"Fuck, don't do this!" Xie Yuanxun instantly jolted awake and sat up. "Can't sandstorms be predicted in advance? How did we end up flying straight into one?"
"The destination airport was just covered by a sandstorm. It's advancing incredibly fast, and the sand came in from Outer Mongolia. We won't fly directly into the storm. We'll land at a nearby backup airfield. The conditions on the ground will be more troublesome." The copilot explained, "Captain, wake up! Stop sleeping!"
The plane quickly changed course. Song He looked out the window to see endless dunes covering the entire earth. Sand seemed to drift faintly along hundreds and thousands of dunes. Many of the dunes looked alive, moving slowly like a herd of enormous golden animals gathering for migration.
Amid the rolling yellow sand, a small oasis appeared, complete with tents and a runway. The plane quickly descended and came to a stop after skidding along the runway.
The airport's alarms were blaring. Numerous military trucks came and went, busy setting up temporary sand defenses and covering the engines of several planes on the tarmac.
Song He and Xie Yuanxun got off the plane and hurried into the largest building. As soon as they entered, they smelled food. Neatly arranged stainless-steel tables filled the room. It was a mess hall.
"A terrible start!" Xie Yuanxun pulled out his phone and opened a weather-forecasting app. "We might be delayed here for quite a while. This sandstorm is practically demonic wind—sand from Outer Mongolia has all blown over! Fuck, we're going to be late reporting in!"
"When were we originally supposed to report?" Song He asked. "How late will we be?"
"Tonight. I figure we'll be three or four days late." Xie Yuanxun looked a little dejected. "Black Glasses Teacher said there are four