War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1529 Sleepless

After drinking today's goodnight wine with the little birthday boy, Edelweiss yawned and returned to her tent. Before Wei Ran extinguished the candle and returned to the tent, he heard the conversation between the sewing machine and the cradle again.

"When are you going to tell them about that?" Cradle asked in a low voice from the other side of the tent cloth.

"Tomorrow," the sewing machine replied after a moment's hesitation. "I'll find a chance to talk to them about it tomorrow."

"As soon as possible"

Cradle whispered worriedly, "It's better to go to the refugee camp. I'm worried that the veterinarian will cause trouble for all of us."

"He may also be the only one who can keep us safe"

The sewing machine changed its language, almost mumbling, "Although I only served for one year after graduating from the Gulhane Military Medical College, I can see that he is different from the soldiers I have met. The veterinarian is more easy-going than them, but also more dangerous.

He is more than a veterinarian, he is more like a wild animal.

It's the kind of beast that is locked in a cage and almost loses its mind, then suddenly breaks free one day. Then it forces itself to calm down from the madness and do something even crazier. "

At this point, Sewing Machine paused and said, "We need to find a way to calm him down before he does something even crazier."

"Do you think he is a member of the PFLP?" Cradle speculated doubtfully, "Just like Carlos the Jackal."

"I do not know"

The sewing machine's answer was particularly sober. "There's no need to know, dear. He is now a member of Doctors Without Borders, codenamed Veterinarian. We just need to find a way to prevent him from turning into Mr. Dongfeng after get off work at night. It's that simple."

"Like stopping werewolves from raising their heads on full moon nights?" Cradle asked with a smile, "Looks like we need some silver."

"That's right, just like stopping a werewolf from raising its head on a full moon night."

The sewing machine repeated in another language, "Edelweiss may be the silver we need, that pure young girl who is as pure as an angel, she may be able to prevent the veterinarian from becoming Mr. East Wind."

"I hope so"

Cradle sighed softly, obviously not holding out any hope for this, "So we need to convince Edelweiss first?"

"No, we need to stop Edelweiss from turning into a werewolf too first."

The sewing machine said helplessly, "She is almost being led astray by the veterinarian. I am not kidding. I am very worried that she will also become Miss South Wind or Miss North Wind tomorrow night."

You are the werewolf, both of you are werewolves.

Outside the tent, Wei Ran, who was sitting at a low table listening to the radio, muttered unhappily in his heart.

This time he understood the two languages ​​of the Sewing Machine couple, and was also able to confirm that the two language tasks he had definitely completed should be Rabbit Riding Language and Spicy Language.

  So there is another language task which should be Arabic, right?

While Wei Ran was secretly calculating, he already had a black panther vest on his body.

At this time, in addition to the one on the back facing the enemy, the vest also contained five captured grenades and four magazines full of bullets.

In addition, the remaining ammunition bags were stuffed with four Uzi submachine gun magazines filled with bullets, dozens of rifle bullets, a stack of banknotes and valuable items seized such as gold necklaces and gold rings.

Of course, he was not greedy for these small properties that he could not take back, but these money were also necessary in such a war-torn area - whether for trading or for setting traps.

I carefully checked the ammunition in the dark and listened to the Sewing Machine couple stop chatting about "werewolf" and start talking about their child Yashar.

Wei Ran also turned off the radio, put away his Black Panther vest, put out his dying cigarette, and went into the tent.

Lying in his own bed, he was secretly looking forward to being able to understand the Arabic conversations of the children around him early tomorrow morning.

Soon, the sound of tired snoring and the children's mumbling in their dreams became intertwined, and the couple next door stopped talking at night.

"Bang bang bang!"

Almost when the sewing machine and cradle couple were about to fall asleep, the iron door of the garage was banged on hurriedly by someone outside in the dark.

Before the sewing machine could even sit up, Wei Ran, who was already sleeping with his clothes on, rushed out of the tent with a flashlight in hand and ran towards the front of the ambulance, following the edge of the ambulance.

"who is it?"

Wei Ran, who was leaning against the wall, had turned off the flashlight while asking. At the same time, he jumped up and rolled forward silently, moving from the front left of the car to the front right.

"Mr. Veterinarian, there are many seriously injured people sent to the hospital. We need your help." A woman said in French outside the garage.

“Is it Ayub?”

At this moment, the sewing machine also ran over with a candle and a lamp in his hand, wearing slippers. However, as soon as he finished asking, he was dragged down by Wei Ran.

"It's me, sir," the woman outside the garage replied hastily, "We need help."

"The nurse in the operating room next door," the sewing machine whispered.

Hearing this, Wei Ran made a gesture to keep quiet, tiptoed to the door, turned off the flashlight, gently lifted the thick curtain, and took a look outside through the crack in the door.

Fortunately, there was only a woman in a nurse's uniform holding an oil lamp outside.

"Wait a moment, we'll put on our clothes and rush over." Wei Ran responded while hiding in the blind spot again.

"Gentlemen, please hurry up," the nurse outside said and then fell silent.

Looking at the cradle that also ran over and the sleepy-looking Edelweiss in her nightgown, Wei Ran said, "Get your face dirty and change your clothes."

After saying that, he quickly ran to the end of the garage, pushed open the small door, followed a corner he had spotted a long time ago, climbed onto the roof of the garage by stepping on the auto repair parts, crawled to the door and looked out.

Fortunately, there were no people lying in ambush at the garage door, but there seemed to be a lot of people gathered in the direction of the hospital's entrance not far away.

Quickly returning to the garage, Edelweiss had changed into a pair of jeans and a cream-colored turtleneck sweater in a short while, and was now busy painting her face black with Cradle, Rama, and Dalal.

"Kid, is our little helper going too?" Wei Ran asked.

"Sir, why don't we go?" Rama asked as a matter of course.

"Let them be"

Edelweiss always seems to be on the side of the children, "They do have enough reasons to help."

“You’re right”

Rama, who had painted black stripes on his face, agreed with a bright smile. At that moment, Wei Ran even saw the shadows of the little lama and others in these children.

Wei Ran nodded silently and said nothing more. Instead, Edelweiss opened the door of the ambulance's cab, took out a Stanley thermos and handed it to Ed.

Without asking or translating, Ed took the thermos, held the candle lamp, picked up the kettle and ran into the tent. Soon he took these things and the can of coffee powder that had appeared in the package of the sewing machine couple and ran to the yard behind the garage.

"Don't waste time, we should set off." The sewing machine said, carrying the radio with new batteries and the gas lamp that had not yet been lit. The cradle and Edelweiss also carried the sterilized surgical instruments.

Under his leadership, a group of people left the garage in the dim light of candles and hurried back to the operating room filled with the smell of blood.

At this time, there were already many seriously injured patients waiting outside the door of the operating room, and a scorching light was shining through the gap of the door of the operating room next door.

When Dalal opened the locked operating room, the two most seriously injured were immediately sent in.

After quickly observing with the flashlight, Wei Ran immediately waved to Dalal to come over, then handed the flashlight to her and pointed at the bloody wound.

Fortunately, the 14-year-old girl did not show any fear, and the flashlight in her hand did not even shake at all.

"Rama, help me translate."

Wei Ran couldn't wait for Edelweiss to light the kerosene lamp, and he didn't wash his hands and change into surgical gowns like the sewing machine couple. Instead, he put on rubber gloves, picked up the hemostatic forceps, and said while looking for the bleeding point, "Tell Dalal that her hands are very steady and she will be an excellent surgeon in the future."

Hearing this, Rama hurriedly put on his helmet and skillfully changed the photo box of the Polaroid camera that he always carried around his neck while translating Wei Ran's compliment into Arabic. Unfortunately, Wei Ran still didn't understand.

Unfortunately, not enough 8 people were killed.

While Wei Ran was secretly regretting, he had already clamped the main bleeding blood vessel with hemostatic forceps.

"Come with me"

Wei Ran waved to Dalal and took her to the second injured person, and used the same method to complete the initial bleeding control work.

"Rama, come with me and help me translate." Wei Ran said, then picked up a pair of hemostat and walked out of the operating room.

"The two in the operating room need blood tests and transfusions, and this one needs one too."

As Wei Ran spoke, he clamped a hemostat on the wound of a wounded man who had also lost consciousness at the door of the operating room, temporarily blocking the main bleeding area.

This operation is simply an emergency measure to delay time. If you are lucky enough to get timely treatment, you can survive.

As he spoke, Wei Ran had already moved to the next wounded man. After a quick observation with the help of the flashlight beam, he found the bleeding point again and clamped it. "This one needs it too."

Continuing to walk forward, he saw a young injured man who was probably half the age of Rama.

There was a fatal bullet hole in his stomach near his hip.

Looking at the woman holding the child with tears on her face, and her headscarf wet with tears, Wei Ran put his ear to the child's heart and listened.

After a moment, Wei Ran stood up and walked to the next one.

"Sir, does he need a blood transfusion?" Rama asked from behind.

"unnecessary"

Wei Ran responded hoarsely, "No need, he's dead."

Hearing this, Rama didn't say anything. He simply turned around, walked to the mother and son, firmly raised the orange Polaroid camera, and pressed the shutter towards them.

The corridor, which was originally illuminated only by the flickering beams of flashlights, was illuminated for a moment by the flash. The wounded and the people who brought them over also became quiet for a moment, as if they understood what the flash meant.

In the dim light of the candle lamp, Rama, wearing a huge steel helmet on his head, spoke in trembling Arabic, which Wei Ran could not understand and did not want to understand at this time. At the same time, he took out a marker from his trouser pocket and wrote three lines of ancient text on the back of the Polaroid photo that had not yet fully developed.

When the photo was handed to the young mother, the dark and bloody corridor was filled with cries of sadness and despair.

"This also requires blood tests and bleeding control."

In the corridor, Wei Ran pointed at another seriously injured soldier he had singled out and spoke in French. Behind him, the strong Rama immediately translated.

It took only five minutes to pick out all the seriously injured patients who needed blood tests and transfusions. Wei Ran took the only two remaining hemostatic forceps back to the operating room where the gas lamp had been lit and rescue work was being carried out. He let Edelweiss help him change into surgical clothes and put on new rubber gloves.

"The anesthesia is complete," Edelweiss reminded, "Don't you need to wash your hands?"

"Let's save him first." Before Wei Ran finished his words, he had already walked to the simple operating table.

Amid the busy work of adults and children around the two operating tables, wounded people were sent in and carried in one after another. Some survived by chance, some were in unknown condition, and some died on the operating tables.

Wei Ran didn't know how much time had passed, or how many people he had saved and how many he hadn't. But the long-lost tingling in his feet and the radio program that had been changed three times all hinted that the number of wounded they had treated seemed to have long exceeded the number of wounded Wei Ran had hurriedly counted in the corridor before.

"You want to go to the bathroom?"

Wei Ran was busy suturing a young woman's abdomen while he asked Edelweiss who seemed to be unable to stand across from him without raising his head.

"I"

"go"

Wei Ran continued without raising his head, "By the way, let's see how many wounded people are outside."

Gritting her teeth, Edelweiss finally ran quickly into the bathroom in the operating room. Not long after, she ran out of the operating room to take a look.

By the time she washed her hands again, changed into surgical clothes and stood beside the operating table, Wei Ran had already finished the bandaging work and was asking Dalal to push the revived woman out.

"There are still a lot of wounded out there," Edelweiss said, "and besides, it's already daybreak."

"What time is it now?" asked the sewing machine next door.

"Ten twenty-two in the morning," Edelweiss answered.

“There is a problem”

Wei Ran said as he walked to the bathroom, "First, has the hot air balloon been here? Second, where did these injured people come from?"

Before he finished speaking, he had already gone into the bathroom. At the same time, Rama asked Hanward, who had just pushed the wounded in, something in Arabic.

When Wei Ran came out refreshed and took the cold coffee from Rama, the little girl, whose eyelids were fighting, immediately said, "I just asked Hanward, he was staring at the direction of the garage, and Mr. Hot Air Balloon never showed up."

After a pause, Rama yawned and said, "Also, Hanward asked the people who brought the wounded here. Someone tried to leave the encirclement last night, and then an exchange of fire occurred."

"What direction?" Wei Ran put down the coffee cup and asked while putting on his gloves again.

"North of the hospital," Rama answered immediately.

Hearing this, Wei Ran secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, it was not the direction where he had "killed monsters" last night.

"Sir, is there anything else you want to know?" Rama asked as he picked up the thermos and refilled the cup with coffee.

"No more," Wei Ran replied, putting on a mask, "Thank you for your hard work, our little translator. If you feel sleepy, take a nap."

"I'm not sleepy yet," Rama said, but couldn't help yawning again.

"The anesthesia is taking effect," Edelweiss reminded and handed over a scalpel.

"Okay." Wei Ran took a deep breath, reached out to take the scalpel and continued his bloody work.

At this point, Wei Ran was too lazy to count how many operations he had completed. Not only him, but even Edelweiss on the opposite side had given up the meaningless counting.

“We are running out of surgical instruments”

Cradle made arrangements, "Rama, can Ed and Hanward bring the oil stove and steaming tray for sterilization?"

"no problem"

Rama, who was so sleepy that he could hardly open his eyes, responded, cleared his hoarse throat and greeted in Arabic. He also picked up the thermos and walked to the wooden door of the operating room and handed it to Dalal who was about to go out to look for someone.

Soon, as the two operations were completed, Ed and Hanward also pushed the sterilized instruments over on a medical cart and skillfully began the disinfection operation in the corridor outside the operating room door.

The brothers also brought refills of thermos coffee and several dented aluminum lunch boxes.

“One more operation can be performed”

The sewing machine said, "You guys go eat and take a rest, I'll be the only one left."

"Let me do it," Wei Ran said sarcastically, "You're too slow."

Before he finished speaking, Dalal asked something at the door.

"There are new wounded soldiers coming in," Rama immediately translated, "Do they need to be brought in?"

"Push one person in," Wei Ran said, "Hurry up and eat."

Hearing this, the sewing machine and the cradle looked at each other, but did not reject Wei Ran's kindness.

"You go too," Wei Ran said to Edelweiss who was standing opposite.

"I still."

Before Edelweiss could finish her words, the wounded had been sent in, this time it was a member of the Falangist Party.

Wei Ran was of course certain that he was a member of the Falange Party, as he had just met him yesterday.

"Grandpa! Save me!"

Just as Wei Ran looked over, the Falange member also enthusiastically called out Wei Ran's "name". In the operating room, the others couldn't help but begin to feel fortunate - fortunately they had not had time to take off their masks, otherwise the injured person would have seen their smiles that they couldn't help but smile.

"How did you get hurt?"

While Wei Ran was talking, he had already called the two soldiers with guns who were pushing the stretcher to push him under the gas lamp, "Friends, you know the rules."

"Get out"

This time, the Long Spear member was particularly straightforward. He waved his hands at his men and explained with a grin before they could leave, "I stepped on a butterfly mine."

"How about having your guys bring some gasoline?"

Wei Ran asked casually while checking the wound on the other person's foot, "We are running low on fuel. Without fuel, the gas lamp cannot be lit."

"Are you negotiating terms with me?" the grandson asked as if he was going to turn against me.

“Just a friend request”

Wei Ran seemed not to notice the pistol on the other person's waist and said, "If I can't get it, then forget it."

"friend?"

“We are Doctors Without Borders”

Wei Ran injected anesthetic around the other person's wound while subtly rebuilding his cognition. "We are not Lestans, nor are we Lebanese, nor are we Jewish. As long as you don't bring guns and people to pollute our operating room, why can't we be friends?"

At this point, Wei Ran looked at the other party while waiting for the anesthetic to take effect, and said with a smile, "Believe me, it won't do you any harm to make a few doctor friends."

“You’re right”

After the grandson finished speaking, he changed to Arabic and greeted someone. Suddenly, an armed man who had just left pushed open the wooden door of the operating room and walked back in.

"Don't let him get any closer"

Wei Ran said before his grandson could speak, "Unless you want your wound to get infected."

Hearing this, the grandson of the Falange Party immediately stopped his men from moving forward and spoke something faster.

"He will send some fuel over later," said the grandson who was half lying on the operating table.

"Thanks, buddy. Next, make sure you don't move this foot."

"Is my leg broken?" The grandson, who was particularly arrogant yesterday, couldn't help but feel a little nervous at this moment.

"You're lucky. Only your big toe and second toe were blown off."

As Wei Ran spoke, he quickly picked up the saline solution and began to wash the wound that looked like a rag. "I can't sew your two toes again, but as long as you wear the boots, no one will notice this small defect."

Hearing this, the grandson who was half lying on the hospital bed immediately breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Are you the only one who can perform the surgery on me?"

"If there's a nurse helping me, it means your injuries are very serious." Wei Ran said as a matter of course, "You don't want this, do you?"

"All right"

The grandson nodded very meekly, and his eyes looked at the other people in the operating room, as well as the other people who seemed to be busy with something at the door of the operating room behind a curtain.

"Don't move around, it will be troublesome if you accidentally cut a blood vessel."

Wei Ran didn't give the other party a chance to look around, "How is the major who was sent here yesterday?"

"He's still unconscious," the grandson of the Long Spear Party quickly froze his body, and at the same time said with a bit of gloating, "He's been sent to another place."

"normal phenomenon"

Wei Ran inadvertently touched the other's dirty trouser leg with the needle holder in his hand, and continued to sew up the tattered trousers while saying, "Remind the major to change the dressing every day, and make sure to..."

"Don't bother talking about this kind of thing," the grandson on the operating table said impatiently, "someone will take care of him."

"All right"

Wei Ran, who was wearing a mask, smiled, quickened his hands, and sewed up the inside almost in a perfunctory manner, and then sewed up the skin and flesh on the outside with extra care, and then bandaged it with extra care.

“This is gas money.”

Before the other party could call his men, Wei Ran had already taken off his gloves, took out another $50 from his pocket and stuffed it into the other party's pocket, saying with great pain, "This is our last $50, but we won't let our friends help us in vain."

Looking at the banknotes in his hand in surprise, the grandson lying on the hospital bed patted Wei Ran's shoulder vigorously, laughed and said, "Grandpa! From now on we are friends!"

"Recover your wounds well after you return home"

Wei Ran reminded him with a smile, "Change the dressing every day, especially don't let the wound touch the ground, let alone get it wet. Of course, if you want, it's best if you can stay."

“Forget it”

The grandson stuffed the bills into his pocket and said without thinking, "I don't like being in this kind of hell."

After saying this, he shouted to call his men in. After some questioning, he took advantage of his men pushing him away and said, "The oil has been delivered. It's at the door. Goodbye, my friend."

"Goodbye!" Wei Ran waved enthusiastically and sent out his sincere blessing, "I wish you a speedy recovery! My dear friend!"

"puff"

Almost at the same time when the door of the operating room was closed, the other adults and children who did not dare to take off their masks in order to hold back their laughter all squatted down with their hands covering their mouths, twitching hard to prevent themselves from laughing out loud.