War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1872: The Bait Hidden in the Good News

Kazan, on the shore of Lake Kaban, when the pink little sisters of the Baba Yaga security team drove their ostentatious pink civilian armored vehicles into the courtyard of the Time Library, the happiest person was Beria, who rushed up with his head shaking.

As soon as the heavy car door opened, Belia skillfully shook off the leash in Lola's hand, jumped into the car nimbly, and pushed Wei Ran, who was about to get off, back into the car firmly. He pressed him to the floor and started washing his face frantically.

While Wei Ran was busy comforting the dog, Sui Sui and the others had already gotten out of the car from the other door without any mercy. Even Lu Xinda, who was walking at the end, was kind enough to help close the door on this side.

After waiting for Belia to calm down with great difficulty, Wei Ran, who looked as if he had just washed his hair, was finally able to get out of the carriage and walk to the next door with his dog Belia following him closely.

It has been a month or two since I returned to my country. Apart from Beria's almost tangible longing for me, there have not been many changes here.

The most noticeable change was that Apoli's TD30 RV was parked next to the electromagnetic door leading to the next door.

This good position allows him to see the villa next door at any time, as well as the door to the library basement at any time. It is obvious that he cares enough about the security work entrusted to him.

After saying hello to Apoli and his student Lyubov, Wei Ran caught up with Su Su, who had just distributed souvenirs to them, and took Beria and them through the electromagnetic door back to their home in Kazan.

"Let's take another day off today!" Sui Sui cheered as she collapsed on the sofa, "Good luck starting work tomorrow!"

Naturally, no one objected to this decision. Not only that, Lola also brought the good news that Wei Ran most wanted to hear.

"Sister Aurora"

Lola said as she poured tea for everyone, "The dormitory building of the winery next door has been almost renovated. Asuma and the others moved in after they came back from China with me a few days ago."

"Is there such a good thing?"

Wei Ran accidentally told the truth. He felt that the oxygen content in the air in the villa had increased.

"There's another good news," Lola said with a smile.

All the girls knew that their boss just needed a more spacious space.

"Tell me quickly, what's the good news?" Sui Sui asked with interest, "Let's go and take a look next door!"

"I am coming too!"

Wei Ran also stood up. He had to make sure those Hela girls and those particularly noisy pink little girls had good food and accommodation, and he couldn't let them move back.

“The winery next door has been doing work on the basement while we were away.”

Lola, who came back a few days earlier than everyone else, gestured for everyone to go into the small kitchen on the first floor. "Then the workers found a blocked air raid corridor. This corridor not only leads to us, but also to the basement of the library next door."

As she spoke, Lola had already lifted up a carpet that had appeared in the kitchen at some point, and then lifted up a wooden cover that was obviously made temporarily.

"Is there any treasure in it?" Sui Sui asked excitedly.

"Gas Mask"

As Lola spoke, she reached out and pressed a simple switch, lighting up the light below as she said, "Only gas masks."

"This is normal." Wei Ran couldn't help but mutter.

"Normal? What's normal?" Sui Sui asked blankly.

"I was wondering why there was no basement shelter under our villa, as the winery next door had one and the library next door also had one."

Wei Ran followed Lola, walking down the slightly damp concrete steps and saying, "If I remember correctly, the winery next door, our yard, and the library next door were all factories."

"Why didn't you look for it at that time?" Sui Sui asked.

"There are enough rooms on the ground floor, why bother with all this?"

"In that case, why not let the girls..."

"Since the dormitory over there has been renovated, you should not leave it idle," Wei Ran quickly changed his tone.

At first, he did wonder whether there were any air-raid shelters or other facilities under the villa.

However, firstly, there is no need for air defense at the moment, and secondly, this is the house that Teacher Daria lent him after all.

Although the other party clearly had no intention of taking back the house, he also had no intention of exploring whether the building had any other secrets.

Lola led the way along the winding stairs to the end, where there was a heavy explosion-proof door.

Passing through the explosion-proof door, everyone could clearly see with the help of the high-brightness LED construction lights temporarily set up along the way. This was a basement large enough to park several cars. Of course, it could also be called an air-raid shelter.

At the edge of this large basement, there is another blast-proof door that has been pushed open, and several large industrial fans that are working.

“When we found this place, it was very damp.”

Lola explained, "The workers said it would take at least a month to drain the moisture out of here."

"How did you find this place?" Wei Ran asked as he followed Lola through the explosion-proof door.

Outside this explosion-proof door is a wide underground corridor that is wide enough for two trucks to pass side by side. There are also half-open explosion-proof doors on both sides of the corridor from time to time.

Even in the direction of the winery, there was one where workers were busy coming in and out.

“That’s the one”

Lola raised her hand and pointed to the underground room where the workers were coming in and out. "That's the water intake room. There's a reservoir inside that connects to Lake Kaban. It's also connected to the original water pipeline of the winery. The workers accidentally discovered this place when they were cleaning the pipeline."

After saying that, Lola raised her hand and pointed in the other direction of the corridor. "The end over there should be the basement of the library, but after the explosion-proof door was opened, the other side was sealed off by a concrete wall."

“Let’s go to the winery first.”

As Sui Sui spoke, she started walking on the wet concrete floor towards the winery.

As he walked along, Wei Ran also took a quick look at each room along the way.

In general, this is a standard "Soviet-era enterprise-level air-raid shelter." Although these rooms are basically idle, just looking at the remaining signs, you can tell that it has been subdivided into dormitories, medical rooms, canteens, broadcasting rooms, and even classrooms, wartime factories, power generation rooms, etc.

Almost all of these rooms also have additional explosion-proof doors. Outside these explosion-proof doors, there are all reverse staircases, and the ends of the stairs are basically blocked.

I went to the water purification room on purpose to take a look. Just a glance at the water tower that went straight to the ceiling showed that it was just a man-made siphon-style water well connected to the nearby Kaban Lake.

If his inference was correct, the top of the water tower should be inside the main building of the winery.

“There should have been buildings above those rooms.”

Wei Ran pointed to the explosion-proof door at the end of one of the rooms and said, "Later, as the buildings were split and rebuilt, some were flattened, and some simply blocked the entrances and exits to the air-raid shelters."

"So which is the room that leads to the girls' dormitory building?"

Sui Sui asked, "Which one leads to our Golden Fleece Kindergarten?"

"That, and that!"

Lola immediately raised her hand and pointed to two rooms with the doorplates of Medical Room and Armory.

"Is the entrance and exit open?" Sui Sui continued to ask.

"Opened"

Lola said quickly, "But because the humidity in this air raid corridor is too heavy, it is temporarily blocked like our kitchen."

"How many underground rooms are there in total?"

As Sui Sui spoke, she walked through the explosion-proof door at the end amid the shrill noise of renovations and came to the basement of the winery which was filled with construction materials and where many workers were working - this place was going to be renovated into a bar.

"There are more than a dozen in total. In addition to these buildings of the winery, the basement of the library, our villa, and the yard of the winery, there are about five or six buried deep in our yard." Lola answered in detail.

After several years of training, she has become Sui Sui's right-hand man and naturally knows what kind of questions she will be asked.

"What do you want to do?" Wei Ran asked promptly. He knew this girl who grew up with her better than Lola.

"Dig it all up, and break down the wall over there at the library!"

Sui Sui walked out and said with a smile, "Otherwise, how long will it take for the ventilation to be complete? So we need to dig it all up and find some unemployed workers to come and help with the renovation. We need to renovate every underground room."

"Then what?" Wei Ran asked.

"Not ready yet"

Sui Sui said as a matter of course, "Anyway, clean it up first. If that doesn't work, we can always build an underground food court."

"Are you short of these few things?" Wei Ran asked helplessly.

"What do you know"

Sui Sui rolled her eyes at Wei Ran and said, "Anyway, arrange it as soon as possible. If we can't start the work today, we have to start tomorrow."

"I'll arrange it right away!" Lola agreed immediately.

As they were talking, everyone left the basement and walked along the street outside back to the newly renovated dormitory building.

Now, all the Hela girls who worked for Sui Sui, even Baba Yaga, have moved here.

Thanks to Sui Sui's generous efforts, this building, which was once used as an office building, has been renovated into a fully functional single dormitory. The first floor even has a spacious activity room, a small cafeteria, and more.

"There shouldn't be any formaldehyde here, right?" Sui Sui asked as she casually walked into an unused room.

"No, it has been tested."

Lola replied, "The furniture was all specially bought samples, and the birch boards used for the walls and floors were only waxed. Greva specifically sent someone to keep an eye on these."

Hearing this, Sui Sui breathed a sigh of relief, and then followed Lola to take a look at the entrance to the air-raid shelter of the building.

After a brief inspection, Sui Sui made some small requests. After Lola wrote them down one by one, everyone strolled back to the next room.

Although Sui Sui wants to take a day off and have a good sleep, Wei Ran doesn't plan to sit idle.

After simply changing his clothes, he brought his dog Belia, who followed him closely, to the basement of the library, took out all the negatives that had been stored in the metal book when he returned home, developed them into photos, and with the help of those energetic pink little girls, hung them one by one in the library.

Today, as his fame grows, the act of hanging new photos in the library has been given a different name by regular visitors here - lucky day.

The reason is simple. In addition to being able to see those photos and take pictures of them and post them on the Internet to get a lot of clicks, according to the Queen's custom, all customers present can get the drinks they have ordered for free.

This not only brought good reputation to Her Majesty the Queen, but also attracted many curious guests to this library-style cafe.

Of course, this also makes Mrs. Samantha, a wizard housekeeper whose main business is coffee and sideline is fortune-telling, even busier.

Finally, looking up at those "old" photos of friends whom he might never have the chance to see again, Wei Ran let out a sigh of relief and left the library with a cup of coffee.

By the time he got around to the electromagnetic door leading to the next door, two excavators commanded by gang thugs had already driven into the next yard and started digging the blocked entrances and exits of the air-raid shelter.

Of course, compared to these, Apoli had already driven his transporter back to its original location, and at the entrance to the basement of the library, Anfia was standing there waving at him. "What's wrong?" Wei Ran asked as he followed her into the basement.

"Regarding the identity of the father of the nuclear twins," Anfia said as she closed the blast door.

"Have you found out?" Wei Ran asked as he sat down on the sofa in the basement.

“The message is vague”

Anfia said, "Because of the language barrier and because we haven't infiltrated the official recruitment department, the information is very vague."

After a short pause, Anfia, who also sat down on the sofa, continued, "There is no public information about that gentleman. The only source who can provide information is Aniya."

"Ania?"

“They were invited to visit Kyoto.”

Anfia explained, "According to the twins, their father is a policeman. That's all they said, but even they don't know what kind of policeman their father is."

After that, Anfia handed the tablet she brought to Wei Ran, "Just a few hours ago, Aniya accidentally found something in a room."

After taking the tablet, Wei Ran couldn't help showing a look of surprise. The photos were all newspaper clippings.

Among them is a news report in 2018 by a newspaper called Weekly Shincho that a vice minister named Junichi Fukuda harassed a female reporter.

On the same page as this clipping is NHK's report on April 2018, 4, that a vice minister named Junichi Fukuda resigned following an investigation by the Cabinet Personnel Authority.

Continue flipping to the back, the photo on the next page was taken on June 2020, 6, when the Mainichi Shimbun reported that the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's Special Investigation Department sued Justice Minister Katsuyuki Kawai for paying excessive remuneration to campaign staff.

"Due to time constraints, Aniya only took these photos."

Anfia said, “According to her description, this scrapbook is full of similar content.

Based on this, my sister and I suspect that the twins' father may work for the secret intelligence department called I.S. This is the most accurate possible guess we can make at present."

"That's enough. Put away your curiosity. Let Aini ask Ninel to inform his partner Ainiya to put away her curiosity."

Wei Ran said, "Anyway, let's end this matter here. Mr. Hoshino Hayato is not necessarily our enemy."

"it is good"

Anfia simply agreed and took the initiative to change the subject, saying, "With the help of Mr. Carlos, the company invested in by Ania's name has been registered and has completed the acquisition of the Japanese garden in Ryukyu."

"Is there any other good news?" Wei Ran asked.

"There is indeed good news, very fresh good news." Anfia said, leaning over and extending her hand to help Wei Ran swipe the screen.

The latest photo shows a man who was stripped naked and wrapped tightly with tape.

"Who is this?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"Do you still remember Mesir, a retired soldier from the 269th Army who tried to kidnap you years ago?" Anfia asked.

"Of course, of course I have an impression."

Wei Ran nodded, and after Messer was turned into an idiot, he was given to Ms. Page, whose origins were mysterious.

"This is the president of the mutual aid association for the families of the victims of World War II that he joined," Anfia explained.

"Oh?"

Wei Ran looked at the man wrapped in tape in the photo in surprise. His hair and eyebrows were shaved off, and the only part of his body that was not taped was his face, which was full of fear and despair.

Wei Ran knew that this was to prevent him from leaving behind personal information such as hair.

"Where is he?" Wei Ran asked, "Who caught him?"

"The ink has been sent through secret channels. It is expected that he will be sent to the camp of the Seventeen-Year Cicada in a week. He will not have the chance to see the sun after that."

Anfisa explained, "It was Mr. Ninel who caught him."

"Where did you catch it?" Wei Ran asked as he returned the tablet to the other party.

'It was an accident'

Anfia explained, "The man was caught in Ukollan two days ago. Mr. Ninel happened to be shopping in Ukollan at the time."

"Buy a prisoner?"

Anfia nodded, "He was given to us as a gift."

"Ask him everything he knows, and then keep him for the time being."

Wei Ran said indifferently that the incident with Mesir a few years ago and the public opinion hyped by Hela are now barely a thing of the past.

At this moment, no matter what top-secret information the president of the mutual aid association holds, throwing it out rashly may seem to keep the topic going, but it will also attract a lot of attention. He does not intend to take such a risk.

He even suspected that someone was using this crappy president to set a trap.

"I'll arrange it right away."

As Anfia spoke, she stood up and walked towards the locked explosion-proof door of the basement.

Wei Ran, who also stood up and left the basement, didn't know that he had guessed correctly, but only half right.

"Has the bait been thrown down?"

In an office on the top floor of the main building of the Red Flag Forest Farm outside Kazan, Anna asked casually while making tea.

“The hook has been taken”

It was naturally Karp who responded to this question, "Our old friend helped us find the stray rat and notified Ninel."

"If that silly kid knew you were using him to test his friends, he would probably cry like he did when he was a child." Anna said as she poured a cup of tea for Karp who was sitting opposite her.

"He's not as suspicious as Victor"

Karp took the teacup and said nonchalantly, "Besides, he is not the focus. Now we should focus on what Victor will choose."

“I’m optimistic about him.”

Anna said, "Whether he is a wart-killing rat or a nuclear recruiter, he will not redeem the prize for such a thing, unless..."

"Kidnap Aurora?" asked Culp.

"That's right"

Anna nodded, "Unless someone kidnaps Aurora, but there's no need to do such a stupid thing."

“There’s really no need to do such a stupid thing.”

Karp nodded. "He is no longer the rookie who was brought here by Ji Ma a few years ago and wanted to learn something on his own initiative."

"So if he doesn't come to claim the prize, it will be considered approved?" Anna asked with a smile.

"No, he passed by cold-handling that warty rat."

Karp set the conditions a little more stringent, "I tried to make the construction team discover the underground air-raid shelter just to give him some sense of security.

I wouldn't trust him with my retirement plans if he was allowed to do something stupid just because of a false sense of security."

"Luckily you didn't do anything stupid"

Anna said, taking a sip of her own cup of tea, "Do you think he will accept this trouble?"

"I am not sure as well"

This time, Karp shook his head. "If it was a few years ago, he might have suspected that we were trying to control him. Now, I hope he has enough confidence."

"I heard from Daria that someone greeted her friend and asked him to ensure his safety?" Anna asked.

“It’s true.”

Culp nodded. "I guess he has given the troubles he got before the New Year to China."

"Why do you look relieved?" Anna asked.

“Of course I’m relieved.”

Karp shook his head. "Or we can make a bet. How long can we keep those things from being leaked after they are handed over to the Russian Federation?"

"Do you have so little confidence in that gentleman?" Anna was speechless.

“If he’s worthy of my confidence in paying, why should those families need to retire this way?”

Culp snorted. "I think Aurora would probably do a better job in that position than he does."

“I agree with this.”

Anna said expectantly, “I wonder what Chinese gift that good girl brought us this time.”

“I hope it’s Chinese tea.”

"But it would be even better if I could get a footbath tub, because I couldn't find one in the malls in Kazan," Karp said.

"We are really becoming more and more ordinary," Anna said in amazement, "We are actually looking forward to a footbath."

“This is a good thing”

Karp said with regret, "If I had known this would happen, I should have asked that French actress to give birth to a daughter for me."

"If you regret it, maybe it's not too late now." Anna joked with a helpless smile.

"That's too late"

Culp shook his head. "Let's make a bet on how Victor will respond."

“He won’t respond.”

Anna said firmly, "Let's just wait for the gift from Aurora tomorrow."

"Are you looking forward to her gift?" Karp asked with a smile.

"certainly"

Anna spread her hands as a matter of course, "I also want to have such a beautiful and smart daughter."