War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1937 The Executioner Asks for Help

"You just said you wanted to change locations?"

After the explosion subsided, Luna asked, "Should we go to a higher floor?"

“Amell barged in today,” Zorana continued.

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" Luna asked immediately.

"No," Zorana shook her head, "and it won't happen again."

Upon hearing this, Luna and the others were taken aback and subconsciously glanced at Wei Ran.

"They're resting upstairs."

Wei Ran pulled out the inner liner of his fancy West German-style water bottle, loosened the lid, and placed it by the campfire to heat it up. "We need to find a place where it's not so easy for people to reach us. This place is sturdy, but it's too easy to lose things here."

"We'll search the surrounding area thoroughly during the day."

"Get some rest, Mr. T," Dragan said. "I'll leave tonight in your hands."

"give it to me"

Wei Ran agreed. He didn't have much work during the day, so it was perfectly normal for him to be on night watch.

"Actually, there's no need to keep watch at night."

Luna said, "Many people know we have guns and won't come over easily."

"Mr. Amell has come after all."

As Wei Ran spoke, he put on gloves, picked up a kettle that had been briefly heated, tightened the screws, and stuffed it into a cup holder. He then tucked the cup into his chest, picked up his backpack and silenced submachine gun, and headed towards the room that served as the entrance and exit on the side facing away from the enemy.

This area was cleared out; it's the only entrance/exit that allows people to get in.

Finding a shady spot to sit down, Wei Ran took out a hand warmer, lit it, and put it in his inner pocket.

Then, he picked up the broken bricks and set them aside, patiently and quietly clearing a small, flat area in the corner of the wall.

Looking behind him, Wei Ran then took out the box containing the sesame seed cakes with vegetables and the camera case, and stacked them on the open ground, forming a not-so-large angle with the corner of the wall.

Finally, Wei Ran took out the newly acquired LV box and brewed a pot of bitter, unpleasant but invigorating coffee in this corner.

He took a sip of coffee, then took out a still-hot sesame seed cake, took a bite, and then put away the various things he had just taken out.

This was only the second day, and he didn't know how much longer he would have to stay here, but he had to be frugal.

Almost as soon as he finished his bitter coffee with a sesame seed cake, as darkness fell and the sounds of gunfire gradually subsided, he noticed that there seemed to be more pedestrians on the streets outside.

Gently setting down the submachine gun in his arms, Wei Ran took out the VSS silenced sniper rifle from the metal notebook.

He discovered during yesterday's inspection that the gun had reverted to its original wooden stock from an earlier model, and it even had a 1PN58 night vision scope mounted on it.

With practiced ease, Wei Ran turned on the night vision scope and hid behind a wall at least five meters away from the window, aiming at the outside.

With the help of a night vision scope, he could clearly see that the people moving along the shadows of buildings on the street had no weapons and no lights.

They were either using the cover of darkness to collect things that could be used as fuel, or carrying buckets and jugs of various sizes, seemingly preparing to fetch water from a distant river.

They were still busy burying the body of the woman who had been beaten to death at the intersection—right by the roadside.

He could even hear the heartbroken and desperate cries of the little child who had miraculously survived the day.

Gently remove the emerald green scope from the other person's body, then turn off the device and put away the metal notebook.

This is Sarajevo under siege, a city where the night is safer than the day, but not by much; where compatriots are safer than enemies, but not by much either—a city of hunger.

"Boom!"

Just as he looked away, a dangerous whistle sounded in the night sky, followed by an explosion not far from them.

When he looked over again, a small crater had appeared next to the spot where the woman who had just been buried was laid to rest.

But those who buried the woman, and the surviving child, lay there motionless.

Standing up to stop Luna and the others who instinctively wanted to rush out, Wei Ran shook his head and said, "Don't go over there, more shells will come down."

As if to confirm his judgment, more whistles followed in the night sky, and mortar shells from beyond the range of their sniper rifles slammed into the intersection one after another.

"thump"

Amidst the successive explosions, Luna covered her mouth and knelt by the window, clinging to the windowsill and desperately watching the explosions outside.

Amidst the despairing explosion and the tremors from the ground, Wei Ran raised his Nikon SP and snapped a few photos of the street outside, where flashes of fire occasionally illuminated the scene.

After the long, ten-odd seconds of shelling ended, the smell of gunpowder and the ensuing stench of blood were far more invigorating than the coffee Wei Ran had just drunk.

Luna, who had previously lost her voice, hurriedly wiped the tears from her face with her dusty sleeve.

"Go back and continue to rest."

Wei Ran said, "You still have to fight before dawn."

"Go, go."

Dragan was the first to turn around, pushing the two young men by the shoulders as he led them back.

"You three go back too."

Klaus urged them on, and Zorana and Luna's brother Emil pulled Luna back in from either side—even though all three of them were supposedly Serbs.

A moment later, the only entrance and exit fell silent again, leaving only Wei Ran leaning against the cold wall, holding his gun and watching the situation outside warily.

As he watched indifferently, more people gradually approached the dangerous crossroads in the distance.

By the light of the moon that had somehow peeked out from behind the clouds, he could vaguely make out that it was an old man holding a large iron shovel.

Amidst the faint sounds of shovels scraping against the ground, the old man alone gathered up the shattered remains of the blasted body, shoveling them as far as he could to the roadside.

Amidst the repeated clanging and scraping sounds, the old man gradually cleared the intersection.

After failing to dig a large enough grave, the old man put his shovel aside and slowly moved pieces of broken bricks, stone slabs, and even concrete blocks to weigh down the bodies.

As the night deepened during this long and busy period, the old man pulled something out of his pocket.

Under Wei Ran's astonished gaze, the old man knelt down beside the simple grave mound, his back hunched over.

Immediately afterwards, a small ball of light appeared in his hand.

After a moment of trembling, the light stabilized.

Wei Ran was able to see clearly that it appeared to be a candle lamp, a candle lamp made from a glass jar.

Under his gaze, the old man knelt devoutly before the grave mound with candles and lamps, meticulously offering his final prayers and farewells to those who had been killed in the bombing in the Orthodox style.

"boom!"

Just as Wei Ran took out his camera again and pressed the shutter to capture the image of the old man illuminated by the candlelight, another gunshot rang out in the cold night.

As Wei Ran shook his head and sighed helplessly, the old man, who had actually been dead for a long time, fell to the ground, leaving only the candle lamp made from a tin can still burning alone on that incredibly simple grave mound.

"Alright"

Wei Ran sighed and put away his camera. He didn't know the relationship between the people who were killed in the explosion and the old man, but for the old man, living was probably more agonizing, and actively seeking death might be a relief.

This war has become distorted.
Wei Ran stopped looking at the candlelight outside, leaned back against the cold wall, and held his gun, guarding his comrades in the ruins.

"pat"

After an unknown amount of time, a broken brick was thrown onto the wall outside the entrance.

Almost as Wei Ran instinctively lunged to the side and raised his gun, Thomas's anxious whispers came from outside, "Mr. O? Luna? Mr. W? Mr. T?"

"Thomas?" Wei Ran asked warily after getting up and hiding again.

"Yes, it's me!"

Thomas, standing outside, asked anxiously, "May I come in? Just by myself."

"come in"

After a moment's hesitation, Wei Ran gave his answer and threw a small piece of broken brick in the direction where the people inside were resting.

A moment later, Thomas walked in with his hands raised.

Compared to a few hours ago, he hadn't changed much, except that the camera around his neck was gone.

"what happens?"

As Wei Ran asked in French, Klaus, carrying a machine gun, walked to the door and pointed the gun outwards, seemingly unintentionally.

As for Dragan, he didn't come out, nor did the young men and women; they were clearly hiding in the shadows.

"I know this is sudden, but I need your help."

Thomas raised his hands, expressing goodwill with a distinctly French gesture. "I'm willing to pay extra commission. Also, my weapon is in my backpack; I only have one Glock."

"Come in and let's chat."

Klaus exchanged a glance with Wei Ran and then extended an invitation.

"Thank you"

Thomas kept his hands raised, letting Wei Ran take his backpack and give him a quick search.

Seeing that the bearded man only had a dagger strapped to his calf, Wei Ran cautiously opened the man's backpack and took a look.

Besides the radio, Glock pistol, and three cameras that the other party had taken out when they met a few hours earlier, there was also a huge telephoto camera lens fixed inside, and at the very bottom of the backpack, there was a tripod that wasn't very big.

Seeing that there were no additional explosives inside, Wei Ran returned the backpack to the other party.

It was only at this moment that Klaus finally spoke up and asked, "What happened?"

"I need your help to save people."

Thomas said, "I'm willing to pay $500 for each person."

"Let's not even talk about whether you can come up with enough $500s."

Klaus, leaning on his machine gun, asked, "Tell me what exactly happened first."

“There are some Serb snipers hiding in a 17-story building not far from the Holiday Inn.”

Thomas took the cup of hot water Luna brought him and held it in his hands, continuing in French, "I don't know exactly how many people there are, but it shouldn't be many."

"What about the rescue?" Wei Ran asked as he sat down.

"My friend at the Holiday Inn took this picture."

Thomas paused, "This evening, someone brought several tied-up girls to that building."

The girl didn't follow those people out.

"Just because of all this, you're planning to go and save people?" Klaus looked at Thomas as if he were an idiot.

"Among those who were traded was a girl I was following and interviewing."

As Klaus spoke, he took out a Polaroid photo from his pocket and pointed to the young girl in the picture with him, saying, "Her name is Sophia, she's a nurse, and she's only 19 years old."

After a brief pause, he continued, "She was also one of the few healthcare workers in the area where she lived."

At this point, Thomas looked up at Wei Ran and Klaus, "Can you save her and the other kidnapped people? No matter how many there are, $500 per person, alive."

There's a $100 bonus for each militant killed. And you can keep half the loot.

"This is an exciting business opportunity."

Klaus said, "But how can you convince me that you can come up with that much money?"

“If I lied to you and couldn’t come up with that much money, you could kill me and everyone you saved.”

Thomas stated bluntly, "Besides, I don't want to say it like that, but after the Gulf War ended, I brought home a lot of valuable souvenirs from the desert. Just a few of those things would be enough to pay your commission."

“I didn’t participate in the Gulf War, so you’d better be telling the truth.” Klaus finished speaking and was about to reach out his hand when Wei Ran, who had been translating for Dragan, asked, “And you, Mr. Thomas, will you also be participating in the rescue operation?”

“If you’d like to lend me some weapons,” Thomas said, who had also extended his hand.

"make a deal"

Klaus only shook hands with Wei Ran and reached a cooperation agreement after Wei Ran finished translating again and both he and Dragan nodded to each other.

"Next up are them."

Klaus pointed to Luna and the others, who looked anxious because they couldn't understand French, and asked, "What about them?"

"Take them with you."

After Wei Ran translated the question into German, Dragan made a decision immediately.

"Bringing these young men along will at least help us keep watch."

Dragan was blunt enough: in a certain context, being a sentry can be equated with being cannon fodder.

“Take them with you; the few of us aren’t enough,” Klaus said immediately.

Upon hearing this, Thomas hesitated for a moment before switching to Serbian and briefly describing the situation, saying, "I need your help now, but it's not forced; it's entirely voluntary."

"We participate"

Luna agreed almost without thinking, and the other four nodded in agreement.

"If everything goes well, we might not come back."

Dragan abruptly said in Serbian, “We might take over that building not far from the Holiday Inn, so you have five minutes to bring whatever you intend to bring.”

When this abrupt decision came out of Dragan's mouth, Luna and the others hesitated for only a moment before immediately taking action.

At the same time, Wei Ran also gave his submachine gun and spare magazine to Thomas, asking, "Can your friend at the Holiday Inn join in?"

“I’m afraid not.”

Thomas said apologetically, "They have absolutely no military service experience, I'm afraid..."

"I see"

Wei Ran nodded but didn't continue. Instead, he asked a different question, "Is that building far from here?"

"It's not far, Sarajevo is only this big." Before Thomas finished speaking, Luna and the others had already packed their luggage.

However, seeing the various junk they were carrying, Thomas and others shook their heads.

These belongings, while crucial to the besieged indigenous people of Sarajevo, were hardly what one would expect of them going to fight.

"never mind"

Dragan said, "Two people are enough. Damir and Emil, you two take your weapons and come with us. Luna, the three of you stay here."

"us."

"If we encounter an accident, we will notify you via walkie-talkie, and then it will be up to you to rescue us."

As Klaus spoke, he took the walkie-talkie out of his backpack and handed it to Luna. "But don't call it first. That will kill us, and it will kill you too."

"We can leave these things behind."

You are free to continue wasting our time.

Klaus didn't bother arguing with the other party. "Every second we waste here might mean another second of torment for a girl over there."

Upon hearing this, Luna took a deep breath and said, "We'll guard this place and wait for your signal."

"lets go"

As Dragan spoke, he had already slung his backpack over his shoulder and put the SVD on a gun cover.

"Come with me"

Thomas also shouldered his backpack, picked up the submachine gun Wei Ran had lent him, and strode out.

"You two, help me carry the machine gun and ammunition."

Klaus gave most of his load to the two young men, while he picked up a submachine gun and loaded it with bullets.

Damir and Emil had no objections. In addition to carrying their son's sniper rifle, they also dutifully carried the machine gun, spare barrel, and two heavy machine gun ammunition boxes.

"Do you know how many enemies are in that building?" Dragan, who was walking in the middle, asked, also holding his submachine gun.

"There probably won't be many."

Thomas led them through the shadows of the building, saying in a low voice, “It’s close to the Holiday Inn and not far from the Sarajevo Daily News building, but there have never been any gunshots from there.”

"now that."

It was discovered by accident.

Thomas explained, "My friend was also following Sofia. He witnessed Sofia being arrested and tracked the building where they disappeared with his camera."

After a brief pause, Thomas added, "He was almost killed by a sniper, but he had no idea which direction the bullet came from."

"You'd better tell the truth," Klaus, who was walking ahead of Wei Ran, reminded him.

“If you have any concerns, I can storm in myself,” Thomas replied firmly.

"From now on, you are Mr. S."

Dragan indicated in another way that they would participate in the next phase of the operation.

“You can call me Executioner, that’s my nickname,” Thomas suggested.

“I will, Mr. S.”

Dragan brushed off the suggestion but made no mention of giving the two young men a code name.

"Alright, then Mr. S it is." Thomas agreed with a hint of reluctance.

Has the WTO organization come in multiple forms?

With a sniper rifle slung over his shoulder and a silenced Makarov pistol in his hand, Wei Ran secretly curled his lip.

He had no doubt that if 31 people had participated in the operation, Dragan might have killed one of them because there weren't enough German letters.

He had no doubt that Thomas, who was leading the way, was probably thinking the same thing at that moment.

Aside from this veiled criticism, Wei Ran could roughly tell from their choice of route and speed that Thomas and Dragan were likely elite veterans with far more combat experience than Klaus.

Not only did he notice these things, but Dragan and Klaus also noticed them during their journey, and naturally, Thomas likely saw something as well.

In contrast, the two young men walking between Wei Ran and Klaus were already panting heavily due to long-term malnutrition.

He wasn't just paying attention to this six-person team; along the way, they also saw residents coming out under the cover of night.

Some of them gathered in abandoned buildings to trade anything that could be exchanged for necessities, including their bodies; others rummaged through the ruins for anything useful.

Even worse, some of them have their eyes on every passerby.

Fortunately, the weapons they had, especially the machine gun that Damir was holding, were intimidating enough.

This is why they were not stopped and asked for "tolls." Instead, everyone who noticed them immediately hid in the building and disappeared without a trace—including the men and women engaged in prostitution.

"See that building up ahead? Directly in front of us, it's just starting to come into view," Thomas whispered a reminder.

"Is that the building?" Dragan asked in a low voice.

"That's right"

Thomas slowed his pace and replied, "But I've never been here before."

"We need to make some noise," Wei Ran's abrupt suggestion made the people in front stop in their tracks.

"Make a commotion?"

Thomas was the first to react, turning around and walking into an abandoned building before asking in a low voice, "Tell me your thoughts."

"Our weapons are not so quiet."

Wei Ran said, "So we need a more powerful soundproofing device."

"Machine gun?" Klaus asked instinctively.

“It’s mortar fire from outside,” Thomas followed Wei Ran’s train of thought, “but that could be a mistake.”

We just passed by a building complex that's now just ruins.

Wei Ran reminded us, "There shouldn't be anyone there anymore. We just need to fire a few shots in the direction of the surrounding enemies and then hide immediately."

“Klaus, you do this,” Dragan said in a low voice. “Get those two rookies to help you.”

"it is good"

As Klaus spoke, he handed the silenced submachine gun in his hand to Wei Ran.

"Keep it for self-defense, just give me the spare magazine for my pistol," Wei Ran refused.

Klaus didn't stand on ceremony and took out a spare magazine from his Makarov pistol and handed it to Wei Ran.

“The cigarette butt landing on the ground is a signal,” Thomas said. “Keep an eye on us.”

"no problem"

Klaus agreed in a low voice, "I'll assign a guy to keep an eye on things; every time a cigarette butt falls, it's a signal."

"Where did Mr. O serve before?" Thomas asked in a low voice as he walked, temporarily stuffing his submachine gun into the gap between his backpack and back.

After a long silence, just when Wei Ran thought Dragan was refusing to answer the question, Dragan answered in a slightly hoarse voice, "Willie Sanger."

"Oh~"

Thomas responded with a strange, low voice, but the tone seemed to suggest that he was no stranger to Willie Sanger.

“Where is Mr. W?” Thomas continued to ask.

"The Berlin Wall," Dragan replied.

"The Berlin Wall?"

“He was a guardian of the Berlin Wall,” Dragan explained.

"They're all things that have already disappeared."

"yes"

Dragan sighed, "They're all things that have already disappeared."

"So how did you become mercenaries?"

"Dollar"

Dragan paused, "And while you're at it, help my father find his friend."

"Does Mr. T intend to continue to keep his origins a secret?" Thomas pressed.

All three of them knew very well that this was not Thomas's curiosity at play, but a necessary familiarization process before they were about to begin cooperating in combat—every unit, whether well-known or not, had its own style and habits.

"No need"

Wei Ran replied calmly, "I can cooperate with you."

“It better be this way”

As Thomas spoke, the 17-story building, with the top few floors appearing to have been burned, drew ever closer to them.

"Don't worry, I won't hold you back."

As Wei Ran spoke, he gently pulled the slide behind his back, loading a bullet into the silenced pistol in his hand.