War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 740 The Retired Prisoner of War
The next morning after everyone was captured, they had enough rest. They drove a truck and pulled a car full of adult prisoners across the concrete bridge over the trench, and through the wreckage of those shacks, and finally stopped at The entrance to the No. 5 mine.

Behind them, Selsey commanded four boys, one girl and five little guys in a decent manner, and was busy moving all the things that were not in the nurse's dormitory to the anti-theft sliding door on the second floor of the abandoned hospital.

These second-generation captives can be regarded as well-behaved and obedient. After all, according to Selsey, they have to work hard so that their parents and uncles can eat at night, otherwise they will only be hungry.

From this point of view, Selsey can be regarded as inheriting the mantle of his father, Dr. Goosen—neither giving these captives second-generation weapons, nor allowing them to have other ideas, as long as they work hard.

But looking at the happy running around of those little guys headed by Irene's son Vajim, they don't think they are Selsey's captives. Perhaps for them, in the temporary After completely forgetting yesterday's fear, what they are doing at this time may be more like a super-real pretend play—it's just that a few of them happened to play the role of prisoners of war.

No matter how these minors get along with each other, at the entrance of the No. 5 mine, Wei Ran also helped the fathers of those children heal the elbows that were accidentally dislocated.At the same time, Mikita and Baolid also helped the No. 589 prisoner who was shot and the prisoner who was bitten by a wolf into a mine cart.

In addition to the two wounded, the mine car also contained two kerosene lamps with astonishing brightness, and an alarm clock that would ring after two hours.

In another connected mine car, there were several boxes of explosives and corresponding tools prepared in advance with the help of the Pontiac head nurse, as well as four oxygen cylinders with a length of 1.5 meters and a car battery.

From the valve of the oxygen cylinder, several simple breathing tubes connected in parallel extend out.And these are all special preparations made by Yilinni and others to enter the No. 4 mine.

"One last reminder"

Wei Ran, who had a flashlight on his waist, cleared his throat, "The first thing we need to do is to start the generator that you hid here in summer, so that the ventilation system here can work again.

Second, we're going to blow up the collapsed mine and clear a route into mine 4.

In the end, I don't mind your resistance once you get deep into the mine.But when we come out five hours later, if Baolid and I are injured in any way, or if we fail to come out before the appointed time, your children and your companions will die.Captain Mikita will also blow up the opening of Mine [-]. "

Seeing that the retired and rehired prisoners all nodded, Wei Ran and Mikita who stayed behind nodded to each other, and then waved.

There was no need to call at all, the four prisoners of war who followed joined forces to push the two mine carts forward with their shoulders, and Wei Ran and Bao Lide also followed at the end with their pistols.

Guided by prisoner No. 589 and the wolf-bitten prisoner, the mine car traveled tens of meters along the rusty narrow track and stopped at the entrance of a branch mine. The prisoners who had no strength in their hands immediately picked up the car battery with wooden sticks and walked in.

Wei Ran followed with a kerosene lamp and took a look. Less than ten meters into this branch mine, there was a dilapidated wooden box and two 200-liter capacity oil barrels that were mostly buried by ore.

After the four prisoners opened the wooden box, there was a generator hidden inside.Connected the battery to the generator, filled it with gasoline, and replaced the spark plug. After a few ignitions, the machine was started smoothly.

Amidst the roar of the engine, the miner's lamp in this mine first lit up, and then the air supply system at the entrance of the cave also started to rumble after getting the power supply, and the cold and fresh air was discarded for more than ten years. Years of ventilation pipes were sent into the depths of the No. 5 mine.

After checking the clothes of the four prisoners who had completed their first job, and after making sure that they hadn't hidden any weapons secretly, the two human-propelled mine carts started moving forward again.

Compared with Wei Ran, who was always on guard against the prisoners of war, Baolid was busy recording the direction of the team throughout the whole process, so as not to be led astray.

After walking so cautiously along the rusty track for about an hour, the No. 589 prisoner of war sitting in the leading mine car pointed to the hanging on a branched mine road on the left with his only right hand. Four kerosene lamps said, "This is it, go in here."

Hearing this, Wei Ran took a kerosene lamp and went to the mine tunnel, which was only 1.5 meters high at most, to have a look.

There is no narrow track laid here at all, and there are no ventilation ducts and miner's lamps overhead.Even the width is only less than one meter, and the left, right and top of the head are all supported by wooden boards and logs.

Not to mention mine carts, even if people want to get in, they have to carefully avoid the log pillars propped diagonally.

On the other hand, it may be because it is far enough away from the surface, not only is the temperature enough for people to take off their heavy cotton clothes, but the air is also extremely humid, and it has a unique smell of wood decay.

"Baolide, why don't you stay and watch the two of them?" Wei Ran turned his head and asked.

"Be careful yourself," Bao Lide said, he had already removed a kerosene gas lamp from the door frame of the cave, and poured some kerosene into it from the 20-liter oil drum next to it to start pressurizing and preheating.

"Get a box of dynamite first"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already taken out the detonating device from the box and stuffed it into his trousers pocket, and then took off the heavy cotton coat on his body.

Under his order, the four prisoners each put a few pieces of dynamite in their pockets, and then took tools such as steel drills, hammers and even pickaxes.

For them, all of this seems to be the same as ten years ago, but they are no longer young now.

Under Wei Ran's urging, the four of them bent down and entered the mine, carefully bypassing logs that looked like door bars one after another.

After continuing to walk forward for a distance of about 50 meters, Wei Ran finally saw the collapse ahead.

At the end of the mine tunnel, there is a huge boulder that fits perfectly. Between the boulder and the ground of the mine tunnel, you can still see the remaining half of the skull. Obviously, someone was crushed here by the sudden collapse back then.

In addition, on the side of the boulder, you can still see the traces of chiseling with steel drills. There is already a long row of holes about the thickness of cucumbers, which are obviously waiting to be filled with explosives to crack the rock.

In addition, in the gap between the rock walls, he can still vaguely feel a little breeze blowing in front of him, which is rare good news.

After careful observation, Wei Ran took a few pieces of explosives from a prisoner of war, pressed the detonators, and stuffed them into the holes one by one.Immediately after that, he simply turned his head and crawled back and forth, while releasing the detonating wire little by little, roughly tying it to the logs used as supports.

Back outside again, Wei Ran patiently waited for the four prisoners to come out, and immediately pressed the detonator.

After a series of explosions that were not too loud, the four prisoners each put a wet towel brought in on their faces, and then put on gloves and climbed in.

Soon, one of the prisoners shouted from inside, "Captain Victor, we have to continue blasting. There are still rocks behind the blasting point."

"You four are digging blast holes in it"

Wei Ran squatted at the entrance of the mine and shouted, "After four hours, I will come down for the second blast. If the blast hole is unqualified, you will stay and continue to work for four hours. If it is qualified, someone will take over your work. You You can also go up to eat and rest."

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran looked at Baolide, "Would you like to go back to rest first, or stand on the first shift?"

"Let's go to the first class!" Bao Lide said honestly, "I don't want to climb back right after I get off, my knees are going to be broken."

Hearing this, Wei Ran took out his pocket watch to check the time, "Be careful, I or Mikita will come to replace you in 4 hours."

After speaking, he immediately turned around and went back the same way. It took almost an hour and a half to meet Mikita who was still waiting at the entrance of the cave.

After briefly describing the situation inside, Wei Ran ignored the screams of the prisoners of war and Irene's frightened expression, helped the prisoners to heal their dislocated elbows one by one, and even taught them kindly The method of massage to reduce swelling.

The purpose of all this is naturally to allow these prisoners of war to exert greater labor value.

After waiting for just over an hour, Mikita, who was eager to go down to see the situation, took four prisoners of war and a barrel of fuel in a mine cart and set off to replace Baolid.

At the same time, Wei Ran also greeted Irene and the remaining prisoners of war to collect local materials and put them on the stove, preparing meals and hot water for the returning prisoners of war.After all, even if it's a donkey pulling a mill, it still has to be fed a handful of soybeans after the work is done, right?

Such three shifts worked for a full 12 hours, and the depths of the mine also experienced a total of 4 blasts.But even so, there is still no sign of opening the narrow mine tunnel, at most it is just that the wind from the opposite side has become stronger.

"That mine is too narrow"

On the way back to the abandoned hospital with the prisoners of war, Mikita, who was sitting in the cargo hold with his hands tied behind his back, complained, "At most, four people can go in at a time to work, and one more person can't swing a hammer."

"Don't worry, it's only the first day."

Wei Ran, who was also sitting in the cargo hold, comforted him with a smile, "And it's better than the four of us swinging hammers, isn't it?"

"That sentence is true"

Mikita said with a smile on his face, "Victor, you can't dislocate these people's arms anymore. Although I admit that they can't run that way, it will affect work efficiency too much."

"No problem." Wei Ran nodded cheerfully, "Tie them up at night."

"I don't know what delicious food Sercy prepared for us." Mikita changed the subject with a smile.

"Crock pot stewed beef, cabbage soup, and Lieba." Wei Ran said without thinking, "Otherwise, what else can you expect him to cook?"

"That's right." Mikita sighed, without any expectations for the dinner that was about to start.

(End of this chapter)