The next day, everyone packed their gear and set off.
The treasure-hunting team had barely left when a band of mercenaries entered the desert inn.
"You. Come here."
The mercenary leader called the owner over and asked, "Where did those Chinese people from last night go?"
"Well, um..." The owner rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, looking like he was desperate for money.
But this time, the owner had picked on the wrong people. After they taught him a lesson, he had no choice but to meekly tell them which way Hao Shuai and the others had gone.
In the wind-swept desert, the group drove in the direction the innkeeper had pointed them. Along the way, they spotted Peach, who was searching for the meaning of life.
They stopped beside Peach, and Hao Shuai waved. "Miss Peach. What a coincidence! We meet again. Can we help you with anything?"
"Yeah, it really is a coincidence. Thank goodness I ran into you, or I'd be in a terrible spot. Unfortunately, my camel just died of exhaustion." Peach looked sad as she spoke.
"Hop in our vehicle. If we're going the same way, we can give you a ride." Before Peach could answer, Hao Shuai pulled her toward the vehicle and helped her climb onto the roof.
Night fell. The two off-road vehicles pulled over on a patch of wasteland, and the group lit a bonfire.
After dinner, everyone chatted around the fire for a while, then went back to their tents to sleep.
Eleven that night.
One by one, the group drifted off. A band of desert bandits, riding camels and wrapped in black veils, crept into the treasure-hunting team's temporary camp. The two Extras in charge of protecting the team were the first to wake.
"Bang, bang!"
There was no need for any more words.
Poor Extras A and B were killed off without having said a single line.
The desert bandits began their slaughter without a hint of mercy.
They weren't as gentle as the bandits in the movies. The bandits onscreen spared lives only because the plot required it. In real life, these men had come to steal supplies and women. Why would they leave anyone alive? As soon as Extras A and B tried to fight back, the bandits riddled them with bullets.
"Whoosh!"
At the sound of gunfire, Hao Shuai immediately crawled out of his tent and controlled a sharp iron skewer, sending it flying into the bandits.
The bandits had no idea how unlucky they were. Hao Shuai was already in a foul mood whenever someone woke him up. On top of that, he'd had more than enough of the desert lately, and he was in no mood to follow Jack to the bandits' hideout and rescue anyone. So he could only send them to meet their beloved Allah.
Under Hao Shuai's control, the skewer soared and twisted through the air. Every time it accelerated, it took another life.
The cold moonlight. The bloody slaughter.
In that moment, there was a strange beauty to it all.
In less than a minute, the last desert bandit fell to the ground. Only then did Jack, Ada, Peach, and Elsa come out of their tents one after another. Seeing the bandits sprawled across the ground, they were all stunned.
"What happened?" Hao Shuai asked, pretending he had no idea.
Elsa and Ada had grown up in privilege. When had they ever seen so many dead people? They grabbed Jack's sleeves in panic, their bodies trembling with fear. Only Peach was brave enough to keep her composure.
Jack was a famous explorer who had seen his share of life and death, so he remained calm. He went over and examined the bodies before slowly saying, "These men must be desert bandits. They specialize in robbing and killing in the desert. They like to attack desert camps in the middle of the night and steal women and supplies."
"Who killed them?" Peach asked instinctively.
Jack shook his head. "I don't know. Their deaths are very strange. Some were shot through the forehead, others through the throat. Most of them had looks of terror in their eyes, as if they'd encountered something impossible to believe."
"From the first gunshot to the moment they were all dead, less than a minute passed. Who could be so powerful as to kill so many people in such a short time, using some unknown method?"
Looking at the bandits' bodies sprawled across the ground and the camels sleeping peacefully, Jack couldn't make heads or tails of it.
Less than a minute to kill over a dozen fierce bandits without even disturbing the camels. The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it seemed.
Jack had traveled the world for years and experienced no shortage of danger and bizarre events, but this was the first time he'd ever felt genuine fear.
With so many people dead in their camp, Hao Shuai and the others didn't dare stay there. They quickly packed up and found a random place to spend the night. Early the next morning, Peach left them to ride off alone on her camel, since she wasn't interested in gold. The four of them continued on in their vehicles until they reached the depths of the desert, where driving was no longer an option. Each of them had to carry a backpack and struggle along on foot. Endless dunes stretched beneath them, and the slightest misstep could send them tumbling.
After half a day of walking, they were exhausted and decided to sit down and rest.
A gunshot rang out, startling everyone. They looked up and saw the Sand Sculpture Duo laughing delightedly.
"Thank Allah! He's finally delivered you into my hands." The speaker pointed his gun at them.
"Take us to Bugis's base, or we'll shoot you dead."
Hao Shuai didn't want to deal with these two idiots, so he snatched the guns from their hands when they weren't paying attention and kicked them down the dune, one after the other. Of course, Hao Shuai kindly left them a bag of water.
The next day, Peach was gone, but Hao Shuai followed the plot and led the others to the village above the base. After being chased by the natives, all four of them sank into quicksand and fell into an underground cavern.
After groaning and grumbling for a while, Ada came to and saw Hao Shuai holding a flashlight nearby. "Where are we, Hao Shuai? Why is it so dark everywhere?"
"I don't know. We just fell into a sand pit."
"I'm scared! Jack, where are you?" Ada lay on the ground and wailed.
"We're all right. Stay where you are and don't move. We'll come to you," Jack replied from somewhere in the distance.
"Now you're scared? Weren't you just saying their dance was a way of making peace with us?" Hao Shuai complained to Ada.
"How was I supposed to know their customs were so different from everyone else's? Anyway, shine the light under me. What's that? It's really uncomfortable to lie on." Since there didn't seem to be any immediate danger, Ada was back to acting silly.
"Um, are you sure you want to see? I think it'd be better if you didn't," Hao Shuai advised.
"No! It's really uncomfortable. Hurry up and shine the light!" Ada urged him.
Hao Shuai pointed the beam directly at the skull beneath Ada.
In the flashlight's beam, the skull looked even more eerie and terrifying.
"Aaaah! A human skull!" Ada scrambled to her feet and hopped around, screaming nonstop.
"I told you not to look." Hao Shuai could only cover his ears helplessly.
Just then, Jack and Elsa followed the flashlight beam over to Hao Shuai. They looked at Ada hopping and screaming in confusion.
"It's nothing. She was just scared by that thing on the ground." Hao Shuai gestured toward the skeleton.
Once Ada had calmed down, Jack and the others had already used their flashlight to find some candles and light them.
"Looks like this is the base we've been searching for." Hao Shuai gestured around them.
"Elsa, what are you looking at?" Hao Shuai asked, walking over to her.
"This person is my grandfather!" Elsa said, holding up the cross necklace from the skeleton's chest.
Hearing that, Jack went over to examine it. After turning the body around for a while, he said,
"Your grandfather was murdered." Jack carefully turned the skeleton over and pulled a dagger from its back, then stated it with certainty.
"Really? Don't be sad. He's been dead for so long." Ada went over to comfort her.
"I'm sad because I found out my grandfather was murdered," Elsa said sorrowfully.
"Hey, there's a diary too!" Jack, who had been searching the body, suppressed his disgust and pulled a small notebook from the corpse's chest.
"Quick, see what it says. Did he leave any last words? Did he write who killed him?" Ada urged Elsa.
"Today we advanced twenty kilometers. Four of our comrades suffered heatstroke."
While Ada and Elsa studied the diary, Hao Shuai, who already knew the story, didn't bother listening. Instead, he and Jack walked around and examined the next level of the base.
"I know why," Jack said when Elsa wondered why her grandfather had been so upset.
"If I'm not mistaken, these people were your grandfather's guards. Once they'd completed their mission, your grandfather made them take poison." Jack explained this to the two women who had followed him down to the next level of the base.
"Oh, no wonder your grandfather was so sad. He had to kill eighteen of his own comrades at once." Ada suddenly understood.
"The problem is, there are only fifteen bodies here. Add the two upstairs, and that makes seventeen." Hao Shuai put on an award-winning performance.
"Then where's the last one?" Ada wondered too.
Before you continue