War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 826 Air Strike
In the dense forest, everyone silently helped Squad Leader Liang bury all the rotten corpses that could be seen.Taking advantage of Squad Leader Liang's efforts to record those dead souls with the orthographic characters written on the helmet, Wei Ran was also very serious, and took pictures of the serial numbers and names engraved on the tree trunks with his camera.

When everything was done, the crowd had no time to rest, so they quickly left the mountain without making a sound.

Fear?Maybe it's because of fear, but it's not the corpses that are afraid of.

hatred?Maybe it's hate, but it's not those scavenging wild animals that hate.

Amidst the rustling footsteps, inexplicable emotions permeated the hearts of several Huaxia people.

Luke, who is usually lazy, also took off the pannier that was originally on the donkey and carried it on his shoulders in silence.

The little monk Sehao, from the beginning of the journey again, seemed to be reciting scriptures that only he himself could understand.

After a long time, when they reached the bottom of the valley at dusk and were about to start climbing up the mountain in the rotten mist, squad leader Liang said hoarsely, "Guochang, tell my little master to find a place to camp Bar."

"Okay, okay."

Zhou Guochang cleared his throat, communicated with the little monk Sehao, and then said regretfully, "Little master said, he has never been here before. I don't know if there is any suitable place to rest around.

In addition, he also said that it is best for us to climb up. Now that it has entered the rainy season, it is too dangerous to be at the bottom of the valley, and even if it does not rain, there will be many wild animals going to the bottom of the valley to find water to drink at night, and the closer to the bottom of the valley, More mosquitoes. "

Hearing this, everyone shook their anti-mosquito masks one after another, and suddenly a large group of mosquitoes floated up like a cloud of black smoke, and then changed to another "dining table" and set down again to wait for dinner.

Everyone shook their heads involuntarily, bent down and dug up a lump of smelly mud from the mud that submerged their feet, and grabbed it. After confirming that there were no leeches hidden in it, they immediately applied it to their bare arms and thighs.

Almost unanimously adjusted the anti-mosquito mask, Squad Leader Liang said in a hoarse voice, "Everyone, work harder, and when we climb halfway up the mountain, we will find a place to rest."

Subconsciously glanced at the top of the mountain behind him, Zhou Guochang and Wei Ran looked at each other, and once again walked in the front of the team.

Fortunately, they were chasing the large troops ahead, so they saved themselves the trouble of opening their way in the dense forest.But even so, the rugged and winding mountain road still caused the hoofs of the two donkeys walking in the second echelon to slip from time to time, and it also made Squad Leader Liang and businessman Luke who walked at the end often need to help the little monk Sehao And Tan Shou was holding on to the animals, so as not to lose vital supplies after falling down.

As everyone climbed up little by little, the originally blocked sunset once again brought light through the dense tree canopy. Everyone didn't dare to waste time, so they sped up the speed again, and barely found a place on the mountainside that could Dwelling platform.

"Guochang, you and little master go find water, if you find food nearby, bring some back."

Squad leader Liang forced himself to make arrangements, "Shouzheng, go find some firewood and come back. The dry firewood we brought from the cave can't be moved easily. Wei Ran, let's build a shelter with rainproof cloth."

"Yes!"

Zhou Guochang saluted decently, took the two folded canvas buckets from the donkey's neck, and beckoned the young monk to leave the camp first.

"Why is he so energetic?" Tan Shouzheng couldn't help muttering.

"Before the fall of Oxygen, Zhou wanted to join your Chinese expeditionary force." The businessman Luke had already emptied his pannier while speaking, "Tan, let me go with you, I also want to help."

"Yesterday you were not like this," Tan Shouzheng couldn't help but said.

"Yes." Luke smiled, took the hatchet and carried the pannier, and left the camp second.

"Let's build the shack too." Squad leader Liang sighed after finishing speaking, and couldn't help but glance at the mountain behind him.

But soon, he simply turned his head back and took a roll of tarpaulin from the donkey's back.

Seeing this, Wei Ran patted the trunk of the banyan tree where the donkey was tied, picked up the machete again, and cut off some excess air roots, and then, together with Squad Leader Liang, used this tarp to build a tent that was barely big enough for everyone to lie on. under the shack.

When the two of them cleaned up the dead branches and fallen leaves on the ground, and dug up the pot on the stove, Tan Shouzheng and Luke also came back with a basket full of firewood on their backs.

"good luck"

Tan Shouzheng pointed in the direction of the top of the mountain with a hatchet, "There is a big tree that was struck to death by lightning on the top of the mountain, and it dried up in the sun. We got a lot back."

"Have you seen Guochang?" Squad Leader Liang asked while puffing his cigarette.

"I didn't see it." Tan Shouzheng shook his head, "Let's look for water too."

"Wei Ran, go with Shouzheng." Squad Leader Liang said abruptly, "Let Mr. Luke rest, he is still a sick patient after all."

"Row"

Wei Ran happily emptied the firewood in the back basket, and together with Tan Shouzheng, collected the water bottles that everyone drank, and left the camp in the opposite direction from Zhou Guochang and the two.

"Shall we go to the foot of the mountain to look for it?"

Tan Shouzheng asked as he walked, "Didn't the little monk say that all the animals in this mountain go to the valley to find water to drink? Even if we can't find clean water, maybe we can catch a wild animal to satisfy our hunger."

"The foot of the mountain is fine"

Wei Ran thought for a while and replied, "It only rained yesterday, and even if there is water in the valley, it is dirty water collected from mountain torrents. Drinking that water will kill you."

Before Tan Shouzheng opened his mouth, Wei Ran pointed to the top of his head, "It's already so dark in the middle of the mountain. I'm afraid it will be completely dark when we get to the foot of the mountain. It's not sure who will satisfy who's hunger."

"Too"

Tan Shouzheng scratched the mud on his neck, and said, "I wish I could find another waterfall, take a good bath, and sleep soundly at night."

"This is Savage Mountain." Wei Ran muttered to himself, but he didn't break the other party's fantasy after all.

It's a pity that when they wandered around for nearly an hour and finally had to return to the temporary camp under the cries of Squad Leader Liang and others, there was still not a single drop of water in the empty water bottles they took away.

"Didn't you find any water?" Tan Shouzheng asked Zhou Guochang in disappointment.

"No." Zhou Guochang shook his head, "We even went to the bottom of the valley, but there was only mud in the swamp."

"After cooking this pot of porridge, we still have two pots of water left, so save your drinking."

Squad leader Liang gave a absent-minded greeting, filled everyone's lunch box or bamboo bowl with a spoonful of rice porridge, and then gave each person two strips of horse meat and one piece of dried fish.

After eating a simple and somewhat excessive dinner in two or three bites, the little monk took out his set of stone bowl and stone pestle again, made a lump of paste on Luke's wound, and then boiled it for him with half a pot of water herbs.

Before going to bed, everyone drank another pot of water, and then spread out their raincoats and blankets in the shack to rest early.

Just like yesterday, Wei Ran, Qin Shouzheng, and Zhou Guochang were once again assigned to be on duty at night.The only difference is that the three of them switched their order.

However, shortly after Wei Ran and the others fell asleep, there was a loud rumbling noise from afar.

"Thunder? Is it raining?" Tan Shouzheng, who was already snoring, woke up instantly, with surprise in his tone.

Zhou Guochang, holding a gun and guarding the bonfire, yawned, "I didn't see Shan."

"Airplane! It's an airplane!"

Wei Ran, Luke and Squad Leader Liang recognized the source of the sound in no particular order, and shouted in unison, "Fire! Put the fire out!"

As soon as he yelled out this voice, Zhou Guochang was quick-witted, left the gunman behind and looked around in a hurry, looking for something to extinguish the fire.

At the critical moment, Squad Leader Liang had quick eyesight and quick hands, and directly covered the campfire with the iron pot that was set aside.At the same time, Wei Ran and Luke each picked up their engineering shovels and covered the iron pot with the soil they dug out earlier.

In just such a short time, the roar of the plane in the night sky was getting closer and closer. Tan Shouzheng and the little monk Sehao didn't care about other things at all. They called Zhou Guochang and Wei Ran for help, and hung the bamboo basket on the donkey as quickly as possible. on their backs, and then each picked up their own panniers, pulled the reins and ran away.

"Scatter! Scatter! Don't run into the valley!" Luke yelled loudly, grabbed his pannier, and dragged Zhou Guochang away quickly.

"Assemble at the top of the mountain alive!" Squad leader Liang also yelled, took his own pannier, and pulled up the raincoat that was originally used as a bedding, and ran away without a trace.

Wei Ran's speed was also not slow, he directly threw the submachine gun into the back basket, and climbed along the hillside towards the top of the mountain.

In less than two or three minutes, accompanied by terrifying whistles, aerial bombs landed on the places where they had passed but not passed.

In the dense explosions one after another, the terrifying shock wave also cleared out one piece after another in the jungle!In the gap between the explosions, Wei Ran, who escaped alone, even vaguely saw a tiger being blown away by the shock wave, and thrown towards the direction of the valley like a piece of rag.

Before the tiger landed, the strong light from the explosion disappeared, and the tiger also disappeared from the field of vision, but immediately after, the bright light from the new explosion came one after another, but Wei Ran could no longer find the tiger , let alone pay attention to the life and death of a tiger.

At this time, all he can do is curl up his body and open his mouth wide, try to avoid the broken rocks flying from the top of the mountain, the broken branches, bamboo and wood, and even some cars that can't stop in the desperate rush and jump from the top of the head to the bottom of the valley. wild animals.

"boom!"

In another explosion that almost shook his whole body, Wei Ran only felt a numbness in his right thigh, followed by a burning pain.

"You bastard! Don't tell me to find something related to the atomic bomb!"

Wei Ran, who shrank his neck, cursed, "If I let me find half a screw, even if I die, I will blow up your Mount Fuji first!"

I don't know if it is the curse that is very likely to be realized, or the inventory of the planes above the head has been emptied. In just a few minutes, the fighter jets that suddenly appeared swaggered to the southeast after circling a few times at low altitude. direction.

"Pooh!"

When the surroundings returned to quiet, Wei Ran spat out the mud and grass leaves in his mouth, and then groped to check his injuries.

Although there is no light, the position of the right thigh near the buttocks hurts when touched.Tried to stand up cautiously, although Wei Ran grinned his teeth in pain, he secretly heaved a sigh of relief, fortunately, at least he could still walk.

With great effort, he took off the pannier, took out the flashlight he had seized before and put the batteries in it, Wei Ran covered the lamp head with his hand and carefully observed around, then found out dumbfoundingly that the one that hit his thigh just now was actually a A tortoise that came out of nowhere.

And the reason why he was so sure was because not far from him, the tortoise shell that was lying upside down on the ground was still stained with his blood.

"Since it was you who hit it, you can make up for me." Wei Ran took pleasure in picking up the tortoise, which was almost the size of a steel helmet, and threw it into the basket.

It is almost certain that this tortoise must have been thrown by the shock wave and hit something, and then bounced back before hitting his thigh. Otherwise, if it hit it directly, it would have broken his thigh just now. It is estimated that it is not difficult.

After turning off the flashlight, Wei Ran groped in the dark.However, before Squad Leader Liang and others responded, the roar of the plane came again in the night sky!

"Your uncle!"

Wei Ran cursed secretly, reached out to take a towel from the back basket and wrapped it around the head of the flashlight, then turned on the switch, swung his arms, and threw the flashlight viciously towards the foot of the mountain.

Without waiting for the flashlight to hit the ground, the towel that was just wrapped around it was separated from the lamp head. The flashlight also waved a dim beam of light alone, and fell to the bottom of the valley in a circle, and finally fell into a bush, turning it into a An emerald green natural lantern.

At the same time, Wei Ran was able to climb one meter at a time toward the foot of the mountain using both hands and feet.

Soon, the second round of bombing struck, and the deafening explosion easily destroyed the flashlight at the foot of the mountain, and easily blown away the permeating fog again.

But this time, the bombing targets of those devils in the sky obviously shifted, and Wei Ran, who was curled up under a tree, gradually relaxed.

Another two or three minutes passed, and the plane overhead flew to the southeast after circling a few more times. Wei Ran also began to shout the names of Squad Leader Liang and others at the top of his voice again.

Soon, there was a response from the little monk on the left near the top of the mountain.Immediately afterwards, Squad Leader Liang's voice came from the right.

The three of them shouted to each other while moving in direction, and finally they merged together.

"Are you injured?" Squad Leader Liang was the first to ask.

"It's not a big problem, what about you?" Wei Ran asked back.

"I'm fine." Squad leader Liang tapped the steel helmet on his head, "Thanks to the iron hat!"

"How about you, little master? Are you injured?" The two looked at the little monk Sehao in unison.

Although the little monk could not understand Chinese, he was smart enough. He shook his head immediately, then patted the slightly tattered dark red cassock on his body, and even lightly touched the bridge of the nose of the equally quiet black donkey beside him. bone.

"Find Shouzheng and Guochang as soon as possible"

Squad Leader Liang shouted at the top of his voice, "Shouzheng! Shouzheng! Guochang! Guochang! Mr. Luke! Where are you?"

Amidst the repeated calls echoing in the valley, Wei Ran hesitated for a moment, then took out a submachine gun from his back basket, aimed at the night sky and pulled the trigger to fire a bullet.

However, the three of them waited for almost a cigarette, but they still didn't get any response.

"Let's go to the top of the mountain!" Squad leader Liang gritted his teeth and said while lighting the oil lamp, "Go to the top of the mountain and shout! Come back and have a look."

"Let's go!" Wei Ran responded, and limped to the front.

A group of three people and a donkey returned to the camp where they stayed overnight. The shack they worked so hard to build before dark had been torn into rags by the shock wave. Less than ten meters away from the place where the bonfire was lit, there was a bomb crater still emitting gunpowder smoke. .

Bending down to pick up the iron pot, Squad Leader Liang shook his head helplessly. It was not so much a pot as a piece of scrap iron.

Throwing the piece of scrap iron away, Squad Leader Liang was about to say something, but the sound of submachine guns firing and Zhou Guochang's terrified shout came from the direction approaching the valley!
"Guochang! It's Zhou Guochang!"

The limping Wei Ran immediately ran over with Squad Leader Liang, but the little monk stayed where he was, took out a kerosene lamp from his backpack and lit it, and quietly searched for usable things in the camp .

Seeing the sound of gunshots, Wei Ran and Squad Leader Liang staggered and ran towards the foot of the mountain, while shouting Zhou Guochang's name loudly.

Soon, they found Zhou Guochang unconsciously pulling the trigger and Luke lying on the ground less than a hundred meters away from the bottom of the valley. At the same time, they also found a tree less than five meters away from them On it, hung a boa constrictor that was still wriggling and dripping blood!

"Guochang!" Squad Leader Liang shouted, Zhou Guochang also seemed to be frightened, and subconsciously turned the muzzle of the submachine gun that had already been emptied.

Squad leader Liang subconsciously ducked down for a while, but Wei Ran rushed up first, first grabbed the receiver and fixed the trigger, and then pinched Zhou Guochang's elbows indistinctly with the other hand With one click, he easily snatched the submachine gun and threw it into the back basket behind him.

"Clap!"

Following Wei Ran's two big mouths twitching forward and backward, Zhou Guochang finally woke up after a shiver, and looked at Luke lying at his feet in panic.

After receiving the oil lamp handed over by Squad Leader Liang, Wei Ran checked the unconscious Luke, but then frowned.

At this time, Luke's face and arms were covered with fine scratches, but compared to these, his left calf was obviously bent from the middle position.

"Are you injured?" Wei Ran asked Zhou Guochang.

"Me? Me me"

Zhou Guochang looked at the panicked Sari, then staggered and tried to stand up, but finally his feet softened and he knelt on the ground.

"lie down"

Wei Ran pressed the other person's shoulders to make him lie next to Luke. After a rough inspection, he was somewhat relieved. Fortunately, except for two walnut-sized bumps on his forehead and his nose was still bleeding, Zhou Guochang was not. Did not suffer any injuries.

"Luke. Uncle Luke, how is he?"

Zhou Guochang said incoherently, "Just now when we were pushed by the explosion and fell off the mountain, he...he protected me, and he was injured because of protecting me."

"Calf fracture, others don't know yet"

Wei Ran thought for a while, then took out his submachine gun from his back basket and handed it to Squad Leader Liang behind him, "Squad Leader Liang, you and Guochang are guarding Mr. Luke, don't move him yet, I'll go around to find some materials first. "

"it is good"

Squad leader Liang put away the box gun in his hand after taking the submachine gun, and then slapped Zhou Guochang on the back of the head, "Stand up! Now is not the time to cry!"

Ignoring the two of them, Wei Ran took out the machete from his back basket, took the oil lamp and approached the boa constrictor covered in bullet holes, first chopped off the snake's head, then turned around and walked in the same direction as when he came and went, following his memory to find A few bamboos as thick as arms.

After chopping down three bamboos at the fastest speed, he ran back immediately, made a simple stretcher out of the jackets of the three men, carefully carried Luke who was still unconscious on it, and carried him back to the previous camp together.

Without daring to light the bonfire again, Wei Ran split open the thickest bamboo among them at the fastest speed, scraped the burrs on the edges randomly, and tore the blanket that the little monk had just dug out from the ruins of the camp into pieces. Cloth was wrapped over it.

"Guochang, you and the little monk hold down Mr. Luke's upper body."

While speaking, Wei Ran pinched Luke's chin, forcing him to open his mouth, and then stuffed a rolled up towel into it.

Sitting down on the ground, Wei Ran stepped on Luke's crotch very skillfully, and then called squad leader Liang to sit on Luke's thigh and his own calf.

When the other three were ready, Wei Ran clamped Luke's fractured leg with his left armpit, and began to pull back hard with the strength of his waist.

Under the stimulation of severe pain, Luke who was in a coma woke up unexpectedly.However, at this time, not only were three people pressing him with their weight, but there were also towels stuffed in their mouths, and even Wei Ran's crotch was trampled to death by Wei Ran. Naturally, he could only stare round and use all his strength to suckle The son tried his best to endure the sharp pain in his calf.

"Don't let him move around, it's almost there!"

While yelling, Wei Ran carefully touched the fracture with his hand, then clamped Luke's ankle with his armpit and pulled it back forcefully, while carefully adjusting the alignment of the fracture with his right hand.

He didn't stop until Luke passed out again due to the severe pain, and then he tore the bamboo splint he had just made into strips of cloth with a blanket and fixed it on Luke's calf.

"Get up"

Wei Ran, who was sweating profusely, greeted him tiredly, and after the three of them let go one after another, he said, "Guochang, let the little monk get him some herbs that can reduce inflammation, relieve pain, activate blood circulation and remove blood stasis. Squad leader, you can find a way to get him some medicine." Take a stretcher, we still have to get out of here quickly, at least go to the other side of the mountain."

Without waiting for the other party to speak, Wei Ran continued, "I'm going to find Shouzheng now. If I find it, I'll shoot it. When you hear it, shoot back, and then I'll go find you."

Squad leader Liang opened his mouth, finally nodded, and handed the submachine gun to Wei Ran, "Be careful yourself."

"Take your guns, I'm just a burden."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he took out the box of quinine wrapped in layers from the bottom of his back basket and handed it to Squad Leader Liang, and then chased out in the direction where Tan Shou was leading the donkey.

"Squad Leader Liang, you, shoot me!"

Before Wei Ran could go far, Zhou Guochang knelt down on the ground, crying while smacking his mouth, "It's all my fault, if I didn't doze off when I was on duty at night, it wouldn't have happened."

"okay!"

Squad Leader Liang yelled, "Do you think it's useful if you're awake? When that little devil's plane flies high enough, you hear the sound and it sees our flames! If you have this time, hurry up and help me with a stretcher! You Dianzi, if you don’t want to live, don’t waste Lao Tzu’s bullets, go fight the devils on the battlefield!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran, who was carrying the oil lamp, breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time quickened his pace, looking for Tan Shouzheng who disappeared.

(End of this chapter)