Chapter 217 Underground Base
Shi Gandang led the two along the secret path, walking through the valley for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. Finally, he stopped in front of an inconspicuous mountain wall. The wall was covered with withered vines, looking no different from the surrounding rocks.
He stretched out his calloused and scarred hand and began to tap the rough rock face with a strange rhythm, neither too hard nor too soft. Three long taps, two short taps, one heavy tap, two light taps.
“Clatter.”
A slight click of a mechanism was heard, and then the "mountain wall" in front of us slowly sank inward, revealing a dark cave entrance. A strange smell, a mixture of dust, mold, and strong disinfectant, wafted out of the cave, making one grimace.
Shi Gandang stared at the black hole, his eyes filled with a complex mix of fear and relief. He turned to look at the two men and said hoarsely, "This is it."
The base's electrical system had been completely rendered unusable over the past twenty years, leaving only pitch-black darkness.
Lu Jingyan didn't speak, but took out a large flashlight from his military satchel. He turned on the switch, and a thick beam of light pierced the darkness, shooting straight into the depths.
The area illuminated by the beam of light was a vast underground space.
Various sophisticated instruments, their names unknown, stood silently on either side, shrouded in dust cloths, like colossal beasts. Several enormous charts hung on the walls, covered with intricate molecular structures and incomplete calculations, the writing already somewhat blurred. Dust particles swirled in the beams of light, making everything seem surreal.
This is where that elite scientific expedition team worked and lived back then. An underground fortress forgotten by the world for twenty years.
Shi Gandang was clearly familiar with the place. He walked ahead, trembling, leading them through the main research area and into a narrow corridor. On both sides of the corridor were rows of small alloy doors.
“This is their dormitory.” Shi Gandang pointed to one of the tightly closed doors. “After the accident, the search and rescue team came. Most of the doors were opened, but this one… we can’t open it no matter what we do. It’s like it’s locked from the inside.”
Lu Jingyan stepped forward, gripped the doorknob, and twisted it forcefully, but it wouldn't budge. He took a half step back, turned to the side, and with all his might, slammed his shoulder into the door lock.
"Bang!"
A loud crash echoed through the empty corridor. The alloy door trembled violently, denting inwards, but remained closed.
Lu Jingyan's eyes turned cold. He stepped back again, took a deep breath, and his entire aura changed, like a fierce tiger about to launch an attack.
"Bang--!"
This time, a sickening metallic snapping sound came from the lock, and the entire door was smashed open with tremendous force, crashing heavily against the inner wall.
The beam of the flashlight swept in.
In the cramped dormitory, three skeletons lay scattered haphazardly.
They were all in extremely contorted postures, some clutching their throats tightly with both hands, while others huddled in a corner, as if hiding from some unseen horror.
The moment the light shone on the wall, everyone held their breath.
The dormitory walls were covered with deep, crisscrossing fingernail scratches. At the end of those scratches were two large words written in dried, blackened blood: "Help." On another wall, the same bloodstains scrawled the words: "Devil."
Shi Gandang knelt down with a thud. This tough man, seeing the tragic scene before him, could no longer hold back his tears and burst into sobs.
Su Wantang's face also turned a little pale, but she quickly calmed down. She put on the thin gloves she always carried, squatted down, and began to carefully examine one of the skeletons.
Lu Jingyan cautiously scanned every corner of the room with his flashlight.
"Something's not right." Su Wantang's voice was low, yet it carried an undeniable professionalism. At this moment, she had completely switched to "Master Bai" mode, her calmness almost frightening.
She pointed to the finger joints of the skeleton and said to Lu Jingyan, "Look here. Normal bones, after they have completely decomposed, should be porous and grayish-white. But their bones have an abnormal crystalline luster, as if tiny crystals have grown inside the bones."
She stood up and concluded: "They weren't killed, nor did they commit suicide. They were used as experimental subjects and died from some kind of intense radiation or unknown drug experiments."
...
Meanwhile, in Shanghai, thousands of miles away.
Du Kangnian led a worried-looking Zhou Jimin through a maze of turns into an abandoned dock warehouse. Inside the warehouse, a shrewd-looking Hong Kong businessman, dressed in a floral shirt and with slicked-back hair, sat with his legs crossed on a pile of wooden crates, leisurely smoking a cigar.
"Where are the things?" Zhou Jimin asked bluntly, disregarding formalities.
The Hong Kong businessman exhaled a smoke ring and gestured with his chin to several large pieces of equipment covered with tarpaulins behind him. "Look, they're all over there. Second-hand equipment recently phased out by West Germany, high-precision lithography machines, single crystal furnaces, they're treasured."
Zhou Jimin rushed over, lifted the tarpaulin, and his eyes lit up instantly. He caressed the cold machines as if they were a lover, and when he saw an inconspicuous spectrometer in the corner, he was so excited he almost shouted. That's it! With this, the technical bottleneck that had been plaguing him for months could be solved!
"How much?" Zhou Jimin asked, turning around, his voice trembling.
The Hong Kong businessman held up five fingers: "Five hundred thousand, US dollars. Not a penny less."
Zhou Jimin's face turned pale instantly. Even if he sold himself, he couldn't raise that much money.
Seeing that the negotiations had reached a stalemate, Du Kangnian, who had been silent until now, stepped forward, smiled at the Hong Kong businessman, and said slowly, "Our boss asked me to pass on a message to you."
The Hong Kong businessman raised an eyebrow, giving him a "who do you think you are?" look.
Du Kangnian leaned close to his ear and whispered a name and a nine-digit number in a voice only the two of them could hear.
The Hong Kong businessman's smug expression froze instantly. Then, the color drained from his face at a visible speed, and the cigar he was holding fell to the ground with a "thud." He looked at Du Kangnian, his eyes filled with terror.
“Miss Bai…” he stammered, his voice trembling.
"Please...please give my regards to Miss Bai. This batch of goods is at cost price! Consider it making friends! I beg Miss Bai to be lenient, please be lenient!"
Zhou Jimin watched in stunned silence, completely bewildered by what was happening.
...
Northwest, underground base.
Lu Jingyan paused suddenly while examining the third skeleton. He carefully took something out of the skeleton's tightly clenched, skeletal hand.
It's a cufflink.
The cufflinks have a unique design, featuring an eagle spreading its wings as if about to take flight.
It's exactly the same as the one we seized in Beijing before!
“Eagle's Nest…” Lu Jingyan’s voice was chilling. This irrefutable evidence completely linked this unsolved case from twenty years ago with that mysterious and powerful organization.
Su Wantang also made a discovery.
In the next room, which resembled the director's office, she pried open a rusted safe. The safe was mostly filled with moldy documents, but at the very bottom, she found a tattered experimental log wrapped in oil paper.
The first part of the log was mostly filled with incomprehensible data and chemical formulas. Su Wantang quickly scrolled to the end.
The last page contained only a few words, written in very messy handwriting, as if written in a hurry.
"The new experimental subject has been injected with 'Lunar Goddess' reagent No. 1, and the reaction is good. Number: 07."
Next to the number "07", there was a very hastily drawn mark.
A crescent moon.
Su Wantang's gaze was fixed on the crescent moon mark, and her heart sank.
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