The car sped down the national highway and by the time it reached the last transit point, it was getting late. It is sparsely populated, with a regiment stationed in the nearest place, surrounded by green trees and orchards planted under the desert clearing.

The green landscape is artificially planned, so the green flora and the dusk Gobi Desert form a strong contrast.

Due to the booming tourism, there are many small hotels and shops on the streets. The fellow who drove the car was from Xinjiang but spoke fluent Chinese, and he told us that the place was more lively during the day, but we came too late, so it seemed calmer now.

After running around all day, everyone was exhausted, so they found a small hotel to live in, ate mutton and stewed noodles with steamed buns, and the group washed up separately. The hotel is in poor condition, and the housing is relatively small, so it is a room for two people.

Since it was still early, we didn't feel sleepy, so we got together to discuss tomorrow's itinerary. After a day of getting along, everyone is also familiar with each other, Wang Zehai is still quite down-to-earth, although he is wealthy, but he does not have the feeling of being a big boss, he is very easy-going and humorous, and a few meat jokes pop up from time to time along the way, which makes us laugh.

Han Xu couldn't understand the meat jokes he told, and Han Zitong couldn't laugh, Tan Jian was too high, so in the end, only me and Zhou Xuanye were on the scene.

At this moment, we sat around with the TV on, Wang Zehai felt out an eye and asked Han Zitong on the side; "Miss Han, do you mind if I smoke a cigarette?"

Han Zitong nodded slightly and said, "Please." ”

Wang Zehai then lit a cigarette, swallowed the clouds and exhaled the fog, and asked Tan Jian about the next plan of the two, after all, the leader of the team this time was Tan Jian, and Wang Zehai himself knew nothing but the general direction.

Tan Jian knocked on the table, looked at the dark night outside the window, and said, "Let's talk about it when you enter the desert, don't be in a hurry now, are you ready for the equipment?" ”

Wang Zehai nodded and said, "There is a friend here to answer, go to him early tomorrow morning, and we will go on the road with the equipment." "After more than an hour, the drowsiness almost came up, and we went to sleep separately.

Early the next morning, everyone had breakfast, then packed up their things and went to see Wang Zehai's friend. When I arrived at the ground, I saw a middle-aged fat man wearing a Xinjiang hat and a shirt and trousers squatting on the ground and smoking.

"Alc, long time no see."

The Xinjiang compatriot named Alke smiled: "Lao Wang, how was the goods last time." ”

Wang Zehai said: "TOEFL and TOEFL, it's pretty good." When this is over, we are discussing cooperation. "It seems that these two should be business partners. I listened to the two of them exchanging pleasantries, all of which were polite words, and after listening to them for a while, I felt bored, so I looked away.

I saw that there were three camels tied to the tree next to them, one of which was full of bags, and the other two were empty. The three camels were thick-haired, sturdy, and bulging with humps, apparently well fed.

Camels have always been known as the ships of the desert, can store water and nutrients in their own humps, when there is no water and food, they will transform water and nutrients from the hump, insist on eight to ten days without eating or drinking, in some desertified areas, camels are known as the darlings of Allah.

Han Xu excitedly circled the camel, trying to climb up, but after a long time without success, he suddenly beckoned to me: "Zhu Tiangu, push it." ”

It's Su Tiangu, isn't it Zhu Tiangu......

I thought it was funny for a moment, and naturally I didn't bother with a disabled person with a head problem, so I pushed him and got him on a camel. At this moment, a voice suddenly came from behind him: "Thank you." I turned my head and found that it was Han Zitong, her face still had an unchangeable expression, but her voice was very gentle and beautiful, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for her secretly.

These two sisters and brothers, one has become facial paralysis, the other has low intelligence, and I don't know what happened to become like this. Han Zitong is injured the day after tomorrow, so what about this Han Xu? Was he born with a mental retardation or did he suffer from some kind of injury?

These thoughts flashed through my mind, and although I was very curious, it was too rude for me to ask. Who knew that Han Zitong suddenly spoke, and said: "He wasn't like this before, and it was because he was injured." After a pause, she said again: "Xiao Xu is not sensible, I hope you can take care of it more on the next road." I looked at Han Xu's silly smile, nodded, and said, "Don't worry, I'm very experienced in this area." ”

"Experience?" Although Han Zitong's face was expressionless, his voice was full of doubts.

I smiled awkwardly and didn't answer. In fact, many of the children in the welfare home have problems, there are about a dozen mentally handicapped children alone, and we older children will be responsible for taking care of them, so I am quite experienced in getting along with people with intellectual problems.

Seeing this, Han Zitong didn't ask, glanced at Han Xu, and leaned on this poplar tree silently, as if he was thinking about something. From time to time, her gaze would fall on Han Xu, and that kind of look gave me an indescribable sense of weirdness.

I always felt that it was not the way an older sister should look at her brother.

Soon, I was frightened by this thought of myself, and secretly spit on myself in my heart; Su Tiangu, your idea is too evil!

After more than half an hour, the two of them finally finished talking about the old days, and we got our equipment and set off.

The camels were given to us by Alc, mainly for carrying equipment. Most of what we carried was camping equipment, food and water, and the rest were some ropes, daggers, medicines and other things, after all, the desert environment was complicated, and no one knew how the expedition team of Wang ** Kingdom disappeared.

In addition, it is Tan Jian and Zhou Xuanye's personal equipment, there are not many things, but they are strict and solid, and they have never shown up.

It was early in the morning, and the weather was not very hot, and the cool breeze on the desert was blowing in gusts. This is not the depths of the desert, there is a water source around, so there are a lot of plants such as grass and sea buckthorn rabbit silk growing on the ground, of course, I don't know these plants, along the way Han Xu asked east and west, Han Zitong replied, so I just heard it.

She probably walked a lot, so she knew most of the animals and plants.

There were only three camels, two of which were loaded with equipment, and one empty one was ridden by Han Xu. He is just like a child, he refuses to walk when he is tired, and we can't always deal with a mentally retarded person, so this camel has become Han Xu's specialty.

Along the way, I found that Han Zitong would look at Han Xu from time to time, and that kind of gaze ...... That look gave me goosebumps.

To be honest, I came out of a welfare home myself, so I can understand the pain of people with disabilities. Although Han Xu's kid was quite noisy along the way, I didn't feel impatient, after all, it was already unfortunate to become like this, we normal people, if we were still bored or discriminated against, wouldn't it be too cruel?

It's just that at this moment, Han Zitong's gaze made me involuntarily have a terrible association...... Does she like her brother? Oh my God, I can't stand it just thinking about it.

I had no choice but to divert my attention.

At this time, we haven't walked deeply, so we don't feel tired, everyone's spirits are very good, only Wang Zehai has begun to gasp a little because he is too fat.

According to the information obtained by Wang Zehai that year, Wang **guo's expedition team consisted of seven people, three women and four men, and Wang **guo was the leader of the expedition team. At that time, the expedition to Gurbantunggut and other places had not yet been carried out, and at that time more emphasis was placed on industry and production, and many expedition projects were very difficult to carry out.

Compared with the exploration of oil, the search for gold mines and other meaningful investigation goals, for the investigation of places like the desert, the significance is very small, so the task of the king is not heavy, and the investigation done is only a very simple topographic survey.

To put it bluntly, that is, go in and see what the whole picture of Gurbantunggut is like, after all, the equipment and everything in those days were poor, and few people have ever entered the depths of the desert, let alone know what the whole picture of the desert is. Now that we have entered a new era, we must understand every inch of the motherland.

Therefore, this second largest desert in China became the target of the expedition.

Why don't you investigate the Taklamakan Desert, the largest desert, you say? The reason is simple, because the desert is too big, there are not enough people, and there is not enough money, and unless there is oil or gold in there, there will be no money allocated to you for this kind of 'less urgent expedition'.

At that time, there were still debts owed, and the people of the whole country followed suit, and life was tight, and desert expeditions were of great significance in modern times, because it was related to the earth's environment and ecology, but at that time, it was not of great significance.

For various reasons such as funding, Gurbantunggut was chosen.

The route of Wang **guo and others is a 'fishbone foldback route', that is, crossing the desert, but in the process of crossing, a radial fold investigation will be carried out around the periphery. Therefore, our general route is to follow this 'fishbone fold line'.

This route is very long, and if it is completed, I am afraid it will take two months. Fortunately, we are not here to investigate, but to look for bones, it is definitely impossible to stay in the desert for two months, but how long it will take depends on Tan Jian and the others.