War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 811 Favor Trap, Suicide and Deadlock
"What the hell is this?"

Wei Ran put away his phone and looked down at the box of cash.Although he was a little confused for a while, at least he knew that whether it was the things in front of him or the phone call that couldn't get through, these were probably arranged by the Second King.

Is this trying to make me owe you a favor, or is this prepaying for the investigation?Wei Ran picked up a wad of cash and patted it on the palm of his hand, thinking about the twists and turns in it.

If it is said that it owes favors, this second life is too wishful thinking.If it is a prepaid survey fee.
Although Wei Ran didn't know the value of the land in this ravine, he knew very well that even if the Second Emperor was a rich dude, he would never make such a move when everything was still unknown. Not even the phone can't get through.

So this is going to let me choose?
After pondering and pondering, Wei Ran finally came up with something.Whether it's the so-called favor or the prepaid investigation fee, since the other party's phone has been blocked, it is obvious that he is allowed to decide what these things are.

If it is a favor, after he investigates the matter of the helmet, the favor will be repaid. You both helped me get a piece of land, and I helped you investigate the matter. If no one loses, naturally So they became friends who benefited from cooperation—especially when Xia Shushi hinted that the other party wanted to make friends a few years ago.

If it is counted as the prepaid investigation fee, it will be even simpler. As long as the investigation of the origin of the helmet is clear, it is also worthy of the other party's payment.

At that time, all you need to do is choose a suitable method and politely reject the olive branch offered by the other party.And the second who looked out of tune could also use that Boss Pan who had never seen him before as a step, so as not to embarrass both parties.

"What's the family background of the Second Emperor?"

Wei Ran couldn't help muttering again. Although he didn't have much contact with the other party, he could tell that the Second Emperor and Xia Shushi were completely different types of people. worlds apart.

If you want to make a classification, Ji Ma is a young gangster with good roots, Xia Shushi is an ordinary person with a good family background, this second generation. Wei Ran shook his head secretly. It is a collection of Ji Ma and Xia Shushi.

But doing things, or more accurately, at least giving gifts and being a person, is absolutely impeccable.

Shaking his head to suppress the inexplicable comparison in his mind, Wei Ran took the piles of cash back into the suitcase with peace of mind.

He is not stupid, and he is not blind to money, but he clearly knows that no matter the property certificates or the cash, he will accept it as soon as he accepts it, even if he tactfully refuses the second generation's friendship afterwards, it is nothing.

But if he is really like a stunned young man, returning these things to the Second Emperor intact or still here as if he didn't see it, it is tantamount to hitting the other person in the face and then spitting on the face Old phlegm.

"It's a gift, I can't even refuse it"

Wei Ran threw the last wad of cash and those documents into the suitcase, and while muttering, he waved his hand and summoned the half-track motorcycle, linked it to the tow hitch of the towable caravan, and then groped to put it away. He picked up the hoe and moved it to the position of the gate by relying on the half-track motorcycle, allowing it to act as a screen wall.

This is not over yet. After collecting the half-track motorcycles, he pushed the four-wheeled motorcycles one by one to the side of the entrance and placed them side by side against the wall. The canvas tightly covered all these things that did not belong to him.

After everything was done, Wei Ran cautiously took out a box of tape measures and measured the height, length and width of the enclosed space until he was sure it was enough to fit the huge DT30 tracked all-terrain vehicle. I was completely relieved.

Like an old hen about to brood, Wei Ran turned around the courtyard again, and Wei Ran blocked the gate from the outside with the car he was driving, and then went in and locked it again. Grinding his teeth, he summoned the huge transport vehicle that was going to be used as a safe in severe pain!

"Pfft!"

The moment Wei Ran took out the transport vehicle, his legs went limp after being tortured by needles, and he fell down on the ground covered with a thick layer of gravel. Then he simply lay down and stared blankly at the top of his head. Blaring lights, gasping for breath to ease the pain that had long since subsided.

"Use it once. It's like having a baby once."

The pale Wei Ran cursed tremblingly, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, struggled to get up, staggered to the rear of the car, opened the heavy hatch, and stepped on the metal steps to get into the living room. cabin.

Opening the safe that was not locked at all, he habitually took out the tinder information in the dark compartment and glanced at it, then put it back in place and summoned the food box, and placed the gold bricks stored inside one by one At the bottom of the safe.

This is not over yet, and then he opened the backpack he brought, took out two lock boxes from it and put them in.

In these two lock boxes, besides the rough diamonds that Teacher Anna gave her, there are also those demantoids from Mine No. 52.

Wei Ran and Sui Sui handpicked out these uncut stones one by one for the bottom of the box. Originally, Sui Sui was responsible for keeping these small stones, but it was just that the girl was fresh. After that, in order to avoid worrying about losing it every day, the safekeeping work was handed over to Wei Ran again.

Looking at the large amount of space left in the safe, Wei Ran simply took the suitcase he had just found in the RV that blocked the door, and put all the cash and documents in it.

"Gold, precious stones, cash, documents. Tsk tsk tsk! There are plenty of them in the safe of embezzlers, and there are a lot of them here." Wei Ran laughed at himself like a madman, and closed the safe door contentedly.

He got up and dug out an enamel kettle and filled it with water. Wei Ran carried it out of the living cabin, opened the car door and got into the driver's cab, watering the dwarf apple tree inside.

I don't know if there is no seasonal change in this metal book. It is already mid-February, but this small fruit tree is still full of luxuriant branches and fruits.

I don't know if all the fruits are picked, will there be any more fruit in the future?
Wei Ran muttered to himself, but in the end he let go of the not-too-tasty fruits, got out of the car with the kettle in his hand and sent him back to the living cabin.Then, he took out a bundle of cables from the cargo hold of the first section of the transport vehicle and plugged it into the power outlet on one side of the cargo door, and connected the other end to the power distribution room in the corner of the yard.

With the external power supply, the battery in the cargo compartment began to charge immediately, and Wei Ran in the living compartment also turned on the electric heater in the car to the maximum power.

Naturally, he didn't do this to kill time. After all, no matter how comfortable the living cabin of this transport vehicle is, it is definitely not as comfortable as a hotel room.

But he had to verify the security and privacy here—for example, after he blocked the door and consumed some electricity, would anyone be overly curious and sneak in to take a look while he was away.

While waiting for the temperature in the cabin to heat up, Wei Ran took out the engineering shovel from the metal book, and dug up the gravel on the ground less than one meter away from the iron gate, and cleared out a hole that was one meter wide and no more than ten centimeters deep. , but the length exceeds the shallow pit of the gate width.

Standing at the door and taking a step, Wei Ran opened the backpack he brought, and took out a plastic box and a purple flashlight that can be used as a simple cash detector.

Open the plastic box, there are two rows of twenty ampoules that are only the size of a little finger.

These ampoules were bought by Wei Ran from the Internet, and the liquid inside was also sealed by himself.

Of course, the liquid inside is not dangerous in any way, and ten of them are filled with the most common fluorescent paint.

As for the other ten, it was just a bit of dog blood that he drew from the crooked-mouthed pug at home at the cost of two big chicken legs.

After some research, Wei Ran randomly placed these ampoules in the shallow pits just dug, and then carefully buried them stone by stone, and restored the shallow pits dug hard. .

After stepping over this "minefield" in a standing long jump, Wei Ran climbed onto the roof of the transport vehicle and installed the camera he brought on the steel beam so that it was facing the direction of the gate.

After everything was done, he returned to the living cabin which had become extraordinarily warm, took off his clothes and sat in the wooden bathtub, took a comfortable bath, and then used the motorized well in the yard to transport the The tank of the car was filled with fresh water.

After everything was arranged, Wei Ran lay down on the gravel all over the ground as if resigned to his fate, gritted his teeth and put away the transport vehicle amidst a miserable scream that he didn't bother to conceal.

When the sharp pain subsided, Wei Ran shivered involuntarily, then stood up staggeringly, walked to a telegraph pole that served as a steel beam bearing column, and stretched out his hand to pull his own hand. An old fashioned power switch pull cord attached to it.

As the power was turned on, the bright camera on the steel beam also lit up a faint red light.However, Wei Ran was extremely clear that although the camera looked professional, it actually didn't even have a lens in it.

And the reason why he installed this thing was purely to scare people with the trap at the door.After all, there is no internet in this ravine, even if the camera can capture something, he can't see it in time at all.

However, he firmly believed that as long as someone came in, he would definitely step on the trap at the door. At that time, as long as any ampoule was crushed, it would prove that someone had come here quietly without his permission.

Just knowing that someone has been here is enough for him.As for who is coming, it is completely unimportant.

After everything was arranged, Wei Ran stepped over the inconspicuous trap in a standing long jump again, and then opened the locked iron door.

When the sunlight from outside came back into the yard with the painted steel tile roof, he turned off the lights inside.Slowly locked the big push-pull iron door, and then stuffed the key back into the mouth of the stone lion on the left hand side of the door, which was not as big as Teddy.

He took out his mobile phone to check the time, but he was not in a hurry to leave. Instead, he went to the open space opposite the creek in front of the door to look, and then circled around the newly added barbed wire fence.

This two-meter-high barbed wire fence is exceptionally strong, no matter the material or the green spray paint, it is no different from the barbed wire fence used to surround the basketball court when I was in school.

Passing through the barbed wire gate that was open when he drove in, Wei Ran walked around the circle of peach trees outside with great interest.

Although it is impossible to see the peach trees blooming in this winter, anyone who comes can see that this peach forest has been carefully cared for.Not only are there no weeds and dead branches under the trees, but there is even a small stainless steel plate nailed to the trunk of each tree, which details the species of the tree, the color of the flowers, and so on.

Wandering around in this uninteresting peach grove, Wei Ran slowly drove the car out, then closed the barbed wire gate, and locked the iron gate with the padlock that was already attached to it. He slipped the key into his pocket.

Wei Ran got back into the cab and drove away, but he never paid attention to the open space surrounded by barbed wire behind him.

Unless necessary, he is destined not to come to this place often in the future.But he had to think about how to repay the favor he owed passively.

Of course, it's nothing even if he doesn't pay it back, even he has a premonition that if the favor is not returned, the Second King might be even happier.

"There are many routines in this city." Wei Ran joked to himself, and at the same time stepped on the accelerator slightly to increase the speed.

In the next few days, except for going back and forth between the hotel and the small company from [-] to [-], and concentrating on picking up Sui Sui and others who didn't know what they were planning, the rest of the time was spent on In Chen Guangling's piano shop.

It was also through communicating with this piano idiot that Wei Ran finally knew that the piece he had learned in college was called "Liezi Yufeng".

However, this time, Wei Ran held back his energy and just played a short part pretending to be unfamiliar, for fear that the other party would hear something extraordinary from the piece he played like last year.

Of course, in addition to being a driver and playing the piano to cultivate sentiment.The girls headed by Sui Sui, in addition to trying to lose weight, would set up various names every now and then, and take the high-speed rail with Wei Ran back to grandma's house to have a look.

And at this time, the weight loss plans of these girls are undisputedly suspended again and again due to force majeure.

A week later, on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Zhou Shujin and Professor Alexey finally boarded a flight to Volgograd after their holidays. On the same day, Jima's family and Maya finally ended their long-term holiday. After traveling in China for more than a month, with the help of Wei Ran and others, he boarded the flight to Kazan.

"How is the investigation of your friend going?"

On the way back to the hotel in the city from the airport, Sui Sui yawned and asked, "We're almost done with what we should be busy here. If the things on your side are over, we should prepare to go back to Kazan."

"Wait another two days"

Wei Ran replied ambiguously, since he took over the courtyard in the suburbs of Beijing a week ago, Xia Shushi's phone has been blocked.Not only the phone calls, but even the messages sent by WeChat seemed to disappear, without even bringing back a single punctuation mark.

"Then wait two more days"

Sui Sui responded indifferently, and then said, "We must go back before the end of the month. There will be a large number of tourists going to Inta on March 3, and there will be a team of mice visiting Maya's house. Just watch over the mountain yourself."

"Then buy a plane ticket at the end of the month"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, the mobile phone used as a navigation rang. He glanced down at the incoming call, but Wei Ran frowned. The number of the call was not a common mobile phone number or landline number in China, but more like Unknown number for satellite phone.

After a little hesitation, Wei Ran finally pulled over, and then pressed the answer button.

"It's me, Xia Shushi." As soon as the call was connected, the person on the other side revealed his identity.

"If you don't call me again, I'm going to Russia."

Wei Ran paused, and winked at Sui Sui, the co-driver, then opened the car door, changed places with the other party, and kept saying, "What's the matter with you? It's been a week, and I can't get through WeChat on the phone." I won't bring it back either."

"Forget it"

Xia Shushi on the other end of the phone said helplessly, "In the early morning of the seventh day of the first lunar month, I was dragged by the beast to avoid the electricity. The place we are staying in now not only has no signal, but even electricity is a problem. And satellite phone internet access is ridiculously expensive.”

"Have you looked for clues about the helmet?" Wei Ran raised his eyebrows, "Did you find anything?"

"Well, I found it, but I didn't find it."

After Xia Shushi finished speaking, he fell into silence, obviously trying to organize his words.Seeing this, Wei Ran didn't rush, but patiently waited for the other party's explanation.

Fortunately, within five or six seconds, Xia Shushi continued, "First of all, we found the daughter-in-law who ran away from the owner of the hotel. Going back, the Second Emperor and I came here with her."

"Aren't you two afraid of being caught and your waist cut?" Wei Ran asked jokingly.

"It's nothing, who dares to bite our waists?"

Xia Shushi said indifferently, "Anyway, we followed that girl to find her home. It is a small village called Mandun, which is where we are now. There are less than a hundred families in total here."

"you keep talking"

Seeing the other party stop, Wei Ran couldn't help urging him.By the way, he also took the opportunity to turn on the speakerphone and adjust the volume to the maximum, and then snapped his fingers at Anfeiya who was sitting in the back row, signaling the latter to hand over the tablet.

Xia Shushi on the other end of the phone lit a cigarette, puffed and continued, "We searched all over that little daughter-in-law's house, and their wooden house was almost demolished and rebuilt by the Second King."

"And then? What did you find?" Wei Ran reminded the other party again to highlight the key points, and at the same time opened the memo on the tablet.

"Nothing but an English 77 and a hundred rounds were found in the ceiling of the bullpen."

Xia Shushi paused again, and then continued, "And most importantly, that little daughter-in-law's family doesn't even know where these things come from."

"What do you mean by that?" Wei Ran asked puzzled.

"Simply put, according to the little daughter-in-law's father, their family came here when they fled during the food shortage in 67.

This house originally belonged to a distant uncle of the little daughter-in-law's father.Although the blood relationship between the two parties is very thin, the old man still took in their family.

However, the old gentleman passed away in the 80s, and the house he used to live in has also become a utility room, and the downstairs has also become a cowshed. The rifle I just mentioned, and the The things that the homestay owner brought back were all found in the utility room above the cowshed. "

Having said this in one breath, Xia Shushi took two puffs of cigarettes, and then continued, "Although we only found a rifle and bullets in their house, there are many legends and traces about the expeditionary army in the local area."

"Tell me in detail?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"First of all, there are many American ten-wheel trucks in this village. Of course, there are almost none that can be used, and most of them are wrecks."

Xia Shushi added with a smile, "And I found that there are quite a few household stoves here, all of which are refitted from the hubs of American ten-wheel trucks, and even the troughs for feeding pigs and sheep are made of ten-wheel truck tires." of."

"What else?" Wei Ran saw that the other party stopped at this point, so he had no choice but to ask again.

"Ugh"

Xia Shushi sighed inexplicably, "I heard from the oldest blind man in this village that he knew from childhood that during World War II, there used to be a field hospital near this village, and there were more than a thousand expeditionary troops at that time. The wounded are recuperating in this field hospital.

But then the expeditionary forces stationed here dropped all their cars and heavy equipment and either blew them up, set them on fire, or pushed them into the water.

Then they hiked into Savage Mountain, and the more than [-] wounded, in order not to drag down the large army, chose to commit suicide collectively. "

"What did you say?!" Wei Ran frowned immediately.

"That's right, the way of mass suicide and self-immolation. Although there is no official history of this incident on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, it was indeed mentioned in the memoir book "Battle in Yunnan, India and Burma during the War of Resistance Against Japan". In May 1942 On the 5th, the headquarters of the Fifth Army of the Expeditionary Army and the main force of the 14th Regiment, as well as about 65 wounded and wounded, entered a village called Mo.

It was only after I heard the old blind man mention collective suicide that I realized that the village translated as Mandun was probably Mo’s village mentioned in the book. "

After Xia Shushi finished speaking, he sighed again, "According to that old blind man, the wounded who committed suicide were buried near the stupa in this village."

"Who buried those expeditionary soldiers who committed suicide?" Wei Ran subconsciously grasped the key question.

"According to the old blind man, it was the monks who practiced in that pagoda at that time, and it seems that only the monks who used to practice in that pagoda knew about the suicide of these expeditionary army wounded, but the villagers in this village did not know about it. matter."

"So that old blind man you just mentioned used to be a monk in that stupa?"

"Not only him"

Xia Shushi didn't say until this time, "The father's distant uncle of the little daughter-in-law is also a monk in that pagoda. But this old blind man was born after the end of World War II. He was also a young man who served the pagoda. Heard it from the monk's mouth."

"Now that Buddha"

"It has been abandoned for a long time, and there are no monks in it. Even the head of the Buddha statue inside is not original."

Xia Shushi said regretfully, "Not only is the monk gone, the Second Emperor and I and his helpers have been working around the pagoda for two full days but we haven't found the bones of the expeditionary army. After digging for more than two meters, the bottom of the pit began to seep, and no bones were found."

"so."

"I'm wondering if you have any ideas. Regardless of me or the Second Emperor, we not only want to unlock the secret of the helmet, but also want to know if there are any expeditionary soldiers who committed suicide buried here."

Xia Shushi paused as he said, "Of course, it would be best if you have time to come over. If you don't have enough time, it's fine if you can provide some ideas. We've reached an impasse here."

Hearing this, Wei Ran subconsciously turned his head to look at Sui Sui, who was concentrating on driving, but the latter didn't say anything after feeling his gaze, but just pretended to sit up straight, stretched out his hand and hit his lower back.

Seeing this, Wei Ran turned off the screen of the tablet computer and said, "Well, you can send me the photo of the pagoda first, and if there is an aerial video of the village, I will think about it."

"Then you have to wait." Xia Shushi said helplessly, "I have never experienced such a slow Internet speed when I use the abacus to surf the Internet."

"Stop complaining." Wei Ran asked after thinking for a while, "You won't leave for a while, right?"

"Is that so?" Xia Shushi replied very simply, "We only went back a week before the Ching Ming Festival."

"That's fine, I'll wait for the photos and videos you send me."

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran exchanged casual greetings with the other party and hung up the phone without any mention of the suitcase full of cash and the yard.

(End of this chapter)