Chapter 4 Section 4: A Strange Shadow in the Thick Fog

  It wasn't until the horse in the sea turned off the projector that the curtain returned to its original state as a tattered white cloth, and my thoughts slowly came back. I asked my first question: "What is this thing?"

  No one answered.

  I struggled to calm down, suppressing the tremble, lit a cigarette and took a drag, looking at Wang Sizhuan. Wang Sizhuan also looked at me, his face paler than a horse in the sea.

  We received university education, and although the educational level at that time did not reach today's standards, in horizontal comparison, China's university education at that time would not be much inferior to that of the same period in the world, especially for our major, the teachers were all experts and scholars from the Soviet Union and the United States who studied abroad at that time. We are very confident in our ability to understand things after graduating under their guidance.

  But that group of people were all firm materialists, and the education we received was also like this. This is actually very frightening, because atheists have nothing to fear, once they encounter some inexplicable things, the impact on us is more severe than ordinary people.

  I wanted to make some feasible conjectures, but I couldn't think of anything. With just a vague shadow, I couldn't think of anything, but I knew it wasn't an illusion or hallucination.

  In a place over one thousand meters underground, there is such a vast and deep underground cavern, which is already a geological wonder. However, in this abyss, something like this still stands, whose masterpiece is it?

  Look at the shape of that black shadow, it must be man-made, but in a place like this, who could create something so massive?

  My materialistic worldview was inevitably shaken. Our minds are full of questions, and I also understand that no one can give us the answers.

  Wang Sichuan suddenly let out a long breath and walked up to me, asking for a cigarette. I noticed that his hand was also shaking slightly.

  I handed him one, and also handed over my cigarette butt for him to light up against, and threw another one to Ma Zaihai. The kid was completely stunned, and it took a long time before he came over to take him away. On the other side, Wang Sizhou held the cigarette but didn't smoke, instead putting it on the wooden chair in front of him, then knelt down, made a strange gesture, and muttered a few words in their native language.

  This action is even stranger, we waited for him to finish, he told us that he was praying for the blessing of "Ehegazar", usually you need to light incense, now there's only cigarettes. He said before he didn't believe his parents' sayings about "Dimu", thought it was superstition, now he is also half-believing and half-doubting, but still wants to show respect first.

  I wanted to tell him that this was indeed feudal superstition, but looking at the things on the curtain, I couldn't say a word. The horse in Hai asked Wang Sichuan how to pray, and Wang Sichuan said that "Earth Mother" would only bless their own clan.

  The contents of the entire roll of film ended there, and we didn't look at it again or continue discussing it because we didn't know what to discuss. This matter had completely exceeded our cognitive range, Ma recited a few sentences of Buddha's blessing, and we all fell silent.

  A few minutes later, Wang Sichuan took off the tape, reloaded it, and said to us: "That's all for now, we need to have an understanding."

  We looked at him, and he had already regained his composure: "There's no use thinking about it anymore. With just us, we can't possibly know what that thing is, and it shouldn't be passed down to the world. I believe after handing over this roll of film, it will definitely be sealed away. So, none of us can say that we've seen the film, agreed?"

  I know what he means, this thing is too subversive, if others find out we've seen it, there will be a lot of trouble.

  I nodded, and Ma Hai said: "But I'm not very good at deceiving people. Even if you just glance at me, I'll definitely be exposed."

  Wang Sichuan angrily said: "How can you be so weak? If you don't speak, I'll definitely promote you to class leader when you go out. How about it, can you keep your mouth shut?"

  Ma Hai immediately felt relieved and saluted Wang Sizong with his feet together: "Thank you, Mr. Wang, I will definitely keep my mouth shut."

  Actually we don't have the power to decide on promotions and demotions of this kind, but if we can go back this time, first-class merit is definitely there, Ma Hai will be promoted to deputy class leader even if he's not the class leader.

  "We'd better leave at once," said Wang Sichuan, "lest we have too many dreams in a long night."

  I was already eager to return to the surface, but now that I've seen this footage, the eerie atmosphere of this abyss is making my hair stand on end. I don't want to stay here any longer, but for a moment, I'm unable to move my legs.

  Under Wang Si Chuan's urging, we reluctantly packed everything up. As I re-shouldered my luggage, I couldn't help but regret the decision to look at that content earlier - it was better not to have looked; having seen it made me even more unable to calm down.

  Wang Sichuan arrived at the entrance, removed the iron bar that had been blocking the door, and beckoned us to follow him. We had lost two hours and now needed to speed up to make up for it.

  We crept over and he carefully pushed open the door, looking as if he feared an ambush, and also warned us to be careful in case the door was suddenly flung open.

  However, Wang Sichuan pushed it a bit, but the door didn't budge at all.

  He was a bit surprised, used some force, but still like this, the door just moved slightly, without any sign of opening.

  Wang Sichuan looked at me, his face turning ugly. He grasped the door handle and shook it violently. I suddenly realized something was wrong because the door clearly wasn't stuck. He shook it again several times, with dust falling off in sheets, but the door still didn't budge.

  Wang Sichuan turned his head and retreated a few steps, muttering in disbelief: "Damn it, someone outside has locked the door."