At the end of the snowy airport runway, only Wei Ran and her aunt Zhou Shujin were left in the warm tent.
In response to the latter's look, Wei Ran lowered the tent curtain and waited until Jima and others outside were gone. Then he sat back down opposite his aunt and picked up the half-eaten charcoal-grilled deer ribs.
"Tell me what you think," Zhou Shujin said softly in Chinese.
"What can I say?"
Wei Ran muttered, and finally answered truthfully in Chinese, "Although Ji Ma is a bit unreliable, he is definitely a good hunter, and he has deep feelings for Inta."
"What does his family do?" Zhou Shujin continued to ask while refilling a cup of hot tea.
"Just an ordinary farmer, but his teacher is very good, and he was a high official in the Soviet era." Wei Ran unreservedly recounted the migration history of Nikolai and Jima's village, only concealing the history of Nikolai and Jima.
Is a kgb identity.
"Is that the old Harley guy who lives next to the travel agency? The old man who often comes here to have a meal?" Zhou Shujin asked in surprise.
Wei Ran nodded, "That's him."
"In this case, this matter can be done." Zhou Shujin made a decisive decision, "But the cost price they gave is too low. You can tell at a glance that they have not done any big business, so this will not last long at all."
"You want to raise the price for them?" Wei Ran looked at his aunt confused, why are there still people rushing to raise the price?
“Of course the price will increase”
Zhou Shujin said confidently, "We must at least double the price of those prey, and also pay them some service fees. And even so, we still have a huge profit margin. Only in this way, once we take Inta
When this place gets hyped up, your classmate won't be jealous because we make too much money, and he won't be poached by other travel agencies that offer higher prices. This will be a good thing for both of us."
Wei Ran shook his head simply, "I don't understand this kind of thing, you can just talk to Jima directly."
Zhou Shujin rolled her eyes, "I won't participate in the hunting. You can follow them to see if there are any hidden dangers. Now I'm going to sleep for a while and wait until night to see if there are any aurora."
Speaking of this, Wei Ran, who was about to stand up and leave, sat back down and said, "Auntie, if you bring tourists here, what will happen to Akeem and Aunt Chris?"
"It won't affect you at all, okay? The customer groups are all different." Zhou Shujin waved her hand impatiently, "Get out of here quickly, I need to take a nap."
Carrying two ribs and leaving her aunt's tent, Ji Ma had been waiting for a long time by the campfire not far away like a fool.
"How's it going?" Ji Ma immediately trotted over and asked nervously, "What's Auntie's impression of us?"
Wei Ran would not reveal his aunt's attitude easily, so he simply said vaguely, "She has to think about it. How about we go hunting first during this time? I will also help you evaluate possible problems."
"No problem at all!"
Ji Ma nodded happily, and then shouted to his companions who were waiting not far away, "Misha, you take someone to stay to protect the camp. Alili, you take two people, and we go hunting!"
Hearing this, Alili took out the walkie-talkie from his pocket and shouted, and then two sleighs were pulled over by reindeer and stopped firmly beside the bonfire.
"Go and change into warmer clothes first." Jima pointed to another tent next to Zhou Shujin, "I've prepared everything for you."
"You should also change into this suit," Wei Ran teased with a smile.
"Of course I have to change it. I borrowed this from a friend." Ji Mahan smiled and told the truth.
After getting into his own tent, Wei Ran couldn't help but smile on his face. The tent was the same as his aunt's. Not only did it have a wood stove in the middle, but the tent itself was made of two layers of canvas, both inside and outside.
This tent is warm enough to withstand the extreme low temperatures.
On the camp bed not far from the wood stove, there was not only a set of cold-proof clothing, but also a folding table with a rabbit skin blanket at the head of the bed. There was also an SKS semi-automatic rifle and an iron box full of weapons.
Bullets. Even goggles and skis are ready.
This scene made Wei Ran couldn't help but think of the memory of sniping at the Soviet Red Army in the Finnish forest with Mika and old hunter Ino.
While recalling the two old friends in his memory, Wei Ran also had a sharp Mauser bayonet in his hand. In a few strokes, he cut the rabbit skin blanket on the table into long strips and wrapped it around it leisurely.
On the semi-automatic rifle, most of the exposed metal parts were wrapped and tied tightly with paracord cores.
With a click, the bullet in the magazine was pressed into the rifle. Wei Ran washed his hands and put on the cold-proof clothes and thick high-waisted boots prepared by Jima.
Finally, he put on his cotton hat and goggles, and when Wei Ran came out again, Ji Ma was already sitting on a sleigh and waving to him.
"I'll drive," Weiran said with a smile as he climbed onto the sleigh.
"Are you coming?" Ji Ma shook the reins in his hand, "Victor, don't be kidding me. The horns on the reindeer's head are used for courtship and dueling, not the steering wheel, and these two reins are not the accelerator and brake.
.”
"Why talk so much?"
Wei Ran threw the rifle on his shoulder and the skis in his hands to Ji Ma, then sat down on the sleigh and snatched the reins from the other man's hand. He shook it gently, threw it on the round buttocks of the two reindeer and said, "
There was a soft sound.
After receiving the signal, the two reindeer pulling the cart immediately lowered their heads and started running smoothly on the soft and thick snow.
Calling the reindeer, they wandered back and forth on the abandoned track and stopped next to the bonfire. Jima's face already showed a horrified expression as if he had seen Stalin resurrected. Even Misha and Misha who were watching the fun were watching.
Alili and the dozen or so members of the coal mine patrol all looked surprised.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Victor, where did you learn this?" Ji Ma asked in disbelief, "Don't tell me that you also learned this when you were a child."
"Almost," Wei Ran said vaguely, "Can we set off now?"
"Yes, of course!"
Jima sat on the sled obediently, wrapping himself in a thick wolfskin blanket so that only the ski goggles on his face were exposed, "Victor, although you can drive the sled, it's best to follow Alili."
, I don’t want to be thrown out by you and nailed to a tree.”
"I will pull you out when the time comes." Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he shook the reins again and shouted at the reindeer to catch up with Alili's sleigh.
In the warm tent, Zhou Shujin held open the ventilation window and watched curiously as Wei Ran, who was sitting on the sled, was getting further and further away. Then she safely pulled up the soft rabbit skin blanket to cover herself and closed her eyes.
In the coniferous forest where goose feathers were constantly falling, three sleighs, led by Alili, were speeding along the long-abandoned frozen soil road in the forest, like Santa Claus rushing to deliver gifts.
"Jima, where are we going now?" Wei Ran turned around and asked.
"First I will take you to a place to hunt, and then I will take you to a hot spring." Jima shouted in response.
"Take a hot spring? There is a hot spring here?" Wei Ran looked at Jima sitting behind him in surprise.
"Look ahead! You bastard, be careful of hitting the tree!" Jima said, kicking Wei Ran on the butt.
"You hit a tree, do you think those two reindeer are as stupid as you?" Wei Ran shook the reins, "Tell me what's going on with that hot spring?"
"There was an iron mine there a long time ago"
Jima came closer and explained, "But it was abandoned before the disintegration of the Soviet Union, but the mining workers in the Soviet era left behind a small hot spring. It is also where I told you that you can ski.
.”
"There are hot springs? Can you also ski?" Wei Ran asked in surprise, "Then why not develop it?"
"It's more than a hundred kilometers away from Inta, and it's also more than a hundred kilometers away from Vorkuta further north." Jima said helplessly, "Who would be willing to come to such a remote place just to soak in hot springs and ski? What's more?
Without those two planes, it would have taken at least two days to get here from Inta or Vorkuta, and it could only be done by sleighs pulled by reindeer or sleigh motorcycles."
Wei Ran sighed secretly when he heard this. It is true that no one would come to Inta just to soak in hot springs and ski. Even if they came, absolutely no one would be willing to brave the wind and snow for two days just to go to such a cold place.
Hot springs in the wilderness. Because whether it is hot springs or skiing, there are countless sanatoriums in the relatively warmer south of Russia that can provide them.
As the two chatted, the reindeer pulling the sleigh ran for more than half an hour, and finally a large open-pit mine covered with snow appeared at the end of the road.
When Wei Ran shouted to the reindeer to stop, Ji Ma took out a telescope from his arms and handed it over and actively explained, "This is it. The hot spring is in the mineral processing workshop at the innermost part of the mineral deposit."
“This place is big enough”
Wei Ran, who was holding the telescope, couldn't help but let out a surprised sigh. The area of this open-pit mine surrounded by coniferous forests was at least six or seven square kilometers. Except for a snow-covered road that spiraled downwards, it was larger than
On the surface of the mineral deposit, which is dozens of meters lower than the ground, there are still various Soviet-era engineering equipment scattered on the surface. The most eye-catching one is a locomotive-shaped machine, with a large engine hanging dozens of meters high at one end.
Weird machinery with buckets.
As if he knew what Wei Ran wanted to ask, Alili, who was responsible for leading the way, came over with his skis in his arms and took the initiative to explain, "That is a stepping excavator produced in the 1970s. It is considered a landmark here."
"Which airport is the iron ore dug here transported out?" Wei Ran just asked, and everyone who came with him couldn't help laughing in good faith.
"Victor, this is just an iron ore mine, not a gold mine. How can it be transported by plane?"
After Jima finished speaking, he pointed in the direction he came from, "Did you notice the fork in the road you just passed? That road is connected to the tributary of the Usa River. You can drive cars on the ice in winter and boats in summer.
, the minerals here are transported out through that river."
"So that's it?" Wei Yan put down the telescope and asked, "Can that road still be taken now?"
“I can’t leave long ago”
It was Alili who answered this question, and he said regretfully, "That road passes through two bridges and a tunnel several hundred meters long, but they were all destroyed in an earthquake a few years ago.
.”
"Don't worry about that. If you are interested, I can take you to see it when I go back."
Ji Ma said as he handed the semi-automatic rifle on the sled to Wei Ran, "Now is the time for hunting. There are a lot of prey in this mine."
Wei Ran couldn't think of hunting at this time, so he took the rifle and put it on his shoulder, "How about we go down and take a look first?"
"No problem at all!"
Ji Ma raised his chin proudly towards Alili beside him, "I'm right, they must be interested in hot springs."
"Going down with the skis or the sleigh?" Alili asked, but he had already started to tie the skis to his feet.
The kind of skis Ali used is not the common style that needs matching ski boots today, but the ancient style wrapped in deerskin and tied directly to the shoes with leather ropes. And this kind of skis is exactly what Weiran is known for.
The same model used in the Battle of Suo Musalmi.
"And you?"
Jima asked while taking out the skis from the sleigh, "You may not be used to this kind of board, but I have prepared ski boots for you."
"Who are you looking down on?"
Wei Ran returned the telescope to Ji Ma, took the skis that the other man had just picked up, and tied them to his boots skillfully.
"Don't be brave, this damn place is at least a hundred kilometers away from the nearest hospital." Jima reminded kindly.
"So you have to be careful yourself."
While Wei Ran was talking, he had already tied up the board. After trying it on to make sure there was no problem, he put on his snow goggles, took the ski poles handed over by Ji Ma and stretched them gently, circling along the ten-meter-wide path.
The road rushed out.
"I'll leave the sleigh to you." Before Alili could finish his words, he had already disappeared after chasing Wei Ran.
Jima shook his head helplessly, waved to the two coal mine patrol members who followed him, and shouted to the reindeer to pull the sled cart towards the snow-covered mine deposits.
The spacious road that spirals down for four to five kilometers is extremely flat after being covered with thick snow. It is quite enjoyable for Weiran to slide down with a lot of shouts. Although this place is not as good as professional ski resorts with various
Facilities are available, but such a large, long, and flat ski trail is not easy to come across. This alone is already very attractive to people like him who like skiing.
With the acceleration of this semi-natural snow road and the acceleration of several ore piles piled into hills in the middle, everyone arrived at the door of the three-story mineral processing workshop in just a few minutes.
Stopping steadily at the door of this huge, lonely workshop, Alili gave Wei Ran a thumbs up, then took off his skis, took out a key from his pocket, and opened the huge iron door.
Amidst a burst of harsh noise, the iron door that was large enough for a locomotive to drive in was slowly pushed open to a two-meter-wide gap. Wei Ran, who was waiting outside the door, also immediately noticed the sight of someone coming from the corner.
