Of course, the loss of the guide was not a serious matter.
The most important thing was that the camel carrying drinking water had always been led by old man Alayi, and now it had also disappeared with old man Alayi.
In other words... we were out of water!!
Out of water in the desert!
Thinking about the current situation, we couldn't be happy.
"It seems... I saw old man Alayi running from the east."
Suddenly, Zhou Jing said weakly: "When the black storm just caught up with us, he ran directly to the east."
The east is the way back to Hami.
This damn old man actually left us and ran away, taking away all our water sources. If he hadn't been buried alive in the black storm, those water sources would have been enough to support him to return to Hami alive.
I pounded the ground hard. Damn it, we were completely fooled this time!
"Okay, now that things have come to this, there is no point in saying more!"
Qing Yi sighed and looked around: "Fortunately, we accidentally ran into an oasis, which can be regarded as a resurgence. Let's take a rest for a while or check this place first, find water and food, we have to survive first."
"Yeah..."
Speaking of this, even Yi Shiting was still frightened: "This time the black storm came strangely, it was November and there was such a strong black storm. It was really our luck to survive!"
All of us had bitter smiles on our faces.
To be honest, I have made all preparations for entering the Sea of Death this time, such as being trapped to death in the desert without water, encountering Duolun and dying in battle, or even dying in the mechanisms of some ancient ruins! !
I have made all these preparations.
The only thing I didn't expect was that we would encounter the most terrible black storm in the desert in the off-season.
Could it be that this Sea of Death is really a place cursed by Allah?
I shook my head and finally calmed down my restless thoughts. After resting for a while, we discussed and got up to explore this oasis. Yi Shiting and Cao Yuan went to find water sources. One of them was a Peking University professor who had studied the history and geography of the Western Regions, and the other was a tomb raider who was proficient in Fengshui and cave-hunting. They were a pretty good team. Finding a water source was not a problem. After all, this was an oasis, so there should be water sources.
What is an oasis?
An oasis is a heterogeneous ecological landscape with a relatively stable and obvious microclimate effect, based on a small-scale but considerable-scale biological community in a large desert.
As the saying goes, water is the source of life. The key to supporting a considerable-scale biological community and eventually forming an oasis lies in the water source!
It's just that we can't determine the exact location at the moment, so we can't determine which water system is the source of the water supply for this oasis. Let's take the Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions. Although it is desolate and desertified now, it was not like this more than 2,000 years ago. In the Western Han Dynasty and even the Three Kingdoms period, this place has always been a grassland with abundant water and grass, and the water system is very developed. Not only are there life veins such as the Peacock River and the Tarim River, but even the Lop Nur under our feet used to be a large inland lake. It's a pity that after 2,000 years, the world has changed dramatically, and finally it has been left with only devastation.
I walked around this oasis with camels, and Qingyi and I discovered something amazing at the same time - this oasis seems to have never been visited by anyone! !
The vegetation here is well preserved, with no signs of damage. We walked a lot, but we never reached the end. It seems that the area of this oasis is not small, but we haven't found any signs of animals for the time being. We did find some berry seedlings in the bushes, but unfortunately the berries have already fallen and rotted in this season, so it is impossible to collect anything. As a result, we walked around for a long time and got very poor results. We only found a desert plant called Cistanche in a bush.
This thing looks similar to bamboo shoots. It is also called goblin in traditional Chinese medicine. It is mainly found in Inner Mongolia. However, it is also produced in Xinjiang, but it is not the main production area. When Lin Qing found this thing, his eyes lit up. He took out a folding engineer shovel from my backpack and dug out more than a dozen of them. Then he peeled it with a knife and threw one to me: "Little brother, eat it. This thing has water in it, which can be taken as a supplement!"
I nodded, broke off a piece and threw it to Zhou Jing, then took a bite of the cistanche. This was my first time to eat this kind of thing. I almost spit it out when I put it in my mouth - the taste of this thing is really not good. It tastes like chalk when chewed. It is definitely not delicious!
However, in this situation, I am satisfied with having something to eat, and I don't pursue color, fragrance and taste.
While chewing cistanche, a few of us prepared to meet Cao Yuan and the others. We planned to make do with tonight and find a way out tomorrow.
Unexpectedly, not long after we walked along the dark forest, a female scream suddenly came from the darkness! !
It was Cao Yuan's voice!
Our faces changed immediately. Could it be that Cao Yuan was in trouble?
"Let's go! Go and have a look!"
Qingyi said, and then we hurriedly rode on the camels and rushed in the direction of the sound. The speed of the camels was quite objective. After a while, we drove nearly two miles. Unexpectedly, at this time, the camels we rode seemed to be frightened and refused to run anymore. No matter how we chased them, it was useless. They kept whining and circling in the same place. The one I rode was the most cowardly. It just lay on the ground, shitting and pissing. I was so angry that I almost pulled out the Baipi Knife to chop it.
"There may be wild beasts!"
Lin Qing said in a deep voice: "And it's probably a large carnivorous beast. The camel's nose is better than ours, so it smelled the smell that frightened them in advance."
Now even if it's a tiger, we have to go!
In order not to waste time, we simply left the camel and ran forward. After passing through a dense forest, we suddenly heard a low roar of beasts in front of us. The roar was very scary, just like thunder. When we pushed aside the grass and rushed out, we were also startled.
Outside the dense forest is an open space of about 100 square meters, with only some low vegetation. It is considered a relatively open place in this oasis. There are more than a dozen giant beasts of particularly amazing size besieging Cao Yuan and Yi Shiting. Cao Yuan is a girl who is powerless and can only be protected by Yi Shiting everywhere. However, these beasts are extremely ferocious and fierce. Yi Shiting can't stop them. There are already several bloody wounds on her body.
What kind of beast is this?
The length of these creatures is nearly two or three meters, with wide heads and fangs that are more than ten centimeters long. At first glance, they have amazing bite force. Their limbs are strong and fierce. Judging from their physique, they probably weigh about two hundred pounds. They have manes on their backs and look similar to hyenas, but their bodies are much larger than hyenas. Many details on their bodies are also different from hyenas. It is certain that they are not hyenas.
But if they are not hyenas, what are they?
Anyway, I have never heard of any canines that big!
Without thinking too much, human life is more important. I drew out the Baipi Knife and roared and rushed forward. Lin Qing and the others behind me followed closely.
The first time I fought with this monster, I finally realized how fierce it was.
Because I was the first to rush up, the monsters had not reacted when I took action. I took the Baipi Knife and directly hit the head of a monster.
The Baipi Knife is extremely sharp and can cut through gold and jade. I originally thought that this knife would be enough to kill the monster, but the fact proved that I thought too simply!
When this knife was chopped up, it felt like chopping on a stone, and the Baipi Knife made a "clang" sound. The recoil force immediately broke my tiger's mouth. If I hadn't held the knife tightly, I'm afraid that this time I would have shaken the knife out of my hand! !
Although the monster was not chopped to pieces by us, its fur was also chopped up, and its flesh and blood were blurred. It screamed and ran to the side.
In this way, I finally alarmed these monsters. All of a sudden, the other monsters that were besieging Yi Shiting all focused their attention on me. They roared "Awoo" and rushed towards me with red eyes. Fortunately, Qingyi and Lin Qing had arrived and protected me on both sides. We attacked together and injured several monsters in an instant. Those monsters retreated a little and gathered less than ten meters away from us, staring at us fiercely.
This gave us a chance to breathe. We hurriedly went up to protect Yi Shiting and Cao Yuan. Just now, Yi Shiting fought against more than a dozen monsters and did not retreat. She was covered with scars and was already at the end of her strength. I am afraid that if we came a few minutes later, the two of them would have been dead. I would definitely not be able to fight again. I can only protect them and let them breathe.
"Damn, what on earth are these things!"
During the confrontation, Zhang Jinya kept sucking in cold air, holding a small knife in front of his chest, not knowing whether this would give him some sense of security. The big gold teeth in his mouth were shining, and he grinned: "Who can recognize these things?"
"I have some guesses."
Suddenly, Cao Yuan behind us said weakly: "But... I'm not too sure!"
I was a little speechless, so I said: "Yuanyuan, this is not academic research, just say whatever you want, even if it's just a guess, at least we can roughly know what we are facing and how to start!"
After listening to what I said, Cao Yuan slowly nodded, and said with a serious face: "They... are very likely a prehistoric giant that scientists believe has been extinct 10,000 years ago!!"