From the moment Wei Ran and others arrived at the hot spring camp, the torrential rain continued until dusk and then gradually stopped.

After such a heavy rainfall, puddles of various sizes appeared dotted in the low-lying areas of the mine not far away.

On the bright side, these puddles provide a rich and diverse environment for the local ecosystem. But if we explain it in human terms, these puddles undoubtedly provide important breeding grounds for the army of man-eating mosquitoes.

It is for this reason that almost as soon as the heavy rain stopped, the guys in the wooden camp tavern immediately set off under the command of Alili, driving old bulldozers and excavators produced in the Soviet era to connect these puddles.

Together, a drainage ditch was then dug to connect the abandoned mine pit that served as a sewer.

How many mine caves are scattered around this vast mineral deposit that covers an area of ​​at least six or seven kilometers? How deep are the mine caves and where are they connected to? This question is beyond the control of Alili and Misha, who are considered half owners.

Answer, even the old miners who have worked here may not be able to give an accurate number.

But at least, the spring water gushing out of the hot spring in the workshop has been flowing into the mines day and night for decades, but it has still not filled those intricate mines.

Of course, Wei Ran and others were also not interested in exploring this meaningless topic. They set off almost at the same time as those idiots, riding on a cargo bucket dragged by a crawler bulldozer, along a road covered with insulation material.

The pipe as thick as an oil barrel slowly rushed to the corner at the edge of the mineral deposit.

As the distance got closer, the hot spring workshop and the glass-roofed houses behind them were completely blocked by the snow paths created by the slag piles.

When they once again bypassed a slag pile covered with weeds, two rows of strange-looking greenhouses appeared directly in front of them on a high ground about two meters above the mine deposit.

Different from the greenhouses that Wei Ran had seen in his hometown, if you look at the main body of these embryonic greenhouses from top to bottom, the walls made of slag and concrete look like an oversized "work".

However, each stroke of this character is more than one meter thick, and the wall in the middle is nearly three meters high. Even next to the corner, there is a dense row of diesel barrels connected by water pipes.

.

According to Suisui’s introduction, in mid-September, plastic insulation films will be covered along the middle of the “I”-shaped wall to both sides.

And those diesel barrels were large radiators that they had remodeled from free oil barrels. As for the heat source, it was naturally the hot spring.

In addition to this architectural arrangement, the two rows of greenhouses that have not yet had time to lay insulation films are now covered with a thick layer of soil full of humus, and some positions are even lined with seedling cups.

"Due to funding and heat source issues, we have only built two vegetable greenhouses so far."

Suisui, who was holding a big-eared fox in her arms, explained with regret, "They add up to only 68 meters in total. Although all the families who build wooden houses in our camp can only be allocated one meter wide, 12 meters

A long greenhouse vegetable patch. But after the vegetables produced in it meet the needs of the camp, the rest are their own."

“These vegetables are worth more than rubles in Inta”

Alili couldn't help but take over the topic, "If the water output from that hot spring wasn't really big enough, we would definitely have to build more."

"Alili, go to the coal mine and find an exploration team."

The wealthy Jima waved his hand and said, "Let them look for hot springs in this mineral deposit and take a few hot springs after they find them. The two movies I made have already earned about 6 million rubles. As long as they leave me some

Two hundred thousand is enough, and the rest can be used."

“Tell me if you don’t have enough money.”

Wei Ranhun said nonchalantly, Ji Ma has only made two movies in total now, and the 6 million rubles may not only be the remuneration he received, but maybe even his wife has been included in it. At this time

Of course I should help him if I can.

"These two big dogs"

Suisui rolled her eyes, but simply changed the subject and said, "Let's keep going, we are not here to see the vegetable greenhouse."

Hearing this, Alili, who was about to say something, immediately said hello to the man in the cab. Amidst the roar of the engine, the crawler bulldozer, which looked very old, immediately started to pull.

He continued forward with the cargo bucket and climbed up a winding slag road into the forest on the edge of the ore deposit.

Less than a hundred meters deeper along the ruts in the forest, in a forest clearing that had been dug beyond recognition, there was a tombstone that I had seen in the photo, and behind the tombstone, those

On the edges of the dug potholes, there was also a stone-like thing that looked like a milepost.

"How did you find this place?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"Those two rows of greenhouses were built on slag."

Suisui took the initiative to explain, "Although there is no need to worry about the impact of the thawing of permafrost in summer because of the existence of slag, but if we want things to grow there, my uncles said it is best to dig some fertilizer from the forest and put a layer of it on it."

"Then you found this monument?"

"Can't"

Suisui wiped the mud from her shoes on the edge of the stone monument, "Not only is this place not far from those greenhouses, but there is such a forest clearing right here. In other places, when an excavator shovels down, there are tree roots."

Hearing this, Wei Ran couldn't help but shook his head secretly. Even if this little girl didn't have fine clothes and fine food, she was definitely pampered and pampered since she was a child. But she had just graduated and came to this place where mosquitoes were flying.

It was a hell of a place, and it was really difficult for her to take the lead in the infrastructure work for nearly a month.

"Why are you in a daze?" Suisui stretched out her hand and waved it in front of Wei Ran's eyes, "Tell me what you can see."

"How can you tell?"

After coming back to his senses, Wei Ran signaled Ji Ma, who was still on the cargo bucket, to hand down the mop, and while wiping the soil on the tombstone, he asked, "You didn't find any bones or anything near here?"

"I didn't even dig my ass"

Suisui stepped on a mileage pile in disappointment, pointed to the mud pit next to it and said with disappointment, "Except for these broken stone piles, not even a bone or debris was dug out."

Signaling Suisui to take his feet away, Wei Ran squatted down and looked at this thing, which was at most ten centimeters square and less than half a meter long, resembling a common mileage pile on the side of the road.

However, apart from a mottled five-pointed star and what appears to be the outline of a cherry blossom embossed on this piece of crap, nothing of value can be found at all.

Wei Ran got up and went back to the stone tablet with names engraved on it to look at it again. He rinsed the mop in a dirty puddle and wiped the plaster flag in the middle, but in the end he just took a picture.

Taking the next photo, he then asked the Inta guy, who was still in the cab of the bulldozer, "Can you turn it over?"

Upon hearing this, Nayinta's man immediately put down his wine bottle, waved his hand to the people around him to stand farther away, and easily used a shovel to overturn the stone tablet.

After wiping it carefully with a mop again, Wei Ran discovered that on the back of the stone tablet, except for a simple drawing of a crane and a sunset coexisting with lines, there was no valuable information at all.

He also took a photo, and Wei Ran looked at the forest clearing, but in the end he just shook his head helplessly.

"You can't find it either?" Suisui asked disappointedly.

"Except for the high probability that he is a prisoner of the Kwantung Army, I don't have any other clues for the time being. Now I can only wait and see if my friend in China can find any clues."

While Wei Ran was talking, he also sent the photo he had just taken personally to Xia Shushi again. This time he was really helpless. Even with the stone tablet and those stone piles, there was a high probability that not even the metal book could help.

busy.

Moreover, even if the metal book could send him there, even if he had lost his mind, he would never want to experience the service level of a Soviet farmhouse as a Japanese soldier.

"It seems you can't count on it either."

Suisui sighed in disappointment, "I also plan to make a big sign to explain the history of the septic tank that is about to be built."

"You're quite impatient"

Wei Ran shook his head dumbfounded, "Okay, go back quickly, we didn't come all the way here just to see you repair the septic tank."

Hearing this, Suisui grinned, and finally followed Wei Ran and climbed into the cargo compartment.

After the carload of friends who were willing to accompany Suisui to play around returned to the cabin camp, the sky gradually became dark.

According to Suisui's arrangement, Wei Ran took her suitcase and moved into the wooden house where she lived these days. Anfisa, who originally lived in the same wooden house as Suisui, took her personal belongings and moved in with her sister.

Entered the same wooden house.

As the lighting lamps burst out with bright light, Wei Ran finally had the opportunity to see the earthen kang made by his four uncles and their apprentices.

Thanks to the almost free wood here, not only is this earthen kang tightly wrapped in logs, it looks particularly clean, but even the suspended kang surface is made of polished pine boards, and there is even a bed on it.

Kang mat made entirely of reindeer skin.

However, before Suisui could light the fireplace connected to the earthen bed to show off, Xia Shushi, who was far away in China, sent a message - "Found it."

This guy can do it... Wei Ran muttered to himself and dialed the other party's mobile number directly using the satellite phone.

"You found it so quickly?" Wei Ran asked directly after waiting for the call to be connected. Only five or six hours had passed.

"What's so difficult about this?"

Xia Shushi said with some pride, "There are so many names in the photo you sent me. If I check the names one by one, I can always find the right ones."

"Tell me in detail"

Wei Ran turned on the hands-free function, and then used WeChat to transfer 2,000 yuan to the other party as a token of his appreciation.

Xia Shushi cleared his throat and explained, "In the photo you sent, there is a ridiculous name named Ohashi Yutaro. According to the documents I collected, there is a captain with the same name in the communications team of the 39th Division of the Kwantung Army.

After the division surrendered on August 20, 1945, basically everyone who could still breathe was sent to Siberia."

"That's all?" Wei Ran asked regretfully.

“Of course it’s more than that”

Xia Shushi smiled and continued, "I followed this clue and searched through the memoirs written by the survivors of the 39th Division who came back alive from Siberia, and found a key record in the memoirs written by one of the beasts."

"What record?" Wei Ran glanced at Suisui, who had her ears twitching on one side, and then asked unhurriedly.

"To put it simply, in the memoirs of this Japanese soldier, they returned to China in 1956, but one month before returning to China, Maozi picked out some strong prisoners of war from them, including that Japanese soldier.

His friend and fellow countryman was a heavy baggage soldier from Osaka named Yukichi Hanai.

This name happened to appear in the photo you sent me, and until the person writing the memoirs returned to the island alive, his friend Yukichi Hanai from the same country did not return."

Having said this, Xia Shuseki paused, "Of course, I am not 100% sure whether the Hanai Yukichi mentioned in the memoir and the Hanai Yukichi recorded on the broken stone in the photo are the same.
To be continued...