War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1656: The Water-Burning Man and the Scapegoats
“Actually, I have a suggestion.”

On the way back to Kazan city, Marta, who was sitting next to Wei Ran, hesitated for a long time and then spoke.

"What suggestions?" Wei Ran came back to his senses and asked with interest.

"You are thinking about how to stop the endless assassinations, right?" Marta asked a question first.

"That's right," Wei Ran nodded honestly, "Do you have any good suggestions?"

“I don’t have any good suggestions”

Marta shook her head, "But I think you could listen to Aurora's advice."

"She?" Wei Ran subconsciously refused.

"She's smarter than you think, she just didn't ask because you didn't tell her."

Marta said from a bystander's perspective, "If you tell her about this, she might be scared and worried, but she will definitely be willing to help you, and I believe she has the best advice."

"Do you trust her so much?" Wei Ran asked without comment.

"Since I've been your personal doctor, the videos sent from the front lines have raised more than $50, not counting the mine clearance school invested in my name." Marta abruptly changed the subject.

"How do you talk about this?"

"Aurora helped me exchange half of it for the medicines and cheapest drones needed on the front line. Even her parents and Mr. Alexander opened a drone assembly factory largely because of the needs of my friends on the front line."

Seeing Wei Ran looking thoughtful, Marta continued, "I invested the other half of the funds into the Golden Fleece business, and the monthly dividends will be exchanged for drones and medicines, winter clothes, bread, and everything else needed on the front line to be delivered directly to the front.

Look, this is the solution she gave me after I told her all my difficulties. Victor, since Aurora can help me, I believe she can definitely help you too. "

Seeing Wei Ran opening his mouth to say something, Marta added an additional reminder that he had no power to refute, "Let her know so that she can make some preparations in advance. What if the target of assassination changes from you to her one day, then..."

"I understand"

Wei Ran sighed, neither accepting the other party's suggestion nor explicitly refusing it.

It is understandable for Marta to think this way, but she does not understand what Wei Ran has in his hands.

Moreover, for Wei Ran, he didn't want Sui Sui to live in the shadow of being kidnapped and assassinated at any time every day.

Thinking of this, Wei Ran said, "Asma, turn around and go back."

"Back to the forest?" Asuma asked.

"Is Gleva here?" Wei Ran asked back.

"Here he comes. He's right in front." Asma pointed in the direction of the front of the car.

"Go ask him if he can lend me their sauna room." Wei Ran said, "If possible, let's go to their sauna room."

Hearing this, Asma, who was sitting in the passenger seat, immediately winked at Hela, who was driving the car. The latter immediately increased the speed and stopped Greva, who was running in the front.

After Asma pushed the door and got out of the car, Marta, who was sitting next to him, asked, "So you decided to keep it a secret from Aurora?"

"Just let her continue to be Queen Inta," Wei Ran replied absentmindedly.

Before Marta could continue to say anything, the SUV that Greva was riding in turned around and drove back. Following closely behind, Asma also got into the passenger seat and said, "Mr. Greva has already gone to prepare in advance. We can go over now."

"Let's go and take our guests with us." Wei Ran waved his hand.

Seeing that Wei Ran didn't let her get out of the car, Marta was slightly relieved and asked, "Can I ask what you plan to do?"

"Our guests will give a good enough suggestion," Wei Ran said with a smile.

After circling along the edge of the forest, when the car stopped again, we had arrived at the sauna villa that Greva had built specifically for gang discussions.

Unlike the time when they brought Mr. Charlotte here after little Matthew was kidnapped, this time, everyone inside and outside the sauna villa had been cleared out.

Not only that, but around the villa yard, there was also a Soviet-era 37mm 61K anti-aircraft gun deployed. Needless to say, they must have been the ones found in the basement of the winery not long ago.

What is quite exaggerated is that there are people sitting on these cannons!

"Mr. Victor, I'm so sorry that you've been put in danger again."

Greva said apologetically, "Because he has been busy with the fruit business, he hasn't seen Wei Ran for some time."

"It's all my own fault, I don't blame you."

Wei Ran smiled and shook hands with the other party. "You didn't punish the two guys who picked me up at the airport last time, did you?"

"I sent them to Khabarovsk to conduct business."

Greva explained, "They are in charge of the business left by Mr. Igor. This is their last chance. If they mess it up, I will have to send them to Inta to drive reindeer taxis."

"I feel relieved when you say that"

Wei Ran offered the other party a cigarette and said, "I was planning to plead for them. Those two guys have done a great job."

"I will tell them about your praise." Greva's attitude became more respectful.

"What's wrong with these cannons? Can they still be used?" Wei Ran took the initiative to change the subject and asked.

“Of course it works”

Greva explained, "They were just urgently pulled over from the shooting range as a safety precaution. Although they only use solid aluminum bullets, they are very powerful."

“I’ll go experience it when I have time.”

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he shifted the topic to the main topic, "Carry those people down."

Before he could finish his words, without any orders from Greva, the doors of several SUVs nearby were opened one after another, and the kidnappers, who had been stripped to their underwear, with their pants still on their heads and belts tightened around their necks, were kicked out by armed gang members.

"Carry the one with the broken bone in first."

Wei Ran waved his hand and gave an order, then walked towards the nearest one and kicked him.

"Crack!"

The crisp sounds of broken bones and the screams that were stuck in the throat broke the tranquility of the evening.

The people around couldn't help but look at the kidnapper's face bone, which was shaking and obviously broken.

"Carry him in. Remember to give him a single room. Also, knock out all his teeth." As Wei Ran spoke, he walked towards the second kidnapper.

Amid the sound of crisp bones breaking, the remaining kidnappers were dragged into single sauna rooms, where they had their teeth knocked out by the gang thugs.

"Greva, please ask your people to stay outside." Wei Ran said as he walked into the sauna villa.

While the thugs outside were whispering to each other about whether they could break a normal person's leg bones, Wei Ran had already walked into the single room where the kidnapper whose legs he had kicked broken was.

The mist in the sauna room, the still hot stones in the sauna stove, and even the pine broom that had not been put away in time, all hinted that someone had just been having a sauna here.

After pinching the man's bloody mouth open and carefully examining it, Wei Ran picked up a hot stone with a pair of tongs and asked casually while examining it, "Can you answer my question now? Are you a Wart Tai?"

“We underestimated you”

The man lying on the wooden bench endured the pain and answered the question irrelevantly. His hands had been tied behind his back with No. 8 iron wire, and there was also a leather belt that tied his neck to the chair underneath him. He couldn't sit up even if he wanted to.

"What should I call you?" Wei Ran said as he threw the hot stone into the birch scoop filled with clear water.

After a "hissing" sound, a large amount of water vapor rose from the water scoop.

"Where is Mesir?" The man lying on the bed once again gave an irrelevant answer.

"Mesir is out of my hands"

Wei Ran answered casually, picking up the second hot stone and throwing it into the wooden scoop.

The man lying on the bed snorted coldly, "The whole world knows that he is in your hands."

“You don’t represent the whole world.”

Wei Ran said as he threw the third stone into the water scoop, "You can't represent the whole world, and neither can a man or a cracked chair."

As he finished speaking, the water in the ladle was already bubbling and boiling due to the stones thrown into it.

Before the person lying on the bench could react, Wei Ran had already poured the bucket of water on the sole of one of his legs.

Suddenly, along with the rising water vapor, the man also let out a shrill scream.

After all the water was poured, Wei Ran asked, "Is it my turn to ask now? Forget it if you say so. Actually, I don't know what to ask.

But I know that the essence of this world is to boil water, so I'll just continue to boil water. If you want to talk, then talk. If you don't want to talk, just shout louder later. I have plenty of time."

After saying that, Wei Ran scooped up another bucket of water and slowly threw stones into it.

As more and more water vapor came out of the not-so-big wooden scoop, the cold sweat and frightened expression on the face of the person lying on the bench became more and more obvious.

When the boiling sound of water came from the scoop again, he twisted his body uneasily and shook his head with difficulty, avoiding Wei Ran who was walking towards him with the scoop.

"Wow!"

Another scoop of water was poured down, and the man screamed again. His other foot was immediately scalded and turned red, and then dense blisters appeared.

Without any pause, Wei Ran scooped up another bucket of water and picked up another hot stone.

"I said"

The man lying on the chair spoke with difficulty. Seeing that Wei Ran did not stop what he was doing, he immediately quickened his speech. "We want to kidnap you and get the evidence in Mesir's hand. We also need you to come forward and clarify that the previous things were all forged."

"Go on, I'm listening."

Wei Ran spoke casually and threw another hot stone into the wooden ladle.

Swallowing unconsciously, the person lying on the bed finally revealed something that Wei Ran was interested in, "Let us go, I'll tell you who sent us."

"If you don't want to talk about it, then don't talk about it. I don't have to know the answer."

Before Wei Ran finished his words, he had already poured a bucket of boiling water on his fractured knee, which caused a new scream.

He really didn't need to know who sent them here. After all, every wrong has its perpetrator. It was enough to know the culprit. He invited this person to have a sauna just to see if there would be any unexpected surprises.

"He's in Kazan!"

The man lying on the bench recovered and said quickly, "But he already knows we've failed. If we don't hurry up, he might run away!"

"If you had said this earlier, you wouldn't have to suffer."

Although Wei Ran said this, he did not stop boiling water, and he did not even ask any further questions.

"Kelston Hotel!" The person lying on the bench hurriedly shouted out the name of a hotel, and then told the other party the house number of the hotel.

"How did you inform him of the failure of the operation?"

The reason why Wei Ran asked this was because he had just seen that not only were there no identification documents among the things stripped from these people, but the only means of communication was a walkie-talkie that each person had.

"We lost the phone after notifying him to evacuate."

The man looked nervously at Wei Ran who was coming over again with a water scoop, and he shrank his body with all his might, trying to avoid the scalding water that might pour down on him at any time.

"Last question, did you do anything to my car?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"No!" the man answered immediately.

"Kang Dang"

Wei Ran threw the water scoop into the corner, turned around and walked out of the steaming sauna room, then saw Mr. Culp waiting in the hall.

"Why are you here?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"I heard that you had an accident. I was planning to visit Jima's house, so I came to see you." Kalp explained with a smile.

"just?"

Wei Ran looked at the other person suspiciously, and then said almost affirmatively, "So you let those people in on purpose?"

"more or less"

Karp admitted that the process was unexpectedly smooth, "The only flaw was that we couldn't contact you when we let them in because your phone was turned off.

But I believe you will not fall into the hands of these few people, and they will not kill you immediately."

"So what's the reason this time?"

Wei Ran asked unhappily, "Aren't you worried that they might accidentally kill me?"

"You are the best student we have ever taught."

Karp looked even more confident than Wei Ran himself at this moment. "If you can't handle this little trouble, we old guys can just line up and jump into the Volga River together."

“Thank you so much for trusting me.”

Wei Ran snorted unhappily, sat down across the table from the other party, and threw the seized Makarov pistol onto the table. "I just found out from them that there is another person in Kerr."

"Don't worry, he's been caught."

Karp still had that smiling face, "We let them catch you just to catch that guy."

Seeing that Wei Ran seemed ready to say something, Karp took the initiative to add, "The interrogation has already begun. There may be a surprise."

"Is this your purpose?" Wei Ran asked suspiciously.

"I?"

Culp laughed, shook his head and explained, "It's just a deal. I want to keep you safe. Someone wants to use you as fat bait to catch some spies."

"spy?"

Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, then quickly changed the subject, "So I'm still fishing, how many times do I have left?"

“This should be the last time.”

Karp gave Wei Ran a cigarette and said as if he was coaxing a child, "Don't show that expression. You got into trouble by yourself. I'll ask my friends to help you solve these troubles. You have to put in some effort yourself."

"Remember to tell me in advance next time," Wei Ran helped the other person light a cigarette and complained with a little dissatisfaction.

"They suddenly decided to take action at noon today."

Culp explained in the swirling mist, "When I called you, the call was blocked. By the way, what were you doing at noon?"

“Meditation. Take off all your clothes and hide yourself in a tree hole to meditate. Pretend you are a brown bear preparing to hibernate.”

Wei Ran made up an extremely ridiculous excuse and pointed at the sauna rooms where people were imprisoned. "What about those people we caught?"

"Are your Hela girls still in need of teaching aids?" Kapur asked this question with a smile on his face.

"These are all evidence," Wei Ran reminded meaningfully.

"Snapped!"

Kalp snapped his fingers, and Greva, who was standing at the door, immediately ran over.

"Kill those people, send them out of Russia tonight on our transport planes and drop them into the Pacific Ocean."

Kalp gave the order casually, pointing to the Makarov pistol that Wei Ran had just thrown on the table.

Greva waved towards the door, and immediately several thugs came in.

"Carry them out," said Greva, who had already picked up the pistol, pulled the slide and loaded the bullet.

Soon, all of them were carried out, including the unlucky guy who had been boiled by Wei Ran.

Without any courtesy, Greva pointed the gun at the back of the heads of these men one by one and pulled the trigger in front of Wei Ran and Kalp.

"Gleva has the potential to become a hero," Wei Ran commented with a smile.

"He will live the good life he always dreamed of"

Karp muttered nonchalantly as he looked at Greva who was shooting the corpse in the heart.

"Uncle Culp, Mr. Victor, you guys chat first. I'll take these goods to the airport first."

As Greva said this, he put the pistol with an empty magazine back on the table, then called his brothers and took the dead kidnappers away from the sauna villa that was guarded by anti-aircraft artillery.

"What are your plans next?" Wei Ran asked bluntly.

"Someone will help you draw fire soon."

Culp said confidently, "If you want, you can continue camping. Also, just pretend you don't know anything that happened this evening."

After thinking about it for a while, Wei Ran understood what the other party meant.

Obviously, as long as they pretend that nothing happened, it would be tantamount to confirming that this trouble was secretly resolved by the authorities.

But it was Karp's words just now that someone was helping to attract the fire that made Wei Ran subconsciously think of Ms. Page.

"Okay, I'm going back."

Before he finished speaking, Karp had already stood up and left the sauna villa filled with a faint smell of blood.

What the hell is this?
Wei Ran shook his head helplessly, but he couldn't find any fault with it. If anyone was to blame, it was really himself for not being upright enough.

Without touching the pistol on the table with Greva's fingerprints on it, Wei Ran also stood up, took off the rubber gloves he had been wearing and put them in his pocket, then walked out of the villa.

"Please arrange a car to take me back to the campsite."

Wei Ran said to Asma, "Go back by yourselves, and remember to find a reasonable excuse."

Before he finished speaking, he had already randomly chosen a car, got in, and drove towards the camping site again.

After sending away the girl Hela who had brought him here, Wei Ran walked around the car and observed it carefully. He then removed a piece of TNT explosives from under the chassis. The piece was not very big, but was enough to blow through the chassis and seats.

I knew you weren't telling the truth!
Wei Ran snorted, threw the block of dynamite in his hand away, took out his cell phone and called Greva, asking him to find someone to tow the car away and send it to their own repair shop to disassemble it part by part and inspect it carefully.

After hanging up the phone, he unloaded the camping items from the cargo box one by one and carefully threw all the food into the forest.

While he was busy camping, in an inconspicuous city near the border between Poland and Kaliningrad, a team that came to negotiate was saturated with tear gas the moment they walked into a factory that was abandoned after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"Take these stray dogs back," a strong man in charge of the ambush issued an order in German.

On the same evening, in the interrogation room of an official residence in the city of Kazan, a man with a bruised face was also handcuffed to an interrogation chair.

"I am the Ambassador to Russia"

"Let's get this straight, what's your number?"

The interrogator interrupted the other party's self-introduction and asked while adjusting the lampshade facing the interrogated person.

Without waiting for the other party to answer, the interrogator reminded, "I don't care who you are, not to mention that you are just a chef on the surface, I can let you die in your gay boyfriend's bed at any time.

Let me think about anorectal rupture? That would be the most interesting news story of the year."

Number Six

The handcuffed man squinted his eyes to resist the glaring light, and after a brief silence he chose to cooperate.

"Number six?"

The interrogator flipped through the documents in his hand and asked with certainty, "So you are Naphtali? Comrade Stalin has blessed me. I have wanted to catch you for a long time.

If I remember correctly, you were responsible for the assassination in Sochi a few years ago?"

Without waiting for the person being interrogated to answer, the interrogator had already picked up the pliers on the table and said, "You rats have no human rights in my place, so if you want to survive, reveal something I want to know."

Before he could finish his words, the vise had already grasped the soft hands of the person being interrogated on the ribs and began to exert force.

As screams were heard from the interrogation room, Kalp, who had left the sauna villa earlier, was carefully examining the bodies of the kidnappers.

"You just said that these people's legs were broken by him?" Kalp asked with interest.

"Yes, Uncle Culp," Greva replied respectfully, "we saw it with our own eyes."

"How did you kick it? Show me how." Kalp asked while kneading the broken bones of the corpse.

"come here"

Grewa called a thug and asked him to kick him like Wei Ran. Then, as the thug used as a demonstration prop jumped away with his legs in his arms and a grin on his face, he said, "With just one kick, we all heard a very crisp bone-breaking sound."

"interesting."

Culp muttered something, stood up and said, "Go find some hammers and smash their leg bones and arms. I'll supervise you while you do it.

Also, warn your men that if anyone reveals what they saw today, they will be stripped of all their clothes and hung on the church gate of your village for a whole day."

"gollum"

Greva and all his trusted thugs present swallowed their saliva subconsciously, then scattered in a hurry, busy looking for a hammer that could break bones, or anything that could replace the hammer.