P.S. Where are your flower tickets?
There were more than ten million Desert Army Ants in the city. It was as if the entire ancient city was a huge ant nest. We were trapped on the roof and could only wave our shovels to sweep away the army ants that climbed up.
At the foot of the city wall in the distance, Old Man An was busy untying the rope that tied the camel. Brother Long threw the rifle to Fatty.
"Hit his hat."
Fatty raised his rifle and pulled the trigger at Old Man An without hesitation.
"Pa!"
Old Man An's leather hat was blown away by the bullet. He was so scared that he shrunk his neck and turned around to look at the person on the roof.
Fatty shouted at him,"
"Old man, if you dare to run, the second shot will hit your butt.”
Old Man An waved his hand repeatedly, indicating that he would not run anymore. However, the ground below the house was already filled with Desert Army Ants. They could not go down for the time being, and it was not a good idea to stay on the roof. Just as they were about to ignore it, they saw a broken wall collapse with a loud bang. A large ant that looked like a lamb crawled out from inside.
It was an ant queen with six pairs of transparent wings. Perhaps the sandstorm had alerted the ant queen hiding in the depths of the nest, and it was preparing to migrate.
Seeing the ant queen's momentum, the archeologists 'faces changed. Shirley Yang shouted,"
"To capture the thief, we must first capture the leader. Quickly shoot and kill it.”
Just as Brother Long was about to take out his gun, Qin Shi secretly shook his head and hid behind him to watch the situation unfold.
Fatty patted the sports rifle in his hand and stomped his feet anxiously."The caliber of this gun is too small.”
Even though he said that, he still fired and shot all the remaining bullets in the magazine at the ant queen.
Hu Bayi took off the scarf that was used to block the wind and sand, wrapped the rest of the solid fuel in the scarf, took out a lighter, lit a corner of the scarf, and threw it from the roof to the ant queen below as an incendiary bomb.
This move actually worked. The fire borrowed the wind and surrounded the huge ant queen's body. The ant queen felt pain and struggled to roll on the sand. The more it rolled, the bigger the fire burned.
Then, Brother Long threw a few more pills to Hu Bayi. This kind of compressed fuel could burn for more than ten minutes with just a little bit. Moreover, this half-barrel was about one kilogram. The fire grew bigger and bigger, and the surrounding Desert Army Ants exploded. They charged at the ant queen without regard for their own safety, hoping to put out the fire with their numbers.
Hu Bayi saw that the opportunity had come. He waved to everyone and jumped down from the broken house with a shovel. He dispersed the scattered Desert Army Ants. The big Chu Jian carried Professor Chen on his back, Hao Aiguo, Ye Yixin, and the others supported each other. The fat man covered the rear, and the group rushed out from the breach.
At this time, Old Man An had already taken control of the frightened camels. Everyone climbed onto the camels and urged the camels to run out of the city. From time to time, all kinds of wild beasts would pass by. Usually, they would fight to the death. At this time, no one cared about the other and all ran for their lives.
After the caravan had run for several hundred meters, Qin Shi turned around and saw that the ruins of the ancient city had already disappeared. Countless desert army ants were surging out of the ground like reddish-black seawater that had been boiled. However, as long as he wasn't surrounded by the ants, he wouldn't be in danger.
Old Man An:
"I just want to go out first and untie the ropes that are tying the camels. Otherwise, the ants will chew the camels into bones. We won't be able to escape even if we want to.”
Fatty didn't believe him. He pointed at the rifle on his back with his thumb.
"Don't tell me. If you want to explain in the future, explain it to this gun of mine.”
Old Man An's reason seemed to be very good. They couldn't be sure that he had abandoned everyone and fled alone. In the future, there would be many places in the desert that couldn't be separated from him. Everyone was unwilling to fall out with him, so Hu Bayi stopped Fatty and stopped him from continuing.
Qin Shi said to Old Man An,"
"We saw Lucky's white camel in the desert together and escaped the siege of the desert army ants. This was all Hu Da's will. He thinks that we are brothers and devout believers, so we all believe in you. Hu Da will punish those who betray their friends and brothers.”
Old Man An repeatedly said,
"Praise God. Hu Da is the only true God. We are all good friends and brothers. God will definitely protect us.”
Even if this average-sized interlude, which was both frightening and not dangerous, was over, who knew what kind of trouble would be waiting for us in the depths of the sand sea of West Night Ancient City? I still had to think of a way to persuade Professor Chen and the others to return.
The group was less than half a day away from the ruins of West Night Ancient City. The wind had already stopped, and the fireball-like sun hung in the air. When traveling in the desert, the most important thing was to maintain sufficient water. Traveling during the day was a big taboo, but we still had plenty of water. When we reached West Night City, we would be able to replenish our water supply, so we braved the blazing sun and advanced through the desert.
The desert during the day had a different scenery. In ancient times, the mountainous movement of the Himalayas formed the Talimu Basin. The entire terrain of Xinjiang was like a big bowl, and the bowl was filled with golden yellow sand. Our team of nine people and nineteen camels was too small. The ratio was not even one ten-thousandth of a grain of sand in this bowl of golden sand.
The desert was vast and boundless. If it wasn't for the long footprints behind him, he wouldn't even feel that he was moving forward. He really admired those explorers who entered the desert alone. Perhaps only by walking alone between heaven and earth could they experience the true meaning of life. Admirable as I am, I don't plan to do that in my life. Group life is still more suitable for me.
Sa Dipeng and the others were very curious. As they walked, they asked Shirley Yang to tell them about the Desert Army Ants. Shirley Yang had never seen it with her own eyes before. She had only seen the villages that had been ransacked by the Desert Army Ants. The humans and animals had been gnawed until only bones were left. It was a tragic sight.
The reason why this kind of ant colony was called army ants was because they had a high degree of organization and discipline. If they were compared with human armies, other than mobility and firepower, the coordination and organization ability of well-trained human armies could not be compared with desert army ants at all.
They talked as they walked. The sand dunes under their feet were rising and falling at an unprecedented level. Old Man An said,
" Beneath these dense sand dunes are ancient cities that have been engulfed by yellow sand. He led everyone up to the highest sand mountain and pointed to the south, telling everyone that that is our middle station, the ruins of the West Night Ancient City.”
Qin Shi raised his binoculars and looked to the south. He saw an oasis in the middle of the desert.
The oasis in the desert was like an emerald on a golden plate. From afar, a black city ruins stood in the middle.
The ruins of West Night City were well preserved. The city was relatively old, and it was only destroyed in the war at the end of the Tang Dynasty and abandoned until now.
At the beginning of the 19th century, explorers from the country of Dé discovered this place and looted most of the murals and statues in the ruins.
Only this empty city was left in the desert. The most ancient Peacock River had ended here. Since ancient times, underground water flowed through the city all year round, making it an important supply point for travelers in the desert.
The camels left the Great Sand Mountain and slowly moved towards the oasis. Old Man An discussed with everyone that they would rest for two more days in West Night City before entering the Black Desert. Once they entered, it would be difficult to turn back. The camels had been frightened these days and were carrying a large amount of supplies. They had to rest their legs well before they could set off again.
This was exactly what Qin Shi wanted. He could not wait to stop for a few more days so that he could find an excuse to rest.
Qin Shi slowed down the camel and rode alongside Professor Chen. He said to him,"
"Professor, how about we rest for three to five days after we enter West Night City? Old Man An said that the camels are exhausted. If we don't let them rest enough, we'll have to take the No. 11 bus instead.”
Professor Chen was puzzled and asked,
"What…11th route? How?"
"Professor, how come you don't even know the 11th route? You're just walking on two legs.”
After saying that, I used two fingers to imitate walking on two legs.
"Isn't this the 11th route?"
Professor Chen laughed.
"Brother Qin Shi, why do you have so many new words? How interesting. Alright, let's rest here for a few days. I also want to take a good look at the ruins of this famous city.”
It didn't seem far from the oasis on the sand mountain, but it took three to four hours to reach it. The city walls were made of black stones. Some places had already collapsed and weathered, and the damage was very serious. Only the main city in the middle was relatively strong, and one could still vaguely see the glorious atmosphere of the past. Some oil well workers, exploration teams, and geological exploration teams passed by and stayed overnight in the main city. They used rocks to block the door so that they did not have to worry about the wolf pack's attack.
Since the mid-1970s, Inner Mongolia and Tibet had launched vigorous wolf hunting activities. Large-scale wolf packs had completely disappeared, leaving only groups of three to five or lone wolves that were not a threat. Besides, we have more people and guns, so we don't have to worry about wolves.
It was currently the windy season, and no one else came here except us. We found a spacious house in the main city, lit a campfire, and ate and brewed tea.
Brother Long and Old Man An found an ancient well in the city. It was said that this well had never dried up for thousands of years.
Old Man An said that this was Hu Da's miracle, but I didn't comment on it. I used a leather bucket to fill up a bucket of well water. The well was very deep. I only heard the sound of water falling after I put in a long rope that was dozens of meters long. After I took it out, I took a sip first. It was cold and cold. It seeped into my heart and spleen. The anger from being exposed to the poisonous sun in the desert instantly disappeared. I felt indescribably comfortable.
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