In the howling snowstorm, Sergei ordered his draft horse that had just drunk some hot water, pulled eight boxes of precious fish, and left the island in front of everyone.
"Everyone, please go back and have a rest, Yuri, you will stay on guard in the shack."
Father Seryosha issued an order, "Have a good rest and be energetic. As soon as the blizzard stops, the German plane will be here."
"Ula!" Vasily, the youngest, shouted, waving his little fist.
"Ula!" Everyone shouted, and they suppressed their worries about Sergey and returned to the shack together.
"How much fish do we have left?" Seryosha asked Vlada, who was about to go to the kitchen.
"There are still four boxes of fish, and there are still a lot of fish and internal organs." Vlada said, "Shall we give them to them?"
"Ivan, will you go after daybreak?"
Seryosha said to the old fisherman Ivan, "The militiamen on the other two islands must also be hungry. Send two boxes to each island."
"Do I need to teach them how to make fried canned fish?" Wei Ran asked, who was also not in a hurry to leave.
"No, no need."
Father Seryosha made a decision, "There are no reporters like you on those two islands, let alone nurses like Olga.
On those two islands, only the gunners are considered soldiers, and it would be too dangerous for the others to do such a thing, so we should do it."
"Alright"
Wei Ran nodded, "I will continue to look for canned bombs after the wind and snow stop."
"Let Ruslan take it... No, let Igor take you to find it. He knows where the can bombs are." Father Seryosha said, "Okay, let's all go and have a rest."
Returning to his own shack, it was already extremely warm inside due to the fireplace.
Throwing a few extra pieces of firewood into the fireplace, Wei Yan left a gap in the ventilation window, but he did not lie down in a hurry. Instead, he took out the film that Rollei had taken, and then opened the small suitcase and put the same contents inside.
All the film that had been taken was taken out.
He planned to give these things to Sergey to take to Kobona tomorrow. As for just now, he really couldn't bear to waste the precious time of the transporter and let him wait for him.
After putting all the films into sealed tubes and sealing them with candles and rags found in the box, Wei Ran took off his robe and laid it down on it, secretly looking forward to the blizzard lasting longer, but he
Paradoxically hoping it would stop as soon as possible.
No matter which option you choose, you can save a group of people, but it also means you may kill a group of people.
The contradiction in the multiple-choice question about war is equivalent to the trolley problem.
But in the question of war, it is not needed, and no time is given to any participant to think.
Everyone, including those alone tied to the rails, would choose the least harmful option among all options without hesitation.
Utilitarianism?
certainly!
Otherwise, how could there be a war?
In these meaningless thoughts, Wei Ran finally fell asleep with difficulty while tossing and turning.
He dreamed that he became a fish in a box, that he was transported to Leningrad on a horse-drawn sledge, a car, a fighting sled and even a dog sledge, which was also ravaged by a blizzard. He dreamed of hungry children in
I look happy to receive this gift.
He also dreamed about the animal breeder, the smart dog, the traffic attendants holding red lights, the children he jumped into the cold lake again and again but failed to save, and...
..those colorful hats.
Finally, he woke up with a cry of cold sweat on his head.
At this time, the shack illuminated by the firelight of the fireplace was still warm, and the ventilation window on the side of the door was not blocked by snow. But he himself, because he drank too much fish soup before going to bed, felt anxious.
Intention to urinate.
Putting on the robe that retained body heat, he opened the wooden door of the shack and walked out through the thick snow.
The sky was getting much brighter at this time, but although the wind was still the same, the snow was much lighter.
Across the cemetery, at the door of the shack that serves as the operating room in the distance, there is a red signal light that is constantly swaying in the wind. The operating room is also dimly lit.
Choosing a tree at random, Wei Ran lifted up his robe and poured water while looking at the sky above his head. According to his prediction, the snowstorm would probably end in a short time.
Just as he was shaking off the last drop of water, he also noticed that there seemed to be a light approaching them in the distance.
Sergey is back?
Wei Ran immediately collected the birds and ran into the shack, picked up the small pack of film he had prepared in advance and ran over.
Almost at the same time he ran out of the forest, the door to the medical room was pushed open, and immediately after, Yuri ran out of it.
"It's Sergei!" Yuri breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm really worried that he won't come back."
“Prepare hot soup quickly”
Wei Ran reminded him, and at the same time he opened the backpack he had just brought, took out the gun camera as quickly as possible, and aimed it at Sergey, who was running towards him.
However, when the person in the camera and the horse-drawn sledge got closer and closer, so close that he subconsciously pulled the trigger to take the first photo, he realized something was wrong!
"Something happened to Sergey!"
Wei Ran hurriedly put away his gun camera. He could see clearly just now that the person sitting on the horse-drawn sledge was almost a snowman!
"What did you just say?" Yuri opened the door of the medical room and shouted.
"Something seems to have happened to Sergei! Call Father Seryosha!"
As Wei Ran spoke, he whistled hard and ordered the horse to run a few steps faster towards him.
After a while, he grabbed the reins and stopped the sledge. Almost immediately, Father Seryosha and old Ivan came out one after another.
"Sergei? Can you hear me? Sergey?"
Wei Ran called the other person's name while trying to pull off the ice and snow accumulated on his body and face.
However, the ice and snow had frozen together with his face and the German goggles he was wearing.
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Trembling, I touched his neck with my hand. It was cold and there was no pulse at all.
I continued to touch my chest, and there was still a trace of warmth, but it came from my own heart.
"Get out of the way"
Wei Ran said hello and carefully picked up Sergey, but he...he still maintained the sitting position of driving the horse-drawn sledge, and he didn't even let go of the reins!
"Sergey died," Yuri said sadly.
"Let me try again"
As Wei Ran spoke, he took off the gloves on Sergey's hands, picked him up again, and carried him into the shack that served as the operating room.
But even though he was lying on the simple wooden bed that served as an operating table, Sergey still maintained his driving posture.
"Victor, Victor."
Seryosha stopped Wei Ran who was trying to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Seryosha, "He has been sacrificed. He is dead. He was frozen to death. Victor, let him go. Sergey is already dead."
Hearing this, Wei Ran did not intend to give up. He stubbornly took the hot towel that Yuri had prepared and applied it to Sergey's neck, and then started cardiopulmonary compression.
One minute, two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes, finally, he finally gave up rescuing under the pressure of Father Seryosha and Old Ivan.
"Take off his robe and send him to the cemetery."
Seryosha said, picking up the warmer that was still releasing heat next to the bed and handing it to Wei Ran, "Comrade reporter, we hope that everyone can get out alive and leave alive.
But this is war, and war kills people. Today it is Sergey, and tomorrow it may be me, it may be Yuri, or it may be Jonya.
People will die in war, and all we have to do is end this war before everyone dies."
"Yes...yes..."
Wei Ran took the heater and said, "But...how could he freeze to death?"
'We don't have time to grieve'
Jonya, who was standing at the door of the shack, said, "It will be dawn soon, and the German plane will be coming. Comrades, be prepared to die in battle, for the sake of Leningrad."
"For Leningrad! Ulla!" The few remaining militiamen inside and outside the shack shouted the same slogan in unison.
"Let me take a group photo for everyone."
Weiran requested, "Take a group photo with Sergei included before the German plane arrives."
"Then let's take a picture." Father Seryosha sighed.
A somewhat darkly humorous scene is that Sergey, who was literally frozen, still maintained, and could only maintain, the driving posture.
Because of this, after some discussion, everyone decided to let him sit on the horse-drawn sledge again, while the others gathered around the sledge.
"Click"
Wei Ran, holding a kerosene lamp in one hand, pressed the shutter button and took the last photo of the transporter Sergey.
"Let's take him to the cemetery."
While speaking, Seryosha struggled to carry Sergei on his shoulders, and said as he walked, "Vasily, next we need to select a new transporter."
"I see"
Vasily's face was tight and red from the cold, and he accepted this cruel job.
It was as simple as burying the last transporter Vanya. Everyone shoveled the snow at the next place next to him in the cemetery, letting Sergey lie down on his side, and then the birch branched not far away.
Vasily dug out large and small stones from under the tree and carefully covered Sergei's body.
After everything was done, everyone, including Wei Ran, lined up in a row, and Vasily stood on his little sleigh and read out the nursery rhyme again.
"A German came out of the thick fog. He pulled out a knife from his pocket. It's you who wants to kill or scratch him." When the nursery rhyme stopped, Vasily's fingers also fell on Uncle Seryosha.
"I...I counted wrongly," Vasily said in a panic.
"You counted correctly"
Seryosha had already walked out as he spoke, "It's me, I'm the new transporter, I will bring ammunition and the artillery shields we urgently need.
Children, the position here depends on you. Old Ivan, when you encounter something that you can’t make a decision on, it’s up to you to make the decision."
"But we can't live without your command," Jonia said. "Anyone can do it, but you can't leave."
"You are responsible for commanding the anti-aircraft artillery. Even I will have to accept your command if I become a gunner."
Seryosha said as he put on the Mazari robe left by Sergei, "Vlada will direct you in the work related to food, the rest is just chopping firewood and..."
Having said this, Father Seryosha paused for a moment and said, "Vlada, prepare the other four boxes of fish. I will send them to the other two islands later. In addition to their own work, the others must remember to cooperate with Vic."
More gay fishing, Igor.”
"arrive!"
Igor, whose hand was injured by an explosion a few days ago, responded quickly.
"I've given you an important task. Next, you follow Comrade Victor's command and assist him in finding can bombs."
"yes!"
Igor obeyed the order.
"That's it, let's not waste any more time."
Seryosha said, "Let's help each other and move down the supplies that Sergey brought back. Hurry up."
"Seryozha, I have some film and I hope you can help me send it to the department..."
"Just put those things in Vasily's mailbox first."
Seryosha gave a different opinion before Weiran finished speaking, and said very calmly, "The German bombers are coming soon, and I may not be able to reach Kobona alive."
"Okay... okay" Wei Ran nodded and agreed to the other party's arrangement.
Under the command of Father Seryosha, everyone unloaded 10 boxes of ammunition from the sledge. This time the sledge truck only had severely overloaded ammunition.
Without wasting too much time, Father Seryosha waited until all the four boxes of fish and meat they owned were loaded into the truck, and then immediately ordered the draft horse, which had only rested for a moment, to turn around and head towards the direction from which it came.
"Cheer up, everyone!"
Seeing that everyone was in a low mood, Jonja took the initiative to take over the command, "We have enough ammunition now, so we will definitely be able to shoot down more German bombers!"
"That's right!"
Yuri was the first to respond, saying that he likes Jonja, and this matter is not a secret at all on this island.
"The Germans will give us many opportunities to beat them today"
Jonya continued, "Remember, we can die here, but we are not allowed to let a bomber go to disturb the trafficmen and transporters on the highway!"
"Yes!" Everyone responded in unison.
"Children, while there is still time, come and have something to eat."
Vlada and Olga greeted, "How about a bowl of fish head soup each?"
This suggestion was once again cheered by everyone, and soon Vlada and her daughter Olga served each of the people in line a bowl of hot, soft fish head soup that was stewed with bones.
Taking this opportunity, Wei Ran also noticed that after a whole night of cooking, the internal organs in the pot had developed a thick layer of grease.
While the rice was being served, Vlada dipped a small piece of rag into the bright fish oil and carefully applied it to their hands and red cheeks.
After everyone had eaten the fish head soup, Vlada and Olga, the mother and daughter, dug out a pile of cannon shells and buried them in an enamel basin filled with snow, and put their own cannonball shells into each shell.
Got a thin hemp rope.
Then, Vlada used a spoon to scoop up spoonfuls of fish oil and poured it in.
"This can be used as an oil lamp," Olga proudly explained to Wei Ran who was watching on the side, "my mother invented it!"
"Poor people near Lake Ladoga used to do this"
Vlada said dotingly, "I used this fish oil lamp when I was as old as Vasily. It didn't smell very good when it burned, and it smoked a lot, but it helped us save a lot of kerosene."
While they were chatting about oil lamps and kerosene, Yuri also handed over the night watch job to his sister Sonia.
Upon seeing this, Wei Ran temporarily interrupted his chat with Vlada and his daughter, first called out to Sonia and Yuri, and then ran back to the shack as quickly as possible to take out the airdrop box with the cast iron stove fixed in it, and picked up the
The German army poured some kerosene into the flagon and filled the body stove which was about to go out.
After putting away the airdrop box and running back to the kitchen door, Wei Ran handed the furnace, which had restarted to release the temperature at full strength, to Sonia, who had to stand guard on the treetops all day.
"Thank you, comrade reporter."
Sonia stuffed the small bag containing the stove into her arms, took the telescope and whistle from her brother Yuri, and climbed up to the sentry tower in the treetops in the slightly weakened cold wind.
Sergey's death caused everyone to start preparations in full swing. The gun crew members headed by Zonya were busy using torches to roast the buffer system and various components of the artillery to prevent them from freezing at low temperatures.
Vlada was busy making aspic by mixing the fish offal that had been boiled to remove all the fat and the fish scale soup that had been simmered overnight.
Old Ivan took people into the woods to cut firewood, and secretly decided to help Wei Ran find more can bombs that he usually avoided.
Even Vasily was not idle. He also pulled up his little sleigh and picked up a small hammer to pound more stones.
"Victor, shall we look for can bombs?" Igor asked, "I know where they are. Even if they are buried in snow, I can find them."
"How do your hands feel?" Wei Ran asked.
"It doesn't hurt anymore." Igor told a lie that could be easily detected.
Wei Ran did not expose the other party, "Since it doesn't hurt anymore, come over and do me a favor."
As he spoke, he led the other party to the edge of the forked birch tree, then motioned for the other party to ride on his shoulders, and he slowly stood up.
"While Vasily is away, help me put these films into his mailbox." Wei Ran said, handing the small bag containing the sealed film tube to the other person.
"Then we go look for can bombs?"
Igor asked expectantly while opening the glass lid of the can with one hand, "It would be great if we could fry as many fish as yesterday."
"yes"
Wei Ran, who was carrying Igor, sighed and asked, "Are you from Leningrad too?"
"Of course" Igor replied proudly.
"Is there any family here?" Wei Ran asked hard-heartedly.
"My brother is on the front line"
Igor put the small bag containing the film in, closed the glass lid with difficulty, and then closed the metal lid of the ammunition box, "But I don't know if he is still alive. He is also the gunner in charge of the anti-aircraft artillery, and Jiao
Same as Nia."
"He will survive, and so will you."
Wei Ran said, squatting down little by little and putting Igor down.
"It doesn't matter if you don't survive," Igor said as he walked into the forest. "As long as I can drive away the Germans, I will be satisfied."
"I will drive them away, I promise." Wei Ran said firmly.
"I believe it too"
Igor waved to Wei Ran, "Let's go, I'll take you to find canned bombs. I know where they are, and there are a lot of them..."
"beep--!"
Before Igor could finish speaking, Sonia's whistle sounded from the direction of the sentry tower. Immediately afterwards, everyone also heard her shocked shouting in the cold wind, "North by west! Pay attention.
! West-north direction! Planes! There are more than a dozen aircraft! Attention! West-north direction! West-north direction!..."
As Sonia shouted hoarsely, the running team members led by Sonia immediately extinguished their torches and got into position, and the rest also immediately ran to the nearest bunker!
"Hide now!"
Wei Ran greeted Igor, but he himself ran to the simple operating room closest to the artillery position!
Almost at the same time, Olga also ran over, and Wei Ran and Wei Ran rushed into the shack that served as the operating room one after another, and in tacit agreement, one sealed the chimney, and the other covered the stove with a basin of snow prepared at the door.
fire.
Just as they were getting ready, the harsh roar of bombers came from the sky outside!
Under Wei Ran's nervous gaze, Sonia waited for the rope to slide down from the tree and quickly ran through the cemetery into the girls' dormitory.
Almost at the same time, the only anti-aircraft artillery on the island and the anti-aircraft weapons on the other two islands also opened fire one after another, sending rounds of artillery shells into the sky.
In response, several bombers also began to dive, strafe, and drop bombs. Several of them were shrouded in exploding shells, or emitted black smoke, or changed their flight attitude, and plunged into or
In the ice near or far.
But more bombers did not intend to tangle with them, and instead headed straight for the communication line they desperately guarded.