Li Changfeng couldn't stop in front of Zhang Cheng with tears and laughter, he didn't expect that what he said in his words really became the legendary thug "dog leg" who bullied men and women. Seeing that he came up, he was even more impatient, and he had the urge to draw his fist when he disagreed.

Li Changfeng looked at him and was about to persuade a few words, when a surprised voice suddenly came from behind him:

"Zhang Cheng, why are you? It's going to leave in the next few days, why don't you prepare well at home, why do you want to make fun here?"

It was another guard, Lao Zhang, who spoke. In his forties, with a big beard, he is an "old desert" who specializes in guarding caravans, and he has escorted a caravan with Zhang Cheng, so the two are also very familiar. Just now he was checking out in the shop to pick up something, and when he went out, he saw Zhang Chengyi who was about to beat someone, and hurriedly stopped him.

"Lao Zhang!"

Zhang Cheng's eyes were red, and his voice was hoarse. Lao Zhang Gang heard everything in the store, and hurriedly pulled him aside at this moment and persuaded him in a low voice.

Li Changfeng sighed, the matter was finally suppressed for the time being, as for what happened in the future, it was none of his business. Wang Yang was triumphant, pulling Wu Qing'er and preparing to leave. Wu Qing'er suddenly walked up to Zhang Cheng, who had been looking at her, hesitated for a moment, and said:

"Zhang Cheng, we are not suitable, you, you give up!"

When Zhang Cheng heard this, he was stunned as if he had been struck by lightning!

......

Starting from the "Great Wilderness City", the caravan composed of more than 200 riding camels passed through a grassland, and crossed the last barrier between the grassland and the desert "Chenguang Mountain Range", as the grass of the grassland gradually thinned, you can see a yellow line in the distance of the horizon, which is the shadow of the desert. The hot wind blows in the face, making people feel that this side of the Chenguang Mountain is a whole other world.

"Set up camp on the spot!"

After receiving the order of Wang Chen, the eldest son of the Wang family, the leader of the team, the Huang Steward who was in charge of the execution loudly ordered to set up camp. It's been almost a day of walking, and before entering the desert, you must maintain sufficient physical strength to make final preparations, and traveling in the desert is by no means a joke.

Li Changfeng helped set up the camp tent, and after doing some trivial things, he found a quiet corner and sat down. Behind is the continuous morning light mountain range, in the distance is the sand dunes, thousands of miles of empty silence, the year-round heat wave rolling, the desert is terrifying and full of mysteries.

The information he had collected these days had passed through his mind one by one: fierce sand bandits, terrible desert hurricanes, man-eating desert monsters, and mysterious desert dwellers "sandmen", all of which he had inquired about from the caravan elders these days.

"Lots of money, come over and get something to eat. ”

Qian Duo's pseudonym, although it filled Li Changfeng with sweet and painful memories, he still decided to use it. Every time you listen to someone call, you can fill a little more memory somewhere in the depths of your brain so that you will never forget.

It's Lao Zhang who calls people. Li Changfeng didn't know many people in the escort team, after all, the time was still short, in addition to Lao Zhang, there were two friends who had a good relationship with Lao Zhang, Meng Yu and Lao Gong. There is also a young man who suffers from love - Zhang Cheng. Zhang Cheng didn't have any prejudices against Li Changfeng, but he was in a bad mood all the time, and he didn't say hello, just sat silently and ate on the side.

Li Changfeng walked over with a smile and greeted people one by one, whether they knew each other or not. A bowl of mutton soup was served to the person in charge of the meal, and a fist-sized naan bun was held in his right hand, which was the food for dinner. In order to make it easy to preserve, the wind is extremely dry, and every bite is full of crumbs. After taking a sip of soup and sending the bun in his mouth, Li Changfeng looked at the sun that was about to go down the mountain, and his eyes were projected into the distance, over there, was the desert that he was about to face.

"What are you thinking?"

Lao Zhang, who was sitting next to him, saw that he was stunned and asked out loud.

Li Changfeng came back to his senses and replied:

"Actually, it's the first time I've seen the desert and I'm thinking about how to deal with this 'first'. ”

After speaking, he drank the soup in the bowl in one gulp, put down the bowl, patted Zhang Cheng's shoulder next to him who was still in a daze with his free hand, and said meaningfully:

"There are many 'firsts' to face in this life, whether it is the desert or love. ”

Zhang Cheng was shocked and turned his head to look at Li Changfeng, who smiled and gave him an encouraging look.

The sun is setting and night is coming.

The next day.

The thin grassland is also gradually gone, replaced by yellow-brown gravel, and further on, the gravel suddenly disappears, and the rolling yellow sand is displayed in front of you.

All of them changed into thick white robes, covered their heads, and covered their faces with white cloth to resist the scorching sun in the sky and the sunlight reflected in the sand. Day and night are reversed from the moment you step into the desert, trying to avoid the terrible heat of the desert at noon.

As the pre-dawn light shone over the land, the long caravan made its way through the gravel belt and stepped on the pollen-like fine grains of sand. A red sun emerged from the right, and the dawn shone in the endless sea of sand in front of him.

The chill of the shivering desert night was replaced by a rapidly rising temperature, and in a short time people became poor animals in steamers. Lao Zhang and the others were all silent, looking blankly ahead. Thinking about nothing, doing nothing, just moving forward mechanically, this is also one of the ways to save energy in the desert.

Time seemed to slow down and slow, until then it seemed to stand still completely, and the heavens and the earth seemed to have not changed at all, and all the scenes that kept appearing before us were just a repetition of the previous scenes.

Before the sun rises in the middle of the sky, the camel caravan camps and rests, in the special tent, the heat of the desert is resisted, the people and animals drink water and eat, and then continue the journey at dusk, rest for a while after midnight, and then continue the journey, so stop and stop, and finally advance to the hinterland of the desert after more than ten days.

On this day, it was time for midnight rest again.

People sat around the campfire, burning wolf dung and the few firewood they had brought with the team, drinking and eating to replenish their strength, and talking in a whisper.

Lao Zhang carefully took a sip of water, wiped the non-existent lip stains, and said:

"The forty days from tomorrow are the most dangerous part of the journey, with unpredictable weather in the heart of the desert and dreaded desert hurricanes happening here and there. And we have to pass near the 'Pearl Lake', where the sand pirates are entrenched, where we have to replenish water and rest. ”

Li Changfeng asked a little strangely:

"It's not the first time you've taken this road, if the sand thieves want to rob it, why is it okay before?"

Lao Zhang Dao:

"No one would be stupid enough to go to Mingzhu Lake to replenish water, which is the nest of sand thieves, the fierce name of the 'Desert King' Xiong Jin, but in the Great Wilderness City, children can stop crying at night. Fortunately, around this Pearl Lake, there are abundant underground water sources, so there are countless small green states in a radius of 100 miles near it. The reason why the Wang family dared to travel through the desert again and again to do business was precisely because there was a secret route, and a few wells were drilled in some of the small green states, and it was by relying on those wells that it was possible to get supplies on the way. ”

Saying so much in one breath, Lao Zhang moved his hand with the water bladder and wanted to take a sip of water, but after thinking about it, he put it down again, sighed, and continued:

"These wells are well hidden, and the sand thieves don't know about them, or they probably don't have time to pay attention to them. ”

After more than ten days, Zhang Cheng's mood has become stable with the enlightenment of everyone, and at this moment he wrapped a wool felt blanket on his body to resist the cold of midnight, and asked curiously:

"Are sand pirates really that scary?"

Lao Zhang, Lao Gong and Meng Yu next to him all laughed. Lao Gong stretched out his hand and patted Zhang Cheng's shoulder, and said:

"Young man, you are still young, and you have too little experience in the desert. Those who have never seen sand thieves will never know how terrible they are. ”

Lao Zhang nodded, suppressed his smile and said:

"Sand pirates are like hurricanes in the desert, coming and going without a trace, appearing when you least expect it. They are crazy to kill, loot, rape and commit adultery, you should never try to tell them terms to keep money to buy the road, once you meet, either you will die or I will die. It is said that most of the 'sandmen' living in this desert have also been forced to move to other places, and only a few remain. ”

Li Changfeng asked:

"If the sand thieves are so fierce, how can the sand people stay?"

Lao Zhang shook his head and replied:

"Who knows, maybe they have something to protect. ”

Li Changfeng's heart moved when he heard this: Guard, what are you protecting? This sandman clan lives in the desert, and he should be very familiar with this place, maybe ......

He looked up at the sky, his eyes shining with a glimmer of hope.

Ten days later, exhausted and exhausted, the caravan arrived at the first well sixty miles south of the Pearl Lake, and in the endless sea of sand, there was an incredible small grassland with a radius of four or five miles, sparsely covered with trees. The green state is surrounded by sandstones, and to the west there is a small hill made of huge rocks like a hat, and it is these high and low rocks that miraculously preserve this small green state, which is impressive at first sight.

Zhang Cheng and some young people were already cheering in unison, instigating the sand camels to rush away. Even Li Changfeng couldn't help but urge his mount to speed up his pace, and after a month of panicking by the yellow sand, the green color of the plant was really a visual treat that was hard to refuse.

The crowd did not wait for orders, set up camp to make a fire, and drew water from the well, and everyone had a long-lost smile on their faces. The Yellow Steward loudly announced that a sand camel would be slaughtered for a tooth sacrifice, which made the people who ate dry food and eat sick to their stomachs cheered again.

Li Changfeng looked at Zhang Cheng and a group of people cheering, and was sincerely happy for him: being young is good, although it is easy to get injured, it is also very fast. Suddenly, he laughed dumbly, could it be that he was already old, and he actually gave birth to the emotional heart that only an old man has!

After filling all the water bladders, the caravan set out again, and everything returned to a dead silence.

Suddenly, the leading camel stopped moving, causing all the caravan that followed to a slow halt. Li Changfeng sat on the sand camel and turned his head to look at Lao Zhang behind him in confusion, with an inquiring look in his eyes. Lao Zhang's face was solemn at this time, and he pointed to the distance of the sky and said:

"Look!"

Li Changfeng looked in the direction of his finger.

At this time, it was a good time to hurry in the morning, and I saw that the originally clear and clear blue sky in the sky over there had become dim and dirty, and the dust seemed to be still.

"Desert hurricanes?"

Steward Huang's roar sounded at the right time:

"A hurricane is coming, prepare to protect against the wind!"

When everyone heard this, they dismounted and prepared for the sandstorm.