War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 586 Act Two

When the white light in his vision faded, Wei Ran was shocked to find that he had returned to that hotel room!

"Is this the end?"

Wei Ran looked blankly at the metal book in front of him, but was shocked to find that the metal quill actually wrote several lines of blood-red writing on that page:
Second act

Role Identity: Archer Wei Ran

Return mission: within 15 days, snipe and kill at least 20 enemy soldiers, and assist in completing the mission of capturing prisoners.

Before he came back to his senses, the white light in his field of vision appeared again, followed by another object in front of his eyes.

"Mauser bayonets, binoculars, double-lens reflex cameras, pens, Bobossa submachine guns, compasses and watches. No oil drums and food containers?"

Amidst Wei Ran's complaints, he first felt the pain from the burn on the back of his hand and the gunshot wound on his shoulder disappear, and then he felt as if he was holding something in his arms, and at the same time he heard the harsh sound of metal rubbing, Finally, when the tip of his nose could smell the faint smell of dry smoke, his vision finally returned to normal.

He turned his head and looked around. It seemed to be a winding trench line. At this time, he was curled up in the trench, holding a Mosin Nagant rifle in his arms.There is also a dry food bag slung across the chest.

On the right hand side, there are two volunteer soldiers vigorously wielding their picks or engineering shovels, busy digging air defense fortifications in the trench mixed with a lot of rubble.

The excavated soil and gravel were put into sacks by two young soldiers farther away, and then carried to the trench for reinforcement.

On Wei Ran's left hand side, there is a soldier who seems to be about 30 years old.The soldier wears a Red Cross cuff on his arm, a self-rolled cigarette dangling from his mouth, and glasses on his unshaven face.

However, one leg of the glasses was still wrapped with yellowed medical tape to fix it, and even one of the lenses was already cracked.

At this time, he was shaking the pen in his hand vigorously. On his knees, there was a wooden medical box. On the box, there were a few pieces of red line grid letter paper and a black and white photo.

Although there was a distance of more than one meter, Wei Ran could see clearly that the photo was a plainly dressed but elegant woman, holding a baby in her arms.

He could even see that the letter was written in strong handwriting, "Jing Yin: See the words as you see it, I am all well at the front line, and I have received my daughter's photo." and so on.

However, this letter from home was obviously not finished, and it came to a standstill because the pen ran out of ink.

"Use mine." Wei Ran took out the pen from the metal book and handed it over.

The soldier froze for a moment, the polite Chaowei smiled, reached out to take the pen and said politely, "Thank you, I'll finish writing right away."

"No hurry." Wei Ran waved his hand, "You can keep it for use, it doesn't matter if you don't need to return it to me."

The man adjusted his glasses, stretched out his hand towards Wei Ran and said, "Are you Comrade Wei Ran, the shooter who was sent last night? I am Chen Qi, the hygienist of this company."

"It's me." Wei Ran shook hands with the other party, pointed to the photo on the other party's knee and asked, "Is that little guy your child? It looks really strong."

"It's my girl!"

Chen Qi handed the photo to Wei Ran, and said while busy writing a letter, "I named him Chen Qiuguo, autumn fruit, very sweet!"

"That's a good name." Wei Ran responded while holding the gun and leaning against the wall of the trench again.

"This little guy weighed seven catties and seven taels when he was born!"

There was unconcealable joy in Chen Qi's tone, "We are all happy to give the child a baby name that is easy to support. My wife wants to name this little girl Qidi. Listen, this name is so ugly!"

"What baby name are you going to give her?" Wei Ran asked with great interest as he returned the photo to the other party.

"I'm going to name her Katsumi"

Chen Qi took the photo and said with a trace of pride, "Shengmei, Shengmei, defeating American imperialism! What a meaning in this name!"

“This name really sounds a lot better”

Wei Ran fumbled left and right, opened the canvas bag on his waist, and took out the Rollei double-lens reflex camera in the metal book under the cover of it, "Comrade Chen Qi, shall I take a photo for you? Wait until I have a chance to print it out." , you can send it back to your wife or daughter.”

"Why are you still carrying a camera on the battlefield?" Chen Qi asked curiously.

Wei Ran smiled, but did not explain, just asked, "Where do you plan to shoot?"

"Not here"

Chen Qi said immediately, "This place is less than 200 meters away from the American position. If you stand up straight, they will take aim. You and I will go behind!"

"no problem"

Wei Ran had already turned the camera while speaking, and turned to the soldiers on the other side who were busy digging tunnel fortifications, "Comrades, take a look at me."

Hearing this, those soldiers looked at Wei Ran subconsciously, and the latter also seized the opportunity to press the shutter.

"You man, why didn't you tell me in advance." A young soldier in charge of digging complained, "At least let me wash my face before taking pictures."

“That's good”

Wei Ran Wei Ran smiled, got up and carried the rifle, and followed Chen Qi with a bent waist.

The two moved back a certain distance along the winding trenches, and when they found a place where they could stand up straight, Chen Qi said while dusting himself off, "Wait for me, right away, right away .”

Hearing this, Wei Ran didn't rush, and waited patiently for the other party to arrange his clothes, carry the medical kit on his back and straighten the hat on his head.

It wasn't until Chen Qi raised his right arm and maintained a saluting posture that Wei Ran included him in the frame, and took a picture of him along with the winding trenches behind him and the busy comrades in arms.

When he put down the camera, Chen Qi also put down his right arm, and said happily, "My wife asked me for a photo half a year ago, and now I finally have a chance to send it to her."

"I still have to wash it out"

Wei Ran replied with a smile, "From your accent, your family belongs to Ji Province?"

"From Ji Province, Lang City, Comrade Wei Ran?" Chen Qi asked in surprise.

"From Cang County," Wei Ran replied with a smile.

"It's really not far away, how can this be considered a fellow villager!" When Chen Qi said this, the smile on his face became brighter and brighter.

"It's not easy to meet fellow villagers in a foreign country"

"It's really not easy. The one I met before is also the closest one."

Before Chen Qi finished speaking, a series of sharp whistles sounded in the sky!

"Lie down!"

In the trench, whoever yelled, Wei Ran and Chen Qi squatted down in no particular order, leaning against the trench wall.

"boom!"

After the explosion that was close at hand, the mud mixed with stones smashed down, but Chen Qi used his body to protect the medical box in his arms without thinking.

It was also from this moment that the rumble of cannons formed a line, bombarding everywhere on the battlefield.

Soon, Wei Ran also heard the screams from the front line where he had just been.And Chen Qi also stood up the moment the scream came to his ears, bent over and rushed over!
Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately chased after him without thinking, and helped Chen Qi drag several wounded into the fortification.

Fortunately, the heaviest of those wounded was only hit on the head by a stone. Even without his help, Chen Qi must have been able to handle it.

In the soil that shook off from the top of the head from time to time, the shelling lasted for more than ten minutes before it gradually stopped. Many soldiers also left the fortification immediately, and jumped behind the observation holes to watch the situation on the opposite side.

However, it seemed that the person on the opposite side was just trying to unleash a round of artillery fire, without any other follow-up actions at all.

Looking around, Wei Ran walked to the corner of the mouth, picked up an engineering shovel, and carefully pulled out an observation hole that was only the size of a fist in the trench line.

It wasn't until he carefully took out the telescope in the metal book and put it behind the observation hole, and put his eyes on it, that he saw the situation of the opposite position for the first time.

As far as the eye can see, the first thing to see is layer after layer of barbed wire. On top of those barbed wire, there are still cans and other objects hanging.And behind the barbed wire, there are several winding trenches, and he can even see some American steel helmets poking out of his head, and a few gunscopes that venture out.

"Bang!" "Pfft!"

Just when Wei Ran was thinking about whether he could hit the gun mirror on the opposite side with a rifle without a scope, a bullet had already hit the sandbag on the side of the observation hole.The mud splashed by this bullet even hit Wei Ran's face.

Responding very quickly, Wei Ran withdrew his upper body, and Wei Ran broke out in a cold sweat. It was obvious that a sniper on the other side had spotted him.

After taking a breath, Wei Ran picked up his engineering shovel, stooped and continued to move sideways, while paying attention to the terrain on the edge of the trench.

Soon, he found a favorable location for sniping. The trench here was not too deep, but there was a half-meter-high withered yellow shrub growing on the outer edge of the trench.

Carefully controlling the muzzle of the gun not to be higher than the sandbags piled up outside the trench, Wei Ran used an engineer shovel to dig out a small gap at the bottom of the sandbag little by little, and deliberately kept the outer layer of sacks.

Jiantou looked at the setting sun behind him, Wei Ran put the engineer shovel aside, took off his shirt, and stuffed the two sleeves into the shooting hole just dug up a little on both sides.

Until everything was ready, he took out the Mauser bayonet in the metal book, gently scratched the outermost layer of the sandbag, and then picked up the rifle and stretched out the muzzle little by little.

And his upper body was also hidden in the jacket that served as a blackout curtain, carefully observing the American trenches opposite the barbed wire, trying to find the sniper who almost shot him away just now.

"boom!"

Almost at the same time when the setting sun was about to be completely blocked by the mountain peak, a gunshot was heard from the edge of the opposite trench, and Wei Ran also saw a flash of fire in a cement bunker through the bushes blocking his view!

"This distance must be 300 meters."

Wei Ran grinned, feeling that this return mission was so difficult for the first time.He has no certainty about hitting a bunker shooting hole 300 meters away with a Mosin Nagant rifle with only mechanical sights.

(End of this chapter)