My eyes widened and I pricked up my ears to look at Hu San with a solemn face. Uncle Lu wrinkled his eyebrows and looked at him in disbelief, his lips moving slightly as if he had something to say. Hu San picked up a piece of jade, rubbed it in the palm of his hand, and said lightly: "When I was a young man, I had already helped the Li family for almost ten years. One day, the general controller asked me to buy a lot of dry food and utensils, which were enough for a few people to eat for half a year. I was curious, but I didn't dare to ask questions, I only dared to do what he wanted.

On the night of the purchase, more than two dozen guests suddenly came to the Li family, all of them were strong, with a large protrusion on their arms when they hung their arms, and their dark faces and broad soles showed that they had enough field work experience. These two dozen or so sturdy men only stayed at Li's house for one night, and the next day they were all carrying a huge backpack and wanted to leave. I noticed that they had packed all the things I had bought last night into my bag, and I couldn't help but be curious, and my heart swelled up with the desire to go out into the world, so I grabbed a man and asked them where they were going.

The man was a lad at best, and his face still had the childish air of a child. He smiled at me and said that they were going to Xinjiang to find a batch of ancient jade, and when they came back, they could earn a lot of money. Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by the head and glared at him. I knew that I was talking a lot, so I walked away, thinking that they were going to find Hetian Yu, and I didn't think much about it.

I thought it was just a small condiment to a boring life, but after a month, the chief controller suddenly became very irritable, sighing and frowning all day long. I didn't know why he did this at the time, but now that I think about it, I guess the team sent out lost contact, and guessed that the whole army was destroyed. It didn't take long for him to rush to Xinjiang, and only after half a month did he come back exhausted and with a bad complexion. ”

After Hu San finished speaking, he let out a long sigh and looked at the weathered jade on the ground thoughtfully. I still didn't come back to my senses in his story, and there were countless question marks and exclamation marks in my heart. Uncle Lu suddenly whispered: "In 1968...... I had just been born that year. ”

I suddenly remembered that Uncle Lu had told me what happened when he was in college, and I thought to myself, these two things are related to jade, could there be any different connection between them? But the general controller had been dead for a long time at that time, and his plan couldn't have been running after death, right?

Hu San pulled out all the jades, wiped off the dust and looked at each one carefully, nodded and said, "Sure enough, in line with my conjecture, these jades were dug up from somewhere in 1968." But I still don't know what the general controller wants these jades for, and I don't know why they were found in the deepest part of the desert. It is impossible to produce jade of such color in the depths of the desert. ”

Wang Zhen tapped through the sand with his cane, but found no more broken jade. But the stick struck on something, making a dull sound, like knocking on a solid wall. Curious, he crouched down and used his hands and cane together, laboriously picking up the sand. I thought he had found some treasure, so I hurriedly gathered around to take a look, but I was frightened by the dazzling whiteness and exclaimed, "It's a skeleton!" ”

The skeleton's eyes and nose were filled with sand, and a deep crack was in the heavenly spirit's cover. Because it has been buried under the yellow sand, it has not been ruthlessly destroyed by nature, and its true face can still be recognized. Hu San grabbed his cane and fiddled with it a few times, trying to get the skeleton out of the sand. But it was too fragile, and the crack deepened a little at the slightest touch.

Hu San had no choice but to throw down his cane, closed his eyes with a sigh, folded his hands, and said indifferently for a while: "Let's go, this has nothing to do with the herbs we are looking for." ”

I wanted to take a few more looks, but I couldn't stand the sun exposure and exhaustion, so I had to follow Katsuko and turn around. Katsuko's mouth was dry, wiping the sweat on his forehead and said: "Bosses, although the grass you are looking for is nearby, I can't tell the specific location, if you really can't find it, you can't blame me." ”

I glanced at him, you didn't say that before the heart set off, at that time you patted your chest and said that you would definitely find it, and now why has your attitude changed a hundred and eighty degrees?

Zhang Siyuan said in a dumb voice: "We are already close to the hinterland of the desert, and it is no problem for me to find things and walk, but now I have no food or drink, and the machine can't turn without fuel." ”

Wang Zhen sighed: "It's not that you are hungry and thirsty alone, and there is no way for me to smoke in my throat." From now on you will talk less and walk with less spittle. ”

I'm starting to miss the days in Yongsheng, where the terrain is a little more complicated and there are more monsters, but at least there is plenty of water to drink, and if you're lucky, you can try some game. It's like now, it's nothing, it's hot during the day, it's bitterly cold at night, and I can't count the suffering on both hands when I come here.

Wang Linshuo sighed: "I tried to dig the groundwater just now, but I couldn't find any sign of water after digging down two meters, and the sand was dry as if it hadn't been wet for hundreds of years." ”

Katsuko suddenly trembled, his face was panicked, and his tone changed: "Taklamagan, I can't get in or out, I won't really die of thirst here, right?" I shouldn't have gone with you into the deepest part of the desert, just outside to see what ......."

Hu San interrupted him impatiently: "You still want to regret it after taking the money?" The more you mumble, the more dry your mouth feels, so it's better to shut up and save some saliva. ”

Everyone marched silently towards the heart of the desert, and I knew that if this continued, we would die of collective thirst here in three or four days at most. I could have lasted a week without food, but without water...... I was very palpitating and couldn't help but regret it, and at this moment, it seemed better to be killed by pain than to die of thirst.

Although my stomach was constantly protesting, and although I was hungry and wanted to put my dirty hands in my mouth, I had no appetite for the few dry compressed biscuits left in my bag. On this day, we called it a day early, and no one had the strength to open our legs, so we set up tents early and went in. I tried not to think about all the water, and kept suggesting that I wasn't thirsty, but my throat protested angrily.

Just as I was tossing and turning, unwilling to close my eyes, I suddenly heard the door of the tent be opened, and Zhang Siyuan's head poked out. The moonlight hit his face, making his silhouette softer than usual. He winked at me, hooked his hand, and gestured to a piece of paper in his hand. I couldn't see what he was up to, so I had to rub my eyes and get up.

He shoved the paper in front of me, and by the silver moonlight, I could read the big words on it: Looking for water?

I glanced at him in amazement, his eyes sparkling in the night. I whispered, "This is in the heart of the desert, where can I find water?" ”

He pressed the paper on the tent, brushed it a few times, and then put it in front of me: "If I don't drink water, I'll die of thirst, let's go and dig nearby, maybe there will be underground water." ”

As soon as I saw the word water, the fire in my throat began to burn violently, and the tonsils and tens of millions of cell nerves protested violently. The pain made me delirious, and I knew that I wouldn't have anything to expect, but I still promised him: "Just the two of us?" ”

He nodded, coughed, and said, "They're not going." Ershuo said that if you can find a place that is high on all sides and low in the middle, it is very likely that you will find a water source. It's still early anyway, so let's try it. ”

As soon as I heard his voice, I understood why he was so desperate for water, his throat could barely make a sound, and he coughed and cleared his throat for a long time, and the sound was hoarse like a gramophone that had been stepped on. I couldn't bear it and laughed, and asked as I walked, "Why is your voice like this?" We're all thirsty all the same, and I'm not so uncomfortable, am I? ”

He closed his lips tightly and waved the pen in his hand: I usually like to drink water, and if I don't drink for a while, I feel smoke in my throat.

We didn't talk anymore, we just walked silently. After walking eastward for about half an hour, Zhang Siyuan suddenly stopped, took out a shovel for me, and motioned for me to dig and see. We crouched on the edge of the sand and waved our arms until we sweated in sub-zero temperatures, but we didn't find a single grain of wet sand.

Desperate and tired, I put the shovel in my pocket, patted Zhang Siyuan, who was still working, in frustration, and motioned for us to go home. He drooped his eyes, looked unwilling, and stood up with a frown and looked around.

I looked far away, but I still didn't find the kind of terrain that Wang Linshuo said. Zhang Siyuan sighed silently, turned his head angrily and left. I followed him with my head down, constantly worrying, and thought to myself, what can I do? Just as I was frowning and my legs were sore, he suddenly stopped, and jerked his head up to look into the distance.

I was impatient to think about what to do again, and I looked up at it casually, but I was stunned for a moment, and my jaw seemed to be dislocated.

At the end of my vision, the dunes bulged into the hills, enclosing the depression in the middle. The cold moonlight shone on them, and they were draped in tulle and made a seductive invitation to me.