As for the security issue mentioned by Platoon Commander Zhao, Lu Binglin's opinion is that as long as they maintain unimpeded contact with the other expedition team, they can meet south of the Devil's City, and they don't need to get close to the Devil's City first, find a safe place to set up their tents, and then carry out further actions until dawn tomorrow. Even in the event of a sandstorm, there should be no problem for the two teams to form a makeshift camp with eight trucks and four off-road vehicles.

The expedition team strives to complete the inspection task within two days, and even if there are unfinished projects, they must evacuate immediately as soon as the time comes, without much delay. Even if there is an accident, it only takes a day and a half to rush over from the experimental base to rescue, and everyone just needs to wait for help.

Platoon Commander Zhao saw that Lu Binglin was very persistent, and he didn't think he had the ability to convince him, so he simply stopped hiding it and asked him directly if he knew what Devil City was?

Lu Binglin didn't expect Platoon Commander Zhao to ask him like this, and he didn't think much about it, so he blurted out, "It is estimated that the ancient city wall has formed a strange outline under the action of long-term wind erosion, and it looks like many ghosts and monsters standing on the wall at night." There is also a saying that because of wind erosion, when a strong wind blows through the city wall, it will make a sharp whistling sound, and the ghost cries wolf, so there is a saying that the devil's city is born. ”

After listening to Lu Binglin's story, Platoon Commander Zhao smiled bitterly at him twice and told Lu Binglin that the Devil's City was first circulated among Kazakh herdsmen, not referring to the dilapidated ancient cities in the sand sea, but to a large area within a radius of about 20 miles.

Kazakh herders, even if the wind and sand are heavy, will not enter this area to camp and take shelter from the wind, preferring to be buried by the wind and sand outside than to go there at night. Because they believe that there will really be a devil's town at night, brightly lit, full of pedestrians, and countless delicacies exuding tantalizing aromas, and fairy-like music that makes people confused, how can people who are in despair in the wind and sand resist this temptation?

But once you enter the Devil's City, the lights will suddenly go out, leaving only the wind and sand, the waning moon is lonely, and the eyes are invisible, and the people who enter will disappear.

Lu Binglin finally figured out that the ruins of those ancient cities were not the real Devil's City, and the Devil's City was really like a ghost, appearing and disappearing from time to time, and would lure pedestrians to come and go. But if the Devil's Town is just a phantom, how can the people who strayed into it disappear? If there is a ghost town that eats people, since there are no survivors, how can this story be passed down? This story is obviously made up. But Lu Binglin really couldn't figure out what was the purpose of the Kazakh herdsmen in fabricating such a legend? In the first place, very few people approached it, and what kind of secret needed to be covered up so painstakingly?

Platoon Commander Zhao saw the confusion in Lu Binglin's expression, and told him that he did not believe in the legends of the Kazakh herdsmen about the Devil's City, but in the past few years when he was a soldier, he had encountered and heard too many mysterious disappearances, and there would be a few cases every year, and he had participated in no less than five search and rescue, but he had never found the body of the missing person. The dried corpses have encountered several times, and they are all victims of more than 100 years or even 1,000 years. Of course, they can't search the sand inch by inch, but it doesn't make sense that they can't find the remains of a missing person.

About two years ago, Platoon Commander Zhao led the team to rescue an oil exploration team member more than 40 kilometers east of the ancient city, he was seriously dehydrated, his life was dying, and his nerves seemed to be seriously stimulated, and repeatedly told him that the exploration team encountered an ancient city in the desert, which seemed to be inhabited by people, and several members of the exploration team went in to find water, but not long after, the ancient city disappeared under his nose, and the people who went in never came back.

The geological team member from Guizhou, who had only been in the desert for two months, had never heard of the legend of the Kazakh herdsmen, let alone made up such a story. Captain Zhao, a member of the geological team, was sent to the Corps' medical aid station, but died three days later, but the cause of death was said not to be due to dehydration, but to internal organ failure due to intense radiation. However, the incident was quickly blocked, and he was asked by his superiors not to divulge details, especially about the radiation.

In short, the endless sea of sand is another world, and people cannot look at what is happening here with everyday knowledge and experience. Platoon Commander Zhao's old superiors told him that the rule of survival in the desert is to ask less and talk less, be cautious, and abandon your pawns to protect your commander. The most important thing is not to enter the Devil's Town at night.

If Lu Binglin had to enter that area to collect data, he naturally had no right to veto, but the camp must be thirty kilometers south of Devil City, and after the camp was built, no matter what strange things happened outside, no one was allowed to leave the camp.

Lu Binglin pondered Platoon Commander Zhao's words repeatedly, especially the four words of abandoning the pawn to protect the commander, obviously in Platoon Commander Zhao's heart, he could not be that commander, if he didn't do what he asked, he would definitely take those few communication soldiers back to the corps without hesitation. But for the mystery of the mirage that is close at hand, it has been filled in Lu Binglin's brain, constantly expanding, constantly fermenting, and it is impossible for him to give up the opportunity that has come after years of hardship because of Platoon Commander Zhao's story and almost threatening suggestions.

Lu Binglin agreed to Platoon Commander Zhao's request, re-recorded and marked on the map, then picked up the phone, notified the coordinates of the new rendezvous camp to another team, and then urged everyone to quickly load the car and set off in the direction of Devil City. But this episode delayed Lu Binglin's motorcade for nearly an hour, and it was this hour that completely changed the course of the story.

In the process of heading towards Devil's Town, the Mirage Chasers still did not stop their work, and continued to be busy in the bed of the truck. And the mirage chaser, who has been in charge of the camera, held the camera and watched the video of the mirage over and over again, and did not put it down for a moment. Platoon Commander Zhao covered his face with a camouflage scarf, got on the roof of the truck with a telescope, and looked at the distant skyline from time to time, and he didn't need to take off the scarf at all, he could also feel his cold look.

Shortly after departure, the mirage chaser sat down next to Lu Binglin with a video camera and told him that he had carefully examined every frame of the videotape, and although he could not determine exactly where the flag was hung on the timer, judging from the projection on the blurred frame of the timer, it could be ruled out that these days were Thursday to Sunday. So here's the problem, because of the invasion of wind and sand, last Wednesday, Lu Binglin arranged for the base to replace the flagpole again, and by the way, the arrangement of the three flags was adjusted, and in the image on the videotape, the flag was readjusted, that is, this image could only be Wednesday.

But last Wednesday, everyone remembers very well that the desert was full of clouds, the wind and sand were all over the sky, and the visibility was less than 100 meters, so it was impossible for a mirage to occur in such climatic conditions, but if it wasn't last Wednesday, what day did the images on the tape appear?

Faintly, Lu Binglin had an ominous premonition, but this kind of conjecture that he could not accept was impossible to communicate with anyone, which was likely to make the whole research go to the other extreme, an extreme that was completely out of control, and an extreme that was very likely to ruin the entire plan.

Lu Binglin put away the camera, simply didn't think about it, and picked up a few documents that had been thrown under the bookcase to look through.

It's funny to say that these books were left by Liao Huansheng to Lu Binglin when he left the mirage chasing team before, Lu Binglin remembered that before Liao Huansheng left, he also specially instructed him, "General Dictionary - Notes on Western Regions Literature", "Western Regions Wenjian Records", "Western Regions Archaeological Records", and "Selected Notes on Ancient Western Travel" These books must be carefully read. The thick books are all in literary language, which is too obscure for Lu Binglin, so he hasn't read it carefully.

At this time, Lu Binglin found that Liao Huansheng had made notes on every book, and the important parts were drawn with a red pen, which saved Lu Binglin a lot of effort. In the constant bumps of the truck, Lu Binglin quickly skimmed roughly, and he turned out the Qing Dynasty's "Xizhou Atlas" to make some comparisons, and finally had a clear understanding of the Devil's City.

It turns out that in the vast Xinjiang, there are no less than four places called devil's towns. The most famous is to the south of Karamay, which is a magical Yadan landform formed entirely by natural forces, and is not a city. The reason for the naming of wind erosion and wind roar that I speculated before actually came from there.

In the north of Hotan, there are two places called Devil's City in the northwest, but there are veritable ruins of ancient cities, which were suddenly abandoned at the end of the Tang Dynasty, perhaps due to the climate or water source, standing alone in the hinterland of the desert and becoming a ghost town.

As for the coordinates of the area I am about to go to, it is difficult to say whether there is really an ancient city ruins, but there are four ancient cities in the sand distributed around it. Historically, these four ancient cities were collectively known as Devil's Castles. The northeast of the coordinate point is the famous ancient city of Loulan, where the starting point of the study of the culture of the Western Regions in modern times is there, the ancient city of Haitou is not far from the southeast, the ancient city of Yixun built in the Han Dynasty is in the south, and the ancient city of Niya is a little remote in the southwest.

According to the records, during the Han and Tang dynasties, this area was covered with a dense network of rivers, countless oases, and cities. Although one city in the ancient kingdom of the Western Regions can be called a country, and the territory of a country is likely to be only an oasis, the ancient city is by no means just the four that have been discovered. At that time, Lu Binglin vaguely felt that the few coordinate points he had calculated were likely to be the ruins of the ancient city that had not yet been discovered.

(If the husband is the love of all things, the legend of humanity is not: if you are together, you will be separated, if you succeed, you will be ruined, if you are honest, you will be frustrated, if you are respectful, if you are promising, if you are virtuous, if you are not good, you will be bullied.) Tragic husband, disciple Zhizhi, his only moral hometown is --Zhuangzi")