Search for the Buried Bomber

CHAPTER 14





Madness



A range of thoughts and opinions were swirling about camp that night. None of us had seen a woman in a long time. To have one sleeping in our midst with her underwear toasting by the fire made it tough to fall asleep. I was exhausted, but wild fantasies kept me up. At last, I fell into a deep sleep.

After sleeping for who knows how long, I was nudged awake. I raised my head and looked around, but everything was blackness—the fire had been extinguished. Sitting up, I turned on my flashlight and shined it into the darkness. The sentry must have fallen asleep. I turned my head to see who had shaken me. It was Yuan Xile. She was squatting beside me, completely naked. I felt a jolt of fear. "You're awake?" I asked her.

She made no reply, but moved closer and crawled onto my chest. A strange odor filled my nostrils. I felt dizzy. Yuan Xile was a northeasterner, and like most girls from that region she was voluptuous, her figure incredibly alluring. Though I wanted to push her off , my hands pulled her closer. The soft, smooth feel of her skin beneath my fingers made my hair stand on end, but I dared do nothing more. Unable to go further, unable to go back, I lay paralyzed. Suddenly, she opened her mouth wide. I watched as slowly, very slowly, a long piece of wire emerged from the black recesses of her throat.

I yelled in surprise and sprang off the ground. In a flash everything disappeared. I was still lying in my sleeping bag, the firelight glowing brightly. Chen Luohu, Pei Qing, and two of the soldiers were already awake. Wang Sichuan was nearby, snoring loudly. Yuan Xile had awoken as well and was already sitting by the fire, fully clothed and devouring a plate of food. Her hair was matted and one look at her movements was enough to know that something was wrong.

Laughing to myself, I reached down and felt the crotch of my trousers. F*ck, my old dad was right. The quicker I got married the better. Rubbing my eyes, I rose from bed, washed my face in cold water, and glanced over at Pei Qing. "How is she," I asked him.

Pei Qing shook his head. "Looks like she's had nothing to eat for a very long time."

"Has she said anything?"

He sighed. "You'd better ask her yourself."

Seeing Pei Qing's expression and hearing his tone of voice, I could tell that no pleasant surprises awaited me, but it wasn't until I went over and attempted to talk to her that I discovered how dark the situation actually was. She was curled up into herself and scarcely aware of anything. She seemed absent, her entire being deeply distracted. As soon as I spoke, she turned to stare fixedly at me, but no matter what I asked she never responded. The look in her eyes was somehow dispersed, unable to focus. She'd been wandering in the dark for far too long and was now struggling to adjust her eyes to the light. Still, her face remained delicate and lovely. Just looking at it was enough to make my heart ache. To think what had become of this poor woman.

At last I gave up. Pei Qing brought me some breakfast and sat down. He gave a deep sigh. "It's just too pitiful," he said. Pei Qing reckoned it had been the lights of our camp that had drawn Yuan Xile to us out of the darkness. He said he'd gone through her clothes and rucksack and all her food was completely gone. Who knew how long she had been wandering through the caverns? Had we arrived just a little later, she would almost certainly have been dead.

I turned to the rest of the group. "We're bound to run into trouble the deeper we get into this cave," I said. "Since at this point we know absolutely nothing about what lies ahead, maybe we should first head back to the surface."

The nature of both the assignment and our team had changed. We now knew the road ahead would be dangerous and that our superiors were hiding something from us. To continue at this point would not be some positive manifestation of stoicism but a foolhardy move, demonstrating a poor understanding of when it's best to adapt to the circumstances.

Pei Qing nodded. "To be honest," he said, "I'm very curious about what happened down here, but I admit that based on the current situation, heading back would be the correct decision. Still, to simply pick up and go back wouldn't be right. If there are others still stranded, we'd just be letting them die. A few of us should advance with a small amount of gear and look around a bit. Maybe we can get some closure on the matter."

He really had a point. My God, this guy was a leader. It made me a little envious. When Wang Sichuan and the rest of them awoke, I told them what we'd discussed. No one had any complaints. In any case, said the deputy squad leader, his orders had been to listen to us.

After everyone finished eating breakfast, we began to discuss how we'd split our ranks. We couldn't bring Yuan Xile. Someone would have to stay behind and look after her. Chen Luohu immediately raised his hand. "I suddenly don't feel so well anymore," he said. "I request to stay behind." No one objected. It was impolite to say it, but he'd been a burden from the start. Worried that Chen Luohu might run into trouble by himself, the deputy squad leader left behind one of his soldiers. Then Wang Sichuan, Pei Qing, the deputy squad leader, two of his soldiers, and I hoisted our lightened packs and set out.

Because we planned to return to the surface after finishing our search, we no longer had any misgivings about wasting our lantern fuel or batteries. We all switched on our flashlights, and at once the cave became bright. The landscape here appeared more or less unchanging, but we didn't have time to take a closer look. With our lightened packs, we were able to practically fly across the rocks. Soon we could no longer see the firelight behind us. The deeper we went into the cave, the bigger it seemed to become. The more we walked, the more we felt strength filling our bodies. It was as if we'd permanently cast off the gloom that weighed us down in the days before, trudging slowly along, burdened by heavy loads. Soon we discovered the crushed stones covering the ground were becoming smaller and smaller, a sign that the shoal was beginning to recede. After walking another two thousand feet or so, we ran into a steep drop-off. The shoal descended for over nine hundred feet. Twenty-foot sheets of iron mesh were stuck patchily across the rock slope. Exercising great caution, we began to pick our way down. Before we reached the bottom, Wang Sichuan suddenly cursed aloud. As expected, the pitch-black river had appeared once more at the foot of the hill, but it was just a short section. As we shined our flashlights along the water, we could see that, some several hundred feet on, it ran into another shoal, this one composed of small, shattered stones.

"What now?" asked Pei Qing. "Do we really have to head back and get the rafts?" Of course, we all knew this was out of the question. The deputy squad leader scanned the water with his flashlight. The bottom was clearly visible. "We can wade across," he said.

He made to leap in, but Wang Sichuan held him back. "Wait a moment!" he said.

He swept the beam of his flashlight back and forth across a secluded corner of the river. There, deposited at the water's deepest point, were a number of iron cages, their interiors hidden in dark shadow.