Lop Nur, where several major rivers once converged, created a beautiful, rich and incomparably prosperous land. Now the scenery is gone, only the dead poplars, the boundless desert and the Gobi, and the occasional passing wind, showing people the desolation and vastness of this land.

Today, Lop Nur, once known as the Land of Death, has been developed into a tourist area, and many tourists come and go every year, and the once desolate place is gradually becoming inhabited. However, there is still no accurate answer to the various deaths that have occurred in this place, and the past reminds people all the time that there are many unknown secrets and unknown dangers hidden in this place of death that seems to have been conquered by humans.

Very few people choose to cross Lop Nur in the summer, but that doesn't mean they don't - even fewer people cross the Lop Nur in the summer without checking the map. The probability of something happening is infinitely close to zero, but it is not zero after all, so such things will still happen eventually. For such people, we generally call them warriors, or stupid x.

Now in the depths of the desert there is such a group of stupid, ah no warriors, driving three off-road vehicles, carrying all kinds of field equipment, water and food, thinking that they are ready to go to the safe route, swearing to be ready for a "real man's adventure".

The five warriors are, freelance photographer Zhao Yang, college student Xu Yuan, Lu Mingsen, who runs a bar, Song Yuanshan, a bank manager, and Xia Beifeng, an unemployed homeless person. These people met a week ago in an off-road vehicle forum, because they both have a rich father and an uninhibited soul yearning for freedom and hit it off, and decided to form a group to go on a journey, so that their hearts yearning for freedom can be satisfied. The location was chosen in the ancient country of Loulan, which mysteriously disappeared.

In July, deep in the desert, there was no wind, no water, no electricity, no cell phone signal, and no wife, and under normal circumstances, there should be no people, but-

"Ah, can anyone tell me where we are now! My phone is about to run out of battery! Xu Yuan held his phone to the sky, as if this would solve the biggest problem for him, which was the phone running out of battery.

However, God didn't seem to favor him very much, and Xu Yuan's phone flashed a few times after five seconds, and it automatically turned off.

As a healthy, lively and sunny post-90s, Xu Yuan is no different from ordinary post-90s, without mobile phones, computers, and the Internet, he will instantly lose 90% of his life motivation, not to mention that he is in a place where there is nothing but sand, and he can't even find a replacement for his mobile phone.

Xu Yuan's companions didn't seem to be able to understand how hard Xu Yuan's phone was hit by the phone's battery, and in the eyes of these adults, there were more important things worth paying attention to - they seemed to be maybe lost.

The first person to discover this problem was Zhao Yang, when he noticed with his keen intuition and professionalism as a photographer that the dead tree he had just passed by seemed a little familiar - in fact, this dead tree had already seen them three times, and if this tree could speak, he would have said to them with a smile on his face: "Hey, meet again, everyone." Of course, the trees don't speak, which causes them to find themselves lost a full five hours late.

Three off-road vehicles stopped around a dead poplar tree, and Zhao Yang excitedly took pictures around with a DSLR, sighing at the magic of nature, even though there was nothing but sand here. Xu Ran's whole body wilted after the phone ran out of power, and at this time he was standing in the desert, bathed in the spicy sunlight that can roast the dead, and put on an expression of despair, looking extremely desolate.

Lu Mingsen and Song Yuanshan, as two seemingly mature adults, also showed their life experience as adults at this time, the two got together, studied the tire marks on the sand, trying to find the right direction from the traces left by others, after more than ten minutes of serious discussion, the two of them came to a very positive result, the person who left the tire mark on the ground, should be them a few hours ago.

"I said that two hours ago we should have turned left instead of right, that is, you were arguing and no one would listen to me, otherwise we would have been having dinner by now." As the eldest of the five, Lu Mingsen has always felt that he should be the decision-maker of the route, and it is the fault of a group of little children that this situation will happen now.

"Yes, yes, Boss Lu, what you said is so right, but who proposed that we not take the tourist route when we left the ruins of the ancient city of Loulan, but find a shortcut that seems to be relatively fast" Xu Yuan relieved himself a little from the huge blow of the mobile phone running out of battery, but the sadness did not diminish much, at this time he just wanted to find someone to get angry, and he had long been full of resentment towards Lu Mingsen, who proposed not to take the main road, and the words of rebuttal were naturally blurted out" If it weren't for your bad idea, we would have reached the end tonight, and what kind of shortcut is really close! ”

"But no one objected when I said it, but at that time, we all agreed to change the way, and now I can't find the direction and blame all the faults on me, are you a little too much."

"That's not because the surname Song said that he wanted to find out what Princess Loulan said on the Internet, he was so sure at the time, of course everyone believed it, now that I think about it, people who are so big still believe in the bullshit urban legends circulating on the Internet, Song Yuanshan, have you eaten in the stomach of a dog for so many years!"

"Yes, Song Yuanshan, where is the princess you said, I see that eighty percent of your photos are also photoshopped, the ghost of the princess, hehe, the ghost story that my daughter won't believe, you actually took it seriously."

"I just said it so casually at the time, I also said that it was a story I saw on the Internet, show you the photos, that is, a fresh picture, you think the princess is beautiful, one by one shouting that if you don't go home, you want to stay as a Loulan horse, now it's okay, I'm lost, you blame me again, it's ridiculous!" Song Yuanshan, who had been smiling and watching the two quarrel on the side, obviously didn't expect to be involved in this kind of childish mutual complaint, and became the culprit, he lifted the frame of his glasses and continued: "In the end, our focus now should be to find a way to go back, instead of arguing here, those who want to quarrel are slowly arguing on the way back, in short, we are all going to be trapped here if we can't think of a way." ”

Song Yuanshan's voice was not too loud, but it was enough for several people to hear it clearly. As soon as these words came out, Xu Ran and Lu Mingsen were silent.

If they really can't find their way back, then they will probably die and decay in the desert in no man's land, buried by the wind and sand, and if no one finds out, they will stay here forever. This kind of thing usually feels creepy just thinking about it, but when it really happens, it can bring people only fear.

The silence amplifled between the three of them, and the dead poplar branches shook slightly, as if to tell them that their fate might be no different from that of the tree.

"I don't want to die, I'm still young, I want to go home." Xu Yuan was the first to break the silence, and there was already a little crying in his voice.

"Who the fuck wants to die, I want to go home too, it's too miserable to die here anyway, how can I be so unlucky to meet you." Although Lu Mingsen has always claimed to be the leader among several people, the speed of emotional collapse at this time is also very fast, although he was still looking at each other with Xu Yuan just now, and now he has quickly reached a consensus. Although Song Yuanshan didn't say anything, looking at his expression, he obviously thought about the same as these two people.

When Zhao Yang came back from taking the photo, he saw the three of them who didn't say a word, and he didn't know anything about the conversation that had just happened, and he was very happy to show off his gains to his companions. What I didn't expect was not admiration, but anger.

"When it's time to know how to take a picture, can the photo be used as a meal, or can it help us find a way out." Lu Mingsen yelled at Zhao Yang.

"I really deserve to be an artist, and this spirit of dedication to art is really worthy of our admiration, but unfortunately, I'm afraid no one can see your photos." Song Yuanshan's tone of voice looked very regretful, but there was a gloating expression on his face.

Zhao Yang looked at the three of them in confusion, and didn't understand why he could attract so much anger when he went out to take a few photos, and he stopped and took pictures along the way, and the people who traveled with him were not so angry.

"We're lost now, we've circled around here three times, and if we can't find our way, maybe we'll all die here." Looking at the confused Zhao Yang, Xu Yuan kindly explained.

Maybe this explanation is not as kind as it seems on the surface, but no matter what, it still helped Zhao Yang figure out the current situation. Zhao Yang thought for a while, and then asked with a little hesitation: "Isn't there another person who is said to be very good at this kind of thing, he ...... Say the same? ”

Hearing Zhao Yang's words, the three of them remembered that there was another person who had slept in the car all day.

It was a few people who met in the forum, and who claimed to be very familiar with life in the wild - Xia Beifeng.

This is a very amazing man, a thirty-year-old unemployed vagrant, who is fascinated by the source of life, who claims to be proficient in all kinds of wilderness survival skills, has traveled all over the world, can read maps, can drive, and has the ability to repair cars, grow vegetables, barbecue, find water in the desert, climb trees, dig holes, make traps, shoot arrows, and read palmistry (?). ), helicopter (!) ), look at the clouds in the sky to predict the weather (if you can see the clouds), find the way forward from the starry sky in the middle of the night (same conditions), and look for food in the wild...... Wait, it's a very practical skill that is not learned by civilized humans living in cities.

Because of the professional counterpart, he hit it off with the other four at first sight, and joined them in this "game that only real men dare to play" the day before departure. Then, in addition to holding GPS and maps to confirm the route along the way, the basic daily life is manifested as: driving, eating, and sleeping without saying a word.

As for such an obvious painting style, he is different from everyone, he is unwilling to share his feelings with others, he will not be moved by the magic of nature, nor will he be excited by a novel adventure, and he will not shout "Ah!" at the first time he sees the desert. This is the place that truly suits my free soul! The reason why he wasn't thrown on the road was because his companions were kind and friendly people, and had absolutely nothing to do with his dirty, limited-edition off-road bike.

When was he forgotten? Probably after breakfast today, he was about to leave, and he threw the car keys directly to Xu Yuan, who wanted to experience racing on the empty Gobi. If it weren't for Zhao Yang, maybe he would have missed today's dinner because he slept in the back seat of the car, just like he missed today's lunch, and slept in the car until tomorrow morning.

"Wilderness survival expert" Xia Beifeng really will not disappoint the hopes of the masses, and what he said after being woken up by the sound of Zhao Yang knocking on the car window is: "Where is this?" ”

Finished. At this moment, the thoughts of the four people except Xia Beifeng miraculously coincided.

At more than ten o'clock this morning, when the convoy left the ruins of the ancient city of Loulan and moved towards the next stop on the recommended route for self-driving tours, Song Yuanshan told a story he had seen on the Internet before: a traveler was also lost when crossing Lop Nur, when he fell into despair, he suddenly heard a heavenly singing, accompanied by the singing was a stunning girl, the girl claimed to be the last princess of the ancient country of Loulan who had disappeared for many years, the princess saved the traveler, and generously gave him a piece of jewelry as a gift, And I hope that travel can help her find her fiancé who went out to fight and never came back.

This story that can be fake no matter how you look at it aroused the interest of others, and after some discussion, the four of them decided to follow the direction of the traveler to find the princess, if they couldn't find it, they would return the same way, and at some point shortly after leaving the road, the three car GPS together lost their signal, but this little thing did not discourage them at the time, until they just found out that the convoy had turned around at least three times in the same place, and the four of them realized that they had lost their way.

"So you guys drove the car to this map, where there is no place? Just looking for the ghost of an urban legend princess? And you can't remember the route you came to? Xia Beifeng listened to the four of them complaining to each other and repeating what happened, and felt that his head seemed to hurt a little.

After confirming that Xia Beifeng did not have any constructive opinions on the current situation, Xu Yuan and Lu Mingsen started a new round of mutual accusations, Song Yuanshan occasionally interjected a few words on the side that seemed to be persuasive, and Zhao Yang turned up the photos in the camera without caring about himself.

Xia Beifeng leaned his back against the car door and began to hope that everything in front of him was just a dream. How could I be with such a few people, he thought, and pulled out his phone to play Tetris.

Half an hour later, the five of them would reconvene to discuss the current situation.

"Let's just drive in any direction, we can always find a way out." Xu Yuan said.

"Little friend, you are too naïve" Lu Mingsen and Xu Yuan probably disagreed, and the conversation between the two of them always smelled of gunpowder, "We have been going around in circles for an afternoon, how can you guarantee that you will not turn back if you find a direction, if you want me to see it, it is better for us to stop in place and wait for rescue." ”

"I think, let's go separately, our three cars are divided into three directions, there is always someone who can get out, and then bring someone back to find someone else." Song Yuanshan put forward a seemingly reliable suggestion, but for some reason no one agreed.

"......" Zhao Yang was still fiddling with his camera, not bothering to think about it at all.

"I don't think it's okay, if we stay here like this for a few days, maybe we can really see that Princess Loulan, but there are still a few living people by then, so it's not necessarily." Xia Beifeng looked down at his watch and said casually.

If Song Yuanshan's tone of voice can make people feel uncomfortable, then Xia Beifeng's relaxed and cheerful tone when he speaks has basically reached the level of making people want to punch him in the face. But that's not all. This man was silent all the way, but now it was as if he had opened a conversation, and he couldn't stop talking as soon as he opened his mouth.

"If the GPS is out of signal, you dare to continue running, this is Lop Nur, do you know how many people have died?" "Let's go separately, I see how to divide things, the average score is still each one, if I'm not mistaken, I'm the only one who brings enough water, I don't even know how much water to bring into the desert, now I see that you may not be able to live until the next morning."

"It's really great to want to dedicate yourself to art, but you also have to make something that can be considered art before you dedicate yourself, and look through your pile of photos to show people."

"Actually, I think it's best to wait for death in place, and when you die, you just stay here to be a colt for that ghost princess, anyway, your original purpose is to be a colt, which is a good thing for everyone."

Xia Beifeng's tone of voice was actually a little smiling, and his voice was very low and good, if it was a love story, it would probably be easy to please a woman, but at the moment, this situation sounded like schadenfreude.

I really wanted to beat him, Lu Mingsen said with a voice in his heart.

This obviously coincided with Xu Yuan's thoughts, because he had already clenched his fists and started when Xia Beifeng's words were not finished.

Humans are creatures who often complain to each other the first thing they do when they are in trouble, rather than cooperating to solve problems, and if there happens to be a guy who doesn't have long eyes at this time and attracts everyone's hatred, then he will basically become the target of everyone's negative emotions.

Sometimes it only takes one moment for violence to happen, but a breed like Xia Beifeng can successfully ignite everyone's anger with just a few words, and then trigger a four-on-one group fight, which is rare in this race. Xu Yuan was the first to start, followed by Lu Mingsen, Song Yuanshan, who had always emphasized that he was a civilized person, did not lag behind, Zhao Yang was just stunned for a moment, and when he came back to his senses, Xia Beifeng had already been pressed to the ground by the three of them, and he didn't know where to start if he wanted to join.