War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 2007 Seeds and Fertilizer

While Wei Ran was busy planning investments with his queen in Kazan, the Hela organization located in Zhaohe and the succubi belonging to their peripheral organizations unexpectedly faced a major test.

In just one week, the female chefs employed by Hela made rapid progress in their knife skills and became increasingly proficient in the process of handling ingredients.

In the same short period of time, the production volume of "Struggle" brand strong stain remover soap, which was established in Hokkaido less than a year ago, has also suddenly increased significantly.

In the short span of a week, executives from a little-known media company in China, which has numerous investments in China, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, took their families on a vacation to Thailand.

During that same week, Hela, who had finally tasted the sweetness of blood, gave Wei Ran an unexpected and generous reward—they found over a thousand photos of the Japanese invasion taken during World War II.

Hidden within this unexpected reward is a pleasant surprise: these hardworking women have never forgotten Hela's original goal when it was founded—to control America.

It was precisely because of this that they keenly noticed some of the terrifying details hidden in these photos.

It was a photo of a group of Japanese soldiers from World War II cannibalizing several American soldiers. The content was detailed and vivid, and also quite bloody and perverse.

But it wasn't just American soldiers who were eaten; there were also indigenous people dressed in distinctly indigenous attire. Wei Ran could even tell from the necklaces faintly visible around the necks of those indigenous people that they might have come from Papua New Guinea.

Not only the enemy was eaten as food, but also "our own people" to the Japanese soldiers—men, women, and even those dismantling lotus roots. Moreover, judging from the background of these photos, they were mostly taken in the Pacific theater.

"Why don't they destroy these photos?" Wei Ran asked as he flipped through the returned photo albums in the library's basement.

"According to interrogation, these people are committed to supporting NGOs to downplay history and obtain commissions from corrupt officials, while using the evidence they have found to blackmail the descendants of these war criminals to raise funds for them."

Anfia, sitting opposite, put down her coffee cup and explained, "In other words, these photos can all be matched with the descendants of war criminals, and in great detail."

These people, in order to erase the dark history of their ancestors' cannibalism and Tusa's past, have been forced to pay hush money to this company for an extended period.

"Eat at two different places?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.

Actually, we ate at three different places.

Anfia stated that the company also uses organizations like private investigators to locate victims' families, enticing them to post jobs to help them find the perpetrators. "It's like those wealthy people hiring you to help them uncover the truth of history."

"This is the last time. If you compare the Japanese to me again, neither you nor Anfisa will get to eat spicy rabbit heads for the next year," Wei Ran warned seriously.

Upon hearing this, Anfia paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "I'm sorry, boss, I made a stupid mistake."

"Let's get back to business," Wei Ran continued, picking up where they left off.

"Ok"

Anfia nodded. "We conducted a shareholding investigation and found that the real owners of this media company are the same people we unexpectedly caught a week ago—the 'Mr. Ingredients.'"

They hold numerous media companies, tabloids, and private detective agencies through various means.

Through these small organizations, they have been legally coercing many descendants of war criminals to purchase their information services.

As mentioned earlier, they are also selling investigation services to the victims' families.

However, our investigation revealed that these individuals' ancestors appeared to have come from the Water Supply Corps that was once stationed in China, and they also controlled several pharmaceutical research companies.

"Tell me your suggestions."

As Wei Ran spoke, he closed the photo album in his hand and turned to look at the boxes of photo albums or negatives that had been delivered in the past few days.

"Seven-Colored Elephant is currently one of our most profitable subsidiaries."

Anfia said, "Perhaps we should set up a separate organization dedicated to crime disclosure."

"Continue," Wei Ran said noncommittally.

"How about the Eye of Horus?"

Anfia suggested, “It’s older than the all-knowing eye on the dollar bill, and I doubt anyone would associate it with Egypt. Besides, I’m planning to have our gunman, codenamed Shrike, whom we caught a long time ago, come forward to make the disclosure; there’s no one more suitable than him.”

"Then let's choose the Eye of Horus."

Wei Ran thought for a moment and said, "Okay, let's announce the fate of the American ingredients first. I'll contact my friend now, and we'll release the photo albums we got last time later."

"Shall I go now?" Anfia asked.

"Will they find out?" Wei Ran asked back.

"Will not"

Anfia confidently answered, "The IP address used by the email comes from the company I just mentioned and some of the smaller companies they control. Even if we trace it back to the source, we can only eventually find an internet cafe within the country of South Korea."

"Let's begin then. Remember to invite the mental patients from Morpheus to join the revelry."

Wei Ran smiled and reminded him, "Keep searching within the territory of Zhaohe. That area will be Hela's training ground in the future. There must be more than one such organization, and there must be more photos like these."

Since they themselves are unwilling to talk about it, unwilling to admit it, and unwilling to make it public, let's kindly help them.

"But boss, will this even work?" Anfia finally couldn't help but ask.

"We are only responsible for planting one seed."

Wei Ran got up and walked out, explaining, "As long as the seed is planted, it will always sprout when the time is right."

"The Eye of Horus and Mr. Shrike will probably be classified as terrorist organizations."

When Anfia said this, there was no fear on her delicate and beautiful face at all; instead, she was full of eager excitement.

"What's it to me?"

As Wei Ran spoke, he walked out of the library's basement, leaving behind several large boxes filled with photo albums and negatives detailing his crimes.

He doesn't care who exposes it or what kind of eyes are used; all he wants now is to get everyone involved in taking down the Japanese.

Time flew by and it was May 20th. Just as Wei Ran and Sui Sui were taking a flight back to China with several core girls, the shrike, who hadn't appeared in public for a long time, reappeared on the internet.

This time, he only vaguely indicated that he would reveal some things he had accidentally obtained while carrying out assassinations, and sincerely invited everyone to leave their email addresses.

Although the video is less than half a minute long, it has received a large number of comments in just one day thanks to the posts from both intentional and unintentional users.

At noon on May 21, when Wei Ran and Sui Sui led the girls to the film studio headquarters in Hangzhou, Mr. Shrike, in the name of the Eye of Horus, sent a set of bloody photos to all the email addresses that had left their addresses for the first time.

"Did you make this?" Xia Shushi asked, waving his phone on the top floor of the film studio headquarters in Hangzhou.

"What's it to me?"

Holding a cup of coffee, Wei Ran took a sip without any regard for appearances, then picked up a small pastry from the table, took a bite, and mumbled between chews, "Wasn't that caused by that bird killer? Who doesn't know that Koreans and Japanese don't get along?"

"Yeah, aren't you drinking coffee here?"

After Xia Shushi finished speaking, he also picked up his coffee and took a sip. "What's next? Those photos you sent last time?"

"Lola will return to China in two days with the descendants of the nurse Su Shengnan that I told you about. They will donate a portion of it together."

Wei Ran tossed the remaining half of the Dingsheng cake into his mouth. "As for the rest, who knows, some kind person might just bring it to us."

"Alright," Xia Shushi said, and stopped asking questions. He then changed the subject and asked, "Again, you're not seeking fame or fortune this time?"

"I'm content living off Sui Sui," Wei Ran said lazily. "Fame and fortune are too tiring; things are fine as they are now."

"Alright, everyone has their own ambitions. Maybe you were born to be a kept man."

Xia Shushi made a lighthearted remark on the topic, then asked seriously, "Tell me about the history of that camera."

"Let Lola speak when she arrives."

Wei Ran waved his hand, "That silly girl, it took me a lot of effort to get her to remember this story."

"So you're not even going to act anymore?" Xia Shushi shook his head, both amused and exasperated. "Tell me about your side."

Not wanting to dwell on the past, Wei Ran changed the subject, "What happened to that kettle? Did you really not find anything?"

"Completely unavailable"

Xia Shushi shook his head. "We also opened the other kettle. It contained... ashes."

"What is it?" Wei Ran looked up in surprise.

"It's ashes."

Xia Shushi replied, "We found two bullets inside, as well as some unburned human bones, which we can confirm are ashes."

"So it wasn't an accidental fall into the Yellow River?" Wei Ran asked.

"Hard to say"

Xia Shushi shook his head. "I always feel like something's not right, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

"pilgrimage"

Wei Ran suddenly uttered a word that seemed out of place in their current conversation.

“No, it should be to fulfill his last wish,” Wei Ran corrected himself before Xia Shushi could speak. “I mean, to go and see Yan’an.”

"You mean these two water bottles were sent there after the war ended and then buried on the riverbank?"

Xia Shushi frowned and asked, "If that's the case, it will probably be even harder to find them, because then it will be impossible to determine when they sacrificed their lives."

"It's hard to make assumptions," Wei Ran shook his head.

He also knew that if the two water bottles were indeed sent to the riverbank after the war, then they would probably have to search for them using the entire War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation as the denominator, which would be no different from looking for a needle in a haystack.

"Moreover, the name Wang Cheng is too common," Xia Shushi sighed helplessly.

But then he added a provocation, "However, we agreed to start the betting, and you said you'd give us half a month first. Now that month is almost over, when does Professor Wei plan to begin the investigation?"

"Wait a minute, no rush."

Wei Ran resumed his lazy demeanor, "I finally got a chance to rest. If it weren't for meeting you, I might not have come along."

Xia Shushi subconsciously wanted to say something, but he only glanced at the old photos sent by the unknown account on his phone screen, and then dismissed what he was about to say, and instead said, "It's good to rest. I reckon that Her Majesty's matter here will be over soon. Where are you going next?"

"Going back to my maternal grandmother's house"

As Wei Ran spoke, he picked up the third unfamiliar pastry and took a bite. "The Nameless Troupe is going to my grandma's village for a charity performance. They're performing for three days straight. I'm going back to join in the fun."

"You understand?" Xia Shushi asked suspiciously.

I don't like hearing that.

Wei Ran seemed to be having a blast with the pastries on the plate. "You still can't dance in a little skirt, so I'll change it to something else. You seem to actually know how to do this one."

"Are you trying to die?" Xia Shushi asked irritably, nearly spitting out his coffee.

As these two scumbags started teasing and joking with each other, the photos released by the "famous killer" Shrike under the name "Eye of Horus" predictably sparked heated discussions.

But this was just the beginning, because less than five minutes after sending the email, Shrike uploaded another video using a different account and IP address.

This video is almost identical to the first one, except that the time of the opening announcement is less than a minute different from the time of the video release.

This time, the shrike extended the same invitation, but this time, the video and the account disappeared shortly afterward.

Even so, those who left their email addresses were surprised to find that they received a large number of photos the moment the video disappeared!
Finally, the seeds began to sprout—no, someone began to fertilize them.

On the other side of the earth, where the sun doesn't shine for the time being, a stolen van was parked on the street. As the cargo door opened, a dozen or so Black people, holding hastily printed photos of their predecessors—who, after being used as cotton harvesters, were now being used as food—marched and began their protest along the roadside in "Little Tokyo."

However, the protest had barely begun when dozens of short Asian men rushed forward, shouting "Baka!" and began punching and kicking the protesters. After burning the photos, they stabbed the protesters in vital areas a few times before turning and running into the neighborhood.

After this scoop of fertilizer was poured on the seeds, they really sprouted.

"Where did you find those short guys?"

In an office building less than 100 meters from the scene of the incident, Anya, holding binoculars, asked excitedly in a low voice.

"The fellow villagers from Yuexia that my father found."

Blade, who was also holding a pair of binoculars, said excitedly, "They'll be boarding a cargo ship in an hour to start a new life in Tokyo."

“And what about those black people?” Aynya pressed.

"I bought 10 kilograms of hemp from your girlfriend."

Ninell, who was also holding binoculars, said, "They can get those tahini once their protests end, but Cecilia, can I return them?"

"Of course, but a 15% freshness-preserving fee will be deducted." Dao Feng's beaming smile resembled that of a queen who had fallen into the trap of greed.

“No problem,” Ninell readily agreed. The price of the sesame seeds that Daofeng sold to him was not expensive; the dried product was only $10 per kilogram.

"What do you think will happen next?" Anya asked expectantly. "Should we send some mentally ill people to help them?"

“If those Black people had any brains, they should have said next that they had lost a fellow countryman in Little Tokyo.”

Blade said sarcastically, "She doesn't care which country she's from, but she's always received a pure Chinese education."

"And then?" Anya asked blankly.

Ninell shook his head helplessly, put away his binoculars, and helped to end this somewhat intellectually stimulating topic. "We should leave now. Where do you plan to go next?"

"The beach, bikinis, and parties, of course!" the clueless Anya exclaimed excitedly. "What about you?"

"I'm not as carefree as you."

Nigel sighed, belatedly realizing that he seemed to be getting busier and busier ever since he met that scumbag friend who was surrounded by girls.

Just before the conflict here began to escalate, a second batch of pictures was released, this time showing ingredients from Australia.

"This dog poop is disgusting."

In a holiday farm not far from Cairns in northern Queensland, Makar, who was castrating kangaroos, looked with disgust at the bloody photos he had just received in his email, muttering, "Honey, do we have any tourists coming here? I want to stuff them into kangaroo pouches and let them grow up again."

"No, Aurora and we agreed when we started working together that we would not accept people who recruit nuclear agents."

Jessica, who was administering antibiotics to a castrated kangaroo, remarked, "Have they been eating people again?"

"You left your email address too?" Makar asked in surprise.

"certainly"

Jessica put down the needle, picked up her phone and glanced at it, then said excitedly, "I bet there will be a parade soon. We haven't been to a parade in a long time, let's go this time!"

“How about we drive a tractor there?!” Makar immediately put down the castration tool in his hand.

He was really bad at this job, and he was almost certain that the kangaroo wouldn't live more than five days.

"I'm going to print the photos!"

Before Jessica could finish speaking, she had already run towards the house not far away.

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