War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 47 Do me a little favor

"I really want to be a war photographer in the future, but I don't have the courage to face the battlefield that could kill me at any time."

After waiting for Nicholas to turn around, Wei Ran looked into the other's old eyes very seriously and said, this time he really didn't lie, but just concealed some irrelevant things.

Nicholas looked up at Wei Ran slowly, then lowered his head and lit a cigarette by himself, "Young man, sitting across from you is an old man who is about to celebrate his 90th birthday. So much energy and stamina to make you a little KGB. Well, if you'd do me a favor, I can recommend a place for you to learn something."

"What's the favor?" Wei Ran asked cautiously, a retired old KGB wanted to ask him for a favor, even if it was a "small favor", he couldn't help being cautious.

"take it easy"

Nicholas pointed to Wei Ran's old camera hanging around his neck, "It's not a big deal, you just need to go to Inta to take a few photos, and bring some things back for me by the way, since you want to be a battlefield in the future Photographer, I believe this is not too difficult for you."

"Inta?" Wei Ran looked bewildered, "What is that place?"

"Vorkuta, you always know, right?" Nikolai asked patiently.

"I know, of course I know."

The moment Wei Ran heard this name, he tensed up subconsciously. Anyone who has played a certain game knows what kind of place this place is, and as a graduate of history, he knows this place name especially well.

Vorkuta is located almost at the northernmost tip of the Ural Mountains, and even the Arctic Circle is about 150 kilometers south of it.

The reason why this place can be written into the history books is entirely because Vorkuta began in the 30s, and the Soviet Union sent nearly 2 million laborers here to build cities and mine coal.

Among the large number of workers, there are German prisoners of war from World War II, felons from the Soviet era, and even civilians in the Soviet-occupied areas of Germany after the war.But no matter who they were before they got there, the end result was much the same, basically being left there forever by the cold or bullets.

"Inta is about [-] kilometers south of Vorkuta, also on the west side of the Ural Mountains." Nikolai said patiently, "As long as you help me take some photos in every corner of Inta, By the way, just bring me something back.”

Wei Ran swallowed, "Can I ask the reason?"

"It used to be the place where I worked, and it was also the place where the Aleutian company commander was imprisoned." Nicholas explained briefly, and then stopped talking, just waiting for Wei Ran to make a decision. .

After a moment of silence, Wei Ran looked up at the old man across the desk and asked, "What should I bring back?"

Nicholas stubbed out the cigarette butt, "You don't have to be too curious about this matter, I will let Jima go with you, and when you get to Inta, he will take you to find those things. Well, young man, it's up to you It's decided."

"Let Ji Ma follow me?" Wei Ran frowned involuntarily, that little gangster named Ji Ma didn't seem very reliable.

"Don't underestimate Ji Ma"

Nicholas stood up and walked out and said, "If you are more diligent, you can learn how to be a qualified hunter from him first. In addition, in comparison, I would actually trust Jima rather than you, but he His photography skills are just as bad as his aesthetics for his hair."

"Are there any other requirements?" Wei Ran, who walked out step by step, asked.

Nicholas, who was walking in front, thought for a while and said, "Let's take pictures with Zoya's camera, try to take as many pictures as possible, just use black and white film."

"No problem, what else?" Wei Ran asked confidently, he brought a lot of film when he came here this time, so it's not a big problem to help take a few photos.

Nicholas glanced back at Wei Ran contemptuously, and continued downstairs while continuing, "Come back alive, don't lose your life there, I don't want to help you tell your parents, what is the gift you prepared for them? place."

Wei Ran grinned, and the little confidence that had just risen suddenly turned into apprehension.

Returning to the classroom on the first floor, Nicholas slowly made a pot of coffee, never mentioning anything about Inta, until Jima came back on the old Harley, and then he left Wei Ran alone. In the classroom, take the former to the second floor.

After more than half an hour, Ji Ma ran down the stairs in a hurry, and greeted at the top of his voice, "Victor, we should go!"

"Let's go now?" Wei Ran, who had been waiting for a long time, was bored and even regretted, asked in surprise.

"certainly"

While urging Wei Ran to follow him out of the small building on the second floor, Jima took the initiative to introduce, "The next train to Vorkuta leaves at 10:[-] p.m., so we only have less than four hours to prepare. Anyway, let's go!"

Looking back at Nicholas standing at the door, before Wei Ran had time to say anything, he got into the van parked under the shade of a tree under the urging of Ji Ma.

Without waiting for him to sit still, the impatient Ji Ma had already started the car and stepped on the accelerator to the bottom, then rushed out of the yard savagely under the friction of the tires, and returned to the small village outside the forest along the old cracked road.

"Jima, why don't we go there by plane?" Wei Ran asked, grabbing the back of Jima's seat.

"I'm afraid of heights"

After Jima gave an impeccable reason, he took the initiative to add, "Besides, there is no way to check in weapons by plane. In the ghost place of Inta, if you don't have a gun in your hand, it is almost equivalent to delivering food to wolves and brown bears. .”

"You seem to be familiar with it?"

"At least a quarter of the people in this small village migrated from the freezing Inta with the help of Headmaster Nikolai before and after the disintegration of the Soviet Union."

"You also migrated from Inta?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.

"I'm not"

Jima said with a smile, "I was born in this village, but my parents moved here with the help of Principal Nikolai."

"No wonder you respect Mr. Nicholas so much"

Wei Ran muttered to himself, in the vast land of Russia, there are many people living near the Arctic Circle. They are not reluctant to leave the big natural refrigerator, but they lack the start-up funds for moving and the source of income after moving. There is no way to leave.

And what Nicholas did, to those villagers who originally lived in Inta, they were no different from the existence of a savior.

There was no time to talk about Inta and Nicholas, and Jima had already stepped on the brakes roughly in front of an old wooden house, and then warmly greeted Wei Ran and followed him into the house.

This old-looking wooden house is extremely simple, and the only household appliances are mottled with time. Even looking at the shape, it might be older than Wei Ran.

Climbing up the creaking wooden stairs to the second floor, Jima took out a long plastic box with dust from under the bed and opened it, then took out a rifle with a scope from it.

The moment Wei Ran saw this gun, his eyes shrank subconsciously. This is a rare MTs-116M sniper rifle. Although its appearance is somewhat similar to a civilian shotgun, it is actually specially for Russia. High-end goods prepared by law enforcement agencies.

Looking at the quarter horse with his assorted hair, who was concentrating on pressing bullets into the magazine, and this bedroom like a kennel, he had more and more doubts in his heart. Among other things, given the other party's economic conditions, No matter how you look at it, it doesn't look like a master who is willing to spend money on this fancy weapon as a shotgun.

I don’t know if I saw the doubt in Wei Ran’s eyes, Jima said with a smile while pressing the bullets into the magazine, “Victor, don’t look at me with that suspicious look, this gun is Nikolai It was my 18th birthday present from the headmaster, and I couldn't afford something like that myself."

"Are you sure you want to bring this gun to Inta?" Wei Ran picked up an empty magazine from the gun box, and asked while helping to press the bullet into it.

"The end of September is about to enter winter for Inta, and the wolves and brown bears there are at their hungriest. So if you don't want part of your body to become food for them to survive the winter, you'd better bring more weapons .”

Before he finished speaking, Ji Ma inserted the full magazine back into the depression on the shock-absorbing sponge, quickly got up and opened the cabinet, took out a bulging mountaineering bag from inside and threw it to the former, holding the plastic gun case and going downstairs .

"Where are we going next?" Wei Ran asked, carrying a heavy backpack, chasing him into the van.

"Going to the city, you need to buy some clothes that are thick enough." Ji Ma pulled at his messy hair, "I also need a haircut, this color is too conspicuous in the wild."

"You also know?" Wei Ran slandered secretly, bringing the topic back to Inta, the destination of this trip.

While the two were chatting, the van arrived at the door of an unremarkable outdoor goods store on the edge of the city without any hindrance.Jima didn't turn off the car at all. After pushing the door and entering, he said enthusiastically to the shopkeeper, "My friend wants to go hunting with me in Inta, get him a suitable set of equipment!"

The shopkeeper wearing glasses glanced at Wei Ran, and asked Jima directly, "Do you need a shotgun?"

Ji Ma resolutely refused, "No, just give him the cheapest TT33 pistol for self-defense."

"I don't need a pistol, just give me a box of 9mm par ammunition." Wei Ran said hastily. He still has the pistol that Mr. Alexander gave him in his notebook. There is really no need to buy another one. Comfortable TT33 pistol.

The shopkeeper wearing glasses ignored him at all, until Ji Ma nodded, and then took a careful look at Wei Ran, and then took out a bulging mountaineering bag and a set of extra thick winter clothes from the closely arranged shelves, and A pair of high-waist cotton boots are placed on the counter.

"A total of [-] rubles," the shopkeeper wearing glasses said immediately after Wei Ran tried on the clothes and shoes.

Wei Ran frowned, the price was outrageously expensive, but seeing Jimana next to him as a matter of course, he finally paid wisely and bought what the other party offered.

After sending all the purchased things to the car, Ji Ma said emotionally, "You are the most generous guest I have ever seen, I thought you would counter the price."

"Can you bargain?" Wei Ran looked at the other party dully.

"Of course! But it's best not to haggle over the price. Although the things you just bought are a bit more expensive, at least the quality is guaranteed, so you won't be frozen to death in Inta."

"Do you often go to Inta?"

Faced with Wei Ran's question, Jima nodded cheerfully, "My friends and I often take some boring rich people to hunt in Inta. Although we don't make much money, at least it's more comfortable than sitting in an office."

Co-authoring this is a tour guide?
Wei Ran finally understands that the other party is no different from the job he does in his aunt's travel agency, it's just that the attractions he visits are different.

With this point in common, the two young people of similar age chatted more and more speculatively. When they made all the preparations before departure and rushed to the train station, there was only half a day left before the departure. hours of time.

What stunned Wei Ran was that a mohawk-haired gangster who had met once before was actually working at this train station.With his help, not only did the two of them go through the security check, they boarded the high-class train compartment without even buying a ticket. Looking at the posture of the two of them as if they were visiting their own backyard, this kind of thing is obviously not the first time. time.

After Wei Ran hung up the call to report the itinerary to Alexei, the train started to start, and Ji Ma, who had already shaved his head by himself, had already put all the food and drink he bought on the dining table superior.

They each held a glass of cold beer, and Wei Ran finally asked the question that had been simmering in his heart since the departure, "Jima, what exactly does Mr. Nicholas want us to bring back from Inta?"

Jima shook his head when he heard the words, "I don't know about that. Principal Nicholas only told me to find a safe and bring back the contents of the safe, but he didn't say what's in it."

Wei Ran pondered for a moment and asked the second question that he had always been curious about, "Does Mr. Nicholas have any family members?"

"Don't ask Principal Nicholas this question."

Jima sighed, "I heard from my father that Mr. Nikolai's wife is from the Inta people. They also gave birth to two sons and a daughter."

"And then?" Wei Ran asked.

"No then"

Jima spread his hands, "Even if my father heard it from others, no one has seen Mr. Nicholas' wife and children. But every time they are mentioned, Mr. Nicholas will shut himself in the room and drink He was so drunk that once, if the people in our village didn’t find out in time, he would have died of alcohol poisoning.”

"It seems that this old guy has a lot of stories hidden."

Wei Ran sighed secretly, and at the same time became more and more curious about what Nicholas wanted the two of them to bring back from Inta.

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(End of this chapter)