Mysterious Country 1: Mist-Shrouded Champa, Volume 2: Chapter 6: The Mosquito Special Transport Aircraft

Mysterious Country 1: Mist-Shrouded Champa, Volume 2: Chapter 6: The Mosquito Special Transport Aircraft

The sky had grown fully dark, and the entire Savage Mountains had fallen into a silence like death, the brief stillness before the arrival of the storm.

But the frozen atmosphere between the four remaining members of the Communist Party of Burma guerrillas and Yu Feiyan’s group of grave robbers was even more oppressive.

Sima Hui knew his side was at a disadvantage, and that showing any softness would only make their position worse. So during the underwater exchange he had not given an inch, deliberately choosing the sharpest and most cutting remarks, until Sheng Yu’s face had cycled between pale and dark with suppressed anger.

Advisor Jiang on the sidelines was an old hand at the game. Seeing the two of them going head to head with the conversation growing ever more rigid, on the verge of coming to actual bloodshed, he quickly cleared his throat to signal that this line of talk had gone far enough. He swapped out the water in the underwater teacup formation, since by old custom this round called for “strong red tea,” the kind so thick it could knock a person sideways with a single sip. But in the primeval jungle there were no such conditions, so he simply changed the water in the caps and rearranged them into the “Three Yang Bring Prosperity” formation.

The underwater teacup formation begins with the “Long Snake in a Line” where each participant reveals their identity, followed by the “Two Dragons Emerging from Water” where they interrogate each other. In the deep sea, there are also formations such as “Three Rams Opening Prosperity, Four Gates Sealing the Bottom, Five Tigers among Sheep, Six Heavenly Guardians, Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper, Eight Trigrams of All Phenomena, Nine Children in a Chain,” and finally “Ten Sides Laid in Ambush.” According to the rules, they proceed layer by layer, and by the time they reach the bottom of the sea, they have completely figured out each other’s situations.

After this exchange, both sides had sized each other up. There was no actual conflict of interests between them, and neither need worry about information leaking. Sima Hui’s background was fairly straightforward. He declared without any embarrassment that once upon a time, Commander Sima had swept through Burma and Laos, victorious in a hundred battles, cutting down enemies without number, and that when he stamped his foot the entire northern Burma landscape would tremble. But now the People’s Army had collapsed, and he had no desire to keep wading in these murky waters. He planned to skirt around the Savage Mountains and head north toward the border.

Yu Feiyan’s group, on the other hand, had ancestors who were members of the grave-robbing trade from the northeast of China. They operated as a band, known as the “Mountain Forest Old and Young Brigade,” and had been forced to flee to Southeast Asia and go into exile after pulling off several major jobs during the Republic of China era. They had since been making their living near the Strait of Malacca through smuggling, while also colluding with sea pirates to salvage ancient sunken ships, or crossing into the Thai-Cambodian border region to loot tombs, temples, and pagoda ruins, making their income by smuggling and selling cultural artifacts.

In China’s traditional folk culture, the concept of the “jianghu” had always existed, and within it lived many unusual trades. Beggars who worked the streets were called “flower people.” Those who robbed graves and dug up tombs were called “dark people.” There were also highwaymen who robbed at knifepoint, pickpockets who cut purses, fishers who lived by trickery, thieves who slipped through a hundred doors picking locks, fortune tellers, feng shui masters who read land for burial sites, and more. Their trades and methods of making a living varied widely, some learned and some brute, but all carried a certain superstitious quality. Those among them who understood the Five Elements, the Eight Trigrams, and the arts of feng shui, meaning those with a higher level of cultivation, were held in great esteem in the jianghu. By comparison, the “dark trade” was simply a catch-all name for folk grave robbers, and the people within it were of a very mixed character.

After Sheng Yu’s father died, she continued the family business, taking charge of the old crew and becoming the leading figure of the Mountain Forest Old and Young Brigade. Her most capable subordinates went by names like “Flying Over Grass,” “Pangolin,” and “Sea Winter Eagle.” There was also a Soviet fugitive skilled in demolition, nicknamed “White Bear.” Advisor Jiang was a veteran grave robber and was also Sheng Yu’s uncle on her father’s side, serving as something of a half-sibling to her in the trade, which was why Sheng Yu treated him with particular respect and called him “Old Jiang,” deferring to him in all things.

Yu Feiyan had received a higher education, and in recent years had refined the inherited trade considerably. She had made quite a name for herself with the Mountain Forest Old and Young Brigade in the south. This time they had taken on a commission from a major client to travel to the end point of the Ghost Road in the Savage Mountains and locate something of extreme importance. But it was not a grave they were digging. What they had come to do was a piece of “spike work,” so called because it was extraordinarily dangerous and difficult, like trying to move and turn among countless razor-sharp bamboo spikes.

When Sima Hui had heard all of this, he said that since the two groups had no real connection to each other, the road was wide enough for each to go their own way. The notebook was already in their hands now. What more did they want? Better to release his three companions immediately. He had killed one of their men, so they could keep him alone. He would answer for what he had done himself, and whatever they wanted to do with him, cut him down or let him go, was entirely up to them.

After Sheng Yu had gotten a clear picture of Sima Hui’s background, her tone became noticeably less sharp than before. But she had no intention of releasing them just yet. During the underwater exchange, her people had already questioned Karaweik on the side, the boy who had been carrying the notebook. A teenager from the northern Burma mountains was no match for these seasoned operators, and in just three or five exchanges they had drawn out the truth. The notebook contained no detailed map of the Ghost Road, and the only person who now had any chance of finding the road in the mountains was Karaweik himself. This was an opportunity heaven had sent directly to her door, and Yu Feiyan was not about to let it slip away. No matter what, the expedition would be taking Karaweik with them.

But Yu Feiyan did not push things to an absolute extreme. While making her own intentions clear, she also put two options to the other side. As Sima Hui saw it, only two roads were open to him. The first was to leave Karaweik behind and go free. The second was to join the expedition and enter the mountains together. Sheng Yu was also aware of the situation Sima Hui and the others were in, and made a promise on the spot: if they completed this piece of spike work successfully, she would arrange for all four of them to leave Burma, whether to Hong Kong, Thailand, or even out of Asia altogether. She would take care of everything.

Yu Feiyan urgently needed to build up her strength. She could see that Sima Hui had excellent skills, exceptional nerve and judgment, and as a former member of the Communist Party of Burma guerrillas, must also know the mountain terrain well. She made up her mind to bring him in, and her words were entirely sincere.

Sima Hui glanced over at his three companions tied up nearby. He saw A Cui and Luo Dahai both give him a quiet nod, indicating they were unwilling to abandon Karaweik and were willing to go with the expedition deep into the heart of the Savage Mountains. The journey would be fraught with danger, but it was not necessarily a dead end. Since they had already given up on life and death long ago, what place was there they wouldn’t dare go? Sima Hui steeled himself, nodded, and agreed to Yu Feiyan’s request, consenting to join the expedition.

Both sides immediately burned incense and swore an oath to seal the agreement, signaling they would never go back on their word. Sheng Yu then ordered her people to untie Luo Dahai and the other two, provided medicine for Sima Hui to treat his wound, and had everyone set up camp on the spot, with departure set for first light.

A Cui was well versed in medicine. She lanced the festering wound, changed and applied the dressing, and re-bandaged the shoulder. The knot of worry she had been carrying finally released. If they hadn’t encountered this expedition out in the jungle, the infection in Sima Hui’s wound would only have grown worse, and he very likely would not have made it out of the Savage Mountains alive.

Sheng Yu watched A Cui handle the wound with clean, deft technique and a clear command of medicine, a skill that matched a truly skilled physician, and could not help feeling a degree of respect for her. She also felt more certain than ever that securing these four people had been a gift from heaven, and that their inclusion gave the mission every reason to succeed.

Sima Hui paid no attention to what Yu Feiyan was thinking. While letting A Cui dress his wound, he sat with Luo Dahai and Karaweik tearing into several bags of field rations they had just been given. These Type 6 field rations had everything: coffee, cigarettes, matches, and even chocolate. Karaweik was so hungry his eyes had gone hollow, and without stopping to look at what anything was, he stuffed whatever he could find straight into his stomach. His cheeks bulging with food, he kept nodding at Sima Hui to signal that it was all delicious.

Sima Hui himself found it impossible to get down, and shook his head: “Sunday, you really have no standards. This stuff has no flavor no matter how long you chew it, neither salty nor plain, and yet you’re eating like you’ve been served a feast of delicacies?”

Luo Dahai shared his view entirely, spitting out what he had been chewing into his palm for a look: “It really does taste like wax. Is this what the expedition eats every day?”

Sima Hui explained that since it was field rations, they would naturally be designed for use in combat conditions, so it was understandable they weren’t great, and besides, food had to be dried out to keep for any length of time.

Luo Dahai had a sudden realization: “Oh, so it’s been dried out. No wonder it tastes like I’m chewing toilet paper. They’ve dried the hell out of it.”

Then he put back into his mouth what he had just spat into his palm and began chewing it hard again.

Yu Feiyan had been watching the whole spectacle and could not help speaking up: “Do you two have any idea what you’re actually eating? That is toilet paper.”

Only then did Sima Hui and Luo Dahai realize they had picked up the wrong thing. There was food to be had, but they had grabbed the toilet paper from the sealed inner bag of the Type 6 field rations instead, because it was the bulkiest item, and had shoved it straight into their mouths. Learning the truth, both men were mortified, but given their personalities, they were naturally never going to admit it. Better to brazen it out. They insisted they were both men of culture who had always enjoyed eating things with a literary quality. Two rolls of toilet paper was nothing, they said. They’d even eaten two jin of shrimp painted by Qi Baishi. Even as they spoke they finished chewing every last scrap of toilet paper from the field ration bags and swallowed it down, only then starting on the actual food.

Sheng Yu did not bother arguing with them. She used the opportunity to explain to Sima Hui and the others the structure of the expedition. Whatever it called itself, at its core it had never stopped being a traditional criminal outfit, the Mountain Forest Old and Young Brigade. All matters were decided by the one at the top, but the one at the top had to have a straight heart, because without it nothing would work.

Next came the “pen man,” also called the advisor, who was the most experienced old hand in the group. He served as the strategist, the role of a military counselor. Below that were several capable brothers: Flying Over Grass, Pangolin, and others.

The twenty-odd Burmese armed men serving as porters were all outlaws recruited from warlord militias in northern Burma, willing to do anything for money.

Sima Hui and his four, meanwhile, had been made “trail lighters,” responsible for leading the expedition to the Ghost Road in the Savage Mountains. Although the tropical storm “Stupa” currently bearing down on northern Burma was advancing rapidly northward and was expected to reach the Savage Mountains within a day or two, Sheng Yu’s resolve appeared to be absolute. Even facing such severe weather conditions, she was determined to complete this piece of spike work at any cost. The situation in the non-military-controlled zones of northern Burma was extremely unstable, and if they missed this window, there was no telling when the next opportunity to enter the mountains would come.

Sima Hui turned over in his mind the fact that Sheng Yu and her people were grave robbers who dug up tombs and sold the relics. But he had never heard of any “ancient tombs” in the Savage Mountains. And bribing local armed forces for passage into the mountains must have cost a very considerable sum, far beyond what could be recouped by digging up a handful of antiques from a burial site. Who would be willing to invest on such a scale, and what exactly were they looking for?

Sima Hui was already burning with curiosity and asked Sheng Yu directly: what secret was hidden at the end of the Ghost Road?

Sheng Yu took out a waterproof bag and drew out its contents: a thin sheaf of documents and several photographs. She told Sima Hui and the others: “This is the one and only thing I’ve come here to find.”

Sima Hui and Luo Dahai leaned in and looked carefully at the aircraft in the photographs. The setting appeared to be a military airfield of some kind, and all of the photos showed the same military transport plane. The aircraft was old in design and of an unusual shape, with a viper rearing up with its tongue extended painted on the fuselage and wings, making it look quite distinctive.

Both men felt a flicker of recognition, as though they had seen it somewhere before. It was clearly not a modern aircraft type, something that should long since have ended up in a military museum. And then, in that moment, a memory surfaced from their years of fighting in the mountains, and they said in surprise: “Is this a Royal Air Force Mosquito Special Transport Aircraft?”