Chapter 10

Main Text Chapter 10 Underground Lake

Our wooden-hand grenade is standard infantry issue, made of three parts: the top is iron-sheeted into a cylinder, the bottom a wooden handle. When triggered, the internal explosive detonates the iron shrapnel to wound enemies; its power is not great.

Big Guy left one grenade; I took another, seeing many fireballs already rushing over, I pulled the fuse and threw the wooden-hand grenade that was hissing white smoke.

The grenade exploded in a puff of white smoke; the several dozen blue fireballs flying ahead were hit by the blast fragments, fell to the ground and extinguished one after another, but more fireballs continued to swarm from behind.

Luo Ning led, the other three covered the rear, firing their semi-automatic rifles while retreating; each had about twenty rounds, and within two minutes they had expended all ammunition.

To deal with the blue fireballs formed by those strange ladybugs, only gunfire works; even slight contact ignites them, burning the wielder. A rifle without ammunition is less useful than a fire stick.

Big Guy threw away his rifle, pulled out his last grenade, and shouted at me: "Lao Hu, is it time? Shall we do it?"

I and Luo Ning supported Ga wa, the four of us formed a circle, placing the grenade Big Guy held in the middle; I stared at the grenade before me—once Big Guy pulled the pin, we would all perish together in a few seconds, and the final moment had finally arrived.

At such a moment I didn't want to think too much about other things: first, those fireballs were getting closer, leaving no time to think; second, I worried that dwelling on parting and death would make me weak. I had always wanted to be a top combat hero like Yang Gensi, but instead of dying on the battlefield, I would meet an obscure end deep in Kunlun Mountain, which I truly found unwilling. I steeled myself and decided to let Big Guy detonate the grenade.

Luo Ning had originally clenched her eyes shut, waiting to die, but suddenly she thought of something, jumped up and grabbed us: "Listen to how loud that water flow is—we're very close to the underground river; let's jump in quickly."

Just now we had only been thinking about shooting, then preparing to kill ourselves with the grenade, having already forgotten about the underground river; in the chaos we also hadn't heard that rumbling water sound, but hearing Luo Ning say that, we realized there was still a way out—if we could jump into the river beforehand, those fireballs, though fierce, could do nothing to us.

No sooner said than done, thousands of blue fireballs were already at arm's length; the four survivors, desperate to live, sprinted desperately toward the roaring water.

Hearing that water sound, it was only a distance of ten-something meters; we couldn't run more than a few steps, and upon reaching the turn at the end of the underground cavity, a large waterfall appeared before us, with a sizable natural underground lake beneath it.

Before I could take a closer look, a hot pain flared in my back, like my heart being scratched and my liver gouged; surely the fireball had struck my back, and even a tiny spark would soon engulf my whole body in flames. At this life‑or‑death moment there was no time to think further—I leapt straight into the lake.

In the chaos I saw that Dagezi and two others were also on fire, shouting as they leapt into the lake one after another. I plunged into the water, and the blue flames on my body were immediately extinguished by the lake.

Water and fire do not mix; the remaining flying insects seemed to know the danger of the lake water, hovering only two or three meters above the surface and daring not to swoop down to attack.

I lifted my head out of the water to breathe and saw Dagezi surface as well, but Luoning and Gawa were nowhere in sight. Worried they couldn't swim and might drown, I took a deep breath ready to dive again to rescue them—just then Luoning had already pushed Ga wa up to the surface from the lake.

It turned out Ga wa had never swum in his life; upon jumping into the lake he choked on water and passed out. Luoning happened to see this, dove in and pulled him to the surface. Fortunately the submersion was brief—Ga wa coughed up a few mouthfuls of water and regained consciousness.

Tibetan custom forbids bathing or swimming in lakes, and Ga wa kept murmuring sutras, begging the Buddha for forgiveness.

The sky above the lake was lit up like daylight by the countless fireballs, and the four of us huddled together. Although it was early spring, the underground water felt not cold but mildly warm—a thermal lake formed by geothermal heating.

Dagezi cursed, "Damn it, the gun's gone—sank to the bottom of the lake."

I reminded him, "We're out of ammo, so a gun is useless now. We need to think of a way to get out fast—keep your head down and watch out for those insects diving down."

Dagezi didn't believe those flaming insects could plunge into the lake, grinning widely with a foolish smile, but his grin soon froze as thousands of blue‑flaming fireballs gathered, forming a huge mass of flame that whooshed downward; he hurriedly ducked back into the water.

I drew a breath, about to dive, but saw Ga wa beside me stunned with fear—he was naturally afraid of water and dared not submerge to escape, so I had to force his head under and, gripping his arm, pull him deeper.

The giant fireball reached a diameter of several tens of meters; upon contacting the lake surface it sent steam billowing up. Though the fireball was large, the lake was broader, and the suicide attacks of the ladybug death squad proved ineffective, drowning one after another in the water.

The lake bottom was originally pitch dark, but the firelight from above made it barely possible to see the surroundings ten‑something meters down. In the depths countless large fish moved slowly, utterly unlike any fish I'd seen before—these big fish had extremely long whiskers, resembling giant salmon, and having lived in darkness their eyes had atrophied to just two white spots.

I was startled by the strange appearance of those big fish, swallowed a few mouthfuls of water, and saw Ga wa flailing his limbs, unable to hold his breath, trying to struggle upward for air—just then the lake bottom suddenly darkened, I guessed the insects had mostly died, and I pulled Ga wa up to the surface.

A layer of dead ladybugs floated on the lake surface; with the firelight gone, everything was pitch black, and I shouted to Dagezi, "Dagezi, do you still have a flashlight?"

Dagezi replied, "Everything's been tossed away, nothing left—this time we'll just feel our way in the dark."

Suddenly a light flashed ahead—Luoning also surfaced from the lake, wiped water from her face, and in her other hand held a military‑style angled flashlight: "These are the last two I had on me; luckily they stayed in my pocket and didn't fall to the lake bottom."

We all hauled ourselves up the bank, exhausted and hungry, with no energy left to move. After ten‑something hours without food, not even a flesh‑and‑body could endure, let alone something made of iron.

Dagezi jumped back into the lake, speared a fish with his bayonet, hastily scraped off the scales, and cut it into several pieces. I took a first bite—the raw fish tasted decent, not too fishy, just slightly bitter; after a few more chews it became quite fragrant.

Only Ga wa swore that even if the heavens fell he wouldn't eat fish; the army also has ethnic discipline forbidding fish in Tibet, but I thought Kunlun lies on the border of Qinghai and Tibet, so by location we're still in Qinghai, and Qinghai has more Hui Muslims than Tibetans, so eating fish here isn't a breach of discipline. Actually, even if it were a violation now we couldn't afford to care—we're starving to the point our eyes turn blue, and in such special circumstances we must make special allowances.

The three of us wolfed down the raw big fish, still feeling a bit unsatisfied, so Dagezi went back into the lake to feel for more fish, Luoning checked Ga wa's foot wound, and I walked around the lakeside looking for an exit. With such a strong waterfall flow, the lake ought to have a diversion.

The great waterfall has a drop of several tens of meters; according to Luoning's estimate, the water system before us is likely an underground tributary of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, and there may even be a volcano deep below, which is why the lake water is warm.

I took Luoning's angled flashlight, found a breach in the underground lake, and the water flowed out through it. This waterway is a cavern seven or eight meters high, its lower part completely submerged, leaving no dry path—if we want to go forward we must swim through.

I returned to Luoning's side and told her what I'd seen. Her map and compass were lost, so we had to rely on intuition; having worked in surveying for many years, she was experienced and estimated that we weren't far from the unfreezing spring. Since that spring doesn't freeze even in deep winter, it indicates underground magma. The question is how to get back to the surface—wandering underground isn't a solution—and the only viable option now is to follow the river, because only where there is a river channel can we avoid a dead end.

Dagezi also returned, dejected, having caught no fish this time. Not wanting to linger, the three of us who are strong swimmers supported Ga wa in the middle and, following the current, swam toward the far end of this underground cavern.

Although the surface of this underground river is narrow, the undercurrent is strong; riding its thrust, half‑floating, half‑swimming takes little effort. However the tunnel is very long, and the water temperature is noticeably higher than before; all I smell is sulfur, and even in the water I feel dry‑mouthed and thirsty.

Dagezi grew somewhat impatient, complaining as he swam, "We might have committed the error of left‑wing blind activism this time—how can we have swum so long and still not reach the end? The current here is so fierce there's no place to plant our feet and catch our breath. We might as well turn back and swim back."

I criticized Dagezi, "What have you been doing all along? Only after swimming this far do you ask how long the red flag will last. Do you doubt whether our revolution can achieve final victory? You started wavering even before the first step of the Long March—grit your teeth and hold on."

Dagezi protested, "How can you say that? I'm just trying to preserve some strength for the revolution—if your reckless ways cause losses to the revolution, who's to blame?"

We had barely finished speaking when Luoning exclaimed, "Hey, do you see something moving back there? It looks like… a water monster."

I also heard a strange commotion in the water behind me; I turned and shone the flashlight back—ripples churned, a huge black shape shot rapidly toward us from the depths. The beam didn't reach far enough to make out what it was, but as the saying goes, "ill‑intentioned visitors don't come, and the well‑meaning don't appear." We all drew our bayonets, braced ourselves, and readied for battle.