Liu Dashao glanced at his watch. It was a little past nine in the eveniing. The temperature was bitterly cold, and everyone had put on thick cotton jackets while preparing their gear. It truly lived up to the northern saying: “Wear fur in the morning and gauze at noon, eating watermelon by the fireplace.”
Watching Old Diao and his men organize their equipment, Liu Dashao couldn’t help but whistle in amazement. When his own group had descended into the ancient underground palace, they had only brought along a few random tools. Now, these people were dragging out their real gear from the car trunk—an impressive and dazzling array. Even geological exploration tools were present. With this much equipment, they could probably turn the Golden Ancient City upside down. Liu Dashao wondered what exactly they had told these people they were looking for to warrant bringing so much stuff.
Each person carried their own gear and walked in single file across the desert. At first, everyone was excited and cheerful. Fan Debiao chased after Jackson, begging him to explain some dirty jokes from his notes, but Jackson stubbornly refused.
However, this cheerful mood was soon swallowed by the endless desert. Before long, fatigue began to creep over their bodies. It wasn’t long before everyone was walking like zombies, completely lost in the monotony of their steps.
At that time, everyone was essentially moving on autopilot. Their legs no longer responded to conscious thought, mechanically placing one foot in front of the other. This feeling only changed when a burning sensation spread throughout their bodies, finally snapping them back to reality. Looking back, all they could see was an endless sea of sand. At that moment, they deeply felt how small their group was in the face of this vast desert.
When their senses returned, it was already the next day. In other words, they had walked mechanically through the entire night. Now the sun was blazing, and Fan Debiao couldn’t take it anymore. He stripped down to just his underwear, no longer caring about his image in front of the pretty girls.
Others changed out of their cotton jackets into lighter clothing, but Clay Figure Zhang still wore his usual outfit, completely wrapped up. Liu Dashao felt hot just watching him, unable to imagine how he could endure it.
Naturally, they couldn’t keep walking like that. Everyone worked together to dig several large pits in the sand. Old Diao instructed people to set up large UV-blocking umbrellas over each pit, which made things much cooler.
Liu Dashao wouldn’t have wanted to live through even a single day of this kind of life—where you sweat like a waterfall during the day and freeze at night—even though this mission was important. At that moment, he began to miss the days when he worked at Old Diao’s shop, leisurely reading books with the air conditioning set to a comfortable temperature, and sneaking peeks at Bai Bing’s ample cleavage whenever he could. Life had been so much better back then.
Lost in these thoughts, he eventually fell into a deep sleep. Half-conscious, he heard people arguing loudly. Fan Debiao shook him awake, insisting it was time to go. Liu Dashao checked the time—it was only a little past three in the afternoon. Why so early?
As he organized his gear, Fan Debiao explained to Liu Dashao, “Rat went ahead earlier to scout the path. We’re not far from the Golden Ancient City anymore—just about an hour’s walk. Old Diao wants everyone to hurry up and get there to celebrate tonight before starting operations tomorrow.”
A celebration? Were they planning a wild party in the Golden Ancient City? Old Diao really had some ideas. Liu Dashao took a few sips of water and began packing. Since he didn’t have much stuff, it only took a couple of minutes before he had everything on his back.
Once everyone was ready, they set off again under the scorching sun. This time, with a clear goal and limited time, they didn’t feel the same way they had the previous night.
An hour passed quickly. They arrived at the edge of a cliff, and everyone was bursting with excitement. Liu Dashao stepped forward and looked down. Before him lay the half-buried ancient city. The entire city was laid out in a somewhat irregular circle, and from above, it was breathtakingly beautiful. One could only imagine the divine craftsmanship of nature that had shaped it.
“We’ve finally arrived at the Golden Ancient City!” Wang Feifei exclaimed beside Liu Dashao. He was sure that not only she, but everyone present, was thinking the same.
They had finally reached their destination—the Golden Ancient City—after several days of hardship and wave after wave of danger in the desert.
Reflecting on the past few days and all they had experienced, a chill crept into their hearts. At that moment, Liu Dashao thought of his deceased colleagues—Tiao Zai, Sun Li, and Wu Bai—who had died without even understanding what had happened. Life was often so fragile.
Looking at Lin Simiao’s joyful face, Liu Dashao imagined whether those three fallen comrades would have felt the same excitement if they had made it here. Yes, they would have been even more excited.
Yet Liu Dashao himself wasn’t particularly excited. Instead, he felt oddly calm. Perhaps the journey had simply exhausted him too much. Besides, why should he be excited? They had just arrived at their destination, meaning their real work had only just begun. The secret that Old Diao had discovered twelve years ago still lay hidden somewhere in this vast ancient city. How long would they stay here? And would there be more danger? All these questions naturally arose in Liu Dashao’s mind.
As he pondered, Old Diao was already calling everyone to prepare to descend into the Golden Ancient City. At that moment, Liu Dashao recalled Old Diao’s mention of tonight’s “party,” and his heart filled with anticipation. For now, he would set aside his distant worries and prepare himself for the joy of the evening.
The entire ancient city lay at the lowest point of a depression. This terrain was actually quite favorable for an ancient city in the desert—if it rained heavily, the water would collect here. It seemed the ancestors of Golden City were quite clever, or perhaps just cunning.
Without this kind of equipment, they wouldn’t have been able to descend. Without Old Diao and his team, they would have had to find another way down.
But with Old Diao’s complete set of gear, they didn’t need to search for a path—they could descend straight down the cliff. After a bit of organizing, Old Diao had nearly everything ready. Rat approached the group and handed each person a set of climbing equipment.
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