War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 551 The Navigator's Decision?

In the center of the raging sandstorm, Wei Ran sat cross-legged behind the sand dunes where he was hiding with a shotgun in his arms.From time to time, I shook the yellow sand accumulated on my body, and looked up at the sky by the way.

This raging sandstorm has lasted for four or five hours, and the faintly visible sun is already westward at this time.Even the sand dune behind him is now 30 meters high.

The benefits are not without, at least he doesn't feel much wind blowing here at all.But he had to worry about the situation of the two of Felix, whether those two people had found a hiding place against the wind like himself, or had they been blown away by the wind, buried alive, or simply stoned to death ?
Although there were all kinds of worries and speculations in his heart, all he could do at this moment was just sit here honestly and wait patiently for this fatal sandstorm to end quickly.

It's just that this sandstorm lasted longer than he expected, and the hour hand of the watch with radiation on his wrist slowly turned one frame at a time, until after nearly one revolution around the axis, the raging sandstorm finally stopped. With the idea of ​​dying down.

Wei Ran, who didn't dare to close his eyes for a whole day, glanced at the "clear" sky and the dazzling sunlight, stood up unsteadily and shook the sand on his body, and after a while, he simply took off the extra heavy clothes One-piece flight suit and high-waisted boots, from which a lot of yellow sand poured out.

Shaking off the clothes on his body and putting them on again, he was not in a hurry to find the two of Felix. Instead, he cleaned up the shotgun roughly, reloaded it, and then walked around the building. It has stretched for hundreds of meters and is a huge sand beam with a height of more than 50 meters.I chose a location where I don't have to worry about the reflection of the sun and raised the telescope.

For a whole day, the topography of this desert has undergone earth-shaking changes. The once dense sand dunes disappeared, replaced by huge sand beams next to each other.

Even the place where the two of Felix originally lived has become part of one of the sand beams.

Those Germans won't be buried alive, will they?
Wei Ran swallowed hard, and continued to move the telescope to search for the traces of the two.

However, until he searched around the hiding place of the two of Felix, he didn't see their shadows at all, let alone any footprints or drag marks.

Could it be that these two have already left?
Wei Ran really panicked now, he didn't care about Felix's life or death at all, but he didn't want to be left forever in the desert hinterland of North Africa in 1941 because of the failure of the return mission!

Suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, Wei Ran put away the binoculars and forced himself to calm down, and rushed towards the relatively higher sand beam.

It took a lot of twists and turns to climb to the highest point of Shaliang. Wei Ran lay down on the top and held up the binoculars to observe again. Only then did he find that there were two people who looked like groundhogs in the blind spot of the position just now. , buried their waists down in the yellow sand, while their upper bodies lay on the yellow sand, obediently hiding behind the long chairs.

Even, the long chair was wrapped with a conspicuous white parachute cloth, which just happened to create a small tent for the two hiding below that could barely hide their heads inside.

"It's a pretty cool look"

The relaxed Wei Ran joked with a suffocated smile, while cleaning up the traces of his climbing up, he retreated back the same way.

At this time, he and Felix were actually only separated by a sand beam. There was no doubt that when the wind was calmer, Felix would definitely climb up the sand beam to observe the surrounding environment.

He could even guess that when he set off, he would first go west along Shaliang, and then continue on his back.

Analyzing the other party's possible next travel plan, Wei Ran started walking east without hesitation, once again distanced himself from the two of them, then found a high enough position, and waited patiently with his binoculars .

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the wind stopped completely, and all the yellow sand flying in the sky returned to the ground.Felix straightened up and looked around, and immediately pushed away the yellow sand around him, and with the help of the long chair, he dug out his lower body with difficulty.

"Maurice, are you okay?" Felix asked while digging the sand around Morris with his bare hands.

"Except that I may need to change some pants, there should be no problem." Compared to Felix, Morris laughed at himself with a relaxed face, "I have long since lost my waist."

"I'm starting to envy you." Felix shook his head with a wry smile, and then sped up his movements.

"Actually, you can give up mine," Morris said abruptly.

"It's easy to give up on you"

Felix didn't stop working, "But you might be shot, and I'm still counting on taking you back to exchange for military medals."

"A military medal?"

Morris shook his head, "If I can go back alive, I only hope to have the opportunity to leave North Africa and be content, but do you think it is possible?"

"Why is it impossible?" Felix asked rhetorically while digging in the sand.

"Surely you don't know where the camp that can produce gold is?" Morris asked back, and joined in the work of digging the sand around the body.

Felix was stunned, stopped his movements and responded, "How could I know? Every time before taking off from that airport, my soldiers and I have to wear blindfolds, even the portholes are covered, and no matter what we fly Wherever we go, we can't leave the cabin. You know this, every time the plane takes off and lands, aren't you responsible for supervising us?"

"really"

Morris nodded, and then continued the topic, "In the entire plane, only the two pilots and I know the locations of those camps, and it can even be said that only I know the exact locations of those camps and how to fly there. "

"What do you want to say?" Felix lowered his head and continued digging in the sand around Morris.

"Do you think General Rommel will let me leave Africa?"

There was a trace of despair in Morris's tone, "A navigator who is paralyzed in the lower limbs, or a navigator who knows the exact location of all the secret bases but has lost combat capability, do you think I still have a chance to leave Africa alive? ?"

Seeing that Felix was silent, Morris simply picked up the topic, "Felix, the order you received should be to kill everyone on the plane as much as possible after a flight accident occurs?"

"Pilots are very valuable, and you are a navigator. As long as your upper body is fine, you can still be a navigator in the future."

Felix stopped what he was doing again, and while dragging Morris' armpit out, he replied, "My task is to bring all the survivors back alive after the plane accident, and at the same time make sure that no one is injured. Those who survived have died completely."

"You could actually kill me," Morris said again.

"Then I'll die too"

Felix knelt next to the former again, and continued to dig the sand while explaining, "If I am the only one who goes back by myself and no one testifies for me, do you think I can survive?"

"Shall I show you a way to escape to Egypt?" Morris asked again.

"I can escape to Egypt, but my wife and parents cannot escape from Berlin." Felix dug the sand harder and harder.

"They're in Berlin?" Morris asked, raising his eyebrows.

“And well guarded by dogs on a leash”

Felix shook his hand, took out a small palm-sized silver photo frame with a cover, pointed to the photo inside and said proudly, "This is my parents. They used to teach in Bavaria. They stood Behind them is my wife Eva, her grandfather and mine were former members of the Weimar Guard, and we are both pure-blooded Germans."

"Felix, do you want to know the location of the camp that can produce gold?" Morris asked abruptly, "And the location of the camp that can produce diamonds? If you want to know, I can tell you. if only."

"You'd better not tell me, then I can at least do everything possible to bring you back." Felix put away the small photo frame without waiting for the other party to finish speaking, "If you plan to speak out, I can only Killing you is also one of my missions."

Morris opened his mouth, but there was an unrecognizable expression of joy hidden on his face, and then he took out a small pendant in the shape of an airplane from his collar, opened it and showed it to Felix Look at the small photo saved inside, "That's the girl I like, her name is Sophia, unfortunately, we are just classmates, and I cut this photo out of the group photo."

"Save it well"

Felix glanced at the photo, then walked around Morris's back, hooked his armpit again, pulled him out of the yellow sand with force, and continued, "Wait until you live When you get back, maybe you can write her a letter to let her know you like her."

"If I had that much courage, I would have flown a fighter jet long ago." Morris laughed at himself, looking at the pants that smelled of feces and urine under him, his eyes also showed more confusion and despair about the future.

"Flying a transport plane in such a ghost place is not much safer than flying a fighter plane, and it is even more painful. At least if a fighter plane has an accident, it usually dies easily, right?"

While Felix responded, he carefully put away the huge silk umbrella cloth and tied it to the chair. Then, along an umbrella rope tied to the leg of the chair, he began to dig out drinking water and water that were also buried in yellow sand. Few cans left.

"When are we going?" Morris asked as he helped dig the sand.

“Of course after dark”

Felix said without raising his head, "Although this sandstorm is scary, at least it has given me enough rest, and it has wasted too much of our time."

"Let's go straight to the airport later." While Morris was speaking, his eyes were fixed on Felix.

"The compass is in your hands, it's up to you to decide."

Felix responded in a flat tone, but at this time there was an undisguised smile on his face that was tightly wrapped in a turban.

(End of this chapter)