At 5:42 pm on November 15, the lights in the basement finally came on. Teachers Culp and Dalia, as well as Jima who looked curious, walked in one after another.
While Culp and Dalia were inspecting the weapons on the table that Wei Ran had worked hard to assemble, the latter finally saw clearly what the thing that scared him half to death was. They are toy snakes of different sizes but exquisitely crafted and lifelike. The most deceptive thing is that one end of these toy snakes is actually connected to several slowly crawling turtles that are only about the size of a palm!
In addition to a few toy snakes mixed in these parts, there are also many realistic spiders and a few round hamsters, as well as a large number of metal parts that are not used in firearms at all. These small These things caused Wei Ran a lot of trouble.
Ji Ma picked up a crushed hamster and said, "I heard that you were so scared by this thing that you cried like a ghost and howled like a wolf?"
"Get out!"
Wei Ran threw out his middle finger angrily. Culp's little tricks really scared him, and they also knocked over a lot of parts on the table. Otherwise, he wouldn't have wasted such a long time.
After checking the weapons on the table one by one and emptying the dummy bullets in the chambers, Teacher Dalia and Culp looked at each other and then said, "Okay, you can leave. . But Victor, remember to learn one of your Chinese instruments when you go back."
"An instrument?" Wei Ran, who was about to go out, asked in surprise, "Why do you want to learn an instrument?" /p>
"Do you have any objections to the Christmas party performance?" Culp asked, holding a struggling little hamster in his hand.
"No, no objection! Let's go first. Have a happy holiday, two teachers!" Wei Ran quickly shook his head after realizing it, and he and Ji Ma ran out of the room one after another.
"Finally made it out alive..."
Wei Ran stood at the door of the hall, squinting his eyes and looking at the sunset at the edge of the forest in the distance. When the cold northwest wind blew over, Only then did he realize that a layer of cold sweat had broken out on his back.
"Is that room in the basement really that scary?" Ji Ma looked at Wei Ran suspiciously.
"You will know when you have the chance to try it." Wei Ran, who had been locked up in the dark room for several hours, didn't even bother to explain. The horrors of those surprises are still lingering in his ears. What about the sound of music.
Driving back to the small village in the northwest of Kazan, Wei Ran had a surprisingly caloric dinner at Jima’s house, and then got into the bedroom drunk. During this sleep, his nightmares could be described as one after another. One of them, either Sadako crawled out of the well or was swallowed by a python, but it was rare that she did not dream about the tragic death of Marco and the corpses all over Berlin like the previous few days.
In the blink of an eye, early the next morning, the two of them drove to the airport and flew to Belgorod, a border city in Russia.
Before coming out of the airport, Ji Ma asked anxiously, "Victor, let's take it.Where to go? The bar is still..."
"What a shitty bar to go to in broad daylight"
Wei Ran stopped a taxi with his hand and waited for Ji Ma to negotiate the price skillfully. Then he got in and said, "Let's go to Gongqing Town to investigate some clues. If it goes well, we will take the flight to Kiev tomorrow morning. ”
“Since I’m going to Kiev, I won’t go to the bar for the time being! "Although Jima's tone was serious, the look in his wretched eyes showed that he knew what he was planning.
Take a taxi and leave the city of Belgorod heading southwest. After driving for nearly an hour, they finally stopped in a town surrounded by vast farmland.
Following the detailed address provided in the leather book, the two of them finally stopped in an old building. At the entrance of the house. However, Wei Ran was quite disappointed that the owner of this house had no idea that a World War II veteran named Mikhail once lived here, even when they bought the house. It happened after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and as for the original owner of the house, they had lost contact for a long time.
Not to mention disappointed, Wei Ran urged Jima to get into the rental car that was still waiting for them. The car turned around and headed straight to the airport.
“Victor, what are you investigating? "Halfway through, Jima finally couldn't help but ask, and at the same time, he was secretly worried that after arriving in Kiev, he would go to a place like Gongqing Town.
Wei Ran explained perfunctorily. , "A World War II veteran"
"How can I help? ”
Ji Ma originally just said it unintentionally, but Wei Ran’s eyes lit up. It seemed that this kind of “no technical difficulty” investigation work could really be left to him. Although it would require some extra expenditure. Cost, but at least I don’t have to waste time running around.
Isn’t it the same reason why Professor Alexei pulled him into the studio to help? But think about it again. Wei Ran thought about Jima's unreliable virtue and said after a moment, "Jima, are you interested in finding a job? "
"What job? "Ji Ma asked in confusion.
"My studio needs a helper"
Wei Ran paused, and seeing that Ji Ma seemed interested, he explained in detail He said, "The main thing is to help him go to various places to investigate some things. As long as I find the clues I need, I can get a commission. If I can't find them, I can at least go out for a few days for free." "
Jima asked excitedly, "Just like the last time we went to Finland? "
"Yes"
Wei Ran hesitated a little when he said this. If it was like the time in Finland, he might miss some important hidden rewards. Thinking of this, He added before the other party could say anything, "Of course, you don't necessarily need your help to run errands every time. ”
“Deal! "Ji Ma agreed without thinking. For him, it was enough to go out for free. If he could make money, it would be an accident.There is nothing else I can't agree to if I have a lot of money.
Wei Ran nodded when he heard this, "Since you are willing to give it a try, don't treat your trip to Kiev this time as a trip. If you can find out anything, I will also pay you some commission."< /p>
"Travel and work are not in conflict" Ji Ma proudly rejected Wei Ran's point of view, "Maybe some pretty girl in the bar will know some key clues?"
"I hope so." Wei Ran didn't bother to argue. After winking at Ji Ma, he changed the topic to something else.
The taxi took them to the hotel next to the airport. Before Weiran could pay the fare, Jima had already said hello and disappeared in a hurry.
Ignoring this unreliable thing, Wei Ran took out his tablet after checking in and started thinking about what Chinese musical instruments he should learn. Although he couldn't understand why Culp made such a strange request, the other party must be holding back some evil in making such an arrangement. In order to avoid being dealt with by the other party again one day in the future, it is undoubtedly the best way to obey the other party's arrangements honestly. Wise decision. But for him, a music idiot, none of the Chinese musical instruments that could be found on the Internet seemed easy to learn.
After staying in Belgorod for one night, the two boarded the plane on time early the next morning. After two transfers around Moscow and Poland, they landed that night. Arriving at Kiev Airport.
"I made it very clear to you on the way."
While waiting for the luggage, Weiran once again reminded Jima, "We are going to start from the World War II Soviet soldier named Ivan. Find as many clues as possible from the home of the military company instructor, which may be related to..."
"Fifty thousand rubles!"
Ji Ma rubbed his hands before Wei Ran finished speaking. He said, "Don't worry, Victor, for the 50,000 rubles agreed upon, I will even find the dentures left by Ivan for you! But... should we find a place to eat first?" "
Wei Ran shook his head helplessly and pointed to the suitcase on the carousel, "Let's go"
"Okay!" Driven by 50,000 rubles, Ji Ma He picked up the suitcase that was not too big and followed Wei Ran out of the airport.
If you ignore the name of the city of Kiev and the occasional mention of Ukraine in the mouths of passers-by on the street, there is really not much difference between this place and Volgograd. The architectural style is the same, the appearance and characteristics of the pedestrians are similar, even the Slavic people's unique mysterious xenophobia and childish arrogance are almost ridiculous, and even the drunkards on the street are exactly the same.
On the other hand, the two cities are also adjacent to a large river, and there is also a huge statue of Motherland on the river bank. The only difference may be that the mother in Kiev has an extra face in her hand. Large shield. However, neither of these two mothers probably imagined that the people they had protected with their swords would one day choose to separate their families and embark on completely different paths.
Thanks to the fact that many people in this city also speak Russian, plus JiMa and the Ukrainian girl learned a few words of Ukrainian with an accent when they exchanged genetic fragments. The two of them successfully checked into a hotel where the statue could be seen by opening the curtains. After putting down their luggage, they walked in the distance On the corner not far from the hotel, I found a restaurant with a rich aroma of butter.
Before the food was served, Ji Ma opened the vodka he bought on the way and poured wine into the glass while asking, "Victor, where should we go tomorrow?"
"The address I found is in Potili District, which seems to be in the northwest corner of Kiev." As Wei Ran spoke, he handed a note with the address written in advance to Jima.
After taking the note and looking at it, Dima put it into his pocket and said, "Leave it to me! Tonight I can find a guide who speaks Eastern Ukrainian and is familiar with Kiev."
Wei Ran picked up the wine glass, "First of all, we have mobile phone navigation. Secondly, the guide you are looking for is to be precise enough to be familiar with the bars in Kiev, and most importantly, beautiful enough, right?"
p>Jima did not refute after being exposed. He poured another glass of wine for Wei Ran eagerly and changed the topic to other directions with a playful smile.
After dinner, Ji Ma couldn’t wait to take a taxi and went straight to the bar to find his satisfactory guide. Wei Ran also looked at the huge statue outside the window with expectation, praying that he would find out something about it tomorrow. There are traces of the existence of Ivan, the Soviet company instructor.