"It doesn't really matter whether those nuggets are gold or not."
After listening to Herbert's translation, Mrs. Amanda said, "Or just think of them as gold. If you find these gold treasures, or find my brother Leo, or his bones, you can get the agreed upon investigation."
cost."
"Is the clue just one photo?" Wei Ran looked at Herbert and asked.
"In addition, there is a package sent from Norway five years ago."
Amanda explained under Herbert's translation, "But the package only contains my brother Leo's watch and an IOU written by him, worth 10,000 German marks."
"IOU?" Wei Ran became increasingly puzzled.
Herbert looked at Amanda, who hesitated for a moment, took out a glasses case from her bag, opened it and handed it to Wei Ran.
Inside the glasses case is a gold watch with a leather strap. On the strap of the watch, there is a word that Wei Ran doesn't recognize written in black writing. In addition, there is a pencil inside.
and a note.
"This watch is a Da Vinci Perpetual Calendar produced by IWC. It was only launched in 1985. It was considered a luxury product both at that time and today."
Herbert came over and introduced, "What is written on the watch is the name of a place, Bear Island, Bear Island in Norway. As for the content on the note, it is the IOU just mentioned, which roughly means, no matter what
Whoever takes this IOU to find Leo's family and returns the watch will get 10,000 German marks. I'm sure you can understand the time on the IOU, which is January 1, 1989.
.”
"Have you found the person who mailed these things?" Wei Ran asked, putting on his glasses case.
"No"
Herbert shook his head, "Before I worked for Mrs. Amanda, she was looking for the person who mailed this package, and even posted a missing person notice on TV and radio in Norway. After I worked for her, she has also been looking for the person who mailed this package.
Looking for the person who mailed these things, unfortunately, there has been no clue for so long."
"You didn't go to Bear Island to look for it?" Wei Ran asked and at the same time returned the glasses case to Mrs. Amanda sitting opposite.
"I went, of course I went."
Herbert replied blatantly in German, "The scenery there is good, but it's too cold. So I changed the search destination to Finnmark County in mainland Norway. At least it is very suitable for skiing."
"You can just say you've never been there, there's no need to go around in such a big circle." Wei Ranpi replied with a smile.
Bear Island was one of the bases for Germany to develop weather stations during World War II. Although he did not know where exactly the Norwegian Finnmark County Herbert mentioned was, he knew that the closest distance between Bear Island and the Norwegian mainland was more than 400 meters.
kilometer.
In other words, this Herbert just used the investigation funds provided by Mrs. Amanda to spend a lot of money. And now that he has brought his enemy to find him, he does not want to make a fortune together at all. This is simply to find a successor for himself.
Where is the hero?
"How do you like it? Do you want to take this job?" Herbert looked at Wei Ran eagerly, "As long as you find that treasure or that expedition team, you can get a reward of 90,000 euros. This price is no longer high.
It’s low.”
"I reject"
Wei Ran stood up unexpectedly and said straightforwardly, "Herbert, although the pay of this job is indeed not low, I don't want to clean up your mess and get myself into a lot of trouble. After all, we are not too big."
It’s familiar, isn’t it?”
Herbert opened his mouth and was about to say something, but Weiran took the lead and continued, "Okay, your flight is about to take off, and it's time for me to say goodbye and leave. Goodbye, Herbert."
After saying that, Wei Ran simply walked out of the waiting room, not caring about the two people behind him who looked astonished. He pulled his suitcase and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
The reason why he simply refused this investigation work was actually very simple. Although the investigation fee of 90,000 euros was indeed very high, compared to at least a truck of gold and the precious relationship between brother and sister, what Mrs. Amanda really wanted to find was
Things seem more expensive.
This at least shows that either Herbert is not telling the truth, or Amanda is not telling the truth. Or, what he really wants to find is worth far more than a truckload of gold. Even he suspects that the black and white photo may be related to the real investigation.
The goal itself doesn't matter much at all.
If it's just the first two, it might not matter, but if it's the third possibility, too high a value often means trouble.
This trouble is not only reflected in the process of investigation, but also reflected in whether it will cause trouble for myself after the investigation actually finds something.
Not to mention, Mr. Charlotte a month or two ago is a good example. After he personally delivered the treasure map recording the specific location of the desert well, what did the other party do? That old guy
But there were a lot of eyeliners around the hotel staring at me.
Although the two parties almost settled their differences in the end, who can guarantee that Mrs. Amanda in the waiting room, who can put aside the relationship between brother and sister, will do something more outrageous than Mr. Charlotte in the UK?
Woolen cloth?
Therefore, based on the principle that it is better to make more unnecessary money than to have less unnecessary trouble, Wei Ran will of course choose to refuse.
In the VIP waiting room, Herbert was momentarily stunned, turned around and put on a happy expression, and said to Mrs. Amanda who had not yet recovered, "Don't get me wrong, Victor is just like this."
Man, he just said that he already has clues. Mrs. Amanda, if you want to entrust Victor to continue the investigation, how about paying half of the investigation fee first? This is Victor's rule."
"Those are his rules, but not my rules."
Amanda stood up with her bag, "Herbert, I give you the last three months, before Christmas, if you and your partner don't find any useful clues, all our cooperation will end here.
If you find out the whereabouts of that expedition team, I will pay the full investigation fee of 180,000 euros as agreed."
"Wait a minute, Mrs. Amanda."
Herbert stopped the fat sheep who had already walked out of the waiting room, "Three months may be a bit tight, but other than that, can you keep the photos and the contents of the glasses case? We may be able to find something there.
Some clues."
"Forget the photo, it is of great significance to me." Amanda said, reaching for the glasses case from her bag and handing it to the former, "Send it back to me within a month, Herbert, this is my last time.
Believe in your abilities."
Watching Mrs. Amanda walk through the security checkpoint, Herbert was not in a hurry to leave. He sat down in the waiting room again, played with the glasses case in his hand, and began to think about how to persuade Wei Ran to continue the investigation.
After all, as long as he can find out the whereabouts of the expedition team, he can earn himself a real price difference of at least 90,000 euros, and all Herbert needs to pay is just a touch of his upper lip to his lower lip.
At the same time, Wei Ran, who had already forgotten the matter, also found his off-road vehicle in the parking lot. After connecting the battery that was disconnected when he left last time, he started the car and slowly rushed to his studio.
However, what he never expected was that just as he stepped on the brakes in the parking space in front of the studio, his mobile phone received a spam text message.
This in itself is naturally not a big deal, but what this spam text message represents is that Katenka from Vienna, Austria, sent him an email.
He opened the rolling shutter door of the studio as quickly as possible and got into the studio. Wei Ran ran into the bedroom and locked the door. He checked the room habitually and confirmed that there was nothing wrong. Then he took out the food box from the metal book and took it.
Take out the authenticator placed inside.
He logged into the web mailbox according to the steps Katenka gave him at that time. After clicking on the email, he found that there was only one sentence written in it, "She passed away at 4:19 this afternoon local time."
That old Katenka who had Alzheimer's died?
Wei Ran looked at the email interface in astonishment. After hesitating for a moment, he immediately rushed out of the room. He didn't even have time to lock the rolling shutter door, and drove the off-road vehicle that had not been turned off to Nicola's house a few hundred meters away.
When Nicholas opened the door, Wei Ran looked around and saw no one else, then he closed the door and said, "Mr. Nicholas, she passed away, old Katenka."
Hearing this, Nicholas raised his eyebrows. After a moment of silence, he slowly walked to the sofa and sat down. He asked without raising his head, "When did it happen?"
"Local time, 4:19 this afternoon." Wei Ran paused and continued, "But I just received the email."
"That's it..."
Nicholas responded absently, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took one out and lit it, but did not speak for a long time.
It wasn't until a cigarette burned out that Nicholas stood up on the sofa and walked upstairs and said, "Wait for me here."
Wei Ran, who had been standing at the door, nodded and watched Nicholas walk up to the second floor step by step, and not long after, watched him slowly walk down.
Waving his hand, he signaled Wei Ran to go to the table and sit down. Nicholas took out a palm-sized jewelry box from his pocket and pushed it to Wei Ran, "Go and put it on her, then bring her ashes back and send them to Tyumen."
,I will wait for you at the airport then."
Picking up the jewelry box on the table, Wei Ran nodded, "I'll leave now."
"Victor"
Nicholas stopped Wei Ran, who had already stood up, and after a long hesitation said, "There is a scar about five centimeters long on her right arm, and there is a mole about two centimeters directly below the scar. Let's check it carefully when the time comes.
"
Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, "I understand."
"Watching her being cremated with my own eyes," Nicholas added.
"Is there more?" Wei Ran turned around and asked.
Nicholas finally said, "Inform the new Katenka to leave Vienna and find a new address, anywhere, as long as you know the location, she will know what to do with the rest.
In addition, no matter what the other party asks for, I agree to everything. That’s it, remember to close the door for me.”
With a long sigh of relief, Wei Ran quietly left Nikolai's house and drove his off-road vehicle straight to the airport he had just left.
On the way, he bought a plane ticket for that night while waiting for the traffic light. It was only then that he opened the jewelry box that Nicholas gave him.
This slightly old small box contains a Soviet-era KGB badge, and on the inside of the lid of the jewelry box, there is a small yellowed card with the words "
