War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 734 The Unexploded Mine

When Baolide drove the truck for the fourth time and dragged the two pine trees to the gate of the abandoned hospital, Wei Ran had already come down from the stairs early and started the motorcycle saw in his hand.

Amidst the ear-piercing roar, eight thigh-thick pine trees were cut open by the two of them one after another, and then moved to the corridor on the first floor one after another.

After preparing enough fuel for at least the next week, Wei Ran returned to the room on the third floor and stared at the direction of the river. After a simple meal, Bao Lide got into his sleeping bag and began to rest.

When the eight-hour rotation time came, the two of them each brought a crock full of potato goulash and a big Lieba, and drove the truck towards the entrance of the mine.

When they parked the car at the entrance of the No. 4 mine, they saw Mikita connecting two wires to the battery of the truck from a distance.

Accompanied by a not-so-big and particularly dull explosion, a cloud of smoke and dust rose from the mouth of the mine, but immediately after that, there was a crackling sound of change.

"How's the situation?" Wei Ran was the first to jump out of the cab and asked.

"not too good"

Mikita pointed to the mine illuminated by the headlights, and said angrily, "I can now confirm that the landslide here is definitely caused by man-made. It has been the fifth explosion just now, but there are always gravel slides above the head." Come down, I'm starting to worry now that we might not have enough explosives at all."

He leaned over to take a look into the mine, but unfortunately, although the inside was bright enough by the headlights, the flying dust still made it impossible for him to see the specific situation inside.

Looking away, Wei Ran said with a smile, "Leave this to us. Go back and rest first. There is some food on the fireplace. I set up an observation post on the third floor."

"Then I'll leave it to you"

Mikita patted the cargo box while speaking, "The electric drill used to open the blast hole and the motor that powers the electric drill are in the cargo container. Don't leave them in the mine during blasting."

"Do not worry"

Seeing Sercy's embarrassed face, Wei Ran wisely didn't pay attention to this little reminder, but turned around and took the food and coffee in the kettle from the cab.

Watching Mikita climb up the truck with Celcie and return the same way, Wei Ran and Bao Lide looked at each other, each found a towel, covered their mouths and noses and ducked into the smoke-filled No. 4 mine.

After walking in for a distance of less than 50 meters, the mine tunnel has been completely blocked by collapsed rocks. As far as the eye can see, almost all of them are gravel the size of an electric rice cooker.

Following the remaining detonating line, stepping on large and small gravel all the way up to the junction with the rock top, Wei Ran and Bao Lide put the flashlight into the gap in front of them in no particular order.

However, as far as the eye can see, the depth of this gap is at most less than two meters, and the width and height can only accommodate a cat to barely pass through.

"How many explosives were used by the people who bombed here?" Wei Ran muttered angrily.

"I don't know how much explosives were used, but I guess the length of the collapsed area is probably at least ten meters or more."

Bao Lide said with some regret, "I should have found a way to serve for an extra year. I didn't expect that the mine would be blown up after it was completely abandoned."

"But there's no reason"

Wei Ran muttered to himself, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "Well, don't rush to do it, I'll go to a few other mines to see."

"I'll go with you." Before Baolid could finish his sentence, he had already climbed down carefully on the gravel.

The two returned to the entrance of the cave, and Wei Ran deliberately took a look at the entrance of No. 5 cave, which is not far away. This mine can no longer be seen in later generations, but at this time it still maintains the appearance before the shutdown.

Leaving Baolid at the entrance of the cave to guard against the wolves who might give them a backstab, Wei Ran walked into the depths of the mine with a kerosene lamp adjusted to the maximum brightness.

However, what surprised him was that even though he walked along the remaining narrow track for at least 200 meters, the mine did not collapse at all.

Unwilling to give up, he continued to walk another hundred meters. The thinner air made him stop, and he turned around and walked towards the entrance of the cave again.

"How's the situation?" Bao Lide yelled and asked from a long distance away.

"No collapse occurred"

Wei Ran responded from a distance, and continued until he reached the entrance of the cave, "Let's go to No. 123 mine to have a look."

"What are you thinking?" Bao Lide asked as he followed Wei Ran to the No. [-] mine.

"If only the No. 4 mine collapsed among the five mines. Bao Lide, what do you think this means?"

"Someone discovered our gem?!" Baolid replied subconsciously.

"Someone is trying to cover up something with Mine [-]"

Wei Ran gave a different answer as he walked, "If someone knows that there are gems in the No. 4 mine, just take them away. Why blow up the mine? After all, we all know that those gems are from It was dug out of a mine."

"What if the people who found those gems didn't know?" Paulid asked. "What if they think the gems were dug up in the fourth mine?"

"That's even more impossible"

Wei Ran spread his hands, "Even if that's the case, unless they don't want to continue digging gems in the No. 4 mine, why would they blow it up?"

"I can't say no to you"

Baolide, with a simple and honest personality, decisively chose to give up thinking, "Victor, tell me what you think."

"I have no idea"

Wei Ran looked back at the No. 4 mine, "I just guess that there must be other secrets in the bombed No. [-] mine besides the gems we hid back then, just these, but what are those secrets? I don't know who blew up the collapsed mine.

Of course, the premise of this guess is that mine No. 123 has not been blown down like mine No. 5. If they have also been blown down, then my guess just now is not valid. "

The topic was chatted here, and the two also walked back to the entrance of the No. 4 mine. Baolide, who was eager to know the result, started the truck directly, and after beckoning Wei Ran to get on the car, he kicked the accelerator and rushed to the entrance of the No. 3 mine. Drive straight in.

"Do you want me to go down with you?" Bao Lide asked before Wei Ran opened the door.

"No need." Wei Ran waved his hand, "Of course, don't let the wolves sneak in."

After speaking, he pushed open the car door and jumped down. Holding the bright kerosene lamp again, he walked towards the depths of the mine along the rusty narrow track.

However, this time he stopped after walking less than 100 meters into the mine. There is no sign of collapse or man-made damage at the current location of the mine, but there is a downward slope directly in front of the Weiran station. A continuous layer of ice had already appeared on the ramp.

He bent down to pick up a piece of ore and threw it far away. After a series of knocking sounds, the piece of ore had already collided with the fixed mine lamp shade on the top of the mine tunnel at the end.

Seeing this, Wei Ran simply turned around and walked out.This mine has been filled with stagnant water and frozen. If you want to enter the depths of this mine, you must use a lot of manpower and material resources to transport all the hard ice and water under the ice layer out—this is obviously is unrealistic.

Back at the entrance of the cave, Wei Ran gave a brief description of the discovery here and Baolide, and then drove to the No. 1 mine in the truck driven by the latter.

Baolide was still guarding the gate, and Wei Ran explored the mine again with a kerosene lamp.But soon, he stopped again.

Behind the first corner of the mine, a mine cart parked on the narrow gauge caught his attention.

Most of these mine carts that were used to transport ore are already rusty, but unlike what I saw before, there are actually piles of things in the mine carts parked here.

Carrying the kerosene lamp, he carefully moved to the side of the mine cart, but Wei Ran frowned when he saw what was inside.

Although the things piled up in the mine cart were already covered with dust, he could still tell that what was hidden under the thick dust were all various types of landmines!
Looking back at the direction of the entrance of the mine, Wei Ran carefully stared at his feet and walked to the side of the second mine cart. As expected, it was still filled with mines!
Maybe this little devil came from Siberia to steal landmines?
Wei Ran muttered to himself, stayed away from those mine carts, and continued to walk a distance of 200 meters deep.

Like the No. [-] mine, this mine was not blown down except for some more mines that were dismantled.This is enough to prove Wei Ran's previous guess, but the appearance of those landmines made him fall into confusion.

"What should we do now?" Bao Lide and Wei Ran got into the cab and asked while driving in the direction of the No. 4 mine.

"What else can I do, I can only go back and find a way to blow up the No. 4 mine." Wei Ran spread his hands, bringing the essence of solving the problem back to the original point.

After learning that there may be secrets other than gems hidden behind the collapsed mine, Baoled's motivation has improved a lot.

But even so, when the two masters were busy for a full eight hours, it seemed like they were doing futile work, and they didn't make much progress at all.

"I knew we should have gotten a bulldozer over here, it might have been faster than blasting."

Baolid sat on a big rock at the entrance of the cave, lit a cigarette, and looked at the snowfall outside and said annoyedly, "It took me only eight hours to advance less than two meters, and I could only crawl in. Maybe after the next blast, the gap we worked so hard to get through will be buried again."

Hearing this, Wei Ran also sighed, the fact is just like what Bao Lide said, there is no way to get through the collapsed mine tunnels in this place only by blasting, if you can get a bulldozer, maybe it is really better than blasting much faster.

But in fact, the Soviet Union at this time is not the Soviet Union when it disintegrated, and the Soviets of this era are still adhering to the good habit of thrift. Otherwise, all the doors of the No. 52 mine would not have been removed.

Therefore, they should not expect to find abandoned bulldozers and other machinery from the military base next door.

"Forget it, go back and discuss it with Mikita first."

Wei Ran opened the car door while speaking, "Now that the snow is falling so heavily, even if we want to get a bulldozer, we probably have to wait for the snow to stop."

"You can't get a bulldozer around here"

Baolid flicked the cigarette butt away, and muttered expectantly, "Why haven't those two-legged animals come yet? Victor, are they not going to come?"

"I don't know about that." Wei Ran got into the cab while speaking, "Anyway, let's go back first."

(End of this chapter)