That night, as we rested, each of us had our own thoughts. None of us had ever touched a woman before, and with a woman sleeping here, her underwear still drying nearby, it was difficult to fall asleep. However, I was indeed tired, my mind wandering, and eventually I fell into a deep sleep.
"I don't know how long I had been sleeping when someone woke me up. I looked up and everything was dark - the fire had gone out. I sat up and shone my flashlight around, and saw that the soldier on watch had fallen asleep and the fire went out because no one added more fuel."
I turned my head to see who pushed me, only to find Yuan Xile completely naked, crouching by my side. I was startled and asked her, "Are you awake?"
"She didn't answer me, instead she leaned over and pressed on top of me. I smelled a strange scent and started feeling dizzy. Yuan Xilei, being a Northeastern woman, had a full figure and a very strong feminine charm. I wanted to push her away, but my hands involuntarily wrapped around her. The smooth and delicate touch sent a shiver down my spine."
However, I dared not move any further, unsure of what to do. Suddenly, she opened her mouth, and I saw her slowly spitting the barbed wire out from inside.
"I shouted out loud and jumped up in one go, my eyes blinked and everything disappeared."
I was still lying in my sleeping bag. The fire was bright. Chen Lu, Pei Qing, and two soldiers had already woken up. Wang Sichuan was snoring there. Yuan Xile had also woken up. He had put on his clothes and was devouring the food hungrily. His hair was disheveled and his movements showed that something was off.
"Damn, it turned out to be a dream. I even felt a bit amused myself. I touched my crotch and said, "Oh well, it looks like my old man was right about me marrying a wife soon.""
Rubbing my eyes, I got up and washed my face with cold water. I gave a nod to Pei Qing and asked how Yuan Xile was doing.
Pei Qing shook his head and said, "Looks like he hasn't eaten anything for a long time."
"Did you say anything?"
"He sighed and said, 'Why don't you ask yourself?'"
"I was never very optimistic. Seeing Pei Qing's expression and tone, I knew there wouldn't be any surprises. But when I walked over and tried to talk to her, I discovered that the situation was even worse than I had imagined."
She curled up into a ball, her mind unclear and in a daze. No matter how much I tried to talk to her, she wouldn't respond. Whenever I spoke, she would stare straight at me, but her gaze was scattered and unfocused, indicating that she had been in the dark for too long and was having trouble adjusting to the light. Her face was very delicate, and now, looking at her, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her.
"I finally gave up. Wang Sichuan made breakfast for me and sat next to me sighing, saying how pitiful it was. I reckon she followed our light here last night. He checked her clothes and backpack, and all the food inside was gone. We don't know how long she had been trapped here. If we came in any later, she definitely wouldn't have made it."
"I want to tell them that with this perspective, something is definitely going to happen later on. Now that I think about it, we don't know anything about the situation inside. Shouldn't we go back first?"
"I proposed this suggestion because the nature of our exploration team has changed. On one hand, we have foreseen danger and discovered survivors ahead, while on the other hand, we have found that our superiors have concealed the truth from us. Continuing to delve deeper at this time would not be wise; it would show ignorance of adaptability, not a proactive attitude towards work."
Pei Qing also nodded, "To be honest, I am very curious about the situation inside, but I admit that it is right to go back now considering the overall situation. However, we cannot just go back like this. If there are others still trapped here, they are doomed if we leave. I think a few of us should go inside with light gear and take a look around to see if we can find anyone else. That way we can also justify our actions."
"I thought about it and felt that what he said made sense. Damn, this guy has the potential to be a leader, and that bothers me a bit."
"We have temporarily decided on this matter. When Wang Sichuan and the others wake up, I will tell them and they won't have any objections. The deputy leader said that anyway, we are supposed to listen to you."
"After having breakfast, we assigned tasks and Yuan Xilei definitely couldn't go on the road, we had to leave someone to take care of her."
Chen Luhu immediately said he wouldn't participate, saying "My hungry body suddenly feels uncomfortable, so I'm taking a sick leave." He waited for us to return here and no one objected. To be honest, he's just deadweight when he comes along. The deputy squad leader was afraid he couldn't handle it alone, so he left another soldier here. Me, Wang Sichuan, Pei Qing, and him and two other soldiers put on light gear and began to move forward.
Since we decided to explore and then go back, we didn't have to worry about consuming resources. We all turned on our flashlights and suddenly illuminated the inside of the cave.
"The scenery here is all the same, and we have no time to care about the geological structure. Without any load, we walk very fast and soon cannot see the campfire behind us."
"As we walked further in, due to the brightness of the flashlight, we felt that the cave was getting larger and it felt especially vigorous to walk, as if we were pushing away the depression from carrying heavy loads during marching. However, as we walked, we also noticed that the stones here became smaller and soon there were signs of returning to the underground river."
After walking six or seven hundred meters, the terrain suddenly began to slope sharply downwards, catching us off guard. The slope was around three hundred meters long and every few meters there was a barbed wire fence attached to the ground. We carefully descended down the slope but before we reached the bottom, Wang Sichuan suddenly cursed out loud.
"At the bottom of the slope, the dark river did indeed reappear, but this section of the river was not long. With the flashlight beam shining ahead, a gravel shoal appeared again tens of meters away."
"What should we do? Are we supposed to go back and carry the leather raft?" Pei Qing said, of course everyone knows this is not possible.
"The deputy squad leader shone his flashlight on the surface of the water and could see the bottom: 'We can wade across,' he said, about to jump down, but Wang Sichuan grabbed him and said, 'Wait!'"
"He said as he moved his flashlight to a corner, and we saw several iron cages submerged in the deepest part of the water. They were filled with dark shadows, and we didn't know what was inside."