In the night, the cold wind began to be mixed with more and bigger snowflakes.

On the shore of the island, everyone was hiding behind a temporary shelter made of snow, nervously looking at the bonfires on the ice that were supported by three logs and placed directly above the ice cave.

At the edge of these bonfires, Wei Ran held a fried fish can in one hand, and under his arm, he also held an extra can for fried fish.

Even, in order to avoid accidental slipping when taking pictures in the evening, an additional copper-footed horse made of cannon shells was tied to his Lapland boots.

"Everyone hide! I'm going to start!"

Wei Ran shouted loudly, and everyone hiding in the temporary bunker subconsciously pressed their bodies down.

Without any hesitation, Wei Ran threw the can he was holding in his left hand into the first ice hole, took two quick steps and threw the can he was holding in his right hand into the second ice hole.

Without stopping, he picked up two other cans from the armpit of his other arm and threw them into the other two ice holes.

Before the last can sank into the ice hole, and before the first one that had sunk into the water exploded, he took a quick step, ran to the lake shore and jumped into the temporary bunker, risking his life.

"Why hasn't it exploded yet?" asked Ivan, an old fisherman.

“Not so fast”

Wei Ran explained, "But it will definitely explode. Wait a minute, Vasily, let's count with everyone. Let's see how many times it will explode."

"good!"

Vasily covered his ears with his hands, cleared his throat and started counting.

"1,2,3,4..."

In anticipation of more and more people starting to count in unison, when they all counted to "16" in unison, an explosion finally started under the ice cave!

"Bang!"

After the first explosion, the ice covering a radius of more than ten meters shattered. Everyone also cheered.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

After a series of dull explosions, all the ice within a few dozen meters shattered, and all the bonfires that had been set up fell into the water and were extinguished.

Immediately afterwards, a large number of bubbles emerged from the cold lake surface as if a pot was boiling. Wei Ran knew that this was caused by the rising methane gas in the lake.

"Why not..."

"Fish! I see a fish!"

Before Yulia could finish her words, her little boyfriend Sasha let out an even louder and surprising cheer!

"It's a fish! I saw it too!" Gunner Jonja also cheered.

At this time, the surface of the exploded lake looked like boiled dumplings, with fish of various sizes floating up from the water.

"Catch fish!"

The old fisherman Ivan was the first to react, climbed out of the temporary bunker, pushed a small wooden boat onto the ice.

Almost immediately, the others rushed out of the bunker, either grabbing nets, sacks, or wooden boxes originally used to hold ammunition!

Amid everyone's joyful cheers, Seryosha and Saha each used a dip net to fish out lake fish floating on the edge of the broken ice, while old Ivan rowed a small wooden boat to fish deeper alone.

fish everywhere.

The rest of the people, including Wei Ran, put all the fish caught ashore, regardless of size, into sacks and wooden boxes, and then used large and small sledges to pull them to the shore.

"After the war is over, I'm going to fry fish like this too!"

Sasha, who is also a fisherman, said excitedly, "Comrade Stalin testifies! Before the war, neither my father nor I had ever caught so many fish in one net! This is simply a dream!"

"There is a better way!"

Wei Ran said loudly, "You must live until the end of the war, and then I will teach you how to make a new energy fishing rod!"

"What is that?" Sasha, who was busy fishing, asked loudly and excitedly.

"It's a secret! I'll tell you after the war is over!" Wei Ran promised loudly.

"Then it's settled! You can't lie to me!" Sasha said.

"I promise! I swear to Comrade Stalin!"

Wei Ran made a loud assurance that he really hoped that the other party and everyone present could survive until the end of the war.

"Victor! I think we might be able to go to the other side of the island and continue bombing a few more times!" Lisa, the ammunition hand, suggested, "It's rare for us to encounter such good weather!"

"That's right!"

Ruslan and Igor, who had an injured hand but still came to help, said in unison.

"In that case, you continue to fish, and I'll prepare the bomb!"

Wei Ran stopped what he was doing happily. He didn't care if he had already overfulfilled the task of hunting fish in his return mission. He wanted to blow up all the fish in Lake Ladoga!

"Can we help?" Father Seryosha asked loudly.

"need!"

Wei Ran responded in the wind and snow, "You guys immediately choose a location for fish frying, dig holes in the ice, and light a bonfire!"

"I know where there are more fish!"

Old Ivan, who came back in a small wooden boat, said, "I have brought back the firewood. Everyone, hurry up and grab some dry wood. I will take you there!"

Under the leadership of this old fisherman, except for the sentry Yuri who was on guard and the gun crew members who could not leave their positions, most of the others helped carry the empty wooden boat and ran away, leaving only the cook Fu

Radha, the injured Igor and the youngest Vasily were busy using sleds to carry the fish they had just caught to the kitchen.

"God, what kind of person have you sent..." Vlada secretly crossed herself on her chest in the wind and snow, her tone full of gratitude.

In the shack, Wei Ran made more than a dozen fried fish cans with familiarity, and then carried them in airdrop boxes sent by the Germans. Under Vasily's guidance, he arrived at the lake on the other side of the island.

Four ice holes have been drilled here and bonfires have been lit to attract fish.

"Old Ivan has already taken people to dig ice holes in another direction," said Father Seryosha, "Let's blow up a few more times tonight!"

"no problem"

Wei Ran said, "You all hide, Father Seryosha, you are personally responsible for guarding this airdrop box full of bombs. No one is allowed to touch the cans inside. They are very dangerous now."

"Leave it to me!" said Seryosha.

Still holding the four cans as before, Wei Ran threw them into the ice cave one by one with increasing proficiency, and hid in the bunker.

This time, without him having to say anything, Vasily started counting, and the others followed suit in unison with great interest.

This time, when everyone counted to 15, the cans exploded under the water one after another, and the ice surface shattered one after another.

The only difference from last time is that this time everyone rushed up like a swarm before the fish floated up. They used nets, small wooden boats, and even sticks to get all the fish that had just floated to the shore.

.

This time, Wei Ran did not participate. He just pulled the airdrop box and followed Vasily along the footprints on the ground to the next fish frying spot.

On this rare blizzard night, the German planes rarely caused any trouble, and Weihan stopped his efforts after consuming all the can bombs he had retrieved.

When everyone braved the increasingly heavy snow and wind and returned to the shack, several large wooden basins and wooden boxes in the kitchen shack were already filled with fish, and even the trees outside the shack were covered with fish.

The belly is broken, and the fish meat with the internal organs and scales removed.

"There are at least one to two hundred kilograms of fish here now!"

Vlada said excitedly, "While the disappointing Germans are not here, all of you must help!"

"Aunt Vlada, what do you need us to do?" Vasily asked first.

"Clean the internal organs, scrape off the fish scales, cut off the fish head, and tie the fish meat with a rope and hang it on a tree outside to freeze!"

Vlada seemed to take over the command, "Don't throw away the fish scales, internal organs and fish heads, they can all be eaten!

Also! I have cooked a pot full of fish heads! I declare! Everyone will get enough midnight snacks to fill their stomachs today!"

As soon as these words came out, everyone cheered—including Wei Ran, who hadn't eaten anything all day long.

Obviously, the kitchen could not accommodate too many people, so everyone automatically divided into two groups and used various transportation tools to drag the frozen fish into ice sculptures to the relatively spacious boys' dormitory and the girls' dormitory respectively.

"Vasily, your job is to read to everyone."

Seryosha lit the oil lamp and issued an order, "Igor, you have to work harder. You are responsible for hanging the cleaned fish on the tree, and the rest are responsible for killing the fish!"

"yes!"

Igor and Vasily were the first to respond, and the others responded even louder.

In the firelight released by the fireplace and oil lamp, Wei Ran took off his Marizza robe and placed it on the bed that belonged to someone unknown. Then he rolled up his sleeves and picked up a pike, and then took out the gravity knife from the metal book.

, scrape off the fish scales and cut off the fish head, cut open the frozen fish belly, use the gravity knife's rope-unhooking needle to pick out the similarly frozen internal organs, and throw them into a wooden box aside.

"In the pre-dawn mist, the Dnieper River shines vaguely; the water washes away the stones on the bank, making a slight splashing sound..."

In the reading of Vasily's duck voice, everyone kept silent in tacit agreement, busy handling the fish saving lives with their lives, just like Lake Ladoga.

That night, the wind and snow got heavier and heavier, and the German planes really didn't plan to come. Even if they did come, they wouldn't see anything at all.

Because of this, the artillery crew members led by Zonya and Yuri, who was in charge of night sentry, also ran back to the shack at midnight and joined in the work of processing the catch.

When all the catches were cleaned, when the fish scales, internal organs and fish heads were brought to the kitchen, Olga and her mother Vlada also filled a lunch box full of fish head soup for everyone.
To be continued...