Tails sighed in annoyance.

The next moment, the sand scorpion found that the destruction of the nest was not the most unfortunate thing.

Above it, Tails had a hideous face, raised his cane, and pressed the scorpion fiercely, doing a fierce battle of thoughts.

Finally, Tails swallowed his parched throat in pain and made up his mind.

He took out JC, cut off the scorpion's tail spines first, and in its frantic struggle, ended its life with one sword.

"There is no disaster in the desert, there is no forgiveness in the desert," he said, picking up the heroic sand scorpion, holding it up to his eyes with an ugly face, and muttering to himself as if comforting himself:

"Thank you for your sacrifice. ”

The scorpion of heroes who saved the Bright Star Kingdom and the Kingdom of Stars—he added in his heart.

Strangely enough, after saying this, Tails felt a lot more relaxed.

Probably because he hadn't spoken and communicated for too long, he looked at this unconscious twitching scorpion, and actually had a feeling: they were communicating.

Thinking of this, Tails reacted with a stirring.

He didn't dare to think about it anymore, closed his eyes tightly, and bit the sand scorpion into his mouth with pain and difficulty.

"Quack—"

it!

On the first bite, Tails twisted his face in pain.

Magical tastes and aromas enter his perceptual nerves through the taste buds of his tongue and the friction of his teeth.

"Quack—"

Second bite.

Plump, juicy, crisp, chewy, and life-saving—Tails thought desperately about the words, forgetting the peculiar taste in his mouth, and biting the two exposed scorpion pincers into his mouth.

"Quack—"

It feels like a stinking husk.

Well, as you chew, explode slice after slice of salty juice from the inside.

It fills the mouth and seeps into the throat.

"Whoa—"

And...... The same strange-tasting soft meat.

Well, shouldn't he have gutted it first?

Finally, resisting the urge to turn over the river and the sea in his abdomen, Tails twitched and swallowed the "thing" in his mouth.

Feeling the strange feeling in his abdomen, Tails wiped the sweat from his forehead and "exhaled".

He looked up, expressionless, and looked back at the unforgiving and senseless desert.

Hehe.

Right now...... He's also part of the desert food chain.

Tails thought sadly.

With the first, there is a second: Tails digs through the sand for rocks and chases out a shivering, light-colored spider, Mr. (or Miss).

He frowned, still brutally cutting off its head, sending it whole into his mouth and chewing it.

"Zila......"

Hmm - this texture and taste, it seems to be okay?

If you bite its belly......

"Poof—"

......

I was wrong.

I shouldn't have thought so.

I was really wrong.

Tails wept and swallowed it.

A few hours later, in a slightly cooler evening, Tails set off again.

This time, his steps were much brisker.

Until the next resting point.

Tails catches an innocent lizard with a big belly in a poorly disguised hole.

This time, he happily gutted it, and since it was night, a fire had to be lit, so Tails enjoyed a handful of roasted lizard meat.

After the meal, his hunger slowly subsided.

In fact, Tails still misses the taste of raw food.

The moment he ate the scorpion, Tails felt that he seemed to be different.

It was as if he was instantly accepted by this place.

It's a pity......

Tails touched his stomach and shook his head regretfully.

That rattlesnake from a few days ago......

How did you let it run?

The food problem is solved – as long as you don't care about enjoyment and taste, humans are far more resilient than you think.

With a slightly better mood and the same loneliness, he closed his eyes on the night of the fourth day.

But soon, on the morning of the fifth day, Tails was faced with a new problem.

He didn't have enough water.

Shaking so hard that he couldn't pour a drop of water out of the cortical water bladder, Tails was anxious.

What to do?

Collecting dew at night with stones was not a problem—at least not to sustain him through the day.

And the water source ...... Tails tried to dig down into the roots of a plant yesterday, but even though he dug two meters, enough to bury himself alive, it was still only sand, which was cooler at best.

On the contrary, I sweated a lot.

It's ironic.

To tell the truth, Tails was well prepared for the possible heat after entering the desert, but the truth is that the prince, who was exposed to the sun, did not worry about the heat, did not be knocked down by heat stroke, but worried about the water.

Tails touched his chapped lips and began to frown.

Headwaters.

He had to find a new source of water...... With such a heavy heart, Tails continued on his way against the rising sun.

Soon, the symptoms of dehydration manifested themselves in him.

Tails' mouth was getting drier and drier, and it felt like it was going to take a lot of energy with every step.

He insisted on breathing through his nose – Grevo had told him before he left that it would retain him the necessary moisture.

His mood became more and more flat, more and more sluggish.

I'm so thirsty.

Tails thought confusedly.

Every cell in his body is protesting against the exploitation of its master.

I'm so thirsty.

Think......

Drink.

Water.

But it didn't take long for Tails to rise again at a tricky angle, and Tails gave up on his hands and half knelt on the ground without holding on!

He began to feel dizzy.

Immediately, a warning signal sounded in the prince's heart.

Worst.

Dehydration?

Or heat stroke?

Tails shook his head vigorously to sober himself up.

In short, he needs to rest.

You can't stop cruising in the sun and wasting energy and water.

He looked up and squinted at the scorching sun.

Tails was sleepy and thirsty.

But he knew that he couldn't just sit down and rest at this time, the sand under the sun was extremely hot, and increasing the contact area with the sand would only cause him to lose water faster.

Need...... Find your next retreat......

Tails thought a little dazed, and took the next step.

One-step.

Another step.

Every step is like a thousand pounds.

His throat was feverish.

The mouth is rubbing.

My whole body is weak.

But he couldn't stop.

Can't stop.

Tails stumbled to the next resting place, a shade under a willow tree, sheltered from the sun.

He rested for a moment and regained his strength in the shade.

Tails even began to seriously consider whether he should live on his own urine.

But at that moment, Tails looked up.

He was on a high slope, overlooking the plains below.

He froze.

I saw the end of the horizon, in the distance of vision, a glimmer of light appeared.

Is that......

The prince looked into the distance in a daze, at the light reflected in his field of vision, and his heart trembled uncontrollably.

Is that......

Lakes?

Tails stood up suddenly!

He couldn't help but even enter the hellish senses, confirming the distance in his vision.

That's right.

It's the reflection of the lake!

Ahead, there is a lake!

There is a water source!

The desperate prince suppressed the excitement in his heart.

But he didn't even wait for the sun to set completely, so he set off in a hurry.

According to his experience in the past few days, although he is in the field of vision, it takes at least an hour to walk for such a long distance.

an hour.

It only takes an hour.

Tails took a deep breath and took a step, flicking his cane towards his hope.

One step, two steps......

Fifty steps, one hundred steps......

1,000 steps, 1,500 steps......

Climb over a sand dune, another dune.

One bush, another shrub!

Soon, soon!

Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to his goal, Tails became more and more excited.

Water, water, water!

Oh my god, haha.

He was saved.

Tails laughed in his heart, his mood fluctuating.

There is no disaster.

Nothing is in the way!

He thought: Yes, deserts never come for no reason.

Raphael is right, the weak are afraid of disasters, and in the desert, only by abandoning weakness can they ......

Talent......

Talent?

But Tails' heart grew anxious.

He didn't know how long he had been gone.

But he has an idea of the number of steps he takes.

It seems like...... It's been more than an hour, right?

Tails gritted his teeth, licked the smell of blood from his dry lips, and kept going.

He began to ache and ache all over.

Even numbness.

But he couldn't stop.

Tails stared at the water source in front of him, desperately moving forward.

Can't stop.

Why hasn't it arrived yet?

Finally, the sun slowly sank and dusk arrived.

The surroundings become shaded.

Tails gasped hard, bracing himself in a bout of vertigo.

But his mood was also cold.

None of them.

In his field of vision......

The water in front of him, the lake in front of him, the hope in front of him......

Gone.

Sand.

Only sand.

Tails shivered, looking at the empty scene on the horizon in front of him.

He shuddered and shook his head vigorously, only to feel that his eyes were beginning to fog.

The sluggish prince reacted instantly.

What he saw during the day, what he thought in his heart, he hurried to get there......

Not a lake.

That's not a lake.

It's a mirage.

Or: mirage.

The next moment, the prince's eyes went dark and he fell into the desert.

Loss of consciousness.

Plunged into deep darkness.

[Mr. Wu, we have completed the evidence collection for this accident...... I studied the surveillance footage of that day as it was...... There was also the scene, including possible brake marks and eyewitnesses, all of which the evidence points to ......]

[We are still reviewing her medical records, including her mental condition, so I have come to make a note with you today, but you had better be mentally prepared......]

[No, no, Mr. Wu, please don't get excited, after all, you are still in the hospital bed...... Probably, we're just saying that there is a possibility, everything is still under investigation......]

I don't know how long it took.

It feels like a lifetime.

Or...... Moment?

[Maybe, I mean maybe, Mr. Wu, your girlfriend, she took you for a ride that day, maybe ...... It's going to ......]

[Suicidal. 】

In the next second, Tails slammed into a shock!

"Ahh

He took a sharp breath and shouted, waking up from the boundless darkness!

Hearts throbbed.

"Oh, oh!"

"Take it easy, boy, you're severely dehydrated," a fussy male voice came into his ear, "Karn, Karn, come quickly!"

"He's awake!"

Tails shuddered to open his eyes, and what he saw was a blinding fire.

and the bustling crowd around them.

Now it's ...... At night?

A frail Tails thought in a daze.

As he woke up, the hustle and bustle around him grew louder: laughing, noisy, talking.

The noise gave him a headache.

A long, narrow face squeezed into the field of vision.

It was a red-haired man in leather armor with a freckled face, who looked to be in his twenties, a little dirty, and a pair of eyes that were dripping and spinning, quite funny: "Oh my God! I knew you were going to live......

The red-haired man was elated and rubbed Tails' face vigorously, causing the latter to feel dizzy again, "Karn, can we come and talk to him about the reward for saving people......"

"Get out of the way, quickrope, don't shake him again!" an old male voice came from afar, and the tone was dissatisfied.

"You're not helping. ”

The owner of this voice seemed to be quite majestic, and with his words, the noise around him slowly subsided.

The man named Fast Rope stopped touching him either.

The old man's voice came again: "Here, drink." ”

Tails felt his head propped up and his mouth stuffed with a hard object.

The wetness in his mouth made him slightly confused.

Wait a minute.

Water.

Tails' heart moved.

It's water!

He subconsciously struggled to his feet, snatching the water bag with both hands and sucking the liquid inside desperately.

Grunt, grunt, grunt......

Tails clutched the hydration bag in his hand like a madman.

Oh, my God.

Water, water!

There had never been a moment when he felt like he was now: water was a gift from heaven.

"Slow down, take a bite at a time," the majestic old man said in a gentle voice, holding his back and gently holding the water bag, controlling the speed at which Tails drank:

"You've just recovered and can't drink too fast. ”

Finally, after a few minutes, Tails let go of the hydration bag and leaned back exhausted.

He saw the owner of the old voice: a bald man with a rough face, in his thirties, with fine stubble, dressed in leather armor like a "fast rope", looking at him thoughtfully with deep eyes.

"Thanks, thanks. Tails said weakly and hard.

In the night, the bald man named Karn smiled in the light of the fire, "Good, you look much better. ”

Right now.

"Hey, Great Karn!" a shrill voice tore through the air, like a cleaner seeing a cockroach.

There was another commotion around.

The third voice sounded rather oily and old-fashioned, and it came from afar, with a slight dissatisfaction in his tone: "I heard that you have picked up a piece of garbage on the road again - I solemnly protest against you, although I respect you, but you must understand the risks of this journey and prioritize our safety......"

Tails frowned slightly, and he saw that the red-haired man named Fast Rope, who was the first to enter Tails' field of vision, sighed.

He grimaced at the bald Karn, "Oh my God, it's Sepp—the profiteer, he's here again. ”

The bald Karn looked up and frowned slightly.

"I'm going to negotiate with him. ”

"And you take a good look at him, fast rope," Karn said lightly, his old voice giving an inexplicable sense of reassurance, "and wait for Luisa and Old Hammer to come back and change shifts." ”

Karn stood up, and Tails noticed that the man was a burly man with a diagonal belt full of tools, ranging from knives to ropes.

His back was out of the firelight, towards the snarky voice.

Tails struggled to his feet and leaned into his bag.

He looked around and was surprised to find that the fire in front of them was not the only one, there were several bonfires around them, each surrounded by a number of people, dressed in different attires, some with turbans and masks, some with leather armor, some covered with knick-knacks, and some sitting in a pile of miscellaneous things dancing and talking about something.

Many people looked at him curiously.

Further out, two dozen camels knelt down to rest, happily chewing their mouths.

Tails stared blankly at the strange camp.

This......

He looked up at the freckled red-haired young man named "Fast Rope" across from him—who was also staring at him with interest.

"Where am I?" Tails said with difficulty, only to feel the weight of his tongue.

The fast rope was slightly stunned.

"Where?"

He scratched his freckled nose, then rolled his eyes, grabbed a handful of sand from the ground, and rubbed it away from his hand: "Of course you are in the great desert!"

"You're not drowsy, are you?"

Looking at the sand in the hands of the fast rope, Tails's heart moved.

He's still in the desert.

But......

"So," Tails muttered, staring at the fast rope:

"Who are you?"

Hearing this question, Fast Rope's eyes lit up, and the expression on his face changed sharply, and his face changed several times in an instant.

"Who are we?"

He seemed hesitant.

Tails looked at him suspiciously, urging the other with his eyes.

After a while, I saw that the fast rope finally made up his mind, put away his hesitant face, and replied happily and decisively: "We ......"

I saw the young fast rope eyebrows fluttering, and said something that made Tails stunned:

"We are 'sword sellers'!"

(End of chapter)