Ou Ran's knife cut a soft arc on a piece of ironwood. As an eight-year-old, he was not a skilled craftsman, and his wooden blocks were only able to reveal a round, spiked shape.

His sister, Gama, bent down from the top bunk and smiled weirdly.

"What is this, Rosa Husk," she said. "Nobody wants to spend money on this."

"This is not a shell, this is a great and majestic god, clothed in armor, brave and invincible, and it is not sold, this is to bring good luck."

"We're businessmen, brother," she said. "Everything can be sold."

Their caravan clanged over the sand dunes. The carriage was filled with spice jars from top to bottom, leaving just barely enough room for the family's beds.

"Something is catching up from the south," Ou Ran's mother shouted outside the carriage. Ou Ran heard the sound of her whipping, urging the camel to speed up.

Jama leaned out of the window, holding her most precious belongings, a magnificent telescope.

"It's the Milos swarm that I'm going to prepare the bow and arrow," she said. "They must have been attracted by your Rosa Shell."

Ou Ran took her place and leaned out the window. To be sure, hundreds of beetles the size of domestic dogs are swarming across the sand dunes behind them.

Jama returned with a bow and a quiver, and the feathers of the arrows were colorful. She shot an arrow and killed a beetle, but the swarm still charged at them without any effect.

"How many arrows do we have?" asked Ou Ran.

"About forty," said Jiama, glancing at the quiver and frowning.

Their mother's voice could be heard in front of them. "We have to run through them. Hold on"

With a few more whiplashes, the caravan suddenly accelerated forward, and Ou Ran fell to the floor without paying attention.

Jama shot another arrow at the swarm, piercing through both of them at once. Although two fell, more beetles immediately filled their places.

"Cabinet on the left side of the oil bottle," their mom shouted.

Ou Ran ran over, holding a bottle of lamp oil and a ball of rags. He soaked the cloth with lamp oil and wrapped it around an arrowhead.

He lit the wrapped arrow and carefully handed it to Gama, who fired the rocket at a mass of beetles. They immediately burst into flames and hissed. Ou Ran grinned.

They continued to bombard the swarm with incendiary arrows, and Oran wrapped the arrows in tarpaulin as quickly as he could. Smoke from the burning of chitin begins to drift away. The caravan kept accelerating, the distance between them widened, and it seemed safe.

Ou Ran's heart suddenly cooled. The Milos beetle spread its shining wings and flew into the sky to form a dark cloud of black oppression.

There was a bang on the roof of the caravan, and Ou Ran subconsciously shrunk his neck. More of the same sound came from the roof of the shed, and the wooden wagons creaked under the weight of the giant insects.

"Hold on," his mom shouted ahead, before making an emergency left turn. The beetle was thrown off the roof, but Ou Ran heard a screeching scrape, and he knew that more beetles had landed on the car.

Daao broke through the beams of the roof of the shed, and a huge beetle broke into the caravan. Jama draws her dagger and stabs it at it, but her dagger can't penetrate its hard shell. She pushed Ou Ran behind her, dangling her dagger in front of her, desperately trying to force it back.

More Milos beetles fell from the roof of the shed, all biting and waving their jaws. Ou Ran ducked under the bed, desperately kicking away the beetle's claws. He pulled the round wooden carving out of his pocket.

"Please, Ramos. I pray to you," he whispered. "Help us"

More and more beetles landed on the roof of the shed, and the caravan shook and bumped, shaking violently like a boat in a stormy sea. Then the whole world overturned to the side, and the caravan was completely overturned, sliding feebly through the sand.

Ou Ran covered his face, and the falling objects and dust obscured his vision. He was thrown against the wall, his ears roaring and his head throbbing.

Shortly after everything had come to a standstill, he felt a hand grab his arm and his mom dragged him out of the debris. The strong sunlight kept him open.

The family huddled together in the wreckage of the caravan, coughing incessantly in the dust. The Milos beetle swirled, and one of the beetles sprinted forward, and Ouran's mother stabbed into the weak spot between its jaws.

She then impaled another beetle that was trying to bite her daughter, and their foul-smelling yellow pulp spilled onto the sand. A third beetle jumped behind them from the roof of the caravan. Jama screamed, and her foot was clamped by the beetle's big claw.

The swarm froze suddenly, and stopped attacking. They lay on their stomachs close to the ground, their tentacles curling. In the silence, Ou Ran heard the sound of a whirlwind in the distance.

He looked to the western horizon as a puff of sand and dust sped in their direction. The family wields weapons and prepares to face this new threat.

A round, armor-clad figure emerged from the dust, crushing the nearest beetle to pieces with terrifying force.

The figure continued to roll, dashing left and right, crushing the swarm. Although the beetles attacked the figure with pincers, they were like mantis arms, and after a while, none of the Milos beetles survived.

As the dust settled, Ou Ran looked at the circular figure in front of him, and he caught a glimpse of the spiked armor bursting out.

"Could it be," said Jiama.

"Ramos," Ou Ran shouted. He climbed down the dunes to meet his hero.

Ramos' carapace was covered with intricate patterns and spiraling scales, and his claws were as sharp as knives. He slowly chewed on a hairy beetle's thigh, juice pouring out of his mouth.

Ou Ran and Jiama looked at him in surprise.

Their mother approached the armored dragon turtle and bowed deeply.

"You saved us," she said. "We are grateful."

Ramos continued to eat the beetle's thighs as the family watched. A few minutes passed.

He rolled over to the wreckage of the caravan, rummaged through the rubble, and picked up the wood carving of the armored dragon turtle made by Ou Ran. The image is not perfect, but it is recognizable.

"That's you." Ou Ran said. "Please take it."

Ramos half-knelt down and bit hard, breaking the wood carving in half. He turned and walked a few steps, then threw two pieces of wood into the sand. Jama burst out laughing.

"Hmm." Ramos said.

He ripped another thigh from the carcass of another beetle, then dragged it slowly rolling away.

The family watched in amazement as he disappeared into the horizon. Ou Ran ran in the direction Ramos had disappeared, picked up the pieces of the wood carving, put them in his pocket, and bowed into the distance.

"For good luck." He said.