War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1128 The Blocked Cave
"You don't want to go home anymore?" In the warm stone house, Wei Ran spoke, and at the same time, he wrapped the two wine bottles that had just been sealed with a white sheet and put them into a wooden box.

"think"

Mesut sighed, handed over the pen that Wei Ran gave him as a birthday present, and said in a very sober voice, "But we can't wait here until summer, let alone go south along the Ob River Or head north.

Like I just said, I don't want to be sent back to a labor camp to be shot, and I don't want to drag you down to die in a labor camp.And when the hunter comes back, do you think he'll keep it a secret for us?
So Victor, kill me and run away, so at least you have a chance to get back alive, not to worry that I will reveal the direction of your escape. "

After a short pause, Mesut touched his broken arm and then his broken leg, "Victor, I'm tired, I want to stop."

"Have you considered?"

Wei Ran asked again, in fact, he clearly knew that with Mesut's current physical condition and such conditions, even if a doctor was invited to perform an amputation operation, the death would be just a little different sooner or later and at a different location.

It's just that the cost of helping Mesut end the pain early, except for a bullet, has to transfer part of the pain to his heart-even if he has done similar things more than once.

"Think about it"

Mesut smiled, and made a joke very calmly, "If you have time, remember to get me a strong and hidden grave. If you survive, at least let my wife and children know where I died place, or take the letter back for me."

"I don't want to shoot at my own people. Besides, I want to see if I can take you directly to the doctor."

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already picked up the Mesut, and then took the Winchester lever rifle, and walked towards the door under the surprised gaze of the Nenets woman.He really couldn't kill Mesut, because in this return mission, there is a rule that no killing is allowed.

"Where are you going?" the woman asked subconsciously.

"Take my companion to find a doctor." Wei Ran stood at the door of the room, with his back turned to the other side and answered truthfully.

After a moment of silence, the Nenets woman sighed and asked in a very positive tone, "Are you prisoners who escaped from the railway construction site?"

After a moment of hesitation, Wei Ran nodded slightly.

"Actually, we guessed it when you came here to trade animal skins last time."

The Nenets woman stood up with difficulty, "The hunters on this tundra have never sold animal skins as generously as you, and they have never been willing to use reindeer, especially pregnant doe, in this season. of the sleigh."

"So what are you going to do?" Wei Ran asked the woman as he stood at the door with his back on Mesut.

"Let's go to the forest"

The Nenets woman raised her finger in the direction, "Go up along the stream, there is a cave not too far away, I will ask my husband to borrow surgical instruments for you, can your companion survive that Then, it’s up to you.”

"Thank you." After Wei Ran finished speaking, he stretched out his hand and pushed open the thick wooden door.

Under the watchful eye of the Nenets woman, Wei Ran loaded Mesut, the wooden box containing the letter bottle, and various other sundries onto the sleigh, shouted at the two reindeer, and walked along the frozen stream. up the forest.

Almost at the moment when the sleigh was covered by the coniferous forest, a dog sled came running from a distance carrying the Nenets man who did not speak Russian.

When the Nenets couple communicated what had just happened, Wei Ran and Mesut also saw a cave in the forest.

It's just that this cave is really not that big, and it can reach the end of six or seven meters at most, and the height and width inside are only about 1.5 meters, and scattered animal bones and feces can be seen around.

"Victor"

"We still have a chance"

Wei Ran said, "Just now that woman said that when her husband comes back, she will borrow medical equipment for us, so how about a gamble?"

"What bet?" Mesut looked at Wei Ran calmly.

"How about betting that I can heal your arm, and betting that I can take you back to Finland?" Wei Ran asked with a smile, "You don't want to live anyway, why don't you take a gamble with me?"

"Before you start gambling, why don't you send me into the cave first." Mesut said with a smile, "I feel a little cold, so help me light the bonfire."

"All right."

As Wei Ran said, he untied the reindeer pulling the cart and tied it to a tree on one side, and then dragged the sleigh cart built by Mesut into the depths of the cave with his own strength.

"Light the kerosene lamp for me, and then light the bonfire." Mesut shivered as he spoke.

Knowing that this was a sign that the opponent was losing more and more blood, Wei Ran didn't dare to delay, took the ax and saw and left the cave, and ran towards a dead tree not far away.

However, before he sawed down the dead tree, which was only as thick as a calf, Mesut in the cave stood up relying on his uninjured hand and leg, leaning on the cave wall and bending over. He limped to the entrance of the cave with his waist down.Then, from his boots, he took out three mine explosives that had been dug out from Ihor's body!

Stuffing the three sticks of explosives into the rock crevice on the side of the cave entrance, Mesut smiled silently at Wei Ran who was sawing trees, reached out his hand and took out a fruit-flavored hard candy from his pocket and stuffed it into his mouth. Then he took out a box of matches and lit the three fuses.

In the swirling green smoke, Mesut leaned on the wall and hopped to sit on the escape sleigh he built himself, wrapped himself in the hastily sewn wolf fur blanket, and used his body to block the letter behind him. At the same time as the wooden box, he chewed the hard candy in his mouth with a "crack", and silently said "goodbye, Victor" in German to Wei Ran outside the cave.

"boom!"

Amidst the dull explosion, the entrance of the cave collapsed instantly, and the shock wave with huge energy also took Mesut's life away in an instant.

Turning around slowly, Wei Ran looked at the collapsed cave and before he could say anything, everything in front of him was replaced by intense white light.

"Fuck"

Wei Ran muttered dully, and then found that his body began to feel cold, and at the same time there were bursts of faint pain everywhere.

When the white light faded and his vision resumed, he found that he was lying on a sleigh, feeling weak all over his body. They were all wrapped in blood-stained gauze!
He struggled to untie the gauze on his right hand, and with the light from the kerosene lamp hanging on the tail of the sleigh behind him, he could barely distinguish that the torn wound with tooth marks was most likely bitten by a canine animal!
Compared with the wound and the feeling of powerlessness spreading all over his body, what he cared more about was that the person in front of him who was busy yelling at the reindeer sleigh to turn around was actually Ihor!
Before he could figure out when and where this was, he also turned around with the sleigh car, and at a glance saw a person who was climbing up from the cracked ice hole at the original position behind him!

Before he could see who this person was, two sled dogs with drenched fur and severed leashes rushed over, jumped onto the sled car with a low growl, and rushed towards Wei Ran and Yi Hall!

Seeing that he was about to be bitten to death, Wei Ran exhausted all his strength, covered the head and face of a sled dog that jumped up with a wolfskin blanket covering his body, and then took out the photo of the British P44 kettle in the metal book The position of the tip of the nose came hard.

When the dog with its head covered screamed and relieved some of its strength, Wei Ran, who had put away the kettle, turned over and pressed the dog with his weight, and then grabbed the dog's leash around its neck Wrapped around.

While he was reining in the dog, Ihor also stabbed another mad dog with a knife, and then turned to help him kill the sled dog.

At the same time, the sleigh car also stopped slowly, and the eyes went black for a while, and Wei Ran, whose arms softened and fell back on the sleigh car, could also see clearly that the one was at the edge of the ice hole, holding a stick with difficulty. It was the young guard Panin who tried to aim the SKS semi-automatic rifle at himself and Ihor!
What happened next, Wei Ran wanted to stop it, but he didn't have any strength at all. The only thing he could do was to watch Ihor take away the semi-automatic rifle and watch Panin Frozen to death!
In the end, he watched the crazy Ihor with cold eyes, endured the pain, and lifted the frozen Panin onto the sled with difficulty, and pushed the body of the sled dog into the ice hole that was obviously exploded!

"Let's go back to that mine!"

Ihor made a decision that could not be refused, "Victor, if you want to survive, do as I tell you."

"What do you want to do?" Wei Ran asked weakly.

"We came out with Panin to chase the lost reindeer."

Ehort paused, and said loudly, "We were attacked by wolves on the way, and you and I were both injured, so we were put in the cave by Panning, and he and Mesut braved the snowstorm to chase the deer. Group. Victor, we'll all be heroes."

"Where's Panin's body?"

Wei Ran looked at the cold corpse next to him, secretly pressed his hand on the other's heart, supported his weak body, and tried to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation with his body weight. sound.

"Wait let's see where he pitched his tent and we put him there."

Ihor said almost crazily, "That bastard Mesut abandoned us, he will definitely die, but we will definitely survive."

"Aren't you going to report him?"

Wei Ran asked, and at the same time touched a Finnish knife from Panin's waist. At the same time, his gaze was also on Ihor's neck.

It's a pity, let's not mention that his body doesn't have much strength at this time, and that metal book doesn't allow him to kill at all—unless he wants to stay in this time and space forever!
"Of course not going to report him"

Ihor explained triumphantly, "He will also become a hero. It would be nice if he could escape back. I won't lose anything."

Before he could finish his sentence, Ihor yelled at the reindeer, followed the sleigh marks left by Panin, left the river and entered the forest, and found the location and traces of the other party's tent.

"Come down and help put up the tent"

As Ihor said, he was already leaning on the crutch that Mesut helped him to make, and after struggling to stand up, he pulled up Wei Ran, who was covered in bites all over his body.

The tent was hastily set up, and Panin's body and weapons were sent in again.Yihor immediately beckoned Wei Ran to get into the car, and when he left the forest and returned to the river, he threw a ignited mine explosive into the river!

"boom!"

Accompanied by a muffled sound, the speed of the sleigh cart was also sped up because the reindeer was frightened. Not long after, Wei Ran saw the intersection of the river where he and Ihor parted ways, and the sleigh mark left by Mesut on purpose. .

However, at this moment, his body had no strength at all, his forehead was extremely hot, and he was so groggy that he passed out not long after.

When he woke up again, his body became weaker and weaker, but Ihor had already stopped the sleigh, and directly in front of him was the entrance of the abandoned gold mine they had found by following the map.

However, before Wei Ran tried to sit up, Yihor had already got into the cave and closed the thick wooden door from the inside.

After a long wait, the wooden door at the entrance of the cave was opened, and the devil prisoner of war limped out with a dragoon rifle.

"Victor, go ahead and hide."

Ihor rolled up his cuffs, revealed the lady's watch and explained, "I'll send this watch to Panin first, and then I'll come pick you up."

"Come and pick me up?" Wei Ran, who was leaning on the sled, smiled contemptuously, "You want to kill me, right?"

"Why did you say it?"

Ihor showed a crazy smile, and aimed at Wei Ran with the dragoon rifle in his hand, "Either I will kill you now, and then drag you into the cave little by little, or you go in by yourself, choose yourself, I Not much time."

"No wonder Mesut is unwilling to take you"

While talking, Wei Ran got off the sleigh vehicle weakly, stood up staggeringly, supported his weak body, and taunted as he walked into the cave, "You are a bomb that may explode at any time .”

"I'm an engineer." Ihor had a crazy smile on his face, "Come in!"

"It's a pity I can't kill you." Wei Ran muttered to himself, grabbed the Finnish knife hidden in his cuff, and stumbled into the warm cave.

"I will be a hero"

Yihor muttered proudly, and urged Wei Ran into the mine where they hid their things at the beginning with the weapon in his hand.

"boom!"

Ihor fired a shot at the depths of the mine, and said loudly, "Victor, you need to be faster, the next shot I will aim at your body."

Sighing secretly, Wei Ran, who was weak at this time and had no power to resist, had to speed up, while secretly looking for an opportunity to fight back.

However, when he was close to 10 meters away from the entrance of this branch mine, Ihor took out several mine explosives from his arms and ignited them at the entrance of the mine!
Seeing this, Wei Ran, who had been paying attention to the situation behind, sank in his heart. He could no longer care about Yihor, who was running out madly on crutches, and used all his strength to go deeper along this dark mine. Climb everywhere!

"boom!"

Amidst the dull explosion, the shock wave propagating longitudinally along the mine pushed Wei Ran into the mud, and the logs and boards behind him that were originally used to support the mine also disintegrated one after another. It fell down, and it was also buried tightly in the falling earth and rocks!
A moment later, a small flame lit up in the narrow mine tunnel with a "click", followed by another crash, and Wei Ran, who was suppressed by the planks and logs, climbed up again. At the same time, he did not forget to stare fiercely at the tattoo on the tiger's mouth on his left hand.

Just when the shock wave of the explosion pushed him down, he felt his body regain strength, and even when he got up, the wounds all over his body that were still wrapped in gauze didn't hurt anymore.

Apparently, this time the metal book that lacked great virtue was on the side of the little devil, like a bastard eating a weight, trying to trap him in this deep mine!

Wiping off the dust on his head and face, Wei Ran put the sterling silver lighter from the Leningrad Defense War in his hand in the crack between two stones to serve as a candlestick for lighting.

Glancing at the slightly trembling flames driven by the breeze, Wei Ran forced himself to calm down, lit the kerosene gas lamp he took out from the metal book, and then proceeded along the mine tunnel with the dazzling ice blue light.

After a while, he saw the 3-liter metal barrels that were originally placed in the mine tunnel, as well as the aluminum barrel pot that Mesut bought with money and the tin box containing various small objects in the barrel pot. .

Putting the kerosene lamp aside, Wei Ran opened the tin box and took out Mesut's notebook from inside.

Now a hole has been dug out in this notebook, and Ihor's pocket watch compass is still inlaid in it, but the pen he gave as a gift is not here, and he tried to copy it from the metal notebook. It was not successful to take it out.

After thinking for a while, Wei Ran looked around, picked up a nearly rotten log that was as thick as an arm, poured kerosene on it, and lit it with a lighter.

Patiently waiting for the burning part of the log to gradually carbonize, he covered it with the dust from the mine tunnel.

Shaking off the sand and soil on it, he blew a few more times. When the carbonized part of the log emitted scarlet flames and emitted faint blue smoke, he was relieved. After some observation, Yan held the smoking log in one hand, a kerosene lamp in the other, and a tin bucket filled with kerosene on his back, and continued to move forward.

The following journey was far longer and more arduous than he expected. This mine road, which seemed to be rising slowly, was not very smooth. In many cases, he even had to hold a kerosene lamp in one hand. And smoking logs, holding the stripped clothes in one hand, and a long section of water-logged mine road before moving on.

After several times of re-igniting and even replacing the logs, he finally found a ventilation shaft that went straight up and down under the guidance of the smoke.Directly above the ventilation shaft, there is still a little light shining faintly.

Heaving a sigh of relief, Wei Ran extinguished the kerosene lamp and put it away, then took off his gloves, stepped on the steps carved out of the rock wall of the ventilation shaft alternately with his feet, and supported the other three with his hands and backs. In the direction of the rock wall, he climbed up silently.

After walking up and down for more than 20 meters, he also saw the light-transmitting position. The hole is the size of a volleyball even if it is full, but through the hole, he can see that there is a very spacious outside. cave.

Before Wei Ran could figure out how to get his body through the wind tunnel that was only the size of a volleyball, a reindeer sleigh cart ran into the huge tunnel with a large armful of pine branches amidst a very familiar shout. cave.

Is it Ihor?

Wei Ran, who was hiding in the shadows, frowned, but the hole was too small and he didn't have a weapon at hand, even if he wanted to deal with Ihor who was carrying a rifle at the other end of the hole, he couldn't do anything.

And after Nayhor stopped the sleigh, he didn't care about rest at all, so he stood up limping on crutches, first cut the rein on the reindeer, and then took a few from the sleigh. a few things.

Next, the devil prisoner actually opened the barrel of kerosene and poured it on the sleigh that was picked up from the hunter!

"call!"

With a soft sound, Ihor ignited the sleigh cart parked at the entrance of the cave, and he himself sat on a big rock at the entrance of the cave, holding a bottle of vodka, and stared at the vodka that was steaming because of the pine needles. White smoke sleigh.

In the air vent, Wei Ran, who used up the last two negatives, sighed secretly, he already guessed what would happen next.

The smoky smoke will definitely attract the search personnel or ordinary hunters who may be around. No matter who comes, the injured Ihor only needs to ask the other party to send him back to the labor camp, then he will be helpless. The controversial hero, meanwhile, is sure to receive proper treatment.

Sure enough, within 20 minutes before and after, a dog sled stopped at the entrance of the cave. Immediately afterwards, the old guy named Sergey used his SKS semi-automatic rifle to aim at the Ihor raised his hands!
"Shel."

Wei Ran, who was hiding in the ventilation shaft, was about to shout, when everything in his field of vision was once again shrouded in intense white light.

Ugh.
With Wei Ran's melancholy and unwilling sigh, the white light gradually dissipated, and he returned to the long-abandoned sentry tower again.

"Bang!"

Wei Ran, who used his feet and back to support the rock wall of the ventilation shaft to ensure that he would not fall in the last second, also fell down on the wooden floor at the same time as he returned to reality.

Staring blankly at the animal trap and the flashlight hanging above his head, Wei Ran got up grinning, and turned his gaze to the metal book on the table.

(End of this chapter)