Chapter 22: The Third Night

It was getting darker and darker.

The convoy was also clumsy crawling on Lop Nur, with its lights on.

Under the illumination of the headlights, the undulating salt crust surface presents a dead gray, brighter in the convex places, darker in the concave places, and the layers seem to be more bumpy.

It seems that everyone has tacitly agreed that no one has proposed to park and settle down. Probably everyone wants to keep going, get to the center of Lop Nur Lake early, and get out of this strange place as soon as possible.

Now, there is only a little bit of daylight left, and if it doesn't stop, it will be very inconvenient to set up a tent.

I use the walkie-talkie to call everyone to stop.

The convoy stopped in turn.

It's April 23, 2013, and if you think about it, what are you doing?

We pitched our tent in Lop Nur.

I, Wei Zao, Pawan, Zhang Hui, Xu Erge, Haowai, Bubu, and Pulp were all busy, and Yiwu still didn't mix with us, and she carried things down from the car alone.

Meng Xiaoshuai went to find Bai Xinxin again, and the two of them stood under the RV and said something.

After a while, Bai Xinxin came over and said to me: "Boss Zhou, I was a little offended just now, apologize." ”

I said, "Little things." Don't mess with beautiful women there, go cook. ”

Bai Xinxin went to get the stove.

I was the so-called "number one" in several media outlets, and I needed to do things at that time. After years of hard work, I can finally stop leading the team, and I can finally ignore people, idle like a winter farmer, but I organized this travel team on a whim......

I would say that I really don't want to be in charge.

I herded sheep in the Gobi steppe and mastered the rules of life of sheep, which is very simple. But people are the most complicated, and managing people is the most tiring.

After dinner, everyone went back to the tent one after another.

The wind was blowing, and the tent was shaking.

In the gaps of several tents, flickering emergency lights shine.

Only the lights in the motorhome were orange, more like the feeling of home, very warm. Like a child, I thought that after crossing Lop Nur smoothly this time, I would also buy an RV, preferably bigger than Bai Xinxin's.

There was even soothing music in the RV, as well as the laughter of Bai Xinxin and Meng Xiaoshuai. I don't know what this light bulb is doing.

Before I got into the tent, I looked out into the wilderness, and a little higher up there was a figure, standing motionless.

Who's that?

I walked over slowly, and finally saw that it was Bubu.

She was looking at something with a telescope.

I said, "Boo? ”

She seemed to be taken aback, put down the binoculars, and turned around: "Boss Zhou." ”

I smiled and said, "What can you see?" ”

"My binoculars are night vision," she said. ”

I said, "I'll see." ”

She handed me the binoculars.

I took the binoculars, and suddenly I was a little scared, through this telescope, will I see the wasteland densely packed with people?

I slowly lifted the telescope and looked into the distance - Lop Nur, which was originally pitch black, really showed its shape, the image was black and white, a little blurry, much like a silent old movie, I saw the salt crust ground high and low in the distance, and it was dark in the distance.

I gave her back the binoculars and said, "You're not afraid to sleep alone, are you?" ”

She smiled and said, "I'm afraid of multiple people." ”

I also smiled: "It's windy, don't catch a cold." ”

She said, "Well, I know. ”

I said, "I'll go back and go to bed early." ”

She said, "Okay." ”

After I left, she held up the binoculars again.

I returned to the tent, and the juice had slipped into my sleeping bag, revealing only a baby face.

I only saw her shoes, not her clothes.

She said, "Where's your guitar?" ”

I said, "In the car." ”

She said, "Sing to me." When I hear the sound of the guitar, I think of my college days. ”

I said, "No problem." ”

She said, "Oh yes, the string is broken." ”

I said, "Play the same strings with all four strings." ”

She said, "Really? ”

I said, "When I was a kid, I used to practice the guitar hard, beating the rhythm on the speaker with my right hand and playing the melody with my left hand, do you believe it?" ”

"I don't know how to play an instrument," she said. ”

I said, "You wait." ”

I got out of the tent, got the guitar from my car, got into the tent, sat down across from the slurry, and started tuning.

Without A strings and B strings, it's really hard to play. I tried to find the chord with four strings and sang softly -

I came from the town of the Peerless Emperor in the Northeast, the pimple residents are kind and unguessed, the pimple ice and snow are lonely, the sky is blue and white, and the pimple sunflower is golden all over the world......

She kept staring at me.

After singing a few songs, I said, "Not asleep yet?" ”

She said, "You're dangerous. ”

I said, "What? ”

"Nothing," she said. Thank you for the song. ”

I put my guitar next to my sleeping bag, turned off the emergency light, and got into my sleeping bag as well.

After a while, someone came to the door of our tent and asked softly, "Have you slept?" ”

Pulp said, "Aunt Boob? ”

Bubu said, "It's me." I want to ask Boss Zhou something......"

I got up and said, "What's the matter?" ”

She said, "Didn't you pick up a VCR the day before yesterday?" I want to see it. ”

I thought about it quickly and said, "I can't charge it, it's already scrapped." ”

Bubu was silent for a moment and said, "Oh...... Excuse me. ”

I heard her "crunch" out of our tent as she stepped on the salt husk.

In the dark, Pulp said, "You're lying, aren't you? ”

I said, "Huh? ”

"I was in your car at the time, and I saw that you seemed to be charged. ”

I said, "Charge." ”

"Did you see what's inside?" ”

I said, "It's just videos that have nothing to do with us." ”

Pulp said, "Then why don't you show Boo?" ”

I said, "Something happened to those people...... I don't want to panic everyone. ”

Juice said, "I want to see it!" ”

I said, "No." ”

Pulp said: "Zhou Dedong, I must watch!" ”

I said, "I told you, don't call me Zhou Dedong again!" ”

Pulp said: "Zhou Dedong Zhou Dedong Zhou Dedong Zhou Dedong!" What's wrong? ”

I'm out of temper. After a while, I said, "What if I don't show it to you?" ”

"Then I'll go out and tell everyone that there are secrets in your video, and then let everyone vote on whether you should make this video public." ”

I said, "You're so annoying......

Pulp said: "The road is still long, I will always bother you, be mentally prepared!" ”

I got up, turned on the emergency lights, went out to get the VCR, and sat down next to the juice. She sat up. She wore a cropped green sweater.

I pressed the switch and it didn't happen.

Pulp looked at me, "You removed the battery." ”

I opened the battery compartment and showed her.

I pressed the switch again, but it still didn't happen.

It seems that this video recorder is really dead. It was opened once, and I saw the video inside, like a dying person, and finally opened his eyes, told me some secrets, and then kicked my legs and went forever.

"Tell me, what's wrong with those people?" ”

I said, "Do you really want to listen?" ”

"Of course," said Pulp. ”

I said, "After listening to it, it will probably affect your mood for the next few days, are you sure?" ”

Pulp blinked a few times.

I said, "Declare." ”

She thought about it for a long time, and finally nodded.

I said, "Well, I'll tell you everything." On the way into Lop Nur, didn't I see a corpse? ”

"By the way, is the corpse a man or a woman?" ”

I said, "Male, it's rotten, age is uncertain." ”

"Why didn't you tell them?" ”

I said, "I don't want to cause panic. ”

"You don't want to cause unnecessary panic among the population - well, Mr. President, please continue." ”

I said, "Now, I'll tell you what's on the VCR -- I saw it, there were four of them, three men and one woman. In the end, it became three, two men and one woman, and from their dialogue analysis, these two men and one woman killed the other man. ”

After all, it's a girl, and Pulp hugged her shoulders tightly: "Why did they hurt that man!" ”

I then said, "You say, is it appropriate to show people this kind of video?" ”

"And then?" ”

I said, "In the last video, they got lost......"

Pulp suddenly said, "I'm scared. ”

I ignored her and continued: "Finally I want to tell you that they saw another convoy on the Gobi Desert, do you know what convoy it is? ”

Pulp stared at me, her eyes wide.

I said, "What they see is our convoy. ”

Then, I turned off the emergency lights and slid into my sleeping bag: "I've told you everything I need to tell you, good night." ”

It took a long time before Pulp Juice spoke in the dark, and her voice was soft: "You're not telling me horror stories, are you?" ”

I said, "You should listen to it as a horror story." ”

The desert is unsheltered, and the wind blows irrepressibly stronger and stronger.

I don't know if Bubu is still looking out with a telescope in the wilderness.

I'm thinking back to every shot, every line of dialogue in the video.

Since they saw our convoy, it means that this group entered Lop Nur at about the same time as us, and it was not the video from many years ago.

However, the corpse I saw in a twisted posture had been dead for at least two years, which meant that he should not be Li Hua, who was killed by his three companions......

I can't figure out why the VCR and the corpse are so close.

The three men saw the shoes they had discarded yesterday, and it seemed that they were really lost, otherwise, they were leaving Lop Nur and it was impossible for them to go around in front of us and let us pick up the video recorder they had dropped.

Why did they throw away the video recorder?

If they were all dead, why didn't they see their bodies?

After thinking about it, I still suspect that these videos were not taken recently, and that the decomposing corpse was probably Li Hua. Otherwise, it would be impossible for this VCR to drop such a large area of paint.

The only question is, since they had an accident a few years ago, how could they have seen our convoy?

The more I thought about it, the more scared I became - what they saw, was that our convoy! If not, how could it be so coincidental, that team is also a green Cherokee, also a black Mitsubishi Pajero, also a pink Humvee, also a sky blue touring car, and also a white Land Rover Defender - even the order is the same!

I don't know if Pulp Juice is asleep or not, every night, she is silent.

Suddenly, screams were heard outside the tent.

It's Meng Xiaoshuai.