The flames of the bonfire flickered in front of me, and the circulating air caused a crackling sound as the flames burned. The faces of a few people were slightly distorted in the firelight, especially Old Cat. I could only see the outline of his face, but not his expression.
"Are we not the ones to be saved?"
"I feel like I can't understand Wang Sichuan's words, but when I think of Yuan Xile's situation, I suddenly feel like I can somewhat understand. But I can't be certain."
"Who is it that you want to save?" I looked at the old cat, hoping he could provide a clear explanation.
The two scouts who were not sitting with us stopped talking and turned to look at me when they heard my question, while Wang Sichuan and the others looked at the flames in front of them and remained silent. No one supported me, obviously because they had asked this question before.
After the flames, the old cat looked at me, threw the cigarette butt on the ground and whispered, "I have no right to tell you. You'll know once you find it."
Another period of silence followed as no one spoke. Finally, Wang Sichuan muttered, "This time, I have objections to the organization's approach."
The old cat sighed and said, "As soldiers, it is our duty to obey orders. If you have any opinions, take them to Rong Aiguo after you leave."
We all sighed, knowing that it was not that Old Cat didn't want to speak, but rather that it was impossible for him to treat confidentiality as a joke in front of so many people. This was a matter to be taken to a military court, and indeed, we were all soldiers, albeit in a special capacity. However, as soldiers, we must obey orders, which is a sacred principle upon which everything in the military is based. When we enlisted, we were already mentally prepared for this.
"So Wang Sichuan cursed and didn't say anything more, and those who were looking at our exploration technicians turned their heads and continued talking."
"To ease the atmosphere, I asked them, "Alright, so where did you guys discuss up to? I'd like to listen too."
Pei Qing handed me the drawing of the old cat as a way to ease the mood. Then I said, "We were talking to him about the iron door that was in this location at that time. Since the passage is here at the top of the cave, what is behind that iron door?"
"I remembered the strange iron gate, which should now be underwater. In Old Cat's drawing, there is roughly sketched a long passage, and I easily recognized the places we had passed. At the iron gate, for some unknown reason, Old Cat had put a question mark."
I asked them what the result of their discussion was, Pei Qing said that they asked the opinion of the engineering troops and they said there are two possibilities: firstly, it is not a door but a cement stake for temporary crane. The rock structure here is not stable. It's okay to walk but if they need to hoist larger aircraft components, such as engines, they may need a lifting frame. Then, they need to pour a large amount of cement and steel bars under the rock. The iron door may only be the remaining part of the cement stake.
"I recalled and thought to myself, nonsense. It must be when she reaches the door. What could be the second possibility?"
Pei Qingdao: That would be interesting. They said that if it weren't for the concrete pillars, according to their experience in building underground shelters, the iron door placed in this kind of location would definitely be a weak explosive point. There would be explosives underneath the door, and a deep hole drilled down to the load-bearing layer, filled with a huge amount of damp-proof and shock-proof explosives at critical locations. They would be used to detonate in emergencies, instantly sealing the cave and buying time.
Many underground fortresses in Japan have such devices installed at critical passageways, which require only a few people with access codes to operate. The Japanese military has specific individuals tasked with carrying out these "sacred" detonation missions.
However, for unknown reasons, the Japanese army sealed this iron gate when they withdrew. Obviously, they did not want to completely seal off this place, or perhaps at that time, the person who knew the detonation code had already died.
"I broke out in a cold sweat after hearing that and said, 'So you're saying we were standing on a pile of explosives just now?'"
"A sapper behind us interjected, 'No, it's a lot.'"
The speaker was an older engineering soldier, with a fresh face, and even looked a little older than our deputy squad leader. He squeezed into our group and was introduced by Lao Mao as the company commander of the engineering unit, Tang Zeding, an old soldier who had just returned from the China-India border. The two of them obviously knew each other, but Tang and our deputy squad leader were completely different in character. Maybe because of their higher ranks, they didn't mind us at all. As soon as he sat down, he continued to speak, saying that the explosive the Japanese used at that time was generally the Type 97 explosive, which was a mixture of yellow explosive and some kind of nonsense called 6-something-benzene (can't remember) and had tremendous power in a wet environment. However, he said not to worry, the Japanese detonation device was very mature, and there would generally be no accidents.
Then he said that the placement of such explosion points is very particular. He believes that the location must be a strategic point. If the area cannot be defended, the situation will worsen. Hence, the explosion point is set here. He thinks that if we judge it this way, our subsequent dark river section may be comparatively safer.
Wang Sichuan obviously didn't believe it, he patted him and said, "I'll take your word for it."
"I think what he said makes sense, but we can only see the reality by moving forward."
Pei Qing continued, "This is an issue we were discussing earlier, and there is another more tricky question we mentioned earlier. It is about the issue between Yuan Xile and Chen Luohu."
"I wondered what was wrong and asked what the problem was. I haven't seen them here. Shouldn't they be waiting upstream?"
Pei Qing shook his head and said, "Lao Mao said that when they arrived, they only saw the equipment and the bodies of sacrificed warriors, but they did not see the three of them."
"I was stunned again, thinking how could this be possible? Pei Qing said, now we assume that either they didn't find Yuan Xile and them when they came, or they had an accident when they came to rescue us due to the rising water. Anyway, we can't go back and search now, we can only pray that they are safe."
"I remembered the appearances of Chen Luhu and Yuan Xile in my mind, and I couldn't help but worry. Both of these people are incapable of taking care of themselves. Can the soldier we left behind really handle it?"
With concern, we discussed other matters. The path of the underground river is unpredictable. At the time, there was a charging method that could predict the path and scale of the underground river, but the data was only approximate. Now, we need extreme details. We can only rely on past experience of walking through the underground river to speculate on the situations we may encounter.
We were discussing when suddenly we heard some noisy sounds from one side. We turned to see two engineers walking far away along the terraced fields, and we could only see the two flashlight beams.
The length of the stone terraces is often astonishing, sometimes stretching for several kilometers. Perhaps curious about this strange geological phenomenon, they walk along the walls and go deeper. At this time, the deputy team leader noticed them and ordered them to return.
Who knew they were waving over there, pointing to the top of the cave as if they had discovered something.
"Wang Sichuan became interested, and a few of us ran over to where they were. As we looked up at the top of the dark river filled with stalactites, we saw a U-shaped cable hanging, with a thickness of an arm, extending from the river in front of us. It was hanging in the water here, and we didn't know where it was going."
"And here, I heard again from the cable the same sound of scratching nails that I had heard under the iron gate earlier. This time, the sound didn't seem like the water level rising or stones grinding against each other, but rather the static noise of electric current in the cable."
Although cables may not be something particularly exciting, several engineers are excited because seeing cables means that there are nearby devices using electricity. We don't know what kind of power generator the Japanese are using, but its power output is definitely not big. The appearance of cables indicates that we are getting closer to our destination.
I just don't know how there still seems to be electricity in these abandoned cables that have been unused for decades. Could it be that the engine at the end of the cable is still running?
A few engineering soldiers lifted Lao Tang up with a human ladder. Due to decades of erosion, the electric cable had aged and was thinly coated with limestone, which couldn't be pulled off. They saw the cable hanging from here and reaching into the water, so a few soldiers followed it down to see what it was connected to.
The deputy squad leader took off his clothes and walked down the water layer by layer along the terraced field. Then he dived down while touching the electric cable. We watched him dive for a while and emerge for a while, and soon he arrived at a place where the flashlight could not illuminate clearly.
I was afraid of him being in danger, so I quickly asked others to push the rubber raft into the water while we went there to pick him up.
Several people were very interested, and the inflatable raft quickly paddled to the center of the dark river. The team leader's flashlight could even shine through the water surface. We watched as the light moved and moved until it finally stopped and surfaced, followed by a splash. The deputy leader gasped for breath and quickly climbed back onto the raft.
"We quickly pulled him up and wiped his head with a towel. Wang Sichuan couldn't help but ask what was still attached below."
"The squad leader gasped for a minute before slowly recovering and stuttering, 'Plane! There's wreckage of a plane underwater!'"