War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 830
That afternoon, Luke, who had a cold first, then a fever, and then slept in profuse sweat, woke up and returned to normal as if nothing had happened.

But everyone present knew that this was just an illusion. At the latest at night, he would definitely start to swing again, and this situation would take at least three or four days to alleviate—even if it had been Feed him quinine.

"I'm not going to go any further." Taking advantage of the rare moment of sobriety, the weak Luke said abruptly.

"We have enough quinine, you can't die." Squad Leader Liang replied without turning his head.

"How many days?"

After Luke finished speaking, without waiting for anyone to answer, he answered on his own, "Three days? Five days? Or a week? I've waited so long, but who of you can guarantee that after a week, you can still find those people who stayed in front of you?" Or will there be no nuclear recruiters chasing after us? Will there be no planes overhead to find us?"

Seeing what Zhou Guochang was going to say, Luke waved his hand weakly, and said very seriously, "Liang, wake up. My leg is already broken, which is already slowing down my progress. Now I'm infected with malaria again. If you continue to wait for me, or take me with you, all of us will die in this mountain.

The soldiers we saw who committed suicide this morning, they also knew that they would drag their comrades down and chose to commit suicide.Liang, you are the supreme commander of this team, you need to know."

"I'm a fart commander, I'm just the squad leader of the cooking squad."

Squad leader Liang said impatiently, "Stop talking nonsense, even though you are British, we will still take you out together."

"There are more important things to do now than to survive."

Before Luke could finish his sentence, he pulled out a Webley revolver from under the blanket without warning and held it against his chin.

"What are you going to do!" Zhou Guochang and Squad Leader Liang shouted in unison.

"Calm down, calm down."

Luke showed a bleak smile, "I can't get out of Savage Mountain, even if I look back now. Liang, I, I want to talk to Zhou alone."

After a moment of silence with a gloomy face, Squad Leader Liang finally waved his hand and was about to walk out with Wei Ran and Tan Shouzheng.

"Wei, can you stay? I need you to be a witness." Luke suddenly made a new request.

"Do you need me to take pictures?" Wei Ran stopped in his tracks and asked, "The camera you gave still has a lot of unused film."

"No need, it's just a few words." Luke begged with a wry smile, "Just sit across from me, you just need to listen."

"no problem"

Wei Ran nodded happily, and after Tan Shouzheng and Liang Squad Leader left with the little master, they sat cross-legged by the opposite campfire.

"Zhou, this is a decision I made after I broke my calf."

Luke had put down his pistol while speaking, stretched out his hand to remove the herbal medicine on his arm, pointed to the healed but still red and swollen wound and said casually, "Master Sehao's herbal medicine is very useful, but in fact the wound is very It hurts, I guess it must have suppurated, and I have a broken leg. I walked all day yesterday, and my armpit hair was polished off by the crutches you made me."

"Luke."

"Don't cry"

Luke smiled, reached out and pulled out the combat dagger from his boots and stuffed it into Zhou Guochang's hand, then took off a ring from his hand and handed it over, "If you can leave Savage Mountain alive, you can continue to look for it. That British quartermaster named Alan Butler. After seeing this dagger, he will at least give you enough money to go to England. If you can go to England, give this ring to Elizabeth as a pawn Make it a memorial."

"Uncle Luke, me."

"I know what you're going to say"

Luke didn't give Zhou Guochang a chance to speak at all, "Zhou, remember to take care of Elizabeth for me. She is a good girl. Tell her for me that I am not a good father, but I have always loved her."

"I can carry you out!" Zhou Guochang clenched his dagger and ring tightly and said in a crying voice.

"Be sensible"

Luke spread his hands pretending to be relaxed, "I don't want to suffer anymore, well, how about calling Liang in for me while I'm still awake? By the way, take Tan and Master Sehao far away, don't let them Hear our conversation."

Zhou Guochang looked at Wei Ran as if asking for help, but found that the latter had closed his eyes at this moment.

Looking at Luke one last time, the helpless Zhou Guochang grabbed the dagger and ran out of the cave.A moment later, Squad Leader Liang also stooped in, smoking his cigarette pouch.

It wasn't until Tan Shouzheng and Monk Sehao outside the cave followed Zhou Guochang away that Luke said again, "Liang, I'll leave that matter to you."

"Have you decided?" Liang Ba asked, tapping his cigarette pouch.

"It's decided"

Luke nodded, "You are a trustworthy Chinese soldier. You need to send those precious medicines to your compatriots as soon as possible, and I also need to pass the news as soon as possible, so our goals are the same. In this case, I can no longer waste everyone's time and my few supplies."

"Ugh!"

Squad leader Liang sighed, and finally nodded, "I promised you, what else do I need to do?"

"Just do this well." Luke raised his finger and pointed at Wei Ran. "If you have an accident, leave it to him."

"The Kid of Guochang"

"He is too young to be able to do these things well."

Luke shook his head, "When something happens to you, leave it to Wei."

Squad leader Liang turned his head to look at Wei Ran, and finally nodded in agreement.

"These are left for you as a souvenir, I hope it can help you get out of this virgin forest"

While Luke was speaking, he took out a ZIPPO lighter and a pocket watch-style compass from his pocket and threw them to Squad Leader Liang, "It's better than your matches. I probably won't need them anymore."

Hearing this, Squad Leader Liang nodded, sighed and put the lighter and compass into his pocket together.

"Please be sure to take Zhou Huo out, or my daughter will be sad."

"Don't worry." Squad leader Liang tapped his cigarette pouch, "Even if I carry it on my back, I will take Guochang out alive."

"That's all." Luke had a relaxed smile on his face, "When are you going to leave?"

Squad leader Liang didn't answer the question, but just stood up, "I'll go get ready and make a delicious meal tonight, so don't start swaying again then."

"If possible, I'd rather have a cup of tea, tea with sugar." Luke smiled and made a small request.

"I'll boil the water right now," Squad Leader Liang walked towards the bonfire not far away as he spoke.

"guard"

"Victor" Wei Ran spoke in English.

"So you have an English name." Luke smiled and said in English, "We may be the same kind of people."

"Maybe not." Wei Ran was silent for a moment, "Mr. Luke, what do you need me to do?"

"How about killing me when I need to?"

Luke made a request that Wei Ran had expected, "Only these, I'm sorry, I have nothing to send you, but I need you to kill people."

"You have given me the camera." Wei Ran sighed, "You can survive, we have enough supplies, especially enough quinine."

"But we're running out of time"

Luke shook his head worriedly, and after a brief silence, he took the initiative to say, "There is a very important piece of information on Liang, which Zhou's father bought with his life.

Victor, I hope you can send this information to the Expeditionary Force or the British military as soon as possible, but please do not use radios, the radios of both of us may have been monitored. "

"Wait, what did you just say?" Wei Ran raised his eyebrows, "It's Zhou Guochang's father."

"Yes," Luke said frankly, "to be precise, I am actually his liaison officer, and of course, I am also his good friend."

"Before, Zhou Guochang once said that you killed a record"

"just to confuse the view"

Luke sighed but did not continue to explain, but changed the subject and asked, "What about you? Victor, you don't look like an ordinary soldier."

"Just an ordinary Chinese person." Wei Ran gave an ambiguous answer.

"Really?" Luke smiled, but his body couldn't help shivering.

"I'm starting to get chills again." Luke shook his head bitterly, "Victor, let Zhou come in and stay with me, I will call you when I need you."

"it is good"

Wei Ran sighed, stood up and walked out of the cave, calling in Zhou Guochang who was standing in the distance.And he himself walked up to Tan Shouzheng's side and asked him for a cigarette.

After a while, Squad Leader Liang also walked out of the cave, found a rock far away and sat down, took off the helmet he had been wearing on top of his head, dipped a brush in red paint, and wrote the orthographic characters stroke by stroke.

"This stroke is yours." Squad leader Liang looked up at the direction of the cave, and wrote an extra stroke.

Less than ten minutes after he put on the helmet again, Zhou Guochang, with red eyes, also walked out of the cave, "Squad Leader Liang, Luke, Mr. Luke, I hope we can start now."

"Then let's go now." Squad leader Liang patted Zhou Guochang on the shoulder, "Let's go."

"Brother Wei"

"I know"

Wei Ran nodded, and before Zhou Guochang finished speaking, he patted Zhou Guochang on the shoulder as well, "Go first, I will catch up with you soon."

Watching Squad Leader Liang pull Zhou Guochang away, and watching Tan Shouzheng and the little monk lead the donkey away, Wei Ran also went into the cave again, and saw Luke trembling holding a bamboo and wooden bowl.

"Wait for me," said Luke, trembling, "Wait for me to finish this cup of tea"

"Yes." Wei Ran nodded, and sat quietly by the campfire.

Seeing this, Luke put the bamboo and wood cup to his mouth, and sipped the rough tea with brown sugar in small sips.

Five minutes, ten minutes, half an hour, until almost an hour passed, and Luke, who had already started to feel fever all over his body, sighed contentedly, and finally stopped holding the bamboo and wooden bowl that he had drunk a long time ago.

"boom!"

The crisp and abrupt gunshots were particularly harsh in the cave, and a shiny bullet casing also drew a parabola, hitting the ground covered with banana leaves almost at the same time as the falling bamboo and wooden bowl.

"Pfft!"

Luke, who was shot between the eyebrows, fell to the ground with his head up. At the same time, Wei Ran also felt an indescribable sense of brain shutdown, and then his body limp and sat on the ground.

(End of this chapter)