Chapter 103: Operation Butterfly

How to enter the “Worm Valley”, there are two routes marked on the “human skin map”, one is to cross the windy pass on the “Chalong Mountain”; the other is to follow the “Snake River” and bypass the “Nu River”, that route has to cross a dangerous area between the “Lancang River” and the “Nu River”. The second is to follow the “Snake River” to bypass the Chalong Mountain, that route has to cross a piece of primitive forest that exists between the “Lancang River” and the “Nujiang River” and is full of crises, although the straight-line distance on the map is not too far, but those who have entered the primitive forest have to go through the “Snake River”. Although the straight-line distance is not far on the map, those who have been into the primitive forest should know that in reality, the journey is ten or twenty times longer than expected, and there are swamps in some places.

These two routes are not good to go, compared to only over the altitude of more than three thousand meters of “Chalong Mountain” is more feasible, but in the absence of a guide in the case of risking over the snowy mountains, it is not a joke, may not be out of the division has not been successful, all folded in the mountains.

At this time, listening to the peacock said there is a shortcut, they are busy asking for details, the peacock only knows a rough, we had to go to find the boss’s wife to ask, the boss’s wife told us, “Chalong Mountain” (locals called mourning Teng, is a tailless dragon means) at the bottom of the mountain, there are a lot of caves as dense as a spider’s web, the legend says that they are the ancient pioneers of the ancient times, the bandits of the past, there is a judgment of the chaos! Occupy its inside, against the officials and soldiers, the officials and soldiers on the complex terrain within the mountain at their wits’ end, had to put all the holes are stone masonry dead, inside the people are trapped alive in the inside, and later whenever playing the sea will be the time to put their ears on the “Chalong Hill” rock, will hear the mountain in the bursts of despairing cries.

Of course, this is only a local folk legend, as for the cave built in which dynasty, who built, what is the purpose, inside the bandits are what people? Whether it is the local ethnic minorities against oppression and exploitation, rise up, or exactly how, to today no one has been able to say clearly.

But until recent years, some people quarrying, found a cave, inside the melted limestone, there is an underground water, this water has been through the mountains, into the “Chalong Mountain” at the other end of the “Snake River”, the water is deep enough to exercise the bamboo rafts, and there is this waterway! The water is deep enough to exercise the bamboo raft, and with this waterway, there is no need to worry about losing the path in the crisscrossing caves. Due to the gentle terrain, the water flow is not rapid, and when you go, you can put the raft downstream, which is very labor-saving, and when you come back, you need to put some effort to hold up the pole to come back, which is in a word a lot more convenient than turning over from the mountain.

Finally, the boss’s wife told us, although it is a shortcut from there, but the sides of the cave, there are a lot of strange corpses, no one knows when they died in there, the timid will be scared out of their wits, there are a few times that someone put the row from the cave through, but for one thing, there is a lot of miasma in the Valley of the Worms over there, and there is no one over there, so it doesn’t make much sense to go over there, and there hasn’t been anyone over there for a while recently. No one has gone there for a while, if you guys want to take a shortcut, you still need to be more careful.

I said to the boss’s wife: “This is not to worry, we go to the valley over there to catch butterflies for specimens, it is to serve the people, we are all communist materialists, how can we be afraid of the dead, since there is a shortcut, it would be foolish to let go of it, not to mention that there were once someone who successfully penetrated through it, which means that there are no ghosts in it, and that there is a possibility that it is just a relic of the tombs of the ancestors from the ancient times and so on. ”

I remembered that just now at the door, see the door on the military martyrs of the label, then again to the boss’s wife to inquire, it turned out that the peacock’s brother was sacrificed in the front line of the martyrs, I just thought, the southern border war is still not extinguished, this time to Yunnan, there is a chance that if you should go to see the mausoleums of comrades in arms, but can not always think of getting rich, forget about the roots of the ah.

In addition, I also discussed with the boss’s wife, there is no one nearby who has a hunting rifle, we want to rent a few defensive, the boss’s wife let the peacock from the inner room to turn out a “Jianwei” air rifle, is an air rifle to play the steel ball, when the peacock when her brother was alive, often carrying this air rifle, into the mountains to fight birds, the boss’s wife is very good-hearted, because we helped her favor, willing to put the gun free of charge, the boss’s wife is very good. Her favor, willing to lend us the gun free of charge, no deposit, back to her when you can.

I was a little disappointed, I would have thought that at least have to get a double-barreled shotgun, this kind of bird gun with toys almost, but took a look, found a really good gun, very well maintained, and is not a common small caliber, you can hit the medium steel ball, long range gun body is also heavy and stable enough, not to mention hit the birds, hit the wolves are not a problem, the only drawback is a single shot, after each shot, need to be reloaded.

Now, it is better than nothing, and I can’t get a better gun in the neighborhood, so I threw the gun to Fatty, let him familiarize himself with the gun, and the “Jianwei” will be used by him for the time being.

I thanked the boss’s wife, that night three people in the “color cloud inn” in the night, this night I and fat man slept very solid, nothing to think about, all the way to the labor and suffering completely thrown away, really a sleep let go of heaven and earth wide, until the next day on the sun on the pole, Shirley Yang pulling the ear to call us up, only reluctantly to get up.

The tea vendor, has been in the morning rush to do business to go, we wash up, found that the boss lady has prepared a lot of dry food for us, as well as anti-insect herbs, and let the peacock to us to lead us to the “Chalong Mountain” under the cave, where there is a piece of bamboo forest is not small, you can cut down a few big bamboo tie a bamboo raft.

We thanked the boss’s wife again and again, and took the guys into the forest behind the “Colorful Cloud Inn”, the main species of trees in this neighborhood are mostly hairy-leafed slopes, followed by fragrant fruit trees and large rhododendrons, and a small number of silver-leafed osmanthus, except for a lower-lying pit than the flat ground, where there is a piece of green bamboo coloring, and the waterway into the Chalongshan Mountain is not far away from here.

I see the location, the peacock sent home, lest her sister-in-law waiting at home anxious, fat man asked me, “Old Hu, why not let this little sister to us as a guide how, she can sing and dance, we are not lonely on the way.”

I said to the fat man or forget it, we are not going on a sightseeing tour, I have a hunch that this time will not be too smooth, always feel that the insect valley in the “Tomb of the King of Consecrated” hidden in what is a great danger, inevitably there will be some big action, not to mention this little girl, that is, to do something else guide, we also do not need, there are human skin map for reference! It’s enough, more people to go instead of trouble.

Fatty nodded: “reasonable, don’t let the dedication of the king of that old dumplings to scare the little sister, and there are outsiders present, this take up the Mingqi to also not convenient, only our three, then open the toss it, before it is too early in the event of the big thing, and then we come back to Yunnan to play on a good time.”

Shirley Yang said to Fatty and I: “The clouds in the sky are getting thicker and thicker, I’m afraid it’s going to change the sky, let’s quickly set up rows, and try to rush into the mountain before it rains.”

Now we do not delay, I carry a machete and fat man, each go to pick up fat bamboo cutting, Shirley Yang is responsible for using the knife to cut off the bamboo branches, three people work together, progress very fast.

In the past in Inner Mongolia Daxinganling mountainous countryside insertion, fat man and I have helped in the forest, where there is no highway and cars can transport logs, are put into the river one by one downstream to the downstream, in Fujian, some of the waterways across the countryside, inconvenient places, there is also a discharge row, so these jobs for us, is not strange.

If the bamboo rafts need to be used for years and years, it is quite troublesome to make them, you need to scald the bamboo with hot oil before you can use it as raw material, and there are some other additional processes, while we only need to use it once or twice temporarily, so it completely eliminates those unnecessary troubles.

Shirley Yang went to the cave to explore the depth and flow of the waterway, and estimated that to carry the three of us plus all the equipment, only need six human legs thick and thin bamboo will be enough.

After this busy, finally tied into a small bamboo row, with the rope dragged into the cave, the front foot into the back foot outside the thunder rumbling showers.

This is a limestone cave, a cave into the slant down to walk up a dozen steps, you can see the foot is a river, but rather than a river, rather than “deep stream” is more appropriate, lower than the ground nearly a meter, the depth of water is about three meters deep, the water flow is very slow, may be a tributary of the “Lancang River”. The water flow is very slow, probably a tributary of the “Lancang River”, the first half of which is hidden in the ground, until the low terrain in the cave is revealed.

Here the cave is very wide, I used the wolf’s eye to the dark depths of the cave to shine a little, inside the height difference is very large, wide place can open tanks, low place is only more than a meter high, there are a lot of formation of more than a thousand years of dissolved rock, are a thousand strange, this is still only not far into the hole at the entrance to the cave, the inside of the environment will be even more complex, it seems that if you want to put the platoon from the hole through, in some sections, need to lie down in order to pass through, and the cave, the cave, the cave, the cave, the cave, the cave, the cave, the cave, the cave, the cave, the cave, the cave, the cave. In addition to the sound of water gurgling, the entire cave is unusually quiet, outside the thunder of the rain showers, here can not be heard, like a completely isolated underground world.

We pushed the bamboo raft into the water, I immediately jumped up, with a bamboo pole from the front of the bamboo raft into the water, fixed the bamboo raft, to prevent it from being washed away by the current, Shirley Yang then also jumped up, I see her up, then a few steps forward, Shirley Yang at the same time back to the end of the bamboo raft, to maintain the balance.

Then the fat man put our three large hiking bags filled with equipment and two insect nets, one by one threw up, he also then jumped to the center, he came up, the whole bamboo row followed the downward sinking, Shirley Yang hurriedly three hiking bags in the two yanked to the end of the raft where she was, I pulled the other bag to their feet, so that, temporarily balanced the weight of the boat does not capsize.

On the bamboo raft we made our final preparations, and since there were a lot of inverted stalactites and stalagmites in the caves, in order to avoid hitting our heads we all put on our mountaineering helmets, which had tactical spotlights and could be left on for six to eight hours.

Finally I put a strong searchlight, in the front of the bamboo row supported, this strong searchlight consumes a lot of energy, can not be used for a long time, every one or two minutes to turn on, in order to confirm the condition of the front of the cave.

Fatty horizontal end of a bamboo pole, sitting in the middle to maintain balance, see me in front of the installation of searchlights, installed half a day is not installed, could not help but ask: “how old Hu? We still go today or not? I can’t wait to dig out that King Xian’s bright weapon.”

I was still short of two fixing bolts, and turned back to Fatty, “What’s the rush, that King Xian’s tomb is inside the Valley of Worms, if we go a few minutes late, can it still grow legs and run away?”

Shirley Yang, at the back end, said to Fatty and I: “I say you two, don’t quarrel, I have a proposal, the Americans are used to give each military action, all put on an action code, we go to pour King Xian’s bucket, why don’t we take an action code, of course, it is not meaningless to do so, we can appear to be more planned and purposeful. ”

Fatty said to Shirley Yang: “This is in our Chinese territory, your old American set won’t work, but since the chief of the American Advisory Group raised it, then I think it would be better to call it Operation Touching Bright Weapons, which seems straightforward and not hypocritical at all, just run to the bright weapons.”

I had already installed the last fixing bolt of the strong searchlight, turned my head to Fatty and said, “You’re a bit too direct, it seems vulgar, but this proposal is very good, back then, the Allies’ Operation Overlord broke the Third Reich’s Atlantic Barrier, thus shortening the course of World War II, and we can also come up with a better sounding operation code name to draw a good luck, and strive to be able to The flag of victory, horse to success, this time we are under the guise of going into the insect valley to catch butterflies, to disguise the action, I think it is called the butterfly action, I declare, now the butterfly action, start.”

Said no matter Shirley Yang and fat man whether to agree, I will be the first to open a strong searchlight, see the terrain in front, reach out and pull out the bamboo pole inserted in the water, in the slow flow of water under the impetus of the bamboo rows forward, slowly sailing into the depths of the “Chalumeau Mountain”.

Encountered a narrow place, the fat man will stand up cross pole, with me with bamboo poles to support the rocks under the water, balancing the raft, a leaf of small bamboo raft zigzag drift in the hole, but unfortunately all around is dark, not open searchlights, can not see in the distance, there is no what beautiful scenery to, otherwise you can really roar on the two lines of the mountain song.

Unlike the hot and humid weather outside the mountain, in the cave downstream, the deeper the more feel the cool wind, from time to time will see there are groups of phosphorus fire in the distance flickering, which indicates that there are animal carcasses, it seems that this is not a world without life.

Sitting on the raft can also feel, there are some water snakes and some small fish swimming, I put my hand into the water to try, the water here is even a little bit piercing the bones, in the four seasons as one in Yunnan, so cold water temperature can be really rare, perhaps the “Zailong Mountain” top, there is a direct flow of snow down, so that led to the temperature is very low here. The temperature is very low.

Shirley Yang said it is not the reason of snow and ice water, because the temperature difference between the cave and the outside is relatively large, the human body will have an illusion, after adapting, it will not feel so cold, in addition, the cave here can not see the traces of artificial construction of the excavation, it seems to be completely natural formation.

Speaking of the speed of the current has changed, suddenly faster than a moment ago obviously a lot, so we are starting to get nervous, a careless this small bamboo row may be at any time will turn over, Shirley Yang also copied up short pole, with us barely maintain the balance, the river is also more than a moment ago more winding, from time to time there are big turns.

I have not been able to free hand to switch the searchlight, had to let it has been open, I can not think of this, the distance can be seen clearly, that the cave depths of the scenery of the strange, unimaginable, coupled with the strong searchlight light column a sweeping that is, those strange stalactites of phosphorus only a flash, will be hidden into the darkness, which is more so that we feel into a fantastic labyrinth of light and weirdness.

Some of the strange stones, although only see a glimpse, but left a very deep impression, some like the Buddha statue of Guanyin, some like naive sleeping children, some like a leisurely crane, and some like a bull head and horse face, hideous and ferocious face of the beast, nature’s ingenious work in this cave countless, these unique scenes, if not use irradiation distance of the ultra-far away from the powerful searchlight, I am afraid that will never be the world! See, countless magical scenes, swept from the eye like a lantern, dazzling, this section of the wonders of the beauty of the shocking.

At this time suddenly the river becomes wider, there are a few thinner tributaries into it, the speed of the water slowed down, the front of the searchlight is not like just shaking so strong.

Just see the light irradiation, in front of the two sides of the cave wall, all rows and rows of all natural formation of smooth melting rock terraced fields, layers and layers as the sea waves, like a solidified silver sea, a huge vermilion natural stone beads, hanging upside down in the middle of the river, in the back of the stone beads, the river flowed into the mouth of a huge beast, the huge stone beast like a tiger like a lion, as if it were opening the mouth of the blood spewing, madness! Roaring, revealing a mouth full of sharp fangs, wanting to swallow the stone bead, and time was frozen in this instant, its posture was fixed, I’m afraid that it has been kept here for thousands and thousands of years.

The river just passes through its big mouth, what we are facing is like a gateway to hell, we can’t help but feel our heart beating a little faster, our breathing becomes ragged, and we grip the bamboo pole holding the balance in our hands a little tighter.

Features so obvious place how did not hear the boss’s wife of the colorful clouds inn mentioned, is not the river diverted away from the road, and through the pillar of light searchlights, can see the beast door hanging behind the countless ancient human figurines, is to sit on a long-distance bus, see was crushed by the car, stone shells filled with maggots inside the kind of every time I think back, the stomach can not help but feel a little nausea, can not imagine and encountered here.

Bamboo row on the three people look at each other speechless, do not know Shirley Yang and the fat man saw this scene is how to think, anyway, I suddenly had a very uneasy feeling of foreboding, I feel that as long as through here, in this dark and deep cave, our hands, will touch a layer of ancient times of thick fog.