War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 294 Headless Corpse
On the way to find the second cave dug by the weather station, Eric shouted Leo's name from time to time, but unfortunately, until they walked five or six kilometers of mountain road with difficulty, they finally stopped at the last cave. At the foot of the peak, there was no response.

After taking a short rest to relax their bodies, the two moved the sleigh cart behind a big leeward rock and tied it with a rope, and then filled up all the kerosene lamps on the sleigh cart with fuel, and then each carried a dazzling lamp. kerosene lamp, took the ice ax and began to climb halfway up the mountain.

At the southwest corner of the highest peak of Bear Island, there is a gentle slope that winds upwards. This gentle slope is not only the main path for the snow on the mountain to roll down, but also the only path to go up the mountain.

The only good news is that thanks to the blizzard that raged for several days before, there is not much snow on this gentle slope, at least there is no need to worry about causing an avalanche to be buried.

But this does not mean absolute safety, especially after they climbed halfway up the mountain, without the cover of the mountain, the wind speed suddenly increased. If they were a little careless at this time, they might fall all the way to the foot of the mountain.

Under the guidance of the hand-drawn map, the two stopped and walked all the way, and finally stopped panting when they reached a position less than [-] meters away from the top of the mountain.

“This is it”

Eric pointed to an iron gate ahead that was mostly covered by snow, and then sat down on the thick snow, "Let me take a rest."

Wei Ran, who was also not very relaxed, glanced at the two-meter-wide iron gate, and then sighed silently.

There is no doubt that no one has been here, otherwise, at least there would not be so much snow outside the iron gate, and there would not be so many large and small gravels that have frozen together with the ground.

Soon, Eric, who had rested, also realized this. He searched around without giving up, and finally asked in a panic, "What should we do?"

"Go in and have a look first"

Wei Ran looked at the bare mountaintop and replied, "See if there is a radio station inside. If there is, as you said, at least we can try to call the police."

"Yes! You are right! We still have a chance to call the police!"

Eric heard the words and ignited a sliver of hope, hurriedly took out the shovel from the bag he was carrying, and urged Wei Ran to help clear up the relatively small amount of snow outside the iron gate.

Compared with the cave in the valley, this cave is much simpler, and there are even large and small gaps around the iron gate. In other words, this gate is more just to block the snow. That's all, so that there is no chain on it, just use a T-shaped iron pin to fasten it.

After barely clearing most of the snow, the two of them smashed open the iron gate that was frozen with the ground, but their eyes widened in shock at what they saw.

This cave is not too big, the depth is only less than three meters, and there are two iron shelves on both sides of the uneven rock wall, on which there are wooden boxes.And between the two iron racks, there was a white-painted half-track motorcycle parked with its butt facing outwards!

But what really surprised them was that in this cave, besides the shelves and half-track motorcycles, behind the iron gate, there were four frozen ice sculptures and headless corpses sitting side by side against the wall!

Eric took a step back subconsciously, but tripped over the gravel under his feet, and the kerosene lamp in his hand fell to the ground, breaking the windshield above it.

After recovering, Wei Ran hurriedly straightened the burning kerosene lamp, and then pulled Eric up.

"Why are there dead bodies here?" Eric asked in surprise.

Wei Ran didn't answer, but took a kerosene lamp and went to the side of these corpses to observe carefully.

After a long time, he replied, "The hands of these corpses are tied behind their backs, and there are still bullet holes in their chests. Judging by their clothes, they should be the people who worked at the weather station at that time."

"But what about them?" Eric stopped in the middle of speaking, obviously, he had vaguely guessed the answer.

"It seems that not many people escaped from this weather station at that time."

While talking, Wei Ran used the pointed end of the ice manuscript to tear off the neck of a corpse. Unsurprisingly, there was no such thing as a soldier's card on the neck of this corpse.Changed the corpse and searched through the other party's pockets, but couldn't find any documents that could prove their identities.

"Did Jonas' father kill them?" Eric asked incredulously, "Why? Why did he kill them?"

Wei Ran stood up, and replied in a very affirmative tone, "If I have to guess, maybe Jonas' father is not a meteorologist."

"What do you mean?" Eric looked at Wei Ran's back suspiciously.

"The meteorological team sent by Germany at that time was equipped with military leaders in addition to professionals in charge of weather forecasting."

Wei Ran slowed down and continued, "It probably exists like a bodyguard. Although this description is not accurate, the general direction should be correct."

"So?" Eric asked.

"Compared to the professional staff of these meteorological teams, the military leaders are obviously more loyal to their heads. Correspondingly, these people will be sanctioned more severely after the war. At least, the military leaders at that time should think so of."

Wei Ran turned around, looked at the pale Eric and continued, "So, what is the best way to survive?"

"Kill these people, so as not to reveal your true identity?" Eric looked at Wei Ran incredulously, "This is too exaggerated!"

"Perhaps, the murderer at that time also wanted to pretend to be one of these meteorological workers and use the identity of the other party to return to Germany, otherwise there would be no need to cut off their heads. Of course, there may be many identities."

Wei Ran walked around the half-track motorcycle in the cave, and while searching for the wooden boxes on the surrounding shelves, he continued to speculate, "A secret is a secret that only you know, that military leader, let's assume he is Professor Jonas' father.

He is a smart man, he knows the value of this weather station in the military field, and he also knows that if he wants to keep the secret of Bear Island, the best way is to hold this secret firmly in his own hands.Even the work notes left by his father that Professor Jonas said might be the work of someone here. "

"But if that's the case, why did he leave the body here? It's not."

Eric looked at the headless corpse behind the door belatedly, "He wants to prove that these people were murdered by him to get rid of them when necessary, no, no, no, he wants to prove that he is one of these dead? "

Wei Ran looked back at the only one among the few headless corpses wearing a German uniform, and responded absently, "Maybe, that's why I said the other party is a smart person. But compared to the truth more than 40 years ago, Eric , we now have good news."

"What good news?" Eric, who still hadn't recovered from the shock, asked subconsciously.

"This half-track motorcycle"

Wei Ran pointed to the iron bumps on the floor of the cave where the tracks were frozen, "I just searched around. Although there is no radio station or accessories that can be used in this cave, if we can start this thing , maybe it can help us get to the simple pier faster."

"It's been here for almost half a century, are you sure it can still be repaired?" Eric asked, frowning.

"How do you know if you don't try?"

While talking, Wei Ran unscrewed the cover of the radiator tank of the half-track motorcycle. Fortunately, the water inside has been emptied, which is good news.

"But it's a waste of time to fix it," Eric said reluctantly.

"So Eric, can you ski?" Wei Ran asked the question he had asked when he left the valley.

"No way" Eric gave the same answer again in embarrassment.

"So it's not a waste of time to fix it, we just walked five kilometers and it took that long if we wanted to go to the pier 20 kilometers away."

Wei Ran paused at this point, "Of course, I can ski. So to be precise, if you want to go to the pier 20 kilometers away, maybe by the time you get there, the polar day on Bear Island will be almost over. .”

"How could it be so exaggerated?" Eric rubbed his face vigorously, "Okay, listen to you, what should we do now?"

"Go down the mountain and bring up all the gasoline stove, stainless steel pot and oil barrel on the sled." Wei Ran opened the toolbox of the half-track motorcycle while speaking, "Leave the rest to me."

Eric looked at the top of his head, and then looked at the west side of the island. After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth and walked out of the cave, "I'll go get what you need right now."

After sending away Eric, Wei Ran also focused on this weird half-track motorcycle.It's weird because its front wheels have been changed to look like sleds.Obviously, this small change was made to suit the local environment of Bear Island.

In addition, under its crawlers and sled boards, there are several wooden squares.Even in the cargo hopper, which wasn't that big, but which seemed to contain a lot of dried blood, there was a barrel of lubricating oil with a lead seal and a barrel of gasoline.

All this seems to prove that the person who left behind this half-track motorcycle may have been ready to come back when he left.

He picked up the unopened bucket of lubricating oil, opened it, and shook it. The slightly viscous texture inside made him worry about whether it could still be used.

At the same time, Wei Ran was also secretly thinking about whether the reason for the person who left here alive, the reason he planned to come back here, and the reason why Professor Jonas escaped not long ago were for the same purpose.

On the other hand, since that person has made so many preparations, why hasn't he come back, or more precisely, has he ever come back?
(End of this chapter)