Less than half an hour after Wei Ran hung up the phone, a taxi stopped at the door of the studio, followed closely by a bald middle-aged man who was about the same height as Professor Erikson and had a big belly. The young man struggled to get out of the car, which was a bit cramped for him, and quickly walked into the studio carrying a not-so-large aluminum alloy suitcase.
"Hello, Mr. Victor, this is Herbert who just called me." The middle-aged man with a big belly greeted him warmly after entering the door.
"Hello Mr. Herbert" Wei Ran enthusiastically asked the other party to sit down at the long table. Before he could say anything, the other party had already opened the luggage in his hand with a click. box.
"I bought this when I was traveling in the UK two years ago. Please take a look!" Herbert said as he took out one painted in earthy yellow from the suitcase. Standard 20 liter capacity World War II German oil drum.
Taking the oil drum from the opponent's hand, Weiran looked it over and over. The handle in the middle of the oil drum, close to the lid, was fixed with a small iron piece, which was stamped in the middle. There is a number 80 surrounded by a circle, and there is a letter B outside the circle. Just from this small piece of iron, we know that this oil barrel was once used to hold gasoline with an octane number of 80.
Putting the oil barrel flat on the table, Wei Ran finally discovered something interesting.
On the square in the middle of the reinforced groove on one side of the oil barrel, the stamped out symbol is the double lightning bolt of the gear army, but at the same time, there is a shape painted with red paint on the square. Like an umbrella mark. This mark represents the 15th Armored Division of the German Wehrmacht that once fought on the North African battlefield.
"Look at the other side, the other side is more interesting." reminded Herbert, who was sitting opposite.
Hearing this, Wei Ran turned the oil drum over, and then discovered that a series of irregular letters and numbers had been carved on this side with the tip of a knife or something like that. , the deep scratches had destroyed the paint coating of the oil drum itself, and were replaced by conspicuous brown rust.
"What does it mean?" Wei Ran raised his head and asked Herbert.
"I don't know"
Herbert spread his hands, "But according to my guess, the letters and numbers on this should be encrypted. I once tried to use the German army to The codebook used by the 15th Armored Division was deciphered, but unfortunately, the corresponding information was not translated."
After opening the lid of the oil drum and smelling it, Wei Ran thought for a moment and asked, " So Mr. Herbert, what do you need me to do?"
Herbert looked at Wei Ran expectantly, "Decipher the secret on this oil barrel, and you will get one-tenth of the secret behind it. "How is the income?"
"Not very good"
Weiran shook his head without thinking, "This is just an oil barrel. I don't think anyone would use an oil barrel to deliver goods." Secret. Besides, even if any genius does this, I don’t think this secret will bring much benefit, let alone me.Only one tenth can be obtained. "
"Don't refuse in a hurry," Herbert said, pulling out a tablet computer from his briefcase, pulling up a video and pushing it to Weiran.
This video was shot It is an irregular-shaped gold coin. As the hand turns in the video, you can clearly see that one side of the gold coin is a woman's profile, and the other side is a horse.
The video, which lasted less than half a minute, ended. Herbert waited for Weiyan to push the tablet over, and then explained, "The Carthage Goddess gold coin in the video was found in this oil barrel. ”
“Found in an oil drum? "Wei Ran looked at Herbert in confusion. He always felt that Herbert's story seemed to be mixed with water.
The latter nodded, "After I bought this oil drum, I have been keeping it for a long time. I felt that there were secrets hidden in the letters and numbers engraved on it. It was not until an accidental bump that the gold coin stuck in the oil barrel fell out. "
"So you think those code words on the oil drums?" Wei Ran paused here, "let's call them code words for the time being. Do you think there may be more gold coins hidden behind those code words?" "
Herbert tapped the tablet computer with the screen still on, "Mr. Victor, such a Carthage goddess gold coin is worth at least four thousand euros, as long as..."
p>“Even if 100 coins are found, it will only be 400,000 euros. Ten percent is only 40,000 euros. And even if you really find 100 pieces, selling them for 4,000 euros each will probably take a long time, right? ”
Wei Ran smiled and looked at Herbert sitting opposite. He actually had nothing to say. Judging from the psychology courses and torture techniques he learned at the Hongqi Forest Farm, he became more and more sure. , the story just told by this pregnant archaeologist was either adulterated or deliberately concealed some key clues.
Since the expected profit is not high and the other party deliberately concealed the information, this job is natural. There was no need to accept it. Anyway, he had already made a full 160,000 euros in Noah's hands not long ago. Coupled with the profits from the previous year, Wei Ran's pockets are now very fat, and there is no need to do so. I'm short of money.
"Well..."
Herbert grinned, and after a moment of silence he asked without giving up, "Mr. Victor, please give me a price. How much will it cost me to find out what these code words hide? "
"200,000 euros, cash required. ”
Wei Ranhun nonchalantly quoted a high price, making it clear that he was refusing. Apart from the two reasons just mentioned, people like Herbert always dream of finding treasures in history books. He has encountered many places at home.
Not to mention the distance, even Professor Alexei has been obsessed with finding the treasures looted by Germany during World War II for a long time, but in the end he had no choice but to get in. A lot of time, energy and bottles of gin, the only reward is a lot of daydreaming
“Deal! ”
Contrary to Wei Ran's expectation, Herbert reached out his hand happily, "As long as you can find out the secret of the code word on the oil barrel, I will pay you 200,000 euros in cash."
This time It was Wei Ran's turn to feel uncomfortable. He never expected that there would actually be someone who was being taken advantage of and was willing to pay such a high price for the letters engraved on a broken oil drum.
"According to the rules of Time Studio, half of it will be paid first as activity expenses."
I have already learned from Professor Alexei that Wei Ran is greedy and gives empty talk to the studio. A new rule has been added. If the other party is really willing to pay 200,000 euros, the previous reasons that made you not want to accept this investigation work can be selectively ignored.
"Can't you find out?" Herbert put down his hand and asked cautiously.
"Retreat 80%"
Wei Ran added the second rule without any psychological barriers. Can't he find out? This situation does not exist.
Herbert thought about it secretly, and then extended his hand to Wei Ran again, "Let's draw up an agreement first. I'll have a lawyer take a look at it. If there's no problem, I'll give 100,000 yuan tomorrow morning." Send me the euros."
"Of course!" Wei Ran shook hands with the other party, stood up and took a standard contract from the innermost workbench drawer, filled in the corresponding information and handed it over. past.
This contract was specially prepared for new customers when Professor Alexei took charge of this studio. As for the old customers who have cooperated with him, this agreement is basically not used.
Watching Herbert leave with the sample agreement, Wei Ran glanced at the oil drum still on the table, stood up, carried it to the inner storage room and found a random place. Done.
The other party didn’t even pay, so there was no need to worry about the broken oil barrel. Now he just wants to have a good night's rest to calm down. After all, he has to go to Vienna for Mr. Nicholas tomorrow.
While he locked the rolling shutter door of the studio, Herbert, who had been waiting for his taxi to start running, immediately took out his mobile phone and dialed his employer's phone number to tell him what he had just said. The investigation fees negotiated by Weiran were reiterated in detail.
Soon, Herbert hung up the phone after getting a clear answer from his employer. At the same time, Wei Ran also locked the old mobile phone he took out of the food box into the safe in the bedroom. He didn't know whether the phone was used by Culp to locate his real-time location, but it didn't stop him from using this method to express his attitude.
After locking his cell phone, Wei Ran took the high-explosive shells he took out from the food box, drove to the bridge across the Volga River, put on rubber gloves, and wet them with alcohol. After wiping them carefully with a towel, they threw them all into the center of the sparkling river.
After finishing the last bit of work, he drove the windy off-road vehicle for a swagger through the city, bringing back all kinds of food and drink.
In the blink of an eye, the next morning, almost at the same time that Wei Ran got up, Herbert was also carrying a drum.The bulging briefcase knocked on the studio door.
"This is 100,000 euros"
Herbert, who was let in, took out a wad of cash from his bag before his butt touched the chair and placed it on the table Then he took out yesterday's agreement and handed it to Wei Ran, "There's nothing wrong with the agreement, please sign it."
Taking the agreement with a smile on his face, Wei Ran became more and more sure. The one who really put the one hundred thousand euros on the table was definitely not this Herbert.
But even so, after carefully counting the cash on the table, he finally signed the agreement happily. After all, it doesn't matter who wants to know the secret on the oil barrel, as long as the cash isn't fake.
After seeing off Herbert once again, Weiran was not idle either. He locked the rolling door and left, drove straight to the airport, and worked hard as an errand boy for Mr. Nicholas. .
It took nearly two days to revisit his old place. When he once again stood in front of the bookstore called Shudong with his disguised face, he happened to see Katianka taking the patient. The old man suffering from Alzheimer's disease helped him to sit on the bench at the door to bask in the sun.
What is both joyful and sad is that the bewildered old lady is still wearing a pink anti-lost rope and a bright red flashing hydrogen balloon on her wrist, and the anti-lost rope is The other end was fixed to a lock on the edge of the bench by a card. Finally opening the locator fixed on the old lady's belt, Katenka just straightened up and saw Wei Ran standing not far away.
"Is...is something wrong?" Katenka asked with an unnatural expression, and every move showed that she didn't want to see the former.
Wei Ran pointed to the second floor. After the former nodded hesitantly, he gently opened the wooden door of the bookstore.
Katenka, who was still standing at the door of the bookstore, sighed, took out a piece of toffee from his pocket and stuffed it into the old lady's mouth, and said like a child, "Let's bask in the sun here. Don't run around, I'll come back and read "Anna Karenina" to you later." Hearing this, the old lady's old face immediately smiled, but it was just a little bit quiet. Head, no sound was made at all.