Xu Lei - Search for the Buried Bomber

I turned to the rest of the group. “We’re bound to run into trouble the deeper we get into this cave,” I said. “Since at this point we know absolutely nothing about what lies ahead, maybe we should first head back to the surface.”

The nature of both the assignment and our team had changed. We now knew the road ahead would be dangerous and that our superiors were hiding something from us. To continue at this point would not be some positive manifestation of stoicism but a foolhardy move, demonstrating a poor understanding of when it’s best to adapt to the circumstances.

Pei Qing nodded. “To be honest,” he said, “I’m very curious about what happened down here, but I admit that based on the current situation, heading back would be the correct decision. Still, to simply pick up and go back wouldn’t be right. If there are others still stranded, we’d just be letting them die. A few of us should advance with a small amount of gear and look around a bit. Maybe we can get some closure on the matter.”

He really had a point. My God, this guy was a leader. It made me a little envious. When Wang Sichuan and the rest of them awoke, I told them what we’d discussed. No one had any complaints. In any case, said the deputy squad leader, his orders had been to listen to us.

After everyone finished eating breakfast, we began to discuss how we’d split our ranks. We couldn’t bring Yuan Xile. Someone would have to stay behind and look after her. Chen Luohu immediately raised his hand. “I suddenly don’t feel so well anymore,” he said. “I request to stay behind.” No one objected. It was impolite to say it, but he’d been a burden from the start. Worried that Chen Luohu might run into trouble by himself, the deputy squad leader left behind one of his soldiers. Then Wang Sichuan, Pei Qing, the deputy squad leader, two of his soldiers, and I hoisted our lightened packs and set out.

Because we planned to return to the surface after finishing our search, we no longer had any misgivings about wasting our lantern fuel or batteries. We all switched on our flashlights, and at once the cave became bright. The landscape here appeared more or less unchanging, but we didn’t have time to take a closer look. With our lightened packs, we were able to practically fly across the rocks. Soon we could no longer see the firelight behind us. The deeper we went into the cave, the bigger it seemed to become. The more we walked, the more we felt strength filling our bodies. It was as if we’d permanently cast off the gloom that weighed us down in the days before, trudging slowly along, burdened by heavy loads. Soon we discovered the crushed stones covering the ground were becoming smaller and smaller, a sign that the shoal was beginning to recede. After walking another two thousand feet or so, we ran into a steep drop-off. The shoal descended for over nine hundred feet. Twenty-foot sheets of iron mesh were stuck patchily across the rock slope. Exercising great caution, we began to pick our way down. Before we reached the bottom, Wang Sichuan suddenly cursed aloud. As expected, the pitch-black river had appeared once more at the foot of the hill, but it was just a short section. As we shined our flashlights along the water, we could see that, some several hundred feet on, it ran into another shoal, this one composed of small, shattered stones.

“What now?” asked Pei Qing. “Do we really have to head back and get the rafts?” Of course, we all knew this was out of the question. The deputy squad leader scanned the water with his flashlight. The bottom was clearly visible. “We can wade across,” he said.

He made to leap in, but Wang Sichuan held him back. “Wait a moment!” he said.

He swept the beam of his flashlight back and forth across a secluded corner of the river. There, deposited at the water’s deepest point, were a number of iron cages, their interiors hidden in dark shadow.

We had reached a water dungeon. We’d all seen them before in the structures the Japanese built all across Manchuria. The cages were designed so the water would just cover the bars across the top. The prisoner was thus forced to hoist himself up and stick his nose through the gaps if he wanted to stay alive. In the freezing water of the underground river, prisoners would have had to maintain this posture for several days. If they gave up, they drowned.

Iron cages had been sunk all along the length of the river, creating a dense mass beneath the surface, but unless one looked closely, they were undetectable. Bringing the beams of our flashlights together, we could see dim shapes floating within many of the cages. A shiver ran down my spine. Wang Sichuan told us he’d sometimes heard the older generation talk about these things. They said that when the Japanese sealed you inside, there was more than freezing water and exhaustion in store for you. He was sure that leeches and other things also lurked within the river. We couldn’t just jump right in.

Hearing this, our hearts dropped. The deputy squad leader protested that it was too cold for leeches, but Wang Sichuan replied that temperature had nothing to do with it. The Mongolian grasslands were filled with mountain leeches, he said. They would stick to the underside of fallen leaves and come out as soon as it rained. We were well aware of the dangers posed by these creatures. They weren’t fatal, but they nonetheless elicited feelings of intense disgust and their bites could sometimes lead to malarial infections. They were one of the principal dangers of prospecting. We pulled our pants and shoelaces tight. Leeches are extremely small before they fill with blood. Even the tiniest crevice is enough of an opening. We lined any tears in our pant legs with gauze. Once our preparations were complete, we inspected each other to make sure we hadn’t missed anything. We then entered the water one by one. Lifting his belongings overhead, the deputy squad leader led the way. The rest of us followed behind him, our hands in the air like those of surrendered soldiers.

The rocks beneath our feet were bumpy and uneven. As we continued, the frigid water soon rose to the middle of our chests, soaking through our clothes, stealing our body heat, and causing our teeth to chatter uncontrollably. Wang Sichuan was freezing at the back of the line and pressed us to hurry up, but no matter how much we wanted to quicken our pace, we could go no faster. The combination of the freezing cold and the deep water greatly hindered our progress. It was all we could do to keep moving forward, each step requiring an ever-greater effort.

Two of the engineering corpsmen proved more resistant to the cold. They waded on up ahead, sweeping the beams of their flashlights back and forth across the surface of the water. It wasn’t long before we found ourselves amid the iron cages. They were much closer here and their details far clearer. As the corpsmen shined their lights upon the rusted underwater bars, our hearts froze. Hair hung from them in wispy clumps and the outline of twisted limbs slowly rocked beneath the surface.

“Terrible,” Wang Sichuan said through chattering teeth. “To drown in a place like this… Even in death these men will not find peace.”

“Indeed,” added Pei Qing, “and how unexpected, to come across a water dungeon this far below the surface. This was one of the tricks the Japanese used to threaten Chinese laborers. The Japanese must have stayed in these caverns for some time. I bet we’ll find some long-term fortifications up ahead.”