We ran like the wind, all of us terrified of falling behind. Soon we could see the opposite bank. There were no more cages in the final section of river, and we watched as Wang Sichuan reached the edge of the last one. He leaped like a bear into the water. After struggling to the surface, he took a few short steps and climbed onto the bank. The rest of us followed closely behind. Pei Qing was now in the lead. I was the next man behind him. Then, all of a sudden, he was gone. I gasped and sprinted to the spot where he’d disappeared. The water where he fell began to seethe violently, but I couldn’t make out what was going on beneath the surface.
My heart skipped a beat. For a moment I hesitated, then my mind went blank and I leaped into the water. I swam over to where the surface was still churning and dove under. Everything was concealed in a dense swirl of bubbles. Somewhere in front of me, two giant shapes appeared locked in violent struggle. My nerves went haywire. I pulled out my dagger and shined my flashlight into the murk.
It was not at all what I had expected. Once my eyes acclimated to the underwater light, I saw no monster awaiting me. It was Pei Qing. Somehow he’d gotten himself trapped inside one of the iron cages. He was a poor swimmer, incapable of opening his eyes underwater, and though he struggled with all his might to free himself, he was far too agitated. His efforts did no more than vainly stir up the water. After Wang Sichuan ran across the cage’s severely rusted top bars, they needed no more than the weight of Pei Qing to snap in half. He was skinny enough to fall through the gap that had opened, and once underwater, he panicked. Since he was unwilling or unable to open his eyes, all he could do was knock about from one side of the cage to the other.
I had no idea how severe his water phobia was. Some people can drown in public baths. I swam toward the cage, reached my hand between the bars, and tried to calm him down. As I grabbed hold of him, his entire body erupted in a fit of fright. His feet pedaled violently. He smashed them against the sides of the cage. I swam to the surface, climbed atop the broken cage, and reached my hands into the opening to pull him out. At this point, the deputy squad leader and Wang Sichuan both rushed over to help. Wild with fear and adrenaline, we forced apart the bars of the cage and attempted to hoist the half-dead Pei Qing to the surface.
The poor guy was in a terrible way. As soon as we got his head above water he vomited violently, was racked by coughing, and then went completely still, his body soft and limp as clay. Despite all our efforts, we could only get the top half of him above the surface. His legs still dangled in the freezing water below. After attempting to pull him up several more times without success, Wang Sichuan stopped and said that his legs were probably hooked on something below the surface. Someone should go under and investigate. At once everyone turned to me. I alone was entirely soaked from head to toe. There was nothing to say, so I cursed silently and jumped back in.
The water was much clearer now that Pei Qing was no longer tossing about. Treading water, I saw the cages were wound together with coils of iron netting. The Japanese had probably been afraid the strongest prisoners might be able to lift the cage from where it sat and flee while still within its bars. It was this netting that was now hooked around Pei Qing’s pant leg. I dove underwater, grabbed his pant leg, and yanked on it with all my might. I was almost out of breath by the time his pants ripped free of the wire. When I released my hand from his leg, Wang Sichuan and the rest were at last able to drag Pei Qing’s whole body out of the water. I exhaled deeply, sending forth a river of bubbles. Reaching out of the cage, I was about to kick to the surface, when my flashlight lit upon some shape to the right. There, from out of the darkness, emerged the most hideous face imaginable.
CHAPTER 16
The Water Demon
I’ve experienced it all in my life, encountered my fair share of seemingly fatal circumstances, and defied death more than once. But, looking back now, I can honestly say there have been only a few instances in which I have felt true fear. This was one of them—though it’s likely my terror was due in large part to inexperience. At the time, I had yet to encounter my first real life-or-death situation and therefore didn’t know how to react.
Truthfully, I’d only caught a vague glimpse of this face I’d labeled “hideous.” I had been shining my flashlight into the pitchblack murk. Turning my head and seeing anything appear like that from out of the darkness—suddenly and very close by—would have been terrifying no matter what it was. I didn’t have the chance to look any closer. My natural reflex was to shrink back at once. I gulped a mouthful of cold water. I began to choke and lost my composure. All I could do was flail at the surface. In a moment I was scooped out of the river and back onto the cages.
I had swallowed a lot of water and was coughing so hard I couldn’t speak. Nor could I see much of anything, but someone helped me to my feet and pulled me along as we ran across the cages, jumped once more into the water, and then somehow climbed up onto the shore. Only then was I able to regain my bearings.
It was a proper mess. Everyone was soaked to the gills. We quickly found a dry spot and started a fire. Every man removed every article of clothing and placed them by the flames. At last, stark naked, we could do nothing but huddle together for warmth. Wang Sichuan had brought along some baijiu, some white lightning. We passed it around and slowly some semblance of normality began to return. It was then that Wang Sichuan asked me what happened down there. Why had I suddenly lost control?
I told him and everyone else what I had seen, but I could tell from their expressions they didn’t believe me. Maybe it was one of the sunken corpses, suggested Pei Qing. Perhaps he’d knocked one loose while trapped in the cage, or maybe I was simply mistaken and had imagined the whole thing.
I was unable to respond. I myself had only the briefest impression of that so-called face, and what Pei Qing suggested did seem to make the most sense. Nevertheless, for such a thing to have soundlessly appeared by my side from out of nowhere—there was just something not quite right about it. That moment of extreme fright made a deep impression on me, and whenever I meet up with others from the expedition, we always discuss it. To this day I can still feel some nameless terror building inside me every time I see a channel of pitch-black water. I have the sense that somewhere, hidden under the surface, something awaits.
Of course, that all came later. Even though nobody believed my story at the time, I already felt a sense of dread whenever I looked back upon the still river. And when I realized we would have to cross the pool again on our way out, my blood froze and I forced myself to think about it no more.
We put our clothing back on as soon as it was dry. Feeling its warmth upon my skin, I thought, for the first time since being down here, of the surface and of the sunlight. But then Pei Qing rose to his feet and said that we shouldn’t waste any more time. We packed up our things and pressed on once more. At this point, we’d already used a good chunk of the time we’d allotted ourselves. We decided that if we ran into another such pond, we’d be forced to turn back. After we’d walked a short distance farther, the cave suddenly opened up and the river running beneath the rock became noticeably wider. Items left by the Japanese began to appear all around us and in great number. Signs written in peeling Japanese characters lined the walls. Green chests were wedged into many crevices in the rock. They were all ruined, some even smashed to pieces. Inside were piles of black cottonlike material. The deputy squad leader fished several out with his rifle. They were soaked.