War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 50 Other Visitors

In the early morning of the next day, the heavy snow that had been raging all night still did not stop, but the howling cold wind finally died down as Jima expected.In the quiet coniferous forest, only the slight sound of snowflakes falling down is left.

Taking advantage of Wei Ran, who was sentry in the middle of the night, to catch up on sleep, Ji Ma had already cooked a big pot of oatmeal for breakfast, and even had time to use the leftover firewood from burning last night to make a small bag that could fit two people's backpacks. sledge.

After breakfast, the two warmed up and extinguished the bonfire that had been burning all night, dismantled the tent, fixed everything except the weapon on the sledge, and continued towards the goal in the snow that had buried their boots advance.

"This heavy snow is really timely"

Ji Ma, who was in charge of exploring the road, pointed behind him, "It only takes half an hour at most for our footprints to be covered by snow, and as long as we see footprints in the snow, it proves that the prey is not far away from us. "

"As long as we don't get lost." Wei Ran, who was in charge of pulling the sledge, tightened the rope on his shoulders, "Jima, what's the situation at our destination?"

"It's an abandoned gold mine," Jima said surprisingly.

"Gold mine?!" Wei Ran's voice rose a notch.

Jima nodded, "I have been there several times with Mr. Nicholas. According to him, gold mines were discovered there before the end of World War II."

"If it's a gold mine, it stands to reason that you should be able to drive there, right?"

Faced with Wei Ran's question, Jima raised his finger and explained, "There is indeed an external road, but that road only connects the Kosio River. In other words, only when the Kosio River is completely frozen can the When running a car, that road can be walked."

"What about rowing?" Wei Ran asked persistently.

"It is indeed possible to go there by boat, but if you want to drive to the Kosio River, you have to detour at least more than 100 kilometers, and many places along the way are also because the ground has not been completely frozen, so it is more troublesome to go by car."

Ji Ma turned back and smiled, "In short, let's go honestly, this is the fastest way at present."

"The correctional camps in the Soviet era really knew how to choose places." Wei Ran sighed, resigned himself to pulling in the rope, pulled the sledge to follow behind Ji Ma, and continued to move towards the destination obediently.

In the heavy snow, the two of them pulled the sledge forward in the dense coniferous forest, and occasionally passed through relatively low-lying places. If they were not wearing snowshoes, the snow on the surface would even be waist deep.

This bad road condition not only seriously slowed down the speed of the two, but also caused big troubles to the small animals in the forest. Even the reindeer who are busy migrating south can only move forward slowly in the soft snow , From time to time, we have to stop to rest for a while, or change our partners to open the snow passage for the deer in front.

"boom!"

There was a crisp gunshot, and white smoke slowly overflowed from the barrel. Before Wei Ran could put away the gun on the tree fork, Jima, holding a binoculars, said happily, "Good marksmanship. A male reindeer."

"You taught me well." Wei Ran returned the sniper rifle to Jima, and at the same time took over the binoculars from him.

Gently push the charging handle to pull out the empty shell casing and replace it with new bullets. Ji Ma closed the safety and put the gun on his back, "Let's go, that reindeer is enough for us to eat for several days, we will find a place to camp later, I'll teach you how to divide your prey."

"Camping so early?" Wei Ran rolled up his cuffs and looked at his watch, "It's only two o'clock, isn't it too early?"

"Don't be in a hurry, even if it's a little slower today, we'll be there at noon tomorrow at the latest."

Ji Ma signaled Wei Ran to untie the scarf, "And the most important thing is, you are already sweating, if you don't dry your clothes as soon as possible, it will be very dangerous."

"What are you talking about?" Wei Ran put the scarf on his shoulders, pulled the sledge and walked towards the reindeer shot by himself a hundred meters away.

The reindeer's neck had already been pierced by bullets, and the blood from the shattered wound dyed the surrounding snow red, which indirectly completed the bloodletting work.

Jima took out a box of tape measures from his bag and measured the reindeer's head, and then counted carefully, before saying with satisfaction, "It's not bad, the antler's width has exceeded 1.5 meters. There are also more than 30 forks, and just this deer head can be sold for a lot of money as a specimen."

"So that's why you didn't let me lead?"

"certainly"

Ji Ma nodded as a matter of course, "One of the most valuable parts of a reindeer is the head specimen, especially the antlers of this kind of wild reindeer. The traces of fighting left on it are incomparable to farmed reindeer."

While speaking, he had already chopped off the entire deer head and half of the neck with a saw and an axe, and poked the wound downward on the snow.Grabbing a handful of snow and rubbing the blood off the glove, Ji Ma took out a small knife and handed it to Wei Ran, "Next is your job, peel off its deerskin completely."

"What should I do?" Wei Ran took the knife and asked. Although he and the professor had also hunted deer before, the work of skinning and disemboweling was done by the professor himself, and he had never done it by himself.

"Cut along the midline of the chest, with the blade pointing up when it reaches the stomach, otherwise, once the abdominal cavity and intestines are cut, this piece of meat will be useless."

Under Ji Ma's patient guidance, Wei Ran carefully cut open the deerskin, then turned the body over, and dumped the whole set of internal organs that were still steaming on the snow.

Jima carefully inspected the reindeer's liver and saw that there were no visible lesions on it, so he cut off the heart and threw it aside, while the instructor Wei Ran continued to skin the reindeer.

After working in a hurry for nearly an hour, a complete deerskin was stripped off and spread on the snow.Following the example of a quarter horse, rubbing the deerskin completely with snow to kill the fleas hidden in it, the two of them worked together to lift the venison onto the sledge and covered it with deerskin, then took the deer head away from the "murder scene" ".

After continuing to walk upwind for at least one kilometer, Ji Ma chose a sufficiently open and flat place to set up the tent again.When the bonfire was lit, the two fat and tender deer legs were also cut off and set aside, dripping fat with sizzling sounds under the licking of the flames.

With all this busy work, the sky outside the tent gradually darkened.From time to time, Wei Ran used a small knife to make a few cuts on the deer's legs, while Ji Ma was already diligently propping up the deer's skin with a wooden stick, patiently scraping off the remaining fat on it.

"How much money can such a deer make you?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"Like this deer head, if it is handled well, it can be made into specimens and sold to my clients to earn at least seven or eight thousand rubles. The deer skin is relatively not worth much, let alone the venison, which is basically impossible to carry. When we go back, we will digest everything on the spot.”

Jima said that he stopped his work here, looked up and smiled at Wei Ran, "Combined with the other profits from bringing people here to hunt, basically earning [-] to [-] rubles a month is not too difficult."

Wei Ran nodded secretly when he heard the words. This income is not low in Russia, but the hard work and risks that Ji Ma has paid are indeed not low.

During the chat between the two, the deerskin that had been processed first was thrown outside the tent. As for the deer head that was to be made into a specimen, we had to wait until we got back.

After finishing their work, the two ate roasted venison and drank cold vodka to fill their stomachs. By the way, they propped up their sweat-stained clothes on the edge of the campfire to dry.

Another peaceful night passed, and when the sky brightened again, the heavy snow outside the tent finally stopped, and even the temperatureless sun symbolically showed its head.

After packing up all their belongings, the two pulled the sledge and set off again, and finally arrived at the abandoned gold mine deep in the forest after one o'clock in the afternoon.

On a forest clearing the size of four football fields, a four-story building with a rather large area is particularly conspicuous. Not far from it, there is an artificial waterway that has long been frozen like a moat across Wei Ran Between the two of them and the building.In the rest of the locations, there are still some mineral processing equipment covered with thick snow.

But besides that, the green smoke rising from a room on the second floor of the building also indicated that they were not the only guests here.

"What should I do?" Wei Ran, who was lying behind a pine tree, turned to Jima and asked.

"Probably another hunter"

Jima said vaguely, "This season happens to be when the reindeer migrate south, and many hunters will come to the forest to hunt during this season. But"

Seeing the other party's hesitation, Wei Ran couldn't help but tense up, "What?"

"It may also be a gold digger who wants to make a fortune"

Jima pointed to the direction not far away, "That direction is the entrance of the mine. In summer, people often go there to try their luck."

"Can you find it?"

"It's hard." Ji Ma shook his head, "Otherwise this place wouldn't be abandoned."

Wei Ran raised his binoculars again and glanced at the smoking room, "Then what should we do now?"

"wait first"

Jima looked at his watch, "When it's getting dark, if no one comes out of that mine, we'll go say hello. If the other party is really a gold digger, we can only change to another place and wait for them to leave. .”

Wei Ran immediately guessed Jima's concern, "Do you suspect that Mr. Nicholas asked us to take gold from the safe?"

"If it is gold, it will be troublesome"

Jima said worriedly, "People who are still willing to come here to pan for gold at this time are either mentally ill or poor and have no other way of life. To them, we are almost the same as the gold in the mine. The best ending is probably He was also under house arrest and forced to dig for gold. So Victor, once the worst happens, don’t tell us our original purpose, otherwise, no matter whether there is gold in the safe, it will be very difficult for us to survive.”

"I see"

Wei Ran swallowed hard. Although the danger was far inferior to what he had experienced in Stalingrad and Don 19, the threats they brought were exactly the same.

Among other things, although the previous two experiences of returning to World War II were life-threatening at all times, but combined with the monitoring screen of the studio and his own physical condition after returning, Wei Ran had already vaguely guessed that his body might not be true. go back.

In other words, even if he really died on the battlefield of World War II, maybe he still has a slim hope of surviving in the original world.But if he was shot and collapsed by the gold diggers who might exist in that building, he would really have to lie down.

"Put this on"

Ji Ma slowly took out a snow-white smock from his bag and handed it to Wei Ran, and then took out a tent of the same color and spread it on the snow.

In addition, Wei Ran gave the animal skin that was still supported by a wooden frame, and the two men in overalls lay on the tent cloth, holding binoculars and sniper rifles and staring quietly at the distant building and the entrance of the mine. direction.

While the two were waiting quietly, the temperatureless sun above their heads slanted westward a little bit. When the sky began to darken, two reindeer pulled a sledge and ran out of the coniferous forest opposite and stopped at the door of the building. at the steps.

"Looks like a hunter"

Ji Ma, who put the gun on his backpack, let out a sigh of relief, "There are wolves and reindeer on his sledge, and the other party may be a hunting team."

"Then shall we go there?" Wei Ran, who was also holding a telescope, asked.

"hold on"

Jima re-pointed the gun in the direction of the mine, "When the sky is completely dark, if no one enters or exits the mine, we can go over and contact them."

Hearing this, Wei Ran didn't say much, but secretly took out a pistol from the cowhide book and loaded it with bullets, and put it back without even turning off the insurance.

For him, although the two brutal wars he experienced did not teach him much, at least he no longer has any hesitation about killing people—whether with guns or knives.

Time passed by, about two hours later, Jima handed the sniper rifle in his hand to Wei Ran, and then took the bolt-action shotgun from the latter's backpack, "Victor, I'm going to talk to Wei Ran If the other party contacts, if everything is safe, I will shake the flashlight at you, if it is dangerous, I will find a way to shoot, and then you can only find a way to return to Inta by yourself."

"How about we camp somewhere else?"

Wei Ran grabbed Ji Ma who was about to get up, "Anyway, we have plenty of time, we can wait for the other party to leave."

"In the next month, this forest will only become more and more lively." Jima showed his big yellow teeth that had been smoked, "Principal Nikolai's birthday will be half a month later, and I want to go back to attend his 90th birthday."

Before Wei Ran could say anything else, he had already picked up his gun, put on his half-shrunk backpack, and walked a hundred meters away. Then, holding a bright flashlight, he came out of the dense forest and walked straight to the building that was abandoned. Snow-covered Soviet-era buildings.

　Thank You Fang Taoist for traveling around, dancing, dancing, and dancing for rewarding 1500 points

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(End of this chapter)