War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 958 Counterfeit Wine Workshop and Unexpected Survivors

"Bang!"

The fully loaded van crushed the iron fence door that was forcibly pulled and drove into the weird yard. When the door was opened, Wei Ran, who was holding a weapon and wearing a mask and helmet, got out of the car along with the temporary teammates around him. At that time, I found that in the two-story house with floor-to-ceiling windows, there were bright beams of light flickering both upstairs and downstairs.

Not only that, even the door of the van truck at the door had been opened, revealing the only two cardboard boxes left inside.

Wei Ran didn't need to do anything at all, it seemed that the hoarse-voiced strong man who was specially following him opened a cardboard box on his own initiative.

However, as the box was torn open and the lights were turned on, what was inside was bottles of 95% medical alcohol!
Glancing at each other, the strong man with a hoarse voice stuffed the milk powder can in his hand back to its original position, and explained in Russian nonchalantly, "Smuggling, selling and illegally selling highly alcoholic beverages is illegal, and I am now There is reason to suspect that someone here is using high-concentration medical alcohol to blend spirits."

Wei Ran grinned when he heard the words, knowing that the other party was not joking.Although the Chechens are the least influenced by the muslin culture, the locals even drink some low-alcohol beer and fruit wine occasionally, and it is not mandatory for women to wear headscarves even outside religious occasions, but pork and strong Alcohol is still prohibited by both law and faith.

Because of this, although the previous unique products were staged, these rare vodkas that are contraband in Russia are real.

Now that they have a more reasonable excuse, these Omoji guys are naturally acting more confidently.

However, the next search was beyond Wei Ran's expectation.Unsurprisingly, there were no living people in this Nuoda courtyard, and indeed a lot of strong alcoholic beverages that were illegal here were found.

The strong man in charge of driving said truthfully, "At least all the stolen goods here must be taken away. Why, do you have any better suggestions?"

As the severed padlock fell to the ground, Wei Ran, who had turned on the flashlight again, also pushed open the steel fence door with a "squeak".

On the upper berth of the iron frame bed were several labels containing various cardboard boxes, on the lower berth were two rows of 8 wine bottle sealing machines, and under the bed were cardboard boxes that had been sealed with tape.

Wei Ran spread his hands pretending to be helpless, casually pointed to a dagger that was ornately decorated like a large toothpick and said, "Can you take this one out and have a look?"

"What clue?" Wei Ran asked as he declined the cigarette offered by the other party.

Yes, it can only be like that.Otherwise, how could those people choose to use it as their drug manufacturing den?

Could it be that there was an escape route under the bed on the second floor of the basement at that time?

While speaking, Wei Ran had already torn off the camouflage uniform and helmet on his body, and changed into the jeans and coat in the backpack, and then he took out the mobile phone he bought temporarily before, and opened the browser to start the search after turning it on.

"Sir, what do you want to buy?"

"Razvozayev?" The burly man with a cigarette in his mouth repeated the name in surprise.

In the blink of an eye the next morning, Wei Ran started his purposeful wandering in Grozny under the bright sunshine.

In the end, when the culvert was about to come to an end, a small iron cart with casters welded all over its body and a locked steel fence gate were blocked right in front of it.

Almost subconsciously, he walked around to the diagonal position of the entrance to the basement. As expected, there was indeed a staircase leading to the second basement floor.

Just as Wei Ran walked into the yard, the man with a hoarse voice just came out of the room.

"It's no small feat to discover so many counterfeit wines"

Almost at the same time as the glass door opened, pleasant music entered his ears.

Enduring nausea and wading through this piece of stagnant water less than two meters wide, the culvert also began to slowly go up.

Wei Ran waved his hand, pondered for a moment and asked, "How do you plan to deal with what happened tonight?"

Although this alley is transparent on both sides, it is extremely narrow. Judging by the width, it can be blocked tightly by a van at most.

"There's a New Lead"

The strong man smiled but didn't explain in detail, he just unlocked the car door and said, "Okay, I won't send you back to the hotel, and we're going to track down the owner of the yard, Alyosha.

"Yes!" The soldier responded immediately, and then ran out quickly.

About ten minutes later, Wei Ran, who found nothing on the Internet, turned off his phone again, how about helping me find someone in this city? "

Wei Ran paused for a moment, seeing that the other party was not going to take the initiative to explain, he simply asked, "Is there anything special about this surname?"

"Forehead"

At the very least, he can be sure that the girl Ganna who was rescued in the underground air defense system and had little communication with him probably survived the air raid on the basement.

After bidding farewell to the two Chechen girls who acted as temporary guides, Wei Ran stood in front of Razvozayev's shop and pondered for a moment, then stretched out his hand and pushed open the glass door.

Familiar layout, familiar shelves, the only difference is that the gas masks and other civil defense supplies on those shelves have turned into labels for various spirits and wine bottles of various styles!Even bottles of high-concentration medical alcohol, barrels of mineral water, and boxes of various spices and fragrances.

And the strong man driving the car was also full of patience. After parking the car in the shadow under a highway bridge, he lowered the window and silently lit a cigarette and waited quietly.

He just sat down on the floor because of a wrong effort, and the man beside him immediately pointed the weapon in his hand and the beam of the strong flashlight under the bed.

"What are you going to do with those who hide these alcohols if you catch them?" Wei Ran asked in a different way.

The brawny man just assumed one of the premise and stopped, then switched the topic and said, "The mask, gloves and boots are for you as souvenirs, take off the camouflage uniform, there are already I have prepared clothes for you, and I will send you to an intersection later, so you can find a way to go back, right?"

Since some people are still alive, and since the basement has been rebuilt, the corpses of Captain Karp and the others must have been properly buried.
I hope so.
Wei Ran sighed secretly, quickened his pace and trotted all the way back to the hotel.

Carefully stepping on the ground and squatting down a little bit, when he illuminated the culvert with a flashlight, the length of the culvert was far beyond his expectation.

"Ganna, she is a woman in her 40s." Wei Ran paused and continued, "Her surname is probably Razvozayev."

However, there is not much difference between the second basement floor and the ground floor. There are still shelves against the wall, but what is placed on the shelves is strong fake wine that has been refilled!
In short, this place is simply a fake wine workshop and warehouse!

"No problem, but wait a minute, I still have a few things I want to ask you."

"Dancing is too hard for me"

Before climbing out of the thermal well, he glanced at the beam of the flashlight coming from the culvert below. Wei Ran ignored the manhole cover that was pushed aside. Under the cover of the shadow of the building, he followed the general direction and touched the building. A large courtyard full of fake wine.

As long as you get there, you can find the store by asking anyone for the last name just now. "

And on the other side of the fence gate, it seems to be an ordinary heat well!
After looking at it, and then at the heat well outside the steel fence, Wei Ran turned off the flashlight after thinking for a while, took out the wire cutters in the metal book in the dark, and fumbled to cut the well that was coated with grease on the steel fence. Oiled large padlock.

"nothing"

"What did you say?"

Standing up and patting his butt, Wei Ran didn't feel any embarrassment at all and pulled out the connected cardboard boxes from under the bed, and then found that there was a steel water grate about one meter square on the floor under the bed!
Did anyone still survive?Wei Ran raised his eyebrows, "Do me a favor, move this bed away."

"Huaxia native" Wei Ran replied with a smile, "I heard that here is the best Kancha dagger in Grozny."

"I've never seen a Chinese before."

And on the bench facing the gate, several young lads were playing cheerful tunes with Caucasian tambourines and a bowed stringed instrument that Wei Ran didn't know.

Pushed by Wei Ran, the iron trolley, which obviously could slide just right in the concrete culvert, was pushed into the thermal well, and Wei Ran followed closely behind.

"According to the registration information, he is less than 40 years old this year"

"Dang!"

"There is nothing special about this surname, but the Ms. Lamin you just described, combined with this surname, reminds me of a person. To be precise, it reminds me of a mother."

The strong man patted the other person's helmet, "Shut up! Go find out who owns this house!"

However, what he didn't expect was that not only was the cardboard box under the bed not as heavy as it seemed, but it was still connected to the other cardboard boxes under the bed!

However, he did not expect that along the way, after discovering that he is an Asian, and taking the initiative to ask him to know that he is a Chinese who is extremely rare here, these people did not recognize that he is actually a little famous Local historians, on the other hand, wanted to take a few photos with him with a particularly enthusiastic expression—because they rarely saw Chinese people who came here.

"Boss, I seem to know where the smuggled alcohol came from after I searched many times before but couldn't find the source."

The burly man explained with a smile, "As far as I know, she adopted many orphans. At the beginning, they were war orphans in the second Chechen war, and later they were left behind because of the various tragedies caused by those damn readers. orphans."

After a short pause, the strong man continued, "The owner of that store is named Razvozayev, but her name is not Ganna, but Alamat. Except for the different names, I can tell you everything else. That's right."

"You just said. Mom?" Wei Ran looked at the other party in confusion
"That's really the best title"

An Omo warrior also wearing a mask approached the strong man with a hoarse voice and said, "Who would have thought that these things are hidden in such a conspicuous place in the city."

"See if there is anything you like?"

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran simply pushed the door and got off the car, watched the other party drive away until he got the news in sight, then he walked out of the shadow under the bridge, and after confirming the direction, he went straight to the hotel where he was staying, while thinking about it secretly With the current situation.

As for the wool carpet in the center of the store, which may be about 50 square meters in size, there are some boys and girls who are about [-] or [-] years old, wearing beautiful national costumes, dancing happily. dance.

"I'll take a good look around here, I've caused you trouble today."

The burly man flicked his cigarette butt while speaking, pulled off his mask to cover his mouth and chin and said, "Tomorrow, let's go shopping in Selipova Commercial Street, there is a souvenir shop selling Persian handmade carpets and Kancha daggers.

"I probably remember correctly"

If the latter is due to his cruelty and disregard for life, then the former is entirely due to his stunning appearance and snow-white complexion, and of course, a certain unique temperament endowed with faith.

His obvious gibberish immediately amused the curious girl with wide eyes, who evidently recognized that he was joking.

The strong man nodded, first followed Wei Ran out of the yard, and then led him into a civilian car. After starting the car, he pointed to the luggage bag next to Wei Ran, and then continued driving Said, "But the only thing we found related to this person is this house. Other than that, he has no traces of social activities. I even doubt whether this person ever existed."

"You seem to be very familiar with her?" Wei Ran became more and more strange.

So the yard was actually built after the survivors of the air raid in the same basement bought the land?

And on the wall next to the winch, there was actually a concrete culvert with an inner diameter of perhaps one meter.

Wei Ran didn't finish his sentence, and didn't wait for the approval of the people behind him, so he got in with a strong flashlight.

Obviously, there was a mistake in the previous speculation. Originally, he thought that no one survived in that basement, but now it is obviously not the case.

"Bang!"

Compared with the arrangement on his side, Wei Ran went around to the edge of the iron shelf in the deep part of the basement.

"Who?" asked the strong man sitting in the driver's seat.

"Alyosha Malikovyevich Ivanie"

But on both sides of this alley, there are only the outer walls of other buildings, and there is not even a window on the wall.

Soon, with the muffled bang and bang of the door-breaking gun, the thin civilian explosion-proof door was easily opened, and a team of Omo players rushed in under the beam of the strong flashlight in a tight formation.But Wei Ran, who was dressed in the same way, was left behind by the strong man with a hoarse voice holding his gun belt.

Wei Ran grinned, and replied with a suffocated voice, "We do have a lot of giant pandas there, and we have been popularizing education, trying to make every giant panda learn Chinese Kungfu."

"I'll take a look"

"If you can catch it, of course you will be sent to prison"

Why did you ignore it?
Thinking of this, Wei Ran shook his head. After returning from the historical fragment this time, he was in pain. The metal book did not mention that there were other people alive. Naturally, he subconsciously thought that the people in the basement were all alive. died.

Hearing this, Wei Ran took a deep breath, "While signaling the other party to follow him out, he said, you continue to talk."

"How old is this person?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

Patiently accompanied a middle-aged Chechen aunt to take a group photo of each other with their shoulders crossed and their backs grinning and giggling. By the way, they also received a piece of jerky the size of a fist. Wei Ran was also led by the enthusiasm of the two beauties who took photos with him before , successfully found the Selipova Commercial Street, and from this bustling commercial street, found a street-facing store named "Razvozayev Store".

But compared to these innocuous things, what Wei Ran didn't expect was that he found a locked anti-theft door leading to the basement in that house that was obviously full of life, but could not find any personal belongings!
Looking at the lifted carpet and the opened floor in the living room, and even the metal anti-theft door at the end of the concrete steps under the floor, Wei Ran subconsciously tightened his nerves and grabbed the weapon in his hand!

Finally, I would like to welcome you to Grozny, which is now a very hospitable city.If you are interested, you can walk around here more. "

What made him laugh a little bit was that not only did KFC become CFC in Chechnya, even Mr. Colonel, who was used as a trademark, also grew a very Chechen sideburn.

Now that these hospitable locals have said so, he naturally can't refuse, especially those few who are loosely and foolishly wrapped in various beautiful turbans, but they obviously mustered up a lot of courage to interact with their companions. The young Chechen girls who had the courage to take the initiative to come forward, stammered and expressed that they wanted to take a photo with him, a rare Chinese.

"Of course, I'm a local, of course I've heard about her."

A girl wearing a headscarf who looked about seventeen or eighteen years old took the initiative to greet her and asked curiously, "Are you Asian?"

Of course, as a thank you, he also stopped by KFC, which has been localized, and bought some food and drink for the two young girls who helped guide the way.

"The owner of this house is Alyosha Malikovyevich Ivanie, but..."

Looking along the light beam, after climbing down for a distance of almost ten meters at a slight incline, there was also a puddle of shining water at the lowest point of the culvert.From this stagnant water, it began to rise slowly again, so that from his current angle, he couldn't see the end of this culvert at all.

Looking around, the store is full of handmade carpets with various patterns on the left hand side, and various ornate Kancha daggers are placed in the glass counter on the right hand side.

"Is it really him?"

With a "bang", Wei Ran lifted the water grate, squatted down, held a flashlight and bent over to look in, only to find that the water grate had a small mouth and a big belly, two meters in diameter and one meter deep at most, and could only accommodate two people. Little space to barely squat.On one wall of this small space, a metal seat was poured, on which an electric winch was firmly fixed with screws.

After a while, a safety reminder came from the intercom. Wei Ran was also relieved and at the same time fell into doubt. At the same time, he faintly felt that his previous guess seemed a bit arbitrary.
Suppressing the doubts in his heart, he stepped into the already brightly lit basement. On his face covered by the mask, the astonishment became more and more obvious.

Closing his eyes, he recalled the details of what happened when the air raid came in that historical segment. After a while, Wei Ran handed the weapon in his hand to the strong man who had been standing behind him, and then he pulled the cardboard box under the bed and went out. pull.

Climbing the ladder to the mouth of the heating well, he carefully pushed away the heavy manhole cover above his head, and immediately realized that he seemed to be in a deep and dark alley.

"Take it away!"

The girl tapped the glass counter lightly with her finger, and said very sincerely, "I have to tell you in advance that the person who recommended you here is lying to you, the daggers we sell are no different from those in other shops, They are handicrafts for decoration. But if you have time, you can learn Leztenka dance and Cossack knife dance for free.”

Before the strong man who had been by Wei Ran's side could finish his sentence, several people came over and together they lifted the extra-strong iron frame bed to the side.

"Wait! Say the name of this house again!" Wei Ran asked while staring at the former.

The little girl led Wei Ran to the glass counter on the right and asked curiously, "Are there a lot of giant pandas in your place? Pandas that know kung fu."

I have to admit that Chechen beauties and Chechen black widows have almost the same popularity in Russia.

"sure"

The little girl in charge of the reception immediately took out Wei Ran's fancy dagger from the glass counter, and at the same time said, "This dagger is more expensive, it costs 5300 rubles. If you plan to buy it and take it back, you must remember Check it in, or it will be confiscated."

"If I buy it, can I meet Ms. Alamat?" Wei Ran asked extra politely, "I have something to ask her."

"Of course!" The girl nodded happily, "It doesn't matter if you don't buy it."

(End of this chapter)