War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1784 The Nature is Different

"Is this little bit of perfume important?" Qin II asked in confusion.

"At least it means that the other person might be a woman, or a gay." Wei Ran guessed, "or working in the perfume-related industry."

"It's similar to my aunt's analysis."

Qin II said, "She has arranged for someone to follow this clue, but it will take time."

Hearing this, Wei Ran did not continue the topic, but simply unfolded the letter that was folded very neatly.

On this A4 paper, a few lines of Japanese were pieced together using Japanese words cut out from newspapers or magazines: Stop telling stories about Daisho Hirano, or you will be killed.

Apart from this sentence, there was nothing else on the paper.

"Can you understand it?" asked Qin II.

“Words don’t matter”

Wei Ran got back into the car and asked, "Do you know what glue was used to stick it on?"

"Rice Grains"

Qin II replied, "Cooked rice grains ground into paste. The last time I saw this kind of paste was when I was a child watching the clever Ikkiu."

"Very cautious indeed," Wei Ran muttered.

"No, is this cautious?" Qin II asked puzzledly.

"Rice is very common among the devils."

Wei Ran carefully examined the envelope and said, "If glue is used, the mailing address can be known based on the postmark. Then, we can go to nearby stores and supermarkets to see which stores sell the same glue. This will at least narrow down the search area. And I roughly know why perfume was sprayed."

"Why?" Qin II asked with interest without any hurry to drive away.

“The other party is too cautious”

Wei Ran shook the envelope in his hand. "I guess the other party was worried that the police would let the police dog find him by the smell, so he sprayed perfume."

"Isn't this too much?" Qin II asked suspiciously.

“It’s really ridiculous.”

Wei Ran agreed, "It also proves from the side that the other party has little practical experience, and these are very backward methods.

However, considering the situation on the Japanese side, even if the police are called, it is estimated that the investigators over there will be very anxious for a while.

Of course, for the sake of caution, we cannot rule out the possibility that the other party is using these seemingly plausible details to mislead us.”

"No, let's put aside whether the sender has any experience. Where did you get this experience?" Qin II became more suspicious.

"You have no childhood"

Wei Ran threw the threatening letter into the glove box, and continued to take things out of the file bag while making up a story as if it was a matter of course, "Haven't you read The Repeater of Famous Detective Elementary School and His Comatose Father-in-law?

I didn't miss a single episode, and all my experience was earned by Mr. Maori with his bruised neck."

"You're just bullshitting."

Qin II laughed and cursed, but did not continue the topic. He just started the car and asked as he drove out, "Do you want to meet Zhang Taichuan's son?"

"You brought it too?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.

"How can that be possible? That old man is so old."

Qin II smiled and replied, "I'm in Malaysia. If you want to come over to meet me in person or want to talk over the phone, I've got everything ready."

“No rush yet”

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already pulled out a photo album from the file bag.

This photo album is well preserved, and there is a commemorative pattern of Malaysia's independence in 1957 on the cover.

Opening the album, the photos on the first few pages are basically photos of Zhang Taichuan in a suit and a woman in a cheongsam.

At this moment, Zhang Taichuan looked to be in his thirties, but the woman in cheongsam looked to be only around 20 years old.

“These photos are basically various life photos taken in Malaysia”

Qin Ershi explained as he drove, "There are shooting dates on the back of the photos. The earliest one was taken in the summer of 1953."

"1953?" Wei Ran asked, "Which one?"

"At the back is a solo photo of Zhang Taichuan at the dock." Qin II explained.

"Is the person next to Zhang Taichuan his wife?"

"That's right"

Qin II helped explain, "My name is Lin Qiaozhi. My ancestral home is in Fujian Province. I grew up in Malaysia. I am a second-generation overseas Chinese. I am the only daughter in the family. I had an older brother who was said to have died on the battlefield.

Her father was quite wealthy, and during the Anti-Japanese War, he organized a lot of donations.”

“That’s weird.”

“It really doesn’t make sense”

Qin II obviously followed Wei Ran's thinking, "Logically speaking, such a family would definitely not look down on people like Zhang Taichuan, unless..."

"Unless he concealed his experience in Shencheng, or..."

"Perhaps his father-in-law and his family know some of the truth," Qin II said, "but it shouldn't be like this. It just feels wrong."

"When did you become so good at this kind of thing?"

As Wei Ran spoke, he stopped flipping through the photo album. He saw a solo photo of Zhang Taichuan at the dock.

"Before you came, I had a long discussion with those two scumbags." Qin II said truthfully, "Three cobblers are better than Zhuge Liang."

"Speaking of this, why are you so keen on finding this Zhang Taichuan?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"That's what a child without a mother is like."

"Let's make it short," Wei Ran said without comment, his eyes not even leaving the photo album in his hands.

The second half of this album begins with a solo photo of Zhang Taichuan at a dock in the summer of 1953. The subsequent photos are all group photos of him and Hirano Aoi, and even a baby that is suspected to be born to them - a little girl.

"Long story short"

Qin II glanced at Wei Ran, then retracted his gaze and said, "Thanks to the great Niupiren's organization for the call for submissions, we plan to train that little devil named Hirano Yoto well.

Let him become famous enough in the Japanese comics world, and by the way, let him become a legitimate person in a certain sense. "

"What does it mean to have a good foundation in a certain sense?" Wei Ran asked with interest.

"Strictly investigate the ancestors"

Qin II explained half jokingly and half seriously, "Since we are planning to train him, we must find out what his ancestors did, and also the grudges and hatreds, so that he won't be trained to be the leader of a gang in the future, and then someone will come out and say that he is actually Qiao Feng."

"What a great metaphor," Wei Ran grinned.

"How about we brothers raise 20 euros for you?" Qin II asked jokingly.

"Pull some useful eggs"

Wei Ran put the photo album and the threatening letter back into the file bag and stuffed it into his backpack. "Why is Zhong Zhen here?"

"How would I know? He said he had something to talk to you about." Qin II also changed the subject.

While chatting about all sorts of things, Qin II finally parked the car in front of the door of the office building.

The Chinese New Year has just passed, and there is already a street-facing shop under construction on the first floor.

"That's the cafe that your queen greeted."

Qin Ershi led Wei Ran upstairs while explaining in detail, "We also set aside a floor for the coffee company to use as its headquarters free of charge.

Correspondingly, our staff can enjoy 70% off on coffee.”

"There's no need to introduce it in such detail," Wei Ran said as he followed the other party into the elevator. He was too lazy to pay attention to such things.

“You have to report it.”

Qin II pressed the elevator button and said, "The hotel upstairs will no longer be open to the public. The ordinary guest rooms will be used as dormitories, and the suites upstairs will be used to entertain guests.

The top floor is the exhibition room for the tricolor flag, and it also serves as our gang’s base.”

"Is Zhong Zhen upstairs?" Wei Ran asked as the elevator door closed.

"Yes, and his little bell is there too."

Qin II said, "Today he has to meet you for real. I will hand you the file bag and that will be my mission accomplished."

"Let's have a drink together after we're done talking?" Wei Ran suggested.

"Why are we still chatting? Everything has been arranged. Let's chat and drink at the same time." Qin II responded.

Without waiting too long, the elevator door reopened. Before Wei Ran even walked out of the elevator, he saw a huge and thick bulletproof glass wall that went straight to the ceiling like a wall.

Inside the glass wall is the tricolor flag with 28 triangular stars on it, and around the flag are neatly arranged circles of old photos discovered by Wei Ran, which are about the International Brigade, Yu Yanlin and others.

Walking around the huge glass wall, the table by the window is already filled with food and wine.

"If you don't come back, I'm going to eat you."

Zhong Zhen, who was originally dozing off on Xiao Lingling's legs, immediately sat up from the sofa. Xiao Lingling, who seemed to have fallen asleep on the sofa just now, also yawned subconsciously.

"Why are you here to catch up on some sleep?" Wei Ran asked curiously as he threw his backpack aside.

"We just flew here today. We got up very early this morning, were busy with other things in the morning, and took a walk around the lake in the afternoon. We just got back and had time to sleep for a while."

Zhong Zhen also yawned as he spoke. However, the little bell that had not been seen before had already walked to the table and lifted the thermal cover covering the food.

"Is there an emergency?"

Wei Ran and Qin Ershi sat down one after another, took the hot towels handed to them by Xiao Lingling, and asked while wiping their hands.

"It's nothing urgent. Firstly, we just have time to meet and get together, and secondly, I want to report to you about the situation of the people your friends sent to my place for training."

Zhong Zhen also took a hot towel and wiped his hands while saying, "But these are not urgent. There is an emergency that I need to tell you about."

"Emergency? What emergency?"

The first person to ask this question was not Wei Ran, but Qin II. Obviously, this sudden situation was also a surprise to him.

"Just over half an hour ago"

As Zhong Zhen spoke, he threw away the towel and motioned to the busy and diligent Xiao Lingling to hand a tablet computer to Wei Ran, "That Japanese soldier's apartment in Osaka has received several threatening letters in succession, and the content is exactly the same." "When were they sent?" Wei Ran asked as he took the tablet computer.

"Some are earlier, some are later. The difference is only two or three days at most."

Zhong Zhen said, "But the addresses to send the letters range from Hokkaido all the way to Kagoshima in the south."

"airplane"

"That's right," Zhong Zhen confirmed Qin II's guess.

"If someone has the money to fly like this, his financial situation should be pretty good."

Wei Ran thought for a while and asked, "But the other party must be a rookie. This is just us investigating. If it is an official investigation by the Japanese, as long as they check the flight information, they can probably narrow down the scope of suspects a lot."

"So I'm thinking about whether I should call the police on the Japanese side," Zhong Zhen said as he unscrewed the wine bottle and poured a glass of wine for Wei Ran and Qin Ershi respectively.

"Once we call the police, there will probably be no way out. There will be no way out for both sides." Qin II said.

"Do these threatening letters also smell like perfume?" Wei Ran asked, pointing to the photos of several other threatening letters displayed on the tablet.

"Let me ask"

As Zhong Zhen spoke, he picked up the phone on the table and dialed a number.

Soon, he turned off the microphone and said, "We have both, and they taste different."

“Does it taste different?”

Wei Ran and Qin II looked at each other. No matter where their respective "experiences" came from, they were both confused for a moment - what the hell was going on?

"It can't be that he has seen too many dead elementary school students?" Qin II muttered.

"What does this have to do with the death of an elementary school student?" Zhong Zhen asked in confusion.

"You watch it too?" Qin II asked curiously.

"I watch every episode," Zhong Zhen replied as a matter of course as he hung up the phone.

"grass"

Qin II cursed inwardly and began to doubt whether he was abnormal.

"There are at least two letters here that were sent on the same day"

At this time, Wei Ran pointed at the two envelopes on the screen and said, "Both of them were sent on the same day, one from Tokyo and the other from Kumamoto."

"So it's at least a two-person gang?" asked Qin II.

“This special code is very interesting.”

Zhong Zhen picked up the wine glass with interest, "Which god is against us?"

"I'm more curious about why the other party doesn't want the little Japanese you raised to tell the story of his great-grandfather." Wei Ran picked up the glass and clinked it with the two of them.

"I have almost memorized the manuscripts of his great-grandfather's memoirs, but I can't see any problems with them," Zhong Zhen said puzzledly.

The three drank the wine in their glasses. Wei Ran thought for a moment and said, "The threatening letter is not a big deal. The devil is in your hands anyway. If he can be killed, you two might as well find a job."

"That's true"

Qin II agreed and said, "Besides, if the other party really had the ability to kill him, he would have done it long ago. Why would he write a threatening letter?"

"Do you think the fire was set by the person who sent the letter?" Zhong Zhen speculated.

"Just wait"

Wei Ran said indifferently, "Whoever he is, let's wait for a while."

“That’s my plan, too.”

Zhong Zhen refilled their glasses and said, "As long as that little devil doesn't come back..."

Before Zhong Zhen could finish his words, the cell phone he had just placed on the table rang.

He handed the bottle of wine to Xiao Lingdang who was sitting next to him and asked her to help pour the wine. Zhong Zhen picked up his cell phone, glanced at it, and then pressed the answer button.

But soon, Zhong Zhen's original nonchalant attitude disappeared. After looking at Wei Ran, he said into the microphone, "Send it over right away."

"What's wrong?" Qin II asked as Zhong Zhen hung up the phone.

"Just now, I received an envelope containing a lot of photos."

Zhong Zhen said, "It was also sent to that little devil's apartment in the same way."

After a short pause, Zhong Zhen said, "The photos are all of the owner of the memoir, Hirano Daisho, killing people with a samurai sword."

Just as he finished speaking, the ding-dong sound of a message alert came from the phone in his hand.

After unlocking the phone, Zhong Zhen handed it to Wei Ran who was sitting opposite him without even looking at it carefully.

Taking the phone, Wei Ran clicked on the picture messages that were still being sent to him.

However, he frowned after just one look. In this reproduced photo, Hirano Daisho was holding something that looked like a necklace with a wakizashi and smiling wildly, and at his feet was a corpse.

What particularly concerned Wei Ran was that Hirano Daxiang was wearing a dog-skin hat on his head.

Wei Ran raised his head and drank the wine in the glass, then continued swiping the screen.

In the following photos, Hirano Daito seems to be cleaning the battlefield and collecting spoils.

In one of the photos in particular, he seemed to have just chopped off a baby's head, and in his hand, he was still holding a longevity lock.

This was obviously intentional and completely unnecessary. The longevity lock could definitely be easily removed from the neck, but he still cut off the baby's head.

Wei Ran continued to flip through the pages expressionlessly, his face becoming increasingly gloomy. This Hirano Daisho was far from being as "innocent" as he described himself in his memoirs.

However, as he flipped through the sheets one by one, Wei Ran stopped at one of them.

The background of this photo and the attire of the people are obviously in a tropical environment. In the photo, Hirano Daisho seems to be holding a "standard iron bar" command knife, and on this command knife, he is wearing several American military watches and soldier badges.

At his feet were corpses everywhere. Some had their hands chopped off, some had their heads chopped off, and some even had their abdomens cut open. The bloodiness of the scene was even worse than what was recorded in the photo album that Wei Ran had found before.

Where did these photos come from?

Wei Ran couldn't help but fall into confusion, and almost subconsciously began to wonder whether these photos were taken away by the person who burned Hirano Daisho to death.

If so, it seems to explain why the fire happened. In that era, nothing could cover up the lost things better than a fire.

"I'm sure Hirano Daisho didn't mention the beastly acts recorded in these photos in his memoirs," Wei Ran said as he returned the phone to Zhong Zhen.

"In his memoirs, Hirano Daisho was just a quartermaster who had no interest in war."

As Zhong Zhen took the phone, he said, "This little devil is really keen on tampering with memories."

“These photos can’t be faked.”

Qin II, who had been tilting his head to look at the screen, also drank up the wine in the glass and said, "The focus now is not on finding Zhang Taichuan."

"That's right"

Wei Ran picked up the wine that Xiao Lingdang had filled for him, "The focus now is to expose all the bullshit in Hirano Daisho's memoirs."

"Are you motivated this time?" Qin II took out a lighter, lit a cigarette and asked.

"The nature of the situation is different now. This time, every citizen has a share of responsibility."

As Wei Ran spoke, he reached out and picked up the lighter and cigarette box that the other person had placed on the table, and lit a cigarette as well.

In the swirling smoke, he hesitated for a moment and then said, "I will start the investigation as soon as possible. You should continue to look for the person who sent the letter. I think the other party knows a lot of things."

"Which side do you think the sender of the letter is on?" Zhong Zhen asked.

"Hard to say"

Wei Ran's tone was a little more uncertain this time, "I'm beginning to suspect that the other party might be a veteran."

"Why do you say that?" asked Qin II.

"If it weren't for these photos, if it weren't for the two of you."

Wei Ran took a piece of food with chopsticks and put it into his mouth. While chewing, he said, "If the Japanese guy you like survives the fire in the apartment, what do you think he will do after receiving the threatening letter?"

"Call the police?" the two men asked almost subconsciously.

"Do you think the Japanese police have PTSD about JRA?" Wei Ran asked after swallowing the food in his mouth.

"Publicity?"

Qin Ershi once again caught up with Wei Ran's train of thought, "Then Douzi's comics will probably become popular as well."

"Then these photos appeared. They might be intercepted before they reach their destination. Even if the Japanese police didn't have a mole who wanted to make money, they could easily create one to expose the information."

Wei Ran pointed at the phone that Zhong Zhen had placed on the table and said, “The other party is someone who is good at manipulating public opinion.

Create an incident to attract attention, hype it up and then drop a bombshell. Even though the threatening letter says it is to shut up the devils you raised, I guess the real purpose of the other party may be to expose something. "

"Why don't you come directly?" Zhong Zhen asked puzzledly.

"Why don't you draw pictures yourself to teach history lessons to the Japanese people?" Qin II answered the question on behalf of Wei Ran.

"No need to look at those perfumed threatening letters"

Wei Ran said, "Let the devil you raised keep creating and see if anyone will contact you."

"Will there be?" Zhong Zhen asked.

“Maybe.”

As Wei Ran spoke, he picked up the cup again.

At this time, he began to be curious about Zhang Taichuan's identity and purpose. He was curious about what kind of goal made him use "Friendship" as his name.

"I have one last question"

Zhong Zhen, who also held up a cup, asked after clinking glasses, "Was it the flood that finally washed away the Dragon King Temple?"

“Who is the flood?”

Wei Ran drank the wine in the cup and asked, "Who is the Dragon King Temple?"