War Photographer's Notebook

In the depths of the underground passage used for storage, a drunken old man ignored the Chechen soldiers who were carrying night vision goggles, walked a few steps in with the help of metal shelves, untied his belt and poured a parabola reeking of alcohol.

However, when he saw the pile of cargo boxes that disappeared out of thin air at the end of the passage, the parabola that was originally accurately poured on the canister of a fake gas mask trembled, and immediately wet his face hands and pants!

Frightened and looking back at the Chechen soldiers who were carrying the goods, Malikov hurriedly put on his belt, picked up the flashlight that was originally placed on the pile of goods, and pointed the beam at the end of the passage. Even, this drunk old guy , and rubbed his eyes hard.

Until he confirmed that the crucial pile of goods was really gone, there were beads of sweat on his forehead.

"Malikov? Malikov!"

The shout behind him made him tremble, and he immediately removed the beam of the flashlight, and responded impatiently in Russian, "What are you shouting? I'm not deaf yet."

"Why do you pee so much, old man?"

A Chechen soldier with the rank of captain complained helplessly, "Come here and check the quantity. If there is no problem, I will sign and take it away. Also, don't use Russian anymore. If you are caught, you will be thrown outside." of."

"Understood, let me count"

Malikov responded nonchalantly in Chechen, and as he spoke, he followed the soldiers who came to carry the goods to the crossroads outside, and then carefully counted the boxes and registered them meticulously, and then Let the captain sign again, and then watched them leave.

"Stand guard, is there anyone coming to carry supplies today?" Malikov, who was drunk, continued to ask in Chechen.

"How do we know?" one of the tall, thin young soldiers replied impatiently.

Of course he was impatient, compared to guarding the two aisles, it is certainly not a good job to stand stupidly at both ends of this warehouse-especially the old guy who is in charge of entering and exiting the warehouse always sends people who come to stand guard to help move this moving. That, or order them to clean up or even help run errands at every turn.

"Go get me something to eat"

Before Malikov finished his sentence, he took out two Soviet lunch boxes from his small room and handed them to one of the guards, "Get more food and meat, at least fill these two lunch boxes for me. If there is milk , just help me get some back.”

"Why do you eat so much, old man?" The tall and thin guard grumbled reluctantly as he took the lunch box.

"The chefs in the cafeteria have no objections, what are you talking about!" Malikov shook the wine bottle in his hand, "help me get another bottle of vodka."

Before he could finish his sentence, the young soldier had already left his post, carrying two lunch boxes and walked towards the almost 24-hour cafeteria not far away.

Don't look at him and his companions complaining about Malikov who always made them run errands, but everyone knew very well in their hearts that they used the excuses the other party helped to find for a stroll, and then found a place to sit and wait until the shift was about to change. Going back, it's much more comfortable than standing stupidly like a telegraph pole at that intersection.

As for the reluctant attitude...it is naturally a tacit understanding between the two parties.

Taking advantage of the time spent cooking for this old guy, I found a place to sit and rest for a while and smoked a cigarette. By the way, I went to the field hospital opposite to meet and kiss the nurse girlfriend who worked there. It was only the soldier in his early 20s who pinched his hands and walked back to his work station with the food that had turned cold.

However, he didn't know that at the same time he was leaving the warehouse door, Malikov, who had already hid in the room, had already pulled out a special opening and closing handwheel for explosion-proof doors from the gap under the mattress. , and then took out a TT33 pistol that was almost out of the pulp from the drawer and loaded it with bullets.

After a little hesitation, he stuffed the pistol under the pillow again, then opened another drawer, and took out a Makarov micro-sound pistol with a suppressor screwed in.

Compared to the tt3 that accompanied him for most of his life
3 pistol, this pistol bought at a high price on the black market a year ago is undoubtedly quieter and more suitable for the next environment.

Glancing at the soldiers standing guard alone outside, Malikov pinned the pistol to his belt, and slung the handwheel, which was the size of a car steering wheel, on his back with a belt, and put on the dirty 82 technical condition suit again. .

Touching the handle of the handwheel on the waist of his trousers, Malikov tried to jump. After making sure that neither of the two things would fall off, he immediately opened the door, picked up a metal ladder, and walked deep into the warehouse. He said loudly in Chechen, "The man on guard, remember to call me when he comes back. I want to go in and fix the lights. A light tube just kept flickering."

"I'll call you when he comes back," the chubby young Chechen soldier at the warehouse door immediately responded loudly.

At the same time, Wei Ran, who had just opened the door of the decontamination room, and the two people hiding in the darkness behind them looked at each other, and Feshenke immediately translated the Chechen conversation in the distance into a language that Wei Ran could understand. Russian.

Gently closing the door, leaving only a crack, Wei Ran whispered, "That old guy seems to have found something wrong."

"Since the other party didn't say anything just now, there must be something we can reach a consensus with."

Feschenk had already loaded his micro-sound pistol while speaking, "And maybe he really just repaired the light tube."

"Don't be so optimistic, get ready for battle." While speaking, Rezri also drew his micro-sound pistol.

While the three of them waited through the crack of the door, Malikov also carried the ladder to the shelf where he had just peed.

Although it is not clear to see the gap between several rows of shelves and the door that is only as thick as a finger, but accompanied by a murmur, most of the lights outside the passage are covered.

Immediately afterwards, a constantly flickering light tube closest to the end of the passage also went out, and the end of the passage was completely plunged into darkness.

After a while, the old man came over with a flashlight. After some inspection, he hid behind a pile of goods, pointed at the door of the decontamination room with the gun and the beam of the flashlight and whispered in Chechen, "Come out, I know you are hiding There. If you don't come out, I'll call the guards to come in!"

After a while, the door of the decontamination room slowly opened from the inside, and Wei Ran walked out with his hands empty, performing the ritual salute.

Seeing that someone was really hiding here, Malikov was obviously taken aback, lowered his voice and asked in Chechen, "How did you get in! Who are you from?!"

"Can you speak Russian?" Wei Ran also lowered his voice, "I don't understand Chechen."

"You... where are you from?" Malikov asked in a low voice in Russian. While speaking, he couldn't help but look at the explosion-proof door not far away that was blocked by a tarpaulin.

"I didn't come from the opposite side of the explosion-proof door. I came from the outside." Wei Ran said, and looked at the shelf in the distance. At this time, the shelf was tightly covered by a piece of tarpaulin, which blocked the outside by the way The guard's gaze.

"How long have you been hiding here?" Malikov asked in a low voice. "Is there something important to you on the opposite side of the explosion-proof door?" Wei Ran ignored the pistol and the question that the other party held in his hand from the beginning to the end, and walked forward a few steps with his hands raised, leaning towards the edge of the pile of goods , while looking at the surprised and nervous expression on the opponent's face, he stretched out his hand and lightly held the silencer on the opponent's pistol and said in a low voice, "So you dare not shoot, especially you dare not hand me over to the guards outside."

"Are you Russian?"

Malikov took his weapon from Wei Ran's hand, and asked with a cold face, "What do you want to do? You also dare not let me hand you over to the guards, do you? It's not easy for you to touch here matter."

"Before that, how about satisfying my curiosity first?" Wei Ran pointed to the blast door behind him, "What's in there?" "It's just an abandoned air-raid shelter, there is nothing there." "Since there is nothing No, how about letting me go to the opposite side to see?" Wei Ran took the initiative to put his hands together, "You can tie me up, I just want to satisfy my curiosity."

"Are you Russian?" Malikov asked again. "certainly"

Wearing 82 technical strips
Wei Ran in a suit answered in a low voice as a matter of course, "I am a soldier of the 131st Brigade. I lost the battle on the ground. I came here through the sewer unintentionally in order to survive, and then hid here while others were not paying attention. "

"Just yourself?" Malikov asked in a low voice.

"Of course." Wei Ran pointed behind him, "If you don't believe me, you can go look inside."

"I'll find it"

While Malikov was speaking, he had already taken out a length of thick wire from his waist, "Since you want to see the other side, I can only tie you up.

But as long as you don't make too much noise, I guarantee you can survive, and it's okay to live until the end of the war, but you have to keep quiet. "

"This is probably the best news I've heard in the past two days." Wei Ran honestly let the other party twist his hands together tightly with thick wire, and then searched him again , and took away the seized submachine gun he hid in his back.

Confirming that Wei Ran would not resist, Malikov carefully searched the decontamination room with his gun in hand.As expected, he naturally failed to find Feshank and Leizli who had been hidden in advance.

Not daring to delay for too long, Malikov, who had nothing to gain, untied the padded jacket on his upper body, untied the belt slung across his chest, took off the handwheel on his shoulder, installed it on the explosion-proof door, and began to turn in circles.

Perhaps it was because of the sufficient friction, neither the turning of the hand wheel nor the opening of the explosion-proof door made any sound.

It's just that the other side of the explosion-proof door is painted black, and there is no light at all.

"Go in, there is some food and drink in here, enough for you to hide until the end of the war, no problem, I will turn on the lights for you when I go back later."

Before Malikov could finish his sentence, he had already pushed Wei Ran in, and then he closed the explosion-proof door with a thickness of more than ten centimeters at the fastest speed.

Quietly waiting for the explosion-proof door behind him to be completely silent, Wei Ran, whose hands were tied with wire, immediately took out the flashlight from the metal book and opened it.

Under the warm yellow light beam, the first thing he saw was explosion-proof buffer walls that staggered left and right and went straight to the ceiling. On these concrete walls, there were also Soviet posters that popularized the science of nuclear war.

Looking up, down, left, and right, Wei Ran grabbed the metal hanging ring at the end of the flashlight with his mouth, then took out the wire cutters and leaned against the corner, and sent the thick iron wire that helped the wrist into the cutting edge of the eagle's beak, and held it with both hands. Holding the head of the pliers, relying on pushing the handle with your feet, you can easily cut the iron wire that binds you.

Putting away the wire cutters, Wei Ran carefully walked through the explosion-proof buffer walls with a flashlight, and then saw a space that was twice the size of the warehouse at the other end. There were even several Ural 375 parked in this space. Trucks, two Soviet jeeps, and a couple of fire trucks that were obviously outdated even for this day and age, and a couple of Soviet-style chemical decontamination vehicles that seemed to be in decent condition.

The extreme end of these mechanical equipment has been completely blocked due to the collapse, and even the surface has a layer of water about five centimeters deep.

At this moment, the fluorescent lamps above the head were lit one after another. Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately turned off the flashlight, hid in the shadow under the chassis of a truck and waited patiently.

In less than a minute, at the other end of the channel blocked by a tank, an explosion-proof door that seemed to only be opened from the opposite side was slowly pushed open.

Immediately afterwards, a man who was lame in one leg and needed crutches to move, but was wearing a Soviet military uniform and wearing glasses on his face, brought a man who looked about sixteen or seventeen years old with a A girl with a suppressed Makarov pistol, and a younger boy with a flashlight in his hand came out of it.Seeing the three people supporting each other, stepping on the red bricks laid in the water and walking towards the explosion-proof buffer door cautiously, Wei Ran quietly shifted his position, touched the half-open explosion-proof buffer door, and quickly probed Glanced inside.

The space inside this explosion-proof door is quite large. At first glance, it must be at least a hundred and ten square meters. The most conspicuous of them are the two big red oil storage tanks against the wall.

However, it is clear that in these storage tanks

The fuel was gone long ago, because the tanks of the oil tanks had each been cut with a hole big enough for people to get in. Although the hole was hung with a curtain, there was bright light inside.

Outside the oil storage tank used for other purposes, there are still a lot of wires pulled against the wall. Some of these wires end at light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, and some are a plug used to power TVs, radios, and video players. wire board.Others are used to power a heater.

And near the vent in the corner, there is actually a gas stove. Not only is a large pot of fragrant food being cooked on the gas stove, but there is also a kettle with steam on it.

In addition to these things that can be seen at a glance, there are several thick curtains made of tarpaulin between the two oil storage tanks.On the side of the entrance, there is a table and three chairs against the wall.

Before he could decide whether to step in to see what was going on inside the brightly lit oil storage tanks, there was the sound of crutches hitting the ground from the direction behind him, as well as a slightly flustered urging.

But this time, Wei Ran didn't hide. Instead, he just took a step away, cleared his throat to attract the attention of the three people, and raised his hands again.

Fortunately, the blonde girl with the weapon didn't shoot him, but the younger boy immediately hit Wei Ran's face with the beam of the flashlight.

Seeing this, the man in the Soviet military uniform with a cane in his hand immediately stopped the two men and women, and after a moment of hesitation, he walked over alone on crutches and stood two meters away from Wei Ran. After paying a Soviet-style military salute, he introduced himself with a serious expression, "Lamin Razvozayev, the acting captain of the chemical defense fire brigade of the Grozny Civilian Underground Air Defense System."

"Victor"

Wei Ran introduced himself and returned a fairly standard Soviet-style military salute, then looked at the explosion-proof door beside him, "Would you mind inviting me to your house?"

"Of course, please come in!"

La Ming didn't ask Wei Ran how he broke free from the wire bondage, but raised his hand casually, asking him to go through the half-open blast door.

"Sit whatever you want"

While Lamin was speaking, he had already closed the thick blast-proof door, and then he sat down on the chair by the table and explained, "This place was built and put into use in the same month that the Soviet Union sent troops to Afghanistan. Outside The space is actually the real entrance and exit of the entire air defense system. In the event of an air strike or nuclear strike, the surrounding citizens can enter here through the garage of the old fire station.

It's a pity that during the battle with the opposition in November, the old fire station was blown up, along with the buildings outside the entrance and exit. "

"So can you get out here?" Wei Ran asked the most critical question.Laming shook his head, "I can't get out. Those building ruins have completely buried the entrance and exit. Even the first blast door that can resist nuclear explosions has been completely buried by those building wreckage." "What about here?" Wei Wei Ran pointed to the surroundings. "This used to be a maintenance office"

Lamin smiled, "Of course, that was in the Soviet era, and those two fuel tanks were filled with enough fuel at that time."

"Now?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union... No, maybe since the end of the Afghan war, this place has been used to grow unique products. I guess even the seeds of those unique products were brought back by those veterans from Afghanistan. After all, there is no need to worry here. It will be discovered by the kgbs, won't it?"

La Ming sighed, stood up with difficulty and opened the curtain hanging on the oil storage tank, and showed Wei Ran everything inside without reservation.Seeing this, Wei Ran went over to take a look, only to find that in the two oil storage tanks with lights on, some vegetables such as tomatoes, potatoes and cucumbers were planted in a three-dimensional way!

Sufficient light makes the plants in the two oil storage tanks grow very well. There are several red tomatoes hanging in the position visible to the naked eye, and there is even a bag of chemical fertilizers in the innermost position. metal shelf.

"Before the war, I was a fireman, and I was also one of the secret growers here"

Lamin sighed, "Later Duda

The Great Cleansing of Yev started, Russians, Ingush, and even some Chechens, some of them were killed, some were abused, some became criminals and imprisoned, and some even became slaves . "

"so…"

"I'm a Russian, from Orel, and I'm also purged."

Lamin laughed at himself, "You would never have imagined that even the drug dealers are more sober than those lunatics. They not only hid me here, but also managed to send my daughter here."

"Outside... no, Malikov inside is..." "He's the accountant of the fire department"

Lamin explained frankly, "He is also the accountant of our small plantation team, and the young man outside is his youngest son."

"Is he a Russian too?"

"Him?" Lamin shook his head. "He's not Russian, not Chechen, or Ingush. He's a Soviet."

"Oh... well, the Soviets, another Soviet." Wei Ran didn't delve into this issue, and changed the subject casually, "What's the matter with your legs?"

"It was smashed when the exit was blown up last month"

Lamin replied indifferently, "My foot was crushed under the floor. I did the amputation with a saw. I didn't expect to survive."

"Are you going to hide here forever?" Wei Ran continued to ask. "What else?" Lamin spread his hands, "Until the war is over, it's no safer outside than here."

Seeing that Wei Ran was silent, La Ming asked after a moment of silence, "It's your turn, how did you get here, what do you want to do?"

"Can you contact Malikov here?" Wei Ran answered the question without looking at the old-fashioned telephone on the TV.

"Every day at five o'clock in the morning, one o'clock in the afternoon and seven o'clock in the evening." Laming paused, "He can only call us, we can't get through."

"Do you mind if I walk around?" Wei Ran finally asked after getting up. "I don't mind, of course I don't mind." Lamin also stood up, "Please stroll around, but please be quiet, so as not to cause trouble for Comrade Malikov."

"I will keep quiet." Wei Ran paused, and then added an extra sentence, "Comrade Laming."