I saw that although Ding Sitian had inhaled a limited amount of the Ruan poison, her condition was stable for now; she could walk and move, and her mind was clear. However, these early symptoms of poisoning had appeared. If we left by the northern mountain pass of the Hundred Eyes Cave, we would reach the edge of the desolate wilderness, even farther from the grazing lands. Even without taking the detour, without horses, there would be no way to get her to a hospital in time. And what if the poison took hold much sooner? Furthermore, who could guarantee that the journey would be safe, without a single hitch?

My brow deeply furrowed as I studied the map, and I immediately made up my mind: "The Jinlin Ruan was specifically raised by the Japanese research institute. They were studying it to treat soldiers injured by Ruan poison on the Pacific front. It’s highly probable that this institute has an antidote serum. We must risk this danger to find peace. I believe the only way to turn things around is to gamble on finding the antidote in the main research building."

To avoid putting too much psychological pressure on Ding Sitian, I didn't act rushed. After confirming the route, I maintained a normal pace. The main research building didn't look far on the map, so slowing down wouldn't cause us to be late. If there was no serum or antidote in the research building, then everything would be over. A faint fear lingered in my heart: what if there was no antidote? Besides, which one of us could even recognize what an antidote looked like? Finally, I hardened my resolve and stopped overthinking. ***After all, one won't shed tears until the coffin is seen; one won't give up until they reach the Yellow River.

Not long after, we entered a very wide underground waterway filled with rows of connecting concrete pipes. Fatty, who was leading the way, suddenly stepped on something. He cursed and used his foot to flick it in the dark water, revealing several rotten human bones in the sewage. Beneath a half-section of a leg bone, a shoe was still attached. Just as I was about to get a closer look, I realized in the darkness that the concrete pipe we were in had suddenly begun to rotate.

According to the institute map drawn by the Russians, the massive underground drainage system was actually a river whose course had been artificially altered. Because a large amount of groundwater was extracted from the hollow of the Hundred Eyes Cave, and the geological conditions prevented the construction of diverting channels, this water had to be led out of the mountains using a spiderweb of drainage pipes. Otherwise, the groundwater would flood the area above us, and this secret research facility could not have been built where it was.

However, this underground drainage channel was now nearly dry, leaving only sewage and sludge. It seemed the mountain's water source had long dried up. The underground water route was divided into two parts: one completely enclosed, and the other semi-enclosed, which could serve as an evacuation passage in an emergency. The shortest route to approach the main research building was through the semi-enclosed pipe section, a complex environment where the pipe network crisscrossed like a maze. Without this map, finding the exit would be extremely difficult.

We proceeded by holding up torches to find our way, arriving at a central hub where culverts intersected widely. The walls here were pitch black, filled with sewage and sludge, where various mayfly-like organisms thrived. This area was the heart of the underground waterway. As we were nearing our destination, we saw numerous skeletons in the dark water beneath the pipes, specifically in the area marked [Cloud Deep and Traceless]. Judging by the remnants of their uniforms that hadn't fully decomposed, they were likely guards from the Japanese secret research institute. Fatty pinched his nose and poked at the rotten bones with his foot. Seeing this, we couldn't help but wonder, "Why are there Japanese corpses in these pipes?" Just as we were about to investigate further, the pipe we were standing in shook violently, making everything seem to spin wildly.

But this was just an illusion caused by our eyes; our feet felt no movement. We held up our torches and looked up, and all four of us were stunned by what we saw. One meter ahead on the pipe wall, it was densely packed with cockroaches. These cockroaches were both black and brown, possessed wings, and were astonishingly large, measuring about three to four centimeters in length. They were packed shoulder-to-shoulder, thousands of them completely covering the wall surface. These giant cockroaches, likely stimulated by some substance in the sewage, were not only half again as large as ordinary ones, but they sustained themselves by gnawing on the corpses of their companions, as well as mice and woodlice that entered this section of the sewer.

The cockroaches had initially remained motionless, slowly consuming each other. Now, a small portion of them were disturbed by the firelight and footsteps, and they immediately began to scurry rapidly. In an instant, a chain reaction occurred. The cockroaches throughout the entire pipe seemed to boil like agitated water, blindly rushing and fleeing everywhere. The pipe wall transformed into a flowing black tide, and quite a few fell off the walls, instantly covering our heads and shoulders in a layer.

I wanted to call for everyone to run back, but at that moment, no one could look after anyone else, and no one dared to open their mouths to speak. The large and small cockroaches squeezed off the walls, almost extinguishing the torches. They crawled everywhere on our bodies. If one spoke, several might crawl into their mouth. Moreover, the smaller cockroaches wormed their way into any opening, entering ears and noses, which was unbearable—they could crawl straight into a person's brain via the ear canal. We could only desperately brush off the cockroaches that had fallen onto our heads and shoulders.

The cockroaches darted too fast; we had nowhere to run, so we could only swing the torches we held to drive them away, hoping the swarm would disperse quickly. Once the immediate danger from the black tide of cockroaches subsided, we regained our composure and utilized everything we could. We finally managed to use the torches to part the tidal wave of insects around us.

A short while later, the number of cockroaches in the pipe gradually decreased. I reached out to brush the remaining ones off Ding Sitian and Old Sheepskin. All four of our faces had changed color—we would rather have our souls taken by a vengeful ghost than be slowly gnawed to death by cockroaches. Fatty said to us, "While the cockroaches are scattered, let's rush past..."

Before Fatty finished speaking, we heard Old Sheepskin let out a loud cry. His body suddenly sank downwards, dragged to the ground by something in the sewage. Ding Sitian and I realized something was wrong and reached out to pull him back, but the force dragging Old Sheepskin was immense. Although I managed to grab his arm, I was pulled by the sheer strength, stumbled, and nearly fell into the sludge myself.

Ding Sitian wasn't as lucky as I was. She grabbed the lapel of Old Sheepskin's clothes, trying to stop the backward pull, but her arm strength was limited, and her footing was unstable on the slippery ground, causing her to slide down. Yet, she didn't let go, and she was dragged towards the dark depths of the sewer along with Old Sheepskin. At this point, Fatty had pulled out that Type 14 Nambu pistol. I saw that the target was unclear in the darkness, making accidental injury possible. Moreover, judging by the force, whatever it was couldn't be small. I understood the origin of those skeletal remains—likely people who tried to escape during an incident here but encountered something deadly and ended up in the stinking ditch. To save them, there could be no hesitation, or we would soon be collecting their bodies. So, I drew my Kangxi Precious Saber and shouted to Fatty, "Don't shoot, throw your torch forward!" With that, I lunged forward in a single stride.

Old Sheepskin and Ding Sitian’s torches had fallen into the mud and gone out when they fell. To conserve supplies—we hadn't dared to use the Russian engineer's flare—we had made several makeshift torches from furniture and clothing found in the Russian's room. These torches had pros and cons: if there were scorpions, centipedes, or insects in the tunnel, they could be driven off from a distance, and we could judge if the air quality was safe. However, the drawback was the extremely limited illumination range, only a few paces ahead; anything further was invisible.

I chased after them, holding the saber in one hand and the torch in the other, relying on Fatty behind me to throw his torch forward as a temporary flare, using the brief light before it extinguished to see about ten meters ahead. The moment I started moving, the torch behind me flew over my shoulder, tracing a low parabola in the dark space before falling into the sludge ahead of the pipe and going out.

But in that fleeting flash of light, I saw a large, broken gap in the floor just a few paces ahead of me, a hole nearly a meter in diameter, bottomless, from which several thick, black, multi-jointed claws, covered in black bristles, were emerging, dragging Ding Sitian and Old Sheepskin into the large fissure in the pipe.

Old Sheepskin had lost his balance and fallen. I didn't know if he was injured, but he struggled desperately to break free, unable to exert any strength. His shotgun was trapped beneath him, making it impossible to fire. Ding Sitian was clinging to Old Sheepskin's clothes, biting her teeth and pulling back with all her might, but it was useless. She was quickly being dragged in too.

Treading on the dead cockroaches everywhere with a crunching sound, I covered the distance in a few quick steps. Only then did I clearly see that what was holding Old Sheepskin was a giant Qianshuanzi (centipede/millipede relative). This creature was much wider than a silverfish or house centipede and had fewer legs, but its claws were wider and longer. They could grow up to two meters long. This deep, wide fissure in the drainage pipe was being used by the Qianshuanzi as a nest, and it was trying to drag Old Sheepskin down to the lower level of the pipe because it feared fire.

When I reached the edge of the abyss-like crack, illuminated by my torch, I saw that the edges were lined with human bones, and several terrifyingly large cockroaches were crawling back and forth deeper inside. Desperate to save them, I didn't stop to look closely. I swung my long saber down, intending to slice the Qianshuanzi, half of which was already in the hole, in two to save Old Sheepskin and Ding Sitian.

Unexpectedly, the Qianshuanzi was also extremely fast. While my blade was still in the air, it had already dragged Old Sheepskin to the edge of the hole. If my blow landed solidly, I wouldn't only fail to hit it but would chop Old Sheepskin instead. Seeing the danger, I quickly tossed the torch into the hole. But the damp, foul air inside was too strong, and the torch was extinguished by the moisture as soon as it flickered. I lunged forward in the darkness, grabbing Old Sheepskin, trying to brace myself against the edge of the hole. But the fissure was over a meter wide, and the Qianshuanzi was incredibly strong. With a sharp pull from its black-bristled claws, half of my body, Old Sheepskin’s, and Ding Sitian’s were pulled into the hole.

In the chaos, Ding Sitian activated the engineer's flare strapped to her chest. In the swinging beam of light, Old Sheepskin braced himself against a human skeleton. The rotten bones were jammed tightly into a narrow crevice on the side of the pipe wall. He held on with all his might, slightly slowing the momentum of the three of us being dragged deeper into the hole. I saw wriggling insect legs before me and tried to swing my saber, but the narrow terrain made maneuvering difficult. I could only stab blindly into the hole, and each thrust caused a splash of yellow fluid. Fearing the liquid was poisonous, I buried my face in Old Sheepskin's back, but my hand did not stop.

Although most of the random stabs struck the Qianshuanzi, they weren't deep enough to be fatal. Furthermore, this creature had powerful vitality; even when severed into pieces, it wouldn't die immediately. Ding Sitian, dragged at the rear, had managed to pull herself up and was grabbing me and Old Sheepskin, pulling back with desperate strength. The claws of the insect legs hooked into our shoulders and arms, and constrained by the narrow gap, we couldn't make wide movements with our limbs. While we could hold the line momentarily and avoid being pulled into the hole, this wasn't a long-term solution. Relying only on our own strength, escaping was impossible. I suddenly felt a leg being grasped by Ding Sitian and pulled backward, but her strength was too slight to be effective. I grew anxious and cursed Fatty for not coming to help.

Just as we were caught in this dilemma, we heard a loud shout from behind: "Don't worry, poor and lower-middle peasants, I've brought you some cocktails!" As Old Sheepskin and I strained to hold on, using the saber to fend off the claws emerging from the hole, hearing the shout from behind, I knew it was Fatty arriving. But his cry about delivering cocktails made no sense. Why was he causing trouble at such a critical moment?

It turned out Fatty also knew that knives or guns couldn't immediately kill the Qianshuanzi. He activated the engineer's flare strapped to his chest, pulled a bottle of strong liquor he'd taken from the Russians out of his bag as he caught up from behind, haphazardly stuffed some chemical tablets into it, plugged the bottle opening with a cotton sock he had taken, lit it, and handed it to Ding Sitian. Then, grabbing my and Old Sheepskin’s belts, he yanked the front halves of our bodies out of the hole.

A section of the Qianshuanzi in the hole was pulled out too. Seeing its potential meal escaping, it refused to give up and tried to drag us back in. At that moment, Fatty’s "Kingba box" [pistol] fired twice, causing the creature to retract its body. Ding Sitian seized the opportunity and smashed the burning bottle of liquor into the hole. The liquor the Russians drank was so potent it felt like a knife going down, its alcohol concentration extremely high. Plus, the added chemical tablets likely acted as an accelerant. Instantly, intense flames erupted. The fissure beneath the drainage pipe became an inferno, burning the cockroaches, the Qianshuanzi, and other creatures into a chaotic mess. Countless beings writhed and struggled, dying in the tongues of flame.

The firebombs Fatty created were something we had used during factional fighting and Red Guard assaults back during the Cultural Revolution. However, strong liquor was hard to find then, so we mostly substituted gasoline or industrial alcohol, adding accelerants as available—whatever we could find. These composite firebombs, made of mixed flammable materials, were first widely used in the Winter War and World War II and were known as Molotov Cocktails. I saw that although Old Sheepskin and I had suffered some scrapes and bruises, we were generally unharmed. My mind was blank then; there was no lingering sense of fear.

I looked at the burning cave beneath the fissure. The firelight began to dim, and cockroaches that survived were already crawling in and out of the cracks again, which was enough to make one’s skin crawl. Nobody wanted to linger there any longer. So, the four of us supported each other and continued deeper. This underground waterway was fraught with hidden dangers. Worried about other threats in the water system, we looked at the map and saw an exit nearby that led to the surface, which was already very close to the research building. We quickened our pace towards it. Even if it meant a slight detour, we decided against taking the shortcut through this increasingly infested drainage pipe filled with woodlice and cockroaches.

At a corner of the drainage pipe, there were iron rungs embedded in the concrete wall. Fatty climbed up first, pushed open the concrete cover, and found the sky outside was just beginning to lighten. Then Ding Sitian climbed up the iron ladder. Old Sheepskin, looking lost, prepared to be the third to ascend. I noticed his expression was bleak, and it didn't seem to be just from the recent fright. This man was usually taciturn, always appearing weathered and burdened by deep thoughts. In his free time, he was either puffing on his pipe or singing mournful old folk songs from his hometown. Since entering the Hundred Eyes Cave, he had often sighed. Sometimes, when he finally managed to lift his spirits, he would soon lapse back into vacancy. I suspected he had learned the truth about what happened to his brother, Yang Erdan—that he was murdered by the Japanese here. Furthermore, constrained by his superstitious beliefs at the time, he hadn't dared to go out and save him, which was why he was constantly preoccupied. Knowing his burden, I could empathize with his feelings, especially since the incinerator might have even burned his own brother's body. Seeing this place would naturally cause distress.

So, to show sympathy, as Old Sheepskin climbed the iron ladder, I patted his shoulder and consoled him, "I understand how you feel. Please try not to dwell too much on your brother's affair; after all, it’s in the past. One has to look forward; we must focus on the future."

Old Sheepskin seemed quite surprised by my youthful words as he climbed, asking me, "You know what's on my mind, young man? This is my only brother. How many brothers do you have at home?"

I thought that I was an only child, unlike the popular socialist ideal of a large family; I had no other siblings. But I couldn't say that directly, so I told Old Sheepskin, "You must think this way: all the suffering people in the world are our class brothers."

Saying that, I also climbed up the shaft. Outside, the sky was faintly bright. Fatty and Ding Sitian had both turned off their engineer's flares, but the three of them, along with Old Sheepskin, were looking around with strange expressions. Following their gaze, I couldn't help but freeze in shock—why did this place look so familiar?