"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
As the ax in Wei Ran's hand struck the thick tree trunk, the snow accumulated on the tree crown also rustled down, covering it. He and Jima had just set up the canvas tent around the tree trunk.
"The next step is to make a fire and make a sleigh and snowshoes. Otherwise, we won't be able to go very far dragging so many things." Jima took the ax handed by Wei Ran as he spoke. "How about you light the fire?"
"No problem"
Wei Ran agreed happily, and when Ji Ma confidently walked out of the tent with an ax and started chopping down trees, he immediately He took out the kerosene gas lamp from the metal book and lit the bonfire in the center of the tent with the kerosene lighter tied to it. As the flames steamed, the tent, which was not that big, gradually became warmer.
Taking the supplies again, Wei Ran emptied one of the glass cans filled with sugar, filled it with snow, and placed it next to the campfire to melt slowly, and put all the poured out sugar into it. In the compartment of the backpack.
After finishing the work in the tent, Wei Ran was not idle. He immediately got out and helped Jima chop down a pine tree as thick as his thigh, cut it into one-meter sections and moved them back. .
Ji Ma sat on the thickest tree trunk and took a breath. He took a can filled with hot water and took a sip of the sweet sugar water. Then he said with confidence, "Now we want to We can split the wood under our butt and make it into a plank. As long as we have the plank, we can make a sled, which will make it much more convenient for us."
"But we only have one ax and one engineer shovel. ." Wei Ran, who was also half-dead from exhaustion, had to remind him.
“An ax is enough.” Ji Ma confidently returned the can to Wei Ran, “Next, I’ll let you see my carpentry skills.”
“ Do you know how to do this?"
"In Inta, where supplies are scarce, you have to do many things by yourself."
Jima explained briefly, and then picked it up. With the axe, he first split a wrist-thick piece of wood into a wooden wedge that was thicker at one end and thinner at the other. Then he changed the target and started swinging the ax at the thickest tree trunk.
Under Wei Ran's observation, Ji Ma first used an ax to split a gap at one end of the wood, and then smashed several wooden wedges in.
After these wooden wedges opened the gap, Jima smashed the remaining wooden wedges into the end of the gap, repeating this cycle for half an hour. He chopped down a plank about one meter long.
When the whole log turned into four wooden boards of different thicknesses with the cooperation of the two, Ji Ma picked up the engineer shovel and quickly cleaned the burrs on it.
This is not over yet. Ji Ma took advantage of Wei Ran to use an ax to help clean several other wooden boards, directly covered the engineer shovel on the bonfire and burned it red, and then removed one end of the first processed wooden board. It's extremely smooth.
After the demonstration, Ji Ma handed over the work at hand to Wei Ran, andHe cut open the spare umbrella of the parachute and quickly made two pairs of snowshoes using the parachute rope and the torn umbrella canopy.
"Your skills are good," Wei Ran said in admiration.
“This is nothing!”
The energetic Jima said proudly, “If you give me a saw, it’s nothing to build a wooden house with a fireplace here. It's such a big problem."
"What to do next?" Wei Ran was too lazy to continue and handed over the remaining three processed boards.
"It's very simple. Use parachute cloth to wrap the flattened part, and when it's done, just put them back together."
Jima said as he spoke On one side, he whittled a few wooden nails as thick as chopsticks with an axe. Then he took a piece of parachute cloth and wrapped the wooden board, and nailed it firmly on the other side with wooden nails. This job was also not difficult. With the cooperation of the two of them, it didn't take long to complete all the work.
Finally, the four wooden boards were fixed side by side with paracords and wrist-thick tree trunks. Ji Ma finally nodded with satisfaction, "That's enough. With this sled here, we just need to pull it It's okay to leave. Now we just hope that the correction camp is not too far away from us."
Wei Ran glanced at the time on his watch and said, "Let's find a way to determine our current location after dawn. "
Jima asked, "Do you remember what's on the map?"
Wei Ran closed his eyes and thought for a while, reaching out from the edge of the bonfire. He picked up a branch with flames and blew it out, and drew a rough map directly on the wooden board. Seeing this, Ji Ma simply picked up a wooden stick and blew out the flames, and added details such as mountains or lakes on the map drawn by Wei Ran.
After the two of them had no details to add to this rough map, Wei Ran pointed to the two intersecting winding lines he had just drawn and said, "The thick one is the Ob River." , the thin one is the Wojkal River. We only need to find the Wojkal River, and then we can find the correction camp along this river. The question now is, is this river to our north or to ours? To the south."
Jima nodded and added, "This river has a large number of lakes at both ends near the Ural Mountains. If nothing else, our current location should be here. Near the lakes. Victor, how about we go west to the Ural Mountains? From here, we can vaguely see the mountains in such a dark sky, which means that they are not too far away from us, as long as we are in the Ural Mountains. If you find a relatively high place at your feet, you might be able to see where we are now."
"Climbing a mountain?"
Wei Ran frowned, this is not the case. What an easy job, but apart from this choice, there seems to be no better way. After hesitating for a moment, he could only nod and agree to Ji Ma's suggestion.
After discussing the general plan, the two of them drank a glass of energy again.of sugar water, curled up on the pine needles on both sides of the campfire and fell asleep one after another.
When it was getting bright outside the tent, the two of them packed up a bunch of supplies, wrapped them in a canvas tent and fixed them on a simple sled. Then they each tied a paracord around their waists and put on their snowboards. The shoes pulled the loaded sleigh towards the mountains at the other end of the coniferous forest.
While the two of them were heading towards their destination in the wind and snow, Culp, who was far away in the Hongqi Forest Farm, was meticulously staring at the moving spots of light on the computer screen, while Teacher Dalia and Alili At the same time, he took a plane to leave the military base and rushed to the hot spring camp on the other side of the Ural Mountains. After all, in this freezing cold weather, what could be more comfortable than taking a dip in a hot hot spring?
At the door of the Time Studio in Volgograd, the young man from Germany, Ralph, could only return to the hotel not far away after waiting again to no avail.
This young man was not the only one who did not wait for Weiran. There was also a media that jumped out of nowhere. However, their target was not the two photos donated by Weiran, but the latest one. What exactly is that beautiful box that serves as the backdrop for both interviews.
Two days passed by in the blink of an eye. After going through all kinds of hardships, Wei Ran and Ji Ma finally walked out of the forest and climbed up to a height of only one or two hundred meters, covered with a large number of trees. Snow covered low mountains.
Under a pine tree on the top of the mountain, Wei Ran, whose eyes were painted black with charcoal ash, squinted his eyes, looked up at Ji Ma who had climbed to the top of the tree crown, and shouted at the top of his voice, "Can you see it?"
"I can barely see it!"
On the top of the tree canopy, the quarter horse is riding on a fork as thick as an arm, stretching its neck and trying its best to Looking into the distance, he kept replying, "The direction I can see, there is a long open area on our left. If nothing else, there should be a river there, but are we specifically looking for it?" I don’t know about the Wojkal River.”
“Just take it as it is!” Wei Ran, standing under the tree, shouted at the top of his lungs, “Get down quickly after remembering the location and direction. It’s not dark yet, so let’s rush there as soon as possible.”
“Wait!” Jima’s voice was slightly lower, “There seem to be some reindeer at the foot of the mountain!”
“ Don't worry about the reindeer, we have no shortage of food now."
Wei Ran reminded helplessly that Ji Ma is indeed a hunter. Although they haven't caught any big prey in the past two days, there are still many people behind them. There were already several skinned rabbits on the sled being pulled. Even the rabbit skins were carefully fixed under the sled by Ji Ma to reduce friction.
"What kind of food are rabbits?"
Ji Ma quickly got down from the tree, "They don't even have fat on their bodies. In this damn weather, if we can't If you add enough fat, you won't last long. Don't waste time. Let's get a reindeer to improve our dinner."
"You are wasting your time now" Wei Ran said helplessly.Shaking his head, he had no choice but to follow Jima and run down the mountain through the snow.
As the distance between him and the reindeer herd Ji Ma discovered became closer and closer, the former’s movements became gentler and gentler. Eventually even the sled dragging the operation was tied to a tree.
Gently pulling down the safety, Ji Ma pointed the muzzle of the gun at the nearest reindeer, and took advantage of the reindeer's front legs to rest on the tree trunk and stretched its neck to eat pine needles. the trigger.
The moment the crisp gunfire rang out, a conspicuous cloud of blood mist erupted from the reindeer's neck. At the same time as it fell down, the other reindeer also moved at the sound of the wind and disappeared in an instant.
"Dinner is here! Get ready to pitch the tent!"
Jima jumped up amidst the cheers and rushed down the mountainside while running and bumping, while the people beside him Wei Ran could only untie the simple sleigh behind him and chase after him while slithering.
"Good luck!" Ji Ma shouted happily as he was far away from Wei Ran, "Bring the ax over here and help! Victor, would you like a sip of deer blood?"
"Forget it"
Wei Ran refused again and again without even thinking. He didn't want to have half of his butt freeze off in this icy and snowy place.
“Following the Ob River to the north is the territory of the Nenets. They all rely on drinking fresh deer blood to supplement their salt and vitamins.” Jima said while using an ax to draw He opened the reindeer's chest, reached in, pulled out the huge heart, brought it to his mouth and took a deep breath, "Really don't want to try it?"
"Remember to stay away from me when you are thin. "Wei Ran once again flatly refused.
"Don't worry, Stalin lives in my stomach, nothing can knock him down."
While Jima spoke, he hit his steaming heart hard He took a bite and made a crunching sound. After swallowing the completely unnecessary meat, he took off the deer skin before the carcass cooled down, and then cut off a few pieces of grease-filled ribs and ribs. With four legs, Wei Ran set up a tent and raised a bonfire not far away.
Around the constantly jumping bonfire, pieces of venison full of oil were threaded through pine sticks and slowly roasted to produce sizzling oil. Before the oil could fall to the ground, it was burned by Ji Ma. He Weiran carefully caught it with a can bottle.
After resting at the foot of the mountain for a night, the two of them smeared a layer of reindeer grease on their lips and faces early the next morning. Then they quickly gathered the supplies and hurried there. destination.
After walking all day without stopping, a frozen river suddenly appeared in the dense coniferous forest. The two of them discussed the Ural Mountains due west and the map in their memory. After that, we finally decided to continue heading westward overnight along the frozen river covered with a thick layer of snow.
"Victor, what if we go in the wrong direction?"
In the night with the green aurora, Ji Ma, who was walking in front with a gun, was quite worried. He asked anxiously, "Or is this thing under our feetIs the river not the Vojkal River at all? "
"It is unlikely that you have found the wrong river."
Wei Ran, who was pulling the sled behind, said breathlessly, "The Senia River in the south is about a distance from that The straight-line distance between the two correctional camps is more than 100 kilometers. Even if Teacher Dalia is a lunatic, she will never throw us that far away. As for the river further north on the map, it is already over a hundred kilometers north of the Arctic Circle. Only tundra can be seen on both sides of the river, and there is no way there could be such a large coniferous forest. "
Wei Ran stopped to take a breath and continued, "There is also a simpler way to verify. As long as we continue to walk along the river, if the river branches to the true north, The fork proved that not only were we not going in the wrong direction, but we were also not looking for the wrong river. "
Jima nodded secretly when he heard the words, and waited until Wei Ran had rested enough before he continued to move forward along the river.
As the two of them worked day and night, On the way, at nine o'clock that night, the river under their feet indeed forked!
"It seems that we really did not go wrong"
Until this time, the person responsible for carrying the boat split. Wei Ran, who was exploring the road with a gun, was really relieved, "Ji Ma, if nothing unexpected happens, we only need to continue walking northwest along the river for about 8 kilometers, and we will find the correction camp near the intersection of the three rivers. So do we move on, or wait until daybreak? ”
“Follow...keep going! "
Ji Ma, who was responsible for dragging the sled, said out of breath, "After walking the last bit of the road, we will camp directly at the correction camp and wait to bomb it early tomorrow morning. "
"Change it again? "Wei Ran handed the rifle to the other party.
"No... no need." Jima shook his head feebly, and then pushed the zipper on his chest down, "Let's go, keep walking. Bar. ”
Seeing this, Wei Ran stopped insisting, reopened the insurance, and continued to move towards the destination along the river on the left.
When the time came to midnight At around 1:30, Wei Ran and Ji Ma finally saw the intersection of the three rivers, and at the same time they also saw a particularly abrupt sentry tower on the river bank. They looked at each other and immediately worked together to drag the sleigh towards it.
With the cover of the coniferous forest, the two of them carefully touched the bottom of the sentry tower. This building is more like a lighthouse or a lighthouse than a sentry tower. It is more appropriate to say a turret.
The pure stone concrete building has a base diameter of nearly eight meters and becomes thinner as it goes up. At the top of the three-story building, the entire outline becomes the same as the base. About the same size.
The two circled the base twice before finding the entrance and exit covered by snow. Compared to the building itself, the entrance was pitifully small. When it came out, the height was not even 1.5 meters, and the width was only 1 meter.
As the rusty iron gate was used by Ji Ma.The muzzle of the gun was pried open with difficulty, but the first thing the two saw was a frozen corpse half sitting on the spiral staircase!
The corpse was wearing an old-fashioned down jacket and was holding an SKS semi-automatic rifle in his arms. But what was particularly horrifying was that the muzzle of the gun was pressed into the chin of the corpse, and he The boot straps on the feet are strapped together through the trigger guard.
"It's suicide," Ji Ma said with certainty, "You can tell by looking at his clothes, he should be a hunter."
"Is there a residential area nearby?" Wei Ran frowned. asked.
"How could I know?" Ji Ma simply shook his head, turned out a headlamp he carried with him, installed the battery and turned it on to the maximum, then carefully walked around the body and climbed up the spiral staircase. Go up.
Behind him, Wei Ran closed the iron door and jammed him inside with a sleigh. Then, when Jima wasn't paying attention, he took out the Mauser bayonet in the metal book and carefully Cut open the body's carry, and then take out the rifle.
As he gently pulled the bolt, Wei Ran discovered that the magazine of the rifle was empty and there was no bullet at all.
Reluctantly, he rummaged through the clothes pockets of the corpse. In addition to a few empty bullet casings, there was also a hunting knife often seen on Inta hunters and a few photos. Russian ruble.
Putting these things back next to the corpse, Wei Ran followed Ji Ma’s footprints to the second floor, and then saw pieces of wolf skins, deer skins, etc. hanging on the roof. Fox skin or even a huge bear skin!
In the corner of the wall, there is a simple stove made of stones. There are still some ashes in the stove, and on top of the stove is a small stainless steel pot.
Ji Ma carefully opened the lid of the stainless steel pot, took out a small book and flipped through it, then threw it to Wei Ran and said, "The unlucky guy downstairs is called Paulia. He lives in A hunter in a small town called Shureshkare on the Ob River 80 kilometers away. Of course, based on these harvests, perhaps we should call him a poacher more accurately."
"How did you die?" Wei Ran asked as he opened the palm-sized notebook.
"According to the suicide note he left behind, he encountered a snowstorm when he came here to poach. His reindeer ran away pulling the sled, and this ghost place was surrounded by wolves again. In After running out of bullets and all the fuel in the sentry tower, he suffered from severe diarrhea and chose to commit suicide before he was about to freeze to death."
Following Ji Ma's explanation, Wei Ran also died. He turned the book full of hunting harvests in his hand to the last page with words, and saw roughly the same content as what Jima had recited, but what surprised him was that the time when this suicide note was written was actually 2003. Years, in other words, this unfortunate ghost has been lying here for more than ten years without being discovered.
It must be thanks to the low temperature in this damn place and the iron door blocked from the inside. Otherwise, it is estimated that thisA poacher has already filled the belly of the wild wolf.
"Victor, how about resting here for a night?"
Jima said as he walked down, "I will go outside to get some fuel. This sentry tower is enough." Gao, after daybreak, maybe we can see the correctional camp we are looking for."
"Be careful of being surrounded by wolves." Wei Ran threw the notebook on the window sill, "I'll go to the roof to help. Just keep an eye on it."
"By the way, you can clean the stainless steel pot so that we can have hot soup at night."
As Jima spoke, it was already. Holding an ax in one hand and pulling the empty sleigh with the other, he exited the sentry tower.
Wei Ran, carrying a small stainless steel pot, passed through a wooden door covered with iron at the end of the spiral staircase and reached the top of the building. What surprised him was that on the top floor of the guard tower, in addition to a high-power searchlight produced in the Soviet era, there were also three rusty Deshka heavy machine guns set up in different directions!
But it is a pity that the key parts of these three heavy machine guns have been removed at some point, and even the shooting holes facing the muzzles have been sealed tightly with cement.
Having found nothing, Wei Ran took out the telescope from the metal book and looked around. Unfortunately, except for the coniferous forest covered with white snow and the river winding to the end of the field of vision, he could not find any trace of the correction camp at all. .
"Are you looking in the wrong place? You shouldn't be..." Wei Ran muttered to himself and pointed the telescope at the headlamp Ji Ma wore on his forehead.
After staring at each other for a while and seeing that there was nothing, Wei Ran put away the telescope, reached out and raised a handful of white snow and carefully washed the small stainless steel bag he had been carrying in his other hand. pot.
When Ji Ma used a sleigh to pull a few arm-thick pine trees back to the sentry tower, far away, Wei Ran heard the former shouting excitedly, "Victor , I just found a mine cart in the forest! It seems that we will find the correctional camp soon!”
“Anything else?” Wei is still on the roof. While Ran bent down to ask questions, he also threw down the small stainless steel pot in his hand that had just been wiped clean with snow, "Put a pot of snow on the way."
"There are also telephone poles, but they are not big. Some of them have fallen."
Ji Ma bent down to pick up the small stainless steel pot and wiped away the rising snow, and continued to shout hurriedly, "After daybreak, we will walk along those telephone poles into the forest. , I guess we’ll find that building soon!”