War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 962 Kirov's Dinner
Under the bright sunshine, Gorman slowly drove the small fishing boat to the side of the abandoned pier on the other side of the lake.

Before everyone disembarked, Gorman turned off the engine and reminded, "In order for all of you to concentrate on the work at hand, please leave your communication tools and electronic equipment on board now."

It was said that these people had no objections, and each took out their mobile phones, watches, tablets and other things, and put them in a plastic washbasin that Gorman had prepared in advance.

What made Wei Ran particularly concerned was that the young man named Niel, what he handed over turned out to be a slightly outdated BlackBerry phone with no power on at all, and two spare batteries.

Seeing that Wei Ran seemed to have noticed his mobile phone, the young man named Niel asked slowly in a hoarse and deep voice, "Do you want to exchange contact information with me?"

"If possible, I am very happy and honored." Wei Ran took out his own business card from his pocket and handed it to the other party while speaking.

He also took the business card with both hands and glanced at it. Ninel took out an atomic seal from his pocket, printed a red email address on the business card, and then returned it to Wei Ran.

"My mobile phone may not be able to get through at any time, but I can always reach my email." After finishing speaking, Ninere put away his seal and jumped onto the pier.

"Do you need me to give you another business card?" Wei Ran put away the stamped business card and asked.

"No, I've already remembered it." Ninel raised his hand without looking back.

is a weirdo
Wei Ran muttered to himself, and was the last one to jump onto the pier, letting Gorman lead them along a grassy gravel road to No. 33 Fishing Field Prison with its gate locked!
Opening the rusty iron door amidst the clanging noise, everyone also found that a lot of things had been placed in advance on the open space full of weeds in front of them.

Among these things are tents still in packaging, two large barrels of fuel, even a generator, several lawnmowers and motorcycle saws, and even two small wheel loaders that are particularly conspicuous.

Of course, in addition to these things, there are also buckets of paint, roller brushes and iron brushes for polishing, and even a few travel bags with everyone's names on them, as well as some incubators and refrigerators. Block preserved ingredients and simple cooking tools.

"Mr. Gorman, what are you doing! Where are you going, old man?" Jima asked vigilantly when he saw that Gorman had turned his head and walked back.

"Of course I'm going back to my business."

Gorman said as a matter of course, "Give you a week to clean up all the weeds and garbage in the prison yard, as well as the road leading to the dock from the gate, and then repaint the doors and windows."

"Can"

"I will come here every day to deliver ingredients and daily necessities to you"

Gorman didn't give these young people a chance to speak at all, "Well, boys, work hard to not fight."

Before he could finish his sentence, the young man named Ninel had already unscrewed the lid of the oil drum, obviously planning to use the fastest method - to burn the weeds here.

"The fire can only be used for cooking and boiling water, and the weeds must be carefully cleaned with the tools I prepared for you."

Gorman stepped forward and said, "Niel, you are responsible for protecting the safety of other people. Victor, you are responsible for supervising that everyone is not allowed to eat fish in the lake.

Jima, you are responsible for protecting all the girls, not allowing them to be hurt, let alone molesting them.Maya, you oversee Jima.You assign other work yourself. "

"Kang Dang"

Although the young man named Ninel did not respond to Gorman's order, he simply threw aside the stainless steel washbasin that was just about to receive fuel, and simply pulled out a weeding machine from a pile of supplies.

The rest of Wei Ran and the others looked at each other, wisely did not ask any further questions, and stood in a row obediently, watching Gorman leave by the boat amidst the roar of the lawn mower. Take a breath.

"Victor, have you offended Mr. Gorman?" Jima asked first.

"No, did you offend him?" Wei Ran asked back.

"I am. Probably not"

Jima muttered uncertainly, then turned to look at Thorn and the three girls standing together.

"The last time I saw Uncle Gorman was sending Maya to study in Kazan a few years ago."

Thorn, who came from afar, picked himself up in time, "Uncle Kajik is right, Uncle Gorman does have a brain problem, and all psychiatrists have brain problems."

"Gentlemen, are we unable to leave for the time being?" Maya squinted her eyes, avoiding the grass debris blown by the wind and asked loudly.

"So far it looks like this!" Jima was the first to answer.

"In this case, shall we assign the work?"

Maya flapped her palms and said loudly, "Mr. Ninel, can you stop for a while?"

"Niniel, stop for a while!" Jima yelled loudly.

"What's the matter?" Ninel turned off the lawn mower and asked slowly in a hoarse voice.

"We need to arrange work," Wei Ran said with a smile.

"No problem." Hearing this, Niel immediately walked back, "I'll follow your arrangement."

"The work of weeding does not require manpower," Thorne said first, "I will find a way to make the weeder work by itself later."

"So the only thing left is to clean the doors and windows?" Maya asked rhetorically.

"And enough breakfast, lunch and dinner for all of us."

Olga pointed to the piled up tents, "Also, I think it is necessary for us to set up the tents first. The buildings here are obviously very old. It may be better to set up tents outside than to sleep in those abandoned buildings." Be safe."

"How about the ladies take care of the meals and weeding, and we take care of the rust removal and painting?" Jima suggested with a hint of partiality.

"I have no opinion"

Ninel was the first to express his opinion. He turned around and walked towards the lawn mower and said, "I'll clear out the place where the tent is set up first."

"We have no problem"

Wei Ran and Thorne expressed their opinions in no particular order at the same time.He picked up a tent bag without removing the label.

A moment later, the roar of the lawn mower sounded again, and the weeds around everyone were cleaned up one after another.

At the same time, the three girls each took out a large brush and swept the grass and debris all over the floor to one side and piled it into a pile.

The remaining three people were also not idle. Wei Ran was in charge of helping everyone set up tents on the cleaned gravel road. Jima and Thorne cooperated with each other and used motorcycle saws A few long-dead street trees in the distance were felled, and amidst the hum of the engine, they were cut into half-meter-long sections, either as stools or as firewood.

So busy until the sun was about to set, seven tents of various colors were erected on the inner side of the No. 33 fishing ground prison entrance, and behind these tents, the root of a long-dead and felled street tree was also planted. It was doused with fuel oil and lit, and piled up with collected grass dregs with a strong smell of grass.

All of a sudden, thick white smoke rose up, easily driving away the mosquitoes that raged in the evening.

On the other side of the seven tents, the three girls who had become friends also lit an additional bonfire, talking and laughing, using the fresh ingredients to prepare dinner for everyone.

A little farther away, in various places in this prison, Wei Ran and others also followed Thorne's instructions, tying the weeding machines with ropes, and tying the other end of the ropes to the lampposts or tying On the street tree, or simply use a loader to knock a wooden stick with a thick calf on the ground as the center of the circle.

Accompanied by one after another of roaring sounds, one after another the weeding machines were started one after another, and under the traction of the rope, they began to work around their respective centers of circles. At the same time, because the ropes wound around the centers of the circles, they shortened a little bit, thereby reducing the scope of weeding.

"Would you like to go soak in the lake outside for a while?"

Jima, who was in charge of driving the loader, asked loudly, "The water in that lake looks very clean, and I just found swimming trunks in the travel bag with my name on it."

"I found swimming trunks too, so of course I'm going to take a shower."

While Thorn was speaking, he had already taken off the sea soul shirt on his body.

In fact, no matter the sea soul shirt T-shirt or the camouflage trousers and high-waist military boots on the lower body, they were all found in the travel bag when Wei Ran was setting up the tent just now.

In order not to get their clothes dirty, everyone naturally didn't mind changing into the clothes that Gorman helped prepare before starting work.But even so, the flying blades of grass still made their whole bodies itchy unbearably.

"What about you? Want to go together?"

Wei Ran extended an invitation to the taciturn Niniel.He naturally knew that, going back decades, the lake outside would definitely not be considered clean.But after so many years, the lake is running water connected to the river, so naturally it doesn't matter so much.

"Then let's go together." Ninel nodded nonchalantly, agreeing to Wei Ran's invitation.

Hearing this, Ji Ma immediately increased the speed of the car and returned to the tent first, and sent the same invitation to the three girls, and added with a gentlemanly face, "You can wash at the lake at the door, let's wait a little further When you are finished washing, just wave the flashlight at us, and we will come back when the time comes."

"Are you going?" Maya asked the sisters Olga and Olena who were clearly moved.

"Of course we're going!" Before the two sisters finished speaking, they got up and got into the tent they shared.

"Stay away." Maya clenched her fists at Jima and threatened jokingly, "If you dare to swim over, I will ask my brother to put you in an oil drum and sink into the lake."

"Don't worry, Jima, I won't do that."

The shirtless Thorn gave Jima a reassurance with a smile, then bent down and pulled out a pair of bright red swimming trunks and short-sleeved shorts from his travel bag, and walked towards the prison outside the prison. lake.

"Don't blame me for not reminding you"

Wei Ran patted Jima on the shoulder, "Although Thorne will definitely not do that, but the father of the sisters, Ivan, will definitely sink you into the lake."

After finishing speaking, he ignored Jima's resentful expression, and also took out a pair of large swimming trunks and a change of clothes from his bag, beckoned to Ninel and walked out to the lake together.

Letting Thorn choose a location about 50 meters away from the prison gate, the three of them took off their clothes, put on their swimming trunks, and stepped on the cobblestones before waiting for Ji Ma who came over a little later. A full day at the lake.

Taking advantage of the remaining sunset, Wei Ran also noticed that there seemed to be an OTs-22 submachine gun hidden in the clothes that Ninel took off, which is very rare even in Russia.

Of course, what surprised Wei Ran more than that rare but unattractive submachine gun was that Ninel was covered with various scars.

Some of these scars appeared to be from cuts, others appeared to be from healed gunshot wounds, and others appeared to be more like burns.

Quietly withdrawing his curious gaze, Wei Ran swam a distance away, sinking his whole body into the lake, and at the same time secretly thinking about his purpose for coming here.

Speaking of which, no matter Maya, Ninel, or the pair of sisters who were watched closely by medical soldier Ivan, they all belong to the descendants of the members of the death knell, only myself and Jima are special.
No, no, in a sense, the two of them can be regarded as the successors of Karp and other teachers from Hongqi Forest Farm, and they seem to be equally qualified to come here.

On the other hand, compared to Jima and others, he can probably guess the purpose of them being thrown here to repair the prison-if nothing happens, those members of the death knell who have been missing for more than 20 years will come back here, and forever Buried here.

From this point of view, except for him and Jima, the rest of the people have unshirkable responsibilities and obligations to come here to prepare for the upcoming funeral.

Wanting to understand this, Wei Ran, who was still submerged in the water, couldn't help but began to think about Ninel's identity again.

The taciturn and hoarse young man seemed to be about the same age as himself, but the wounds on his body hinted at how wonderful and dangerous the life he had gone through was.

Of course, apart from these doubts, there was no doubt that he was the son of Assaulter Fischenk.

"Whoa!"

Wei Ran, who had held his breath underwater for a long time, popped his head out of the splashing water, and then saw that the young man named Ni Niel had already swam a long distance away, looking at him like that, Apparently he was going to swim to the other side and back again.

In contrast, Thorne was much more normal. This strong man who came from Hasa was currently whistling and scrubbing his body with fine sand.

Look at Ji Ma again, it's rare for this guy not to have any crooked thoughts about the girls who are yelling and jumping into the water from the pier in the distance. Washing sweat-stained clothes.

"When did this guy become so diligent?" Wei Ran muttered with a strange expression.

"Because it was Mayan clothes"

Thorne pointed to another pile of clothes discarded randomly on the shore, and said helplessly, "That's what the silly boy Jima just took off."

"This idiot."

Wei Ran twitched the corners of his mouth, too lazy to take another look at his shameful brother, and swam to the other side of the lake [-] meters away with splashing water.

Before the sun completely set, Wei Ran and the others, who had finished washing their clothes after playing with the water, lit the flashlights at the prison gate, changed into clean clothes, and returned to the prison with the washed clothes.

By the time they finished drying the clothes, Maya and the three girls had already divided meals for everyone, and even placed bottles of cold beer with water drops on the wooden box that served as the table.

However, before dinner, Wei Ran and the others went around the yard and stopped all the weed mowers that had been pruned into circular areas and had been imprisoned by ropes near the center of the circle.

As the long-abandoned prison fell into silence, everyone also noticed the summer starry sky gradually brightening in the night sky above their heads amidst the drifting white smoke.

"I guess Uncle Gorman dropped us guys here for a reason"

Thorne, the eldest, was the first to raise the cold beer bottle, "Whatever the old guy is thinking, how about we have a drink first?"

"In order to meet in this ghost place" Olena raised her wine bottle excitedly.

"For new friends"

Olga also raised the wine bottle with great interest. For the two girls, this kind of camping experience was a strange experience that they had never had before.

"Indeed, for the sake of new friends." Wei Ran said, raised the wine bottle and offered it to Ninel, who was sitting next to him who was silent.

"For...for the lawnmower."

Ninel, who was obviously not used to this kind of occasion, stupidly said an irrelevant toast, followed by the three girls who were the first to laugh out loud.

"For the beautiful smiles of the three beauties," Ji Ma also gave his toast with a hippie smile.

"cheers!"

Amid the cheers of the crowd, the cold beer bottles collided together, making a series of crisp and pleasant knocking sounds amidst the laughter.

After the first sip of wine, the tall Olga took the initiative to touch the wine bottle with Ni Nier who was sitting between her and Wei Ran, "Ni Nier, what do you do?"

"Courier" Ninel took a sip of wine and replied in a hoarse voice slowly.

"What a coincidence, my father is also a courier. He often drives boats to deliver goods to surrounding villages."

Olga raised her slender legs and continued to ask, "Which city are you a courier from?"

"My sister seems to have taken a fancy to that courier."

Olena made a judgment in a low voice next to Maya's ear, "But she has never been in a relationship, so she looks really clumsy."

"That's right!"

Maya also covered her mouth and responded in a low voice, and at the same time pushed away Jima who came over to eavesdrop with her other hand.

"North America," Ninel replied slowly, "anywhere in North America."

"Huh? North America?"

Olga was stunned for a moment, and then touched the wine bottle with Ninel again, "You seem to be more honest than Victor, but you really know how to joke."

"Is Victor very good at joking?" Although Ninel spoke slowly, he calmly shifted the topic to Wei Ran.

"Him?" Olga took a sip of her drink and teased deliberately, "I don't know Victor, he's too timid."

"Don't take me with you when you're flirting." Wei Ran directly pierced the other party's small thoughts, and by the way touched the wine bottle with Thorne who was sitting next to him.

"You spoiled bastard"

Olga rolled her eyes helplessly, and angrily picked up the red cabbage soup she made herself and took a big sip. At the same time, her cheeks also got wet because of the alcohol or the temperature of the red cabbage soup or something else. Nice pink.

The few young people gathered around the bonfire in the open air, and while they were having dinner in the abandoned prison under the night, a group of people gathered around a dining table in the psychiatric hospital in downtown Kirov.

Among these people, there are Gorman, Anna and Darya, Leva who is missing an arm, and a man who has lost both legs and can only sit in a wheelchair, but his eyes are stupid, and his eyes are piercing from time to time. Laughing middle-aged man.

In addition to these people, there are some people on the long table that Wei Ran doesn't know even if he is standing next to him. They are male and female, some are wearing the uniforms of majors of the Russian Federation Army, and some are dressed like ordinary people.

But among these people, Karp was the only one.Even so, compared to the gathering at the Kazan Hongqi Forest Farm a few days ago, the faces of these people now have an uncontrollable excitement - except for the man who lost his legs, he is already immersed in his own life. Can't get out of the world.

In the middle of the dining table, besides the Walkman, there is a small speaker that is not too big, but the sound quality is very good. At this time, it is playing the last words left by the Deathstroke players more than 20 years ago.

After a long time, Dahlia turned off the completed work to the Walkman and stuffed it into her bag.

"On the day of the funeral, I want to meet the young man who helped us."

The middle-aged man in the major's uniform said and looked at Anna, "What's his name?"

"Jima, his name is Jima Allah," Anna replied flatly.

"Is that the starlet you cultivated recently?" The major asked suspiciously, "How did he find it?"

"He's a scum who gets blood all over his lower body when he sees a pretty girl"

Gorman said with a look of disgust, "But thanks to this bastard who can't control his lower body, he tried to seduce a Chechen girl named Ashura some time ago.

Coincidentally, the beautiful girl's mother adopted many war orphans, one of whom experienced the first Chechen war, and had seen Captain Karp and the others, and we found the yard with the help of some clues provided by him. "

"I thought it was the credit of the historian you trained," the major suddenly realized.

"He is good at war history of World War II, of course, as well as script writing."

Kajik's casual tone contained a trace of just-right disappointment, "I wanted him to help, but he couldn't even explain the cause of the two Chechen wars clearly, but he was well-informed about the Stalingrad battle, but what's the use of that? "

"Ghost knows what's the use of wasting energy training such a historian"

The major muttered, and then said loudly, "Anyway, let me meet that boy named Jima when the time comes, and I have to thank him very much."

"There is no need to meet"

Dalia, who hadn't spoken at all, lit a cigarette, "If you want to express your gratitude, try to find a way to arrange a few more interviews and public welfare activities for him.

In spite of all his faults, the little guy is very obedient and loyal, so we are going to make him a famous movie star, at least in the Russian Federation. "

"Yes!"

The major subconsciously stood up and saluted, his respectful attitude seemed a bit out of place with the atmosphere in the room.

"I am not qualified to accept your salute"

Daria stood up after finishing speaking, and said as she walked out, "That's it, everyone wait here for a few more days, and arrange the funeral when Karp brings them back."

"Where's the bell ringer? What about the bell ringer?" A woman in formal attire asked before Darya left the room.

"Keep looking." Dalia, who stopped in her tracks, sighed and walked out of the room.

(End of this chapter)