Chapter Five: The Fortunate Gift of the Golden Finger

June 22, 1938, Night, Laojunguan, Heyuan County

Upon awakening once again, Ding Bu’er found himself transformed into Wang Yue. Describing this as a possession might be more fitting. Along with this change, he inherited the memories of Nalan Xinde and Wang Yue. How much of their consciousness remained was unclear. Even the memories required careful sorting; the volume of information was immense. If absorbed all at once, Ding Bu’er’s unstable mind might not withstand it, especially since the body was no longer his own and much of his energy had been spent adapting to it.

Once his mind stabilized, the newly minted Colonel Chu Zuo was delighted to discover that besides acquiring Wang Yue’s squad, he had also brought Nalan Xinde’s internal core. Though it held little energy, the core solidified the cavern where Nalan Xinde had resided.

This was more than just a 20-meter cubic space; inside was a well-maintained Zhen’er torpedo boat, along with Ding Bu’er’s backpack, cotton coat, woolen cap, and engineer’s shovel. The bodies of both men had vanished without a trace—truly reduced to ashes.

More astonishingly, everything was restored to the exact state it had been in upon entering the cavern. After removing items from the stone chamber, they would replenish after midnight, but not as exact duplicates. It was more akin to restocking; each day the firearms bore different serial numbers, the ammunition sometimes showed scratches, and the brass casings varied in color.

Later, Ding Bu’er discovered the core space had preservation properties: items placed inside remained unchanged in temperature, moisture, and condition, and he could breathe freely within, feeling gravity and able to eat and move without restriction.

Removing and returning items did not affect the replenishment; once taken out, objects were marked as external. However, the space could not sustain any living creatures besides himself. Experiments with captured rabbits and pheasants showed they lost vitality inside and remained lifeless when removed, as if freshly dead.

As for the origin of these items, Wang Yue believed it matched what he had read in novels: the space acted like a siphoning cavity, drawing from a special temporal-spatial node to maintain balance. If something was missing, identical items or corresponding elements would be absorbed from outside and reassembled.

Based on the production dates of some items, there appeared to be two such nodes: one around his arrival at Sea Otter Island, and the other coinciding with Nalan Xinde’s entry on February 17, 1895. A few unique items would replicate exactly.

Wang Yue also found he could manipulate the weapons in the space, such as raising or lowering the fifteen-ton torpedo boat or flipping it upright, as easily as moving his own body.

—

After inventorying the contents, Ding Bu’er—now Wang Yue—could barely contain his excitement.

The centerpiece was the Zhen’er torpedo boat. Despite being a late 19th-century model, it still held its own compared to contemporary domestic vessels. The Nationalist Army at the frontline in Jiangcheng still deployed torpedo boats from the previous dynasty. However, since he was in the mountainous Jin Province, the boat itself was of little use. Still, the weapons, ammunition, and supplies aboard were invaluable.

The armaments included:

- Two 14-inch blackhead torpedoes, power uncertain, Wang Yue was unsure due to their small size.

- One Maxim M1892 heavy machine gun, a model used in limited numbers by the German military, with quality superior to the later mass-produced MG08. Equipped with four 250-round ammo boxes, using 7.9x57mm round-nose rifle bullets—quite advanced. This was purchased from the embassy at the stick joint. Many criticized the Jinling Arsenal’s 1888 Maxim imitation for not being widely deployed, but no one considered the lack of smokeless powder domestically at the time. Using black powder Maxim machine guns? Gatlings would seem much more appealing then.

- One Hotchkiss 37mm five-barrel rotary cannon, mounted in a small enclosed turret on the torpedo boat. It used ten-round magazines, firing 60 shells per minute, with a reserve of 100. However, much had been spent in previous battles; only three explosive shells remained, the rest were solid iron. Of those, 23 were from Jinling Arsenal with smokeless powder, 74 from Jinmen Arsenal with black powder. Also included were the cannon shield and light wheel mount, weighing 209 kg. The Beiyang Navy often detached these for use as field artillery. The torpedo boat lacked these accessories, as they were taken from the Zhenyuan warship.

- Two brand-new Mauser 1884 rifles, firing 11mm black powder bullets, with eight-round tubular magazines plus one in the chamber—a total of nine rounds—commonly called the "nine-shot Mauser." They had 300 rounds in reserve. These were standard issue when the Zhenyuan was delivered, though later reassigned to the Red-Clothed Land Volunteer Battalion.

- One Dreyse rifle with 40 rounds of black powder ammunition, a common weapon in the Qing army, this was original to the Zhen’er.

- Four Gew88 rifles, supplied during the last resupply to Liugong Island, with 1,000 rounds.

- One Gew91S artillery carbine, a short version of the Gew88, precursor to later cavalry carbines.

- Five sets of M1888-style Lebel replica leather equipment, all cowhide, including two 30-round and one 40-round ammo pouches, Y-shaped shoulder straps, and bayonet mounts.

- Four Mauser M1879 pistols, six-shot revolvers firing 10.6x25mm rounds with 174 rounds in reserve.

- One Webley M1870 signal pistol, 25.4mm caliber, with wooden shoulder stock and 30 rounds of white, red, and green flares.

- One C93 pistol, 7.65mm caliber, using eight-round magazines, capable of serving as a carbine with wooden stock, effective range comparable to short rifles, with 371 rounds. This unattractive weapon was expensive and a gift from the embassy to Nalan Xinde’s father.

- Two waist swords.

- Two battle axes. These were not exclusive to the Beiyang Navy; navies worldwide had similar gear, some even more extravagant.

The Zhen’er lacked a medical room but had a sizable medical kit, including:

- Eight bottles of wound medicine from Tongrentang, though its quality compared to Yunnan Baiyao was unknown.

- One pound of petroleum jelly, essential for preventing chapping.

- One bottle of quinine (100 tablets).

- One bottle of morphine powder; nineteenth-century powders were common, but Nalan Xinde lacked preparation skills.

- One bottle of scopolamine powder, a sedative and sleep aid.

- One bottle of potassium permanganate powder, a disinfectant Wang Yue knew how to prepare; it was still used in many twenty-first-century clinics.

- One bottle of ether, presumably for anesthesia; mishandling it could be fatal.

- One bottle of alcohol, surprisingly homemade, as homemade spirits were rare in the Republic era.

- One syringe, similar to later glass types, with five platinum needles.

- One German field portable surgical kit, a palm-sized leather pouch with over twenty tools, mostly made of platinum and gold-silver alloys.

- Ten rolls of gauze.

The torpedo boat had no kitchen, but emergency rations were ample, including:

- Twenty-four cans of British military ration—ingeniously designed double-layer aluminum boxes containing 4 ounces of compressed beef and 4 ounces of cocoa powder. These were only mass-distributed during the Boer War years.

- Four barrels of rice in square iron containers to prevent moisture, each holding 15 kilograms. The rice was domestic, barrels imported.

- Twenty-four cans of British salted beef, each 400 grams, dated 1893, thankfully not as old as the Napoleonic Wars.

- Twenty-four cans of British tomatoes, 300 grams each; fresh tomatoes, not sauce, though they could be mashed into sauce.

- One box of British compressed biscuits—20 pounds of brick-hard, overly sweet biscuits no one in the twenty-first century would eat.

- Twenty-four cans of British goose fat, 200 grams each, notoriously greasy—Wang Yue couldn’t stomach them.

- Four bottles of British Glenlivet whisky, 720 ml each—a premium brand Wang Yue had never tasted even in the twenty-first century.

- One pound of British Maldon sea salt, a premium brand more expensive than Himalayan rock salt, genuine.

- Eight cans of Nestlé coffee, 50 grams each.

- Eight cans of Ceylon black tea, 50 grams each.

- Eight cans of Nestlé condensed milk, 50 grams each.

- Sixteen tins of Taikoo sugar cubes, 50 grams each, in tin-plated cans to prevent moisture; sugar and salt are vulnerable to dampness.

Seeing this, Wang Yue felt the Beiyang Navy’s defeat was not undeserved—they ate too luxuriously. With that money, wouldn’t more guns and artillery be better?

Lastly, various sundries aboard the Zhen’er:

- Qing army uniforms—the personal clothing of Nalan Xinde was gone, but the soldiers’ uniforms were intact.

- Wealth: 97 taels of silver ingots and jewelry, 23 taels of gold ingots and jewelry, 171 silver dollars, and twenty-two strings of copper coins. Although the Beiyang Navy’s pay was high, this seemed insufficient. Pay was issued in silver notes—Wang Yue found 13,800 taels in notes but none redeemable in 1938.

- One jin of tribute tobacco leaves, a personal item of Nalan Xinde, supposedly a hypocritical gift from the emperor.

- One Swiss Hendali silver pocket watch.

- One silver flask.

- One Pelikan engraved silver dip fountain pen.

- One bottle of Pelikan ink.

- One pack of waterproof matches, ten boxes per pack; these were considered hard currency, still valuable in 1938.

- Eight M1878 THW “kidney” mess kits with wool covers, insulated, shockproof, and muffled for marching.

- Eight M1877 aluminum water bottles with wool covers, leather straps, cork stoppers with aluminum pull rings. Many items came in eights, matching the torpedo boat’s standard crew of eight, though the commander’s position was not fixed due to the vessel’s small size—only 15.7 tons.

- One ROSS three-fold Galilean telescope, a high-end gilded model with a walnut case. Prism binoculars existed but were not mainstream; the best Zeiss binoculars were only 3X, unsuitable for naval combat.

- Three copper fire steels.

- One silver fire steel.

- One German kerosene stove for heating food—a compact, ingenious stove still relevant in the twenty-first century.

- One 32 cm copper lidded soup pot, deep enough for eight people, though likely never used.

- One 20-liter square iron can of kerosene.

- Two German Meißner hurricane lamps; several oil lamps were fixed on the boat, difficult to remove and use elsewhere.

Having accounted for the valuable items on the torpedo boat, Wang Yue then reviewed the possessions he had brought into the cavern himself:

- One mirror-finish diesel lighter, quite nice looking but essentially a 9.9-yuan item from an online marketplace. He did not smoke; it was for fire-starting.

- One Damascus-style Bowie knife; though not true Damascus steel, it was incredibly sharp—much faster than an M9 bayonet.

- One military-style alloy compass, guaranteed quality.

- One 50 ml bottle of kerosene.

- One gold bead bracelet with 51 beads, each about 0.05 grams. Gold was expensive, so this was a gift for a young lady, yet to be delivered.

- Two pure cotton sailor shirts.

- Two pairs of military shorts. Ding Bu’er was poor; these were for changing underwear.

- Five face-changing masks, worn over the face to assume different identities—bought out of concern for trouble during treasure hunts.

- Two boxes of Type 20 energy bars, each containing twelve 18-gram packs.

- Four packs of beef jerky, 250 grams each.

- Two boxes of Type 10 chocolate bars, 100 pieces of 5 grams each.

- Twenty compressed biscuits from Guanshengyuan, 118 grams per block.

- One pack of cola, six cans per pack—unsafe but useful for sugar and caffeine in the wild.

- Four cans of military-style braised pork, 500 grams each—greasy but calorie-rich.

- One American-style aluminum mess kit with wool cover and water bottle, where the mess kit and bottle combined. Suitable for boiling water or cooking in the wild.

Medicines were listed separately, as he was not an expert and only bought cheap ones:

- One box of penicillin V potassium capsules, 0.236 grams each, 48 capsules per box, bought for 4 yuan after discount. Unknown if injectable.

- One box of cefixime capsules, 6 capsules, 3.9 yuan.

- One box of acetaminophen and chlorpheniramine tablets, 12 tablets, costing 1.9 yuan, comparable to expensive brands.

- One bottle of berberine tablets, 0.1 grams each, 100 tablets, used in the wild to prevent diarrhea and reduce inflammation.

- One box of oseltamivir tablets, 6 capsules, 5 yuan, essential for current flu.

- One bottle of ibuprofen tablets, 0.1 grams each, 20 tablets, with larger bottles of 50 and 100 tablets unaffordable.

- One bottle of vitamin C tablets, 0.1 grams each, 100 tablets, for lack of fruit.

- One bottle of vitamin AD capsules, 100 capsules, inexpensive OTC for calcium deficiency, 2.8 yuan.

- One bottle of Yunnan Baiyao.

- One box of sulfonamide anti-inflammatory powder, 5 grams per packet, 8 packets.

- Two rolls of wide gauze.

- One box of band-aids.

- One roll of adhesive tape.

Also, items discarded upon entering the cavern included:

- One Type 78 Lei Feng cap.

- One Type 87 sailor’s short coat.

During the divorce, Ding Bu’er had been carefree, so many things had to be bought on the fly and were all the cheapest, just enhanced construction site gear.

- One Type 65 engineer’s shovel.

—

As Wang Yue’s thoughts wandered, a familiar voice interrupted from outside:

“Chu Zuo, the woman we rescued earlier has fainted. Do you want to go check on her?”

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