War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1905: Locking the Evil
In the middle of the frozen river, a row of prisoners who had miraculously survived were forced by gunfire to take off their boots. Barefoot, enduring the biting cold, they piled their dead and seriously wounded comrades layer by layer into the cargo bed of a tracked tractor.

As for those who managed to escape, Wei Ran didn't send Hela or Apoli to chase after them. He believed that someone would give him a satisfactory answer.

"Can I go out and take a look?" Sui Sui, who was finally able to crawl out from under the bed, asked.

"It's cold outside, just wait in the car," Wei Ran said with a smile, trying to reassure her.

Throughout the entire ordeal, aside from deliberately opening the door to draw the bullet that hit their car door, he never got out of the car to personally participate in the battle, and he didn't even interrogate the survivors.

At this moment, the most important thing for him is to be by Sui Sui's side.

Moreover, for him now, it would be beneath him to personally intervene before the very last moment.

Wei Ran didn't intend to do it himself; someone else would do it for him.

A hundred meters behind the monster truck, six prisoners, their mouths gagged and eyes covered, huddled and knelt on the snow.

This includes the guy with the loudspeaker who was incredibly arrogant not long ago, but whose legs are now being strangled by the winch cable at the front of the tractor to stop the bleeding.

Around them, pink-clad delinquents, embarrassed for not having been of any help in the previous battle, stood with guns raised, coldly watching the survivors.

For these gang girls from the polar town of Inta, who don't have much education, this is a different story.

Being a happy, decorative bodyguard for Aurora is almost their best option—far better than becoming one of the gang leader's lovers or girlfriends.

But at this moment, these pretty girls, who were usually unreliable, were filled with shame.

Since the last time she staged the elimination of the attackers who stormed into her home, Sui Sui has generously more than doubled their wages.

With a monthly income of nearly 12 rubles and their previous "victory," these girls have come to believe their own lie of invincibility.

But the battle they had just fought made them realize that there was an almost insurmountable gap between them and the girls their age who usually typed on keyboards in Sui Sui's office.

They should at least be worthy of such a high salary.
These girls, who exuded an air of slackers but were actually quite naive, secretly made up their minds.

Of course, at this moment, sitting on the tracks of the tractor behind these prisoners, Apoli, who was in charge of the interrogation, had no idea what those mischievous girls were thinking.

He is, after all, the security manager and the executive director of Baba Yaga, so both morally and logically, he should be the one to handle this matter.

"Bring him here."

Apoli tried out the angle grinders he had taken out of the car, and casually pointed to one of them.

Before he could finish speaking, several young girls dragged the chosen man to the other side of the tractor and, following Apoli's instructions, tied him to the snow-covered tracks.

Apoli waved for the girls to leave and lit the campfire barrels that had just been unloaded from the carriage.

However, before the chosen one could relax from the warmth emanating from the campfire, he heard the piercing sound of the grinding wheel turning.

Just then, he clearly realized that one of his legs had been lifted up by a rope and tied at waist height. Immediately afterwards, the coat wrapped around his head was ripped off.

By the light of the fire not far away, he could clearly see that next to him, an old man was holding an angle grinder that was spinning at high speed.

As the lucky man frantically shook his head, Apoli expressionlessly ripped off his shoes and socks, then helped him roll up part of his trouser leg.

"You bastards almost ruined my future tonight, so either you don't say anything, or you say something that will really move me."

As Apoli spoke, he stopped the grinder, leaned close to the other man, and showed him the rust-removing wire wheel installed on it. Then he took a thick apron out of the cargo box and put it on.

Ignoring the prisoner who kept shaking his head and trying to say something, Apoli took out an industrial dust filter mask and put it on, and finally even put on a plastic safety helmet.

With everything ready, Apoli picked up the angle grinder again, turned it on, and then placed the rust-removing wire wheel on the lucky man's foot.

While he was busy removing the rust, the Hela girls had already driven the prisoners who were responsible for carrying the corpses and the seriously wounded to the riverbank not far away, making them kneel in a row with their heads in their hands and watch the excessively bloody interrogation taking place in the middle of the river.

Meanwhile, another team of Hella girls also began an emergency inspection of the vehicle.

Almost simultaneously, an Il-76 transport plane that had just landed in Vladivostok, which was originally preparing to refuel, also urgently unloaded a considerable amount of tropical fruit, replacing it with a large number of gang members.

Meanwhile, in the relatively nearby town of Tula, several Ka-26 helicopters that had recently arrived to provide support also took off roughly in the cold wind, carrying some civilian machinery to the scene of the incident.

Before the first helicopter even arrived at its destination, Apoli had already halted all interrogation work.

At this moment, the snowfield had been stained blood red, and the prisoners he had personally selected each received a foot or even a calf that had been shaved clean.

Apolly tossed the angle grinder into the ice that had just been broken open not far away. Then he took off his mask, apron, gloves, and coat and threw them into the campfire barrel next to him before taking the hot towel that Lyubov handed him and wiping his hands.

"Good child, you should go back to your studies now, and don't come out again later."

After returning the towel to the other person, Apoli took the satellite phone that she handed him.

"Good teacher"

Lyubov bowed slightly, then turned and walked toward the monster truck she shared with Marta and the others.

"Girls, are you going to stay?" Apoli asked as she dialed the phone.

“We don’t want to lose this precious job.” Katyusha, the leader of the delinquents, finished speaking, but still couldn’t help gagging again.

"What a smart and brave girl!"

After Apoli finished speaking, he switched to German, which these young girls would absolutely not understand, and began communicating with Kalp on the other end of the phone.

After relaying the crucial information obtained through interrogation, Apoli put away his satellite phone and then walked towards the prisoners on the shore, as well as the Hela girls who were controlling them.

“Find out who escaped,” Apoli said. “Those who can name more than three people will live, but repeats don’t count, and lies don’t count.”

After these words were spoken, the prisoners, who were already terrified, immediately began to rush to answer. They had to answer quickly, since very few had just escaped.

In just a short while, two Ka-26s were the first to arrive above the group.

However, the first helicopter delivered a rather old-looking forestry wood shredder. The second helicopter, on the other hand, carried a bulldozer blade that could be used by a tracked tractor and two rather small wooden crates.

Before the two helicopters could unload their cargo, Apoli had already knocked on the broken door of Wei Ran's car.

“Victor, you can leave now. Leave the rest to me. I will provide a solution that will satisfy you,” Apoli said earnestly.

"You've worked hard," Wei Ran said. "Don't push yourself."

"They're just some wild legal thieves."

Apolli paused, "I'll be there soon. The girls from Baba Yaga and the security team will stay to help."

"Okay, we'll be waiting for you at the Wilderness Rescue Station."

Wei Ran smiled but didn't ask anything. He simply took out a roll of duct tape and carefully covered the bullet hole in the window.

But the more this was the case, the more Apoli sighed inwardly. He knew that this gentle-looking young man was probably not as easy to talk to as usual this time.

“I’ll be there later,” Apoli said, closing the car door for Wei Ran from the outside.

While they were waiting, after an emergency investigation, they found the culprit that caused the engine to stall.

Simply put, the workers responsible for vehicle maintenance installed a solenoid valve switch that could be controlled wirelessly on the power supply lines and fuel lines.

The small switch that almost cost Wei Ran and the others their lives was easy to remove and replace; it was just that the installation location was a bit hidden.

Before long, Anfisa drove the monster truck, carrying Wei Ran, Sui Sui, and Anfia sitting in the passenger seat, and continued towards the Blazing Wilderness Rescue Station, escorted by the monster trucks driven by the international student girls.

"Is anyone injured?"

Having not had a chance to go out, or even be allowed to peek outside, Sui Sui asked while holding the bulletproof helmet on her head. She was also wearing a bulletproof vest with ceramic bulletproof plates, which inevitably made the girl, who was trying hard to suppress her panic, look somewhat comical.

No one was injured.

Anfia replied with a smile, "Ever since that time we were kidnapped on a basketball court in the United States a long time ago, we've been on guard against this kind of situation, so we always carry bulletproof vests and helmets."

"Moreover, we happened to bring a lot of heavy weapons this time, giving us a near-total firepower advantage."

Anfisa, in a deliberately soothing tone tinged with barely suppressed laughter, said, "I really don't understand what those people were thinking, trying to hijack a convoy that was heading to target practice."

What is target practice?

Wei Ran tactfully changed the subject. Regardless of what exactly happened in the attack, or what kind of retaliation might follow, the most important thing now was to calm Sui Sui down. He could tell that this fierce girl was truly terrified this time.

"About 100 kilometers northwest of the Liehuo Wilderness Rescue Station, there is a military base, an abandoned military base."

Sui Sui finally revealed the true purpose of her trip: "Uncle Ivan's transport vehicle was retrieved from that abandoned military base."

"so."

“I want to buy that place,” Sui Sui said. “Or rather, I already bought it, for a very cheap price.”

"Who recommended it?" Wei Ran asked, frowning.

When the question was asked, Sui Sui immediately realized the problem.

If it weren't for the recent attack, this would indeed have been a worthwhile deal.

But looking at it now, it's hard to say whether this deal was bait that attracted Sui Sui to go and investigate in person.

"It was sold as a package by a local private mining company."

Sui Sui frowned and said truthfully, "The mining rights for that coal mine have expired after 10 years, and the coal has been almost completely mined out."

Prior to that, the abandoned military base had been used as office space by the mining company.

"So you actually bought a mine?"

Wei Ran asked in surprise. He rarely paid attention to Sui Sui's business, but he didn't expect that this girl had started to get involved in mining.

"Just an abandoned mine."

Sui Sui said, "The price is very low. We had a lot of money left over from the last purchase of the winery. We can't just let it sit in our account and waste it."

"So," Wei Ran thought for a moment, then asked with a strange expression, "what do you plan to do with it?"

"This is a secret. I'll tell you when we get there!" Sui Sui said immediately.

Seeing that she was in the mood to keep him in suspense, Wei Ran breathed a slight sigh of relief and began to press her for answers, going along with her emotional needs.

Meanwhile, behind them, the dilapidated wood-crushing machine had been connected to the power take-off of the tractor and began to hum and turn amidst the terrified expressions of the surviving prisoners.

"Aurora is a good girl."

Apoli, dragging the only intact hand of the stripped-naked man towards the shredder, said, “But you white bandits, legal thieves, and sewer parasites actually intend to destroy the good lives of these poor people in the wasteland just like you destroyed the Soviet Union.”

"Let me go, I just want to..."

"You're just a parasite, fish food."

As Apoli spoke, he picked up the man with the loudspeaker and carried him into the feed inlet of the crusher, where his legs had been broken by bullets.

As this crusher, perhaps manufactured during the Soviet era, roared to life, large amounts of minced meat suitable for fish digestion spurted out from the other end of the crusher and splashed into the ice cave that had just been blasted open and was deliberately shrouded in car headlights to attract fish.

Washed downstream by the still-flowing, icy river beneath the ice cave, these fresh fish feeders were soon devoured by hungry fish attracted by the lights.

"You can survive if you throw all the corpses and the remaining bastards in there."

Apoli addressed the dozen or so lucky survivors who had just reported their escaped companions, making his request: "Remember to take off their clothes and put their legs in first. If anyone gets the order wrong and the machine gets stuck, I'll put them in the machine."

Under the indifferent gaze of the masked girls around them and the threat of the weapons in their hands, the survivors dared not resist and could only obediently go barefoot and begin the feeding work as instructed.

As Apolis entertained the wintering fish in the wilderness, a local gang based in the town of Tula began an emergency mobilization.

Before long, the gang, which had never engaged in any illegal activities, hastily took off in the night with two Mi-8 helicopters heading straight for the river where the incident occurred.

Their job was simple: to hunt down the few who had escaped and, incidentally, find the maintenance worker who had been taken hostage by the enemy and was being prepared to be used as a scapegoat.

Meanwhile, in distant Irkutsk, before the wealthy businessman and his friends could even react to the news of the failed operation, the gate of his mansion was rammed open by a police car.

Immediately afterward, a group of police officers who were not in uniform rushed in and easily took control of everyone in the building.

"What are you going to do?"

Outside the mansion, inside a slightly dilapidated high-roofed Iveco van, a dignified old man asked slowly and deliberately.

"Tell me first, what's the deal with this bastard?"

Uncle Chabu with big ears, who was sitting in the same car, asked irritably, then rudely bit off one end of his cigar and spat it out the window.

"His name is Lenat. He was a small private mine owner who emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He made his fortune by panning for black gold in his early years."

The man in the same car carefully lit a cypress stick, first lighting the cigar in Big Ear Chabu's mouth, then calmly lighting his own, before tossing the stick out the window. "That's all?" Big Ear Chabu asked.

“He laundered his money about 20 years ago, but this gentleman is clearly not good at doing legitimate business, and his business has run into some problems in recent years.”

The man in the same car slowly introduced the situation amidst puffs of smoke, "In recent years, his mining business has been moved to Mongolia. It is said that there is only one black gold mine, which is not very large, near the Lower Tunguska River."

At this point, he asked with great interest, "You wouldn't be so foolish as to have your eye on his gold mine, would you?"

"I've taken a liking to him, his family, and his guests."

With a gloomy face, Big-Eared Chabu looked at the people who had been tied up like dumplings and thrown into the cargo box. "Tell me about their family situation."

"Looks like this idiot offended you?"

“Old friend, you’d better not be curious about these things,” Big Ear Chab warned.

"no problem"

The old man in the same car nodded amiably. "He had four wives in total, one of whom came from Chita and was his first wife."

However, the woman died in an accident about 15 years ago, leaving him with a son and two daughters.

Another woman, from the family of Wukelan, bore him his second son and third daughter.

This woman, who has an accounting background, was sent to prison about eight years ago for tax issues, just as you might be guessing, to take the blame for him.

His third wife was from Mongolia, and his fourth wife was from France.

They were all classmates of his second daughter, and each of them had given him a daughter.

Is he Teddy?

"His nickname is indeed Teddy, Teddy Lenard."

"go on"

“His eldest son was imprisoned five years ago for a drug-impaired driving accident, and his youngest son got into trouble a month ago for assaulting a classmate and has been urgently sent to Europe.”

Taking a puff of his cigar, the old man continued with a smile, "His five daughters, the two eldest are already adults, and they respectively help him manage his business in Mongolia and his business in Tunguska."

The three daughters, all underage, are French citizens but are currently pursuing further education abroad. The eldest is 16, and the youngest is only 6.

"You know him very well?" Big-eared Chabu asked.

His eldest son harassed my daughter many years ago.

"So you went to jail for driving under the influence of drugs?"

"I have been very kind."

The imposing old man in the car said, "But I guess you won't be as merciful as I am."

“They’re going to Mongolia for a vacation today and to inspect their mining business,” said Big-Eared Chab, leaving no room for refusal.

"I can testify."

As the imposing old man spoke, he finally picked up the whiskey from the small table between the two of them.

"Let's get his son and wife into a better prison."

Big-eared Chabu raised his glass and clinked it with the other man's. "Also, give me information about his youngest son and daughters, as well as information about the mineral deposits in Mongolia and Tunguska. I'm in a hurry."

"No problem, have fun."

Before the imposing old man could finish speaking, he downed the wine in his glass in one gulp. "Shall I take you to the airport?"

"Thank you, my old friend."

Big-eared Chabu, puffing out clouds of smoke, said, "I haven't been here today, have I?"

"Of course, none of us have been here today."

The smug old man pointed around with a look of disgust, "How could respectable people like us ride in such a beat-up car?"

"I'm not exactly a respectable person."

Big-eared Chabu mumbled something indistinctly, his tone filled with undisguised murderous intent.

He caught the culprit at the root of the problem and organized the family to go on vacation to Mongolia overnight.

The Mi-8 helicopters that departed from Tula, carrying honest and law-abiding gang members, along with the two Ka-26 helicopters equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks, began to hunt down the fleeing "terrorists."

It's unclear whether this is to prove their innocence and retain "Snow Girl," who brought new industries, or to take the opportunity to purge long-standing criminal gangs and create a favorable business environment.

Local industrial and mining enterprises and officials also promptly mobilized mine patrol teams, miners, hunters, and even truck drivers to join the large-scale crackdown on the "terrorists" and the "wanted arrest warrants."

Naturally, the list of "terrorists" originally provided by Hela changed hands several times, growing from less than half a page to a full five pages that barely fit on both sides.

In any case, on the night of the day after Easter, many members of gangs and even criminal organizations from the era of the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as some corrupt officials, are destined not to have the opportunity to attend next year's Easter.

"boom--!"

On the frozen river leading to the Wildfire Rescue Station, accompanied by dense but not loud explosions, the ice surface cleared by the bulldozer shattered one after another, and the hardworking crusher was also blown to pieces and sank to the deepest part of the river.

Before the water could calm down, the Hela girls, who had been waiting for a long time, threw the pine branches they had cut into the ice that had been shattered.

"vomit--"

At the edge of the blasted-open riverbed, Katyusha, the leader of the delinquent girls, couldn't help but gag once again.

They were just responsible for guarding both ends of the river channel, using hastily felled wood to build fences to prevent passing vehicles from falling into the blasted riverbed.

Even so, the strong smell of blood mixed in with the cold wind still made them shudder.

In contrast, the group of Hela girls who remained behind were remarkably calm.

They had been waiting for this day for a long time—a day to demonstrate their value and gain trust.

Or rather, everything that happened tonight was a rare opportunity for Apoli, the people behind Apoli, such as Kalp, and even Wei Ran and Sui Sui, to gain each other's trust.

"lets go"

As Apoli spoke, he filled the firewood and coke barrels left there as a warning.

Based on his experience living here for so long, he knew that once the fuel had burned out, the ice that had been blasted open would have refreezed.

In fact, because of the pine needles that the Hela girls threw in, this area would freeze even more solidly than the surrounding area.

Amidst the roar of the engine, Apoli drove the recovered tractor, leading the 28 girls behind him, and in the captured vehicle, they followed the tire tracks left by Wei Ran and the others towards the Liehuo Wilderness Rescue Station.

Just as Wei Ran and his convoy finally arrived at the Liehuo Wilderness Rescue Station, the last person fled hastily under the search of the helicopter. At this time, the "terrorist" who was about to freeze to death had also been successfully captured and his identity verified.

"Boss, should we interrogate these guys?" a gang member holding a shotgun asked.

"Interrogate my ass!"

The foreman in charge was startled and hurriedly said, "Quick! Give these people a bath!"

"Wow!"

Before he could finish speaking, his henchmen promptly poured the nearly frozen river water from the bucket onto the bodies, collars, and hands of the few who had escaped the net.

"Alright, let's go back."

The junior leader gave the order and led his men into the helicopter parked in the middle of the river.

Amidst the roar of the propellers, powerful air currents whipped up large amounts of snow, enveloping the soaking wet attackers.

They've already said they're an honest and law-abiding gang, so of course they wouldn't kill anyone. As for those unlucky guys who accidentally froze to death from hypothermia in the dead of winter and were eaten like popsicles by wolves, they can only blame their bad luck.

Before the helicopter could fly far away, two other Mi-26 helicopters used thermal imaging to drive a pack of wolves from the coniferous forest along the river.

Once the brutal battle between humans and werewolves began, two of the three helicopters, the Ka-26s, immediately flew away to a distant location.

The Mi-8 helicopter, which had its positioning and transponder turned off, flew away at low altitude before turning its transponder back on and flying back to help the unfortunate "hunters" on the ground by radio channel.

They even kindly flew low to the ground to drive away the wolves, who were almost full, and filmed the bloody scene with their phones.

This is the difference between the old-school KGB and modern gangs. The former's standard is to leave no trace, while the latter strives to be ruthless and intimidating enough without breaking the law.

It's almost certain that everyone who makes a living in this wasteland can guess what the truth is, but no one can produce evidence that these gangs committed murder.

Regardless of what the gangs were plotting to establish their authority, Wei Ran and Sui Sui, who had been chatting idly along the way, had already stopped in front of the Blazing Wilderness Rescue Station in their big-foot truck.

Unlike when I first came here, the rescue station is now many times larger. The outermost perimeter is made of double-layered shipping containers stacked on top of each other, and the wall is reinforced with a lot of windproof steel cables.

On top of this square wall, there are wind turbines one after another, as well as several satellite antennas.

Thanks to the free electricity supplied by these wind turbines, the shelter is brightly lit both inside and out.

"The changes here are truly remarkable."

Sui Sui couldn't help but exclaim in amazement that inside this rescue station, the DT30 transport truck that replaced Apoli was still parked, along with the oil tankers that had been towed there. There were even four oil tankers in a row.

Look at the words on it.

Wei Ran pointed to the Russian phrase formed by the conspicuous LED flashlights on the double-layered shipping container outside the window: "Fire Rescue Station, providing refueling, camping and auto repair services."

"These were all invested in by Mr. Ivan."

Anfia said, "Mr. Apoli puts almost his entire monthly salary into this place. Now we not only have a stable internet connection, but we can also check the surveillance footage here anytime, even from Kazan."

"This is, after all, his home."

Before Wei Ran could finish speaking, the elderly Peters, who had taken over Apoli's post here, came out to greet him warmly.

"Let's go down too."

After taking a deep breath, Sui Sui temporarily put aside the danger she had encountered along the way and said energetically, "A reminder to everyone: don't mention the accident that happened on the way."

"Ok"

Anfisa agreed before opening the car door and gave a prompt while holding the earpiece.

Seeing Wei Ran looking at her with surprise, Sui Sui forced a smile, as if to comfort herself, and said, "Life here is hard enough. We bring hope and better days, not fear."

"What's this?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"I am a legitimate businessman."

Sui Sui, who was about to open the car door, stopped and said with a bright smile, "I didn't encounter any attacks tonight, so if anyone is attacked tomorrow night, it has nothing to do with me."

I'll handle this.

"Leave this to Greva."

Sui Sui calmly said, "I'm just a legitimate businesswoman. Whatever the local gangs do has nothing to do with me."

“In that case, Your Majesty, no, beautiful Snow Maiden, let’s go visit our old friend.”

As Wei Ran spoke, he reached out and opened the car door, stepping out first. Then, with exceptional gentlemanly manners, he helped Sui Sui out of the car.

"Camille, let everyone take the gifts we brought."

Sui Sui gave a final reminder, then held Wei Ran's arm tightly as they walked together toward the elderly Peters who had already come to greet them.

"Is it my imagination?"

Inside the carriage, Anfia said, "I actually sensed killing intent from Sister Aurora."

Someone's going to be in trouble.

Anfisa pointed to the damaged car door sealed with duct tape and said with a hint of schadenfreude, "Especially after that shot that almost hurt our boss."

“I’ve never seen Sister Aurora get angry before,” Anfia said, her tone surprisingly expectant.

“A good temper that’s been provoked is just as terrible as a madman who’s been provoked,” Anfissa muttered, looking at the couple outside the car window.

"A good temper that can be provoked and a madman that can be provoked are even more terrifying together," Anfia couldn't help but shudder.