Chapter 199: The Stone Slab Blocking the Entrance
The reason they didn't bring the dogs along was that there were too many small crevices in the rubble. If a dog's leg got stuck, it would be quite a hassle, and if a dog were injured because of it, Wang An and the other two would be heartbroken to death!
After the three of them finished tethering the dogs, they followed Wang An's lead, walking in a line toward the center of the rubble pile.
Sure enough, just as Wang An expected, this was a small path. These rubble piles had actually been intentionally placed here by those "Little Japanese" back in the day. As for this path, it was very likely the handiwork of that spy.
However, several years had passed since the spy incident, so small shrubs had grown along the path. These shrubs didn't cause much of an issue; they could simply be stepped over.
Soon, the three of them arrived at a small slope clear of debris. This small incline was roughly 3 square meters, and no animals had passed through here, as there were no animal footprints.
Thus, although the snow was frozen hard, it was in chunks. The three of them pulled out their hunting knives and quickly cleared the area, revealing a stone slab.
This slab had been cut from a large, irregularly shaped rock.
Because of this, the slab looked completely natural sitting there, as if a rock had been buried and only a small portion was exposed. Unless one observed carefully, they would never discover that this was actually a movable slab.
Furthermore, even if the snow melted completely, this entrance would still be difficult to find. It had to be said that the person who blocked the entrance was an absolute son-of-a-bitch genius!
The slab wasn't large, roughly 1.2 meters in both length and width. At the downhill side of the slab, a rock buried in the ground acted as a wedge to keep the slab from sliding.
The slab didn't look heavy, but because it was frozen shut, it didn't budge an inch despite several pushes. The three of them kicked it several times, but it remained utterly useless.
"Alright, stop kicking. You two go chop some firewood—chop plenty, and make a few torches while you're at it. I'll rest for a bit," Wang An said with a thick-skinned grin.
Wang An was both the brother-in-law and the fourth brother, and he took quite good care of Mu Xueli and Wang Li. Consequently, Wang An didn't do much of the errand work. However, Mu Xueli and Wang Li never complained; they felt this was only natural.
Although Mu Xueli and Wang Li did more of the manual labor, Wang An was the one who contributed the most among the three. Whether it was leading them into the mountains, lending them guns, or selling furs at high prices, they were the beneficiaries.
No matter the time, there was never a lack of people to do the heavy lifting.
Wang An sat on the stone slab and smoked a cigarette, suddenly realizing that the frequency of his daily smoking seemed to have increased. Previously, it was an average of one or two a day; now it seemed to be three or four.
Although the cigarette packs of this era didn't yet have the words "Smoking is Harmful to Health" written on them, as someone from the future, Wang An knew the dangers of smoking. However, quitting was impossible; smoking a bit less wouldn't hurt!
After a while, Mu Xueli and Wang Li returned, each carrying a large bundle of firewood. Wang An checked his watch; it was already 11:30. He then called Mu Xueli and Wang Li over to the sled, brought over the pot and all the dry rations they had, and took six wild pheasants back to the stone slab.
Thus, the three of them started a fire on the slab and worked together to pluck the pheasants. Calling it "plucking" was a stretch; they were actually just ripping the skin off. The pheasants were frozen rock-hard; they had to be roasted slightly to soften before they could be pulled away, otherwise, the meat would be inedible.
Each dog got a large flatbread, and two dogs shared one pheasant. Wang An's distribution was impartial and reasonable. The dogs certainly weren't full, but without hunting, this was the best they could do.
The three of them stewed one pheasant and each ate two mixed-flour steamed buns, thus getting through the meal.
After eating, the stone slab had been heated until it was scorching. The three of them brought back the snow chunks they had tossed aside and threw them onto the slab to cool it down. The slab was quite sturdy; it didn't crack under the rapid heating and cooling. However, that wasn't important; what the three of them cared about was the entrance.
Then, with excited hearts, the three of them moved the slab aside. Seeing the stairs in the hole extending from the entrance into the darkness, the three of them became even happier.
Although there were many vents in the rocky mountain, for the sake of safety, Wang An lit a torch and threw it into the hole. The torch didn't go out, proving that the ventilation inside was good—at the very least, they wouldn't suffocate.
In the Northeast, making a torch was very simple: cut a section of resinous pine, wrap dry linden bark around one end, and the torch was done.
Resinous pine was just dried pine trunks, found everywhere in the mountains. The most annoying thing about this stuff when it burned was that it emitted black smoke—and a significant amount of it, which was particularly choking.
If a person traveled with a torch, their face and body would be covered in black ash within two or three hours.
Wang An's experiences from his previous life had etched caution into his very bones. Therefore, Wang An tied a hemp rope around his waist and handed the other end to Mu Xueli, then said seriously to Mu Xueli and Wang Li
"I'll go in and check first. You two wait for me outside. If I pull the rope twice in a row, you come in. If I pull it three times, pull me out. Do you understand?"
Seeing Wang An so serious, Mu Xueli and Wang Li couldn't help but become nervous. After all, in the secret bases of the Japanese they had discovered previously, almost every base contained poison. To say there was no danger in this cave would be a lie.
After Wang An finished speaking, he prepared to enter the cave. At that moment, Mu Xueli said, "Brother-in-law, let me go in first. You're more useful outside than I am."
Wang Li also said, "Fourth Brother, let me..."
Before Wang Li could finish, Wang An interrupted him with a smile, "No need. You two just stay put. Remember, if I pull twice, you come in; if I pull three times, you pull me out. Got it?"
"Got it, Brother-in-law (Fourth Brother)!" Mu Xueli and Wang Li replied simultaneously.
"I'm going in. You two keep an eye on the outside; don't let yourselves get messed with by a black bear again," Wang An joked with a smile, then followed the stairs into the cave.
Wang An was currently walking downward, so he should have been in a posture of head held high. Unfortunately, this cave had been dug according to the height of the Japanese—just over 1.5 meters, definitely not reaching 1.6 meters. This forced Wang An to walk with a hunched back; not only was he hunched, he had to shrink his neck.
Otherwise, his head would have a "close encounter" with the stone ceiling. After two such intimate contacts, Wang An was thoroughly humbled, as he finally confirmed that even while wearing a cotton hat, his head was no match for stone!
After entering the cave, Wang An felt that the space inside the rocky mountain was like an "urn" turned upside down on the ground—as wide as a vat, but not as tall.
On the side walls of the "urn" were stairs spiraling downward. The air circulation inside the "urn" was also very good, as Wang An felt no sense of suffocation and the torch didn't go out.
This put Wang An quite at ease. As he walked down, he carefully observed his surroundings. To his surprise, there were many candles remaining in small holes in the stone walls, and several hurricane lamps were hanging. Wang An didn't hesitate to light the lamps.
Although hurricane lamps weren't as bright as torches, they weren't choking. Besides, with so many lamps available, lighting a few more would get the job done!
Wang An then pressed the torch against the stairs to extinguish it and continued downward, carrying a hurricane lamp.