We returned to the lower storage area, quickly finding a few uniforms and overcoats from the Kwantung Army to change into. We wiped the dirt and blood off our faces as best as we could and each put on a steel helmet.
Yingzi was already pretty, and in the military uniform, she looked even more charming. Fatty cheered from the side, “Hey, girl, in that Japanese uniform, you look just like Kawashima Yoshiko!”
Yingzi didn’t know who Kawashima Yoshiko was and thought Fatty was complimenting her, which made her quite pleased. I told her, “He means you look like a Japanese spy.”
Upon hearing this, Yingzi frowned, and Fatty quickly ran away.
I laughed besides.
I found a hex wrench on a shelf where gasoline barrels were stored. “Now we’re all set. We’ve got everything we need, so let’s move quickly.”
The three of us, dressed in Kwantung Army uniforms and carrying Type 100 submachine guns, retraced our steps, with me bringing up the rear. This time, Fatty and the others didn’t mention seeing any children. I didn’t ask, but my mind was racing with suspicion.
I thought to myself, “Fatty said that kid ran into the iron gate. What does that little brat want? Is he trying to show us the way out? That seems too easy. Or does he have other plans? Damn it, I still have a bit of sticky rice left. I’ve heard that ghosts fear sticky rice. If that kid dares to cause trouble, I’ll make sure he retreats in defeat. ”
As I followed them, I encouraged myself. The pain in my back seemed to lessen. Before long, we arrived at the stone cave with the airtight door for the second time.
To be safe, we all put on our steel helmets and gas masks, pulled back the gun bolts, and loaded the bullets. Before I opened the door, I had Yingzi grab a handful of sticky rice to throw inside and told Fatty to aim his submachine gun. If there was anything inside, we would shoot first and ask questions later. I also reminded Fatty to work with me, taking turns to shoot without leaving any gaps for reloading.
Once everything was set, I slung the submachine gun over my shoulder and used the hex wrench to turn the rusted screw on the door. This door hadn’t been opened in decades, and the threads were stuck tight.
I put all my strength into it, nearly bending the wrench, but finally heard a loud “creak” as the three air vents at the bottom of the airtight door hissed, filling the chamber with air. The heavy iron door began to creak open.
As the air filled the chamber, the thick iron door swung open, and I quickly stepped back two paces, raising my submachine gun and flashlight to point at the doorway. However, it was eerily quiet inside.
To my surprise, the interior was pitch black. The light from my flashlight was swallowed by the darkness as soon as it entered.
I signaled to Yingzi, who understood and scattered the handful of sticky rice into the room like a fairy scattering flowers. Still, there was no response, as if all sound in the world had vanished, leaving only the sound of our heavy breathing inside the gas masks.
It seemed we had overreacted. As the saying goes, suspicion breeds fear; we hadn’t even done anything yet, and I had already scared myself half to death.
Finally, Fatty couldn’t hold back any longer and boldly stepped into the chamber, with Yingzi and me following closely behind.
The secret room was about forty square meters, a lonely space with no other exits besides the airtight door.
Inside, there were neither biological nor chemical weapons. Before entering, I had considered all possibilities, but I never expected to find a dozen large coffins. These coffins were haphazardly piled in the room, some rotting with age, varying in size and style, and there was even an enormous stone coffin. The most luxurious were two large coffins made of golden silk nanmu wood, and the floor was littered with countless shards of pottery and porcelain.
I turned to look at Fatty and Yingzi, and they both shook their heads at me. Even with their gas masks on, I could sense their confusion.
Fatty asked, “Old Hu, what’s going on? This looks like a museum. Where did all these coffins come from?”
After thinking for a moment, I realized it wasn’t hard to figure out. We had just assumed the worst without considering the context.
The Wild Man Valley was originally an ancient tomb site from the Jin and Liao Dynasties. The Kwantung Army built this secret underground fortress, and the three tunnels connecting the two fortresses ran right through the valley. During construction, they must have unearthed many ancient tombs. The burial goods and coffins of the ancient nobles from the Jin and Liao dynasties would have been treasures to the Japanese. They stored everything they dug up in this semi-vacuum chamber, and when they retreated in a hurry, they only took the valuable antiques, leaving the coffins behind.
Fatty said, “The Japanese really know how to take advantage of things. They didn’t leave us anything. Let’s see if there’s anything valuable inside these coffins; it wouldn’t be a wasted trip.” With that, he kicked open the lid of a large coffin. The lid had already been pried open by the Japanese and wasn’t nailed shut again, so with one kick, it flew to the side.
Yingzi didn’t dare to come closer. “I’ll wait by the door for you two. I’ll keep an eye out to make sure no one locks us in here.” With that, she moved to the entrance, standing with one foot inside and one foot outside to guard the door.
I said to Yingzi at the door, “You’re really sharp, Yingzi. I didn’t even think of that. I’ve wasted all these years as a soldier. This door can only be opened from the outside. If we got locked in here, we wouldn’t even be able to find a way to cry for help.”
Fatty was busy rummaging through the coffins, cursing as he went. “Damn it, it’s all just bones! Those Japanese bastards really have no conscience, practicing the scorched earth policy everywhere. They didn’t even leave us a single intact jar!”
After checking three or four coffins and finding the same thing, Fatty was getting angrier and went to push the red lacquer coffin made of golden silk nanmu wood.
I wasn’t paying much attention to the ordinary coffins; my gaze was drawn to the enormous stone coffin. My intuition told me there was something inside…
I didn’t understand why I felt this way, but suddenly I had an urge to open the stone coffin and see what was inside. I called Fatty over to help, and together we tried to push the heavy stone lid. It was incredibly heavy, and after a long struggle, we only managed to open a small crack.
Fatty panted and waved his hand. “I can’t do it anymore… Let’s take a break. It’s too heavy… I’m too hungry to push it.”
My stomach was growling too, and with the effort, I felt dizzy. We sat down to rest and took off our gas masks, lighting up cigarettes.
Fatty blew a smoke ring and said, “Old Hu, do you think ancient people were out of their minds to make a stone coffin? This is the first time I’ve seen someone use stone for a coffin.”
I ran my hand over the stone lid and replied, “This isn’t a coffin; it’s called a stone sarcophagus. The wooden coffin is inside this stone box. Whoever gets this kind of treatment must have been a high-ranking official, maybe even a prince.”
Fatty scratched his head. “Oh, I see. It’s really complicated. We’re both buried in Wild Man Valley, but compared to the general’s tomb we dug up, who had a higher rank, the person in this stone coffin or the general?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know; it’s hard to say. We’re not historians. But during the Jin and Liao dynasties, the northern nomadic tribes were incredibly powerful. They gained their territory from horseback, so I suspect they valued military achievements over culture. It’s possible that only the most distinguished warriors were buried in this prime location. The other nobles buried nearby might have even more valuable burial goods. The burial items would vary based on the deceased’s interests. For example, the general we dug up was a warrior with no refined tastes, so his tomb contained mostly weapons and horses.”
Fatty said, “Those horses must have been excellent steeds. If they were alive, they’d be worth a fortune, but now all that’s left are their bones. I bet even a scrap yard wouldn’t want them. Luckily, there are still two jade discs; we can have Big Golden Tooth find a buyer for those when we get back, and that should fetch us a good amount.”
As we spoke, we finished our cigarettes and put our gas masks back on. With renewed effort, we pushed the heavy stone slab again. Yingzi came over to help, and together we finally managed to move the stone aside. Inside the stone sarcophagus, we saw a pure black wooden coffin, which was nearly twice the size of a regular coffin and unusually tall—over half a person’s height, not counting the arched lid.
The craftsmanship of the coffin was exquisite, far from ordinary. The ends, sides, and lid were adorned with colorful gilded paintings of auspicious mythical creatures like cranes, qilins, and tortoises, meant to bless the occupant with immortality. The lid even featured a star map of the twenty-eight lunar mansions, and around the base, there was a golden pattern of swirling clouds. Remarkably, the colors remained vibrant and fresh even after hundreds of years, leaving us in awe.
This was the first time we had seen such a magnificent coffin. If we hadn’t witnessed it ourselves, we would never have imagined that such an artistic masterpiece existed in the world.
Fatty was overjoyed. “Even if there’s nothing inside, we can sell the coffin for a huge profit.” He rolled up his sleeves and pushed the coffin lid aside.
Even Yingzi couldn’t resist wanting to see what was inside the large coffin. The three of us gathered around, shining our flashlights into the coffin. The satin lining had long since decayed and would likely turn to dust at the slightest touch. Lying on the rotting fabric was a skeleton; after a thousand years, the clothing and flesh had completely disintegrated, leaving only the skull, which was somewhat intact, with its mouth agape, revealing two rows of blackened, decayed teeth. If it weren’t for the skull, one might not even realize this was a human remains.
Yingzi swept the beam of her flashlight across the edges of the giant coffin and screamed, “Oh my god, it’s those kids!”
We saw that at both ends of the coffin stood two children, one boy and one girl, looking about five or six years old. Their features were lifelike; the boy had a topknot, and the girl’s hair was styled in two buns. This hairstyle was not modern but resembled that of ancient people depicted in murals. Could they be the child sacrifices of the deceased? The occupant of the coffin had nearly rotted away, so how were these children preserved so well?
Two Children at the end of the coffin“These two little brats are probably fake, made to look real,” Fatty said, reaching out to poke the children in the coffin. “I want to see if they’re real or not!”
I grabbed Fatty’s hand. “Don’t touch them without gloves! They’re not fake; they could be toxic. Look closely at the children; they have patches of bluish-purple all over. That’s mercury poisoning.”
In the 1950s, my grandfather, Hu Guohua, had been hospitalized in a major hospital in Beijing for treatment. During his stay, a large construction project nearby unearthed an ancient tomb, and he sneaked out of the hospital to see it. He explored the tomb, which was said to belong to a prince from the Ming Dynasty.
The tomb was surrounded by black water, and the underground chamber was divided into three parts: the front, middle, and back. The entrance had a heavy gate, and upon entering, the first room was the “Ming Hall” (or “Hall of the Dead”), arranged like the deceased’s living room, filled with various furniture and items known as “mingqi” (funerary objects).
Deeper inside was the “Sleeping Hall,” where the coffins were placed. This tomb was a joint burial site, and uniquely, the coffins of the prince and princess were suspended in mid-air with heavy iron chains, copper rings, and locks.
Behind that was the “Accompanying Hall,” specifically for placing burial goods.
A few days later, another ancient tomb from the Yuan Dynasty was unearthed in Haidian, and it also contained child sacrifices. When they were discovered, they looked just like living people, but the clothing of the children from the Yuan tomb turned to dust at the slightest touch.
Later, my grandfather told me these stories. He explained that these child sacrifices had been alive when they were prepared for burial. In addition to ingesting mercury, holes were drilled into their heads, backs, and soles of their feet, which were then filled with mercury. After death, their bodies were coated with mercury powder, preserving them like specimens for thousands of years. This technique was far more advanced than the mummification practices of ancient Egypt. However, the cultural contexts and values of the two civilizations were vastly different, and the method of using mercury to maintain the appearance of the body required living subjects; it couldn’t be done on corpses since their blood wouldn’t circulate.
One of the cruelest practices in the world must be using living people for burial sacrifices. Fatty, wearing gloves, carefully lifted one of the child corpses out for inspection. Sure enough, he found several holes in the head, back, and soles of the feet. These holes had been sealed with fire lacquer by skilled artisans. Many areas of the bodies had developed black and purple spots. The burial items, often made of gold, silver, or jade, were frequently coated with mercury powder, which would undergo chemical changes over time. More recent items would show a reddish-brown color, while older ones turned black and purple. These spots were commonly referred to as “mercury spots” or “mercury immersion,” and in some places, they were called “rotten yin” or “mercury blue.”
Fatty seemed a bit nervous, but he tried to stay calm and sighed, “I’ve read Lu Xun’s stories before, and he described antiques with mercury spots. Looks like that old guy wasn’t just making things up; it really happened.”
Yingzi asked, “This is so pitiful. Brother Hu, why didn’t they dress these children? I remember seeing the child that ran past wearing clothes. Could it be a ghost?”
I told her, “Only they know if they’re ghosts. But it’s not that these two children weren’t dressed; the child sacrifices were definitely in fine clothing. After nearly a thousand years, those clothes have long since rotted away. This giant coffin is likely from the Yuan Dynasty, and when the Kwantung Army unearthed it and opened it, the clothes turned to dust as soon as they were exposed to air.”
Yingzi said, “Isn’t it often said that one should be buried peacefully? Why don’t we help them? It’s so sad.”
Fatty nodded in agreement. “I’m usually just interested in making money and don’t want to get involved in other matters, but this situation is special. Let’s do a good deed and bury them properly. They’ve stood guard for the master of the tomb for a thousand years; it’s time for them to rest.”
The bodies were filled with mercury, so burning them wouldn’t work. The only thing we could do was dig a hole and bury them. We hoped that there would be fewer tragedies like this in the world.
Without further delay, Fatty and I took off our Kwantung Army overcoats and wrapped the child sacrifices inside, fastening them securely on our backs. The mercury-filled bodies were incredibly heavy, but thankfully, they were children. If they had been adults, it would have been quite a struggle for one person to carry.
Fatty felt a bit disappointed that we hadn’t found any valuable treasures. He wished he could set the coffins on fire, but Yingzi and I quickly dissuaded him, and he reluctantly gave up the idea.
We returned to the stone cave to discuss how to get out. Everyone was feeling extremely hungry and thirsty, but unfortunately, the underground fortress had no food or water, and there were no explosives or ammunition. The only way back to the surface was through the tunnel we had dug into the general’s tomb. However, just thinking about that red-haired monster’s incredible strength gave us headaches. Even if we were well-fed, we might not stand a chance against it, especially since we were already weak from hunger.
The three of us exchanged glances, and we all had similar thoughts. There were a dozen dead bats on the ground, and at this point, we could only use these creatures to satisfy our hunger.
Humans are omnivores, and when desperate, there’s not much we won’t eat. Yingzi mentioned that when she was a child, she had eaten bats with her grandfather in a cave deep in the mountains. That year, there was a forest fire, and a rare famine followed. All the larger animals had disappeared, and people resorted to eating ground squirrels, bats, locusts, and even grasshoppers. She said the tendons and bones of bats were quite tasty and had a good texture.
The large-faced bats in the cave were skinny and looked too grotesque and fierce, resembling the dried corpses of bloodsucking demons. Fatty and I were skeptical about the claim that their meat was delicious.
But for the sake of survival, we couldn’t afford to be picky. To cook them, we needed to return to the storage area, where there were plenty of wooden crates for firewood. Of course, we could also burn coffin boards, but the thought of cooking meat over a fire made from coffins was a bit hard to accept. So, Fatty used the rope he had to tie up five or six fat dead bats by their claws, making a string of them, including the enormous bat king.
Back in the storage area, we set aside the coats that wrapped the child sacrifices. Yingzi took out a short knife and cut off the ugly heads of the bats, then removed their claws and opened their bellies, finally skinning them haphazardly.
I found a large pile of wooden crates, kicked them apart to make planks, and used my knife to shave off some wood shavings. I struck a match to ignite the shavings, while Fatty squatted beside me, cupping his hands to blow on the flames to help them grow.
We then used several bayonets from our rifles to skewer the bats and placed them over the fire to roast. Fatty frowned, clearly reluctant to eat such things.
Yingzi encouraged him, “It’s not bad! Don’t think of it as bat meat. Just chew a bit more, and it’ll taste like lamb.”
I didn’t mind; after all, bats are just like rats, right? During military exercises in Shaanxi, I had eaten many kinds of rodents, including ground squirrels, dormice, flying squirrels, and field mice. They all tasted similar—fatty and lean, with a flavor quite like lamb. However, I had never tried bat meat before.
The large-faced bats were warm-blooded animals with little fat, so they shouldn’t be roasted for too long. Once the meat changed color and looked cooked, I took a bite. The shoulder meat was crispy, with plenty of tendons and bones, not nearly as tasty as lamb, but it certainly had a good chew.
Seeing me eat, Fatty pinched his nose and took a bite as well. He found it surprisingly satisfying and quickly devoured one bat, still wanting more. He then skewered the largest bat king on the bayonet to roast.
We had eaten about half when a sticky, shiny liquid dripped from the ceiling onto Fatty’s face. He was enjoying his meal, and when he felt the wetness on his face, he wiped it with his hand and exclaimed, “Who the hell is drooling so much? It’s all over my head!” As soon as he said it, he realized that the question didn’t quite make sense.