Chapter Twelve: The Death of the Director

  Yang Hao and Yiyang Shifu's group ran forward for about 3 hours before finally arriving at their destination. This place was located on a clearing surrounded by mountains, with lush green weeds all around. The surrounding mountains were covered in tall trees, and the entire clearing was covered in thick humus soil. What was strange was that this clearing was exceptionally flat. Its area wasn't small either; if not for the thick humus soil, one would really think it had been artificially processed. The entrance to the cave was on a stone wall at the foot of a mountain, with people standing guard in front. These people were all under Director Han's command. After the two groups met, Yang Hao and Yiyang Shifu immediately recognized Han Yunxue among the crowd.

  "...Dad personally led people into the cave..." As soon as Master Yiyang heard this, his mind buzzed with a loud noise.

  "My dad said that human life is at stake. He asked everyone to stand outside, but he himself insisted on going in to investigate, I couldn't pull him back." Yang Hao saw his master's worried face and picked up the walkie-talkie.

  "Hello, hello... This is Yang Hao, please respond if you hear me... Please respond if you hear me..." After shouting several times in a row, the walkie-talkie finally responded.

  "I heard...please...speak..." The voice seemed to be somewhat disrupted, but it was still possible to communicate normally. Master Yiyang took a look and reacted immediately, taking over the walkie-talkie right away.

  "Director Han, where are you now??? If you haven't gone far, turn back immediately."

  "I... we can't go back, found a clue..."

  "Listen to me, you're supposed to be cooperating with us this time, you don't have the right to take people into action on your own, no matter what leads you have... Come back immediately." Master Yang's tone was unintentionally commanding. No matter what action it was, the country wouldn't allow any casualties, let alone when the other party was a police chief? If something happened to him, how would they explain it to their superiors? At this time, Director Han's mood was the same, his people had gone missing in batches, and he had just discovered some clues, how could he possibly give up??

  The master saw that there was no sound coming from the intercom and knew that he couldn't persuade him anymore.

  "Yang Hao, Yu Deng, Yu Zhuo, the three of you follow me in. The rest of you stay where you are and await orders. Without my command, no one is allowed to take action on their own, or they will be dismissed immediately."

  "Yes"... The crowd's response was very dull and depressing. After rushing for so long, crossing mountains and rivers to get here, they were told to wait, which would make anyone feel resentful.

  "Why didn't I see Guo Zhi and Huang Kai? Did they follow Director Han in??" Yang Hao couldn't help but worry for a moment before following his master into the cave.

  Dao Yu Deng and Dao Yu Zhuo were two disciples taken in by Master Yi Yang after he retired from being a police officer. The names of these two people were given to them by their master as their Taoist names because they were very young, had good qualifications, and were upright and honest. Therefore, they were quite liked by Master Yi Yang. And these two disciples did not disappoint Master Yi Yang either, having some skill and experience.

  "Hello everyone... I'm Yang Hao, I just became a disciple not long ago, please take care of me from now on"

  Two people saw Yang Hao's serious face and smiled without saying anything.

  Inside the cave, it was pitch black... The entrance was very small, only allowing one person to crawl in at a time. However, once inside, they realized that it was actually a slope. After walking for a while, the cave gradually became large enough for one person to stand up straight. These four people proceeded cautiously, lined up front and back, relying on the weak light emitted by their flashlights. The cave was too dark, with stone walls all around, smooth and damp. In such an environment, the flashlight's beam could only illuminate a range of no more than 3 meters in front of them.

  "What's this? Master, why is there rice on the ground?" Yang Hao pushed forward his master. Yi Yang Shu lowered his head to take a look and indeed saw that there was a large amount of rice scattered on the ground in the shape of a character.

  "Hmm... this is what the Koreans did to avoid getting lost, they temporarily used it as a marker. We can follow this and should be able to find them." That's right, when there are no tools to make road signs, scattering rice is not a bad method.

  In this dark cave, although it was in the scorching summer, entering this place seemed to give a refreshing feeling. But staying for too long would also make people feel icy and bone-chilling. However, these four people had extremely robust bodies, so the temperature wouldn't have any impact on them. Uncle Yang walked at the front, followed by Yang Hao, then the two senior brothers. Due to the narrow passageway, they could only proceed in a line, one after another. As Yang Hao was new, Master and his senior brothers placed themselves in the middle to protect him. After walking for an unknown period, they arrived at a staircase leading down. Just as they started descending, suddenly... something black and fluffy fell from the top of the cave, landing on Yu Deng's arm. He immediately felt a chill and itchiness on his arm, followed by a numbing sensation. Realizing the danger, he swiftly chopped it off with his left palm. Although even a stone would have been shattered, what he saw afterwards made him even more tense - the severed creature was still wriggling its body. A rustling sound came from the top of the cave; shining their flashlights upwards didn't scare everyone to death, but instead revealed a dense, black mass on the ceiling that kept squirming - it was a swarm of insects.

  Only to see these insects stuck upside down on the top of the cave, after discovering the light from the flashlight, they all swarmed towards the light source with their bodies wriggling. This kind of dark and soft-bodied animal can be found in most rivers in Northeast China during summer, but even the largest ones are only about the size of a fingernail. However, the group of black things in front of me were like countless small basins overturned on the top of the cave, making one's skin crawl with goosebumps.

  "Leech... such a big leech?!" Yi Yang Shu looked at the leech on the floor in surprise. The severed leech seemed to have performed a split-body technique, and from one it became two.

  "Fall back....." Everyone retreated hastily out of the stairs following Master's voice.

  "Master, how did the leeches appear here?!" Yang Hao recalled that those dark, palm-sized creatures with a diameter as big as an adult's forearm made him feel extremely disgusted.

  "I'm not sure either... Logically speaking, it should be in the river ditch. And it won't be that big."

  "Can't that thing be killed? I've already broken it into two pieces, how can it regenerate like an earthworm and come back to life?" Yu Deng's heart still had lingering fear as he looked at his bitten arm, which was now pale and bloodless, showing just how quickly the creature had sucked out his blood.

  "Leeches are like that, physical attacks can hardly harm them. Usually people use strong sunlight or fire to kill them thoroughly. Uzo, it's up to you now."

  "Good," everyone's gaze fell on Yu Zuo, who had responded to the voice. He placed his palms facing each other, took a deep breath and operated his internal energy for a moment. To their surprise, his palms gradually turned red, and then a flame appeared between them, burning fiercely. With a loud roar from him, the flame in his palm was thrown out. It was a highly compressed flame, which seemed to be just a small ball on Yu Zuo's hand, but if it exploded, the burning area could reach more than 60 square meters. The strangest thing was that the flame would turn corners in mid-air, presumably because Yu Zuo's consciousness could control its direction.

  "Boom....." The fireball exploded right where the leech appeared, and everyone was so far away, yet they could clearly hear the "squeaking" sound, the crackling noise. Not long after, a burnt smell wafted out of the entire cave, pungent and unbearable. As the squeaking grew fainter, the sound of objects falling came from where the flames had exploded, just as Yu Guang was about to move forward, he was pulled back by Yang Hao.

  "Don't let your guard down, those things don't seem to be quite dead yet, Brother Shifu, it looks like you still need to add another blow." Yang Hao had lived in the north since he was a child and had some understanding of the leech's vitality. Yu Zhuo nodded after hearing Yang Hao's words and immediately generated another red glow in his hand, a fireball that was even stronger than before flew in again.

  A loud, mournful sigh echoed through the cave, and then all was quiet once more. The flames that had burst forth now dwindled and died away, lacking the fuel to sustain them.

  Yiyang Shu was the first to walk over, Yang Hao and his fellow disciples followed behind him to where the water leeches were gathered. The top of the cave was spotless, with only a pile of charred black corpses left on the ground in one place.

  "Yuzhuo, your fire doesn't seem powerful enough, you need to practice more in the future."

  "Uh-huh, got it, Master." As soon as Yu Zhuo's voice fell, the intercom rang again.

  "A report from a police officer... Please respond..." The voice of Director Han came out of the intercom accompanied by static noise.

  "I am Yang, please speak..."

  "I... we... in the ground... 3 floors underground... found... discovered many... corpses of citizens..."

  "Don't move, stay there... We've already entered the cave... Will go find you immediately"

  "Is Han Ju, Huang Kai and Guo Zhi with you?"

  "He and they... all... were..." The radio went silent again after Han Ju responded to Yang Hao's call.

  "We must speed up, the longer we take, the more dangerous their situation will be." Yang Hao and the other two heard Master say this and immediately got moving. This time, the order of walking was reversed, Yu Zhuo and Yu Deng were in front, Yang Hao was in the middle, and Master was at the back. The four of them turned on their flashlights, although they were anxious in their hearts, but in this dark place, it was also helpless. Their movements were still extremely slow. Yang Hao held onto the walkie-talkie, from time to time contacting Director Han and asking about the route inside the cave... At this time, the mountain cave had become much wider. Three people could walk side by side at the same time. The height was about 2 meters high, enough for an adult to pass through upright. Except for Yao Ming. Borrowing the light of the four flashlights, after twisting and turning N+X times, they finally found the stairs leading to the second floor. As soon as everyone got down to the second floor, a cool breeze came rushing towards them. From time to time, you could still hear the sound of water droplets hitting the ground. At this time, the mountain cave was even more humid and colder. The second floor was different from the first floor, it was no longer a narrow passage, but an open underground square with an area of about half a football field. Some people who knew the rules understood that when exploring caves, they were not afraid of small spaces or narrow roads... what they feared was such a large empty space, where all around was empty and desolate, and you couldn't see your fingers even if you stretched out your hand. At this time, the light from the flashlights had been shortened by half again, and could only shine for less than 2 meters.

  "Come on, let's hold onto each other and follow the trail of rice grains on the ground to the right, find the edge stone wall, and walk along it."

  4 people followed the master's method, with the person behind grabbing the collar of the person in front, heading to the right... In less than 10 minutes, they touched the icy stone wall. Yang Hao and the others leaned against the stone wall and moved forward slowly. Fortunately, there were no more attacks, but a smooth journey.

  "Master, look..." Everyone followed Yuzo's pointing direction and looked over, a "storefront" carved into the stone wall appeared before their eyes, it was called a storefront because above the entrance was engraved with the words "Clothing Only Store".

  "Oh... I see it now, seems like a clothing store..."

  "There's actually a clothing store in the cave??? " Yu Deng also asked strangely...

  "It seems that this cave was excavated by the Japanese. If so, it's not surprising to have a clothing store in here, let's continue to look and see what else is there." The master made a judgment, and everyone nodded in agreement. Indeed, as Master Yang said, this place was an air-raid shelter opened up by the Japanese during the late period of their invasion of China, when their military strength was stretched tight and they were rapidly losing ground. In order to maintain a foothold in China, they had excavated these shelters, which people referred to as "air-raid caves". However, people generally believed that air-raid shelters were the work of the Eighth Route Army, but in fact, the Japanese had also dug many tunnels and caves in China. Originally, they had planned to engage in a long-term war of attrition with the Eighth Route Army, but just a few days after the cave was completed, the Japanese Emperor announced an unconditional surrender. The Japanese soldiers who received the news hastily retreated from mainland China. As a result, some caves still stored military supplies, ammunition, and weapons that the Japanese had not had time to take away. Such news was not uncommon. For example, XX Cave discovered a Japanese-style airplane... discovered cannonballs, guns, etc. Similar incidents were common in the north. Yang Hao and his companions also saw many small caves with shop-like facades, such as an armory, food department, medical department, and so on.

  "It seems that little Japan really intends to press home its advantage here." Yang Hao said while looking on.

  "Who says it isn't? Ah? What's written on that thing?" Yu Zhuo seemed to always discover something, and so everyone's footsteps paused for a moment at the place where they had been carved.

  "Is it a comfort woman??? This cave even has this kind of thing? It seems that the little Japanese are always thinking about this dirty thing"

  "Junior brother, what is a comfort woman??" Yu Zhuo blinked his eyes and looked at Yang Hao with a flickering gaze, suddenly making him feel like crying and laughing at the same time. "A comfort woman is..."

  "Cough...cough...a child should ask what he should ask and not ask what he shouldn't...alright, let's hurry up and go." The master interrupted Yang Hao's answer.

  "Hey... take some time to learn about history, you'll understand." Yudeng whispered a sentence into YuZhuo's ear and then left with the master. Although YuZhuo's kung fu skills were good, he was still young and had just started working. He didn't know much about the history of the Sino-Japanese War. Born in 1990, he was puzzled by these things, and some young people might think that the Sino-Japanese War was already a thing of the past and had nothing to do with them. But that's not true. The Sino-Japanese War only ended a few decades ago... Although the brutal scenes back then have disappeared into thin air, as a Chinese person, one should remember that painful lesson deeply in their heart.

  "Let... let go....." "You and I... fight... pull... boom... boom......" The walkie-talkie suddenly emitted a voice, as if there were also gunshots, which made Yang Hao and the others suddenly feel their hearts rise to their throats...

  "What's going on at the Han Bureau...?!" he shouted for a long time, but no one responded.

  "Director Han, quickly tell me, where is the staircase from the second floor to the third?" Still, no one answered.

  "It's all over, something has happened." Everyone had the same thought in their minds. They didn't care about the obstacles in sight and quickened their pace to move forward cautiously.

  Just walked a little way, poor and unlucky Yu Deng suffered again.

  "Ah....." With a loud cry from Yu Deng, the whole person suddenly disappeared. Yang Hao looked at the piece of fabric that had been torn off in his hand and was stunned for a moment...

  "Big brother, big brother what's wrong... where are you?? Big brother???" At this time, Master and Yu Zhuo also had a look of urgent concern for everything around them, not long after, a voice came from underground.

  "Ugh... I'm so unlucky! First, a leech sucked my blood, and now I've fallen on my butt. What have I done to deserve this? Why is heaven treating me like this?! Everyone heard Yu Deng's complaining voice and knew he was fine, so they put their minds at ease. They made their way towards the source of his voice. It wasn't until later that they discovered there were no stairs between the second and third floors underground, but rather a hole that went straight through. Yu Deng had fallen vertically from this very hole. "Master, younger brother, I'm down here... come quickly... Director Han and the others..."

  As his voice faded away, the remaining people jumped down from the holes on the ground. The third floor was originally a storage room. There were many rotten rice bags with only some residue left, and some exposed ammunition. Director Han and Huang Kai were lying on the ground separately. Huang Kai's chest was covered in bloodstains, apparently having suffered a significant attack, but not fatal, just fainted. However, Director Han's situation was not optimistic. A large hole had been pierced through his abdomen, his eyes dull and lifeless. His mouth was agape... still clutching a police-issue 64 handgun. He lay there on his back...

  "Master, how is Director Han?" Yang Hao asked. Old Man Yang sighed and shook his head after hearing Yang Hao's words. Yang Hao placed his hand on Director Han's nose and listened to his heartbeat again... He had no choice but to accept the fact. "Director Han, he's dead."

  Just as he felt sad and angry, he faintly heard a groaning sound, the voice was small, but in this deep underground, I guess even if a mouse farted, it would be truly audible.

  "Guo Zhi... Guo Zhi wake up.... What happened to you? How did it end up like this???" Yang Hao saw that Guo Zhi's mouth was moving slightly, so he put his ear close and listened carefully. He didn't mishear... Guo Zhi's mouth was muttering...

  "Monster... monster... monster... monster... monster..."