The alarm sound, which seemed to come from nowhere, echoed in the vast darkness. Its frequency grew more and more frantic, yet despite our keen eyesight, we couldn't discern any movement in the darkness. The air was fraught with unease, making us want to run for our lives. However, the environment around us offered no escape, leaving us stranded on the plane's roof, awaiting the crisis that the alarm had forewarned.
However, unexpectedly, after the alarm had been sounding for about five minutes, it suddenly stopped. But before we could react, a loud roar came, like some mechanical distortion, and the sound of water from downstream also suddenly resounded in the darkness.
I looked nervously in the direction of the sound, unsure of what had happened there. Even the airplane wreckage under my feet trembled slightly. As I lowered my head, I noticed that the water around me had become even more turbulent, and the water level of the current had unexpectedly dropped.
"Could it be a dam! I suddenly realized. The alarm and sound just now were indeed the characteristics of a dam opening to release water. The Japanese actually built a dam in an underground river?"
"I was somewhat incredulous, but since a bomber could "crash" in an underground river, building a dam seems like a more reasonable thing to do. My deputy and I looked at each other and looked at the receding water level, feeling a bit confused."
The water level quickly dropped and within half an hour it had dropped below the burlap sacks. Countless body bags, along with the plane's fuselage, surfaced. The situation was terrifying. In the darkness, it felt like not only was the water level dropping but the corpses below were floating up, stretching endlessly, making it difficult to catch your breath.
Fortunately, we also saw a gangway made of temporary wire mesh plates appear in the middle of the sandbags underwater. The wire mesh plates were submerged in water, but it shouldn't be too difficult to walk on top of them.
Although we do not know whether this drainage is man-made or controlled by the automatic machinery here, we know that this is an excellent opportunity to get out of the predicament. We immediately climbed down the plane, climbed down along the sacks, and arrived at the wharf. Underneath the wharf were corpses and wooden boards, which were severely decayed but still able to support our weight. We ran forward quickly.
The water level quickly dropped below the gangway, and we didn't need to wade anymore. We ran for about 100 meters, and the roaring water sound was even more shocking. We felt like we were getting closer to the dam. By this time, we could no longer see the plane. A huge iron rail appeared underwater, which was more than ten times wider than a regular train track. Judging from the position of the track and where the plane had appeared, it should have been used for a sliding plane.
At the same time, we also saw many huge transformers on both sides of the railway tracks. They are auxiliary equipment for the giant hydroelectric power generation facilities. Under the rushing currents here, some of them seem to be in operation, emitting a roar that cannot be distinguished if not listened carefully.
In addition, there are cranes, warning lights, and collapsed iron watchtowers. As the water level rapidly drops, various severely corroded things are exposed on the water surface.
"I can't believe so many things were flooded underwater. But what's strange is that why were these things set up in the river channel?"
"Moving forward, we finally saw the big dam."
Actually, it cannot be called a dam, because only a long section of concrete remains standing there, and many places have cracked and split. However, in the underground river, it is impossible to build very tall buildings, and this dam may have been a temporary construction built by the Japanese.
We saw the alarm generator under the dam - a row of huge iron horns. We didn't know which one had just sounded the alarm. At the end of the gangway, there was a temporary iron wire ladder that could be climbed to the top of the dam.
Looking up, there are only tens of meters at most. Looking at the damp water line on the dam, I still feel frightened. The assistant squad leader signaled to me, "Do you want to climb up?"
"I really wanted to see what was behind the dam, so I nodded. The two of us carefully climbed up the seemingly unstable wire ladder, one after the other."
Fortunately, the wire ladder was quite sturdy. We climbed up the dam one by one, and when we reached the top, a strong wind blew over us. I almost got blown away, but I quickly crouched down.
"I originally estimated that on the other side of the dam, there must be a huge waterfall, and this time it was true. I have already heard the sound of water pouring down, and the sound has reached its peak here."
However, it's not just a waterfall. After I stabilized myself, I saw the other side of the dam - a deep abyss, with dark river water rushing down continuously. But miraculously, I couldn't hear any sound of the water hitting the surface below, and I had no idea how deep it was down there.
And what frightened me the most was not only the area below the dam, but also another area of the dam that was completely empty and pitch black, like a huge underground cavity. My flashlight was completely useless here and I had no idea how big this place was.
"I felt a sense of emptiness and oppression that was absent earlier in the river, intensified by the strong cold wind that came from the darkness. I couldn't get close to the edge of the dam. We crouched on the dam. The deputy leader asked me, 'It seems like there's nothing outside? Like the universe...where are we?'"
"I searched for words in my brain, but surprisingly there is not a single geological name to describe this place. It seems like a massive geological void, and the only possibility for such a large space is a massive underground cavity formed by the sudden collapse of a vast network of caves."
"This is a geological wonder. I can't believe I'm seeing such a rare geological phenomenon in my lifetime. I suddenly feel like crying."
"Just as I was shocked by the huge space in front of me, suddenly there was a loud "boom". Several beams of light suddenly lit up from other parts of the dam, some of which went out in an instant, leaving only two beams, one on the left and one on the right, which shot out diagonally from the dam and into the darkness in front of me."
We were startled as someone had apparently turned on a searchlight - there was someone in the dam!
"The deputy leader became alert and whispered, 'Are there still Japanese people here?'"
"I thought it was impossible, but then I was pleasantly surprised and said, 'No, it could be Wang Sichuan!' And with that, I wanted to shout out and tell him that we were here."
Before I could even call out, I was suddenly engulfed by an extreme sense of fear, and my whole body froze as my eyes saw the spot illuminated by the searchlight, unable to move a step.
"I have always believed that fear and fright are two different things. Fright comes from sudden events. Even if the event itself is not scary, its sudden appearance or disappearance can make people feel frightened. Fear, on the other hand, is not like this. Fear is an emotion that comes after thinking, and there is a brewing process. For example, our fear of the dark is an emotion brought about by imaginative thinking, and darkness itself is not scary."
"If you were to ask me what I saw in that abyss that would warrant the use of the word fear, I wouldn't be able to answer because the truth is, I didn't see anything at all."
Under the light of the searchlight, I saw nothing, and this is the source of my inexplicable extreme fear.
In my own thoughts, how big is this huge void space? I already have a quantitative concept, I think it is huge compared to other underground caves I have seen and heard of, but when the flashlight shines out, I find that the word "huge" can no longer describe the size of this space.
I know from my time in the army and during exploration that the distance of military searchlights can reach 1500 to 2000 meters. What does this mean? It means that I can illuminate objects that are one kilometer away. Not to mention the dim light that extends beyond the two-kilometer mark.
"But what I saw here was a beam of light shooting straight into the distant darkness, and ultimately turning into a thin line. There was no reflection nor anything that it illuminated, as if the light had been swallowed by the darkness, completely disappearing into the void."
The feeling was like a searchlight beaming into the night sky, so I didn't react at first, but soon I remembered and was stunned.
"The deputy squad leader noticed that my facial expression was wrong. At first, they couldn't understand, but after I explained, they also froze in place."
At this point, I started sweating and an idea that I couldn't control emerged from my heart. I immediately understood why the little devils had gone to such great lengths to bring a bomber here.
"Do they really want to fly into this abyss?"