War Photographer's Notebook

When the white light faded again, Wei Ran returned to the despairing buoy.

Under his almost desperate gaze, the metal book in front of him finally turned over a page and hurriedly wrote down lines of text on the new page:

终幕

Character identity: Victor

Return mission: grave sweeping

Grave sweeping?

whose tomb?

In his faint uneasiness, everything in front of him was shrouded in white light again, but this time, he did not see any usable props in the white light.

Before the white light faded, he smelled the rotten smell unique to the swamp and the overly humid air. Then, he also noticed that he seemed to be holding something in his hand.

As he waited patiently, everything around him became clearer and clearer, and he gradually saw clearly that he was wearing a brown trench coat and holding a black umbrella standing in an oak forest - located in the countryside of Liverpool. Located in the oak forest on Vanessa's grandfather's farm.

Or to be more precise, he was holding an umbrella and hiding behind a thick oak tree. At the edge of the cemetery not far from the oak tree, Vanessa, also wearing a windbreaker and holding a black umbrella, stood in front of a tombstone. Next to her, stood a man who looked to be only five or six years old. little girl.

"Mom, why is my name engraved on this tombstone?"

Just when Wei Ran was trying to walk over, the little girl pointed at the tombstone in the rain and asked in a sweet voice.

"Heidi Binoche, that is not only your name, but also my sister's name." Vanessa touched the little girl's head and explained with a smile.

"Did she die?" The little girl who also seemed to be named Heidi asked curiously, raising her head, "And here, what is this place?"

"She didn't die, but I can't find her." Vanessa explained patiently, "As for this, it's our home."

"But."

The little girl asked in confusion, "Isn't our home at the Azalea Inn on Princes Street in Edinburgh?"

Azalea Inn?

Wei Ran, who had not yet recovered from Phil's suicide, couldn't help but feel his heart tremble. He remembered clearly that the hotel was exactly what Spier mentioned in the letter he sent to the farm in the name of Heidi. Preparing to sell the Binoche sisters to the Jewish Renaud's trading place!

Could it be that Vanessa has been waiting in that hotel? This time he was not deprived of his memory, so he naturally knew that there was a huge misunderstanding.

However, just when he was about to walk out from behind the oak tree where he was hiding, the metal book restricted his control of his body without saying hello. At this time, in addition to being able to hear the sound and hold the umbrella, But even breathing is not so smooth.

At this moment, he heard Vanessa say again, "Yes, our home is at the Azalea Hotel. But this is also our home. We also have a home in France. We will set off to France to see that home later. Come home, maybe you can see your father then."

"How come we have so many homes?"

The little girl named Heidi immediately became excited, "And I can see my father? Can I also have a father? What does he look like?"

"Yes, we have so many homes, but none of them is our home."

Vanessa murmured something to herself that the little girl couldn't understand, then bent down and picked her up, "Even I have forgotten what your father looks like. Anyway, let's hurry up first. Go there, if you are lucky, you might be able to meet him.”

"Will he really give me a gold pocket watch used by the Queen then?" The little girl held in Vanessa's arms asked expectantly as she took over the task of holding the umbrella.

"If he is willing to show up, he will definitely give you a gold pocket watch used by the queen." Vanessa said with a smile, and walked out of the oak forest step by step.

It wasn't until the backs of their mother and daughter were completely obscured by the misty rain that Wei Ran, who was sitting behind the oak tree, got permission from the metal book and was able to take a deep breath.

He tried to take a step forward, but seeing that the metal book didn't stop him this time, he cautiously walked to the tombstone.

As expected, Heidi's name was written on the tombstone, but behind the tombstone was a grave pit filled with rainwater. There was neither a coffin nor a body. There was not even a bouquet of flowers placed in front of the tombstone, only a pair of tailor's scissors stuck upside down.

Sighing secretly, Wei Ran put away his umbrella and put it aside, carefully pulled out the scissors, and used the rusty scissors tip to silently carve Spear's name on the tombstone.

Almost as soon as he dug the scissors into the wet soil again, the white light appeared again, and Wei Ran once again returned to the rescue buoy of later generations.

This is probably the fastest ever.

Wei Ran waited until the metal quill began to write the stories of those people on the final leaf, and then he breathed a sigh of relief while muttering to himself.

Whether it was the death of Julian, or the death of Spear, or the crazy Heidi, the suicides of Barbara and Phil, Phil's wife who died in the bombing, or even Vanessa and the one who seemed the luckiest to survive. The honest Sammy in the chained dog, and even Hans, the thief encountered on the train.

These tiny dust particles, which could not even create a ripple in the war, seemed to weigh tens of millions of kilograms, weighing him down so much that he couldn't even breathe.

He tried his best to look up at the buoy watchtower with lights above his head. Wei Ran rubbed his face vigorously, took out his cigarette case, lit a cigarette and held it in his mouth. He silently watched the metal quill write under the final scene. Out of that dust the rest of the story:

War never spares the innocent

German bomber pilot Julian Klinsmann died together with lighthouse keeper Speer on September 1940, 9. After his death, British bomber navigator Phil Harrington presided over his sea burial and sank in the English Channel.

British bomber navigator Phil Harrington escaped by parachuting after his plane crashed on his way back from bombing a German port on September 1940, 9, and then climbed onto a German rescue buoy.

On the 18th, following Spear's plan, he successfully landed on the Isle of Wight in the UK on a rescue buoy and was rescued.

On the 23rd, Phil joined the new crew and participated in many bombings against Germany as a navigator.

On April 1945, 4, Phil Harrington retired with the rank of major.

On September 9 of the same year, he went to Rothenburg, Germany to fulfill his promise to deliver the letter. Later, due to the suicide of Julian's wife Barbara, he adopted Julian's son Attila and sent him to the farm run by his brother William to take care of him. At the same time, he recruited Hans von Brothers Basten and Louis Basten jointly take care of Barbara's legacy orchard.

On September 9 of the following year, Barbara's former colleagues completed their inspection of Phil, who completely entrusted the orchard to Hans von Basten and sent Louis Basten to live on William's Farm in England.

On September 1946, 9, Phil Harrington traveled to the Isle of Wight and committed suicide in an abandoned rescue buoy.

On the 21st, Phil was buried with his wife at William's farm.

On the 27th, William Harrington bought the abandoned rescue buoy and transported it to the farm as a souvenir, and hid the belongings of Heidi, Phil, Julian and others in a cement compartment under the floor.

Spear, the lighthouse keeper, had carefully planned his escape across the Channel and hired a murderer to kill his creditor Renault. Later, his fiancée accidentally killed a German gendarme and had to plan his escape in advance.

In order to ensure that his wife could successfully escape across the Channel to England, he died together with German bomber pilot Julian Klinsmann on September 1940, 9.

His body was buried on the Isle of Wight the next day and moved to William Harrington Farm Cemetery on September 1945, 9.

Seamstress Heidi Binoche suffered a mental breakdown due to the death of her fiancé Spears on September 1940, 9. On the 17th, she landed on the Isle of Wight, England, on a rescue buoy and was taken to the hospital. She was haunted by mental illness for the rest of her life.

On April 1941, 4, Heidi gave birth to a daughter with Spear, named Vanessa Spear.

In June 1945, Phil Harrington adopted the mother and daughter and sent them to live on William Harrington's farm.

In September 1974, Heidi was shot to death while trying to kill someone due to mental disorder, and was later buried with Spear.

On the night of September 1940, 9, Vanessa Binoche was trying to escape from Chateau Philippe along the A River into the sea. She was separated from her sisters Heidi and Spear because the traction rope was accidentally disconnected, and she misunderstood that the rope was cut off from Spear.

On the 16th, with the help of his admirer, the German military policeman Sami, he successfully boarded a freighter and left France, passing through Spain and successfully escaping to the UK.

On the night of the 28th, Vanessa murdered her creditor Renault, his family, and his gang, and took back his grandfather's farm.

On the 29th, I unexpectedly received a letter from Spear under the guise of Heidi, and decided to go to Edinburgh to stay with Spear to rescue his sister.

On October 10, he returned to Liverpool after squatting to no avail, and on November 29 he bought the hotel mentioned in Spear's letter.

On July 1941, 7, Vanessa gave birth to a daughter named Heidi Binoche, a German military policeman named Sami.

At the end of August 1944, Vanessa and her daughter returned to France to find her family in Saint-Omer, but to no avail. From then until 8, Vanessa traveled to Liverpool, Edinburgh, and Saint-Omer every year to search for her sister Heidi and her enemy Spear. , and starting from August 1999, he went diving in Calais, France and Dover, England every summer to search for his sister's bones.

In 1966, Vanessa opened diving shops in Calais and Dover respectively, and in 1970 she transitioned into the diving clothing and equipment design and development industry.

Vanessa died of organ failure on August 2000, 8 at Liverpool Farm.

German military policeman Sami helped Vanessa escape to Spain by boat on September 1940, 9, and agreed to return the gold watch to the Saint-Omer tailor shop after the war.

That night, Sammy died in a British bombing;

It turns out you didn’t survive either

As Wei Ran muttered to himself, the metal quill started another line and wrote a series of addresses.

These addresses include a tailor shop in Saint-Omer, France, a farm in Liverpool, England, the Rhododendron Inn in Edinburgh, and an orchard in Rothenburg.

In Wei Ran's silence, the quill pen started another line and wrote:

The perpetrator is determined and hesitant, but the victim is wronged due to prejudice, and the just person suffers a backlash from his conscience.

Innocent people are infatuated and crazy, helpless people are revenged by misunderstandings, and kind people are also tainted by evil. Even if the war leaves all tragedies filled with bloody footnotes, it still cannot awaken the rotten consciences of the truly guilty.

Just when Wei Ran was checking the seats of those people in his memory, the metal book began to flip forward quickly with a soft clatter.

Are you going to be promoted to military rank?

Wei Ran, who felt weak all over, finally got some energy, but found that the metal book just paused for a moment on the page with the gas mask bag, waited for the blue vortex to flash, and then quickly flipped back. Then he paused for a moment on the page where the B2 radio station obtained from Love Letters was placed.

When the red vortex containing the radio also flashed, the metal book finally turned back to the back of the page where the tasks of the first five acts were written.

Under Wei Ran's gaze, three red whirlpools appeared in succession on this page, and the quill pen also wrote under these three whirlpools, "May there be no war in your era, and no more tragedies."

How is that possible? Wei Ran let out a long sigh. No matter war or tragedy, it has never disappeared.

When he was distracted and thinking, the metal book turned another page. On the back of the final message, three blue vortexes also appeared. The metal quill also seemed to have a bug. Same, I wrote the sentence again, "May there be no wars and no tragedies in your era."

"pat"

The metal quill that completed the task fell on the light yellow paper and made no movement. However, Wei Ran was not in a hurry to explore the changes in the metal book. Instead, he squatted down and carefully observed the floor under his feet.

Unfortunately, the floor of the rescue buoy didn't seem to have any abnormalities. If he wanted to find the hidden compartment where the relics were hidden, he might have to dismantle the floor.

Thinking of this, he looked up again at the watchtower above his head, then picked up the metal book and flipped it forward.

During this inspection, he also discovered changes in the metal book.

First of all, at the bottom of the gas mask bag, there is an H1 emergency oxygen bottle commonly equipped by the British and American air forces during World War II. The air nozzle of the oxygen bottle protrudes along the edge of the mask bag and is fixed with the strap with a clip. There are also There is a respirator mask.

As for the B2 radio station obtained in the Love Letter Apartment, its changes have returned to normal. It no longer looks like a stitching monster. It is glued together with the suitcase containing Mao suit and other clothes. Correspondingly, the suitcase that originally contained clothes One side also disappeared.

In addition, the P44 British army kettle was refilled with sweet and mellow apple cider.

Continuing to turn back, when he tried to take out the object from the first red vortex that appeared, he felt his body sink inexplicably, and there was something on his face.

When he came to his senses, he found that he had put on an Owen-style parachute suit issued by the British during World War II!

How can this be done?

Wei Ran came to his senses, tried to put the skydiving suit back, and then took out the contents of the second red vortex.

"laugh!"

But this time, he felt his body tighten suddenly amid a series of tearing sounds of fabric.

Your uncle.

Wei Ran looked down and couldn't help but cursed.

At this time, the suit on his body has been stretched out and rounded, and some parts have been unsealed, revealing the 49/bis diving suit produced by Pirelli Company, which was developed in Italy in the early World War II and used by the German army for frogmen. Clothes!

Pulling off the diving mask on his head, Wei Ran irritably put away the diving suit that he put on automatically, and then pulled at the crotch of his trousers and top that had already been ripped open.

This is so fucking embarrassing

Wei Ran grinned. He vaguely remembered that before entering this historical episode, the little girl Lu Xinda followed him to the farm to investigate, and she seemed to be wandering around in the barn outside the buoy.

Thinking about the fact that the Chinese tunic suit that was originally placed with the B2 radio station had disappeared, he was even more certain that the missing metal book was intentional!

If I remember correctly, there seems to be a set of Afghan cards placed in the living compartment of the TD30 transport vehicle?

How about sending Lu Xinda away to change into that set of clothes first?

Or after taking her away, go to the room in this farm to look for any clothes?

Wei Ran, who was wearing a leaky suit, carefully and vigilantly took out the contents of the third metal book after some thought.

This time, when he saw what was in front of him, a smile immediately appeared on his face.

This is a retro style brown cowhide suitcase. On the side of the box, there is a black umbrella fixed with a belt.

"Clap! Clap! Clap!"

He opened the suitcase's lock three times in a row. When he saw what was inside, the smile on his face became even brighter.

There are not only the Chinese tunic suit, woolen windbreaker, top hat and mid-cut lace-up Oxford boots from the love letter apartment, but also shirts and underpants, socks, gloves, scarves and a few gold bars plus three bullets filled with bullets. PPK pistol magazines and other items.

Moreover, it also contains the brown flannel suit and gray trench coat that he wore when he and Vanessa rushed to the farm, as well as brown cowhide country boots, and even another top hat, scarf and gloves. Even the large flashlight with a leather protective cover was placed inside.

What made him laugh or cry the most was that there was a bottle of brandy brewed in 1920 and a gold-cased hunting pocket watch inside!

Without hesitation at all, he immediately put on black tunic pants and a white shirt, and then picked up the gold case pocket watch and looked at it.

Unfortunately, this pocket watch does not have the name of the French Queen engraved on it like the original. Instead, it has an hourglass mark representing "Produced by Metal Book".

Throwing this expensive but not so expensive pocket watch into the suitcase, Wei Ran turned to the back of the latest page of the metal book and began to try to take out the items in the three blue vortexes.

But this time, not only did he miss it, but he also felt the indescribable sense of brain failure again without any preparation.

He subconsciously grabbed the edge of the bed beside him to prevent himself from falling. When he took a breath, the expression on his face became more and more surprised.

According to the "rules" that the metal book just stuffed into his mind, his usual skydiving equipment, diving equipment, and a suitcase of clothes can be placed in these three blue vortexes respectively!

This one is worth it!

Wei Ran's mood improved a lot like he was on a roller coaster. This was the first time he had obtained an "empty vortex" since he successfully stuffed the titanium alloy pistol into a metal book a few years ago - even if it was not suitable for stuffing it into it. The types of things are limited.

Thinking of this, he seemed to be remembering something, flipping the metal book forward, and finally stopped at the page where the final mission was also released after the last time on the moss battlefield (Chapter 750, plot Tooru: This is a huge pit).

On this page there is a vortex of red and blue the size of a tea cup. It's a pity that, just like when this vortex appeared, after all this time, he still has no way to take out the things in this vortex, let alone put his fingers in it.

Suppressing the curiosity in his heart, Wei Ran finally put away the metal book, and then randomly gathered his torn clothes together. Then he stretched, cleared away his depressed mood, and climbed up the ladder to the buoy deck.

"Xinda!" Wei Ran greeted from the deck.

"Boss! I'm here!"

In the barn, Lu Xinda, who was playing with her mobile phone in the cab of a tractor, opened the door, leaned out and responded enthusiastically, "Can I help you?"

"What did you call her? The woman who sent us here!"

"Alice! Are you talking about Alice? It can't be Sister Marta, right?"

Lu Xinda immediately responded, and at the same time she murmured secretly that the boss's memory was getting worse and worse just as Sister Suisui said.

"Ah yes, Alice!"

Wei Ran immediately said, "Ask her to deliver my suitcase as soon as possible. I have put some things and brought them over. After she delivers them, you can follow her back. I may have to spend the night here tonight."

"Ah? Shall I go back?"

Lu Xinda grinned and asked pitifully, "Boss, can I not go back? I don't want to learn. Oh no! Sister Suisui told us to keep an eye on you and not let you run around."

"Where can I run? Anyway, hurry up and send me my suitcase. I'm in a hurry to use it."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he turned around and got into the watchtower of the buoy, and closed the iron door that was still well sealed.

Returning to the buoy, Wei Ran lay on the other bed and wrote down the addresses provided in the metal book on his mobile phone one by one. Then he took out the British Army P44 kettle and took a big sip of sweet fruit wine. , tasting the bitterness of the aging wine, and secretly thinking about how to tell all the bitter tragedies one by one to the old man who entrusted him to investigate the truth about the buoy.

There is no doubt that Henry, who has sadly passed away, is not, to be precise, Mr. Henry Spear, who has sadly passed away, is the grandson of Heidi and Spear.

And the Mrs. Kate Klinsmann who hired him is the grandson of the pilot Julian. As for the Sean mentioned in Henry’s childhood summer story, he is undoubtedly the original owner of this farm, the one who Grandson of fireman William Harrington.

It can be said that time is also destiny, the grudges and hatreds of the ancestors were unfortunately passed on to the grandchildren because of Heidi's uncontrollable madness, and they also regretted it for the rest of their lives.

So does tragedy have an ending?

Before Wei Ran, who had immersed himself in the smell of fruit wine, had time to figure out the answer to this question, he was pulled into sleep due to mental exhaustion and the invitation of alcohol. He tried in vain to ask those who had experienced hardships in his dreams how to go out. An unrealistic answer.