Flores de durazno

Capítulo 6

My feet finally found a foothold, a horizontal branch below. I carefully grabbed Lao Gu's arm and pulled him down. Sometime later, the croaking toads became quiet, no longer noisy at all, as if they had been frightened by something.

I became increasingly cautious, recalling the strange creature that had been lurking beneath Lao Gu's gun barrel last night, its head tilted as it peered at him. I was certain that Lao Gu had been dragged into the water by that thing. Although Lao Gu had managed to escape, it was possible that it had deliberately let him go and then injected some potent substance into his body. The large mole-like thing on his knee was proof of that. Now, it had even managed to subdue the vicious poisonous toad, which was not a good sign.

I tilted my head and thought, what natural enemies does a toad have?

A snake? Or an eagle?

There shouldn't be any eagles in this reservoir, right? That leaves only one possibility: snakes!

How venomous could a snake that can swallow a poisonous toad be? Just thinking about it sends chills down my spine. Could there be a venomous snake inside Old Gu? Or perhaps a humanoid lizard-like snake?

I think it's probably a lizard, because last night, the way that thing was clinging to the deck and peering out with its head tilted was really weird, just like a gecko lying on the ceiling waiting for mosquitoes in the summer!

Chapter 15 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Chapter 15 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Author: Ghost Grinning

Date: 2008-03-15 0:12:00

I untied the rope from the knife handle, tied Lao Gu's arms together, made him hug the tree branch tightly, turned his feet around, and gritted my teeth to use the tip of the knife to pry the water plants off his toes.

This wasn't seaweed; it looked more like hair. I gently parted it to the left and right, revealing an excessively large toe. It was pitch black, and something was embedded inside, slowly wriggling, seemingly very impatient, as if its sweet dreams had been disturbed by me.

My whole body was trembling, and I tried my best to keep my hand holding the knife calm, making sure it didn't shake.

This dark, wriggling thing had many long, forked fleshy threads protruding from its mouth. Some of these threads wrapped around the toad, sucking its flesh and blood clean. Others were unconsciously licking and coiling around the tip of my knife, making it impossible for me to tell what it was. Most strangely, two of the dark red fleshy threads were wrapped around a square plastic box. I had no idea what it was.

I took a deep breath. For the safety of my comrades, I was ready to risk everything. I carefully examined the location of the freak, gently pressed the blade against the nail of Lao Gu's toe, and inserted it into the back of the freak. I was prepared to give it a hard push and see if I could pry it out, or better yet, throw it directly into the pond below to feed the fish!

Wait a minute! That hairy black mole is on Lao Gu's knee. What if that's where Lao Gen is? Wouldn't I be alerting him?

My hand gripping the knife handle trembled slightly. I deeply regretted my carelessness. Just as I was hesitating whether to pull the knife back, an eye suddenly opened from the dark, fleshy mass. I dared not hesitate any longer. To take the head of a general from among a million soldiers, I had to do it!

Holding down Lao Gu's leg, I used all my strength to forcefully pluck and cut many fleshy threads. A sticky lump was scooped out, still with a long tail attached. It squeaked as it flew into the air, then splashed into the pool below, causing another splash before finally becoming still after a while.

I was drenched in sweat and completely exhausted. I grabbed Lao Gu and almost fell off the tree.

Unexpectedly, Old Gu had already woken up, groaning and muttering, "Who is it? Help me! My wrist is going to break! Oh my god, who threw a brick at me? It hurts so much!"

I laughed and cursed, "You old geezer, you scared me to death! I should have thrown you in the water to feed the fish! I was being lenient by not hitting you with a couple of bricks! Who would throw bricks at you now!"

When I untied Lao Gu's wrists, I saw several fleshy threads suddenly sticking out of his neck and dangling, which startled me! Had all my efforts been in vain, and this guy had become a host of parasites all over his body?

Date: 2008-03-15 0:40:00

Old Gu grumbled and reached into his collar, pulling out a plastic box. I chuckled when I saw it; it turned out I'd seen that thing before. I don't know how it flew into Old Gu's arms from mid-air. But Old Gu wasn't happy. He touched the slightly trembling fleshy line on the box with his finger, shuddered, and threw the plastic box away!

The plastic box crashed onto the rocks, and suddenly, a few strains of opera singing came from the now quiet cave. Old Gu and I looked at each other in astonishment. What was that? Was it a radio?

Is this too much of a coincidence? This is the same stage where they performed last night, and it's still the same stage now. Isn't this just trying to scare people?

But it's hard to say. I heard that the military already has some miniature tape recorders, so maybe this is the cassette tape they played. The quality is really good. It even came into close contact with the weirdo on Lao Gu's leg after it got wet, and it still made a sound. Unfortunately, it only made a few short sounds before falling back into the water and never spoke again.

I shook my head, which cleared up a mystery in my mind. I unzipped Lao Gu's trouser leg and carefully examined the hairy black mole. Fortunately, it was gone, but his entire calf had become thinner. Although some blood was still seeping from his skin, it was bright red, indicating that the toxin was no longer inside. I tightened the bandage above Lao Gu's knee, and gradually the bleeding stopped. Lao Gu told me he felt much better, but he still couldn't walk because it hurt a lot!

I scouted down below, while Lao Gu, dragging his injured leg, barely followed behind. We made it down the tree without any major incident.

The big tree definitely didn't grow in the deep pool. Looking around, I finally understood what kind of environment this was.

Date: 2008-03-15 11:34:00

There's a wide waterway inside this rocky mountain. When Lao Gu and I suddenly entered from the light, we were disoriented. Now we can see that this waterway inside the mountain is either natural or man-made. The flowing water has eroded a huge cave in the middle of the mountain, but the mountain is very thick. The water rushes in from the middle and flows out through the scattered cracks. This rocky mountain will collapse sooner or later. I just hope it won't happen now.

At this moment, Lao Gu and I were not far from the back of the stone mountain. This strange, lush tree had its roots deep inside the mountain, and its trunk twisted and pierced through the dome of the mountain. There must be a cave extending from the top, because sunlight was shining through the leaves at the top. Clearly, Lao Gu and I were not in dire straits. If we searched carefully, we could definitely climb out of the cave and reach the top of the stone mountain to wait for rescue.

After realizing our predicament, Lao Gu and I both breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the ground to rest.

Old Gu patted my shoulder with gratitude and said, "I'm only alive this time because of you. I won't say any more cheesy words of thanks for saving my life, but I'll remember it! Now that we have some free time, let me tell you the whole story. Although I don't understand everything, there are definitely some things you don't know or can't imagine."

Old Gu began to tell me the whole story from the beginning.

Old Gu simply didn't believe it about the crashed military plane.

The incident began a month ago when Lao Gu was sitting in his office drinking tea and reading the newspaper when Lin Fuxiang, the secretary of the county's Political and Legal Affairs Commission, came to visit. Although Lao Gu was not directly subordinate to Lin Fuxiang, Lin Fuxiang was the undisputed leader of the county and a member of the Standing Committee of the County Party Committee. Therefore, Lao Gu was very enthusiastic and treated Secretary Lin with utmost respect.

Secretary Lin did not come alone. He introduced two people to Lao Gu. They were wearing military uniforms and looked much more serious than Secretary Lin. They appeared to be officers of considerable rank. Secretary Lin politely introduced them as cadres from a certain military region who had come to trouble the reservoir management department with some matters.

Old Gu noticed that the military vehicle the two men had driven had a license plate starting with "Ren A," which he remembered belonged to the intelligence department of a military region in the northern coastal region. His heart skipped a beat, and he nervously awaited their orders. The two men politely showed their identification and said they were going into the reservoir to arrest someone—a fugitive who had escaped from a military court. They couldn't reveal too much about the specifics, but they did say that the fugitive was very dangerous and that they had the right to kill him if he resisted.

Chapter 16 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Chapter 16 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Author: Ghost Grinning

Date: 2008-03-15 11:47:00

Secretary Lin gave Lao Gu a brief pep talk, urging him to cooperate fully with the military's mission, and left without even having a meal.

The two were very cold. Old Gu had originally planned to prepare a feast to entertain them, but he swallowed his words back.

Without further delay, Lao Gu arranged a boat and personally accompanied the two into the reservoir area to search for the fugitive. Both men were carrying guns and some small metal cylinders, and their backpacks were bulging with things, the purpose of which was unknown.

Nothing particularly strange happened that day. The three of them, along with five or six reservoir staff, drove around the reservoir in a boat and eventually stopped here, which is where Lao Gu and I stayed last night. Lao Gu said that he saw the two of them with serious expressions, unpacking their packages as if facing a formidable enemy, saying that they would act after dark. However, Lao Gu didn't see anything unusual about this body of water at the time.

At dusk, the two of them didn't eat and hid in the house, seemingly discussing something. Old Gu, who had lived on the reservoir for decades, was used to spending the night on the water and assumed the two were just seasick, so he didn't think much of it.

That evening, the two came out, both wearing simple diving suits with only hoods and oxygen tanks on their backs. They lay on the deck and whispered to each other. At first, they spoke Mandarin, but later their voices got louder, and they seemed to be arguing about something, so they switched to another language. Lao Gu couldn't understand this language, but it was definitely the gibberish of the Japanese.

Old Gu was quite surprised. How could Chinese soldiers be speaking gibberish? But upon closer listening, he realized that the two had switched to a language Old Gu was familiar with—Russian.

Date: 2008-03-15 12:08:00

The Xin'anjiang Reservoir Dam is China's first hydroelectric power station designed, constructed, and built entirely by China. In fact, it received help from Soviet experts. The entire design blueprint referenced the Soviet hydroelectric power station design concept and adopted Soviet technology and experience at the time.

The Xin'anjiang Engineering Geological Team included personnel from both the Ministry of Geology and the Ministry of Water Resources. At the time, Lao Gu was with the Ministry of Geology, having just started working. Schistosomiasis in the reservoir was still quite prevalent, and nobody went swimming. Back then, there was a funeral custom in Zhejiang where the deceased's coffin was kept in the ancestral hall until the descendants held a wedding ceremony before burial. Lao Gu's work involved traveling extensively, and he often stayed in the ancestral halls of local villagers, next to coffins containing the dead.

The Soviets also had a tough time running around, and over time, Lao Gu gradually learned a little Russian and could barely understand it.

I know that most of those so-called Soviet experts, apart from a few who genuinely helped the impoverished new China, were Soviet spies who surveyed our country's hydrogeology, gathered mineral intelligence, and did all sorts of bad things. I've never had a good impression of these Russian old hags. Hearing Lao Gu say this, I have a guess in my mind that Lao Gu must have come into contact with some core military secrets. These two might be carrying out a very dangerous mission. I just don't understand why they're only bringing up these issues almost thirty years after the reservoir was built.

Seeing how focused Lao Gu was on speaking, I didn't dare interrupt him. I kept my questions to myself and listened to him continue, thinking there should be more to come.

The two were discussing a complex issue. Lao Gu could barely understand that they were talking about the location, but he didn't quite understand some of the technical questions, such as whether there was any karst seepage from carbonate rocks. However, something the two mentioned later surprised Lao Gu.

Date: 2008-03-15 12:29:00

The Russian conversation also touched on past intelligence issues, with the two arguing about how the Republic of China's documents could be fake. They mentioned a whole host of terms, including sinkholes, underground rivers, gems, monsters, and bronze mirrors, and said that the fugitive was too dangerous and they had to be careful. Most importantly, they mentioned the fugitive's gills.

That's right, they meant that the fugitive had gills behind his ears. As soon as I got back, I looked up the meaning of the word carefully and finally understood that this was what the two people meant: the fugitive had gills behind his ears!

At the time, Lao Gu didn't understand what they meant at all. The two climbed up the rocky mountain and told Lao Gu to wait until the next night. If the two still hadn't returned, he should immediately go back to find Secretary Lin of the County Political and Legal Committee and tell him the situation. Lao Gu asked them in a strange way why they should go through the Political and Legal Committee instead of the garrison or the armed forces department.

The two hesitated for a moment and said that this was how their leader had arranged it. Secretary Lin and the leader were comrades-in-arms before, which is why they were carrying out this mission privately. Furthermore, the fugitive's problem was very serious, and they did not want to alarm the local authorities or cause them to panic. With their abilities, they should be able to handle it.

Old Gu couldn't interfere with their actions, so he could only patiently wait until the next day, wishing them success and hoping they wouldn't leave behind any murderers to wreak havoc on the area and cause trouble for his fishery administration department.

But fate had other plans, and neither of them returned by the evening of the following day.

As darkness fell, a muffled explosion, like a depth charge, came from underwater, making Lao Gu on the boat uneasy. Finally, the rocky mountain trembled slightly, and a crack appeared at the bottom. Lao Gu quickly moved far away, thinking that an earthquake was coming. On the third day, the two still hadn't returned. Lao Gu thought something might have happened, so he didn't dare to delay and returned to the county.

After packing up, I went to the Political and Legal Affairs Commission to find Secretary Lin. When I got there, the county said that Secretary Lin had been arrested and no one knew where he was.

Date: 2008-03-15 14:47:00

Old Gu was scared and suspicious, so he didn't dare to tell the county leaders about it, fearing that he might be arrested for making a mistake.

One person quickly returned to the reservoir and deliberately avoided it during his patrols, not daring to approach the rocky hills.

But the good times didn't last long. Less than a month later, Zheng Jian arrived with his men, including several leaders from other departments. This made Lao Gu even more tight-lipped, and no one dared to reveal the matter.

After listening to Lao Gu's words, I realized that this was indeed something I hadn't expected, and it was a secret only Lao Gu had kept. What I was worried about was that Zheng Jian and Zhang Liheng, the young girl, probably also had their own secrets being kept from everyone. Look at the mess this has made; it turns out that I'm the only one who's completely clueless and has no secrets.

I said to Lao Gu, "Let's try to analyze this. Let's assume that there really is a strange fugitive who escaped from the military court and actually came to the reservoir to hide. The military region, for some purpose, secretly sent people to capture him, but failed and was killed. So they sent Zheng Jian to lead a team to search for him together with people from other departments. Lao Deng is a famous frogman in the navy, so he was seconded to participate in the operation. The corpse he retrieved from the reservoir and the corpse we found were both caused by that fugitive. Perhaps the fugitive was not hiding, but came to the reservoir to look for something. This raises several suspicious points."

I raised my questions and asked Lao Gu to analyze them.

The first thing is that the fugitive has fish gills, which shows that he is related to water. It would be best to find out what he did wrong.

What happened to Lao Deng? The people he brought disappeared, and where was he going when he drove back home in the middle of the night? I noticed that he once climbed onto the roof of the car to hide from something? This means that something came ashore with him and took the opportunity to harm him.

Thirdly, regarding the issue we encountered, why did Zheng Jian abandon us and act alone? Where did he go?

I then told Lao Gu about the swamp of unknown origin, the poisonous toads and catfish, and the parasites that had been hidden in Lao Gu's toes when he was ambushed. If all of these are related to legends, then the warlords, the Russians, and perhaps even the Japanese must have known some secrets about the reservoir before it was filled with water, especially the sinkhole upstream. Could there be hidden treasure there? Because Lao Gu mentioned gemstones or something.

No matter how much I explain, I still don't understand why.

Lao Gu and I both felt that only by finding Zheng Jian could we figure out what was going on.

Chapter 17 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Chapter 17 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Author: Ghost Grinning

Date: 2008-03-15 16:53:00

I helped Lao Gu up and asked him if he could still walk. Lao Gu gritted his teeth and said that his legs still hurt a lot.

I looked around and said to him earnestly, "This place isn't very safe yet. Look, some sunlight is coming in from above, so we shouldn't be far from getting out. Let me help you, let's go slowly. We can't stay here any longer. Hang in there, Lao Gu."

Old Gu nodded, struggled to his feet, grabbed my arm, and slowly walked forward.

I couldn't help but ask him, "You said those two young officers were speaking Russian, so they don't look like Russians either, do they?"

Old Gu said, "100% Chinese! I'm sure of that. Apart from being a bit serious and quiet, they're no different from you soldiers like Zheng Jian. I later regretted not secretly checking if they also had gills."

I laughed and said, "Don't talk nonsense. How can a person have gills? If there were such a freak, our army wouldn't need to train frogmen so hard. We could just put one on. Besides, didn't you see that they also carry oxygen tanks?"

I asked Lao Gu if he could recall any other clues, but Lao Gu remained silent, staring at the tree and muttering to himself.

I asked him, puzzled, "Old Gu! What are you looking at?"

Old Gu looked at me and said, "This tree is a bit strange. I've never seen a tree like this on an island in a reservoir before!"

I looked at the tree: "It's nothing, who can remember what all the trees on the island look like? Let's go, forget about it."

Old Gu pointed to the tree and said, "No! Look, what kind of tree can bear this kind of fruit? It looks like a human head!"

I looked closely at the spot Old Gu was pointing to. At the end of the branch, near the stone wall, there was indeed a lump-like thing hanging there. A gust of wind blew by, and the leaves and twigs covering the lump were swept away. I could really see a head with facial features, and its eyes were closed and its face was expressionless. I just didn't know where the body was.

Old Gu gripped my shoulders tightly, quite forcefully, and I could feel that he was very nervous.

I steeled myself and took two more steps forward, wanting to see more clearly what was going on, but Lao Gu pulled me back, not letting me get any closer. He pointed around frantically, his tone full of despair: "It's over, this really is a ghost tree. I saw a lot of women's heads hanging on the tree!"

I slapped him: "What's the big deal! We just covered each other with human skin, don't be afraid, it's just a dried-up human head from many years ago, don't make such a fuss!"