The enormous underground cavern stretched into boundless darkness. Numerous white floodlights had been set up nearby, their beams shining straight upward.
Yu Anbang tilted his head back along the lights. Dust drifted through the beams, but he could not see the end. The cavern's ceiling was astonishingly high. Who knew why the Japanese had dug so deep?
At least a company of soldiers was busy at work. They all wore orange-red protective suits, with small floodlights shining on their helmets.
By the light of the small lamps, Yu Anbang saw what the soldiers were doing... collecting human remains.
Human skeletons were piled densely nearby, so numerous that it was horrifying. This was unquestionably a mass grave in the truest sense.
After several decades, most of the remains had been reduced to brittle, dry bones. Yet a very small number still had petroleum-like liquid clinging to their surfaces, with sesame-seed-sized insects crawling faintly across them.
There were soldiers specially assigned to exterminate the insects. Carrying large tanks of pesticide on their backs, they sprayed the piles of bones from time to time. When the light shone over them, thousands upon thousands of sesame-seed-sized insects scattered, making the scene especially creepy.
The soldiers had prepared a pile of white body bags. They sorted the bones into individual remains as best they could and stuffed together whatever could not be separated. Finally, they loaded everything onto handcarts, one cart after another.
"Damn it, how many of our people did those Japanese bastards kill?"
A chill ran through Yu Anbang's entire body. He felt the eerie coldness of someone who had wandered into hell.
"We've collected more than two thousand skulls alone," Professor Ma said. "Look around you. Conservatively, there should still be more than ten thousand. We may even uncover many more. We've