Wang Jie's shouts woke everyone in the camp, and the guards of the Nanya got up and rushed one after another, as if they were facing a great enemy. Rohi also rushed over in disheveled clothes, and asked in a loud voice what had happened.

Wang Ji pointed to the top of the sand dunes and shouted, "There are people on it, I saw a figure on the sand dunes just now." ”

The leader of the Praetorian guards immediately ordered a small group of Praetorian guards to go up to the top of the hill to check, and dozens of Praetorian guards quickly went up to the top of the hill, but they didn't see anything.

Luo Xixiao smiled: "Wang Shangshu is dazzled, how can there be people in this kind of place?" Unless it's a goblin. ”

Everyone was startled, and a chill ran down their spines. When the road was boring, several guides chattered some ghost stories in the desert, and everyone laughed at the time. But in the middle of the night, the third watch, and said that he saw a figure, and then talked about ghosts, it was really a bit hairy.

Wang Ji frowned and insisted: "This official is not old enough to be dizzy, and he did see a few figures, and as soon as I shouted, they quickly disappeared. No, I'm going to go up and see for myself. ”

Everyone was helpless, so they had to hug Wang Ji and Luo Xixiao and climb the high sand dunes. Standing on the top of the sand dune, under the light of the full moon, the sand is like silver, undulating and endless. But looking around, there was half a figure somewhere.

Wang Ji frowned and recalled the location of the figure he saw below, wandering on the sand dunes to search carefully, and suddenly, he found several lines of stray footprints. It was the traces of six or seven people walking through, and it was definitely not the footprints that the Praetorian guards had just walked up to check.

"Footprints, footprints indeed." The guards looked at it and exclaimed.

"I said I saw a figure, but you don't believe it." Wang Ji said angrily.

Luo Xixiao was silent and carefully watched the direction of the footprint, and suddenly said in a deep voice: "Strange, this footprint stretches from our camp to the top of the hill, and then down the hill, heading straight to the east. Looks like you've been to our camp? ”

The scalps of the people were numb, and these people went to the camp for a while, and no one knew? And in the middle of this vast desert, who will appear here?

Wang Ji said in a deep voice: "Tell the guides to talk back." Didn't they say that there was no one in the desert in this area? Ask them what they live in the desert, and they don't seem to be telling the truth. ”

Several guards hurriedly descended the hill to the camp to find the guides, and Wang and Luo Xixiao stayed on the hill and whispered their views on the matter. Suddenly, several guards from the camp below stumbled up the hill, shouting as they ran.

"Amazing! Amazing! Wang Shangshu! Luo Yushi! It's amazing. ”

"What's the mess? Say something when you have something. Bastard stuff. Wang Qi said angrily, the shouts of these guards were full of panic, and they were particularly mad in the empty desert.

Several guards climbed up the sand dunes in a hurry, and hurriedly reported: "Wang Shangshu, Luo Yushi, I have searched all over the camp, and the guides are gone." They...... And their camels were gone, and they all ran away. ”

"Huh?" Wang Ji and Luo Xizao's hearts were beating wildly, and the guards around them were also dumbfounded. After entering the desert, these people are all blind, already dizzy and do not know the direction, all rely on a few guides to guide the way, teach them how to prevent sunburn in the desert, how to conserve strength, how to fight the wind and sand, and so on. Now that the guide has run away, aren't these people headless flies?

Wang Ji was quite calm, suppressed the panic in his heart, frowned and thought for a moment: "In this way, the figures I saw just now must be these escapee guides." Go and check if they have destroyed the water bladders and dry food on the camel's horse. ”

After a while, the Praetorian Guards reported that the dry food and water were well preserved, because these things were kept separately in two tents after unloading the camels and horses during camping, surrounded by the camping tents of the Praetorian Guards, even if anyone tried to destroy them, they could not do it.

Hearing that the water and dry food were well preserved, Wang Ji breathed a sigh of relief, these are life-saving things, without water and dry food, everyone can't survive a day in the desert.

"Luo Yushi, what do you think?" Wang asked the silent Luo Xizao.

Luo Xizao frowned and said: "Why did these guys flee in the middle of the night, I'm afraid there is something unknown to them." Wang Shangshu, I think it's time for us to get out of the desert, we can't stay here, I think there must be some conspiracy. ”

Wang Ji nodded and said, "I feel the same way." But how do we get back? Yesterday we walked for a day, and these guides took us on a day's journey, sometimes south and sometimes north, and now we have no way of knowing where we are. We don't know how far we are from Yazhou, and we don't know how far we will go into the desert. ”

Luo Xixiao thought for a while and said: "In short, it is to the east, the moon sets in the west and rises in the east, and we can return to the territory of Datang if we go all the way east." ”

Wang Ji frowned and said, "That's the only way, while there is still moonlight, I suggest leaving this place as soon as possible." ”

Rohi agreed, and immediately ordered the opening of the Venucia, hastily left the camp, and turned back to the east and exited the desert in the roughly decided direction. The desert at night was bitterly windy and bitterly cold. The group hurried east, but soon came across large sand dunes like hills. At first, the crowd mustered up the courage to climb over the large sand dunes, but as the sand dunes grew, they had to choose to detour.

After two hours of detouring, everyone suddenly couldn't find their way. Looking up at the moon in the sky, he found that the moon had set at some point, and there was no way to tell the direction. Helplessly, they walked in the glimmer for more than an hour, and when everyone was exhausted, they came to the side of a sand dune.

By the glimmer of dawn in the sky, the weary crowd received even more terrifying news, discovering that the flat ground beneath the dunes was the camp where they had camped the night before. The stakes of the tent were like traces of nails, and the footprints of men and horses were everywhere, and the stench of yellow and white things pulled down by the soldiers and cattle during the camp last night surrounded the perimeter of the camp. After working all night and walking for three hours, they were all tired and half dead, but they actually returned to their original places.

"Desert ghosts hit the wall!" A janissary shouted in horror.

"Shut up!" Luo Xizao shouted angrily: "If you disturb people's hearts again, you will be punished by military law." ”

The panicked guards hurriedly shut up, but they didn't say anything, and their hearts were shocked.

Wang Ji sat on the sand panting regardless of his image, and Luo Xixiao leaned over to discuss with him in a low voice: "Wang Shangshu, what should we do now?" ”

Wang Jie's face turned pale, and he spread his hands and said, "I don't know what to do." The sun is about to rise, or when the sun rises, we can discern the direction and go east. ”

Luo Xixiao frowned and said, "Wang Shangshu, I don't think we can do this." The road is full of big sand dunes, and we seem to be walking in the mountains, if we can't choose a shortcut, we may not be able to get out of it for five days and five nights. But we only have a few days of water and dry food, and one more day is more dangerous. ”

Wang Ji licked his pale lips and said, "Then what do you say?" ”

Luo Xixiao said: "I was thinking just now, why did those guides flee to the west last night, they are my Datang people, even if they escape, they have to flee back to Datang." But the route they chose to escape was to the west, which taught people a little strange. ”

Wang Ji was dissatisfied: "What do you want to do now? ”

Luo Xizao hurriedly said: "I mean, we don't have to run blindly by ourselves, the guides will not ask for death, they also want to live, why don't we follow their footprints while they are still there." They always know the way out, or don't they show us the way? ”

Wang Ji was overjoyed, jumped up and said, "Good idea, why didn't you say it earlier?" That was the time last night. Hurry at once, taking advantage of the cool weather, and after a while the wind and sand will rise at noon, and it will be troublesome to cover up their footprints. ”

The two reached an agreement, so everyone immediately mounted their horses and came to the top of the sand dune, although the night was cold, but the wind was not strong in the second half of the night, and the footprints of the guides were vague and discerning, which can be described as a great creation. Everyone followed the footsteps of the guides, whether to the east or the west.

Not to mention, the guides walked on a very flat route, all of which went around the tall hills, as if they had found a shortcut in the mountains, which saved a lot of energy. It's just that the direction is not towards Yazhou, but towards the southwest, which makes people very confused. But Wang Ji and Luo Xixiao couldn't care about that much at this moment, so they could only follow the guide's footprints. And at noon, they actually saw the figure of the escape guide setting up a tent in the shade of the sand dunes in the distance, which made everyone's confidence greatly increased and they were overjoyed.

This shows that even if the direction is wrong, at least follow the right people, unless these guides themselves get lost and find death, there must be a way out of the predicament.