War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1654: Inside and Outside the Dream
After breakfast on the second day after returning from Inta, the French rich lady Koko and other guests, with the warm farewell of Wei Ran and Sui Sui, arrived at Kazan Airport in a civilian armored vehicle driven by Baba Yaga and prepared to return home.

After sending these girls away, the house suddenly became much quieter.

Unfortunately, that day happened to be Monday, and Sui Sui was busy dealing with the backlog of work, so the only ones who could accompany Wei Ran to kill time were the dog Belia, the two big-eared foxes who were increasingly reluctant to leave the two-meter area around the fireplace as the weather was getting colder, and the increasingly strong black-faced lamb.

Since he had nothing to do, Wei Ran simply took a bucket of camping equipment and drove slowly to Jima's village.

He deliberately drove around in circles all the way, and when he saw that there was no sign of him following him, he gave up completely and drove into the village. As usual, he greeted Jima's parents and gave them some small gifts brought back from China. He loaded some chopped firewood into the cargo box and drove to the exclusive camping site reserved for him.

He slowly set up the inflatable tent he brought with him. Accompanied by the neighing of war horses, Wei Ran took out the biting black horse from the metal notebook.

"It's okay. I didn't starve to death."

Wei Ran patted the round belly of the biting horse and felt a little relieved. He was really worried that the animal would starve to death if it stayed in the metal book for too long.

After comforting his mute comrade, he climbed onto his horse, gently bumping his way into the horse's belly as he walked into the dense winter forest.

Only when the occasional gunshots from the shooting range behind him were completely blocked by the messy vegetation in the forest did he dismount, gently stroke the black horse's neck, and then put it away.

After turning around, Wei Ran sighed, found a tree to lean against and slowly sat down, took out the metal book and opened it, turning to the page that contained Edelweiss's beautiful dream.

"Ugh"

With a tired sigh, Wei Ran reached his hand into the hazy white edelweiss.

The next second, Wei Ran and the metal notebook disappeared without a trace, leaving only a dry birch leaf slowly falling from above his head.

When the white light faded, Wei Ran once again sat on the single sofa at the door of the cabin. On his wrist, there was a reset Soviet Arrow watch, and at his feet, there was a suitcase.

"Are you here too?"

Wei Ran looked in astonishment at the biting black horse wandering aimlessly on the pasture in the distance.

At this time, the horse had no reins or saddle, and looked completely naked and needless.

And looking at the way it's having fun and not wanting to leave, you can tell that it seems to be living quite well here.

Just as he was watching the biting horse having fun, Clara, in her nightgown, opened the door and walked over.

"Did you bring the Mozart chocolate balls and the Sachertorte?"

Clara said as she sat on another single sofa. She placed the coffee on the table, propped her chin with one hand, looked at Wei Ran expectantly and said, "Yesterday you promised me that you would plant trees together."

"Brought it"

Wei Ran sighed, picked up the suitcase at his feet, placed it on the coffee table, opened it, took out the Mozart chocolate balls and Sacher cake inside and placed them on the table.

"Did you ride that black horse?"

Clara pointed at the biting horse that was rolling around recklessly in the distance and asked, "What's its name?"

"name."

Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, and while handing the cake to the other party, he replied casually, "Tyson, its name is Tyson, it is a war horse."

"Can I try to ride it later?"

Clara asked expectantly, and then as if she remembered something, she asked with a hint of panic, "Are you going to the war again?"

"Yes, yes"

Wei Ran nodded, raised his hand and pointed at the black horse in the distance, "Go with it."

"Tell me about your experiences on the battlefield."

Clara put down the cake in her hand, poured Wei Ran a cup of coffee and said, "Then we will go plant trees. My grandfather has brought the cedar saplings."

"OK."

Wei Ran sighed, gently stroking the dial of the Soviet watch on his wrist, and murmured, "This time on the battlefield, I met a friend who fought with me a long time ago. His name is Li Sui'an, but the story begins with a hunter named Hu Bazhi."

While Wei Ran was mumbling in his dream, the world outside the dream was not paused.

That afternoon, an inconspicuous van slowly drove into the underground garage of the notorious Gönigs Psychiatric Hospital in Kaliningrad, unloaded a European-style wooden coffin, and then drove out of the underground garage.

After the iron door of the garage behind her was completely closed, Ms. Page, who had just left Kazan yesterday, also walked out from the shadow of the load-bearing column.

"Mr. Ulrich, please help check it out."

Ms. Page said politely to an old man next to her who looked to be almost fifty years old.

Hearing this, the old man standing behind Ms. Page walked to the side of the coffin, unfastened the mountaineering buckle casually attached to the temporary lock, and gently opened the solid wood coffin lid.

In the coffin lay Mr. Messer, completely naked, with only a mask covering his vital parts.

After a careful inspection with a flashlight, the old man named Ulrich straightened up and said, "He is a literal idiot. His mouth stinks of garlic. They must have deliberately used an overdose of truth serum on him, but I guess it was just to confuse him."

At this point, Ulrich carefully lifted Messer's upper eyelid and checked again, then said affirmatively, "I knew it was damage to the white matter of the frontal lobe. Looking at his condition, I'm afraid his intelligence level is not even as good as my Border Collie." "There's no way to recover?" Paige asked casually.

"If I can cure him, maybe the Nobel Prize in Medicine will once again be awarded to the white matter of the frontal lobe." Urich said helplessly.

"What do you mean?"

"The Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1949 was awarded to frontal lobotomy, which was the best treatment for mental illness at the time."

Ulrich explained helplessly, "But in fact, doing so will most likely only create a perfect idiot."

"Can you tell whose style it is?" Paige asked unwillingly.

"Unrecognizable"

Ulrich shook his head. "At that time, this kind of therapy was used throughout Europe and North America to treat patients with mental illness and homosexuality. Even President Kennedy's sister Rosemary had undergone this meaningless operation."

“Not in the United States”

Ms. Page shook her head helplessly and asked, "How long can he live?"

"It depends on how long the person messing with his brain needs him to live."

Ulrich said with particular clarity, “If he deliberately failed to sterilize the instruments, he might die of infection in a few days.”

“It seems that we don’t have much time left.”

Ms. Page's tone became increasingly helpless. "Use him to set a trap, Ulrich. Send a message to the stray dogs and ask them if they're interested in ransoming Mesir."

"And then?" Ulrich asked subconsciously, "We negotiate with them using this pile of rotten meat?"

"Negotiation? I don't have time."

As Ms. Page spoke, she was already walking towards the stairwell that led to the ground not far away. "Make all the stray dogs that come to rescue Mr. Mehill into idiots, according to Mr. Mehill's standards."

"this matter"

"I have my plans," Ms. Page said before she walked into the stairwell.

In Clara's dream, Wei Ran, who had finished telling her battle experience, was already carrying two buckets of water and climbing up the small hill again, following Clara, who was carrying a sapling in one hand and a shovel in the other.

"Anyway, they were reunited in the end."

Clara consoled him, "Victor, how about we plant some trees and talk about the article you decided to memorize?"

“I only memorized a little bit of the beginning.”

Wei Ran picked up a shovel and said, "The first anniversary of the great Anti-Japanese War, July 7th is coming soon."

As Wei Ran recited, a pit deep and spacious enough was gradually dug out.

"I've only recited up to this point. I haven't had time to memorize the rest." Wei Ran said apologetically.

"It's ok"

Clara said as she placed the thin sapling into the watered soil pit. While Wei Ran was filling the soil, she said, "If you have a chance to see the children, give them a copy of the article you mentioned. If the war is not over yet, I guess they will need this the most."

Hearing this, Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "I will give them one copy."

"Let's continue telling the story we didn't finish yesterday," Clara, who was holding the sapling, took the initiative to change the subject and asked.

"Where did we leave off last time?" Wei Ran asked, changing the subject.

"The abandoned castle, and the girl who seemed to be in love with you." Clara said with interest.

'She didn't survive'

As Wei Ran spoke, he built a ridge of earth around the tree pit and poured a bucket of water on it. Then he and Clara lay side by side on the grass, sharing the chocolate balls and cakes he brought while continuing to tell the story of the abandoned castle.

Finally, the sun gradually set and the sky gradually darkened. The pointers on the dials of the two watches on the wrists of the two people gradually converged at the 12 o'clock position until they completely overlapped.

"Next time. What do you need me to bring you tomorrow?" Wei Ran asked finally.

"It's enough that you come back alive." Clara showed a reassuring smile in the rising white light.

When the white light in front of him faded away, Wei Ran returned to the tree. At this time, the forest was already pitch black, and even tiny snowflakes were floating above his head.

With a sigh of relief, Wei Ran took out a flashlight, turned it on, and walked towards the campsite in the night.

However, almost as he walked out of the forest, a voice suddenly said in German in the distance, "Mr. Victor, please raise your hands, or I will shoot."

Before he could finish his words, a dazzling beam of light came from the rear of the armored pickup truck and hit Wei Ran directly in the face, forcing him to squint.

There is another chapter coming this afternoon