War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 238 Phone Calls and Talks

Accompanying a group of middle-aged people to have a sumptuous dinner, when the drunk Wei Ran woke up again, he was already lying in that dilapidated small hotel in Chita.

He took out his mobile phone and checked the time. At this time, there were less than 20 hours left before returning to Hongqi Forest Farm for class, but he hadn't even had time to buy a plane ticket.

Shaking his dizzy head, Wei Ran swiped at the phone screen. Before he woke up, Karp called himself, Teacher Dalia also called him, and even Jima called him. I called myself.In addition, there was a completely unfamiliar phone number that called him twice.

"Could it be that the course is advanced?"

Wei Ran immediately sobered up, and quickly called Karp.Unexpectedly, the other party turned off the phone.Trying to call Teacher Dalia again, the other party turned off the phone!
Finally, he called Ji Ma. Fortunately, the phone was not turned off this time, but he waited for half a minute before the other party answered the phone.

"What happened?" Wei Ran asked without waiting for the other party to say anything.

"What happened?" Ji Mami on the other end of the phone asked in a daze, not sure if he hadn't woken up yet or had drunk too much.

"I'm Victor," Wei Ran reminded helplessly.

"Oh! Thank goodness you finally called back."

Jima finally realized who was calling him, and immediately said cheerfully, "Teacher Dalia asked me to tell you that the class has been postponed for half a month."

"Postponed for half a month? Why?" Wei Ran asked puzzled.

"They said they were going on a business trip, so they didn't say anything else." Jima hiccupped and continued, "In addition, Teacher Dalia reminded us not to waste time, and they will be assessed after they come back."

"So you drank too much?" Wei Ran asked dumbfounded.

"I'm just celebrating. Besides, didn't you drink too much? And it was Teacher Dalia who told me that you drank too much."

Jima said with regret in his tone, "Summer is here, Inta's camp can no longer receive tourists, and we are finally free, so of course we have to celebrate."

"Are you still in Inta?"

"Kazan, I'm in Kazan. By the way, Teacher Dalia asked me to tell you to call Principal Nicholas back when you sober up."

"Anything else?"

"It's gone." Before Ji Ma finished speaking, Wei Ran hung up the phone, sat up quickly and dialed Mr. Nicholas.

"Are you sober?" Nicholas on the other end asked with a smile as soon as the phone was connected.

"Those people can drink too much." Wei Ran shivered subconsciously, his memory was still stuck in the canteen of the power station, the nightmare of being drunk by those morons with various excuses and toasts.

"Even Karp can't drink those bastards, and you have the guts to drink with them."

Nicholas didn't give Wei Ran a chance to speak, and continued, "Since you're awake, come back if you have nothing else to do."

"I'll check the ticket and hurry back as fast as possible." Wei Ran said quickly.

"Don't worry, we'll talk about the rest when you come back."

When the busy tone came from the receiver, Wei Ran lay on the bed again, wondering whether the sudden business trip of Mr. Karp and Dalia had something to do with the metal box he brought back from Vienna, and flicked the screen of his mobile phone to buy a second card. Air ticket to Volgograd early in the morning.

As for the unfamiliar phone number that he missed, he selectively ignored it. Anyway, his social circle is so big, if the other party is really urgent, he will have to call him sooner or later.

After packing a little luggage, Wei Ran left the dilapidated small hotel, went to a shopping mall to buy a new set of clothes and a new mobile phone, and after filling his stomach, he changed to a high-end hotel and opened a room .

Soaking away the last drunkenness comfortably in the bathtub, Wei Ran slowly changed into the new clothes he just bought, and by the way, changed the phone card from the old phone that was already "dirty" in his heart to the one he just bought On the new mobile phone, he finally threw the old mobile phone that had been restored to factory settings into the food box in the metal book, and then he lay down on the soft big bed and fell asleep again.

In the early morning of the next day, Wei Ran finally rushed back to his studio before the sun set after taking a flight for up to 9 hours and connecting planes.Before he opened the locked shutter door, the unfamiliar phone number from yesterday called again.

"Hi, I'm looking for Mr. Victor, the historian Mr. Victor who found the first Soviet flag on the Capitol."

After the man on the other end of the phone finished speaking in German, Wei Ran also pushed the shutter door over his head with a "crash", and then replied in German, "Hello, I am the Victor you are looking for, what's the matter?" ?"

"My name is Herbert, and I'm a friend of Mr. Noah." The man paused and continued, "Mr. Victor, I would like to ask you to investigate an oil barrel."

"Oil barrels?"

"A 20-liter oil barrel of the German standard of World War II." The man who claimed to be Herbert stopped clicking and continued to ask, "Can we meet if it is convenient? I am in Volgograd."

"How about I get back to you later?"

"Of course." Herbert finished and hung up the phone.

After storing the other party's number in the mobile phone, Wei Ran immediately dialed Ralph and asked about the situation of that Herbert.In the other party's introduction, the Herbert who spoke fluent German just now turned out to be a Frenchman, and he was also a well-known archaeologist.

Not only that, for a long time, Herbert also helped Mr. Noah investigate the mystery of his father Yannick's disappearance for a fee. Although his investigation found nothing, but because he likes to collect oil paintings, he and Mr. Noah became friends.

After figuring out the origin of Herbert, there is no problem, Wei Ran asked again that he might go to Vienna with the help of the gallery employee Mark in a few days, and then hung up the phone.

After a short rest, Wei Ran re-locked the shutter door of the studio, and wandered up to Mr. Nicholas who was watching the news at home.

After Wei Ran helped make a pot of coffee, and the old and the young sat down on the sofa covered with bamboo mats, Nicholas said with a smile, "Karp told me that you completed the assessment in Yakutsk. Mistakes during the mission, and the sudden disappearance of you afterwards. Of course, I also arranged for someone to look around the lake.

Victor, now I want to hear you tell the whole process of this assessment mission.Including the preparations in the early stage, the way to choose the way to kill the target person, and your follow-up judgment on this matter. "

Wei Ran was silent for a moment, and after taking a sip of his coffee, he recounted his daily preparations, arrangements and plans after landing in Yakutsk in as much detail as possible, except for the method of killing the smugglers, and by the way, hiding the metal Apart from the help that Ben Zi has given him, it can be said that he has nothing to hide.

"So you have been on guard against Karp's stalking of you?" Nicholas asked bluntly after Wei Ran finished speaking.

Wei Ran hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded.

"That's a good job." Nicholas thought for a while, then changed the topic to the smuggler, "Let's talk about the impact of killing the target person on the local area."

"Even if you succeed in killing the smuggler, it won't change anything at all."

Wei Ran said truthfully, “A smuggling organization capable of smuggling animal products and mammoth ivory from the Far East of Russia and even organizing human trafficking will definitely not be a small player. In this case, the person I killed needs to go to Yakutia in person If you don’t want to accept the goods, then it can only show that he is not an important person.”

"Is that why you made the scene so bloody on purpose?" Nicholas was very old, but his mind turned extremely fast, "You want that smuggling organization to wipe your ass for you?"

"They can't find me anyway, can they?"

Wei Ran didn't care about the stall, "Smuggling mammoth ivory and animal products is fine, there are a lot of people in the Far East and the border areas doing this kind of business, so it's okay to say it.

But human trafficking is different. Once this kind of business breaks out, I will definitely not be the first to be unlucky.At that time, maybe the great emperor in Moscow will thank me for giving him such an excuse to meddle in the gangs and corruption in the Far East.

That being the case, if the scene where the target person is killed is bloody, only the smuggling organization and the people involved with the smuggling organization will be afraid. They will definitely suppress this matter, as I just said After all, it was just an insignificant little character who died, right? "

"Your assessment task is only to kill the target person. When did you think about what you said just now?" Nicholas asked after him, but the expression on his face with age spots became more and more serious. satisfaction.

"Before you do it," Wei Ran replied meaningfully, "I don't want to be a tool that only needs to be used without using the brain."

Nicholas obviously understood Wei Ran's hint, and made a promise with a smile, "Don't worry, young man, the Soviet Union is long gone. We are just friends, and you are just a historian. What you worry about will not happen. , will never happen."

"Thank you for your guarantee." Wei Ran picked up the coffee cup and moved it to the edge of the other's cup and touched it lightly.

Taking a symbolic sip of coffee, Nicholas changed the subject again and asked, "I heard that you used Chinese kung fu to defeat those idiots who got you drunk?"

"It's just a fluke." Wei Ran responded with a smile, making it clear that he didn't want to explain in detail.

"It seems that Karp can only get two years of tuition from you at most."

After finishing speaking, Nicholas stood up slowly, "Okay, go back and rest. If you are not busy these days, remember to take a trip to Vienna for me."

"Don't worry, I've made arrangements and will deliver the things soon."

Saying goodbye to Nicholas who had already entered the bedroom, Wei Ran helped him close the door, looked up at the sky dyed red by the setting sun, then walked towards the studio, took out his mobile phone and called that Herb special.

(End of this chapter)