Some of these jute bags were piled up to five or six layers high, and several layers could be seen underneath. Due to struggling, many of the skeleton's limbs were exposed, but they couldn't escape the tough wire bindings and all died here. The bodies were naturally air-dried, with painful expressions that made it unbearable to look closely.
"We tried to move some burlap bags, but the wires got tangled immediately. Chen Luhu was very scared and completely lost his composure. If he hadn't relieved himself before we got here, I think he would have wet his pants. It was Pei Qing who remained quiet the whole time, with a very calm expression."
"We dropped anchor and the deputy captain jumped and climbed over several rocks to take a look. He found that further in, there was a long stretch of the same situation with probably seven to eight hundred bodies, if not a thousand. This place is like a mini version of a mass grave."
Working in geological exploration does not mean that there are no cowards, but seeing death is indeed rare. Seeing so much at once is a bit chilling.
After calculating, we feel that these people must have been laborers captured by the Japanese army during the war. They were needed for the transportation of heavy bomber parts and there was no more efficient transportation tool than humans in the terrain. At that time, the situation was so confidential that these people were silenced in this way.
"This kind of hair-raising brutality is commonplace for the Japanese people. However, we all feel strange about why the bodies are piled up here. These "body bags" cannot have any other use and must be used as buffer bags, which should be used in the place of the explosion. Could it be that the Japanese carried out explosions here?"
I thought about these collapsed boulders, is it possible that the geological collapse caused by these shattered boulders falling was artificially created by the Japanese?
But after looking around, there was no trace of this kind of thing. Pei Qing also said that deep in the crevices of the stones, one could see that the edges of the stones in the flowing water below were very smooth. Such a level of water erosion could not occur without tens of thousands of years of erosion. This place must be a geological collapse site from a very long time ago.
Similarly, this type of terrain is not suitable for any blasting operations, as it can easily cause a chain reaction in the rock layers. Furthermore, the way these buffer bags are piled up is very chaotic, as if they were abandoned here. Could it be that these are surplus materials?
It's really hard to imagine the weird ideas of the Japanese devils when we are not the parties involved. This also makes us feel even stranger, what did they do at the end of this dark river?
The inability to use the skin raft caused disorder among us. The deputy commander ordered the engineers to collect all the equipment, and we also took on a significant portion of the load. After deflating the skin raft, it became very heavy, and I realized that my load was beyond what I had imagined.
We started trekking, holding onto one rock after another, which was extremely difficult. We soon realized why the Japanese piled these bodies here – they were actually filling the road. The bodies filled the gaps between the boulders, making it easier for those behind to walk faster.
"I felt a wave of nausea and a creepy sensation, as if there were needles on the soles of my feet. I just wanted to pass through that area quickly."
However, things did not go as planned. The road here is extremely difficult to pass through. It takes almost as much effort as performing a stunt to move to the next rock, and if you step on those bags, your entire foot will sink into them and get stuck in the wire. You will need to cut the wire to get it out.
"We gritted our teeth and walked just over a kilometer, taking nearly three hours. The deputy leader was exhausted to the limit. After one stop, everyone couldn't stand up anymore. Wang Sichuan gasped and said to me, 'Lao Wu, at this rate, we might have to spend the night in the pit of ten thousand people.'"
"Wang Sichuan is right. There's darkness ahead and we don't know how far it extends. We can't possibly climb back in three hours. The vice team leader and I exchanged a glance, thinking that there was no other way but to rest here, even if it meant doing so reluctantly."
So I said, "Let's just let it go. These are our compatriots. They've been dead for so long without peace. Let's just stay here and keep watch for them. What's wrong with that?"
"Before I finished speaking, Chen Luohu immediately disagreed, saying, "I oppose it because I am hungry."
"I was a bit surprised and asked him, 'So what do you suggest we do?'"
"Hunger thinks that we should keep on going and rest only after leaving this place. Because, resting here wouldn't be good in any way." He said.
"I cried and laughed inexplicably. Wang Sichuan taunted me, 'Who doesn't rest well? Maybe you're the only one who can't rest well here. Hey, Luohu, are you afraid of ghosts here?'"
"Chen Lahu's face turned red instantly and he said: "Being hungry is just a kind of fear, what can I do? My mother was pregnant with me for six months and I was born with a congenital deficiency and a naturally small courage. Can hunger be blamed for that? Besides, having a small courage doesn't hinder me from contributing to our country while being hungry. Whoever wants to laugh at me being hungry is criticizing their comrade."
"Wang Sichuan and I glanced at each other helplessly. I said, 'Ghosts and gods are just superstitious beliefs. Rocks are a type of material, and corpses are also a type of material. Just treat them like stones, and there's nothing to fear. Besides, I estimate that we won't be able to walk out of here even after another day, and we can't afford to waste that kind of energy.'"
Chen Lu Hu said: "How do you know it's dark and deep ahead? Maybe we'll get out in another 15 minutes."
"I thought about it and it makes some sense. If we can avoid sleeping here, I don't want to forcefully try to be brave. At this moment, Pei Qing said, 'Don't argue. Listen to the sound of water ahead. It is stable, indicating that the water flow hasn't changed much. Even if we have reached the edge, it will still take two to three hours to get out. As our physical strength diminishes, we cannot maintain the same intensity as before. The path ahead will become more and more difficult, and continuing will be a waste of efficiency.' His tone was neither tight nor slow, and was very convincing. 'Resting here is the wisest choice. I agree to stay here overnight, but we can shorten the time of rest.'"
"Wang Sichuan couldn't care less, he was already extremely tired and immediately said, 'Three votes to one vote, the minority should obey the majority.'"
"I thought to myself that Pei Qing really has a way with words. I hadn't thought of it before, so I immediately followed his lead and said, "Pei is a talented student, he sees problems differently from us ordinary folks, and I agree with his analysis."
Chen Luohu wanted to protest, but Wang Sichuan made a few gestures, and some soldiers had already put down their things. Chen Luohu was extremely angry but helpless, with an ugly face. However, no one paid attention to him. We began to search for a suitable campsite, and soon found a dry, slab-like rock.
"Once we climbed up, the engineering soldiers cleared a spot for us to organize on top. After getting rid of those equipments, we became much more relaxed. Pei Qing led a young soldier with basic equipment to explore ahead, to see how many more obstacles there were. If it continued like this all the way, we would have to abandon our equipment or we would never reach our destination."
"I didn't take it seriously at the time and just told him to be careful. The deputy squad leader said to the soldier, 'Take care of Pei.' The soldier replied 'Yes, sir!' We agreed that if there was an emergency, they would fire a gun and call for help, and then the two of us set off."
"After clearing the site, we cooked our marching rice over a fire. Although we were all wearing raincoats, we were still soaked, so we took them off and dried them. I brought my sleeping bag from the team, which was said to be confiscated from the US military during the Korean War, with the letters U.S. on it. I'm not very clean, so when I toasted it, it had a moldy smell, and Wang Sichuan quickly asked me to put it away."
Chen Luhu was sulking and ignoring us, so we ignored him as well. I chatted and laughed with Wang Sichuan on my own. That was just how people were back then. Since there was a lot of turnover in the team, we just got along with whoever was easy to get along with. We didn't force things if they didn't work out. After the project was over, we all had to go back to our respective places anyway. We never knew when we would meet each other again.
"Marching rice is compressed and dehydrated fine grains with salt and sugar. One piece as big as a finger can make a pot of rice, which is hard to eat with a medicinal taste, but we can manage. Wang Sichuan went to fetch water and saw a black sack and wire under the rock. He said, "Let's use the clean water we brought." In the end, they boiled the rice with water in a pot and ate it like porridge in a basin."
When I was eating, I was thinking to myself that this won't do, I've finished my own water, what should I do? But thinking about it was also troublesome, and I thought that when I'm really thirsty, I'll have to drink my own urine, and I won't be picky about it. In the end, I couldn't be bothered to think about it.
After finishing the meal, Pei Qing and the others had not returned. We lit up our cigarettes. I was smoking a blend of Evergrande and Harbin that I put together myself. Wang Sichuan didn't have as good treatment or relationships as me, so he smoked Albanian cigarettes that were 1.8 yuan per pack. I noticed that no one in the army could get good cigarettes, mostly just plain ones, so I decided to give a pack of Evergrande to our deputy squad leader. It wasn't a trick; his face turned red with happiness.
"After taking a few puffs, we all felt very uncomfortable. Nobody said anything and we just sat there smoking in silence."
To be honest, I actually understand Chen Lu Hu to some extent. In a way, he is braver than us because he dares to show his fear. Although others may not be as afraid as him, it doesn't mean they feel nothing. Eating in that kind of place is really uncomfortable. I can tell that these people are all pretending to be indifferent, but they are actually on edge, always feeling like someone is watching us from all sides. I always want to turn my head and look, but soon my shoulders tense up.
"To divert attention, Wang Sichuan asked me to tell some jokes to lighten the mood. When I used to stay in the exploration team, soldiers would often ask me to tell jokes. I have compiled quite a few jokes now, and Wang Sichuan has heard them all when we lived together. He knows I have a talent for telling stories."
However, suddenly proposing to tell jokes feels a bit silly. Usually, you talk about work first, and then bring up a topic to engage people before telling a joke. The atmosphere here is not suitable for telling scary stories. I had a reserved program at the time, telling a story about a geological explorer who joked with a young ethnic minority girl in Yunnan. It was very funny, with romance and suspense included. I planned to use this story. These soldiers haven't seen women for years. Listening to this story can definitely shift their attention.
"I was pondering how to start a conversation when suddenly, in the midst of it all, a series of gunshots erupted in the distance like thunder."
The sound was extremely loud, and we all jumped up at once. The squad leader turned out to be a regular soldier. He threw away his cigarette and quickly grabbed his gun and headed towards the location where the gunshot came from, with the other engineers following closely behind.
"We are not as skilled as they are, and I fell more than ten meters in an instant. Wang Sichuan is too heavy and soon slipped under the stones. His foot got caught in a sack, and he struggled to get free, yelling for my help."
"I didn't have time to deal with him, so Chen Luohu, who was almost crawling behind me, took care of him, while I hurriedly caught up."