After Zhou Peng translated Sasha's words, my body immediately sank, I took a step back with my right leg, and prepared to shoot.
"spread!"
Worried that the other party might have automatic weapons, Song Laosan pulled me behind a stone sculpture to hide.
I waited behind the statue for about ten seconds, but there was still no sound coming from inside. "Something's not right. If there were someone inside, they would definitely see our flashlight beams. Could it be that Sasha is seeing things?"
At this moment, Song Laosan also raised his flashlight and shone it towards the sacrificial hall.
Upon closer inspection, I saw a human-shaped outline in the center of the main hall, but it remained in one pose. "It's probably a statue inside. Sasha doesn't understand Chinese culture and is just seeing things!"
"This place is eerie, we'd better be careful!" As Song Laosan spoke, he stepped out from behind the stone statue: "You follow behind me! Keep your distance!"
As soon as he moved, Sasha and Ivan followed suit from the left and right sides.
After Song Laosan walked about ten meters away, I followed him, cautiously observing the surrounding environment.
Holy crap!
As Song Laosan walked to the front of the alley shop, he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. Then he whispered and roared, "It's safe here, but those of you who are coming over here had better be prepared!"
Having been to the tomb of the demonic monk before and even seen the corpse in the shadows, I was considered quite brave and quickly stepped forward.
As soon as you enter, a string of corpses hangs from the stone pillars of the main hall. These corpses have been dried by the wind, and each one has a withered face, like dried meat that has been hung out to dry.
Besides these corpses, the hall was also filled with skeletons. A rough count revealed at least twenty or thirty people, some of whom still had clothes that hadn't rotted away.
"This isn't a temple of worship, it's a skull temple! And these guys are wearing clothes that look just like the German soldiers in WWII movies!"
The monkey blinked when it saw the Nazi symbols on the soldiers' uniforms: "Do you remember when we were at the forest ranger's post, Goncharov told us that he suspected the wild men in these mountains were German soldiers who had come into the mountains? Could these be them?"
"During World War II, the Soviet Union and the German army were fighting each other, so I can understand that there were German devils here, but why are there Japanese devils here as well?"
Old Song checked the corner of the wall, then picked up a broken Type 100 submachine gun: "Isn't this the Japanese army's equipment?"
My knowledge of World War II history is limited. When I saw the submachine gun in Song Laosan's hand, I asked, "During World War II, the Japanese and Germans were allies, and there were large areas of Japanese-occupied territory in China that bordered the Soviet Union. Is it possible that these weapons were supplied by the Japanese?"
"Impossible! The main submachine gun of the German army during World War II was the MP40, which was reliable and had a low failure rate. On the other hand, the Japanese Type 100 submachine gun didn't even have a safety, making it extremely prone to accidental discharge. Moreover, it used 8mm Nambu bullets, which had short and thick cartridge cases, a unique caliber, low muzzle velocity, and low muzzle energy, resulting in poor stopping power. It was even inferior to the National Revolutionary Army's MP18!"
Old Song threw down his submachine gun and picked up two leg bones from the ground: "Although the clothes of these corpses in the corner are all rotten, you can still tell by comparing the skeletons that some of them are significantly shorter than the others, looking almost like the Japanese devils from World War II. Back then, the average height of the invading Japanese soldiers was between 1.55 and 1.6 meters, which is why they were called 'little Japanese'!"
"Oh dear, we're here to find Hu Shahu's tomb, not to conduct historical research. Why should we concern ourselves with these things?"
The monkey kicked and shattered the Japanese soldier's skull: "Young Master Duan, this ancestral hall is severely damaged. Should we continue along the spirit path deeper into the tomb?"
I waved my hand: "Let's check first. Everyone, see if there are any stone tablets or murals in the ancestral hall. If you want to understand a tomb, you must first understand its history!"
Zhou Peng translated my words to Sasha and Ivan, and everyone sprang into action.
A short while later, the monkey dragged out an iron box from somewhere, picked up a stone, and smashed off the lock: "I've found something here!"
I heard the monkeys shouting and was the first to rush over.
Sasha quickly came over with a tattered Japanese flag and several helmets: "I found these in the back. There are even more skeletons in the back. I estimate there are at least a hundred people in this hall. Besides the corpses, there are also many guns and ammunition boxes in the back, but unfortunately, they are all unusable."
"Clang!"
At this moment, the monkey also kicked over the iron box in front of him, rummaged through it with his bayonet, picked up a few coins, and looked at the rotten and stuck clothes: "Nothing special, it should be some soldier's suitcase."
"No, this is no ordinary suitcase!"
Old Song took out a dark medal from the box: "This is the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Silver Oak Leaves awarded by Nazi Germany. It was issued in either 1939 or 1940, I don't remember exactly, but I remember that only about 800 of these medals were awarded. It was something only Nazi heroes received. You have to know that at its peak during World War II, the German armed forces numbered over ten million. And Germany didn't attack the Soviet Union until 1941. Anyone who received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Silver Oak Leaves before that would have had to be at least a high-ranking officer."
The monkey clicked its tongue in amazement: "Third Master, your knowledge is impressive! You even have knowledge of foreign antiques."
"Don't forget, when I was in India, I dealt in antiques from all over the world."
As Song Laosan spoke, his hands didn't stop moving, and he quickly found another oil paper package.
Inside was a heavily faded black and white photograph, which was vaguely discernible as a man in Nazi uniform, along with his wife and an infant child.
Below the photo was a leather diary. When Song Laosan opened it, he found that the writing was still clearly visible: "What a pity. If this diary belonged to the Japanese, I could barely recognize a few words."
Zhou Peng took Song Laosan's diary: "Let me do it!"
I looked at Zhou Peng in surprise: "You speak German?"
"If I hadn't gotten involved with online gambling, my future would have been bright..."
Zhou Peng simply sighed, saying nothing more. After flipping through the diary for a while, he said, "The owner of this diary is named Jung, a colonel in the Nazi SS, who served as a flag commander in a unit that launched the blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union. In June 1941, Germany disregarded the constraints of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and implemented Operation Barbarossa, launching an attack on the Soviet Union."
At the time, the main German forces had departed from Poland, but Jung's unit, with the help of their ally Japan, was ordered to depart two months earlier, land on the Korean Peninsula, and prepare to bypass the enemy lines in the Far East, becoming a surprise force penetrating behind enemy lines.
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