War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 393 A Surprise That Will Explode ([-]-in-[-] Update)

In the guest room filled with the early morning sunshine, Wei Ran sat cross-legged on the sofa after a fresh bath, carefully reading the documents sent by Katenka.

At present, what Katenka found through public information is not much different from what Diane herself said. This Diane was indeed a well-known securities trader a few years ago. , she did volunteer in a similar non-profit organization.

But what Diane didn't say was that more than a year ago, she publicly exposed the hypocrisy of that non-profit organization on the Internet, personally dismantled the non-profit organization, and then established the Edelweiss Organization.

Moreover, this Edelweiss organization actually has a website, and the website even sells some worthless gadgets such as keychains with anti-war symbols, and peace dove pendants polished from steel helmet fragments.

In addition to this small discrepancy, Katenka also investigated the identities of the financial supporters disclosed by the Edelweiss Organization.Wei Ran heaved a sigh of relief, at least these publicly released behind-the-scenes financial reviews are not bad.And it includes Mr. Hans and Mr. Olaf who invested in Time Film Studio.

With these semi-public information, Wei Ran has become more at ease. At least for now, that Diane does not have ulterior motives as he feared.

Almost on his side, just after reading Katenka's preliminary investigation results, there was a knock on the door, and then there was a greeting from Diane and an invitation to have breakfast together.

After deleting the files on the phone, Wei Ran happily responded, and immediately changed into a set of jackets and pants that are easy to move around and thick enough boots, and walked out of the guest room with a backpack.

"How was your rest last night?" Diane asked gently as she led Wei Ran down the stairs.

"The air here is very good, and it's quiet enough at night. It's been a long time since I slept so peacefully." Wei Ran gave a half-truth and half-fake evaluation, picking up what could be praised.

While chatting about the lack of nutrition in the air quality and sleep quality, the two went downstairs and finished their breakfast. Then, under Diane's leadership, they changed to an off-road vehicle with a local license plate and walked along the river on the east side of Liuban town. All the way to the north, until an invisible reservoir appeared in front of it, then turned to the east and drove into a dense virgin forest.

With a little bit of depth, the road under the wheels became more and more bumpy. After more than half an hour, the original potholes and dirt roads disappeared. This off-road vehicle was simply walking along the road in the forest. The ruts were printed.

"How did you find this place?" Wei Ran clenched the handrail while asking, trying to keep his body shaking at the same frequency as the off-road vehicle.

"A member of the earth-digging party team we worked with accidentally discovered the well when he came here to hunt about two weeks ago."

Diane, who was also shaken like a bouncy ball, continued with difficulty, "Perhaps out of professional sensitivity, he opened the stone slab that covered the well, and I don't think I need to explain the rest."

"What's the purchase price here?" Wei Ran asked with a very commercial vocabulary.

Diane didn't seem unhappy because of the former words, but replied frankly in the bumps, "It's cheaper than Russia, and each skeleton that can be identified is about $20 to $50, but like this A mass cemetery, or maybe a burial pit, whatever it’s called, and we’d pay about $500 more.”

"What if it is finally determined that those bones belong to the Soviet Red Army?" Wei Ran, whose buttocks had just been bumped and nearly left his seat, continued to ask.

"Of course it is handed over to the local authorities"

Diane answered as a matter of course, "In this regard, Belarus and Russia have done pretty well. If it were in Ukraine, we would directly build a quiet enough cemetery for those Soviet Red Army soldiers so that they would not be disturbed."

At this point in the conversation, the off-road vehicle, like a pirate ship in an amusement park, finally stopped in a forest glade.

Diane let out a long breath, opened the car door and said, "Okay, here we are."

After looking at the two trucks parked in the distance and several large canvas tents not far away, Wei Ran opened the door, stepped on the wet leaves, and followed Diane to the center of the open space.

The area of ​​this open space is not large, with a total diameter of less than 20 meters, and there is a swamp full of shrubs not far away.

But around this clearing, it can be clearly seen that the trees are only as thick as a thigh, and even beside one of the fir trees, there is a collapsed fireplace with only an outline left.

And next to another pine tree of the same thickness about ten meters away from the fireplace, there was the conspicuous stone chimney that he had seen in the photo before.

Obviously, if the time is pushed back, this glade may not be so small in size.It is only because it has been forgotten for too long that it is re-occupied by wanton trees and weeds.

After seeing enough of the surrounding environment, Wei Ran turned his head and looked at the two trucks again.

These two trucks are white and yellow, and on the yellow truck are scattered generators, high-pressure water pumps, air pumps, various steel pipes and steel bars for unknown purposes, diving cylinders, and several dirty trucks. Metal detectors, and some old wetsuits hanging out over the edge of the cargo bed waiting to dry.

In contrast, the white-painted truck was much cleaner. Although the truck itself was nothing unusual, the fallen edelweiss flower on the door glass window was big enough to be conspicuous.And on the car door, there were rows of small red characters written densely.

Wei Ran moved closer curiously, and then found that the words on the car door, which were only the size of cigarette butts, densely recorded the number of deaths in various countries due to military affairs and crimes against humanity during World War II.

Among the data whose last three digits are all omitted as 0, there are the Soviet Union and Germany, Britain, France and the United States, as well as China, and some small countries such as Nauru that are rarely associated with World War II.

At the bottom of these data, two questions are put together in German letters as big as a fist, "What can we do? What should we do?"

Turning his head and looking at Diane, who was busy inquiring about the situation with his colleagues stationed here, Wei Ran walked towards the well in the center of the open space.

This well is not that big, with a diameter of only about one meter. The head of the well built of stones is extraordinarily flat, and there is a bristle brush on it, and on the side of the brush, Diane is engraved. The sentence mentioned on the phone, "This village may become vibrant again in the future, but what you have done is like this well polluted by you, which will never be washed clean."

Ignoring Diane who came up to him, Wei Ran used his fingernails to scratch the notches on the edge of the well. Although the marks were deep, the engravings were extremely rough and messy. There was even a Russian letter that seemed to be due to spelling. Mistakes were crossed out and re-inscribed.

"Is there a bayonet?" Wei Ran raised his head and asked Diane.

"Bayonet?" Diane was taken aback, "What bayonet?"

"Whatever, a Mauser bayonet, or a Mosin Nagant bayonet will do."

"Yes, I have it here!"

While talking, a man who seemed to be under 30 years old at most came over, pulled out an AK bayonet from his waist and handed it to Wei Ran.

Taking advantage of Wei Ran taking over the bayonet, Diane took the initiative to introduce, "This is the hunter who discovered this place at the beginning, and he is also a member of the earth-digging party team that cooperated with us."

The man who handed the bayonet to "Puluohuoer" enthusiastically extended his hand to Wei Ran.

"Victor" Wei Ran handed over the bayonet to his left hand, and then shook hands with the opponent.

After getting acquainted with each other briefly, Wei Ran changed positions, took the bayonet he received, and tried hard to leave a notch less than one centimeter on the edge of the well.

Returning the bayonet to the man named Prohor, Wei Ran picked up the brush on the edge of the well and gently rubbed the nick he made. The force he used just now was not too much, but the nick was enough Obviously, the stone used to build the edge of the well is not considered hard. In other words, it doesn’t take much effort to carve that passage on it.

He poked his head and looked into the well. There was still damp soil on the wall of the well, which was also built of stones, but at the bottom of the well, a puddle of muddy water had already accumulated.

"Prohor, are you a local?" Wei Ran stood up, took the wet wipe from Diane, and asked while wiping the dirt on his hands.

"Yes." Prohor nodded and replied, "My home is in a small village not far from Liuban."

"Are there any local legends about this place?" Wei Ran pointed to the surroundings, "For example, the massacres carried out by the Germans during World War II, or the massacre of Germans by the Soviets."

"The only legend here is the notorious traitor. Even if the battle didn't happen here, the traitor will always shame the same place name, won't it?"

Prokhor said with a wry smile, "In fact, most of them were moved from other places after World War II. For example, my grandfather, who used to be from Chelyabinsk, lived here in the 60s. was sent here to work and ended up staying."

Hearing this, Wei Ran looked at Diane, "Take me to see the bones?"

"come with me"

After Diane finished speaking, she walked towards an army green canvas tent a little further away, and the man named Prohor took out a pair of rubber gloves and a mask from his satchel and handed them to Wei. burn.

Accompanied by these two people, they walked into the big tent with a lighting lamp, and Wei Ran saw the complete or incomplete bones lying side by side on the canvas blanket at a glance.

At the bottom of the feet of these bones, there is also a small plastic storage box, in which there are some clothes buckles and belt buckles, or a rusty and cracked broken steel helmet with bullet impact marks, or just There were only fragments of clothes that were so decayed that they seemed to crumble when touched.

After carefully examining the bones and remnants, Wei Ran raised his head and asked, "Did you find anything else?"

"In the past few days, we have found some worthless things in the nearby building wreckage." Prohol pointed out, "Would you like to take a look?"

"Go, go."

Wei Ran stood up, followed the other party out of the tent full of bones, and then got into another tent that was only five or six meters away.

In contrast, the atmosphere of life in this tent is much stronger. In addition to a wood stove in the center that is continuously releasing heat to heat the coffee pot, there are four folding beds around it. In the location, there is also a plastic storage box filled with all kinds of rags.

"The things inside are what we found nearby in the past two days"

As Prohol said, he picked up a pair of tattered leather gloves from the folding bed and handed them to Wei Ran, "Put on the gloves, many things inside are rusted, and it will be very troublesome if you accidentally scratch your hands."

"Thank you"

Wei Ran took the gloves politely, first took off the rubber gloves given to him by the other party and put them aside, then put on the thick cowhide gloves, and patiently rummaged through the broken copper and iron in the sorting box.

"If there is something you like, I can sell it to you at a low price." Prohol said proactively while sitting on the bed next to him.

"Is there anyone who buys these things?" Wei Ran picked up an empty wine bottle covered in dirt and asked.

"Of course." Prohor responded and kicked Wei Ran a wooden box, "There are people who collect everything. I have met weird people who specialize in collecting cans and wrapping paper before."

"I don't understand the fun of rich people"

Wei Ran muttered, sat on the wooden box kicked by the other party, and began to take things out of the sorting box one by one.

The box contained at most various empty wine bottles. Besides that, there were also two kerosene lamps with bullet holes, and a German helmet that was full of rust and was missing at least a third.

After he took all these things out and put them aside, at the bottom of the box, there was a completely rusted metal box.

"What is this?" Wei Ran didn't move the box out in a hurry, but raised his head and asked Prohol who was sitting on the side.

"Ammunition Box"

Prohor said without thinking, "The ammunition box is specially used to hold the German FLAK30 or Type 38 20mm anti-aircraft gun magazines. In such a box, two 20-round magazines are usually placed. Of course, it It is also often used as a glove box, and there may be some treasures in it."

Open the blind box again
Wei Ran couldn't help but glance at the tattoo on the tiger's mouth on his left hand, the broken book was opened by himself in the blind box.

"Do you want to buy it?" Prohor urged, "It only costs 500 rubles. Of course, I'm talking about our country's rubles, not Russian waste paper."

More than a thousand yuan to buy such a scrap iron box?
Wei Ran, who only figured out the exchange rate last night, thought about it secretly, and didn't rush to make a decision, but asked, "Can you tell me where you found it first?"

"near the swamp at the edge of the clearing"

Prohor raised his hand and pointed in a random direction, "We only discovered it yesterday morning. As you saw, it hasn't been opened yet. If you want to bet your luck, you can buy it."

"Try the weight?" Wei Ran raised his head and asked.

"Of course." Prohor nodded happily.

Hearing this, Wei Ran took the plastic storage box with both hands and weighed it lightly. The plastic box is definitely not heavy, but the iron box inside is not light.

Gently put down the packing box, Wei Ran sat back on the wooden box, first glanced at Diane standing outside the tent, then took off his gloves and asked, "Prohor, take me to find the location of the iron box How would you like to see it? Then I will buy it at the price you said, but the two kerosene lamps and the broken helmet will be given to me together."

"no problem"

Prohor happily took the gloves from Wei Ran and threw them away. After getting out of the tent, he led him and Diane to the swamp not far away.

"What can be found in that box?" Diane asked puzzled.

Wei Ran spread his hands when he heard the words, "I don't know, let's see where I found it first, there are too few clues left here."

Diane glanced at the tent behind her, finally nodded, and followed Wei Ran silently.

Led by Prohor, the group strolled to the edge of the swamp, and then saw three men holding a metal detector in the sparse woods, and they were pulling aimlessly through the overgrown weeds and shrubs. ground.

"Have you found anything?" Prohor asked aloud.

"No." One of the big fat men immediately responded, "This damn place is cleaner than my wallet."

"Shall we try our luck in the swamp next?"

Another young man, estimated to be around 20 years old, asked with a metal detector, "Maybe there are valuable things in the swamp."

"This kind of ghost weather is not suitable for going to the swamp to try your luck."

Prohor stopped at this point, pointed to a pit with excavation marks under his feet and said, "That ammunition box was found here."

Hearing this, Wei Ran looked in the direction of the swamp, and it was less than 10 meters away from the swamp, which belonged to the junction with the forest.

Looking around again, the trees growing here are thicker than the other, which is obviously different from the miscellaneous trees around the open space behind them.

Wei Ran thoughtfully stepped on the solid ground under his feet, raised his head and said, "Let's go back, Ms. Diane, can you lend me 500 rubles? Belarusian rubles."

"You want to buy that iron box?"

Seeing that Wei Ran nodded, Diane simply took out her wallet, took out 500 rubles and handed it to Prohor, "Take that iron box as a gift from me."

"Then I won't be polite." Wei Ran said, turning his head to look at Prohor, "Can you help me open that metal box first?"

"Of course no problem." Prohor, who received the money, was happier than before. Before he finished speaking, he trotted back to the clearing, pulled out the sorting box containing the metal ammunition boxes from the tent, and started to work.

After dismissing the outsiders, Wei Ran stopped in his tracks and suggested to Diane who was standing beside him, "According to what has been discovered so far, it is already certain that those bones are very likely to be German soldiers from World War II, Diane, Do you want to continue the investigation?"

"Just confirming that they are Germans is not enough," Diane said without thinking, "The other commission thing"

"There is no rush for commissions"

Wei Ran rejected the topic again, but before he could say what was in his mind, Prohor at the camp uttered a panicked curse.

Hearing the sound, Wei Ran and Diane immediately ran over.

"What's wrong?" Wei Ran asked from a distance.

"Don't come here yet!" Prohor quickly responded, "Stay away! Stay away, all of you!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran's heart sank, and without a word, Diane who pushed and ran along hid behind a waist-thick pine tree.

"Prohor, what's the matter?" Diane poked out half of her head and shouted.

"Don't bother him yet"

Wei Ran, who had already guessed the general situation, took off his backpack while talking, and then took out the telescope in the metal book to look over under the cover of the backpack.

In the middle of the open space, which was only 30 meters away, Prohor carefully took out a rusty spring from the metal box he pried open, and then picked out some similarly rusty metal pieces.

Under Wei Ran's gaze, Prohor slowed down a bit, and continued to take out two long-handled grenades and more metal fragments from the metal box, until finally, he took them out from the metal box A thing the size of half a brick seemed to be deflated, and sat down on the wet ground.

Seeing this, Wei Ran put away the binoculars under the cover of the backpack in his hand, then walked over quickly, and asked before the other party could speak, "Landmine?"

Looking at Wei Ran in surprise, Prohor picked up a spring that was the size of a teacup, tried to press it in the middle with both hands, and then said happily, "It is indeed a landmine, although it is very simple, it is very effective. Fortunately, the trigger wire of the grenade has rotted, otherwise, once it explodes, I am afraid I will become the first earth digger killed by an unexploded bomb this year."

After glancing at the long-handled grenades whose back covers had already been unscrewed, and then at the remaining spring in the opponent's hand, as well as the large and small fragments of the helmet around him, Wei Ran has already figured out this simple problem. The usage of mines.

To put it bluntly, this thing is connected to the live wire of the explosive by a spring, and then the closed metal cover tightly presses the spring.

Once the metal box is opened by someone, the spring that expands instantly will drive the wire of fire, followed by an explosion with a huge killing range, and it is obvious that the two grenades are obviously set up in case the spring fails to detonate Insurance, but the person who placed this large landmine may not have thought that it would take so long before someone had the chance to be opened again.

"It seems that the 500 rubles just now did not buy a surprise, but a shock." Diane, who came a little later, joked with a smile.

"It's not certain"

Wei Ran picked up the metal ammunition box that had been pried open and looked at it, "Anyway, this is also a gift from Ms. Diane, and the scene just now is really memorable. So I will keep it well."

"Do you want me to put this piece of metal in for you?" Prohor asked proactively, "As long as you don't put those two grenades in, even this piece of explosive is safe."

"Forget about the grenades and explosives, just put the metal pieces back for me." Wei Ran said, happily handing the metal ammunition box he just got to the other party, "In addition, there are those two kerosene lamps and the Put on a helmet."

(End of this chapter)