"I really want to be a war photographer in the future, but I don't have the courage to face the battlefield where I could die at any time."
After Wei Ran waited for Nicholas to turn around, he looked at the other person's old eyes very seriously and said, this time he really didn't lie, he just concealed some insignificant things.
Nicholas slowly raised his head and glanced at Wei Ran, then lowered his head and lit a cigarette, "Young man, sitting opposite you is an old man who is about to celebrate his 90th birthday. I don't
So much energy and stamina have gone into cultivating you into a little KGB. However, if you are willing to do me a small favor, I can recommend a place where you can learn something."
"What's the favor?" Wei Ran asked cautiously. A retired old KGB wanted to ask him for help. Even if it was a "small favor", he couldn't help but treat it with caution.
"take it easy"
Nicholas pointed to Wei Ran's old camera hanging around his neck, "It's not a big deal. You just need to go to Inta to take a few photos and bring me some things back. Since you want to be a battlefield in the future,
Photographer, I believe this is not too difficult for you."
"Yinta?" Wei Ran looked confused, "Where is that place?"
"You always know Vorkuta, right?" Nicholas asked patiently.
"I know, of course I know."
The moment Wei Ran heard the name, he tensed up subconsciously. Anyone who had played a certain game would know what kind of place this place was, and as a graduate majoring in history, he was particularly familiar with this place name.
Vorkuta is located almost at the northernmost tip of the Ural Mountains, and even the Arctic Circle is about 150 kilometers south of it.
The reason why this place can be written into the history books is entirely because starting from the 1930s, the Soviet Union sent nearly two million workers here to build cities and mine coal.
Among this large number of workers, there are German prisoners of war from World War II, heavy criminals from the Soviet era, and even civilians in the German-Soviet war zone after the war. But no matter what their identities were before arriving there, their final outcome was
It's pretty much the same, basically they were left there forever by the cold or bullets.
"Inta is about two hundred kilometers south of Vorkuta, and is also located on the west side of the Ural Mountains." Nicholas said patiently, "As long as you help me take some photos in every corner of Inta,
Just bring me some things back by the way."
Wei Ran swallowed, "I...can I ask the reason?"
"That's where I used to work, and it was also where the Aleutian company commander was once imprisoned." Nikolai explained simply, and then he said no more, just waiting for Wei Ran to make a decision.
.
After a moment of silence, Wei Ran looked up at the old man across the desk and asked, "What should I bring back?"
Nicholas stubbed out his cigarette butts and said, "You don't have to be too curious about this. I'll let Jima go with you. When you get to Inta, he will help you find those things. Okay, young man, it's your turn.
A decision has been made.”
"Asking Ji Ma to follow me?" Wei Ran couldn't help but frown, that little gangster named Ji Ma didn't look very reliable.
"Don't underestimate Ji Ma"
Nicholas stood up and walked out and said, "If you are more diligent, you can learn from him how to be a qualified hunter first. In addition, in comparison, I am actually more willing to trust Jima than you, but he
His photography skills are really terrible, just like his aesthetic sense of his hairstyle."
"Do you have any other requests?" Wei Ran asked as he walked out step by step.
Nikolai, who was walking in front, thought for a while and said, "Just use Zoya's camera. Take as many pictures as possible. Just use black and white film."
"No problem, what else?" Wei Ran asked confidently. He had brought a lot of film with him this time, so helping to take a few photos was naturally not a big problem.
Nicholas turned back and glanced at Wei Ran contemptuously, and continued as he went downstairs, "Come back alive, don't throw your life away there, I don't want to help you tell your parents what is hidden in the gifts you prepared for them.
place."
Wei Ran grinned, and the confidence that had just risen suddenly turned into apprehension.
Returning to the classroom on the first floor, Nicholas slowly brewed a pot of coffee and never mentioned anything about Inta. It was not until Jima came back riding the old Harley that he left Wei Ran alone.
In the classroom, I took the former to the second floor.
More than half an hour later, Ji Ma ran downstairs in a hurry and shouted at the top of his voice, "Victor, it's time for us to leave!"
"Leaving now?" Wei Ran, who was bored and even regretful about waiting, asked in surprise.
"certainly"
While Ji Ma urged Wei Ran to follow him out of the two-story building, he took the initiative to introduce, "The next train to Vorkuta leaves at 10 pm, so we have less than four hours to prepare.
Anyway, let’s go!”
Looking back at Nicholas standing at the door, Wei Ran got into the van parked under the shade of a tree at Ji Ma's urging before he could say anything else.
Before he could sit firmly, the impatient Ji Ma had already started the car and stepped on the accelerator to the bottom. Then he rushed out of the yard savagely amidst the friction of the tires and returned to the small village outside the forest along the old cracked road.
"Ji Ma, why don't we take a plane there?" Wei Ran asked, picking up the back of Jima's seat.
"I'm afraid of heights"
After Jima gave an impeccable reason, he took the initiative to add, "Besides, there is no way to transport weapons by plane. In that damn place of Inta, if you don't have a gun in your hand, it's almost like delivering food to wolves and brown bears."
."
"You seem to be familiar with that place?"
"At least a quarter of the people in this small village migrated from the freezing Inta with the help of Principal Nikolai before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union."
"You also migrated from Yinta?" Wei Ran asked with a surprised look on his face.
"I'm not"
Jima smiled and said, "I was born in this village, but my parents moved here with the help of Principal Nikolai."
"No wonder you respect Mr. Nicholas so much"
Hearing this, Wei Ran muttered to himself, in the vast land of Russia, there are many people living near the Arctic Circle. It's not that they are reluctant to leave that big natural refrigerator, but they just lack the start-up capital to move and the source of income after moving. So
There's no way to leave.
And what Nicholas did was tantamount to a savior for the villagers who originally lived in Inta.
Without even having time to chat about Inta and Nikolai, Jima had already roughly stepped on the brakes in front of an old wooden house, then warmly greeted Wei Ran and followed him into the house.
The furnishings of this old-looking wooden house are extremely simple, and the few household appliances are also stained by time. Even looking at the shape, it is possible that he is older than Wei Ran.
Climbing up the creaky wooden stairs to the second floor, Jima took out a long, dusty plastic box from under the bed, opened it, and then took out a rifle with a scope from it.
The moment he saw this gun, Wei Ran's eyes shrank subconsciously. This is a rare mts-116m sniper rifle. Although its appearance is somewhat similar to a civilian shotgun, it is actually specially made for Russia.
Premium goods prepared by law enforcement agencies.
Looking at Ji Ma, who was wearing a mane of assorted hair and was concentrating on loading bullets into the magazine, and the bedroom that looked like a doghouse, he had more and more doubts in his heart. Apart from anything else, given the other party's financial conditions,
No matter how you look at it, you don't look like the owner is willing to spend money to buy such a fancy weapon to use as a hunting rifle.
I don’t know if he saw the confusion in Wei Ran’s eyes, but Ji Ma smiled and said while loading bullets into the magazine, “Victor, don’t look at me with that suspicious look, this gun is a Nikola
The principal gave me an 18th birthday gift, but I can't afford such high-end goods myself."
"Are you sure you want to take this gun to Inta?" Wei Ran picked up an empty magazine from the gun box and asked while helping to load bullets into it.
"The end of September is about to enter winter for Inta, and the wolves and brown bears there are the hungriest. So if you don't want part of your body to become food for them to survive the winter, you'd better bring more weapons.
."
Before he finished speaking, Ji Ma inserted the full magazine into the depression on the shock-absorbing sponge. He quickly stood up and opened the cabinet. He took out a bulging mountaineering bag and threw it to the former. He then walked downstairs with the plastic gun case in his arms.
.
"Where are we going next?" Wei Ran asked, carrying a heavy backpack and chasing the other person into the van.
"When you go to the city, you need to buy some clothes that are thick enough." Jima tugged at his messy hair, "Besides, I also need to get a haircut. This color is too conspicuous in the wild."
"You also know?" Wei Ran sneered secretly and brought the topic back to Inta, the destination of this trip.
While the two were chatting, the van arrived at the door of an inconspicuous outdoor goods store on the edge of the Kashgar District without any obstruction. Jima did not turn off the car at all. After pushing the door in, he said warmly to the shop owner, "My friend wants to
Go hunting with me in Inta and get him a suitable set of equipment!"
The bespectacled shopkeeper glanced at Wei Ran and asked Jima directly, "Do you need a shotgun?"
Ji Ma decisively refused, "No, just give him the cheapest TT33 pistol for self-defense."
"There's no need for a pistol, just give me a box of 9 mm pistol bullets." Wei Ran said quickly. He still had the pistol presented by Mr. Alexander in his notebook. There was really no need to buy another one that was not used.
Comfortable TT33 pistol.
The bespectacled shop owner ignored Wei Ran at all. It wasn't until Ji Ma nodded that he looked at Wei Ran carefully. Then he took out a bulging mountaineering bag and a set of extra thick winter clothes from the closely arranged shelves.
And a pair of high-waisted cotton boots were placed on the counter.
"A total of sixty-five thousand rubles," the bespectacled shopkeeper said immediately after Weiran tried on clothes and shoes.
Wei Ran frowned, the price was a bit outrageous, but looking at Ji Ma next to him, who looked like he was taking it for granted, he finally wisely paid for what the other party provided.
After delivering all the purchased items to the car, Ji Ma said with emotion, "You are the most generous customer I have ever seen. I thought you would bargain."
"Can I make a counter-offer?" Wei Ran looked at the other party blankly.
"Of course! But it's best not to bargain. Although the thing you just bought is a bit more expensive, at least the quality is guaranteed and you won't freeze to death in Inta."
"Do you go to Inta often?"
Facing Wei Ran's question, Ji Ma nodded happily, "My friends and I often take some boring rich people to Inta to hunt. Although we don't make much money, it is at least more comfortable than sitting in an office."
Is this a tour guide?
Wei Ran finally understood that the job he did at his aunt's travel agency was no different from the job he did at his aunt's travel agency. It was just that the attractions he visited and the things he experienced were different.
With this in common, the two young people of similar age became more and more speculative as they chatted. By the time they made all the preparations before departure and rushed to the train station, there was less than half the time before departure.
hours of time.
What shocked Wei Ran was that a certain gangster with a mohawk hair whom he had met once before actually worked at this train station. With his help, not only did the two of them skip the security check, they didn't even buy a ticket.
Then they boarded the high-end train carriage without any obstruction. Looking at the two of them as if they were visiting their own backyard, it was obvious that this was not the first time that this happened.
When Wei Ran hung up the phone to report the itinerary to Alexei, the train started to start, and Ji Ma, who had already shaved his head by himself, had already put all the food and drinks he had bought on the dining table.
superior.
They each had a glass of cold beer, and Wei Ran finally asked the question that had been on his mind since he set off, "Jima, what exactly does Mr. Nicholas want us to bring back from Inta?"
Jima shook his head when he heard this, "I don't know about that. Principal Nicholas only asked me to find a safe and bring back the contents of the safe, but he didn't say what was in it."
Wei Ran pondered for a moment and asked the second question he had always been curious about, "Does Mr. Nicholas have any other family members?"
"Don't ask Principal Nicholas this question."
Jima sighed, "I heard from my father that Mr. Nicholas's wife is from Inta, and they have two sons and a daughter."
"Then what?" Wei Ran asked.
"No more"
Jima spread his hands and said, "Even my father heard it from others. No one has ever seen Mr. Nicholas's wife and children. But every time he mentioned them, Mr. Nicholas would lock himself in the room and drink.
He was so drunk that once he would have died of alcohol poisoning if the people in our village hadn't discovered him in time."
"It seems that this old guy has hidden a lot of stories..."
Wei Ran sighed secretly, and at the same time he became more and more curious about what exactly Nicholas wanted the two of them to bring back from Inta.
