War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1694 Kirill's Personal Belongings
In the darkness of the night, Wei Ran and Kirill held their heads in their hands and walked carefully in the dark, dry and cold valley under the faint starlight. At the same time, the two were chatting in low voices.

“Something seems wrong”

Wei Ran whispered, "It's been so long since we crashed, why hasn't a helicopter come to rescue us?"

"I do not know"

Kirill whispered, "And we've been walking for so long and haven't met anyone else. Victor, why don't we find a way to deal with the guy behind us?"

"How do you plan to solve it?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

"He has to take a break. I have a scalpel up my sleeve."

Kirill said, "We just need to find a way to get him to our side, and then..."

And then, Kirill couldn’t say anything more, because just in front of them, at the bend of the valley, was a cave with a faint firelight.

Even without the flames, Wei Ran immediately recognized that this was the cave that Abdul had taken him to before his death. He even knew that there was a female teacher named Malalai who was injured by a butterfly mine.

“It looks like we have no chance.”

Wei Ran stopped for a moment. He had already seen Abdul's granddaughter Qiao Ya running out of the cave.

"Joya"

Hakim shouted from a distance in the language that Wei Ran had learned in the previous scene, "Stay away from those two Soviets."

"Where is my grandfather?" Qiao Ya stopped and asked in panic, and at the same time she couldn't help but stand on tiptoe to look at the people lying on the two donkeys.

"He," Hakim paused, "he won't come back."

Hearing this, Qiao Ya immediately covered her mouth, trying hard not to cry.

"Is Malalai okay?" Hakim used his gun to urge Wei Ran and the others to take a few quick steps, and at the same time hurriedly changed the subject.

"She has a fever, a very high fever."

Qiao Ya said helplessly, but she couldn't help but continue to tiptoe and look behind Hakim.

"I brought a doctor, Malalai will be fine." Hakim said, jumping off the donkey.

"They. They"

Qiao Ya covered her mouth tightly, trying not to let her voice sound like a child. But even so, tears still flowed from her eyes and she couldn't stop them.

"Only Habibullah and I survived"

Hakim said apologetically, "They...they didn't survive."

When she said this, Qiao Ya finally squatted down, buried her head in her knees and began to cry bitterly.

In just one day, this little girl, who was only about ten years old, had lost almost all the relatives she could lose.

But soon, Qiao Ya got up again, ran to Hakim's side, and reached out to grab the weapon hanging on the donkey.

"what are you up to?"

Hakim quickly stopped the little girl.

"I will kill these Soviets!" Qiao Ya shouted angrily.

“They are doctors”

Hakeem held Joya in his arms, “Malala still needs their help with the surgery, otherwise he will die.”

"My parents and grandfather are all dead. They killed me." Qiao Ya said unusually calmly, as if she had grown up in an instant.

"I know"

Hakim also suppressed his pain, but at the same time he was always on guard against Wei Ran and Kirill who were standing in front of the cave entrance. "But in order to let Teacher Malalai survive, we can't kill them."

"I want to participate in the next battle too." Qiao Ya said seriously.

"Okay, next time if there's a need, I'll let you participate." Hakim, who felt equally helpless, agreed.

After comforting the poor little girl with great difficulty, Hakim first helped Habibullah, who had woken up halfway, off the donkey. Then the two of them worked together to roughly pull Ruslan, who had his hands and feet tied, off the other donkey.

"One of our teachers was injured by your butterfly mine"

Hakim walked up to Wei Ran and Kirill holding the submachine gun that originally belonged to Ruslan and said in Persian, "She is in the cave. Go and help her finish the treatment. In exchange, I will allow you to treat your companions."

"I can help you save anyone."

Seeing that Wei Ran didn't say anything, Kirill simply said, "But I need to make a few requests."

"What request?" Hakim asked.

"Please return all personal belongings except weapons to us"

Kirill said, "Including our medical kits, that's our only request."

"Heal her wound first."

Hakim said ambiguously, "I will seriously consider your request."

"I refuse to provide medical assistance until you agree to the above conditions." Kirill said firmly.

"We just need a doctor," Hakim said, already raising his gun.

"If any of my companions are killed by you, you'd better kill me immediately." Wei Ran reminded in Persian at the right time.

"We just want our personal belongings back," Kirill reminded, "just personal belongings, not weapons."

After a moment, Hakim finally suppressed his impulse and put down the gun. "Go save people. After you complete the operation, I will return your things to you."

"We need medical kits," Kirill said simply.

Hakim looked at Kirill and Wei Ran warily, took the medical kit from the donkey's back and handed it to them.

"Why don't you do it?" Kirill said as he took out a flashlight and turned it on, observing the situation in the cave.

"No problem." Wei Ran nodded and began to make preparations.

“The conditions here are too shabby”

Kirill frowned and said that there were not only wounded people in the cave, but also a group of sheep, and the air was filled with the smell of sheep dung.

Objectively speaking, this cave is just a slightly cleaner sheepfold.

“Then use more antibiotics.”

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already inserted the anesthetic needle near Malalai's wound and began to inject it.

Compared to Ruslan who is still in a coma and Habibullah who has woken up but is listless, Malalai's condition is more serious at this time.

She was injured in the explosion yesterday at noon. Although she was bandaged to stop the bleeding, such a long time has inevitably caused necrosis symptoms around the wound.

"Her injury has been delayed for too long," Kirill said, "I'm afraid the entire sole of her foot may not be saved."

Hearing this, Habibullah panicked. His father Mahbub was also injured in the explosion. Could it be that he...
"Make sure she survives"

After Hakim finished speaking, he glanced at Habibullah, then changed to the language that Wei Ran had learned in the previous scene and said, "Habibullah, do you feel better?"

"Much better," replied Habibullah, with gauze wrapped on his head.

"In that case, you keep an eye on them." Before he finished speaking, Hakim had already stuffed the submachine gun into the other party's hand, and he turned around and walked out of the cave.

"What are you going to do?" Habibullah asked, taking the gun.

"I'll go back and see if I can find that anti-aircraft machine gun. If it's still there, I'll try to bring it back."

After Hakim finished explaining, he had already walked to the side of the donkey.

"I want to go with you," Qiao Ya said seriously, gripping the reins.

“You have to help Habibullah now.”

Hakim said as he handed the PPSh submachine gun to the other man. "Habibullah has a head injury. He might fall asleep. If the three Soviets try to get closer, you will be responsible for shooting the one with the injured leg. If they continue to get closer, you will kill another one."

"give it to me!"

Qiao Ya held the gun and made a serious promise, "I will protect Habibullah."

“Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Hakim said as he mounted his donkey and walked into the night once again.

At the same time, inside the cave, Wei Ran had already started the operation in this simple environment under the lighting provided by Kirill's flashlight.

For Wei Ran, amputation surgery was almost what he was best at, so it didn't take long from the start of the operation to the completion of the suture.

At least, Hakim had not come back yet, and Habibullah and Qiao Ya, who were guarding the entrance of the cave, were still looking at them vigilantly with guns raised.

"We have completed the surgery on this lady"

Kirill said, "We are going to check our companion's wounds now. Also, can you return our things to us?"

"I will consider it when you return the occupied land to Afhan." Habibullah added, "You can go and check on the injuries of your companions."

"Thank you"

Kirill thanked him and, with the support of Wei Ran, staggered towards Ruslan who was not far away.

After a checkup, Ruslan was in good condition. His only problem was a concussion that was more serious than Kirill's, and a wound on his thigh that made it difficult for him to move.

"Why are you so obsessed with getting our personal belongings back?"

Wei Ran sat down next to Ruslan who was still unconscious, leaning against the rock wall, and asked in a low voice.

“I want my camera back”

Kirill also sat down next to Ruslan, leaning against the wall on the other side of his body and said, "That was a gift from my adoptive father. He wanted me to take more photos for him on the battlefield."

"Adoptive father?"

"Adoptive father"

Kirill explained calmly, "He was my father's colleague, and the camera was a meeting gift from him."

After a short pause, Kirill added, "It was also a gift from my biological father to my adoptive father, asking him to take care of me. At that time, I hung out with those lawyers almost every day, and my relationship with my father was not very good."

"Your biological father."

"I don't know where he is or if he's still alive."

Kirill shook his head. "He was one of the first military doctors to come to Afhan. Eight years ago, he disappeared after the helicopter they were riding crashed in Kandahar, just like what happened to us today."

"So your adoptive father has never been to Italy?" Wei Ran asked.

"He was born and raised in Moscow, and the farthest place he had been was Leningrad."

Kirill smiled and said, "My biological father did go to Italy as a ship's doctor."

"Does this lie have any practical significance?" Wei Ran asked casually.

“I don’t want them to know what happened to my father.”

Kirill patted Ruslan's shoulder and said, "So we have to find a reasonable excuse. I mean, before we get shot down."

"Sorry, I shouldn't ask these questions." Wei Ran said apologetically.

"Nothing." Kirill shook his head. "Anyway, I want to get my camera back. It's very important to me."

“You’ll get your camera.”

Habibullah, who was sitting at the entrance of the cave, said abruptly in Russian, "I will return the camera to you when my companions come back."

"You speak Russian?" Kirill asked unexpectedly.

Habibullah did not answer this obvious question, making it clear that he did not want to communicate with them.

"Can we get some food?" Kirill continued to ask in Russian in a rather shameless manner.

After a brief hesitation, Habibullah took out half a piece of naan from his arms and threw it to Kirill as if he was feeding a dog.

"Thank you"

Kirill quickly picked up the piece of naan, slapped it roughly and divided it into three portions. He first handed one portion to Wei Ran, stuffed the second portion into Ruslan's arms, and then brought the third portion to his mouth and took a big bite.

"I remember you said that you took the initiative to apply to stay?"

Wei Ran started a new topic and stuffed the piece of naan that was allocated to him into his arms. He was not hungry yet, or rather, not that hungry yet.

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"That's right"

Kirill nodded. "Although it is quite dangerous here, I can accumulate a lot of clinical experience."

"Just for this?"

"I once imagined finding him on this battlefield"

Kirill was particularly frank, "But I have been here for two years and have not had the opportunity to go to Kandahar. I guess he may have..."

"Maybe it's the same situation as ours now," Wei Ran consoled, "Maybe he has become friends with the locals."

"We are not friends," Habibullah, who had been eavesdropping, snorted coldly.

“No one would refuse to be friends with a doctor”

Wei Ran smiled and reminded, "Except for the dead, everyone needs a doctor."

Habibullah opened his mouth but ultimately did not say anything else.

Just like Wei Ran said, everyone needs a doctor. Now his father and his sister both need the help of a doctor.

Especially the latter, Wei Ran knew this matter better than Habibullah himself.

"We will become friends one day," Kirill also took the initiative to say.

"Unless you leave Afhan completely"

Habibullah grumbled, then took the initiative to ask, "Malala, I mean, how is she doing?"

“We have done the best we can with the conditions we have.”

Wei Ran said, "It all depends on her. If she can wake up tomorrow, then it's not serious.

If she still has a fever and is unconscious tomorrow or has other problems, maybe you should be prepared. "

Hearing this, Habibullah couldn't help but clench his fists and said, "Look at what you have done."

'This is war'

Kirill sighed, "War is a mess of tragedy and corpses.

No matter how hard we who are stuck in the mud struggle, war is still war, and mud is still mud."

For a moment, the cave became quiet, leaving only the crackling sound of the single campfire and the faint noise of Qiao Ya adding firewood from time to time.

After about two hours, the sound of a donkey braying was heard outside the cave.

"Go and see," Habibullah said.

Upon hearing this, Qiao Ya immediately ran out of the cave, and soon after, she shouted, "Uncle Hakim is back!"

As Qiao Ya called out, Hakim led three donkeys to the entrance of the cave. With the faint light of the fire, Wei Ran discovered that the three donkeys were empty.

"The Soviets took the machine guns away?" Habibullah didn't seem surprised.

“They didn’t have time to take it away”

Hakim's tone was also somewhat relieved. "When I rushed over, the wreckage of the helicopter had been burned to a frame. I guess there was an explosion there after we left, and our machine guns were also blown into scrap metal."

As he spoke, Hakim reached into his pocket, pulled out a ring with a turquoise face and handed it to Qiao Ya. "This is what I found from Teacher Abdul. It's the only thing I brought back. Qiao Ya, keep it."

"thank you"

Qiao Ya took the ring that was much bigger than her and hugged Hakim with tears in her eyes.

“We should get out of here.”

Hakim said, "Habibullah, Mahbub also needs a doctor, we will go there tonight."

"But."

"Take Them With You"

Hakim had apparently thought of everything on the way back, “Malalai will ride one donkey, the Russian with the injured leg will ride one donkey, you will ride one donkey, and the goats will carry the rest.

"Okay, I'll do as you say." Habibullah was at a loss at this time. He was eager to bring the captured Soviet doctor back to treat his father.

Under Hakim's command, they first lifted the unconscious Malalai onto the donkey's back and tied her up. Then they asked Wei Ran and Kirill to lift Ruslan, who was also unconscious, onto another donkey and tied him up.

At the same time, He Qiaoya also found a rope, passed it through the ring and tied it around his neck. Then he drove all the goats out of the cave and tied some things that needed to be taken away on the goats' backs.

Before leaving, Habibullah said, "Hakim, return the camera to the Soviet guy."

"What did you say?" Hakim didn't react for a moment.

"Give him back that camera."

Habibullah said, "That is the legacy left to him by his father. I have promised him."

"When did you become friends?"

Hakim sneered, but he simply took out the miniature camera from his pocket and handed it to Habibullah.

“I didn’t become friends with them.”

Habibullah said, taking the camera and handing it to Kirill, "Hold your camera. If you do anything, I will make you smash it with your own hands."

"Can you give Ruslan's watch back, too?" Kirill seemed quite familiar with this kind of thing. "It was a wedding gift from his wife."

"You can only choose one between camera and watch," Habibullah said coldly.

"Okay, I choose the camera." Kirill said, putting the camera in his pocket.

“You two walk at the head of the flock”

Habibullah said, "If you dare to run, not only will you step on the mines you have laid, but I will kill your companions immediately."

"Go, go."

Wei Ran patted Kirill on the shoulder, asking him to swallow the words he was about to say, and took him to the front of the flock.

"Are you trying to make friends with them?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice that only the two of them could hear.

“We must become friends with them as soon as possible”

Kirill whispered back, "Then find a way to escape, and take Ruslan with you."

"I'm afraid this matter is not that simple," Wei Ran sighed.

"I know." Kirill clenched the miniature camera in his pocket.

"Wait, you walk behind me."

Wei Ran said that he had walked this road once and knew how to go back, so he naturally knew where it was safe and where it was not.

“No difference”

Kirill was still walking side by side with Wei Ran, "I have imagined countless times what would happen to me after I was captured, and what my father would experience after he was captured.

Frankly speaking, apart from the helicopter crash which was scarier than I thought, the rest of the experience was much better than I thought.”

"You actually care about your father a lot?" Wei Ran said.

"yes"

Kirill took a deep breath but did not continue the topic.

"Tell me about those crew members."

Wei Ran pointed behind him and said, "How about we start with Ruslan?"

"What?" Kirill asked.

"Everyone has a story, right?" Wei Ran said, "Including the people who captured us. You must know Ruslan better than I do, right?"

“He is from Minsk”

Kirill said, “Do you know Victory Square in Minsk?”

"Know"

"His home is right next to Victory Square, but he rarely has the chance to go back and visit."

Kirill introduced, "His wife is also a doctor, working in Kiev. I heard from Ruslan that his wife participated in the treatment of the workers who survived Chernobyl two years ago."

"Do they have children?" Wei Ran asked.

"There is a daughter. Ruslan said they found out they were pregnant first and then got married." Kirill said with a smile.

"What about you?"

Wei Ran suddenly changed the topic to the other person, "Aren't you married?"

"not yet"

Kirill shook his head and then fell silent. Obviously, Wei Ran's question reminded him of a girl.

The topic came to an abrupt end. In the starry night, the only sounds were the breathing of travelers and the dull sounds of shoes, sheep's hooves, and donkey's hooves hitting the ground.

They walked like this for nearly half the night, and just when they were rounding a low hill again, a faint light appeared in the valley ahead!

"Who's there?!"

Hakim first signaled everyone, including Wei Ran and Kirill, to hide, and then he asked.

"Is it Uncle Hakeem?"

In the darkness of the night, a surprised voice came from the other side, "It's me! Murtaza!"

"Murtaza! Why are you here?"

Habibullah subconsciously tensed up his nerves. If it was not an urgent matter, there was no need for Murtaza to rush to find him at night.

"Uncle Habibullah!"

Murtaza on the other side started to cry. "Ayana had a difficult birth. Grandpa asked me to come here to ask Teacher Malalai for help."