object underneath.
“Oh my god, this is sick.” Johnny cried.
The object that was covered by the black cloth was indeed a transparent glass tank filled to its brim with stinking formalin. A well-preserved human hand was floating right in the middle of the tank in an upright position, its palm facing Paul and his gang! A chilling sensation trickled down the spines of the four grown-ups as they stared at the floating hand that was severed from the wrist down. The hand was glowing with a strange greenish luminescence and it was swaying slightly at a position about four inches underneath the liquid surface. For a while, it seemed like the hand was gesturing a welcome wave at the four wide-eyed guys! There were also tiny shoots of incandescent plants jutting out of the hand at various places which reminded Nelson of the ‘Swamp Thing’ comic book he used to read.
“What in the world is this?” Paul asked, bringing his face closer to the tank. For a split second, the creepy looking hand in the tank twitched, making Paul jump in fear and stagger backwards.
“Holy shit!” Paul exclaimed, trying to regain his balance. “Did you guys see that?”
“Oh boy, did the hand move? Or am I out of my mind?” Kenso asked. He leaned forward and gently tapped one side of the glass tank with his fingers. All was still.
“It’s not moving now, but I’m sure I just saw it move,” Paul said, “it scared the hell out of me.”
The four men stared at the gory greenish hand for a few minutes but nothing extraordinary happened. The hand remained motionless in the tank of strong smelling formaldehyde.
“This is so weird.” Nelson said, shifting his gaze to other parts of the room, “Judging from the look of all these, the serious man inside me says that Unit 731 existed and their crazy experiments were very real.”
“What’s this?” Johnny asked anxiously, beaming his flashlight at a metallic box beside the shelf and continued, “Hey, look at the inscription on the box.”
“It’s in Japanese,” Paul said, “Kenso-san, can you translate this?”
Kenso edged his face closer and he squinted to read the Japanese characters that were engraved on the metallic box.
“Let me see..umph..it says Project N.E.N. No, I think it’s Project Nen . It says here, to be delivered to the Imperial Biological Headquarters in Kyoto. Number sixty-two dash forty-one. Mount Atago. ” Kenso stared at the inscriptions on the box for a short moment before lifting up his head. “That’s it. Can’t make out the rest of the words.”
“What the hell is Project Nen?” Johnny asked.
“Beats me.” Kenso said.
“Shall we open it?” Nelson asked.
“I don’t think we should.” Kenso said firmly.
“Come on, maybe there are gold bars or some valuable stuff in it?” Nelson pleaded, hoping that one of them would agree to his intention. However, Johnny shook his head in disagreement and Paul said to him flatly, “I think Kenso is right. Don’t touch it. We have no ideas what experiments they were conducting here.”
“I agree. What if there is some biological virus or maybe germ warfare stuff in it? Opening it is like opening Pandora’s Box.” Johnny said.
Paul moved away from the metallic box, surveyed the surroundings for one last time and said in a softened tone, “Enough of this Frankenstein stuff. Let’s move on.”
Nelson sighed. He was disappointed but he followed the other three men out of the uncanny laboratory cum morgue room.
CHAPTER 20
Howard Smith rested his back on a tree stump next to the parade ground. Decades ago, that tree stump with a flat and clean top might have been the spot where a high ranking military officer stood to inspect his battalion of soldiers. Now, it was just a rotten stub that poked out of the ground. The huge subterranean cave darkened as time slipped away. During the day, sunlight managed to squeeze through a couple of swallow holes on the roof of the cave that was more than
“Oh my god, this is sick.” Johnny cried.
The object that was covered by the black cloth was indeed a transparent glass tank filled to its brim with stinking formalin. A well-preserved human hand was floating right in the middle of the tank in an upright position, its palm facing Paul and his gang! A chilling sensation trickled down the spines of the four grown-ups as they stared at the floating hand that was severed from the wrist down. The hand was glowing with a strange greenish luminescence and it was swaying slightly at a position about four inches underneath the liquid surface. For a while, it seemed like the hand was gesturing a welcome wave at the four wide-eyed guys! There were also tiny shoots of incandescent plants jutting out of the hand at various places which reminded Nelson of the ‘Swamp Thing’ comic book he used to read.
“What in the world is this?” Paul asked, bringing his face closer to the tank. For a split second, the creepy looking hand in the tank twitched, making Paul jump in fear and stagger backwards.
“Holy shit!” Paul exclaimed, trying to regain his balance. “Did you guys see that?”
“Oh boy, did the hand move? Or am I out of my mind?” Kenso asked. He leaned forward and gently tapped one side of the glass tank with his fingers. All was still.
“It’s not moving now, but I’m sure I just saw it move,” Paul said, “it scared the hell out of me.”
The four men stared at the gory greenish hand for a few minutes but nothing extraordinary happened. The hand remained motionless in the tank of strong smelling formaldehyde.
“This is so weird.” Nelson said, shifting his gaze to other parts of the room, “Judging from the look of all these, the serious man inside me says that Unit 731 existed and their crazy experiments were very real.”
“What’s this?” Johnny asked anxiously, beaming his flashlight at a metallic box beside the shelf and continued, “Hey, look at the inscription on the box.”
“It’s in Japanese,” Paul said, “Kenso-san, can you translate this?”
Kenso edged his face closer and he squinted to read the Japanese characters that were engraved on the metallic box.
“Let me see..umph..it says Project N.E.N. No, I think it’s Project Nen . It says here, to be delivered to the Imperial Biological Headquarters in Kyoto. Number sixty-two dash forty-one. Mount Atago. ” Kenso stared at the inscriptions on the box for a short moment before lifting up his head. “That’s it. Can’t make out the rest of the words.”
“What the hell is Project Nen?” Johnny asked.
“Beats me.” Kenso said.
“Shall we open it?” Nelson asked.
“I don’t think we should.” Kenso said firmly.
“Come on, maybe there are gold bars or some valuable stuff in it?” Nelson pleaded, hoping that one of them would agree to his intention. However, Johnny shook his head in disagreement and Paul said to him flatly, “I think Kenso is right. Don’t touch it. We have no ideas what experiments they were conducting here.”
“I agree. What if there is some biological virus or maybe germ warfare stuff in it? Opening it is like opening Pandora’s Box.” Johnny said.
Paul moved away from the metallic box, surveyed the surroundings for one last time and said in a softened tone, “Enough of this Frankenstein stuff. Let’s move on.”
Nelson sighed. He was disappointed but he followed the other three men out of the uncanny laboratory cum morgue room.
CHAPTER 20
Howard Smith rested his back on a tree stump next to the parade ground. Decades ago, that tree stump with a flat and clean top might have been the spot where a high ranking military officer stood to inspect his battalion of soldiers. Now, it was just a rotten stub that poked out of the ground. The huge subterranean cave darkened as time slipped away. During the day, sunlight managed to squeeze through a couple of swallow holes on the roof of the cave that was more than
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