"Airplane?"
"We were dumbfounded at the time. Could this be the end of the cave, 1,200 meters underground?"
"It's impossible, the pressure gauge shows that we haven't even reached half of our vertical depth yet, and looking at the width of the cave, if that mysterious bomber is underwater with us, with its height and width, we can't see anything on the surface. If we shine a flashlight down, we will definitely see a huge airplane shadow. But now, it's pitch black and there's nothing."
"Captain Wang Sichuan asked the deputy platoon leader, who replied that it was not a bomber but a small plane, with a railway track beneath it. The small plane was fixed to the track with chains and it appeared to have been completely destroyed by the impact."
Several people were extremely excited, but I was injured and unable to dive down to see. Although I was anxious, I could only watch as the people around me jumped into the water one after another, eager to see.
We waited for them for about an hour until the old Tang on the shore shouted, and they returned to the shore. While wiping their bodies, they described the scene below to us, with Wang Sichuan talking with great excitement.
According to their description, we drew a picture of the plane. Later, when we summarized and looked up information, we found that the plane was also very rare. At that time, an aeronautical engineer from an Air Force Command College recognized it as possibly a small Ki102 series aircraft, which was quite famous. The engineer said that if we really found this type of plane in that location, it would indicate that the Japanese had attached great importance to this matter because it was a relatively new night fighter at the time.
The planes we saw at the time were limited, and it was impossible to understand so much. We only knew that the wreckage of the plane was pouring down on the railroad tracks, and there were some strange machines stuck in the gaps of the stones, which should be mining rail equipment. The wings of the plane were completely broken, and its head was also smashed. Obviously, this fighter plane should be a failed sacrifice of a forced landing. It's strange, how did it appear here?
We gave a definition to strange things at that time, which is that strange things are when something appears repeatedly in a place where it should not appear. Thinking about it now, it is quite appropriate.
Wang Sichuan even analyzed whether the Japanese would build some kind of arsenal underground, hiding those planes that could not be evacuated in time, and preparing to use them when they come back to strike.
"I said that it's not worth putting so much effort into hiding just a few planes. Although the Japanese are unreliable in their actions, they are not stupid. Don't treat them as if they are characters from a movie who only know how to say "Baka"."
Those who didn't go were fascinated by what they heard and wanted to go, but Lao Tang was afraid of danger and strictly prohibited it. A few people had no choice but to gather around Wang Sichuan and let him continue talking. Wang Sichuan was good at this and started bragging.
Here at Lao Tang's place, he was discussing things with the old cat and was quite excited, saying that with the cable, the future path would be much easier. You can see that there are even iron rails under water, which means that when the water did not rise, the water here was very shallow. The presence of the iron rails also indicates that there will be no large-scale slope changes in the caves ahead, and the situation looks promising.
So we decided to set off immediately and not waste any more time. Everyone quickly organized their equipment and put on their clothes in response, then headed towards the end of the cave once again.
"The fact proves that Old Tang, this old engineering soldier, has quite impressive experience. We advanced steadily along the cable, relying on the cave wall, and soon emergency lights appeared. Apparently, at this point, the development level of the cave is already quite high, and it is impossible to achieve smooth traffic without proper development."
The old cat clearly didn't want to waste time, and didn't stop walking on good roads. We drifted ahead for another two or three miles and discovered a scene where a large amount of cables were gathered overhead.
"After examining, Lao Tang said there must be a generator near here."
Sure! Here's the translation: Sure enough, after turning a corner, we saw a larger cement scaffolding erected on the cave wall. Below the wall was a large sinkhole filled with water, surrounded by wrought iron fences. The electrical cables were connected to that sinkhole.
Lao Tang said that the generator is inside the cave. This is a distribution center, and there must be a cable coming out from inside that leads to the end of the cave.
At this point, those with sharp eyesight noticed that there was a sentry post, barbed wire, and floodlights on the cement scaffolding. Underneath the scaffolding was a simple iron ladder. Someone shouted, and we looked in the direction he was pointing. We saw two military tents, sleeping bags, and backpacks that were very familiar to us. These things were obviously not left by the Japanese, but were set up recently.
"The old cat immediately stood up and said to Old Tang, "Move over.""
Climbing onto the concrete ground, I felt a sense of familiarity. Although it was made by the Japanese, there was a shelf on one side with the words "x Kawasaki Heavy Industries xxx Cooperation Unit 076" painted on it. The ground beneath the concrete shelf was dry. As we walked past it, we discovered that the tents belonged to our Liberation Army. This was a temporary campsite.
"Sure enough, there was an exploration team that had entered before us. I had always been certain about this matter, but now that there is evidence, I feel even more assured."
"Especially those few tents, after we had a preliminary look at the cave at the entrance, we gave up the tents. The presence of tents here indicates that there are female members in this exploration team, and there should be more than one. If Yuan Xile and the others came in, they should have arrived here."
The old cat stopped us here and ordered a search. The engineering soldiers who followed him began to search the entire concrete shelf. Soon, we found a sandbag shelter on the second level of the shelf. There was a rest room inside which had a strong musty smell, was extremely messy and had tangled wires, beds, military green desks, military joysticks, even a rusty iron rod-like gun on the gun rack.
"If there were spiders, I believe this place would have turned into a cobweb maze. Unfortunately, there aren't any here and there's not much dust either. Looking at these mouldy furnishings, I feel very strange, as though the Japanese have just left."
"And what the foot soldier found was that military green writing desk, on which we saw the same type of lunch box and water kettle that we use, it was evident that the target which the old cat was searching for had been here."
There is nothing else noteworthy here. We searched around and found no new discoveries.
After counting ourselves, we had the engineers start searching from this location as the center. Since all of our daily necessities are here, it's clear that the people wouldn't have gone far.
Just as we were about to leave the shelter, something shocking happened.
We heard a series of crisp "ding-a-ling" sounds, like thunder suddenly booming in the bunker. We all felt a chill and turned around to see that the old-fashioned rotary phone on the shelf was actually ringing.