father - home

I knelt by the pool, held Zhao's hand, lightly patted his cold cheek, and whispered in his ear: "Zhao, don't sleep! Don't sleep! Open your eyes and look at the moon..."

"..." Zhao's voice was vague, and I put my ear to his lips. "The lights are too bright, I can't see..."

"What about me? Can you see me?"

Professor Straghold and Captain Piolkowski arrived at the test site on time.And Ernst, Walter, Showa and me, everyone is there.

The pool is a square with a length and width of 3M and a depth of 1.5M. There are steps to enter and exit the pool on one side, and a wooden shelf with an inclined surface on the other side.The test lasted for 4 or 5 hours. Of course, it is impossible for the subject to kneel or half-squat in the pool. We made this shelf and let him lie on the shelf with his whole body submerged in the water, only his face was exposed. on the water.Now the pool has been filled with cold water, and there are still pieces of ice the size of a washbasin floating.The water temperature is maintained at 0°C as long as there is ice.The sun is shining today, the temperature is rising, and it seems to have a little spring feeling.But as the sun went down, it took that bit of warmth with it, and it was another cold winter night, hopefully without freezing.

"Ready?" Professor Straghold asked Zhao, which was rare.Regardless of whether the professor only regarded Zhao as an experimental subject, at least it could be seen that he attached great importance to this experiment.

Zhao stood by the pool, tall and straight, with a serene expression, and nodded slightly to the short professor. "Yes."

The professor stared at Zhao's eyes for a while, then moved his eyes down, scanning Zhao's whole body like an X-ray machine.

I don't know if the professor had the same thought as me: Is this man a prisoner?When he took off his gray striped prison uniform and put on a smart flight jacket, he seemed to be a respectable soldier.The confidence in his eyes, the serenity at the corners of his mouth, the resoluteness on his jaw, and the youthful vigor radiating from his body, wouldn't the professor feel a little bit of regret?

The professor's eyes returned to Zhao's face, and at the same time, he patted Zhao's arm: "Good luck!"

I think the professor's blessing is sincere, only Zhao is lucky, his experiment will be successful.For him, the importance of the test subject depends entirely on his importance to the overall research project, not the test subject itself.

"Let's go, Marty."

I was just about to get Zhao into the water when someone knocked on the door.I signaled Walter to check it out, and it turned out to be Schenk.

"What are you doing here!" I asked sharply before Captain Piolkovsky could speak. "You don't know that this place is classified, so please don't enter if you have to?"

"I..." Shen Ke didn't expect that I would issue an order to evict the guest, and looked at the captain in a panic.

When I thought that Shen Ke came here just to see Zhao tortured, I couldn't get angry at all. If the professor and the captain were not there, I would definitely drive him out myself.Now, I can only suppress my anger and shout: "Why are you still in a daze? Walter, call the second lieutenant out!"

Walter, who was standing by the small door in the plank wall, was a little at a loss. He looked at me questioningly, and then at the professor.

The professor is a humble and cautious person. Although his experimental project is an overwhelmingly high-level secret here, he does not want to have any unpleasantness with the SS in the concentration camp. Therefore, the professor did not say anything, but the captain spoke first: "Not yet. Get out, Lieutenant Shenk!"

"But……"

Shen Ke should have obtained the captain's consent, no wonder he is now confused.It seems that the captain is giving me enough face, and it is also for the professor's face.

"Yes! Sir!" Shen Ke finally saluted, hesitating a little, his vicious eyes swept over me and Zhao, turned and left.

Except for the small spot of light cast on the pupil by the incandescent lamp above the head, the once bright and warm eyes are dimming and becoming cold.Even a small sun as bright as day, instead of the pale moonlight, could not add the slightest sign of life to this stiff, gray face.His lips were slightly parted, the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, and his eyelids were slightly closed. Zhao was talking, smiling, and watching. He had maintained this expression for nearly half an hour.His body temperature dropped, his blood coagulated, his nerves were paralyzed, his muscles couldn't be controlled, and he couldn't move his face, his hands, his legs, or his body.What about his heart?Still beating?

Zhao went into the water.Calm, calm, without the slightest sluggishness, the slightest tremor.If it weren't for the faint mist exhaled from the mouth, you wouldn't think how cold the weather was at night; if it weren't for the ice floes floating in the pool, you wouldn't believe that the temperature of the water was freezing point.The water covered his knees and soaked up to his waist. Zhao lay on the wooden shelf, his whole body submerged in the icy water, with only his face sticking out of the water.

I watched Zhao's expression intently, just in case.And he, always calm, smiling lightly, without any trace of pain, tension and fear.

The flight jacket gradually absorbed enough water, from puffy to deflated and stuck to the body.At the beginning, the ice cubes in the pool quickly became smaller and melted quickly, and then they hardly changed.Zhao closed his eyes, his breathing became shallow and slow, and there was no more white mist exhaled. I measured the pulse, and the heartbeat also slowed down.At this time, Zhao wouldn't want to sleep, he just couldn't open his eyes because of the little sun above his head, and he tried his best to stabilize his mood, control his breathing, and slow down the loss of heat.Under the calm water surface, under the calm and serene appearance, Zhao is fighting fiercely with the biting ice water and the devil of death with his will.

Zhao began to tremble, first his limbs, then his body, and the wooden frame under him also shook, causing ripples in the pool water.His lips were trembling, and he couldn’t close them; his teeth were chattering, and he made a “crack, cluck” sound; the muscles on his cheeks seemed to be loose because of the constant shivering; his face was getting redder and redder, and his hands in the water were also Flushed; his pulse quickened, his breathing quickened, and his body was responding automatically, generating more heat to fend off the cold.

"How?" asked the professor.

I didn't answer, I couldn't answer, in order not to let myself tremble, I also gritted my teeth.I knew it without looking up, the professor, the captain, Ernst, Walter, everyone was standing beside me, paying attention to the movement in the pool.At this time, they are all concerned about the same thing: "How long can Zhao last?" Of course, their motivations are different.