In Desperation, I Saw a White Camel

Hu Ming's legs clamped tightly onto the camel, his hands holding onto Ye Yixin. www.

The camel had two humps, and the two of them squeezed in between, sitting with Ye Yixin in front, hugging the front hump as the camel bucked.

Wuwuwu~~

The wind and sand grew stronger, and the camel's speed was greatly impeded, slowing down involuntarily. Hu Bayi deliberately stayed a little behind to better observe if anyone was falling behind.

Two hours later, the wind and sand strangely lessened slightly, but this was merely a lull before the biggest sandstorm arrived.

Hu Bayi saw that one of the camels, meant to carry people, was riderless. Who had fallen behind?

"Fatty!"

Even with a face covering over his nose and mouth, he could feel sand filling his mouth with every word, and his voice couldn't get through. Hu Bayi could only frantically whip the camel he was riding, and the camel charged forward with him.

Reaching Fatty's side, he gestured to him.

Old Hu's meaning? Fatty thought for a moment and immediately understood. Someone had fallen behind. Damn it, falling behind during this mad dash for survival? They were trying to get everyone killed.

The camels they were riding ran side-by-side. Fatty gestured to Hu Bayi, signaling him to ignore it. He knew it had to be one of the archaeologists. It was fine; one less person was better than many.

This damned Fatty was disregarding human life. Hu Bayi clenched his fist, annoyed, and gestured a few times at Fatty. Then, he pulled on the reins, forcing the camel to turn sharply and head back. Seeing Hu Bayi swallowed by the dim wind and sand a few meters away, Fatty felt truly helpless.

He could ignore anyone else's life or death, but he couldn't abandon his brother.

However, the one riding the camel at the very back was actually Hu Ming.

Although the male camel had good stamina, it was carrying two people, so it naturally fell behind.

Hu Bayi rode his camel back and saw Hu Ming holding Ye Yixin with one hand and a rope with the other. He was puzzled. Although he couldn't see far, he saw the rope was taut.

This meant the rope was dragging something?

In just a brief moment, the camel Hu Ming was riding galloped past. Hu Bayi remained on his camel, still stationary. Soon, his pupils contracted sharply as he saw a figure being dragged past him.

It was Professor Chen. He saw clearly and was utterly speechless. Wouldn't he die if dragged like this?

But fortunately, the person was brought back, so he didn't have to brave the wind and sand, risking his life to search for someone.

Fatty frantically whipped his camel and charged forward, running alongside An Liman. He gestured for An Liman to stop, but the old man completely ignored him. Was he serious? Stopping now was courting death?

Fatty had no choice but to pounce, grab An Liman, and they both fell off.

The lead camel seemed to understand and was protective of its rider. Its back lightened, knowing its master had fallen, and it stopped. The entire camel train halted.

Everyone looked confused, wondering why they had stopped.

But soon, they noticed Professor Chen's camel was riderless and realized Professor Chen had been thrown off. They were instantly terrified and looked back.

In the dim wind and sand, their vision was only four or five meters, and that was with the sandstorm having lessened.

Deng deng deng!

Hu Ming's camel charged over, entering their line of sight. They saw it was Hu Ming and Ye Yixin, and then they saw someone being dragged on the ground, leaving long drag marks in the sand that were quickly swallowed by the wind and sand.

Hu Bayi chased after them on his camel, immediately dismounted, and rushed to Professor Chen's side, untied the rope, and checked his condition.

Yang Xueli, Sa Dipeng, and the others gathered around.

Fortunately, Professor Chen was wearing a thick cotton coat, and the sandy ground was soft. Being dragged in the sand for a while was fine.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but the old man had fainted. They all looked at Hu Ming with questioning eyes, as if asking him why he was dragging Professor Chen. Didn't he know Professor Chen was old? Wasn't he afraid of dragging him to death?

Hu Ming glanced at everyone. It was already quite good that he had dragged Professor Chen over. At the very least, he hadn't let him suffocate in the desert. In that situation, could Hu Bayi have found Professor Chen by going back?

Don't be ridiculous! Hu Ming had dragged Professor Chen for nearly ten minutes, and the camel was carrying him and Ye Yixin, leaving no room for the old man.

Moreover, how far would the camel have run in that time?

Lying on the ground for ten minutes, he would have been buried by the sand. Forget finding the person, they wouldn't even find the grave!

The camels formed a circle, heads lowered to the sand, eyes closed, as if waiting to die. This was not uncommon. After a sandstorm, one could see rows of desiccated camel corpses forming circles.

An Liman leaned against his lead camel, eyes closed, as if waiting to die with it.

It was evident that his face, weathered by years of wind and frost, was filled with despair.

He hadn't expected that this time, he would truly be worn out and die in the desert with these people. He couldn't be more annoyed; he had been terribly tricked, especially thinking about how Fatty had glared at him menacingly.

But as a person faces death, why think so much? He buried his head in the camel's hump, preparing to accept Hu Da's punishment.

Hoo hoo!

The wind and sand wailed. No matter how much Fatty whipped them, the camels refused to get up. Fatty panicked and pulled An Liman up, shouting into his ear, "Old man, don't just wait here to die, hurry up and tell the camels to get up and run!"

His throat was sore from shouting, but his voice was drowned out by the wind and sand. However, since Fatty was shouting directly into his ear, An Liman heard him. His eyes were vacant, and he shook his head at Fatty, then pointed at the dim, sandy sky, as if telling Fatty.

No matter where they ran, they couldn't escape the area covered by this sandy sky. Fatty despaired. In his heart, he knew it was like being in a storm with no shelter; no matter where you ran, you'd get soaked. But should they wait here to die?

Yang Xueli and Ye Yixin crouched beside Professor Chen, filled with anxiety.

Without a place to shelter from the wind and sand, Professor Chen wouldn't last long before kicking the bucket.

"Mingzi, what do we do? Old man An Liman is going to wait here to die."

Fatty walked over to Hu Ming and shouted into his ear. They hadn't gained any benefits from coming to Jingjue Ancient City, and they were about to die in the desert right after entering. Fatty was extremely unwilling.

Hu Ming looked around, and seeing Hu Bayi trying to reason with An Liman, his throat was almost hoarse from shouting in the sandstorm, but the old man's eyes were vacant, his head not even shaking.

"Old man, you're the map of the desert, think of a way."

Hu Bayi was so anxious his eyeballs were about to fall out. If they delayed any longer, they would really be buried by the sandstorm. He didn't want to die in the desert, and he certainly didn't want to wait for death.

This Old Hu, what's the use of being anxious? Hu Ming walked to the left, about five meters away, and observed his surroundings. There was nothing. What? He frowned deeply. It shouldn't be like this! He remembered that in the original work, they found a place to shelter from the wind! He wasn't willing to die here like this.

Hu Ming continued to quickly patrol the surroundings, searching. From time to time, everyone saw his figure disappear into the sandstorm, only to reappear again, struggling to search for something.

"Uncle An Liman, we can't just wait here to die, we need to leave quickly. If I'm not mistaken, there's a place over there to shelter from the sandstorm," Hu Ming shouted into An Liman's ear.

When he stepped down, the sand blown by the wind and piled on the ground had reached his knees. In less than half an hour, it would reach his waist. It was all loose sand, like quicksand, and he couldn't use it for leverage to step on.

As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed to the right. This direction was Hu Ming's own guess. He didn't know if it was correct, but compared to staying here and waiting to die, it was better.

An Liman looked up in the direction Hu Ming pointed, and suddenly his cloudy eyes lit up.

In the dim sandstorm, a white figure was particularly conspicuous.

An Liman sprang up like a coiled spring, knelt down twice quickly toward that spot, and then climbed onto the back of the lead camel. He gestured to Hu Ming, signaling everyone to get on the camels. Professor Chen, who was unconscious, was tied to the back of a camel by Hu Ming. This camel carried him, following the main group as they ran. The lead camel desperately chased the pure white figure.

After running a short distance, the white figure turned around, looked at Hu Ming and the others, then turned and ran to the side. After going down a sand dune, it disappeared without a trace.