Under the dim glow of the wall lamps, a deep passage leading into the mountain's interior appeared before Zhuoya and me.
Given the technology of the savage tribe, it was impossible for them to have dug such a passage; it must have been left by the Soviet military!
How did Zhuoya know about this place?
I looked at Zhuoya with a strange expression, filled with doubt.
She wasn't looking at me, but instead, she touched the wall with a hint of nostalgia, as if it held many memories for her. She then sighed, turned to me, and slowly said, "This was my mother's secret sanctuary, which she told me about before she disappeared. She said she left many good things for me inside. Now is the time to bring them out."
That made sense. It seemed Zhuoya's mother held an unusual position in the military, even possessing her own private sanctuary.
But why didn't Zhuoya's mother survive in this sanctuary after leaving the army, and why did she eventually disappear? What hidden secrets lay within?
Many questions arose in my mind as this passage opened up.
However, now was not the time to delve into these matters. I temporarily suppressed my questions and followed Zhuoya inside.
The passage wasn't long. After a straight stretch of over ten meters, a turn led us to the entrance of a small room.
The room had no windows, only a somewhat old-fashioned iron door. Zhuoya produced a key from somewhere and inserted it into the lock.
As she pushed the door inward with force, the sanctuary, buried by time for decades, finally reappeared to the world.
The room wasn't large; one could see its entirety at a glance.
Against one wall was a simple iron bed. To the left of the bed stood a bookshelf, filled with many books written in Russian.
Looking at the covers of the books, a sense of historical depth washed over me.
As I truly entered the room and looked towards the right side, previously hidden by the iron door, my steps involuntarily halted.
There was another cabinet, and neatly arranged on it was an array of firearms!
Pistols, submachine guns, rifles...
All sorts of firearms, some familiar and some not, were packed tightly. I even spotted grenades and landmines on the bottom shelf!
Was this a sanctuary or a small armory!?
I was both confused and excited. After all, what man didn't dream of these firearms that had crossed an era!
Zhuoya's expression had lost its earlier wistfulness. With a hint of excitement, she took a Thompson submachine gun from the shelf and handed it to me.
"Brother Xiao Ye, with these treasures my mother left behind, we can surely turn the Kasa tribe upside down!"
I took the gun and examined it closely. Before we entered, this sanctuary seemed to have been hermetically sealed, as the firearms showed no signs of oxidation.
With a gun in my hand, my earlier panic subsided.
Kasa tribe, just you wait, here I come!
Afterward, Zhuoya and I found a large military backpack under the bed. We filled it with ammunition and then temporarily sealed the sanctuary again.
With these guns, I would show the Kasa tribe what an era-spanning massacre looked like!
Time flew by. Two days quickly passed, and the day of the Kasa tribe's sacrifice arrived.
Zhuoya and I, fully armed, had already taken up positions in the jungle on the edge of the sacrifice site.
It could be said that we were quite lucky.
The Kasa tribe's sacrifice site was less than a few kilometers from the cave where we initially landed and lived. We had simply never explored in that direction, so we had never encountered the savages.
In fact, what they called a sacrifice site was merely a clearing in the jungle with a platform of earth built up.
It was understandable; I hadn't expected a tribe still in a state of primitive civilization to come up with anything elaborate, especially since they weren't like ancient Egyptians, capable of creating pyramids that modern people couldn't decipher.
The sun was high in the sky, and it was nearing noon.
I was growing impatient. These Kasa tribesmen were so diligent when hunting, why were they dragging their sacrifices until noon?
They had no sense of time.
Just as I was idly wondering, movement finally came from the direction of the forest.
Four burly, naked savages, their lower bodies covered only by animal skins, were carrying the giant bear that Zhuoya had mentioned, slowly approaching.
These strong men were clearly the elite of the Kasa tribe. Their bodies bore dozens of scars, and they all had fierce expressions, looking formidable.
However, following them was a thin man clad in a black robe and wearing a golden mask.
And behind him was the tribe leader I had encountered before.
I blinked in surprise. What was the identity of this man in the golden mask?
He was walking in front of the tribe leader, and the leader's demeanor suggested that this was perfectly natural!
Zhuoya, beside me, was also observing the Kasa tribesmen carefully. Seeing my confusion, she leaned close and whispered into my ear, "The man with the golden mask is our tribe's Great Priest. He presides over all sacrificial activities dedicated to the sea god."
No wonder. I had wondered how a tribe leader would allow someone else to walk before him.
As the Kasa tribe members were about to complete their entrance, the last group to arrive were the survivors they had captured!
Some I had never met, others were my former colleagues, my friends. They all had vacant eyes, like zombies, herded like livestock by the Kasa tribesmen, utterly devoid of human dignity.
My anger flared. This had nothing to do with whether I was on good terms with them or not. It was simply the humiliation of feeling enslaved by a group of barbarians when we all belonged to a civilized generation!
Just as I was about to lose control of my anger, the Kasa tribe was ready. The Great Priest took out a short, golden scepter from his robe, placed it on the high platform, and spoke something to the savages below in a series of guttural sounds. The savages then all knelt down.
The unfortunate survivors who were herded there were also forced to their knees.
After speaking, the Great Priest closed his eyes and began to perform a strange dance around the carcass of the giant bear, as if performing some sort of ritual.
I calmed myself and silently raised the gun in my hand.
This was a golden opportunity!