Chapter 2699 Clues

The two continued to stroll in the flea market. Sokov did not find anything to sell, but Xiao Ma saw two stainless steel wine bottles that looked like cannonballs at a stall.

Seeing that he wanted to buy this kind of wine bottle, Sokov quickly reminded him: "If you buy it and only use it in Moscow, it doesn't matter. But if you take it back to your country, it will be confiscated at customs. You have to think about it."

"It's okay, it's okay." Xiao Ma felt very uncomfortable at this time. He had finally come to the flea market. He was stopped from buying anything. He couldn't come empty-handed. So he waved his hand and said carelessly: "If they want to confiscate it when you go through customs when you return to your country, just give it to them. It's nothing big."

Seeing Xiao Ma's self-righteous look, Sokov didn't know what to say. He thought that it was your money to buy things anyway, and it was none of my business, so he shut up and let the other party pay for the two stainless steel wine bottles in the shape of cannonballs.

On the way back to the market, Xiao Ma suddenly asked, "Brother, what do you think of me opening my own store?"

Sokof was stunned after hearing this, and then asked back, "Opening a store by yourself? Is it your own idea, or your uncle's idea?"

"Of course it's my own idea." Xiao Ma said, "I left my hometown and came to a foreign country. I don't want to work for others all my life. If I have the opportunity, I still want to be my own boss. That's better than working."

"It's good to have a dream, but it also depends on whether the conditions can be realized." Sokov said tactfully, "Opening a store in Moscow is not an easy thing. For example, renting a store and preparing goods requires a huge expenditure. In addition, you have to spend money on food, clothing, housing and transportation here. When you open your eyes every day, you will find that you have to earn hundreds of dollars to break even. Do you think you have such conditions?"

"Since others can gain a foothold in Moscow, I think I can too." Xiao Ma said confidently, "Brother, can you help me when the time comes?"

Sokof thought to himself, I'm not your father, why should I help you? Although he was a little unhappy, he pretended to be calm and asked, "How can I help you?"

"Lend me some money first, and I can rent a shop." Xiao Ma said, "Then introduce your cargo owners to me, so that I can get the goods I want from them. Of course, it's best to sell them on consignment, and settle the bill after selling. In this way, my shop will be built."

After listening to Xiao Ma's bizarre remarks, Sokov was shocked. He never dreamed that the other party actually regarded him as a rich man, and wanted him to act as his ATM, and also wanted him to introduce the cargo owners to him. This kind of idea can't be thought of without more than ten years of cerebral thrombosis.

"You want to do business alone, does your uncle know?" For the sake of Lao Wu, Sokov did not immediately turn against Xiao Ma, but suppressed his anger and tried to say in a calm tone: "Since Lao Wu is your uncle, you should have said that to him."

"I told my uncle, but he didn't express his opinion at all." Xiao Ma said sideways: "Now in Moscow, besides my uncle, I only know you. If you don't help me, who can help me?"

Listening to the other party's self-evident remarks, Sokov felt that he couldn't save face for him, otherwise he would still want to open a dyeing factory if you gave him three points of color.

"I declare that we are just neighbors and we are not familiar with each other." Sokov said with a stern face: "Don't think that I usually talk and laugh with your uncle, but we are in a competitive relationship. Supporting your business not only offends him, but also cultivates a competitor for myself. Do you think my IQ is too low and I will definitely agree to your request?"

Seeing that Sokov was angry, Xiao Ma didn't dare to say anything. On the way, he didn't say a word.

When they arrived at the parking lot of the market, Sokov said to Xiao Ma: "We're here, you go back first, don't let your uncle wait anxiously."

"What about you?"

"I have something else to do, I'll go back after I'm done."

After Xiao Ma walked away, Sokov found an empty space to park the car, and then went to Anna's shop to find her.

As soon as Anna finished her work, she saw Sokov coming in from outside and asked curiously: "Misha, did you just come back from outside?"

"Yes." Sokov nodded and replied: "Just came back from the flea market."

"What did you go to the flea market for?"

"The neighbor across the street asked me to take his nephew there to broaden his horizons."

"Did you buy anything?" Anna continued: "The things sold in the flea market have become less and less interesting in recent years, so I don't go there anymore."

Sokof sat with Anna for a while, and after he calmed down, he slowly returned to his shop.

As soon as they sat down, Lao Wu ran over from the opposite side and said to Sokov: "Xiao Lin, I asked you to take my nephew to the flea market, why did he buy useless things?"

"You mean the two wine bottles that look like cannonballs?"

"Yes, that's right, those two wine bottles." Lao Wu said unhappily: "You are also Lao Mo, you should know that you can't take these things back after buying them, and they will be confiscated at customs."

"Yes, I know." Sokov nodded and said bluntly: "When he wanted to buy it, I also advised him, but he didn't listen, what can I do."

"But he told me that you asked him to buy it."

"Lao Wu, you and I have known each other for more than a year or two. You should know very well what kind of person I am." Sokov didn't want to take the blame for that pony, so he told Lao Wu what happened at that time. He asked again: "I don't even look at this weird-looking hip flask. How can I persuade your nephew to buy it?"

When Lao Wu heard this, he realized that what Sokov said made sense. He couldn't lie to himself about such a trivial matter, so he said nonchalantly: "Then I'll go back and ask him."

When Lao Wu returned to his shop, Liena came over and asked curiously: "Misha, what are you talking about? I see that the boss opposite seems very unhappy."

Seeing that Lena was curious about this matter, Sokov repeated the conversation to her, and finally said: "I would have known better not to take him to the flea market, otherwise I would not have caused such a thing. What a bad luck. "

"Misha, I think your luck has been bad recently." Lena said: "Just think about how long it has been since Victory Day, and so many things have happened. Otherwise, you would have Come with me to the church tonight, light a candle and pray, then bring some holy water back and sprinkle it in the store, maybe it will get rid of the bad luck."

Regarding Lena's proposal, Sokov thought for a while, but shook his head and refused: "Forget it, I don't believe in these things. If you think holy water can get rid of bad luck, then please go to the church and ask for some holy water."

"Okay then, I'll go to church after get off work."

After returning home in the evening, Anna saw the photo album Sokov brought back and asked with some surprise: "Misha, why did you buy an old photo album?"

Naturally, Sokov would not tell Anna that he saw himself in the photos in the album, but said perfunctorily: "I saw this is a photo album of a military family, and I couldn't help but want to buy it back and take a look."

"I don't know how much it cost?"

"2500 rubles."

"It's a bit too expensive." Anna said: "There are old photo albums like this sold in the flea markets in small cities in the suburbs. They usually cost three hundred to five hundred rubles each. If you want it, I will take it to you. Go buy it.”

"No need." The reason Sokov bought this photo album was because he saw himself in it. Hearing Anna's words at this moment, he quickly shook his head and said: "I just bought one on a whim, and occasionally bought it and took a look at it. Don’t buy any more.”

"I'm going to cook." Anna said, "I'll call you after it's done."

"Okay." Sokov agreed and entered the study with an old photo album.

He sat at the desk, opened the photo album, and turned to the photo of himself.

In this group photo of five people, apart from himself and Lunev, he didn't know the remaining three at all. He tried hard to recall, which army he inspected that year and took this photo?

However, after thinking for a long time, he still couldn't think of any valuable clues. The only thing he could be sure of was that this photo should have been taken when he was the commander of the 27th Group Army.

Sokov closed the photo album, leaned back, leaned his head on the back of the chair, and began to think in his mind, "At first I thought that time travel was just a dream, but now more and more information shows that I did participate in the Great Patriotic War that year, and became a general because of his outstanding military achievements. "

He was thinking about it when he suddenly heard someone calling his name: "Misha, Misha!"

Turning his head to look in the direction of the sound, he was surprised to find that two more figures appeared in the dressing mirror that had been silent for a long time. One is his wife Asiya, and the other is Lunev whom he just saw in the photo.

Sokov stood up and rushed to the full-length mirror, trying to confirm whether the people who appeared in the mirror were Asiya and Runev, but the images inside suddenly disappeared. If he hadn't just heard the sound and seen the image, he would have thought he was hallucinating.

The image in the mirror had appeared several times so far, but this was the first time for Runev. Sokov began to guess: How could Runev appear? Could it be that he also went to Vienna?

Just when he was puzzled, the cell phone on the table rang.

He stood up and walked over, picked up the phone and saw that the call was from Victoria. He quickly answered the call: "Vika, is there something wrong with Lida?"

"No." Victoria said in a panic: "I called you just to ask if the police station over there called you to tell you the whereabouts of your friend?"

"No, so far, I haven't received any calls." Sokov sighed and said, "It seems like the police still don't have any clues about them."

"Don't worry," Victoria comforted Sokov: "If the police have clues, they will notify you in time."

"Vika, you have been a police officer for so many years, have you ever encountered a similar case?" Sokov asked.

After hearing Sokov's question, Victoria was silent for a long time and then said: "Such a case of 12 people missing at once has never happened in Moscow. But it has happened in St. Petersburg."

When Sokov heard this, he immediately became interested and asked quickly: "Has the case been solved later?"

"Yes, the case was solved in the end." Victoria said: "Eight people were missing at that time, three women and five men. The police also searched the area where they disappeared for a long time, but there were still no clues. Later. A homeless man went to the police station to report that he heard strange sounds coming from the ground every midnight in an abandoned factory where he lived. At first, the police did not pay enough attention to his report. , On the contrary, they thought he had a neurological problem and even planned to send him to a mental hospital.”

From Victoria's story, Sokov immediately realized that the problem should lie in the building of the abandoned factory, and quickly asked: "Did the police later search the building of the abandoned factory?"

Victoria nodded and continued: "Later, several men and women who were camping lived in the abandoned factory building. They also heard voices coming from the ground. There were men and women, and they seemed to be screaming. They didn't dare to go any further. Stay here, leave quickly, and call the police at the nearby police station.

After the police received the security guard again, they realized that there was something wrong in the abandoned factory building, so they mobilized manpower to search, accompanied by two police dogs. After several hours of searching, I finally found an iron plate covered with debris in a corner of the factory building. After opening it, I found a staircase leading below. The police went down to search and soon found a large iron door locked with iron chains. After breaking the lock, they found that there were eight people in the house, who were the missing people they were looking for. "

"So, those missing people were imprisoned in the basement of the abandoned factory building?" Sokov asked tentatively: "If they were not discovered by homeless people and campers, they might have died in the basement."

"Yes, it is indeed like this." Victoria said in a positive tone: "When these people were rescued, they were already very weak due to a long period of no water and food. They were sent to the hospital for nearly half a month of treatment before they barely recovered. normal."

Sokov felt that the disappearance of Baharov and the others might have something to do with the case Victoria mentioned, and quickly asked: "Then have these people revealed to the police how they entered this basement? You know, here It’s dozens of kilometers away from where they disappeared.”

"They said that while they were camping, they suddenly felt sleepy and fell asleep without knowing it. When they woke up, they found themselves locked in a dark basement. Because the big iron door was locked from the outside, They had no tools and couldn't pry the door open, so they could only scream, hoping that someone outside would hear them. Fortunately, their shouts were eventually discovered by homeless people and campers, otherwise they would all die. In that basement."

"Vika, I have an idea now." Sokov said cautiously: "Tell me, after Baharov and the others entered the Hovlin Hospital building, were they also stunned and then taken to some hidden place to be imprisoned? Are you up?"

"Well, I can't rule out this possibility." Victoria said, "But this case is not our bureau's responsibility, and I can't interfere with other people's handling of the case."