Chapter 6 Chapter 5 Aspen Ghost Spring

It turns out that the Aspen Ghost Spring is a unique phenomenon in the desert. Some travelers lost their way in the desert. When he was about to die, a spring would suddenly spring up on the ground. The spring water washed away the quicksand and soon formed a stream river.After the traveler drank the water from the Aspen Spring, he would soon gain strength. Yuan Sen woke up from the cold. When he woke up, he found that Wang Zhongnan and Bayi had already drilled out of the sand hole. The two were chatting and discussing how to find the water source. After a whole night, the heat of the sand cave was driven away by the cold, it was as cold as an ice cave, and now the sky was slightly bright, Yuan Sen got out of the sand cave.

Seeing Yuan Sen come out, Wang Zhongnan said, "Let's hurry up, we can't stay here anymore, the temperature is still very low, if we stay here, we will soon be frozen to death." The three packed their bags and walked northeastward. Wang Zhongnan said that he had been here before, and he remembered walking eastward, where there would be a huge Populus euphratica forest.Where there are forests, there will be water, and where there is water, there will be life. Once they found the Populus euphratica forest, they could live on. The three of them walked for a whole day, from dawn to sunset, and all they saw in the whole day was the endless yellow sand stretching thousands of miles apart from the snow-capped mountains in the sky.Everyone left a bit frustrated, and Wang Zhongnan was not sure whether the Populus euphratica forest still existed. He could only be sure that his memory was correct, but he saw that Populus euphratica forest ten years ago.

That night, they distributed food and water as usual, and the backpacks containing the food had bottomed out. After one meal, there was not enough food left for the next meal.After eating, everyone dug a hole in the sand and got in, but no one slept. They just stared at the sandbags in the sand dunes in a daze.Bayi climbed out of the cave again and prayed to Hu Da. The content of the prayer probably said that they had always been Hu Da's devout believers, and prayed that Hu Da could save them from the desert. The next day, the three of them got up earlier, from the light of day until nightfall, in the high temperature and yellow sand, none of the three asked to take a rest.They walked dozens of kilometers that day, but they didn't find any shadow of Populus euphratica forest, let alone an oasis, until it got dark.

Wang Zhongnan distributed the last food to Bayi and Yuan Sen, but he didn't keep any for himself.Of course Yuan Sen understood what he was thinking. He felt very guilty for not doing a good job as a guide. Yuan Sen gave him part of the food and water, and said, "After eating, we will continue on our way. We still need you as a guide." The three of them ate the last food, took a short rest, and continued to walk forward under the moonlight.Their time is only the energy brought by this meal. If the energy is exhausted and they haven't found water, there will only be a dead end. The mood of the three of them is very depressed.

This night the moon was so rare that it could illuminate a distance of hundreds of meters ahead. After they walked for several hours, Yuan Sen suddenly called out, "Look, what is that?" Not far ahead, there was a large area of ​​darkness, that thing was like a huge python, coiled between the north and the south, in front of the three of them, the head and the tail could not be seen under the moonlight. Wang Zhongnan was stunned for a moment, and said, "Huyanglin?" The three ran over quickly, the desire to survive urged them to run fast, the three ran for a long time, but they didn't reach the Populus euphratica forest that didn't seem very far away.

This is easily reminiscent of a mirage, but it is night, there is no light, how can there be a sea? The three of them ran with all their strength, chasing the direction of the huge monster. After running for a long time, they finally approached the huge Populus euphratica forest.Yuan Sen felt something was wrong. He didn't know if it was because they were too hungry and tired to run, or because of some other reason. In short, a suppressed emotion made him very uncomfortable, and he faintly felt that something was wrong. It's hard for you to imagine that a large stretch of Populus euphratica forest just withered and died like a dead city.The trunk of the Populus euphratica tree is very dry, black and brown, with bare branches stretching out there, without any sign of life.Yuan Sen's heart sank, even the Populus euphratica forest can wither, which means that in this place, there is no water below ten meters.When Yuan Sen went on an expedition to Loulan with the team, he heard a sentence from the tour guide that in the desert, nothing can find water better than Populus euphratica. Its roots seem to be born to find water.

Even Populus euphratica is dead, which means that there is no water source nearby. Hunger, thirst and spiritual despair made the three of them on the verge of collapse, and the invisible Populus euphratica forest completely shattered their last hope.Bayi habitually knelt on the ground and prayed devoutly, "Hu Da—Hu Da—", which annoyed Yuan Sen very much. Yuan Sen shouted: "The only one who can save you is yourself!" After speaking, he ran towards the Populus euphratica forest first, Wang Zhongnan ran in after him, Bai Yi got up depressed, and followed into the Populus euphratica forest.He prayed as he ran, "Don't be angry, Hu Da—don't be angry, Hu Da..."

The Populus euphratica grows densely in the Populus euphratica forest, and the dead Populus euphratica stands tall in the sky. There is no leaf on the ground, only yellow sandy soil.The pale moonlight made the woods quite quiet, but also revealing a sense of depth. Yuan Sen rushed to Wang Zhongnan and said, "Wang, let's go through this forest. There is no water here, and there may not be no water in front of the forest." Wang Zhongnan smiled wryly. If there was water within a few kilometers, it would be impossible for such a large Populus euphratica forest to wither completely, but he couldn't tell.

The Populus euphratica forest was as dark as a forest, and after running a hundred meters into it, it became very dark inside, with only mottled light spots exposed from the gaps between the intertwined branches. Wang Zhongnan handed Yuan Sen a powerful flashlight. Yuan Sen turned on the flashlight and shone it forward. He was stunned, and Wang Zhongnan was also stunned.Because they found a brown sheep all over dozens of meters away. The sheep looked fat and strong, and it was looking at the three of them. When Bayi saw the sheep, he shouted, "Hu Da, it must have been sent by Hu Da—"

Frightened by Bayi, the sheep turned around and ran deep into the Populus euphratica forest.Yuan Sen wished he could kick Bayi twice, he didn't bother to stretch his feet, and hurriedly followed the fat sheep into the dense forest.After all, people can't compare with animals. The fat sheep ran unambiguously despite being fat and strong. It flashed twice in the woods and then disappeared. It was hard to see an animal, and it was such a fat sheep, how could it be so easy for him to escape, this was a life-saving straw.Yuan Sen didn't agree, and Wang Zhongnan wouldn't agree either. I'm afraid that only Bayi believed that the sheep was sent by Hu Da and didn't want to eat it.

The three walked through the dense forest in the direction the sheep were fleeing, walked about 500 meters, and came out of the Populus euphratica forest.It was pitch black outside the forest, and at some point, the moon was covered by dark clouds again, and the surroundings were dark, only the flashlight tore apart a piece of light.Everything is silent, and the sound of people stepping on a dead tree branch makes people's scalp numb. Yuan Sen looked around and found a river ditch in front of him. He followed the earth and went down into the ditch.There is no doubt that this river has been dry for many years. Yuan Sen followed the river. The river is about three or four meters wide, but it is quite long, with no end in sight. Wang Zhongnan stretched out his hand suddenly and said, "Give me the flashlight..." Yuan Sen was puzzled, but he handed it to him anyway. Wang climbed onto the river dam and took a sideways photo.Now Yuan Sen realized that something was wrong, and Bayi also saw that there was something lying on the corner of the river, whether it was an animal or something, it was motionless, and there seemed to be more than one of them. Wang Zhongnan handed Yuan Sen the flashlight, took out an automatic rifle from his backpack, and signaled Yuan Sen to be behind him to give him light.Yuan Sen understood, and the two walked over slowly. The thing was only a few tens of meters away from Wang's position, but there were some dead plants on the edge of the dam, which covered it up, so they couldn't see what it was. The two walked over, one in front of the other, and approached, only to find that there was a corpse lying in the river.The flesh and flesh of the corpse were all there, and there were no traces of damage. The expression on the face was still lifelike, but the flesh and flesh of the whole body were sunken.In this large desert with such a high temperature, the corpse was dehydrated and became a veritable mummy. Yuan Sen shone his flashlight, only to find that there was one such mummy within a few meters of the river, and there were more than ten of them in total.Wang Zhongnan felt that something was wrong, got up from the river, Yuan Sen and Bayi also went out, only then did they find that there was such a corpse on another river dam. "Did you notice that they all walked along the sandbags here, and some of them died of thirst when they reached the river. The corpses fell from the dam into the river, so it is very close to the dam. , and are easily covered by weeds." Wang Zhongnan said. Yuan Sen nodded, Wang Zhongnan put away his rifle, walked towards the sandbag, boarded the sandbag, and saw a wider and farther range.Sure enough, in the light of the flashlight, there was a corpse lying under the sandbag. Like the other corpses, the corpse was skinny and the muscles were completely sunken. It looked very hideous. The three of them just followed the direction that the corpse had walked, and found more corpses continuously. A new corpse would be found within a few hundred meters or one kilometer. Yuan Sen suddenly realized: "They should be from the nearby tribe. Because one day the whole tribe suddenly cut off the water, they were sent to find water in this river. Then, before their tribe cut off the water, there should be water in this river. , or, for some reason, that tribe and this river stopped flowing at the same time. People who were looking for water sources died one after another on the way to find it. They didn't expect that even this place would stop flowing." Bayi said sadly: "So, it's useless for us to go forward, let alone there is no water there. Hu Da, please manifest your spirit and save us, I am your devout believer!" Yuan Sen was distraught. In fact, he didn't think of it. At this point, they could only keep going forward, and it didn't matter where they died of thirst. They did not reach the village until dawn.Bai Yi first saw a small wooden house surrounded by a fence at the entrance of the village. The wooden house was made of poplar wood, but the wooden house was already covered with dust, and the door was covered with thick dust. It was obvious that no one had lived here for a long time. Bai climbed over the fence, opened the door and went in. Within half a minute, he ran out screaming. Yuan Sen and Wang Zhongnan followed in hastily and took out their weapons. Wang asked, "What's going on?" With tears on his face, Bai said, "Poor little Balang, they are all dead—" It was very dark in the wooden house, Wang opened the window, and the sunlight slanted in, shining on the four children lying on the bed.They were covered with a sackcloth, and the four children were all less than ten years old, with their mouths open, and they seemed to be crying non-stop when they died. They also starved to death. Without water, the crops could not be irrigated, and without food and water, these children could only starve to death. Bayi walked over, sat on the bed, shed tears, and silently recited for the four little Balangs, saving their souls for them. Suddenly, Bayi yelled, and Yuan Sen and Wang Zhongnan, who were observing the situation outside the wooden house, rushed in again. Bayi yelled incoherently, and kept waving a red scarf in his hand. Yuan Sen said, "What are you doing?" Bayi waved the scarf by himself, his emotions fell into a state of madness, Yuan Sen and Wang Zhongnan looked at each other, the two stepped forward and held him down, and he calmed down a little. Yuan Sen said angrily: "Which Hu Da has manifested his spirit again?" Bai Yi stammered: "Well, this scarf belongs to the young lady, why is it here?" Yuan Sen's face changed, and he said, "Which lady? Are you talking about Bahar Guli?" Bayi nodded and said, "Miss usually wears this scarf to cover her face when she goes out. He went with me to Hotan City that day and wore this scarf to cover his face." Yes, he understood, so Bahar Gul has also been to this village? The three quickly separated and entered the village, each with a gun in his hand, and immediately fired a warning shot when encountering a situation.There are more than 30 families in the village. Just like the children in the cabin, people in other families died of starvation in the room.The temperature here is extremely high, and soon the dead are dehydrated and turned into mummies. However, no trace of Bahargul was found in the village, and she only left a scarf to prove that she had been here.As for how to leave?Where did you go?None. The three searched the entire village, and found a dry river behind the village. The river was quite narrow, almost only one third of the width of the river outside the Populus euphratica forest. It should be called a stream more properly. Yuan Sen stood on the biggest sandbag at the back of the village. Looking around, the river came from the desert, disappeared into the desert, and merged with many sandbags. At this moment, Wang Zhongnan suddenly picked up his automatic rifle and aimed at the front. The sheep unexpectedly appeared on the sandbag on the other side of the river inexplicably. The sand and stones reflected the sun's light and shone on the body of the fat sheep. Its hair all over its body was shining with golden light, which looked very beautiful.Fat Sheep seems to have forgotten that it was threatened by three people in the Populus euphratica forest. It stood on the sandbag and turned to look at the three people. Wang Zhongnan calmly aimed and pulled the trigger.Yuan Sen looked at Fat Sheep and suddenly felt something was wrong. What was wrong?He couldn't speak again. Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat. Yes, he remembered it. It was the expression of a fat sheep. Although it looked silly, if you looked carefully, you could see that it seemed to be smiling. A sheep looks at the three and laughs? That smile looks quite strange, as if it hides a huge conspiracy, as if it has set a trap, waiting for you to jump into it. Unknowingly, Yuan Sen thought of Professor Yang's work notebook. Yes, the ferocious one-eyed sheep head mentioned in the notebook seemed to have a very similar expression to this sheep. What is going on here? "Pa——" Wang Zhongnan's gun rang, but the sheep didn't fall down, it just slid on the sandbags and jumped in a beautiful arc before disappearing. Wang Zhongnan was taken aback. He was always confident in his marksmanship, but this time his miss was unbelievable. Yuan Sen rushed down from the sandbag, crossed the river, and ran towards the big sandbag on the opposite side. Wang Zhongnan also followed, and Bai Yi knelt on the ground, praying to Hu Da. There were shallow footprints of the fat sheep on the big sandbag. Yuan Sen ran to the top of the sandbag and saw the fat sheep standing at the foot of the sandbag, looking at the two of them coldly. Yuan Sen looked at Wang Zhongnan and said, "Did you see it? The sheep's eyes." Wang nodded and said, "It doesn't look like an animal's eyes, but it looks like a person, a person with hatred." While Wang Zhongnan was talking, the gun had already been raised, and it was empty again. The sheep was very strange, as if it could predict the time when the bullet would be fired the moment you slammed the trigger. Wang Zhongnan fired two shots, and simply threw the gun to the ground, one behind the other, and leaned towards the fat sheep.The sheep didn't leave, but just watched the two approaching, as if watching a play. When the two approached very close, it suddenly jumped, avoided the encirclement, and ran towards the depths of the desert. Yuan Sen cursed, the sheep ran into the desert, and it was impossible to catch up with it.Seeing the fat from the mouth running away, I was really panicked. After traveling all the way, the three of them were already hungry and thirsty, sweating all over their bodies, and the energy of chasing fat sheep just now was over, and they couldn't get up after lying on the sandbags. Yuan Sen smiled wryly at Wang Zhongnan, and said, "In less than three days, we will be like the people in the village, turning into mummified corpses in this vast desert." Wang shook his head and buried his body in the sand. They really didn't have the strength to go further.This village has not been buried by moving sandbags, which means that it is not disturbed by sandstorms. After a few years, someone may pass by here and find his body. It was so dark that Bayi prayed all afternoon, climbed up to the sandbag of Yuan Sen and Wang Zhongnan, and collapsed exhausted between them. Both Yuan Sen and Wang Zhongnan were exhausted, and they ignored him, watching the night fall while life was gradually being drained from their bodies.The pain caused by hunger and thirst had already become numb in their bodies, and they only felt that the sky was getting darker and the moon was sticking out their heads. Yuan Sen fell asleep and woke up, woke up and fell asleep, suddenly, he heard Bayi shouting in surprise, "Hu Da has manifested—Hu Da has manifested—there is water—" Yuan Sen was taken aback for a moment, and then he heard the sound of "bu-bu-" water flow, he heard it very clearly, it was the sound of water flow. Yuan Sen opened his eyes and saw clear river water lying in the dry river channel under the sandbags, and the river water was gurgling downstream.Yuan Sen pinched himself a few times, the pain was severe, yes, he was not dreaming, there was really water. Bai Yi had already rolled down the sandbag and ran towards the river, Yuan Sen pushed Wang Zhongnan awake, and pointed him to look at the river under the sandbag.Wang Zhongnan opened his half-closed eyes and looked at Yuan Sen with suspicion. Yuan Sen yelled, "Why are you in a daze, go drink water..." The two rolled on the spot, rolled from the sandbags to the river, and drank the clear river water in large gulps.The water was sweet, cool and refreshing. The three of them drank until their stomachs were so bloated that they couldn't drink any more, so they lay down on the ground to rest. Bayi shouted cheerfully, "This is Hu Da's manifestation. We are all good people. Hu Da specially bestowed Asi Ghost Spring on us to quench our thirst..." Yuan Sen was puzzled, and said, "What's 'A Si Ghost Spring'?" Bayi explained that it turned out that the Asi Ghost Spring was a unique phenomenon in the desert. Some travelers lost their way in the desert. When he was about to die, a spring would suddenly burst out on the ground. Open to flow into a river.Travelers will soon gain strength after drinking the water from the "Asi Ghost Spring", and drinking the water from the "Asi Ghost Spring" will keep them free from hunger and thirst for a long time, until you walk out of the desert. There is also a strange phenomenon of "Asi Ghost Spring", that is, when you drink enough water, the spring water will disappear without a sound.This is Hu Da's grace. If you are a bad person, you will die soon after drinking the water from the "Asi Ghost Spring". When you die, your whole body will rot and it is very cruel. Yuan Sen burped, and said disdainfully: "Nonsense, don't you think we have drunk enough water? Why hasn't the water in the 'A Si Ghost Spring' disappeared?" "Imin Aji from the Mosque in Tusala Township told me this. He said that his father once drank the water from Huda's spring before he walked out of the desert!" Bayi said seriously. At this moment, the spring water of "A Si Guiquan" sank into the ground inconceivably, and disappeared without a sound. Yuan Sen and Wang Zhongnan looked at each other, not knowing what to say. Bayi proudly said: "It is said that this is Hu Da's 'Asi Ghost Spring'. After we drink enough, the 'Asi Ghost Spring' will disappear. It is because Hu Da took back the spring water because the desert There are still many hungry travelers in the world who need Hu Da's help." At this time, the moon in the sky was also sinking, and it was pitch black all around. The three returned to the village, found a room where no one was dead, and slept comfortably all night. The next morning, Yuan Sen woke up, touched his stomach, and said to Bayi: "Didn't you say that drinking the water from 'Asi Ghost Spring' won't make you hungry or thirsty? Why am I thirsty now?" Bayi couldn't answer in embarrassment. On this day, Yuan Sen, Wang Zhongnan, and Bayi walked several kilometers separately in different directions, but still found nothing. They can only sit on the sandbags hungry, waiting for the dark and the arrival of "Aspen Spring". It was getting dark quickly, and the three of them lay on the sandbags, watching the dry river bed quietly. The moon rose, and then clear spring water gurgled out from the river bed. The three immediately rushed down the sandbags, first filled all the kettles with water, and then drank vigorously.Suddenly, Wang Zhongnan touched Yuan Sen and pointed to the upstream direction. Yuan Sen followed the direction of his finger and saw that fat sheep was standing by the river drinking water from some time ago. Wang Zhongnan raised his gun again, Yuan Sen waved his hand and said in a low voice, "Don't waste bullets, this sheep is very weird, you can't hit it." Then, noisy voices came from all directions. Yuan Sen and Wang Zhongnan looked at the scene in front of them in surprise. From behind the sandbags around the river, all kinds of animals, big and small, came out, including elk, sheep, pheasant, and so on. There are wild camels and so on. They ran to the water's edge, lowered their heads and drank the water on their own, without even glancing at anyone. The three looked at this scene, a little dazed, Yuan Sen said to himself: "What pure animals!" As he spoke, he raised his gun and shot an elk to death. Wang Zhongnan also fired repeatedly.The dull wild camel just stood by the river and turned around, not knowing how to run. Neither of them beat the fat sheep, and the sheep seemed to know what they were thinking. It lowered its head and drank water by itself. Walk on the sandbag. Wang Zhongnan watched it walk over the sandbags, then hurried to the top of the sandbags, watched it turn over several sandbags and disappear under the moonlight.Then, he followed the path that the fat sheep had walked.There is always a long distance between him and the fat sheep. There is no wind at night and the moon is dim. He believes that the sheep should not be able to find him. After Wang Zhongnan left for three hours, he turned back again. Yuan Sen asked him where he had been, and he said mysteriously, he will tell you when his stomach is full. Wang Zhongnan and Bayi had already skinned and washed the two wild sheep, lit a bonfire with withered poplar wood, and grilled them on the bonfire until the meat was fragrant. The wild sheep has been roasted for several hours, and it has reached half-cooked. Bayi is an expert at roasting sheep, and there are still some seasonings in his backpack. The wild sheep was so fat that the three of them burped and ate only one-third of the sheep. The rest of the animal was washed and carried to the cabin for storage.Bayi is going to dry them and make cooked food as dry food for walking out of the desert.By the time they finished all this, the night was already very deep, and the "Aspen Spring" sank to the bottom of the water again, exposing the dry river channel. The three of them returned to the cabin, fell into a sound sleep, and didn't get up until noon.