Geisterkonserven

Kapitel 4

Many students glanced at me before doing as instructed. I nodded, and surprisingly, I could still feel a slight sense of pride in my heart under such circumstances; I was quite impressed with myself.

Everyone kicked the bones aside, clearing a space of about 60 or 70 square meters. I took off my backpack, sat on the ground, opened it, and used the flashlight to check what might be useful in this kind of place.

After prolonged use, the flashlight's beam had weakened considerably. I smiled wryly to myself. I had initially laughed at the students for bringing so many snacks, but now, unsure how long it would take to escape, it seemed my bag contained the fewest useful items of everyone. Fortunately, I still had a section of mountaineering nylon rope, a short knife, and, perhaps, an infrared night vision pair of binoculars that might come in handy sometime.

I took everything out of the bag one by one, then carefully shone the flashlight into every nook and cranny to see if anything was missing. Opening the front zipper, I found two large batteries. My heart skipped a beat. I quickly took the batteries out, stuffed them into my pocket, and loudly announced to Liang Yingwu and the others, "From now on, everyone must conserve flashlights. Whoever has spare batteries, please take a look. After you've finished packing, keep two flashlights on and turn everything else off."

By the time I said that, it was already too late. Everyone's flashlight beams, like mine, had turned yellow, instead of the strong white light they had at the beginning. In this cave, without light, it would truly drive you crazy.

"Everyone, take a look. If there's anything flammable, including lighters, put it all away together," Liang Yingwu added, turning off his flashlight.

There was a large pile of food, but most of it was puffed snacks. Although they tasted good, they weren't filling at all. There were only seven or eight boxes of biscuits, the most useful of which was a box of compressed biscuits donated by Liang Yingwu. Then there were two ham hocks and a few sausages. Drinks included milk, yogurt, and cola. I wasn't too worried about that. Although a person can survive much shorter without water than without food, if that water pool was okay, it was practically an unlimited source of water.

I ate lunch early and did a lot of exercise, and now my stomach is rumbling. I brought much more food than this, but most of it is piled up at the foot of the mountain with my larger luggage.

"Turn off your flashlights quickly!" I saw that most people were still dawdling and hadn't turned off their flashlights. Let's see how they'll fare when the flashlights go out. Here, it's truly only with light that you can find the key and successfully escape this "human cave."

"Zhu Zili and He Yunkai, take your flashlights and keep watch. Everyone else, turn them off quickly." Urged by Liang Yingwu, only two dim beams of light remained in the cave. Compared to these beams, the phosphorescence emanating from the human bones on the ground was far more conspicuous. Just thinking about what this phosphorescence represented sent a chill down everyone's spine.

"Damn it." I suddenly cursed myself, pulling my phone from my waist. In my shock, how could I have forgotten that? As long as I could stay in touch with the outside world, finding a way out shouldn't be a problem, right?

Seeing me take out my phone, everyone realized what was happening and quickly pulled out their own phones, even Liang Yingwu. Normally, the first reaction after being trapped is to use a phone to contact the outside world, but this situation was so unusual that even the most composed person lost their composure.

My phone is a Nokia 8210, a model from two years ago, but it's always worked perfectly. I don't have the interest or the money to frequently change phones, so I've been using it ever since. Yesterday, when I was in the village, I even made a call to the newspaper office, and the signal was still good. But now, looking at the screen that was flashing with fluorescent light, the four signal bars on the left side are now completely gone.

I should have known that cell phone signal coverage in Shennongjia is already insufficient, and in this mountainous area, it's very likely there would be no signal at all. But as my hopes were shattered one by one, my fingers gripping the phone tightened involuntarily, until my knuckles turned white.

Still unwilling to give up, I dialed the Shanghai newspaper's switchboard number. The screen showed that it was dialing, but sure enough, it dropped very quickly.

"No signal." Although my voice wasn't loud, it was still loud enough for everyone to hear. I looked up at everyone's expressions; their young faces, illuminated by the dim light of their phones, all looked extremely serious.

"I don't have any either."

"I don't have a signal either."

Fourteen mobile phones, including Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and even Bird, which is known as the "fighter jet among mobile phones," all had no signal.

The most advanced technology was completely useless in this primitive and dangerous place. I walked around the cave several times with my phone, trying countless directions, and almost tripped over a thigh bone and fell into a pile of corpses, but the signal indicator on the screen still didn't show a single bar.

Infinite loop (3)

"Let's go through it again." I gave up trying to use my phone and whispered to Liang Yingwu as I walked towards the passageway.

"What are you thinking about?" Liang Yingwu asked me.

I shook my head, but then remembered that he couldn't see my movement in the dark, and said, "No, but we've been moving forward, taking each step on our own. No matter how we go around, there's no reason we'd end up back where we started. Even though we turned two corners, it's the same concept as walking in a straight line. We walked a few hundred meters forward, so how could we suddenly come back? This time, it's different from what I've encountered before. In the past, no matter how strange things were, I could always figure it out. There must be a plausible reason behind it, even if that reason was far beyond the understanding of ordinary people."

“I know what you mean. That’s how I feel too. Past events were like a tangled ball of yarn. I might not be able to see the pattern or how the yarn was twisted, or even the end of the yarn, but I could always find where the beginning of the yarn was. But now, it’s like I’m facing a ping-pong ball, all smooth and clean, and I can’t even find a place to bite.”

"Yes, that's the feeling. So, the problem must be in the tunnel, especially at those two bends. There's probably something strange there."

Every problem has a crucial point. Finding that point may not solve the problem, but at least it will tell you where to focus your efforts.

Now, Liang Yingwu and I both believe that the key must be inside the passageway. As the saying goes, "Experience makes a good doctor," and having experienced many strange things, Liang Yingwu and I both believe we have a bit of intuition. We'll carefully walk through it again, and we believe we can find clues to solve the problem.

After reminding the students to be careful of any unexpected situations, Liang Yingwu and I walked into the passageway again. Without even looking, I could feel the twelve pairs of expectant eyes behind me in the darkness. They must be hoping that I, a reporter supposedly with extensive experience, could help them through their current predicament.

I soon realized that I had been far too confident. There are just too many things in this world that I cannot understand.

I had pushed my senses to their absolute limit, carefully observing the changes around me with each step, following the beam of my flashlight. I even paid close attention to the shifts in the airflow, noticing every subtle difference in sound and smell. At each corner, I scrutinized every nook and cranny, walking back and forth several times. With each step, I made sure my foot was firmly planted, one foot completely on the ground before the other lifted off. The cave was much cooler than outside, yet I was quickly soaked through. I believe Liang Yingwu, like me, had exhausted all his energy trying to find a flaw in this passageway.

However, we eventually walked out of the passageway step by step, where we were greeted by two beams of flashlight, followed by 12 pairs of eyes that had been waiting for half an hour, and then by skeletons.

We're back again, and we haven't found anything. It's like we've unknowingly passed through a portal to another dimension, without even realizing it.

The flashlights that He Yunkai and Zhu Zili were carrying were getting dimmer; it seemed they wouldn't last long before running out of power.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the tunnel, their hands trembling as they gripped their flashlights. The flickering light made the tunnel entrance look eerily unsettling. I believe many people wanted to try again. In other places, one would make many futile attempts before finally giving up hope. But here, in the darkness, the fear instilled by the tunnel was so intense that it prevented anyone from even trying. They preferred to remain in this cave filled with bones. Even I believed that if this tunnel could prevent people from leaving, it could very well prevent them from returning.

“Say something to the students; we need to calm them down,” Liang Yingwu said to me.

"What are you saying? What are you saying? Even we can't figure it out, so what else can you say? As for calming people down, that's something you're best at."

Liang Yingwu sighed, remained silent for a moment, and then addressed the university students: "Students, I think you all understand that we are trapped for unknown reasons. In short, we cannot get out for the time being. Judging from the current situation, our predicament seems unlikely to be man-made, but rather this 'human cave' is playing a mysterious role. I believe there must be a solution, as long as we 14 people are together and work together. We are all highly educated and should have confidence in our knowledge and abilities. Everyone is very tired today, so let's rest first. Tomorrow morning, we will start to analyze and discuss our current situation in detail. Tonight, you can also think about what possibilities might have led to our current predicament."

I admit that Liang Yingwu was a good teacher. Under such circumstances, he was still able to take care of the students' emotions, try his best to prevent them from becoming pessimistic and hopeless, and unite everyone's strength to overcome the difficulties. But deep down, I am not optimistic at all.

I agree with Liang Yingwu's point of view. Judging from the current situation, it seems unlikely that anyone deliberately put us in this predicament. But that's actually worse. If it were a human, no matter how advanced the technology, humans will always have flaws, clues, and weaknesses; humans make mistakes. However, if there's no human element involved, and it's simply the strangeness of the hole itself, then it's almost flawless.

You can imagine how many generations of accumulated knowledge, experience, and wisdom it would take for humanity to unravel a mystery of nature; there's no precedent for instant success. If this hole phenomenon represents new knowledge, new laws, then for us 14 people to decipher it is something even a miracle couldn't accomplish; if it could truly happen, it could only be called a divine intervention. Keep in mind, we don't have time, and our food supplies are limited.

Liang Yingwu continued, "Now we are issuing a few temporary regulations, which everyone must abide by if they want to go out. First, from now on, food will be rationed, one meal per person per day. I don't need to explain why, do I? Second, at night, all men will take turns on duty, two hours per shift, four shifts per night, starting with me and Na Duo. I also have another suggestion: do not enter the tunnel alone. There must be something strange there, but we don't know what it is yet."

Infinite loop (4)

In the darkness, nothing but a watch could tell the time. By 7 p.m., only one flashlight beam remained, illuminating the surroundings. It didn't belong to either He Yunkai's or Zhu Zili's flashlights; those two had run out of power. The one now lit was Lu Yun's flashlight.

Outside the 50-square-meter living area, a makeshift toilet had been erected. There were no other materials available; the only thing usable was human bones. A partition wall was built from human bones. When relieving oneself at the back, one would squat down and be faced with several skulls and various large bones from human bodies. Zhu Zili and Ka Xiao'ou's hands trembled as they built this wall. This would be a nightmare for many of them when they needed to use the toilet in the future, if there was ever a future.

Actually, it was dark everywhere, so you could just go to the toilet anywhere and no one would see you. But firstly, girls weren't used to it, and more importantly, everyone, including Liang Yingwu and me, wanted to have a flashlight to illuminate their spot in the relatively solitary environment of the toilet, to feel more at ease.

No one was in the mood for conversation. Zhu Zili tried to muster his energy to tell ghost stories, but he couldn't continue after only half of it. His face was already deathly pale, and fear gripped his mind. How could he possibly continue telling ghost stories? He feared that his heart wouldn't be able to take it before he could even frighten anyone else.

I kept checking my watch; time had never seemed to pass so slowly. Every minute felt like an eternity. Around 8 o'clock, everyone started going to sleep.

Everyone was dressed very lightly, and they were already a little cold before they slept, but fear had overwhelmed them, so they didn't really notice. As soon as they lay down on the ground, the cold earth sent a shiver down their spines, followed by a chilling mountain air that made them shiver uncontrollably, almost unable to lie still, let alone fall asleep. With no other option, the five girls huddled together, and the men squeezed together as much as possible, partly for warmth and partly for courage.

I was the first one on night duty, two hours, longer than two days. Silence reigned all around, broken only by the faint sound of a girl sobbing. Thankfully, nothing unusual happened during those two hours. Of course, in the mostly dark areas beyond the reach of the flashlight, perhaps something was silently unfolding; who knows?

Around 11 o'clock, I woke up Liang Yingwu to take over for me.

When Liang Yingwu finished his two-hour shift and lay down beside me, I still hadn't fallen asleep. This place was so cold and gloomy, a place fraught with danger; how could I possibly sleep peacefully? My mind kept replaying the events of the day: entering through the outer cave, then to the White Bone Cave, and then the several detours—like a movie, replaying itself bit by bit. I tried to piece together some clues, but it remained a complete mess.

The only thing I can vaguely recall is that I felt something was off when I was in the first cave. If I could figure out where that feeling came from, perhaps there would be hope.

“These people seem to be from the Qing Dynasty.” Noticing that I wasn’t asleep, Liang Yingwu lay down beside me and said softly.

"The Qing Dynasty, you mean these human bones?"

“I saw patterns on some pieces of fabric that weren’t completely rotten, and I also saw some hair ties for braids.”

I couldn't help but admire Liang Yingwu's keen observation skills; I hadn't noticed any of these things.

"I've made some more discoveries, I speculate, I speculate..."

Liang Yingwu's voice suddenly became much lower, and he seemed to want to say something but stopped himself.

"What?" I pressed.

"Never mind, we'll talk about it later. Go to sleep first." Liang Yingwu unexpectedly avoided my questioning and, no matter how much I urged him, he fell asleep on his own.

"Damn it," I cursed under my breath, and could only try to fall asleep.

Experiments in the Dark (1)

I don't know when I fell asleep in the freezing cold, nor do I know when I woke up.

When a person recovers from confusion, their heart is at its most vulnerable. As the events of last night flooded back into my mind, I couldn't help but silently pray that it was all just a dream. But when I opened my eyes, I was still surrounded by darkness, punctuated by the faint beam of a flashlight.

I checked my watch; it was just before 5 o'clock.

I huddled up, thinking I'd been woken up by the cold and hunger. Food was limited; I hadn't eaten anything last night, and today I'd only have one meal. This hunger would last until we escaped, or until we died.

I lay there with my eyes open, deep in thought. The cool stone ground, though somewhat sobering me after my nap, still felt like Liang Yingwu had said yesterday—the whole thing was like a ping-pong ball; I had absolutely no idea where to begin. At the very least, I knew I needed to walk around and check things several times.

But thinking back, once we entered the passageway yesterday, we couldn't find the final stretch of road leading out. Was it a one-way, irreversible path, or did we unknowingly trigger something that caused a change?

I racked my brains trying to recall if there was anything unusual about our journey yesterday. But once we entered the tunnel, everyone was very careful because of the unusual terrain. If there had been anything strange, we would have noticed it on the spot. Now, trying to recall it is of no use.

Once inside the tunnel, I couldn't figure it out, but what about before? That seemingly ordinary large hole outside was also within the restricted area of the human cave.

Thinking of that huge hole, a thought suddenly struck me, and I seemed to vaguely recall something.

In that big hole, especially when I was about to enter the tunnel to explore, I already sensed an unusual aura, but where did that feeling come from?

I closed my eyes and carefully recalled the scene inside the cave, finally figuring out why I had that strange feeling.

It's a stone.

On the floor of that large cave, there were some large rocks, about a dozen or twenty in total, each weighing at least several hundred kilograms, lying scattered about. Normally, rocks in a cave wouldn't seem out of place, but now, upon closer inspection, it was clear this wasn't a stalactite cave where rocks would fall from the ceiling. Even if they had weathered and fallen from the ceiling, they couldn't possibly be this large, so intact, and so numerous. And these rocks seemed to be distributed around the passageway.

Yes, it's around the entrance to the passageway. To enter the passageway, everyone walks through these stones. And it was while I was walking through these stones that I had that strange feeling.

But what is the connection between these stones and the fact that we can't get out of the passage? Could it be that our inability to get out is related to these stones outside the passage? After thinking about it deeply, I couldn't help but feel that it was a bit far-fetched.

Could the stones trapping people be part of a magic formation?

In ancient Eastern culture, the so-called battle formations actually fall into two distinct categories. One type is used in military operations, where soldiers are arranged in specific formations to disrupt enemy lines or lure them into deeper territory. With regular practice by soldiers and skillful application by commanders on the battlefield, these formations can generate tremendous combat power. Many of these formations, through evolution, can still be seen in modern warfare.

Another type of formation is far more mysterious. Legend has it that the Eight Trigrams Formation used by Zhuge Liang to trap Lu Xun is one such example. This formation is arranged according to the constellations in the sky and the principles of Kan, Li, Qian, and Kun in the I Ching. Ordinary people who enter it will experience hallucinations and be unable to escape. Although such formations appear frequently in legends and novels, I have never encountered one in reality. Could it be that I've stumbled upon one this time?

But upon closer reflection, it still didn't make sense. If those stones were a formation, then we weren't trapped in it; rather, we passed through it and entered the passageway.

As I was pondering whether there might be a connection between the stones and the passageway, Liang Yingwu, who was lying beside me, suddenly stirred and sat up. I opened my eyes and could only vaguely make out a dark outline; it was almost like being blind. The flashlight beam was too weak; it seemed it would soon go out completely.

I was about to speak to Liang Yingwu when he stood up. I was taken aback and looked in the direction he was walking—towards the makeshift human bone toilet.

In this absolutely silent cave, even a woman urinating could be heard. A man urinating, the sound of urine hitting the bones, could be clearly heard even from more than ten meters away.

After Liang Yingwu finished, he didn't go back to lie down and sleep. Instead, he walked past me and headed straight ahead. That was the direction of the passageway.

I sat up slightly. Bian Xiao'ou was on duty, holding a flashlight. He was sitting with the flashlight in his left hand resting on the ground and his head propped up by his right hand; he had probably fallen asleep. Liang Yingwu, on the other side, showed no sign of returning; he seemed to have gone into the passageway.

What's this guy up to? Considering his hesitant manner last night, I'm sure he's discovered something.

I turned over and got up. The others were still sleeping silently, and I didn't know if they had woken up yet.

I grabbed a flashlight and followed Liang Yingwu into the passageway. The beam of the flashlight shone on him, and I saw that his posture was extremely strange. My heart skipped a beat—what was wrong with him?

Liang Yingwu stood close to the right side of the passageway, inching forward. Not walking, but shuffling, and he wasn't using a flashlight. The beam of my flashlight shone on the path in front of him, but he didn't react at all, continuing to move forward little by little. His posture was so strangely stiff, as if he were sleepwalking.

My heart skipped a beat, and I quickly caught up with him. As I got closer, I realized that his hands were pressed tightly against the stone wall, like a blind man using his hands as his eyes to move forward. I didn't care about anything else, and I slapped his shoulder hard while whispering "Liang Yingwu" in his ear.

Liang Yingwu shuddered and turned around. The flashlight beam shone on his face, and he looked perfectly normal.