The Lost Tomb : Sea Of Sands

Chapter 24: Moving Haizi

When Wu Xie got back in the raft, Wang Meng asked, "What about Ma Rila?"

"That kid is so smart that he must have found something was off and went ashore long ago."

"Then why didn't he come and let us know?" Wang Meng scolded.

"He wants us dead," Wu Xie replied. "So he can take our goods and sell them in his shop."

"He has his own shop?"

"He opened it as early as three months ago. His motivation to be my apprentice was bad." Wu Xie said, "I guess he wanted to learn something from me, but since I didn't teach him, he just wants me to die."

"Boss, you knew and still brought him here?" Wang Meng screamed loudly.

As Wang Meng and Wu Xie were talking, Li Cu had to row hard on his own, but the raft kept circling in the haizi's center. He was anxious and shouted to Wu Xie, "Can't you two talk after we go ashore? It's fine if you two want to fucking die, but can you not take me with you? I'm so fucking innocent."

Wang Meng grabbed the paddle and gave a few strokes before the raft stabilized and began to move toward the shore. When they got close, they shined a flashlight on the shore and saw an amazing scene.

They found that the shore was no longer an oasis, but sand dunes rolling past with astonishing speed and magnitude. Of course, this wasn't actually because the sand dunes were rolling, but because the haizi they were floating on was moving past the sand dunes at an amazing speed. If you only looked at the surface of the water, the haizi itself was unusually calm, but with reference to its surroundings, it was actually moving rapidly as a whole.

"Shore, shore, we have to reach the shore! We already don't know how far we are from camp, or where this haizi will move. We have nothing on board, and when we reach the deep desert, we'll die!" Wu Xie shouted.

Wang Meng rowed desperately towards the shore, but whenever the raft came close, it was pushed back by the rebounding current. So Li Cu and the other two took turns trying to land, but failed each time. In the end, all three were exhausted and could do nothing but helplessly watch the dunes retreat.

Li Cu said, "Why don't we stop using the raft and swim?"

"Don't be stupid. This mass of water is moving as a whole, and there must be a key to its strange movement near the shore. If you rush into the water, you may suffer an even worse death." Wu Xie said, "In this case, my experience is to wait. The haizi will stop sooner or later."

Li Cu said: "If we don't know where we are when it stops, what will we do then?"

"Haizi that can move in the desert are very rare, but based on the oasis just now, this particular haizi must move very frequently, and the range of movement isn't too large, so the oasis is able to appear. Moreover, this haizi's movement must be regular, and should be active between several points all year round, otherwise the grass in the oasis wouldn't grow."

"I think you're too optimistic."

"In this environment, we can only be optimistic."

Li Cu thought: That's also true; otherwise what else would you think? His heart was quite calm despite the situation, because whether these guys could finally solve the problem or not, the current situation was very favorable for his delicate position— if they were lost in the desert, then he would immediately go from a useless half-hostage to someone useful. After all, he could work hard, so if they finally survived and went back, they would surely have developed some sort of camaraderie during this period of time.

When he thought of this, Li Cu was quite proud of himself. Maybe he was young and fearless, or tired of the peaceful city life, but the unexpected danger made him feel very excited instead.

It's not bad to die here. Besides, I used to think that it didn't matter if I was dead from time to time, Li Cu thought.

As the raft continued moving along the haizi, they rested for a while before trying to row to shore for a period of time. After several repeated attempts, they gave up completely and simply took turns to sleep. When Li Cu was pushed by Wang Men to wake up, it was already light.

"Why, are we here?" Li Cu was in a daze and his eyelids were drooping. He thought he was on the bus.

"It seems like we've arrived." The three men got up, wiped their faces with the water from the haizi, and looked around.

"What is this place?" Wu Xie murmured.