Deep in the snowy coniferous forest, the short day was once again replaced by the long night. The sleigh pulled by two reindeer cautiously and arduously crossed the mountain pass. The people on the car also saw a large frozen lake covered with snow.
Everyone put down their telescopes, and Markla ordered the reindeer to run slowly on the frozen lake.
"Markra, there seems to be something on the right front!" Wei Ran, who had been observing the surroundings with a telescope, shouted.
Hearing this, Markla immediately shook the reins and shouted at the reindeer to slow down. Karl and Conon, who were chatting on the sled, also reacted quickly and picked up their weapons.
As the distance got closer, the protrusions on the lake became more and more visible, and then they saw a small two-wheeled trailer leaning sideways.
"This is a trailer for a half-track self-propelled anti-aircraft gun!" Konon was the first to shout the correct answer.
“Be careful”
Markla reminded him, and shouted at the reindeer to stop at a distance. He waited for his son Karl to take over the reins, and then he carefully held the submachine gun. walked over. Behind him, Wei Ran and Konon also jumped out of the sleigh.
It wasn’t until they followed Markla’s footsteps to the side of the broken down trailer that they saw clearly that one of its tires had been disconnected from the axle, and the contents of the trailer had also been moved. It was empty, with only some empty gasoline cans lying quietly in the car.
Mark pulled off the square box flashlight hanging on his chest and turned it on. He carefully lay down on the thick snow, puffed up his cheeks and blew away the snow on the surface. When a complete footprint was revealed on the ground, he He squinted his eyes again and looked up at the falling snowflakes, then turned off the flashlight and said with certainty, "This car was abandoned about an hour or two ago. On this kind of road, a half-track can only run up to two times an hour." Thirty kilometers."
"So we are at least fifty or sixty kilometers away from them?" Konon asked with an ugly face.
“It shouldn’t be that far”
Markla took Weiran and Konon back to the sleigh, and waited until Karl shouted to the reindeer to start running again before saying, “Half of the Germans The tracks are not like our reindeer sleds. They can't go at all in many places, so the distance between us and them may not be that far."
Konon was not very happy when he heard this, "But even if it is. In this way, we don't know where they are going, so we can't take a shortcut to catch up with them."
Makra glanced at Wei Ran, who was sitting across from him thoughtfully, and asked tentatively, "Victor, what do you think?"
What can I think of?
Wei Ran secretly cursed, Markla was really testing himself by asking such a question, wanting to see if he could name the place Muonio. He could even guarantee that even if he said it, the other party would definitely take a further detour to avoid contact with the armored vehicle they had been tracking.
Seeing that Kenong was also looking at him, Wei Ran was not worried.He said nervously, "The safest way now is to follow their ruts."
Markela secretly breathed a sigh of relief and pretended to be helpless, "At the moment, the only way is to follow their tracks." That’s it, Carl, please speed up a little bit!”
“We can’t go any faster,” Carl said distressedly, “We have been running for a day, if we speed up, these two reindeer will be exhausted. "
Markla pondered for a moment and said, "Then we will chase for another hour, and then find a place to camp and rest."
Conon looked at Markla without hesitation. In the end, he gritted his teeth and said nothing more.
The reindeer who started running again pulled the sleigh across the ice slowly, following the ruts and entering the dense coniferous forest again. However, as they moved forward, everyone seemed to be confused. Ruowu could smell the smoke of burning firewood.
These slight anomalies immediately attracted their attention, including Carl, who was driving. Everyone held their weapons vigilantly.
During the long wait, the panting reindeer finally passed through the dense forest and came to a flat area surrounded by mountains. But far away, they saw the faint light of fire.
"Something happened to Muonio!" Markla picked up the submachine gun on his shoulder, and then returned the previously collected magazine to Conon.
As the reindeer ran, the smell of fireworks that drifted into their noses became stronger and stronger, and they gradually saw clearly a small village that had been turned into ruins and scorched earth.
In this small village, except for the church in the center which is still intact, all the other wooden houses have been burned down and collapsed. The snow around the house melted in the high temperature, and then gradually froze into a layer of turbid ice mixed with coke as the fire diminished.
In the silence of everyone, the sleigh slowly stopped under the sign at the entrance of the village, and their attention was attracted by what was on the sign.
On this sign, which is made up of just a wooden pole frozen in the soil and a wooden board, in addition to the words "Muonio", there are also rows of neatly nailed The Finnish Order of Merit. Under these medals, there is also a German sentence written in black charcoal: "This is a betrayal from a friend."
Seeing Konon, Wei Ran, and his son Karl looking at him, Markla sighed and said regretfully, "These should be the medals that the Germans received in Finland. Since they left the medal here, probably..."
Makra did not say what it was about in the end, but the three young people present already had their own answers.
In the unspeakable silence, Konon handed the flashlight to Wei Ran and motioned for him to help shine it, while he took out his camera and took a photo of the sign.
Everyone did not board the sleigh again, but let Karl lead the two panting reindeer, stepping on the icy ground step by step towards the only complete building in this small village - the The seat is not too bigof church.
Before they could reach the door of the church, the wooden door wrapped in animal skins slowly opened from the inside, and the four of them subconsciously raised the weapons in their hands. It wasn't until a priest who looked to be at least sixty or seventy years old walked out of the wooden door that they lowered their guns.
"Come in and warm yourself up." The old pastor did not ask about their identities, nor their purpose of coming or where they were going. He simply greeted them in, and then slowly turned around. , leaving only a shadow, gradually lengthening against the bright light in the church.
"Tie the reindeer up and feed them more beans."
After Markla finished speaking, he stretched out his white camouflage uniform, and then pulled out the magazine of his submachine gun. After removing the bullet from the gun, he led Wei Ran and Konon into the church.
This church is not big, and there are only four benches and a small table against the wall. But on that table were piled a lot of tin cans issued by the German army, as well as a few sausages, a basket of rye bread and a large piece of smoked braised pork.
And directly under the icon painting, there is an extremely clean fireplace. The fire burning inside is constantly jumping, providing warmth and barely providing the lighting needs of the small church. of light.
The old priest added a few pieces of firewood to the fireplace, then picked up the iron kettle placed beside the fire and slowly poured a cup of boiling water for each of Wei Ran and others. After everyone, including Carl, who came in last, took over the wooden cup that was not too big, he slowly walked to the table and picked up a few sausages and a box of cans, and then picked up two large pieces of bread and a large piece of smoked braised pork. Walked back.
While the food was being heated, Markla finally asked, "What happened here?"
The old pastor struggled to open the can and said casually, "Soon. Before, some retreating Germans were attacked by us nearby. Many of the wounded were killed, and many mules were also killed. They were very angry, so after killing two Finnish soldiers they captured. , and even set fire to this place.
But let’s just burn it. Anyway, all the villagers here except me had already fled. The German officers gave me a lot of food and drink before they left. ", he said it was the last gift from a friend, and we have been enemies since then." As if he thought of something funny, a smile appeared on the old priest's wrinkled face. Yi said, "A few months ago, he led soldiers and I helped repair the leaky roof of this church. I didn't expect that he would become an enemy so quickly. He was as childish as a child having a tantrum. I was angry with a good friend. Maybe one day they will become friends again.”
In the warm church, the old pastor was busy preparing food and drink for everyone while chatting. He tells everything that happened here and the dying old man's views on this inexplicable war.
I don’t know when, the water in the wooden cup in his hand has become warm enough to drink in one gulp, but Wei Ran and others sitting on the floor around the fireplace seemed to be frozen by the low temperature outside the church, lowering their heads and watching continuously The dancing flames patiently listened to the old pastor's soliloquy speech.
A long time later, bubbles continued to appear from the tin can placed next to the fire, and the two pieces of black bread had become charred in the bonfire.
At this moment, the old priest finally ended his speech, slowly picked up a Mauser bayonet from the fireplace, refused the help of Markla and his son, and cut the two pieces bit by bit. Cut the brown bread into quarters.
Then he brought four more wooden bowls, divided the meat, potato pieces and soup in the tin cans into four equal parts, and finally poured an equal amount of boiling water into each bowl, and put After entering half a sausage and a few pieces of thinly sliced smoked braised pork, he stood up tremblingly and said kindly, "Children, eat. When you are full, rest here for the night."
After a moment of silence, young Karl asked blankly, "Dad, are the Germans our friends or our enemies?"
"They used to be our friends, but now they are our enemies. "
Makra looked at the sign not far away from the window and murmured, "Ever since they nailed those medals there, since they burned this village, we have truly The enemy."