The lighting was very dim, probably from the emergency light seen earlier. I don't know what's below.
"Now we have to resort to desperate measures. As long as we can leave here, even if it means entering a lion's den, we have to take the risk."
"Three openings obviously lead to the same place, so we don't need to choose. We drilled into the middle one and climbed for about ten meters to reach the end. The other end was a ventilation duct with frozen iron bars. The bars were covered with water and frozen solid, forming a sheet of ice. Light came through from the back but we couldn't see the details."
The horse shot bullets into the sea and used the butt of the gun to smash the four corners of the iron fence. It was very narrow here, and it didn't take much effort to break the fence. After smashing for half a day, a gust of fierce wind blew in from behind, almost suffocating me.
"I immediately turned my head and gasped for a few breaths. Then, I covered my mouth and nose with my coat and looked outside, only to see a pitch-black darkness with nothing visible."
The three of us looked at each other and finally understood what was going on. This place outside the hole was not a room at all, but it was actually outside the dam, where there was an endless abyss. Looking out from here, it was all emptiness except for the vertigo-inducing wind that blew straight into the hole.
"The ventilation duct faces the outside, which is reasonable."
"The mist outside has indeed dispersed, but even with a flashlight, nothing can be seen. Ma shouted from the sea that he would stick his head out to take a look. We grabbed the hem of his coat, and as he stuck his head out, the wind blew his clothes up and it felt like someone was pulling him out."
"He was shocked and turned pale. We immediately held onto him, preventing him from falling. Wang Sichuan said, 'Hurry up and take a look to see what the situation is.'"
"He leaned over the exit and shone his flashlight around, struggling. We pulled him back and he said, "We're at the bottom of the dam, and about ten meters below us is a rocky mountain with iron ladders on the side that we can climb down."
"I asked him if there were any traces of their old cat, and he said how could he see it? You could see the flashlight he used before, but it was quite far away. Obviously, this was the bottom of the dam, where there were layers of concrete and rocks. The flashlight couldn't shine very far, and we couldn't see anything clearly."
"Mr. Wang asked if he could climb up the iron ladder smoothly, but he said it's quite vague. The wind is stronger than what we experienced at the dam. Also, these iron ladders have already decayed. If they break in the middle while climbing, the consequences would be devastating."
However, I think we can take this risk. The temperature here is just too low, and even with the strong winds coming through the ventilation vent, it still feels warmer than inside. If we continue searching in the cable channel, we may not last much longer. At least there is still a chance here. Moreover, not all steel ladders are unable to withstand weight. These thick steel bars are very sturdy. What happened to the deputy squad leader last time was probably just an accident. As long as we are careful when climbing, nothing should go wrong.
"Adding up the three of us, Wang Sichuan suggested not to make a decision yet. Let's try it first and if it doesn't work, we can come back."
So Ma rubbed his hands together in the sea to warm them up. He was the first to stick his head out and grabbed onto the wire ladder with one hand to cross over. His coat immediately blew up, and he pressed hard against the concrete surface of the dam wall, shouting loudly to us. However, we couldn't hear him clearly because of the distance. He had to make gestures to let us know to go over and climbed up on his own.
"The moment I, the second person, poked my head out of the ventilation duct, it was indeed a bit terrifying. Everything outside was like the vastness of space, with nothing around except for the abyss below. I didn't know if there was a bottom to it if I fell down, and all I could feel was the intense wind. As I grabbed onto the wire ladder and suspended myself, the person beside me flew up, but I quickly adapted and adjusted my movements. I pressed myself against the outer wall of the dam and started to climb up."
"Next was Wang Sichuan, I shone my flashlight on him and watched as he climbed out. He was heavy and much more stable than me."
After everyone had stopped, I began to observe the surroundings. The flashlight illuminated the exterior wall of the dam, and I could see a long streak of light on the surface of the dam where the flashlight shone. The long beams of light could only illuminate one surface and gradually merged into darkness in the distance. The concrete outer wall of the dam was very rough, with a layer of black material on top, which looked a little like fog. The wire ladder also had it. I looked at my hand and found a thin layer of something that was like liquid but not liquid. I immediately wiped it off on my coat and rolled up my sleeves to protect my hands, thinking that who knows if this stuff is toxic.
On the other side, there's nothing to say. The feeling at that time was that we were lying on the edge of the whole world.
At this point, I regretted a little. I couldn't estimate how long I had to persevere in this state to climb up from here. This certainly wouldn't be a good memory.
"The wire ladder can go up and down, and you can see it far away when shining out. There is not only one row, but more than one, and they are far apart. There is a special steel bar protruding in the middle. The bottom steel bars can be stepped on and nailed for support. Obviously, these wire ladders and steel bars are combined to form a framework for activities outside the dam. This is a reserved path for use during construction or maintenance."
At this point, it occurred to me that we had already reached the bottom of the dam, so they shouldn't have needed to inspect anything. Why would they keep these "passages"?
"Mazaihai watched Wang Sichuan stand firmly, then he held on to his flashlight and began to climb up. We immediately followed."
In the raging wind, we could not think, even breathing required us to struggle to find angles. We had no concept of how far we had climbed or walked, and the feeling was indescribable. In that situation, we could neither be calm nor excited, and our emotions were very strange. Looking back at the endless darkness, I suddenly realized that this feeling might be "enlightenment." My body and soul seemed to have grasped some information, a message from miracles.
"I really doubted that if that state continues, I might have just converted, but Ma's boots in the sea interrupted my state of mind."
"I looked up and realized that he had stopped going up. My head hit his boot heel."
"I knew he must have discovered something, so I turned to look and immediately saw a massive object lying outside the far wall of the dam to our left."
"That thing is about twenty meters away from us, made of concrete and reinforced steel, presenting a complex shape. It looks like a hedgehog covered in thorns lying on the outer wall of a dam, and the steel bars are the long thorns. But this shape is definitely made of concrete casting, not caused by rough engineering. The whole thing is huge, like a three-story building."
Compared to the whole dam, it is not as prominent as the protruding rocks below, but at this distance it looks like a colossal object.
From here, there is a previously mentioned "passage" that can be used to get there, using the steel bars as support to cross.
The horse looked out to the sea, then climbed up to the passage and started crawling towards that place. My principle is to avoid trouble, so when I saw him climb over, I became a bit anxious. I climbed to where he had just stood and shouted at him asking what he was doing. He also shouted back at me with an unsteady voice, saying, "That's the antenna!"
"I yelled at him, 'No matter what it is, our priority now is to leave here!' But he seemed to have some ideas and asked me to stay still while he went to take a look."
"Wang Sichuan filmed my feet down below and asked me what was going on. I thought to myself, how do I explain this? This soldier is too disorganized and undisciplined. After thinking about it, I followed him inexplicably."
Walking sideways encountered greater wind resistance, making it almost impossible to stand still. After struggling to watch the horse cross to the other side of the sea, I had only climbed halfway. Suddenly a gust of strong wind blew towards me, pushing me against the dam. I closed my eyes and ducked to avoid it, but when I turned my head to look for the horse, it was nowhere to be seen.
My heart skipped a beat, thinking he had fallen, but in the blink of an eye, I saw him on a steel bar six or seven meters below. Obviously, he had just had an accident. Perhaps he lost his grip when the strong wind came. This kid is really careless.
"I gestured to him and asked if he was injured, but he didn't respond with his hands. He struggled to climb up the steel bar with both hands and feet, perhaps because his hands were injured and he couldn't exert much force. After a few attempts, he slid back down."
I immediately moved closer and shouted to hold on. As I reached out and felt the edge, I discovered why he fell. I stretched my hand to the steel bars of the cement "hedgehog" on the side, which was a long distance away. I was able to reach it, but my arm was already stretched out and it took considerable strength and courage to hang on. I pulled my hand back, adjusted my position, and reached out again, but it still wasn't right. In my heart, I cursed the Japanese for cutting corners and not putting in a few extra inches.
"Wang Sichuan followed over, also furious. I shrunk back a bit, took a deep breath, and then swung with force. I swung over, immediately stabilized my body with force, and hung in the air with one hand."
The process was very reluctantly done, and I was frightened to the point of sweating. I thought to myself that if another gust of wind came just now, I would surely suffer.
I moved my feet and stepped on another steel bar while hanging there. I steadied myself and climbed down, then grabbed Ma and shouted, "What the hell are you doing climbing over here?" He grabbed my hand and pulled me up a few steps to a place where we could stand steadily, then gasped, "The antennae, this is where the antennae are."
"I looked around at the steel bars and noticed that they were different from what we had seen so far. They were thinner and had no rust. I was surprised that something so small and branched out could receive such a strong power. However, this was not the reason why he climbed up here."
"I cursed and said, 'It's just an antenna, there's no need for you to climb over here.'"
He smiled at me and scratched his head. I thought he was embarrassed, but he suddenly turned his gun around from behind, pulled the trigger and aimed it at me, saying, "Sorry, Wu, I have to trouble you a bit."