"Hu, come take a look."
Gu Cheng called Hu Bayi over.
Hu Bayi came closer to look, and his brow immediately furrowed.
"Is this Japanese?!"
He handed his torch to Gu Cheng, then opened the wooden crate in front of him.
Inside lay rows of gleaming, well-oiled submachine guns.
The two exchanged a glance.
Both saw the gravity in the other's eyes.
Gu Cheng said, "If I remember right, the Japanese were in quite a hurry when they withdrew back then?"
Although Gu Cheng's remark seemed to come out of nowhere,
Hu Bayi immediately understood what he meant.
This was most likely a military base the Japanese had left behind.
The withdrawal order had come so suddenly that they had had no time to remove or destroy the supplies. They could only seal everything away for the time being, hoping to return someday.
They probably never imagined that they would never get the chance to make that comeback.
Fatty Wang had recovered by then, too.
He staggered over, and when he saw the submachine guns in the crate, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
"Holy shit!"
"Submachine guns?!"
He swiftly snatched one out of the crate and expertly checked it over.
Then he grinned and burst out laughing. "Hahaha! Finally, it's my turn to get some payback!"
"That little bastard actually dared to attack me with poison gas."
"That stench probably ruined my appetite for days."
"I'm not a man if I don't avenge this!"
"This time, I'll serve it a nice helping of lead!"
From the other end of the cave, they could still hear the Flood Dragon Serpent slamming into the wall.
Fatty Wang hefted his gun and started off to teach it a lesson, cursing as he went.
Hu Bayi grabbed him.
"Don't rush in!"
"We're no match for it in this darkness."
"This is a military base. It must have a power system."
"Let's get the lights on first!"
Fatty Wang spat in that direction.
"I'll deal with you later, you little bastard."
Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi took out their phones and switched on their flashlights.
Hu Bayi led the way with a submachine gun in hand.
Gu Cheng supported Yingzi as the two walked in the middle.
Yingzi had vomited so badly that she was weak all over, her body almost draped against Gu Cheng.
Fatty Wang brought up the rear.
They walked for a long time.
But the military base was simply too large.
And they were feeling their way through pitch darkness.
Despite searching for ages, they still could not find the power room.
"Ow!"
A sudden thud came from behind them.
It was followed by Fatty's cry of pain.
Gu Cheng and Hu Bayi hurriedly turned around.
Fatty was lying on his side, rubbing his knee with both hands and baring his teeth, his face twisted in pain.
"What happened?!"
Hu Bayi asked.
Rubbing his knee, Fatty said, "Damn it, something tripped me. That fall nearly killed me."
"Something tripped you?"
Hu Bayi shone his flashlight over the floor.
"There's nothing here."
"Did you trip over your own feet?"
Fatty looked at the floor, too.
There was nothing there.
Now he was baffled himself. "Huh? That's weird. I definitely tripped over something before I fell."
"All right, enough chatter. Let's keep moving."
Hu Bayi turned and continued forward.
Fatty Wang was still puzzling over how he had fallen.
Gu Cheng shone his flashlight over Fatty's feet.
He found no little handprints.
Could it not have been them?
Doubt stirred in Gu Cheng's mind.
They walked for another four or five minutes.
At last, they found the power room.
Although the machinery had deteriorated badly, it was nothing Hu Bayi could not handle. After he worked on it for a while,
the entire military base finally lit up.
"Oh! Light has finally returned to the world!"
"No more stumbling around in the dark! If that little bastard shows its face now, I'll kill it on the spot."
Fatty Wang spoke with delight written all over his face.
Relief also appeared on Gu Cheng's and Yingzi's faces.
After all, everyone longed for light.
Yingzi was feeling much better by then. A little shyly, she straightened up and said softly to Gu Cheng, "Thank you, Brother Gu."
"It's fine. We're all friends here. No need to thank me."
Gu Cheng waved it off.
They headed back.
They planned to pick up some guns and ammunition.
"Wait."
Hu Bayi suddenly stopped.
"What is it?"
Everyone looked at him.
He pointed to a door beside him.
A sign on the door read "Colonel's Office."
"Colonel's... of-office? What does that mean?"
Fatty asked in confusion.
Hu Bayi frowned. "It means the colonel's office."
"The Japanese military ranks were divided into three classes with nine grades. Colonel was the highest field-officer rank, making him a senior officer."
"A colonel generally served as a regimental commander."
"One of their regiments had 3,500 men, equivalent to the strength of two or three of our regiments."
"In other words, this military base once housed an entire regiment-over three thousand men."
As he spoke, he pushed the door open and walked inside.
"Why do you think the Japanese stationed over three thousand men in a place this remote?"
Gu Cheng and Fatty Wang exchanged a glance.
Both saw intense curiosity in the other's eyes.
"But shouldn't we deal with that little bastard first?"
Fatty Wang said.
"Even if we're going to deal with it, we can't go looking for it. We have to let it come to us."
Fatty Wang blinked. "Why?"
Hu Bayi sighed. "That place back there was obviously an armory. If you open fire there, are you trying to get us all killed along with it?"
Fatty Wang said, "..."
If you encounter ads such as "Are you a real person?", ignore them and close them. Do not scan any QR codes or send text messages!