War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 654 The Missing Exploration Team
On October 10st, under the escort of three armored off-road vehicles, those tourists who had enjoyed some Soviet recuperation at Hongqi Forest Farm took the bus to the airport not far away again, and flew to the airport under the guidance of the tour guide. Inta has almost entered the winter.

"Don't you guys need to go to Inta?" Wei Ran curiously asked Sui Sui who got into his car.

"I am the boss"

Sui Sui slammed into the car door with a bang, and said while fastening her seat belt, "I'm not Zhuge Liang, I have to do everything by myself, so I won't die from exhaustion?"

"Kajianka and the others don't follow?" Wei Ran asked while stepping on the gas pedal.

"My two classmates and the tour guide borrowed from my godmother are enough."

Sui Sui stretched her waist while speaking, "There will be a batch coming the day after tomorrow, we just need to do a good job in reception. Hurry up and go home, I want to go back and have a good sleep."

Hearing this, Wei Ran didn't ask any more questions, turned the steering wheel and drove towards the city.

"Victor, I won't go back with you."

On the radio channel, Jima said regretfully, "Maya is going to the forest farm for training, and I'm going to help."

"Maya must have said just now that you don't have to go, but it's just right if you don't come, we can also be quiet and quiet."

Wei Ran clasped the radio in his hand and responded, then directly turned off the car radio, stepped on the accelerator and caught up with the car driven by the Kajianka sisters in front.

When the two cars drove into the large courtyard by the Kaban Lake one after another, Wei Ran, under the urging of Sui Sui, didn't even have time to rest, so he got into the dark room and edited the group photo he took for tourists with the distinguished Mr. Gorbachev in the morning. out.

As for why the obsolete film camera is used instead of a digital single that can be printed directly, it can only be blamed on Sui Sui for insisting that this method is more suitable for those Soviet-style recuperation programs at Hongqi Forest Farm.

However, when he was holding the edited photos and was about to ask Suisui to ask for credit, the round and cute Caucasian cub Belia arched his back and pouted his butt, and made a naive move towards the courtyard gate. Growl.

"Stay aside"

Wei Ran raised his foot and gently pulled the little guy who knew how to watch the house aside, then walked outside the door to take a look.

"Who's here?" Sui Sui, who was holding the photo frame and wondering where to hang it, asked curiously.

"I don't know, a taxi." Wei Ran walked out of the room while speaking.

At the same time, Anfisa, who was holding a pudding and stuffing it into her mouth just a second ago, walked to the sofa beside the door and sat down calmly. By the way, she put her hand into the gap of the sofa, And put a sofa pillow on it.

Almost before and after, Anfeiya also quit altogether. Just after opening the game interface, she first handed a tablet that was displaying the monitoring screen at the door to her sister, and then moved to Suisui's side, hugged the other's arm affectionately, and helped her Thinking about where to hang the photo frame is more appropriate.

Even the two little foxes hid behind the baring-toothed Caucasus cub with their big ears stuck open, looking out at the yard vigilantly with their heads poked out.

But outside the courtyard, Wei Ran raised his eyebrows after seeing the person getting off the taxi. The person who came by taxi turned out to be Wei Ran's cheap tutor at Kazan University, Kajik.

"Boss, why are you here?" Wei Ran warmly greeted him while pressing the remote control to open the courtyard door, "Where's your car? Why didn't you drive over?"

"My car was sold the other day"

After Kajik took the change from the taxi, he followed Wei Ran into the yard and said, "I plan to change to a new car in a few days, but I didn't come to you to talk about these things. Victor, I need You help me investigate some things."

"Shall I help you investigate something?" Wei Ran stopped and looked at him with a strange expression.

"Don't worry, there is a commission, and the commission is not low." Kajik pointed a finger while speaking, "There is a full 1 million rubles!"

"Only 1 million rubles?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously.

"It's only 1 million rubles? What do you mean it's only 1 million rubles?" Kajik sized up Wei Ran with his beard blowing.

Wei Ran spread out his hands, "The minimum of my previous business orders was 20 Euros."

"20? Euro?" Kajik's beard trembled visibly, "Where did you know so many rich idiots?"

“Most of them are delivered by themselves”

Wei Ran smiled, and greeted Kajik into the room, and then introduced Sui Sui and the other three to each other, and then led him to sit down at the long table.

"Your life is really enviable"

Kajik pointed to the direction next door, "I heard from Maya that you bought all the workshops next door?"

“Have bought it for almost a month”

While Wei Ran responded, he unhurriedly poured a cup of coffee for the other party, but he himself just put a large cup of hawthorn leaf tea on the table beside him.

Kajik picked up the coffee and took a sip. After pondering for a while, he slowly opened the briefcase, took out a colorful group photo from it and pushed it to Wei Ran.

I took a group photo and looked at it. There are only six men in thick clothes, but behind these six people is a DT-30 transport vehicle painted in snow camouflage.

On the body of this transport vehicle, the words "Siberian Branch of the Soviet Academy of Sciences" are written, and a sufficiently conspicuous Soviet national emblem is also drawn.

"What is this?" Wei Ran put down the photo and asked.

Kajik glanced at the sisters Sui Sui and Katenka who were busy not far away, and then said, "The only clue I have so far is this one photo, if you are interested, you can go with me At school, someone will explain it to you in detail."

"Now?"

Wei Ran asked pointingly, just from the look in Kajik's eyes just now, he could tell that this old thing didn't know anything at all, and he made it clear that he didn't want Sui Sui and others to hear it.

"Of course!" Kajik picked up the coffee and took another sip, "Don't worry, it won't take long."

"Let's go then"

Wei Ran stood up helplessly, and after returning the photo to the other party, he greeted Sui Sui, and then took Kajik out of the room and got into the compartment of the armored pickup truck.

When he started the car, Kajik, who didn't know anything just now, immediately said, "The picture shows an exploration team sent by the Siberian Branch of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in the autumn of 1991."

"which year?"

Wei Ran looked at Kajik who was sitting in the co-pilot seat in surprise, "The autumn of 1991? At that time, they were still in the mood to send out an exploration team?"

Kajik spread his hands, "It's not for me to decide."

"Okay, keep talking." Wei Ran stepped on the accelerator while speaking, and drove the car out of the yard.

"go to school"

Kajik added an extra reminder, and then continued to explain, "To be precise, they set off from Irkuts on September 1991, 9, and their destination was located in the northernmost part of Irkutsk Oblast. According to the original plan, they will work there until the permafrost thaws in the following year before returning."

"and many more"

Wei Ran simply stopped the car, "They just set off with a few people and one car? Also, what did they go to Katanga for?"

"Of course not. The expedition team consisted of six crawler transport vehicles. There were 38 people in the entire expedition team."

Kajik automatically ignored the second question in Wei Ran's question, and said without a pause, "But in the last few days of 1991, the six people in the photo and the transport vehicle behind them, and A driver in charge of the delivery van suddenly disappeared."

"What kind of disappearance?"

"literally missing"

Kajik took out the photo again and handed it to Wei Ran, "Because of the nature of their work, they were not with the other five vehicles a few days before their disappearance. Well, according to the record at the time, their direct relationship with each other The distance is at least about 15 kilometers, and the straight-line distance from the base camp behind is about 20 kilometers."

While talking, Kajik also took out a small palm-sized notebook from his pocket, spread it out, and drew a pattern similar to a WIFI signal with a carbon pen caught in it.

"Their base camp is at the central point. There are two crawler transport vehicles left behind in the base camp. Their job is to provide supplies and fuel supplies for several other vehicles. The remaining four vehicles are exploring different directions radially.

When Kajik said this, he used the tip of his pen to focus on the upper right corner of the pattern he drew, "This direction can be regarded as the northeast direction geographically, and those people in the photo were exploring in this direction and disappeared. of.

According to the regulations of the exploration team, they will communicate by radio once a day at a fixed time. At the same time, although the transport vehicle they take has a lot of fuel reserves, the material reserve is very small, which is only enough for the six people in the photo plus the transport vehicle at most. drivers persist for a week. "

"Based on this calculation, killing six of them can last for a month and a half or even two months?"

"Why do you have such dangerous thoughts?"

Kajik raised his eyebrows, pointed at the people in the photo and said, "Among the six people, the two in the middle are doctors, and the four people on either side of them are their students."

"Where's the driver?" Wei Ran asked.

"The driver was an active duty soldier at the time and was only 27 years old when he disappeared, about the same age as the students in the photos."

Kajik thought for a while and continued, "According to the records, in addition to an AK74 rifle belonging to the driver in their car, the six people in the photo also carried civilian shotguns for guarding against wild animals and uniformly equipped for them by the Academy of Sciences. issued a Nagant revolver."

Putting the photo on the dashboard, Wei Ran looked at Kajik and asked, "Tell me about their disappearance and why you came to me suddenly, and want to investigate this matter."

"This vehicle is code-named Pickaxe, and it has been in radio contact before it disappeared. However, according to the regulations at the time, they had to return to the base camp for supplies after going out for work for a week."

Kajik paused, and continued, "But when they were only two days away from returning to the base camp for supplies, a blizzard suddenly blew up in the local area. The blizzard lasted for four days, but after it was over, The car and its occupants just disappeared, and they haven't been seen since."

"Now why again"

Before Wei Ran could finish speaking, Kajik happily said extracurricularly, "The story started almost a week ago. In Yekaterinburg, which is nearly 3000 kilometers away from the missing place, a high school geography teacher bought a apartment building.

When he was renovating, he found the work notes of the six people in the photo in an old-fashioned safe built into the wall.But those work notes were only recorded on December 1991, 12, and then stopped.In addition, he also found documents that were kept with work notes. "

"All the IDs of the 7 people are there?"

"They're all there, and one of the Doctors' Nagant revolvers are there."

Kajik paused and continued, "The teacher mailed the things he found to the Siberia Branch, and I happened to be there on a business trip at the time."

"I don't believe the last sentence"

Wei Ran didn't wait for the other party to finish speaking, and directly stated his judgment. Kajik didn't quibble when he heard the words, but just spread his hands calmly, as if a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water.

Wei Ran simply turned off the car, and asked angrily, "So after talking so much, the only clue I can get is a photo and the story you dictated?"

"There is also an investigation fee of up to 1 million rubles," Kajik reminded.

"Investigation costs aside"

Wei Ran looked at the other party and said seriously, "Do you want me to help you find that car and the seven missing people?"

"Smart young man" Kajik sent out a compliment without money.

"Since you want me to help you find the missing people, at least you should give me their work notes and certificates? Maybe I can find some clues from them?"

"Those things have been destroyed"

Kajik once again blatantly lied, "And it doesn't contain any valuable clues at all except the records of the work content. You have to trust my judgment."

"The Nagan revolver was also destroyed?" Wei Ran asked mockingly.

"Is it possible that you can analyze any valuable clues from a pistol?"

"Could it be possible that you can still provide me with your work notes?"

Wei Ran's eyes became more and more contemptuous, "Or, you don't even want to provide me with a pistol? Then how can I check?"

"Let's go to school." Kajik simply waved his hand, but he didn't want to say another word.

However, Wei Ran was not in a hurry to start the car, "In this case, why not talk about the commission first."

"1 million rubles, haven't you already agreed?"

Hearing this, Wei Ran spread his hands, "Boss, I just said to put aside the commission matter first, but it doesn't mean that 1 million rubles will allow me to take over the investigation."

"How much do you want?" Kajik asked impatiently.

"For the sake of you being my teacher, I'll give you a discount, or 5 million?"

"no"

Kajik waved his hand bluntly, "I don't have that much money, even if I had, my wife wouldn't allow me to use it to pay the commission."

"In this case."

"Listen to me"

Seeing that Wei Ran was going to refuse, Kajik quickly said, "Although I can't pay a better commission, I can help you cut those broken stones into beautiful diamonds, and even help you sell some of them."

"How do you know this?" Wei Ran frowned immediately.

"Are you an idiot? How can you ask such a stupid question?"

Kajik looked at Wei Ran suspiciously, "I'm starting to hesitate to let you intervene in this matter."

"If you can really process those diamonds, it's not impossible. Of course, 1 million rubles is also necessary."

Wei Ran stepped on the accelerator while speaking, "However, I have to see enough clues before I can decide whether I can help you."

"No problem, let's go to school." Kajik said again.

"Boss, I still have a question." Wei Ran asked after the car started running.

"Where do you have so many questions?"

Kajik asked dissatisfiedly, while speaking, he fumbled to open the cover of the shooting hole on the bulletproof glass, then put down the back of the seat, and lit a cigarette comfortably.

Glancing at the other party from the corner of his eye, Wei Ran asked with a suppressed smile, "Aren't you also a history major? Why don't you investigate yourself?"

"I'm not omnipotent either." Kajik asked meaningfully, "otherwise you think you have the opportunity to touch these things?"

"At least tell me what you have investigated?" Wei Ran simply picked up the topic.

"We only found out that the former owner of the house had obtained Australian citizenship with her husband in 2001, but in 2013, both of them died in a fire."

Kajik paused and continued, "They also have a son who was born in 94. Their son still has Russian nationality and has finished college in Yeburg. The house he recently planned to sell was for starting a business.

But he didn't know anything about that safe, or even that there was a safe built into the wall in that house. "

"Where are the owner and her husband from?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"The owner of the house is from Yebao. Her husband was a bad Ukrainian. They married the owner in 1993. Before they left Russia, they both ran a bakery. Of course, after they went to Australia, the same Runs a bakery."

Kajik thought for a while, and said proactively, "Among the six people in the photo, the two doctors are from Petersburg in Russia and Kharkov in Ukrainian respectively. Among the four students of the two of them, except one is from Moscow. The remaining three are from Tartu in Estonia, Liepāja in Latvia and Minsk in Belarus."

"The personnel composition is really complicated," Wei Ran said in shock.

"It seems really complicated now," Kajik sighed, "but at the time, they were all Soviets."

Wei Ran was stunned, after all, he didn't make fun of this matter, but just speeded up the car a little silently and rushed to Kazan University.

Following the cheap mentor Kajik into the office, the old guy signaled Wei Ran to close the door, and then opened the safe next to the desk. After a little hesitation, he took out a stack of documents and a leather gun holster. The Nagant revolver.

"That's all?" Wei Ran asked dissatisfied.

"That's all." Kajik had already closed the door of the safe with his toes while speaking, "How long will it take to investigate?"

"how could I know"

Wei Ran grabbed the stack of documents and looked at them. These documents all belonged to the Siberian Branch of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, and there was nothing valuable on them except for the name.

"That's all? Why are there only six copies?" Wei Ran put the documents in his hand on the table, "Where's the soldier's?"

"No." Kajik had already locked the safe while speaking.

"Did not you say."

"No, it's nothing." Kajik waved his hand impatiently, "Investigate as soon as possible where the transport vehicle and its passengers went."

"What about the investigation fee?" Wei Ran stretched out his hand and asked, "My rules are all."

"Where do you have so many rules?"

Kajik became more and more impatient, "Send over your broken stones sometime, and I'll polish them all for you."

"Let's talk about it after I get the results of my investigation."

Wei Ran resolutely refused and said, it's fine if you can't get the investigation fee, but what's the matter if you have to bet the diamond in the other party's hands?

"If you need to go to Katanga for field investigation, you can contact me at any time."

Kajik said noncommittally, "But you have to be quick, wait until November, it will be no different from a refrigerator in hell."

"If I can find anything, I will contact you as soon as possible."

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already picked up the six documents on the table and the Nagan revolver in the leather holster.

Strolling all the way down the stairs and getting into his car, Wei Ran stepped on the accelerator and drove away without stopping at all.

It wasn't until he drove the car to the shore of Kaban Lake again that he found a quiet place to stop the car, went to the co-pilot's seat to check first, and made sure there were no extra parts, and then sat back in the driver's seat. Pulled the Nagan revolver out of the cracked cowhide holster.

Although this old gun has been in service since the Tsarist Russia era, and its production has been discontinued after the end of World War II, in fact, until the early 21st century, many law enforcement agencies in Russia were still using it.

Even today, in police stations in some remote areas, it may be possible to find a ready-to-use Nagan revolver.

As for why the Soviet Academy of Sciences issued this weapon in 1991, the reason is not difficult to guess, nothing else, nothing more than simple and reliable.

He took a closer look at the Nagan revolver in his hand. There were only 7 bullets in the 6-round magazine, but there were [-] additional bullets fixed on the cracked cowhide holster.

In addition, the handle patch of this pistol is also very interesting.It is not a common wooden or Soviet material, but more like a material similar to mammoth ivory.

It's just that the workmanship of the slightly cracked grip patches is really clumsy. Not only do the traces of the file after polishing remain on it, but even the size of the left and right looks a little different.

But on such a pair of patches with good materials and poor workmanship, the center on the left side is inlaid with a copper sickle hammer flower decoration only the size of a thumbnail, and the same position on the right side is also inlaid with The smooth handwriting engraved a name that Wei Ran had seen in those few documents.

"1 million rubles is too cheap."

Wei Ran put down his revolver and murmured to himself, and then murmured to himself as if to comfort himself, "It's not too much, what danger can there be at the end of 91, and can cut those diamonds?" It’s good to come out.”

With this in mind, he stepped on the accelerator again, secretly thinking about what kind of people he would meet this time and what kind of stories he would experience.

(End of this chapter)