Flores de durazno

Capítulo 21

Some hard candies wrapped in candy wrappers hadn't even turned into powder yet, indicating that the cave environment was quite special. Not only did the corpses not decompose, but many things were still usable. Most surprisingly, there was even a Makarov pistol wrapped in oil paper. This gun was a new type of self-defense pistol issued to officers by the Soviets after World War II to replace the Tokarev pistol. It had a large bullet, fewer locking pins, and fewer parts. It used a simple blowback system, had a simple structure, and was reliable. I knew from my time in the army that it was one of the best compact self-defense pistols.

I drew my pistol, skillfully removed the magazine, and found that I was missing one nine-millimeter bullet, leaving seven. I happily stuffed them into my pocket.

There was nothing else in my bag that could attract my attention. I estimated that Ding Gen should have woken up by now, so I put my hands together and murmured, "Comrade, comrade, hero who went deep into enemy-occupied territory, I, Huang Ning, have offended you a lot today. Please forgive me for the sake of our compatriots. I didn't know your name, so I had to be rude. Please don't be angry if I touch your pocket. It would be best if you had a pack of cigarettes to smoke. I would be extremely grateful."

Chapter 57 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Chapter 57 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Author: Ghost Grinning

Date: 2008-05-11 14:33:00

Reaching into my colleague's pocket, I was overjoyed to find a pack of cigarettes. Although it was the kind of hand-rolled tobacco with a musty smell, it was still better than nothing. I also pulled out a small diary. The cardboard cover was soaked to a pulp, but when I opened it, I saw that there were still some dry contents inside. So I quickly packed my things and headed straight for Zhang Liheng and Ding Gen.

Ding Gen's eyes were open, and he looked tired and anxious. He leaned against the wall, his body slumped. Zhang Liheng was feeding him water. With each sip, Ding Gen's chest heaved violently, and he was panting heavily like a bellows. Although his health was still not good, there were signs of improvement.

I breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Old Ding is lucky to be alive. Here, take this life-saving treasure!"

I stuffed the cigarette I'd only managed to puff twice into Ding Gen's mouth and looked at him with a smile.

Ding Gen took two deep drags, but couldn't taste any smoke. The cigarette even fell out of his mouth. He could only say in a hoarse voice, "Old Huang, when did you switch careers and become a military doctor? You dare to operate on my neck? You're really something else, kid. You'll remember this!"

I asked in surprise, "Weren't you unconscious? How did you know this? Oh, Xiao Zhang told you, didn't he? Don't rush to repay your life-saving kindness. Let me write it down first, and you can pay me when we get out."

Ding Gen cursed, "Go to hell! If it weren't for you, you idiot, I wouldn't have fallen into this ditch! Light me another cigarette, I'm dying to get one."

I reached for my cigarette but accidentally pulled out the notebook with me. I immediately snapped back to reality and shouted, "Don't rush to smoke! It's all moldy. Look what I found! It's from one of our comrades. Finally, it's not written in Russian anymore. Listen carefully, I'm going to read it to you."

When I opened the notebook, I realized that although I had written Chinese characters that I recognized, they were crooked and scrambled like scribbles, all over the place. It wasn't something I had written properly; it was just scribbling and a rough draft. I couldn't help but feel a little discouraged as I quickly flipped through the paragraphs of sentences...

The first page was covered with many names: Sun Yuehua, Deputy Xie, Sun…Okamura, Kolotov—I didn't recognize any of them. Just as I was about to turn the page, Zhang Liheng pointed and said, "Look! I know this name!"

Date: 2008-05-11 15:44:00

I looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a name diagonally arranged in the middle of the character "乱" (luàn): Zeng Mian and Zeng Xisheng!

Zhang Liheng told us that Zeng Mian served as the secretary of a certain province after liberation and has been dead for almost twenty years. In the 1930s, he was the head of the Second Bureau of the Central Military Commission. The Second Bureau of the Central Military Commission was later reorganized into the Central Intelligence Department and the General Intelligence Department of the Military Commission. In 1953, it officially became the predecessor of the Second Department of the General Staff, which is commonly known as the General Staff Intelligence Department. The Third Department of the General Staff was the Technical Reconnaissance Department. Neither of them were as mysterious as the Second Department of the General Staff, which was an intelligence agency directly under Minister Li. Zhang Liheng had long heard of Zeng Mian's reputation, so when she saw Zeng Mian's name, she immediately remembered this matter.

Judging from the fact that the person who wrote these words probably died in the mid-1950s, he was not yet thirty years old. Considering the military uniform he was wearing, I estimate that he was likely an intelligence agent from the Second Department of the General Staff. I couldn't help but admire him even more. Isn't this the brave undercover agent who infiltrated the enemy? Even on his deathbed, he didn't forget to change back into his military uniform. I really don't know how he did it under such harsh conditions.

As you flip through the pages, you'll find that many of the papers are so soaked in water that they can't be separated and are stuck together, making it impossible to tell what's written on them. Only at the very end do you discover new clues.

I read it over and over again several times to understand the general outline of the matter.

The notebook's owner was Sun Yuehua, who joined Zeng Guofan's intelligence unit during the War of Resistance Against Japan. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he remained an ordinary technician, working under Soviet experts. Of course, the Second Department of the General Staff assigned him a different mission. However, Sun Yuehua also had his own secret. He volunteered to be transferred to Xin'anjiang, Zhejiang, because he desperately wanted to find news of his father, Sun Gang. Sun Gang was a trusted adjutant of Sun Chuanfang during the Republic of China era. He disappeared when Sun Yuehua was very young, supposedly sacrificing himself in Quzhou to protect Sun Chuanfang, but his whereabouts remained unknown. Sun Yuehua's wish was to uncover the truth. This secret was known only to Sun Yuehua; in that war-torn era, even the organization hadn't figured out his father's true identity.

After joining the Soviet experts' experimental base, Sun Yuehua quickly figured out the Russians' sinister intentions. It turned out to be closely related to the sinkhole. Moreover, the city gate was not built by the Soviets, but by Sun Chuanfang in collusion with Okamura Yasuji, who attempted to monopolize the imperial aura. After the Soviets learned of this secret, they continued to carry out large-scale projects on the basis of Sun Chuanfang's original projects, but suffered repeated setbacks.

Date: 2008-05-11 15:54:00

I flipped through the notebook and said regretfully, "I don't recognize many of the later parts; they were washed away by water. 'Intermittent' is just my guess."

This lone hero, Sun Yuehua, may have done something to try and wipe out everyone in the command post on the city tower during his escape, but he ran into trouble. Not only did he cause the deaths of prisoners of war and Soviets who hadn't evacuated, but he also got himself trapped in this temporary metal cabinet. At that time, the place wasn't flooded. Sun Yuehua originally planned to hold out for a while, presumably until the biological weapons outside became ineffective, before calmly escaping. However, things didn't go as planned, and he unexpectedly died there.

Empty House in the Abyss (A Salvage Worker's Strange Encounter)

Chapter 41

The last sentence in the notebook reads: "This is the warehouse of bacterial weapons. I cannot leave these scourges behind. I have already burned most of the finished products with lime. Some core components are still hidden in the abyss. I am powerless to destroy them. Even if I die, I will not be at peace. As for myself, I ultimately failed to find my father's whereabouts and died without knowing why. But I have no regrets. I have done right by my conscience and by the name of the Chinese people!" It is signed November 13, 1954, by Sun Yuehua.

After I finished reading the contents, Zhang Liheng reached out to take a look. I handed it to her helplessly and said, "It seems that this really is the Soviets' germ weapon warehouse, the kind with a front shop and a back factory, integrating experimentation, manufacturing, and storage. We've really made a miraculous discovery this time, actually finding something so big and directly attacking the enemy's lair."

Ding Gen said, "I just don't know if I'll make it out alive. If I do, I swear I'll never go into the water again. Old Huang, don't laugh, I'm serious."

I really wanted to laugh. Asking a veteran like Ding Gen, who loved diving, to never go into the water again was harder than asking him to quit smoking: "Save your breath, Ding Erlengzi. Look at your cowardly nature. You're like this after getting hit. What are you afraid of? I still have to go down into the abyss to fulfill my hero's wish!"

Zhang Liheng suddenly exclaimed with delight, "Is this a topographical map?"

Chapter 58 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Chapter 58 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Author: Ghost Grinning

Date: 2008-05-15 08:34:00

Zhang Liheng suddenly exclaimed with delight, "Is this a topographical map?"

We quickly stopped arguing and leaned over to take a look by the light of the gas lamp. On the notebook Zhang Liheng was holding, which was open, there were lines and circles here and there. It was all hand-drawn, with some arrows and dotted lines between the lines and circles. You couldn't tell it was a map at all without looking closely.

The three of them carefully examined the painting for a long time before they realized that it depicted the place where they were. It mostly showed the connecting structure of the city walls and the branching paths of the cave. Although the painter's skill was not very good and the painting was simple, it was still quite vivid.

Judging from the markings, Sun Yuehua's escape route started from this iron house. There's a solid line pointing downwards, perhaps indicating a pre-arranged rope. But the key is this solid line itself, which is broken in many places, like places to rest. At the bottom, there's a straight dotted arrow, seemingly indicating a plan to cross the abyss to the other side. The abyss in the picture is flanked by cliffs, but the distance between them is clearly not large. However, this dotted arrow disappears after reaching the other side. Could the other side of the abyss be a safe place?

It was obvious from his perspective that the way we came in was a dead end. So Sun Yuehua was going to risk climbing down into the abyss and running across the water to find a way out. And there was something particularly noteworthy: in his drawing, he deliberately avoided the opposite side of the door we came in through. He not only blacked out a big X but also added an exclamation mark, probably warning himself not to go to the other side. The three of us looked at each other, wondering what was on the other side. In our desperation, we found the bloody handprint on the door and chose this side. It seems that fate was still protecting us. The only downside was that Ding Gen was poisoned.

After studying this map, we all fell into deep thought. We had a general understanding of the cave's structure and had also figured out a lot about the Soviet Union's conspiracy. So far, there were still some questions that remained unanswered. After thinking for a while, I decided to put all the questions out there and have the three of us work together to study them.

The first question we need to answer is: where did the people Deng Jianguo brought into the reservoir go? We found no trace of them along the way, and based on what we know so far, this place is just a Soviet biological weapons depot. There shouldn't be any real enemy chasing him and even chasing him ashore. So why did he drive to the dock and then suddenly fall into a coma?

Poisoning or an enemy attack?

Ding Gen pondered for a moment and said, "I think all of Lao Deng's men must have perished and died? Moreover, Lao Deng was infected with bacteria when he escaped back, and he was already mentally unstable, which is why he did those strange things in his frenzy."

I shook my head and said, "Not necessarily. Xiao Zhang and I saw him drive that jeep. The footprints on the roof match his shoes, so we can be sure they were left by him. If Lao Deng was delirious after being poisoned, why would he climb onto the roof and quietly crouch down to avoid danger? But the men he brought into the reservoir are definitely in grave danger; they're probably already dead."

After listening to our conversation, Zhang Liheng pondered for a moment and said, "Then let's just conclude that Lao Deng was poisoned and infected with some terrible bacterial experimental weapon. I think he probably knew about some mutated thing and followed it ashore, which is why he drove in a panic. Actually, it didn't necessarily have to be the dock. We've all misunderstood. Maybe Lao Deng wanted to take that thing with him, but things didn't go as planned, just like Sun Yuehua. In the end, he failed at the last minute and collapsed before reaching his destination."

We both nodded in agreement: "That's possible. This trip has been quite an eye-opener. We've seen a lot of the Soviets' experimental results, like poisonous toads, corpse buds, and the green algae that got Lao Ding sick. There might be some we haven't discovered yet, like my eye problem. Could it be like that fish-gill man, where the disease eventually becomes incurable and I lose my life? It seems the first thing we should do when we get back is to have Lao Deng isolated in the hospital and given him a full medical checkup!"

Ding Gen said, "Then the next question is, what did Sun Chuanfang and Okamura Yasuji do here? Sun Yuehua said that this city gate was built in that era, which is strange. Why choose to carry out such a large project on the edge of the abyss? Is there any mysterious royal aura here, or is it harmful? Those old Soviets must have encountered trouble, which is why they are in such a hurry to flood this place into a reservoir. Is it to cover up their weapons depot, or to guard against the danger left by Sun Chuanfang and his group? If there is any danger, I think it is on the other side, at the place where Sun Yuehua drew a big 'X'!"

These questions are even more difficult to answer. I immediately shook my head. Up until now, apart from seeing the remains of a few warlord soldiers, we have no other valuable clues, let alone learn about what happened fifty or sixty years ago. Sun Yuehua mentioned that his father, Sun Gang, must know the inside story, but this person has been missing for many years. Even if he is not dead, judging by his age, he is most likely to have turned to dust long ago.

As for the Soviets' thoughts, they're probably related to that Sergei. That bastard definitely wasn't telling us the truth. Judging from his actions against Ding Gen, he might actually be a Soviet spy. I remember Lao Gu saying that the county political and legal secretary who introduced them to the reservoir later disappeared. I think he was arrested by our counter-espionage department. Thinking about Lao Gu gives me a headache. That guy is so mysterious! I always feel there are many suspicious points about him, but I can't quite grasp anything concrete about him. It's like he's tricked my eyes. Was it intentional or unintentional?

When I shared my thoughts with them, Ding Gen scratched his head and said, "This Lao Gu is a bit problematic. I haven't had much contact with him, but I feel that he's hiding a lot of secrets and is a very cunning guy."

Chapter 59 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Chapter 59 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Author: Ghost Grinning

Date: 2008-05-23 21:45:00

When I shared my thoughts with them, Ding Gen scratched his head and said, "This Lao Gu is a bit problematic. I haven't had much contact with him, but I feel that he's hiding a lot of secrets and is a very cunning guy."

I suddenly slapped my thigh and said, "Right, do you think Lao Gu might have faked fainting? You know, when they found Lao Deng, it was him who shouted and knocked Lao Deng unconscious. Pretending to be unconscious like Lao Deng would be a piece of cake for him! I suspect him because he lied to me and said he had spoken to the pilot through the hatch, but there was no one inside! Besides, given the situation, if he hadn't done something wrong, how could I have gotten infected? He couldn't have missed the virus! The more I think about it, the more I believe he did it on purpose!"

Zhang Liheng frowned and said, "Could those moving leather figures and horses be what he hid? Was the hanging just a pretense? Climbing to the cockpit was actually to hide those shady things? I remember telling Huang Ning that I felt like I saw him here before."

I laughed: "To me, he seems more and more like a Taoist priestess or sorceress who's learned some shady tricks we don't know! No wonder he pretended to hang himself when we pressured him on the boat!"

Ding Gen listened blankly, then said with a serious expression, "If that's really the case, Shen Juan is in danger! He boarded the plane with Shen Juan. Sigh, I hope we're just guessing. By the way, let's not talk about him for now. Where were we? Is there anything else you don't understand?"

Zhang Liheng said, "Perhaps we have all overlooked a very basic question, which is our original purpose for coming here. What exactly was on that crashed plane? Did Zheng Jian and his men know the inside story? Huang Ning's guess that the plane crashed because it was melted by the high temperature seems a bit far-fetched to me. I feel there are some other inside stories that we don't know."

Empty House in the Abyss (A Salvage Worker's Strange Encounter)

Chapter Forty-Two: Turning on the Lights

Seeing that everyone was in a bad mood, I chuckled self-deprecatingly and said, "Xiao Zhang, your unit is taking this plane crash very seriously. Let's count on our fingers, three planes have already arrived, and two of them are destroyed. If Lao Gu pulls a stunt and manages to bring down the last one, your unit will suffer a huge loss. Hehe, let's not worry about that for now and get back to the problem. I don't think Zheng Jian knows much about the inside story. But there's another group of people hiding behind us. I can sense them, they're quietly following us nearby. This group is the most dangerous. I even think it's someone from your unit, Xiao Zhang!"

What I said sounded a bit sensational, and Ding Gen and Zhang Liheng just smiled and didn't bother to refute me. So I said, "You may not know, but ever since I had problems with my eyes, my senses have become exceptionally sharp. Not to mention seeing clearly underwater, my vision in the dark is much better than yours. So I have great confidence in my keen sixth sense, and I'm definitely not lying to you."

After a while, Ding Gen asked, "What time is it? Why am I so sleepy? Lao Huang, can you sense whether it's time for me to go to bed?"

Date: 2008-05-29 17:05:00

After a while, Ding Gen asked, "What time is it? Why am I so sleepy? Lao Huang, can you sense whether it's time for me to go to bed?"

I couldn't answer his question, and I was a little annoyed that he didn't trust my intuition, so I could only reply helplessly, "It would be a waste of my talents to ask me to do this. I didn't bring my waterproof watch with me. Xiao Zhang, do you know the time?"

Zhang Liheng counted on her fingers for a while, then hesitated and said, "Logically speaking, it's not time to sleep yet. Considering our journey and the time we've wasted, it's only been eight or nine hours at most. It's around ten o'clock at night. Old Ding, your injury hasn't fully healed yet, so you're feeling sleepy, right? Why don't we rest here for a bit and have something to eat? I think the surroundings are relatively safe, and there's nothing suspicious around. What do you guys think? The main thing is that Ding Gen, you need to recover quickly, otherwise the road ahead will be difficult."

When I heard that we were going to eat, I immediately felt like I was already burning with hunger, and I nodded in agreement without hesitation: "I didn't know that we had been walking for so long. We might have already left the reservoir by now, and there's no water above our heads anymore."

Zhang Liheng took out her waterproof bag and said with a troubled expression, "We don't have much left. You two grown men lost your bag. I don't know if this is enough for me. Let's be careful with it." After saying that, she gave me and Ding Gen some food and drinks.

Ding Gen waved his hand and said, "I can't eat yet, my throat hurts terribly. You guys eat first. I had a good meal before coming to the reservoir, so I can still manage."

Without being polite, I ate some dry rations with water, and then discussed with Zhang Liheng how to take turns on guard duty so that we could all get a few hours of sleep. Ding Gen shouldn't be on guard duty anymore; it's more important for him to recover quickly.

After everything was ready, I installed two gas lamps, illuminating the area brightly, and then went to sleep.

I was so exhausted and hadn't eaten enough that I couldn't sleep soundly. As I lay down, I had a premonition that I was going to dream, but I never expected that my dream would be so closely connected to my real-life experiences. In that short period of sleep, I had a very strange and bizarre dream that left me dizzy. If I had known earlier that people's sixth sense has a certain degree of accuracy, I would never have continued down this path of no return. Unfortunately, I was caught up in the situation at the time and didn't think about it at all.

Date: 2008-05-29 17:07:00

I dreamt I was wearing a military uniform, but not a modern one; it was that of a junior officer from the warlord era. I was carrying a Bergmann submachine gun and a Mauser rifle on my hip, and a whole platoon of soldiers under my command. The place I was in was definitely one I had never been before, like a small village in a dense jungle. I was supervising my soldiers as they chopped down trees, sawed wood, hammered nails, and painted—basically, I did carpentry all night. The strangest thing we were making was coffins, which exhausted me!

That wasn't the end of it. After working on the coffin all night, at daybreak, I had the soldiers carry it and set off. We wandered aimlessly through the woods and came to the edge of a large pit. At the bottom of the pit were many glittering gems, flashing and shining brightly. We picked up all the gems and filled the coffin to the brim. Just as we were about to leave, the bottom of the pit collapsed.

A dark, imposing palace suddenly appeared, with many ox-headed and horse-faced demons standing at its entrance. The surrounding area glowed with green light, much like the Yama's palace in a play. We were all stunned with fear. From within the black palace, a large vortex of gas swirled and spun, spewing out lava and other substances. The air was instantly filled with dust and rocks, and thick, viscous black mist, reeking of blood, billowed around us. Within it were shadowy figures of wandering ghosts and spirits, enveloping me and my soldiers.

I dropped the gem and fled for my life in a panic. Zhang Liheng appeared beside me at some point, and surprisingly, she was still my wife. She pulled me down into the deep pit. In the darkness, we floated hand in hand. I don't know how much time passed before we crashed into a large pond with the sound of the wind. We held each other tightly and swam desperately towards the shore.

As I swam, just as I was about to sink and give up, Old Gu suddenly appeared, with a Japanese officer standing behind him. Although I didn't recognize him, I knew he was Okamura Yasuji. He grinned maliciously as he approached me, pulling out a knife to gouge out my eyes! I was terrified and desperately fired back, but all the bullets missed, hitting an American cowboy. The cowboy turned to look at me, angrily drawing his gun and returning fire. I was stunned to see it was Sergei; everything had gone completely wrong.

With a bang, Sergei hit Zhang Liheng, who was next to me. Watching Zhang Liheng sink into the water, I desperately searched for her, but I could no longer find her. The entire pond turned into a smooth, large mirror, dazzling my eyes.

Then I woke up from the dream. I let out a hoarse groan and suddenly sat up.

When I opened my eyes, I was still in a daze and didn't know where I was. I didn't expect that it was pitch black all around me. I calmed myself down and tried to recall what was going on.

I remember crawling into the house through a gate in a city tower, opening a rusty iron door, and treating Old Ding's injuries in the smelly, cramped space. Then we looked at a notebook and talked, ate, and slept. But I clearly remember lighting several gas lamps before I went to sleep, illuminating this small area brightly. What happened? Who turned off the lights?

My eyes had just adjusted to the darkness when a warm, soft hand reached out and grasped my palm.

I turned my head and saw Zhang Liheng staring at me with bright, sparkling eyes. This was all thanks to my eyes. Ever since my strange eyelids appeared, although I couldn't see in the dark, my vision was much better than before, and I could see many things that I couldn't see clearly before.

I hadn't fully recovered from the sadness in my dream when I saw Zhang Liheng safe and sound. I was overjoyed and reached out my other hand to hold her tightly. I choked up and couldn't speak. Zhang Liheng was a little surprised, but she quickly recovered from her surprise. She reached out her other hand to hold mine and whispered, "Huang Ning, what happened? Are you alright? Don't make a sound. There were gunshots outside earlier. I turned off the light."

I held Zhang Liheng's hand tightly, reluctant to let go, until she said there was movement. Only then did I suddenly remember that this place was not safe and could be destroyed at any time. So I reluctantly let go and whispered, "It's nothing, I just had a dream, and I dreamed about you."

Zhang Liheng withdrew her hand and whispered, "Don't let your mind wander. We need to focus on important matters. You never say anything serious."

I quickly replied, "I swear to God, everything I said is true. I've tried my best to be with you, and I've been sincere and honest. Please don't doubt me."

Zhang Liheng put a finger to her lips to signal me to be quiet, which made me swallow back the words I was eager to say.

Chapter 60 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Chapter 60 of "The Empty House in the Abyss (The Salvage Worker's Adventure)"

Author: Ghost Grinning