War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1871 New Year's Gift No. A232

After a simple but flavorful breakfast, Wei Ran helped Nicholas pack up the tent and heater, extinguished the campfire outside, and naturally took on the task of driving on the return trip.

While chatting, we drove the car to the door of Marta's House. Wei Ran also noticed that the original office building of Marta's House, which was converted from a Soviet-era fish canning factory, had been demolished, leaving only the workshops that served as activity rooms.

Correspondingly, the yard, which had become much larger, contained a lot of tattered war equipment.

Outside the yard, there is a four-story building with an area almost as large as the original Marta House.

This glass curtain wall building looks quite modern. At this moment, Sui Sui and others are taking photos with the children who came to greet them at the entrance of the building.

“That’s the expanded Marta House. I even have an office there.”

Nikolai looked out the window and explained, "The elderly and children live in that building. Everyone has their own separate room with a separate toilet and bathroom."

"That sounds good," said Wei Ran.

“It was everyone’s dream during the Soviet era”

Nikolay said with a smile, “Drive the car into the original Marta House. Those workshops are now factories where those Donetsk people assemble prosthetic limbs. Everyone is very enthusiastic about this job.”

"Including Director Nikola?" Wei Ran asked with a smile as he drove the car into the yard.

"That's right!" Nicholas laughed, "Including me, the factory director."

“I feel relieved to see that you have something to do.”

Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief. For people of old man Nicholas' age, there are things they need to do to make their lives more meaningful.

“I’m still very busy”

Nicholas said, "I not only have to manage the prosthetics factory, but also the library I built for the children. I even have to arrange the menu for the cafeteria."

At this point, Nicholas had already opened the car door. "Speaking of this, let's go to the cafeteria quickly. I have promised the children that I will make them some delicious food today."

“Those salmon?”

“Those salmon are for you.”

Nicholas said as a matter of course, "Victor, the delicious food I promised the children is up to you."

“I’m so honored”

Wei Ran shook his head and pushed open the car door. In one hand, he held the gift that Sui Sui brought to the old man, and in the other hand, he held the salmon that the old man had caught early in the morning. Under the guidance of the old man, he walked through the small door of the yard and entered the glass curtain-walled building outside the wall.

It can be seen that Alexander put enough care in building this building with only four floors. He has never seen a building with so many elevators and handrails everywhere.

Along the way, whether children or adults, teenagers, adults or the elderly, they all greeted Mr. Nicholas enthusiastically and gave him titles such as "Principal" or "Factory Director".

Under his guidance, they entered the cafeteria on the first floor and threw the salmon into the sink. Wei Ran then followed him to an office next to the cafeteria to take a look - this was the office of Director Nicholas.

“My bedroom is next door.”

Nicholas pointed to a door leading to the next door in the office and said, "You can put the gift in for me and take a look at it while you're at it."

"Of course I have to go and take a look," Wei Ran said as he pushed open the door.

The bedroom is not very big, but it has everything you need, including a table, chairs, TV, refrigerator and bathroom. Just like outside, there are handrails and call buttons everywhere.

After putting away the footbath and other items given as gifts, Wei Ran returned to the office next door.

“It was all done by Alexander, who invested a lot of money in the building.

Of course, your Aurora and Greva also spent a lot of money on this building."

"I don't know anything about this," Wei Ran said truthfully. He really didn't know.

“Thanks to them”

Nicholas said with emotion, "Alexander told me that there will be more and more buildings like this in the future, and more and more people will live in Marta's House."

“I wish fewer people lived in buildings like this.”

Wei Ran smiled and said, "What I mean is that it would be great if the war could be stopped."

"You are not a child anymore, so don't have such naive ideas."

Nikolai teased, "Well, I didn't bring you here to chat with you. Victor, do you have any potential threats now?"

“Maybe.”

Wei Ran spread his hands nonchalantly and said, "I am no longer the famous historian I used to be."

"Hearing you say that doesn't reassure me."

Nikolai's tone was less teasing and more serious, "If it was Jima, the biggest trouble he could cause would be to get a girl pregnant with his child and be discovered by Maya.

If it was that little bastard Greva, he would just be killed at most."

"Is there anything more serious than this?" Wei Ran asked, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "I mean Greva."

"certainly"

Nicholas' tone was more serious. "If it were you, Victor, how many people would you drag along with you to die?"

"Why do you ask this question?" Wei Ran spread his hands but did not answer the question.

Nicholas just smiled, picked up a pen on the table, and casually wrote a number like "500" on it, "Are you sure?"

Wei Ran nodded without comment. He didn't understand why the other party asked this question, so he decided to be a little more honest.

Now, for him, no, let alone him, even if the good girl Sui Sui was really forced into a corner and decided to go all in, it would not be a difficult task to drag 500 people to be buried with her.

As for myself
Even if it was just to untie the collars of those seventeen-year cicadas, it wouldn't be too difficult to multiply this number by 2.

"how about this?"

Nicholas added a "500" after 0.

"no problem"

Wei Ran nodded again. This was still not difficult. He still had the insane asylum code-named Morpheus to detonate.

He even has an E46 incendiary bomb in his metal notebook. If he really doesn't need a bottom line, he has enough ways to maximize the effect of that incendiary bomb.

but.
He still didn't understand what Nicholas' purpose was in starting this topic. Was he measuring his own worth?
"how about this?"

Nicholas added a "5000" after 0 as if he was playing a game.

"I can't do it," Wei Ran shook his head truthfully.

“It’s already quite a lot”

Nikolay put aside the white paper with "50000" written on it and said, "Your situation is much more serious than those little bastards like Dima and Greva."

"Mr. Nicholas, why do you want to bring up this topic?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"Someone told me that there is something wrong with your mental state."

Nicholas answered with extraordinary frankness, "Since the best psychiatrist is gone, I am the only one who can help you with the treatment."

“Use this method to understand yourself?” Wei Ran laughed.

“I’m not good at trauma therapy”

"But I'm almost 100 years old, so I'm entitled to do something capricious," Nicola said.

"What's going on?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"For example, make the '0' you just added become reality." Nicholas said something crazy that caught Wei Ran off guard.

Those were indeed crazy words, crazy words that could decide the life and death of 50,000 people, but Wei Ran's heart couldn't help but tremble. He didn't have any evidence, but he knew clearly that this dying old guy had such ability.

"Take it"

Nicholas said, pulling open a drawer and taking out a piece of paper wrapped in newspaper, "You know where to claim the prize."

"What is this?" Wei Ran took the piece of newspaper and squeezed it. It seemed that there was something wrapped inside.

"I hope this thing can give you some sense of security," Nicholas said seriously, "and I hope I am not mistaken."

"Can I open it and take a look?" Wei Ran asked.

Seeing Nicholas nodding with a smile, Wei Ran carefully lifted a corner of the newspaper.

However, when he saw what was wrapped inside, his hair stood on end!

This is a playing card.

A Joker with the symbol of chemical weapons printed on it, a card that he had not drawn from Uncle Chabu's deck of cards when he was a guest at Teacher Daria's house!

"If I claim the prize today, maybe I will use it tomorrow." Wei Ran reminded him as he covered the exposed corner with newspaper again.

"It's up to you," Nicholas said in a particularly casual tone, "but I believe my eyes." "Why?" Wei Ran asked.

“Give a madman enough sense of security, and he will be able to maintain his sanity.”

Nicholas said bluntly, “It’s also about showing sincerity and trust. It’s time to show sincerity and trust.”

"I guess there must be some requirements, right?" Wei Ran asked, shaking the card in his hand.

"How big the cards you play, how big the price you have to pay."

Nicholas said, "You must know where it can be used and where it absolutely cannot be used. Even if it appears in a place where it cannot be used, it is equivalent to declaring war."

"Does it have friends?" Wei Ran shook the cards in his hand again.

"Just like Kajianka who was taken home by you," Nikolay said cryptically.

"Do I need to pay any price?" Wei Ran asked the last question.

“It is not necessary when redeeming the prize”

Nicholas said, "I hope this sense of security will allow you to live a normal life."

"It might also cause me to suffer from insomnia," Wei Ran said jokingly as he put away the card wrapped in newspaper.

"Go and help me and the kids here stew pig's trotters and pork elbows."

Nicholas ended the topic nonchalantly, "Remember to stew it softer. Although my body is still in good condition, my teeth are not as strong as before."

"Don't worry, I'll make the bones soft and tasty."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he turned and walked out of the office and went to the cafeteria next door.

As for the card before it is redeemed, it is still just a card, right?

Rather than exploring what the cards represented, he was more curious about why old man Nicholas gave him this card at this time.

It can't be a New Year's gift, right?
Wei Ran laughed in silence, but didn't think any more about it. He just went into the cafeteria, found the soaked soybeans and pre-processed pig's trotters and elbows, and started working busily.

At the same time, Nicholas once again took off the smart watch that Wei Ran gave him, slowly left the new building alone, and returned to the old workshop next door.

"He accepted it?"

In the workshop, Culp, dressed in casual clothes, asked with a smile.

"I'll take it," Nicholas nodded, "This is also the last test."

“What if he went to claim the prize right after leaving Volgograd?” Karp asked.

"Then find an excuse to put him in jail for two years to calm down, and then release him after his power is eliminated."

Nicholas refused the other party's support and sat on a sofa next to the fireplace and said.

"What if he never comes to claim the prize?" The one who asked the opposite question was the fat man who called himself Uncle Chabu.

"If he doesn't come to claim the prize"

Old man Nicholas showed a bright smile on his face. "If that's the case, if one day in the future he suddenly decides to ask you to redeem the prize, and if I'm still alive at that time, I'm afraid you will have to help him once."

"Cash for the prize?"

"No, no, no, I don't want you to do anything stupid like this."

Nicholas waved his hand, "Just make sure he and his Aurora survive."

"What if you are already dead by then?" Uncle Chabu asked recklessly.

“Then redeem the prize.”

Nicholas laughed and said, "I'm already dead anyway, so whether you redeem the prize or not has nothing to do with me, right?"

"Even if it's just to see what crazy things that little lunatic can do, I will definitely redeem the prize when the time comes."

After Uncle Chabu finished speaking, he turned around and got into a Waze van that drove into the workshop and drove away without saying a word.

“You should go back too.”

Nicholas waved his hand and said, "Your movie is very good. It can be regarded as the realization of your dream when you were young."

“I’m not getting any younger,” Culp responded with a smile.

“At least I’m still alive”

Nicholas' tone was particularly gratified. "It seems that we were not wrong. This little guy from China really made everyone live a good life."

"If we had invested in that girl named Aurora, maybe our lives would be better." Kalp said half-jokingly and half-seriously.

“You should be glad that you invested in Victor.”

Nicholas looked at the yard outside the window. "He may not be smart in business, but his teeth and claws are sharp enough, so sharp that anyone who tries to control him will have his throat and heart ripped out."

"The hand holding the sword should not be a baby's"

Karp said with great regret, "Aurora is too kind. That stupid girl only cares about her Victor. I even learned a Chinese word from her that is very suitable for her."

"What is it?" Nicholas asked in slightly unfamiliar Chinese.

"A love-brain that even dogs wouldn't eat," Karp replied in Chinese.

“I understand what every word means”

Nicholas waved his hand, "Well, it's time for you to leave, and it's time for those poor guys to retire."

"When he returns to Kazan, I will have a good talk with him about our retirement life."

After Karp finished speaking, he got into a van that also drove into the workshop, started slowly, and then drove out slowly.

From beginning to end, they did not seem to talk about the possibility of whether it would affect "retirement" if a young person could not wait to redeem the prize.

At noon that day, with the help of several large commercial pressure cookers, the hardworking chef Wei cooked enough pork elbows and pig trotters for everyone to eat for several days, and probably enough for everyone to have two hands and some extra.

It wasn't that he was so diligent, but rather that the gang thugs who had helped with the preparations before they arrived were too bored.

Having said that, when this special Chinese dish was served on the table, the children, the elderly and the disabled from Donetsk still raised their vodka or freshly squeezed tropical fruit juice and cheered - "Thank you, Marta! Ura!"

“When did you invest money here?”

After drinking the first glass of celebratory wine together, Wei Ran, Sui Sui, Marta and others asked curiously while cutting up the stewed pork elbows and trotters for the children.

"Soon after the establishment of Marta House"

Sui Sui said proudly while holding up a glass of freshly squeezed juice, "In the future, these children will not only become our talent pool, but also our shield, the strongest shield."

"Cheers to Her Majesty the Queen," Wei Ran said with a smile as he picked up the wine glass that Marta had just filled.

"Knight of the Queen"

Sui Sui also picked up the cup filled with juice by Marta, and with a smile on her face, she gently clinked the cup in Wei Ran's hand.

After drinking up the wine in the glass again, they each picked up the chopsticks prepared for them, picked up a thin piece of salmon sashimi, dipped it in some caviar that was not suitable to be paired together, and put it into their mouths.

Although the raw materials for these salmon sashimi were caught by old man Nikolai himself, the processing was handed over to the Kajianka sisters. And with their superb knife skills, this has become their second dish after tomatoes with sugar, which is also a meat dish.

After this sumptuous dinner, the sun was about to set. At Sui Sui's suggestion, everyone took a lively group photo at the entrance of the building, with Director Nicholas and Marta as the center, which brought a perfect end to today's gathering.

After saying goodbye to everyone in Marta's House and to old man Nicholas who declined the offer to stay at home for one night, Wei Ran and the girls returned to the wooden house.

It was not until this time that he had time to take out the playing card that was casually wrapped in old newspaper.

In addition to the particularly conspicuous chemical weapons logo on this photo, there is also a number handwritten in marker - "A232".

"This old lunatic."

Wei Ran shook his head, then took out the lunch box without thinking, wrapped the card in newspaper again and stuffed it into the bottom layer of the lunch box.

Such a large poison can indeed bring a sense of security, but he also knows clearly that even if Uncle Chabu is really willing to give him the prize, he seems to have no place to store it.

Moreover, he is confident that as long as he is a little more cautious in the future, there will not be a situation where he needs to fight to the death and everyone will live together.

After thinking about these problems, the playing card that Nicholas gave himself actually symbolizes sincerity, the sincerity of everyone jointly holding the key to Pandora's box.

It seems that Kazan also has a surprise waiting for him.
Wei Ran muttered to himself as he put away the lunch box, and at the same time he also made sufficient mental preparations.

"What are you daydreaming about?" Sui Sui, who was busy removing her makeup, called out, "Come over and take a shower with us!"

"Coming!" Wei Ran responded happily and ran into the bathroom.

That night, Mr. Karp and Ms. Anna returned to Kazan and sorted out a thick stack of information overnight.

On the same day, the He girls who were preparing to return to Kyoto sincerely extended an invitation to Aniya and Daofeng who was also skipping classes, and received a positive response.

When the sun began to cover the earth, Wei Ran and others said goodbye to old man Nikola and the people from Marta's House who came to see them off, got into the car driven by Zoya and Saveli and rushed to the airport. They boarded their own transport plane, along with various titanium parts in the cabin whose uses were unknown, and flew towards Kazan.