War Photographer's Notebook

"boom!"

Amidst the dull explosion, Wei Ran, who was instantly sober, got out of bed and lay down on the cold floor without even thinking about it.

Looking sideways at the slow-burning heater that was still chirping, Wei Ran reached out to turn it off, then rushed to the door as fast as he could, opened the door and ran out.

Almost the moment he walked out of the room, he couldn't help shivering.Looking up at the sky, the dense freezing rain hit his face one after another. The continuous cold touch instantly made Wei Ran realize that in a certain corner of this forest, the American soldier Timov at this time The captain probably just assembled his soldiers!
"Looks like we met today." Wei Ran muttered to himself, and turned to look at Sophie who ran out from the door next door.

The two looked at each other, and then looked at the direction where the explosion sound just came.

Fortunately, the explosion this time came from the forest outside the moat, but unfortunately, the explosion was not too far away from them. Although the explosion point could not be seen standing on the ruins of the castle, it was still faintly visible through the canopy of the forest. I saw a group of circling birds in the distant sky and black smoke columns rising from the freezing rain.

Almost at the front and rear feet, dense whistles reached the ears, and immediately after that, there were explosions one after another from the direction of the black smoke column.Even the column of smoke that was originally straight up and down turned into a shapeless puff of smoke due to the shock wave of the explosion.

"Yes. Our artillery is shooting at the American camp." Wei Ran made his own judgment, "I guess that smoke column should be the American camp being fired."

"It's all so close to us."

Sophie took a deep breath, "Okay, let's change clothes and go to breakfast, and we have to clean up that activity room today."

"Are you going to meet that person at the mill today?" Wei Ran asked when the other person turned around and walked towards the room.

"Yes" Sophie didn't stop when she answered the question, "I need to know where my father and Uncle Jens went, and what's going on with them now."

"Let me go with you when the time comes?"

Wei Ran's proposal finally made Sophie stop. After a short thought, Sophie shook her head, "No, Victor, you have to stay. This is too close to the front line. If you go with us On the other side, what if there is another bombardment here and someone is injured, or the Americans just get in?"

Before Wei Ran could speak, Sophie continued, "So you have to stay and protect them. As long as you are here, even if we are injured on the other side, as long as we escape, there is still a glimmer of hope. But if you also go to the mill , were caught or injured together, who will save us?"

Wei Ran hesitated for a moment, and once again recalled the scene when he followed the American soldier Captain Timov and entered the waterway, and finally could only nod, "Well, I will follow your arrangement, but on the other side of the sluice."

"Qi Chi will be waiting at the sluice," Sophie preemptively assured, "Okay, I'm going to change.

Watching the other party enter the room, Wei Ran could only turn around and go back to the room, got dressed as quickly as possible, and greeted Dominic, who had two dark circles under his eyes, and walked towards the entrance of the basement.

Because the windows were broken due to yesterday's shelling, the place for breakfast has also been changed into the basement, and even the long table was moved in.

It was still a bowl of oatmeal per person plus a few slices of bacon and ham. The only difference was that eggs and goat milk were given priority to the injured patients.

After breakfast, Wei Ran and others cleaned up the table, checked the wounds of the sick patients one by one, and changed their medicines by the way.

However, by the time he finished all his work, Sophie and Qiqi had long since disappeared, and even Dominic and his little girlfriend Nadia had disappeared.

After calculating for a while, Wei Ran took out the 1911 pistol in the metal book and checked it, and then walked towards the sluice in the freezing rain.

From a long distance, he saw Qiqi sitting under a small shed propped up with tarpaulin
Next to her, there was an American-style oil stove with a radiator on it, Wei Ran's portable flagon, and the MP40 submachine gun that once belonged to him.

Seeing Wei Ran approaching, Qi Qi, who was wearing a blanket, brushed her hair subconsciously, then moved to the side, giving Wei Ran a seat just enough to sit down.

Putting the oil stove and the heater beside the two of them, Wei Ran sat on the bundle of reeds and stretched out his hand towards the red-hot heater.

"Your flagon." Qiqi handed the flagon to Wei Ran, "Sorry, I drank all the wine in it."

"It's okay." Wei Ran took the flagon and put it in his pocket.

"I thought you would use a magician's method to put it away." Qiqi looked at Wei Ran with big eyes and said expectantly.

"Now is not the time for a magician to perform." Wei Ran raised his chin toward the opened sluice, "Sophie passed?"

"About five minutes ago"

Qiqi took out a pack of cigarettes from her pocket, gave one to Wei Ran with a normal expression, then pressed the cigarette in her hand on the red-hot radiator, lit it, and brought it to her mouth with force. Take a breath.

Wei Ran opened his mouth and was about to say something, but a large amount of dried mushrooms floated out of the waterway without warning!

"Sophie is in danger!"

Qiqi immediately flicked the cigarette butt, stood up with the submachine gun, and explained very quickly, "This is the signal we agreed, and she will immediately throw the mushrooms she brought into the water when she encounters danger! Victor, You guard the sluice, I'm going to rescue her!"

"I'll go"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already pulled out the 1911 pistol he had picked up from the holster at his waist, and then walked sideways into the dark waterway stepping on the cold river water.

However, before he could turn on the flashlight, there was a shrill scream directly in front of him.

"Raise your hand!"

Sophie shouted in a panicked and trembling voice, and right after that, Wei Ran heard the bang of the half-drawn oil drum that was used as a boat and fell to the ground!
Turn on the flashlight and run quickly. After turning the first corner, Wei Ran saw at a glance that in the waterway directly in front of him, the American soldier Timov was sitting in the cold river water with his hands raised high. On the feet, there is also a beast trap the size of a washbasin!

Behind Timov, Sophie, who was soaked all over, had already stuck the pistol to the back of Timov's head. Her hair, her cuffs, and even her clothes were dripping with water.

Taking another look at the half of the oil drum beside her, Wei Ran immediately guessed that the brave and smart girl was probably hiding in the upside-down oil drum just now to fool Timov who just saw the light!
Taking a few quick steps forward, Wei Ran took the only weapon in his hand from his old acquaintance Timov, and then picked up a few landmines that fell into the water.

Pretending to be rough, he pulled out a US military dog ​​tag from his neck and looked at it. Wei Ran moved the beam of the flashlight to the opponent's face, forcing the opponent to squint his eyes while looking at Sophie who was trembling from the cold. After winking, the girl ran behind him tremblingly, and then asked in English, "Timov? Or a sergeant? So should I call you squad leader Timov?"

"Are you an American?" Captain Timov, who raised his hands, tried to open a gap in his eyes, trying to see Wei Ran's appearance clearly.

"I'm not American, but you're more like an American soldier, but why are you wearing a German uniform and boots?"

Wei Ran pulled the other party up while speaking, "Then you want to tell me that you are actually a German soldier?"

Seeing that Timov didn't know how to answer this question for a while, Wei Ransuo said frankly, "Forget it, no matter if you are German or American, there are no soldiers here except me, and the rest are all women and men." Son, so Captain Timov, would you mind being our prisoner?"

"What did you say?" Captain Timov, who was thinking about how to create an identity, asked blankly.

"I said there are no other Germans here except me, all girls and children."

Wei Ran repeated again, "So for their safety, you have only two choices, either be our captive, I guarantee you can get the captive treatment far beyond the Geneva Convention, or I will kill you now and go behind you See if there is anyone else."

"Looks like I don't have a choice," Timov said with a shrug. "Do you speak German?"

Wei Ran pushed Sophie, who was trembling behind her, back a step with his arm, and asked Timov in German at the same time.

"Knowledgeable" Captain Timov also switched to German. "That's good"

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he handed all the weapons and mines in his hand to Sophie, "Go back and change immediately, and let Qiqi in by the way, remember to call her name to explain the situation before running out."

"I, I. I know"

Sophie, who was pale, immediately took the things in Wei Ran's hand, and ran out quickly, trembling.

A moment later, Sophie ran in with a submachine gun in her hand. "Qiqi, take a few steps back and step back to the corner."

Wei Ran inserted the pistol back into the holster around his waist while speaking, "I want to help him untie the animal trap on his leg, if he makes any movement that makes you feel dangerous, shoot immediately."

"Don't worry, Mister Magician"

Obediently, Qiqi stepped back a few steps and hid in the corner, sticking out the muzzle of her gun and saying, "I'm ready."

"Are you a magician?" Timov couldn't help asking.

"I'll satisfy your curiosity when I have time, but now I'm going to help you untie the animal trap. Finally, put your hands on the wall and stick your head against the wall without moving."

Hearing this, Timov honestly set up his posture as Wei Ran said, and let the other party search his body again by the way.

Until it was confirmed that it was safe, Wei Ran released the animal clip on his leg. By the way, he also took out a Mark2 fighting knife inserted in a leather sheath from Timov's German boots that was caught by the animal clip. .

Not only that, on the other side of the boots, Wei Ran also found a P38 pistol issued by the German army.

Obviously, it was precisely because of the existence of these two things that he was lucky enough to block the trap and not have his legs broken.Of course, even so, this pain is inevitable. "You don't have any other weapons, right?" Wei Ran asked in German, and handed the pistol to Qiqi behind him.

"Of course." Captain Timov, who leaned his head against the wall, let out a long breath, "Can I stand upright now?"

"Of course." Wei Ran deliberately paused before asking, "Do you have any companions behind you?"

Hearing this, Timov fell into hesitation.

"Okay, I got it." Wei Ran said, deliberately took out a grenade that was just found from Timov from his pocket.

"Please wait!"

Timov panicked, "Buck! His name is Buck! He's outside, but he's wounded, and he's no threat."

"In that case, I'll go and bring him here."

Wei Ran weighed the explosive in his hand, and after pretending to hesitate, he put it back into his pocket, "I'd better send you out first."

"I can go by myself"

It was only at this time that Timov put down his raised hands and supported the cold and damp wall. Under the leadership of Wei Ran, he limped out of the narrow waterway following Qiqi who was holding a submachine gun in his hand.

"Just rest here for a while, I'll bring Mr. Barker over here."

While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already pulled out Timov's belt, and tied his hands behind the back to the switch dial of the sluice gate.

"My companion Buck doesn't understand German," Timov reminded again, and then couldn't help but sneezed.

"No matter what he says, keep a distance of more than two meters from him."

Wei Ran blatantly reminded Qiqi who was holding a submachine gun in German, "Go and stare at his back, no matter what small movements he makes, the first thing to do is to free his hands, so as long as there is any movement on his shoulders, you You can shoot right away."

"Okay!" Qiqi responded nervously.

"Is this the treatment you are guaranteed to enjoy far beyond the Geneva Convention?" Captain Timov, who turned his back to Wei Ran, asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"Only temporary"

Wei Ran pulled out the gun from his waist again while speaking, "Be patient, we must first ensure our own safety. Besides, she is just a girl who has just grown up and she is very timid, so if you don't want to hurt yourself , it’s best not to do anything to make her misunderstand, even if it’s just turning around.”

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran didn't wait for the other party's response, got sideways into the waterway, and ran towards the direction of the mill.

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