Early in the morning, somewhere in the desert.

When the first rays of dawn lifted the darkness on the horizon, a monster—a monster tightly wrapped in clothing and thick cloth—moved in a sheltered place under a boulder, and clumsily crawled to its feet.

But it's not naturally awake.

In the darkness, the "monster" stretched out its thick limbs, yawned tiredly, pulled its head and face out of the thick cloth, and took a deep breath.

It's dawn.

It—the clothed boy, stretched out of the boulder in a haze.

A cold wind immediately blew through his palms, making him shiver.

It's cold.

Tyers, who had wrapped himself tightly, shivered, rubbed his hands, and felt to his side—the fire that had been made from flint branches last night had been extinguished at some point.

He shook his head with apprehension.

Next time, you can't spend the night on such high sand dunes, the wind is too strong, even if there are rocks to shelter from the wind.

In the misty sky, the prince thought so, and leaned against the rock behind him in a daze.

He looked at the endless desert wilderness from afar, and it took him thirty seconds to fully wake up from his sorrow.

During Tails' six-year study in Longxiao City, almost every bachelor who had the privilege of going to Valhalla to teach two prominent students described the Great Desert as "hot" and "sunny", or something like that.

Here's the thing: it's a deadly heat only half the time.

For the other half of the time - its nights were cold enough to store ice, or freeze a Tails to death.

Damn it.

Tails tightened his body, and thought to himself: they must all be hearsay.

They deserve that the people of the Northland can't enter the great desert.

Tails sighed with emotion and raised his gaze to take in the small canyon beneath the boulder and the long sand dunes not far away.

Nature is the most wonderful painter: under the crimson skyline, the rolling sand dunes are golden, and the curves are graceful and smooth, like the back of a beautiful woman lying on her side, giving people an indescribable sense of tenderness.

However, only Tails himself knows what a ruthless truth lies beneath this heart-warming beauty.

As the sun rose, the coldness of the night faded away, and there were still a few hours left before the midday heat, which was his precious time to rush.

Tails unpacked his bags and checked his inventory.

One piece of cottage cheese, two pieces of bread.

And......

A final bag of water.

He sighed.

Tails grinded his parched lips, resisted a slight feeling of hunger, and stuffed the cheese back into his bag.

He pulled out what little bread he had left, and silently nibbled into the quiet of the morning, filling it with the energy needed for the morning, and he couldn't eat more until he found the next water source—it would make his body deplete water faster.

The thought of this suddenly increased the pressure in Tails' heart.

Tails got up, dug a sand pit not far from the camp, uncovered one of his sackcloths, and pulled out a few stones from it, glad to find the lower half of the stone cold and wet.

The prince treated them as if they were lovers, and opened his mouth happily and sucked on the moisture on them—they tasted strange, but he could get a little water from them, and he didn't have to consume the precious water, so why not.

But water scarcity is not the only threat.

Tails tested the temperature around him, silently took off his clothes for the night, tied his bags, reached into the fire with the last remaining warmth, and blackened the upper half of his face, especially the sockets, with char.

You know, when Tails, who had been walking in the endless desert for a day, found himself actually starting to be dazzled, the panic in his heart almost overflowed his chest.

It wasn't until he remembered this method, which was said to be occasionally used by Northland hunters in the freezing cold to avoid the snow blindness that could result from wandering through the white snow for too long, and Tails dared to swear by his experience in the desert for the past three days: it worked in the desert as well.

Tails finished applying the charcoal black, then unfolded the piece of linen that had collected the water, tied it to the top of his head, and tied his hair and sideburns tightly. While Tails didn't know how hot it was in the desert — even though everyone had told him that the biggest threat in the desert was heat — a headscarf should help more or less to keep the sun out and the wind and protect from the wind.

From the leggings to the cuffs, he carefully checked his clothes: he took out the black cloth that Yara had given him, used it as a mask to cover his mouth and nose, showed only a pair of eyes, carried his bag and time crossbow, grabbed two branches that were used as canes, and made sure that the direction of the sun was on his left.

May all the best today.

Let me find the water source......

Or assistance.

After the preparations, the prince, who had almost wrapped himself tightly into a surprise gift, thought so, took a deep breath, and walked out of the shelter.

The wind and sand suddenly came to him, with the coldness of the night, which made him squint.

Facing a large sand dune, Tails carefully bypassed its center, looking for a long way but a small slope, trying to avoid the gentle slope of the wind, and sloping up this dune—he had stupidly gone straight up and down the desert on the first day, and after climbing over two dunes, he was out of breath and his legs were numb, and now Tails had finally learned his lesson.

"Whew...... Swish...... Who......"

The wind and sand blew from his back, and the tiny sand struck the linen cloth in his ears, making a crack.

With the strength of his cane, Tails walked forward step by step, detouring on high slopes and crossing cautiously on gentle slopes.

As the sun rose and the cold desert warmed up, he occasionally turned his head to look around, and there was only a patch of yellow sand in his eyes, only the wind whistling in his ears, and all the birds and animals were gone.

Even the plants consist of low shrubs and deep-rooted willows, lying dead on the sand.

In the vast sand dunes that can be seen, in the vast desert, Tails is still alone.

Not to mention the crowds.

Not even the bones of the animals—at least that would alert him to the danger here, and replace the dullness with fear.

Tails shook his head and tried to hum a little song, thinking of something pleasant—the prince, who had been trapped in the wall for six years, had read many visitors' notes, and he knew that the deadliest thing in such an extremely hostile environment was not the threat of the outside world, but the mental stress of loneliness and panic.

Nothing destroys a person more than isolation and loneliness.

It was Tails' fourth day in the desert.

He didn't know when he had entered the Great Desert.

It seems that there is no particularly clear boundary between the city of Qiyuan in Exeter and the famous Great Desert - such as a boundary monument that reads "Exeter Border" or "Walkers Stop".

In fact, after a happy "breakup" with the other two, Tails rode for a day, and the first thing he entered was a rocky desert full of bare rocks, which was almost indistinguishable from the rocky land.

There, huge bedrock is everywhere, the terrain is occasionally undulating, and the view is extremely open.

The low bushes were neither more nor less, which deceived Tails' eyes, and made him think that the great desert was yet to be reached.

I had to keep walking—he tore the meat from his mouth, and said to himself—that he should be able to find someone at the junction.

Thanks to the blessing of the Silver Shadow Man, Tails as he walked the earth felt direction: he was heading south, the slightly higher rock formations in the north were coming to an end, the vegetation was beginning to dwindle, the temperature of the sun was slowly increasing, and his lips were getting drier by the day.

As the road faded away, his eyes were no longer bare bedrock, but began to be covered with gravel the size of a pot's lid to a fist, and thanks to the quality of the Northland's horseshoe, Tails was saved from the trek.

However, after Tails passed an empty and abandoned settlement on the way, and after shaking his head in disappointment at an abandoned dry well, the sturdy horses of the Northlands showed an innegligible resistance to moving on.

It was only when the reins in his hand became more and more difficult to control that the second prince, who had been talking about geography along the way, suddenly realized:

I unknowingly entered no man's land.

Half a day later, instead of exerting his physical strength and pulling a horse that wanted to retreat at all times, Tails reluctantly took the necessary supplies, let the horse go, broke off two thick branches, cut them into canes, one to carry a bag, and the other to help walk, and struggled forward.

There is still hard rock ground under your feet, and the Gobi Desert is still boundless in front of you, but the wind is getting stronger and stronger, and the temperature is getting hotter and hotter.

As his feet quickened, Tails frowned and realized that the gravel under his feet was getting thinner and smaller, and his steps on the earth were no longer crisp and clean.

Ten hours later, at dusk, he looked up after stingily replenishing his water, only to find that no matter whether he looked up or looked back, everything around him was already covered with yellow sand.

Before you know it, the Great Desert has arrived.

Tails thought as he stared blankly at everything in front of him.

The question is......

What about the receivers of the secret department?

Did he miss someone, or did he go the wrong way?

Looking back on the way he came, but at a loss, Tails hesitated for a long time, and finally decided: to continue moving forward, according to the direction in his memory, all the way to the southeast, to find the oasis, to find the supply line of the Star Army.

Before this, Grivoy and Kez in Longxiao seemed to foresee that he would not stop even if he escaped from the city, and prepared a suitable outfit for the prince in advance, and Monty's two mounts were obviously related to the secret department, and the bags on the saddle were full of the necessary things for crossing the desert: water, bread, salt, flint, including thick clothing and ropes.

and two broken canes on his way.

Tyers, who had checked his luggage, was feeling good for a while.

But the next day's journey to hell taught him that he was wrong.

Tails underestimated the Great Desert.

It's far scarier than you think.

The soft sand on the ground seemed harmless, but in fact it was difficult to walk, one step at a time, and the whole person often slid towards his heels when climbing, which was even more difficult to deal with than the snow in the northern winter, and Tails even felt that he had walked no more than ten miles on the first day.

The wind in the desert was so fast that Tails would be blown to the ground if he wasn't careful, and once, he was simply blown off the slope while climbing, rolling and screaming all the way down the sand dunes, and the ten minutes of climbing were wasted.

After that, Tails was determined never to walk up a high slope again, never to go straight up the dunes again, and it was better to follow the ripples of the sand - if you can't get past the wind, the wind won't get past you.

The desert terrain was anything but flat, with undulating sand dunes, huge sandstone and steep canyons from time to time, and Tails felt it would be better to stay away from them after painstakingly "exploring" the bottom of a canyon.

And just like that, he went all the way, the first day, the first night, the second day, the second night......

All the way to the present.

The fourth day of the desert.

It's still uninhabited, lonely on the fourth day.

Step by step, Tails squinted his eyes and tried his best to move forward, counting his steps, removing the water bag and taking a sip of water to moisten his mouth every time he had passed.

I don't know how long I walked, the sun was getting higher and higher, and it was getting hotter and hotter around.

He could even feel the sweat on the skin under the turban, wrapped in his clothes, sticky, wet, and stuffy.

But he couldn't unravel.

No.

From time to time, Tails held his cane down the windward slope, looking back at the leeward side, and couldn't help frowning—he felt like he was going crookedly.

Damn it.

He cursed inwardly, stuck his cane into the sand, looked at the shadow cast by the cane on the ground, turned back and found a stone, and placed it on the top of the shadow.

After entering the desert and suffering enough on the first day, Tails encountered another problem: the wonderful sense of direction he gained after the Black Trail once made Tails happily think that he really "never got lost", but this wonderful ability failed after entering the Great Desert, and he could no longer feel the terrain under his feet and the direction of the road ahead.

It seems that even the most powerful and existent beings will have the problem of not adapting to the soil and water—Tails thought wearily, and while the sun was still not big and the sand was not hot, he half-sat down and rested for a while.

How long will it take to meet the rescue?

Will he die here?

It's terrible.

Exercise!

Tails shook his head and patted his cheek to calm his impatience.

Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it.

Tails admonished himself: get to the next destination first, and then think about the next step.

Otherwise, he was afraid that he would not find a place, so he would be too stressed and have a nervous breakdown first.

In fact, because he has not been populated for a long time, there is no communication, and the scenery is monotonous, and now the prince feels that he is a little abnormal.

His reflexes began to slow and his vision began to freeze.

And the mood becomes unstable.

Tails chuckled and shook his head.

No way.

He couldn't give up.

He has to adjust himself until he finds a way out.

Ironically, on the first day, Tails didn't think the desert was that dangerous.

He followed the vegetation that was not very sparse at that time, and found a small shallow pool under a huge rock at dusk, the edge of which was full of life, and even a few jackals gathered in a narrow corner of the pool, taking a sip and turning around, vigilant but inefficient to absorb water.

At that time, Tails was overjoyed, thinking that at least he had used his "novice luck" and happily slid down the dunes to load the water bags.

Until he slipped to the edge of the pool, his feet were weak, and his legs fell into quicksand!

The more panicked Tails struggled, the tighter and deeper he sank in, sinking into his waist at one point.

Tails' heart was half cold.

It was then that he understood why the jackals had gathered in such a small corner, stingy with water, rather than approaching the seemingly wide edge of the pool.

God knows how desperate the boy was at that time.

If it weren't for Tails' timely use of the Prison River Sin to calm himself down, give up the struggle, calm his body, and avoid sinking......

I'm afraid that the first heir of the Star Kingdom has long been cold in the desert.

That day, tremblingly, he took out the crossbow arrow behind his back, tied the rope, shot (and shot twice, the first time his hand was too shaky) a strange tree in the distance, and pulled himself up tremblingly.

In the disgruntled cries of the jackals, a terrified Tails took up their safe corners, trembling and struggling, finally filling their hydration bags.

This was the first time Tails discovered the sinister nature of the desert.

Having had enough rest under the dunes, Tails sighed and pulled his thoughts back to the present: he grabbed the second stone and placed it on top of the shadow of the cane that had traveled a considerable distance, connecting with the first.

Tails looked at the way he came, frowning and comparing the connection between the two stones.

It's a bit biased.

Gotta be corrected back.

He corrected the direction to the southeast, grabbed the orientation cane, and set off again.

"Whew...... Whew......"

The wind and sand are getting bigger and bigger.

This is another threat in the desert.

Tails gritted his teeth and climbed over a sand dune under the double cover of fishy smell and damp heat, raising his right palm over his eyes, looking for places where vegetation was lush and could be used as shade and possibly water.

Noon soon arrived.

Be ready for the next step.

He still remembers that the first noon he entered the desert, he chose to camp at the bottom of a large sand dune to escape the scorching sun and the merciless wind and sand.

However, Tails, who woke up from a nap, turned his head and tasted a mouthful of sand.

In a state of panic and panic, he got up and found out in horror that in the two hours he had been squinting and resting, the wind and sand had submerged his legs and would soon cover his hands.

If he snoozes for another half hour......

Tails has learned since then: unless you want to find a free grave in the desert, you should never choose a place too low to rest.

The prince silently reflected on the lessons he had learned in the days of suffering and torment, and found his resting destination: a small tree beside a steep slope.

Tails took another sip of water and continued on his way.

He struggled forward, and he didn't feel the water in his body being lost at a rapid rate—as the sun got higher and hotter around him, the amount of energy and nutrients he needed to move would increase exponentially.

Rest—Tails thought solemnly, forcing himself to think only of the one goal in front of him—he needed to rest and escape the hottest hours.

The wind and sand continued.

Staring at the soles of his feet the yellow sand slowly peeled away, Tails counted more than eight hundred steps and finally reached his destination.

He hid in the shade of a tree, away from the scorching sun.

Feeling the drastic drop in temperature, he sighed and removed his bandana and mask.

Tails prepared for a lunch break, but instead of rushing to find a vacant space, he cautiously grabbed his cane and tapped the ground to remove the stones around him, preferably away from himself.

Tails has not forgotten: the first "friend" he met in the desert was a rattlesnake.

On the second day of his journey into the desert, while resting in the shade of a tree, he sat down on the ground with his exhausted ass, and pressed his left hand back to a slippery, cool thing.

The "thing" sprang up from behind the stone.

One bite on his forearm!

Tails was terrified—the rattlesnake was clearly unhappy that someone had disturbed his nap, and if it hadn't been for the bitter cold of the first night, which had been wrapped around himself like a nerve, it would have killed him (though Tails didn't know if it was poisonous or not).

Reflecting on that day's horrific journey, Tails subconsciously touched his left arm—the hole in the sleeve of his three-tiered coat was still there—and cautiously swept away the rocks around him.

Sure enough, after a larger slab-like stone was lifted, a "new friend" ran out dissatisfied.

Tails frowned, looked at the black sand scorpion half the size of a palm, at its frighteningly large pair of pincers and inconspicuous tail spines, stretched out his staff, ignored its protests, and drove the sand scorpion into the distance.

He sat down breathlessly, pulling out his water bag and the last of his food.

Everything seemed to be the same, and as the old crow said, there were only three things in the desert: the sun, the sand, and the sand.

Tails suddenly understood why the other party had said sand twice.

What he has seen in the past few days tells him that this is a world that is completely different from his daily cognition.

A world that grows up in the slums of the city, accustomed to the streets and castles, is unimaginable.

Thinking back on the countless dangers he had encountered in just three days, Tails couldn't help but tighten his body:

Here, the heat is just as deadly as the cold, and the day and night are terrifying.

Here, life and crisis occur at the same time, and the waterhole, the source of life, is often the place where the bones of animals are buried the most.

Here he rarely sees living creatures, and even if they do, their habits have long since changed: the snakes of the desert never walk in a straight line, but fold themselves into waves and "catapult" horizontally like springs, strange lizards burrow into the sand and seem to have made up their minds not to go out until night, and desert rats do not seem to need to grow four legs, because they rarely "walk normally" , preferring to touch the air and leap forward, the occasional vulture in the sky seems to be unstoppable, making long journeys every day, and the desert spider is indistinguishable from the sand.

Here he had to be humble—Tails remembered Hisser's words—and everything had to be relearned, like the jackals on the edge of the waterhole, and Tails had learned since then, that it would not be wrong to follow in the footsteps of the animals.

Tails sighed, ate the last piece of cheese, and began to think about his most serious reality.

He ran out of food.

It was not that the prince did not suffer from hunger, and the life in the abandoned house never gave him the experience of being full a few times.

But he was in the desert.

It's going to be fatal.

And......

The respondents are still nowhere to be seen.

It wasn't that Tails hadn't tried to find the fruit of the plant, in fact, he had found a few strange plants on the leeward slope, and he couldn't hold back his hunger until he saw a dried skeleton nearby.

Oh, my God......

Tails touched his forehead in pain, who knows what else can be eaten in this desert.

At that moment, he glanced to the side: the hapless sand scorpion whose nest was occupied had not gone far, still poking and knocking here and there, looking for the next perch.

Looking at the scorpion, Tails touched his hungry stomach and frowned fiercely.

No way?

(End of chapter)