I quickly packed my rucksack, exiting the cave with Old Li leading the way while I brought up the rear, wary of a sudden ambush from the two zombies we'd seen flee earlier.

One opening led to another, and I was fast losing my sense of direction—even though I recognized this particular passage, with its chains fastened to the walls, I saw no skull lamps, no pool of bloody water, and none of the dried corpses that had greeted us at the entrance. The floor here was smooth and clean, offering nothing but dirt and the chains on either side. I had no idea where we were, how far we were from an exit, or where Old Li was taking me.

We tried to tread as quietly as possible, but the cave was so unnervingly silent that the slightest sound echoed, filling my ears with a sickening "thump... thump-thump..." of our footsteps. I decided to break the silence, but my mind was blank as to what I should say. After thinking for an age, somehow my thoughts drifted to that woman, Zhuomayangjin. If I ever encountered her again, I couldn't guarantee I wouldn't wring her neck on the spot.

She had colluded with those Japanese beasts to shove me into the blood spring, all while hypocritically saying, "If you have no wounds, seek out Master Banqin or his successor." Nonsense! Being thrown into that blood spring—in that condition, would I even be alive if Old Li hadn't suddenly appeared? Spit! I spat onto the ground with force.

The cave was too quiet; the sound of my spit seemed jarringly loud. Old Li must have thought something was wrong and quickly turned back, asking, "What is it, Technician Luo?"

"Master Banqin or his successor"! Wasn't Old Li considered Master Banqin's successor? I smacked my own head—and I didn't have any visible wounds either! The realization sent my heart hammering. Did Zhuomayangjin's words hold some hidden meaning?

I decided to test the theory, stepping forward and relaying Zhuomayangjin's statement to Old Li. He frowned after hearing it. "I don't understand what she meant... Why would she say to find me only if you had no wounds? By the way, when you emerged from the blood spring, did you have any cuts? Even tiny ones... I didn't pay close attention when I was changing your clothes."

I hadn't felt any obvious pain, but I couldn't rule out subtle injuries I might not have noticed... And I recalled choking on the blood spring water—I couldn't remember if any had actually gone down my throat. It hadn't bothered me before, but now that I thought about it, my stomach churned with anxiety.

I'm the type whose emotions easily betray what's going on inside, and Old Li must have seen it, prompting him to ask quickly, "Technician Luo, are you alright?"

I shook my head, unwilling to let him see my fear. If even a microscopic scratch existed on my body, the blood spring water could slowly seep into my entire system. The thought of Director Wang and Officer Liu’s conditions made me shudder; I couldn't bear to imagine what I might become.

"Technician Luo, look at you, you're overthinking again... I just casually asked if you had any wounds, nothing more. You look frighteningly pale right now. Relax, if the blood spring water had truly infiltrated your skin, you would have shown symptoms long ago, you wouldn't be this composed."

I couldn't tell if Old Li was trying to soothe me, but the suspended dread eased slightly. My nerves were certainly frayed, so I forced a bitter smile and changed the subject to diffuse the awkwardness: "Old Li, Zhuomayangjin meant that if I wasn't wounded, I wouldn't be infected, and therefore wouldn't die... She told me to come find you alive... What do you think?"

Old Li looked at me with concern, understanding I didn't want him to know how terrified I was internally, so he played along. "Then she definitely meant for you to come ask for help or to pass on a message."

I considered it. Seek help? She hadn't implied that. Pass on a message... A message... As I pondered, I continued walking behind Old Li. After only a few steps, a rapid clanking of chains sounded from behind.

"Zombies!" I yelled, "Bad news!" and urged Old Li to run forward quickly.

The sound of chains behind my head grew closer, the zombies' bounding footsteps clearly rushing toward us. The wind whistled past my ears, and a powerfully concentrated stench of rancid grease began to permeate the air. Strangely, the fear vanished at that moment, replaced only by the instinct to sprint for my life, while also noting that the smell was identical to the odor emitted by the Faceless.

As we ran, a metallic ding sounded, and a dark shadow plunged down from above, landing with a thud to block our path. Old Li, ahead, slammed to a halt, and I nearly crashed into him as I failed to stop in time.

"Run back!" Old Li roared. I immediately spun around, and as I did, a blast of putrid grease hit my face, immediately followed by the bulky, tattered shape of a body thudding down right in front of me.

"Zombies again!" I shouted superfluously.

Trapped between zombies front and back, we had nowhere to retreat. In that moment, fear was eclipsed by sheer terror, leaving my mind blank for perhaps two seconds. Then, with surprising composure, Old Li and I stood back-to-back, guarding each other. Yet, these two zombies seemed almost polite; they didn't immediately attack but simply stood, blocking our way without further movement.

After a minute or two of their inaction, an opportunity presented itself! "Old Li," I whispered, "Let's split up and run." Old Li nodded, and with perfect synchronicity, we slipped through the gap between the zombies and dashed in opposite directions.

Mid-stride, as my right foot lifted for the second step, a hand suddenly grabbed the back of my shirt, hoisting me into the air. Before I could react, I was thrown down with a solid smack, leaving me dizzy and unable to rise for a long moment. Old Li soon suffered the same fate, being thrown down mercilessly. It was clear the zombies were responsible.

After dropping us, the two zombies moved with eerie coordination, slowly, laboriously bending down. They opened their mouths and began to approach us—Old Li on one side, me on the other—their jaws dripping long, swaying strings of foul-smelling saliva. I tugged at Old Li, signaling another escape attempt, and rolled on the ground, expecting to cover some distance. But the moment I moved, the zombie near me snatched me up and hurled me back down...

Time and again, neither of us managed to move more than half a step. The zombies, seemingly enjoying themselves, just kept bringing their drooling mouths closer without actually biting, treating us like prey in a cat-and-mouse game.

I, Luo, reduced to this state, left to the mercy of two zombies?! A surge of hot blood rushed to my head. I let out a yell and sprang up, kicking out at the zombie. "Technician Luo! Don't!" Old Li shouted.

But it was too late. When I'm impulsive, I ignore everything. The kick landed squarely on the zombie's lower abdomen. Its belly felt surprisingly soft, like a normal person's! Greatly encouraged, I delivered another fierce kick. Just as my foot shot out, my vision blurred, and my ankle suddenly hurt; the zombie had ripped my boot clean off without me noticing.

This finally enraged the zombie. It lunged at me. All I heard was the furious clanking of chains. Before I could even dodge, it grabbed my shoulder and dragged me over. Alarmed, Old Li ignored the zombie looming near him and lunged over, desperately clinging to my foot, trying to pull me away.

The zombie holding me exerted immense force, wrenching my shoulder side to side. After a couple of such pulls, perhaps because my shoulder wasn't completely torn from my body, it seemed dissatisfied. Suddenly, the grip on my shoulder loosened, and my chest tightened as it firmly seized the fabric over my breastbone, slowly lifting me like a chick toward its slobbering mouth. Terrified out of my wits, I struggled desperately, screaming, "Old Li! Old Li, save me! Save me!"

Before my cry faded, Old Li joined in with his own desperate shouts: "Save me! Save me! Save me!"

In that moment, watching the zombie’s gaping maw, revealing its bleached teeth, slowly approach my chest, my mind became unnervingly clear. All my senses sharpened: I could feel the zombie applying pressure to tear my ribcage apart as it prepared to bite; I felt the cold air stirred up by my struggling limbs; I smelled the zombie's rancid odor, and I could even sense Old Li's despair and panic...

After several near-death escapes, it seemed I had finally run out of luck. I slowly gave up struggling...

"Ring ring ring..." A moment of pure theatrical absurdity occurred just as I was bracing myself to become zombie food: Old Li's mobile phone began to ring in this lightless cave. Everything froze at that instant—truly froze. The zombie preparing to bite me stopped dead, its mouth barely a centimeter from my chest. The hand tearing at my chest remained perfectly still.

"Ring... Ring... Ring..." Old Li's phone continued its persistent ringing. Perhaps he was as startled by the sudden noise as I was, letting it ring on.

After a long pause, seeing the zombies hadn't moved, I finally snapped back to reality. I quickly wrenched free of the zombie’s grip and ran a good distance away. Old Li, after a moment of stunned inaction, ran to catch up, his phone still ringing stubbornly.

"A call?" I asked.

"Yeah," he frowned. "An unknown number... It’s a miracle we have any signal in here at all, let alone enough to take a call... Never mind that; we need to go... No, first, we have to take out these zombies. Otherwise, as long as we’re in the cave, they’ll remain a constant threat."

Easier said than done. Neither of us looked well after the near-death experience; we were completely drained from the shock. If the zombies had put in just a tiny bit more effort, they could have torn me in half without resistance.

"Technician Luo, why don't you call me," the caller finally compromised, stopping the ringing. The cave fell back into a dead silence. I assumed the caller was bothered by the noise, so I said, "You can just set your alarm, or play some music if you must... My phone went swimming ages ago, it's useless!"

Old Li: "No, I realized the zombies seem terrified of this high-tech gadget. I was hanging by a thread, almost bitten to death, and then my phone rang, and both zombies instantly froze as if put under a spell. You see..."

I found this deeply suspicious too, but I refused to believe it had anything to do with a cell phone. "If zombies fear something, it shouldn't be the sound of a phone. What’s so strange about a ringtone? I bet it was just a coincidence—their specific zombie traits flared up at that exact moment, so..."

Old Li paused, "Perhaps. The ringtone was just a coincidence... a coincidence..."

I started to get up to walk, only to remember that our rucksacks and gear were still over by the zombies. I gave Old Li a wry look. "The bags..."

Old Li spread his hands, returning the bitter smile. "We have to go back for them. Without our packs, we'll starve or freeze to death in these mountains before any zombie gets us."