War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 998 Two Lunch Boxes
Put away the camera and camera bag, with the energy supplemented by the coconut milk and coconut meat provided by the two old coconuts just now, and after such a short period of adaptation, Wei Ran, who has been floating on the sea for a long time, is finally strong. stood up.

Stumbling back to the side of the life raft, which was filled with a strong smell of corpses, he noticed a sharp reef protruding from the white fine sand and scratched the life raft at a glance.

But besides the reef, he also noticed that there seemed to be something bulging in the anchor bag of the life raft.Not only that, but a webbing like a safety belt protrudes from the sea anchor bag, which is connected to an inconspicuous hanging ring on the edge of the load-bearing net.

The so-called sea anchor bag is actually a rubber bag that can store water, but the bag is located under the life raft.

Its function is to automatically fill with seawater after the liferaft is inflated, and use the weight of seawater to prevent the inflated liferaft from being blown over by sea wind or overturned by waves like a sea anchor.

So it's obvious that this normally underwater rubber bag is a great place to stash things until you get to shore.

He raised his binoculars again and looked at the stranded traffic boat in the distance. After hesitating for a moment, Wei Ran pulled out a white canvas bag from the sea anchor bag with the remaining sea water.

Untying the rope of the canvas pocket, he took out a cuboid Japanese officer's lunch box with a handle and a relatively slender officer's lunch box without a handle.

Thanks to the experience of the last trip to Savage Mountain and the follow-up investigation, Wei Ran knows clearly that whether the handle or not is actually just the difference between the old and new versions. These two lunch boxes are actually used by Japanese military officers. .

Of course, as far as the devil's hierarchy is comparable to a hornet's nest, those who use old-style lunch boxes with handles may have to be called "senior" by those who don't use handles and bow 90 degrees.

It's just quite special that the new officer's lunch box without a handle is not only wrapped in soft silk umbrella cloth, but also covered with layer after layer of obviously waterproof condoms.

For the sake of caution, he did not open the layered lunch box, but carefully opened the old-fashioned officer lunch box with a handle.

However, when he opened the lid and opened the towel soaked with seawater, he was stunned. What was wrapped in the towel turned out to be a golden statue of a woman in ancient costume!
Made of gold?Quite delicate, but who is this statue?Doesn't it look like a Bodhisattva?

While muttering to himself, Wei Ran carefully took out the statue.

Soon, he noticed that there was a line of traditional Chinese characters engraved in a small frame shaped like a plaque on the bottom edge of the wave-shaped seat at the foot of the statue!

"Zhao Xiao's pure and pure Fu Ji senses the holy concubine?" Wei Ran frowned and thought about it, but he couldn't find the matching person in his memory.

After thinking for a while, he wrapped the golden statue in a towel and put it back in the lunch box, and closed the lid.

Finally, the contaminated sand was washed away with the sea water not far away, Wei Ran stuffed the lunch box back into the canvas bag to restore it to its original state, and even cleaned up his own footprints habitually, then got up and walked towards the stranded place far away traffic boat.

Halfway through the journey, he picked up a coconut with green skin from the water, chopped off the thick skin with an engineering shovel, pierced a hole in it with a gravity knife, and enlarged the hole with the blade Just enough for a finger to get in.

But this time, he held back the drink, and instead walked to the side of the traffic boat with it in his arms, observing the people still lying in the cabin.

Of course, in addition to a lot of people, he also noticed that the hole that was originally blocked by shells has now become a huge crack that is more than one meter long and more than 20 centimeters wide. Among the reefs, you can still see the machete, Captain Evans' Indian pipe axe, the shell shell, and a small crab slowly retreating into the shell shell.

It's a pity that there is no canvas sailor bag for weapons in this cabin, let alone the thermos bucket filled with fresh water.

After bending down and taking away the machete and pipe ax and throwing them on the beach behind him, Wei Ran lightly patted Hawkes' severely sunburned cheek.

"Ok?"

Hawks opened his eyes in bewilderment, and then stared round!beach!He saw the sand!I even saw Wei Ran standing on the beach!And the green coconut handed over by Wei Ran!
Subconsciously rubbing his eyes, Hawks rolled and crawled out of the cabin in excitement, and fell on the beach in embarrassment like a male mermaid who just landed.

"We...we landed?!" Hawkes took the coconut handed over by Wei Ran, and asked hoarsely in disbelief.

"Docked"

Wei Ran smiled, and while shaking the two captains trying to wake them up, he said, "Our weapons have gone somewhere, drink some coconut juice first, and then use an ax or a machete to split the coconuts and eat them Meat."

Hearing this, Hawks finally came to his senses, and immediately brought the small hole in the coconut to his mouth, greedily sucking the life-saving coconut juice.

When Wei Ran woke up Captain Evans and Captain Sterling, Hawks also smashed open the coconut with an axe, and even scraped off the coconut meat and handed it to the still somewhat confused captain and deputy captain.

It wasn't until the tender coconut meat was put into his mouth that Evans, who had tasted the sweetness he hadn't seen for a long time, asked in disbelief, "We...are we docked?"

"Docked"

Wei Ran glanced at the young pilot who had woken up, and pointed to the small island in the distance, "There is a small island that looks very big over there, two captains, all the sailors left John The Ston is here, it's time for you to disembark."

Hearing this, Captain Evans, who was holding half a coconut shell, and Sterling, who was also holding half a coconut shell, looked at each other, then nodded together, and with the support of Wei Ran, they left one after another. The stranded traffic boat kneeled weakly on the soft sand.

Following the direction of Wei Ran's finger and glanced at the small island in the distance, the faces of the two captains showed excitement.

Before the two of them got used to the land, the young pilot who was still in the cabin also woke up Akira.But this time, Wei Ran finally understood the other party's Japanese.

"Jiro, are we going ashore?" Akira asked tremblingly in Japanese, "Palau, is this Palau?"

"I don't know, I don't know." The young pilot called Jiro said tremblingly, "But we're going ashore."

"Life raft! Where's our life raft?" Akira sat up straight with difficulty and looked around.

"Over there! Over there!" Jiro pointed to the shriveled life raft in the distance.

"Quick! Go to the life raft to see if our things are there! Don't worry about me!" Akira pulled out a 1911 pistol from his arms while talking!

Seeing this, Wei Ran subconsciously pulled out the small PPK pistol in his satchel.However, before he could make a move, the other party pointed the pistol first.

"Jiro! Go! See if our stuff is here!"

Akira, who put his pistol on the side of the boat, shouted in Japanese, "If you're not there, send the signal immediately! If you're still there, find a place to bury it! Don't let them find you!"

Jiro, who was kneeling in the cabin, panicked, rolled and crawled out of the cabin, and after falling down a few times, he simply crawled and crawled towards the wreckage of the life raft with the sunshade in the distance!
"Are you still going to eat the carcass of the moose?" Wei Ran threatened in English, pretending not to understand Japanese, "If you dare to touch his carcass"

"I promise not to touch a moose carcass"

Akira took a breath and said in hoarse English, "Captain Evans, that life raft belongs to us. You can take away the dead moose, but the life raft must be ours."

"You want more than a life raft?"

Sterling said with a cold face, "We have already landed, and now we don't even know where this place is, at this time we."

"To shut up!"

Akila looked around and said tremblingly, "Our life raft, this pistol, and that machete and a steel helmet are all we need!"

"Greedy recruiter"

Evans, who was still sitting on the beach, snorted coldly, took the machete from Hawkes and threw it into the cabin.

"What is this place?" Akira didn't pick up the machete, but just asked a new question.

"I don't know." Wei Ran pointed to the distance, "But there seems to be an island there, why? Do you want to monopolize that island?"

It's a pity that Akila, who was extremely vigilant at this time, didn't look in the direction of Wei Ran's finger, and the latter naturally had no chance to put his hand into the gas mask bag to resist.

"I don't want to kill you, and I don't want to conflict with you."

Akila said vigorously, "You guys, go to the other side of the island, we are on the side where we can see, as long as you don't come over, I won't shoot at you, but now, you are not allowed to move! Also! What you eat! Give me what you eat! Give me everything!"

"You are late"

Sterling pointed to his mouth while throwing the empty coconut shell into the cabin, swallowed the last bite of coconut meat and said, "I've eaten all of them."

"Feel sorry"

Evans also threw the empty coconut shell in his hand into the cabin, and with a pleasant smile, he said while twisting his messy beard, "I'm done eating too."

Akila's brows twitched. He looked at Hawkes who was holding an ax and was ready to swing over at any time, and then looked at Wei Ran who seemed to be looking at a dead person. After all, he sensibly did not pull the trigger.

After waiting for more than half an hour, Jiro stumbled back with a sprouted coconut in his arms, and said weakly in Japanese, "Uncle, everything is here, both lunch boxes are here! I, I have buried them separately, I Also, a coconut was found."

"Quick! Open it!"

Akira swallowed and said, "Use the machete! That machete is ours! Quick!"

Hearing this, Jiro glanced at the people who were threatened by Akira with a gun in panic, walked to the side of the traffic boat with his head down, picked up the machete and hacked, and finally opened the coconut shell.

The two shared the not too much coconut juice and the fist-sized coconut treasure. After leaving the transportation boat with Jiro's support, Akira waved the pistol he had been holding up, "Take your Things go first! Go to the other side of the island!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran and the others looked at each other, removed the sunshade made of umbrella cloth on the boat, and made a stretcher with oars and hammocks, put all their things into it, and Wei Ran and Huo Ran Max carried it to the small island in the distance.

"There's a secret on that life raft," whispered Captain Sterling.

"I know"

Captain Evans nodded, "Victor, Hawks, where is our thermos? And where are our weapons?"

"unclear"

Wei Ran shook his head, "When I woke up, I didn't see the thermos, nor did I see the weapon bag that was supposed to be tied to the mast."

"Could it be that bastard Akira who secretly threw them into the sea?"

Hawkes gritted his teeth and guessed, "By the way, he left a pistol for himself, we should have killed them in the first place!"

"I was worried about breaking the life raft at Haishan, but now the life raft is broken and we have already gone ashore."

Sterling said with a gloomy face, "We really need to find a chance to kill them, otherwise we will be in danger at any time!"

"Compared to these, guess why Akila didn't shoot just now?" Captain Evans also asked a question with a gloomy face.

"Keep us as food." Wei Ran gave a creepy answer.

Evans sighed, "I heard from the marines that those nuke demons really can eat people. So in order not to become food, we have to find opportunities to kill them. In addition, Victor, Hawks, what else do we have in store?"

"Binoculars, half a parachute and a bundle of paracord"

Wei Ran, who was walking behind the simple stretcher, glanced down and said, "There is also an ax, not much tobacco and useless dollars.

There is also a lunch box, two steel helmets and two water jugs and matching steel cups per person, and of course, Sterling's hammock and Little Chief's gas mask and gloves in the survival kit. "

"There are also fishing tackle bags and pocket knives"

Hawkes, who has long been accustomed to being called by the little chief, said, "The fishing tackle bag is inside my clothes, the large jackknife, the waterproof matches in the survival bag, the reflective signal mirror, the magnifying glass and the signal flare. It’s all in the tackle bag too, by the way, and my goggles.”

"I still have a compass and a watch here, but my watch can't move anymore." Sterling shook the watch and compass on his left and right hands and said, "Of course, there is also my sailor's whistle .”

"Give me my watch later, I don't need it."

Wei Ran took the initiative to say that the watch on his wrist was still taken from the corpse. As for the small PPK pistol in his bag, he chose to hide it, so as not to turn around and go back to the sailors who are walking wobbly. Both were clearly still staring at their pilot desperately.

"Thank you," Sterling said politely.

"My compass and watch still work"

Evans shook the two watches he wore side by side on his injured left wrist, then turned to Wei Ran and asked, "Victor, where are the medicines? Do we have any medicines left?"

"And the little half-pack of moose sunscreen and the last two sticks of morphine"

Wei Ran paused and continued, "No more, that's all. Since the wounds of the two of you have completely healed, even those bandages that have been reused many times have been lost."

"I hope we can kill those two dangerous pilots, and I hope we can survive on this island."

After Evans finished speaking, he also stopped beside the life raft, "But let's fulfill the moose's last wish first."

"I"

"Let's go"

Without waiting for Wei Ran to finish speaking, Captain Evans took two oars from the hammock, passed through the bulletproof vest over the moose corpse, and Deputy Captain Sterling personally carried the rotten and stinking moose, Even some bloated corpses continued to walk towards the small island in the distance.

At a distance of less than 50 meters, Akira also leaned on half of the oar, allowing Jiro to support him to follow.

When passing the life raft, Jiro vaguely pointed to the beach less than two meters away from the life raft.

"Dig it out, and we'll take it away." As Akila spoke, he tremblingly took out the small medicine bottle from his pocket, poured out two medicine pills and threw them into his mouth.

Seeing that Wei Ran and the others had walked out of the range of the pistol, Jiro also tremblingly tore off the sunshade on the life raft, and then took the helmet, water bottle, binoculars and even the machete on his shoulder that he had just carried all the way. The one-piece flight suit that the two of them had been sitting on as a cushion before was thrown away.

Immediately afterwards, it scraped away the wet sand under the life raft, dug out a canvas bag and threw it on the umbrella cloth, carefully tied it tightly with the umbrella rope, dragged it with difficulty, and followed Akila one step at a time. Walk forward step by step.

Just like what Wei Ran saw at the beginning, because the distance between them and the island may be shoulder-deep at most, but there is a two-kilometer-wide barrier of sea water. If they want to go to the island, they actually have to go around A large circle of nearly four kilometers will do.

Not only that, but not all of this winding beach is on the sea surface, and a considerable part of it is actually barely level with the sea surface, and there are reefs buried in the fine sand that may trip people up at any time .

Although the journey was far and difficult, it was not without benefits. At the very least, almost everyone, including the two pilots behind them, picked up at least two edible and drinkable coconuts during the stop-and-go journey.

In addition, the journey along the way also makes it clear to everyone that although the island is 600 meters long from north to south, even at its widest point, including the beach, it is probably only about 70 meters. Looking at the width of the tropical vegetation, I am afraid it is not even 50 meters.

Because of this, in order to distance themselves from Akila, who had a gun in his hand and had a ghost in his heart, Wei Ran and the others could only endure exhaustion and came to the southeast end of the island.

Correspondingly, Akira and his nephew Jiro also stayed at the northwest end of the island tacitly. In this way, there was a safe distance of 500 meters between the two parties.

Although it took a long way, there are many benefits. Among other things, at least the beach area here is large enough, and the sea water outside the beach is shallow enough.

The most important thing is that there are four or five coconut trees growing here, and even on the beach under the trees, there are at least twenty coconuts of different sizes, ranging in size from green to yellow!
They each ate a coconut, and Wei Ran, who had filled his stomach for the first time in so many days, couldn't help but burped.

Immediately afterwards, Hawks also burped, which seemed to be contagious, and Evans and Sterling also burped.

The four of them looked at each other, and their unshaven faces couldn't help showing the look of rejoicing for the rest of their life after the catastrophe.

"It just occurred to me that I still have a box of razors."

As Wei Ran spoke, he opened the mask bag that had been on his body all the time. After searching inside, he first took out the toad mirror wrapped in silk umbrella cloth and put it on his face, then took out another small umbrella cloth bag and unwrapped it. From it came out a toothbrush and a small metal case containing a razor.

Originally, there was a tube of toothpaste inside, but that tube of toothpaste was eaten by Wei Ran and others as food a few days ago.

"What else is in your bag?" Hawkes asked curiously.

"And goggles and visors and binoculars."

While speaking, Wei Ran took out another can that was also wrapped in an umbrella cloth, shook it, and stuffed it back into his bag while saying, "Of course, there is also precious shredded tobacco."

"Give us a pack!" Hawkes' eyes lit up immediately.

"Tobacco parties and shave events wait"

Captain Evans said, "Let's bury the moose first, and we need to hide some food in advance before Mr. Akira reacts."

"I'll be in charge of digging the grave." Wei Ran took the initiative to say, "How about you guys be in charge of collecting and burying the food?"

"Use me to help"

"No, they're unlikely to take the moose carcass, but they'll definitely take the coconuts."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he put the small bits and pieces he had just taken out into his bag, got up and carried a helmet and walked towards the rainforest behind the beach, "I will find a place high enough."

"Victor was right"

Before Sterling finished speaking, he picked up his helmet as a shovel, and while digging a hole on the beach, he said, "I dig a hole with the chief, Hawkes, you are responsible for collecting coconuts!"

"No problem! Leave it to me!" Hawkes said, already stumbling towards the coconut tree not far away.

In the dense forest more than ten meters away from the beach, Wei Ran took out his engineering shovel and found a relatively high place after some observation, and began to dig the grave.

Of course, they are not the only ones who are also digging pits and burying things. In the northwest corner of this long and narrow island, Akira and Jiro have already dug a half-meter-deep sand under a coconut tree with steel helmets and machetes. pit.

Trembling, he opened the first lunch box and took a last look at the golden statue inside. Akira breathed a sigh of relief, fastened the lid again, and put it into the bottom of the pit. The sand pushed in and filled the bunker.

Finally, they made an inconspicuous mark with a machete at the root of the coconut tree, and the two changed another tree and dug a hole at the root.

Under the gaze of the young pilot named Jiro, Akira carefully took off the layers of condoms wrapped around the lunch box, and gently opened the metal lid.

On the tray with the lid, there was a row of small glass medicine bottles. Picking up a medicine bottle and putting it in his pocket, Akira gently carried the tray away, revealing the things on the lower layer.

Contained here, in addition to two large rolls of dollars that were also wrapped in safety suits, there were also two finger-sized gold bars. On top of these gold bars, there were gold rings that were ordinary in style but full of materials.

In addition to these, in the remaining space of the lunch box, there is also a map wrapped in a waterproof cellophane bag, a compass in a safety suit, and two American-style compressed biscuits that I don’t know where to get.

The uncle and nephew looked at each other, and Akila tremblingly picked up a piece of compressed biscuit, tore open the package, and cut it into two halves of equal size with a machete covered with fine sand.

Throwing away the machete, Akira handed one of the pieces to Jiro, then picked up the other, and impatiently put it into his mouth and took a bite.

Before they could swallow the unpalatable compressed biscuits, the two pilots laughed uncontrollably while shedding tears.

After wolfing down the few compressed biscuits, Akira put the last piece of compressed biscuit into his pocket under Jiro's eager gaze, while taking out the cellophane bag Saved the map and the compass and said, "Jiro, I am responsible for burying these things and determining where we are now. You are responsible for finding anything edible on the beach, especially looking for those weapons. Where is it. Jiro? Are you listening to me? Jiro!"

Jiro, who had been chasing the compressed biscuit with his eyes, came back to his senses at Akira's call, subconsciously swallowed the saliva that still smelled like compressed biscuit, and walked towards the beach while leaning on the coconut tree. Willingly replied, "I, I'll go right away."

"return"

Akira called to stop Jiro, and Jiro's eyes lit up immediately, and he subconsciously looked at the other's jacket pocket containing compressed biscuits.

However, Akila just picked up the pistol at his feet and the canvas pocket that was originally used to hold the lunch box and handed it over, "Be careful, if you encounter those Americans, shoot immediately, but don't kill or injure them. In addition, You need to get the life raft back as soon as possible, and we'll see if we can fix it."

"I, I know."

Jiro took the canvas bag and the pistol in frustration, and left the woods step by step, looking for anything useful along the long sandy beach. At the same time, he couldn't help worrying secretly, whether his uncle wanted to take the opportunity to drive him away , to enjoy the rest of that delicious compressed biscuit on its own.

(End of this chapter)