Volume 9 Chapter 1: The Assembly Call

I heard it with a chill down my spine: there was no mistake. That was the sound of the horn before the bronze gate opened.

The strange experience at the time was only witnessed by me and Fatso, and even now, when I think back to it, it is still vivid in my mind. After listening to it a few more times, I completely remembered it and was convinced.

The situation on the two previous tapes was very strange, and I was mentally prepared. I calmed down a little and got rid of the creeps. I couldn’t help but sigh.

It was possible that this tape was shot by Wenjin and the others at the Bronze Gate at the bottom of Changbai Mountain. And judging from the sound, they might be walking towards the end of the underground canyon, or even, at this very moment, they were already inside the Bronze Gate.

From the few lines of dialogue, I could almost imagine what was going on: the horn sounded, and the horse-faced monsters must have appeared. The people on the tape seemed to be very afraid of these things and immediately shut up and hid. Moreover, from the tone of their voices, it seemed that they had encountered these things more than once.

This is another piece of the puzzle, and it seems that the incident that Fat and I encountered was not an isolated case, and it definitely wasn’t our imagination. However, for the time being, I don’t know where to fit this piece of the puzzle.

I continued to listen, and after a while the sound of the horn gradually died down, and all I could hear was the sound of water in the speaker. I was waiting for something to happen, but I realized that the bar on the player was almost at the end, and there didn’t seem to be much more content.

I listened patiently, and sure enough, a few minutes later the tape ended, and the screen was still dark, with nothing on it. It was indeed as Uncle San had said, that nothing could be seen.

I listened to it again, carefully looking for new clues, afraid that I might have missed something, but I didn’t find anything new. I believe that Uncle San’s personality means that he must have studied it very carefully. If he said there was nothing, then there definitely wasn’t anything.

I closed my notebook and had a headache. It seems that it is unlikely to find any clues from this video tape. Presumably, when Wen Jin sent these tapes, he didn’t think about what would happen to the people who watched them. Perhaps the content is not the main thing.

The black-glasses man on the side looked at me helplessly, smiled, patted my shoulder, and sat down across from me.

Snoring could be heard all around, and it was clear that someone had already fallen asleep. The warmth of the campfire, the flickering light and the crackling of the firewood made me feel very relaxed. I was too tired from the previous trek, and I couldn’t get used to the sight in front of me for a while.

I was also very sleepy, but after watching the video, I felt refreshed. I wanted to force myself to rest, but found that my mind was uncontrollably thinking about nonsense. At this time, Uncle San came back with his head covered in mud. He even smelled like urine when he walked past, but I could tell from his face that he had done something strange.

He saw that I had already closed the computer and asked me how I was doing.

I shook my head and said I had no idea. Indeed, I had no idea. Just listening to the sound, I could match it with any picture. This tape was actually of little help in understanding the truth.

Uncle San had already anticipated this, and he sighed without saying anything. I asked him what had happened and how it had come to this.

He said, “One of the workers found something interesting.” He pointed to one of the drains. I looked and saw that it was the place they had chosen to urinate, no wonder it stank. Uncle San, with his character, had just gone in there?

Uncle San said that the thing was right under the drain. “It’s so dirty,” he said, pointing to the mud and moss on his body. He then kicked a few people who were sleeping, telling them to get up and prepare the rope.

When I walked over, I discovered that the deeper part of the drain was twisted because of the huge damage caused by the collapse of the ruins. The stones on the walls of the drain had all shifted, and many gaps had collapsed on the walls, exposing the sand behind them. The sand layer was also split open by a very wide gap. Because it was almost vertical, Uncle San’s assistant temporarily used it as a urinal.

The geological structure here is probably sand, and it’s a bit deep here. The soil should be relatively hard. The crack goes straight into the sand layer, probably formed during an earthquake. Along the way, I often see traces of earthquakes. Obviously, this place has experienced several disasters over the past few thousand years, and it’s not surprising to see such traces.

The interesting thing that Uncle San said should be inside, but I can’t see anything clearly. The crack is almost as wide as a person, and the flashlight can’t shine in.

Those few people were obviously in excellent physical condition. They were awake and sober in just a few seconds after waking up. When San Shu told them what had happened, they immediately got ready without saying a word. From the way they looked, it seemed that they were planning to go down.

I immediately felt very uncomfortable. The crack was too narrow. It was impossible to go down with your chest against your back. You had to shrink down. And the inside of the crack was very rough. You might get stuck anywhere.

“It turns out that there is a layer of sand and mud on the outside of the seam. I rushed against the mud and the seam only appeared.” One of the men said.

The black-glasses man covered his mouth and fanned away the urine odor, saying, “You’ve been quite angry lately.”

“It’s been so long, I don’t know how long I can last with my head on my belt. Can I not be angry?” The man looked miserable.

Uncle San stared at the gap and said, “Don’t talk so much in this line. It’s easy to make money, but you’ll never get it. Pack up, help me carry the rope, and I’ll go down with the blind man.”

I immediately stopped Uncle San and said, “There may be snakes in this kind of gap. In such a narrow environment, you won’t be able to escape even if you encounter a snake. Why are you in such a hurry? Why don’t you wait until dawn?”

“You nerd, there’s no fucking sunlight here. When it gets light, you’ll still need a flashlight, just the same,” said Uncle San, while the assistant had already finished tying the rope. Uncle San obviously wanted to go down himself, and tied it around himself.

I felt even more uncomfortable and said, “You can let the worker go down first to check it out. You’re an old man. What can you do at this time?”

Uncle San smiled strangely, as if he was very helpless. First, he unscrewed the sulfur smoke bomb and threw it inside, then took the miner’s lamp. “Uncle San, I have a good sense of proportion. I’ll just go down and take a look, and I’ll be right back.”

Then the black-glasses man put on a tight-fitting suit and went down with a rope, holding a sulfur bomb and acting as a backup for Uncle San.

I was watching from above, feeling anxious. The mouth of the well was not narrow, but the angle of inclination was very large. Watching as Uncle San and Black Glasses slipped down the rope, into the darkness, further and further away, I always felt that something was going to happen.

However, I was obviously over-worried. The distance seemed closer than I thought, and they had already reached the place in just a few minutes. The gap was right there.

The people above stopped lowering the rope. At this point, the shadows of the men were overlapping, and we could no longer see clearly what they were doing. We could only see the flashing of the flashlights, and the light and shadow created by the flashlights as they moved across the stone wall, giving me the feeling of seeing the underworld of the tombs.

They paused for a moment, and the black-glasses man signaled upwards. Seeing the signal, the rope-pullers all froze for a moment.

I asked them what the signal was. One of them said, “Third Uncle said they’re going to continue down.”

We didn’t dare to shout out loud because Uncle San was down there, so we couldn’t ask about the reason or the situation. Naturally, this group of people followed Uncle San’s lead, and I couldn’t stop them. I could only curse in my heart, and my heart itched again.

It was clear that Uncle San had made new progress down there, otherwise he would not have made such an arbitrary decision.

The rope continued to descend, and we saw that they were not vertical, but were crawling into the crevices that had opened up in the sand. The two of them were barely able to get in, and soon we could no longer see any sign of Uncle San.

Even the person pulling the rope began to sweat, and those who were awake all gathered around, and the atmosphere naturally became tense.

After waiting for about an hour, Uncle San sent a signal from below. The people above were petrified and immediately pulled the rope. Black glasses were gradually pulled up, but Uncle San was nowhere to be seen.

I was shocked, and just as I was about to speak, I heard the black-glasses man, who smelled of mud and urine, say to me, “Little Master San, Master San says to come down immediately.”