There are a total of six members of the archaeological team in Chongqing, and there is also a horse team at random, adding up to eleven people who are responsible for transportation and security. A team of nearly twenty people was not safe in the desert.

The biggest threat is the brutal natural environment.

High temperatures, lack of water, sandstorms, each of which can kill them.

But in addition to this, they also have to face a threat - banditry.

Speaking of bandits, they are not necessarily bandits. They don't make a living by killing people and stealing goods, but wandering tomb robbers, or foreign mercenaries, who come here to dig up ancient tombs, but when they meet them, they will not be merciful, they will not hesitate to kill people, and at the same time, they will greedily take everything they can take, including food, water, and money.

In the seventies and eighties of the last century, the Xinjiang region, especially in the desert area, was often filled with tomb robbers from all over the world, all of whom were colluded by armed mercenaries and local snakes, so they acted secretively and it was difficult to carry out effective crackdowns.

Metallurgical Chongqing is naturally also facing this hidden danger. In fact, they have already had several brushes with bandits along the way. If it weren't for the fact that there were nearly twenty of them and they were armed, they might have ended up in the middle of the road.

On this day, it was almost noon, which was the hottest time.

The heat waves rolling in the desert can steam people.

Anglis, the guide, put his ear to the sand and listened.

Ye Chongqing stood far away, and no one knew what she was thinking.

The expedition team walked briskly for an hour under the scorching sun.

Yesterday's camp became a tiny dot on the horizon. But the fire and smoke that rose from it reminded them that the bandits were ready to catch up.

Angli jumped up, his face was surprisingly solemn, and he looked at Yeqing in the distance and said, "Professor! I think the bandits came, and we didn't get rid of them. ”

Everyone's faces changed, and they all showed frightened expressions.

"What can I do?" Several of the team members panicked.

"It stands to reason that they've already burned down the camp, so why should they catch up?" "Without food and water, we're dead in the desert, and they don't have to chase them down." ”

Ye Chongqing saw everyone's dazed expressions, and didn't say much, "Let's go, we can't afford to delay, the only hope at the moment is to find a water source as soon as possible, as long as there is a water source, we can live." ”

The camp had long since disappeared into the horizon behind them, leaving only a small puff of black smoke mixed in the clouds in the sky.

The scorching sun parched their throats, but they only carried a little bit of water with them, and everyone had to endure it.

As far as the eye can see. Only the bare rocks and flat yellow sand stretch out into the distance.

The tiresome monotony of the scenery never ends, and the vast sea of sand makes people shudder in fear, even if the weather is so hot.

The reflection of the sand grains makes the eyes ache.

"Anglis, is there a place to stay ahead?"

Angli smiled bitterly: "There is one!" When you get to the labyrinth, you can rest. ”

Lin Wanru Qi said: "Labyrinth? She remembered a place on the map full of black dots, just at the edge of the box.

"That's right, it's a labyrinth, and when you get to the labyrinth, it's very close to where you're going!"

Continue the tour.

On the way, they saw a camel, weathered into a pile of white bones, with a strange twisted neck, indicating the helpless struggle before its death.

When the sun finally set below the horizon, the whole world of sand was transformed into another world, the heat wave was replaced by a biting cold wind, and the blinding white light was replaced by a beautiful pale blue hue.

The dark and blue sky is filled with stars with the sand of the Ganges, which makes people deeply shocked by the vastness of the universe, and they can tolerate the vast desert.

The boredom of the hot weather is replaced by fatigue and chill. Everyone gritted their teeth and stepped on the soft and weak sand step by step in the vast desert where the night was low, and marched towards the "unknown" country.

It was getting darker and darker, and things were blurry a hundred paces away.

"It's here, and there's a maze ahead!" Angliss shouted.

Everyone's nerves were awakened.

Finally, the group stopped.

Lin Wanru brought a sheepskin water bladder and shared it with Ye Chongqing.

Angliss laughed: "Sheepskin bladders are irreplaceable treasures, canvas bags leak, plastic kettles soften in the heat, steel or tin containers wear down camels' armpits, only this thing is good." ”

Ye Chongqing looked at the water bladder in his hand, the surface looked dirty and stained with sand, but I don't know if he was too thirsty, the water was sweet.

He swept his gaze, everyone was haggard, and Lin Wanru's lips were already chapped.

Lin Wanru silently drank water and ate dry food. Among all of them, she was the only one with a leisurely demeanor, looking up at the sky from time to time, and her eyes showed a glint of joy.

It was all thanks to her inner imagination, and she fantasized that Ye Chongqing could give her all the emotions she wanted, although she did not know what it was, neither fatherly love, nor teacher-student friendship, nor male and female affection. She imagined that she could have a relationship with Ye Chongqing that transcended life and death, and that it would be a noble relationship that would not be judged by the world.

"What if the bandits do catch up?" Luo Wan looked at Ye Chongqing stupidly and asked softly.

"At that moment, I'll die before you." Ye Chongqing's answer may make every young girl's heart move.

Angli walked over and threw a few blankets to the two of them, "There are no tents, that's all we can rely on." ”

Lin Wanru shrank in a corner, sighing from time to time, hiding infinite thoughts.

The others began to sleep, dark shadows, hidden in the shadows that the moonlight could not illuminate.

There is still some time before dawn.

Ye Chongqing woke up early, he woke up Lin Wanru, and said softly: "It is estimated that we still haven't gotten rid of the bandits, with the ferocity of the bandits, we are more than lucky." ”

"So what do we do?"

"Run, we have to run, if we continue to walk together, the goal is too big."

Lin Wanru said confusedly: "The two of us? Where can we both go? ”

"Go southeast." It seems that Ye Chongqing has already planned the escape route.

"But in the southeast is the 'salt sea' where no grass grows, and it is extremely dangerous......"

"It's just that no one dares to flee there, so I went in that direction!"

Lin Wanru didn't know what kind of ecstasy soup she had poured into Yechong, and she actually agreed to escape with him. Before dawn, the bandits surrounded the place where they were camping, leaving only a gap in the southeast. Then, the bandits' offensive was like a flash flood, and suddenly they asked, and there were bandits attacking on camels in all directions.

The sun rises above the horizon.

The heat filled the heavens and the earth at once.

Ye Chongqing and Lin Wanru secretly took almost all the water and sufficient things, and fled to the southeast with all their might. In this moment of life and death, there is no mercy or reason at all.

Fierce gunfire was heard all around.

Unguarded camels scurried around, and the battlefield was chaotic.

The frightened camel rushed towards them, and Ye Chongqing rolled to the side with Lin Wanru in his arms, narrowly avoiding the doom of the hoof prints all over his body.

A black shadow flashed, and a bandit on foot scurried up from behind under the cover of a camel. Ye Chongqing was horrified, and was about to roll under the rocks, trying to survive.

A round of gunfire came from the right, and the bandit, who was firing with his rifle in hand, rolled and spun away in a splash of blood.

Ye Chongqing looked sideways.

Seeing Lin Wanru holding a gun, she trembled.

"Let's go!" Ye Chongqing pulled up the frightened Lin Wanru and ran wildly in the rocks, and the gunfire gradually fell on the left rear.

"Hey!" A voice came from behind the stone.

Ye Chongqing raised his weapon vigilantly.

It turned out to be Anglis.

He escaped by chance, not knowing that it was Ye Chongqing who abandoned them. He just thought that Ye Chongqing was also as lucky as him.

A camel came straight for him.

However, Angliss was now clutching the rope of the camel's head and shouting loudly. Ye Chongqing looked at him puzzled.

Angliss shouted, "Come and help me." ”

"What's wrong?"

"The camel is frightened!"

"What am I going to do?"

Angliss turned his index finger into a hook, grabbed the camel's nostrils, and pulled its nose downward.

The camel bent its front legs, knelt down on its hind legs, and then lay down.

"No, don't climb up yet."

Ye Chongqing and Lin Wanru then understood what he was doing, and turned over the saddle of the camel.

"Hold on."

Before he could say anything, the camel stood up on its two hind legs, and Ye Chongqing involuntarily fell forward, followed by the camel and raised its front legs, and they fell backwards again.

Angliss laughed excitedly and slapped the camel's butt vigorously.

The camel ran forward.

Angliss controlled the reins, weaving left and right through the rocks, and in a moment he crossed the rubble and left the labyrinth of rocks towards the desert.

Gunshots were still coming from behind.

"Gone in the wrong direction!"

"Nope! The direction is correct. ”

Ye Chongqing pointed to the sun and said, "The sun is on our right side, now you are heading due north, where are we going?" ”

"Unless you want to escape, you will go south, that is the closest way out of the desert, but you are going to the place of the box, aren't you, we have been walking for so long, we can't give up now."

Ye Chongqing was speechless.

The labyrinth has a dark shadow behind it.

Ahead, the horizon shimmers and the blue sky is deep.

The sun was approaching mid-heaven, and they walked for two hours.

Angliss tightened his rope, and the camel stopped, its nostrils uncontrollable and foaming at the mouth.

Then, Anglis's face suddenly changed, and he looked to the southeast-

Ye Chongqing followed his gaze and saw a large cloud of yellow dust flying all over the sky, covering half of the world.

Before Ye Chongqing knew what was going on, Angli cried out and said, "It's really bad luck with you, teach me to encounter strong winds and sand as soon as I go out." ”

In the vast monotonous world, they are so lonely and small.

The clear blue sky became dull and dirty.

The sky is full of yellow dust, and the sun is weak and weak.

The whole world is dark

The wind began to blow slowly, and then gradually strengthened, short and urgent, although it drove away the flames, but it made people's hearts shake and uneasy.