Mysterious Country 1: Mist-Shrouded Champa, Volume 3 : Chapter 9: The Voice

Mysterious Country 1: Mist-Shrouded Champa, Volume 3 : Chapter 9: The Voice

Sima Hui suddenly heard someone speaking nearby, yet there were clearly no other living people in the cabin. This Black Snake transport plane had identical front and rear sections. Although it was pitch black inside, holding up a searchlight would allow one to see from one end directly to the other. The entire space was no larger than a palm, so where could anyone possibly hide? Could it be that besides the six survivors of the expedition team, there was also a British pilot’s ghost hiding in this special transport plane that had been missing for decades?

That warning-like message seemed to come from another world. Not only Sima Hui and Yu Feiyan heard it, but the Russian White Bear in the center of the cabin also heard it with perfect clarity. He had followed the expedition team deep into the hinterland of “Wild Man Mountain” solely for the substantial reward. But he had completely not anticipated encountering so many unimaginably complex situations in the mountains, and finding himself sinking deeper and deeper. By the time he wanted to throw up his hands and quit, he discovered he could no longer leave. He had no choice but to continue traveling with the other survivors.

After the “Mosquito Special Transport Plane” crashed into the bottom of the rift valley, although White Bear had not suffered any serious injuries, he had been jolted badly enough that his brain could no longer “distinguish north from south or east from west.” He felt that although his body had landed, his internal organs were still suspended in the sky, not yet returned to their proper positions. He had no beliefs whatsoever, his nature cold and cruel, never knowing fear. During the transport plane’s descent, the cabin had been completely pitch black, and outside was even more dim and silent, vast and obscure. White Bear sat in a canvas-padded seat, his body secured by a safety lock, his hands gripping the safety rope tightly. Amidst the violent jolting and shaking, his body was also thrown about by inertia. He had ridden in various aircraft on more than one occasion, even when subjected to fierce ground anti-aircraft fire, and had never panicked. Because he knew that encountering such situations, fear was useless. One could only let nature take its course.

But now, in this gloomy and cramped transport cabin, he faintly heard the sound of a British person speaking. This matter completely exceeded White Bear’s common knowledge. When he had worked as a mercenary before, he had also had contact with some British people. The heavy British accent was naturally unmistakable. But presently, there were simply no British people in the Black Snake. The communication equipment in the cockpit was clearly damaged. Why would there be a British person’s whispering voice? Moreover, this transport plane had been missing for over twenty years. Why was it still maintained in brand new condition even to this day? And why, before entering the Wild Man Mountain giant rift valley, had they seen its dark silhouette passing at low altitude?

All these inexplicable phenomena combined pointed to only one conclusion: that this British Air Force Mosquito special transport plane was “haunted,” and there was a Royal Air Force pilot’s ghost hiding in the cabin. That was why they could hear the pilot’s ghostly voice.

Although White Bear had not heard all the content of the voice clearly, several fragmented phrases still drilled into his ears. That British Air Force pilot’s ghost seemed to be warning the expedition team: “The cargo loaded in the transport cabin is extremely dangerous!”

White Bear never believed anyone, but he had absolute faith in his own ears. He gestured to Yu Feiyan: “This transport plane is far too abnormal. Before investigating all the circumstances clearly, it is best not to casually touch anything. Otherwise, it may very likely invite fatal disaster.”

Yu Feiyan had been constantly worried that the Wild Man Mountain giant rift valley would continue to collapse under the tropical storm’s assault. If this pyramid-shaped cavern completely caved in, everyone would be buried alive underground. The first thing to do right now was to quickly retrieve the “cargo” from the cabin, then immediately search for an exit. Once the “Pagoda” momentum weakened, they would all escape Wild Man Mountain together.

But precisely at this critical juncture, something unexpected occurred. Before the transport plane crashed into the bottom of the rift valley, she had not had time to carefully examine the conditions inside the cabin. But by now she had already used the searchlight to illuminate every direction, front and back, left and right. Where was there any British person in the cabin? According to the British military archives she had access to, this Black Snake Mosquito special transport plane had gone missing in the deepest part of the fog in the Wild Man Mountain rift valley while carrying out a mission in Myanmar. At that time, there were three crew members on the plane, including the pilot. Could their ghosts still be lingering here? Unwilling to let others touch the “cargo” in the cabin?

Just as everyone found this matter exceedingly strange, they saw Karaweik, his head wrapped in bandages, holding a black object and handing it to Sima Hui.

Sima Hui asked in surprise: “What is this?”

Karaweik appeared flustered and hurried. He gestured and spoke for quite a while. Fortunately, with A Cui’s assistance in interpretation, everyone finally understood. It turned out that after Karaweik hid inside the cabin, the Mosquito special transport plane immediately began its high-speed descent. He suddenly felt something collide with him head-on. In his panic, he had not clearly seen what it was, but grabbed it instinctively. At the time, he did not know what he pressed, but suddenly someone started speaking from inside the thing, startling Karaweik. Then the transport plane encountered the swirling air currents in the rift valley. During the violent jolting and shaking, his head was struck, opening a gash, and he lost consciousness. When he woke up, he discovered the thing was still clutched in his hand. When he pressed it again, a voice came out. Karaweik found this extremely strange. According to the unwritten rules of the Burmese Communist guerrilla unit, on the battlefield, any ownerless items and things from dead bodies belonged to whoever picked them up. There was no such thing as the Three Main Rules and Eight Points for Attention here. The concept of “all captured items must be turned over to public ownership” simply did not exist. So he immediately stuffed it into his pocket to keep. Only when he saw the other five people had all stopped talking did Karaweik take the thing out to show Sima Hui, wanting Sima Hui to tell him how to use it.

When Sima Hui and the others saw what Karaweik had picked up, it turned out to be a handheld small recorder similar to an interview machine, with a linear microphone plugged into its side. Only then did they realize that the British voice they had heard speaking in the cabin had all come from this. Sima Hui was truly helpless before the Burmese people’s rolling-knife-meat-like nature. But the tightly wound string in his brain finally loosened a notch. Luo Dahai flicked Karaweik on the forehead with his finger: “You little brat nearly scared the souls out of all of us.”

Karaweik had no idea what was going on, his face full of blank confusion.

Yu Feiyan saw it was merely a false alarm. But the tape in this recorder seemed to mention information about the “cargo crates.” She had many unresolved puzzles in her heart and was eager to find some answers from it. So she decided to listen through it from beginning to end first, then retrieve the items from the cabin according to the situation. She urged: “Anyway, almost and almost by a hundred points make no difference. Don’t scold this little brother. What could he understand?”

She immediately took the recorder, rewound the tape, and played it. After careful listening, she discovered that the recorded audio information on this tape was indeed left by a British person. Besides Sima Hui and Luo Dahai, the others all understood English. But these two were unwilling to sit by with their eyes wide open listening to gibberish. Yu Feiyan had no choice but to translate a section for them after listening to each section.

Unexpectedly, what they heard next made everyone feel as if “a temple had exploded” in their minds. The content recorded on this tape was far more terrifying than encountering a British Air Force pilot’s ghost underground.

The recording was made by a British cave exploration expert named Wilson, through real-time self-narration. It began the moment the transport plane took off from the base, and claimed that if anyone discovered this tape, it meant he had already perished. During the flight, Wilson briefly reviewed his experiences, stating that he had joined an experienced elite team. This team included not only the finest pilots, but also experts in religious history and supernatural phenomena, as well as retired soldiers from the Air Force Special Service Group. They had no government background and worked solely for money. This time they were employed by a client who never showed his face, with the goal of searching for the “Mosquito Special Transport Plane” missing in the Wild Man Mountain giant rift valley. It was said that the transport plane contained rare treasures plundered by British colonizers from Myanmar. But the specific cargo in the cabin was top secret. Except for the team leader, the other members had no way of knowing.

After multiple repeated explorations and aerial reconnaissance, they had preliminarily determined the topographical structure inside the rift valley. This was a massive cavern with a pyramid-shaped cross-section, extremely deep in vertical extent, with a relatively narrow horizontal surface. Based on the radio communications from the missing Mosquito transport plane’s pilot, they estimated it had descended on the southern side.

The expedition team also discovered that whether on the ground or underground, on land or in water, there was no absolutely safe route to enter the mountain. Besides the dense fog surging from underground, Wild Man Mountain also contained large numbers of ancient ruins. But most were severely damaged, making it impossible to determine or verify their cultural backgrounds and historical origins. It seemed the ancients had wanted to conceal some kind of secret, and had established layers upon layers of traps. And the Mosquito special transport plane loaded with Myanmar’s ancient treasures had coincidentally crashed in Wild Man Mountain. Was all this merely coincidence? Wilson thought perhaps he was simply overthinking it. But the deeper one studied logic, the more one should cherish coincidences.

Unfortunately, the several expedition teams that had previously entered the mountain had all vanished without a trace. Almost no survivors had returned alive. For well-equipped, experienced, highly trained, and heavily armed professional adventurers, the complex terrain on the periphery of Wild Man Mountain, along with various poisonous insects and giant pythons, were not absolute obstacles. The true threat came from the mountain’s perennially un dissipating fog. The boundless mist concealed the primeval jungle surrounding the rift valley, making it impossible for outsiders to penetrate its secrets.

Wilson’s British expedition team devised a plan that was nearly insane. They believed that the Royal Air Force’s special transport plane back then had been able to descend into the fog in the depths of the rift valley thanks to two factors. First, the Mosquito’s special material structure. Second, the airflow effects produced by the rift valley’s special terrain. But if any other aircraft were used, it would certainly be either too light or too heavy, neither matching the Mosquito. Additionally, meteorological conditions might also be one of the determining factors. On the day the Black Snake transport plane went missing, there had similarly been a tropical storm forming a hurricane that moved northward, causing most of the Wild Man Mountain rift valley’s topographical contours to be exposed from the dense fog.

To enter the depths of the rift valley now, they could only wait for the tropical storm to arrive again, and they also needed to use the same model of “Mosquito” aircraft to have any hope of achieving their goal. The depths of Wild Man Mountain had minefields, dense fog, poisonous insects, and various evil sorceries that Westerners could not comprehend. So they planned to ride the same Mosquito aircraft, taking advantage of the weather changes to冒险 into the very bottom of the rift valley. After succeeding, they would then try to escape using a hot air balloon. Even by the late 1960s, Mosquito aircraft could still be seen in some relatively backward regions. After considerable effort, they finally found a Mosquito modified special transport plane identical to the Black Snake somewhere in Southeast Asia.

There existed ancient python totems near Wild Man Mountain. The transport plane that fell into the dense fog was code-named Black Snake. The rift valley’s orientation also wound like a snake. Even the Ghost Road built by the US military was shaped like a long snake. The British explorers speculated that perhaps “snake” was the key connecting all the secrets of Wild Man Mountain. So they had the found “Mosquito Special Transport Plane” re-modified and refurbished, making it from inside to outside, including its paint scheme, almost completely identical to the missing transport plane of that year. They named it “Black Snake II,” hoping it would bring good fortune to the expedition team.

The British expedition team bribed a hidden airport controlled by local armed forces in the non-military-controlled zone at the Myanmar-Laos border. When the tropical storm “Pagoda” invaded, they boarded “Black Snake II” to head for Wild Man Mountain. This plan was extremely dangerous. Weather, terrain, and people; courage, skill, and bravery. Any tiny factor could affect the final fate. Unpredictable changes often brought various unexpected difficulties. But facing the astonishing rewards, and some inexplicable sense of mission, driven by their gambling mentality, the British expedition team still decided to advance despite knowing the difficulties. Wilson stated frankly: “The danger of this mission is extremely great. It is very likely we will go and never return. I hope what we are doing is worth it.”

After “Black Snake II” special transport plane took off, it circled above the mountainous area for a long time. Unexpectedly, the weather grew increasingly severe. Thunderstorms began appearing in the distance. The dense fog near the rift valley had not lowered to the anticipated level. It completely lacked the conditions planned beforehand. The pilot had no choice but to propose abandoning this operation. But just at the moment before they were about to pass over the rift valley at low altitude, suddenly from within a mass of stagnant, un dissipating clouds and fog, another ghostly Mosquito special transport plane appeared.

Wilson said that it was precisely the Royal Air Force transport plane that had been missing for decades. It flew straight toward us silently. By the time the pilot discovered it and wanted to turn to avoid it, it was already too late. Our “Black Snake II” collided head-on with the plane that appeared in the fog. But the sudden collision in midair did not cause “Black Snake II” to explode on the spot. It was as if we had crashed into a patch of dense fog that could be seen but not touched. That Mosquito transport plane on the opposite side seemed to be an illusion that did not exist at all. But what was difficult to understand was that at the instant of contact with the ghost transport plane, “Black Snake II’s” dual engines simultaneously stopped. All equipment completely failed. The cabin instantly became pitch black. In its out-of-control state, it directly fell into the rift valley.

Thanks to God’s protection, “Black Snake II” was spared from being destroyed and killing everyone aboard. It was caught by resilient ancient vines in midair. After the crew members successively regained consciousness from their stupor, they discovered that dense fog outside the cabin obscured their vision, making it impossible to see where they were. In order to maintain a certain range of visibility in the fog, the British expedition team had prepared several high-intensity searchlights in advance. These could maximally penetrate the impurities in the fog. So the group opened the cabin door and used multi-head high-intensity spotlights to examine the terrain near the “landing point.” At this time, the expedition team leader once again warned everyone that if they found the missing Mosquito transport plane, no one was to open the cargo crates without his permission, because the “cargo” loaded inside the cabin was extremely dangerous.

But this British expedition team’s misfortunes had only just begun. The strong searchlight beams from the transport plane actually drew out an enormous object from the depths of the dense fog. Wilson described that thing in a terrified voice as a “living organism.” It swallowed the entire transport plane. Then, amid a burst of panicked screams and piercing noises, the tape recording abruptly ended.

(End of Volume 3)