Chapter 63: Something in the Water

  Suddenly, the small boat was shaken, and it wasn't my illusion.

  "There's something below." I cried out in terror, my eyes fixed on the water surface, that last movement was just like when we didn't stop the boat, that kind of 'swaying'.

  The bow of the ship then began to swing uncontrollably, like a person who can't drive, shaking back and forth, in short, without balance.

  "No, the river's undertow is too strong." Jason gritted his teeth and said, with a face covered in sweat.

  At this time, the boat was already swaying non-stop, and I'm afraid that if it continued like this, the small boat would capsize.

  He hastily stuffed those things into his backpack and said to me, "Let me carry it."

  He hadn't even handed over the bamboo raft yet, when he snatched it with one hand and muttered, "I don't want to fall into the water."

  I carefully made my way to the middle, and I'm not exaggerating when I say "crawled", because the boat was rocking violently, and if I hadn't crouched down and held onto the hull, I probably would have fallen into the water.

  We are unfamiliar with this river, and it's unclear what kind of fish are below. Given that prehistoric crocodiles could crawl out before, I reckon there might be some ghostly creatures down there too.

  I looked up at the few lights in front of me, getting closer and closer, making me feel more and more uneasy. They must have had an accident, otherwise we wouldn't have heard those miserable cries, and I don't know if Xiaobo was injured either? What about Old Professor?

  Anyway, now I'm worried about the safety of those two people. Although they're not good people and I don't want to be with them, it's really annoying to be in a state of anxiety all the time.

  "With a bit more effort, we'll be there soon." Jason managed to squeeze out a sentence with great difficulty. I took the flashlight and shone it over quickly. What I saw in front of me wasn't some kind of ghostly thing. It turned out that before, I had thought it was moving, but that was just an illusion.

  This is a small hill, all black rocks, with several small light bulbs hanging on the rocks. It seems to be the military strobe lights mentioned by the old professor. From the end of the Anti-Japanese War to now, it's been nearly sixty years, and these light bulbs are really awesome.

  We haven't arrived at Xiaoshan yet. Looking from afar, that small mountain feels cold and desolate. Could it be the source of the river?

  However, when I turned around, under the flashlight beam, a black shadow darted past, and I was suddenly stunned, it shouldn't be an illusion.

  Is there anyone else here?

  Then I swept the flashlight around that small hill, but didn't find the black shadow I saw earlier. I guess it found us? It must have hidden itself.

  I hastily told the two of them what I had just seen: "There's a mountain over there where the light bulb is, and earlier I accidentally shone my flashlight over there and saw something."

  Yu Gang Leng took a deep breath and asked, "What thing?"

  I thought of the black shadow I saw just now, and my heart suddenly skipped a beat. "It's too far to see clearly," I said. "It disappeared in an instant, slipping away from under my flashlight. Do you think it could be Professor Lao or Tang Guangze?"

  He frowned and gritted his teeth, saying: "Nor can this be ruled out, it's possible that it was them, but it's also very likely that it was an animal."

  Animals? This godforsaken place, it's very likely there are some ancient animals around here.

  Thinking of this possibility makes me shudder, that place is very gloomy and eerie, giving me a feeling of stepping into the gates of hell, it's terrifying.

  Right after that, the three of us pushed the small boat into the little mountain valley. As we got closer, we found out that this place was like a secluded spot, but we could see the surrounding scenery clearly. There wasn't a single tree in the little mountain, but instead, we saw several wooden houses. One of the wooden houses was about 50 meters away from us, surrounded by huge iron fences on all sides. On the upper corners of both sides, there were two military-use explosion-proof lamps hanging. The doors and windows were tightly closed, and from a distance, it gave people a very desolate feeling.

  In a place like this, there is a room, could it be that those Japanese devils escaped here and set up an underground research lab.

  Watching TV and other modern history, there are records of that. The Japanese devils liked to study viruses and conduct experiments on human bodies. In fact, that was also one of the most perverted methods of their country.

  Just as he had tied himself to a protruding rock, he discovered a very serious problem: where had the old professor and their boat gone?

  There was no sign of their small boat around either, had it sunk while they were rowing?

  I remember when we were rowing the boat over, three big men used all their strength to resist the undercurrent at the bottom of the river. One was an old man and one was a 'woman', I had some doubts whether they could get the boat here or not?

  "They said their boat went where? It can't have sunk to the bottom of the river, could it?" The thought of that miserable cry earlier made me feel a bit tense.

  They both didn't come back, I guess they found the problem earlier than me. However, Jason jumped from the boat to the rock and shouted in surprise: "You guys look..."

  Following Jason's pointing direction, I found that the road he was pointing at was on the opposite bank of the river below us, which was the side we had paddled over from before.

  I hastily shone the flashlight over and thought I would see a shocking scene, but who knew that there was nothing, however, it was not seeing anything that made people feel eerie.

  The flashlight shone over there, but it was still pitch black, what's going on?

  The beam of light from this military flashlight is probably around 300 meters, and the place where we docked the small boat before is only over 100 meters away from our current location, absolutely no more than 160 meters. This doesn't make sense.

  "How can't I see it?" I wondered in puzzlement.

  Is it saying I have vision problems?

  Jason furrowed his brow and explained, "It's possible that something is blocking our view. I think it's very likely that the Japanese left some tricks behind."

  The Japanese are doing everything, this should not be surprising, so I didn't pay much attention to it either. I asked, "It's been such a long time, and we still don't know if they're alive or dead, let's find someone first?"

  "Looking for someone?" Jason's voice was a bit loud, sounding astonished, though he asked me curiously, "What's the point of looking for them? Without them, can't we still find that place?"

  "Right, I don't agree with looking for them either."

  "In case they're in danger..."

  My words were not finished, and Yu Gang interrupted me, saying with some complacency: "If they are in danger, then they are in danger. Do we still have to go and save them? Besides, the two of them are much more capable than you. That 'woman' looks like she's seen a lot of dead people, I reckon she's a special forces 'female' soldier."

  "Even if it is, but also..." I muttered in a low voice, feeling that doing so would be inappropriate.

  Yu Gang shook his head and said: "Actually, they have nothing to do with me. In my opinion, the professor is a traitor. Letting me cooperate with a traitor is impossible. And that 'woman', don't underestimate her, she can kill you in an instant."

  Jason clapped his hands in agreement and said, "I can see that they're not good people, especially that 'woman', who doesn't even blink when she shoots. I don't want to be killed by them before I find my friend."

  As he spoke, his face fell when he mentioned his friend.

  Finally, under their persuasion, I reluctantly joined in on their suggestion. The old professor also reminded me that if I found the opportunity, I must escape.

  At that time, I was wondering whether this old professor was a good person or a bad person.

  I hope they will be fine, after all, this is not an enemy, at most it's just a difference in ways and no common ground.

  "This place is a forbidden area of Rampa Village, the villagers don't dare to come in, there must be a reason for it. I don't believe that anyone who comes in will die. I saw those people who died, they obviously lost their ability to protect themselves. If it were you, would you still be alive if you encountered a prehistoric giant crocodile? Now, what interests me the most is our people, why did they all die in that way? I thought only outsiders would die like that, but Pakahai also died like that. We need to be careful."

  Yu Gang just picked up those few guns with yellow 'hair' and threw one each to me and Jason.

  Holding the gun, I jumped onto a rock and steadied myself. Only then did I remember Huang 'Mao' who had been knocked unconscious on the small boat. I pointed at him and said, "What about him?"