War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1563 The Fire That Will Not Go Out

When the vision returned to normal again, everything around had changed into the layout of the library basement.

On the table right in front of him, in addition to the metal notebook and the objects that took him back to that period of history, there was a note he wrote himself - take a few bottles of pickles back for dinner.

  Rubbing his face tiredly, Wei Ran looked at the quill that was writing and drawing on the metal notebook. He couldn't wait to know who survived:

The flame that will never go out

On September 1982, 9, Eid Abu Usha was buried by a collapsed floor while trying to save a trapped baby. Due to the lack of rescue conditions, he committed suicide with the help of Edelweiss (Clara Holler).

Rama Abu Usha was shot by Phalange thugs while escaping from a refugee camp in the early morning of September 1982, 9, and unfortunately died in the operating room of a Gaza hospital.

Hot Air Balloon (Hassan Hussein), an external helper of Doctors Without Borders, impersonated the Phalange Party during the Beirut massacre and traveled back and forth in and out of the refugee camp many times to help refugees flee.

On the night of September 9, in order to cover the escape of his companions, he drove an ambulance in a suicide charge to attract attention. After jumping out of the car, he was captured and tortured to death.

Sewing Machine (Céline Yurman) and Cradle (Julia Shea), Doctors Without Borders, were shot and killed on the night of September 1982, 9 while helping refugees fleeing the refugee camp.

PLO fighter Umm Shahid was tortured and killed in the early morning of September 1982, 9 when she risked her life to return to the refugee camp to rescue her wife and deliver anesthetics.

Bat (Joseph Shahid), an outside helper of Doctors Without Borders, impersonated the Phalange Party during the Beirut massacre and traveled back and forth in and out of the refugee camp many times to help refugees flee.

In the early morning of September 9, he was injured while protecting his uncle Umm Shahid, and then hid in a scrapped armored vehicle to guard the war orphans.

At noon that day, with the help of Jewish freelance journalist Alain Varta (Fly) and Doctors Without Borders Edelweiss (Clara Holler), the war orphans were evacuated from the refugee camp in the evening of the same day, and a total of 18 rolls of negatives of photos taken by the hot air balloon were taken.

Fly (Alan Varta), a Jewish freelance journalist and photographer, was hired by the ISIS military and the Falange to enter the refugee camp on September 1982, 9, and secretly assisted Bat and war orphans to escape from the refugee camp.

Edelweiss (Clara Holle), a general practitioner of Doctors Without Borders, escaped from the refugee camp in the early morning of September 1982, 9, and led the refugees and war orphans to seek shelter in the Gaza Hospital, where she met Bat, a helper of the organization.

On that day, he led the war orphans and followed the bats to the dock to meet freelance journalist Alan Varta, and hid in a container at the dock to avoid the war.

On the morning of the 18th, he returned to the refugee camp as an intern reporter with freelance journalist Alan Varta and secretly picked up Bat and others.

On the 20th, Edelweiss ended its humanitarian rescue mission, left the fence and returned to Austria.

War orphans such as Hanwad Kani and Dalal Abbas left on the 20th to live with bats on the French island of Corsica after escaping the Beirut massacre.

On September 1982, 9, freelance journalist Alain Varta was assassinated and set on fire in his makeshift office at the Beirut port just before he attempted to publish photos of the tragedy in the refugee camp that he had taken with a hot air balloon.

On September 9, after learning the bad news, Bat urgently notified Edelweiss to cut off contact, and temporarily and secretly buried the Sewing Machine couple in Limassol, and hid the original negative in the coffin.

On September 9, Bat's home in Corsica was broken into by armed agents of the Yi Se Lie. Bat killed and wounded eight enemies in a fierce battle. He then covered Hanward and other war orphans and escaped to the hot air balloon's home next door through an underground tunnel. He then detonated a natural gas pipeline and died together with the enemy.

On September 9, Hanward and other war orphans were secretly taken away by their former comrades in bats and hot air balloons to Sardinia, Italy, where they lived in hiding.

In October of the same year, Edelweiss suffered severe psychological trauma due to her inability to get out of Beirut and her memories. Later, she became mentally ill after learning the tragic news about freelance journalist Alan Varta and Bat, and the disappearance of war orphans such as Hanward.

On December 1982, 12, inspired by the death of her grandfather in an avalanche while rescuing skiers, Edelweiss committed suicide on her farm in Graz, Austria, leaving behind an adopted son, Ed Holler.

"Oh!"

  Wei Ran, who had already seen this with bloodshot eyes, slammed his fist on the table, but the metal feather pen was not affected at all and continued to write the unfinished story:

In July 1992, Hanward Kani graduated with honors from the Medical School of the University of Vienna. In the same month, he returned to Palestine as Doctors Without Borders to carry out humanitarian relief, codenamed Sewing Machine.

In July 1993, Dalal Abbas graduated with honors from the Medical School of the University of Vienna, and that month, he returned to Palestine as Doctors Without Borders to carry out humanitarian relief under the code name Cradle.

In July 1998, Omar Salah, the landlord's son, graduated with honors from the Medical School of the University of Vienna. In the same month, he returned to Palestine as an international doctor to carry out humanitarian relief, codenamed Hot Air Balloon.

In July 2000, the landlord's daughter Suso Salah graduated with honors from the Medical School of the University of Vienna. In the same month, she returned to Palestine as an international doctor to carry out humanitarian relief, codenamed Bat.

In July 2007, Ed Holler settled in the Gaza Strip as a freelance journalist to report on the news, codenamed Edelweiss.

On December 12 of the same year, Ed Holler unexpectedly met Hanward and others and recognized each other, and formed an Overwatch alliance at the end of the month.

In January 2009, Ed Holler was killed in an Operation Cast Lead airstrike while reporting on war orphans in the Gaza Strip. His body was never found.

Having written here, the metal feather pen started a new line again, first writing down a detailed address of Limassol, Cyprus.

Then, on the second line, it wrote a detailed address in Graz, Austria, as well as a series of email addresses and satellite phone numbers.

  What is quite special is that there is a ten-day countdown behind this address, and the contact person’s name is actually “Fly”!

这 是

Before Wei Ran, who clenched his fists, could react, the metal feather pen wrote at the end of the page, "We just want to light a fire that will not go out in that land without tomorrow, use that light to illuminate the dark night before dawn, and wait for the daybreak when the dry land will be filled with holy and brave edelweiss."

Under Wei Ran's desperate gaze, the pale yellow page turned to the back, and the metal feather pen, under the red vortex, wrote a passage that made him tremble, "Continue to tell me those stories about your time on the battlefield."

Before he reached out his hand to the vortex, the red color of the vortex began to fade as the text was written, and finally turned into a white so intense that he subconsciously tensed his nerves, thinking that he was being sent to another historical fragment.

Above this white vortex, there is a countdown that also lasts for 10 days and is accurate to the second.

Looking at the feather pen that had completed its work and entered the sage time, Wei Ran tried to touch the white vortex.

As expected, I couldn't get my hand in at all, and naturally I couldn't take out the things inside.

  It's still ten days. Is it urging me to go to that address in Austria?

After much fruitless thinking and filled with despair, Wei Ran turned the page and took out the photo negative from the paper bag next to the photo.

Unfortunately, even though he had used up all the film he had during that period of history, here are only the negatives of a few photos with different people - there is not a single one of them with him.

He put away the metal notebook irritably, took out a lighter and burned the sticky note on the table, called the dog Belia who was guarding outside, and casually took two bottles of pickles and left the basement.

After locking the heavy explosion-proof door and lighting a cigarette, Wei Ran didn't have time to take the first puff of smoke when he found that the library's new security captain, Mr. Apoli, was walking over with his last disciple, the Moss girl whose new name was Lyubov.

"Did your rabbit rider guest leave?"

Apoli greeted Wei Ran with a smile, but before Wei Ran could speak, he frowned and said seriously in French, "Come with me."

After saying that, he turned and walked towards the DT30 transport vehicle that hid countless secrets, and said in Russian, "Lyubov, wait here for a moment."

"Okay, teacher," Liubov said respectfully.

Although he didn't know why the old man suddenly changed his face, Wei Ran still handed the pickles in his hand to Liubov to help hold, and followed Apoli into the living cabin at the rear of the transport vehicle.

"Did you just kill someone?" Apoli asked seriously without waiting for the door to be closed.

Wei Ran was startled and asked subconsciously, "Why do you ask that?"

"You smell like someone who has killed someone," Apoli snorted with disgust.

Hearing this, Wei Ran subconsciously put the sleeve under his nose and smelled it.

"Don't smell it, it's your own smell." Apoli asked Wei Ran to sit down at the table, "Did you really kill someone?"

"of course not"

Wei Ran spread his hands, and his temperament became much more sunny. "I just went to the basement to get two bottles of pickles to eat with dinner."

"You should have talked to Gorman while he was still alive"

Apoli snorted, but finally reminded, "Victor, you seem to have a very serious mental illness."

"Really?" Wei Ran smiled calmly, and his whole temperament gradually became calmer.

After a moment of silence, Apoli shook his head, stood up and said, "I'm old, maybe my eyes are blurry."

"Yeah."

Wei Ran muttered again, then stood up and walked out while changing the subject, "What were you going to do just now?"

"Let's have dinner at your house"

Apoli tapped the intercom hanging on his belt and answered from the door of the living cabin, "It's Aurora's invitation. It seems that they are eating Chinese dumplings today. We are going to go over and help together."

“It is true”

Seeing that the other party was in no hurry to leave, Wei Ran simply stopped and sat down on the metal steps at the door of the living cabin. He took out a cigarette box and asked, "Would you like one?"

"certainly"

Apoli took the cigarette box, took out a cigarette and lit it, then put the remaining half pack of cigarettes into his own pocket.

"Has the bunny rider chef left?" Apoli asked the question again that Wei Ran had no time to answer.

"left"

Wei Ran moved aside, making half the space for the other person, and waited for him to sit down before asking, "You seem to like Rabbit Riding Vegetables very much?"

“His cooking skills are really good”

Apoli said as a matter of course, "If I had time, I would even learn cooking from him."

“You really should learn this.”

Wei Ran couldn't help but grin, and raised his chin towards Liubov who was standing obediently in the distance holding two cans of pickles, "Are you satisfied with your students?"

“A very hard-working girl”

Apoli commented nonchalantly, "She might become a scientist in the future."

"Russian scientists?"

“It doesn’t matter”

Apoli obviously has his own criteria. "It doesn't matter if it's Russia or Ukraine, even if it's a scientist from China."

"As long as they are not American scientists, right?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"Yes, as long as they are not American scientists."

Apoli laughed and gave an affirmative response, "I don't hate the United States, but I still don't want the students I train to work for the United States." "I understand"

Wei Ran let out a sigh. In this world, perhaps no one understood the red ghost sitting next to him better than he did.

"Okay, the smell on you is almost gone."

Apoli flicked the cigarette butt in his hand, stood up and walked towards the electromagnetic door between the two courtyards while saying, "Let's go and help make dinner together."

"Thank you"

Wei Ran stood up and thanked him. He knew that Apoli was using the casual chat to help him adjust his desperate mood.

"You need a security team around you," Apoli said as he walked, "an obvious security team."

"Why do you bring this up suddenly?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"Why did you mention this suddenly?"

Apoli snorted, scratched the huge dog head that came closer and said sarcastically, "Who ripped off the American's pink lace panties stained with shit and urine and showed them to the whole world?

If Beria could talk, he would not ask such a stupid question even if he drank a whole bottle of vodka."

"A randomly-found security team cannot prevent assassinations by the Americans," Wei Ran reminded, half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"It's ok"

Apoli said indifferently, "They just need to take the responsibility of helping you block the assassination. I will protect you."

"scapegoat?"

"You can think so"

Apoli still had that nonchalant tone, "If you agree, I'll pick out a few obedient young men from those little hooligans tomorrow morning. Of course, you have to pay them wages."

"No problem," Wei Ran replied indifferently, "As long as they are willing to take the blame."

"Why not?"

Apoli spread his hands and asked, "And I heard that after you were attacked for the first time, in order to be able to fight back legally with a gun, Greva specially registered a security company and registered many of his gangsters under the name of that security company."

“That’s what happened.”

Wei Ran took the two cans from Liubov's hand with a smile on his face. Of course he didn't know whether to laugh or cry, because the name of the security company registered by Greva at that time was called "Baba Yaga".

This so-called Baba Yaga, if translated into Chinese, can also be called "Yaga Grandma".

She is the old witch who eats lost children in the Russian fairy tale. She is basically the Russian version of the "Big Bad Wolf". In short, she is there to scare children.

Greva, a genius who is now doing very well, gave such a joking name to the security company he registered casually for the purpose of legally possessing weapons, just to "scare children".

Now, Apoli is using this security company to arrange a few scapegoats, probably to scare the children, American children.

"I will set up a security team that looks scary enough as soon as possible. Remember to pay the bill then." After Apoli finished speaking, the three of them had already walked to the door of the villa.

After his interruption, Wei Ran temporarily put aside the negative emotions that had accumulated in his heart for too long. Together with Sui Sui, he greeted Master and Appoli, as well as the international student girls who also came to the dinner, and sat around several custom-made large round tables. They chatted and laughed while making dumplings with various fillings.

Naturally, both the host and the guests enjoyed the dinner that day. As expected, Sui Sui felt dizzy after a few glasses of red wine, and let Wei Ran carry her to the bed in the bedroom.

"Are you worried about something?" Sui Sui asked drunkenly while lying in Wei Ran's arms.

"I might have to go to Austria soon," Wei Ran asked carefully, "Do you want to go?"

"To Austria?"

Sui Sui looked up at Wei Ran with drunken eyes, yawned and said, "I thought you were going to Li Lannen, and I made so many preparations for you in advance."

"Preparation? What preparation?" Wei Ran looked at the girl in his arms in surprise.

"Since you decided to help the fat boy Yashar find his parents, I guessed that you would have to go to Lizhannun." Sui Sui put her arms around Wei Ran's neck and said, "Then I started to make preparations."

"Are you planning to go along?"

“I’m not going.”

Although Sui Sui was drunk, her thoughts were not affected at all, "I don't understand you anymore? You definitely don't want me to follow you to take risks, but I can't stop you.

So instead of letting you go secretly, I'd better arrange it for you, so I asked Daofeng to ask for me two days ago."

At this point, Sui Sui simply sat up, stretched and explained, "Doesn't Mr. Cha Xifeng own a Dongfeng Mine Clearance Company? They also have business on the green line in the fence."

"Blue Line"

Wei Ran sat up and held the girl in his arms, smiling and correcting her, "The 120-kilometer blue line is also called the Middle East minefield."

"Who cares about the sun line?"

The slightly tipsy Sui Sui waved her arm nonchalantly and said, "Anyway, their company has an office and a security force in Beirut, the capital of Liban, and our transport planes have helped them transport mine-clearing equipment there several times recently.

Especially in the case of the big explosion in early August, not only did Mr. Cha's mine-clearing company send people to the scene for rescue, but Koko and I also donated a lot of relief supplies together with our transport plane. "

"Why don't I know about this?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.

"Mr. Gorman had just had an accident."

Sui Sui explained as a matter of course, "I didn't mention this to you because I was afraid it would affect you. Then there were various things going on in the country. If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten about it."

At this point, Sui Sui raised her head and said proudly, "I have arranged everything for you in the past two days, and even asked Brother Cha Ming to help prepare in advance. If you really plan to go, we can arrange dozens of armed bodyguards for you at any time.

Of course, it would be best if you don't plan to go to the fence, but I have already made the arrangements, so you have to show some appreciation, right?"

"I understand." Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already hugged the girl in his arms and changed to a position that was comfortable for both of them.

The next day came in a blink of an eye. When Sui Sui was still sleeping in Wei Ran's arms, the latter had already seen the interview with the fat man Yashar and the footage of his meeting with the Jiang family in the domestic news through his mobile phone.

"Help him find his parents as soon as possible while he is in the country."

Wei Ran made a decision secretly. Through the records he saw in the metal notebook yesterday, he had vaguely guessed that the reason why the bodies of the Sewing Machine couple were not sent back to Rabbit Rider was probably because Bat was worried that their families would also be assassinated.

  What about yourself?

Wei Ran couldn't help but ponder for a while, and then he burst out laughing. Come on, at worst he can ask Mr. Alexander on the Volga River to borrow his steel furnace.

Having made up his mind, Wei Ran, who was still lying in bed, sent a WeChat message to Anfia, asking her to help arrange his itinerary.

"The boss is going to Austria"

By the lake, Anfia, who was jogging, spoke in German to her sister who was also jogging beside her.

"Is Sister Aurora going too?"

Anfisa stopped and asked while wiping the sweat off her face with the towel around her neck.

"Let's go together, but we'll go to the castle with Sister Aurora for vacation, and Koko will go there too."

Anfia rolled her eyes and explained, "The boss went to Graz by himself, and he also needed me to help him lie and find key information on the Internet."

"So how did the boss find it?" Anfisa asked curiously while tapping on the screen of her phone to book tickets for everyone.

“I didn’t find any key information on the Internet at all”

Anfia exclaimed, "The Internet is not omnipotent, but the boss seems to be omnipotent. At least the information he just sent me, I can't find it in the Mossad database."

"The more this happens, the more you have to help your boss weave a perfect lie," Anfisa reminded.

"certainly"

Anfia nodded. "Although the boss only asked that Sister Aurora not find fault with it, I don't want to create any bugs that cannot be fixed."

"So, does the boss trust Sister Aurora or does he not trust her?" Anfisa couldn't help but ask.

“I guess it’s not a question of trust.”

Anfia said with a hint of envy, "If Sister Aurora is a cup of coffee, then the boss's concealment is more like putting a lid on the coffee cup to prevent flies from falling in."

Anfisa burst out laughing, "What a weird metaphor."

“Then let me change my metaphor.”

Anfia shrugged, "Sister Aurora is like a computer."

"Where's the boss?"

"This computer's firewall and anti-virus software"

Anfia said, "He would never allow anyone to snoop on this computer, and he would never allow any virus to contaminate this computer."

"It's rare that you can come up with such a philosophical metaphor."

Anfisa put away her phone while she spoke and began to jog in the direction they came from. "Let's go back and pack our bags. We have a flight this evening and we need to go to France first."

"What computer wouldn't want to have a firewall like this?"

Anfia shrugged and ran again towards the direction called "home".