Вечная ночь

Глава 17

Ling Yuqi, who was in the living room, also heard the noise upstairs. A sense of unease crept in, and she glanced quietly at the side room door, only to find it sealed shut. She was pondering whether she should tell Mei Fang to open the wooden door and go upstairs to check when suddenly a rustling sound came from upstairs, followed by a squeaking sound – the squeaking of mice. Ling Yuqi then dismissed her suspicions.

Lu Ming, who was monitoring the isolated building, saw the three dark figures disappear into the underground cave. Just as he was about to use the walkie-talkie to ask Long Fei for instructions, he heard a series of firm and powerful footsteps coming from the direction of the stairs. He was overjoyed, knowing that Long Fei had arrived.

After understanding the situation, Long Fei took the binoculars handed to him by the plainclothes officer next to him, observed for a while, and then ordered the comrades who were lying in ambush all around to prepare to close the net: "Go into the courtyard!"

A heavy battle began in the darkness.

Long Fei never expected that this battle would start from this place. He originally thought it would start with staking out and capturing the bandits who were looking for weapons.

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Long Fei was unaware of the situation inside the hospital and dared not let the police officers enter rashly. He instructed Lu Ming to lead several skilled detectives into the hospital quietly to conduct a preliminary investigation.

The night was quiet, the sky was filled with stars, and the autumn air was cool and heavy, creating an extremely tense atmosphere before the battle.

Long Fei only began to suspect Chen Yong when he secretly questioned Yang Donglin. He heard that Chen Yong had volunteered to go to the isolated building in the alley of Meishan Road to monitor the suspicious courtyard, and he was immediately suspicious. After thinking about it for a while, he seemed to understand something, so he decided to go with the flow and follow the clues, and adjusted the action plan.

Lu Ming, who went to scout the courtyard, returned and reported that although there were unwashed dishes and chopsticks inside the house indicating that someone had been there, the courtyard was completely empty.

Long Fei decided to send police officers into the compound to control each room first, and then guard the underground cave.

Long Fei, who was used to leading from the front and personally going to the front lines, once again disregarded the danger and searched the vicinity of the cave entrance. He led Lu Ming and several sharpshooters to quietly surround the cave entrance. Long Fei first picked up a stone and threw it into the cave. There was a series of clanging sounds, but only a hollow echo came from below, with no other reaction.

Lu Ming wanted to go down himself.

Long Fei hissed, raising his hand to stop Lu Ming's actions, and secretly gave Lu Ming a few instructions. Lu Ming nodded and quietly left. A moment later, Lu Ming returned with a straw dummy dressed in a police uniform, shoes, and hat. Long Fei had someone tie the dummy with a rope and slowly lower it down. Before lowering the dummy, Long Fei told the sharpshooters to prepare, not to prepare to fire, but to bring bundles of straw. It turned out that Long Fei, who had planned ahead, had anticipated using straw to deal with the underground cave after receiving Ling Yuqi's report.

As the dummy was lowered into the cave, Long Fei and Lu Ming, who were guarding the cave, were quite nervous. They both anticipated that a burst of gunfire would likely erupt from below, blowing the dummy, which might be mistaken for a police officer, to smithereens. Everyone held their breath.

The nearby soldiers took out matches, ready to light the straw and throw it into the cave at any time.

The dummy was lowered little by little, but strangely, there was no reaction from below. Could it be that the people below had already realized it was a dummy? Impossible, the lower half of the dummy was too realistic. Although the appearance was stiff, in the dark, the people below might not be able to tell the difference. To let the bandits below know that someone had gone down, Long Fei deliberately had the soldiers at the edge of the cave shine their flashlights and wave them at the bottom of the cave, but to his surprise, there was still no reaction after a long time.

Long Fei frowned, quietly pondering what the bandits in the cave were all about.

The soldier responsible for placing the dummy suddenly felt the weight in his hands disappear, and immediately realized that the dummy's feet had reached the bottom of the cave. Just then, an unexpected situation occurred...

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Huang Feihu was very worried when he saw that there was no news of the old eagle. He didn't care about the old eagle's life or death, but was concerned about whether the old eagle's disappearance would jeopardize his plans.

After some consideration, Huang Feihu decided not to wait for Lao Diao or for funds. He instructed his other trusted confidants to organize personnel overnight to seize weapons and explosives according to the munitions map.

The first detachment headed towards Nanping, the second detachment towards Shapingba, the third detachment towards Jiangbei, and the fourth detachment towards…

With everything arranged, Huang Feihu dismissed his attendants and paced back and forth alone in the room.

He had already made this plan: if he couldn't secure funding, he was prepared to use another secret fortune—a box of diamond jewelry left behind by Chiang Kai-shek's wife, Soong Mei-ling, in the Presidential Palace in Chongqing. This was the legendary treasure of the Presidential Palace, which had been secretly kept by Huang Feihu for many years. Soong Mei-ling adored this treasure and repeatedly asked Huang Feihu to find a way to smuggle it out. Huang Feihu had his own agenda. He outwardly made excuses, claiming the box was extremely valuable and fearing it might fall into the hands of the Communists, thus remaining inactive. In reality, he had long harbored ambitions to establish his own faction and join the CIA. In his view, keeping this treasure was extremely valuable: firstly, it would keep Chiang Kai-shek on his radar; secondly, if necessary, it could serve as a retirement fund. Nevertheless, for many years he dared not use this treasure, because using it would be tantamount to directly challenging Chiang Kai-shek. Huang Feihu always felt that it was not the right time. However, the current situation was special. If he used this treasure because of this, even if Soong Mei-ling was dissatisfied with him, Chiang Kai-shek would probably not take his anger out on him, because he was doing this for the benefit of the party and the country.

Although Huang Feihu had made the worst-case scenario preparations, he still hoped that the mysterious figure in charge of the funds would send the gold as soon as possible.

Someone knocked on the door. It was a trusted subordinate using a special method to inform him that someone had come to visit and to ask if he was willing to see the visitor.

When faced with important decisions, Huang Feihu always preferred to be alone. His trusted subordinates all knew this about him and generally dared not disturb his peace.

Huang Feihu seemed to have a premonition that the person who came to see him at this time might be extraordinary, so he made an exception and allowed his confidant to let him in. Huang Feihu saw that the person was a stranger. Although he had doubts, he knew that the person must not be an outsider, otherwise he would not have been able to pass the questioning of his men. He cautiously asked the other party, "What do you want?" with a condescending attitude.

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Using the flashlight's beam, Long Fei saw a large group of strange animals swarming towards the dummy, surrounding it from all sides and launching an attack: biting and gnawing at it, as if they wanted to tear it to pieces and devour it completely. The surrounding soldiers were dumbfounded; none of them had ever seen such a monster.

Long Fei quickly realized that these were giant rats! Good heavens! They looked just like a pack of vicious, ravenous jackals! In the blink of an eye, the lower half of the dummy had been torn apart! Long Fei realized that things were much more complicated than he had imagined; this was a situation he had not anticipated at all.

After tearing apart the lower half of the dummy, the vicious rats seemed unsatisfied. Several of them even climbed onto the upper half of the dummy. They were not afraid of outsiders at all, and stared intently at Long Fei and his group who were looking into the cave. They looked as if they were ready to jump up and fight the people above to the death at any time.

Long Fei suddenly realized the extraordinary danger posed by these giant rats and immediately ordered one of the soldiers holding the rope holding the dummy to let go. This timely action was crucial; the rats, who had skillfully clung to the rope and were preparing to climb up, were thrown back down because the soldier released the rope in time. As if enraged, they raised their heads, glaring fiercely upwards and squeaking as if taunting, "Come down if you dare, and we'll tear you all to pieces!" They showed no fear of the flashlight beams, a sight that astonished those above, as animals, even wild beasts, are supposed to be afraid of light. Long Fei then ordered the police officers to light straw and throw it down into the hole. Originally, Long Fei had intended to use this method to scare away the bandits inside, but it had now become a brilliant way to deal with the rats.

Being animals, even the most ferocious creatures would flee at the sight of fire. The giant rats that had been gathered at the bottom of the burrow all fled. Lu Ming, from who-knows-where, brought out a large tabby cat and placed it in the burrow. Just as the cat had gone a short distance in, the people on the ground suddenly heard a heart-wrenching scream from below—a truly terrifying sound. Long Fei and the others shuddered at the sound! They all felt that what they had experienced tonight was like a nightmare. Long Fei, in particular, felt how vicious the bandits underground were. How could these villains associate with such terrifying giant rats? What difference was there between them and demons?

Everyone looked at each other, at a loss for what to do.

Chapter Seventeen: Terrifying Screams (2)

Time ticked by, and Lu Ming, without anyone noticing, started smoking. He took a few deep drags, then suddenly threw the half-smoked cigarette on the ground. He leaned close to Long Fei and whispered a few words in his ear. Long Fei listened, pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "That's the only way!"

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Ling Yuqi accompanied Lu Ming in a jeep to fetch reinforcements. Before leaving, she quietly went into Mei Fang's bedroom and whispered a few words to Mei Fang. The drowsy A Cai vaguely heard the words, which seemed to mean that Mei Fang should not worry, that someone was protecting them. A Cai thought it was a dream and did not pay any attention to it, as he was too sleepy.

The old eagle in the attic was in great pain, his throat burning, and he was extremely thirsty. He struggled in agony, feeling his head growing heavier and his body lighter, as if he had lost his balance and center of gravity, constantly spinning along the heavier side. He felt his body being sucked into the darkness like a whirlpool, this process of sinking was very slow, spinning slowly in circles, like slowly frying a live fish, slowly draining his life force. Just when he felt his soul was about to be drained, he suddenly grabbed something by chance, and with all his remaining strength, he held on to it desperately, refusing to let go. He seemed to have grasped a glimmer of hope, and finally caught his breath. He lay weakly on the ground, exhausted, his limbs temporarily numb, his whole body unresponsive, only his mind still functioning. Gradually, he felt his own breathing and heartbeat. Then, he began to feel a slight sensation in his limbs. He used all his willpower to try to control his nerves. After a long time, he was able to begin to clench his fists. However, he could only clench them lightly and could not clench them tightly. Even so, he was very satisfied because he realized that he seemed to have escaped from the gates of hell.

Old Eagle was finally able to lift his hand. He struggled to raise it and touched his neck, because he vaguely felt an itch around his neck. As soon as his fingers touched his chest, he was suddenly shocked. He realized that he had grown a large beard, not only thick but also long, reaching his chest and covering his entire neck. No wonder it had been itchy. Old Eagle found it unbelievable. He racked his brains, but it felt like an eternity. In short, he couldn't be sure how many years he had spent in this room. After a long while, he finally managed to sit up. He touched his face and looked at his hands, finding that both his face and hands were now bony and emaciated. His mind began to wander again. He tried desperately to remember…

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When Lu Ming returned, he brought three large wolfhounds. These dogs, each led by a police dog handler, lined up like well-trained soldiers at the edge of the cave. The first wolfhound was named Ah Xiong. Ah Xiong had a tuft of black hair between his eyebrows, like a third eye, giving him a rather aggressive look. The second wolfhound was named Hu Zi. Hu Zi had yellow fur all over his body, and his tongue was always sticking out, as if he was ready to pounce on his prey at any moment. The third wolfhound was named Hei Bei. This Hei Bei was not the famous "Black German Shepherd" breed, but rather named for the patch of black hair on its back. Hei Bei's eyes were strange, bloodshot, like those of a bloodthirsty animal. Despite their fierce appearance, these three wolfhounds were extremely disciplined in the hands of their handlers. They silently looked up at their respective owners, as if indicating that they were always ready, waiting for their owners' command.

The police officers, as if seeing reinforcements, all scrambled to the side.

Bathed in moonlight, the three large wolfhounds appeared exceptionally fierce and intimidating. Lu Ming had explained the difficulty and danger of the mission to the dog trainers beforehand, and they were already mentally prepared.

As Lu Ming suggested, all three large wolfhounds would be placed at the bottom of the cave. If even one of the three wolfhounds could break through the giant rats' encirclement, it could rush straight into the depths of the cave, pounce on the bandits hiding inside, and knock them all down. These large wolfhounds were all fierce dogs capable of taking on ten men each.

The dog trainers all knew that their beloved dogs, which they had carefully nurtured for so long, could all be surrounded and torn to pieces by the ferocious giant rats! As the battle approached, they couldn't help but stroke their long-time companions, as if saying a final goodbye to these wolfhounds. For a moment, a sense of sorrow filled the cool air.

Those around them could also feel the somber atmosphere.

Looking at these respectable yet formidable men, Long Fei felt a pang of sadness. He turned his back and whispered, "Let's get ready to begin!"

The three dog trainers, each like fathers sending their sons off to battle, stroked their beloved dogs one last time before placing the large wolfhounds into the burrow one by one.

Long Fei really wanted to cover his ears, afraid of hearing the screams of the wolfhound being torn apart by the giant rat.

Lu Ming felt the same way.

Everyone's thoughts are pretty much the same.

Everyone felt an overwhelming sense of grief and indignation.

Strangely, there was no movement below.

Long Fei wondered if those three large wolfhounds hadn't even had a chance to howl before being devoured by the ferocious giant rats, leaving not even bones behind?

Silence, a terrible silence.

Suddenly, a terrifying scream rang out, as if a sharp knife had ripped through everyone's eardrums.

Chapter 18 The Biting Madman (1)

The madman appeared and disappeared unpredictably, sometimes east, sometimes west. One of Ah Cai's classmates was bitten to death by the madman. Besides experiencing swelling all over his body, high fever, and delirium, the bitten child also exhibited a terrifying peculiar trait: he liked to crawl like a mouse, squeaking... 123

Ah Cai suddenly woke up from his sleep, sitting up like a spring. He didn't know if it was a hallucination or if he had actually heard it, but he was terrified and broke out in a cold sweat. He vaguely remembered that before the scream, there was a loud noise in the sky, like a thunderclap.

Just now, while Ah Cai was still fast asleep, Old Eagle was struggling beside Death. His consciousness was hazy, and he felt his body fluctuating in weight. He tried to move his limbs, trying to determine if he was in the world of the living or the world of the dead. After a while, he felt a breath catch in his throat, but more air was still trapped inside. He began to feel some weight on his body, a drowsy feeling, like being trapped in a swamp. He dared not struggle too hard, afraid of losing his way in life again. He wanted to live. For some reason, he felt that death was an extremely painful thing, a kind of torture similar to slowly frying a live fish. For a while, he felt like he was being burned alive by internal fire. He could even hear the crackling sound of his blood vessels being roasted by the internal fire. At that moment, he felt like his flesh was melting in the flames, like a candle about to drip. Thank God, he finally survived. Although the old eagle sensed something, it was a terrible feeling. Exhaustion and pain tormented him. His body had undergone a horrific mutation. He discovered that within just a few hours, he had become a skeleton, and had grown a tangled, ghostly beard. The old eagle couldn't believe he had become like this in such a short time; he couldn't accept this reality. His heart sank, but his stomach churned violently. He felt as if his soul was about to escape his body again. At this moment, the severely weakened old eagle trembled violently. He felt cold, his body icy, as if all his life force and blood had been drained. Suddenly, his mind went blank, and he went mad. In despair, he rushed towards the attic window, knocking over a chair along the way. With a heart-wrenching scream, he jumped out of the window. His desperate howl echoed throughout most of the Jiefangbei area.

Surprisingly, after landing, the mad eagle rolled a few times on the ground, but then got up as if nothing had happened. It then took off running like a wild ghost, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Its speed was so fast that even the wind couldn't catch up with it!

Ah-Cai didn't know what was happening outside. Mei-Fang wouldn't let him look out, fearing that Ah-Cai would be psychologically traumatized if he saw the monster.

Few people witnessed what happened in the middle of the night.

The next day, the shop owner went around bragging about how he saw that disheveled ghost: "That guy ran right up to my door, but I yelled at him and scared him so much that he wet himself and then remembered to run for his life."

"Hey, you're just bragging behind closed doors!" The neighbors all laughed at him, but Ah Cai, caught in the gossip, was only half convinced.

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Long Fei was startled when he heard the scream, but then calmed down. It turned out that the sound came from the distant sky, not from the underground cave.

The wolves in the cave seemed to be awakened by the screams in the air and began to bark angrily.

The experienced Long Fei knew that nothing seemed to have happened down there, or rather, the giant rat and the bandits had already been dealt with and subdued by the three fierce dogs.

One of the dog handlers gave a whistle, and the three large wolfhounds ran to the bottom of the cave entrance, looked up, and barked.

Long Fei was told that there was really nothing unusual down there.

That's strange. Where's the giant rat? Where are the bandits?

Lu Ming volunteered to lead three police officers down into the cave.

Sure enough, nothing seemed amiss. Or perhaps, it was all too amiss, because the giant rat and the bandits had vanished, as if they had suddenly evaporated, disappearing without a trace. Had they burrowed deeper underground?

Long Fei also went down to check.

The cave was empty; all the gold had vanished.

Suddenly, a soldier shouted, "There's a door here!"

Long Fei and Lu Ming each held a flashlight and ran towards the place. Sure enough, there was a door. It was a stone door, half-open. Long Fei waved his hand warily, signaling his comrades to immediately move aside and take up advantageous positions in case any hidden gunshots came from behind the door. He himself also hid next to the stone door.

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The person who appeared in Huang Feihu's secret room should be the mute Zhu Dengfu. He, Shi Wengsheng, and Cai Gu had already moved the stone door and escaped through the secret passage.

After Shi Wengsheng secretly took over this residence from the Qingyi Society, he mobilized nine strong and capable craftsmen in their thirties, organized by the Military Intelligence Bureau, to form a secret engineering team. They spent a whole year building this underground vault. After the project was completed, the entire nine-man engineering team was supposed to be killed to silence them. However, a secret agency within the Military Intelligence Bureau successfully developed a special herbal injection called "Loyal Minister." The effect of this injection was that if it was injected into a person's body, that person would become a walking corpse, completely at the mercy of others. He would no longer have his own independent thinking, only the ability to passively obey. If there was nothing to do, he would sleep all day long. He didn't need much food, but when ordered to do something, he would be absolutely obedient and without any selfish thoughts, so that his controller would have no worries. Over the years, these nine mechanical, useless people have been kept in several secret rooms behind the stone door of the cave. They have not had contact with the outside world for a long time, and they are all disheveled and unkempt. If they were to appear on the street, they would scare passersby half to death, thinking that they have seen a ghost in broad daylight. These zombie-like useless people are very similar to the "poisoned people" in folk legends. The so-called "poisoned people" are people who have lost their willpower after being invaded by poisonous insects.

After Zhu Dengfu faked his death and escaped, Shi Wengsheng had a bad feeling. He originally wanted Cai Gu to kill the mute man, but at the last minute, Cai Gu suddenly changed her mind and said to her husband, "Now that things have come to this, if we kill him just to prevent him from attracting the police, it will be too late. It's better to keep him alive and let him help move the vault. That way, when things get tough, we'll have a capable helper. Besides, when it comes to loyalty, the mute man is definitely no less loyal than those walking corpses down there." Shi Wengsheng thought about it carefully and felt that the old woman was right, so he spared the mute man's life.

Zhu Dengfu was of course unaware of Shi Wengsheng's detailed thoughts, but he still keenly sensed the ferocity on Shi Wengsheng's face when he reprimanded him. Later, after listening to Cai Gu's whispered words, Shi Wengsheng became gentle and kind. This situation gave Zhu Dengfu a sense of relief and forgiveness. He was indeed a blindly loyal lackey, which made him even more devoted to Shi Wengsheng.

When Huang Feihu saw the secret envoy delivering the funds suddenly arrive, he felt as if he had received a long-awaited rain after a drought. Huang Feihu should have expressed his gratitude, but his eyes rolled and he suddenly sneered three times: "Hehehe!" The sound was extremely sinister. Huang Feihu clapped his hands a few times, and four strong men rushed in from outside the door like lightning. In the blink of an eye, they tied up Zhu Dengfu.

Huang Feihu stepped forward triumphantly, reaching out to touch Zhu Dengfu's face repeatedly, teasing him wantonly.

The mute man's eyes revealed an anger born of humiliation.

Suddenly, Huang Feihu grabbed Zhu Dengfu's face and yanked it hard, tearing off a fake face to reveal the real person as Lu Ming, a police officer!

Seeing that Huang Feihu had seen through him, Lu Ming, as if to retaliate for Huang Feihu's earlier insult, suddenly spat in Huang Feihu's face: "Pah!"

Huang Feihu burst into laughter again, this time a wild laugh: "Hahaha—"

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After Long Fei led his men into the underground cave, they were stunned by the structure below. This was no ordinary cave; it was clearly an underground fortress. The materials used to construct this underground structure were all steel-reinforced concrete, which was considered very sophisticated back then. Its sturdiness was enough to withstand the bombardment of heavy bombs on the ground.

Long Fei found some empty boxes in a spacious hall. These boxes were originally used to store gold. Next to the hall were several secret rooms. When the police officers in charge of the search pushed open the heavy iron door, a foul odor wafted out. The smell was very similar to the strange smell of wild animals in the mountains, giving the impression that tigers or leopards had been kept there.

Long Fei had no time to examine the area closely; he led the police officers along the cave passage and continued their search into the distance.

The passage was also carefully constructed. Every so often, there were recesses on the cement cave walls around the cave to place lighting lamps. The cave was filled with a putrid smell and a gloomy atmosphere. It was only early autumn, but the underground gave people the feeling of a severe winter. Long Fei led the soldiers through the winding passage for a long time before they reached the cave entrance. There was a small river near the entrance, and Wanlong Inn was not far away.

The police dogs that were tracking the trail got lost when they reached the riverbank.