War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 685 Polar Town Tula
On the night of arriving in Irkutsk, when Wei Ran and others got off the flight, they didn't even have time to go to the waiting hall, so they walked into A cargo-type IL-76 aircraft.

Although it is a cargo plane in name, there are still less than ten clean and comfortable air seats behind the cockpit.

"Sit whatever you want"

A burly man who was five big and three burly greeted everyone warmly, and then picked up the dog who was following Wei Ran's feet into his arms, and while rubbing the dog's head, asked as a matter of course, "There is still a little time before we take off. , would you like a drink?"

Before Wei Ran and others agreed or refused, the strong man shouted towards the cockpit,
"Tasha? Sister Tasha, would you like a drink?"

"Can't drink!"

A woman with a smoky voice opened the door of the cockpit, leaned half of her body against the door frame, and greeted everyone warmly while saying, "Drinking at this time will definitely scare these little guys, let's drink after we land. "

"Don't be nervous"

The strong man who didn't introduce himself from the beginning to the end took out a flagon and shook it at Wei Ran and the others, "We won't drink too much, and it won't affect the flight."

"There are only two of you on this plane?" Wei Ran asked belatedly.

"Of course"

The burly man pointed to the middle-aged woman standing at the door of the cockpit, smoking a cigarette, "That's our captain Tasha, and I'm the first officer of this plane, Dmitry."

"We usually transport supplies, and very few people take our flights." Tasha explained in a cloudy voice, "Dmitri wanted to fly a passenger plane in his dreams, so he is very happy that you can take this flight." flight."

"Speaking of which, I prepared dinner for everyone in advance."

Dmitry finally let go of the struggling dog in his arms, got up and walked into the utility room, and brought out two large boxes of pies with amazing meat content and fresh vegetable salads, even He also opened a bottle of table wine that looked pretty good for everyone.

It is beyond all expectations to enjoy such warm and thoughtful service on a cargo plane.

Chatting with Dmitry, who was quite talkative, until the control tower informed the cargo plane that it was ready to take off, Wei Ran and the others all breathed a sigh of relief.

For more than half an hour, not only did they not eat a mouthful of pie or drink, but the strong and shameless co-pilot didn't stop talking. Before the chat was over, they even started chatting. How stupid are the two huskies raised by my son's little girlfriend.

Watching the other party close the cockpit hatch from the inside, Wei Ran, Sui Sui, and even the Katenka sisters all heaved a sigh of relief, and followed each other to pick up a corner, which is said to be the name of the tower. He took a big bite out of the pie made by Sha's captain himself.

However, before any of them can chew the pie in their mouths and swallow it, the loudspeaker above their heads is again talking about Dmitry's own, but unnecessary voyage Safety broadcast reminder.

"It can be seen that he really wants to fly a passenger plane." Sui Sui swallowed a big mouthful of pie and said with difficulty while beating his chest.

"I think he is more suitable for talk shows." Wei Ran handed the wine glass with ice cubes to Suisui.

"really"

Sui Suo raised her neck and drank the table wine in the glass that was overly diluted by the melted ice cubes, and finally let go of the choked venison pie, and then she let out a sigh of relief.

"I don't want to be on his plane"

Anfisa pointed at the top of his head, "I dare say, when we land, he will be chatting with us on the loudspeaker all the time."

Anfeiya, on the other hand, didn't care what the speakers above her head were saying. She took out a pair of large earphones from her own backpack and put them on. Then she took out that gaudy notebook and crackled in the frantic heavy metal music. tapping the keyboard.

The fact is indeed as Anfisa expected, from taking off from Irkutsk Airport to landing at another airport more than [-] kilometers away in a straight line, the speaker named Dmitry The co-pilot really never stopped and the whole broadcast was never repeated.

"Finally, I would like to thank all my friends for taking this flight. In the last row of seats, I have prepared cold clothes for everyone. I wish you a pleasant stay in Tunguska and look forward to taking this flight again."

Before the words fell, the plane just stopped completely.

"It's finally over"

Sui Sui muttered something to herself, stretched out her small hands and applauded the only two flight attendants who were very face-saving.

And Dmitry, who almost came out of the cockpit, also took out a selfie stick, took the initiative to take a group photo with Wei Ran and others, and said that he would definitely hang this group photo in the cabin.

Putting on the cold-proof clothes prepared by the other party, everyone immediately took their pets and luggage and left the cabin as if fleeing for their lives.

Although the flight is only over an hour, the airport near the Arctic Circle has already been covered by ice and snow, and the low temperature here also made the two little foxes from the hot desert hide in the cardboard without even thinking about it. In the hoods of the furry winter suits of the Tenka sisters.

But Beria, the dog at Wei Ran's feet, not only did nothing wrong, but even ran to the side of the plane tires stupidly, raised one leg and urinated before running back.

"Although this flight is free, it is too taxing."

Sui Sui breathed out the water vapor, squinted her eyes to watch the water vapor from her mouth dissipate, and then continued to ask, "Where shall we go next?"

"Let me ask first." Wei Ran took out his mobile phone while speaking, and called the phone number that Kajik left for him, and turned on the hands-free function by the way.

However, just as they were waiting to answer the call, the mobile phone rang behind everyone. Immediately afterwards, the talkative Dmitry took out his mobile phone and pressed the answer button, and said in a hearty and enthusiastic voice, "This is the polar flight. Group, who are you looking for?"

Looking at Sui Sui, who had a bitter face for a moment, and Katenka sisters who looked helpless, Wei Ran finally waved to Dmitry who had already looked over, and greeted with a slightly stiff expression, " Dmitry, it's me, I'm calling."

"I didn't expect us to meet again so soon"

Dmitri gave an enthusiastic hug to Wei Ran, who seemed to be crazy, and who had been separated for less than 2 minutes, and then bent down again to hug the dog who subconsciously wanted to stay away, "It turns out You are the ones who are planning to come here for an investigation. Why didn’t you say it earlier, I was worried all the way that I would come back late and make you wait too long, but I didn’t expect you to come here on the plane I drove. "

"We do have a chance to talk." Wei Ran grinned, changed the subject and asked, "Dmitry, where are we going now?"

"You decide!"

Dmitry stuffed the struggling dog into his arms, motioned for everyone to follow him and said, "Find a place to stay for one night, or let me take you to choose a means of transportation first."

"Don't you need to wait for Miss Tasha?" Sui Sui asked, looking at the plane behind her.

"No, she's going to fly to another airport in an hour." Dmitri tucked the protruding dog's head back into his neckline while speaking, "Victor, have you decided where to go now?"

Wei Ran and Sui Sui looked at each other, and then said, "Find a place to live first, and we'll pick a means of transportation tomorrow morning."

"In this case, I will take you to the best hotel here!"

While speaking, Dmitry stopped a van that was shuttled near the tarmac, greeted the driver inside enthusiastically in a dialect that Wei Ran and others could not understand, and then got out of the car with the driver. Together with the driver, they helped everyone move their luggage into the carriage.

When everyone was seated, the driver left the crude airport at lightning speed, and drove along the snow-covered slag road surrounded by coniferous forests on both sides to a riverside town about 15 kilometers away. inside.

On the map, the town has a scary name - Tula.It's just that there is no arsenal in this small town, let alone produce any weapons.

According to Dmitry, the purpose of its existence is mainly to serve the airport behind it, as well as the cars and boats that come and go on the Lower Tunguska River in winter and summer, and of course, the miners and loggers that are here all year round. work.

When the car entered the town, from a distance, Wei Ran saw the illuminated helicopter landing pad in the center of the town, as well as several helicopters produced in the Soviet era.

The van passed through the helicopter landing pad without stopping at all, and then drove southwest along the street for about a kilometer before finally stopping at a three-story concrete building with a steeple that probably covers an area of ​​four to five hundred square meters. In front of the building.

On the side of the gate of this old building that looks quite old, there is a mottled metal sign with the words "workers' canteen" vaguely written on it.

But on the side of this sign, there is another wooden sign decorated with colorful lights, on which the name of "Aurora Tavern" is spelled out with colorful lights.

"Victor, did you bring the letter of introduction?"

Dmitri, who had been chatting with the driver just now, turned to Wei Ran and asked, "If you didn't bring it, I can only take you to another place to live."

"Bring it..." Wei Ran quickly took out a stack of introduction letters from his backpack and handed it to the other party.

"One, as long as one is enough." Dmitri took out one and handed it to the driver who had already opened the door, and returned the rest to Wei Ran.

After he warmly greeted him, he got out of the van and entered the tavern. After the thick water vapor that rushed into the room with him dissipated, Wei Ran and Sui Sui were both stunned, because there was a picture they could see at a glance. On both sides of the table, Jima and Maya were sitting with beer in hand!

"Why are you here?" Wei Ran and Sui Sui asked the same question that Jima and Maya asked at the same time.

"How did you come here?" Wei Ran asked before the other party could speak again.

"Mr. Culp said he needed my help to come here for a negotiation."

Maya spoke first, and then she pointed to Jima who was sitting opposite, and said in a very strange tone, "This gentleman is the helper assigned to me by Mr. Karp."

"This gentleman?" Wei Ran looked at Jima strangely, "So this gentleman, when did you come here?"

"Irkutsk arrived this morning. At one o'clock in the noon, I took a plane driven by the guy next to you with 24 parrot beaks." Jima asked helplessly after explaining, "You Can you stop pretending that you don't know me well?"

It's a pity that Wei Ran didn't bother to talk to this guy at all, and Sui Sui had already sat beside Maya and started asking questions.As for the Katenka sisters, they were indeed not familiar with Jima, and they obviously kept a sense of distance from him.

The two sides sat down around the table and had a simple communication. Only then did Wei Ran realize that the purpose of Maya's coming here was to buy the building they were in.

Or to be more precise, Karp funded the purchase of the building they were in under the name of Maya.

However, no matter whether it is Maya or Jima, they don't know the purpose of Karp's plan to buy this small hotel.

"What about you? What are you doing here?" Jima poured Wei Ran a large glass of cold beer and asked, "Don't tell me it's also for this poor house."

“We came here for other things”

Wei Ran rubbed his earlobe with his fingers indiscriminately, and Jima immediately stopped the topic, and turned to chatting about how he and Maya bought the house.At the same time, Dmitry also dutifully helped Wei Ran and others arrange the room.

When the chatterbox made an appointment to meet tomorrow, he opened the door and left, both Wei Ran and Ji Ma heaved a sigh of relief.As for the four ladies sitting opposite, they were already toasting frequently, chatting happily about how to take care of their skin in this freezing weather.

"So you don't know what Karp plans to buy here?" Wei Ran lowered his voice and asked while looking around.

"do not know"

Jima shook his head and responded in a low voice, "But on the way here, I heard from Maya that her teacher, Mr. Kajik, had been to the forest farm yesterday. What about you? What are you doing here?"

"It's also because of her teacher Kajik"

Wei Ran briefly described what the other party asked him to investigate, "Tomorrow we are going to visit their base camp at that time."

"I won't go with you"

Jima raised his chin towards Maya, "Karp asked Maya to buy this building within a week, but the owner of this tavern doesn't want to sell it at all."

What are you doing here?
Wei Ran muttered something to himself, but he couldn't help but began to wonder in his heart, what kind of connection did Jima and the others buy this tavern, and the work he was doing here.

(End of this chapter)