by Xu, Lei
I gulped. A considerable amount of time had passed since they'd first set out, more than long enough for their rations to have been entirely depleted. So why hadn't they come back? Had something already gone wrong?
CHAPTER
55
The Hand of Fate
Everything was happening much too quickly. It was still early fall. There were another two months to go before Wang Sichuan, the rest of the second team and I entered the cave in November. I'd assumed Yuan Xile and her men had been trapped underground for a month prior to our arrival, but if they'd already run into trouble, then perhaps twice as much time had actually passed. This didn’t add up. While trapped in the safe room, I'd seen only a few dozen empty cans of food. No way could these have been enough to sustain them for two months. Nor had I ever heard Old Cat mention that they'd been underground for that long.
As I was mulling over these questions, Little Einstein suddenly turned towards me, raised his rifle and aimed it at my heart. I instinctively dodged out of the way. "What the hell are you doing?"
"I saw you sprint up here just now," he said, turning the gun on Wang Sichuan and motioning for him to stand beside me. "Tell me you didn't know the cave was here."
My heart skipped a beat. Shit. I hadn't known this little son of a gun was paying such close attention. "That's not it at all," I replied. "I just wanted to find a lookout point."
He pulled back the bolt on his rifle. "Your behavior was extremely suspicious and I don't believe you for an instant, but right now you two need to follow me down into this cave so we can save the others."
Little Einstein raised the barrel so it was pointing right at our heads. Just perfect, I thought, glancing over at Wang Sichuan. Before we'd been the ones trying to catch the spy; now we were accused of being spies ourselves. "I think we'd better talk this over," I said. "None of us knows what's going on down there. If we rush into things, we're likely to meet with disaster."
"Stop stalling," said Little Einstein. "If they die, you'll pay with your lives."
"They won't die," I said, my voice calm and steady. "I promise you."
Stepping another foot closer, Little Einstein pointed his gun at my heart. "Engineer Wu, the special emissary ordered me to watch you three at all times. Right now I need to go save my comrades. I don't know whether you really are spies, but if you decide to remain up here, out of my sight, then I will have no choice but to kill you."
I was so stunned I was unable to respond. What kind of absurd logic was this?
"As you can see," he continued, "it would be best for everyone if you would simply go down with me."
"Are the special emissary's orders really so important that you would be willing to kill three innocent men?"
"If I am wrong then I will pay for my mistake with my life!"
Little Einstein's eyes twitched. He'd lost all sense of reason. I motioned for Wang Sichuan to stand down. He swore once, clearly unhappy with this turn of events, but quickly complied. I looked at the entrance to the cave. It appeared even gloomier and more frightening than it had before. But there was no turning back. With Little Einstein yelling at me to hurry up, I steeled myself and we climbed down into the darkness. Little Einstein followed close behind, his gun still trained in our direction.
We soon reached the bottom. The underground river was much higher than before, its current far stronger. While this couldn't be considered an outright flood, it would make navigating the river on foot very difficult, not to mention the water was bone-chillingly cold. Little Einstein yelled at us to hurry up. As much as I wanted to resist, I forced myself to do as I was told. Suddenly Wang Sichuan grabbed my arm and pulled me back.
"What are you doing?" I asked him.
"Listen," he said, pointing upriver.
Holding my breath, I listened closely. Sure enough, I could hear voices, the sound almost hidden beneath the roar of the river. Little Einstein immediately began charging toward the voices. After wading against the current for nearly 300 yards, a long slab of rock appeared, rising above the water ahead. On it a campfire blazed, surrounded by standing and sitting shadows.
"Special emissary!" cried Little Einstein as he scrambled up the rock. They all turned in our direction. At a glance I could see things were bad. Nearly everyone seemed to be injured. Some that were lying on the ground weren't moving at all. Then I spotted Yuan Xile. She was kneeling by the fire, changing an injured man's bandages. Seeing me, she swooned. I rushed over and held her up. She threw her arms around me and began to cry.
Astonished, I took in the whole scene. I absolutely could not fathom what had happened to them. Everyone was injured, some on the verge of death. The special emissary was nowhere to be seen. Little Einstein had already begun to search for him. The poor kid was practically out of his mind with shock and anguish. I quickly counted up the people present. Without Little Einstein and the two other soldiers left to watch us, Yuan Xile's team should have numbered 17 in total. Now I saw only seven. I asked Yuan Xile what had happened.
She paused for a moment to collect herself, then told me everything. They'd discovered the cave, climbed inside and begun exploring the upper reaches of the underground river. After they'd traveled some time, the river suddenly began to flood. It was already much too late to make it back to safety. Nine men were instantly swept downriver. Others were slammed violently into the rock walls. They'd suffered the most serious injuries.
Wang Sichuan, Old Tian, and I immediately began checking the wounded. Two were already past the point of help. The responsibility for caring for the wounded had fallen entirely on the shoulders of Yuan Xile and two of her more lightly injured men. The three of them were so exhausted they'd nearly given up hope. They'd eaten practically nothing for the last six days. Yuan Xile had sent a man to the surface to get help, but he had never returned. I doubted things had gone well for him. In fact, I much preferred to imagine that he had simply deserted. Most of the injured had fractured one bone or another. It wasn't possible to haul everyone to the surface. They'd found themselves in truly dire straits—able to do little more than keep the fire going and tend to the wounded. Periodically, though, they'd sent someone up to maintain a smoke signal. Lucky they did, too, as that was what had led us here.
My head spun as I listened to Yuan Xile's story. Their experience had been nearly identical to our own. The main difference was that Old Cat had arrived just in time to rescue us. Had he not, I imagine we would have met a similar fate. This was probably why Old Cat had reacted so quickly upon hearing that a heavy rain was falling on the upper reaches the river. He'd already gone through this very sort of disaster. It was then that I noticed Old Cat wasn't here. He must have been swept downriver.
We boiled several slabs of dried meat. Our comrades devoured them like wild animals. Once they were finished, I told them to get some rest, saying we'd look after the injured. Not five minutes later they were all fast asleep. Little Einstein, however, never took his eyes off of us. This kind of person always makes me shudder. Who are they living for anyway? Themselves or their superiors?
Not until midnight did I finally permit myself to get some rest. It was a far colder sleep than any I'd had on the surface. Waking the next morning, I found myself mulling over memories of the cave, ones I'd long since tried to forget. My heart felt stopped-up, filled with old emotions that had failed to cool.
Climbing to my feet, I saw several of the men with more minor wounds were organizing their equipment. It looked like they were about to set out somewhere.
I hurried closer and asked what they were doing. Little Einstein appeared to be their leader. He responded that they were heading off to search for the men who'd been swept away. This kid is getting much too big for his britches, I said to myself angrily. I told them that since they had no idea what the situation was like downriver, I refused to allow them to proceed. Only when they brusquely ignored my order did I remember I actually had no say around here.
"I thought you needed to keep wat
ch over us?" I asked derisively.
Little Einstein pointed behind me. Turning, I saw an injured soldier watching us from where he laid, his gun placed on the ground beside his pillow. He looked no older than 20. My face went red. Go off and die for all I care, I thought. But as I considered it some more, I realized if some accident should befall them, it would be up to us to come to the rescue. This could turn into a very big hassle indeed. I asked Yuan Xile to back me up and not let them go.
Yuan Xile also seemed to have lost her mind. Not only did she agree with them, she indicated that she would be heading out as well. "Now that you can accompany us, we've got enough manpower to start the search," she said. "Most likely the people downriver are in bad shape. We need to go find them."
Do you have any idea how many people will die if you go ahead with this? I thought. Unfortunately I could only stamp my foot in frustration. Yuan Xile must have thought I was just being a coward.
"Trust me," she said. "I'm certain this is the right decision. In situations like this, it's sometimes necessary to take a few risks. Useless, in all the times we've worked together, haven't you always been able to count on me?"
In that instant I nearly let it all spill out. Only when Wang Sichuan gave me a truly ferocious glare did I decide to keep quiet. He was right though, and in any case this was not the time to tell them. They'd probably just think it was some angry outburst and wouldn't believe a word I said. Helpless to do anything else, I told Yuan Xile that she and her injured men had better just stay there and let Wang Sichuan, Little Einstein and I head downriver ourselves. Only healthy individuals would do for this mission, I told her, otherwise how would they actually rescue the missing men once they found them?
Thanking me for the suggestion, she said that she and her teammates would figure out the best way to handle the matter. From the tone in her voice, I could tell my advice wasn't much appreciated. Little Einstein was now regarding me with near open dislike. I sighed. I never so truly understood the meaning of "casting pearls before swine." The real tragedy for the man who knows everything is that no one will believe him.
What I didn't know at the time was that fate was already governing my every action. In arguing with Yuan Xile and Little Einstein, I had forgotten the most important point: logic and reason would very soon cease to matter. When I think back on all that occurred, I find that Ivan was right after all. When fate decides to show its hand, there's nothing one can do to resist.
CHAPTER
56
The Rescue
There were no novices among Yuan Xile's men. The standards for placement on the first team were undoubtedly much more stringent than they had been for our second team. Many had probably served with Yuan Xile since they were students. In any case, they clearly didn't think much of us. And now Yuan Xile was acting like the Soviet Witch. She didn't even resemble my Xile.
While we were getting ready I listened to Yuan Xile and some of her injured comrades discuss the probable structure of the cave ahead and how we should proceed. I tried to stay out of it. Their analysis was exhaustive, never-ending, and worthless. None of their conjectures about the geology of this place were going to be of any use when it came to rescuing those men. The times when I did interrupt they ignored me. The last time I tried, Yuan Xile frowned at me, a look of disgust in her eyes. She seemed to think I was being very unprofessional. I was so mad I could barely breathe. Before I could respond, Wang Sichuan took me aside.
"Right now these people aren't going to listen to us," he said. "Let them make a few mistakes and suffer the consequences. Then they'll see who really knows what they're talking about."
When our preparations were complete we set off downriver. At first the water rose no higher than our thighs, but the farther we went, the deeper it became. Soon it was over our heads. The current was moving dangerously fast. Yuan Xile ordered us to rope ourselves together and carry on. The woman was hell-bent on finding those men. Unfortunately, she had no idea of what was in store. I did. This cave was shaped like a water hyacinth, with a reservoir-like water cavity at the back where we'd found the giant iron door. The river would continue to rise until it reached a positively terrifying depth and that cavity was full. Those nine men had most likely been swept all the way to the water dungeon. There, thanks to the area's great height and many rocks, they should have been able to escape the current. I was sure we'd find them there—so long as they hadn't already drowned. Thus, given the current height of the river, we'd never be able to reach them on foot. Right now we were just wasting our time.
After we'd traveled another 50 or so feet downriver, the current really picked up. It was moving so fast we had to hold onto the rock walls. Yuan Xile had always been a stubborn woman and she kept pushing on. After only a few feet, the current picked her up, rushing her deeper into the cave. We dragged her back by the rope around her waist.
"We'd better turn back," I said. "It's too dangerous to keep going right now."
Just when she seemed about to listen, Little Einstein hauled himself out of the water and began climbing the rock wall, a look of crazed determination in his eyes. Glancing back, he waved for us to follow.
"This is no time to show off!" I yelled up to him. "You won't be able to make it!"
Wiping the water from his face, he waved again for us to follow. He was upset and acting irrationally.
"Forget it, Little Einstein!" cried Yuan Xile. "We need to head back and think of a new plan."
The kid just untied the rope around his waist and continued climbing deeper into the cave. Gritting my teeth, I cursed the poor bastard. Then I undid my rope and begin scaling the cave wall.
"What are you doing?" asked Yuan Xile.
"I'm going to bring him back."
"It's too dangerous!" shouted Wang Sichuan. "You're still not completely healed! Let him go. If he wants to die there's nothing we can do."
I disagreed. The kid might be a punk, but his life was still worth saving. Also, this wasn't where he was meant to die.
"Useless, are you sure you're all right?" called Yuan Xile, her voice hesitant, her hands tightly gripping the rock.
"What if I'm not? Who's gonna go get him? You?"
Her eyes went wide. This one must have really ticked her off. I'll bet she never imagined I could be this impudent.
"You start hauling them up the river!" I called to Wang Sichuan. "Once they're safe and sound, come back here and wait for me."
One of Yuan Xile's men yelled at me. "Useless, since when are you the one giving orders around here? This is still Yuan Xile's mission!"
Idiot, I thought, do you want to save Little Einstein are not? Rather than respond, I merely wiped the water from my face, signaled to Wang Sichuan and then continued scaling the wall.
The man's voice grew sterner. "Useless!" he yelled as Wang Sichuan began dragging him and the others upriver. "You are in serious violation of military code! Headquarters will be hearing about this! I'm going to make sure you are demoted!"
But I could tell from the man's face he'd long since fallen apart.
After climbing some distance along the wall, I came upon Little Einstein. He was 10 feet below me, his lower half submerged in the river, his fingers curled around a crack in the rock. He must have slipped. Seeing me, his face went red and he desperately tried to scramble up the wall. He immediately slid back down. I could tell he hated for me to see him like this. For an instant I was seized with the desire to kick this fool into the river, then head back and tell them I'd been too late. But I saw how young he looked, clinging stubbornly to the wall. I, too, had once been young and believed that nothing could hurt me.
I climbed onto a solid-looking ledge jutting several feet above him and reached out my arm. For a moment he hesitated, but then he grabbed on. Once I'd pulled him onto the ledge, I motioned upriver, yelling, "Go back now!"
He turned and began climbing deeper into the cave.
I'd known more than a few headstrong people in my day, but I'd never
met anyone like this. I tried to pull him back, but he swatted my hand away and with that my patience reached its limit. Grabbing him with both arms, I refused to let go. He glared at me, his eyes blood-red, and made to push me off the ledge. I was too fast for him. I smacked him across the face, grabbed his hair and slammed his head against the rock wall behind us. In my anger, I used a little more force than perhaps was necessary. Little Einstein was immediately knocked out and toppled forward into the water below. I reached out and grabbed onto him, but the current wouldn't let go. Shit, I thought. That was reckless and now I'm going to pay for it. Then, from behind me, I heard Wang Sichuan's voice.