War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 678 To Live or To Die
On December 1991, 12, when the short daylight fell on this long-abandoned mine, Wei Ran and Apoli had also dug up the entrance of the building buried by snow.

After struggling to push open the iron-covered door, the two turned around and left the suspended platform on the first floor. From the cargo hold of the transport vehicle, they removed all the corpses of the rest of them one by one and sent them to the top floor one by one. hall.

"This building will also collapse in the future," Wei Ran reminded while sitting on the edge of the stage.

"I know, just like the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union can't last 100 years, let alone a building, it will always fall down here."

While Apoli was speaking, he had already turned over all their documents from the corpse and put them in his pocket.

There is no need to explain this situation, Wei Ran already understood that the other party did this because he didn't want someone to know their identities when they accidentally found these corpses in the future, and then associate them with the safe that was about to be sent to the mine.

Sighing secretly, Wei Ran waited silently for the other party to take away everything including the revolver, then followed him out of the auditorium, and watched him lock the door of the auditorium with his own eyes.

They went downstairs in silence and got into the still warm living cabin. Apoli put a key on the table, "This is the key to the safe."

"My goal is not a safe." After Wei Ran and Apoli sat down face to face, he immediately expressed his attitude.

Nodding silently, Apoli put the shiny key back into his pocket, and after a moment of silence, he said, "In August, I got information that Barsukov, the person in charge of the Tinder project, was suspected of transferring scientific research project data." , my task is to monitor whether Dr. Murat and Dr. Pavel have sold state-owned assets."

Seeing the other party looking at him with burning eyes, Wei Ran knew that the other party had misunderstood his identity and origin.

After pondering for a moment, he slowly got up, and while putting the kettle on the stove, he replied in a flat tone, "My task is to get the identity of the buyer as much as possible once they sell those things. Coffee or black tea?"

"Coffee bar" Apoli responded, shaking the key in his hand, "In this case, I will take the key away."

"What are you going to do next?" With his back to Apoli, Wei Ran asked while making coffee.

"My informant has lost contact"

Apolly paused, and there was a touch of probing in his tone, "I'm hesitating whether to reveal the exact location of the safe."

"This matter has nothing to do with me." Wei Ran expressed his attitude bluntly.

Apoli carefully looked at Wei Ran's back, and calmly held the revolver in his pocket, "I plan to make this transport vehicle disappear."

Wei Ran, who never looked back from the beginning to the end, asked without thinking, "If you plan to make this car disappear, how should we get out of here?"

Apoli glanced at the night outside the window, quietly pointed the gun in his pocket at Wei Ran and said his plan, "Next I will try to start that crawler tractor, it is enough to take us out of here .”

"Where is this transport vehicle?" Wei Ran asked the most concerned question, after all, this was his main purpose of entering this time segment.

"If we can fix that tractor, let's drive this transporter straight into the mine."

"I will help you" Wei Ran, who still had his back to Apoli, made his promise.

Hearing this, Apoli slowly took his hand out of his pocket and put it on the table again. After pondering for a moment, he asked, "Where are you? Do you want to die or live?"

Wei Ran was stunned for a moment, and after pondering for a while, he put the coffee on the table, sat down opposite Apoli again, "Die".

"In this case, you will disappear in the blizzard with them."

Apoli thought for a while, got up and opened the locked iron cabinet, took out all the work records inside and put them on the table, "We started to leave the planned exploration scope after the first supply in December, since we want to Let this car go missing"

"December 12?" Wei Ran immediately caught up with the other party's train of thought.

"right"

Apoli nodded, stacked all the work records starting from December 12th together, knocked on the top one with his knuckles and said, "Leave these with the safe, I will find a way to save the records before the 8th." The work records and the key to the safe were all sent to Barsukov, the person in charge of the Tinder project.”

"What are your plans in the future?" Wei Ran looked into the other person's eyes and asked half seriously and half jokingly, "Go back to accompany your wife and children?"

Apolly smiled, and didn't answer the question, but just picked up the coffee cup and took a sip, "Let's talk about the future, now we should try to fix the artillery tractor."

"Push it into the workshop." Wei Ran gave his suggestion, "At least it's warmer there."

"You won't come back here again, will you?" Apolly picked up the coffee cup and asked the last question.

"of course not"

Wei Ran replied calmly, just when Apoli asked him whether he wanted to die or live, he already understood what the other party meant.

Wanting to die is nothing more than using the blizzard that just stopped to feign death and start life again with a new identity.Wanting to live means continuing to intervene in the Tinder project and being responsible for it to the end.

In contrast, "living" is far more difficult and painful than "dead".

Apoli carefully looked into Wei Ran's eyes for a long time, finally took a sip of coffee, stood up and said, "Since this is the case, don't waste time, let's push the tractor into the workshop first."

Hearing this, Wei Ran immediately stood up and followed Apoli out of the living cabin.

Under the cooperation of the two, the heavy load on the ATS59 tracked artillery tractor was dragged aside by the wire rope of the transport vehicle, and then the front of the transport vehicle was pressed against the front of the tractor, little by little. It pushed into the icy workshop.

Finally, the rear living compartment of the transport vehicle was used to block the workshop door, and by the way, the searchlights on the roof were used to fully reveal the details of the workshop, and then the two of them took the tools in the tool compartment and moved to the side of the tractor.

"Are you sure you can fix it?" Wei Ran asked after looking around the circle.

"Try it, and then you'll know"

Apoli was full of confidence, and then made the final test in a natural tone, "There is a Swift in the tool warehouse, can you help me set it up?"

"no problem"

"There are antenna interfaces and power cables in the cab," Apoli reminded additionally.

Hearing this, Wei Ran just nodded, walked around to the tool compartment on the front side of the car again, took out the spy radio and got into the cab.

He had used this thing countless times when he was in class at Hongqi Forest Farm, so it was naturally not difficult.

From the small box on the top of the windshield, Wei Ran found the antenna and connected the power cord. After Wei Ran finished turning on the radio station, he put it on the seat.

When he finished this little test and returned to the tractor, Apolly had already lit a bonfire and pressed coals in the iron bucket that served as a sleigh.

Seeing this, Wei Ran simply found an empty barrel, and also lit a bonfire to dispel the cold.

Although the artillery tractor has been here for more than [-] years, the cars of this era are far easier to maintain than those of the later generations covered with computers. The only trouble is dismantling and assembling the rusted parts. Screws are more complicated.

Under the busyness of the two, after two full days, the engine of the tractor finally started roaring again.

"Next is the suspension mechanism"

Pointing to the load wheels that had been dismantled decades ago, Apoli said, "I found working parts in that building before the snowstorm, but I didn't know what happened to the person on duty at that time. Abandoned here."

"I'm afraid it's also a story, Apoli, let's take a break first, I'll get some food, you can go get the parts first, and then we'll have a drink." Wei Ran, covered in oil, asked while beating his shoulders.

"Just get something to eat," Apoli said, then turned and left the workshop and went straight to the abandoned building where the auditorium was located.

When he came back with the heavy parts, Wei Ran had already filled the table in the living cabin with several heated cans, and the enamel pot on the stove was also boiled with thick red cabbage soup.

Apoli looked at the empty living cabin with regret, and sighed secretly, as if he wanted to escape this familiar environment, he turned and walked towards the cab.

After closing the car door and sitting on the cold seat in the driver's cab, Apolly pulled out the Makarov micro-sound pistol with the silencer screwed out from the inside of the dashboard.

However, just as he was about to check this weapon, which he hadn't used for a long time, the earphones of the spy radio on the steering wheel rang with extremely fast ticking sounds.

Apoli was stunned, and subconsciously looked at the radio station that he had no hope for, then threw the pistol on the instrument panel, picked up the earphones and put them on his head.

After a little hesitation, he still put his finger on the key and skillfully sent a pre-edited message stored in the radio.

After waiting for a while, an extremely fast ticking sound sounded in the earphone again, and at the same time, the small screen on the radio also displayed groups of five-digit numbers.

And Apoli also copied the group by group into a tattered notebook as the numbers jumped.

Replying again with a pre-edited message, Apolly immediately turned off the radio, pulled out a greasy magazine and started flipping through it.

However, as more and more letters, words and even phrases appeared in the dilapidated notebook in his hand, his face became paler and paler.

After tearing off the paper pages full of numbers and information, Apoli took out a lighter and lit it, and threw it into the small stove beside him that had long been extinguished.

When he walked into the living cabin again in a daze, Wei Ran immediately noticed that there seemed to be something wrong with the other party.

"Apolly, what's the matter with you?" While Wei Ran was asking, he brought the boiled red cabbage soup to the table, and then took out a bottle of vodka and two crystal cups and put them on.

"Barsukov is dead," Apoly said wearily, sitting on a chair.

"Who?" Wei Ran didn't react for a while.

"Head of the Tinder project, teacher of Dr. Murat and Dr. Pavel, Comrade Sergei Petrovich Barsukov, academician of the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR."

Apolly rubbed his face vigorously, "When Gorbachev announced his resignation and the Kremlin lowered the Soviet flag, he also committed suicide. Before committing suicide, he burned all the materials related to the Tinder project."

Speaking of this, Apoli's eyes were red, and he looked at Wei Ran helplessly, "The fire is really about to go out."

"Sorrow"

Wei Ran pushed him a glass of cold wine, but for a moment he didn't know how to comfort him.

"Is what we do meaningful?" Apoli looked at Wei Ran for help.

"I do not know"

Wei Ran spread his hands, "But now you are the only one who owns all the original materials of the Tinder project, you have the right to destroy it, and you have the right to keep it forever, even if you sell it, it doesn't matter."

"What about you?" Apolly asked subconsciously.

"Didn't I already go missing with this car in the blizzard?"

Wei Ran served the other party a serving of hot red cabbage soup, "Eat something, after filling your stomach, there is still a lot of work to do."

Apoli took a deep breath, picked up the cup and drank it down, picked up the toasted crispy bread and took a bite, threw the remaining half into the red cabbage soup, picked up the spoon and started gulping it into his mouth There are all kinds of food.

(End of this chapter)