War Photographer's Notebook

In the warehouse cave, beside the warm stove, Wei Ran held the paratrooper gravity knife in his hand and carefully carved a piece of wood that was only the size of his palm.

In a wooden box next to him, there are several other pieces of round cake-shaped wood that have been carved.

The wood has not only been carbonized and polished, but also has words such as "soldier", "cavalry" and "artillery" carved in German in the middle.

There is even a chess board that has been made in this box, but the center of the board is not the Chu River, but the "Rhine River" written in German.

This was obviously a job just to kill time. After all, it was already a week after they decided to leave here.

But I don’t know if the Antarctic continent is trying its best to retain them. During this week, the wind and snow outside not only showed no sign of stopping, but became even more fierce than before, so that they had to kill all the sled dogs. They were brought into the cave to prevent them from freezing to death.

During this week, apart from letting Wei Ran take some photos for him in the first few days and borrowing a camera to take some photos himself, Hannuo became more and more depressed after making basic preparations for his escape. Every day Almost all the time is wasted on drinking, eating and sleeping.

Many times, even when Wei Ran took the initiative to talk to him, it would take a long time before he responded with a few words in a perfunctory manner.

Hannuo was so passive, but Wei Ran was trying to find something to do for himself.

In the past few days, in addition to carving a German chess set, he also used the oven to process the vital beef jerky all the time.

In addition to allowing the two of them to eat on the road, these dried meats are also an important supply for the sled dogs. After all, this stuff saves more space and weight than penguin meat.

Compared with the two humans who seemed to be defeated by loneliness at any time, the dogs lying on the ground hugging each other were particularly happy, especially those who were injured on the way back. After this week of training, they had also It's almost good, this is undoubtedly another good news.

But compared with all this busyness and hope, Wei Ran is also besieged by loneliness all the time.

The cramped cave, the wind and snow that prevented them from leaving the cave, the daylight that had become difficult to see, and even the silent companions, all of these were similar to his experience of being locked up in a small dark room when he was studying at the Hongqi Forest Farm. I don’t know how many times more uncomfortable it feels.

Looking for something to do, anything he could do - apart from rewarding drinking and strictly controlled sleep schedules, this was his only way to combat this unbearable loneliness.

After blowing off the sawdust on his hands and the wooden chess piece, Wei Ran placed the carved chess piece on the stove to carbonize, while he himself cleared his throat in the lingering choking blue smoke.

"Be bold! Be high-spirited! Get ready to sing! Be bold! Be high-spirited! Cross the Yalu River!"

In the cave, which was not that big, Wei Ran was banging the lid of a kettle on the stove to accompany the music, while using his broken gong voice that was a defective product from the factory, he sang a song loudly that only he could understand, as if no one else was around.

The huge voice not only frightened Hanno, who was lying on the bed looking at the top of the cave in a daze like last time, but even the dogs who were sleeping soundly in the distance stood up with "Soar!" They stood up, then lay down one after another and yawned, then hid their mouths in their crotches again and hummed a few times.

By the time the song was finished, one side of the chess piece on the stove had also been carbonized.

Just when he turned the chess piece over, cleared his throat, and was about to continue torturing the other residents in the cave, the drunken Hanno sat up, picked up the wine bottle placed at the foot of the bed, took a sip, and said in a hoarse voice. , "Victor, please let my ears go. You really don't have much talent in singing, and it's not even as comfortable as the wind outside."

"Or are you coming?" Wei Ran issued an invitation while pressing the chess piece on the stove.

"Forget it, singing is not what I'm good at either." Hanno took another sip of wine, "I just don't want my ears to be tortured anymore."

"Or just talk about something?" Wei Ran lit a cigarette and said jokingly, "Otherwise I can only sing to pass the time."

"We've already talked about everything we can talk about."

Hannuo lay on the bed again. It was indeed as he said. In this week, Wei Ran opened the topic again and again, and they had talked about everything they could talk about. Even according to what he said, These topics had been discussed more than once in that cabin.

After a brief silence, Hanno said with rare seriousness, "Victor, instead of singing or talking about something, I think you should write a suicide note while you still have time. After all, none of us know what will happen." Not being able to escape to the shoreline and being able to survive.”

"Write a suicide note?" Wei Ran was stunned, but for a moment he didn't know who to write it to.

"Yes, write to your family, or anyone you care about."

Hanno's tone was still extremely serious, "Then stay here, so that even if we can't survive, at least we can not leave too many regrets."

In the longer silence, Wei Ran, who had been trying to regulate himself these days, let out a long sigh, "Okay, it's time to write a suicide note."

"There are telegraph newspapers at the radio station."

Hanno, who was lying on the bed, stared blankly at the light bulbs above his head that were not lit due to lack of power and said, "Or you can write it in the code book."

Hearing this, Wei Ran picked up the hot chess piece on the stove and wiped it back and forth on his trouser legs. He threw it into the wooden box next to him. He stood up and walked to the table with the radio station and sat down. After taking another deep breath, He took out the pen from the metal book.

However, when he took off the pen cap and was about to touch the pen tip to the telegraph newspaper, he stalled again.

To whom? What should I write?

He does not have any family members in this time and space, and he is not even sure whether those friends from the same era exist in this time and space. I don’t even know if the suicide note he left will be discovered by anyone. In that case, does leaving a suicide note have any meaning?

"Then let's make a joke with history!"

Wei Ran's mood suddenly improved a lot. He took up a pen and wrote two lines of code words encrypted by the times in horizontal and vertical Chinese characters on the telegraph newspaper:

How much does a glass of palace jade liquor cost?

Odd changes to even, no matter who is looking at the quadrant.

Putting down the pen and flicking the page where the ink was still wet, Wei Ran, who had been suffering from loneliness these days, couldn't help but have a brighter and brighter smile on his face.

Immediately afterwards, as if countless inspirations emerged, he picked up the pen again and wrote in German on this piece of paper: German soldiers strictly abide by the eight-hour work system.

"hey-hey!"

The smile on Wei Ran's face became brighter and brighter, and then he wrote in French in a very malicious way: Notre Dame de Paris is a very good fuel.

“This is interesting”

Wei Ran, who was talking to himself, started another line and wrote in English: Americans were a little unhappy on September 9.

This was not over yet. He wrote a string of Japanese words after this sentence, "But the recruiters on August 8th and 6th felt unprecedented warmth, and they liked to eat potatoes grown in Siberia."

He started a new line again, and changed into the most useless Hanbang language since he learned it. He wrote "This is the favorite totem of Hanbang people" and drew a lifelike little hand at the back.

"It's a pity that there is no yellow ink."

Wei Ran muttered and started another line again, writing in Russian, "Gorbachev is a piece of shit that even a dog can't smell." "Write something else?"

Wei Ran paused for a moment and wrote in the Hebrew he learned last time, "In the Jewish book Mein Kampf, every page is filled with sweet powdered sugar. But come on, Palestine!"

This is what historians should do. I’m so vicious.

Wei Ran murmured to himself, and wrote in German again, "I swear, the NaCl clock and the NaCl flying saucer really exist, and we are about to launch them to the base on the back of the moon."

How could we forget Italy?

Wei Ran thought for a while and wrote his last words in Italian: "Remember to wear explosion-proof clothing when playing the World Cup with people with sticks."

Putting on the pen cap with a "snap" sound, Wei Ran carefully rolled up the letter that belonged to him, then put it into a wine bottle and stuffed it with a wooden stopper, and specially melted some wax oil. Sealed.

Finally stuffing the letter into an airdrop box, Wei Ran sat down by the stove again with an uncontrollable smile.

"You seem very happy?" Hanno rarely took the initiative to start the topic.

“I shared something interesting with people I care about”

As Wei Ran spoke, he picked up another piece of wood and continued making chess pieces while saying, "I have already written a suicide note, so just leave it here. What about you? Hannuo, you have also written a suicide note." Do you believe it?"

"It's written"

Hanno smiled and said, "I have written it a long time ago. I have written it for my parents, wife and children. I also shared with them many interesting things that happened in Antarctica. Victor, we will survive." You came down, right?”

"Will do"

Wei Ran nodded and once again answered the question the other party had asked, "We will definitely survive. We have made enough preparations. Now we just have to wait for the snowstorm to stop."

After saying this, Hanno fell into silence again, and as expected, he picked up the wine bottle again. Wei Ran, who had been smiling just now, after a brief moment of happiness, started to carve the piece of wood in his hand expressionlessly again.

As the waiting became more and more excruciating every second, two days later, the wind and snow outside the cave finally showed signs of stopping. When they opened the door, they could clearly see that the night sky was more gorgeous than ever before. of aurora.

“It’s time to go”

Before Hanno finished speaking, he had already put on a German mountain soldier's uniform, and put on the one-piece thermal insulation suit that he had thickened by himself.

“It’s time to go”

Wei Ran responded and got dressed at the same time, and then hooked up the sled cart that was already filled with supplies to the energetic dogs.

Thanks to their cultivation these days, each of their sleds now has more than 20 dogs as traction power, which undoubtedly allows them to carry more supplies.

"Victor, I leave this to you to keep."

Hanno said as he handed over a map bag, "Inside is the code book, which contains the major and Yog's last letters. If we survive, we may have the opportunity to give these to their families."

"You don't want to take it?" Wei Ran asked while taking the map bag.

"I will be responsible for exploring the road ahead later."

As Hannuo spoke, he gave Wei Ran their only remaining set of mountaineering equipment, "Take this, too. If I fall into a crevice, it's up to you to save me."

"Okay" Wei Ran nodded and took the backpack containing the mountaineering equipment.

"I'll blow up the hole later," Hanno said, slinging the rifle on his own shoulder.

Seeing this, Wei Ran quickly stuffed the map bag into his arms and shouted to the dogs to drag the sled truck filled with supplies out of the cave.

"Stay away! Your sleigh is heavy and can't run fast enough."

Standing at the entrance of the cave, Hanno shouted and reminded, "I'm worried that the explosion will cause an avalanche!"

"Hannuo! Let me be responsible for detonating it." Wei Ran, who was still a little worried, said cautiously.

"I'll do it"

Hanno had already put on his own snow goggles as he spoke, "Hurry up and get the sleigh out of the way."

"You will go to the coastline with me, right?" Wei Ran finally asked worriedly.

"What stupid thing are you talking about?"

Hanno said impatiently while adjusting the snow goggles on his face, "Didn't we already agree? Victor, don't waste time, hurry up and keep your sleigh away until you are ready." Remember to light the gas lamp to give me a signal."

After a slight hesitation, Wei Ran gritted his teeth and ordered the sleigh to run a hundred or ten meters away. Then he immediately set up the large telescope in the metal book and took a look.

It wasn't until he saw Hanno who was still setting up at the entrance of the cave through the telescope that he relaxed a little and lit the kerosene gas lamp hanging on the handlebar with an extra iron bucket and metal cover outside.

"boom!"

Just when he had just adjusted the firepower of the gas lamp, a crisp gunshot came from the direction of the cave entrance.

Wei Ran shivered involuntarily, and Wei Ran immediately moved to the telescope and looked over. Then he saw Hanno holding the rifle with one hand and shouting at him, "Victor——! Victor ——! Live! You must live!"

"Hanno! What are you going to do! Hanno!"

Wei Ran subconsciously straightened up and shouted, then put his eyes to the edge of the telescope again, but then he saw Hannuo salute him, then shook the reins vigorously, letting the waiting car His sleigh started running on its own!

"Hanno!"

Realizing that something was wrong, Wei Ran shouted, but he could only watch as Hannuo turned around and walked into the cave with the light still on, holding the detonator in one hand and the rifle in the other!

"boom!"

Amidst the dull explosion, large amounts of smoke and snow rose up from the entrance of the cave. The entrance to the cave, which was not big at all, was completely buried in the falling snow and rocks!

"Fuck you, uncle! Hanno! Hanno!"

Wei Ran waved his hand and put away the telescope while cursing, jumped on the sleigh, shook the reins vigorously, and ran back.

However, before the dogs could pick up their speed, in this rare windless night, in the snow falling from the top of the cave, and in the white light that he had been so looking forward to, he heard a sound that seemed to come from The dull sound of gunfire came from the buried cave.