In the night sky, the gorgeous aurora surges like unfettered clouds, bringing a magnificent landscape that will never be repeated to this land that has entered winter early.
On the frozen Tunguska River under the aurora, four six-wheel all-terrain trucks with square heads and square heads were running towards Yukta under the leadership of Dmitry.
I have to admit that this kind of off-road vehicle using low-pressure tires is really fun to drive. Not only the bumps on the ground are effectively buffered, but also the visibility is good, and the excitement caused by the occasional tire crushing the ice causes the body to tilt.
The feeling made the people in the car exclaim again and again.
After such a near-miss all night rush, when Suisui finally yawned and handed the steering wheel to Wei Ran, outside the left window, he could just see the river mouth next to Yeika and the ice-covered
Car lights dance on the river.
"Dmitri, what is there from this tributary to the north?" Wei Ran asked, holding the walkie-talkie, "What are those vehicles transporting?"
"Most of the trucks going north carry daily necessities."
On the radio channel, Dmitri explained familiarly, "There are some nomadic people here. In winter, they drive their reindeer to the villages in the gathering areas to spend the winter. Most of those nomadic gathering areas are right where the tributary points.
One or two hundred kilometers north."
"Where are those cars coming from the south?" Jima asked curiously on the radio channel.
"Fur traders, logs, or some smuggled minerals."
Dmitri thought for a while and continued, "There are also mammoth tusks fished out of the water in the summer, and even gold collected secretly. As long as you can stop their car, you can always find something you expected inside.
Something outside."
"Don't the police care?" one of the Katenka sisters asked a question with a bit of innocence and childishness.
"It doesn't matter, of course it does."
Dmitri said seriously, "All cars that have not paid enough protection fees can only drive under the ice."
Just say Shen He!
Wei Ran muttered, but he was not surprised at all. This damn place was different from Inta. After all, it was on the west side of the Ural Mountains, but it was located directly north of Lake Baikal.
To put it in a nicer way, this place is called Tiangao Huanghuangyuan.
To put it more bluntly, even if the guy riding the bear comes, there may not be a middle-level and high-level person randomly picked out from the Tunguska Coalfield to talk to him.
As for which faction Dmitry belonged to, Wei Ran didn't know, and he didn't even want to be curious. If he hadn't wanted to see how the anonymous Apoli was doing now, he wouldn't have even come to this hellish place in the world of ice and snow.
After driving the last few dozen kilometers before dawn, Wei Ran's attention was attracted by several islands in the middle of the river less than five kilometers away from Yukta.
Although the visibility was not too high at this time, he still vaguely felt that this place seemed to be the location where Apolly and he abandoned the scrapped tracked artillery tractor!
"Yukta is ahead."
On the radio channel, Dmitri introduced it in detail, "It is on the south side of the river. Except that the airport here was abandoned more than ten years ago, the rest is no different from the small town of Tula."
"Dmitri, let's drive back." Wei Ran picked up the walkie-talkie and said.
"Aren't you going to see that train station?"
Dmitri responded subconsciously, but found that their convoy of four vehicles had already started to turn when Weiran said he was going back, and he was the only one who was still heading forward.
It's open.
"Why are these young people from big cities so rude?"
Dmitri threw the walkie-talkie aside, turned the steering wheel and circled on the ice, accelerated to catch up with the other three cars that had started to go back, picked up the walkie-talkie again and asked again, "Victor, don't go.
See that train station?"
"No"
Wei Ran paused, pressed the launch button again and explained, "We will go ashore near the intersection of the rivers we just passed, find a place in the forest to rest for an hour and have something to eat, and then we will go to Forest Farm No. 58 to have a look."
"Where is Forest Farm No. 58?" Dmitri said with a hint of confusion in his tone.
“You’ll find out after you follow us.”
Wei Ran said vaguely and perfunctorily, seemingly casually, but in fact he had tried his best to follow the direction in his memory and drove the car away from the river and into the coniferous forest on the bank.
Unfortunately, he didn't know whether he remembered the location wrongly or because too much time had passed. The artillery tractor abandoned here had been moved, or it had simply been completely swallowed by the melting permafrost. In short, he did not
I didn't find what I wanted to see in this coniferous forest.
The four off-road vehicles found a place to park loosely with a distance of about ten meters from each other. Weiran casually dug out a few cans and heated them with the gas stove in the car.
By the time he had heated up the milk, Suisui, who had been staying awake just now, also took a shower and sat at the dining table.
"This place is nice," Suisui said nonchalantly while eating breakfast.
"What?" Wei Ran looked blankly at the girl sitting opposite.
“I said this place is nice”
Suisui put down the cup, "It's only an hour's flight from Irkutsk, and I asked Dmitri that whether there are 20 people or 60 people, they can fly over on a cargo plane."
"Then what?" Wei Ran looked at the other party and asked.
"Then we land in the small town of Tula, rent a car like ours, and drive west along the Lower Tunguska River to Tuluhankes."
Suisui became more energetic as she spoke, "I have calculated that the whole journey is 900 kilometers, with more than a dozen gathering areas along the way. The distance between the two furthest gathering areas is no more than 200 kilometers."
"Do you really want to bring someone here?" Wei Ran finally understood Suisui's plan belatedly.
"As long as Dmitri can find a way to prove that this place is safe enough"
Suisui held the cup and said with a smile, "Those who are willing to take risks on their own are all rich people. Such people will not waste their time going to places like Inta, but they definitely don't mind coming here."
"What will Inta do next?" Wei Ran asked, taking a bite of a piece of bread filled with pickles and canned meat.
"You don't have to worry if you don't know how to do business."
Suisui said confidently, "Inta's tourist schedules have been scheduled until New Year's Day, and those who can't be scheduled can just be sent here. And we have the only flight here, which delivers this kind of fat to your mouth.
I won't give up."
"Forget it, just pretend I didn't say it." Wei Ran took another hard bite. The other party was far more professional in this kind of thing than him, so he would only add chaos by messing around.
"Let's leave again at noon"
Suisui finished the warm milk in two gulps, "When the time comes, let me continue to drive. I want to personally experience various problems that may be encountered during long-distance driving."
"Then let's do it at noon." Wei Ran happily changed his itinerary and notified the other three cars.
Naturally, neither the Katenka sisters nor Maya nor Dmitri had any objections to this. Only Jima was kicked out of the car by Maya and reluctantly got into Dmitri's car.
That's all.
After taking a comfortable hot bath, Wei Ran lay on the big bed with Suisui in his arms and had a comfortable sleep.
By the time they were woken up by the alarm clock, it was already noon. At this time, the river outside the coniferous forest had become much busier. Trucks were speeding past from all directions every now and then.
"What's next?" Suisui asked after yelling and driving the off-road vehicle back onto the ice.
"Follow that tributary and drive in."
Wei Ran raised his finger and pointed in the direction, "Keep driving until this tributary meets another river and turn right. After driving for another 20 kilometers at most, you will reach Forest Farm No. 58."
Hearing this, Suisui immediately stepped on the accelerator and took the lead into the river guided by Wei Ran.
Compared with before dawn, this tributary is much quieter at this time, but scrapped cars on the edge of the river appear every now and then, using their own painful lessons to remind everyone to drive carefully.
After almost three hours, when the river forked, Suisui stepped on the brakes and woke up Wei Ran, who was sleeping soundly.
"What's wrong?" Wei Ran asked sleepily.
"Look, are you turning here?" Suisui pointed out the window.
Subconsciously following Suisui's fingers and looking out the window, Wei Ran was stunned.
Indeed, this tributary bifurcated directly in front of it, almost due east and west, but right on the bank facing the river, there was a big red container mounted on two scrapped trucks.
There are two wind turbines fixed on the top of the container. At the same time, on the side facing the river, there is a red warning light that is constantly flashing.
Directly below the warning light, there is a line of warning written in eye-catching white letters that looks very safe: You can enter the patrol range of the Fire Wilderness Rescue Station. If you are in danger, you can enter the container and ask for help.
"Fire Wilderness Rescue Station?"
Wei Ran picked up the binoculars and looked at the containers on the shore. After thinking for a moment, he picked up the walkie-talkie and asked, "Dmitri, what's going on with that sign?"
"Some manned aid stations will be established along the main freight routes in the Tunguska coalfield in winter."
Dmitri explained on the radio channel, "This should be the rescue point set up by a nearby rescue station."
"Can I go in and have a look?" Wei Ran continued to ask.
"Of course," Dmitri replied cheerfully.
Hearing this, Wei Ran took out the Makorov pistol that he had half rented and bought from the glove box, opened the door, pointed it at the sky and pulled the trigger.
When the cold wind carried the crisp sound of gunshots into the distance, he jumped off the off-road vehicle and climbed onto the shore using both hands and feet.
"It can be seen that you are familiar with the means of survival here."
Dmitri, who followed down, praised, and then told a cruel fact in a calm tone, "Many drivers forget to make enough noise when getting out of the car, and are ambushed by wolves on the edge of the river.
Bite the neck."
"Jima is an experienced hunter." Wei Ran directly passed the blame to Jima, who stayed in Maya's car and refused to get out. "He taught me a lot."
Dmitri shrugged, followed Wei Ran and climbed to the shore, then climbed onto the wreckage of the two trucks that were almost completely swallowed up by the frozen soil that melted in the summer, and took the initiative to help open the container door.
When the cold sunset shone into the container, Wei Ran couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
There are a lot of things in this container. There is a stove converted from a diesel barrel at the entrance. There are also two iron barrels next to each other, and there are piles of firewood and coal respectively.
Continuing inside, on an iron table welded to the ground, there is a car radio strictly protected by a wooden frame. Conspicuous red paint on the side also prompts the steps to turn on the radio, and what to contact if you need help.
channel, and the radio call sign of the so-called wildfire rescue station.
Not only that, he also saw a large piece of deer steak hanging inside, some simple condiments, a small stainless steel pot also hanging on the wall, and two pieces of cold weather clothing.
But compared to these, the old radio next to the car radio was playing a long-forgotten tune intermittently and over and over again - "My Address is the Soviet Union".
