Chapter Twenty-Seven: Between Life and Death

The desert storm started at 4:16 p.m., and Zhang Jiadong raised his hand to look at the Omega watch on his wrist It was only 4:23 p.m., and it seemed like centuries had passed in just a few minutes. Nothing was already visible outside the car window. The yellow sand was completely obliterated, and Gordon leaned his ear against the window to feel the movement of the eye outside. Gordon knew that the side side of the car was being swept by the sand, and on the other side of the car there was a dead end, and as long as the sand accumulated to a certain weight and height, the sand would push the car to the dead end. You can only rely on this only opportunity to go to the back of the car and use the horn to restore the car's mobility, if the dead angle surface is too large for a long time, the formation of potholes is likely to cause the car to turn over. Gordon silently calculated the probability of various emergencies in his heart, and he was less than 30% sure that he would be able to start the car smoothly......

Huang Yunxiang kept calling the radio contact group two, but he couldn't hear the echo of the second group except for the noisy interference sound. Zhang Jiadong's hand was tightly gripping the handlebar, wishing he could rush out. In addition to secretly complaining, Ma Jin could only beg for the protection of the gods and Buddhas to escape to this catastrophe, and he didn't care about the tomb anymore.

The car suddenly tilted to one side, and Gurdon pulled a crowbar out from under his seat and yelled, "I'll leave it to you here!" As soon as he spoke, Gedden kicked the car door and used a crowbar to pry the door out of the gap little by little. The wind mixed with a large amount of yellow sand immediately poured into the car, and Gurdon hooked the car with his hand, rubbing it back with difficulty, and his whole face was twisted and deformed in the storm. Ma Jin climbed into the driving position and started the car nervously, waiting for Gordon to put the horn on the rear tire and be ready to start at any time.

In the desert, the horn is a necessary tool for driving, although it is only a few tens of centimeters of triangle iron, and it can be put under the rear tire of the car to drive the car out of the bunker. Gerdon helped the car, half squatted and half crawled in the sandstorm, and staggered to the back of the car, and there was no way to stand up in just four or five meters. Seeing that the car was about to be lifted by the yellow sand, Gordon could only take a crowbar and stick it into the sand and crawl to the rear tire......

"There's a signal, we've got in touch with the second group." Huang Yunxiang shouted excitedly in the car and reported the danger to the radio. But in this harsh climate, the second group of personnel is helpless. Zhang Jiadong saw through the deformed gap after the car door was pried off, and the position of the eye of the sandstorm was much closer to him, and Gerdon had successfully dug out half of the rear tire from the sand trap and put a triangular horn on it, as long as he could put another tire on the horn, the car would be able to get rid of the sandstorm, but Gerden's sand digging action was getting slower and slower, almost stagnant.

"Jiadong, what are you going to do!" Ma Jin was surprised to see Zhang Jiadong covering his head with his clothes, and he was pushing the car door with his hands and shoulders. Zhang Jiadong ignored Ma Jin and crawled to the rear tire along the crawling route left by Geden, who had completely become a sand fruit ball at this time. Except for the eyes that could be seen under the windbreak, his whole body was wrapped in sand, Zhang Jiadong hurriedly cleaned up the sand between his mouth and nose, and slammed Gerdon's back with his fist.

"Ahem...... Cough...... cough ......" Gerdon finally recovered after coughing up a large ball of bloody sand, and the two men looked at each other and smiled bitterly, speeding up the padding work of the other wheel. The situation was worse than Zhang Jiadong expected, the car sank much faster than the sand was cleared, and there were obviously a few cracks in the sand under the pressure of the tires, and the car could sink at any time. It was impossible to clean it completely, so I had to take the risk of putting a triangle under the tires. As soon as the triangle was padded, Zhang Jiadong and Gedeng just wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but they didn't expect the car to suddenly accelerate and run, and the yellow sand driven by the rear wheels immediately buried Zhang Jiadong and Gedeng alive......

Maybe everyone has asked the same question about what they will be like when they die. Zhang Jiadong is no exception, when the whole person is flooded by the yellow sand, Zhang Jiadong thinks of his wife and daughter who are far away in Beijing, and regrets that he can't see that his daughter who is going to marry becomes the most beautiful bride...... Thinking about it, my brain slowly began to lack oxygen, and it became a blank and blurry piece, and the soft sand under my feet was sinking, maybe I was about to die......

"Dean Zhang, Dean Zhang......" Zhang Jiadong didn't know where he was, as if he was lying on a soft bed, and someone was shaking himself. Zhang Jiadong opened his eyes and was surrounded by darkness, and his hands were being shaken.

"What is this place?" Zhang Jiadong asked strangely.

"Dean Zhang, do you have a flashlight in your bag?" Gordon was holding a mobile phone with no signal in his hand as a light, and Zhang Jiadong understood that the person who called him in the dark was Gordon. Zhang Jiadong took out a flashlight from his big waist bag, opened it and saw that Zhang Jiadong was stunned by the strange scene in front of him......

"Geden, we're in the Guloulan Tomb now. This is supposed to be the corridor of the tomb, we have crushed the roof of the tomb in the sand, and you see there is a stone door here. Zhang Jiadong got up from the sand and exclaimed.

Gedon looked at the crescent-shaped crack on the top of the tomb and said in fear: "If we don't have half a meter of deep sand, we will definitely fall to our deaths, Dean Zhang, how can we climb up?" ”

"I don't know about that, but I do know that if we don't hurry behind the stone gate, we'll probably be buried alive by the sand from the top of the tomb." Zhang Jiadong took a flashlight and shone the yellow sand that kept pouring in, and said half-jokingly and half-seriously.

Geddon waved his crowbar in frustration and said, "Dean Zhang, that stone gate weighs two or three tons." Can you and I open the stone door? Ma Jin that kid was too inauthentic, and he ran away by himself. ”

Zhang Jiadong walked on the knee-length yellow sand and said: "I can't blame him for this, doing our job is originally a high-risk profession." Let's hope they can get out of the storm and bring people to us. Don't think that this stone gate is heavy, there is already a pulley mechanism in the ancient Loulan country, as long as you can find the mechanism, you can easily open the stone door. "Zhang Jiadong finally touched the stone gate, and the general location of the organ will be set in the most inconspicuous place. Zhang Jiadong groped along the stone gate wall, and knocked on the stone wall with his hands from time to time......

Gordon watched the yellow sand in the tomb gradually bury his waist, and said urgently: "Dean Zhang, have you found the mechanism?" You see, it's almost full of sand. ”

Zhang Jiadong said in a deep voice: "I found the entrance, but I can't find the key!" ”

"Isn't this a waste of effort, according to me, we should pry open a gap in the stone and climb up." Gordon took a crowbar and chiseled a few times into the stone wall, stirring up a spark.

Zhang Jiadong shook his head and sighed: "The owner of this tomb should be the royal dignitary of the ancient Loulan Kingdom, and the bricks and stones used to build the tomb are all blue essence stones from the Pamir Plateau. Like the corridor, it is generally a corridor for the tomb owner to place his belongings, so it stands to reason that there should be a key to the mechanism. It is probably very difficult for you to chisel through four or five meters of stone to climb to the top of the tomb, so you can bring me a crowbar and let me try to change the lock underneath. ”

Gordon was worried about it, and after handing the crowbar to Zhang Jiadong, he asked, "Dean Zhang, do you think it's okay?" ”

Zhang Jiadong shook his head and said with Huang Sha said: "The tomb mechanism technique first originated from the Warring States Mojia, and most of the tomb group organs unearthed in the Central Plains were hidden in the nearby decorations. There are three obvious traps in the middle of the stone door of this tomb, which are usually key slots, and the stone door can be opened as long as it is changed. As Zhang Jiadong spoke, he used a crowbar to tentatively pry the stone door into the groove. Gordon picked up a flashlight from the sand and shone it around, and the tidal wave of yellow sand rushed into the burial chamber, raising layers of gray sand. Zhang Jiadong wanted to pry the lock, so that the action of the stone door mechanism obviously failed, the crowbar was broken, but the green essence stone door did not move. There was nothing to be done in the tomb of the two brothers and sisters, so they waited for the yellow sand on the top of the tomb to fill the tomb and bury them alive......

Gordon smiled bitterly: "I didn't expect that I would deal with the desert for half my life, and in the end I would die in the sand." I was going to travel to Jiangnan with my family after the end of the guide mission for you this time, but it seems that I am going to miss the appointment again. Dean Zhang, don't you have a camera in your bag, give me a final photo, even if it is a memento I left for my son. ”

Zhang Jiadong took out the camera from his waist bag and comforted: "Brother, we shouldn't give up lightly until the last moment." I'll help you take a picture first, maybe ......" Zhang Jiadong himself felt that it was impossible to escape from the four-walled tomb, so he hurriedly took pictures of Gedden with his camera......

A strange thing flashed above Gordon's back, and it would have been difficult to spot a foreign object on the stone wall if it weren't for the glare of the flash.

"Gordon, look what's behind you?" Zhang Jiadong asked in surprise.

Gordon inexplicably turned his head and looked behind him with a flashlight, until he reached the junction between the stone wall and the top of the tomb, only to find a statue that looked like a beast but not a beast. But the position is too high, and the statue is too small, so I can't see what it is. Gerdon climbed the stone wall, but most of his body was already buried in the sand, and it was undoubtedly a fool's dream to climb to the top of the tomb.

Zhang Jiadong took the camera to focus and shouted in surprise: "It's a three-legged beast!" We are saved! Zhang Jiadong immediately wrote down what happened here in his notebook......

A few minutes later, Ge Deng leaned on the stone wall and let Zhang Jiadong step on his shoulders and slowly approach the three-legged beast statue on the top of the tomb, and the yellow sand on the top of the tomb finally gradually became smaller. Zhang Jiadong knew that there might only be one chance, and if he couldn't get the three-legged beast, he wouldn't be able to open the stone gate. Zhang Jiadong saw that the blue essence stone where the three-legged beast was placed had traces of polishing, and shouted loudly to Ge Deng at his feet: "There are traps in this game, brother, you are ready to inhale." When I shout three, you will drill into the sand, life and death all depend on luck! One...... Two...... Three ......" Gedeng slammed into the sinking according to Zhang Jiadong's words, only to hear the "whooshing" sound on the top of the tomb......

Dean Zhang...... Dean Zhang ...... "After Ge Deng and the others stopped, he poked his head out to look for Zhang Jiadong.

"Huh...... Belch...... I'm here ......," Zhang Jiadong replied weakly as he curled up in the sand. Gedden swept the burial chamber with a flashlight, and a dozen or so iron arrows were stuck in the sand. The sand around Zhang Jiadong was bright red, and Gerdon rushed towards Zhang Jiadong with a crawl, only to see an arrow from the camera on his shoulder and waist.

Zhang Jiadong held the three-legged beast in his hand and smiled: "The camera is useless, and your photos can't be given ......."