My heart lurched when I saw the floating object.
I was afraid it was Jiang Lingxi's body, but when I saw it clearly, I realized it was a giant bat.
Da Kui had told me before that Jiang Lingxi had run towards the underground river alone to lure away the zombies, so I was particularly afraid of seeing Jiang Lingxi's body now.
It had been over thirty hours since Old Man Qu and the others left the cave, and anything could have happened in those thirty hours.
She, a weak woman, down here...
The thought made me feel immensely guilty.
"Xiao Fei, is that the bat you mentioned earlier?" Fu Honglang asked, pointing at the bat carcass floating on the water not far away.
I nodded. "Mm."
"Good heavens, this thing is really big. If we sold it to someone to make a specimen, we could earn quite a bit of money," Fu Honglang said, reaching out to hook it with his boat oar.
I quickly told him not to touch it, saying it was likely a biochemical weapon created by the Japanese pirates back then, and it might be poisonous.
Hearing this, he put down his oar and said, "Damn those Japanese pirates, always up to this kind of thing. It's a good thing I wasn't born in that era, or I would have killed them all."
Fu Honglang was a rough fellow by nature and spoke without reservation. I was already used to it when we were in Shangdu.
We advanced a bit further and found several more giant bat carcasses floating on the water.
It seemed Old Man Qu and the others had killed them as they came this way.
Soon, the sound of "huala la" water flow began to ring out, and I knew we were approaching the waterfall.
I told everyone to be prepared. When the boat reached the edge of the waterfall, the current was very strong. Just when I thought the boat would be swept over the waterfall, it instead followed an iron chain to a platform on the side.
It was then that I noticed several hidden posts, which looked like they were specifically designed by the Japanese pirates as a docking spot.
We got off the boat and onto the adjacent platform. Yang Hanxue disengaged the safety on his pistol and motioned for everyone to stay close.
The platform was about five meters wide. Walking forward along the platform, there was a flight of steps. After descending the steps, an iron door appeared before us.
The iron door was open, and it was pitch black inside, nothing could be seen.
It seemed this was the so-called research laboratory.
Yang Hanxue lit a flare and tossed it inside. He then took the lead, walking in first, with me close behind.
It was unclear how many square meters this laboratory occupied. Inside, there were many rooms. In the center were numerous filing cabinets, and scattered on the floor were various bottles, jars, and document bags.
I glanced at them and saw that the document bags were all marked with two Chinese characters: "極秘".
Yang Hanxue said it meant "top secret" in Japanese.
Feeling curious, I casually picked up a document bag and opened it. It was filled entirely with Japanese, and I couldn't understand a thing.
I handed it to Yang Hanxue. He took it and glanced at it, saying, "It seems the Japanese pirates were conducting biological research here."
"Biological research? Researching what?" Fu Honglang asked.
"I'm not sure. I can't understand some of the things here either, only get a general idea," Yang Hanxue replied.
"Damn it, these sons of bitches, doing research in our country. They deserved it when the Americans dropped a little boy and a fat man on them," Fu Honglang said indignantly.
Fatty couldn't help but ask, "Little boy and fat man? What does that mean?"
I said, "Atomic bombs."
Fatty looked enlightened and laughed, "Exactly! If I were an American, I would have dropped a few more fat men back then."
I retorted grumpily, "I think it would be best to drop you there."
After checking the situation in the main hall, we began to explore room by room.
I didn't count the exact number of rooms, but the contents of each room were different. Some contained equipment for experiments, some had documents and files, and still others were filled with bat carcasses.
The rooms containing the bat carcasses had an unbearable stench, making my eyes water and the smell suffocating, making it impossible to breathe.
After searching the entire laboratory, we found no trace of Jiang Lingxi. Later, Fatty and I simply shouted her name, but there was no response.
"Master Xiang, do you think sister Lingxi might have gone to the warehouse again?" Fatty asked.
"I'm not sure, but it's not impossible. When we head back, I'll check the water," I replied.
There was a wire mesh in the middle section of the underground river. If Jiang Lingxi fell into the water, she might get caught on that wire mesh.
This time, we were determined to either find her alive or recover her body. No matter what, we had to find Jiang Lingxi.
We rested in the hall of the research facility for a while, then returned the way we came.
After getting back on the boat, Fatty distributed cigarettes to everyone and lit one for me. "Master Xiang, where do you think those giant bats came from? I didn't find their nests in the research lab earlier. How do you think they survived down here?"
Fatty's question also made me curious.
At this moment, Fu Honglang said, "Bats like to hang from the cave ceiling. Their nests are probably up there too."
As he spoke, he shone his flashlight upwards. It was a good thing he did, because he actually spotted one!
Right above us, a giant bat was hanging upside down, its wings wrapped around itself, resembling a stalactite.
"Holy cow!" Fu Honglang exclaimed, startled. "Damn it, it really is up here."
Yang Hanxue said, "It seems to be sleeping. Let's keep our voices down and leave quickly."
As soon as he finished speaking, Fatty also shone his flashlight upwards: "One, two, three... eleven, twelve..."
As his count continued, I saw that the entire cave ceiling was covered with giant bats.
If there were only one or two of these bats, they would be manageable. But if so many of them attacked us...
I dared not think further and told everyone to leave quickly.
Pulling on the chains, we hastily departed from that cursed place.
However, not long after we left, Fu Honglang's nose twitched, and his expression changed drastically. "Not good! Hurry!"
Before we could react, we heard a series of "poof poof" sounds, clearly indicating something was flying towards us.
Looking back, good heavens, seven or eight giant bats were charging at us, their approach menacing!
Without hesitation, Yang Hanxue, holding his twin pistols, raised his hands and unleashed a barrage of fire.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
The gunshots were incessant. Each of his shots accurately struck the giant bats, and several bats instantly fell into the water.
At this moment, Song Bing also joined the fight. His shooting posture was very standard, and he hit his mark with every shot!