Chapter 62 Section VI

There are no matches, let alone dead grass enough to burn, so we can only eat it raw. Fortunately, we once had the experience of eating raw seafood. This fat catfish is not difficult to swallow, at least it is better than those hard grass like wire ate too much. The most annoying thing is the sand mixed in the fish. Although we try to avoid swallowing the fish skin as well, when scrubbing the mud on its body, there are still a lot of sand mixed in the meat. We have to chew while eating Spitting out the silt is like eating grapes, and you have to keep spitting out the skin while sucking the delicious and juicy pulp into your belly.

A big catfish was devoured by me and Danny, and it was eaten up in a short time.Danny stroked his dark belly, sucked the dripping blood on his thick lips, and joked with great interest: "Now I know that those historians are talking nonsense." I asked curiously: "Why, what new perspectives on history can a catfish make you realize?" "Those who say that human beings learn to use fire to cook food is a leap of civilization are simply self-righteous and stupid ideas. They don't know how delicious it is to drink blood!" I teased, "If you had to eat like this for a week, I'm afraid you wouldn't say that."

"Hey——" Danny tilted his head and winked at me, "Yeah, your skills are so good, can you catch another one, treats always have to be..." I hurriedly interrupted him, waved my hands and said, "Okay, I'm going to you, as long as I still have the strength to breathe, I won't go down into the quagmire no matter what! The feeling of being bitten by a fish is...unbearable." !" "Go!" Danny really stood up, "Even if you don't eat now, you have to prepare for tomorrow's breakfast. In this kind of ghost place, maybe the fish and water will evaporate together before dawn. It's too late to regret it!"

At first we only cared about hunger, and all our thoughts were spent on swallowing meat and spitting sand. After he reminded me, I suddenly realized a major doubt that had been neglected: where did these catfish come from? I stretched out my hand to grab Danny: "Wait a minute, let me ask you something. You said how long does it take for a catfish to grow so big?" Danny tilted his head and gestured for a while, then shook his head again: "I think it will take a few months anyway!" "That means this mud pit has existed here for at least a few months?" Danny looked down at the shimmering quagmire, and shrugged his shoulders: "How is this possible? With the speed at which the water surface is sinking, let alone such a small pool, even a large lake has disappeared. Besides, If this quagmire has really existed for a long time, then it is impossible for the water level to drop so quickly... What do you mean by that?"

I also stood up, and said seriously: "Have you noticed that this quagmire is surrounded by high terrain on two sides and low terrain on the other side, and most of the rain during the day may have gathered here." Danny's eyes sparkled: "It means that this quagmire is by no means as small as it looks on the surface, and it is very likely that there is a larger structure underneath it!" I nodded and expressed my guess: "I think it is connected to the desert underground water system." "And these catfish are going upstream from the gap in the middle?" Danny said.

I smiled, nodded and praised: "This is our wise and quick-witted Danny!" Hearing my praise, Danny smiled shyly: "What does that mean?" I took a look at the messy fish skin we vomited and said: "When I first saw this catfish, I felt as if I had seen it somewhere, but I couldn't connect it with anything else until I saw it. Now I understand that it is not the catfish that is familiar to me, but the linear pattern on its back!" "Linear pattern?" Danny frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed, "A mirage!" I nodded in satisfaction. It seems that Danny has not lost his original cleverness, but he was fascinated by the hungry demon in his stomach just now: "Yes, recall the one we saw during the day and reappeared in the illusion. Is the pattern on his clothes the same as that on Catfish?"

Danny nodded, then suddenly shook heavily a few times, and asked suspiciously: "It's impossible. Could it be that these catfish were transformed by the souls of those Teda people a thousand years ago?" I didn't expect Danny to come up with such a goosebump inference, and when he said that, I felt something bump in my stomach, as if the catfish had recondensed into a cold body inside. The gloomy Teta man was looking at my beating heart and laughing coldly. This thought made my stomach start to convulse, and I almost spit out the catfish meat I just ate. Danny obviously didn't feel this way. He pushed me and asked in surprise, "Yi, what's wrong with you? Is there something wrong?"

I shook my head with a wry smile: "Did you watch too many horror movies? How could you have such disgusting thoughts?" "Isn't that what you think?" Danny said, rolling his eyes, "I'm just expressing what's in your mind." "Of course not!" I said decisively, "Of course I don't think so." "Well, tell me, I'd like to hear what you have to say." I could hear the sarcasm in Danny's tone, maybe he thought I was playing tricks again.I dismissed that as I continued, "I think these catfish are a unique species that may have existed on Earth for a long time, probably before the Sahara Desert even existed."

Danny gave a strange "hmm", but he didn't say anything to refute my baseless inferences. Instead, he pretended to be calm and asked, "So what?" "It's not that good. Later, the climate of the Sahara changed dramatically, gradually forming the largest desert on earth. A large number of these original owners died, but a small number survived by luck, and some of them lived for a thousand years. in a river ahead." "Tuo Tuo Ye River?" Danny regained his energy and raised his voice a lot. "Yes, due to the abundance of water in the Tuotuoye River, a beautiful oasis began to form here, and one of the Teda people settled here. They found this kind of catfish with poisonous snake patterns on their bodies, maybe they thought it was beautiful , Maybe they think this kind of pattern is very deterrent, or maybe they worship these catfish as a national totem, and over time, they also embroider and paint this kind of pattern on their clothes."

After hearing what I said, Danny stroked his curly hair with the palm of his hand, and said, "Although your speculation is not as imaginative as what I just said, it sounds like this. Even if what you said is true , so what does this prove?" I said slowly: "The oasis a thousand years ago has been buried under the desert, and the Tuotuoye River must have been buried under the desert, maybe it hasn't disappeared, it just became the source of the underground water system." part." Danny said "hmm": "If you say it like this, this place should be directly connected to the Tuotuoye River."

"And I believe that there must be a big opening under this quagmire. Otherwise, it would be impossible for catfish weighing one kilogram to swim up. On the contrary, maybe we can also enter the Tuotuoye River." Danny was stunned, and glanced at the quagmire: "Do you want to swim into the underground river?" "Rock came here alone. If he wants to send what he brought underground, he can only pass through the Tuotuoye River. And I suspect that the old chief has hidden a big secret from the clan from us, maybe This secret is why Rock traveled thousands of miles to find this place." I added.