War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1754 I Won’t Let You Die Again

When the white light faded, Wei Ran heard the sound of fierce artillery fire before he could see everything around him.

Wei Ran subconsciously shrank his neck and blinked hard.

However, just as he had just seen everything around him clearly, he found that a National Army soldier had raised a rifle with a bayonet towards him!

"boom!"

Wei Ran reacted very quickly, took out his 1911 pistol, pulled the trigger, and shot the opponent in the chest.

"boom!"

He fired a second shot at the opponent's forehead. Then he climbed up amid the rumbling of gunfire and quickly observed the surrounding environment.

Street fighting, street fighting again!

Wei Ran cursed inwardly, hid in the corner of the dilapidated house, and hurriedly checked himself.

At this time, he was still wearing the same clothes as before, and still carrying the backpack that once belonged to the postwoman Viola.

Before he could take a closer look, a smoking grenade was thrown in from the direction where the enemy had just rushed in!

Hey!

Wei Ran quickly dodged, passed through a broken door that was burning with flames, and hid behind a wall full of bullet holes.

"boom!"

After the explosion that followed, Wei Ran had replaced the 1911 in his hand with a box gun set to continuous fire, and he reached to the door and pulled the trigger.

"Da da da da——"

Amid the dense gunfire, a series of screams were heard from the room where a grenade had just exploded.

He calmly replaced the magazine of the box gun with a 20-round capacity. Wei Ran waited for a moment and quickly looked around. Seeing that there were three National Army soldiers lying in the room, he came back in.

"Click! Click! Click!"

After breaking the necks of the three enemies with three consecutive kicks, Wei Ran looked at the rifles with bayonets in their hands with disdain, and began to think about some important issues.

Where is this? What time is this? What should I do?

The ancestors of this special code will do fancy things!

Wei Ran cursed inwardly, then looted three grenades from the four corpses and put them in his pocket.

"Da da da!"

Just at this moment, there was a sound of fierce gunfire coming from upstairs.

After a little hesitation, Wei Ran stepped on the broken stairs and carefully climbed up to the ruins of the second floor. He immediately saw the situation clearly.

At this time, several people were hiding in the room on the left side of the stairs, and they were firing at the people hiding in the room on the right side of the stairs.

Which side of this special code is our own?

Wei Ran was really overwhelmed. Helplessly, he could only climb the stairs leading to the third floor. Then, holding a grenade in one hand and a box gun in the other, he waited patiently.

After several grenades were thrown at each other, finally, the people hiding in the room on the left rushed out while covering each other.

“Da da da da—!”

Wei Ran decisively pulled the trigger and fired a horizontal fan-shaped shot towards the National Army soldiers. At the same time, he also threw a grenade out with force, causing it to hit the opposite corner of the wall and then bounce back to a position that he could not see.

Amid screams and panicked cries, accompanied by the explosion of grenades, the enemies fell to the ground one after another. Wei Ran hid in the corner again, staring vigilantly at the downstairs and the left side of the corridor while shouting in French, German and Spanish, "I have dealt with the enemies. Is there anyone alive?"

After waiting for a while, Wei Ran carefully walked to the door on the right side of the corridor and shouted again in three languages, "Don't shoot, they are one of us."

Seeing that there was still no movement inside, he leaned forward to take a quick look and then immediately retracted his head.

But soon, he leaned forward again and ran in hurriedly.

At this time, in the corner of the room where only broken bricks and chairs were left, the Spanish postman's assistant Sergi was hiding on the floor, leaning against the corner and looking at himself.

One of his hands was still holding the MP34 submachine gun placed on a chair, while the other hand was tightly clutching a canvas bag.

But compared to these two things, his condition was not good.

Dark red blood was oozing from the corner of his mouth, and the chest area of ​​his clothes was also stained red with blood. Even one of his legs had a large piece of muscle torn open by the bullet.

"Sage?"

Wei Ran quickly ran to the other person's side, but he didn't dare to touch him at all. He knew that this young man was beyond saving.

"Cough cough."

Accompanied by a weak cough, a stream of dark red blood flowed out of the corner of Sergei's mouth again, but a bright smile appeared on his face.

After trying to open his mouth but unable to make any sound, he patted the bag on his left hand with difficulty, then turned his head with difficulty to look in one direction.

But before he could say anything, he tilted his head and fell into Wei Ran's arms.

"Go to sleep. The war is over for you."

Wei Ran patted the other person's shoulder gently, asked him to lean against the corner again, then took a step back, took out the camera, and hurriedly pressed the shutter button towards him.

After putting away the camera and taking a quick look outside the door, Wei Ran ran back to Sergey's side, first picked up the submachine gun beside him, and then pulled out two spare magazines from his waist and put them on his belt.

Then he picked up the blood-stained canvas bag and opened it to take a look.

It's medicine.

Wei Ran glanced out the window in the direction that Sergey had just looked at, then quickly took off the backpack from his shoulders and opened it.

Before he had the time to stuff the bag containing the medicine in, Wei Ran was stunned. There was a folded envelope in the bag with a triangular star in the middle of the envelope.

Without even opening it, he recognized that it was the relic of Robin, the female communications soldier before Bai Guang.

With a slight sigh, Wei Ran didn't have time to think about it. He stuffed the canvas bag containing various medicines into it, tied the lid of the backpack again, and put it on his shoulder.

After looking at Sergey's body again, he finally reached out and took off the three-pointed star on his collar and put it in his pocket. Then he picked up the submachine gun, checked it and held it in his hand.

After a quick look, Wei Ran felt a chill rising from his forehead! He almost bumped into two Nationalist soldiers approaching with rifles!

"Da da da da da!"

Wei Ran pulled the trigger almost subconsciously, and then moved the muzzle of the submachine gun horizontally!

"Bang! Bang!"

Almost at the same time, the two enemies also pulled the trigger.

Fortunately, the weapons in their hands were too long after all, and the two hasty shots, although close at hand, did not hit Wei Ran. Instead, one of them hit Sergey's body in the room, and the other shot almost at Wei Ran's ear.

After the two men were shot and fell to the ground one after another, Wei Ran cleaned his left ear, which was ringing due to the shock, and then walked down the broken stairs carefully.

"boom!"

Accompanied by a sudden gunshot, a palm-sized brick exploded on the wall beside Wei Ran. He immediately turned around and ran upstairs.

"Brother Wei?!"

At this moment, a cry of surprise came from downstairs, "Is that you, Brother Wei?! I am Yu Yanlin!"

"Yanlin?!"

Wei Ran was stunned, and immediately turned around and ran downstairs, then saw Yu Yanlin with a look of surprise on his face.

At this time, he was still holding the MP28 submachine gun in his hand and wearing the helmet that was supposed to be worn on Sergey's head.

"Why are you here?!" Wei Ran and Yu Yanlin asked in unison.

Before Yu Yanlin could answer, Wei Ran suddenly raised his gun and pulled the trigger!

"Da da da!"

The short burst of gunfire brushed past the edge of the helmet on Yu Yanlin's head and hit the face of an enemy outside the window who was pointing a gun towards the inside.

"Get out of the way!" Wei Ran said as he let go of the submachine gun, pulled out a grenade and threw it out of the window.

Although it was unknown how long they had not seen each other, the unshaven Yu Yanlin now looked like a veteran. Without waiting for the grenade thrown by Wei Ran to pass through the window, he turned around and rushed to the side of the window, leaning against the wall with his submachine gun raised above his head, and fired suppressing shots from top to bottom towards the outside.

Amid the dense gunfire, Wei Ran immediately ran over and pulled out the ring of the second grenade the moment the grenade exploded. He deliberately waited for two seconds before throwing it out, and immediately squatted down.

"boom!"

With the second explosion, Wei Ran had already raised his submachine gun. Yu Yanlin immediately pulled out a spare magazine from his waist and replaced it, and then put the empty magazine back on his belt.

"Why are you here?!" the two asked loudly again in unison.

"Sergey's upstairs! Have you seen him?"

Yu Yanlin shouted and explained, "He's injured! I need someone to help me carry him."

"He has sacrificed himself," said Wei Ran.

"What did you say?"

Yu Yanlin was stunned for a moment and was about to say something when a grenade flew in from outside.

"Get out of here first!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already caught the grenade and threw it out of the window. Then, amid the sound of the explosion, he and Yu Yanlin crouched down and moved along the damaged wall to the next ruined room.

"What day is today?!" Wei Ran asked loudly.

"Number 19! What's wrong?!" Yu Yanlin responded with the same shout.

It's a street fight in the university district of Madrid!

Having determined the historical node, Wei Ran did not answer the other party's question, but asked a new question instead, "Where are you and Serge going?!"

"It's the street on the right hand side of the intersection not far away!"

Yu Yanlin pointed in the direction where Sergey had looked before he died, "There is a field hospital over there, and they are out of medicine! We need to send them medicine!"

“Is this also a job for a postman?!”

As Wei Ran spoke, he raised his gun and began to suppress the enemy that appeared from the next room. Yu Yanlin also skillfully pulled out a grenade and threw it over.

"Boom!" After the grenade exploded, Yu Yanlin raised his submachine gun again and looked behind him while answering loudly, "First the soldiers, then the postman!"

"Da da da!"

Wei Ran, who had already walked into the room, shot and killed the half-dead enemy one by one, then crouched and rushed to the door of the next room to be on guard, while Yu Yanlin quickly collected the usable ammunition from the bodies and asked loudly, "Where is the American reporter?! Aaron! Is he still alive?"

"I have no idea!"

Wei Ran answered loudly, "Where's Clemont?! Have you seen Clemont?! Is he still alive?"

"never seen it!"

Yu Yanlin also responded loudly amid the rumbling of gunfire, "I haven't heard from him for many days!"

"What should we do next?" Wei Ran asked while taking the two grenades handed to him by the other party and putting them in his pocket.

"We're going across the road!"

Yu Yanlin pointed to the street outside the broken wall, which was filled with corpses and the wreckage of burned cars.

"I'll go over first, cover me!"

As Wei Ran said this, he had already rushed out crouching. Almost immediately, several bullets were fired at him.

Dodging behind the wreckage of a car, Wei Ranshao took advantage of Yu Yanlin's fire behind him to help suppress the attack, took out a grenade, grabbed it in his hand, rushed out of the cover, and threw it hard into a window on the second floor across the street that was covered by bullets.

Before the grenade exploded, Wei Ran had already hidden behind a remaining barricade, squatted down, raised his gun and started shooting overhead.

At the same time, at the moment the grenade exploded, Yu Yanlin ran over quickly under the cover of Wei Ran.

The two of them dangerously re-entered the dilapidated building on the road. Without any pause, Wei Ran threw the grenade in his hand towards the stairs leading to the second floor.

"boom!"

As the grenade exploded, several screams and a series of exclamations were heard from the direction of the second floor.

"Which way?" Wei Ran asked as he raised the gun again.

"Come with me!"

Yu Yanlin shouted and rushed towards the other one with gun raised.

The two of them had only taken a few steps before they had to retreat. The room in front of them had collapsed and they couldn't get through at all.

"upstairs"

As Wei Ran spoke, he turned around and walked towards the stairs that had just been blown up by the grenade.

Before he could even walk back to the room, he vaguely heard the clinking sound of grenades hitting the ground amid the sound of gunfire.

"boom--!"

Almost at the same time that Wei Ran used his back to push Yu Yanlin back behind the wall, a series of explosions were heard in the room in front.

The two men looked at each other, then they each took out the last grenade they had, pulled out the pull ring and got ready.

Soon, the two heard chaotic footsteps one after another. They also loosened the grenade safety levers they were holding tightly at the same time, and threw them out after waiting for a second.

Amidst panicked curses and footsteps, some people jumped directly to the street outside the window, some fell to the ground, but more let out short screams at the ensuing explosions.

"go!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already walked through the door with his submachine gun in hand, and pulled the trigger with the muzzle of the gun almost pressed against the window at the enemy who had just jumped out and had no time to get up.

Behind him, Yu Yanlin's reaction was equally quick. He had already pulled the trigger at the enemy on the ground who was still able to resist.

With the cooperation of the two, they finally arrived at the stairs again. Wei Ran also took the lead and stepped onto the stairs, walking up step by step in an almost backward manner.

Yu Yanlin, who was facing him, raised his submachine gun and aimed at the direction behind Wei Ran.

They reached the second floor cautiously. They didn't dare to delay and continued to run forward quickly, sticking to the wall.

After narrowly passing through the collapsed section, the two men ran to the end of the corridor when Wei Ran was stunned.

There is a ventilation window here, which is very large and only one meter away from the building opposite.

But this familiar scene made him subconsciously think of the scene he least wanted to recall.

"Where are you going?" Yu Yanlin couldn't help but ask when he saw Wei Ran stopped and walked towards the door next to him.

"Wait a moment, just a moment."

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already pushed open the first door, the second door, and the third door.

But in the end, until Yu Yanlin raised his submachine gun and started shooting in the direction they came from to suppress the chasing enemies, he finally chose to give up - in this building, on this floor, there probably wouldn't be a girl wrapped in a blue blanket asking him for grenades that he couldn't even take out at the moment.

"you"

Wei Ran took a deep breath, raised his submachine gun with a new magazine and said, "You go first!"

"Are you okay?" Yu Yanlin asked worriedly.

"Go over there quickly!" Wei Ran urged loudly, and at the same time he pulled the trigger and fired a series of bursts of shots.

Hearing this, Yu Yanlin gritted his teeth, stepped on the window frame and jumped into the window opposite. Then he raised his submachine gun and said, "Come here quickly!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran looked again at the doors around him that he had pushed open, then turned around, stepped on the windowsill, and jumped over under the cover of Yu Yanlin.

"Come on!"

Yu Yanlin called out anxiously and ran downstairs with Wei Ran.

“There is no old couple playing the Waltz of Flowers on this floor either.”

Wei Ran sighed with regret in his heart. He knew clearly that this was Madrid in Spain, not Stalingrad in the Soviet Union.

After going downstairs, the two continued to run forward for the distance of another building. There were very few enemies here, or even no enemies at all. They could even cross the street without covering each other, and finally came to the door of a simple field hospital converted from a basement.

"Where are the medicines?" a female nurse in a white coat asked anxiously.

"here!"

Wei Ran quickly took off his backpack, opened it, and handed over the canvas bag full of medicines and stained with Sergey's blood.

"Comrade postman, you still have one more trip to make."

The female nurse wearing a mask said, "Just now a soldier rescued two children. It's too dangerous here for them. You have to find a way to send them to a safe place."

"Child? Now?" Yu Yanlin asked in French in surprise.

"That's right"

The female nurse said, "There are too many wounded here, and too many enemies around. We need to move at any time."

"Where is the child?" Yu Yanlin asked.

Before he could finish his words, two children, one big and one small, were brought over by another nurse.

Of the two children, the older one was no more than six or seven years old. He was a little boy with his arms wrapped in bandages stained with mud, and his face had many scratches and tears that he hadn't had time to wipe away.

The other little one probably hasn't been weaned yet. She's a little girl and her condition is more serious. Her little head is mostly wrapped in gauze, and there's a Spanish helmet on her head that came from nowhere. Fortunately, her cry is still loud enough to fill people's hearts with hope.

"Where to send it?" Yu Yanlin asked through gritted teeth.

"A safe place," the nurse said, and immediately turned around and devoted herself to the intensive rescue work.

"Fuck him!"

Yu Yanlin cursed, turned around a few times anxiously, and then slapped his thigh and said, "Brother Wei, do you remember what Clermont's uncle's house looks like?"

"Remember!"

Wei Ran said, "But I don't know the approximate direction. I'm not familiar with this place."

"I know!"

As Yu Yanlin spoke, he took off his helmet and put it on the little boy's head. Then he threw his messenger bag and other weights to his feet, put the little boy on his back, and picked up a dirty bed sheet to cover the little guy's butt. "I'll carry this boy on my back, how about you carry that girl?"

"Row!"

Wei Ran did not compete with the other party for the heavier "mail package". He just looked around, pulled down a piece of the light blue velvet curtain from the window, carefully wrapped the baby, and stuffed her into the empty backpack. Then, he took out the camera with a little delay and took a picture of the little one whose head was almost completely covered by the helmet and almost filled up the backpack, as well as Yu Yanlin and the little boy on his back.

“I won’t let you die this time.”

Wei Ran kept muttering in Russian like a neurotic. Then he carefully put on his backpack, picked up his submachine gun, and ran in the direction of Yu Yanlin's finger.

“Is this also a job for a postman?!”

Wei Ran asked as he ran, and there was even an uncontrollable smile in his tone.

"That's right!"

Yu Yanlin shouted, "First a soldier, then a postman!"

"Have you sent your letter?" Wei Ran asked the second question as he crawled into the wreckage of the building.

"I haven't finished writing it yet!" Yu Yanlin also responded loudly.