War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 667 The Soviet Union in the Mirror
When the sky outside the workshop was gradually getting brighter, in the warm living cabin, the old-fashioned horseshoe watch hanging beside the iron cabinet also woke up the hangover crowd with crisp bells.

Opening his eyes in a daze, Wei Ran yawned. After sitting up, he immediately looked at the ladder at his feet leading to the bunk above his head.

On the second step of the metal ladder, which had worn off its paint, there was still a small scrap of newspaper torn from it that he had put on it the night before.

In other words, since he couldn't help falling asleep last night until he woke up, Apolly, who was sleeping on top of his head, didn't come back.

Stretching his waist, Wei Ran took the small piece of newspaper and put it in his pocket by getting up and getting dressed. When he got dressed and was about to leave the living cabin, he even put it together with a few pieces of firewood Throw them into the stove together.

When he pushed open the heavy door, the stove in the distance had already lit a bonfire, and the enamel pot and stainless steel coffee pot on it were steaming.Even the sleigh cart transformed from oil barrels next to it was full of firewood, and a little farther away, there were several wolf carcasses of various sizes lying neatly.

"Woke up so early?" Wei Ran greeted Apoli enthusiastically, as if he didn't know that the other party didn't rest in the living cabin at all last night.

"I have to bring the prey back as soon as possible, otherwise it will be eaten by other wild beasts." Apoli pointed to the stove beside him, "I made oatmeal and coffee."

"Thank you"

Wei Ran took the wooden bowl and enamel cup handed over by the other party, filled a bowl of porridge from the pot, and poured another cup of coffee.

When he sat down opposite Apoli, Dr. Murat and others stretched out of the living cabin.

Taking advantage of breakfast, everyone also divided into three groups, ready to explore the only few buildings in the mine.

"See the building with the picture of Khrushchev and his precious corn?"

Dr. Pavel, who was standing at the door of the workshop, patted the two corns in his pocket, raised his finger and said to the building farthest from the workshop, "The auditorium I mentioned before is on the top floor of that building. Let's meet up there."

"Everyone take their weapons"

Apoli immediately reminded, "I have taken back all the animal traps at the door just now, but there may still be wild animals in these buildings, so it is best to shoot before entering."

"Apolly, we can also catch prey."

Gennady said while loading the revolver in his hand, "Maybe I can find a hibernating bear."

"If you encounter a bear, you'd better keep a bullet for yourself." While speaking, Agwan also stuffed his double-barreled shotgun with an amazingly powerful slug.

"Maybe it's a little bear," Sharip speculated optimistically.

"Okay, the daylight here is too short, don't waste time." Before Murat finished speaking, he took Taras and Sharip in his group to the mobile building on the left hand side of the workshop.

Seeing this, Dr. Pavel also waved his hand, leading Agwan and Gennady to the building on the right.

"Let's go too." Apoli hadn't finished speaking, and had already loaded the bullets on the AK rifle in his hand with a click.

Seeing this, Wei Ran, who was also carrying an AK rifle, turned around and closed the iron door of the workshop, wrapped a rusty iron chain around a few times, and then quickened his pace to catch up with Apoli.

Obviously, Apoli didn't mean to seek Wei Ran's opinion, so he went directly to a building not far away.

Of course, Wei Ran didn't care about where to go first, instead he put all his attention on the surrounding environment.

This is just one night, and yesterday's thick snow has been blown by the strong wind to expose the surface densely covered with rocks and slag.Even some buried mining equipment and even some old trucks can be seen at a glance.

But what attracted Wei Ran's attention the most was an ATC59G tracked artillery tractor with a bulldozing blade installed on the front.

The cargo bed of this artillery tractor was still equipped with unrecognizable equipment, but one of its tracks had fallen off, and one of the road wheels was also removed and thrown aside.Even, on the track not far away, there is a metal tool box that is covered with rust and is almost rusted through.

Apparently, the tractor carrying the cargo broke down during the move.At the beginning, maybe someone was planning to repair it, but in the end, for some unknown reason, even the toolbox was abandoned here forever.

However, this thing was only equipped and served by the Soviet Union in the late 20s and early 50s, and this copper mine, code-named "Mine No. 60 in Lower Tunguska", was closed on Christmas Day in 119. up.

In other words, the new equipment that has just entered service not only failed to tow the artillery, but was used as a forklift by such a remote mine.

Forget it, with the closure of the mine, this military equipment, which was almost considered brand new at the time, was thrown here forever.

Whether it is extravagance or waste, or rich and powerful, the Soviet Union at that time, no matter for the poor Soviet Union at this time, or for Russia in the future world where the Soviet Union will never exist and will never be allowed to exist, Perhaps they are all as elusive as the shadow in the mirror wearing a crown and holding a scepter.

Lightly patted the rusty car door, Wei Ran quickened his pace again, and followed Apoli to the downstairs of the building.

Although the ground here is made of hard rock, it may be to resist blizzard and severe cold. Like most buildings near the Arctic Circle, these buildings also choose to suspend the first floor with load-bearing columns smashed into the permafrost.

Stepping on the cracked concrete steps to the suspended platform, Apoli and Wei Ran exchanged glances, then raised the rifle in their hands, aimed at the wall and pulled the trigger.Amidst the dense gunfire, Wei Ran also pointed the weapon in his hand at the only entrance and exit.

Maybe it was because the commotion last night was too loud, or maybe it was the animal trap that Apoli set up yesterday that made the wild animals living here feel the danger.

In short, no animal escaped through the open gate until Apolly replaced it with a new magazine.

Seeing this, Apoli put the gun barrel in first, and then gently pushed open the wooden door covered with iron with his toes.

After waiting for a while, the two walked in one after the other.

The entrance on the first floor of this building is a hall of [-] square meters. As far as the eye can see, apart from the skeletons of various animals and the feces mixed with them, there are only the propaganda about planting corn on the walls on both sides. With the taste of the Soviet Union.

However, even if Gorbachev is invited here, I am afraid he would not want to grow corn in such a ghostly place that is already within the range of the Arctic Circle.

The two covered each other and searched the first floor. There were not many rooms, but according to the signs on the doors of each room, it was clear that there used to be not only a boiler room, a cafeteria, and a collective bathing pool, but also There are also hairdressers, toilets and even shops.

But unfortunately, apart from finding a lot of abandoned coal in the boiler room, almost all the other valuable things that could be moved were removed. Walk.

Continue to go upstairs without giving up. The second, third, and fourth floors are all dormitories. There are wooden bunks in this dormitory. In most dormitories, you can even see beasts made of dead branches and weeds. The nest, and the two even found two wooden tables that looked like they could be used in the living cabin.

But obviously, no matter whether Apoli or Wei Ran, they are only keen to open the drawer to see if there is anything interesting in it, and they have no idea of ​​moving this table back to the workshop.

After leaving this building with nothing, Apoli pointed to another building not far away and said, "Go to that building and have a look."

Wei Ran nodded silently, followed him to another building next to him with a gun in his hand.

Compared with just now, the first floor of this building has not changed much. It is also a boiler room with a lot of coal left over, and it also has a canteen, baths, shops and clinics.

But starting from the second floor, every room has a structure of two bedrooms and one living room, and it can be seen from the furniture left in these rooms that the living conditions of the people who lived here were actually quite good.

Even, Apoli used a gun to pick out a formal suit and a few stockings that were still on the hanger from a wardrobe with a floor-to-ceiling mirror.

Looking at Wei Ran, Apoli shook his head and laughed, and walked into another room silently.

The room was relatively clean, but the childish graffiti on the surrounding walls hinted that there used to be a child full of imagination living here.

"The Soviets at that time were probably happier than the Soviets today, right?" Apoly asked Chao Weiran, who didn't look back.

"Maybe." Wei Ran gave an ambiguous answer, turned around and walked out of the room.

Apoli, who was standing alone at the door of this bedroom with a gun, opened his mouth, and finally didn't say much, just turned around and left the room.

Turning one after another, Apoli harvested a pair of sunglasses that were rarely used in this environment, but Wei Ran removed an enamel bathtub from the bathroom of a certain room.

After all, he always wants to continue to establish himself as a person who loves cleanliness and hygiene. It is not too much to get a bathtub to go back and take a bath.

However, when he asked Apolly to help carry the bathtub back to the workshop, he found that both Murat and Pavel had already brought their students back, and the benefits of these people were obvious. They are more than Wei Ran.

"Is this all you found?"

Wei Ran asked in surprise, how long has it been?One hour?An hour at most.

But these people have already brought back three solid wooden tables that look pretty good. On one of the tables is not only a set of crystal plates and several crystal vases of the same style, but also two sets of beautiful porcelain tea sets. .

Randomly picked up a teapot and looked at it, and picked up the matching teacup to look at it. When Wei Ran put it back to its original position and raised his head again, Taras explained proudly, "These are all from a Found in the suite, one for tea and one for coffee, which looked much more comfortable than our enameled cups and plates."

"I never used such a nice plate when I was working in Moscow."

Murat picked up a crystal plate and looked at it, and said to Wei Ran, "Victor, I'm going to use this plate for dinner tonight, so please make something delicious."

"I'll try my best to get some dinner that goes with this plate." Wei Ran said dumbfounded.

"Should we go see Comrade Khrushchev?" Pavel patted his pocket, "I even prepared corn for him."

"Then let's go together"

Apoli took the initiative to say, "Victor and I searched two buildings and found nothing of value except the bathtub he insisted on bringing back."

"These were the only things we found in the building we went to," Dr. Pavel explained to Agwan who was next to him while picking up the shotgun.

"There's nothing in the building we went to," Taras continued.

"In the last building, everyone will definitely find it!" Pavel promised, "There are many good things in it."

Hearing this, everyone subconsciously quickened their pace, and led by Pavel to the downstairs of the tube building with Khrushchev and corn painted on the side.

This building was also the only building with a locked door, but what made everyone dumbfounded was that Pavel took out a key from his pocket and easily opened the chain lock on the door.

"It was locked before Dr. Murat and I left here in the summer"

Pavel pointed to a large rusty lock still lying on the steps and said, "Of course, it was also locked when we came."

"There was still a seal on the door at that time," Murat added, "It seems that people here will come back."

"Teacher Pavel, open the door!" Gennady urged, "I'm getting more and more curious about what's inside."

Hearing this, Pavel smiled and pulled the chain lock, and pushed open the heavy wooden door.

At first glance, this building is not much different from the ones I have seen before, but it is relatively clean, and there are no animal bones to be seen.

But after just walking around, Wei Ran immediately noticed the difference. The first floor of this building is also distributed with boiler rooms, canteens and even shops and medical rooms, but no matter which ones, the area is much larger, and even There are more than [-] pits in public toilets.

Climbing up to the second floor under Pavel's leadership, in addition to the bathing pool with a sauna, there is also a cinema that can seat at least 200 people in the entire space on the first floor.

Except that there are no curtains and projection equipment, it seems that it can be put into use again with a little cleaning.

Continue to the third floor. On this floor, there is a library with only bookshelves left, a huge room with several billiard tables, and several conference rooms with only tables and chairs left.

Finally climbing to the top floor, Pavel directly led the crowd to the entrance of the auditorium which occupied half of the area.

Amidst the creaking noise, the heavy wooden door was pushed open by several young people. In addition to rows of stepped tables and chairs in the spacious space, there was a stage in the middle that was still covered with carpets and hung with curtains.

In the center of the stage above the head, besides a Soviet national emblem the size of a car tire, as Pavel said before, there was also Khrushchev's head.

It's just that there seems to be something hanging on the other side of the national emblem and the symmetrical position of the head, but now there is only a sentence "Our Potato Politicians" left by whoever left it with red paint. Beria-flavored quips, and a big red arrow pointing at Khrushchev's head over the Soviet coat of arms.

Of course, just looking at the thick dust accumulated on this message, it is absolutely impossible for this to be left by Pavel and Dr. Murat.

"Don't be in a daze, come and help."

Pavel happily took out the corn in his pocket, and called for everyone to help move a metal ladder against the wall, and put it on the side of the message.

(End of this chapter)