War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1939 Unexpected Prisoner

At the top of the stairs on the 14th floor, the question of how to continue climbing became the problem facing the two of them.

Let's go outside.

As Wei Ran spoke, he took off his backpack and his slightly bulky camel hair coat and placed them in the corner.

"Are you sure?" Thomas asked in a low voice.

"It's not a big problem, but I need you to stay here and keep watch, and also make some noise at the right time."

"it is good"

Thomas pulled a digital watch, the same model as Bin Laden's, from his pocket and handed it to Wei Ran, saying, "I'll make some noise in 10 minutes."

"15 minutes," Wei Ran said, putting on his watch. "Do you need to take them alive?"

“Not really,” Thomas replied. “No, leave one alive.”

"it is good"

As Wei Ran agreed, he changed the magazine of his submachine gun, then went into a room that had been burned to a bare shell. After carefully observing the room through the window, he leaned out to look around.

Soon, he began climbing, using the air-conditioned room as a stepping stone, and shortly afterward, he noticed a grenade hidden in a burnt-out outdoor air-conditioner unit and a crevice in the wall.

Carefully avoiding the tablet containing the outdoor unit, Wei Ran used his hands and feet to brace himself against the walls at both ends and carefully climbed upwards.

However, he did not stop on the 15th floor. Instead, he continued to climb up until he reached the top floor, where he climbed over the edge of the outer balcony.

Carefully squeezing through the curtains nailed to the corners to seal the windows, Wei Ran could clearly see with the help of night vision goggles that the room, which had also been burned down, was truly overcrowded.

However, none of the people in this room were alive; they were all dead, adult people. Among them were men and women, civilians, and some wearing uniforms of unknown affiliation.

He carefully crouched down, moved step by step to the doorway, and gently opened it.

Fortunately, perhaps confident that no one could reach this place, there were no traps or sandbags blocking the doorway.

In fact, this floor looked dilapidated; if it weren't for the corpses from earlier, it wouldn't look like anyone had been there.

In particular, the rooms on both sides of the corridor had their doors closed but no sandbags were piled up; however, the windows on both sides of the corridor were sealed with sand. Moreover, there was a hole in the floor at the intersection of the corridor leading downstairs.

Not daring to touch the ladder leaning against the opening, nor to try to open the stairwell door, Wei Ran cautiously leaned out and peeked down.

Just like the rooms on the sixth floor, the corridors on the 17th floor also had rows of cotton quilt curtains strung horizontally with ropes.

However, these cotton curtains did not divide the corridors; instead, they simply blocked the doors to each room.

Just by looking at these things, he could tell that this was the main sniper position. Those quilts and curtains were clearly there to block out the light.

On the other hand, he also noticed that there was no one in the 17th floor corridor, but there was a faint light coming from the corner leading to the stairwell.

Because of his good vantage point, he could even see the people lying on the two single beds, and the oil lamp on the small table between the beds.

But instead of firing, he took a rope from his bag, tied it to a thick, stiff steel bar at the edge of the hole in the floor, and then carefully slid down.

After observing the wooden ladder with great interest, Wei Ran did not rush to the corner of the corridor where the lights were on. Instead, he carefully lifted the quilt curtains on both sides one by one to examine it carefully.

As for the two people lying on the bed covered by blankets, he was almost certain they were dead, dangerously dead. Even so, he still reached out and touched their necks.

Sure enough, the hard, cold texture, like the feel of frozen pork in a refrigerator, confirmed his guess.

Without daring to lift the blankets covering the two corpses, Wei Ran glanced at a half-open elevator door not far away, and after a moment's thought, continued to quietly explore the remaining rooms on this floor.

It's clear that every room on this floor has been set up as a sniper position, especially the windows that have been burned down, which are all covered with quilts tied with ropes, blocking most of the view from the outside.

But behind each of these sniper positions lay a corpse, and in the hands of these corpses were some kind of Mosin-Nagant or Yugoslavian version of the SKS rifle, of unknown origin.

Is this what those corpses upstairs are for?

Wei Ran had a rough idea of ​​what was going on; this was definitely a sniper position that mixed up real and fake positions.

He could even tell that the only way to go from the 17th floor to the 16th floor, or even the 15th floor, was through the elevator shaft. However, opening and closing the elevator doors would undoubtedly make a huge noise, and there was a high possibility that a trap had been set up in the elevator shaft.

The recent machine gun fire and mortar retaliatory fire have likely alerted these vigilant snipers.

It was a little difficult, but not that difficult.
Wei Ran glanced at the countdown on his digital watch, squatted down in the half-open elevator door, listened intently for a moment, and then turned and walked into a room.

He tied a rope to a metal pipe, fastened it around his waist, climbed out of the burned-out window, and rappelled down to the 16th floor, hugging the building's shadow.

Carefully climbing over the outer balcony and passing through the sealed, tattered curtains, Wei Ran ignored the corpse of the archer lying on the ground and the almost identical layout to upstairs, and silently walked to the door to prepare.

Gently lifting the quilt that served as a curtain, the warmth and faint light that rushed in made him almost certain that the snipers were most likely here.

Not only that, he even heard a faint snoring sound, but at the same time he also smelled the burning of cigarettes and saw a flickering scarlet flame at the corner of the corridor.

We've got you.
Wei Ran glanced down at the digital watch on his wrist, switched to his VSS silenced sniper rifle, and went outside.

As he got closer, he could clearly see a man sitting on the bed, leaning against the wall and smoking, and also a man lying on the opposite bed, snoring.

"Da da!"

After two gunshots, Wei Ran put the bullets he had caught into his pocket, and as he put away his gun, he pulled the man who had been smoking into his arms, and then carefully helped him lie down.

Wei Ran glanced at the elevator shaft leading downstairs, but instead of going down, he placed a tripwire mine at the entrance and began a thorough search of the floor.

As he explored room by room, he soon made some discoveries.

It was a small room right next to the elevator lobby, and the sign above the door that read "Linen Room" in Serbian was still intact.

"squeak"

As he pushed open the door, which bore burn marks, a figure on a single bed guarding the door reacted swiftly, reaching under the pillow.

Before he could even pull his weapon out from under his pillow, Wei Ran had already smashed the butt of his rifle behind the other man's ear.

But it was too late. At the same time he hit the other person, the other person also pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

The piercing sound of gunfire came from under the pillow, especially jarring in the quiet night.

"Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!"

With four consecutive cracking sounds, Wei Ran pried open the man's wrist and knee joints. Just as the man regained his senses due to the excruciating pain and was about to scream in agony, Wei Ran pulled open the man's jaw joint with another teeth-grinding cracking sound.

After quickly observing the room, Wei Ran pulled a pistol from under the other person's pillow and then ran quickly to the elevator shaft.

"Da da da!"

Just then, the sound of a submachine gun firing and a scream came from downstairs.

Immediately afterward, he heard Thomas shout, "Put down your weapons! Kneel facing the gun! Put your hands up!"

"Is it safe downstairs?" Wei Ran asked as he dismantled the booby traps he had just set up.

"solved"

It was Dragan who answered the question: "We killed one sniper and took control of another. How many are up there?"

two?

Wei Ran couldn't help but look back at the corpses on the bed. There were two more here. So where did the people in that small room come from?

"The area above is safe now. There were three people there, and we captured one alive."

As Wei Ran spoke, he picked up an American-style L-shaped flashlight from beside a corpse and ran back to the linen room where the gunshot had just rang out.

However, as the bright lights illuminated the windowless room, he discovered that the one he had just captured was none other than Alf!
"Is it you?" Wei Ran asked the same question as the other person, the only difference being that Alf's voice was muffled.

"We opened a treasure chest," Wei Ran said, and then inspected the room.

Don't let the small size of this room fool you; the things inside are incredibly frightening.

In addition to some regular supplies, he also found several boxes of U.S. military-issued plastic explosives, several bundles of fuses, and even electronic and pull-type fuses.

Of course, there were also several boxes of detonators and a few American piezoelectric detonators that were kept separately.

"Is he an engineer?"

Wei Ran patted Alf's swaying chin and asked in an almost certain tone, while also rummaging through his bed and body for a number of odds and ends.

This includes a multi-functional bomb disposal pliers and several spare magazines, as well as the Swedish multi-functional lunchbox that Yarf had previously hung on his waist.

He pulled out the pistol he had taken from under the other person's pillow earlier and examined it. It was a USP9 pistol, a truly new gun for this era.

Wei Ran reattached the gun to his lower back, then pulled out the other man's belt and, as if tying up a pig, bound Alf's dislocated hands and feet together. This rough action inevitably caused the other man to scream in pain.

"Don't rush, I'll ask you when I need to."

Wei Ran left the room and returned to the elevator entrance to examine the two corpses.

Both bodies were Black, but what truly caught Wei Ran's attention, more than their skin color, were their weapons.

On the table between the two beds, against the fire door of the stairwell, lay an American M40A1 sniper rifle and another American Barrett M82A1 anti-materiel sniper rifle, which would later become famous in the game.

In addition, there was a silenced submachine gun, which seemed to be standard equipment, placed at the head of each of the two beds.

Upon lifting the pillows of the two men, it was discovered that under their pillows were USP9 pistols, also from the Black Pit family.

Are mercenaries really that wealthy? They can afford such good stuff?
Wei Ran suppressed his doubts, walked to the elevator shaft and shone his flashlight inside. There was a wooden ladder leading to the fifteenth floor in the elevator shaft, and the elevator car was right below the ladder.

As the beam of the flashlight swayed, he also saw Dragan peering upwards.

I'll go down right now.

As Wei Ran spoke, he carefully inspected the ladder and removed a grenade fuse from a gap before climbing the ladder to the 15th floor.

"How did you get up here?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"climbed up"

Dragan pointed to a room not far away. "We were worried you were in danger, so we climbed up from outside. What's the situation up there?"

“We’ve captured an acquaintance,” Wei Ran glanced at Thomas, “It’s Alf.”

"Yalf?" Dragan was taken aback. "What's he doing here?"

"I have no idea," Thomas quickly waved his hand.

"We'll find out soon enough by asking."

As Wei Ran spoke, he looked at the prisoners they had captured and the corpses lying on the ground.

The two men they caught and killed were both white, around 30 years old. They subconsciously looked at the table between the two beds, where an SSG69 with a silencer and an M76 sniper rifle with a silencer were placed.

But against the wall were artillery observation equipment such as rangefinders and a radio of the same model as the one Thomas owned.

This is such a mixed bag of numbers!
Wei Ran frowned. There were only four snipers in total, and none of them had the same weapon.

That's not all; what we really care about are the artillery observation equipment. "Interrogate them separately."

Wei Ran paused for a moment, then said, "Dragan, go and meet up with Klaus. Bring Luna and the others over first."

"Alright"

Dragan exchanged a meaningful glance with Wei Ran, then nodded decisively and descended the stairs through another elevator shaft.

"You go and interrogate Alf upstairs?" Wei Ran volunteered.

"You should go."

Thomas said, as if trying to avoid suspicion, "Also, I'm only here because of that athlete's invitation. I know what you're wondering, but I've already retired."

"I didn't suspect anything."

Wei Ran said, "In that case, I'll go upstairs and chat with Alf. See you in a bit."

"See you later"

Thomas responded, but did not ask Wei Ran why he had come here, even though he had been curious about it before.

Back on the 16th floor, Wei Ran went into Alf's room. The room was warmed and lit by the same American-style oil stove that Klaus had used, but just by looking at his own room, it was clear that his status in the building was probably not low.

We need to talk.

As Wei Ran spoke, he cut off a piece of rope and strangled the other person's mouth, tying it tightly at the back of their head to create a "mouth gag".

"You might be useful, so I don't intend to hurt you. In other words, you have a chance to survive."

After saying that, Wei Ran snapped his chin up and said, "This rope is to prevent you from biting your tongue, so Mr. Alf, are you willing to cooperate a little?"

"What do you want to know?"

Yarf stared at Wei Ran for a long time before finally asking in a muffled voice.

"Tell me the purpose of this building."

Wei Ran asked, "Who ordered you to be stationed here? What is your purpose? Are you on any special missions?"

"Also, what's the deal with these supplies? The siege has been going on for so long, how did you manage to get so many supplies in?"

“I need to know, who do you work for?” Alf asked.

"banknote"

Wei Ran replied nonchalantly, while also bringing over the hissing oil stove and placing it between the people who had come, "You've used up your only chance to ask a question, now answer my question."

After a slight hesitation, Yalf replied, "This used to be a NATO intelligence station."

"This building?"

Wei Ran was stunned for a moment; this was definitely an unexpected answer.

“That’s right,” Yalf replied, “it existed before the collapse of the Soviet Union.”

"Those supplies bearing the UN logo weren't prepared before the collapse of the Soviet Union, were they?"

Wei Ran pulled out a bayonet and placed it on the oil stove, heating it while reminding him, "There's also the artillery observation equipment downstairs, so you'd better be honest."

You actually already guessed it.

Yalf was quite frank: "This is an observation post that we cooperated with the besieging forces outside the city."

"So they're the ones who let these supplies in?" Wei Ran asked, frowning.

"A considerable portion are."

"In exchange, we need to act as their eyes," Yalf replied.

“I don’t mind letting you live, but you should at least provide some valuable information.”

Wei Ran brandished the bayonet, its tip already red-hot, as a reminder.

Daily News Building

Yalf immediately said, "There's another observation post there, with two snipers and an artillery observer sent out from here."

"So this place doesn't serve as a gun observation post?" Wei Ran pressed.

“This is our safe house,” Yalf explained.

"What about the weapons?"

Wei Ran pulled the gun from his lower back and asked, "Is that money-grubbing shady business having a sale?"

"These were issued by the company, I don't know," Yalf replied nervously, looking at the red-hot bayonet. "Maybe it's a trial run of a new weapon."

“This intelligence is not enough,” Wei Ran was not satisfied with this.

"us."

Alf paused, watching the red-hot bayonet getting closer and closer to his eyes, and quickly said, "We've assassinated some UN envoys and war correspondents, posing as members of the warring parties."

"Is this also a company task?" Wei Ran deliberately asked a stupid question.

“We’re mercenaries,” Alf replied. “We’ll do anything for the money.”

"Are all the people in this building mercenaries?" Wei Ran immediately asked.

When the question arose, Alf panicked immediately.

"At least you're not, right?"

As Wei Ran spoke, he pulled a pair of US military dog ​​tags from the other man's neck. "Are you currently serving or just retired before coming here? Also, are you Swedish?"

"you"

"Otherwise, why would you carry around a shabby Swedish lunchbox? Besides, the name 'Jalf' sounds very Swedish, doesn't it?"

After jokingly tricking the other party a few times, Wei Ran pressed on, "I do know some inside information, otherwise I wouldn't have gone through so much trouble to come here, so Alf, why don't you be more honest?"

"It is indeed a company operational mission."

Looking at the dagger that Wei Ran had brought closer after reheating it, Alf tried to turn his head to the side and answered, "I did retire before coming here, but I don't know the specifics."

Furthermore, this place isn't just home to Deyang's employees; it's also a safe house for the Serbian snipers who infiltrated the area and some intelligence agents hiding in the Holiday Inn.

"You can definitely provide a list of intelligence personnel, right?"

Wei Ran asked with a pleasant smile, "If I'm not mistaken, you're in charge of this area?"

"Yes, it's me. I can provide a list. I've met them all."

Alf answered, sweating profusely; the red-hot bayonet was almost scorching his hair.

"Tell me about that French journalist Thomas, and of course, the three of us."

Wei Ran used the scorching tip of the knife to trim the other person's overly long hair, and amidst the burnt smell of protein, he placed the dagger back on the oil stove.

Thomas is a problem.

"He and his friends have been collecting bad stuff," Yalf said.

"So what?" Wei Ran urged slowly when he saw that the other party had stopped, pressing the red-hot dagger against the other party's collarbone.

"Stop! I'll talk! I'll talk!"

Alf screamed in agony, but he couldn't dodge the dagger that moved with his body.

"Let's not let this happen again," Wei Ran reminded him as he reheated the dagger.

"We're going to use the three of you and Thomas as scapegoats."

Alf immediately said, "We're going to kill two troublesome reporters, just in time for Thomas to hire a sniper to teach his friend."

“You know, there’s more to it than that.” Wei Ran brandished the dagger in his hand again.

“His partner, his partner at the airport, has already been bribed by us,” Yalf said immediately.

"This is still not enough," Wei Ran said, still dissatisfied.

"Dragan"

Yalf abruptly said, "According to our investigation, Dragan is an East German and a spy trained by the Soviets."

We plan to reveal his identity after we have achieved our objective.

"Intelligence personnel?"

Wei Ran raised an eyebrow and asked with interest, "Where did you hear this news from?"

"I do not know"

Alf shook his head. "The captain told me, but that's all he said."

"What was the original message?"

Wei Ran immediately pressed for an answer, the knife in his hand making Alf's cheek feel hot again.

"My captain said that in the end, the blame was all placed on Thomas and Dragan."

They even said that one was a deserter from Hubert, France, and the other was a dog of the Soviet KGB; it was perfect to use their identities to kill those troublesome journalists, UN observers, and insiders.

Alf tilted his head to the side and said, "That's all, that's all."

"An insider? What insider?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"I do not know"

Alf quickly replied, "That's not something I could know."

"Finally, let me tell you about yourself."

Wei Ran didn't press the matter, and instead placed the knife back on the oil stove to heat it. "Where did you serve? Are you really Swedish?"

“I am indeed from Sweden, but I am now an American.”

Alf replied, "I'm from the Sea Bee Camp, a demolition expert, and I'm also responsible for bomb disposal."

"Sea sports."

Wei Ran shook his head helplessly, "Why are you flies buzzing around everywhere?"

Before the bewildered Alf could speak, Wei Ran had already pulled out a towel and stuffed it into his mouth, then tied it tightly with the rope.

He has now gathered most of the basic intelligence on his side. Next, he should ask Thomas and the others what they got out of the prisoners, as well as the lengthy cross-examination.