War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 716 The first working day
In the dormitory with only two beds, the old-fashioned radiator was very hot and baked the shoes and socks on it. By the way, the dormitory was inevitably filled with the smell of stinky feet.

Beside the bed, Wei Ran put down the red plastic leather notebook in his hand, got up and closed the door, and carefully surveyed the room.

It can be seen that Mikita has lived here for a long time. There is an unknown species of flower planted in a flower pot on the window sill, and the wall next to the window is covered with Mikita and his sister, as well as their husband and wife. A photo of female nurse Zhuoya.

In addition, on a pair of antlers fixed on the other wall above the bed, there is also an SKS semi-automatic rifle.

Looking at myself again, there is also a semi-automatic rifle on the wall beside the bed with antlers.There are no photographs on the other wall, but on the table at the end of the bed, there is a whole set of potions for developing negatives and the like.

Trying to open the metal cabinet next to his bed, in addition to some changes of clothes, there are toiletries such as razors.

Reluctantly, he opened the cabinet between the two beds. In addition to a large box of Nagant bullets, there were also some sundries such as flashlights, binoculars, and ink. In the center of the table was Stalin's Busts, books with bookmarks, a radio made in Germany, and an old-fashioned alarm clock.

After closing the drawers and cabinet doors, Wei Ran opened Mikita's metal cabinet again. Unsurprisingly, it was no different from his own. There were only a lot of various cans and a large box full of vodka inside.

Finally, when he opened the plastic leather book of the other party, Wei Ran found that on the last page with words, there were simply two lines of short handwriting written on it:

December 1951, 12 - 8 person

No. 348, the mining task did not meet the standard

"There are so many tricks to death"

Wei Ran smacked his lips, put the other party's work records away, got up, walked to the door, and opened the locked door.

However, what he didn't expect was that at the same time he opened the door, there happened to be a short black-haired man wearing a prison uniform and only socks on his feet, who was cleaning the corridor with a big brush.The moment he saw Wei Ran coming out, the man immediately leaned against the wall and bowed, exposing the top of his head.

"Snapped!"

Wei Ran shook his hand hard on the back of this man's head, and deliberately sweared, "Your uncle, I'm scared!"

It's just that the man in prison uniform bent down even lower after he regained his footing.

Are you really a ghost?
Wei Ran muttered something to himself, but at the same time he did not forget to kick the opponent to the ground, and by the way kicked over the small tin bucket of garbage behind him.

Slowly locked the door, Wei Ran squatted down when passing by the other party, ignored the fleeting hatred in the other party's eyes, lowered his voice and said with a smile, "This kick is interest, I will take care of it in the next few days Take care of you."

Regardless of whether the other party could understand Chinese or not, Wei Ran, who knew that his consciousness was not high enough, stood up in a comfortable mood, and walked around the three-story building that he had explored curiously.

I have to say that although the sparrow is small and well-equipped, in addition to the cafeteria, sauna room and bathroom on the first floor, there is actually a not-so-big reading room and a room with four billiard tables. The first and third floors are all dormitories next to each other. At most, there is a locked gun storage at the stairway of each floor.

These dormitories include large dormitories for more than a dozen people, double dormitories like Wei Ran and Mikita live in, and even a few single dormitories that seem to have offices.

Looking at the room map and building group map posted on the stairs, Wei Ran found that there was a building closest to the two statues that not only had basketball courts and tennis courts, but also a swimming pool and a movie theater. Even functions such as shops and barbershops.

It's a pity that these Soviet soldiers at this time must not know that this place will soon be completely abandoned, and then it will be turned into a den of wolves in a very short period of time, and it will continue until it is forever forgotten.

In addition to being amazed at the complete facilities here, Wei Ran also found that there are more than a dozen devil prisoners of war active in the building where they live. Some of these prisoners in gray prison clothes are responsible for the sanitation work of the entire building. Some helped in the back kitchen of the cafeteria, and some even stood in a row, carefully washing the piles of clothes by hand.

As for the Soviets in this building, their attitude towards these prisoners of war is quite good. Some prisoners who have the guts to talk a few words in Russian can even get a cigarette or half a glass of wine from those Soviets who are in a good mood to satisfy their hunger.

The harvest didn't stop there. After walking around, Wei Ran was surprised to find that besides holding the rank of lieutenant, he seemed to be the vice-captain of the firing squad.

Strolling upstairs and downstairs, not only the Soviet soldiers would greet themselves enthusiastically, but the attitude of the devil prisoners of war was also stiff with undisguised fear and disgust hidden deep in their eyes.

Having seen enough novelty, when Wei Ran strolled back to the dormitory, Mikita was already lying on the bed and snoring. On the table of the bedside cabinet, there was also a Nagant revolver and a bottle with wine remaining. Gas enamel jar.

Since I'm the deputy captain, so Mikita is the captain of the firing squad?

Wei Ran glanced at his roommate who was snoring loudly, and lay down on his own bed, covered his eyes with a blanket, and fell asleep with anticipation for the next day's work.

After an unknown amount of time, when the alarm clock woke him up, Mikita's hand stretched out from the blanket and put it on the alarm clock at exactly the same time.

Yawning and getting up from the bed, Wei Ran happily put on his uniform, washed up like a fool, picked up the blue-gray Shapka winter cap on the bedside and put it on his head, and put on a soft sheepskin Gloves, lighted the hand warmer and stuffed it into the jacket pocket, and finally tied the gun holster around his waist, imitating Mikita's example, and stuffed the small red plastic leather book on the table into his arms.

"Victor, you seem to be very happy today?" Mikita asked curiously while pouring vodka into his flagon.

"I'm really happy." Wei Ran asked casually while checking the revolver, "What date is it today?"

"December 12th"

Mikita sucked the small funnel of the hip flask, "If we were drinking with Goosen yesterday, then today would be the 10th."

"I thought I slept for two days"

Wei Ran gave a vague explanation, followed the other party out and asked casually, "What's the arrangement for today?"

“What else can be arranged”

Mikita's tone was full of resistance to his own work, "Patrolling, inspecting, and shooting the damn two-legged animals, isn't it like this every day?"

"How many people have you killed?" Wei Ran continued to ask curiously.

"Why do you ask this question?" Mikita looked at him strangely and followed behind him.

"There's always something to talk about, isn't it?"

"That's right"

Mikita nodded, patted his chest and replied, "Before I started using this notebook, I counted the number of prisoners shot in those previous notebooks. There were 1099 prisoners in total, and one short of it would be enough to make up 1100. "

"So much?" Wei Ran raised his eyebrows.

“On average, there is not much per year”

Mikita took Wei Ran downstairs and walked into the cafeteria, and said while eating, "However, since Gu Sen's opinion was adopted, only the captain of the firing squad has the right to shoot prisoners. Although fewer people died, the workload has decreased. too much."

"It's better than those players," Wei Ran responded along the lines.

“Indeed it's always better than them”

Mikita nodded in agreement, "I don't want to try to figure out who deserves to die and who should be put in the mine. The multiple-choice questions are too difficult for me."

"But pulling the trigger is easy"

Wei Ran continued to follow along, secretly looking forward to getting something more out of the other party's mouth.After all, this is the first time I have been "an official" in a historical fragment, so I should pay more attention to it after so many visits.

"But it's as simple as pulling the trigger, and because of Goosen's proposal, it changed from one shot to five."

Mikita said with some complaints, "I really don't understand what he thinks. Before shooting a prisoner, you only need to shoot a random shot in the head, but now you have to make them scream for at least a minute."

"Is there such a good thing?"

Wei Ran raised his eyebrows and was about to say something when a bearded soldier came to the table they had just selected with a plate.

"Captain Mikita, Captain Victor." The bearded soldier sat down and greeted warmly, "Today we caught a group of miners."

"Tell me about the situation"

While speaking, Mikita took out the flagon and took a sip, then handed the flagon to the bearded soldier who took the initiative to come over.

The bearded soldier took the jug and took a sip, "It's similar to what we caught last time. They snatch the work of other captives in the mine every day, but they find a place to hide and rest. According to our investigation, this kind of thing has already happened." It went on for almost two months."

"Is there any other situation?" Mikita took the returned flagon and said with a trace of questioning, "If it's just this, you should have discovered it a long time ago."

"Indeed it was discovered long ago"

The bearded man nodded, "In addition, these people have been robbing other captives for food. We found about 50 kilograms of salted potatoes and ten pickled fish in the mine where they worked. According to our guess, These people are likely preparing to escape."

"How many are there?" Wei Ran, who had been listening just now, raised his head and asked.

"40 heads"

"How much?!" Mikita, who didn't care at first, raised his voice too high.

"40 heads"

The bearded man took a bite of the big Leba slices, and replied vaguely, "Half the people in the shack participated, and the other 30 prisoners of war in the same shack were exploited by them, and they had to hand over every meal. A potato."

"Where's the caretaker of the shack?" Mikita asked sullenly after eating a piece of bread in two bites.

The bearded man spread his hands, "It was buried by the collapsed mine two months ago. The newly elected administrator is the leader of this group of mine tyrants. According to our interrogation, there are 15 core members in total."

"It's enough to shoot the 15, and throw the rest to work in the mine, and let them come up in a week."

Speaking of this, Mikita rolled up his sleeves and took a look, "It's half an hour before they start their meal, take those bastards there first, as always, notify the breeder to change the meal location to the bridge."

When Mikita said this, he did not forget to urge, "Victor, we have to eat quickly, we need to prepare some more bullets later, 15 bullets, let me do the math, each bullet needs a total of five bullets." .”

"75 rounds"

Wei Ran replied without raising his head, as if he didn't see the finger that Mikita subconsciously stretched out to use as a calculator, "Just wait until Captain Mikita fires a symbolic shot, and the rest will be give it to me!"

"Victor, why are you so active today?"

While Mikita was asking questions, he reached out to pick up the boiled egg on the plate, but he didn't even bother to peel the shell. He just knocked it casually a few times, then opened his mouth roughly, bit half of it off, chewed it twice and swallowed it .

"It's nothing, I just want to surpass you in the number of people shot." Wei Ran casually made an excuse to conceal his real intention.

"Victor, this kind of thing is not something worth showing off."

Mikita frowned, and a worried look appeared on his face, "I think you may need to talk to Goosen as soon as possible before he leaves, I don't want my good friend to become a lunatic who is keen on killing people .”

"Don't worry, I will remain sober enough in this matter, and I won't have any psychological barriers." Wei Ran's tone was extremely affirmative.

"Are you sure?" Mikita looked at Wei Ran suspiciously.

"Of course sure." Wei Ran spread his hands, "As you said yesterday, I plan to make more contributions to mine No. 52 before that incident."

"I hope so, let's eat." Mikita didn't say anything more, picked up the half-eaten egg and threw it into his mouth.

After a hasty breakfast, Wei Ran returned to his room, loaded enough bullets in his pocket, followed the bearded soldier to the barbed wire fence in the distance, and walked through the trench along the concrete bridge.

Although this endless ditch was covered with a layer of snow, Wei Ran could still vaguely distinguish that there were many frozen corpses discarded inside.

Among them, the most conspicuous corpse was not covered with snow at all, and it was not even wearing clothes.Not only that, beside the corpse, there were also a few tattered clothes that had been frozen into armor just after washing.

Without any explanation from anyone, Wei Ran already guessed that this corpse was probably the prisoner of war who fell in love with the female nurse that Zhuo Ya mentioned yesterday.

Seeing that the other party was sleeping so peacefully at the bottom of the trench, Wei Ran stopped paying too much attention, and instead focused his vision on the front.

At this time, there were several rows of people standing in the open space. Obviously, these people were divided into two parts, one part was covered with dust on their faces, and the other group was sleepy due to lack of sleep. color.

And at the head of the team next to the edge of the trench, apart from Mikita who had already arrived, there were several trucks full of food, and prisoners of war kneeling in a long line at five meters apart, waiting to die.

After glancing at the boiled potatoes in the truck, then at the buckets of kippers on the table outside the truck, and finally at the water tanker with charcoal burning at the bottom, Wei Ran focused his attention on on those prisoners of war.

In all fairness, although the clothes on these prisoners of war were a little torn, they were at least thick. As long as they didn't stand here all night, they wouldn't freeze to death or suffer from frostbite.

Moreover, those who were able to live from the end of World War II to the winter of 1951 had already been eliminated. However, under the dazzling light, most of the faces of these prisoners of war were filled with numbness. A prisoner of war who was about to be shot showed only madness or panic.

Without any extra nonsense at all, Mikita walked to the side of the first prisoner of war, took out the Nagant revolver, pressed the hammer to its knee, and pulled the trigger!

"boom!"

After the crisp gunshots, only ear-piercing wailing remained in the quiet mine, but then, from the horn on the top of the sentry tower opposite the ditch, came the Japanese that Wei Ran could not understand.

Although he didn't know what the babbling Japanese was saying, he could vaguely tell that the person broadcasting at this time should be the female nurse Zhuo Ya who had a drink with him yesterday.

"A girl who can speak Japanese"

Wei Ran looked at Mikita who had already pulled the trigger on the other knee of the prisoner of war with a strange expression, and muttered to himself, "This guy is a blessing."

After four consecutive clear gunshots, the knees and shoulders of the first prisoner of war were already stained red with blood.But Mikita didn't rush to fire the fifth bullet, instead he waved to the soldier in charge of cooking.

The latter got the signal and immediately blew his whistle.Immediately afterwards, the prisoners of war who were waiting in line, each carrying their own wooden bowls and enamel plates, stepped forward one by one to receive four boiled potatoes, a piece of pickled fish that was not too big, and finally received another piece of meat in a wooden bowl. Spoon soup, and then walked towards their respective shacks while drinking.

What Wei Ran never expected was that what they received was miso soup.He hadn't seen any of this for breakfast.

"Victor, it's your turn."

While Mikita was speaking, he fired the fifth bullet into the back of the screaming prisoner, then stepped aside, slowly retracted the bullet casing, reloaded the bullet, and then searched for the body , took out a Japanese-style seal wrapped in a rag and put it in his pocket.Then, he grabbed the corpse with one hand and turned it over, carefully copying the serial number on the chest into the notebook.

Seeing this, Wei Ran walked to the second prisoner of war, smiled gently at him, pulled out his pistol and pulled the trigger towards his toe.

Although this shot only knocked off the toe, the pain it caused was even stronger. However, due to the tight straps on his body, the prisoner of war couldn't even struggle.

"boom!"

After the second shot, a bullet hole appeared in the worn-out shoe it was wearing on its other foot.The excruciating pain also made him lie down on the icy snow, wailing hoarsely.

"boom!"

After the third gunshot, the captive's left thumb disappeared. Wei Ran deliberately paused for a moment, put the gun against the base of the middle finger of his right hand, and fired the fourth bullet.

The continuous pain made the prisoner's wailing louder and louder, and even almost suppressed the horn on the sentry tower.

But Wei Ran, the executioner, didn't show any sympathy on his face, and even couldn't help showing an intoxicated expression that seemed to appear when human elites listen to a concert.

The reason is that these prisoners of war who are suffering here at this time are pitiful, but before they are sent here, they have an even more hateful title-Kwantung Army!

If they are pitiful, who will pity the nameless bones in the countless mass graves in Northeast China?
Before the fifth shot was fired, Wei Ran had already copied the serial number on the prisoner's chest, walked to the third prisoner's side first, repeated the action just now, and shot out the remaining three bullets one by one.

He did this as personal revenge, but since Dr. Goosen, who had only met once, the political commissar who seemed to have a good relationship with Dr. Goosen, and even the leadership of the mine, since it was stipulated that the prisoners who deserved to be killed should scream It takes a minute to die.

That can only show that they intend to use such a cruel method of shooting to deter other prisoners of war who are still valuable and can create value, so as to achieve the purpose of discipline-after all, the weather in this ghost place is so cold, they don't have time to give these prisoners Prisoners of war who do not understand the language do any ideological work.

As the flow of people surged, the food in the truck became less and less. Wei Ran once again stood in front of the prisoner whose fingers and toes had been knocked off by himself, and pulled the trigger on the back of its head!

Amidst the successive gunshots, the screams of prisoners of war, and the clashing of wooden bowls, plates and spoons, Wei Ran ushered in his first death on December 1951, 12, as an executioner. It was a noisy working day, and finally successfully completed the job that belonged to him.

(End of this chapter)