Flores de durazno

Capítulo 14

As I prepared, I said, "When we go down there, let's keep an eye out for any undercurrents. If there really are any, we'll follow them and see where the water is flowing."

As soon as I finished speaking, I suddenly felt that Ding Gen's position had changed, as if a dark cloud had drifted over and covered his front, back, left, and right sides, and its irregular shape was slowly moving.

I was startled and quickly looked up at the sky, but there was nothing there. The morning sky was clear and cloudless, so something must have swum across below.

Staring intently at Ding Gen's spot, the irregular dark shape trembled slightly and then vanished in a flash.

Chapter 38 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Chapter 38 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Author: Ghost Grinning

Date: 2008-04-09 09:54:00

What is this terrifying thing? Ding Gen seemed oblivious, staring at me in astonishment, not knowing what had happened.

I can't figure out what it was that flashed past my eyes. Could it be that I was seeing things first thing in the morning?

I didn't tell Ding Gen about this, and rubbed my eyes, saying, "It's nothing, I probably just saw things. It looks like a fish swam by. Let's go down."

Ding Gen and I decided to leave that strange artillery position for the time being. We dived into the water and floated quietly, looking for any signs of undercurrents.

The claim that there are undercurrents in the water is indeed true. Some are even like rivers, flowing very fast. Their causes are complex. Some are caused by eddies that disappear quickly, while others are caused by geological structures, such as large differences in elevation on the riverbed. The Xin'anjiang Reservoir area is a karst landform. Before these mountains and hills were submerged, there were many caves and underground rivers. Solution channels, sinkholes, vertical shafts, and sinkholes are all possible ways for undercurrents to exist in the water. So I am not surprised at all when Lao Deng said that there are undercurrents in this area.

However, I was extremely cautious about the potential sinkholes. Karst sinkholes are formed when water seeps downwards along vertical fissures, constantly eroding and expanding. They first form hidden holes in shallower areas on the ground, then collapse as the holes enlarge, eventually forming sinkholes. These sinkholes are often distributed in clusters and are all connected to underground rivers, serving as indicators of the river's direction. The bottoms of these vertical fissures are small but extremely dangerous. Water rushes into the underground river through these fissures, creating a rapid and powerful current. If you're not careful, you could get sucked in and be in serious trouble.

After floating in the water for a while, Ding Gen and I sensed the presence of an undercurrent. Rather than an undercurrent, it was more like a large whirlpool. All the water around us was slowly rotating towards the center. Some of the lake water, unwilling to sink, was slowly rotating and sinking, occasionally spreading outwards. However, the speed of the water flow was extremely slow, and it was difficult to notice without careful observation.

Ding Gen and I were secretly astonished. If there really was a crack in the center of this body of water that could attract so much water to flow in, how big would the drop be? Unless the water flowed in from here and out from somewhere else, the water level should have dropped long ago, unless this leak was only recently formed.

Date: 2008-04-10 09:04:00

Ding Gen and I carefully discerned the direction of the water flow, gradually making our way cautiously towards the central water area.

The current gradually increased, and Ding Gen and I were worried that there would be a huge suction vortex in the central water area, so we stopped to observe further and dived down to the bottom. It wasn't very deep; after about ten meters, we could see the uneven bottom.

Ding Gen's headlamp scanned aimlessly underwater. The situation was indeed quite complicated. The uneven terrain indicated that this place used to be a saddle-like area between mountains. Persistence paid off, and we soon discovered what appeared to be traces of a man-made structure.

It was a rectangular iron fence, laid flat on a slightly level spot on the seabed. How should I put it, it was somewhat like a sewer cover, but much larger than a sewer cover, and the distance between each bar was also wider. I tapped it lightly with my diving knife, and it made a metallic sound, but it was already covered in rust, so it must have been there for many years.

Looking down between the horizontal bars, it was pitch black, and the light couldn't reach very far, but it felt like there was quite a lot of space below.

Ding Gen and I gestured to each other for a while, discussing whether we should pry open the lid and go down to take a look.

They unanimously decided that it was dangerous, so they should continue forward.

I took the knife and started tapping the iron bar hard, ready to give up, but Ding Gen suddenly grabbed me and gestured for me to listen carefully.

Sure enough, there was a sound. After I knocked on the iron fence, I actually heard a knocking sound coming from inside.

Date: 2008-04-10 09:15:00

This is not right. Could there be someone locked up under the iron bars? We refused to leave and started trying to figure out how to pry open the cover to take a look. If it was one of Zheng Jian's men, we could save as many as we could.

This thing, which I couldn't tell was a skylight or a cover, could only be opened from the outside. It was blocked by a thick iron bar on the side, so it couldn't be opened from the inside at all. It immediately made me think that this might be some kind of prison cell. The sound below was the cry for help from a wronged ghost.

After removing the iron bars that held the gate shut, Ding Gen and I used all our strength in the water to finally pry open a gap in the iron fence that was big enough for a person to get in.

It was really dark inside! I gritted my teeth and was the first to dive down.

My guess was right; this iron fence was indeed a skylight in a large house. Apart from being too dark to tell how big it was, what impressed me most was a strange feeling. It wasn't fear or gloom, but a very sad and solemn feeling, as if a grand ceremony was taking place around us.

Date: 2008-04-10 09:26:00

This feeling was very strong, especially in the darkness when we had no idea what was going on around us. Ding Gen and I were both stiff and dared not move around, for fear of triggering some mechanism and being silently swallowed up by this boundless desolation and solemnity.

The beams of our headlamps slowly rotated around us. Many suspended dust particles in the water drifted aimlessly around us. Under the obscuring effect of these wisps of debris, the light from our headlamps was greatly reduced, and we couldn't see very far or see if there was any danger around us.

After a moment of silence, I realized that this was not a solution and we had to take the initiative. If there were some malicious plots being secretly plotted around us, we would be in danger of being annihilated once the enemy had finished their preparations.

I gently patted Ding Gen, signaling him to follow me. Since I wasn't wearing a mask, my crocodile-like eyelids gave me a much wider field of vision underwater, so I took the lead and quietly swam into the unknown darkness.

Date: 2008-04-10 09:47:00

The house was quite big. After swimming a few meters, my leg tripped over something, and I winced in pain but couldn't scream. Looking down in the light, I saw a table—it definitely wasn't made of wood; it was probably cast iron or something. My ankle was stuck on the corner of the table, and the excruciating pain made me wonder if I had cut myself. This empty house was unsettling; what if the smell of blood wafted up and attracted some monster? That would be a disaster.

Ding Gen was also very nervous. He bent down and shone his headlamp on my ankle. I patted him on the shoulder and told him not to worry about it and to hurry up and take a look around. If there were no clues, we should leave as soon as possible. I was very uneasy about staying here.

How could this damn table be placed right in the middle? I looked around the table and found that its location resembled a conference room. The table was a rectangular conference table with a row of individual chairs around it. The chairs were very crudely made, and most of them were rotten and lying haphazardly in the water. To my relief, I didn't see any corpses or anything like that that had been trying to scare me within my sight.

Ding Gen straightened up, nodded to me, and gestured that I was alright. It seemed I wasn't so unlucky as to accidentally bump into something and get a cut. I felt a little relieved and nodded back, indicating that we should continue walking.

In the instant I turned my head, I saw a change in Ding Gen's face. His expression was one of extreme horror. He stared wide-eyed at what was behind me, and put a finger to his lips, gesturing for me not to move.

Chapter 39 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Chapter 39 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Author: Ghost Grinning

Date: 2008-04-10 12:43:00

I was startled by this sudden turn of events. In the darkness, while we were still in a daze, had another unexpected incident occurred?

What's behind me? I stood stiffly, following Ding Gen's instructions, without moving an inch.

Ding Gen picked up his harpoon and aimed behind me. My headlamp shone on his face, and I could see that he was very nervous. My heart was pounding, and I felt like my stiff legs were about to cramp. Just when I was about to give up, I saw Ding Gen's furrowed brows relax and his harpoon lower itself. I immediately relaxed and knew that the crisis had temporarily passed.

Ding Gen waved his hand, telling me to turn around and look for myself.

In the darkness behind me, perhaps against the walls of the room, stood a row of people, very close to each other.

Everyone was wearing peaked caps, heads bowed and silent, dressed in tattered military uniforms with strange leg wraps on their calves. Their hands were clasped together at their thighs, and they were not carrying guns. One of them had his peaked cap drooping to his chest, revealing his withered features. His bald head was completely bald, with a deathly black color, and he looked like he had been dead for many years.

The uniforms these people were wearing were not the style I was familiar with. I swam closer to examine the collar insignia and shoulder boards. In my mind, I had a feeling that these might be Soviet soldiers.

The water temperature turned very cold. Ding Gen picked up his speargun and followed me, slowly swimming towards the wall. As we got closer, I finally realized that these soldiers could not possibly be Russians. Their uniforms were clearly the style of the warlord era in old China.

Date: 2008-04-10 13:00:00

What are these people doing here? Are they test subjects for Soviet experts?

The skin and flesh of this row of soldiers were shriveled and tightly wrapped around their bones, yet their uniforms had not completely rotted away—a truly strange thing.

Standing in the darkness before this row of silent, dead soldiers, I suddenly felt a sense of panic, as if I could feel the soldiers' unwillingness and desperate struggle in the face of death, and how they ultimately lost their lives, were then moved to this room and stood there motionless for decades, until today when Ding Gen and I unexpectedly discovered them.

I highly doubt that the knocking sound was caused by these lifeless corpses. Otherwise, why would it have attracted Ding Gen and me to risk coming down to find out?

I gently poked at a soldier's head with the tip of my knife, trying to find out the cause of his death. However, the place where the knife tip touched was very flexible, and I couldn't lift his drooping head. I had to bend down and poke at his chest and abdomen to see if there were any wounds.

What is this? I used the tip of my knife to cut away the soldier's clothes from his chest, but it wasn't a dried-up corpse. The surface of his chest was covered with a layer of solid, yellowish-white stuff. The knife tip felt greasy as it cut across it, and the cuts crumbled and fell into the water, floating away.

I carefully picked up a small piece of the residue with my fingers, and with a little force, the residue became slippery and deformed. This was adipocere!

Date: 2008-04-10 14:04:00

Adipocere is extremely rare; I've only ever heard my instructor mention it when talking about the underwater environment.

When a corpse is kept in water or moist, calcium-rich soil for a long time, the lack of air limits bacterial growth, thus slowing down decomposition. Furthermore, as water seeps out of the body, subcutaneous fat gradually decomposes into fatty acids and glycerol. Glycerol dissolves in water and is lost, while fatty acids combine with calcium, magnesium, and ammonium ions in the water to undergo saponification, forming fatty acid salts. These fatty acid salts resemble paraffin wax, are poorly soluble in water, and thus help preserve the corpse. This phenomenon is called adipocere.

But how could this thing be preserved for so long?

Full of questions, I turned to call Ding Gen over, asking him to come and take a look.

When I straightened up, I used too much force and banged on the soldier's lowered head, instantly creating a stream of water that made the surrounding area even more murky.

I quickly took a few steps back. Being so close to a dried-up corpse in the dark made me very uncomfortable. As my headlamp turned unintentionally, I saw that the place where I had cut open the adipocere seemed to be gently wriggling. Could there be aquatic animals living inside?

Date: 2008-04-10 14:38:00

I don't believe in this weird thing. As far as I can remember, even if the surface is covered with adipocere, the internal organs should still be decomposed. It's impossible for something to be born after so many years.

I bent down again and used the tip of the knife to probe the white grease.

Someone tugged at me from behind. I knew it was Ding Gen who couldn't wait any longer and was annoyed that I was so interested in an old corpse. I ignored him and focused intently on the piece of adipocere, gently piercing it with the tip of my knife.

*Pfft*—My knife tip accidentally pierced through, and several streams of white liquid spurted out from the wound.

The white water line seemed to be alive, circling around my blade. I tried to touch it gently. What is this thing?

I pulled out the knife and gently cut the white waterline. The opening suddenly contracted and then expanded, with thousands of creatures swarming on it. Oh no, something is about to burst out!

Seeing that things were going wrong, I quickly backed away. Someone pulled me from behind; it must have been Ding Gen. I impatiently took a few more steps back.

Date: 2008-04-10 17:45:00

The dim surroundings and murky water easily affected my reaction speed. That's the situation right now. If I had turned around to check what was going on when Ding Gen first pulled me, I wouldn't be in this passive situation now.

Because when I quickly retreated a few steps and turned to look at Ding Gen, I didn't find him floating behind me. It was as if my back was wide open, and I was in danger of being attacked at any time.

Ding Gen's headlamp light flickered faintly in the distance, and the thing that had tugged at me from behind was a piece of meat as thick as a chopstick! Startled, I turned ninety degrees and immediately took a few steps to the side.

On one side was a corpse wax about to explode, and on the other side was a sentient fleshy thread. My mind went blank for a moment, and I didn't know what to do.

The things on both sides were bizarre objects I had never encountered in the water before. As the saying goes, "Unsolicited kindness is either a trick or a theft." It was obvious that these two things were definitely not good, and for the first time, this water dragon felt like he had been caught off guard and his boat had capsized in a ditch.

After standing frozen for a moment, I noticed that the fleshy line had drifted over from somewhere else, tentacled and tentatively probing left and right. It hadn't yet found my position and was anxiously looking around when I suddenly saw a filing cabinet standing behind me. I didn't care about anything else, I touched the handle of the filing cabinet, pulled hard, and opened the metal cabinet door.

The moment I flung open the door, I felt a lingering fear. The strange changes in my eyes were related to the dark experimental cabinet. Now, faced with this situation, I was being reckless and ignorant. If I were to fall victim to something else, I would be devastated.

Thankfully, everything was alright. I shone my headlamp inside, and it was empty! Thank goodness!

I quickly swam to the soldier's body, pressed the tip of my knife against his shoulder, and pulled him over. When I was almost at the cabinet door, I kicked it with all my might, shoving the horrifying thing with its chest throbbing inside. After the cabinet door closed and was locked, I realized that my heart was pounding just like the sound of knocking on the cabinet door.

Chapter 40 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Chapter 40 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Author: Ghost Grinning

Date: 2008-04-11 10:42:00

No matter what's inside, I tell myself I must never open the door. Curiosity can kill, and I've proven that truth through practice.

After temporarily resolving this problem, I immediately worried that Ding Gen might have encountered some trouble. The beam of his headlamp was still flickering in the water, as if he was fighting with something. I gripped the knife tightly, carefully avoided the fleshy line in the water, and silently made my way towards Ding Gen's light.

There was a hole in the corner of the room, a dark, gaping opening. Ding Gen had already thrown away his harpoon, one hand gripping the crack in the wall, the other holding a sharp knife, desperately stretching his neck and kicking, trying to cut his own ankle with the knife. I looked closely and saw that his legs were wrapped with several dark red fleshy threads, and he was being dragged into the hole with all his might. The two were struggling and were having a great time.

There was also a long, fleshy line floating in the water, slowly being pulled back from the direction I swam from. It seems we encountered the same monster.

What kind of animal has these tentacles? I can't figure it out, and at this critical moment, I can't afford to investigate what kind of aquatic animal it is.

As far as I can remember, most animals with long tentacles are octopuses, but those are marine animals. How could we possibly encounter one in a reservoir? However, this reservoir has completely changed in my mind. Neither the Russians nor the Japanese are any good people. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they produced some unbelievable experimental results.

Ding Gen and I have both undergone rigorous training in dealing with these tentacle creatures, and I am particularly skilled at it.

Looking around, I decided I wasn't in a hurry to rescue Ding Gen; he wouldn't be dragged in anytime soon.