Chapter 6: Seven Stars: Corpse Pile

We stopped the boat. This should be the most dangerous part of this water cave. If we weren't prepared, we really shouldn't charge in rashly. Third Uncle looked at his watch and said, "This corpse cave is the kind you can enter but never leave. We've been digging sand for so long, but this is the first time we've barged into a place like this. I think there might really be something off about this cave."

Panzi muttered under his breath, "Damn, that goes without saying."

Third Uncle shot him a glare and continued, "But that's just the old man's side of the story. We can't know for sure whether only that boatman can lead us through this cave while no one else can. If this cave"—he emphasized his tone—"really is a corpse cave, then there will definitely be danger ahead. As for what we'll encounter, we have no way of knowing. Maybe we'll run into a ghost wall and not even know where the boat is going, or maybe hundreds of water ghosts will come to tear up our boat planks."

Da Kui gasped, "It can't be that bad, right?"

"Anyway, anything could happen. We've run into so much danger on this grave-robbing trip before even reaching the tomb—really bad luck. But no matter what, if you rob graves you don't fear ghosts; if you fear ghosts you don't rob graves. Since we're in this line of work, it's no fun without some weird stuff." Third Uncle urged Panzi to take out the double-barreled shotgun from the backpack. "We've got hi-tech in our hands now, much better off than the old-timers. If there really are water ghosts, they're the ones who'll be unlucky!"

Da Kui was trembling all over. I said to Third Uncle, "Your pre-battle pep talk sounds like a ghost story. It's having the opposite effect."

Third Uncle pulled the bolt. "This guy has really lost face for me this time. I didn't expect him to be so useless. Damn it, before we came he was bragging like a god." Then he handed the gun to Poker-face and said, "It can fire two shots, then you have to reload. These are all buckshot, so they won't be effective at long range. Aim before you fire."

I was still very familiar with double-barreled shotguns—I'd even won an award skeet shooting as a kid—so I raised it. Third Uncle and Da Kui each held a military knife in one hand and used a folding shovel to pole the boat with the other. Panzi, I, and Poker-face aimed our guns as we slowly rowed toward that green-glowing corpse accumulation ground.

Under the dim scattered light of the miner's lamp, I noticed the cave was actually getting bigger and bigger. The green light grew closer. First I heard Poker-face next to me utter something in a foreign language, then I heard Panzi curse, and then I saw a sight I would never forget for the rest of my life.

When the cave reached the green light section, it suddenly opened up into a huge natural cavern. The waterway became a river inside the cave. On the shoals on both sides of the waterway, there were piles of greenish rotting corpses—impossible to tell if they were human or animal. In the innermost area, rows of skeletons were neatly arranged, clearly placed there artificially. The ones farther out were more chaotic, especially along the riverbank, in all kinds of poses. There were also many not fully decomposed corpses. Without exception, each corpse was covered with a layer of gray membranous material, tightly wrapped around them like plastic wrap. From time to time, several huge corpse beetles would burst out of the corpses. These beetles were much smaller than the one on our boat, but still four or five times larger than ordinary ones. Some smaller corpse beetles tried to share the spoils, but as soon as they climbed onto a corpse, the big beetle would bite them to death with its pincers and eat them.

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

"Look!" Da Kui, sharp-eyed, pointed at one cliff wall. We turned and saw a greenish crystal coffin embedded halfway up the almost vertical cave wall. Inside seemed to be a female corpse in white clothes, but the distance was too far for us to see clearly.

"There's one over there too!" Panzi pointed to the other side. We looked and indeed, at the same position on the other cliff wall, there was also a crystal coffin—but this one was empty!

Third Uncle gasped. "Where did that corpse go?" "Could it be a zombie?" Da Kui asked. "Third Master, there shouldn't be zombies in this place, right?"

"All of you stay alert. If you see anything moving, don't ask questions—just fire a shot," Third Uncle said, scanning the surroundings warily.

At that moment, the river took a turn, and we rounded a pile of bones. Da Kui let out a cry and fell back into the boat in fright. We looked carefully and saw a woman in white feathered robes, her back to us, long black hair reaching her waist. From the decoration on her sash, I judged it to be from the Western Zhou period. I couldn't help swallowing and said, "The corpse is here..."

"Stop—stop—" Third Uncle wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Da Kui, get the black donkey hoof from the bag! This is probably a thousand-year-old zombie. Get the 1923 hoof—she might not accept a newer one."

He said it twice, but Da Kui didn't move. We turned around and saw him foaming at the mouth, twitching on the spot. If the situation hadn't been so tense, I probably would have laughed.

"Panzi, you get it. Damn it, if I ever bring him out again, I deserve to be eaten by a zombie." Third Uncle took the black donkey hoof, spat on his hands twice, and said, "Watch Third Master Wu's skill, nephew. You rarely get to see a thousand-year-old zombie. If I fail, just shoot me in the crown of my head and give your Third Uncle a quick death!"

I pulled him back. "Do you really have confidence in this?" Actually, I wasn't particularly scared—after all, I'd never encountered this kind of thing before. The back view of this slender woman in plain white clothes seemed a bit sorrowful, but in horror movies, when the long-haired woman in white turns around, it's never good. With that psychological effect, my heart was still pounding hard.

At that moment, Poker-face pressed down on Third Uncle's shoulder and said, "The black donkey hoof is for dealing with jiangshi. This thing probably isn't a jiangshi. Let me handle it." He took a long object from his bag—I recognized it as the "Dragon's Spine" he had bought from my Third Uncle. He unwrapped the cloth, revealing a pitch-black ancient saber. It looked like it was made of black gold.

He cut his own hand with the ancient saber, then stood at the bow of the boat and let his blood drip into the water. The moment the first drop fell, with a crash, all the corpse beetles scrambled out of the corpses as if they'd seen a ghost, frantically trying to get away from our boat. In an instant, all the beetles around our boat—in the water and in the corpses—had disappeared without a trace.

Soon Poker-face's hand was covered with blood. He pointed his bloody hand at the woman in white, and she actually knelt down. We were dumbfounded. Poker-face said to Third Uncle, "Go quickly. Whatever you do, don't look back!"

Although I really wanted to see what the woman looked like, I thought that if I turned around I might see a dried corpse face, so I decided not to take the risk. Third Uncle and Panzi paddled like mad, and finally we saw a gradually narrowing cave opening ahead, similar to the one we entered. It seemed that this cave was in the center of the mountain, and the waterway was created by digging through from both sides, forming a capillary structure with narrow entrances on both ends. Even if the water on both sides submerged the cave, the inside still stayed dry.

We gradually sailed into the tomb raider's tunnel and had to duck our heads again. Before entering the tunnel, I had a clever idea—since we weren't supposed to look back, I'd look at the reflection in the water to see if she was following us. I shouldn't have looked. The sight almost made me faint. In the reflection on the water, some unknown thing was clinging to my back. Just as I was about to scream, I couldn't resist turning my head. Then I felt a heavy blow to the back of my head, my vision went black, and I knew nothing more.