Before setting out for the ruins where the expedition team had disappeared, Lin Xue first brought us to a small town not far from the base.
The town was not large, with only a few thousand residents at most, but the buildings lining its streets looked neat and modern. It did not resemble an isolated desert town at all.
The townspeople seemed to have no particular reaction to our arrival. They merely glanced at us outsiders before going back to their own business.
For some reason, I had always felt something strange as I walked through this town.
"I never expected there to be a town like this in the desert." Watching the crowds pass by, Qian Qian could not help sounding amazed. She knew people lived in deserts, but this was the heart of the Taklamakan Desert! It was sparsely populated and poor in resources; even basic drinking water was impossible to come by. How could a town appearing in a place like this not pique her curiosity?
Lin Feng seemed quite familiar with this place. As he led the way, he introduced it to us. "This town is no ordinary place. In fact, it is a refuge—or you could call it an Exile Land."
"What?" My gossip-loving soul immediately burst into flames.
"Internationally wanted smugglers, arms dealers, descendants of banished great families, reclusive masters hunted by their enemies, even one or two Espers who made mistakes and were forbidden from ever leaving this desert—don't underestimate anyone here. Any one of them could make the whole world tremble if they went out there. If they all went out together, they could give Earth Parkinson's..."
Smack! Lin Xue slapped her younger brother on the head.
"Ah!" Qian Qian cried out and tightly grabbed my arm. The desert residents around us,