Chapter 6 Chapter Seventeen "A Grain of Sand in the Desert"

Ai Bo showed the paper through: "Then, sir, please read this." I don't know what kind of medicine is sold in Ai Bo's gourd, but even if he has a trick, a piece of yellowed paper doesn't seem to be able to harm me, so I reached out to take it and opened it. The first thing I saw was a photo printed on the paper. It was a slightly thin and energetic young man. Although the person in the photo is quite different from the Aibo in front of me, they both have one thing in common, that is, the resolute expression on the face, I am immediately sure that the person in that photo, It is Aibo.

It was a wanted notice, signed by the German general Rommel.The notice stated that anyone in the German army could capture the leader of the Allied intelligence task force operating in the desert.The French Viscount Aibo can get a huge reward.The announcement also stated that the alias of this Viscount Aibo is "a grain of sand in the desert". This is a very chic alias, but from this we can also know how Aibo can adapt to the desert, he is like a grain of sand in the desert!Rommel's alias is "Desert Fox", which is of course inferior to Aibo. As soon as I read this notice, I respected Aibo: "If you can get Rommel to offer such a big reward to capture you, then you must also be qualified to be anyone's desert guide."

Ai Bo stretched out his hand: "Give this notice back to me." I returned the notice to him, and couldn't help asking: "Would you allow me to ask you—" Ai Bo waved his hand: "You want to ask: How can such an excellent intelligence worker be reduced to this point, isn't it?" I nodded embarrassedly. Ai Bo said coldly: "I'm sorry, I'm here to apply for a job as a desert guide, not to be questioned." I shrugged: "It doesn't matter, all I need is a good guide, not someone who likes to remember the past." Ai Bo looked at me: "So, I am your employee?"

I nodded: "Ten Egyptian pounds per day, and I will be responsible for all the equipment. Are you satisfied with this figure?" He held out his hand: "That's much higher than I expected, but I have to pay for three days first." I agreed to him without hesitation.Aibo seems to be a person with great difficulties, but no matter from which point of view, he is not a liar.Of course, a liar wouldn't have writing on his forehead, but I'm willing to take the risk.I can see that no one has believed in Ai Bo for a long time, and of course no one will hand over thirty Egyptian pounds to him.

And I want to make him feel that I trust him very much, because in the desert, if two people are not honest with each other, and there is no estrangement between them, it is really terrible.The desert can make people lose their minds. Under such circumstances, trusting and relying on each other is the most important thing! I counted enough bills and put them in his hand.He held the banknote tightly and looked at me for a while: "I'll see you again in an hour to discuss our work!" I nodded, never showing that I was thinking he might never come back.He hurried out.I sat down and waited for him again, and Shet came and asked me a few times to throw me out.

In less than an hour, Aibo had returned. He is much more energetic than when I met him just now.As soon as he came in, he sat down: "Okay, let's see what preparations you have made." I showed him all the utensils and food I had bought, and told him I had also bought a car that didn't have to put water in the condenser.I thought these equipments were enough to travel in any desert.Why did Ai Bo burst out laughing when he saw it. He laughed: "Cars without water, canned water, canned food, sunscreen, haha, do you think we just go across the desert and go to Las Vegas? Whatever you want to do in the desert, but absolutely Not a short trip, is it?"

I nodded and said, "Of course, I'm going to find a missing pyramid!" Hearing this, Ai Bo was shocked and took a step back. I pretended not to see his surprised expression, but continued: "This pyramid was once discovered by an Englishman in the 18th century, but now it is buried under the yellow sand." When I spoke up to this point, I picked up my head, and saw Aibo's face was terribly pale. I asked: "Why, do you want to cancel the contract between us?" Aibo murmured: "Five, there are already five outstanding desert guides who disappeared in the desert because of this damn pyramid .”

I smiled wryly: "If you are afraid of becoming the sixth, then you don't have to go. I won't ask you for the money you have already taken." On his pale face, there was a general noble look. The look came: "Nothing, I will go." I said: "Ai Bo, I will never force you." Ai Bo said: "No one can force me, sir." I held out my hand and we shook hands for the first time.I said, "My name is Wesley, you don't have to call me Mr." Aibo held my hand for a while, and said: "I've heard your name before. If it was you, my courage might be doubled." I patted his shoulder: "You also gave me an unusual courage."

Aibo didn't ask me why I went to find the pyramid, he just said: "Almost none of the things you prepared are usable. We have to plan to spend twenty days or longer in the desert, We need twenty camels first, not one car." I looked at him without participating in the comments.He is "a grain of sand in the desert", and of course I am not qualified to refute his words. He continued: "Who told you to stop, the whirlwind is ahead; who told you to hurry up, there is an oasis waiting ahead; who told you that a large group of poisonous scorpions is lying near you? Who gave you food Food that doesn't have to be refrigerated? All camels, not cars!"

I have written it down in my diary: twenty camels. He paced the room: "A mineral deposit detector, I can modify it so that this detector has a particularly sensitive response to a large amount of quartz, feldspar, and mica." I nodded. It was my luck that Aibo appeared. He is obviously a very knowledgeable person.He said that modifying the detector to make it sensitive to quartz, feldspar, and mica is a necessary step in finding the pyramid. Because the granite that built the pyramid was crystallized from feldspar and mica in quartz. He walked a few more steps, and said, "Sixteen leather bags that don't leak, each can store twenty gallons of clean water."

I couldn't help it: "Do you want so much water?" He stood up and said, "You may get lost in the desert, but a sip of water can save your life!" I kept silent and wrote down what he said. He continued: "Eight pairs of thick rubber-soled boots, four bags of flour, twenty catties of salt, twenty bottles of wine..." He said the same thing, I remember the same thing, counting it, there are no less than dozens of items, and the things I bought originally are usable, but only a very small part.I waited for him to finish and asked, "Is there anything else?" He shook his head: "No more!" I smiled and asked him: "When you were doing intelligence work in the desert, did you have so many equipment?" He glared at me: "It was for anti-fascism then, what is it for now?" I said: "Now, it is because I want to go to the pyramid to find the invisibility method." Aibo yelled, "What?" I repeated: "Invisibility." Ai Bo stayed for a while: "Okay, no matter what you are looking for, I am just your guide." I smiled: "You and I will prepare these things separately. It will take about two days. Is it ready?" Ai Bo said: "Yes, two days is enough." I gave Ai Bo a sum of money, and he left me again.I was busy for two days, buying this and that, and transporting the purchased goods to the starting point, and carrying them on the back of the camel. On the morning of the third day, Ai Bo and I set off for the desert on the back of a camel. We took the direction indicator for navigation, and Aibo has been studying the azimuth recorded by the British since he set off. An hour later, we were already in the desert, but we could still see people and tall pyramids. But by afternoon, it looked like there were only the two of us, and twenty camels, among the creatures of the desert. Aibo has been studying that direction, and pondered with his head sideways.At dusk, he spoke for the first time: "I have been to this place before." I excitedly said, "Have you been there?" Ai Bo nodded and said, "I have been there before, it is a very wonderful place," After I heard it, I couldn't help but be stupefied: "Wonderful, the desert is always the same, what is so wonderful or not?" Ai Bo said: "Of course, from your point of view, the desert is the same, but to us who have been in the desert for a long time, it is different. You can't tell the fine grains of sand, the difference between one grain and that grain is different. I can't tell the difference between this pile and that pile, but I can tell the difference." I said: "Then, what is so wonderful about the location of the pyramid?" Aibo thought for a while: "It's hard for me to explain. The sand grains in that place are different—" He suddenly cheered when he spoke up to this point, and said, "Of course, it's the masterpiece of the whirlwind." I looked at him, and Ai Bo waved his hands, saying: "The cyclone can roll hundreds of millions of tons of sand from hundreds of miles away, making the sand layer of the desert tens of meters thick in the sky. The difference, of course, was swept up by the whirlwind." I was full of hope: "So there is indeed a pyramid buried under the sand." Aibo nodded: "It's possible, but it's one thing to have a possibility, and another thing to find it." I said in a deep voice, "Then I don't understand. Why did the person who went to look for that Jinzipei five times before us disappear in the desert?" After hearing this, Ai Bo didn't say a word, but suddenly drove the camel he was riding and ran forward.I also steered the camel, rushed up, and asked, "Ai Bo, you know the reason for their disappearance, don't you?" From his dynamics, I could tell he was avoiding the main side of the problem. I asked again: "You are so familiar with the desert, can't you tell why?" Ai Bo remained silent for a while, before saying: "What I can tell you is, don't ask me any more, and when you get near our destination, no matter what strange things happen, don't make a fuss." Aibo's words made our journey already full of mystery and added a bit of mystery. I hurriedly asked, "What strange things might we encounter?" Ai Bo said: "Don't ask me again, maybe we will arrive safely, then you don't have to be alarmed." I smiled wryly: "Ai Bo, do you regard me as a patient with neurasthenia?" Aibo said: "Of course not, but the desert is a desert, which is completely different from the sky, land, and ocean. The sky, ocean, and land are the three-dimensional spaces that people are familiar with, and the desert is like the fourth-dimensional space unknown to human beings. In the desert, all kinds of strange things beyond common sense can happen!" I agree with a part of Aibo’s words, mainly because the monotony of the desert and the dryness of the air can make people feel very real. I used to know a desert traveler, and he insisted on saying Australia In the vast desert, there are "headless" people. He saw it with his own eyes: everyone has no head! I didn't argue with him any more, and we marched through the silent desert, barely thinking of talking.For several days, we headed towards the hinterland of the great desert. The humid air is the most annoying thing, but at that time, I missed the "Huangmeitian" in the south of the Yangtze River. I kept pouring water from my head to keep my hair moist.Although within a few minutes, the hair was as dry as dry wood again, but it was much better than not getting any moisture at all. At the time of departure, I thought we had brought too much water, and then I realized that no, in the desert, even if there is a pond of water, it is still not enough.People in the desert need water not mainly physically, but psychologically! On the evening of the fifth day, according to Aibo's records, we had come to the vicinity of the pyramid recorded by the British.Aibo checked the battery and started the detector that he modified.The detector makes a "humming" sound and starts to work. A pointer on the detector is set at "zero" and does not move.Aibo pointed to the pointer and said: "If this pointer moves, then we may have discovered a mica mine, or we may have found that pyramid." I looked forward and saw that the desert was very flat, and the brilliance of the setting sun reflected on the boundless desert, flashing a real golden light. If there is a tall object, I think I can see it without a telescope of. But there was nothing above the sand. Ai Po yelled loudly, and the camel team stopped.I wondered, "Are we camping here today?" Aibo nodded: "Yes, where are the weapons we prepared? They are about to be taken out." I was taken aback: "Is there any unexpected change tonight?" Ai Bo shook his head: "Maybe, maybe!" He asked me to set up a tent, while he himself adjusted some parts on the detector, led the camel carrying the detector, and walked forward.When I pitched my tent and got my food ready, he still hadn't come back. But I am not worried, because in the twilight, I can still see him. He and the camel were about a kilometer away. I wanted to call him, but I was afraid that he would not hear me, so I picked up the binoculars to see if he was ready to come back. In the telescope, I saw a very strange thing.The camel stood still, and the detector was still carried on the camel's back, just like when Ai Bo walked the camel away. But Aibo himself, he is not far from the camel, with his hands on the sand and his feet upside down! When I saw the strange situation at first glance, I couldn't help being shocked: Could it be that my nerves are so fragile that after five days in the desert, hallucinations appeared before my eyes?Because I really can't think of why Ai Bo is upside down! I immediately put down the binoculars, gathered myself together, and then raised the binoculars. Although the twilight was thicker, I could still see Aibo standing upside down in that strange posture. I put down the binoculars again, and it was getting darker.The moon climbed up quietly, and half an hour ago, the golden desert had turned into a silver glow. If it wasn't so boring and monotonous, the desert would be beautiful no matter day or night. I raised the binoculars again and saw Aibo walking towards the camp leading the camel.Without waiting for him to approach, I put away the binoculars. I didn't want him to know that I had seen him standing upside down on the desert in such a strange posture. Not long after, Ai Bo came close, and he called out from a long distance: "Is everything ready?" There was nothing unusual on his face, as if he had never acted so abnormally just now. My heart was full of doubts, but if Ai Bo said it unintentionally, I decided not to ask. The two of us had dinner as usual, and Aibo said: "Tomorrow morning, I should go further, we shouldn't trust too much the British who first discovered the pyramid, and the position recorded by him is possible." There are mistakes." I hurriedly said: "Of course, but this pyramid will never be too far away from the place recorded by the British." Aibo wiped his mouth and drank strong coffee: "Did you find the gun?" I replied, "Yes, we can each have a pistol and a rifle." Ai Bo shook his head and said, "No, I have two pistols and two rifles, but you don't." I couldn't help being stunned, and raised my head to look at him. He had already taken two steps across and grabbed the two rifles I had picked out in his hands with extreme agility.I was taken aback in my heart, but I remained calm, picked up the coffee, and took a sip: "Aibo, what's your idea if you don't give me a weapon?" Ai Bo also hung two pistols on his body: "Go to sleep after dinner, I will be on duty at night." I insisted on a sentence: "The two of us take turns to watch the night." But the expression on Aibo's face was like a stone: "I will be on duty at night, not in rotation." At this time, it was really hard for me to guess what Aibo was planning. I didn't want to argue with him, because he had all the guns on him.If his nerves have already begun to go crazy, then if I argue with him, I will only accelerate his madness! I just shrugged and climbed into the tent, pulled off my heavy rubber boots, and lay down. I looked outside and could see Aibo, his movements were very slow and calm, not like a deranged person. He put out the fire, poured out the leftovers, and drove the camels together, and then sat down leaning on one of the camels, with two rifles leaning against him. I watched it for a while, but I couldn't see any mutations. Although I still don't understand why Aibo doesn't want me to be on duty at night, I also know that Aibo is not malicious.Because if he wanted to harm me, he could have done it long ago without having to wait for anything. I closed my eyes, and at first I was just preparing to recuperate, not going to sleep, but finally I was no match for the exhaustion of the long journey, and fell into a deep sleep. I don't know how long I slept, but I was suddenly awakened by a crisp "Kale". That "Kale" sound was clearly the sound of a rifle being loaded.I opened my eyes abruptly, turned over, and looked out.I have seen Aibo lying on the back of a camel with his rifle pointed in front of him. I followed where his rifle was pointing, and saw nothing alarming.I stood up and walked out of the tent, but as soon as I stood up, I saw the small sand dune that was slowly moving. There were three small dunes, each only half a foot high, moving towards our camp. Judging from the long shape of the small sand dune, it was clear that someone was lying under the sand and was moving forward.I couldn't help being very surprised. The three people lying under the sand were already within the range of the rifle. I don't know why Aibo didn't shoot. I saw that something was wrong, so I decided not to go out for a while.I saw Ai Bo raised his hand and threw out a red branch, which stuck in the sand, just blocking the way of the first person lying under the sand. Then, I saw, as if by magic, three people stood up from the sand. The appearance of those three people is indescribable at the moment, their skin is black and rough, their upper body is naked, and their lower body is only covered with a piece of rag, which can be regarded as trousers. In their hands, they hold a rather strange looking weapon. I speculated that it might be a blowgun.They stood up, Ai Bo raised his hand, and suddenly threw the rifle to the ground! This move of Aibo surprised me even more, because I never imagined that he was such a cowardly person that he threw away his weapon as soon as the enemy appeared. Those three uninvited guests were naturally Arab natives who haunted the desert. Why were the Aibo people so afraid of them? However, I knew immediately that Aibo was not afraid of them!Because I saw that Ai Bo walked around the camel with his arms outstretched, and the three people also walked forward with their hands raised high. Their movements were consistent, showing a kind of goodwill , I couldn't see any smell of gunpowder in it, but the panic in my heart increased even more. Because according to the current situation, Aibo seems to be traveling with these three mysterious Arab natives! The Arab natives in the desert are not necessarily bloodthirsty and extremely ferocious, and for a while, I couldn't tell what race these three people were. Aibo interacted with them behind my back, and his actions were so mysterious, which could not but surprise me. I decided not to make a sound, to see what they did, and saw the three Arabs approaching, and made an intimate gesture with Aibo, Aibo began to talk to them, what he said was something I couldn't understand An Arabic language.He talked a lot, but the three Arabs just listened quietly, without saying a word. Aibo's voice was very low, obviously he didn't want to wake me up.He didn't know that I was already awake. He continued talking for about five minutes before the three Arabs responded and shook their heads together.From this situation, it seems that Aibo asked them for something, but they refused. The expression on Ai Bo's face was very anxious. He suddenly pointed to our camel caravan, then pointed to the rifle behind him, and suddenly said in French: "Here you are, these are all for you!" The three Arabs looked at each other and I looked at you for a while, and then the one in the middle opened his mouth, speaking in the native Arabic language that I could not understand.There are so many kinds of Arabic dialects, each of which is different, I can't even guess what he is talking about. Aibo listened impatiently and kept interrupting. Suddenly the three Arabs turned and walked forward, while Aibo picked up his rifle and followed.They left! I don't know where they are going, and I don't know what kind of dealings Aibo has with those three Arabs. I only know one thing: I should follow! It is almost impossible to track people in the desert, because there is no cover in the desert, and people can see you as long as they turn around. But I was reminded of the way the three Arabs had come: they crawled over with their bodies buried under the sand, so that they would not be easily noticed.And I am better at using this method to move forward than they are, because I have received strict Chinese martial arts training, and I am good at controlling my breathing.I immediately got out of the tent, put my body down on the ground, and crawled forward a few steps. I only crawled forward six or eight steps, and found that I didn't need to spend extra effort to bury my body in the sand, because when I crawled forward with all my strength, my body had naturally sunk into the sand, and I made my body sink into the sand. Keep the head out because that way I can see where the person I'm following is going. The three Arabs and Ai Bo kept walking forward, walked a long distance, and then turned to the west. I followed them for such a long distance, and my body was buried in the sand again. It was really miserable. I understood why they looked back a few times at first, and then never looked back, because no one can endure such a long crawl, and I endured it. After they turned to the east, I looked forward and immediately saw several steep rocky cliffs standing in the desert in front of me. Although the distance is still far away, it can already be seen that those steep cliffs are extremely sinister, and the cliff stones look like countless cold sharp knives under the moonlight. The three Arabs and Aibo continued to move forward.Their destination was obviously those rocky cliffs. I still gritted my teeth and crawled behind them, about ten steps away from them. Those rocky cliffs gradually approached, and my mood began to become tense, because it will be revealed immediately what kind of tricks Aibo and the three Arabs are playing. I already knew where they were going, so I wasn't afraid of losing the target I was following, so I stopped crawling with my head held high, because it made me easy to expose the target. The three Arabs and Aibo all had deadly weapons in their hands. Before I knew what their purpose was, I couldn't let them know that I was following them. So I lowered my head and almost buried my body in the sand, only raising my head to look forward every minute. Every time, when I looked up, Aibo and the three Arabs were still walking ahead, gradually approaching the more menacing rocky cliff. However, something unexpected and strange finally happened. When I was only half a mile away from those rocky cliffs, I looked up, and Aibo and the three Arabs were gone. The four of them really disappeared, and there was no one in front of my eyes, just a flat desert! I froze for a while, then looked to the left and right, but there was no one there.Aibo and the three Arabs were four real people, and they were still walking about ten steps in front of me just now, but I lowered my head and hid my head in the sand for about a minute, and then they disappeared! There is still less than half a mile away from the cliff, and they can't reach the cliff within a minute, that is to say, they have absolutely no place to hide their bodies, but they are gone! Did they all become invisible in an instant?If so, what about their clothes? I was telling myself in my heart: there must be a reason, there must be a reason. But on the other hand, I said to myself: Here comes the strange phenomenon in the desert, the three Arabs, Aibo and all that may be all illusions, all imagined by myself, and in fact do not exist at all s things!Otherwise, why would it suddenly disappear? I tried my best to keep my mind clear, and I considered all kinds of possibilities. I am sure that the destination of the four of them is those rocky cliffs, and I also assume that they disappeared suddenly, because they, like me, buried their bodies in the sand.But I couldn't find out why they buried their bodies in the sand.Could it be that they found someone following them? I waited for twenty minutes, but there was no movement in the sand in front of me, which proved that my prediction was not correct. I couldn't help but smiled wryly. I absolutely don't want to admit that what I saw just now, and what I spent so much energy following were just four phantoms.But now it seems that I have to accept this fact. I stood up and slapped the sand on my body. Suddenly, I heard a few extremely sharp "chi chi", I immediately fell to the ground, rolled, and rolled five or six steps away. With a few sounds of "swipe, swipe, swipe", a few small black arrows sank deeply into the sand, and that place was where I was standing just now. I raised my head and looked forward, and I saw a figure flashing on the cliff. Before I could see who it was flashing on the cliff, several similar arrows shot towards me. I rolled over again and avoided it.Those few arrows came from the same direction, and they were shot from the top of the cliff.Those arrows are so powerful and accurate, which makes me believe that they must not be shot with a bow drawn by hand, but an ancient weapon. In the naked desert, I can't find any cover, I can't get up and run away, because the range of those arrows may be extremely far, I get up and run away, approaching desperately, the same danger.I just rolled on the ground and pressed down hard, causing my body to sink into the sand. Branches of arrows continued to shoot down from the cliff. But when my body was completely buried in the sand, the archer on the rocky cliff had obviously lost his target, and the arrow landed beside me, and I lay motionless. Then, I heard a strange horn sounding from the cliff.At first glance, it sounds like the howling of a hungry hyena in the desert. I just kept my eyes out of the sand and looked up as far as I could. I saw the shining crystal light of the Arabian machete on the rocky cliff, and saw many figures flickering. The rocky cliff may be the base camp of a group of Arabs. I asked myself in my heart: Should I go straight there?How can I break through? While I was still hesitating, strange things happened again. In front of me, the calm surface of sand suddenly rose up, and the body of an Arab suddenly rose from the bottom of the sand.I was stunned for a while, and suddenly I jumped forward, and the Arab waved the scimitar in his hand, waiting to slash at me. But as soon as I jumped in front of him, I turned around abruptly and turned to his back. With my arms outstretched, I held his head and neck tightly. The Arab struggled, but I held him The grip was even tighter, so that he had to let go and drop the sharp machete to the ground.