Chapter 14 third quarter

The mighty camel caravan started from Luobuzhuang in Ruoqiang County, followed a dry river, crossed the Gobi Desert, and plunged into the vast desert. It was the first time for Jin Kun to enter such a vast desert. He rode on a tall camel and looked at the sand dunes dotted all around.The sand dunes uplifted by the wind are of different shapes and heights, up to 20 to 30 meters high, like hills, extending infinitely far away, until they are connected with the distant sky. He withdrew his gaze and glanced at the camel caravan behind him, but suddenly felt that the seemingly huge camel caravan was so small, it was really like a few small boats in the vast sea of ​​sand.

Jin Kun chatted with the black laowai who was behind him, and learned that Ruoqiang County was a must-pass on the ancient South Silk Road.More than 2,000 years ago, this place was under the jurisdiction of Ruoqiang, a small country in the Western Regions. Since Zhang Qian was sent as an envoy to the countries in the Western Regions, he opened a passage across the Eurasian continent. To, prosperous infinite. However, this once extremely prosperous ancient Silk Road is now a desolate desert. Jin Kun looked around the desolate desert, but suddenly heard an ancient sigh.The sigh was vague, as if it came from under the sand, as if the once prosperous civilization was buried under the desert, whispering an ancient legend.However, maybe this is not the ancient civilizations he is familiar with.

There was no wind in the desert in the afternoon, and it was surprisingly quiet.The scorching sun shone down and burned the body, not only that, but the sand surface that had absorbed enough heat also released high temperature. Jin Kun's face was covered with hot sweat, his throat was as dry as fire, he hurriedly took off the water bottle, took a few big sips of water, and then poured some on his head, so he felt refreshed. few. Suddenly, a pair of big hands snatched the water bottle from Jin Kun's hand, and then the black laowai yelled angrily: "Why are you wasting water?!"

Jin Kun lowered his head to look, and saw the black laowai standing beside the camel, staring at him angrily.Jin Kun felt angry, and said, "Isn't it a waste of water? What are you "nigger" doing?" The black laowai’s anger disappeared quickly, he pulled the camel, and patiently explained to Jin Kun: “The water we brought is indeed sufficient, but if we waste it like you do, the fresh water will be exhausted in a short time. At that time, if we haven't stepped out of the desert, or encountered an oasis, we will be dead!" Jin Kun's expression changed, realizing the seriousness of the problem, he assured him that he would stop wasting water.The black foreigner handed him back the kettle, ran to the middle of the camel caravan, and warned everyone that fresh water is not allowed to be used for other purposes except for drinking.

The camel caravan marched deep into the desert. A few hours later, the sun began to slant westward, but the temperature in the desert showed no sign of abating.Everyone's clothes were soaked in sweat, and a few people even suffered from mild symptoms of heatstroke. Fortunately, the expedition team brought special medicines to treat various "desert diseases". After taking them, the symptoms were quickly relieved. The camel team walked a few more kilometers, and after turning over a large sandbag, a huge horizontal sand ridge suddenly appeared in front of them, completely covering everyone's sight.The sand ridge is about ten meters high and stretches for several kilometers, like a red and yellow dragon lying on the desert.

This is the highest and longest sand ridge I have encountered since entering the desert, and it is very steep.It is absolutely impossible for the camel caravan to cross the tall and steep sand ridges, the only way is to go around. The black foreigner mumbled "What a bad luck", and then directed the camel caravan to march to the left end of the sand ridge.The west-slanting sun was covered by the sand ridges, casting a dark shadow over the camel caravan.Looking up at the sand ridges standing upright like a city wall at a close distance, people can't help admiring the magic and grandeur of nature, but at the same time feel their own insignificance.

Half an hour later, the camel team finally came out from the shadow of the sand ridge.However, before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, a Uighur shouted something. Jin Kun couldn't understand his language, so he hurriedly looked in the direction of his finger. In the sky in the distance stands a mosque miraculously. The temple has perfectly curved arches, domes and vaults. The five towering spires on the top go straight into the sky, like five huge fingers, as if to tear the sky apart. Cracked.The top of the spire scatters golden light, and then slowly slopes down to form a dazzling waterfall of light.The whole temple seems to be coated with a layer of golden light, shining with a dazzling luster, which makes people dare not look directly at it.

Six Uyghurs quickly jumped off the camels and knelt down on the hot yellow sand one after another, bowing devoutly to the holy and eerie mosque, chanting words. "It's really strange. How can there be a temple in this deserted desert?" Thinking this way, Jin Kun looked at the temple in the distance and observed it carefully for a while, only to find that the temple was hanging in mid-air. He suddenly realized that it was a mirage. Jin Kun let out a breath, but suddenly felt a little strange, as if something was wrong.He quickly looked around, and found that Xie Hu who was riding on the camel was obviously half shorter than the others, and when he looked down, he broke out in a cold sweat.

"Huzi, jump off!" Jin Kun shouted and pointed at the camel that Xie Hu was riding. Xie Hu was looking at the mosque hanging in the air, with a high degree of concentration.He was taken aback when he heard the shout, and then he noticed that the camel he was riding was shaking restlessly, and its belly was pressed against the sand surface, and its limbs sank into the sand at some point. People's attention also turned from the mirage to Xie Hu's side. Seeing this terrible scene, they couldn't help being shocked, and Yi Xiaotian even let out a scream. "It's a quicksand well! You... jump down quickly."

The black foreigner's exclamation overwhelmed Yi Xiaotian's scream. Xie Hu took a deep breath, before he had time to think about it, he stepped on the back of the camel and jumped down with a "chuckle".It's unlucky to say that he just stepped on the quicksand well after he landed, and the jump produced a lot of momentum. The moment his legs landed on the ground, he felt a huge force and a sudden suction, and his body sank in, and the quicksand was submerged all the time. to his chest. This frightened Xie Hu. He tried his best to break free from the quicksand well, but the harder he tried, the faster he sank. In the blink of an eye, only his head and arms were exposed on the sand.

Falling into a quicksand well is much more terrifying than imagined.The quicksand will give the body a strong squeeze, as if it is firmly bound by rattan, and it cannot move at all, and the body is still sinking. A few meters away, the camel caught in the quicksand let out a final neigh before being swallowed up by the quicksand. Seeing the scene where the quicksand engulfed the camel, Xie Hu was so frightened that his heart thumped.Suddenly, a mouthful of sand choked into his mouth, and Xie Hu chewed his mouthful of yellow sand and cursed, "Damn it!", then raised his head high.At that moment, he felt intense fear and despair. If he sank more than 20 centimeters further, he would become a mummy in this quicksand well forever! "Don't move! You must not move again." The black foreigner roared, grabbed a bundle of ropes and jumped off the camel, walked carefully to the edge of the quicksand well, threw one end of the rope to Xie Hu, and shouted: "Hold on tight!" Xie Hu grabbed the rope with one hand, quickly pulled it to his eyes, and clenched his hands tightly.Jin Kun and Zhang Long also jumped off the camel, ready to help.The black laowai steadied his horse stance, poured all his strength into his arms, and began to pull back. At this moment, Xie Hu felt something hooked on his feet, and then his body sank suddenly. In an instant, Xie Hu's head and arms disappeared from the sand.