War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 718
In the brightly lit shack illuminated by kerosene lamps, Wei Ran kicked away a prisoner of war blocking the way, carrying a tin bucket, and spat in disgust like a breeder who had just been squeezed out of a quail nest.

Returning the tin bucket to the big-breasted nurse Yi Linni, Wei Ran walked out and said, "Take out those with marks on their heads, take off their shoes and take them outside for serious torture. The rest of the prisoners in this shack are also brought out. , let them watch from the sidelines."

"Captain Victor, don't you just strip them off and throw them into the toilet?" a particularly honest executioner asked stupidly.

"No rush"

Wei Ran, who had already reached the door, stopped and continued in an orderly tone, "Irene, you are still in charge of the interrogation work, focusing on who made the knife and who hid it there. "

"Vice Captain Victor, I'm just a nurse." Irene replied stubbornly.

"Since you're just a nurse, follow orders."

Wei Ran waved his hand without any mercy, "I'm not as patient as the kind captain Mikita, so before you ask the answer, I will randomly pick out a prisoner of war every ten minutes to kill. If you If you don’t want to be an accomplice to the murder, just torture and get the information I want as soon as possible.”

After a short pause, Wei Ran shouted loudly to the execution team members in the shack, "Is Ivan there? Help our Nurse Yilini prepare some torture tools."

"I'll prepare right away!" An execution team member who was searching the prisoners of war responded loudly.

"Sure enough, there really is someone named Iwan." Wei Ran murmured to himself, lowered his head and got out of the shack.

After a while, a total of seven NO.80 prisoners of war came out in two teams. One team had no lime on their heads, all wearing clothes and shoes, and the other team had been marked by Wei Ran, so they could only step on The snow is on.

"Let's get started." Wei Ran waved to the overwhelmed Irene, and then took out his pocket watch to check the time.

After a short period of daze, Yilini raised her voice and asked over and over again in Japanese that Wei Ran could not understand. After the two teams of prisoners also responded in a hurry, the answers they gave gradually became unified. .

At the same time, the Pontiac head nurse who had just left not long ago also came back, but obviously, this mean-faced middle-aged woman didn't want to get involved, but just patted the roadside furniture with great interest. The snow on the log sat on it, and slowly lit a cigarette with Erlang's legs crossed. Even that face had a weird smile on it.

"Pontiac Head Nurse" Irene looked at her immediate superior as if asking for help.

"Comrade Irene, please obey Vice Captain Victor's orders and cooperate with his work." The smile on Pontiac's head nurse disappeared, and there was no emotion in her tone.

"Deputy Captain Victor"

Irene swallowed her saliva, "They said that the knife belonged to Takahashi who was frozen to death just last night. No! Yes. It was No. 806! Prisoner No. 806 hid it privately."

"Prisoner 806?"

Wei Ran asked back with a smile, then opened his pocket watch and glanced at it, and said very politely, "Comrade Yilini, please tell them, I want to hear the real answer, and besides, the first ten minutes is only left now." 4 minutes and 37 seconds."

"Vice-Captain Victor, why can't you let them go?" Irene asked in a tearful voice, "Even if they have knives, they can't escape at all. Why?"

"4 minutes and 24 seconds left"

Wei Ran smiled and shook his pocket watch, "I can discuss this topic with you until next spring, as long as you don't mind me killing a prisoner of war every 10 minutes before hearing a satisfactory answer."

Yilinni opened her mouth with a pale face, finally wiped the corners of her eyes, switched to Japanese and continued to help Wei Ran find the answer.

"This kind girl is not fit to work here"

Wei Ran sat down next to the head nurse of Pontiac, and after giving his evaluation, he took out the hip flask in the metal book and took a sip of the white wine contained in it, then handed the hip flask to the middle-aged woman beside him .

"She really doesn't fit here. Angels shouldn't be looking for a job in hell."

The Pontiac head nurse first agreed with Wei Ran's opinion in a mocking tone, and then took the jug, sniffed it at the tip of her nose, and asked in surprise, "Huaxia Baijiu?"

"Have you drank it?" Wei Ran looked at the other party in surprise.

"I grew up in Khabarovsk, which is not far from Huaxia. Ten years ago, when the Huaxia Northeast Anti-Japanese Federation was training in the North Camp, I used to work as a nurse there."

Having said that, the Pontiac head nurse rolled up her sleeves, revealing a string of five emperors' coins worn with red strings and said, "This is a wedding present from my husband. At that time, I often drank a kind of Huaxia Baijiu called Shaodaozi with him."

Hearing this, Wei Ran couldn't help but startled. In Pontiac's words just now, no matter "Huaxia Northeast Anti-Japanese Alliance" or "burning knives", they all used Chinese with a smell of stubble.

Before Wei Ran opened his mouth to say anything, Pontiac sighed, covered the string of five emperors' coins with padding again with his cuffs, and continued in Chinese faintly, "The Huaxia name he gave me is Su Shengnan."

Having said that, Pontiac showed a bitter smile, switched back to Russian and asked, "Can you understand Chinese?"

"can"

Wei Ran responded affirmatively in Chinese, "every sentence, every word you said, including the meaning of your Huaxia name, I understand."

"Do you understand what my name stands for?"

Pontiac, or Su Shengnan, the head nurse, looked straight at Wei Ran, with an expression of anticipation on his cold and even mean face.

"If your husband's surname is not Su, then the surname should be Su from the Soviet Union, right?" Wei Ran paused, seeing that the other party just raised the flagon again, and simply continued, "Sheng Nan, he is better than a man."

"You're right." Su Shengnan turned his head to look in other directions, and at the same time handed over the flagon.

"Give it to you." Wei Ran stood up solemnly, "Take it as a thank you, and also, send my regards to your husband."

Hearing this, Su Shengnan poured a big gulp of spicy white wine into his mouth again, and then lightly tossed the jug to Wei Ran, "He is already dead, he died in 45 years, this is why I voluntarily applied to come here reason."

"Can I know how he died?" Wei Ran asked earnestly while catching the jug.

The head nurse Su Shengnan flicked the cigarette butt in his hand at the prisoners of war, stood up and replied, "He died in battle as a qualified soldier should."

"I'm sorry for bringing up your sadness. At the same time, I'm also honored to hear about your husband." After Wei Ran finished speaking, he raised his hand and saluted.

"Ten minutes is almost up?" the head nurse asked with a smile.

"has arrived"

Wei Ran, who didn't look at his watch at all, walked to the side of the prisoner, kicked a naked prisoner over, aimed at his toes and pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

After the crisp gunshots, shrill screams resounded through the open space in front of the shack again, and the naked prisoner of war also screamed.Of course, the one who exclaimed almost at the same time was Irini who was talking about it.

But Wei Ran couldn't hold back the fire in his heart, grabbed a handful of quicklime powder and pressed it on the wound on his foot.

Amidst the increasingly tragic wailing, Wei Ran, the vice-captain of the firing squad, did not intend to ask any questions, but walked slowly into the shack, pulled out the red-hot dagger from the fireplace, and after coming out, he kindly helped The prisoner of war cut off the base of the toe that was stained with quicklime, and by the way, he easily stopped the bleeding.

Amid the unpleasant smell of burnt protein, the prisoner of war who was held down by the firing squad passed out from the pain, but soon, it was in pain again because the nail cover of the second toe was cut off by the hot knife Awake.

Putting the scorching short knife on the prisoner's thigh, Wei Ran waved his hand to fan the scorching smell coming towards his face, ignoring the big-breasted nurse Yilini who was kneeling and vomiting, and stretched out his hand to tear down the prisoner's jaw. Let its wails and curses become meaningless syllables.

Waiting patiently until all the heat from the dagger was transferred to the cold and shivering prisoner, Wei Ran, who didn't say a word, slowly pulled the nail off the third toe bit by bit.

Objectively speaking, this hand-forged short knife is not sharp, and it also makes cutting more painful.

At some point, Mikita had pulled the female nurse Zhuo Ya over and stood behind Wei Ran frowning.Immediately afterwards, the bearded soldier named Baolid also walked over quickly, and whispered something in Mikita's ear.After a little hesitation, Mikita also whispered something into the bearded soldier's ear.

When Wei Ran cut off the sixth toe cap amidst the intermittent but powerful screams of the prisoner of war, and carefully sprinkled hemostatic lime, seven prisoners of war No. 80 were also held a short knife in their hands. The bearded soldier Baolid brought here with members of the firing squad.

Glancing at the new prisoners of war, and then looking at the dagger in Baolid's hand, Wei Ran once again ignored the frightened big-breasted nurse Yi Linni, and dislocated all the limbs and joints of the prisoner of war with his own hands. Slowly continue his work of helping to cut the toenails.

"Irene, organize all the nurses to come and observe and study."

The head nurse Su Shengnan said indifferently, "This is a rare opportunity to practice wound debridement and bandaging."

Hearing this, the big-breasted nurse named Yilinni turned paler and paler, and even stood up with the help of other nurses.

"The people who organize us are studying nearby," Captain Mikita continued, "If anyone spits out or dares to close their eyes, they will sleep in the ditch tonight."

"Mikita, don't we ask who made those short knives first?" The female nurse Zhuoya frowned and asked while covering her mouth with her hands.

"It doesn't matter at all who made those two knives. Both Comrade Stalin and Comrade Goosen have said that ideas are the last thing they should have than weapons. These two-legged animals should work hard with gratitude, not Delusion to make weapons to resist. This is a potentially life-threatening danger signal for all the Soviets in Mine 52."

Loud enough to help the hard-working vice-captain find enough excuses, Mikita waved his hand nonchalantly, "Baolide, go find Comrade Comrade Political Commissar and ask him to help some more people come over, it seems that we need to carry out a thorough inspection of the prisoners' shacks." Just a big check."

"Yes!" Baolid, who felt his toes were itchy, saluted indiscriminately, and ran back.

After such a short time, Wei Ran had already cut off the remaining toenails and sprinkled them with lime powder, then stepped on the prisoner's hand as if no one else was there, and helped trim the fingernails with a blank expression.

Amidst the hoarse screams, the political commissar and Dr. Gusen who had a quick meeting yesterday all rushed over. Behind the jeep they were riding in, there were several trucks pulling soldiers.

However, Wei Ran, who was closest to the noise, did not stop working at all. After breaking off ten fingers one by one, he directly pressed the hands of the prisoner of war into the lime bucket and covered it A big handful of snow.

Soon, the remaining body temperature and blood flowing from the prisoner of war's hands melted the snow, and then a wonderful and incredible chemical reaction occurred with the lime to release more heat and melt more snow.

"vomit--!"

An onlooker nurse vomited out first, and the vomit was like a signal, followed by more nurses vomited out their breakfast, and even the two members of the firing squad couldn't hold back their physical pain. discomfort.

"You two bastards go to the patrol to report now!" Feeling ashamed, Mikita grabbed the weapons from the waists of the two members and kicked them to the side.

"What are you doing?" the political commissar asked with a smile, "Just now I thought I had won the Germans again."

"These two-legged beasts make weapons"

Mikita pointed to the two short knives poking on the snow, "Victor is trying his best to calm these animals down."

"Who made the dagger?" The political commissar picked up a dagger and looked at it, then threw it aside in disgust.

"They won't say." The head nurse said closer, "Zoya and Irene both asked about it just now, but they refused to say who made the weapon."

"Commander Krech, this is a very dangerous signal."

Dr. Goosen said in a business-like tone, "Comrade Stalin said that ideas are more powerful than weapons, and we will never give weapons to the enemy.

Now that we can find weapons in the shack, it means that there are more weapons in the mine.Since they have weapons, they must already have the idea of ​​resistance. This is a more unforgivable danger signal that cannot be ignored. "

"Then check it carefully."

The political commissar known as Krech waved indifferently to the soldiers who had just got off the truck behind him as an order, and then turned his attention to the prisoner whose hands were still buried in the bucket, and asked curious questions. , "Vice Captain Victor, how did you manage to keep him from struggling?"

"He accidentally dislocated his limbs." Wei Ran spread his hands innocently, "It seems that his jaw is also dislocated."

"What an unfortunate guy"

Commissar Krech stepped on the snow that was about to completely melt in the tin bucket, and then bent down to pick up a pile of snow and threw it into the steaming tin bucket.

He stood up straight and patted the remaining snow on his gloves. Commissar Krech, who was still smiling a moment ago, said seriously, "Comrade Mikita, Comrade Victor, I will leave this matter to you. Give me Check carefully to see what bastard's head is thinking something that scares me."

"Yes!" Wei Ran and Mikita gave short and powerful responses in no particular order.

"I'll give you ten! Fifty! I'll give you fifty places."

Craig finished speaking and stretched out his hand, "However, I only give you three days to solve this matter, if there is no answer that satisfies me after three days, you two will take the firing squad to sleep in the ditch! "

Before the words were finished, Commissar Krech patted Wei Ran's shoulder in satisfaction, "Vice Captain, you did a great job, we should make these French suckers feel fear from the bottom of their hearts, and let them feel fear every day. Every time we have a nightmare, we will be the first to see us, so that they will never dare to raise their weapons on us."

"Unless, like the French, use both hands to raise the weapon above the head," Wei Ran subconsciously answered.

Commissar Craig was stunned, then laughed out of breath, and slapped the hood of the jeep vigorously, "Victor! Haha! Victor! I like your joke! Yes Unless, like the French, you hold your weapon above your head with both hands."

"This is the funniest joke I've heard this year"

Dr. Goosen who was standing aside said, "Mikita, for the sake of this joke, after today's work is over, remember to go find me for a drink with Victor."

"As long as you prepare the vodka, we will definitely go." Mikita responded with a smile.

"I'll leave it to you here"

Craig, who almost burst into tears, pointed at the tortured prisoner, "Let it continue to howl, Victor, don't let him stop until today's work is over."

"no problem"

Wei Ran smiled and agreed, until he watched Commissar Craig and Dr. Goosen leave in the same jeep, and then said with emotion, "Commander Craig's attitude towards these animals is really kind."

"certainly"

Mikita clasped Wei Ran's shoulder and explained with a smile, "You definitely don't know where Commissar Krech came from before."

"where?"

Wei Ran asked with great interest, and at the same time, he did not forget to grab a handful of quicklime and press it on the captive's eye, causing it to continue screaming piercingly.

Wei Ran didn't care about whether the prisoner was innocent, whether he wanted to say anything, or who made the two short knives.

Even, not only he didn't care, Mikita didn't care either, the head nurse next to him, the members of the firing squad and the nurses didn't care either.Because it is not important to find out the person who forged the dagger, but to suppress the rebellious thoughts of those prisoners of war is the core issue.

"He participated in the Battle of Nuomenhan, you know about the Battle of Nuomenhan, right?"

Mikita lit a cigarette, smoked and continued, "Commander Kreich used to be a squad leader of the 152nd Infantry Division, and he was also the first person to bring prisoners of war to build the No. 52 mine. It is said that it was just after World War II In the end, there are still many Germans sent here."

The head nurse came over, begged Mikita for a cigarette, and added, "The younger brother of Comrade Political Commissar died in that battle."

"Most of the Mongols in the firing squad also lost their relatives in that battle."

Mikita glanced at the head nurse beside him, and continued in a calm tone, "Except for me, the rest of the people, including the head nurse of Pontiac, seem to have been specially selected by the political commissar."

"It seems that Captain Mikita's news is very well-informed," the head nurse said pointedly.

Mikita smiled, "In other places, there will be no special firing squads, let alone let the firing squads participate in the management of prisoners of war."

"Not to mention strongly supporting Dr. Goosen's use of prisoners of war for psychological and behavioral experiments"

After the head nurse finished speaking, she pressed the cigarette butt directly on the face of the tortured prisoner, and said while walking amidst the screams, "Victor, I have time to have a drink together in the evening. I'm curious why you can speak Chinese. In addition , The sanitation inspection work has also been entrusted to you to help take care of it, I have to go back and do other things."

"Victor was right"

Mikita flattered with a playful smile, "Pontiac's head nurse is indeed an angel sent by Comrade Stalin."

"I think so"

The head nurse responded perfunctorily, and walked across the concrete bridge amidst hoarse screams, towards the two tall sculptures on the opposite side of the ditch.

"This is really a devil's paradise"

Wei Ran muttered to himself, there are political commissar Krech and head nurse Su Shengnan in Mine No. 52, even if all the prisoners of war here die one day, he will not be surprised.

"Victor, this animal has stopped barking." Mikita reminded from the side.

"It has another eye"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already grabbed a handful of quicklime and pressed it on the prisoner's other eye, and at the same time signaled the two pale-faced members of the firing squad to pull the prisoner's hands out of the lime bucket, and turned to Put your feet in.

He didn't pay attention to the fear in the eyes of the nurses and execution team members around him, let alone the serious fear of the prisoners of war around him.

Wei Ran meticulously carried out the orders of the No. 52 Mine Political Commissar, and used all the torture methods on the prisoner of war that he had no chance to try before, but from the beginning to the end, he never asked the big-breasted nurse Yi Linni or Zhuo Ya to help him inquiring any question.

But even so, among the first two groups of prisoners of war who were brought in, there were already people kneeling on the ground, crying and saying something with their foreheads against the cold snow.

Seeing both Wei Ran and Mikita looking at her, the female nurse Zhuo Ya spread her hands, "They said that those knives were prepared for seppuku, and they were made by a prisoner number 589."

"What did you say?" Wei Ran pretended to dig his ears, "I didn't hear it."

Mikita stopped Zhuoya who was about to speak, imitating the head nurse, pressed the cigarette butt on the prisoner of war, and said with a smile, "Zoya said that we will go to see Dr. Gusen for a drink at night."

Zhuo Ya rolled her eyes, and said again angrily, "Yes, I said we will go drinking together at night."

(End of this chapter)