According to the navigation display, we encountered a traffic jam when we were still seven or eight kilometers away from Hoflin Hospital.
The highway turned into a stagnant river of traffic. Some impatient drivers kept honking their horns and making annoying noises. As for those drivers who were used to this phenomenon, they took out their mobile phones and watched videos in silence.
Waiting quietly.
Sokov looked at the endless traffic in front of him and said a little irritably: "What's going on? There are so many cars leaving the city today?"
"It's almost June," Victoria said lightly: "Everyone wants to go to their villas in the countryside to plant fields and sow various vegetable seeds so that they can be harvested in September. This way, in winter, there will be more vegetables at home.
Already."
Sokov asked curiously: "I know that city people go to their suburban villas to grow vegetables. They grow tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, onions and cabbages. But except for potatoes and onions, I'm afraid the rest of the vegetables will not be allowed to grow."
In less than a few months?"
"Have you forgotten, they can canned vegetables?" Victoria said: "According to tradition, they start canning every year in September. After they are done, they find a place to store them, and wait until there are no more vegetables on the market in January or February.
, and then eat them. Although vegetables are available in supermarkets today all year round, the tradition of canning is still passed down."
Sokov took out his mobile phone and looked at the time, and said with worry: "The traffic is so heavy, I'm afraid I won't be able to get to Hoflin Hospital within the time specified by the policeman, and he won't look for me when he arrives.
Trouble?"
"It's okay, you still have me." Victoria said confidently: "If he says anything later, I will just explain it to him."
Sokov saw what video seemed to be playing on Victoria's phone, so he leaned his head over and asked curiously: "Vika, what are you watching?"
"Video of Victory Day." Victoria moved the phone in front of Sokov: "My great-grandmother also had many old friends in Ukraine. Although they are no longer here, their children and grandchildren are in contact with me. This is one of them.
A video of Victory Day that someone sent me.”
"Is their Victory Day also on May 9th?"
"Yes, it is also May 9." Victoria said: "In the Victory Day military parade in 2009, the Russian honor guard and the Ukrainian honor guard formed a joint parade formation and passed the viewing platform together."
Hearing what Victoria said, Sokov also remembered something: "Speaking of the Victory Day military parade in 2009, in addition to military personnel from Russia and Ukraine, the troops participating in the parade on Red Square also included soldiers from the United States and the United Kingdom.
, NATO troops, including France and Germany, were also invited to participate in the military parade."
"Yes, it does happen." Victoria said thoughtfully: "The invitation to NATO troops to participate in the Red Square military parade was only once in 2009, and they were never invited again. I didn't expect that the previous confrontation
The two military groups actually had a joint military parade one day."
Sokov smiled faintly and said casually: "Maybe one day in the future, we will meet the armies of these countries again."
"Between countries, there are no eternal enemies or friends, only eternal interests." After Victoria said this, she lowered her head to watch the video on her mobile phone.
Sokov tilted his head and quietly watched the people in the video, laying flowers and hugs to the veterans. A little girl of five or six years old made a baby cry while hugging an old soldier with a chest full of medals.
He said angrily: "Thank you for your hard work, allowing us to have the happy life we have today!"
The traffic started to move, and Sokov sat down, since he was driving seriously.
By the time we arrived at Hoflin Hospital, nearly two hours had passed, but fortunately, the policeman did not call to urge me.
Looking from a distance, the unfinished hospital building is still a frame in many places, but all the scaffolding has been removed, and a ring of barbed wire has been used around it to isolate the hospital building from the outside world.
At the entrance were two hesitant, rusty iron doors. Two police cars stood at the door, and five or six uniformed police officers guarded the door.
Seeing a civilian photo-taking vehicle approaching, a uniformed policeman came over, reached out and stopped Sokov's car, and said with a straight face: "This place has been blocked by the police, and no one is allowed to enter without permission."
Victoria, who was sitting in the passenger seat, tilted her body and said to the uniformed police officer outside: "I am Major Victoria, and I am here to handle the case." As he said that, he took out his ID and showed it to the other party to confirm his identity.
The uniformed police officer saw clearly the police uniform on Victoria's body and the ID in her hand. He quickly took a step back, raised his hand in salute, and signaled to his colleagues standing at the door to let him go.
Sokov had seen similar scenes many times when he traveled back to the 1940s. When he saw the police letting him go, he drove into the hospital area.
There were more than a dozen police cars parked at the main entrance of the hospital building. Sokov drove directly to the police car and stopped, then took out his mobile phone. He did not know the policeman’s phone number, but Baharov’s mobile phone was on his phone.
In his hand, if he calls Baharov’s mobile phone, he will definitely be able to contact him.
Sure enough, the phone only rang twice before the other party answered the call and asked in an impatient tone: "Hey, who is this?"
"Officer," Sokov said politely: "You called me two hours ago and said that my friend was missing in Hovlin Hospital and asked me to come find you. I have arrived now. Where are you?
Where can I go to find you?"
There was silence on the phone for a moment, and then the policeman's voice came again: "Is your car black, parked next to a box-shaped police car?"
"Yes, that's my car." Sokov asked again: "Where should I find you?"
"Wait for me by the car. I'll be there right away."
After making the call, Sokov got out of the car and stood next to the car, patiently waiting for the police to arrive.
After a while, a uniformed policeman with the rank of lieutenant on his shoulder straps walked out from behind a police car. He quickly came to Sokov and said with a straight face: "I didn't ask you to rush in within an hour."
Come on, how did you get here?"
"I'm sorry, Lieutenant." Sokov politely explained to the other party: "I encountered a traffic jam on the way here, so I came here now."
"What's your name?" asked the uniformed police lieutenant.
"My Russian name is Mikhail, you can call me Misha."
At this time, the passenger door opened and Victoria walked out.
The uniformed police officer did not expect that a police officer with a higher military rank than himself would come out of Sokov's car. He quickly raised his hand and saluted him: "Hello, Major! How can I help you?"
"Lieutenant," Victoria raised her hand in return and then asked, "What exactly is the disappearance case you mentioned?"
If Sokov had come alone to ask the lieutenant about the case, the lieutenant might have been indifferent. But now it was Victoria who was asking the lieutenant. Her police rank was two ranks higher than the lieutenant, so the lieutenant had to be respectful.
He replied: "Major, the situation is like this. We were ordered to expel the homeless in the building, but unexpectedly we found three cars with private license plates parked on the west side of the building, but there was no one in the car. We passed by.
After asking the homeless people about the situation, we found out that a group of young people who came to explore entered the building yesterday, but they have not come out yet. After searching, we found a mobile phone, and the last number called by the mobile phone was the one next to you.
A friend’s phone number.”
"Misha, is this the case?"
"Yes, it is indeed the case." Sokov explained to Victoria and the lieutenant: "Yesterday Khabarov called me and said that they were going to explore the Hovlin Hospital and asked me to come with them, but I
After repeated thinking, I finally rejected his invitation."
After Victoria understood the general situation, she asked the lieutenant: "After discovering that someone was missing, did you conduct a blanket search of the entire building?"
"Yes, Major, we have searched all the places that should be searched, but still no one has been found." The lieutenant said, "It seems as if he suddenly disappeared."
"Did you search everywhere?"
Hearing Victoria's question, the lieutenant hesitated. It seemed that he was hiding important information. Seeing this, Victoria said dissatisfiedly: "Lieutenant, the information you provided is incomplete, which is very detrimental to our search for missing persons."
of."
The lieutenant said hesitantly: "There is still one place that has not been searched."
"Where?"
"Underground parking lot."
"Why don't you search?"
The lieutenant said with a grimace: "Major, there is no way to search, the underground parking lot has been flooded."
"What, the underground parking lot is flooded?" Victoria raised her eyebrows and ordered the other party: "Take me to have a look."
Under the leadership of the lieutenant, Sokov and Victoria came to the entrance of the underground garage, and sure enough they saw that the water had submerged the entrance.
Seeing this, Victoria turned to the lieutenant and said: "Lieutenant, look, the water has submerged the entrance to the underground garage. The missing person definitely did not enter from here."
"In addition to the entrance here, there are also exits in the building." The lieutenant said urgently: "I will take you to have a look."
In this way, the lieutenant led the two people to the building again, pointed to a downward staircase and said to Victoria: "Major, look, this staircase can lead to the parking lot below, although most of this staircase is blocked.
It’s flooded, but we don’t rule out the possibility of entering the underground garage from here.”
Victoria walked to the stairs, walked down a few steps, took a strong flashlight from the lieutenant, and shined it downwards, trying to see clearly what was going on in the underground garage. But except for the reflective water, nothing could be seen.
Can't see.
When no one was found, Victoria sighed softly, turned to the lieutenant and said, "Lieutenant, I want to walk around the building. I'll return this flashlight to you later."
"No problem, feel free to use it." The lieutenant said respectfully, "This flashlight was just charged last night, and it can still be used for at least seven or eight hours."
After sending the lieutenant away, Victoria took Sokov around the building.
The two went up to the second floor and found that there were construction rubbish everywhere underground. They had to step carefully over the rubbish when walking, otherwise they might trip over it. Victoria kept telling Sokov: "Misha, under your feet
Pay more attention, this building is in disrepair and the floors in many places are rotten. If you accidentally step on those places, you may fall directly."
Hearing Victoria's reminder, Sokov immediately became more vigilant. He couldn't afford to miss the mark and suffer from paralysis, so he was very cautious every step he took.
As soon as she walked up to the third floor, Victoria seemed to notice something. She used a strong flashlight to shine into a room, and then quickly walked in.
Sokov didn't know what happened, so he quickly followed him.
After following him into the room, he asked curiously: "Vika, what did you see?"
"You see the ground." Victoria shined a flashlight on the ground and asked, "What are these?"
After Sokov lowered his head to see clearly what was on the ground, his eyes widened in surprise: "Wow, why are they all eggshells?"
Yes, the floor of this room was full of eggshells. Sokov saw Victoria standing on the eggshells, with the insteps of her feet half covered by the eggshells. This shows how terrifying the number of eggshells in the room was: "Victoria
, what’s going on, why are there so many eggshells?”
Victoria lowered her head and looked around and said, "I guess there are a lot of homeless people living here, and their hobby is eating eggs. Look, there is a small kerosene stove and a blackened aluminum pot in the corner.
, it should be what they use to boil eggs."
Sokov stepped on the eggshells and walked a few steps toward Victoria. The eggshells made a crisp sound when he stepped on them. He judged from the feeling under his feet that the eggshells on the ground were at least two inches thick.
"Let's go, Misha." Victoria grabbed Sokov's hand, pulled him outside, and said, "Your friend won't be here, let's go to the first floor and have a look."
Soon, the two returned to the first floor from the third floor and searched in another direction.
Although it was not dark yet, due to poor lighting in certain places on the ground floor of the building, everything was dark, and it was all illuminated by the strong flashlight in Victoria's hand.
Looking at the gloomy surroundings, Sokov couldn't help but feel chills in his heart. He had been on the battlefield and was used to seeing life and death, but in this building with a terrifying atmosphere, he felt shuddering, and a chill came from the end.
The vertebrae rush along the spine toward the brain.
"Misha, what do you think that is?" Victoria, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped and shone her flashlight on the floor of a spacious hall in front of her, as if she had discovered something remarkable.
Sokov looked along the light and found a manhole cover on the floor of the hall, with patterns on it. However, because there were a lot of leaves falling on the cover, it was not clear what the pattern on the manhole cover was.
Victoria walked to the manhole cover and swept away the fallen leaves on the cover with her feet, so that she could clearly see the pattern on it.
Sokov went over to take a look and couldn't help being surprised. There was actually a hexagon on the manhole cover, which was exactly the same as the yellow six-pointed star worn by the Jews on their chests. He looked up at Victoria and asked: "Vika, what's going on?
Why is there a hexagram on this manhole cover? Is there any secret hidden underneath?"