Section 46

Wu Ming guessed correctly, this time it was indeed not a mirage, and they had already entered the oasis before the day reached the middle of the day. Looking around, there is nothing special here, camel thorns, cacti, low bushes, etc., everything that the oasis has, there are here, and the oasis should not have, and I have not found it yet. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "Find a shady place, you live first, and I'll go find water." ”

It was probably once a riverbed, full of potholes, and surrounded by rocks that had not yet been fully weathered. It was easy to find a shady place, Wu Ming set up a simple camp tent under a rock that could provide shade, greeted the two of them, and then grabbed Chixiao and went out.

There was also dry food in the luggage, and even if he and Esther didn't eat, they would be able to last for a few days. But once there is no water, no matter how powerful the warrior is, under the scorching sun, he can only turn into a dried corpse. So what they need most is water, and as long as they have water, there is still a glimmer of life. Once there is no water, then everything is not to be mentioned.

Water is hard to find, and Wu Ming has tried his luck in several damp low-lying areas, but to no avail. At the thought of having two more women to take care of himself, he didn't dare to run too far. In the end, I really couldn't do it, so I only found a few fat cacti and went back to deal with them. Looking at the two cacti in his hand, Wu Ming only felt at a loss, this oasis is not big, you can see the end at a glance, even if you look for it tomorrow, I am afraid it will still be nothing. Do you really want to keep hungry with this thing? But no matter how many cacti there are, there will always be a day when they finish eating, and it will still be difficult to escape death at that time.

When they returned to the camp, the two women were in a daze, and Zhu Yuqing was fine, except that his face was obscure and he was even more emaciated, he was quite calm. Esther, on the other hand, had puffy eyes and had apparently just cried. Wu Ming couldn't help but secretly say: "Could it be that Xiaoqing bullied her?" But immediately amused by this ridiculous idea, Esther is tricky and eccentric, and she is a seventh-stage master, Xiaoqing is fortunate not to be bullied by her, how can it be the other way around.

"What's wrong?"

He walked over and handed the cactus to the two of them. When they met at the kiln last year, He Yi saw that Wu Ming loved to eat cactus kimchi, so he introduced to him in detail the selection method of cactus. Lille and Kodir, one south and one north, although the species of cactus in the two deserts have changed, they are always the same, and the commonalities are always there.

The cactus is very fat, and the red night is cut into two from it, and the pearl-like dew overflows from the fracture, which makes people salivate. Zhu Yuqing took a cut and ate it in small bites, but Esther was still a little dazed and motionless, Wu Ming shook his hand in front of her: "Are you okay?" ”

Esther was taken aback, glanced at Wu Ming, and immediately lowered her head in a panic: "Ah, no, it's nothing." After a while, he said quietly: "A camel died." ”

Did a camel die? Wu Ming was a little speechless. And so did Esther, who wept like this for all dead camels. Usually Xiao Qing is weak and can't help the wind, and he speaks little. Esther is down-to-earth and generous. But when faced with a desperate situation, Xiao Qing was calm as usual, and Esther panicked.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but look at Zhu Yuqing. The latter was pinching the cactus to his mouth, carefully snorting the skin with his front teeth. In order not to swallow off all the flesh, she was very careful. The snow-white front teeth are like a delicate nail clipper. Perhaps, as Xiaoqing said, she has been battling illness all her life, and she has long taken life and death lightly.

People are not afraid of death, so why should they be afraid of death?

He sighed, sat down between the two women, and said softly, "If you're dead, you're dead, look at it." With Ah Ling, aren't there three camels? Don't worry too much about it. ”

"But, however, I'm still afraid." Esther was still sobbing.

Wu Ming was about to continue to persuade, and Zhu Yuqing said suddenly: "The camel is dead outside, Ah Ming, you go and see how much blood it can hold." ”

Wu Ming was stunned, but immediately reacted: "Okay." ”

Camel blood is not good to drink, and the blood of dead camels is even worse. But now it's like this, so much cares. It's just that the camel dies of thirst after all, how much water is left in the whole body?

Wu Ming came out of the tent, stabbed a big hole in its neck with Chixiao, and squeezed it for a long time before squeezing out a small half bag of water. When he returned to the camp, Zhu Yuqing looked at the shriveled water bladder, and there was some despair in his tone: "Sleep." ”

Death is not terrible, but waiting for death is the most terrible. The scariest thing is that you don't know how long this time is going to last. This night, the three of them couldn't raise their interest in talking, so they stayed up until dawn. Wu Ming got up a little abruptly, grabbed Chixiao and said, "I'll go find water again." ”

Although he knows that there is little hope, waiting for death is not his style. At the very least, give the two girls a little hope, otherwise once people lose their faith, they will only die faster. Zhu Yu glanced at Esther, who was still a little sluggish, and reluctantly got up and said, "I'll go and see, can the camel still shave some meat." ”

For her, fighting against fate is a matter of daily routine. Even though there is little hope, I am not willing to give up. Esther also stood up: "Sister Zhu, you are not in good health, so let me come." She said, helped Zhu Yuqing to sit down again, and then walked outside first.

Zhu Yuqing sat down and began to give orders: "Kill the other two camels as well, so that you may be able to hold on for a little more time." "Now that there is no clear water, those two camels have no value, and they have to carry things, and Ah Ling and Nanwang are enough. Zhu Yu glanced at Wu Ming and continued: "Ah Ming, you go to find water again in the morning, if there is no news, we must leave here......"

If you can't find water, you can only wait for death, even if it's a cactus, it can only make a few people survive, Wu Ming nodded and responded: "Okay." ”

Esther got out of the tent and said loudly outside, "I know, I wish my sister, don't worry." ”

Although he was upset, seeing the two of them, Wu Ming felt a little inexplicably relieved in his heart. Before he could take a few steps, he heard Esther let out another exclamation. The sound is like a cuckoo crying blood, and in the dead desert, it makes people feel even more chills down their spines. No matter how good Wu Ming's temper was, he was a little annoyed at this time, and said in his heart: "This Persian princess is a little less courageous, why is she in the desert and more and more like a little girl?" ”

can complain and complain, but you can't let it go, a few flashes at the moment, turned to the other side of the tent, and said, "What's wrong?" ”

Esther had long lost her former calmness, and the throwing knife she usually loved was thrown aside, and she knelt on the sand with her legs curled up, but her eyes looked ahead in horror, like a frightened little beast. Wu Ming followed his line of sight and couldn't help but gasp.

It was the dead camel last night.

Over the past year, Wu Ming has seen countless camels, whether they are alive or dead, wounded or disabled, rotten and stinking or only skeletons left, they have never made him so frightened, and even trembling with fear.

It lay there silently, as silent as a weathered rock, and no one would have believed that it had been a camel if it had not been for the fact that it was still covered with a camel skin.

Yes, it should not be called a camel, and even a dead camel is not worthy. Because apart from the camel skin, there are only bones left, like a toy that someone carved a camel skeleton and then put the camel skin on. If he was really a toy, Wu Ming would probably praise him for his ingenuity, but now he couldn't speak, except for fear or fear.

Yes, the camel died, it was thirsty to death. But it was not like the hungry camel in the desert, with its skin clinging to its body, but with its exaggerated belly, as if its flesh and blood had suddenly been sucked away, and the skin and bone, though still together, had been completely separated, and the skin was now like a loose sleeve loose on its skeleton.

Wu Ming settled down, walked over cautiously, and gently kicked it in the stomach, and sure enough, it had nothing left except skin and bones.

Zhu Yuqing got out of the tent and said in a daze, "What's wrong?" ”

Wu Ming stood next to the dead camel, which happened to block her vision, she didn't see anything, and couldn't help but be a little dazed.

"You go pack your things, and we'll get out of here right away." Wu Ming rushed over with an arrow and pushed her into the tent.

"What happened?" Zhu Yuqing is still a little reluctant.

As if to confirm her words, there was a sudden rustling sound all around, which was at first very subtle, like a gentle drizzle, and then became louder and louder, until at last it boiled like boiling water, and the whole ground rolled with it. Wu Ming was half frightened, grabbed Esther, who was already a little sluggish, and jumped backwards violently.

At this time, the sky was already bright, and the sun was shining directly through the cracks in the sparse bushes, and countless sands could be seen rolling up like waves, and countless tiny insects could be seen wriggling.

"It's a man-eating maggot!"

Esther said in a trembling voice, "Hurry up, once you are targeted by this thing, you will be gnawed to the point that there is nothing left." ”

But Zhu Yuqing is still in the tent, how can he just leave. Although Wu Ming's heart was anxious, he was not chaotic at all, he took a step back suddenly, bent forward with his right foot, and exhaled: "Get up!" With a loud shout, the whole sand turned upside down. The sand was originally stirred up by man-eating maggots like boiling water, but at this time, there was a continuous rumbling sound, and countless pillars of sand rose into the sky, and the sand and dust filled the sky, as if there was an ancient giant beast that wanted to break through the shackles of the ground and forcibly break through.

Countless sand was thrown up and fell, and in the dust, you can clearly see countless beige insects mixed in, these insects are about the thickness of chopsticks, and they only roll a few times when they fall to the ground, and then quickly crawl towards this side.

Wu Ming couldn't help but be stunned, the vitality of this thing is so tenacious?

"Let's go!"

Just as she was stunned, Esther had already pulled Zhu Yuqing and rushed out. Fortunately, the mount is tethered to the side, and if you want to go, it is convenient and fast. The three of them had just gotten on their mounts, but they were all at the same time.

In all directions, there was a rustle. Those insectivorous maggots were just shocked by Wu Ming's palms, but at this time, they swam over again, and spread densely, it was originally a dark yellow sand surface, but it was a little white at this time. There are still snakes and insects coming from behind, and they don't come out of nowhere. The bugs in front were shaken, and they were inevitably sluggish. The insects in the back crawled faster, and crawled past the front ones, falling down like a tumbling over. There seemed to be a large carpet on the ground in front of it, and the carpet was still turning. The three of them looked at the hair in their hearts, and looked at the sand a little sluggishly, like water flooding the embankment, slowly surging towards this side, looking up, there was a sea of insects all around, and there was still a sea of insects.

"Man-eating maggots like blood, kill the camels and lure them away!" Esther hurriedly raised her knife and slashed at the camel behind her.

After the storm, they found three camels, one of which died of thirst last night, and two remaining. Probably the beast knew the danger, and was spinning restlessly in the spot, when the knife struck one of the necks, and the camel neighed miserably and fell to the ground. Esther flew down, grabbed the hump with her right hand, stepped forward with her right foot, and scribbled her left hand into the camel's lower abdomen, shouting, "Get up!" She lifted the whole camel over her head and slammed it forward.

"Bang!" With a loud bang, the camel slammed into the insect swarm like a yellow boulder, and the golden insect tide suddenly paused, and the momentum of progress slowed down. As soon as the camel landed, countless small insects of that kind immediately came out of the sand, desperately burrowing into the flesh, and the rustling sound became even stronger, it was the sound of frantically devouring flesh and blood.

"Whew!" With a bang, as if given some order, all the insects gave up the momentum of the encirclement, and rushed towards the place where the camel died.

"Let's go!"

Wu Ming did the same, stuck a sword into another camel, and then used his legs to beat the horse and gallop outward. When he rushed to a sand dune a few miles away, he looked back and saw that the camel was covered with insects, and those small insects were like loaches burrowing into tofu, moving in and out of the camel's body, and in a short time the camel's plump body gradually dried up. Wu Ming suddenly understood what was going on with the camel today, it was completely devoured by these insects!

It seems that the legend of this ghost spring is true, there must have been a surface river here before, but it has dried up over time. And these man-eating maggots, feeding on passing passengers, actually persevered. Man-eating maggots love blood, and they must have been attracted by the bloody smell of camels. At night, several people were asleep, and the breath emitted was insufficient, and the man-eating maggots were not noticed. When she woke up in the morning, Esther went to slaughter the camels, which naturally woke them up.

As soon as she was out of danger, Esther was terrified, and when she saw this scene, she felt even more calm. Coupled with the fact that she hadn't been hydrated for a long time, she tilted her head and fell straight from her mount.