We stopped the boat; this was probably the most dangerous stretch of the water cave. If we weren’t prepared, we shouldn’t recklessly venture in. Uncle Three glanced at his watch and said, “This corpse cave is the kind of place you can enter but not exit. We’ve been digging sand for so long, and this is the first time we’ve stumbled into a place like this. I think there might really be something strange about this cave!”

Panzi interjected quietly, “Duh, no kidding.”

Uncle Three shot him a glare and continued, “However, this is just the old man’s one-sided story. We have no way of knowing whether this cave can only be navigated by the boatman, and that others can’t pass through. If this cave,” he emphasized, “really is a corpse cave, then there must be dangers ahead. As for what we might encounter, we have no way of knowing. Maybe we’ll hit a wall of ghosts, and the boat won’t know where to go, or perhaps a hundred water ghosts will come to capsize our boat.”

Da Kui gasped, “That can’t be true.”

“Anyway, anything could happen. We’ve already faced so many dangers without even reaching the grave site; it’s really bad luck. But no matter what, if you’re digging for sand, you can’t be afraid of ghosts. If you’re afraid of ghosts, you shouldn’t be digging for sand. Since we’re in this line of work, it wouldn’t be interesting at all if we didn’t encounter some strange occurrences.” Uncle Three called for Panzi to take out the double-barreled shotgun from his backpack. “Now that we have high-tech gear, we’re much better off than our predecessors. If there really are water ghosts, it’ll be their bad luck!”

Da Kui was trembling in fear. I said to Uncle Three, “Your pre-battle pep talk sounds just like a ghost story! It’s actually counterproductive.”

Uncle Three pulled the gun’s strap, “This guy has really embarrassed me this time; I didn’t expect him to be so useless. Damn it, he was bragging like a mighty warrior before we came.” Then he handed the gun to the muffled bottle and said, “It can fire two shots in total; after that, you need to reload. These are all buckshot, so they won’t have much power at a distance. Aim carefully before shooting.”

I was quite familiar with the double-barreled shotgun; I had even won an award for shooting clay pigeons when I was young. So I took it up, while Uncle Three and Da Kui held military knives in one hand and used a folding shovel to steady the boat with the other. Panzi, I, and the muffled bottle held our guns and slowly paddled toward the corpse accumulation area that was glowing green.

Under the weak light of the mining lamp, I noticed that the cave was growing larger, and the green light was getting closer. I first heard the muffled bottle mutter something in English, then I heard Panzi curse. Then I witnessed a scene that I would never forget for the rest of my life.

As we reached the section illuminated by green light, we suddenly found ourselves in a vast natural cave. The waterway had transformed into a river flowing through the cavern. On both sides of the shallow banks, there were greenish corpses, indistinguishable as to whether they were human or animal. We could see rows of skeletons neatly arranged deeper inside, likely placed there by human hands, while those outside were more chaotic, especially near the riverbank, where various actions were taking place. There were many bodies that had not completely decomposed, and each of these corpses was covered in a layer of grayish, film-like substance, tightly wrapped around them like cling film. Occasionally, a few giant corpse-eaters would burst out from the bodies; these were much smaller than the one on our boat but still four to five times larger than an average one. Some smaller corpse-eaters attempted to get a share, but as soon as they crawled onto a body, the larger ones would snap them up and devour them.

“Most of these bodies drifted down from upstream and got stranded here. Everyone, be careful and see if there’s anything strange around!”

“Look!” Da Kui, with sharp eyes, pointed to the cave wall. We turned our heads and were surprised to see a greenish crystal coffin embedded in the nearly vertical wall of the cave. Inside, there seemed to be a female corpse dressed in white, but it was too far away for us to see clearly.

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

Uncle San gasped, “Where did this corpse go?”

“Could it be a zongzi?” Da Kui asked. “Uncle San, there shouldn’t be any zongzi here, right?”

“Everyone be alert. If you see anything moving, don’t ask questions—just shoot,” Uncle San said, keeping a wary eye on our surroundings.

At that moment, the direction of the river turned, and as we navigated around a pile of bones, Da Kui suddenly cried out and fell back into the boat. We focused our gaze and saw a woman in a white feathered dress, her back to us, with long black hair cascading down to her waist. From the decorations on her clothing, I deduced it was from the Western Zhou period. I couldn’t help but swallow hard and said, “The corpse is right here—”

“Stop—stop—” Uncle San wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Da Kui, bring out the black donkey hoof from the bag! This might be a thousand-year-old zongzi; use the hoof from 1923. The new one might not be accepted.”

After repeating this twice, Da Kui remained motionless. We turned to look, and he was frothing at the mouth and convulsing. If the situation had allowed, I might have laughed.

“Panzi, you go get it. Damn it, if I ever bring him out again, he deserves to be eaten by a zongzi,” Uncle San took the black donkey hoof, spat on it a couple of times, and said, “Look at Wu San’s methods. Nephew, pay attention. This thousand-year-old zongzi is rare to see. If I fail to get it, just shoot me in the top of my head and let your Uncle San die a quick death!”

I pulled him, saying, “Do you have any confidence or not?” In fact, I wasn’t particularly scared; after all, I had never encountered such a situation before. I always felt that the slender figure of the woman in plain clothes had a hint of sorrow. However, in horror movies, women with long hair in white dresses usually aren’t that scary when they turn around. It was a psychological effect, but my heart was still racing.

At that moment, the Silent Oil Bottle also tapped my uncle’s shoulder and said, “Black donkey hooves are for dealing with zombies, but this guy is probably not a zombie. Let me handle it.” He took out a long object from his bag, which I recognized as the dragon spine item he had bought from my uncle. He loosened the cloth covering it, and indeed, there was a dark ancient sword inside, seemingly made of black gold.

He made a cut on the back of his hand with the ancient sword, then stood at the bow of the boat and let his blood drip into the water. As soon as the first drop fell, with a splash, all the corpses seemed to see a ghost and crawled out of their bodies, frantically trying to distance themselves from our boat. Suddenly, all the corpses in the water and those in the bodies around our boat vanished without a trace.

Before long, the Silent Oil Bottle’s hand was dripping with blood. He pointed his bloodied hand at the woman in white, and to our astonishment, she knelt down. We were stunned, and the Silent Oil Bottle said to my uncle, “Hurry, don’t look back!”

Although I really wanted to see what that woman looked like, the thought of possibly seeing a dried corpse’s face if I turned around made me decide against taking that risk. My uncle and Panzi rowed desperately, and finally, we saw a gradually shrinking opening ahead, similar to the one we had entered. It seemed that this cave was at the center of the mountain, and after being excavated on both sides, it formed this waterway, creating a narrow capillary structure with both entrances being quite narrow. Even if the water level on both sides submerged the opening, this place could still remain dry.

We gradually sailed into the thief’s cave and had to lower our heads. Before entering the cave, I was cautious; wasn’t it said that we shouldn’t look back? I glanced at the reflection in the water to see if she was following us. It was better not to look; as soon as I did, I almost passed out. In the reflection in the water, something unknown was lying on my back. Just as I was about to scream, I lost control and wanted to turn around. I suddenly felt a heavy blow to the back of my head, and then everything went black, and I knew nothing more.