P.S. Today is the fifth watch. I'm looking for a wave of flowers and collections.
Qin Shi knew that Ye Yixin had to go to the toilet. She was too timid to go alone, so she dragged Shirley Yang along with her. He nodded at the two of them and instructed,
"Bring a flashlight and whistle. If you need anything, blow the whistle hard.”
Shirley Yang agreed and walked hand in hand with Ye Yixin to a sand dune not far away.
Fatty asked,
"Old Hu, do you still have wine?"
"No, even if I brought a bucket of white wine, it wouldn't be able to hold you back. Drink a few mouthfuls of hot water and go to sleep. If you can't find a water source in five or six days, even the daily water ration for everyone will be reduced.”
Hu Bayi replied. Brother Long took out a bottle of beer from his bag and gave it to Fatty.
"Thank you, Boss Long!"
Fatty said happily,
Brother Long smiled and said nothing.
At first, Old Man An refused to enter the Black Desert no matter what. One of the main reasons was that there was no fresh water in the Black Desert. Although there was an underground river, it was impossible to dig that deep. From the roots of the desert weeds like Haloxylon, there was only wet sand and salt water three to five meters below. The more he drank, the more thirsty he became.
Old Man An understood this method. Qin Shi, Long Zhixi, and Hu Bayi had repeatedly discussed its feasibility with him, and Hu Bayi had made a private agreement that he would not take another step forward until he reached a place that was not even long enough for a shuttle. Only then did Old Man An agree.
Those who had received desert survival training in the army knew that the shallow parts of the desert in the border competition were mostly salty water with a high mineral content. Digging down at the root of the desert plants, they could dig up wet sand and salty water. After simple sunlight evaporating and filtering, they could get a small amount of fresh water. Although it was small, it was enough to sustain human life.
At this moment, the wind and sand became slightly stronger. A sharp whistle came from behind the sand dune opposite them. Everyone was shocked. They picked up their shovels and rifles and rushed to the scene. Fortunately, they were very close, less than two hundred steps away. They arrived in an instant.
Half of Ye Yixin's body was stuck in the sand. She kept struggling. Shirley Yang Zheng grabbed her arm and desperately dragged her out.
In the chaos, someone shouted,
"Quicksand!"
Everyone rushed forward following the footprints on the ground and desperately pulled Ye Yixin. A few of them did not have time to find a rope, so they took off their belts and tried to tie her arms.
Unexpectedly, he did not use much strength to drag Ye Yixin out of the sand. It seemed that it was not quicksand. Ye Yixin was so frightened that she threw herself into Shirley's arms and cried.
Everyone asked them what was going on and if it was quicksand.
Shirley Yang comforted Ye Yixin and said to the crowd,"
"We had just reached the back of the sand dune when Ye Yixin missed her step and half of her body sank. I quickly pulled her and blew the whistle for help.
However, it didn't seem to be quicksand. Quicksand swallowed people quickly and had a strong suction force. If it was really quicksand, I wouldn't be able to hold her back with my strength. Moreover, she stopped halfway down as if her bottom was solid. Otherwise, it would have been too late for you to save him in the quicksand if you had rushed over after hearing the news.”
Ye Yixin came back to her senses and wiped her tears.
"I seemed to have stepped on a stone slab under the sand. There was an empty section under the stone slab. It collapsed when I stepped on it.”
Shirley Yang Qi said,
"Could it be those stone tombs? Let's go take a look."
The group used shovels to dig a few times at the place where Ye Yixin had been trapped. Under a thin layer of yellow sand, parallel to the slope of the sand dune, a slanted stone wall was revealed. There was a big hole in the stone wall that had been blown up by explosives.
It seemed that the explosion had only happened recently. The sandstorm had covered the entrance of the hole with a thin layer. Ye Yixin stepped on the gravel beside the hole and fell in.
Everyone looked at the stone cave and looked at each other. This was clearly a stone tomb. Could it have been stolen?
Qin Shi and Professor Chen carefully examined the gravel at the entrance of the cave and called Brother Long over to take a look. Brother Long looked at it and said,"
"The location of the explosion, a precise small-scale directional explosion! I used to be an engineer, so I thought that my familiarity with explosives was unparalleled. If you want me to blow up this stone tomb, I'm at most at this level.
It seemed that the person who blasted the stone had a good understanding of the rock's resistance. The explosion only caused the stone wall to collapse and the gravel to spread outwards. It did not damage the interior of the stone tomb at all.”
After a pause, she continued to ask in puzzlement,
"Look at the power of the explosives. They are definitely not civilian explosives. He had left the army for a few years. Could it be that even active soldiers were now fighting back? Definitely not. Maybe it was stolen explosives. Furthermore, in this vast and boundless desert, how did those people find these ancient tombs? The terrain around here is exactly the same. Could it be that there are really other experts in this world who know how to read the Stellar Wind Technique apart from me, a half-baked expert?”
Everyone gradually cleared the sand dune. It was a hammer-shaped stone wall. Other than the side that had been blasted, the rest was buried deep under the yellow sand.
It seemed to be a typical stone tomb from the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The huge and thick rocks were built into an arch, and the gaps were glued together with hemp fish glue. Such stone tombs were very common near the West Night Ruins. In the early 19th century, a European explorer once described it this way: " Stone tombs can be seen everywhere in the desert. There are countless of them, big and small. More than half of them are buried under the yellow sand, revealing the black spires outside. They look like miniature versions of the Egyptian pyramids. The scene of walking through the desert filled with stone tombs is breathtaking.”
Now that these stone tombs had been completely covered by the desert, it was difficult to find them. Professor Chen estimated that it might have something to do with the sandstorm a few days ago. The strong wind exposed a part of the stone tomb. He did not expect the grave robbers to come so quickly. The archaeological team was still one step late.
Along the way, we had already seen several ancient tombs that had been damaged by thieves. No wonder Professor Chen was so anxious to enter the desert. If we don't stop the tomb raiding activities in this area, I'm afraid that in the near future, nothing will be left.
As for Qin Shi and Long Zhixi, they hadn't seen the scene of them being destroyed. Otherwise, they would have been arrested.
The hole in the tomb was dark. Qin Shi, Professor Chen, Hao Aiguo, and the others went in with flashlights. The tomb was about the size of a small bungalow. There were four to five wooden coffins scattered inside. The coffins had been pried open and thrown to the side. The place was in a mess.
The coffins were of different sizes, and it seemed to be a joint grave. The only ancient corpse left in the coffin was the dry corpse of a young woman. Her long hair was braided, and only her head was relatively intact. Her body was broken, and the rest was probably taken away by the grave robbers.
In the ancient tombs in the Desert of Frontier Competition, the value of the treasures was equal to the dried corpses in the tombs.
Qin Shi knew that ancient corpses were divided into wet corpses, such as the female corpses of Mawangdui; There was also the Wax Corpse, which was a corpse that had undergone special treatment. Frozen corpses existed in glacial areas where snow did not melt for thousands of years. The tanned corpses were similar to zombies, and the rest were filled with corpses like specimens.
There were also several types of mummies. Some were dried corpses that were formed by putting lime or charcoal in coffins, and some were artificially created by special preservation techniques like ancient Egypt.
On the other hand, the dried corpses in the Frontier Competition were naturally formed in a special environment that was hot, dry, and sterile. These dried corpses were quite valuable even if they were slightly older. Some overseas museum, exhibition halls, and collectors were competing to buy them at a high price.
Professor Chen saw that the other dried corpses in the stone tomb had been stolen and destroyed in a mess. He could not help but sigh. He had no choice but to let a few students sort out the broken items in the tomb to see if they could save anything.
Hu Bayi was worried that the professor would be too excited and his body would not be able to take it, so he advised him to rest early. Professor Chen also instructed Hao Aiguo to take a few words and record the situation of the stone tomb in detail. Then, Fatty sent him back to the camp to rest.
The next day, the wind did not stop, and it continued to blow unhurriedly. When the archeological team set off, Professor Chen found Qin Shi and said,"
"The stone tomb we saw last night was robbed less than three to five days ago. Perhaps a group of grave robbers had already entered the depths of the Black Desert before us. We can't delay.”
When Qin Shi heard that it was probably that group of unlucky fellows, he thought to himself that he should f * cking avoid running into them. Those in the same trade were enemies. Moreover, the group of people who had stolen this stone tomb had military-grade explosives and perhaps some sharp equipment. If he ran into them, it was inevitable that they would fight. Qin Shi and Brother Long didn't care. The problem was that if any of the archeological team members died or were injured, the responsibility would be too great.
But then again, in the vast desert, it was easier said than done for two teams to bump into each other. If it wasn't for the fact that we saw this sand dune was the highest in the vicinity yesterday, we wouldn't have camped here, and we wouldn't have accidentally encountered the stolen stone tomb. How could there be such a coincidence a second time? Perhaps those guys had returned after stealing the dried corpses.
In the following ten days, the archeological team went deeper and deeper into the Black Desert. In the end, they lost track of the Zidu Underground River. For the next few days, they went in circles. In the local ancient language, it meant " shadow ". This underground river was like a shadow that could not be captured. Old man An Liman's eyes turned red. In the end, he shook his hands. There was nothing he could do. It seemed that Big Hu only allowed them to walk this far.
Everyone was tired and no one could move. There was no wind in the desert these days, and the sun hung in the sky for a long time. In order to save drinking water, the team members dug a pit in the sand during the day and put up a rainproof canvas on it. They inhaled the cool air on the ground to maintain their body moisture. They only traveled at night and in the morning. They rode camels for half the journey and drove No. 11 for the other half.
If they continued forward, they would not have enough food and water. If they did not turn back within a day or two, they would have to slaughter camels to eat when they returned.
Qin Shi looked at the people who were so exhausted that their lips were cracking open. He knew that they had reached their limit. Seeing that the sun was rising and the temperature was getting higher and higher, he asked everyone to dig a hole to rest.
After settling down, Shirley Yang found Hu Bayi, Qin Shi, and Old Man An to discuss the route.
Shirley Yang said,
" Mr Hu, Old Mr An, in my Ying Country explorer's notebook, there is such a record. That Ying Country explorer also lost track of the Zi Du Underground River in the depths of the Black Desert. In this sea of death where not a single blade of grass grew, two huge black magnetic mountains stood facing each other under the afterglow of the setting sun. They were like two ancient warriors in black armor, silently guarding an ancient secret. After passing through a valley that was like a gate, a legendary city appeared in front of them.”
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。