The atmosphere was tense now, with a sandstorm threatening to erupt at any moment. The group had been walking for over an hour across the Taklamakan Desert, but the ruined ancient city described by the old man Klama still hadn’t appeared. The weather was worsening by the minute.
Wang Feifei was getting anxious and asked Klama, “How much longer? We’ve been walking forever and haven’t even seen a city wall yet!”
Klama, now visibly puzzled, replied, “It should be around here somewhere. Maybe recent winds have buried the city.”
Hearing this, everyone felt helpless, and the tension in the air reached its peak.
Suddenly, sand swirled up from all directions, and powerful gusts began howling nonstop. Vision became blurred in an instant. Liu Dashao immediately realized the storm had begun.
At that moment, Vander shouted, “Damn it! The storm has hit!”
The sandstorm had officially started. Everyone was in a panic, and the camels sensed the danger too, becoming restless. Chaos reigned supreme. The ancient ruined city still hadn’t been found, and it seemed like everyone was doomed.
Amid the roaring wind, Liu Dashao faintly heard sobbing. He looked around and found Big Wubai crying in fear. What the hell—Wubai looked strong, but his heart was clearly fragile.
Vander scolded Wubai, “What the hell! You call yourself a real man from the Northeast? You’re crying like a baby, not even as brave as a woman. Look at Lin Miaoke—she’s way braver than you!”
Hearing Vander’s words, Liu Dashao turned and looked at Lin Miaoke. Although she was trembling slightly from fear, her face showed no sign of terror. Unexpectedly, this seemingly frail girl was actually so strong-willed—it was rare to see.
The wind grew stronger. Wang Feifei asked Klama, “Elder, we haven’t found the ancient city. What should we all do now?”
Klama remained calm and replied to Wang Feifei, “Everyone, don’t panic. This is only the beginning of the storm. The real sandstorm won’t hit for another ten minutes. If we can find the city within this time, we can still take shelter.”
Hearing Klama’s words, Liu Dashao felt a glimmer of hope. He rode his camel over to Wang Feifei and Klama and said to Klama, “Once the desert storms, everything changes. That ancient city must be buried under the sand now. How can we find it? Even if we locate it, maybe only the roof will be visible.”
As soon as Liu Dashao finished speaking, the wind intensified further. Klama shouted loudly, “Now we can only hope that Hu Da hasn’t buried the city completely. No matter what, we must search—we can’t just wait here to die!”
Wang Feifei shouted, “Are you absolutely sure the city is nearby?”
Klama replied, “I swear to Hu Da—it’s definitely around here!”
Wang Feifei quickly assessed the surroundings and then ordered everyone to dismount their camels. She divided the group into pairs, instructing each to search in different directions. If anyone found the city, they should signal with flares. For safety, no one should wander too far, and if nothing was found within eight minutes, everyone should return to the starting point to regroup.
After Wang Feifei assigned tasks, everyone scattered in different directions.
Due to the sandstorm, visibility was extremely low. Occasionally, the wind would suddenly intensify, making it impossible to even open one’s eyes.
Liu Dashao and Vander headed west together. After walking for more than three minutes, they hadn’t even seen a decent sand dune, let alone an ancient city.
Vander cursed, “What the hell? Is what old Klama said even true? This place doesn’t look like it has any ancient city ruins at all!”
Liu Dashao replied, “I don’t think the old man is lying. If he wasn’t sure about the city’s existence, would he dare come here? I bet the ancient city is buried under the sand.”
Vander said, “Under the sand? Are you kidding? Are we supposed to dig through the sand just to survive?”
Liu Dashao responded, “If time allowed, that wouldn’t be a bad idea. But damn it, time is way too tight!” He glanced at his watch—five minutes had passed since they started. He couldn’t waste any more time chatting with Vander. Only three minutes remained—time to test their luck.
Suddenly, there was a loud “Boom!” Liu Dashao looked up and saw a flare burning in the northeast. He immediately recognized it as a signal flare.
Seeing the flare, both Liu Dashao and Vander were overjoyed. They immediately turned northeast and sprinted toward it, Vander shouting excitedly all the way.
When Liu Dashao and Vander arrived, everyone else had already gathered. But looking around, there was no sign of an ancient city—everyone felt deeply disappointed.
Furious, Vander immediately asked, “Who fired the flare?”
A young guy named Tiaozi replied shamefully, “I did. But I swear, I clearly saw an ancient city just ahead!”
Klama said, “Oh no, young man, you must have seen a mirage. This is really bad news.” Klama’s face also showed panic.
Vander exploded in anger, “You saw a damn illusion and fired anyway? Now you’ve doomed us all!”
Liu Dashao noticed that Tiaozi was on the verge of a mental breakdown. If he was pressured further, he might snap. Liu Dashao told Vander to stop yelling at him.
The wind was getting stronger. Liu Dashao checked his watch—according to Klama, the real storm would hit any minute now.
Everyone had completely lost hope. Wubai didn’t even cry anymore—he just sat on the sand, staring blankly into space.
Others, seeing no hope, hung their heads in despair, waiting for death. Klama spread his blanket on the ground, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and seemed to be waiting for Hu Da to take him to heaven.
Suddenly, the wind howled violently, and everything around became blurry. The real sandstorm had arrived.
At that moment, Vander looked anxiously at Liu Dashao, trying to say something. But the moment he opened his mouth, sand flew in, making him shake his head in frustration.
Unable to speak, Vander kept pointing frantically to the right. Liu Dashao turned curiously—and there, right in front of him, stood a broken ancient city wall. Liu Dashao thought it was a mirage, so he immediately called Klama to look.
Klama jumped up from his blanket in joy. Covering his mouth with a scarf, he shouted, “There’s the ancient city! Everyone, quickly run inside!”
Without hesitation, he took his whip and drove the camels toward the city.
Seeing the city, everyone’s will to survive reignited. They jumped up and rushed into the ancient ruins.
Since they were running downwind, within a minute, everyone had reached the city’s interior and huddled behind a crumbling mud wall to shelter from the storm.
The wind kept howling. Everyone was exhausted and leaned against the wall to rest. Klama took out his carpet, knelt on it, and gave thanks to Hu Da.
After finishing his prayers, Liu Dashao asked him, “We searched everywhere and couldn’t find this city. Why did it suddenly appear?”
Klama replied, “This is Hu Da’s blessing! He used the storm to uncover this city buried under the sand and save us all. It seems Hu Da hasn’t forgotten us!”
Hearing this, Liu Dashao almost believed it was Hu Da who had saved them. He shook his head, chuckled at himself sarcastically, and leaned back against the wall to rest.
Just as Liu Dashao closed his eyes, he suddenly heard Sun Li shouting, “No good! Something’s wrong!”
Sun Li’s cry immediately shattered everyone’s brief calm. Liu Dashao thought to himself, these people’s mental resilience is really poor—some cry out of fear, others hallucinate, and now someone’s screaming again. But he could understand—unlike Liu Dashao and Vander, these people hadn’t experienced life-and-death situations before.
Liu Dashao turned his head and saw Wang Feifei and others in a panic. Jackson was repeatedly bowing his head and then lifting it. Vander was blocking the view, so Liu Dashao couldn’t hear what Jackson was saying. Wang Feifei was frantically rummaging through her medicine kit, shouting at others to move aside.
Realizing something was truly wrong, Liu Dashao stood up and walked over. It turned out Wang Zhicai had fainted from exhaustion. Jackson was performing CPR on him while Lin Miaoke was unbuttoning his shirt to help him cool down.
At that moment, Wang Feifei rushed over with a bottle of medicine. She lifted Wang Zhicai’s head onto her lap, placed two pills into his mouth, and gave him a large amount of water. Soon, Wang Zhicai slowly regained consciousness. Everyone finally exhaled in relief.
Outside, the storm raged on without any sign of weakening. The area was pitch black, so dark you couldn’t even see your fingers. Everyone else had lain down to rest, but Liu Dashao couldn’t sleep. He sat by the wall, lost in thought.
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