Chapter 10, Section 1: Walking out of the Corridor

"The second drawback is that these reanimated corpses can only die once. If they die again, their souls will truly scatter and turn into nothingness," said the old Wang, staring at the man with white hair. He then asked, "Is this your first time here? It seems like you've encountered those reanimated corpses before."

The man with white hair had no intention of answering that question. He replied, "This has nothing to do with you; it's my personal matter."

Old Wang looked at the man with white hair without saying a word for a while. I coughed a few times to signal him, but he didn't react. Helpless, I had to ask the man with white hair myself, "Since you can come in, you must be able to lead us out as well. At the very least, you should open that wall so we can go back on our own."

The man with white hair shook his head and said, "The ghost gate is an entrance; once it's closed, it can only be opened from the outside. If you want to leave now, you'll have to take the front 'life gate.'" His words were the same as those spoken by the deceased Mote. But it seemed there were still at least three reanimated corpses inside. Just now, we were lucky combined with the tight space in the dark room, allowing us to take down one of them. If three or more reanimated corpses were to rush out, the best outcome would likely be a mutual destruction.

There was only one path ahead, so we had to pluck up our courage and move forward. The man with white hair had just shown his intention to proceed when the people around him immediately gathered. Even the chubby guy spoke up, "Let's go together. We can watch out for each other." A few of us, including me and Old Wang, felt a bit embarrassed. This shameless chubby guy actually dared to suggest that we watch out for each other. Who could trust whom in this situation?

The man with white hair didn't object either. He simply said, "If you want to go, follow me." Then he ignored us and stood up, walking slowly in the direction of the dark room.

Old Wang organized us into formation. He, the chubby guy, and Song Er were following behind the man with white hair. I and Li Yan were responsible for escorting Mote's lackeys (they were carrying Mote's corpse). Liu Jingsheng and the others were covering our rear. Succumbing to the chubby guy's nagging, Old Wang handed him one of the seized AK47s, saying, "Here, I don't need it. Just do us a favor and keep your mouth shut."

The chubby guy held the gun in his hand and continued talking, "A gun is a person's courage. The bigger the gun, the greater the courage. Chairman Mao himself said that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. If political power can come from it, why not courage?"

I couldn't stand his chatter anymore and sarcastically remarked, "Give it a rest. Your courage won't be boosted even with a cannon. Just a moment ago, you were the fastest one to run out of the dark room."

The chubby guy was unwilling to admit defeat, saying, "You don't know squat. I didn't have a gun in my hand at that time. Not to boast, but hitting a target a hundred steps away is quite challenging. Even Sun Yat-sen himself couldn't hit a bullseye at ninety-nine steps. If a few more reanimated corpses show up, I'll take them down."

Old Wang turned around and glared at both of us, saying, "Tsk! Both of you shut up! Stop talking nonsense about more coming!"

The man with white hair walked at a leisurely pace, entering the dark room. He saw the decapitated reanimated corpse and glanced at the wound on Old Wang's face, asking, "Did his brain matter splash on you?" Old Wang touched the bandaged cheek and said, "I don't know what's in his head, it's like sulfuric acid; it even burned a piece of flesh off my face."

The man with white hair took out a small paper packet and handed it to Old Wang, saying, "Mix it with water to make it a bit thick and apply it to your face. New flesh will grow quickly." Before Old Wang could express his gratitude, the chubby guy rushed over and said, "Mr. White Hair, it seems like a few drops also splashed on my back earlier. My back still itches. Can I have some of that ointment too?"

"I'm telling you, buddy, that's from not bathing for a long time. It's sweat alkaline causing that," I patted the chubby guy's shoulder and said.

"Really, really. If you don't believe it, take a look yourselves," the chubby guy gestured as if he was going to take off his clothes. The man with white hair ignored him and went through the rear door of the dark room on his own. Seeing that his "Mr. White Hair" wasn't paying attention to him, the chubby guy awkwardly put on his half-removed clothes again, muttering something under his breath.

When we walked out of the back door, we found ourselves in a narrow corridor. The man with white hair clearly wasn't here for the first time. Even when encountering a few intersections, he didn't hesitate at all, taking left and right turns until he led us to the bottom of the corridor.

All of us with guns were on edge throughout the journey, not knowing when those missing reanimated corpses might jump out at us. Fortunately, we didn't encounter a single trace of a reanimated corpse until we left the corridor.