Airplane Hole
Outside the makeshift cordon made of hemp rope, a crowd of bewildered villagers stood, fear and doubt clashing fiercely on their faces, and no one spoke.
The silence around him was replaced by an indescribable noise, like the static of electricity, or the mournful cry of a white crane. Zhao Fengnian's blurred vision covered his trembling lips. He kept asking himself, why is this happening? Why is this happening?
A strong bitter taste rose up his throat and into his stomach, bringing another wave of nausea. Zhao Fengnian hurriedly covered his mouth and swallowed. When the county committee comrades saw Zhao Fengnian, they pulled up the rope to let him in.
The child's frail body was too painful to look at for long. Zhao Fengnian looked away several times, then forced his gaze back, bent his stiff knees, and knelt down to touch the child, silently saying in his heart: My dear child, I'm sorry.
Slowly lifting his clothes to examine him, the child's thin body had no obvious external injuries. He had a ring made of wild grass on his right index finger, and there were some abrasions on his arms. It was unclear whether he had bumped into something on the road or was a defensive injury. In addition, his expression was ferocious, and there were bloodstains under his nose, ears, and eyes.
Bleeding from all seven orifices! Could it be that he's been outside for too long and gotten poisoned?
Many images flashed through Zhao Fengnian's mind: Chunmei using common materials such as charcoal, rice husks, and dried dates to make homemade gas masks for the two of them.
After entering the city, the little devil picked a few purplish-red wildflowers and tucked them into his waistband. He explained that in areas with poisonous gas, some lichens would change color and appear silvery-blue under the moonlight. The little devil was clearly not experiencing poisonous gas attacks for the first time, and he skillfully led himself away from almost all areas with poisonous gas.
What about the gold bars? Didn't he go to catch chickens?
Chicken, gold bars, chicken, gold bars, chicken, gold bars...
Two seemingly unrelated things gradually overlapped in one place—the chicken coop. Zhao Fengnian suddenly remembered that Lu Wei had followed Zero to the cooperative's chicken coop, and Zero was carrying dozens of gold bars.
With his mind clearing instantly, Zhao Fengnian gently turned the child over. There were no large wounds on the back. Hmm? The skin where the child's shoulder connects to the neck suddenly turned bluish-black. It wasn't there just now, so it shouldn't be a birthmark.
Before he could examine it carefully, a shout came from behind him: "Disperse, disperse! It's just one person dead, don't make a fuss."
Zhao Fengnian turned around, and Xia Lang ripped off the rope, waving for the villagers to throw the body out. In this hot weather, it would rot soon. Xia Lang's eyes were cold and disgusted, looking at the child as if he were looking at a dead rat.
"Don't move!" Zhao Fengnian slowly stood up, his voice leaving no room for doubt. "There's something fishy about this child's death."
"Heh, someone come and dispose of the body." Xia Lang's face showed a contemptuous expression, not taking Zhao Fengnian seriously at all. However, the villagers around him all stepped back, and no one responded.
Xia Lang's expression immediately turned extremely gloomy. He roared at the villagers, "Are you all deaf? What, are you afraid of bad luck? It's just a dead person. People die every day. Or are you afraid of poison gas? Who isn't? Your selfish behavior is sabotaging the revolution. If you don't want to be counter-revolutionaries, drag the body out and bury it! Hurry up!"
The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment. One woman shrank forward half a step, but quickly retreated. In the end, no one responded.
The air was deathly silent. Xia Lang glanced around at the villagers, pointed at them, and gritted his teeth as he said, "Fine, you've rebelled against the Heavenly Gang! You've defied Heaven!"
"Who is Heaven? You?" A cold male voice interrupted Xia Lang's wild gestures.
Xia Lang subconsciously replied, "What, you disagree? Believe me or not... Haha, Minister He, why aren't you resting in the inner room?"
Ignoring the outstretched hand, He Shuying deliberately bypassed Xia Lang and went straight to Zhao Fengnian, who was performing the autopsy. She warmly shook hands and exchanged pleasantries, then softly inquired about the new information he had obtained. She explained that criminal cases were under the jurisdiction of their court department, and the investigation required the cooperation of colleagues from various departments.
Following behind He Shuying, Secretary Deng glanced at Xia Lang casually: "Commander Xia (Xia) is really something, he's on par with Zhang Zongchang. He attacked the Dragon King, you suppress the heavens, both are anti-feudal, both are very revolutionary."
Xia Lang's face twitched a few times, looking like he wanted to lash out but didn't dare because of He Shuying. Soon, he was asked to leave the cordon by the referee department staff.
Looking at the area they had marked out, Zhao Fengnian said to He and Deng with concern, "This is not the primary crime scene. The child may have been poisoned by them and then brought here."
"What do you mean?" He Shuying and Secretary Deng asked in unison.
This is a construction area. It's a dead end, and theoretically there's only one way to leave. Zhao Fengnian pointed to the dust on the ground, where there were two clear footprints.
One footprint was Xia Lang's, a walking footprint with a small stride; the other was Secretary Deng's footprint when he reported the case, a running footprint with a larger stride. Apart from these, there were no other footprints left in the accumulated dust.
"That can't be right, can the murderer fly?" He Shuying stroked his beard and sighed.
Even if they could fly, it wouldn't be possible. Zhao Fengnian pointed to their shoes, which were covered with dried yellow mud and green moss. Looking at the designated area, there was no mud on the ground or on the walls; the mud was all around the footprints, brought into the area by the shoes.
"And look at the dark spots on the child's shoulder. They weren't there at first, but suddenly they appeared," Zhao Fengnian said expectantly. "I've read some foreign criminal investigation papers. They say that some injuries can appear a few hours after death. For specifics, you'd have to ask a professional, like a forensic doctor."
"We don't even have enough military doctors, let alone forensic doctors. We do have one coroner, but it's all a mess right now, and the old man has disappeared somewhere," Secretary Deng replied, frowning.
"It's alright, I'll have some local students look for it. Xiao Deng, you were the first to find it. Why did you think of going this way?" He Shuying changed the subject.
“Just now, the little devil Hong wanted to report to me, but I was busy and ignored him. I told him to find an open space to sit for a while. He was fine when he left. After I finished my work, I went to look for him in the direction the villagers pointed out, but I couldn’t find him anywhere. I hope I can find him soon.” Secretary Deng pursed his lips, but his shoulders trembled uncontrollably.
After calming down for a while, Secretary Deng's anger deepened: "Later, I remembered that the child liked to scare people in secret, so I took a flashlight and went to a more secluded and dark place. When I got there, the child's body was warm. I thought he was asleep, so I patted his face, but I found that the child was lying on the ground and not breathing, with a cloth bag in his mouth."
"Was the child originally lying down, but prone?" Zhao Fengnian asked anxiously, and received confirmation from Secretary Deng.
Just then, the judges finished taking statements and were waiting for their reports. He Shuying told them to restore the scene first. Zhao Fengnian and Secretary Deng put the little red devil back into the position he was in at the time of the incident and, imitating the Westerners' method, drew lines with chalk.
The posture was quite strange. Judging from the gray marks around him, it looked like a rabbit that had been lifted into the air by an eagle and then rolled on the ground after breaking free. But a person is not a rabbit, so how could he land on his hands first?
"Oh right, he caught a chicken and even showed it to me. Where's the chicken?" Secretary Deng looked around in astonishment, but there wasn't even a chicken claw mark.
He Shuying stopped Secretary Deng: "We'll talk about the chicken later. My students just asked the villagers at the cave entrance, and surprisingly, no one saw the little devil Hong come in. Does our air-raid shelter have any other entrances or exits?"
"Yes, there is also a north gate, near the command post," Secretary Deng replied.
"I asked around, and the guards there definitely didn't have any children enter through the north gate. There were only a few elderly people with mobility issues who were carried in by soldiers and placed in the rest area. The elderly people have been sitting there the whole time, and I haven't seen any children come in. Besides the north and south exits, are there any others?" He Shuying pressed.
Secretary Deng shook his head: "Why don't you go to the command post and borrow an engineering drawing? I don't think we have one."
“I can’t understand the engineering drawings. My students are all law and literature majors.” He Shuying pushed up her glasses awkwardly and said in a low voice, “I don’t want certain people in the command center to know that they are involved in another case of embezzling project funds.”
“No problem, just have Ouyang or someone from their communications department get the plans and say you need to install antennas. Nobody will stop you,” Zhao Fengnian suggested. “Then drag Ouyang over to look at the plans. He studied civil engineering in college, so he definitely won’t have forgotten his childhood training.”
"Good heavens, I thought Section Chief Ouyang studied radio communications." He Shuying stared wide-eyed in astonishment.
"No way, back then Wu Hao held his hand and persuaded him, 'Comrade Ouyang, you've read a lot, so please bear with me more.'" Zhao Fengnian said, imitating Wu Hao's tone and accent. "Ouyang was so moved that he forced himself to start learning from scratch and eventually became self-taught."
"Comrade Wu Hao is indeed good at persuasion, so what did you study before, Xiao Zhao?" He Shuying asked curiously.
“I studied Russian, but the Chinese people don’t need translators now; they need revolutionaries,” Zhao Fengnian replied calmly.
His words struck a chord with everyone. He Shuying rushed out of the restricted area to seek Ouyang's help, while Secretary Deng personally visited the site to simulate the strange movements of the little devil. After Zhao Fengnian's examination, the little devil was covered with a white sheet, carried away on a stretcher, and handed over to professionals for further autopsy.
The villagers who had been watching gradually left, leaving only Zhao Fengnian behind, deep in thought. The whole thing was too strange: the little red ghost that appeared out of nowhere, the murderer without footprints, the gold bar hidden in his mouth, the black spot that looked like a birthmark…
Dodo, dodo.
Zhao Fengnian suddenly turned around to find the source of the sound. The sound seemed to be coming from behind him. The deep tunnel was shrouded in gray, and a strong musty smell lingered.
Closer and closer, in an instant, the strange noise stopped, and the cave was silent except for the sound of one's own breathing.
A chill ran down Zhao Fengnian's spine, as if he had fallen into a deep well. He tugged at the comrade on guard beside him, staring blankly into the distance: "Comrade, did you hear a rhythmic knocking sound?"
"No, no." The guard scratched his head nervously. "Our aircraft crater isn't finished yet. There's construction going on in many places. Maybe some tools fell down."
Do, do do.
Their pupils contracted sharply, and Zhao Fengnian and the guards looked up in unison. The ghostly knocking sound assaulted their eardrums. The sound seemed to come from all directions, yet they could not see any physical form.
The emergency light that had been temporarily brought in flickered.
The guard picked up his gun, pulled the safety, and said in a trembling voice, "Come out, come out here! Stop playing tricks. Materialist fighters are not afraid of any demons or monsters."
"Comrade, don't get agitated. Maybe I'm just being too sensitive. The temperature underground is lower than at the surface. It's probably just the noise from the expansion and contraction of the cement," Zhao Fengnian advised, silently reciting the Confucian classic *The Master said, 'Do not speak of strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder, or spirits.'"
"Huh? What is cement?" The officer on guard put away his gun and asked cautiously.
"A building material, uh, these walls, are they made of cement and steel reinforcement?" Zhao Fengnian couldn't help but lean against the wall to rest. Fortunately, the cool cement wall absorbed most of the heat, making him feel refreshed. He couldn't help but open his arms and press his entire back against it to dissipate heat.
“Of course not.” The guard analyzed logically. “Our Ruijin City has a complex underground water system. When we dug plane tunnels, we always encountered water. Later, someone suggested building along the natural tunnels, and that’s how we got some scale.”
"So this isn't a cement wall, it's a naturally carved stone wall." Zhao Fengnian touched the wall behind him; it was quite smooth. If it was a natural cave, it meant its structure was more complex than just the few passages he had seen.
"Yes, at most a layer of bricks will be laid, and a few wooden beams will be used for reinforcement. But many places are not properly repaired, and it looks quite primitive." The guard's tone softened.
Snap~ Snap~
The sound of water droplets hitting the ground came from behind the wall. Zhao Fengnian was startled. Cluck-cluck-cluck! Plop-plop—the sound of chickens clucking and water droplets mixed together.
A chicken! His heart began to race. He pressed his ear to listen again. He wasn't mistaken; the chicken was behind the wall. His unease grew stronger.
"Comrade, come here for a second," Zhao Fengnian called to the comrade on guard. "Can you hear a hollow sound in the back?"
The guard ran over and leaned against the wall to listen: "Wow, this wall is so cold. There might be an underground river behind it."
The temperature is different? Zhao Fengnian got up and touched the opposite wall again; it was indeed not as cool as this one.
Cluck~cluck cluck, cluck cluck...
"A hen!" the guard exclaimed.
"Don't be afraid. Little Red Devil did bring back a chicken; it probably squeezed into a crevice," Zhao Fengnian comforted him.
The officer on guard wiped the sweat from his brow and chuckled憨厚ly, "Haha, I knew it! There are no monsters in the world."
Zhao Fengnian couldn't help but smile, feeling much more relaxed. Those strange noises must have been made by this chicken. He'd look for any holes or gaps later and get the chicken out; maybe it would lead to some new clues.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Suddenly, a huge tremor came from the soles of their feet, and the two of them lost their balance and staggered backward. Zhao Fengnian was about to start cursing.
Thump!
Another muffled thud followed, instantly sending dust flying and a foul, black odor assaulting the senses. Zhao Fengnian covered his mouth and nose, barely managing to open his eyes, when a pitch-black hole appeared starkly to his left.
A few strange noises came from inside the cave, and a white, cylindrical object rose out of the hole. No, it was a person. He scratched at the floor and shouted, "Fengnian, help me up!"
That voice… Ouyang Qiang! Zhao Fengnian quickly stepped forward to pull him away, and also patted the dust off Ouyang's head and shoulders. Ugh! Ouyang spat out the bits of dust in his mouth, turned around and shouted towards the cave entrance: "I told you, this is a secret passage. Give me the map, and the hammer."
As soon as he finished speaking, a large iron hammer emerged from the cave, with a diagram wrapped around its wooden handle. Ouyang took the hammer and casually handed the diagram to Zhao Fengnian, asking him to unfold it.
"Seeing you always means trouble; you always make me do the work." Despite his complaints, Zhao Fengnian still acted as a human-shaped workbench.
Ouyang clamped the hammer between his legs, gesturing towards the air while drawing several dotted lines on the diagram. After a while, the hammer was raised high, and Ouyang said with satisfaction, "This is it. Everyone, move aside."
The guard was so frightened that he waved his hands repeatedly: "Oh, comrade, no, no! What if there's an underground river behind us? We'll all drown!"
"What are you afraid of? I'll take responsibility if anything happens. Get out of the way." Ouyang smashed into the even colder stone wall with lightning speed.
"Trust him, he's a professional." Zhao Fengnian quickly pulled the guard aside; he had almost forgotten that swinging a hammer was a basic skill for civil engineers.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
A thin crack quickly expanded into several thin lines. Zhao Fengnian swallowed hard, the more he looked, the more something seemed wrong. This wall was far too brittle.
Snap!
A large piece of stone wall broke off, revealing a square ventilation opening. Ouyang muttered to himself as he approached with a hammer and gently pried at the remaining stone wall.
Crack! Crack! The stone wall began to peel away one after another.
A shiny black iron door came into view; it turned out that the ventilation opening was just a decorative louvered opening on the lower half of the iron door.
The guards beside him were stunned. Zhao Fengnian couldn't help but glance at the spot where the little red devil had died, and a possibility flashed through his mind: the child had come from the secret passage.
While he was thinking, Ouyang had already opened the iron gate. Suddenly, a black, unidentified object flew towards his head, and Ouyang nimbly dodged to the side.
Cluck~cluck cluck.
It's... a chicken!
Zhao Fengnian rubbed his eyes in disbelief. The hen happily lowered its head to peck at the food, its wings flapping constantly, but a long straw rope was tied to its foot, and he didn't know where the other end was tied.
The color of the straw rope looked familiar. Zhao Fengnian recalled the straw ring on the red little devil's index finger. It wasn't a ring, but a rope buckle for catching chickens.
How did it break? Zhao Fengnian shuddered. What did you see before you died, child?
"Fengnian, let's go in and take a look." Ouyang Qiang patted Zhao Fengnian on the shoulder and said, "Don't be afraid, I'm here!"
Zhao Fengnian frowned. The situation inside the door was unclear. What if they went in rashly and got into danger? Ouyang Qiang should team up with Sun Dadan and call their team the "Strong and Daring Team." The two brothers should go all out together.
Just as he hesitated, Xia Lang's displeased voice came from behind: "You discovered the secret passage but didn't report it. Are you trying to steal the credit?"
This time, he brought several members of the Anti-Counter-Revolutionary Committee, looking ready to fight. How come they always arrive so timely? Zhao Fengnian looked suspiciously at the members behind Xia Lang, feeling that same sense of being spied on by a venomous snake, both sinister and cold.
"Commander Xia, it's a misunderstanding, absolutely a misunderstanding." Ouyang quickly explained, "We were setting up an antenna and driving piles, we didn't know there was a secret passage here. It just so happens that you've come, why don't you go first?"
Xia Lang snorted twice, took a step forward, and suddenly turned around, pointing at Zhao Fengnian and saying, "Bookworm, now it's your turn to sacrifice yourself for the revolution. You go first."
Perhaps because there were no leaders here, Xia Lang didn't bother to pretend anymore and was extremely dismissive. Zhao Fengnian was furious, but he couldn't show it, otherwise he would be accused of many unfounded things, which would affect the progress of the case.
"It's better to offend a gentleman than a petty person," he said with a forced smile, "Then I'll respectfully comply."
"I'll cover the rear," Ouyang assured, patting his chest, and subtly tugged at Zhao Fengnian's sleeve.
Zhao Fengnian's intuition, based on years of friendship, told him that Ouyang Qiang was up to no good again. He also wanted to test whether that venomous snake in Xia Lang's team would jump out and cause trouble.
The two exchanged a knowing glance, and the group took flashlights and entered the iron gate one by one, leaving only the guards to watch over the area and prevent any other unauthorized personnel from approaching.
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