War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1454 The New Identities of American Journalists

Not long after, Wei Ran clearly felt that the slightly rocking and extremely wet boat under his buttocks was moving.

Because of the sack piece still covering his head, he could not see anything at this time, and the people in the same boat seemed to remain quiet, so he could not hear any sound at all except the paddles lapping the water.

The only thing he could be sure of was that the sun was probably setting at this moment, and that was all determined by his calculation of time.

Zach is not in the same boat as me, but what about Le Huu Phuc and Nguyen Thanh Cha? Did the two of them accompany him? Are they in the same boat as Zach?

Wei Ran thought about it secretly, and at the same time he put his legs together, leaning on his knees and chest to feel the outline of the thing hanging around his neck.

Is this a kettle?

Wei Ran straightened his neck. Just by looking at the tight straps, he was already sure that what Li Youfu hung around his neck just now was most likely the Yuan Yue 65 kettle.

But what’s the point of hanging such a kettle?

Although he was full of doubts, he still lowered his head and wrapped the kettle hanging around his neck with his chest, abdomen and thighs, trying not to let it attract the attention of people in the same boat.

The boat carried him for more than two hours amid the roar of the water. Although Wei Ran couldn't see anything with a sack covering his head, he gradually smelled the unique moist smell of the jungle - this There is no smell unique to defoliants, nor is there the rotten smell caused by decay after a large number of plants wither.

So this is an area that has not been sprayed with defoliant?

While Wei Ran was thinking about it secretly, the crib stopped as if the bow of the ship hit something.

Immediately afterwards, someone untied his hood, pulled it off and threw it aside.

"go!"

Under the cold moonlight, the boatman standing behind Wei Ran blurted out an English word and at the same time supported his arm to give him some strength.

Staggeringly, I stood up and looked around. As far as I could see, I saw a dense jungle. The boat under my feet was parked on the edge of the river that passed through the jungle. There was no dock or any man-made buildings.

Fortunately, he saw Zach and Li Youfu on another boat next to him, and also saw Ruan Qingcha being supported by Li Youfu.

"go!"

The boatman behind him reminded him again, and at the same time stabbed Wei Ran in the back with the pistol in his hand.

Seeing this, Wei Ran carefully got off the boat and stepped onto the river bank in his pair of tire slippers.

There was only a path that was at most one meter wide in the jungle on the river bank, but because the dense canopy of trees overhead blocked the moonlight, he only walked less than five meters in before he completely lost sight.

However, the boatman behind him seemed to be quite familiar with this place and pushed him on the shoulder to keep going.

Soon, an open space appeared directly in front. This is the edge of an open space the size of two basketball courts. Through the cold moonlight that had returned, he could vaguely see that there were six or seven stilt huts scattered under the canopy of the tropical trees surrounding the clearing.

"What is this place?" Zack, who was walking behind Wei Ran, asked curiously.

However, even though Li Youfu and Ruan Qingcha were right next to him, no one answered his question. Instead, the person responsible for escorting him punched him with a gun butt enthusiastically.

This answer made Zach let out a cry of pain with great satisfaction and then obediently closed his mouth. Soon, the two were taken to a thatched house.

Before he could clearly see his surroundings, Wei Ran was held down by someone, and immediately after, someone brought a pair of shackles.

Looking at Ruan Qingcha who was holding a gun not far away, Li Youfu who was also holding a gun next to her, and even another guerrilla she didn't know but who was also holding a gun, Wei Ran wisely did not resist and let the other party go. He put shackles on himself and hammered in the rivets.

Finally, the person who broke the shackles pulled out a cloth rope less than two meters long and threw it to Wei Ran, and then waved his hand as if to shoo away flies.

"go!"

The boatman responsible for escorting him seemed to know just one word. He grabbed the kettle strap hanging around Wei Ran's neck and pulled him out.

Naturally, he couldn't walk fast because he had a pair of shackles on his feet that could weigh seven or eight kilograms. The boatman was kind and gestured to Wei Ran to put the cloth rope he had just obtained through the shackles, carry it with his hands, and lead him away. He walked away from this stilt hut and got into another stilt hut.

As soon as he entered the hut, he raised his eyebrows. The windows around the hut were hung with cotton curtains to block the light inside. Not surprisingly, it also made it extremely hot inside.

In the center of the room, behind a table were two rattan chairs. On each chair sat a man in a green military uniform. Behind them, there were two soldiers holding submachine guns.

It wasn't until the boatman who escorted him in locked an iron chain fixed on the beam-bearing pillar to his shackles and brought in a chair that the man sitting on one of the rattan chairs spoke in English. Said, "Please sit down."

"Thank you." Wei Ran thanked him politely and sat down on the chair.

"What's your name?"

"Victor," Wei Ran said proactively, "I am Mr. Zach's bodyguard and personal doctor."

"You are"

"Promoting Cameras"

Wei Ran didn't wait for the other party to finish the question before he took the initiative to answer, "We went to the Hambang Man's camp to sell cameras, and then we were shot down by you on the way back to the cowshed camp's helicopter."

"Promoting cameras?"

It was obviously the first time for the person on the other side to encounter Wei Ran who knew everything and didn't answer, so his train of thought was almost interrupted for a while.

"Sir, no, comrades."

Wei Ran didn't want to wait to be tortured, so he took the initiative to ask, "Did you use mortars to harass the Hanbang people's camp a few days ago?"

"What are you trying to say?" the person in charge of questioning asked warily.

"If the person responsible for firing the mortar was still alive"

Wei Ran spread his hands and said, "Please ask him if he found a flashlight light when he turned off the lights in the camp and fired several rounds at that light."

Giving the questioner enough time to translate, Wei Ran once again said with pretentiousness before the other person spoke, "I threw that flashlight into the barracks of a platoon leader of the Hanbang Men. You guys called later. A few rounds of artillery shells successfully took away the platoon leader."

Seeing that the other party started to translate again, Wei Ran continued to ask proactively, "For the sake of helping you, can you give me a cigarette?"

Although the translation was interrupted, the person who asked the question still stood up while talking. After groping around for a while, he took out a pack of Camel cigarettes, took one out and handed it to Wei Ran, and then took out a lighter. Help him light it.

After taking a few puffs of cigarette slowly, the person in charge of questioning also ended the communication with his companion in Yuehan language and continued to ask, "We will verify whether there is such a thing. Victor, why did you choose to help?" We? I got news that before you were captured by us, you seemed to be "

"Rescuing the gentleman and the beautiful lady who captured us"

Wei Ran still didn't give the other party a chance to finish his words and said proactively, "After we were beaten down, they were the ones who captured us, but soon, we saw that those people with sticks were massacring the villagers again."

"again?"

"The reason why we were in a hurry to leave the Hambang people's camp was because we saw them massacre a village."

Wei Ran sighed and said, "My boss, Mr. Zach, probably wouldn't allow his cameras to be sold to those crispy ones, so we decided to leave. Of course, these are my guesses. You may have to ask Mr. Zach for the specific reasons. That’s it.”

"You haven't answered yet."

"I found in the camp of the stick-hammers that they were abusing children and treating them as goods and toys to vent their animal desires."

Wei Ran revealed the big news with a painful look on his face, and the other party stood up with a clang in shock.

"I didn't lie"

Wei Ran still did not give the other party a chance to ask or even translate, "Gentlemen, no, comrades, please go and save them. No matter what the nature of this war is, they are innocent."

"Please wait a moment." The person in charge of asking the question became a little more polite, and then he changed into a more difficult language and hurriedly started communicating with the soldier next to him.

Wei Ran sighed secretly in his heart and took a long puff of cigarette. At this time, he was both acting and pretending to be real.

From a human perspective, he didn't mind cooperating with these "good brothers", revealing information to each other, and even encouraging them to attack the Hanbang people's camp.

In terms of anti-torture skills, he had already mastered the rhythm of communication by interrupting the other party several times and proactively revealing information.

For example, right now, the other party definitely no longer cares about the nonsense identity that Zach made up for him, because they obviously have more important things to do than these.

"Comrade Victor, what else do you know?" The person in charge of questioning even changed his title this time.

"Slaughter, I witnessed at least two massacres with my own eyes."

Wei Ran took another long puff of cigarette, and with a painful look on his face, he described in detail and vividly the massacre carried out by the soldiers with sticks in the village. Then, in the changing expression of the person who asked the question, he described the place where they passed by. The massacre at the location of a banyan tree covered with corpses and the traps he eliminated were also described.

"We. We will verify what you said. Now go to the place we arranged to rest." The person in charge of the questioning said.

"If possible, can Mr. Zac and I be in the same room?" Wei Ran made a small request at the right time.

"sure"

The person in charge of the questioning responded happily after communicating with his companions, and then said apologetically, "But we can't take off your shackles. I hope you can."

"Of course I understand" Wei Ran "habitually" grabbed the topic and worked hard to create an open image for himself as a "quick talker".

After the person in charge of questioning communicated with the boatman who sent him over, the latter untied the iron chain on Wei Ran's shackles and helped him leave the wooden house.

Almost at the front and back, Zach was also walked up with someone holding his arms.

The two looked at each other under the moonlight, and Wei Ran said "Good luck" out of his mouth, and allowed the boatman, who was much more polite, to help him to a wooden house far away.

Amidst the sound of the ropes, the boatman picked up a chain locked on the load-bearing pillar with the help of the moonlight coming in from the window, and locked one end of it with Wei Ran's shackles.

Before leaving, he kindly helped Wei Ran light a plate of straw rope used to repel mosquitoes.

Watching the other party leave, Wei Ran tried to move by the moonlight. The chain was not too long and could barely allow him to walk to the window and the toilet. Likewise, this room is not too big. There is a straw mat on the wooden floor. There is no furniture except a rough porcelain kettle, and there is no unnecessary decoration.

Touching the iron shackles on his ankles, Wei Ran shook his head secretly. The heavy shackles were closed with rivets. To open them, you could only use a hacksaw or tools such as wire cutters.

Moreover, there was only half a centimeter of gap between the shackles and the ankles. In other words, even if he dislocated his ankles, there was no way he could take them off.

In other words, even if he was confident enough to pry open the iron chain locked on the shackles, he would not be able to escape with such a heavy thing on his feet.

Besides, his head was covered all the way here, so he didn't know where to run even if he wanted to.

Confirming that there was no hope of escape, he had time to look at the Yuanyue 65 kettle still hanging around his neck.

He took off the kettle and untied the outer canvas cover, and then took off the cup cover. Unfortunately, there was nothing hidden inside.

Unscrewing the lid of the kettle without giving up, Wei Ran couldn't help but reveal a smile on his face shrouded by the moonlight. There was indeed something in the kettle filled with water!

He tilted the spout and poured the water into his palm. Soon, he got the first thing, which was a medicine bottle, a transparent medicine bottle wrapped in a condom.

He could tell by the moonlight that the vial contained amoxicillin without even opening it.

Keep pouring out. The second medicine bottle wrapped in a condom contains water purification tablets, and the third one contains anti-malarial medicine.

This wasn't over yet. What was poured out from the kettle along with the water flow were two bottles of disposable morphine.

Stuffing these things back into the kettle, Wei Ran dragged the iron chain to the rough porcelain kettle in the corner, refilled the Support 65 kettle with the water inside, and then slung it over his shoulder.

These life-saving things were prepared with the help of Li Youfu, and there was no doubt that they were approved by Ruan Qingcha, so...

Before he could figure out the reason, Zach was also sent in, and like Wei Ran, he enjoyed the treatment of being chained and shackled.

"Hey Victor! What did they ask you?" Zach couldn't wait to get to Wei Ran's side and asked before the person who sent him in left.

"Asked about our origins"

Wei Ran smiled and recounted the communication between him and the interrogator just now, and also listened to the cross-examination that Zach encountered.

In general, the information disclosed by the two people was basically the same, and it was obvious that the interviewers attached great importance to the information they disclosed.

"What should we do next?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice after sharing their respective intelligence.

"how could I know"

Zach was already lying on the straw mat as he spoke, "Anyway, let's get some sleep first."

"You are really big-hearted"

Wei Ran twitched his lips, chose the seat farthest from the door and sat down against the wall.

In less than five minutes, Zack began to snore loudly. Wei Ran also secretly took out the British Army water bottle from the metal notebook and took a sip of the cold cola reluctantly to replenish some energy in his stomach which had not eaten anything properly all day.

After a while, he also fell asleep leaning against the wooden wall.

In another house in the same camp, or to be precise, in Ruan Qingcha and Li Youfu's house, the two were sitting by the window chatting quietly.

"Why do you want to help me?" Li Youfu asked in a low voice, a question that he had found opportunities to ask several times along the way, but the other party never answered.

"help you?"

Ruan Qingcha, who was injured, snorted and lowered his voice and said, "I'm not helping you, a traitor."

"Okay, why."

"No matter what"

Ruan Qingcha whispered in a particularly clear voice, "You didn't bully me after you captured me, and you later opened fire on the invaders like a conscientious North Vietnamese and rescued me with them. These reasons are enough." I saved you."

"Can"

"It's better than them being killed directly."

Ruan Qingcha's voice became even lower, "There is only so much I can do, and remember your identity, your current name is Ruan Chengzhu, and you are my cousin.

You were still a spy planted by my father, Ruan Yingjun, in the American camp. You had to escape because you were exposed, and by the way, you captured the two Americans with us. "

"Okay, my name is Ruan Chengzhu."

After Li Youfu repeated it in a low voice, he almost subconsciously asked in a low voice, "Why are you so skilled?"

"Skilled?" Ruan Qingcha repeated doubtfully.

"I'm talking about my identity," Li Youfu said in a low voice, "the identity of Ruan Chengzhu."

"I do have a cousin named Ruan Chengzhu"

Ruan Qingcha sighed, "He was indeed sent to the American camp, but we have not heard from him for more than two months. He...he is probably dead."

"Sorry" Li Youfu whispered apologetically.

"I don't know whether I should save you or not."

Nguyen Thanh Cha, who was lying on the straw mat, sighed, looked at the moonlight outside the window and whispered in a low voice, "But I think it is our goal to let you live and win every South Vietnamese to join us, especially if You are really reporters, maybe forget it, I don’t know.”

Hearing this, Li Youfu sighed, and he couldn't help but look at the table not far away.

On this table, there is the grenade launcher that once belonged to Angus and whose stock he repaired by himself, as well as the remaining grenades for sanitary ignition, as well as the cameras and water bottles of him and Zach. Even pistols.

These were the trophies that belonged to their "brother and sister". However, the medical bag and camera water bottle that originally belonged to Wei Ran, as well as the backpack and other items that nominally belonged to Zach, were all confiscated and distributed to others.

As for the precious medicines hidden in the kettle and risked to be given to Wei Ran, the female guerrilla named Ruan Qingcha on the bed hinted to him to secretly hide them before handing over those things.

But what to do next, what to do tomorrow, he had no idea.

He even didn't know how to get along with Ruan Qingcha, who was lying on the bed, weak and defenseless.

Amidst everyone's confusion and hesitation, this night also passed extremely long. Early the next morning, what woke everyone in the camp was a spraying helicopter flying overhead!

Smelling the smell of defoliant that drifted into their nostrils, Wei Ran and Zac, who had just woken up, looked at each other. They each dragged a chain and ran to the window. Then they saw Li Youfu holding up the hand that belonged to him. Zach's Leica camera pressed the shutter repeatedly towards the helicopter flying overhead.

"Look, we have a freelance photographer."

Zach said happily, "We can definitely find opportunities to chat with the people here and conduct interviews as normal."

"Aren't you hungry before that?"

Wei Ran yawned and asked. He had taken a sip of Coke last night, but what Zach ate last time was the compressed biscuits they shared after they captured Ruan Qingcha.

Sure enough, before he could finish his words, Zach's stomach grumbled in response.

"So do we have anything to eat?" As Zach spoke, he picked up the porcelain kettle at his feet and took a gulp of cold water.

"no"

Wei Ran raised his chin in the direction of Li Youfu, "Now let's see if anyone remembers to send us some food."

He had just finished speaking, and when Zach was about to speak, they heard the sound of anti-aircraft anti-aircraft machine guns firing and the unique sound of RPG explosions.

"Done"

Wei Ran's heart sank, and he subconsciously looked at the shackles that imprisoned freedom and the load-bearing pillar connected to the chain that imprisoned the shackles, secretly thinking about how to break the chain in case of a fight and the need to escape. .

"boom!"

After a dull sound that seemed to be a suicide bombing, excited cheers came from all over the camp, and children and women of all sizes ran out of the remaining wooden houses.

"Where is this place?" Zach asked with a frown.

"As you can see"

Wei Ran, who was also looking outside, sighed, pointed to a simple blackboard hanging on the trunk of a tree not far away and said with almost certainty, "This seems to be a battlefield school."

"You?" Zach looked at Wei Ran beside him strangely, "You seem to be very familiar with this place?"

"No"

Wei Ran shook his head, "I have seen similar classes, but they are not more difficult."

"Where is that?" Zach asked as if he had an occupational disease.

"In another forest." Wei Ran paused, "In Liuban's forest."

"Liuban? Where is that place?"

Before Zach even finished asking, the children and women gathered around. After one of them, who seemed to be the oldest, said something, the people around him responded immediately.

The leader pressed his hands, and then quickly ran to a thatched house not far away.

However, when he walked out again, Wei Ran and Zach's hearts skipped a beat. The person who seemed to be acting as a teacher, the teaching tool he took out was an RPG!

He was teaching those kids and women how to aim and fire an RPG!