War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1938 Going upstairs
As they closed the distance, the three people walking close to the wall reached the ground floor of the building.

To their surprise, the doors and windows on the first and second floors of the building were blocked with sandbags and wooden planks.

What was even more unexpected for Wei Ran—or rather, expected—was that he recognized the building; it was the hotel that Dragan's brother had bought in later years.

That's why he's so familiar with this building.

However, compared to later generations, the only entrance to this building at this time had its retractable iron gate locked with chains, and a wooden sign was hanging on it with the words "Beware of Snipers" painted in conspicuous white paint.

Inside this fence gate are two tall, double wooden doors.

However, the door was not closed, and by the moonlight, they could even see the machine gun bunker inside, which was made of sandbags.

After listening intently for a moment, Wei Ran made a smoking motion in the moonlight, then took out wire cutters from a metal notebook under the cover of his backpack.

Seeing this, Thomas took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, put one in his mouth, and under the cover of Dragan's open coat, bent down and nestled in his arms, lit the cigarette with a lighter, and took a few deep drags.

Amidst puffs of smoke, Thomas forcefully flicked away the cigarette he had just lit.

“Da da da da da—!”

Almost the instant the cigarette butt hit the ground, Klaus, in the distance, had already manipulated the machine gun mounted on a young man's shoulder, firing as he moved toward the distant hilltop.

Just as the piercing gunshots tore through the night, Wei Ran used wire cutters to cut the chain, while Dragan opened the iron gate and let Thomas rush in.

Dragan followed closely behind, gun in hand, and charged in. A little later, Wei Ran, who had put away his wire cutters, pulled out the pistol temporarily tucked into his collar and followed him in.

Before the war, the building was obviously a hotel. In addition to the lobby and elevators on both sides, there were several banquet halls and conference rooms on both sides of the first floor.

However, at that moment, behind the bar on the first floor, which was protected by sandbags, someone had just been woken up and climbed out of bed.

"clatter!"

Before the man could even grab the AK rifle from the table, Thomas, who was walking in front, pulled the trigger—his hand was already waiting at the ejection port.

Thomas stuffed the spent cartridge into his pocket and continued walking without stopping. Dragan, who was following behind him, stepped forward to check it and then picked up a French-made TN2 night vision device from the table and handed it to Wei Ran behind him. This thing was the same model used by the future X-Men.

Taking the night vision goggles, Wei Ran quickly put them on his head and turned them on, then took a few quick steps to take over Thomas's work.

"Da da!"

With the second and third gunshots, a man who had just rushed out of the next room with a flashlight was shot in the chest by Wei Ran, who also grabbed him by the collar.

With the barrel resting under the other man's arm, the second shot fired smoothly hit the second person in the room—who had just pulled a pistol from under his pillow and cocked it.

Without any communication, Wei Ran let Thomas, who was walking behind him, pull away the still convulsing corpse from his hands. He then turned around and walked back to the bar, keeping a watchful eye on the movements on both sides and in the stairwell behind the bar.

Fortunately, no new enemies appeared on this floor until Thomas and his companion put on night vision goggles and came out.

Dragan aimed his submachine gun at the stairwell, while Thomas quickly explored several rooms on the first floor. At the same time, Wei Ran found a key on the bar table and successfully unlocked the padlock on the cut chain.

In just a short while, Klaus, along with two rookies, had already run over and rushed into the hall under the protection of the building's shadow.

The sliding door was pulled up and locked almost seamlessly, and Wei Ran handed the key to Klaus.

Klaus took the key and put it in his pocket, then mounted his machine gun on a sandbag, pulled over a young man, and made him sit down in the machine gunner's position, pointing to the gate.

Before the young man could nod, Klaus had already switched to a submachine gun.

Without exchanging any words, the four of them entered the stairwell and saw the blown-up staircase and a rope hanging down.

Klaus and Dragan deliberately stayed far away from the rope, forming a human ladder against the wall. Under the cover of Thomas, who was on guard with his gun raised, Wei Ran stepped on Klaus and Dragan's bodies and climbed up to the second floor with their support.

"boom!"

In just a short while, a shell had already hit the ruins where Klaus had fired earlier.

It was at the same moment that the mortar shell that had been lured out exploded that Wei Ran quietly pushed open the fire door of the second-floor stairwell and slipped inside.

The stairwell of this building is T-shaped, except that the upper horizontal section is longer and forms the main corridor inside the building.

The vertical line below is less than ten meters long, with one end connecting to the middle of the corridor and the other end being the stairwell, and elevators on both sides.

Wei Ran carefully peered out from the intersection of the horizontal and vertical stairwells. With the help of night vision goggles, he could clearly see that there were only three beds in the stairwell, and between the three beds, there was an American-style oil stove heating up the heater.

He touched each bed in turn; all three were still warm. After only a moment's hesitation, he lay down and rolled under one of the beds. He didn't have time to look for the three people who had left; he might as well wait for them to return.

At the same time, Thomas had also climbed up and pointed his gun at the third floor.

Dragan, who was following closely behind, climbed to the second floor and immediately removed the fuse of the Soviet grenade that was attached to the rope for warning, then waved to Klaus.

Just as he was busy pulling Klaus up with a rope, Wei Ran saw three figures emerge from a room facing the direction of the explosion. One of them said in American English, "Was that a machine gun? How come there are machine guns in the city?"

"And how come it's so close to us? We need to find someone to ask what's going on tomorrow. If I'm not mistaken, that's the sound of a PKM machine gun," the second man said, his English carrying a distinct Soviet accent.

"Should we go downstairs and ask about those Croatians?" the third person asked, his English also not very fluent.

"no need"

As Wei Ran answered, he rolled out from under the bed as a new round of mortar shells rained down, and pulled the trigger repeatedly at the three of them.

Having easily dealt with the three men, Wei Ran immediately got up and went to check out the room they had just been in.

The room was completely empty; there wasn't a single person in it, not even a weapon. The only things left were a few observation holes in the windows, which were sealed off with bricks, planks, and sandbags.

Quickly returning to the stairwell, Wei Ran tore a night vision goggles off the face of a corpse and handed them to Klaus, who had just climbed up.

By the time he put on his night vision goggles, Wei Ran and Thomas had already covered each other as they made their way up to the third floor.

However, the fire door in the stairwell on this floor was not only locked, but also had a thick iron chain wrapped around the door handle.

After listening intently for a moment, Wei Ran waited for Dragan and Klaus to catch up, and then carefully headed towards the fourth floor.

Compared to the three floors below, the fire door on the fourth floor was also locked from the inside, but there was clearly movement coming from inside.

What's even more unusual is that the staircase leading up from here to the sixth floor was blown up.

Wei Ran raised his hand to stop Klaus from opening the door, shook his head, and then pointed upstairs.

Klaus nodded and once again formed a human ladder with Dragan, sending Wei Ran to the stairwell platform on the fifth floor, while Thomas aimed at the fire door on the fourth floor.

Holding onto the wall, Wei Ran carefully reached the edge of the broken staircase platform on the fifth floor. He grabbed a broken steel bar, cautiously glanced up, and then slowly climbed up to the fifth floor.

Wei Ran gently pulled open the slightly ajar fire door and peeked inside.

The structure of this floor's corridor is no different from that of the floor below, but outside the stairwell door, in the middle of the four elevator doors, there are quite a few ammunition boxes placed against the wall.

As he continued walking, he discovered that this floor was unusually lively.

Not to mention anything else, the windows at both ends of the corridor were sealed off and machine guns were mounted on them, and most of the doors on the left and right sides were also blocked with sandbags.

Even more surprisingly, this floor was decorated with what appeared to be car lights salvaged from vehicles, used for illumination.

It was with the help of these simple lights that he could clearly see that at both ends of the corridor, one end had a large hole drilled through the floor, and the other end had a wooden ladder that had been lowered down through the ceiling.

Besides that, the corridor contained a few single beds against the wall, and a few people guarding the machine gun positions or going in and out of some of the rooms used for observation.

After a moment's hesitation, Wei Ran did not make any rash moves, but instead quietly retreated back into the stairwell.

At this moment, Thomas had already climbed up and was pulling Dragan up with him.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately came to help, first pulling Dragan up, and then using his gun strap to pull Klaus up.

They raised their arms again and pointed upstairs. Although the three of them didn't know what was on the fifth floor, they immediately used the same trick again and sent Wei Ran up to the sixth floor first.

This time, Wei Ran waited until the other three climbed up before carefully opening the fire door.

Compared to downstairs, this floor is much quieter. There aren't many things outside the stairwell, but there's an electrical wire of unknown purpose hanging down from the half-open elevator door.

Continuing further in, I walked to the corner of the corridor and looked to both sides. This floor didn't have any ceiling cut open to lead to the upper floor, but there were curtains made of quilts hanging in the corridor, and in the distance, I could hear the sounds of a radio and English conversations.

Not only that, this floor also has lighting and is exceptionally warm, and even the air is filled with the distinctive odor of marijuana.

Wei Ran gently patted Klaus, signaling him to keep an eye on the staircase leading to the sixth floor. He then patted Thomas and Dragan, indicating that they should head towards the side of the stairwell where the floorboards hadn't been cleared, which was also the direction from which the radio conversation was coming from.

Finally, after replacing the magazine in the pistol, Wei Ran crept along the wall to the other side of the corridor, where he also broke through the floor to connect to the downstairs side.

However, as he turned around, he put away the silenced Makarov pistol and a quieter VSS silenced sniper rifle appeared in his hand.

At such close range, there was no need to use a scope. Therefore, when Wei Ran lifted the first curtain, he had already turned the gun resting on his arm 45 degrees, and as soon as he saw a figure, he pulled the trigger towards the person's neck. Before the person fell, Wei Ran had already walked in, quickly glanced at the doors on both sides blocked by sandbags, and continued to lift the second curtain.

Under the cover of the occasional mortar explosions outside, Wei Ran repeatedly lifted the curtain and fired, eventually advancing successfully to the vicinity of the makeshift staircase leading downstairs.

After replacing the magazine in his silenced rifle and putting away his metal notebook, Wei Ran bent down and picked up an MP5SD6 silenced submachine gun from beside the last corpse he had killed.

What is the probability that opposing sides will use the same type of weapon on the battlefield?
The probability is actually quite high, but it also depends on the weapon.

For example, on this battlefield, both sides are using the SVD and most Soviet-style and Soviet-style weapons. It's normal for you to have an AK and I to have one, or for me to have a TT33 and you to have one too.

But the fact that such an expensive German weapon is here, and that you and I both have it, is enough to prove that the people in this building are also from Deyang—just as Dragan's brother said in later generations.

The next choice is between Klaus and Dragan.
While Wei Ran was deep in thought, Thomas and Dragan caught up with him.

After some sign language, Wei Ran and Dragan retraced their steps, passing through a series of quilt curtains back to the stairwell.

The people here are our colleagues.

Dragan spoke in a low voice in German only when he saw Klaus.

“I noticed,” Wei Ran said in a low voice, “they are using the same weapons.”

"It doesn't matter," Klaus said in a low voice, "as long as the employer pays more commission."

"We just captured one alive."

Dragan pointed over there. "He just ended the call. We haven't had a chance to interrogate him yet. You keep an eye on him."

"Leave it to me," Klaus said, already backing into the stairwell.

He exchanged a glance with Wei Ran, then Dragan pulled a bundle of rope from his bag, tied it to the handrail of the stairs leading to the sixth floor, and then threw the rest down.

When he put his night vision goggles back on, Wei Ran had already put them on and slid down the rope back to the fifth floor.

After Dragan came down, Wei Ran opened the fire door a crack and looked inside. Then the two of them rushed in, each holding a gun.

This time, when Wei Ran reached the elevator entrance, he took out his Mauser bayonet and chopped it hard against the wall, cutting the electrical wires coming down from the elevator shaft.

Without the power supply, the floor was plunged into darkness, and at the same time, Thomas from upstairs quickly came down the ladder.

Just then, due to a sudden power outage, the hallway went dark, and the people on this floor lost their sight and became more vigilant.

But it was too late. Amidst the rapid bursts of gunfire and even strafing, these "colleagues" who had just finished their observation and were lying back in bed were hit by bullets one after another.

Without any hesitation, the three rushed up to the fourth floor through the cut-out floorboards.

With the help of night vision goggles, they could clearly see that the windows at both ends of the corridor on this floor were also blocked, and the doors on both sides were also completely blocked with sandbags.

Even at the intersection of the T-shaped stairwell, there is an incandescent light bulb hanging on the wall.

The supplies in this corridor were exceptionally abundant; as far as the eye could see, they saw large quantities of food and ammunition.

In particular, a significant portion of the food supplies even bore the UN mark.

However, in addition to these supplies, there was also a sliding retractable security door installed at the intersection.

Inside the security door, dirty blankets were spread on the floor, and young girls, their hands and feet cuffed and their mouths gagged, huddled together.

Their handcuffs were attached to a steel cable that ran between the locked security door and the fire door in the stairwell.

The taut steel cable was so high that they could only kneel with their hands raised high or stand with their hands on the cable.

The three exchanged a glance, quickly walked to the end of the corridor, and aimed at the gap in the floor leading to the third floor.

After exchanging some gestures, Wei Ran lay down on the floor and peered down, then shook his head. There was nothing down there, not even a ladder.

Without wasting any time, the three of them ran straight back to the sixth floor without even rescuing the imprisoned girl.

By this time, Klaus had finished interrogating the prisoners.

Upon seeing them return, Klaus immediately said, "There are two sniper teams on the roof, four people in total. The seventh floor is empty, and the eighth to tenth floors are guest rooms. There are six guests today, and we haven't been able to find out who the others are yet."

Finally, these are indeed our colleagues, Mr. S. You'll have to pay extra.

“No problem, double.” Thomas readily agreed.

"Deal!" Klaus was even more eager than Thomas. "I'll continue asking questions, but you guys be careful."

Thomas, who had just raised the price, made a new demand: "This time, capture him alive."

"You're the boss."

Dragan didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with hitting a colleague.

After a brief exchange, the three of them climbed the stairs to the seventh floor. This floor contained only a relatively quiet generator and barrels of fuel.

Like the supplies seen downstairs, these oil drums and generators all bear the UN mark.

After careful observation and confirming that no one was on duty on this floor, the three of them covered each other as they went up to the eighth floor.

This time, as soon as they pushed open the fire door, they heard unrestrained laughter and the cries and pleas of girls and even boys coming from inside.

They locked the fire door, and the three of them simultaneously removed their night vision goggles, raised their guns, and headed towards the corner of the stairwell.

Standing here, they can clearly see the four busy "guests" and the children they are bullying.

"clatter!"

Thomas, who was walking at the front, fired a shot. The not-so-sharp gunshot finally stopped the four guests.

"clatter!"

Wei Ran followed up with a shot that hit the guest furthest away who was trying to touch the gun.

"puff"

As the spent cartridge case hit the not-so-clean carpet, the guest furthest away also fell to the ground, letting dark red blood mixed with shattered brain matter slowly flow from the bullet hole in his temple.

“Kneel on the ground facing the wall, raise your hands and put them on the wall,” Thomas said in a low voice.

Upon hearing this, the remaining three guests and the three children, whose combined age was probably less than forty, knelt down on either side, trembling with fear.

Just as Thomas put away his gun and picked up a belt to tie them up, one of them suddenly started shouting.

"clatter!"

The other man had barely uttered a syllable when Dragan, who was closer, pulled the trigger.

Now, the two remaining men completely lost the will to resist, allowing Thomas to tie them up tightly and gag them.

Wei Ran was still not at ease, so he signaled Thomas and the other man to help cover the prisoners' mouths. He then put away his gun and stepped forward to dislocate the elbows and knees of the two living people, thus eliminating the last hidden danger.

Dragan was left to guard the two prisoners, while Wei Ran and Thomas went upstairs with guns drawn and easily subdued the other two unprepared guests.

"I've never seen such a simple and efficient method before."

Thomas said in a low voice after Wei Ran dislocated their arms and legs again.

"Haven't you seen it now?"

Wei Ran stood up and took the submachine gun. "Let's go, there are still four snipers left."

"You've come here for another purpose, haven't you?" Thomas asked.

I'd like to ask you the same question.

Thomas smiled as Wei Ran kicked the ball back. "Let's talk properly once it's completely safe here."

"Deal made," Wei Ran said, quickening his pace.

When the two of them reached the 13th floor, it seemed that a serious fire had occurred on that floor, especially on the 14th floor and above, where all the staircases had been destroyed.

You don't even need to look at anything else; just look at those fist-sized concrete blocks on the intact staircase between the 13th and 14th floors, and you'll know there might be a demolition expert here.

So... is this building really safe?
Wei Ran couldn't help but start to have doubts, even though he knew that the building would still exist in later generations.