The corpses that turned around kept staring at us with vacant eye sockets, motionless. Old Li handed me the rifle, took out his peach-wood sword, and said, "Let's try it first. We don't know if it will work."

I was utterly helpless and could only take the gun while he proceeded to test the situation with the peach-wood sword.

Old Li waved the peach-wood sword in front of the corpses. They seemed not to see it, remaining stock-still, showing no reaction whatsoever. Old Li had no choice but to step forward and lightly jabbed at the corpse on the outermost edge. To his surprise, besides tearing the corpse's weathered clothes, it didn't even twitch.

Old Li darted back, shook his head at me, and gave a wry smile. He said these things had nothing to do with ghosts or spirits. The lightning-struck peach wood sword possessed immense power; it was impossible for it to strike a phantom without any reaction. This only proved that these bodies were incorruptible, and their attacks on people stemmed from some other cause. I wanted to ask Old Li if the peach-wood sword he chose was genuinely made from lightning-struck wood, or if it was a fake, which might explain why it had no effect on these corpses. But before I could open my mouth, that Japanese devil Yamamoto started shouting incoherently at us from over there, seemingly trying to explain something. Neither Old Li nor I understood Japanese. We glanced at him and ignored him.

I took the opportunity to see clearly that only Yamamoto and the short, stout Takeno Jiro remained among the devils. Zhuoma Yangjin was disheveled, her former beauty completely gone... Something was wrong. Where were Section Chief Wang and Clerk Liu? Weren't they following Yamamoto and the others the whole time? A shock went through me. If Wang and Liu had met some unclear end, and a lieutenant colonel and his subordinate had vanished without a trace, if Old Li and I returned to the military district, we would never be able to explain it away; we would certainly be implicated.

Old Li probably noticed this problem too, looking at me with confusion. I shook my head, indicating I knew nothing.

This was a major issue. I had to swallow my anger and humbly ask Zhuoma Yangjin, "Where are Section Chief Wang and Clerk Liu?"

Zhuoma Yangjin first shook her head, saying she didn't know, then suddenly opened her mouth wide, pointing behind us with a look of sheer terror: "Behind you, the zombies... you..."

I immediately spun around and saw, good heavens, the ground was constantly rattling from the coffins, and one after another, the lids were being pushed open. Corpses, some with only blackened skin remaining on faces with long queues, were slowly standing up. Their movements were extremely sluggish; every motion looked like a slow-motion sequence stretched out over several beats, not at all as agile as the zombies we had encountered before. They slowly lifted their coffin lids, slowly extended one foot, and after setting it on the ground, extended the other. Then they brought their feet together, paused, and took another step...

So many corpses crawled out of their coffins without making a sound, slowly shuffling toward us, and in front of us, several more corpses were waiting to converge with them.

My scalp went completely numb. Retreating was impossible; the only option was to run over and stick with the devils. But... I couldn't stand with a group of people who had tried to poison me several times.

"Technician Luo..." Old Li just started speaking when the devils shouted again, interrupting him. Then Zhuoma Yangjin choked out urgently, "Technician Luo! Hurry up and come over! Those corpses are lethally dangerous. We only have a chance of survival if we join forces to deal with them!"

I was originally going to go over, but since they called me over, I was determined not to. So, I gave her a cold glance, showed no reaction, and turned to ask Old Li what his plan was.

Old Li didn't answer directly but instead asked me what I thought. I mostly guessed his meaning and said, "I don't want to stay with the devils. If these corpses weren't blocking the way, I would definitely rush over and shoot them all down one by one."

A rustling sound began to come from behind us. Zhuoma Yangjin screamed in terror: "Ah—!"

Old Li urged anxiously, "Either we take out the devils first, then fight these corpses, and then fight our way back against the zombies; or we temporarily put aside our grudges now and team up with the devils to survive this ordeal."

A thought stirred in my mind, but I remained silent, calculating that at their current speed, the corpses behind us would take some time to reach us, meaning I still had time to consider other options.

Seeing that I was hesitating, Old Li didn't say another word. He grabbed the back of my head and yanked it back: "Look."

When I looked, I almost screamed along with Zhuoma Yangjin. Nearly twenty to thirty corpses had already climbed out of their coffins and were walking towards us, and behind them, coffin lids were continuously being lifted, slowly revealing one head after another!

"Go!" I quickly urged Old Li as we ran toward Zhuoma Yangjin and the others. Fortunately, the corpses in front of us were all motionless.

Before I could even steady myself after arriving, Zhuoma Yangjin threw herself at me desperately, hugging me tightly and sobbing, "You're safe, it's good that you're safe... Why didn't you come down the mountain..."

I didn't understand the nonsensical words she was saying and impatiently pushed her away, stating sternly, "I'm fine, thank you for your concern." I was about to add a few sarcastic remarks, but Old Li tugged my sleeve, signaling me to look at the slow-moving zombies. Their speed was slower than a snail's. If they encountered an obstacle in their path, they didn't detour; they just kept moving forward, shuffling in place if they couldn't proceed. This was more terrifying than if they had known how to circle around; it meant that once they locked onto a course of action, they would not be flexible or retreat under any circumstances.

Old Li and I exchanged glances. Although so many corpses wouldn't rush us immediately, it was only a matter of time. Moreover, damn the devils, they had to be at the edge of a sheer cliff right behind us, with no other fallback routes to fight the corpses.

I glared fiercely at Yamamoto and cursed him in English: "Fuck!" He must have understood because I clearly saw his expression change. However, to my surprise, his face quickly returned to normal, and he even pulled Takeno over to stand before Old Li and me.

"What are you doing?!" I thought they were up to no good again, habitually reaching for the gun at my waist while shouting in reprimand.

I hadn't drawn my gun when Yamamoto and Takeno both bent over and gave us a standard ninety-degree bow, muttering something. Then Yamamoto even pulled out the pistol they had snatched from me earlier and respectfully offered it to me with both hands. I quickly snatched it.

Zhuoma Yangjin took the initiative to translate from the side: "Technician Luo, Yamamoto hopes you will not hold a grudge for his previous mistakes. He is apologizing to you and returning your pistol, hoping that everyone can cooperate to get down the mountain alive."

I snorted through my nose, saying nothing.

Old Li asked, "What about our men—Section Chief Wang and Clerk Liu? Weren't they with you?"

Zhuoma Yangjin glanced at Yamamoto and Takeno with difficulty, hesitating, "I don't know how to tell you this, but I will find an opportunity to explain it clearly to you."

I gave a cold laugh and looked at Zhuoma Yangjin with contempt: "Didn't you keep calling him 'Yamamoto-kun' before? Why has it changed to just 'Yamamoto' now?"

Zhuoma Yangjin bit her lip, remaining silent, tears welling up in her eyes. I pretended not to notice and continued, "Cooperate? Why should we cooperate with the devils? Aren't they so capable? Why would they need us?"

"It's not like that..." Zhuoma Yangjin whispered, eyes brimming with tears, "Technician Luo, if we can get out alive, I will explain everything to you slowly... Don't ask so much right now... We must cooperate now; there is no other way out. Yamamoto and the others will handle these corpses, and you—I don't know if you have the ability to open that door. If you can't, then regardless of whether Yamamoto and the others can handle these corpses, we are all doomed."

"Wait... what did you say? What door? Where is a door?" I looked around suspiciously.

Zhuoma Yangjin turned her head away, reaching up to wipe her face, seemingly wiping away tears. "The door is behind us, but we can't open it. If we can't open it, we die."

This serious? I glanced at Old Li and asked him, "What do you think?"

Old Li said helplessly, "Technician Luo, we have no choice."

I gritted my teeth, glaring at Zhuoma Yangjin, "You people are always plotting until the last minute."

Zhuoma Yangjin looked at me with tear-filled, pitiful eyes, looking as if she was about to cry. I couldn't stand women looking like that. I turned my head away, refusing to look at her, "Go discuss it with Old Li."

Old Li was very straightforward: "Tell us, how do you want to cooperate?"

Zhuoma Yangjin explained, "When Yamamoto and the others shouted upon seeing you, that was the meaning... You come over to figure out how to open the door, and they will deal with these corpses. The prerequisite is that everyone must trust each other completely; if anyone holds back, none of us will get out..." As she spoke, she apparently realized she didn't know Old Li's name, so she politely asked him his full name. Old Li honestly told her he was Li Zeng, and everyone called him Old Li.

Zhuoma Yangjin exchanged a couple of polite words with him, then ran over and spoke to the devils. The two devils approached Old Li and me with solemn expressions, shook hands with us, then took off their backpacks. One pulled out a flamethrower, and the other took out an automatic rifle, then they went off to deal with the slowly closing circle of corpses.

Zhuoma Yangjin stated, "This door is set up according to the Qimen Bagua principles. You Han people understand this best, don't you?"

To be honest, I hadn't seen anything that looked like a door on the cave wall, despite Zhuoma Yangjin constantly mentioning one. However, I didn't want to ask her. After all, Old Li was here; he was a Maoshan successor, so he naturally understood some Qimen Dunjia techniques and should find the supposed door without any trouble.

Indeed, Old Li walked the few steps to the bottom of the cave, brought his face close to the stone wall, and carefully felt every pattern on it with his hands. I didn't understand much about this area; to me, it looked like an ordinary stone wall with no abnormalities... Thinking of this, I suddenly felt something was off. It was impossible that the devils understood Qimen Bagua well enough to spot a mechanism here... Did Zhuoma Yangjin understand these things too?