War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 566 Leave the Secret in the Desert
When Wei Ran drove the car out of the canyon and returned to the camp, Edward, who had been waiting for a long time, immediately approached him and asked, "Victor, are you really unable to find the crash site?"

"Mr. Edward, you overestimate my ability."

Wei Ran closed the car door and replied, "The most I can tell you is that if you search northeast from here, you may be able to find the crash site, but how far it is from here and how long it will take to find it, I'm afraid only God knows."

"1 million euros" Edward gritted his teeth and doubled the previously offered reward.

"make a deal"

Wei Ran happily agreed, raised his finger and said irresponsibly to a beam of sand behind him, "That's where the plane crashed."

"Where?" Edward was stunned, and said angrily, "Do you think I'm a fool? How do you prove that it crashed there?"

"Yes, how can I prove it?"

Wei Ran spread his hands and asked sincerely, "Mr. Edward, did I waste half a month here, and then casually pointed to a similar sand dune tens of kilometers away and said that the plane crashed there that year? Will you trust me?"

Edward opened his mouth, finally shook his head with a wry smile, "Let Saleh send me back as soon as possible, I plan to leave Egypt."

"Where are the bodies of those victims?" Wei Ran asked again.

"When I go back, I will send someone over to pick them up."

Edward casually said, "Now I just want to go back as soon as possible, I've had enough of this damn desert."

"No problem, we will return immediately."

Wei Ran was too lazy to talk nonsense with this scheming old thing, so he greeted Soliman who was pulling the fluff off the camel's butt not far away, and the latter immediately started to communicate with his father Saleh while clutching the walkie-talkie.

After waiting for more than half an hour, Saleh slowly drove the off-road vehicle to Edward's side, and the latter immediately opened the car door and got in, without even bothering to say hello.

Compared to the ruthless Edward, Abba Abba, the little Berber follower who has been familiar with Wei Ran for the past two days, is reluctant to part with Wei Ran. After learning that they are leaving soon, he hugs Wei Ran's leg and howls loudly. cry.

Finally, the miniature Uzi submachine gun placed under the driver's seat was used as a gift to appease this little guy who was usually stuck to himself and jumped up and down, and everyone gave these nomadic tribe helpers who would take five or six days to go back. After getting as much fresh water and food as possible, we started the return journey under the leadership of the Berber guide.

Packing lightly, they rushed back to the mountain range where Edward's grandfather Felix was sold as goods that night.Then, because of Edward's urging, Wei Ran and the others only rested here for two hours before setting off again. They hurriedly continued their journey under the moonlight, and finally returned to the shooting camp exhausted before noon the next day.

"You are finally back." Jima, who was wearing a white Arabian robe, was the first to greet him, "I was waiting for you two hours ago."

"How's your filming going?" Wei Ran asked while holding back his sleepiness.

"It will take about a week or two. Karp, Teacher Anna, and my Maya are currently leading those actors for emergency training."

Jima couldn't help shivering when he said this, and reminded with a bitter face, "Victor, you must be careful these few days. Mr. Karp and Anna have been very irritable recently, and now they are more dangerous than atomic bombs."

"It's really hard work for you all." Wei Ran grinned, couldn't help remembering what happened in Hongqi Forest Farm, and then shivered involuntarily.

"Stop talking about such horrible things, Victor, is this a gift you prepared for my Maya?" While Jima was speaking, he had already picked up two big-eared foxes with poking heads from the compartment of the armored pickup truck. .

"You have to show some face"

Wei Ran angrily took the two little foxes back from each other's arms, "I gave these two little things to Aurora, have you seen the person who came back with Soliman? If you want to If you want a little fox, you can ask him for help."

"I'm going to get acquainted with him now!" Before Ji Ma finished speaking, he ran towards the truck parked beside him.

Just as he left, Charlotte, who was wearing a retro outdoor outfit, also came up to him.The old gentleman glanced at Edward, then at Wei Ran with dark circles under his eyes, and asked with a smile, "Victor, didn't you help Edward find his grandfather's colleague?"

"I found most of them, but it's a pity that I didn't find all of them." Wei Ranqiang replied energetically. After driving for so long, he was already so sleepy that he could hardly keep his eyes open.

Hearing this, Charlotte smiled, changed into English that "Wei Ran could not understand", and bluntly reminded, "Edward, remember to pay the commission, 50 euros."

“I will pay as soon as possible”

Edward, who also looked tired, agreed absent-mindedly. Seeing that Charlotte was still looking at him, he could only helplessly take out the satellite phone, "I'll arrange for someone to transfer the money."

"And the rewards you promised to the Horde's helper"

Saleh lit a cigarette, reminded with a smile, and handed Edward a handwritten bill with the bank account number while speaking.

"You won't be missed." Edward snorted, and pressed the dial key to arrange payment.

"Victor, you only found his grandfather's colleague?" Charlotte took the opportunity to ask in a low voice.

"There is still a wreckage of a transport plane"

Wei Ran spread his hands, "Unfortunately, the bodies of the pilot and navigator of the transport plane were not found."

"No wonder"

Charlotte seemed to know something inside, and there was a subtle expression of gloating on her old face.However, the old guy didn't seem to intend to explain what he knew.

After a while, Edward said to Charlotte with a cold face, "The money has been transferred to their respective accounts, Charlotte, my friend, I want to return to England as soon as possible."

"I asked Mr. Matt to take you to the airport"

Charlotte turned her head and asked in Italian, "Victor, can you tell your good friend Jima to lend that off-road vehicle to Mr. Matt? If possible, it's best to give it to him again." He arranges for a guide who knows the way."

"Of course no problem," Wei Ran simply agreed, first greeted Jima, and then told Saleh when he needed a guide.

This little matter is naturally nothing, and soon, a middle-aged man who Wei Ran didn't know ran over, warmly greeted Edward who had just got off the car, and Matt who had just got out of the car and got in again before he had time. The flame-out off-road vehicle sped away.

"Anyway, Victor, thank you for your help, although Mr. Edward doesn't seem very happy."

When Charlotte said this, she seemed to be in a very good mood, and her old face was full of undisguised joy.

"It's nothing, just take what you need, I'm very sorry about Mr. Edward." Wei Ran said politely with a smile.

"There's nothing to regret." Charlotte patted Wei Ran's shoulder, "Go and rest."

Watching Charlotte turn around and walk towards his tent, Wei Ran then asked Jima to help him get a new set of tents and put them up. The little fox and two apples were thrown in.

When Ji Ma also said goodbye and left to deliver meals to the two filming locations, Wei Ran was not in a hurry to rest. Instead, he took the opportunity of going to the dining car to get a meal and borrowed a large stainless steel tray from the chef at the Hongqi Forest Farm and a small cup of olive oil.

Back at the edge of the tent, he immediately took out the World War II Luftwaffe survival shotgun from the aluminum alloy box he picked up.

Although it has been in the dry desert for more than [-] years, thanks to the dry climate in the desert, the condition of this shotgun is very good. It's just that the leather gun belt and the gun oil in the oiler can't be used. In addition, not only can there be no trace of rust on the gun body, but even the walnut wood stock has no cracks or decay.

Filling the stainless steel tray with diesel oil, Wei Ran took out a pair of unworn socks, threw all the detachable metal parts of the shotgun into the tray, cleaned and wiped it carefully, and then cleaned it with olive oil. All wooden parts have been meticulously maintained.

Taking advantage of this effort, he even took apart and washed the lighter that Soliman gave him, and dug out a large handful of camel hair that Soliman helped him pluck from the camel's butt before the return trip. It was filled with kerosene and stuffed into the three-section oil pot of the lighter.

With the friction of the flint and the fire wheel, sparks burst out, and the scorched flames also faintly ignited.Seeing this, Wei Ran put the old-fashioned lighter into his pocket with satisfaction.Although he rarely voluntarily smokes, he does not reject such an old object with a story.

After packing up the lighter, the rifle hanging outside the tent was almost dry. After Wei Ran took it off and got into the tent, he took out the shotgun from the metal book and put them side by side.

It's a pity that the only difference between the two guns is that the one in the metal book has all the inscriptions replaced with hourglass marks again, and there is not even a slightly different hard cowhide bullet belt. Avoid the fate of being stamped.

Trying to put two shotguns into the metal book, as expected, only the one with the hourglass mark could go in.

"It won't really make me get stuck in a bug that breaks the book, right?"

Wei Ran thought about it secretly, and finally gave up on the plan of test shooting, not to mention whether the ammunition in the aluminum alloy box has expired because of its age, at least he can try to save it for the gun in the metal book use.

However, he really couldn't think of what kind of battlefield in the future he would have the opportunity to use such a luxurious but tasteless weapon.

"At least it's better than giving away a broken pen, and it seems good to keep it for hunting."

Wei Ran comforted himself talking to himself, put the cleaned shotgun back into the wiped aluminum alloy box, and threw it back into the compartment of the armored pickup truck.

After packing up the shotgun, he still didn't intend to rest, but filled all the remaining fuel in the 200-liter iron drum in the cargo compartment into the main and auxiliary fuel tanks of the pickup truck.

Pulling an empty bucket and driving away from the camp, Wei Ran found a secluded dune shadow. Wei Ran dug out a sharp ax from the tool box of the cargo bucket. The big skylight took out the five greasy gold bricks one by one, and then ruthlessly kicked the worthless iron bucket aside.

The reason why the five gold bricks were put in the oil drum at the beginning was completely an impulsive act that was dazzled by excitement.

Now that he has calmed down, he is naturally very clear that although this method avoids being discovered by Edward, it is difficult to guarantee that they can be safely taken out of Egypt-even if they are still likely to be smuggled when they leave.

Undoubtedly, if he told Karp and others about the gold bricks, although the other party would probably help him send the gold back to Kazan, he had to consider the consequences of doing so.

First of all, it would be a hassle to explain how the gold came from, and even if he couldn't get it right, the eagle emblems on the gold bricks could easily kill him.

Secondly, he really can't guarantee what direction the situation will develop after learning that there may be more gold or even a gold mine hidden in the desert.

Saleh and his son, Karp and Anna, or Jima, or even Mr. Charlotte, who has always been in a good mood.Do they still have the mind to shoot movies against the wind and sand?Will Edward, who has left, be brought back?
Even, will they send Edward to Gorman's basement to serve as a torture tool for a period of time, and ask all the secrets related to gold by the way?
Wei Ran didn't bother to analyze the possibility of these completely avoidable worries, because as long as he can keep all the secrets about gold, he can easily cut off those big or small possibilities from the source.

"Let me suffer the temptation and pain from gold alone, and keep the secrets in the desert in the desert!"

The smelly and shameless Wei Ran pretended to be emotional in his heart, but he swung the ax round again, and slashed hard on a greasy gold brick.

Compared with hard ax blades, these highly pure gold bricks are much softer.Therefore, without much effort, he divided it into two, and then divided it into four.

In the same way, he chopped the other four gold bricks into gold nuggets of the same size one by one. Wei Ran took out the food box, emptied the contents to make room, and put the heavy gold nuggets in one by one. , almost perfectly filled the bottom of the food box.

Throwing the last extra gold nugget the size of a matchbox into the upper layer of the food box and accompanied by the authenticator, until the heavy food box was successfully put into the metal book, he was also completely relieved.

"Go back, take a shower and sleep!"

Wei Ran, who was talking to himself, rubbed some diesel oil on his hands with sand, got into the cab happily, pulled away the little foxes who were gnawing on the handbrake and grinding their teeth one by one, and stepped on the accelerator to go around in circles I drove back to the shooting camp, leaving only an empty iron bucket lying on the sand alone, guarding the outdated secret that "the stomach once contained fifty kilograms of gold".

　One update today, sorry
　　
　
(End of this chapter)