Side Story: Gravel Scales (3)

Humans in the desert also follow the survival wisdom of "being active at night and hiding during the day." The reason why the villagers of Euphrates Poplar Village were active during the day that day was simply because they were startled by the sudden visit of two outsiders.

So when Stacy and Ruixiuli returned to the cabin, exhausted, a group of energetic children immediately gathered around them like sparrows.

Fortunately, the old priest, who had heard the commotion, came to the scene in time. He sternly reprimanded the children and ordered them not to disturb the guests' rest. Only then did the children reluctantly disperse.

Ruixiuli entered the dimly lit hut and noticed a slight noise. He crouched down, reached under the bed, grabbed a small figure hiding in the sand, and pulled it out with a jerk. He shook it, and the sand fell off her body, piling up in a small mound on the ground.

Ruixiuli lifted her up to the flickering lamplight for a closer look, and there she was—the brown-haired little girl named Lulu.

"What are you trying to do now?" Ruixiuli looked at the little gerbil-like child in front of her, both amused and exasperated. "The bread we brought was all gone yesterday, not a single piece left!"

"I want to go with my sisters tomorrow!" Lulu tilted her little face up, her big eyes sparkling in the light. "I had so much fun riding the Shadu yesterday!"

"Don't you have to do any work?" Stacy asked from the side. In this kind of environment, a seven-year-old child already needs to share a lot of the chores within her capabilities.

"I've finished everything!" Lulu proudly puffed out her little chest, brushing the remaining sand off her clothes. "I'm very quick!"

This is an energetic, lively, and active girl who is full of curiosity about everything around her.

"I'm sorry, Lulu," Ruixiuli softened his tone, "We have very important business to attend to, we're not going out to play."

"I can help!" Lulu emphasized eagerly, her little mind racing. "I can lead the way! I know a lot of places!" Her little finger pointed to the dark desert outside. "Shadu has been away from home for a long time. He knows the general directions, but he doesn't know many details like the smaller paths or the changes in water sources!"

This isn't unfair to Shadu. Last night, when the four of them went to the date palm settlement, he went in the old direction. It was Lulu who told them that the camp had moved to a new location.

Ruixiuli and Stacy exchanged a glance. What the girl said made sense, and since she was small, she would hardly be a burden sitting on Shadu's broad back. Taking her along didn't seem like a bad idea.

"Alright," Stacy decided, "But I need to speak with your parents first." She casually pulled a few copper coins from her bag and went out.

Let's assume we'll hire her for a few days.

Lulu's little face immediately lit up with a bright smile. She was about to follow when, as if remembering something, she quickly took something off her waist and handed it to Ruixiuli: "Here, this is for you!"

Ruixiuli took it and saw that it was a pair of gloves woven from plants.

Lulu immediately explained, "It's woven from yucca!"

Yucca leaves are sturdy, long, sword-shaped, and their fibers are extremely strong. After soaking, they become very flexible. Items woven from it are exceptionally durable, hence its nickname "plant steel wire" in the desert.

The palm area of these gloves features a specially woven, rough reinforcing layer, clearly intended to increase grip strength.

Ruixiuli tried it on her hand and surprisingly, she could actually wear it with a bit of difficulty. Lulu took a closer look and found that a few parts of the fingers were not braided properly, so she immediately took it back and, under the light, adjusted and modified it on the spot.

Ruixiuli sighed softly. He reached out and took Lulu's busy little hand, beginning to tend to the countless tiny cuts on it caused by the sharp edges of the yucca leaves.

****

The next day, a little girl joined the investigation team. Led by Lulu, who knew the area well, they trekked through the nearby pools and the areas with the densest concentrations of edible plants. The little girl knew this desert like the back of her hand and could always find the most convenient paths and the most fertile spots.

At the scorching midday, they set up a simple shed under the shade of huge poplar trees and enjoyed the harvest they had picked along the way: cool and juicy aloe vera pulp, plump chickpea pods, and even, under Lulu's guidance, roasted scorpions skewered on thin twigs, which emitted a smoky aroma.

With the guidance of this young guide, their desert diet instantly became much more diverse.

"Look, Old Sha, even a little girl knows more than you!" Ruixiuli teased Shadu.

Shadu shook his lizard head helplessly. "I can't help it, I'm used to traveling. The desert... it's just too monotonous."

This continued for two days. In the evening, everyone gathered in a small house in Euphrates Poplar Village to summarize the investigation results by the light of an oil lamp.

"No abnormal substances or obvious sources of contamination were found in any of the mainstream food plants." Stacy frowned slightly as she flipped through the thick notebook. "Moreover, the transmission pattern of this ' Out-of-Season Estrus Disorder ' does not conform to the characteristics of plant-derived diseases spreading."

She explained that if a plant mutated and contained aphrodisiac components, its effects would spread like ripples, gradually expanding as seeds are dispersed or animals gnaw on it. But this time, the situation was completely different—the symptoms appeared almost simultaneously from the beginning, covering multiple reptilians' camps in about a third of the desert, and the extent of the disease has remained almost unchanged for five years.

"Then... could it be some kind of virus or bacteria?" Shadu's deep voice rang out.

Stacy shook her head again, her gaze sweeping across a corner of the room. There, large and small rattan cages were piled up, containing various desert creatures they had caught over the past few days: furry slugs, ferocious honey badgers, camel spiders with huge pincers... and even a few coiled snakes.

"Viruses or bacteria must have a host, and no abnormal pathogens were found in these wild animals."

Lulu was squatting beside the cage, carefully using a thin twig to pick up scraps of meat or grass seeds to feed the animals inside.

"Sister," she said, pointing to a rattlesnake in one of the cages, "This snake seems to have heatstroke. Can we roast it and eat it?"

Seemingly having heard something, the snake being pointed at quickly raised its head, looking at the malevolent human in front of it with fear and uncertainty.

Stacy glanced at the snake; it would be troublesome to feed, so she nodded in agreement. "Okay, let's get rid of it."

She always couldn't resist keeping small animals, although, unfortunately, they usually didn't live past a week. But that didn't stop Stacy from enjoying the process of caring for them.

So Ruixiuli picked up the cage containing the rattlesnake, went outside, skinned it, skewered it on a branch, and roasted it over the campfire. The grease dripped into the fire, sizzling, and the air was filled with a delicious aroma.

Lulu followed, carrying Stacy's thick notebook, and curiously flipped through it by the flickering firelight.

"Can you read?" Ruixiuli asked casually as he made incisions in the charred snake with a knife, sprinkling salt evenly over it.

"Yes, I know him!" Lulu answered proudly. "The high priest taught me!" She patted her flat chest, her eyes sparkling in the firelight. "He said that I could go to the Church of Light Academy in a big city to study and grow into a clergyman like him, spreading the light!"

"Yes, you definitely will, and you can even surpass him!" Ruixiuli encouraged.

Lulu shook her head vigorously, her little face full of longing. "No! I want to become a strong person like the ' Wave Hermit Hermit'! Able to freely traverse the desert and help everyone!"

"Great, very ambitious!" Ruixiuli gave a thumbs up.

Lulu lowered her head and continued flipping through the notebook. She still struggled a bit with complex characters, but she had no problem understanding the simple hand-drawn maps that marked the various lizardman camps and outbreak points of the disease.

"Sister!" she exclaimed, pointing to several lines marked in different colors that snaked across the desert on the map, and looking up at Ruixiuli, "Is this... a caravan route?"

"Call me--brother--brother!" Ruixiuli had emphasized this address for what seemed like the umpteenth time. Reluctantly, he put down the roasted snake and leaned over to look at where Lulu was pointing. Just as he took the manual, Stacy and Shadu, who were perched on his left and right shoulders, simultaneously peered over, all three pairs of eyes focused on the map.

"This... it really does look like a trade route that caravans would take!" Shadu's vertical pupils suddenly contracted, his hoarse voice filled with astonishment.

"No wonder this damn 'disorder' spreads so illogically!" Stacy's eyes narrowed sharply, the firelight dancing in them. "So this isn't a disease at all; someone's playing tricks!"

"Out of season!" A thought flashed through Ruixiuli's mind. He remembered the druid merchant Leonite, who had displayed a wooden license plate with five Date Camp markings on it—exactly five in total!

"The caravan led by that female Leonite started appearing in the desert five years ago!" he explained rapidly to the two. "While there are many itinerant merchants in the desert, the vast majority only operate during the rainy season. Out-of-season caravans are already few and far between, and considering the precise timing... she's highly suspicious!"

Shadu made a decisive move, a cold glint in his eyes, "Investigate this Leonite first!"

"But," Lulu interjected, a hint of regret on her face, "That caravan left the Date Camp yesterday evening! She must have gone to the Salt Flat Camp further west." She then raised her chin confidently and said, "However, Lulu knows a shortcut that Lord Shadu can take!"

"If we follow the road you suggested, how long will it take to catch up?" Shadu immediately crouched down, his vertical pupils fixed on Lulu.

Lulu patted her small chest vigorously, her voice clear and loud. "With me guiding the way, we'll definitely catch up with her before the Morning Star sinks!"

"Let's go!" Shadu roared, his large yet lean body immediately lowering to the ground.