War Photographer's Notebook

"Fuck!"

In the bedroom on the second floor where he couldn't see his hands, Wei Ran cursed in his heart. For no other reason than that the already full satchel could not be put back into the metal notebook!
Hearing the sound of picking locks downstairs becoming more and more clear, Wei Ran didn't think too much and locked all the four safe doors as quickly as possible. Then he quickly walked to the window and lifted a corner of the curtain. Glanced outside.

However, what he didn't expect was that the person breaking the door outside seemed to be Vanessa!

Isn’t this girl studying law? Why do you still have a habit of sliding doors and picking locks?
After thinking secretly for a moment, Wei Ran relaxed somewhat. However, he did not go downstairs to open the door for the other party, but hid behind the curtains and peered quietly.

After tinkering for a minute, the girl successfully pried open the store door on the first floor, and then locked it from the inside.

Seeing this, Wei Ran quietly walked out of the bedroom and walked to the stairs. He put his head down and secretly looked at the girl holding the oil lamp in her hand. He picked up the clothes rail at the door of the counter and familiarly picked up the clothes rail. She walked to the shelf with a familiarity and took down an extra thick white dress, a slim khaki windbreaker, a pair of knitted stockings and a pair of black mid-calf leather boots with thick heels.

As if she had determined that she was the only one here, the girl did not move at all. She casually put the oil lamp in her hand on the shelf, and then took off her own nightgown and slippers.

It is rare to be able to feast your eyes on it, so Wei Ran will not be at a loss for himself. And the girl downstairs who was separated from him by a shelf, also put on the clothes and shoes she had just chosen one by one in the dim light of the oil lamp, and then walked around in place with great satisfaction. After a lap, I finally chose a hat for myself and put it on my head.

After getting ready, the girl stuffed the clothes she had just changed into a large handbag that she picked up from the shelf. Then she took two more slim-fitting sweaters and a few pairs as if she was going to the supermarket. Stockings, gloves and scarves were stuffed into the bag.

Seeing Vanessa getting closer and closer to the stairs leading to the second floor, Wei Ran quietly retreated to the kitchen.

Soon, after extinguishing the oil lamp, Vanessa climbed up the creaking stairs to the second floor, walked straight into the bedroom, opened the curtains a gap, and took advantage of the moonlight coming in from outside, sitting with her legs crossed. In front of a safe, he poked the keyhole with the small tool in his hand.

Under Wei Ran's prying eyes, this courageous girl tinkered for almost an hour, but still failed to open the safe door.

Finally, she snorted angrily, stood up holding the safe, grinned, and stretched her sore legs. Then she walked out of the bedroom and ran down the second floor. A moment later, Wei Ran also heard the sound at the door of the store. The sound of someone being locked from the outside.

Through the window, he watched the female thief carrying the bag cross the street and enter the tailor shop and lock the security mesh door.

Wei Ran was not in a hurry to leave. He just went downstairs, lit the candlestick and placed it on the counter. Then he took out the wooden box from the gas mask bag that he had put in last, without even having time to take a closer look.

Instead, when he opened it, he discovered that, except for a gold hunting jacket pocket watch, the remaining space contained a stack of letters filled with words and seemed to be stamped, signed, and pressed. Hand printed paper.

First, I picked up the pocket watch and looked at it through an oil lamp. The case was engraved with complex patterns, and in the middle was a complex, indescribable coat of arms.

Gently open the case, and in addition to the original timing function, the black-on-white dial also has four small dials distributed in a cross, which respectively provide the functions of perpetual calendar, moon phase, chronograph, and week display.

He opened the case on the other side with great interest, but there was a long name engraved in French only, which made him suspect that it was a Russian name: Maria Ludovica Leopoldina Franziska. Therese Josefa Lucia.

Who the hell is this?
Wei Ran frowned. After all, he was just a scholar of war history, and the smelly and absurd history of Europe was really difficult to remember. But the only thing he can be sure of is that just by looking at the length of the name, he can tell that this person's status is probably not low.

Putting the pocket watch into the gas mask bag, Wei Ran picked up the remaining papers in the box and flipped through them.

Both expected and unexpected, this thick stack of paper was basically filled with usury loan documents and a few equity certificates.

What especially surprised him was that there was actually a receipt signed by "Heidi Binoche" and "Vanessa Binoche"!

According to the record on this usurious loan note, the money was owed by the sisters' father seven or eight years ago, and the sisters were regarded as inheriting the debt from their father.

Not only that, even half of the shares in the tailor shop seemed to be used to repay this debt. Accordingly, the equity certificate is affixed to the back of the debt document.

So that girl came over late at night to sneak in and pick the lock, just for this list?

After some muttering, Wei Ran folded the debt note in his hand and stuffed it into the compartment of the gas mask bag.

After trying to put away the gas mask bag again to no avail, Wei Ran simply stuffed the wooden box inside again and carefully opened the locked store door. After some observation, he locked the door of the grocery store and ran back in a hurry. On the second floor of the tailor shop.

Waiting until the bedroom door was locked, Wei Ran was a little disappointed. After surviving this busy period, he did not feel the indescribable sense of brain shutdown. Obviously, the pack of yellow and white things he had just stolen was far away. Far less than the weight of ten kilograms.

He lit the oil lamp and adjusted it to maximum brightness. Wei Ran placed all the stolen items on the bed and patiently tried them one by one.

After wasting almost an hour, he realized that the only things that could be put into the gas mask bag and stored in the metal book were the double-edged dagger, the box of usury receipts, and the unknown currency. Whose gold case pocket watch is it?

As for other valuable things, not even a single note can be put in.

It's so picky. Wei Ran muttered, randomly found a drawer, and poured it all in.

Still have to make a trip.
Wei Ran had no intention of taking a rest. After blowing out the oil lamp, he left the bedroom and went into the grocery store by familiar means, holding a flashlight wrapped in a white towel and rummaging through it carefully.

After searching carefully, he actually found some good things. In a box with a lid at the bottom of one of the shelves, there was a box of cameras. These cameras included both Rollei and Leica. There is also a British military flag.

In another box next to it, there was an oxygen bottle that was slightly larger than the mineral water bottle and covered with black paint.

This oxygen bottle not only has the abbreviation "RAF" of the British Royal Air Force on it, but also has a respirator mask that seems to belong to the British Air Force, but there is still some blackened blood on the mask.

After looking at the pressure gauge on the valve, Wei Yan stuffed the fragment that seemed to have been removed from the pilot's body into his bag.

He has not forgotten that the key clue item this time is the rescue buoy. It is best not to use this almost full oxygen bottle, but if it is needed, it can really be a life-saving thing.

After closing the bag's pocket flap, Wei Ran cautiously tried to see if he could put it into the metal book.

Seeing that the satchel disappeared successfully this time, Wei Ran secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had roughly guessed that although the broken notebook had arranged such a stealing task for himself, it was obviously not possible to steal everything.

Continuing to rummage through the row of shelves, Wei Ran successfully stuffed a small jar of sugar cubes, a bottle of cognac, and what China would call a Huakou Luzi into his bag at this time. pistol.

Seeing that the weight was about the same, Wei Ran was about to withdraw when he heard another movement from the locked store door behind him!

Wei Ran subconsciously turned off the flashlight, and before the other party could pry open the door, Wei Ran quietly climbed to the second floor again.

"squeak"

When Wei Ran had just climbed halfway, the originally locked store door was pushed open from the outside. When he climbed up to the second floor with great difficulty, he happened to hear that the door was locked from the inside. the sound of.

Immediately afterwards, a dim light beam illuminated the interior of the grocery store.

"Sister, come here, I just saw a set of clothes that suits you very well, and I also saw several rolls of very good quality fabric!"

At the counter on the first floor, Vanessa held up a German square box flashlight and whispered excitedly.

"Vanessa, you are stealing!" Heidi's voice was lower, and she was obviously very panicked.

"We've paid so much interest over the years, what's wrong with a few rags from that old guy?"

Vanessa said nonchalantly, "And I am confident enough to pry open those damn safes this time. As long as we find the original IOU, we will never have to be sucked by that old thing again."

"But Victor"

"Didn't he also get tricked by that damn old guy? If we hadn't taken him in, he would have been captured by those Germans a few months ago."

Vanessa, who was still wearing the stolen clothes, had already taken off a woolen coat on a clothes drying pole while she was talking, and then took off a light green winter skirt and a pair of long riding boots and handed them to the woman wearing only the clothes behind her. Heidi in a nightgown.

"Quickly change them! Let's get some other things back later." Vanessa said, taking another pair of knitted stockings from the shelf and handing them to her sister.

"Vanessa, we will harm Victor if we do this." Heidi said in a hurry.

"Sister, most of these things are stolen."

Vanessa said matter-of-factly, "Since it was stolen, isn't it normal for it to be stolen? And how can you blame Victor for such a thing? Hum! That old guy probably won't dare to come back in a short time. So. Hurry up and put it on, I'll go get the fabric I just saw."

After a moment of hesitation, Heidi finally took off the nightgown and put on the outfit Vanessa chose for her.

"this is for you!"

Before Vanessa finished speaking, she had already put a top hat on her sister's head, and then handed over a pair of sheepskin gloves and a scarf. She picked up the nightgown that her sister had just taken off and stuffed it into the handbag she was carrying. Li whispered happily, "This way we will have new clothes to wear this winter."

"Can"

Heidi was about to say something, but Vanessa had already stood on tiptoes and picked up two large rolls of fabric from a shelf.

At this time, Heidi, who was about to say something, almost subconsciously took the two rolls of fabric, and Vanessa also showed a proud expression on her face.

However, just at this moment, the sound of motorcycles came from the street outside the door!

When the sound reached their ears, Vanessa and Heidi immediately panicked, and the roll of cloth almost fell to the ground.

"Quick! Turn off the lights!" Heidi was the first to react. Upon hearing this, Vanessa panicked and immediately turned off the small flashlight in her hand.

"crunch"

Almost immediately, they and Wei Ran, who was hiding upstairs, also heard the sound of the motorcycle stopping outside the door of the grocery store.

"Go upstairs! Keep your voice down"

Heidi greeted in a low voice, pushed the panicked Vanessa around to the back of the deepest shelf, and climbed up the stairs to the second floor.

At the same time, Wei Ran had already hid in the kitchen where he had just been hiding. Just now he had seen through the bedroom window that a BMW R75 sidecar motorcycle was driving over from a distance.

There were two soldiers sitting on this motorcycle with an MG34 machine gun on the sidecar!

Almost at the same time that Heidi and Vanessa climbed up to the second floor, the door downstairs was easily pried open by the German soldiers outside, and Heidi and Vanessa also ran in without choosing a way. In the kitchen!
"ah!"

Just as Vanessa's voice was about to come out of her throat, Wei Ran covered her mouth first. Also covered by him was Heidi, who ran in together.

"Shh-" Wei Ran gently leaned into their ears and whispered, "Don't shout, the people coming in downstairs are Germans."

Hearing this, the sisters, who had already panicked so much that their hearts beat out of their throats, immediately nodded, and then they felt the hands covering their mouths slowly loosen.

"Hide"

Wei Ran whispered and asked them to hide in the corner next to the kitchen stove with the moonlight shining in from the window.

"Don't come out unless I tell you"

Wei Ran gave the last instructions into their ears, and after they nodded, he picked up two sharp kitchen knives from the table.

This was not over yet, he then quietly opened the ajar kitchen door, while he hid behind the door.

He didn't dare to be careless. World War II had just begun. In addition to having a bad reputation, chain dogs during this period were also synonymous with elites.

A moment later, the chain dog who had visited the tailor shop during the day walked up the stairs step by step holding a square box flashlight in one hand and a PPK pistol in the other.

Four or five meters away from him, another chained dog who had also visited the tailor shop during the day also went upstairs, and cooperated with his companion to search the room on the second floor.

Fortunately, because the kitchen door was deliberately left open by Wei Ran, the chained dog who didn't speak French just glanced at it casually with the square box flashlight that glowed blue.

At the same time, another chained dog also said, "Come and take a look, there is a safe in the bedroom."

Hearing this, the chained dog at the kitchen door also turned and walked towards the bedroom. Almost at the same time, the roar of bomber formations flying over was heard in the night sky outside the window. At this time, both the chain dog in the bedroom and the chain dog at the kitchen door habitually turned off the flashlights in their hands. .

With this rare opportunity, Wei Ran stepped out of his hiding spot, covered the chained dog's mouth with one hand, and at the same time stabbed him diagonally upwards from the throat with the kitchen knife he held in his other hand.

This knife had just destroyed the opponent's vocal cords, and Wei Ran's knee from one leg also pushed hard against the opponent's knee socket, forcing the opponent to bend his knees and turn his upper body around.

"puff!"

Amidst the roar of the plane, Wei Ran smashed the end of the knife's handle with the palm of his hand, and easily stabbed the slender and sharp knife into the opponent's brain.

Gently lowering the corpse in his arms to the ground, Wei Ran took away the square box flashlight from the corpse's fingers, pulled out another kitchen knife pinned to his waist, and walked towards the bedroom.

"Crack!"

At this moment, the door of the safe was also pried open by the chain dog in the room in the dark.

Almost as he subconsciously turned around and prepared to greet his companions with a proud look on his face, the dazzling light also shone on his face, causing him to subconsciously narrow his eyes.

"puff!"

In the soft sound that was masked by the roar of the plane overhead, a kitchen knife was stabbed diagonally into his throat from bottom to top.

"Oh!"

The ensuing knee bump easily pushed the kitchen knife into his brain, and also caused his helmet to collide with the cabinet door that had just been opened.

Looking behind him, Wei Ran rubbed his sore knees that were hit by the handle of the knife, took out the gas mask bag, took out the box of IOUs and threw it into the safe that had just been opened, then walked to the window and looked out. One glance.

Before the roar of the plane dissipated, he quickly ran back to the kitchen, "Heidi, Vanessa, come out quickly."

Before she finished speaking, Heidi immediately ran out holding the roll of cloth and dragging her sister Vanessa.

"Victor, what are you doing?"

"Now is not the time for explanations"

As Wei Ran spoke, he took off the clothes from the corpse at the kitchen door and said, "You should get out of here now."

"I want to stay and help you," Heidi said through gritted teeth.

"I, I also want to stay and help you." Vanessa, who ran out a little later, said in a panic.

Seeing this, Wei Ran smiled and put the chained dog uniform he had taken off on himself and said, "In that case, you two go to the bedroom and take off the uniform from the other corpse. Discuss who will put that suit on himself, and come out and wait for me after putting it on."

Hearing this, the two sisters looked at each other. Heidi gritted her teeth and put down the roll of cloth in her hand, and walked into the bedroom first. Soon, Vanessa also caught up.

As expected, when Wei Ran put on the chain dog uniform, Vanessa also let out a suppressed cheer of surprise.

With a silent smile, Wei Ran carried the stripped body downstairs, casually dressed him in a men's windbreaker and put a sweater on his head, and leaned it against the door of the store. Inside, I turned around and picked a few things on the shelves.

When he went upstairs again carrying something he had picked up, he found that Vanessa had changed into another chain dog uniform. However, this girl is a little thinner after all, and this outfit will inevitably look a little funny on her.

"You two go downstairs and wait," Wei Ran said in a low voice, "Don't turn on the lights, don't leave in a hurry, and keep an eye on what's going on outside."

"Okay!" Vanessa seemed to be getting bolder again. She reached out and pulled Heidi, who seemed to be holding something in her arms, and walked downstairs.

When there was no movement in the stairwell, Wei Ran sighed secretly, took out the lock-picking tool he had made before, and opened the remaining three safes one by one.

"laugh"

Wei Ran pulled out the kitchen knife, expressionlessly but skillfully cutting up the corpse in the bedroom along the joints in the dark, stuffing the severed limbs, head and even torso into the four safes and locking them separately. good.

He blocked the keyhole of the safe with a piece of wire prepared in advance, then took off his gloves, silently took out a pack of German cigarettes from his pocket, lit it, took one, two, and three puffs, and then threw it on the blood-soaked quilt. superior.

Turning around and walking out of the bedroom, locking the door, Wei Ran took a few deep breaths, then walked downstairs and whispered to the two sisters guarding the stairs, "Vanessa, wait a minute, you and I will drive that car." Leave the motorcycle temporarily, and then find a way to get it back.

Heidi, wait a moment, about half an hour to an hour, then lock the door and go back to the tailor shop. Remember not to go upstairs before leaving. "

As he spoke, Wei Ran took out two old-fashioned keys and handed them to Heidi, while not forgetting to add, "Besides, just take whatever you like."

Hearing this, Heidi's cheeks, which were still extremely flustered, couldn't help but heat up, and Vanessa also grinned secretly. It was indeed extremely embarrassing for her to be caught stealing.

Without looking for traces, he used this little embarrassment to dilute the panic of the sisters. Wei Ran openly turned on the flashlight, first helped Vanessa put on the mask and goggles, and then put on the mask for himself. goggles.

Hanging the flashlight on his chest, Wei Ran picked up the body, which still had a kitchen knife stuck in its neck but a sweater covering its head. After walking out of the store, he put it on the sidecar and then got on the motorcycle.

"Hans, get in the car." Wei Ran deliberately greeted in German.

Vanessa was smart enough to close the store door and then got on the motorcycle and sat behind Wei Ran.

After deliberately looking around, Wei Ran drove his motorcycle in the direction he came from. Under Vanessa's guidance, he turned halfway and drove out of the city.

Along the way, they inevitably encountered German soldiers patrolling at night.

However, because of their unpopular chain dog attire, not only did no one find trouble with them, but they seemed to avoid them, but even interrogation was avoided.

Almost as soon as the sidecar motorcycle successfully drove out of the city, Weiran was also overwhelmed by the indescribable sense of brain shutdown. He stopped the motorcycle with difficulty, leaving the unprepared Fanny behind him. Sha hit his back hard under the inertia.

However, what he didn't expect was that when the discomfort disappeared, he found that Vanessa behind him hugged his waist and whispered into his ear, "Victor , did you peek at me and my sister changing clothes?"