War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 53
Returning to Inta without any danger, Wei Ran and Jima lived in a hotel known as the best in Inta under the leadership of the grocery store owner. Of course, Wei Ran had to pay for all of this.

"Victor, let's rest here for a day, and leave here by train tomorrow night." Before Ji Ma finished speaking, he had already entered the room with his arms around the huntress who was almost hanging on him.

Shaking his head helplessly, Wei Ran got into his room, looked at the snow-covered city outside the window, and finally decided to take a bath and rest, and then go out to take pictures tomorrow morning.

However, as night fell, an old man with a long strip of cloth limped into Inta and checked into an inconspicuous small hotel on the edge of the city.

In order to get rid of the animal trap on his leg, he wasted a lot of time, and for this reason he completely lost track of Jima and Wei Ran.

But even so, the old man still had an unconcealable excitement on his face. Although the two cunning young men didn't make any money, the results of their half a year's hard work in the abandoned gold mine were all on their own. in the backpack.

For him, this is already an astonishing fortune enough to allow him to spend the rest of his life comfortably.As long as he boarded the train to Europe tomorrow night, no matter whether it was the two young people who ran away or the companion who died in the abandoned gold mine, he would have nothing to do with him.

In the early morning of the next day, Wei Ran walked out of the hotel with his old Leica camera after eating a surprisingly calorie breakfast, and drove the van rented by Jima from the owner of the grocery store. Wandering aimlessly around the city.From time to time, I pressed the shutter on some buildings and even pedestrians at the junction.

It is hard to say whether this small city, which was built outside the vision of "European Russians", is a great masterpiece of the Soviet era, or a bloody and cruel Soviet era.It is true that this town founded by coal in the early days of World War II burned an unknown number of innocent or damned lives.

But on the other hand, like a warrior who challenges the harsh natural environment, he provides nearly [-] local residents with all the necessary conditions that can be called "home".

The snow-covered van drove slowly on the slippery street, and occasionally stopped on the side. As the shutter was pressed again and again, those shops built in the Soviet era, coal factories, wood processing plants and even police stations or The bakery is forever fixed on the film.

In addition to these cold buildings, those adults and children who wrapped themselves tightly, and even the beautiful girls who did not hesitate to smile and enthusiasm when facing the camera, made him raise the camera again and again.

It wasn't until noon, when heavy snow began to fall on the top of the head again, that all the films brought this time were finished, and Wei Ran put away his camera contentedly, and got into an unremarkable small restaurant on the street.

Simply ordered a main course similar to fish stew but with a lot of cream, and a small plate of sliced ​​Leba, and then received a small glass of vodka from the owner for free. Wei Ran was already thinking about returning to Kazan After that, Nicholas will introduce himself to what kind of place to increase his chances of surviving on the battlefield.

However, just as he was in a trance, the door of the small restaurant was pushed open, and before an old man stepped in with his second foot, he caught sight of Wei Ran who was sitting on the table by the window and gorging on seaweed. .

With a soft "squeak", the small door with thick cotton curtains closed again, but the old man who was about to enter had turned around and disappeared into the small alley next to the hotel.

Wei Ran, who didn't know about this, almost took the time to finish his lunch, and then slowly got up to check out and left. Next, he went to the hotel to pick up Jima, and then the two returned to Shangyinta together, and waited for the train going south.

However, just as he opened the door and left the small restaurant, before the mist from the hotel entrance due to the temperature difference dissipated behind him, a man wearing a cotton cap and scarf had already held his lower back with a gun.

"If you don't want to stay in Inta forever, just go with me honestly."

While the man was speaking, he patted Wei Ran's hand that was about to be raised, grabbed his wrist and twisted it to the back, and continued to threaten in a hoarse voice, "Don't make unnecessary movements, let alone make too much noise!" Voice, see that white van across the street? Get in honestly, I guarantee you will survive."

Wei Ran looked around, because the snow was getting bigger and bigger, there were not many pedestrians and cars on the street, and there were even no cameras on the surrounding telephone poles that are used to in China.

After trying and seeing that there was no way to break free from the opponent's restraint, Wei Ran could only bend down and get into the dilapidated van under the opponent's push and push.

"Put the handcuffs on yourself"

Taking the handcuffs from him, Wei Ran glanced at the pistol hidden in the other's sleeve, hesitated for a moment, and then stuck it on the wrists of both hands.

The people outside the car checked carefully, and then searched Sou Wei Ran's whole body. After confiscating his mobile phone and camera, they picked up a bundle of climbing ropes, tied him to the seat and helped him personally. He put on a blindfold.

With the "bang" sound of the car door, the person who hijacked Wei Ran started the car a moment later, and then disappeared in the heavy snow that was flying all over the sky.

Feeling the increasingly bumpy road conditions under his feet, Wei Ran, whose eyes were completely dark, secretly guessed the opponent's plan.On the other hand, I don't know if it was because of the baptism of the 19th position and the Battle of Stalingrad, he was surprised to find that he didn't feel any fear at all.

Although he knew that this was a dangerous illusion, but he gradually became more and more calm, just patiently waiting for the car to stop.

After at least an hour, the driver finally turned off the engine, then opened the door and pulled off the blindfold on Wei Ran's face.

The sudden light made Wei Ran squint his eyes subconsciously. Before his vision recovered, he was roughly dragged off by someone outside the car, pushing him into an abandoned mine, and tied him in a On a rusty minecart.

"What did you find in the safe?" Following the question, the man who had been covering his face finally took off his scarf and hat, revealing an old face with sideburns.

"It really is you." Wei Ran asked with a smile, "Before getting into the car, I saw that your legs and feet are not convenient, so you won't really step on the trap?"

"Don't try to provoke me to kill you." The old man put the pistol on the seat, "I'm just asking for money, I don't want to kill people."

"Where are your companions?" Wei Ran asked indifferently, "Why didn't you see them come out?"

Hearing this, the old man was too lazy to talk nonsense with Wei Ran, and directly put the gun on his head, "Where is your companion? Where is the gold you stole from the safe?"

Wei Ran glanced at the TT33 pistol in the opponent's hand, and then looked at the empty factory buildings around him, but a strange smile suddenly appeared on his face, "Old guy, your companion was killed by you, right?"

Before waiting for the other party to reply, Wei Ran said happily, "If you really want to get the gold we found in the safe, you'd better let me call Jima. If there is a delay, maybe he has already boarded the train I left Inta, you have to know that it is more than ten kilograms of gold, if I let him know that someone has kidnapped me, maybe he will run away directly, so you want to get that gold, and I want to get it too, so we are We can cooperate."

"A dozen kilograms of gold?!"

The expression of the bearded old man who was close at hand immediately revealed greed that could not be hidden at all. After hesitating for a moment, he finally took a step back, turned and walked towards the van outside the mine.

However, the moment he turned his head back, a slender Mauser bayonet appeared in Wei Ran's left hand. Without any effort at all, the sharp edge easily cut the rope that bound his body!Before the rope that originally imprisoned his body fell to the ground, the bayonet in his hand had turned into a black matte pistol!
"boom!"

After a crisp gunshot, the old man with his back facing him immediately got a deadly bullet into the back of his head!

"Pfft!"

The old man who lost his life in an instant fell directly on the dusty ground, and his pistol slipped onto the coal-slag-filled mine.

Compared with the first murder in Stalingrad, Wei Ran's reaction this time was extremely flat.After calmly retracting his pistol, he glanced at the other's body, and then began to worry about the troubles caused by killing people in the world he had lived in for more than twenty years.

After hesitating for a moment, Wei Ran rummaged through the opponent's pockets, unlocked the handcuffs with the key he found, and then walked out of the mine carefully, looking at the surrounding environment.

As far as the eye can see, there are all kinds of mining equipment covered with snow, the only fresh track and a van with the engine still on.

To Wei Ran's relief, there was no third person in the van. Apart from his camera, there was only a tattered canvas bag and an SVD sniper rifle wrapped in canvas.

Looking back at the mine, Wei Ran didn't call Ji Ma in the end, he couldn't trust him at all, so he wouldn't give him the reason to kill him.

But it's obviously not okay to leave the old man's body in the mine. Although it can be seen at a glance that it has been abandoned for a long time, no one can guarantee whether anyone will come here.

After thinking about it, he found a flashlight from the car, re-drilled into the mine, straightened the overturned mine car, and then picked up the opponent's body and put it into the mine car.

Amidst the squeaking noise, Wei Ran held the flashlight in one hand and pushed the mine cart with the other, and walked carefully into the depths of the mine.It can be seen that this mine may often be flooded in summer. In many places, holes have been washed under the tracks by the water flow. This is good news for Wei Ran who wants to destroy the corpse.

As the terrain got deeper and deeper, the speed of the mine cart became faster and faster. In the end, it didn't even need to be pushed by Wei Ran, and it rushed into the silent darkness by itself.

When Wei Ran walked along the rusty track for nearly half an hour to catch up with the mine cart, he could no longer see the light from the entrance of the cave behind him, and even the temperature seemed to be nearly [-] degrees.

The mine cart had already collided with the rusty mechanical equipment at the end of the track. As for the corpse, it was thrown to the foot of the rock wall not far away.

Holding up the flashlight, there were many forks extending from this mine road, some of which had collapsed, and some of them could even hear the sound of rushing water.

"Be a good person in your next life"

Wei Ran muttered something in a low voice, bent over to inspect the broken body of the old man, took away all the bills and other things, and threw them into the mine pit full of water.Finally, after taking a look at his surroundings, he quickened his pace and trotted away from the mine.

Returning to the surface, Wei Ran found out his mobile phone, but unfortunately, there is no signal at all in this ghost place.

In desperation, Wei Ran had no choice but to go back along the rutted road on the surface. It wasn't until he drove from the potholed snow-covered road to the icy road that he roughly determined his location according to the road signs.

"I didn't expect to come to the outskirts of Upper Inta. I'm afraid the old man just wanted to grab it, so he hurried away by train?"

Wei Ran muttered, and slowly stepped on the brakes at a distance of about ten kilometers from Shangyinta City, and then removed the personal belongings that could be found in the car, including the license plate, and stuffed them into the worn-out canvas bag left by the old man .

"What is this?"

Wei Ran, who was about to tighten the backpack rope, accidentally caught a touch of golden yellow, and when he took out the extra heavy canning bottle, his eyes immediately widened!
This can is not too big. Judging by the remnants of the jam label on it, it only has a content of 200 grams, but it weighs three or four catties in your hand!Based on this alone, it is almost certain that the golden particles in this small bottle are definitely gold dust!

"It seems that Jima really guessed right"

After getting excited, Wei Ran raised his head and looked out the window, seeing that there was no vehicle passing by, he immediately stuffed it into his jacket pocket, and then continued to search for possible hidden treasures in his canvas bag.

Unfortunately, in addition to two fully loaded SVD sniper rifle magazines and two TT33 pistol magazines, there is only an old-fashioned button mobile phone and a few crumpled rubles in this tattered canvas bag.

Turning his head to look at the sniper rifle still on the back seat, Wei Ran also put the two rifle magazines into his pocket, then opened the car door with the tattered canvas bag, took the sniper rifle on his back Go forward on your shoulders.

It was not until more than half an hour later that Wei Ran dialed Ji Ma's phone and asked him to pick him up in the van that was left at the entrance of the small restaurant.

Although Ji Ma, who was trying to catch up with the last bit of time to exchange hunting skills with the huntress in the room, didn't know why Wei Ran ran to the outskirts of Shangyinta all morning without seeing him, but seeing that it was almost time to leave, he simply said goodbye The female counterpart who was too hot and didn't want to wear clothes left the hotel where she was staying.

After wandering in the heavy snow for nearly two hours, Ji Ma drove the van from the direction of Upper Inta.

"Why did you come here? And you asked me to pick up the car. Why didn't you say that there is no key in the car?" Jima opened the door while speaking, but he realized it immediately after seeing the canvas roll on Wei Ran's shoulder. what.

"Aren't you injured?" Ji Ma asked with concern after Wei Ran got into the car and closed the door.

Wei Ran shook his head, "Go back quickly."

Seeing that he didn't want to say anything, Ji Ma wisely didn't ask any more questions, and steered the van to turn around roughly, and drove towards Shangyinta in a slippery manner.

　Thanks mfive for rewarding 1500 points

　　Thanks to the flying hand and the lurking lonely second lieutenant for rewarding 100 points respectively

　　
　
(End of this chapter)