In the ruins of Leningrad city shrouded in artillery fire and gunpowder smoke, Wei Yan, whose upper body was wrapped in a blanket, pulled Kona, who was also tightly wrapped in a blanket, on a sledge, enduring desperate hunger and almost aimlessly.

Generally, it is moving slowly towards the northeast direction that seems to never end.

Along the way, everything I could see were ruins of ruins and Leningrad residents lingering in the ruins. Some of them were lying in despair and numbness on tattered beds or on the ground, and some were still there.

Slowly, they rummaged through the ruins on the ground, trying to find something to eat or something to keep warm. Some of them had closed their eyes forever in the corner.

"Where is that place? Why are there so many people?"

Wei Ran asked, pointing to a building whose doorway was mostly blown down. There was nothing special about the building itself, but from time to time, people would come in and out through the collapsed door.

"Library," Kona replied weakly, "That's the library. Of course everyone goes there to borrow or read books."

"Reading?" Wei Ran couldn't help but look back at Ke Na who provided the answer.

"if not"

Kona stretched the brim of her hat down to block the dazzling sunlight, and said matter-of-factly, "Reading is probably the most energy-saving form of entertainment. Although books can't fill our stomachs, they can at least keep us alive.

Hope, isn’t it?”

"It's hard to imagine that these words came from the mouth of a girl as young as you," Wei Ran sighed sincerely.

"Are you very old?" Ke Na responded weakly. "26 years old" Wei Ran paused, "What about you?"

"16 years old" Ke Na paused, "17 years old, I almost forgot, it's already 42 years."

"You look only fifteen years old," Wei Ran said as he took a step forward and continued walking forward.

"I'm already small"

Ke Na, who squinted her eyes, didn't care whether Wei Ran saw it or not. She just gestured with her hands and said, "I used to be a real fat guy. I was less than 1.6 meters tall but weighed nearly 70 kilograms."

"It's hard to imagine." Wei Ran couldn't help but look back at the skinny girl on the sledge. This girl should probably weigh 70 pounds now. "Yes."

Kena sighed and said weakly, "My classmates often laugh at me because I look like a snowman. Even I never thought that I would become so thin.

However, thanks to the fact that I was so fat before, if it weren’t for the embarrassing fat, I might have died long ago.”

As if afraid that Wei Ran wouldn't believe it, Ke Na paused and added, "Several of those classmates who used to laugh at me, those who were slimmer than me, starved to death. But I couldn't be happy at all. How could I

I became happy. I would rather be blocked in the classroom and laughed at by them like before."

"Which direction should we go next?" Wei Ran took the initiative to change the subject, "There is a crossroads ahead."

"Keep moving forward," Kena responded weakly, "Everything around here has been found."

"Do you know where I can catch mice?" Wei Ran asked a question with no hope at all while walking.

"mouse?"

Kona thought for a while and quickly replied without any surprise, "I don't know. I dare say that all the rats in Leningrad have been caught long ago. Not only rats, but also cats and dogs, sparrows, owls, anything that can provide meat."

All the animals have been caught long ago, and even the human corpses..."

"We will not consider this last option." Wei Ran clearly stated his attitude before the other party finished speaking.

"I know," Kena said weakly, "I'm just explaining what's happening."

"I know too." Before Wei Ran could finish his words, he stopped again.

"What's wrong?" Kona, who didn't know whether she was about to fall asleep or about to faint from hunger, struggled to open her eyes and asked.

"Wait me a moment"

As Wei Ran spoke, he loosened the rope connecting the sledge and quickly walked towards a collapsed building on the side of the road.

At the edge of the ruins, which was only a pile of rubble, he saw a man wearing overalls and a Lenin hat, with the same beard as Lenin and the same hairstyle as Stalin.

This man was not tall and had a sallow complexion, as if he could be blown over by a gust of wind. Behind him, there was also a sledge truck.

But what caught Wei Ran's attention was that there was no collected wood at all on the sledge truck. Instead, there were two baskets woven with birch branches and a small rectangular cage woven with iron wire.

In that barbed wire cage, which was only the size of a later generation microwave oven, there was an unusually fat mouse!

But inside those two birch branch baskets, there were cages one after another that seemed to be used to capture mice!

Look at the skinny man, who is as thin as a stick. He is kneeling on the ground, sticking his butt out and reaching into the cracks of the ruins, as if he is trying to pull something out.

When Wei Ran walked less than five meters away from him, this man, who looked to be in his forties, also pulled out a barbed wire cage that was larger than a tea bucket from the cracks in the ruins. He was extremely surprised.

What's surprising is that there is actually an extremely fat mouse in this cage!

The man smiled at Wei Ran and generously handed the cage and the mouse in the cage forward, "Do you need it?"

"You want to give it to me?"

Wei Ran asked in surprise. He couldn't believe it. This disgusting mouse was worth saving lives at this time! But this man was so generous that he was ready to give it to him even if he looked at it.

They didn't even know each other before.

"Take it"

The man stood up unsteadily, and while gently patting the mud and snow on his trousers with his canvas gloves, he said gently, "I guess you need it, otherwise you wouldn't come over."

After saying that, the man limped towards the sledge truck not far away, picked up a barbed wire cage of the same size from the basket, and took out a reddish-brown pellet about the size of a fingertip from his pocket, and put it

It was threaded on a thin wire in the cage, then propped up the cage door with a mechanism, and stuffed it into the gap just now.

Glancing at the opponent's legs that seemed to be a bit clumsy, Wei Ran couldn't help but asked curiously, "Comrade, are you a professional mouse catcher?"

"Professional in catching mice?"

The middle-aged man smiled, stood up again and stretched out his hand towards Wei Ran, "I am Matvey, the golden eagle keeper of the Leningrad Zoo. These mice are prepared for the golden eagles of the zoo. Those who are picky

The guys only eat living things."

"Zoo? Keeper? Tamer?"

Wei Ran was stunned, and subconsciously shook hands with the other person's extended hand, "Hello, Comrade Matvey, I am Victor, the nursery nurse. To a certain extent, we are almost peers."

"Nursery nurse?" Matvey raised his eyebrows, "So you are responsible for taking care of the children?"

"Yes, 10 little kids."

Wei Ran pointed behind him, where Ke Na was still lying on the sledge and unwilling to get up, "Of course, there is also an older child who has just grown up."

"Oh! Sorry, I thought you were going to bury him in the grave..."

"Kona is a girl, of course, a girl who is still alive."

Wei Ran used a little joke to avoid the embarrassment of the golden eagle breeder, and then changed the subject and asked, "With all due respect, Comrade Matvey, using such precious meat..."

"You're saying this mouse might be able to save someone's life, right?"

Seeing the apology on Wei Ran's face, Matvey smiled and asked him to sit down on the sledge. He took a breath and pointed to the library in the distance where Wei Ran and the two had just passed by, and then said, "

Preserving zoos is as important as preserving libraries and concert halls. These beautiful things can bring hope to those who are still alive.

You see, as long as the animals in the Leningrad zoo are still alive, as long as the Leningrad libraries are still allowed to borrow books, as long as there are performances in the Leningrad concert halls, everyone will firmly believe that Leningrad has not yet arrived.

In the most difficult times, we will firmly believe that we will win this war."

"So can we still visit the zoo now?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously, but he didn't think this middle-aged man was a virgin.

Just like it is the absolute bottom line that people cannot live by eating the flesh of the same kind, isn't it because of these seemingly meaningless persistence that the reason why people are humans and not beasts?

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid there's nothing we can do this winter."

Matvey's tone was not only apologetic, but also full of shame, "Since the Germans bombed the zoo last September, our water, power, heating, and water and sewage systems have all been paralyzed, and many exhibition halls have also been damaged.

To the point of destruction.”

As if he was worried about disappointing Wei Ran and Ke Na who was walking this way, Matvey continued, "Please give us some time, spring! In the spring, the zoo will definitely be open for visits.

We still have more than a hundred animals, and our stars the black vulture Veroshk, the hippo Beauty and the baboon Arsha are all still alive.

We also have goats and puppies that can perform, little foxes and little monkeys, and of course, those picky and proud golden eagles, they are all alive too.

Victor, when spring comes, you must take your children to the zoo."

"Is the beauty still alive too?"

Ke Na asked excitedly, then looked at Wei Ran and said in a calm and sad tone, "Before the war, my classmates often compared my figure with the beautiful hippopotamus or Betty the elephant."

"Alive, the beauty is still alive."

Matvey nodded, "However, due to lack of water, our beauty suffered from skin diseases, but she is indeed alive. Unfortunately, Betty was killed by the Germans in September."

At this point, Matvey sighed and couldn't help but repeat, "Betty was killed. The German bomb fell next to her elephant house. Her keeper, Comrade Brak, was killed on the spot. Both of them were killed."

Days later, Betty also died."

“The zoo is too far away from us”

Kona sighed regretfully, "I don't have the strength to walk that far now, but when spring comes, I will definitely go to the zoo to see it!"

"Where do you and the children live?" Matvey asked following the topic.

"The basement of the yellow building behind the Soviet Bank." Before Wei Ran could say anything, Kona gave the answer without any thought, "There used to be a bakery there, and we were in the basement of the bakery."

"I know it's there," Matvey said regretfully, "it's really far away. There's definitely no way for the children to walk to the zoo from there."

"We can only wait until the war is over," Kona said helplessly, "if we are still alive by then."
To be continued...