a whaling cannon and successfully salvaged it aboard.All of these made Captain Fernando immersed in excitement and pride.

"Be careful with this breakdown"

Captain Fernando, who had changed into a white uniform, held the samurai sword that was originally placed in the command room in his hand. He even trimmed his beard carefully during that period of time.

Waiting for the sailors on the deck to respond loudly, he said, "I want to keep its complete skeleton and donate it to my alma mater in Kobe. So we must ensure the integrity of the bones."

When the sailors responded loudly again, Fernando enthusiastically raised the Nikon camera in his hand towards Wei Ran who was watching from a distance, "Victor, come and help us take some photos, use my camera!"

"My pleasure"

Wei Ran responded with a smile, took the other party's camera, and first took a few photos of Fernando who stepped on the whale's lip with his foot on the whale's lip and was still holding the toothpick-like samurai sword in his hand. Then, the sailors Under the command of Fernando, they either climbed onto the body of the whale, or stood on the left and right, and took a group photo with the captain standing in the middle holding a samurai sword against the last rays of the setting sun. .

"It turned out that there were 33 people in total"

While Wei Ran muttered to himself, Fernando also said regretfully, "It's a pity that my Taro is not on board."

"Don't worry, Captain," said the first mate, "When we rush back to Brisbane, it might already be waiting for you at the pier."

"I hope so!"

Fernando sighed, and then cheered up and ordered loudly, "Everyone deal with this fin whale as quickly as possible, remember to keep the whale head!"

"Hi!" All the sailors responded loudly again.

"After finishing the work, we will drink all the wine in stock tonight and sleep until dawn before docking in Hong Kong!"

"All broken!"

These ghost sailors immediately burst into more excited cheers, each of them picked up the tools specially for slaughtering whales, and began to work.

This time, after taking the camera from Wei Ran, Captain Fernando did not leave. Instead, he stood beside Wei Ran and took a few more photos himself. With small eyes, he watched the busy sailors dividing up the prey he "caught".

"Mr. Nagatsuka" Wei Ran changed into Japanese, "I have a gift for you."

"Gift?"

Fernando turned his head to look at Wei Ran, and asked with great interest, "What gift?"

"a photo"

Wei Ran picked up the camera hanging around his neck, "Of course, if you want to get this gift before the evening party, you may need to lend me your darkroom."

Seeing that the other party was still puzzled, Wei Ran said more bluntly, "I just photographed the moment when you fired the whaling cannon, but I'm not sure if I captured the best moment. Frankly speaking, I can't wait now I want to see the photos I just took."

Hearing this, Fernando's face revealed surprise, followed by fleeting suspicion, but soon, he couldn't hold back his curiosity and said, "Let's go, I'll take you to the darkroom .”

"Do you need me to help you print out those group photos just now?" Wei Ran asked proactively.

"Let me see your printing technology first," Captain Fernando said jokingly.

“You will not be disappointed”

With a confident and gentle smile on Wei Ran's face, he followed Fernando off the deck and entered the cabin, stepped on the stairs all the way up, and finally got into the locked captain's cabin.

Putting the broken knife in his hand on the desk, Fernando took out the bunch of keys and opened the door of the darkroom, "Do you need my help?"

"I have absolute confidence in printing photos." Wei Ran said without doubt.

Hearing this, Fernando cupped his hands towards the darkroom, "I'll wait for you outside, all the consumables are in the cabinet."

"I'll be printing it soon"

As Wei Ran said, he stepped into the darkroom, turned on the light himself, then closed the door, and put a thick blackout curtain on it.The advantage of this era is that there is no need to worry about the cameras that can be seen everywhere in the future.

First, he quietly went to the insurance at the end of the room to observe it carefully, and then Wei Ran turned off the light and checked it until he was sure that there was no light leak in the room, then he took the box in the camera that hadn't been taken yet. The finished film was rewound and taken out, and the printing work was started step by step.

When the film turned into a visible negative, he didn't turn on the light, but squatted in the dark next to the safe, took out a pair of rubber gloves from his pocket, and then grabbed two more from his belt. In the past two days, he used the steel wire he found on the ship to make a lockpicking tool, and started to work quietly.

In addition to thanking the experience of being blindfolded and picking the lock for a limited time at the Hongqi Forest Farm, Wei Ran would also like to thank the outdated design of this safe.

So without wasting much time, he easily pried open the safe in the dark.

However, he didn't open the door of the cabinet. He just took out the lighter and lit it for a look, then immediately locked the safe and restored it to its original state. Then he took off his gloves, turned on the light and observed the washed negatives, Then the work of printing photos continued.

Soon, two photos were developed.

One of the photos is the moment he took the whale jumping out of the sea, and the other is when Fernando personally controls the whaling cannon to fire, the flying javelin pulls the rope to bring out a series of slightly blurred phantoms, and this The captain held the whaling gun with a serious and ruthless expression on his face.Of course, there is still a huge splash on the sea that has not subsided yet.

Nodding in satisfaction, Wei Ran clipped the two photos on the drying line, then opened the door and said with a smile in Japanese, "Mr. Nagatsuka, my gift is ready, do you want to come in and take a look?"

"Of course!"

Captain Fernando, who was sitting behind the desk, immediately put a photo album in his hand on the desk, got up and walked quickly to the door of the darkroom, and guided by Wei Ran's raised arm, walked into the room he personally arranged. Darkroom, and then I saw the two photos that had just been fished out of the water.

“Both of these works are very well shot!”

Fernando sincerely admired, "The angle of light you choose and the timing are very good, and the focus is also very accurate. Victor, you are wasting your life as a sailor. You should be a photographer."

"I always want to live"

Wei Ran pretended to be helpless and picked up the outdated military flag camera on the table, "However, I will definitely become a photographer in the future."

"Yeah, always have to live."

Fernando sighed, then walked to the cabinet next to the wall, opened the cabinet door, took out a Nikon SP camera in a leather case and handed it to Wei Ran, and said very seriously, "Victor , please accept it, I believe that you will definitely become an excellent photographer in the future."

"This...is for me?"

Wei Ran looked at the other party in astonishment. He could tell that the ghost named Fernando in front of him was sincerely wishing him well, and really hoped that he could become a photographer.He could even tell that this cruel whaling captain really liked photography.

"certainly"

Fernando stuffed the camera in Wei Ran's hand, "This is the latest product of the recruited Nikon company this year. It is a 48th birthday gift from my friend. But I am still used to using the current camera. camera, so let me pass it on to you, Mr. Victor, and I very much look forward to seeing more great pictures from you with it."

Sighing secretly, Wei Ran still took the camera.It is true that he has an innate hatred for devils.Indeed, he knows that if there is not much background and historical reasons, Fernando, who likes photography, at least in photography, may have a good chat with himself.

But how can there be so many ifs?
He is the recruiter and he slaughtered so many innocent people.These two items alone are enough for Wei Ran to satisfy all the reasons why he must kill the other party.

"Go try this camera out on deck"

As Fernando said, he took out another box of film from the cabinet and handed it to Wei Ran, "I'm going to develop the photos I took too."

"Then, see you at the party tonight."

Wei Ran said goodbye with a smile on his face, and left the captain's cabin with the camera given by the other party, left the cabin, and finally returned to the edge of the deck, joining Hugo, Valoro and Karan who were also watching.

He didn't mention what happened in the captain's cabin just now, and Wei Ran didn't even hang the camera he just got around his neck, but put it in his bag casually.

Because he knew that after a few hours, he and Fernand. No, he and the nuclear photographer, the war criminal Nagatsuka Joji who escaped trial, and all the sailors on the ship except Hugo, Will become an endless enemy!

(End of this chapter)