Abyss Empty House (The Salvageman's Adventure)

Chapter 26

But we can't worry about that now. After all, the lives of others are not as important as the four of us, especially since one of them is Zhang Liheng, a girl I like.

Chapter 71 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Chapter 71 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Author: Ghost Grinning

The air was getting hotter, so we stood up and stretched. Ding Gen called us from behind a side road, saying he had made a discovery.

Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the path beneath our feet wasn't solid ground, but rather a series of flat, compact stones. The cave walls on both sides had also been repaired, making them appear much neater. We wondered with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty whether there were any ancient relics or tombs here.

After packing up their things, they slowly made their way forward along the stone path. Ding Gen had already snatched the soldier's flashlight and led the way. Finally, the swaying beam of the flashlight stopped on both sides of the cave. There were two rows of stone statues placed side by side, each about the height of a person, all of them half-human, half-beast monsters.

Ding Gen's flashlight stopped on one of the stone statues. It had an animal head and a human body, wore a helmet, and held a machete. Its face was ferocious. There was another stone statue next to it that was extremely similar to this one. Except for the different animal head carving, the weapon in its hand was a long whip. Everything else was basically the same. It had no carved clothes and was shirtless. The carving was also very rough. But Ding Gen frowned and said, "It looks like I've seen this somewhere before. Oh no, we may have gone to the wrong place. Let's go back."

I was not about to retreat. Seeing that we were getting closer and closer to the answer, I snorted unhappily, "You can retreat if you want, but I'm not going back. This time, I'm going to storm the enemy's lair and get to the bottom of this!"

That's how things are in this world. If I had known back then that this was a road of no return, and that most of us would die here, I would have turned back no matter what, and the subsequent events would never have happened. But man proposes, God disposes. In the darkness, that unseen force still guided us step by step, leading us into an unfathomable abyss!

Zhang Liheng was much calmer and said to me, "Something's not right here. Don't you think these two stone statues look a lot like Ox-Head and Horse-Face?"

Ox-headed and horse-faced, upon closer inspection, it really is. These two stone statues are indeed Ox-headed and horse-faced. I had seen them in a dilapidated temple when I was a child. My mind was filled with doubt. How could there be such things here? Could there be a temple behind it?

Looking further ahead, we saw that the Judge of Hell, the City God, and the Black and White Impermanence were all there, along with many other unnamed monsters and deities, standing solemnly on both sides with their hands clasped in front of them. The passageway appeared extremely solemn and eerie, and we immediately stopped in our tracks, feeling a little panicked. Could there be a City God Temple here, dedicated to Yama, the King of Hell? Or was this road the Yellow Springs Road to the Underworld?

Ding Gen has never been a coward, and only now does he understand why Ding Gen wanted to go back.

When Ding Gen heard about the Ox-Head and Horse-Face, and then looked at the stone statues behind him, his expression immediately changed. Perhaps the kid was under too much pressure after his injury and was quite paranoid. Just as I was about to say a few words of comfort to him, the young soldier stumbled and ran back several steps, startling us all.

Looking back, I saw the young soldier holding a submachine gun, aiming it at us from behind, as if he was afraid of something. I was puzzled, and then I immediately realized that something was wrong. I turned my head and looked in the direction the young soldier was looking, and I broke out in a cold sweat.

Between the stone statues on both sides of the road, a person suddenly appeared, resting his chin on his hand and looking down as if he were thinking.

Ding Gen shone his flashlight over, but the person was in the shadows behind the stone statue, and his face could not be seen for a moment.

All of our own people were behind Ding Gen, not one missing, so the person propping up his chin was clearly not one of us. But how could there be anyone here? Could it be that someone came in before us?

For a moment, I felt that this person's face was unclear. He could be one of Shen Juan, Lao Gu, or even General Chen's men, waiting here to lure us in. At this moment, Zhang Liheng waved her hand to tell the young soldier not to fire, saying, "Don't move, don't move. Use a flashlight to look at his clothes. I think he looks familiar."

Ding Gen carefully shone the light up the man's feet, and was even more surprised when he did. The man's clothes were covered in mud, but he could still make out the green military uniform and trousers.

Ding Gen's lips trembled immediately as he realized who this person was: Shen Juan, the girl who had been kidnapped by Lao Gu.

We rushed over and helped Shen Juan up. She was completely disoriented and in a daze. No matter how we asked her, she wouldn't speak. Zhang Liheng fed her water with tears in her eyes, and she drank it without even a twitch of her lips.

I suspect that Lao Gu used some kind of trick to bewitch her. After Lao Gu escaped last night, she was sometimes lucid and sometimes confused. She followed the cave that Lao Gu and Hu Tou had gone through and unconsciously climbed down. She wandered around among these stone statues and then fainted again. If she hadn't run into us, she would definitely have died here.

Ding Gen held her, his throat choked with sobs, unable to speak, his lips trembling uncontrollably. He felt so sorry for her, for the immense suffering she had endured, climbing up and down the dark tunnel alone to search for people and find a way out, only to find nothing in the end, all her hopes shattered, and she had died helplessly in a dark corner.

Of course, we couldn't leave this pitiful girl behind any longer. We huddled together and discussed not to go any further for the time being, but to find another path that Chen Juan had climbed down. It must be the same path as the little soldier's, except that it forked at one point. There were many of us, so it shouldn't be difficult to find it.

After we finished packing up, we were about to split into groups and leave separately, but while we were discussing it, Zhang Liheng asked for Ding Gen's flashlight to look around, and finally simply lay down on the ground to carefully study the soil.

Curious, I squatted down and asked her, "What did you find? Is there something wrong with this soil?"

Zhang Liheng remained silent, dipped her finger in the blood, and smelled it. She exclaimed softly, "It's human blood, and it hasn't been long!" Only then did I notice a red bloodstain on the ground! I couldn't help but feel ashamed; sometimes, a young girl's eyesight is exceptionally sharp.

The bloodstains were left not long ago, but Shen Juan had no wounds on her body, so someone else must have just walked by.

We were all energized and followed the trail of blood with flashlights. There were basically no obstacles like earthen walls or rocks in this passage. Although the stone path wasn't straight, there were no forks. The young soldier quietly asked me, "What if we can't get out?"

I smiled and said, "There's no way we can't get out; we're almost there!"

Several people looked at me in surprise. I said embarrassedly, "Look, my eyesight is good. I can see a light ahead. Tiger Head, turn off your flashlight. This road is straight. There shouldn't be any traps. Let's sneak over and see what's going on. I think it's very likely that bastard Lao Gu."

Chapter Fifty-Two: The Boxing Ring

Upon hearing that it might be Old Gu's enemy, the young soldier's eyes lit up. He switched off his flashlight and grabbed his submachine gun. I quickly stopped him: "Don't make any rash moves! Keep your voice down." Zhang Liheng was ahead, calling out to us to be quiet and hurry up.

In a flickering light, we tiptoed to the entrance of a large hall, peering out from the shadows.

Inside the hall, a torch was burning brightly, and beside it were two people, one standing and one kneeling.

The person standing clearly held a pistol, while the person kneeling on the ground had their head drooping, as if they were ready to be shot.

My heart was in my throat. We actually know these two people!

The kneeling man was Sergei, who had escaped from General Chen at some point. The standing man was Gu Jinping, who looked extremely weak and had bloodstains on his arms. The two men remained motionless. Old Gu was in a ready-to-fire stance, while Sergei hung his head and remained silent.

Why is that? I looked around and found that the corner of the wall was filled with large, open boxes, piled high with gold and jewels, gleaming under the blazing torches, dazzling to the eye.

Chapter 72 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Chapter 72 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Author: Ghost Grinning

So these two were just after some gold and silver? I can hardly believe my eyes. We went to so much trouble, especially with that old man who seemed so unassuming. Turns out he's just a money-grubber?

I then looked at the hall from a different angle and noticed a pool in the middle, surrounded by railings. The railings were exquisitely crafted, with carved beams and painted rafters, exuding an antique charm. In the middle, there was a slightly raised platform, like a plate carved from jade. On the plate stood a bronze mirror, about the size of a magazine, which remained motionless.

From the moment they saw Lao Gu, the young soldier and Ding Gen were extremely emotionally unstable, their breathing becoming rapid. I knew they were filled with rage because of Zheng Jian and Shen Juan. I felt the same way. If that old bastard hadn't pretended to be unintentional, I wouldn't have contracted the same virus as the fish-gill people, and none of this would have happened. Enemies meeting are especially hostile, and the more I thought about it, the more I hated him, but I still forced myself to suppress my murderous impulses, unwilling to alert the enemy.

Old Gu yanked the safety off his pistol, looking like he was about to fire at any moment. Sergei didn't beg for mercy, and remained silent with his back to Old Gu.

Rat-a-tat-tat—rat-a-tat-tat—the sudden burst of gunfire was deafening.

When I saw it was the young soldier Tiger Head, I finally couldn't hold back anymore. I rushed out, raised my submachine gun, and started spraying bullets at Old Gu, yelling, "You bastard! Give me back my comrade's life!"

Caught off guard, Lao Gu was immediately riddled with bullets, his hand flailing wildly as he raised his pistol and fired in vain. Ding Gen and I didn't hesitate any longer; we grabbed our knives and pounced on him. But the force of the bullets had already knocked Lao Gu against the railing by the pool, crushing it in two. Half of his body fell into the pool, face down, buried in the mud, his legs twitching uncontrollably, struggling for his life with countless secrets in his final moments.

We breathed a sigh of relief, while Sergei, who had been hiding behind the mirror in the pool, had his head tucked in and hadn't been hit by any stray bullets. Only now did he peek out halfway, looking at us with lingering fear.

Suddenly, Zhang Liheng's voice rang out: "Tiger Head! Tiger Head!"

We turned around and were immediately stunned. The little soldier, Tiger Head, was lying on his back on the ground, motionless.

I rushed over anxiously and saw that the young soldier had a round, bloody hole between his eyebrows, the flesh turned outwards, and he was already dead, but his eyes were still wide open. I couldn't help but cry out in grief, "Tiger Head!"

Although I hadn't spent much time with this young soldier, we were both soldiers, so it was natural to feel a strong sense of kinship. We had even fought side by side before. It was such a shame that he was hit by a stray bullet from Lao Gu as he was dying!

I reached out and covered the young soldier's unseeing eyes, stood up with a heavy heart, and glared angrily at Sergei, who was still smiling at me.

I walked over and yelled, "Shut your mother's laughing! The people I hate most are those who play dirty tricks on me. If you hadn't been lying, none of this would have happened!"

Ding Gen also stared at Sergei, his eyes bloodshot from the bloody scene just now. He gripped his knife and looked ready to stab him a few times.

Seeing that things were going badly, Sergei quickly stretched out a hand and shouted, "Don't come any closer! I have a vaccine here to cure your illness!"

I was stunned for a moment: "What kind of illness do I have? Stop talking nonsense!"

Sergei continued, "It really is! It's the vaccine that cured Lin Teng! Don't lie to me, I knew you were infected with the fish-gill people's virus a long time ago. My vaccine really can cure you!"

Then I remembered that I had this matter to attend to. Wasn't this the ultimate goal of all this journey? I hesitated for a moment and stopped.

Sergei turned to Dingen and yelled, "If you take another step closer, I'll smash this vial! And you, little girl, put down your gun too! Unless you don't want your boyfriend to live, this is the last vial of vaccine, I'm not lying to you!"

We were all stuck here for a while.

But I felt a chill run down my spine again, because I now knew what the young soldier meant by the boxing ring.

After the railing of the pool collapsed under the weight of Lao Gu's body, streams of yellow water were gushing out from the middle of the pool. Not only was it a spring, but I could also see two small characters on the jade plate under the mirror: Spring Terrace.

"On this journey to the netherworld, we will summon our old comrades, and with ten thousand banners, we will slay Yama, the King of Hell!"

Marshal Chen Yi's two bold lines of poetry pointed out what the Quantai was used for. It turned out that the young soldier misheard the pronunciation and thought of Quantai as a boxing ring. No wonder we couldn't figure out what it meant. I thought of the row of ox-headed and horse-faced demons, black and white impermanence, city gods and judges on both sides of the stone road we came in. Suddenly, my heart was filled with unease. Could it be that we had really arrived in the underworld and were doomed to die?

A flurry of footsteps came from outside, at least seven or eight of them. I immediately broke out in a cold sweat. What's all this commotion? Who are they?

A group of people came in. I looked at them and saw that they were all covered in blood, holding identical submachine guns, and aiming them at us.

It was General Chen, already in a sorry state, his hair disheveled, his Zhongshan suit stained with blood, holding a pistol, coldly staring at us.

General Chen walked over to the several large wooden crates in the corner with their lids open, kicked them a few times, and sneered, "Damn Soviets!"

Turning to look at us, who were on the verge of exchanging blows, General Chen revealed a sinister smirk and waved his hand, saying, "Don't be nervous, don't fight so hard. You don't even know why! Sergei, be careful with the vaccine in your hand. If there's a problem, I'll make you regret being born!"

General Chen's gaze was also incredibly cold as he looked at me. After a long while, he said with a forced smile, "Not bad, another copy of the fish-gill man. It seems you're different from Lin Teng's mutation. These eyes are really good; you're an excellent research subject! Listen carefully, everyone: this person must be captured alive! I won't stand for him even if he dies!"

When he saw Zhang Liheng, his eyes flickered and he hesitated a bit: "How could it be you!" But he refused to say anything more. I was surprised that he didn't look at Ding Gen, as if he were looking at a dead person without any concern. I rolled my eyes left and right and found that Shen Juan, who had been thrown at the door, was gone!

As he turned around, I drew my pistol, pointed it at my head, and said coldly, "Don't even think about taking me back for experiments. I'd rather die than give you that chance!"

Zhang Liheng cried out in alarm, "No, Huang Ning! I'll get my dad to save you, please don't do anything foolish!"

Sergei didn't hesitate either, reaching out to open the small glass bottle in his hand. It was clear that if General Chen's men made a move, he would fight to the death. Seeing this, Zhang Liheng completely broke down and began to sob.

General Chen was taken aback: "Heh, trying to play this trick on me? You're really green!" With that, he raised his hand and fired a shot, hitting Ding Gen in the leg. Ding Gen let out a muffled groan, clutched his leg, and collapsed to the ground.

General Chen laughed and said, "Why don't you commit suicide? Watch me shoot your comrades one by one, and then I'll deal with your woman. Let's see what you'll do then! Don't forget, even if you die, I'll turn you into a specimen! Haha—haha—come on, come on, don't worry, I want to play a little longer, let you all die knowing what happened."

I knew this cunning guy was stalling for time, looking for an opportunity to capture us alive, but I really wanted to know what was going on. Although I wasn't afraid of dying, I didn't want to die in a daze. Besides, Zhang Liheng, who had just become somewhat interested in me, was here too. So I stopped arguing with him and listened quietly as he continued. I knew that this would be the answer to all the mysteries, and the truth would be revealed right before my eyes.

General Chen paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, and slowly said, "Where should I begin? Ah, let's start with the Soviets!"

After World War II, the Soviet Union's national economy was riddled with problems and urgently needed funds to restore industrial and agricultural production. Moreover, the Western countries, led by the United States, were eyeing the country with hostility, making the Soviets feel that there was a great crisis. Therefore, the important task of finding a way to bring in a lot of wealth and funds fell on the shoulders of the KGB.

In 1950, during Khrushchev's era, the Kremlin had a major secret: the world's largest man-made cave, the Mir diamond mine, had been excavated near Yakutia in the Siberian permafrost. Diamonds mined in this coldest region of the world accounted for 23% of the world's diamond production. The Al Rosa diamond mining company was second only to De Beers in South Africa in terms of diamond production, allowing the Soviet Union to rapidly accumulate strong economic capital and play a significant role in the US-Soviet arms race.

This enormous cavern is a mile in diameter and six hundred meters deep. It can be seen from space, like a giant wound on the Earth's surface. So much so that airplanes are prohibited from flying over it, because the air turbulence created by this huge hole is enough to suck an airplane into its belly. Once captured by the turbulent air in the giant hole, anyone would surely die.

In fact, mining diamonds here is no easy task. The exceptionally cold winters in Siberia cause lubricants to freeze, steel to crack, and even exhaled breath to freeze. The toxic hydrogen sulfide gas emanating from the mines is an invisible killer.

Diamonds will eventually run out, and the KGB began to set its sights on seizing them from all over the world. China, a brotherly country, became a key region of focus for the KGB.

Chapter 73 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Chapter 73 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Author: Ghost Grinning

Chapter Fifty-Three: The Truth Revealed

The geological structure of the Xin'an River quickly attracted the attention of the KGB. The claim that it was very likely to produce diamonds drew a large number of Soviet experts to conduct exploration. Diamond mining can be done in four ways: open-pit mining, underground mining, coastal mining, and seabed mining. Here, the Soviets adopted the underground mining method. After all, it was not their own territory, and everything needed to be done discreetly.

During the mining process, unexpected events occurred. No diamonds were found, but a lot of ordinary gemstones were discovered. Just when the Soviets were about to give up, they discovered clues left by Sun Chuanfang and Okamura Yasuji during the Republic of China era. After several attempts, the Soviets suffered greatly. Starting from those clues, the Soviets quickly turned the place into a testing ground for biological weapons. The unique conditions were very suitable for conducting such experiments.

The sinkholes, fissures, funnels, and karst caves all had suitable temperatures and humidity, but while the Soviets were enthusiastically working on them, it triggered a disaster.

This place is actually at the very bottom of the Dengzhan Tiankeng, a funnel-shaped sinkhole within a sinkhole. It existed before it was flooded. All of us came down from the Xin'anjiang Reservoir, because there is no way to come down from the top of the sinkhole. Moreover, this abyss and the city gate cannot be seen from the air. It is surrounded by dense primeval forests on all sides, and the top is sealed off by giant rocks. It is hard to imagine that there is such a large funnel-shaped sinkhole below.

What trouble did the Soviets encounter? It was actually a very strange incident. The prisoners of war and laborers they brought in would die for various reasons and then mysteriously disappear without a trace. Meanwhile, people kept finding these dead people moving around in the surrounding jungle. The KGB sent agents to investigate in the jungle and found that it was true. They also became suspicious and felt that countless dead people were spying on them. In a panic, they transferred heavy weapons support from the Soviet Union, including anti-aircraft guns, submarines, and tanks and armored vehicles. However, before they could even engage in combat, an accident occurred, and no one in the entire base escaped alive.

After that, the Soviets dared not try again, because Sun Yuehua's disappearance had already attracted our country's attention. So they fabricated a set of lies, insisting that they would build a reservoir here, attempting to sink all the secrets to the bottom of the water. We refused, so they threatened us with diplomatic relations and aid, and finally achieved their goal. We suffered huge losses. The day the reservoir was completed was the day the Soviet Union withdrew its experts, the day relations between the two countries deteriorated completely, and the day a severe natural disaster occurred. These things are actually connected.

After saying this, General Chen turned around and said, "So, what tricks did Sun Chuanfang and Okamura Yasuji play here? Have you guessed it yet? Think about it first, and I'll tell you about these people."

General Chen remained silent for a while, walked to the edge of the pool, glanced at Sergei's tense expression, smiled, turned back, kicked the fallen body of Gu Jinping, and said: "Gu Jinping was a Taoist priest from Changshan. He humiliated himself in this reservoir for twenty years just to obtain what the Japanese left behind. It is not unjust for him to die here. We have been watching him for a long time. Even if he doesn't die today, he will have to spend his whole life in prison when he goes back."