War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 735 The Guests Have Arrived
In the abandoned ward filled with the aroma of food, Wei Ran and others gathered around the table, eating hot food while discussing how to get through the collapsed No. 4 mine.

Mikita's ideas are full of Soviet-style simplicity and rudeness-the reason for the inability to explode is that the equivalent is not enough, so he believes that each explosion needs to increase the dose, and if it doesn't work, use those mines that don't know where they came from.

It was Paulid who thought it was time to find a bulldozer—even though he didn't know where to find one.

"Victor, what's your opinion?" Seeing that Wei Ran hadn't expressed his thoughts, Mikita simply asked.

"I have nothing to say"

Wei Ran stuffed a piece of bread full of thick soup into his mouth, chewed and said vaguely, "First of all, our explosives are not enough, even if we count the mines. Second, we Don't know where to get a bulldozer. So instead of wasting time on these two unrealistic ideas, think about other ways."

"Have you thought about it?" Bao Lide asked while holding a wine glass.

"No, I'm still thinking about it."

Wei Ran responded in a very bachelor way, and at the same time poked the second piece of bread soaked in soup with a fork and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Forget it, let's drink the bar first." Mikita shook his head helplessly, raised his glass and touched Bao Lide, and then touched Wei Ran who hurriedly picked up the glass.

After eating and drinking while chatting, the three of them got into their sleeping bags next to the fireplace and began to rest. Before the three of them started eating, Sercy, who had dinner in advance, had already climbed up to the third floor. Next to the observation post selected by Wei Ran, he lit a small stove that was not too big, and carefully observed the direction of the river through the window—even though the heavy snow made him unable to see the situation 20 meters away.

In the dim but warm room, the radio on the windowsill rebroadcasts the news from Moscow.

Although Selsey, who was in charge of the sentry, was not at all interested in the economic reform news coming from the loudspeaker, it was the only pastime for the long night.

Just when he lay his upper body on the window sill and fell asleep, a faint gunshot made him tremble instantly.

Standing up suddenly, Sercy picked up the AKM assault rifle that was placed against the wall, and immediately picked up the flowerpot placed by the stove and put it on top of the stove.

When the room was completely dark, Selsey immediately leaned against the wall and replaced a window, and directly smashed open the third-floor window with the butt of a gun.

When the cold wind from outside blew in along the broken window, he didn't hear any other movement, let alone saw any unusual sights.

"Did you hear me wrong?"

After pondering for a moment, the young Selsey returned to the original position with a bent back, turned off the radio on the window sill, and after a little hesitation, took off the kettle on his waist and directly poured out the charcoal fire in the stove.

Before he had time to hang the kettle back on his belt, he had already rushed to the stairs and climbed up to the second floor by the rope.

However, when he re-entered the room, he found that the three of Wei Ran had already woken up, and even the fireplace had been doused to block the chimney.

"I just heard a gunshot," Sercy said, suppressing her excitement and a little nervousness.

"Good job, we heard that too."

Mikita had completely extinguished the kerosene lamp while speaking, but even without the help of the light, whether it was he, Wei Ran or Baolid, they all skillfully pulled the trigger and loaded the bullet.

"Let's go, let's go see who is the guest." While speaking, Mikita was the first to leave the room.

"I didn't expect it to come so soon," Baolid said happily, "I thought it would be a long wait."

"It seems that our problem has been solved." Wei Ran said without any beginning, followed by the three of them showing the same smile.

Through the sliding anti-theft door, the three of them walked to a room facing the river. They hid in the shadows by the window, smashed the window with gun butts or barrels, and waited quietly for the visitors. .

However, this time the waiting was extremely long. With the ticking second hand of the pocket watch that Selsey held tightly in his hand, the whole night passed until the short day came, until the snow weakened and finally stopped completely. When they came down, they still didn't find anything unusual.

"Shall I go out and have a look?" Baolid asked first.

"Need not"

Wei Ran and Mikita refused in unison, the snow yesterday was the best camouflage, but it was also the easiest way to expose their obstacles. If you go out at this time, once you leave traces on the snow, no matter how carefully you clean it up, There is still a risk of exposure.

"Selsey, go get something to eat," Mikita said, staring outside. "Heat it on our kerosene stove."

"Understood." Selsey ran out of the room before she finished speaking.

"You trained him well," Wei Ran said abruptly.

"My neighbor is a retired sniper"

Mikita explained with a smile, "Every time he goes to my place, he will ask my neighbors for advice on how to be a sniper."

"You're well-learned," Wei Ran praised again.

"It's a pity that he has asthma." Mikita's tone was not filled with regret, but mixed with a lot of luck, "so he can only hunt."

"That's not bad," Baolid said on the side, "It's a good thing not to have to go to the battlefield."

"He has always felt sorry for himself," Mikita said with a smile.

Chatting about children's topics, the time has also sped up a lot.The expected enemy, however, never materialized until Sercy brought them piping-hot pots of beef stew and slices of da Lieba.

"Did we hear wrong last night?" Baolid couldn't help but said while putting food into his mouth with a spoon.

"One person may get it wrong, but it's absolutely impossible for four people to get it wrong." Mikita glanced at Sercy, who was standing guard by the window, and frowned, saying, "Could it be a hunter or a forest ranger?" ?”

"They won't come to such a ghostly place this season," Baolid retorted subconsciously.

"Could our guest have gone to the abandoned military base?"

Mikita paused and continued, "It was only abandoned this fall, and it must be much more comfortable to live in than ours."

"If our guests are as we guessed, they will end up here even if they live there."

Wei Ran pointed in the direction of the trench, "That's their destination, so as long as we wait here, they will definitely come."

"Will they go directly to the mine?" Sercy, who was hiding by the window, asked without looking back.

"probably not"

Wei Ran continued, "I checked the other four mines yesterday, and there was no trace of life inside. Even if they decide to live in an abandoned military base, they will find a building here as a stronghold."

"Be patient"

Mikita said while pulling potatoes and beef into his mouth, "If they have to come here, they will always come here. Before that, we can just take a rest and cover the windows of this room with wolf skins, so that We can at least light up the stove and warm up."

"I'll be in charge of blocking the windows later," Baolide was the first to accept the job.

Filling their stomachs as quickly as possible, Baoled found wolf fur and canvas to seal the windows of this room, Wei Ran and Mikita also re-ignited the cast-iron stove they got from the third floor, and by the way, put Everyone's sleeping bags were temporarily moved to this room with a good view.

As the temperature in the room rose little by little, the sky outside the window gradually darkened.However, less than ten minutes after Wei Ran took over the duty of sentry, two bright car lights lit up on the river in the distance!
"Here we come!" While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already picked up the weapon leaning against the wall.

Before he finished speaking, Mikita, who had just lay down, was the first to get up, and got to the side of the observation hole as quickly as possible, lifted the animal skin only the size of a palm, and looked through the broken glass window to the outside.A little later than him, Bao Lide and Sercy also joined together.

In the focus of the eyes of the four, a GAZ truck that looked very old, with two headlights on it, drove along the frozen river covered with thick snow to the edge of the pier with difficulty.

"Their cars don't seem to have enough power to climb up," Baolide was the first to say. "Although it's a bit far away, that car should be a GAZ 51. It stands to reason that it should be able to climb up easily."

"Unless there are heavy things in it." Wei Ran, Mikita and even Celsi all gave the same answer at the same time.

Before Baolid could say anything, figures jumped out from the rear of the truck one after another.At the same time, Selsey and Wei Ran immediately started counting.

"18" The two gave the same number in unison.

"A little more than we expected," Mikita said, frowning. "I don't know if they have weapons."

"It doesn't look like he's carrying a weapon on his back." Wei Ran held up his binoculars and said in a low voice, "The cars are coming up, let's see where they're going next."

"Kacha" Mikita silently opened the safety, and extended the muzzle of the gun out of the observation hole by the way.

Seeing this, Sercy and Baolid also stretched out their guns.

While they were waiting, the GAZ truck finally climbed onto the pier smoothly, and the figures who were helping push the truck at the rear of the truck also got into the tarpaulin-wrapped cargo hold one by one amid the blatant sound of horns.

"Come here at this time, they probably won't leave tonight." Wei Ran turned to look at Mikita and the others when he said this, "When shall we do it?"

"The alarm clock always rings when you are sleeping most soundly"

Mikita grinned and said with a sly smile, "So wait a moment, wait for our guests to settle down, and then we'll go talk to them."

(End of this chapter)