"When Lao Tang spoke these words, he said them lightly, but Wang Sichuan and I still felt a chilling feeling that was hard to describe."
Twenty years ago, a Japanese "Shinzan" bomber took off from an underground river 1,200 meters below ground level, flew over an underground dam, glided into a huge underground cavity beyond the dam, and disappeared into the boundless darkness. None of us knew what the "Shinzan" would encounter in the darkness or what the pilots on the plane would see.
"Just the fact of it, has already exceeded my acceptance level, and now we have discovered that in that darkness, there was a mysterious telegram sent. This is truly unbelievable."
Immediately, I thought of the large piles of air-dropped bundled goods and supplies here, and I instantly understood where these things were meant to be transported to.
"The entire base here, along with all its arrangements, was clearly designed to facilitate the aerial deployment of people into this enormous underground cavity. Furthermore, had Japan not been defeated, such airdrops would have occurred countless times until all the supplies in this warehouse were dropped down."
Laotang said that this discovery was really shocking, so they needed to verify it. They went down to the dam to look for the antenna. If it was true, then the nature of the matter would be completely different. I asked if they had found the antenna, but Laotang shook his head and said that they had not found it yet because they couldn't reach the bottom of the dam. That's why they came here to look for a way to continue downward.
"Going down, this is a concept that needs no explanation."
Twenty years ago, the Japanese would have certainly thought of similar questions. When they first saw this void, they must have asked themselves: What is this place, what's inside, and how do we get there?
The current situation we are facing clearly indicates that they have already resolved the last question and sent back a message.
At this moment, I have a clear understanding in my mind of what has happened here. Twenty years ago, the Japanese discovered this place and carried out a lot of infrastructure improvements, and successfully used strategic bombers for air drops. Although the bomber crashed during the final landing process, the entire process can be described as crazy.
"I can even speculate on many details. For example, this crashed "Shinzan" must not be the first plane to fly into the abyss. To test feasibility, the small fighter wreckage we previously found underwater must have been the first choice for flying feasibility tests. Japan has a fairly mature aircraft carrier technology, and it is much simpler to fly a fighter here than a giant bomber."
"When I asked Old Tang about his future plans, he told me about his plan."
I am different from Lao Tang and his colleagues. As military engineers, they must be rigorous and seek confirmation on certain things to ensure their reports are 100% accurate. This is a work standard set by Chairman Mao Zedong. Military engineers are always at the forefront of the army, building roads and bridges, and any mistake could lead to strategic failures. Therefore, they must always be rigorous no matter what they do.
Therefore, Lao Tang told us that they must be completely certain that this signal is emitted from the abyss before drawing this conclusion. Otherwise, it will bring great misguidance to the organization.
"The search and rescue work must continue, and we are not aware of the situation outside the dam. Specific plans are useless, it is better to be adaptable. The engineering troops will be responsible for searching the dam, and our exploration team should not disperse as our work is already done."
"I thought to myself that the mission of the geological exploration team had ended a long time ago. There must not be a lake of oil covering hundreds of thousands of hectares under this void. The activities of the Japanese here have little to do with the exploration of geological resources. In fact, our mission has ended since we first entered this underground river."
It is understandable to say so. Indeed, we cannot intervene in what comes next. We have no way to move forward and nowhere to retreat.
So no one objected, and Lao Mao didn't express any stance. He quietly sipped his tea and listened to us talk. Judging from his expression, he seemed to find what we were talking about quite amusing.
"I didn't care at the time and didn't think much about it, but soon after, I began to feel the same way myself."
With a nightmare-like shock, I entered the dreamland. Inevitably, I had a long dream under such excitement, where the huge void was like a giant mouth, and I stood at the top of a dam, facing the wind and saw it spreading towards me. The surrounding rock walls were slowly corroded by the seemingly endless darkness. I also dreamt that I was sitting on a plane, flying aimlessly in the void, with nothing around and no matter how I flew, I couldn't reach the end.
"This kind of fear is even more terrifying than the first one, but I didn't wake up because of it. I slept for ten hours until it was time for dinner, and then I was awakened by Wang Sichuan."
"Lao Tang and his men have already taken people out, and Lao Mao has also left. I had anticipated that even if we didn't move, Lao Mao would definitely follow the engineering corps' activities, because he must have another identity; otherwise, he wouldn't have forced Rong Aiguo to send the assault boat to rescue us."
My intuition tells me that everything here is already beyond my range of understanding, and I no longer want to contemplate any part of it.
"I was eating while listening to Pei Qing and Wang Sichuan talking about the situation of this dam. They were speculating about what the ice cellar here was all about."
We have only a vague understanding of the entire structure of the dam, especially for dams designed for special purposes. We have no idea what some of the facilities here are for, let alone speculate on the possible structure.
Currently, the only thing clear is that there are sunken chambers on both sides of the dam for transporting materials underwater. Below the water level of the dam, there is a vast ice cellar storing a large number of shells and a hanging warehouse stockpiling a large amount of materials.
"Wang Sichuan, eating vegetable puree, said to us: "I feel that we are already at the bottom of the dam, because if these large-caliber shells are used to destroy the dam at the last moment, they should be placed at the bottom of the dam so that the explosion can effectively completely destroy the part above the foundation.""
However, it is incomprehensible why these warheads need to be frozen altogether. Only nitroglycerin needs to be refrigerated, but nitroglycerin cannot be used to make shells. When fired, the high temperature will certainly cause the warhead to explode faster than the shell casing, and the transportation risk is too great.
When it comes to things that need to be stored at low temperatures, there seems to be only one kind, which is bacterial heads.
There are quite a few historical records about the Japanese germ warfare in China, but most ordinary people only know about Unit 731.
Only a small part, such as those of us who are constantly drilling through forests and exploring geology, can know that Unit 731 is just the tip of the iceberg. During decades of geological exploration, we have discovered a large number of cement buildings left behind by the Japanese invasion in the depths of the northeast forests. These buildings have basically been completely burned, but from their architectural structure, there are traces of dungeons and dissecting rooms. A fellow soldier once told me that the scale of biological warfare in China is definitely not just this small.
"It is unlikely that there are bacterial bombs outside, as there is no intersection with the environment here. Japanese explorers have a clear purpose in exploring this area and would not inexplicably pile up bacterial weapons here. What are these warheads used for?"
At that time, I had a thought: What if these compressors stop working? Although the temperature here is very low, these ice blocks will gradually melt. So, what changes will happen to the warhead?
"Clearly, no one could guess."
Old Tang took the people out. The ice house outside shouldn't be too big. I could hear some loud noises, and people come back from time to time. These new soldiers were frozen with runny noses, looking like children.
After waiting for a while and getting bored, we chatted for a while. Wang Sichuan couldn't sit still and urged us to go out and take a look.
We wrapped our coats tightly and walked to the icehouse outside, following the direction of the sound. After walking for a dozen steps, I felt something was wrong. It seemed even colder here, and frost had formed on my eyebrows, which hadn't happened earlier.
We rubbed our hands and stamped our feet, feeling like the white-haired wind that rises in the winter of the Greater Khingan Range. Soon we saw a figure ahead and as we approached, we saw Old Tang stamping his feet and yelling something, his voice growing louder and it seemed like he was smashing something.
Here in the middle of the ice cellar, as we approach, we immediately discover what they're doing - they're digging holes on the surface of the ice.
Several soldiers were wielding simple tools and vigorously smashing the ice, although it seemed to have little effect. There were no deep indentations on the ground, only large pieces of smashed ice debris.
"I feel a little bit unsafe. There is a bomb below and I don't know what Old Tang's intentions are by doing this. I walk up to him and tell him to be careful, and ask him what he is doing."
"He was so cold that his lips turned purple. He trembled and asked me to look beneath the ice, where there was a large shadow. The ice was pockmarked and it was hard to see clearly what it was, but it was certain that it was not a shell. The shell was much larger."
After walking around the shadow, I finally recognized it. I couldn't help but take a deep breath. The shape of the shadow seemed like a huge spinning top. But it wasn't solid, as there were many U-shaped protrusions around the spinning top.
"I recognize this shape, this is a large broadcasting antenna."
Although I knew for sure that this thing existed, I was still confused at the time and wondered how it ended up frozen in ice.
Upon closer inspection, there was more than just the antenna's silhouette. There was another huge, faint shadow beyond the antenna, which seemed to be buried deeper in the ice. This shadow was three times the size of the antenna and seemed to be in the shape of a giant ladle-like disk.
"What is this thing?" I asked Old Tang, "Is this the antenna you were looking for? Why is it in the ice?"
"This is not an antenna," Old Tang pointed to several U-shaped protrusions at the corners. "This thing has a nickname called the 'Williamsburg Giant'."
"What?" I was cold and amazed, and paused for a moment. "What giant?"
"Old Tang said it's a bit difficult to explain these things to me. He is very familiar with these things, but to make me understand, he has to talk about the technical details. In short, the "Willsburg Giant" is a nickname for a kind of tracking radar imported by the Japanese from Germany, mainly used for automatic control of searchlights during nighttime air defense. The Japanese did not need such advanced nighttime tracking technology in China, so there were not many of these radars, most of which were deployed in Mongolia and the Pacific warzone. China attempted to replicate this radar technology in the early stages but was unsuccessful, and eventually the technology was phased out."
At that time, this kind of radar should have been the most advanced tracking device.
This is the common knowledge they acquired when they were setting up radar stations. Later on, the radar soldiers spun off from the engineering corps and became a specialized radar unit.
Lao Tang said that they discovered this huge shadow while searching this ice cellar. He was surprised, but the shadow shouldn't be as big as it looks now. This size illusion is caused by the different densities of ice around the plate and the outer ring.
"They believed that this radar should have been a backup navigation radar at the time. Indeed, such a challenging flight mission requires precise navigation."
"I roughly heard that Wang Sichuan asked, 'What do you want to do with it if you excavate it? Is it related to that telegram?'"
"Lao Tang explained that it was not solely because of this. As he spoke, he took out a piece of paper from his pocket, on which he roughly drew several diagrams. He said that they had divided into several groups to search this area. One group was led by Lao Mao and they searched around the hanging warehouse. There was such a huge "Shan" (machine) assembled there, which must have a huge lifting device leading to the top. His group was searching for the brake devices of the sinking boxes I mentioned earlier and also conducting a preliminary understanding of the ice cellar."
"A few graphics are the icehouse floor plan they drew. The engineering soldiers have drawing skills, and even with just a few strokes, it shows their professionalism. The compressors and wiring diagrams around the area are also labeled, but what I am more interested in is the distribution of the shadow under the ice that they have drawn."
"Lao Tang pointed with a pencil to several places and said, 'The shells you mentioned are distributed around the ice cellar in a ring with a very large quantity. In the central part is the "Williamsburg Giant" we discovered. The very faint lines here, shadows that are probably as thick as an arm and like a ladder, are the sliding iron rails of the "Williamsburg Giant." At the same time, we found four liberation truck-sized black spots next to the "Williamsburg Giant," which should be two sets of searchlights that go with the "Williamsburg Giant."'"
"I nodded and he continued: ''Don't you think it's very strange? Putting a radar navigation system in the middle of a pile of bombs, what does that mean?'' I was completely frozen and unable to think, and Wang Sichuan sneezed and said, "Is this a trap?""
"After Wang Sichuan said this, I immediately understood what he meant. However, if that is really the case, then this situation would be even more incredible."
The so-called trap is self-explanatory, it is a trap with bait. Wang Sichuan said that this situation is similar to the engineering corps burying mines. They create a false target and lay mines around it to lure the enemy closer.
"All the fuses of the shells here have been removed and are in an excited state, which is somewhat like bait. But what is the use of the radar in the middle? Is it also bait? I can't imagine what the radar can attract. It is a navigation radar. Do they want to guide their own planes to crash into the dam and destroy this hydraulic project in the end?"
"There is no logic in this, why would the devils do such a thing?"
"It's really too cold, we can't persist anymore. Lao Tang asked us to go back. If you really want to help, you can help Lao Mao."
"We returned to the resting place and drank a few sips of hot water. We didn't feel like going anywhere anymore. I increasingly felt a sense of unease in the atmosphere."
"I suddenly began to think about the reasons why Japanese people abandoned this place. Is it really as simple as we think?"
There are no signs of military destruction in the entire underground system. Clearly, they retreated in an orderly manner with a large amount of supplies accumulated here. There was no explosion, and even the documents were not burned.
"We saw a pilot's corpse in the "deep mountains", with severe damage to the area. But where were the other crew members? And why was the corpse left in the cabin?"
"I don't know if the cold air from outside was seeping into the warehouse or if it was my own thoughts making me uncomfortable. I continued to fight, unable to stop."
"That feeling is still vivid in my memory. It wasn't fear, but rather a shudder that emerged alongside numerous discoveries that had shocked me previously."
The thought that flashed through my mind was, could it be that the base was already abandoned when the "Deep Mountain" was heading back?
"When the thought occurred to me, my facial expression must have looked very strange, causing both Wang Sichuan and Pei Qing to look up at me. Wang Sichuan thought that I was feeling unwell and asked me if it would be better for me to take another nap. He said that our health is the foundation of our revolution and that we shouldn't push ourselves too hard."
I shook my head and asked them, "You said the 'Deep Mountain' flew into the abyss, how long did it take to come back?"
"Wang Sichuan asked me what it means. I said there is a possibility that the 'Deep Mountain' crashed due to the pilot's ability to make a forced landing. That's why the pilot's body was found in the wreckage, while the surviving crew members left and their whereabouts are unknown."
When I spoke, I didn't know about the "Deep Mountain's" cruising ability. After checking later, I found out that the "Deep Mountain" is capable of flying at full speed for ten to fourteen hours.
Evacuating such a massive underground fortress would require at least hundreds of hours. When Deep Mountain returns, they will not be able to fully evacuate no matter how fast they are. So, my idea is probably not feasible.
"However, no one expected these details. Wang Sichuan made a valid point. Pei Qing said to me, 'It doesn't look like there's any emergency situation here. They haven't even dismantled the distress signal or kept the codebook safe. It's more relaxed than an emergency landing.'"
"It feels like it's not an evacuation, but rather like the entire fortress's population suddenly disappeared."
Lao Tang also mentioned this concept. During their process of arrival here, they found many documents covered with canvases. Obviously, the Japanese did not expect to not come back and seemed to only be preparing for a temporary handover. However, it is apparent that they did not come back after leaving.
Something unimaginable must have happened here. This underground fortress has been in a state that we cannot fathom for the past dozen hours. And all of this should have started happening after "Shen Shan" flew into that abyss.
"I became more confused the more I thought about it. I stood up and looked at the sandbox, trying to find some clues. Suddenly, Wang Sichuan made a sound and looked around. I followed his lead and looked up, but he wasn't looking, he was listening. The air-raid sirens were sounding in the distance, sounding muffled and faint inside the room and easily confused with the noise of the ventilator."
Pei Qing looked at her watch. The alarm had been sounding continuously for a long time and then suddenly stopped.
"He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "The three-minute long beep is the frequency for canceling the alarm.""
My heart was loosened, and I recited "Amitabha Buddha" in my heart. It seems that the situation upstairs has improved. Before I could finish my thoughts, there was a tremendous noise of machinery operating deep in the walls all around me, rising and falling incessantly.
"We are surprised by what is happening. A few soldiers came out from deep inside the warehouse with good news. The flood from the upstream heavy rain has all been discharged into the abyss, and we believe that the thick fog will soon retreat below the warning line. We can figure out a way to go back now."
Wang Sichuan had just thought about asking them how they knew when something went wrong on the other side. A few soldiers carried something in the direction of the ice cellar where Lao Tang was and shouted at us for help.
"That thing was so heavy that four people could barely lift or drag it. As soon as we approached, we realized it was a huge block of ice, as big as a coffin. Wang Sichuan shouted for me to come up and, gritting my teeth, I helped him lift it off the ground. Pei Qing and I approached, but the soldiers on that side yelled that they had enough and that there were more things behind them."
Immediately, someone else lifted a block of ice from the ice cellar. I called for others to go up and, gritting our teeth, we held it up. It felt incredibly heavy. Then, we saw something frozen inside the ice.
"Lifted it inside and put it down, feeling like my legs had been compressed a few inches. I asked them what they had dug up, and those soldiers flipped over the ice block for me to see. I immediately saw that a dead body was frozen inside the ice."
The dead person in the ice is holding their arms, looking withered and their eyes tightly closed. It's clear at first glance that they died after falling unconscious in low temperatures. On the irregular ice surface, their face is slightly contorted. The upper body of the corpse is covered with a coat, revealing that the body is small in size, perhaps not yet an adult.