Looking back now, I have experienced many events in my life, including many life-threatening situations, but what truly scared me were only a few of these incidents.
This is probably because I was young and had not experienced life and death situations.
"That hideous face, to be honest, I didn't really get a good look at it. The word "hideous" is only a vague impression. It was just a moment when I turned my head, in the pitch-black water, the yellow light from the flashlight dimly illuminated the area and suddenly this face appeared so close to me. Whatever it was, the shock was extremely terrifying. I didn't have a chance to get a clearer look. After the initial shock, I instinctively recoiled and then took a gulp of cold water, losing my balance completely. All I knew was to desperately feel my way back up to the surface. Then someone grabbed my hand and pulled me up."
"I drank a lot of water and coughed so much that I couldn't speak. I couldn't see clearly and someone dragged me along while running. Then, I jumped into the water until I barely recovered when I got ashore."
At that time, it was really embarrassing. Everyone was soaking wet and there wasn't a dry spot on us. We immediately looked for a dry place to start a fire and dry our clothes. We took off all our clothes and huddled together naked.
Wang Sichuan brought white wine and gave each of us a little bit to drink. We gradually warmed up and at that time, Wang Sichuan asked me what happened when I suddenly choked on water and if something had happened below.
"When I told them what I had seen, several people looked at me with disbelief. Pei Qing asked if it was the body of a drowned person that had been tossed around and floated to the surface or if I was just imagining things and had seen wrong."
"I can't answer. I only have a vague impression myself. In fact, thinking back now, Pei Qing's explanation was the most reasonable. However, at the time, I felt that something suddenly appeared beside me without any sound in the pitch-black water, which made me feel uneasy."
The extreme fear in that moment left a deep impression on me. Even now, we still discuss it when we meet. This has also caused me to feel a sense of inexplicable fear whenever I see a pitch-black ditch in my daily life, as if there is something there.
Of course, this is a story that came later. After I spoke it out, although they said they didn't believe me, they all clearly had fear and concerns about that area of water. This is something that humans cannot avoid. And when I thought about how we had to pass through there on our way back, I felt my scalp tingle and could only temporarily avoid thinking about it.
After the clothes were dried, we put them back on and the warm clothes made me miss the sunshine outside for the first time. Pei Qing said we could not waste any more time and urged us to move forward after getting everything organized.
At this point, one-third of the time allocated for our exploration has passed. We had planned that if we encounter another waterhole like this ahead, we will turn back instead of moving forward to avoid wasting more time.
However, after walking forward for a while, the cave suddenly opened up and the width of the dark river corridor noticeably increased. There were also more traces left by the Japanese around. Many peeled Japanese signs appeared on the cave walls and many broken green wooden boxes were stuck in the crevices of the rocks, all of which contained black cotton-like things that were very damp when probed with a gun by the deputy squad leader.
After walking a little further, this part was smooth and the road was not difficult. It took about two hours before we encountered the second unexpected situation. And this situation was something we had never even thought of, which completely stunned us.
After walking through a relatively narrow section of the cave, we climbed over a very large rock. When we looked back, the once deep darkness of the huge cave had turned into a massive rock wall.
"We took a long time to realize that this cave actually ended here."
Several flashlights' lights were swaying on the huge rock wall. This was a giant slab of limestone, formed by the convergence of the two sides of the rock wall due to geological movement that happened billions of years ago which stopped here. It explained that the geological structure that formed this deep cave stopped here and the cave was naturally closed, truly the end.
Looking back on our journey, it was nearly four or five kilometers to get here. Compared to the length of underground rivers, this is considered small scale and it is common for them to be 10 to 20 kilometers long. Judging from the water volume at the beginning of the underground river, we never expected to reach the end of the cave so quickly.
Several engineering soldiers did not speak, listening to us explorers discussing there. We all felt that it was impossible. According to the textbook and our experience, the underground river should be even longer. Otherwise, at the end, there should be a buffered underground lake with a certain amount of water.
"The main basis is that under the cobblestone beach where we walk, there are fierce currents flowing in the crevices, deep and bottomless. This indicates that the water flow under these cobblestones is not less than the underground river when we just entered. The water is still flowing downstream under the stones, indicating that the underground river still has a passage to the lower reaches."
However, on the surface of the stone, the cave had definitely ended here and after searching for a while, no concealed entrance could be found.
"We are all puzzled and clueless, so we had to take a break and at the same time analyze possible situations."
Among us, Pei Qing has the most experience in exploring caves because he has been to Yunnan, where there are many caves with a lot of water. He said that in general, when this kind of situation occurs, this place must have been a fault waterfall before, because the rock structure was collapsed due to water flow impact, and the falling rocks blocked the entrance. The entrance to go down must be under these rocks under our feet.
Both Wang Sichuan and I said it was impossible. If it were true, how did the Japanese people cross it back then? Wang Sichuan said it seems that we went the wrong way, and the other group is correct. Luckily, we can return with our heads held high.
"I waved my hand, knowing that this was not right. Not only were there traces of Japanese presence here, but the appearance of that woman was enough to prove that there must be a way to continue going further inside."
"Wang Sichuan said, let's all keep quiet and listen. If there is a large hidden crevice underground, the sound of water should be louder."
We couldn't think of any other way, so we scattered again and held our breath to listen closely to the faint sound of water flowing underground.
To be honest, can you really distinguish anything from this? I feel like the volume of sound is directly proportional to the level of silence in the environment. How close or far you are, and whether the sound of the water nearby is loud or soft, all affect your judgement.
I cautiously listened for over ten meters and realized that the tactic wouldn't work. I felt nothing. Just as I let out a sigh and signaled to reject Wang Sichuan's proposal, a young soldier on the other side suddenly stood up and gestured for us to keep quiet.
We all shuddered, wondering if we had heard correctly. Hurriedly, we tiptoed over to his side and leaned forward to listen.
Upon hearing this, we all showed an expression of surprise. It turns out that the sound coming from beneath this rock isn't the sound of water, but rather a sound that is indescribable, like the sound of nails scratching against the rock.
Everyone focused and listened for a long time, but still couldn't figure out what the sound was. We only felt that this "scratching" sound was very disturbing, as if claws were scraping our hearts, making us feel extremely itchy and wanting to scratch fiercely.
"I can't remember who started digging the stones first, but soon all of us began to work and move the stones from here. We started with the big ones, and then moved to the small ones."
"I felt something strange after moving a few times because the stones here are too easy to move. There are large and small pieces of gravel nearby, and a large number of massive stones that are impossible to move mixed in, making it clear to others that excavation is hopeless. However, as we dug down here, we found that there was not a single definitive stone."
What does it mean that all the stones can be moved by people in terms of size and weight?
I couldn't help but speed up, and others were infected by my movements and also became faster.
"With a "thud" sound, my hand touched something."
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked towards my hand. Underneath the rock I lifted, there was a rusted iron plate with marks on it.
Several people looked at each other with baffled expressions. They gathered around me and continued to excavate, with the exposed iron plate as the center.
Soon, a iron door buried under the rocks appeared before us. The huge door panel was as big as 5 meters by 5 meters. On its chipped and peeling green paint, we could vaguely see some white Japanese characters. We could understand one character which is 53, one character which is strategy, but we didn't understand the rest.
After most of the door was exposed, we returned to silence and listened for the sound underneath the door again. However, this time we realized that the scratching sound was gone and there was no sound coming from under the door at all.