At the Cologne-Bonn Airport in Germany, a man with only a briefcase walked out of the airport pick-up gate and met the pick-up person Carlos had arranged for him in advance. Under his guidance, he found a car in the parking lot.
Black Mercedes sedan.
Victor, do you really not need me to drive you to the Ruhr area? The man in his thirties asked politely.
Really no need
Putting the bathroom bag into the carriage, he replied, I have been to this place before, and I will contact you if I encounter any trouble.
Okay then.
The man standing outside the car door finally nodded and took a step back, watching Wei Ran close the car door, drive the car out of the parking lot, and finally disappear from sight.
Of course Wei Ran didn't lie. He had indeed been here before, but last time he came with Teacher Dalia and Mr. Culp, and of course, that bastard Jima. At that time, he was investigating Mr. Nikolai's wife and children.
They even dug out a cave that had been collapsed by the explosion.
However, at the beginning, he and Jima were still rookies who were not even very skilled in disguise, but now they have become somewhat famous in their respective fields.
Time flies so fast...
Wei Ran muttered secretly and drove the car in the direction of the Ruhr Industrial Area, which was completely opposite to the real destination of his trip.
Long before the private plane that brought him here landed on the airport runway, Anfiya, who was still vacationing with Suisui in Hawaii, had already sent a set of precise coordinates.
Although Anfiya did not mention how she found the location, according to the text explanation attached to this set of coordinates, the castle that Wei Ran saw in the photo was located in a forest reserve. Of course, just like Wei Ran,
As Ran predicted, the protected area where the castle is located also belongs to the Hürtgen Forest.
Even, according to the coordinates, the castle is less than eight kilometers away from the memorial hall and cemetery built after the war about the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, and less than four kilometers away from the Firefortress ruins left over from that war.
.
Of course, the closest thing to this castle is actually the Belgian border - only about three kilometers away.
It was precisely for this reason that Wei Ran, who originally planned to bring his dog Beria over to help, had no choice but to leave him on the plane. After all, he did not want to cross the border again to find the dog.
Compared with these, what worries Wei Ran even more is that although the castle is located within the forest reserve, it is a piece of private land that is not open to the public.
With a lot of doubts and curiosity, he patiently drove the car to the Ruhr Industrial Area, first found an outdoor goods store and bought a set of clothing, and then found a nearby hotel to stay.
However, in less than half an hour, he put on the newly bought clothes and shoes, left the hotel, took a taxi back to Cologne, and bought an additional dark brown hunting suit and a foldable car.
After taking a mountain bike, he took a taxi again and went straight to a border town called Hürtgenwald.
Just by looking at this name, you can tell that there is an inextricable relationship between this place and the battle that year. In fact, as long as you get here, there are only the last ten kilometers away from the castle that Anfiya helped find.
distance.
Seeing that it was still early, Wei Ran yawned, and simply stopped the taxi some distance away from his destination, and rode his bicycle slowly to the museum built to commemorate the war.
.
This is said to be a museum, but it is also a cemetery. However, it is obvious that for today's Germany, Nazism is a term that they are unwilling to mention, and can even be avoided for fear of being misunderstood by others.
Perhaps because of this, most of the things on display in the museum seem to recall the war from an American perspective, which Americans do not want to recall. Even in the cemetery, most of the people buried in the museum are Americans.
People - after all, enough of them died in that war, regardless of whether it was just or not.
I wandered carefully for more than an hour in this semi-open-air museum, which is not too big. Wei Ran looked like an ordinary person.
Like all the hurried passers-by, they rode on their newly purchased mountain bikes, facing the noon sun, and rushed to the fortress ruins on the map.
As the road became narrower and narrower, the farmland on both sides, as well as the anti-tank cones still scattered in the farmland, were gradually replaced by pine trees that were thirty or forty meters high. Gradually, pine trees appeared on the roadside.
Trenches used as drainage ditches.
Finally, when the mobile phone navigation prompt reached the destination, a concrete ruin covered with moss appeared on the roadside directly in front.
Just looking at the huge steel bars and huge gaps, you can tell that this place has suffered explosions from the inside out, and the remaining bullet marks on the crumbling concrete walls also imply that they are at least better than the Maginot Line.
Be stronger.
He raised his head and squinted at the sun that was cut into pieces by the tree crown. After thinking for a moment, Wei Ran pushed the newly purchased bicycle into the dark and damp bunker and put it against the wall. Then he took out the hunting clothes he bought and put it on the wall.
Go up, reopen the navigation, and walk towards the castle less than four kilometers away.
Gradually, the road under his feet became more and more desolate. Even after he crossed a small stone bridge that looked very old, he could no longer see the existence of the road further back.
Not only that, even the sunlight above our heads is becoming increasingly difficult to shine down due to the increasingly dense pine trees.
However, perhaps it is because the sun is difficult to shine down, but the forest is clean enough. There are no bushes at all. Some are just gravel occasionally extracted from the pine needles on the ground, and everywhere
The visible moss even stretches to the end, making it impossible to tell whether it is a ditch washed out by a stream or the remains of trenches that were distributed in the forest.
No wonder the American soldiers killed so many people here..."
Wei Ran stopped and muttered while observing the surrounding environment, he took out the newly obtained British army kettle from the metal book, unscrewed the lid and took a sip of still warm hawthorn leaf tea.
The densely packed pine trees in this forest are as thin as waist-thick, and are at least more than thirty meters tall. The dense growth density not only easily blocks the sunlight above the head and the view of the plane looking down, but also blocks delusions.
Tanks, armored vehicles and even more nimble Willys jeeps drive into the forest.
Frankly speaking, in this environment, the best thing to use is probably the German half-track motorcycle. Because with that kind of motorcycle, you don’t have to worry about getting stuck in the forest, let alone being blocked by the hard-growing pine trees because of the wide body.
Putting away the kettle, Wei Ran turned on the screen of his mobile phone and checked the signal strength, then continued to walk towards his destination unhurriedly.
Gradually, he could no longer see the trenches that were suspected to be trench ruins, and he could no longer see the existence of the concrete fire fortress. Correspondingly, the moisture content of the soil under his feet was getting higher and higher, and it seemed to be turning into a swamp.
It was just when he was bypassing a small swamp that a barbed wire fence that almost grew into the trunk of a tree appeared directly in front of him without any warning. The barbed wire fence that stretched to the end of his field of vision was three meters high. At regular intervals, other fences appeared.
There is also a rusty metal sign fixed on it, with warnings clearly written in German and English such as "Private property is prohibited," or "Private property, there are ferocious animals in it."
Putting on the wear-resistant gloves he bought from an outdoor store and touching the rust on the barbed wire fence, Wei Ran thought for a moment, stepped back more than twenty meters, and casually followed the direction of the barbed wire fence from a distance in a circle.
What he didn't expect was that after walking down this circle, the length of the barbed wire fence was probably about two kilometers. The most important thing was that he actually found a gravel road about two meters wide.
However, this gravel road does not lead directly to the outside world. Instead, it winds through the pine forest. If the roadbed was not about half a meter higher than the surrounding area, it might not have been noticed at all.
He was even sure that if a plane flew over this forest, it would be equally difficult to notice this gravel road.
What's even more strange is that when the barbed wire fence crossed the gravel road filled with fallen leaves, there was not even a door left. And Wei Ran walked around this circle.
When we came down, all we could see on the other side of the barbed wire fence were pine trees and no castle at all.
After thinking for a while, he finally put on an extra baseball cap and mask, risked climbing over the barbed wire fence, and using the cover of the pine trees, he cautiously moved closer to the core area.
As the distance got closer, he could clearly feel that not only was the terrain rising slightly, but the growth density of the surrounding pine trees seemed to be greater. However, even just comparing the thickness of these pine trees, he could see that those were relatively thinner.
, I'm afraid they are all artificially cultivated.
I kept my vigilance high and continued walking for nearly a hundred meters. When the barbed wire fence behind me was completely blocked by tree trunks, a dry moat appeared in front of me!
However, this moat, which is more than 20 meters wide, not only has no water at all, but is also filled with pine trees.
But even so, he could barely see that there was indeed a small Gothic castle built in the middle of the moat, which was obscured by thick tree trunks.
But what puzzled him was that the castle seemed to be covered with pine trees!
After walking along the dry moat with doubts, Wei Ran successfully found a small stone bridge that was less than three meters wide. And only a few dozen meters away from the small stone bridge, he also found a small stone bridge.
A building similar to the concrete fortress we saw before was built on the edge of the moat.
But the strange thing is that this fortress seems to be one size smaller. The dark hole is not so much an entrance as a large vent, because the width and height can only allow one person to bend at the same time.
Go in with your waist down.
He pointed the telescope at the castle and observed it until he was sure that there was no surveillance in this place. Then he tightened his gloves, mask and hat, crossed the small stone bridge, walked through the doorway and entered the courtyard.
However, what puzzled him was that although the courtyard inside the castle was paved with stone tiles, there were also oversized wooden flowerpots almost one meter square placed almost side by side. These flowerpots were
Without exception, there are lush branches and leaves, at least one pine tree four or five meters high.
Even on the edge of these closely arranged flower pots, you can see the sprinkler irrigation equipment fixed on them, as well as a few fertilizer packaging bags that were not collected in time.
If this yard filled with oversized potted pine trees is not a standard circle, then at least three-quarters of the circle is occupied by those lush and lush pine potted plants.
Even if there is not a one-meter-high stone wall base and a cast iron fence surrounding the river bed, these potted pine trees that are growing particularly well may be connected with the pine trees in the river bed.
.
As for the remaining quarter of the yard, a platform was built that was probably four meters high. There was a locked gate on one side of the platform, and an entire large wall facing the entrance on the other side.
The window, but the curtains were drawn inside this window, so it was not clear what it was for.
Circling up the stairs that were also filled with potted pine trees, as expected, there were also flower pots next to each other, and the flower pots were also full of pine trees.
But this nearly square platform is connected to two particularly beautiful buildings. The smaller building closer to the entrance seems to be a church, with stained glass and tiles on the spire.
cross.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Distributed at 90 degrees to the church, is the main body of the castle. Although it only has three floors from the window, the height of each floor is extremely exaggerated.
, not to mention that there is a Gothic-style spire on the roof that seems to be the same height.
But what puzzled him was that not only were these two beautiful buildings surrounded by unsightly flowerpots, but there were also scaffoldings set up near the walls, and the scaffoldings were already covered with climbers.
A climbing plant similar to a creeper.
Is this going to blur the outline of the building with plants?
Wei Ran sat on the edge of a flower pot, looking at the closed door of the main building and lost in thought. It stands to reason that after spending so much work to build such a beautiful building, even if no one lives there, there is no need to do so.
These things.
However, the sprinklers on these flower pots and the fertilizer bags with production dates marked as the autumn of the previous year clearly imply that someone is taking care of this place.
After some hesitation, Wei Ran walked through the scaffolding covered with vines and approached the window on the side of the main building's door. He covered the glass with his hand and took a look inside. What he didn't expect was that this building looked so...
Beautiful building, turned out to be a rough house!
Unwilling to give up, I took the risk and climbed up the scaffolding to the second floor window and took a look inside. There was nothing like a bare wall inside this window!
After all, he was worried that the scaffolding that had been there for who knows how long was unsafe, so Wei Ran did not continue to climb up, but returned to the ground and once again walked to the door of the church-like building.
Like the windows beside the platform at his feet, the curtains seemed to be drawn inside this church, so he couldn't see anything through the windows.
Fortunately, the keyhole on this door was extremely retro. He even suspected that the key that was staring at on the table in Mr. Dominic's collection room was used to open this door. Accordingly, he wanted to pry open this door.
A locked door makes it extra easy.
With a soft click, Wei Ran put away his lockpicking tools and carefully pushed open the two heavy wooden doors, which were more than two meters wide and covered with copper.
When the cut and incomplete sunlight shone through the crack in the door into the room, Wei Ran was stunned.
He didn't expect that this place was really a church, with a dusty floor, a confessional bench also covered with a thick layer of dust, and even the cross in front and the icon that seemed to be made of bronze, as well as the incomparable-looking
A luxurious, but at the same time, a pipe organ with a full sense of age.
Looking up at the high dome, Wei Ran did not step in. Instead, he took out a pair of climbing crampons he had bought at an outdoor store from his bag and put them on his shoes.
In addition to providing better grip, the crampons also use those spikes to prevent dust from destroying the ground and leaving indelible footprints.
He carefully stepped on the ground with one foot and tried it. Seeing that only a few match-sized marks would be left, he turned on the flashlight function of his mobile phone and walked to the center of the church with confidence.
If his memory was correct, the windows with muzzle flashes on the ruins of the castle in the oil paintings originally found in Dominic's home seemed to come from this church.
Or to be more precise, it comes from the wall behind the icon of this church.
He carefully walked to the left side of the sacred elephant and opened the wooden door. It was just a stairwell leading to the underground. At the same time, he also noticed that there were some old-looking hangings on the three walls of the stairwell.
oil paintings, and what is drawn in these oil paintings seems to be this hidden castle.
Thinking about the four-meter-high platform when we first came up, it seems reasonable that there is another layer below the church.
However, Wei Ran was not in a hurry to go down. Instead, he closed the door, walked to the right side of the holy elephant, and opened the wooden door here.
Compared with the stairwell just now, the space here is much larger, and there is even a particularly beautiful fireplace. In the fireplace, a smoked black Dutch pot is hung on an iron hook, and
A similarly dark German lunch box.
There was no window on the left side of the fireplace, but there was a wooden staircase spiraling up against the wall. He glanced up and saw that it seemed to be the bell tower of the church. He could even see the copper hanging on it.
bell.
And on the right side of the fireplace, next to the door, is the only window in this not-so-large room.
It should be this window... Wei Ran stood in front of the window and muttered.
He opened the curtains that seemed to be in ruins and took a look outside. What he didn't expect was that this window was actually a three-story window.
It can be clearly seen that the two layers inside and outside should have been installed later. They are two complete pieces of large glass with excellent transparency.
But the middle floor is similar to the style of this church. On the pieces of colored glass, there are also paintings of religious figures or scenes that Wei Ran cannot understand. Some of the pieces of glass are even cracked.
There were even some rusty bullet casings and a tin can that seemed to be used as an ashtray on the window sill that was sealed between the two layers of glass.
They are all filled with bullet casings from Mauser rifle bullets. Could this be a sniper spot?
Wei Ran thought to himself, then closed the curtains again, turned around and left the room, and once again got into the stairwell.
First, he took a few photos of the oil paintings on the wall, and then he stepped on the stone steps and went downstairs. But what he didn't expect was that when he walked down the stairs to the end, there was a dark path directly in front of him.
cast iron door.
He tried pushing, but nothing moved. He tried to pull it out, but he couldn't even think about it. There was no handle on the door at all. Even if he wanted to pick the lock, he couldn't do it, because not only was there no handle, but
There is no keyhole yet.
After careful inspection, Wei Ran decisively chose to give up and turned around and walked back to the church along the stairs.
Could it be that the clues are in the main building that looks like a rough house? No, there are rooms under the platform!
Wei Ran patted the top of his head, carefully opened the door and restored it to its original position, then locked the door, went down the steps on the side of the platform, and then pried open the locked door.
This time, he finally had a new clue.
What he never expected was that the space under the platform not only contained rooms such as a mill, a well, a kitchen, a warehouse and even a flower room with only flower pots, there was even a car parked in it.
A very retro style carriage. There is obviously a garage door directly in front of the carriage, but it is completely covered with red bricks, and the existence of the door cannot even be seen from the outside.
But compared to these, what really concerned Wei Ran was the imperial gray half-track motorcycle without any number or pattern parked in the carriage narrator.
On the tow truck connected to the half-track motorcycle, there were not only a set of 80mm caliber GR34 mortars, two engineer shovels and an axe, but also six iron mortars.
Artillery ammunition boxes and a Wehrmacht oil drum that smelled of gasoline.
He tried to pick up one of the ammunition boxes, and the heavy weight immediately made him frown. He carefully placed it on the ground and opened it. As expected, there were three 80mm caliber mortar shells inside, or to be more precise,
These are three Type 39 air burst bombs equipped with long rod fuses!
And this kind of ammunition was exactly one of the weapons used by German soldiers to attack American soldiers in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest!
Thanks to the special long-rod fuze used in this mortar shell, it can explode in the air at a certain distance from the ground. Such an explosion can also overcome the impact of dense forests on the explosion damage of the shell.
In fact, because the American soldiers at that time were trained to lie down immediately when encountering artillery fire instead of hiding under a big tree, more lives were taken away by such volley-exploding mortars.
Could it be that Dominic and his uncle were actually members of the mortar team at that time?
After Wei Ran hesitated for a moment, he finally put the iron ammunition box back into its original position in the trailer.
If it is true as I guessed, then there should be two Germans at that time, because this type of mortar required four people to operate it at the time. But there was a problem. A half-track
The motorcycle obviously cannot seat four people.
And an ace sniper who can get a pistol as a gift from Himmler will never control a mortar, etc.!
Wei Ran was suddenly stunned. If Dominic's uncle was really an ace sniper, why did he choose the semi-automatic G43 rifle?
The hidden castle, the incompatible weapons, and the employer who is unwilling to disclose the past but wants to find the family... As expected, the two million and seven million US dollars are not so easy to get, why is this matter getting more and more complicated?
...
Wei Ran muttered to himself, and then began to think about the clues he had so far, and which item he should use to return to the war to help Dominic find his heir.
