We stopped the boat. This should be the most dangerous section of this water cave. If we’re not fully prepared, we really shouldn’t just rush in. Uncle Samuel checked his watch and said, “This corpse cave is the kind you can enter but can’t get out of. We’ve been digging sand for so long, but this is the first time we’ve ventured into a place like this. I think there really might be something strange about this cave!”

　　Peter Clark interjected in a low voice, “Damn, you don’t say.”

　　Uncle Samuel glared at him and continued, “But that’s just what that old man said. Whether this cave really can only be passed with the boatman leading the way, and no one else can get through, we have no way of knowing. If this cave,” he emphasized, “really is a corpse cave, then there must be danger ahead. As for what we’ll encounter, we have no way of knowing. Maybe we’ll get lost in a maze, not knowing where the boat is going, or maybe hundreds of water ghosts will come and overturn our boat.”

　　Quentin Carter gasped, “It can’t be that bad, right?”

　　“In short, anything could happen. This time, we’ve run into so much danger before even reaching the tomb. Our luck is really bad. But no matter what, if you’re in the sand-digging business, you can’t be afraid of ghosts. If you’re scared of ghosts, you shouldn’t be digging sand. Since we’re in this line of work, it wouldn’t be interesting if we didn’t run into some weird stuff.” As Uncle Samuel spoke, he signaled to Peter Clark to take out the double-barreled shotgun from his backpack. “Now we have high-tech gear in our hands, much better than the old-timers back in the day. If there really are water ghosts, it’ll be their bad luck!”

　　Quentin Carter was so scared he was shaking all over. I said to Uncle Samuel, “Why does your pre-battle pep talk sound like a ghost story? It’s having the opposite effect.”

　　Uncle Samuel cocked the gun. “This guy really embarrassed me this time. I didn’t expect him to be so useless. Damn, before we came, he was bragging like he was some kind of superman.” Then he handed the gun to Silent William and said, “You can fire two shots in total. After that, you have to reload. These are all buckshot, so they’re not very powerful at a distance. Make sure you aim before you shoot.”

　　I was quite familiar with double-barreled shotguns. When I was a kid, I even won prizes in skeet shooting, so I picked it up. Uncle Samuel and Quentin Carter each held a military knife in one hand and used a folding shovel to push the boat with the other. Peter Clark, Silent William, and I held our guns and slowly rowed toward the corpse pile glowing with green light.

　　Under the faint, scattered light of the miner’s lamp, I noticed the cave was getting bigger and bigger, and the green light was getting closer. First, I heard Silent William mutter something in English, then Peter Clark cursed, and then I saw a sight I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.

　　When we reached the section with the green light, the cave suddenly opened up into a huge natural cavern. The waterway became a river running through the cave. On the shallow banks on both sides of the water, there were nothing but eerie green corpses. It was impossible to tell if they were human or animal. The innermost rows of skulls were neatly arranged, clearly stacked there by someone, while those on the outside were much more chaotic, especially those by the riverbank, in all sorts of positions. There were also many corpses that hadn’t fully decomposed, and every single one of them was wrapped tightly in a gray, film-like layer, almost like plastic wrap. From time to time, huge corpse centipedes would burst out of the bodies. These centipedes were much smaller than the one on our boat, but still four or five times bigger than normal. Some smaller corpse centipedes tried to get a share, but as soon as they climbed onto a body, the big ones would bite them to death and eat them.

　　“Most of these corpses floated down from upstream and got stranded here. Everyone be careful and look around for anything strange!”

　　“Look over there!” Quentin Carter had sharp eyes and pointed at the cliff wall. We turned our heads and saw a green-glowing crystal coffin embedded halfway up the nearly vertical cave wall. Inside, there seemed to be a female corpse dressed in white, but it was so far away we couldn’t see clearly.

　　“There’s one over there too!” Peter Clark pointed to the other side. Sure enough, in the same position on the opposite wall, there was another crystal coffin—but this one was empty!

　　Uncle Samuel gasped, “Where did that corpse go?”

　　“Could it be a zombie?” Quentin Carter asked. “Samuel, there shouldn’t be zombies in a place like this, right?”

　　“Everyone stay alert. If you see anything moving, don’t ask questions—just shoot first,” Uncle Samuel said, keeping a wary eye on the surroundings.

　　At that moment, the river turned, and we rounded a pile of bones. Quentin Carter let out a scream and collapsed in the boat. We looked closely and saw a woman in white feathered robes, her back to us, with long black hair flowing down to her waist. Judging by the decorations on her sash, I was sure she was from the Western Zhou period. I couldn’t help but swallow and said, “The corpse is right there—”

　　“Stop—stop—” Uncle Samuel wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Quentin Carter, get the black donkey hoof from the bag! This is probably a thousand-year-old zombie. Use the one from 1923—the new ones might not work on her.”

　　He said it twice, but Quentin Carter didn’t move. We turned to look and saw he was already foaming at the mouth and convulsing. If the situation weren’t so serious, I probably would have laughed.