Mysterious Country 1: Mist-Shrouded Champa,Volume 5:  Chapter 3: The Steel Helmet

The communication from the depths of the darkness, after emitting the “A… A… D” code, ceased contact. Yu Feiyan said in surprise: “What does that mean? Who is AAD?”

Sima Hui said: “It’s probably an encrypted call sign or code word, the kind only used in the military. There’s no way we could know.”

A Cui tried her utmost to search her memory: “I seem to have heard this code somewhere before, but I can’t remember where…”

In this deep and dark underground cave, the air humidity was very high. Everywhere was blurry and dim. The terrain was special, completely isolated from the outside world. There was simply no way to infer where this radio wave came from. Because the number of people who had gone missing in the Savage Mountain giant rift valley was truly too many. It could be survivors from some expedition team, or it could be that ghost like Green Tomb. For the moment, no one could tell whether it was auspicious or inauspicious. But everyone felt this matter came strangely, possibly a trap, not daring to trust it lightly. And it was also difficult to understand its meaning: “Inside the snake? Could it be a dead person swallowed by a python contacting us?”

Sima Hui said this matter was somewhat uncanny. All instruments that should be working normally had completely malfunctioned. The tactical radio that shouldn’t be receiving signals had unexpectedly received a communication signal. Could this be related to the dense fog appearing in Savage Mountain? The compass directions were completely disordered. They had no way to follow the coordinates provided in the communication to investigate what was happening.

While everyone was discussing countermeasures, Luo Big Tongue, who was keeping watch on the side, suddenly discovered that in the distant pitch blackness, a light flickered on and off. He quickly warned Sima Hui and the others to pay attention. Sima Hui focused his eyes and looked. It wasn’t will o’ the wisp. It seemed to be someone using their hand to cover a signal lamp, sending light communication. Just as he was about to carefully distinguish it, the flickering light from the signal lamp had already disappeared.

Luo Big Tongue didn’t care. Since entering the mountains, he had long been holding back a belly full of fire. He said angrily: “Damn it, which turtle bastard is making trouble there? I have to see whether you’re human or ghost.”

As he spoke, he raised the large caliber hunting gun and searched forward in the direction where the light communication had been sent. Sima Hui also called for A Cui and Yu Feiyan, telling them to follow behind. He wanted to see what was going on over there.

The four steeled their courage, forming a skirmish line in a fan shape, searching forward. But the surroundings were all pitch black. Seeing mountains upon mountains and waters upon waters, they couldn’t help but slow their steps.

A Cui asked Sima Hui in a low voice, that Green Tomb that had been hiding in the darkness spying on everyone, whether it was human or ghost, or perhaps some monster, had never appeared again since the earthquake bomb was detonated. The communication and signal lamp just now had both come strangely. Could it have been sent by it?

Sima Hui also thought that when they were in the Mosquito special transport plane, Green Tomb should have been hidden among the several survivors of the expedition team. Because the situation at that time was extremely special. The cabin was like a sealed room. If not extremely close by, it would absolutely be impossible to know everything happening in the cabin like the back of one’s hand. If the signal just now was related to it, then it was absolutely not trustworthy. Most likely it wanted to lead the survivors who had seen the Golden Spider City into a dead end to silence them. Moreover, Sima Hui also inferred that this ghost like follower was certainly still hiding in some dead angle. Only it had never found the opportunity, so there was still no way to drag it out.

A Cui repeatedly pondered Sima Hui’s words: “You previously also said that there are dead angles in human psychology. What kind of blind zone is that?”

Sima Hui said that since it was a dead angle in psychology, it was a realm that was absolutely unimaginable by normal thinking. So their random guessing now had no meaning. Back in the day in Xiangxi, Hunan, a very strange murder case occurred. Xiangxi was a place since ancient times with many mountains, many caves, many bandits, and many guns. Mountain bandits were as numerous as ox hairs. Traveling merchants on the road, resting alone in the mountains, would be knocked down from behind and have their heads cut off with knives. At that time, there was a cloth merchant. The shopkeeper cloth merchant went alone to another place to purchase goods. The family was uneasy. Calculating the approaching return date, they sent the steward with two shop assistants to a town dozens of li away to meet him. That town was remote and deep in the mountains. There were many bandits around. But it was a necessary place on the way back to the city. There was only one large inn in the town. No private rooms. All were communal sleeping halls with twenty some people per room. The steward arrived at a coincidental time. When he reached the inn and inquired, he learned that the master had stayed at the inn last night. Seeing that the sun was already high in the sky, he should have long come out to settle the inn fee. But watching from the guest room, eighteen people filed out in succession. Only the cloth merchant’s figure was not seen. The steward went to the room to look. The four walls were completely empty. Where was there any person? He secretly felt something was wrong. He hurriedly went to find the inn owner to verify. Checking the guest register. It was clearly written in black and white on white paper: last night there were nineteen people staying in the room. But in broad daylight, in public view, how could a large living person disappear without a trace? The steward, in his anxiety, desperately blocked the guests who were about to leave, saying our master clearly stayed at the inn last night. How could he be missing, neither seen alive nor found dead? It was hard to guarantee this inn wasn’t a black inn, secretly plotting to murder passing merchants for their lives and property. At that time, there were police patrols from the investigation bureau on the street. Seeing the commotion was not small, they arrested everyone in the inn and interrogated them strictly. Originally the investigation bureau only wanted to take advantage of the chaos to extort some money. But unexpectedly, when they searched the eighteen guests who had shared the room with the cloth merchant, they discovered each person was carrying a package of human flesh. Under torture and threats, those guests had no choice but to confess and admit guilt, explaining the course of the case. It turned out these eighteen people were all bandits. On the road, seeing the cloth merchant’s luggage was full, they wanted to rob and kill him in a secluded place for his wealth. But following him the whole way, they never found an opportunity to act. Finally following him to the town, the bandits all pretended not to know each other. They bribed the inn servant to share a room with that cloth merchant. After dark, when the cloth merchant was asleep, they covered his head with a quilt, suffocating him alive. Then they chopped his body into pieces with random blades, cutting into eighteen pieces. They wrapped each in lime and oilcloth, not showing the slightest trace of blood. Each person carried one piece on their body, planning to leave the inn and throw them in the mountains to feed birds and beasts. Then there would absolutely be no trace left. But perhaps because they had killed so many people, in the end resentful spirits entangled their legs. This group of bandits hadn’t had time to leave the inn when the steward from the cloth merchant’s family caused a commotion, exposing the case. They were all tied up by the government with Five-flower Binding and sent to the provincial capital to be paraded through the streets and beheaded publicly. This dismemberment case caused quite a stir in society at that time. The common people watching the execution at the execution ground were as numerous as mountains and seas. It was truly quite lively.

Sima Hui said to A Cui, in the greenwood underworld, killing people was called pushing the ox. These bandits precisely exploited the dead angles in people’s psychology. After targeting passing merchants on the road, they killed their bodies and dismembered them in the inn, burying them in lime to prevent blood from overflowing, dividing and carrying their flesh, concealing it on their persons. So nineteen people stayed at the inn, but eighteen came out. Murdering and robbing in the town streets could leave not the slightest trace. If it weren’t for the coincidence, who could have discern this method of bad guys pushing the ox?

A Cui seemed to understand somewhat. Perhaps Green Tomb hidden among the survivors of the expedition team also had some special methods, allowing it to move unseen under everyone’s noses. It wasn’t necessarily truly a ghost.

At this moment, Luo Big Tongue, who was searching at the very front, discovered that in the vine remains around him, there seemed to be something hidden. Those densely layered underground plants, whose scale and form were so enormous and strange, had long exceeded any definition in dictionaries. They could be called rare in the world. The ancient tree roots undulating on the bumpy ground were as desolate and barren as the moon’s surface, utterly devoid of life. But between several old trees, something black was lying prone. Its volume was large. It looked extremely incompatible with the surrounding environment. It also didn’t resemble a collapsed ancient tree trunk. Luo Big Tongue poked it with his hunting gun. It clanged, as if touching iron plate. He was greatly surprised: “How could such a thing appear out of thin air in a primeval forest buried underground for hundreds or thousands of years?”

He hurriedly turned back and called the other three to come up and see what it was.

Sima Hui, upon hearing this, immediately rushed forward several steps. The searchlight beam he carried swayed as he ran. He saw beside Luo Big Tongue in the tree thicket crouched a dark shadow. That dark shadow wore an American M1 steel helmet on its head. It was struggling to climb up from the ground. Beneath the steel helmet seemed to be an extremely pale face.

Sima Hui accidentally caught this one glance. He immediately felt yin wind penetrate to the bone. He was truly startled. He was running fast and couldn’t stop his feet. He nearly crashed into a tree. Did Sima Hui fear ghosts? He had crawled out from piles of dead on the battlefield. Since going south to join the army, day after day marching and fighting in deep mountains and old forests, if his courage were slightly smaller, his nerves would have collapsed long ago. But no matter how great a person’s courage, there would always be some weaknesses. At this moment, when he saw that M1 steel helmet, he truly felt fear from the bottom of his bones.

It turned out that the situation in northern Myanmar was extremely complex. In non military controlled areas, the territories occupied by various armed groups were interlocking like dog’s teeth. Among these were several forces that were Kuomintang troops who had fled from Chinese territory to Myanmar during the Liberation War period. The Burmese Communist People’s Army called them Chiang remnant bandits. These people were exceptionally united. They were also skilled at drilling through mountains and crossing ridges. And they were all old veteran soldiers with extremely abundant combat experience. Their marksmanship was extraordinarily accurate. They were hard and soft to outsiders alike. Whether you were the Burmese Communist People’s Army or the government forces, whoever passed before them, they would shoot. Normally they entrenched themselves in deep mountains, self sufficient. Occasionally they also worked as mercenaries to earn some extra money. Hiding for over twenty years, they formed a very special armed force.

There were many Chinese people in the Burmese Communist People’s Army. The vast majority were educated youth who came from Yunnan. They generally hadn’t received formal military training. There weren’t many people with professional military backgrounds. Mainly they learned through old soldiers leading new ones. Generally, as long as one could learn to use light weapons for shooting and pull strings to throw hand grenades, one could pick up weapons and go to the battlefield. Fortunately, the government forces’ combat effectiveness was also never strong enough. Brothers relying on a belly full of blood and courage could also fight evenly with the other side. If a new recruit had bad luck, the moment they exchanged fire with the enemy, they ran into the muzzle and died. There was nothing more to say. But those who were fated not to die learned war in war. The more battles they fought, the more experience increased.

Although Sima Hui was still young, he had fought in Myanmar for several years. He could already be considered a veteran. Just by hearing the sound of artillery shells whistling through the air, he knew whether they would land on his head. For example, when encountering an ambush in the jungle, after fighting for a long time, one might not even see the enemy’s shadow. But by hearing the shooting sounds from the weapons in the enemy’s hands, one could roughly judge which force one had encountered: the government forces had good guns and good artillery. When fighting, they were all blind spraying with no accuracy. Their combat effectiveness wasn’t strong either. But the Chiang remnant bandits were not numerous. They basically had no artillery. Their guns were also mostly old style. Their shooting method mostly used single shots. They were especially skilled at hiding in the darkness and firing cold shots. And their hit rate was extraordinarily high. As soon as the other side’s gun sounded, one of their own side would certainly be knocked down.

At that time, the brothers were very puzzled: “Back then, millions of troops crossed the great river. Wherever the military edge passed, all was conquered. Fighting the Kuomintang troops was like autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves. The enemy seemed fundamentally vulnerable. How did this group of defeated remnant soldiers become so formidable when they reached Myanmar?”

They never figured out this question until now. But having suffered losses too many times, they could also enrich combat experience. Finally they summarized one experience: “If you don’t run into the Chiang remnant bandits, that’s that. If you run into them, you will certainly suffer heavy casualties. You won’t gain the slightest advantage. You’re fundamentally not their match.”

They truly feared them from the bottom of their bones.

In Sima Hui’s impression, among the various armed personnel still active in Myanmar, almost no one wore genuine American M1 steel helmets. In recent years, only the Chiang remnant bandits still wore them. But there were also very few genuine ones. Most were Chinese made copies of the American style, called Zhongzheng style. They looked similar. At a quick glance, it was hard to distinguish.

So Sima Hui’s first reaction was: “Fear whatever comes. We’ve encountered Chiang remnant bandits in Savage Mountain.”

Without allowing any explanation, taking advantage of his forward momentum, he swung his hunting knife and chopped. It struck right on that dark shadow’s neck. But where the blade reached, it seemed to strike a vine. And that steel helmet also immediately rolled to the ground.

Sima Hui fixed his eyes and looked. He saw on the withered tree trunk a lump of white plant shaped like a downy Chenopodium. Its form was bizarre and strange. It happened to grow right beneath that American M1 steel helmet. Sima Hui saw clearly. He secretly said how embarrassing, to be frightened half to death by this thing.

At this moment, A Cui and Yu Feiyan both caught up from behind. The two pulled Sima Hui up from the ground. They also picked up that steel helmet to look at it. They were equally surprised: “Where did this thing come from?”

Sima Hui took it and looked: “It’s not a Zhongzheng style. This is a genuine M1.”

Sima Hui remembered A Cui’s head injury was not light. In this completely enclosed space, this steel helmet was still brand new, without the slightest rust. He dusted off the soil inside, wiped it clean, and put it on her head.

A Cui, seeing the American M1 steel helmet, suddenly remembered something. She immediately took out the diary left by Karaweik’s grandfather. Pointing to one line, she said to Sima Hui: “The code word AAD that appeared in the tactical radio communication is the communication code of the Sixth Independent Engineering Combat Regiment!”

Sima Hui looked and indeed it was so. However, even more astonishing things were still behind. Luo Big Tongue had everyone look at what he had discovered in the tree thicket. It was actually an American Dodge style ten wheel large truck weighing three or four tons by itself, with a load capacity of six or seven tons. This kind of American made old style military transport truck was relatively common in the Myanmar mountain regions. Back then, along the Stilwell Highway, many vehicles had tumbled into valley abysses or been destroyed by mines and artillery. To this day, the correct loss figures could not be tallied.

What made Sima Hui and the others feel extremely difficult to understand was not this truck. If calculated from the time when the Ancient Cham people built the City of Four Million Pagodas, this underground forest had at least not seen daylight for over a thousand years. How could a old style truck from World War II appear?

Everyone counted on their fingers and calculated. Now it was summer of 1974. The Allies’ large scale operations in Myanmar were after 1941. The time between these two was merely a short thirty some years. Of course, it was very possible that within these two or three decades, someone had by chance entered the Savage Mountain giant rift valley. If one broadened one’s thinking, it could more or less be understood.

But the towering ancient trees in this underground forest were mostly very tall and thick. The branches undulated and coiled, winding and intertwining. Between the withered trees, vines were densely packed, covering the surroundings like a net. People walking in them felt extremely strenuous, almost unable to move a single step. Let alone driving a large truck weighing nearly ten tons in.

Everyone subsequently discovered that several meters behind this Dodge truck, another Dodge truck was parked. Following the path back, the American made ten wheelers in the jungle remains were actually one after another, with no end in sight.

Translation Notes:

Pushing the ox (推牛子): Greenwood underworld slang for murder, specifically the method of killing and dismembering victims to conceal the crime.

Chiang remnant bandits (蒋残匪): The Burmese Communist People’s Army’s derogatory term for Kuomintang troops who fled to Myanmar after losing the Chinese Civil War. These forces actually became a significant local power in the Golden Triangle region.

Stilwell Highway (史迪威公路): The Ledo Road, built during WWII to connect India to China through Myanmar, named after General Joseph Stilwell. It was a vital supply route and saw heavy vehicle losses.

Sixth Independent Engineering Combat Regiment (第六自力工程作战团): A real WWII US Army unit that operated in the China Burma India theater, responsible for building roads and infrastructure in difficult terrain.

Zhongzheng style (中正式): Chinese made copies of the American M1 helmet, named after Chiang Kai shek (whose courtesy name was Zhongzheng). These were inferior imitations used by Nationalist Chinese forces.