Mysterious Country 1: Mist-Shrouded Champa, Volume 5: Chapter 6: Dense Fog

[Mystery of the Lost Nation 1: The Hidden Cham of the Mist] by Tian Xia Ba Chang June 6, 2024 Font: Large Medium Small

For the moment, everyone couldn’t react. This ancient pagoda was actually related to the Mosquito special transport plane? Yu Feiyan was the first to speak, asking: “What do you mean by this?”

Sima Hui said the things on the python’s body were not short fins. They were very likely a kind of “wing.” At first he also hadn’t thought of this. But judging from the strange shape of the pagoda body and the relief patterns covered with flowers and trees, the shape of this ancient pagoda was almost exactly the same as the Udumbara. It seemed these dead pagodas with inner and outer as one body symbolized the fog appearing underground. And the strange snake with wings passing through the pagoda, wasn’t this precisely the scene of the Mosquito special transport plane bearing the Black Snake mark entering the fog? Perhaps this was merely a coincidence. But that deceased British explorer Wilson had said well: “The deeper one studies logic, the more one should cherish coincidence.”

The various mysterious and terrifying ancient legends in Savage Mountain all couldn’t do without pythons and dense fog. The metaphor symbolized by the dead pagoda should be “Only flying snakes can enter the fog” — this was the secret sign left by the Cham dynasty a thousand years ago.

Yu Feiyan and the others, hearing Sima Hui’s words at first, all felt it was too bizarre. But hearing the latter part, it was also reasonable. Perhaps in ancient times, there truly was this secret sign passed down in the world.

Sima Hui said this was also only his own wishful speculation. Many crucial joints still couldn’t be figured out. The dead pagoda hinting that “only flying snakes can enter the fog” should not be wrong. Green Tomb, who hired the expedition team to enter the Savage Mountain rift valley, for some unknown reason, also grasped this secret. So they arranged the operation plan of using the Mosquito to carry the earthquake bomb. But Green Tomb might also be like them, only seeing the answer without understanding the true meaning of this answer. Therefore, those two Mosquito special transport planes that flew into the rift valley successively encountered accidents.

Sima Hui and the others still remembered that in the recording tape discovered by Karaweik, a tragic disaster was recorded. The British expedition team aboard the Black Snake II, after crashing, had used specially made strong light searchlights to examine the terrain in the fog. Unexpectedly, a great lifeform was attracted by the light and swiftly crawled up from the depths of the abyss like rift valley. At the same time, it was accompanied by waves of terrifying noise like withered wood breaking. And it attacked the personnel in the Mosquito transport plane. When Sima Hui and Yu Feiyan climbed down from the cliff, the dense fog in the rift valley had already been suppressed and lowered by the heavy rain. The two of them didn’t find half a living person in the transport plane. They didn’t even see fragments of corpses. It was as if everyone in the cabin had all vanished into the fog. And when Sima Hui and the others entered the underground marsh and found the Mosquito wreckage that had gone missing over twenty years ago, at the moment of entering the cabin door, the fog that had not been dispersed by the rain still had not dissipated. In the dense fog, there seemed to be some kind of irresistible terrible force that nearly dragged Sima Hui into the fog. But at that time, they didn’t hear that piercing noise. To this day, they still couldn’t say what exactly they had encountered in that instant.

Now, in the dead pagodas of the ancient temple ruins, everyone discovered the mysterious secret sign hidden within: “Only flying snakes can enter the fog.” The truth of this answer was difficult to judge. Perhaps the “flying snake” entwined on the pagoda was precisely the “lifeform” that appeared from the dense fog and attacked the British expedition team. The fog produced by the Udumbara and the monsters inhabiting the fog were precisely the two great gates sealing the ultimate secret of the Golden Spider City.

Everyone fundamentally couldn’t imagine what those pythons with short fins were. How could there ever be pythons that could soar in the fog in this world? The dragons in ancient Chinese legends could indeed ride clouds and drive winds, but those were after all imagined things. Who had ever seen them with their own eyes?

Yu Feiyan said to Sima Hui: “The strange snake emerging from the dead pagoda has at least six or seven pairs of short fins on its body. It may not necessarily be the true form of some creature. Because creatures in the world that can vibrate their wings and soar, whether insects, birds, or bats, at most have two pairs, which is four wings. This is the objective law of their evolution.”

Sima Hui said nothing is absolute. Previously, who could have imagined that in the absolute depths of the Savage Mountain rift valley, there would actually grow such a giant Udumbara. From its birth to its death, it should have lasted only an instant. But the situation was abnormal. Natural laws and principles seemed to have been twisted. It was also possible that in the dense fog, there truly existed something beyond the scope of human cognition.

In the time it took to speak these words, the fog behind them had already thickened as if it couldn’t be dissolved. A Cui warned everyone: “We must immediately find a place to hide. Because no matter what exists in the fog, it could appear at any moment.”

Sima Hui also already heard in the distant dense fog, that kind of creaking noise like a broken wooden door constantly opening and closing. And the Udumbara growing in stone crevices and tree gaps was also gradually increasing. He knew the remaining escape time was growing shorter. He didn’t dare to pause any longer and hurriedly called for everyone to move quickly.

But the environment was harsh, the terrain complex. Collapsed stone walls and stone pagodas, with tree vine remains crisscrossing, and in the pitch black foggy environment, relying only on the searchlight to find the way. Let alone the current time pressure. Even under normal circumstances, wandering in the ruins of this ancient temple palace for a day or two, they might not find the entrance to the underground hidden flow.

Previously, Sima Hui discovered knee deep accumulated water with a tendency to slowly lower and flow. He also saw that the ancient city and jungle had sunk into the earth’s depths as a whole and were well preserved. He pondered that the nearby terrain might be like a bridge arch. The mountain body stratum that collapsed over a thousand years ago was the bridge surface. Below it, there might still be some caves or cracks, similar to holes beneath a bridge surface. In areas with water, the growth of Udumbara would be restricted. And without this subterranean plant, there would be no dense fog. Without fog meant safety. So he believed that only by quickly finding the entrance to the underground hole, even if there was no hidden flow inside, could they at least ensure no life threatening danger for a period of time.

Unexpectedly, the harsh environment limited their movement speed. And the vast fog was coming very fast. Sima Hui saw this was not a situation to be dealt with. He knew that even racing against time would be useless. He looked at the terrain beside him. It happened to be not far from a stone hall. Before the hall wall was a stone arch, transparent inside and out. Inside was a four faced, four armed divine statue. He pointed with his hand, telling everyone to go in first to take shelter. He immediately dodged inside. But raising the searchlight and sweeping it around, he discovered the hall wall behind had already collapsed half a wall. It fundamentally couldn’t shelter people.

The four cried out in bitterness. They were about to turn around and come out when they suddenly heard rustling sounds from the arch wall. Sima Hui shone the searchlight on the stone wall. They saw a cluster of Udumbara as large as a sea bowl drilling out from the brick cracks overhead. Threads of thin mist flowed from it. At this moment, a noise like withered trees came from the depths of the dense fog, approaching from far to near. Before everyone could react, they suddenly saw an extremely long black shadow brush past from the air with a swish. Although everyone stared with unblinking eyes, none of them saw clearly what it was. It seemed to cling to the wall surface, flashed and disappeared. The black shadow seen before the eyes was merely a visual afterimage. That cluster of Udumbara on the stone wall had already shattered into a patch of mist. Speaking of its speed, arrow shooting star flow or wind galloping lightning driving were insufficient to describe it. It could only be said to surpass shadow and exceed light. Human eyes could hardly keep up with its movement speed. That wave of creaking noise was already far away over a hundred meters.

Sima Hui was extremely terrified in his heart: “This is the monster in the fog appearing. It might be foraging. Moving so fast it almost transcends the void and leaves no trace. But even if there truly were flying pythons in the world, they would absolutely not be this fast.”

Before this thought in Sima Hui’s brain had even finished turning, the thing that had just swept overhead had already made a circle in the stone hall. In the blink of an eye, it flew and crashed to the front of his body. He immediately threw away the searchlight in his hand, wanting to use this to draw away the enemy. But the searchlight had just left his hand when the light seemed to suffer black hole devouring, immediately extinguishing in mid air. Luo Big Tongue beside him also felt danger. He immediately pulled the trigger of the large caliber hunting gun he was holding level. In his panic, there was no aim. No one knew where the bullets had gone.

As the saying goes, “Gunfire cures all diseases.” Although everyone was already exhausted to the extreme, walking with two legs that could barely move, when truly reaching the crisis moment of life and death, the potential contained in the spirit could often exceed the limits of physical endurance in a short time. Sima Hui sensed something was wrong. He immediately pushed away Luo Big Tongue who was also inside the stone arch. At the same time, using the force, he lunged to the side. This movement was almost completed simultaneously with the searchlight’s extinguishing and the hunting gun’s firing. Only afterward did they hear the sound of that extinguished searchlight falling to the ground. Although Sima Hui reacted swiftly, he was still one step too slow. While Luo Big Tongue was dodging, he felt a chill at his waist. It was like being stabbed by ice. Reaching out to touch, it was all blood. Only then did he feel pain burning like fire.

It turned out Luo Big Tongue had been struck once by that lightning fast thing in the fog at his waist. It had scraped away a piece of clothing and flesh together. The wound was arc shaped, extremely neat. Blood immediately gushed out like a pour.

Yu Feiyan and A Cui in the back, discovering the searchlight in front had suddenly gone out, knew things were bad. They immediately threw out two white phosphorus grenades. This kind of pull ring grenade was actually a type of incendiary bomb. When burning, although it would produce thick smoke, in an instant white light blazed blindingly, illuminating the surroundings into a sheet of snow brightness.

Yu Feiyan immediately took off her military canteen, pouring all the remaining clear water inside onto the several clusters of Udumbara growing in the stone cracks. Then she went to scoop up accumulated water from the ground, drenching the inside and outside of the hall door. This caused the surrounding fog to slightly diminish. Listening to the rapidly moving noise in the darkness, although still wandering and swimming nearby, it no longer approached the stone hall where the fog was weak.

Sima Hui and A Cui, using the light, saw Luo Big Tongue lying in a pool of blood. His injuries were truly not light. They hurriedly rushed forward to help him up. A Cui’s first aid kit was found in the British expedition team’s plane. It was stocked with various emergency medicines. Among them was a kind of coagulating protein glue for stopping bleeding that could bond wounds. At this moment, regardless of quantity, she used it all on Luo Big Tongue. Then wrapped it with bandages several times. Busy for a while, they finally stopped the bleeding.

Luo Big Sea’s face was pale. The pain made his facial muscles twitch. He looked down at his wound and forced himself to say: “Such a small injury, it’s like being scratched with an itch…”

But in his heart he was also terrified. He secretly thought: “This big gash took away at least two jin of my flesh. Fortunately, I, Luo Big Tongue, have thick skin and rough flesh. Otherwise, I would have really had my intestines flowing out.”

At this moment, Yu Feiyan discovered another cluster of Udumbara emerging at the broken wall. The thick smoke formed by white phosphorus burning met the fog. From it dropped something shaped like a python. Now they could see clearly. It was alive, exactly like a deep sea coelenterate. Approximately as thick as a water bucket, over two meters long. Without scales or skin. Its entire body was semi transparent. It was almost like a section of moving glass tube. On both sides grew symmetrical short fins, thin and sharp as blades. No one knew which end was the head and which was the tail. It twisted and squirmed on the spot. Shaking off the mud and water on its body. It vibrated its wings preparing to fly. The short fins like propellers vibrated at increasingly faster frequency. Emitting waves of noise like rotten wood breaking.

Translation Notes:

Two jin (二斤): A Chinese unit of weight, approximately 1 kilogram. Luo Big Tongue is exaggerating the amount of flesh lost, using the traditional measurement.