by Xu, Lei
Yuan Xile herself knew these corridors well. I couldn't help wondering how she'd first found this place. Had the spy managed to lead not only us but the majority of our team—and Yuan Xile's before us—into these poisoned passageways so he could do away with us en masse? If so, then he definitely didn't come with our team. He must have arrived with Yuan Xile. After finishing off her comrades, he'd laid low and waited for the next contingent. Then he'd done it all over again.
Thinking about this filled me with regret. The spy, this unseen enemy, had toyed with us from the moment we entered the cave. He knew this place like the back of his hand and he was deadly smart. I had vastly underestimated him. I'd believed our greatest threat came from the cave itself. The spy had been merely a concept—something we had to be cautious about, nothing more—but I was wrong. He was far and away the most dangerous thing down here.
Soon I was once more beneath the lamps. My shadow was even more distorted than before and I was overcome with dizziness. A strange ringing sounded in my ears. I didn't know if it was the toxins or if I was already starting to lose my mind. The tunnel before me began to twist and elongate. I could barely keep my balance as I ran. Up ahead, Yuan Xile tumbled to the floor again and again, but each time she crawled to her feet and carried on. My entire being was focused on keeping up with her. Forcing myself to stay upright, I pinballed off the walls and sprinted wildly down the corridor. Two or three more minutes later we reached a familiar turn. She rounded it and I followed. The flooded hallway was before us, the safe room at its end.
As soon as I stepped into the water, my head began to clear. The walls were ice-cold and the water was deep. As we waded in, our shadows quickly returned to normal. Somehow the water here counteracted the poison in the air. I forced myself to take several deep breaths. The air smelled as foul as before, but now I could see straight. I looked up. Yuan Xile was gone. I hurriedly followed her into the safe room. My eyes went wide. Yuan Xile stood in the center of safe room removing her clothes.
CHAPTER
15
Safe Room
I watched as Yuan Xile dunked her head into the filthy water, then vigorously washed her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. I did the same. My pounding headache and the ringing in my ears soon went away. Without hesitation, she then began peeling off her clothes, piece by piece, and throwing them into the water. My mouth dropped open. I had never seen a naked woman before. All at once my eyes were filled with her snow-white body. She dunked her clothes in the water and used them to wipe herself down. I stood there in a daze, watching her. My whole body had gone stiff.
It's difficult to do justice to what I saw. Yuan Xile was slender yet well-endowed, her body rich in feminine charms. Her skin was white as lambswool, her shape soft and full. I probably could have stood there forever, but she pushed me under. As the freezing water rushed into my nose, I was shocked back to consciousness. As soon as I climbed to my feet she began tearing off my clothes. I could tell she knew what she was doing and was trying to help me. Following her example, I rubbed myself down with my soaked clothes. They felt extremely smooth, almost satiny. After a few scrapes, my skin felt the same. Whatever was in the water was working. I didn't stop until my skin had gone bright red. Yuan Xile was already curled up on the bed, her wet clothes draped over her. She was hugging them to herself. Her body was mostly covered, but her bare shoulders and voluptuous curves were still enough to set my mind ablaze.
After standing there awkward and naked for several moments, I also wrapped my clothes around me. They were freezing, of course, but gradually my shivering slowed. This was when I began to react to the poison. Every part of me felt as if it were breaking down. With my last bit of strength I climbed onto the bed. And then I moved no more.
The ringing in my ears and the pain in my skull brought me back to consciousness. I writhed and squirmed and was out again. This continued over and over. My life was in Heaven's hands. I had inhaled much more gas than Yuan Xile. I didn't know if I would make it. I thought again of her body. The full peaks of her breasts and her slender waist were like a joke God was playing on me. In my final moments of consciousness, He'd decided to show me the most beautiful thing in the world.
I had no idea how long I was out. When I finally came to my clothes were already dry. Vomit caked the sides of my mouth and my pants stunk of urine. I must have pissed myself in my sleep. Who knew when I had thrown up? I forced myself to get up. Switching on my flashlight, I scanned the room. Yuan Xile was now lying on a different bed. I walked over. Her face was white as a ghost and the blood had drained from her lips. She couldn't stop shaking. Much of the clothing covering her body had slipped off. As I placed my hand against her forehead, my heart sank. It was burning hot. She was sick.
For a time I despaired. There was no medicine for her take and no one to ask for help. I knew she was too frail to last much longer. That she had survived until now was pretty damn impressive. Then I remembered Old Tang's bag. I found it and searched through it. There was no medicine, but I did find several boxes of matches. Yuan Xile needed warmth and hot water to drink. I needed them, too. I stacked the empty food cans into a pyramid and placed pieces of relatively dry wood into the cans at the top. I then tore off strips of my clothing, lit them on fire, and dropped them inside. Finally, I filled a can with the water that dripped from the pipe outside and placed it atop the structure. Before long the water was hot. I helped Yuan Xile drink some, then placed several of the cans, now filled with hot coals, around her body, hoping to warm her up. Slowly the color returned to her face.
Seeing Yuan Xile take a turn for the better, I allowed myself to relax and think back on what had happened. I was overcome with guilt. Yuan Xile had given us ample warning—and we had known this place was dangerous—yet I had still behaved so rashly. It was obvious that Wang Sichuan and Ma Zaihai had never found the safe room. I walked to the entryway and shouted their names again and again, but I didn't dare go out. There was no response. My heart went cold. The corridors were almost silent. If my comrades were still conscious, they would definitely have heard my voice. Had they fainted, I wondered, or were they already dead? I thought of Old Tang and his dead men. Things didn't look good for my two friends. At last I had led them to their deaths.
The weight of what I'd done bore down on me. The lamps outside remained on and the poison continued to fill the air. Yuan Xile and I would be trapped inside for as long as this kept up. I wanted to smash my head into the wall, but I had to think of a way out. Pawing through Old Tang's bag, I came upon several pieces of hardtack. I broke off a small chunk and chewed it mechanically. Tucked away at the very bottom of the bag were the blueprints of the dam and cave system we had earlier found. I deduced our general location. We were in a huge area at the very heart of the dam, next to a space labeled "Level 4." The icehouse was on the opposite side of Level 4. Then I realized: Level 4 was the abandoned warehouse we had investigated. The sealed iron door at the end of the main tunnel led directly there. We'd made a huge loop since being trapped in the electrical canal beneath the warehouse. We were almost back where we began. Now I was certain the tunnel had been built for transporting supplies. The pieces began to fit together. The icehouse connected to the warehouse, the warehouse to the transport tunnel. Yuan Xile and Chen Luohu had vanished from the icehouse, only to reappear here, and we'd found the special emissary Su Zhenhua in the warehouse. He, too, had lost his mind. I was sure that he had been through here as well. This meant I was right—there was a route that led to the warehouse from here.
Unfortunately, I'd never been particularly skilled at reading blueprints. The area in the prints was crisscrossed with countless passageways to form a kind of chessboard. Each passageway was lined with rooms on both sides. At first I was unable to determine which was ours, but because I knew this room, unlike most others, was located at a dead-end, I was able to narrow it down. But where were all the exits? There didn't seem to be any marked except for the iron door at the end of the main tunne
l. There must be some other way to reach the warehouse. I searched my memory until my brain hurt. Even if I found a way out, how the hell were we supposed to get there? I looked at the lamps glowing in the corridor. What would happen to us if they never went off?
I lay down and closed my eyes. Suddenly, I thought of where I'd first seen Yuan Xile. I sat back up at once. Something didn't make sense. The first prospecting team had most likely been tricked by the spy into exploring these corridors, after which he'd turned on the lights and released the poison. Out of sheer, desperate luck, Yuan Xile and some others had found this room and hidden inside. Afterwards, Yuan Xile and Su Zhenhua had each escaped this part of the dam. Yuan Xile had even made it all the way back to the rocky shoal. The poison was too deadly for them to have fled while it still filled the air. The lights must have turned off. Why?
I could think of two possibilities. The first was that the spy had inexplicably cut the power. The second was that so little rain had fallen that there was not enough water in the dam to keep the electricity on. As Yuan Xile waited in this flooded room, something had caused the dam to go dark. Seeing her chance, she had escaped, but then, wandering through the pitch-black caverns, she'd completely lost her mind. Eventually she ran into us. Knowing no better, we'd brought her back here. I looked over at her. At last I understood the extent to which we'd betrayed her trust. If she hadn't gone mad, I'm sure she would have hacked me to pieces by now.
Soft sounds escaped her lips as she slept. I covered her back up and felt her forehead. Her fever had not abated, so I dunked a strip of clothing in the cold water and placed it on her forehead. Then I forced myself to use the time I had to study the blueprint.
I couldn't help wishing Ma Zaihai were here. I was sure that with one glance he'd have the whole thing figured out. I rifled through my memories, trying to recall times we'd discussed the blueprints. The only thing I could remember was Old Tang talking about the difference between the solid and dotted indicator lines. The solid black lines represented electrical wires, he'd said, while the dotted line represented the antenna. Scanning the many solid indicator lines, I gasped. Was this how Yuan Xile and company had turned off the lights? Had they cut the power? One by one, I charted the course of every electrical wire. At last I found the one I was looking for, the primary wire. It led to a room from which nearly all the other wires originated. I could tell this room was nearby and a master switch appeared to be inside, but then my heart sank. Even if I was able to make it there, I'd never survive. The poison wasn't going to vanish as soon as the lights went out and I didn't have a chance of quickly finding my way back here in the dark.
I folded up the map. The damn thing was useless to me. The mission was incomplete, we had run out of options, and we were going to starve to death down here. The mission? The film canister!
I felt my back. It wasn't there. Wang Sichuan must still have it, I thought. Shit. I swallowed hard and wrapped my hands against my skull. The film canister was still our last chance out of here.
And we weren't the only one who wanted it.
CHAPTER
16
Close Quarters
As far as I knew, the spy's only remaining objective was to retrieve the film canister. Wang Sichuan might have it now, but sooner or later the spy would be coming for it. I needed to get ready. Thus far the spy had executed his plans with remarkable precision, but the network of rooms and passageways here was intricate and sprawling. It would be impossible for him to know exactly where the film canister had ended up. And I was sure he was unaware of the safe room. Otherwise Yuan Xile would have long since been done away with. Once the spy assumed us dead or crazy, he would make his way down here and begin a slow and systematic search. First, he would either turn off the lights or put on a gas mask, with the latter being more likely. This would be easy, I told myself. A man's greatest desire is also his greatest weakness, so long as the spy didn't immediately locate Wang Sichuan, I could set a trap for him. One good ambush deserved another. I would have my revenge.
I knew the bastard wouldn't be arriving anytime soon. As I thought about it, the outline of a plan began to take shape. My limbs ached as I moved about the room. I had no chance of subduing the spy in my present condition. For now, my best bet was to rest. First, though, I had to deal with Yuan Xile. I carried her toward the bed farthest from the entryway. Her limbs hung limply and her skin was feverishly hot. The smell of her body made my heart pound. As soon as I lifted her up, the clothes covering her fell away. Holding them with my mouth, I did my best not to look, but my face still turned bright red. After gently laying her down, I sat for a moment and composed myself, and then once more arranged the hot cans around her body. Here the faint light they emitted was hidden from the entryway.
Although the hole in the boards blocking the entryway made me uneasy, sealing it up would be too obvious. The spy would get suspicious if he saw it. That's when I remembered the deep water filling the corridor outside. If anyone approached I'd definitely hear them. I covered myself with my clothing and lay back down. As soon as my eyes closed I was asleep.
I slept fitfully, dreaming many dreams, none of them peaceful. Suddenly, in the hazy borderland between dreams and reality, I felt myself come to. Something wasn't right. As I struggled back to consciousness, a faint, pleasant scent invaded my nostrils. My body felt unusually warm. I forced myself awake. Someone was lying on top of me. I gave a start, but when my hand touched the smooth, hot skin of a naked back, I knew exactly what had happened. It was Yuan Xile.
I froze. All at once I felt her spellbinding curves and soft skin pressed against every part of my body, her face buried against my neck, her hands clinging tightly to my torso. For a moment my whole being went stiff, but I soon calmed down, pulled my clothing out from between us and laid it over her. Then I held her.
I don't understand women, don't know why something like this would happen, but now that it was happening, I had no complaints. Even if she suddenly came to and slapped me across the face, I would regret nothing. Even if she reported me for crimes of indecency, it would still have been worth it. She rocked slightly on my chest, as if to tell me that it was okay, that she felt the same as me. Then she held me tighter and I felt tears drip down my stomach. As I nuzzled her hair with my chin, a strange feeling suddenly rushed forth from deep inside me. It wasn't desire; I know it wasn't desire. I'm just that simple. For no reason in particular, I suddenly felt that I loved this woman, and that I had to protect her—no matter what.
Young love is always like this. It requires only the tiniest spark to set aflame, but once burning it is unconditional and undying—even to the point of complete irrationality. Holding Yuan Xile in my arms, I wondered if it really was love I was feeling. I knew such thoughts were far from her mind. She had been in a state of absolute terror for the past several weeks. She'd experienced horror after horror, had been driven mad. Yuan Xile wanted only to hold someone and to be held, to press close against someone else's body. Had Wang Sichuan been here in my place, I'm sure the same thing would have happened. But there was nothing coincidental or random about the way I felt. My feelings were directed at Yuan Xile and at her alone. As we held one another, they grew inside of me until they were more beautiful than any I had ever known. I dared not move. Nor did I want to. I merely lay there, contentedly stroking her hair.
Having perhaps drawn some of my body heat, Yuan Xile began to sweat. As drops of it fell from her forehead onto my chest, her breathing relaxed and her temperature dropped. Our sweat-soaked bodies were soon stuck together. After a while, I gently lifted her off and went to add wood to the hot cans. The corridor lights remained on. I took a deep breath, trying to wake myself up, and splashed my face with dirty water. I heard Yuan Xile roll over on the bed, searching for a more comfortable position. Then I began to plan. First of all, this place was too quiet to hunt the spy through the corridors. I needed to lure him close, then attack. But if I set the trap in here and it failed, Yuan Xile would suffer the
consequences. It would also be foolish to reveal the safe room's location—it was much too important to us. I needed to find somewhere else to ambush him.
I soaked myself with water, cautiously stepped outside the room and shined my flashlight down the corridor. Nothing glinted in the half-lit darkness. No one was there. Several entryways yawned blackly on either side. A second corridor crossed this one at the far end of the stagnant water approximately 60 feet from the safe room and far enough away to ensure Yuan Xile would remain hidden. Rooms lined the corridor. This was where I would spring my trap.
Now I needed to think of a way to stay out there as long as possible without getting sick. The water was the key. Somehow it counteracted the poison. I thought of turning my undershorts into a face-mask, wetting them with the clean water that dripped from the pipe and using them to cover my mouth, but too much of my body would still be exposed. I remembered the blackened corpses in the silent barracks. The poison could surely be absorbed through one's skin as well. Just as I was considering whether it would be best to simply wet all of my clothes, I heard a noise from inside the room. Something had fallen over. Yuan Xile must have woken up. I hurried back. She was standing in the center of the room, still unclothed, shaking with fear. The hot cans I'd placed beside her had fallen to the ground.
