Cavern of the Blood Zombies (2011) by Lei Xu

could guide us through here safely?” His voice grew serious. “If this really is a carcass cave, then naturally there will be danger ahead. Who knows what we might find as we go farther? Perhaps ghosts will change our course and we will be lost in this cave forever, or maybe hundreds of water demons will come to sink our boat and we will die in this black river.”
    Big Kui inhaled sharply. “That bad, huh?”
    “Anything could happen in a place like this. We haven’t even arrived at the grave yet and already we’ve encountered life-threatening perils. But we’re grave robbers, not even the devil can frighten us. If any of you are frightened, go find another job. In our line of work, the bizarre and the terrible are routine occupational hazards.”
    Uncle Three told Panzi to hand him a double-barreled shotgun from one of the backpacks. “Look at our weapons. We’re in a much better position than anyone who came here before us. If there really are water demons here, they’re flat out of luck!”
    Unconvinced, Big Kui trembled with fear. Staring at his pale, fat face, I said to Uncle Three, “How come your encouraging speech sounds so much like a ghost story? It’s not rallying your troops—look at the effect it’s having on your man here.”
    Uncle Three pulled the rifle bolt. “This guy is really an embarrassment to me. I didn’t expect him to be such a useless fuckup. He was bragging like a goddamn hero before he got here.” Handing the gun to Poker-face, my uncle told him, “This gun holds only two bullets at a time. When those are gone, you’ll have to reload. The farther it has to travel, the less power the bullet carries—be sure to choose your target carefully before you fire.”
    Panzi and I held the double-barreled shotguns. Uncle Three and Big Kui each had their army knives in one hand and folding shovels in the other, which they used to paddle the boat forward. Slowly we punted toward the mass of corpses that were bathed in a dim green glow.
    Under the feeble light from our lamps and that mysterious green glimmer, we could see the cave become bigger and bigger. I heard Poker-face mumble words in a language I didn’t understand while Panzi cursed vehemently. And then I saw a sight that I will never be able to forget.
    At the opening to this part of the cave, the green light showed us that we were entering a supercolossal natural chamber. The canal that we followed became a river, and on sand banks at either side lay many rotting, pale green carcasses. It was impossible to tell whether they had once been men or animals. Rows and rows of skulls were piled neatly in the innermost part of the cave, looking as though they had been stacked carefully by human hands. But the collections of skulls that lay farther outside were less meticulously grouped together, especially near the riverbanks where many of the bodies had not yet completely deteriorated.
    All of the carcasses were covered with a thin layer of gray film, as if they had been swaddled tightly with plastic wrap. As we looked, several large corpse-eating bugs erupted from the insides of the bodies. Smaller corpse-eaters scurried over to join the feast but as soon as they arrived, the bigger ones snapped at them and swallowed them in one gulp.
    “Look, you guys!” Big Kui pointed toward the wall of the cavern. We turned and saw a crystal coffin, tinged with green, mounted perpendicularly on the cave’s wall, looking as if it were floating in midair. Inside seemed to be a woman wearing a white dress, but she was too far away for us to see her clearly.
    “There’s one on that side too!” Panzi pointed to the other wall. Sure enough—at the same exact spot on the opposite side hung a crystal coffin, but this one was empty.
    Uncle Three gasped. “Where did that body go?”
    “Could it be a zombie?” asked Big Kui. “Master Three, there couldn’t be any zombies in here, could there?”
    “Pay attention, all of you. If you see anything