There was a feeling of tightness in my chest, as if something was blocked in my throat, making me unable to breathe.
He touched his chest and took out his necklace from under his collar.
It was a bead that was taken out of the small wooden box left by my grandfather.
"I don't know why grandpa gave me this bead..."
In a blink of an eye, it was already dawn. Chen Tao and Hao Zi each took their things and followed Ye Rong to call a car.
The car went all the way west and soon left the town. After walking a few kilometers, we arrived at the edge of an inaccessible desert.
Chen Tao looked around and found that the surroundings were surrounded by golden sand dunes. There were only a few households standing alone in the sky and earth, which was so desolate.
There were several camel bells ringing in the distance, and we entered the vast desert. It was impossible to make it with just two legs. The trek in the desert was difficult, there was no grass, and it was easy to lose our way. It was called the sea of death. Among many animals, only camels are suitable for long-distance crossings in the desert. Camels have humps on their bodies and can endure hunger and thirst. They can trek in the desert for more than ten days without eating or drinking. They also have thick meat pads under their flat hooves. It is not easy to fall into the quicksand, is as stable as a mountain, runs like the wind, is relatively docile, and has a strong ability to recognize the way. In addition, the camel is tall, and a camel can carry a weight of about 180 kilograms. Walking on the wild sands of the Dead Sea, nothing is better than a camel. Good livestock. If you can find a team of camels and an experienced guide, the danger of crossing the quicksand will be minimized.
Ye Rong walked to a house, pushed open the fence door, and shouted a few words into the house in a language that Chen Tao couldn't understand.
After a while, a thin old man came out, with a gray cloth felt hat wrapped around his head, a pair of windshield goggles with cloth edges hanging on it, and a gray-red gauze scarf around his neck.
"Ms. Ye is here. Now you're ready. You can set off." The old man walked out of the room and took out four camels from the backyard.
"This is the guide we are looking for. Among the surrounding towns, he is the only one willing to take us to the depths of the desert." Ye Rong explained.
"Well, don't worry! I remember when my old man was young, he crossed the desert and came back alive. As long as the price is right, you can go any distance!" The old man's name is Takji. He is a Uighur. He may have lived in the desert. After living for a long time, my skin was tanned by the sun, and the cheeks on my face were as messy as weeds on the roadside.
Ye Rong must have been prepared for it. She didn't know when she had two more backpacks in her hand. Chen Tao took them and filled them with a lot of things. Goggles, scarves, wolf-eye flashlights, compressed dry food, hand-held lighting signal torches, and weapons such as a few folding shovels and daggers.
The four of them packed as lightly as possible, hired two camels to bring plenty of water, and stuffed several large bags of dried meat. Then we embarked on a journey to the desert.
Before leaving, the old man Takeji took a blanket and spread it slowly on the yellow sand. He knelt on it with his eyes slightly closed and a pious expression. He opened his hands and stretched them to the sky, then crossed them on his chest and lowered his head to chant. Chen Tao read the scriptures that he didn't understand, and then he kowtowed devoutly, with his head and almost his whole body lying on the ground.
"What is he doing?" Haozi was confused.
"You outsiders don't understand!" Takji put away the blanket after worshiping: "Be in awe of the desert. I am praying for you like the true god of the desert, asking him to bless us to come back smoothly."
The camel bells rang, and the four people marched on the sand dunes.
"I don't like camels. They're dirty, smelly, and they spit." Haozi sat on the back of the camel, holding the reins in his hand.
"Little brother, what you said is wrong!" The old man from Takji raised the whip in his hand, "This camel is a friend of mankind. When I was in the desert, I relied on camels to survive. Come down, it will save your life at the critical moment!"
Ye Rong touched the hair on the camel's head and said with a smile: "I think it's okay, these camels are quite cute."
Chen Tao smiled and said nothing.
The scorching sun hung in the sky, and as far as the eye could see, there were only endless yellow sand dunes. Really walking on the desert, people can understand its horror.
The road was not bad at first. There were many shrubs growing on the edge of the desert, and you could even see sheep herders. According to the old man from Takji, this initial journey was not considered a desert at all. But when you reached the depths of the desert where no one has ever visited, the air was full of... There is no wind, the blazing sun hangs in the sky, and the sand will burn a pit when it touches the skin.
The temperature difference between day and night in the desert is ridiculously large. During the day, people are almost dried out by the sun, and they can freeze to death after dark. The roads they pass through are full of bitter water, and there is no way to replenish food. Even if your mouth and lips are chapped, you can't bear to take another sip of water.
In order to avoid the scorching sun at noon, everyone traveled almost all night. After a few days, their physical strength began to fail before they even reached the place.
It was hard to resist the bright heat, and everyone had a layer of dry skin on their faces. There were not many words to say along the way, and no one had the intention to say another word. During this period, we encountered a sandstorm. Although it was not very big, it was not very pleasant. I ate a lot of sand.
After riding on the back of a camel for a long time, my body ached and my buttocks almost lost consciousness. The sun is gradually setting, and the air is hot and stuffy, making people breathless.
Chen Tao's mouth had several cracks, and his body seemed to be reaching its limit, but he still forced himself to hold on.
Ye Rong held the road map and compass in her hands and kept correcting the directions of several people.
This is a large mobile desert. Strong winds blow the sand dunes. The landscape changes every day without any features. Although Ye Rong has an electronic road map in her hand, for the desert, the red line is far from enough. Thanks With the help of the experienced Takji old man, although the journey was difficult, many risks were avoided.
After all, only living is the most important thing.
In the past, there must have been human activities here. There are occasionally some ruined castles, houses, and towers with only half of the roof exposed, and most of the bottom is buried in the yellow sand.
The thing that impressed Chen Tao the most in the desert was the thousand-year-old Populus euphratica. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, who would have believed that there were trees in the desert. Every tree is like a vigorous flying dragon, and all the branches stretch crookedly to the east. Looking at it, it looks like real dragons running in the desert. In such a harsh environment, after thousands of years, many Populus euphratica have long since died, and the trunks were blown almost flat to the ground by the wind and sand, but it still did not fall.
The afterglow of the setting sun reflected the clouds on the horizon red, and the undulating sand dunes in the desert were covered with a layer of rays of light. The dry Populus euphratica and the corrugated yellow sand were all reflected in golden red. The rich colors between the sky and the earth. It forms a magnificent picture.
Seeing this scenery, everyone couldn't help but feel refreshed. Ye Rong took out the camera in her backpack and recorded this dreamlike scenery.
When everyone was intoxicated by the beautiful scenery, Chen Tao found that the old man from Takji was staring at the setting sun in the west, with a faint trace of uneasiness on his face.
Chen Tao saw that his expression was not right, so he hurriedly walked over and asked him: "Old man, what's wrong? Is something going to change?"
Although he had never been to the desert, Chen Tao could read a trace of worry in Takji's eyes.
This is already the fifth day since Chen Tao and the others set out, and the third day since they entered the depths of the desert.
"The wind is coming, and this storm will be so big that even if we build a sand wall, we can't stop it. If we can't survive this time, we will all be buried alive in the desert."
When Chen Tao heard what he said, he knew that this matter was no joke. There was no village or store in the area. If there was a big sandstorm, they would have no place to hide.
Chen Tao yelled and jumped on the camel's back to tell everyone to leave quickly, but he saw the old man Takji slowly and leisurely taking out his blanket from the camel and spreading it leisurely on the yellow sand.
Over the past few days, almost every time before setting off, the old man from Takji would pray to the god of the desert as he called it.
Seeing that he was so calm and composed, Chen Tao thought it was not serious that he said there was going to be a big storm at night, so he relaxed and was thinking about enjoying this rare desert scenery with Hao Zi and the others.
Who would have thought that after Takji finished praying, he seemed to be a different person, his body seemed to be tightened up, he rolled up the blanket, jumped up on the camel like a spring, and whistled for a long time: "Oh yo yo yo... Hurry... Run quickly, otherwise you will be buried in the sand if you run too late!"
